Chapter 211

"Boom!"

With this loud bang, an orange flame burst out from the barrel, the smoke and flames rolled up, the ground shook violently as if it were shaken, and the feet of the guys who were hiding in the distance to watch the excitement were weak, and they all turned into rolling gourds, and their ears buzzed as if they had been slapped hard!

There was also a lot of sand and gravel that was thrown up and fell like hailstones, making everyone look dusty, but everyone did not overreact to the dust on their faces, and their faces turned pale one by one, obviously frightened by the thunderous explosion!

Not only Cheng Shijie, but also the surrounding craftsmen and technicians, but also the workers in the factory of the Gun Bureau in the distance were also frightened, and they could be seen jumping from a distance of several hundred meters!

Don't blame them, the vast majority of people have never heard such a terrifying loud noise in their lives, and it is normal to be so frightened that their souls are not possessed. In the smoke of gunpowder, Cheng Shijie was still calm.

Because he knew the power of the shells of later generations, the current five-inch guns of 30 times the caliber of later generations, converted into units of later generations, are larger than the caliber of 155 mm howitzers, because the caliber is large enough, and the shells are large enough, and the shells of the 155 mm howitzers of later generations generally weigh between 40 kg and at least 50 kg, and the charge is also about 10 to 15 kg.

Although it is said that the artillery of the Ning Navy is far less advanced than that of later generations, the problem is that the gunpowder and warhead of the Ning Navy are now made of nitrocellulose.

This is a kind of explosive with great power, its power even exceeds TNT, even if it is the most perfect formula of black powder, its explosion is only equivalent to 30% of TNT, but the problem is that nitrocellulose is very sensitive, and it is easy to explode, if the environment is too wet, it will lose sensitivity, it is difficult to be detonated, and thus fail.

In the autumn of 1863, Nobel successfully invented nitroglycerin, and in October, he obtained a patent for nitroglycerin explosives and established the nitroglycerin explosives company.

Nitroglycerin is two or three times more powerful than black powder, and its appearance has made mankind truly equipped with explosives to make high-explosive shells. Before its appearance, the lethality of the so-called black powder was pitifully small, and it could only produce a dozen pieces of shrapnel at a time, and it was a dream to rely on this shrapnel to kill and injure enemy troops in large quantities.

But the problem is that nitroglycerin is so sensitive, so nitroglycerin is also called "pit daddy oil". The yellow solids made from nitroglycerin absorbed by something like diatomaceous earth or flour completely solve this problem, and yellow explosives are very safe.

The inventor of gunpowder in the Ning Navy is called Chen Yiming, Chen Yiming is a generation of fireworks craftsmen, starting from Chen Yiming's ancestor, Chen Shigui in the Hongwu period, and has been engaged in gunpowder work for generations. Because of the invention of granular black powder, which increased the power of gunpowder, Cheng Shijie rewarded him with 1,000 taels of silver and 200 acres of land.

Chen Yiming went crazy experiments, and as a result, nitrocellulose was mixed with nitric acid and cotton in the experiment, and nitrocellulose was made, Ning Haijun actually did not solve the absolute safety problem of nitrocellulose, but only adopted the isolation method, including this flowering cannonball, first of all, a small copper pipe, one end of the copper is water, one end is quicklime, and the middle is sealed with paraffin.

Nitrocellulose will explode at a temperature of more than 40 degrees, so when the shell falls on the ground or in the water, the paraffin in the copper pipe will pierce the paraffin film, and the chemical reaction between the water and the lime will produce a lot of heat, thus detonating the nitrocellulose.

That is to say, the explosive power of nitrocellulose is 1.5 times that of TNT, due to the large volume of nitrocellulose, under the same volume, the charge is not as good as TNT, so the power of both sides is actually about the same.

With the cylindrical shells fired from the five-inch breech-loading rifled gun, under the action of twelve riflings, they flew towards the woods south of the gun bureau in a right-hand rotation attitude, and only immediately followed the woods in front of them, and a large orange-red fireball rose.

Cheng Shijie didn't see how far the distance was, but he felt that it was at least more than 36,700 meters, and the range of this kind of artillery was much larger than that of a three-inch gun.

