0532, rear-loading artillery

Xu Fengxian, 57 years old, from Zhenhai, Zhejiang. The governor of the shipyard of the Xiong family's military division is equivalent to the treatment of the second rank of the imperial court.

The ancestors of the Xu family had four boat ponds (docks) in Zhenhai, which were able to build Guangdong ships, centipede ships, eagle ships, and mother ships.

In the 40th year of Jiajing (1561), Wen Zhijie of Ningtai, Qi Jiguang, Hu Zhen and other warships fought in close combat with Japanese ships, sank and rammed more than 10 enemy ships, and burned 5 enemy ships.

This time, the main battle ship that Qi Jiguang was on, the Guangfu ship, was 1,900 materials, 26 zhang in length, and the maximum width of the ship's side was 10 zhang 8 feet 5 inches, which can be called a super giant, and it came from the hands of the Xu family.

The battle was a complete victory, and Xu Fengxian's grandfather thought that the good days of the Xu family had come, because the imperial court needed to fight against the Japanese at sea, and the Xu family would definitely need to build ships.

Unfortunately, it backfired, although Qi Jiguang and Hu Zhen won the naval battle, the edict issued by the imperial court was: "Pian Fan must not go to the sea, and the coastal people will move no less than 120 miles inward, and starve to death the Japanese pirates and the Franji pirates." ”

For thousands of years, the coastal people have relied on the sea for food, and there is no other means of livelihood. The Donglin Party in the imperial court brought disaster to the country and the people to ban the sea, not only led to the entire coastal barrenness, but also the people starved to death by hundreds of thousands, and more than 40,000 people were forced to become pirates.

"If I knew this, I would never help Qi Jiguang build a big boat, but a small boat. As long as the Japanese invaders survive for one day, the imperial court cannot ban the sea. Although the Japanese killed tens of thousands of people, they did not have as many people as killed by the imperial court's ban on the sea. How many fishing villages have all died, this is a good thing done by the Ming Dynasty. ”

These words were not said by Xu Fengxian, but he relayed to Prince Xiong the last words of his grandfather before he died.

Of course, Prince Xiong could hear the great grief and indignation contained in this, as well as a huge regret that he could not turn a blind eye.

"Lord Xu, the imperial court has done a lot of unpopular things, so we need to remedy it. Now those pirates from Portugal, Holland, and England are not far ahead, and I need you to build ships, the bigger the better, the faster the better. ”

Xiong Chu looked at a brand-new three-masted ship on the river, and his tone was a little urgent, revealing infinite anxiety.

Xu Fengxian is close to sixty years old, and the beard on his chin flutters in the wind, but he looks energetic and energetic: "Lord, it's useless to be in a hurry about this matter." If you really want to build a big ship, you have to be on the edge of the sea. Building a ship on the riverside, it's a big deal. ”

"Lord, please see, this is a gunboat that has reached its limit, and it can't be fully loaded, otherwise it will run aground. This is the ship that my grandfather planned to build for Qi Jiguang back then, but unfortunately there was no iron sandalwood at that time, let alone golden silk sandalwood and red sandalwood, and it was not realized in the end. ”

"It's different now, more than 20,000 people went into the mountains to cut wood, and then floated down the river, so I decided to build this 1,800-material warship first, which can be regarded as a comfort for my grandfather's spirit in the sky. ”

"This is a new ship that combines the advantages of Portuguese, Cantonese and Fu ships, and was designed by my grandfather himself. The total length is 24 zhang, the maximum width of the freeboard is 8 zhang 4 feet 8 inches, and the pointed bottom is square-headed fishtail. Not only is it fast, but there are twenty-four secret cabins at the bottom of the ship, which will not sink. ”

"On the lowest floor of the freeboard, there are a total of sixteen five-inch red-coated cannons, each of which is three thousand six hundred catties plus the gun carriage, and the firing range is five miles and seventeen paces. Two doors are installed in the bow and seven on each side. As long as it can hit the enemy ship, it can be destroyed directly. ”

