Last time, it was mentioned that Emperor Chongzhen led his concubines and his brother to the military camp to inspect Xu Guangqi's training of recruits, and promised to give him 3 million taels of silver for military expenses.

"Okay, Xu Aiqing. I know that you are also dedicated to the country, loyal and courageous, so I will meet all your requirements. Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youzhen said with a smile: "The arsenal for the manufacture of 'rifled guns' will be arranged and supervised by you personally, and I will ask the 'Master Li' of the Hubu Shangshu to provide you with all kinds of conveniences in time." ”

"Haha, that's great! Wechen thank God! Xu Guangqi knelt down and thanked: "There is also a drill of 'smoothbore cannon'." The emperor has to take a serious look at it! ”

As soon as the words fell, Xu Guangqi raised a big red flag and shook it slightly as before, and suddenly found that there were two teams of soldiers in the camp in front of him pushing two wheeled cannons from the left and right directions, which looked very similar to the "Hongyi Cannon", but the difference was that there were serrations on the inside of the muzzle, which was different from the "Hongyi Cannon".

At the same time, the soldiers also brought a total of six "Zi Gong", about two feet long, thick fists, and the tip of the mountain peak-like sharp and convex, compared with the long cannon body, but it looked extremely strange. However, what is even more bizarre is that the next loading process surprised everyone.

After receiving the order, the soldiers quickly took off four pieces of wrought iron that were arm thick and feet long, and then forcefully broke open the two "fire doors" at the tail end of the "gun" and opened the "breech." The two of them quickly picked up two copper-plated "hammers" and stuffed them into the "breech," closed the "fire door," and then inserted the four iron pieces vertically and horizontally.

In this way, it seems that a process of "opening the door" and "closing the door" has been completed, after all, the wrought iron blocks crisscrossed by four arms and feet are equal to the "deadbolt", which plays the role of "insurance" to prevent explosions. In addition, there is a small hole the thickness of chopsticks outside the base of the "breech" to place the fuse and connect the "sub-ring".

"Aim at the target - get ready to ignite!" As soon as the words fell, I saw a soldier put the burning torch in his hand to the fuse that was a few feet long, and the sound of "bang" emitted thick smoke, and after a few breaths, a loud bang shook the ground, and I saw a large puff of smoke from the "gun" that was more than a long time.

Immediately afterward, there seemed to be a "buzzing" sound in the air from near and far away, and everyone hurriedly looked into the direction of the muzzle, but barely found that a row of targets six miles away suddenly flew up inexplicably, and when they fell from a height of a few zhang or even a dozen zhang, they heard a loud rumbling sound.

I heard a loud "boom" again, and another "gun" also let out a deafening roar, which almost frightened the concubines of Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youzhen into standing unsteadily, and they screamed in shock. At this time, everyone once again looked seven miles ahead, and sure enough, they saw that a target was blown up into the sky.

"The old minister reported to the emperor, Emperor Lai's heavenly power came, and the two targets with different ranges in front were accurately hit!" As soon as the words fell, Xu Lao waved his flag and ordered the soldiers to start loading ammunition, and sure enough, he "opened the door" and "closed the door" to Fangcai, took out the "empty Zigong" and replaced it with a "real Zigong" filled with gunpowder.

The whole process is smooth, even if you add the "fire gate" that inserts the "fuse" into the "Zi Gong" and continues to the "breech", the six people operate at the same time before and after it is only ten breaths, which is more than ten times faster than the "breech" loading gunpowder! If you add the aiming and carrying and recovery "sub-hammers", you need to cooperate in groups of 10 people.

"Haha, Xu Aiqing, your 'rifled cannon' is farther and more accurate than the 'Hongyi cannon'!" Emperor Chongzhen laughed loudly: "I don't know how much money is needed to build a large-scale production workshop?" What about the production capacity? Especially the output of the 'Zi Gong', which is the same as the 'Zi Gong' of the 'rifled gun', is the key! ”

"Uh...... The Emperor Mingjian! Xu Guangqi hurriedly bowed down and said: "According to Lao Chen's repeated calculations, it is estimated that it will cost at least 500,000 taels of silver to build a large-scale 'rifled cannon' production workshop, which is mainly spent on mining, transportation, ironmaking, steel melting, pouring, nitrate boiling and other processes, and the cycle is long!" ”

"Oh? How long does it take to go from site construction to production? "———— uh...... This one...... If you go back to the emperor, I'm afraid it will take at least half a year! ”

"Half a year? I think it's been too long! Can you hurry up? I want capacity and output! The emperor of "————" did not know whether the performance of this 'firearm' was excellent or not, and it had high requirements for copper, iron, saltpeter and other materials. And the smelting of fine iron and the casting of pottery fan cannot be sloppy. And then the saltpeter production is not high! ”

"I see! It seems that if you want to make 'firearms' on a large scale, you must first have enough copper, iron and saltpeter! After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "I took out another 500,000 taels of silver from between my teeth for you, which is specially used for mining iron and saltpeter, and striving for great results within half a year!" ”

"Woo, the old minister is grateful! Never dare to insult the mission! Xu Guangqi bowed his head and burst into tears, after all, the court is too difficult!