"Let's go over and have a look."

Cheng Shijie didn't even have time to let the observer report the results, so he rode on a horse and ran towards the place where the cannonball fell, Huang Lidong, Chen Yiming, and Luo Ruwang, the casting gunner who was responsible for the research and development of the five-inch new cannon, Luo Ruwang was a casting master brought by Sun Yuanhua, and when he was in Dengzhou, he could receive six hundred taels of silver from Sun Yuanhua a year, and this income in Dengzhou could be regarded as the top rate.

Cheng Shijie is even more wealthy, and his income has increased more than ten times, because he has seventy apprentices, and the cost of taking apprentices every month is more than 300 taels of silver, plus his salary and subsidies, there are more than 6,000 taels of silver.

Cheng Shijie has a point of view, that is, once the money is enough, the brain will inevitably be enlightened, and under the condition of Cheng Shijie's heavy reward, the scientific research level of Ning Haijun has improved rapidly.

After more than ten minutes, Cheng Shijie finally came to the explosion point of the shell, at this time it was as if swept by a tornado, dozens of hundreds of trees were blown to pieces, and one hundred and fifty steps away from the explosion point, there was actually shrapnel embedded in the tree pole.

It's pretty powerful.

The power of this five-inch cannon is really not covered, this kind of cross-era artillery, using nitrocell as a propellant, using nitrocellulose as an explosive warhead, as long as one hit, any sail battleship in this era can die! "Back to the commander, we have 3,782 steps in this test shot!"

In the Ming Dynasty, one step was five feet, equivalent to one hundred and fifty-seven .5 centimeters, and the range was nearly six thousand meters. Of course, this is not the maximum range of this artillery, the angle of fire is fundamentally different, it should be between 500 meters and 8,000 meters.

The era of artillery is coming.

Cheng Shijie saw that there was no way for the infantry to use this new five-inch gun, so he asked, "Luo Ruwang, how much does this cannon weigh?" ”

"Returning to the marshal, the total weight of this cannon is three thousand four hundred and sixty-two pounds!"

Cheng Shijie was silent when he heard this, in the Napoleonic era, the French four-pounder gun weighed 560 kilograms, that is, 1120 city catties, and it needed four horses to pull it, which was still based on the good quality of European horses and the reasonable structure of the gun carriage. On average, a Napoleonic artillery company was equipped with thirteen horses per gun.

With the situation of horses in the late Ming Dynasty, it was impossible for two horses to pull a five-inch cannon of 3,600 catties. In better road conditions, especially on the newly built official roads in southern Liaoning, there is no problem in pulling this kind of artillery, but it is impossible for all the artillery used by the infantry to take a good road, and it is also necessary to consider the situation that there is no road.

In this case, there is no way for the artillery of the Ning Navy to be equipped with five-inch guns, even if the power of this five-inch gun is huge, because the cannon is heavy, and the speed of the army is fundamental.

Just like the Jiannu army, there are actually a large number of artillery in the army, but the problem is that most of these artillery pieces are relatively heavy Hongyi cannons, weighing 3,000 catties and 5,000 catties.

What's more, the current Ning Navy Army does not have an urgent need, the crux of the problem is that this kind of five-inch gun is placed in later generations, and it also belongs to the level of heavy artillery, and loaded on a wooden sailing ship, can the sail warship withstand the huge recoil?

When Cheng Shijie asked about other data of this artillery, neither Luo Ruwang nor Huang Lidong could say a single reason, because the development method of this artillery is like noodles, more water and noodles, more noodles and more water, and such a monster is added.

In later generations, there is a saying that there is a way of mathematics to measure everything, but the problem is that the mathematics of Ming craftsmen is generally not good, and Cheng Shijie's mathematics is barely average, but in the Ming Dynasty, he can crush most of the mathematics masters.

In desperation, this new five-inch cannon can only be installed on the giant shark class to slowly experiment.

"You have done a very good job, the success of the five-inch rifled gun, you have made a great contribution, with this sharp weapon, our army may be able to turn the tide of a battle and save the lives of thousands of soldiers!"

