Chapter 529: Moving like a rabbit, swift like thunder

“You can buy sulfur from Japan…”

At the seminar, someone suddenly said.

"Japan?"

"Iwo Jima?"

Zhang Zhun subconsciously talked to himself.

That's right, Japan does have sulfur, the famous Iwo Jima! There are so many volcanoes in Japan, and the sulfur production is indeed very large. However, this statement is unrealistic. Iwo Jima is on the sea thousands of kilometers away. With the strength of the Tiger Army Navy, it will take at least a few years to arrive. In addition, maritime trade with Japan is currently monopolized by the Zheng Zhilong Pirate Group. If you interfere in Japan's trade at this time, it will inevitably stimulate Zheng Zhilong and attract the other party's full suppression.

The current Hu Ben Navy is still unable to confront Zheng Zhilong Pirate Group head-on, so it is not beneficial to over-stimulate the other party. At present, it can only be used to collect sulfur through as many channels as possible. As long as you go through a certain relationship, you should be fine. There should be no problem in obtaining enough sulfur supply from the court. Rumors in the world, as long as you have money, there is nothing you can't buy from the court, including official positions.

In terms of collecting nitrate, improvements should be made. Some people suggest that the feces should be processed in a compost method, and the urine should be poured regularly, so that the quantitative amount of nitrate crystals can be collected stably. The content of nitrate in the black gunpowder component is the highest. As long as the yield of nitrate increases, the yield of black gunpowder can be quickly increased.

"We must work hard to increase the production of gunpowder to more than 5,000 kilograms per day."

Zhang Zhun made clear requests.

A 5,000 kilogram of black gunpowder is produced every day, which is nearly two million kilograms a year, and it should be able to temporarily meet the needs of battle. Of course, war preparation materials such as black gunpowder are more and more good. As long as there are conditions, you must hoard them desperately in case of unexpected needs.

The use of Minnie bombs is of course a paper shell-filled gunpowder. In battle, soldiers only need to bite the paper shell and pour the gunpowder into the gunpowder pool. The amount of paper shell-filled gunpowder is fixed, which is conducive to the soldiers controlling the amount and there will be no accidents in the explosion. Therefore, the production of paper shell-filled gunpowder is also the top priority.

A skilled worker can also produce more than 3,000 pieces of paper-shelled gunpowder every day. Only one hundred skilled workers can basically meet the needs of the army's combat. What needs to be improved now is the logistics distribution system. The ammunition must be distributed in a timely manner according to the needs of the front-line army.

The packaging of paper shell gunpowder is a box of one box, each box is one thousand rounds, which corresponds to a box of Minnie bullets. A box of Minnie bullets is also one thousand pieces. After the paper shell gunpowder is packaged, it will be sent to the craftsman workshop and then matched with Minnie bullets. Three boxes of Minnie bullets and three boxes of paper shell gunpowder are packed together by a larger box and then sent to the front line together.

According to the experience of using the front line, such a large box just meets the basic needs of a small team of soldiers. A small team of the Tiger Army has about 60 people, each carrying a base (50 rounds) of ammunition, which happens to be three thousand Minnie bullets and three thousand rounds of paper-shell gunpowder. Therefore, such a large box is also called a small team base.

Generally speaking, each team will have an ammunition reserve of up to four large boxes, that is, four ammunition bases, but it will definitely not exceed five. Unless there are large-scale wars, they need to continue to fight. In fact, each soldier carries four ammunition bases and can hold on for a long time. The troops reserve too much ammunition, which will only cause some unnecessary troubles.

During the Huangxian War, the Hu Ben Army consumed a lot of black gunpowder, mainly consumed by cannons, explosives, and landmines. The soldiers did not use much Minnie bullet. It seemed that Liu Mang was definitely a fast gunner, a guy who could shoot six times a minute. However, before the Huangxian War, the four base ammunition he carried had a total of 100 rounds after the battle. In other words, it could support another Huangxian War.

Judging from the delivery of ammunition, it looks like a later army. The only regret is that the bullets and launching drugs are still separated. This greatly delays the launch speed. In terms of launch efficiency, the borehole gun is much behind the bream gun. Unfortunately, there has been no progress in the research on rake mercury. I am afraid that it will be impossible for bream guns to appear in the next three to five years.

However, the powerful Minnie gun, coupled with strict training and clear system of reward and punishment, should be invincible as long as the commander is not very stupid. The key factor that determines the war is always human. The weapons and equipment of the Ming army are actually much more advanced than the Tartars, but they have been defeated repeatedly. The reason is that the court is too corrupt and the army is too corrupt.