"On the second floor of the freeboard, there are a total of twenty-four four-inch red-coated cannons, each of which is 1,200 pounds plus the gun carriage, and the firing range is four miles and thirty-nine steps. Two doors are installed in the bow and eleven doors on each side. The artillery of the first and second tiers was specially prepared for naval battles. ”

"Thirty-two short-range tiger squat guns were arranged on the deck, as well as special rockets and crossbow arrows, which were weapons prepared for close combat. These equipment are generally not used in naval battles, but they can come in handy when fighting enemies on both sides of the river. ”

Xiong Chu looked along Xu Fengxian's right hand, only to find that four gun ports suddenly appeared in the bow of the ship, and the gun barrels were stretched out, divided into two layers, and the black muzzles made people shudder.

"So these cannon ports are usually closed?" Xiong Chu felt a little incredible.

Xu Fengxian smiled: "Of course. There are very strong winds and waves at sea, and if there is no enemy, the muzzle of the gun is closed, which on the one hand protects against wind and waves, and on the other hand, it increases the speed of the voyage. Of course, the most important thing for this warship to be able to exert its power is to thank Lord Meng Fan. ”

Xiong Chu knew that the so-called Lord Meng Fan was the evil Taoist Meng Fan: "Lord Xu, how can your shipbuilding have anything to do with that evil Taoist priest? As far as I know, that guy doesn't know what a warship is." ”

Xu Fengxian shook his head: "The lord is wrong. Ships of war, that is what is meant to be used for fighting. To be able to harness the power of a warship, you need tailor-made artillery. It just so happened that Master Meng Fan actually came up with a brand-new artillery, which was simply a stroke of genius and incredible. Yes, it's incredible, the old decay has gained insight this time. ”

Prince Xiong suddenly became interested: "Is there such a thing?" Lord Xu quickly took me over to have a look!"

"The ship is making the final sails, and we can't go up for the time being. If the lord wants to see the artillery, let's go to the back hillside, where there are two batteries, and when there is an enemy, we can fight, and when there is no enemy, it is a place to test artillery. Equipped with the latest artillery, it is simply breathtaking. ”

There are not many opportunities for Xiong Chu to see the red-clothed cannon, if you really want to talk about it, you have seen it in Zhennan City. Although there are four and eight red-clothed cannons in Hengyang Royal City, they are all on the city wall, and Xiong Chu can't go up.

But the new artillery he saw today was completely different from what he had seen before.

Prince Xiong noticed at a glance that something was wrong: "Where did they get so much white copper?"

It was a bronze cannon seven feet two inches long, five inches in muzzle, divided into three sections, and it looked silvery. It's not like a weapon, it's like a handicraft.

The reason why it appears to be divided into three sections is that the first section is much thinner, the middle section begins to thicken, and the last section is at least three times thicker than the first.

What Xiong Chu couldn't understand was that this gun had two shelves. At the bottom of the third section of the artillery were four small iron wheels of about five inches, all of which fell into the grooves of two cast irons.

Two chains connected the cannon to the groove underneath, about six feet away.

It is clear that this gun can slide back and forth along the groove.

There was also a brass two-wheeled frame underneath, with wheels about two feet in diameter, and the gun was on the frame.

Just when Xiong Chu was getting more and more confused, a strange cry came from behind him: "Oh, why does Childe have time to come and see my toys today?"

"I just said, as long as there is a place where you are an evil sect Taoist, there will definitely be a lot of evil things. Tell me what kind of strange cannon this is, it's completely different from the original red-coated cannon, and I haven't understood it after looking at it for a long time. Also, copper is so scarce, you actually use it to cast cannons, is it too much?"

Although Xiong Chu joked, he had a heartfelt respect for Meng Fan. If nothing else, just snake venom mines, that's the achievement of genius.

"Is white copper scarce? white copper is not at all!" Meng Fan stretched out his hand and patted the muzzle of the cannon: "These are all new varieties that my brothers have made out of their endless alchemy." When did you give me something, you stingy boy?"