Cheng Shijie is most concerned about the question: "How much can this five-inch cannon make?" ”

"Dashuai means ......"

"Two months!"

Cheng Shijie is ready to hit Zheng Zhilong by surprise at the end of December, that is, taking advantage of the Chinese New Year, otherwise if he doesn't do it, he will be beaten to death.

Now that Cheng Shijie is deliberately shouting and shouting in Liaodong, it is certain that Zheng Zhilong has a lot of eyeliner in Liaodong, and Cheng Shijie's every move cannot hide from them, so that Zheng Zhilong can be given an illusion.

Cheng Shijie couldn't help Zheng Zhilong, so he could only beg for cheapness in his mouth.

"Six Gates!"

"No, at least twelve!"

"Marshal, this cannon problem is too ......"

Without waiting for Luo Ruwang to finish speaking, Cheng Shijie said: "We currently have two giant shark-class warships that will be in the ranks, and this commander is going to install five-inch guns on them!" ”

After coming out of the Gun Bureau, Cheng Shijie visited the gunpowder factory of the Gun Bureau, which was producing gunpowder around the clock.

At present, the application of new explosives nitrocellulose is becoming more and more extensive, and it is inseparable from mining and road construction, and even used it to blow up those treacherous reefs on the waterway and dredge the waterway, so the business of the gunpowder factory is booming.

Ships of nitric acid, cotton, tar, flour, and yellow phosphorus were sent over, and then turned into cotton wool, collodion glue, and other things that were necessary to kill people and goods. For example, fire wool and nitrocellulose are stored in the arsenal, and fire wool is the propellant of bullets and shells of the Gun and Artillery Bureau, and the demand is very huge.

"How much stock do we have now?"

Chen Yiming replied: "We only have 50,000 catties of inventory now, which is divided into three warehouses: Dongshan, Nanshan, and Lantau Island. You have to use some of it, it's dangerous and space-consuming to pile up in the warehouse......"

"Don't worry, Ben Shuai will take care of it."

Cheng Shijie knew that once he started a fight with Zheng Zhilong, the demand for gunpowder would definitely increase greatly, 50,000 catties sounded like a lot, but the problem was only 25 tons of gunpowder.

"The storage capacity of 50,000 catties is not enough, far from enough. Ben Shuai needs you to immediately increase the production of full horsepower, and the strategic reserve needs at least 100,000 catties or more. ”

Overall, Cheng Shijie was very satisfied with the results of this inspection, his military factory already had a fairly large production capacity, and he had also accumulated a considerable amount of ammunition stockpile, which was enough for him to fight a big war.

Satisfied Boss Cheng once again rewarded those active craftsmen and skilled workers, and then left satisfied, heading to the Agricultural Science Research Institute in Zhenhai City.

Chen Zilong, Song Yingxing and a large number of agricultural technical experts of the West French Party are in full swing.

At the beginning, Cheng Shijie was also worried that the more than 100 agricultural experts would leave southern Liaoning, so he specially ordered the garrison soldiers of the Zhenhai Garrison Bureau who were responsible for protecting them to stop them and report to Cheng Shijie as soon as possible.

As a result, Cheng Shijie thought too much, although Xu Guangqi taught a large number of agricultural students, but the problem was that Xu Guangqi did not have a large amount of money to support their research.

When they were in Shanghai, they didn't even have an experimental field, but Cheng Shijie was very generous, and directly allocated them a county town in Xinghai, not only providing more than 2 million mu of land, these lands have both excellent dry land, excellent paddy fields, hills, grasslands, and even a large number of primeval forests, and transferred 5,000 military households in Tuntian to accept their command.

It not only solves the education problem of the children of these technical experts for Zhenhai Academy, but also provides them with good living conditions, good living conditions, and sufficient scientific research funds. These agronomic experts, who are devoted to research, have a very happy time.

When Cheng Shijie arrived, Chen Zilong was still worried that the hybrid wheat and rice they were engaged in would not bear fruit, so he took Cheng Shijie to a research group to develop pesticides.