"Haha, my 'rifled gun'! I have decided to build a 'Divine Army' with the strength of the whole country, and I will be invincible from now on! Aiqing, please get up! Ha ha. ”

For the "rifled gun", its soul is the "rifling", if there is no "rifling" such a design and configuration, the gun is just a firing canister.

When the ancients invented gunpowder, "artillery" began to flourish. In fact, during the Southern Song Dynasty, "thunderbolt artillery" appeared on the battlefield. With the vigorous development of artillery, and through the three "Mongol expeditions to the west", "firearms" gradually spread to the West, which promoted the European to vigorously develop its technology.

During the 14th century, the first "breech guns" appeared in Europe, as well as various "artillery" that fired stone projectiles. The emergence of this kind of "firearm" aroused widespread concern in the Western world at that time. In the beginning, "guns" went through the "smoothbore" stage, and then gradually developed into round ammunition.

Although ammunition gradually became more powerful when the war broke out, it was not possible to replace the bow and arrow directly. The reason is that this ammunition is fired too slowly, and it also needs to be installed in a classified manner, which differs too much in the accuracy of firing each time.

If it's a little farther away, you may not know where to launch, if it's in rainy weather, this kind of ammunition can't be used once it gets wet, so it's better to shoot arrows. In the Middle Ages, European soldiers began to form long lines and then used platoon shooting tactics to develop tactics.

At this time, this situation is not that they are brave, but that they have a very high hit rate in doing so, and after a few rounds of lined up shootings, the remaining personnel still need to fight with swords to solve it. This is because the "smoothbore gun" has a short range, low accuracy, troublesome reloading, and unsatisfactory results.

In the 15th century, the army of the Kingdom of Naples, Italy, at the southern tip of the Apennine Peninsula, was the first to be equipped with "rifled guns", which could be quickly improved after the bullet was loaded into the lower port. If this were on the battlefield, it would have been a terrible thing, because it would have been stuck.

"rifling" can make the shell fire more accurate, and let the artillery gradually rise in the status of the war, becoming a very formidable force on the battlefield.

In fact, in the historical development, when the "rifled gun" gradually grew, the "smoothbore gun" should have to take a back seat, but the convex force that appeared at this time gradually made this configuration stronger, that is, the "armored force" represented by the "tank" in later generations, bringing new vitality to the "smoothbore gun".

Later generations proved that "tanks" and "armored vehicles" wanted to achieve greater rifling pressure and increase the firing range in the most primitive rapid advance, while "rifling" would consume a part of the energy before the shells could rotate gradually. After comparison, it was found that the "smoothbore gun" had a longer life and a simpler manufacturing process.

"Rifling" is the "soul" of the gun, and it can be divided into different kinds. In the long course of history, "rifling" has grown from scratch, from simple to complex. With its own distinctive characteristics, the "rifled gun" gradually moved to the stage of history, and naturally became the leader of the "soul of the gun".

However, the cost performance of the "smoothbore gun" may not be as good as that of the "rifled gun", because after Emperor Chongzhen gritted his teeth and cut the 500,000 taels of silver that had not yet been covered in his hands at the end, Xu Guangqi and his "foreigner assistants" actually thought of a sliding shoulder cannon without "breech" ignition and "loading".

This kind of "shoulder-mounted smoothbore gun" with a length of between four and six feet and a weight of tens of hundreds of catties is almost a copy of the "mortar" of later generations, because its "ammunition" is common to each other, and the "sub-gun" that is, the "warhead" is also stuffed with "black powder" and all kinds of broken iron, steel balls, and steel sheets, which is more convenient to excite.

In fact, the firing principle of the "mortar" is the same as that of ordinary guns, that is, the projectile movement is driven by "chamber pressure". When the "shell" is turned on the "safety" and the "fuse" is exposed, it is directly put into the barrel and falls to the "firing pin" at the bottom of the barrel, and the "explosive powder primer" at the tail of the shell will be stimulated by the "firing pin" to produce high-temperature and high-pressure gas, and then form a "chamber pressure" in the barrel, pushing the "shell" to accelerate the movement in the barrel.

The higher the "chamber pressure", the faster the movement of the shell, the greater the muzzle velocity, and the farther the firing distance. Therefore, the greater the "chamber pressure", the longer the firing range of the "mortar", this is the firing principle of the "mortar". It is a "low-pressure smoothbore gun", so the projectile flies with a curved trajectory.

Although Xu Guangqi did not know what a "ballistic curve" was, he learned a lot of mathematical knowledge from the "Westerners", especially the algorithms such as "trigonometric functions" and "spherical geometry", and knew that the "portable smoothbore gun" had different elevation angles and different firing ranges, and the maximum projectile distance was 45 degrees of elevation, which was amazing!

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Haha, thank you for your attention, collection, recommendation, subscription and review of this book! As an author, I am very happy and honored to provide readers with a novel that meets the needs of the general public. As the saying goes, "Life is short, but the tip of the pen is slender." "Therefore, the road to cultivation is long, where to find immortality? There is nowhere to go for troubles, and read the people in the book!

This story is pure fiction, if there are similarities, it is a coincidence! Friends, the part-time job is hard, the time is urgent, the creation is not easy, like the collection, by the way, forward, want to know the plot? Next time I break it down!