Xiong Chu smiled exaggeratedly: "Haha, you're right. I want to say that when I first met you, I didn't have anything. If you want to engage in any crooked ways, you have to figure out all of them yourself. As for the alchemy of your senior brothers, you actually refined white copper, which is enough for the evil sect, and what is even more evil is that you use it to cast cannons. ”

Meng Fan shook his head and said helplessly: "This is also a matter of no choice. Lord Xu is here, he needs to use artillery on the sea, and the first thing is to prevent rust. My brothers and sisters, in the process of iron-making and copper-making, the first thing to consider is rust prevention. ”

Xiong Chu nodded: "Those brothers have worked hard, I remember them all." Now tell me, what kind of cannon are yours, and why is it different from what I saw before?"

Meng Fan's two eyes suddenly lit up: "Childe, this is right, this is an idea that our more than 100 senior brothers have come up with in two years, and it is still being further improved." This is called a breech-loading gun and consists of three parts. ”

"Childe, please think about it, if you want to operate the cannon in the warship, if you clean the chamber after every shot, then you must drag the cannon back, and then you have been busy for a long time before the second shot has been fired, maybe the enemy's warship has already come up. ”

"There's so little space in the cabin that you can't fight if you turn it upside down like this. In terms of actual combat, the artillery of all warships can only fire one shot and have nothing to do. ”

"For this reason, my brothers and I put forward an idea: to clean the barrel from the back, there is no need to move the cannon around, let alone reduce the impact of the muzzle on the hit rate. It's easier said than done. ”

"In the past, the bottom bolt of the red-coat cannon was welded to death, and if you want to clean the chamber from behind, you must make the bottom bolt of the cannon movable and ready to open at any time. However, the bottom bolt is used to hold the air, and once it is active, it will run away, which will affect the range. ”

"We did it more than 700 times, and after nine explosions and more than 40 deaths, we slowly found a solution to the problem of holding our breath. That is, the bottom bolt is cast separately, and neither iron nor copper can be used, because it cannot be closed when it is hard to touch. It just so happened that there was nothing else on Chu Xiong's side, that is, there were many tins and many silvers. ”

"Tin and silver are very soft, and they deform when you exert force. After continuous experiments, our bottom bolt was finally formed, which is the iron bowl tin convex, that is, a tin plug is added to the bottom bolt of the iron bowl to plug the barrel, and then riveted on both sides of the gun body. ”

"The bottom bolt was able to move, and if it was only used to facilitate the cleaning of the chamber, it would be a bit unmarkable, so we decided to completely overturn the way the redcoat cannon fired, reload the shells and gunpowder from behind, and then lock the bottom bolt up and rivet. ”

Meng Fan spoke eloquently, and Xiong Chu was tense when he heard it, and tears came down.

The facts are very clear, although Meng Fan said it very lightly, he didn't know how many dangers he had encountered in the process. In just nine explosions, more than 40 people died. The cannon I saw in front of me was all piled up with life.

Who is the most honorable?

People like Meng Fan, as well as the more than forty warriors who gave their lives to forge cannons, are the loveliest people.

"Now, according to the firing range, we have made gunpowder packs of different weights in advance, which are divided into four types of powder packs with a range of five miles, four miles, three miles, and two miles. The shells were all made of lead and weighed eighty-one pounds. ”

"Now there is a safer way to open the gun, and that is to use a powder pack with a range of four miles. If a powder pack with a range of five miles is used, there is a risk of exploding the chamber if you fire more than six shots in a row. ”

"As for the chute of the gun carriage, it is usually fixed, and the cannon can only slide back and forth, so that there is no need to adjust the direction of fire frequently, and the hit rate can be guaranteed. After trial and error, a skilled gunner can fire nine shots in a row within half an hour. ”

"A battleship cannon requires a charger, a loader, two bombers, two riveters, a ripper, two reset hands, and an igniter. Plus a commander, one cannon needs eleven people. ”

This book was first published from 17K Novel Network, and the first time to see the genuine content!I734