Of course, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, it belonged to the abnormal weather of the Xiaoice River, and there were many pests and diseases, which were simply endless, especially the yellow spots, although in Liaodong in the six years of Chongzhen, there was no drought and no rain and flooding. But the problem is that in most areas of Shandong and Henan, there is a certain amount of macular disease.

Based on the experience of farmers for many years, these agricultural experts have formulated several kinds of farmer's medicines, such as wheat mixed with castor oil, spirits and even tobacco water before sowing, which will greatly increase the resistance to diseases. Another example is to use the fruit or root of the cupola to grind into powder and water and spray wine on the crops, which can kill a large number of pests and so on.

At least half of the credit for such a good harvest in Ningjun's military fields this year is due to these pesticides. The advantage of this pesticide is that it is pure natural, there will be no pesticide residues, and you can eat it with confidence once the expiration date has passed, even if there are pesticide residues, people now will not care. In order to survive, even Guanyin soil is eaten correctly, will you be afraid of this little pesticide residue?

What makes Cheng Shijie feel most incredible is that he just put forward a concept, and now they have built a greenhouse, although there is no plastic sheeting, but they have made a greenhouse with glass. In the middle of winter, it also grows bright greens, shiny red tomatoes, and even thick and long cucumbers.

In the eyes of the people of Liaodong, these agricultural experts who get together all day long without doing their business and mess up some messy things are simply gods!

Under the leadership of Chen Zilong, Cheng Shijie watched the pesticide research institute, and then came to the greenhouse outside Zhenhai City, where the greenhouse has hundreds of acres in size, in fact, Cheng Shijie is not curious about the greenhouse, he has seen this kind of thing a lot in later generations. He was very satisfied with the results of the work of the Agricultural Research Institute, and he did not waste the 450,000 taels of silver he gave every year.

You must know that this is nearly one-twentieth of the Ming Dynasty's fiscal revenue, no wonder these agricultural experts are reluctant to leave southern Liaoning, this is completely Cheng Shijie's ability to make money.

……

More than a dozen transport ships affiliated with the Shachuan Gang or the Ning Navy entered the port of Xiamen in despair under the escort of the Zheng family's fleet, and the goods worth hundreds of thousands of taels of silver all became the Zheng family's trophies.

A group of sailors happily carried several boxes of the most exquisite goods onto the trestle, and the person in charge of this operation was none other than Shi Daxuan, one of the Eighteen Zhizhi, Shi Daxuan was not famous among the Eighteen Zhizhi, and he had a son who was very famous, the big traitor Shi Lang.

Shi Daxuan said to Zheng Zhilong, who was waiting here: "Lord Admiral, the person surnamed Cheng has sent us more than 100,000 taels of silver!" ”

Zheng Zhilong squatted down, picked up a few goods and looked at them with interest, and said, "Yes, they are all very valuable goods!" Is that all? ”

"The biggest thing is actually grain, and raw silk!"

Shi Daxuan said excitedly: "Lord Admiral, guess how much grain there is?" ”

"How many?"

"Sixteen boats, totaling more than 64,000 stones!"

Zheng Zhilong smiled: "I also want to thank the person surnamed Cheng for helping me raise soldiers!" ”

Zheng Zhilong told the truth, these grains are all good rice, although the value is not high, because Jiangnan is rich in rice, but the problem is that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, if there is food, you have everything, you can recruit soldiers, and you can hoard for profit.

Zheng Zhilong will not sell these grains, although he has more than 100,000 people to give him tuntian, but the grain produced is barely enough to eat, let alone eat well and be full.

Zheng Zhilong earns most of the money every year is used to purchase warships and artillery, you must know that Zheng Zhilong does not have his own R&D team and his own factory, and Zheng Zhilong has three shipyards, but the problem is that he can't make his own guns, these guns need to be purchased from the Dutch or the British.

Of course, the British did not have good intentions, and Britain and the Spanish Empire fought a great naval battle more than fifty years ago, the Battle of Gravoline, and after the naval battle, Britain did not have enough financial resources to support these huge navies, so they had to retire step by step. You must know that this is a battleship with more than 3,000 naval guns, and although the battleship is decayed, the naval guns can still be used.

These fifty or sixty-year-old naval guns were not cheap when they were sold to Zheng Zhilong, one cost two or three thousand taels of silver, and ten guns were twenty or thirty thousand taels of silver. In addition to the fact that naval guns are expensive, shells are not cheap either.

It can be said that most of the protection money collected by Zheng Zhilong, in addition to partly supporting the army and partly satisfying his luxurious life, returned to Europa.

Zheng Zhilong's 200,000 troops, the navy is better, and most of the army is slightly stronger than the Ming army, and they can't eat well, so they can only eat two meals a day.

Zheng Zhilong looked at the materials and said: "These woolen cloths, as well as carriages and timber, contact the buyers in Jiangnan and sell them at a 20% discount!" ”

"Great!"

Shi Daxuan pointed at these sailors and said, "These guys ......"

"As for these guys......"

Zheng Zhilong pointed to the frightened Guangdong sailors, "Can you throw it into the sea to feed the fish!" I want to see if they are really not afraid of death, and dare to ignore my warnings again and again and set sail! ”

Zheng Zhilong's eldest son, Zheng Sen, couldn't help but persuade: "Father, is it necessary to do things like this?" They all paid protection money to our Zheng family, and we not only robbed their goods, but also took their lives, what will the maritime merchants in other places think when they find out? ”

"I don't care what they think, in short, I don't want to see a sea ship sail out of Guangzhou, bypassing us and trading directly with Xiyi, even if it pays us protection money!" Zheng Zhilong patted Zheng Sen's shoulder hard, and said in a deep and deep voice: "Sen'er, you must remember that there can only be one king in this sea!" ”

At this moment, a captured sailor said: "We are the people of the Ning Navy, we have robbed our goods, we can still negotiate, but if we kill our people, there is no way to do anything good about this matter!" ”

"I don't believe that Cheng Shijie dares to be my enemy!"

Speaking from the heart, Zheng Zhilong still admires Cheng Shijie, and there are really too few people who can make Jiannu suffer repeatedly. However, now he has gone to the opposite side of Cheng Shijie, which is also due to interests, when throwing a group of sailors from the Shachuan Gang into the sea, he has no psychological burden, for him, this is just a means of putting pressure on Cheng Shijie and the entire Liaodong.

Having said that, Zheng Zhilong did not throw more than 600 soldiers of the Ning Navy into the sea, but threw more than 1,000 people from the Sand Boat Gang into the sea......

As an old opponent of the Shachuan Gang, Shen Boyun is not a person who can only be beaten, he also has a large number of eyeliner in Xiamen and Quanzhou, and the news of Zheng Zhilong's killing in Xiamen also reached Cheng Shijie's ears through Shen Boyun.

"Dashuai, you must avenge your brothers!"

Shen Boyun hugged Cheng Shijie's thighs, crying with tears and snot.

Cheng Shijie faced this situation, he really didn't want to wait, whether Emperor Chongzhen gave him authorization or not, the person who killed Cheng Shijie must go to war.

"Go to war!"

Cheng Shijie officially issued an order on the second day of November in the sixth year of Chongzhen.

The Liaodongning Navy began its overall mobilization, and a large number of workers shouted trumpets at the South Port Wharf of Lushun Port, the North Port Wharf of Lushun Port, the East Port of Jinzhou, and the Wharf of West Port of Jinzhou, running around the wharf like flying, carrying boxes of heavy supplies onto the ship.

The major warehouses were also opened, and truckloads of canned food, dry rations, artillery shells, bullets, explosives, raincoats, shoes and socks, quilts, and other military supplies were transported to the wharf.

However, at this time, on the eighth day of the first month of November, the imperial court's decree was officially issued. Gao Qiqian personally came over to announce the decree, ordering the elite of the Ning Navy to move south, exterminate the pirates in the South China Sea, and ensure the safety of the people in the coastal areas.

PS: There was something temporary last night, and there must be one at twelve o'clock in the evening, if you don't write it out, you can wash your hair upside down.

(End of chapter)