After some Ming troops surrendered to the Tartars, their combat effectiveness increased significantly because the Tartars' military merit rewards were relatively fair and effectively stimulated the combat effectiveness of the troops. This was a huge irony for the Ming court. In fact, the Ming Dynasty finally failed in its own hands.

The biggest problem of the Ming army was that talented people had no chance to make a name for themselves. It was like Huang Shijun of the Tianjin Navy and Li Zhaohui of the Guanning Iron Cavalry, they were all very capable people. However, they seemed out of place in the Ming army's ranks. Because they were unwilling to join in and were excluded. People with virtue and talent were excluded, and people with no virtue and talent occupied a high position. This was the greatest sorrow of the Ming Dynasty.

After leaving the gunpowder factory, Zhang Zhun went to the artillery factory next to him.

At the beginning, when arranging military production, Zhang Zhun consciously circled a large place in the remote open space outside the east gate of the city near the foot of Laoshan Mountain, and set up the craftsman workshop, gunpowder factory, and artillery factory here. Such a unified structure is conducive to the coordination of the Ordnance Department, communication between various production departments, and confidentiality.

In this area, idle people are prohibited from entering. A large warning sign and a gaze outpost guard are set up far away outside. Some new military facilities will be arranged here in the future. Over time, this place has become a military restricted area that everyone knows. Most people will not approach here easily to avoid accidents.

"Bang!"

As soon as Zhang Zhun entered the gunpowder factory, he heard a huge cannon sound.

The sound was very shocking, as if it was thunder. If the guess was right, it should be the sound of the Red Cannon. Ordinary flying dragon cannons did not have such a shocking sound.

"Where cannons?" Zhang Zhun asked.

"Governor, at the artillery test site in the back mountain, there are red cannons." Someone immediately answered next to him.

It turned out that Sun Qinkai was testing the red cannon pulled back. On the same day, Sun Qinkai led his men to pull a red cannon from Huangxian to study and copy the missing parts. Zhang Zhun had learned about the progress of the work before, saying that after a period of research, these parts had been basically copied, but some details were not up to standard, and the long-term effective use of the red cannon could not be guaranteed. Now, since the red cannon cannon cannon cannons cannons be fired, it means that there should be no major problems with the parts.

Zhang Zhun excitedly accelerated and quickly arrived at the test site in the back mountain.

The test gun field in the back mountain is a bit desolate, with weeds everywhere. At first glance, it looks very messy. The test fire of the Red Cannon is not a trivial matter. The range of the Red Cannon is at least ten miles. To complete the range test of the ten miles, the test gun field must have such a long distance. Therefore, this test gun field occupies the entire ravine. Anyway, Laoshan is mostly a place with few people. It is not a big problem to draw a ravine to test the gun specifically.

At this moment, in the open space on the west side of the test gun field, a group of people were crowded together, surrounding a huge red cannon. The gun mouth of the red cannon was still emitting white smoke outside. Obviously, it was shortly after it was launched.

The cannon was tested against the mountains. Maybe it had been tested many times before, and the opposite mountains looked bare, as if they were the head of a scalypse, which was very ugly. Most of the trees were knocked out by grape bullets. Some trees were directly interrupted by solid bullets, leaving only half of the stumps. There were more trees broken by chain bullets. The cuts of the trees broken by solid bullets were very rough and ugly. On the contrary, the cuts of the chain bullets were very flat, as if they were cut off by a knife.

"The Governor is here!"

Someone noticed Zhang Zhun's figure and hurriedly shouted.

"Governor!"

Sun Qinkai and others hurriedly turned around.

In addition to the artillery factory's own craftsmen, there were also Mo Ru and several other senior officers from the artillery battalions. It can be seen that they were also very excited. With the help of the Red Barbarian cannons, the power of the artillery battalion will definitely increase. When encountering the Tartars again in the future, it will be the Tartars' turn to enjoy the rampant red barbarian cannons.

Zhang Zhun jumped off the horse, held Sun Qinkai's hand, and asked happily: "Are all the missing parts copied?"

Sun Qinkai said happily: "It has lived up to expectations and it has been copied."

Zhang Zhun praised, "You are all meritorious ministers."

The other craftsmen were very happy and came up to shake hands with Zhang Zhun.

In the past period, they have indeed made great efforts and have been studying the parts of the Red Cannon day and night. Although the Red Cannon as a prototype can be used to measure it frequently, the Red Cannon is not an ordinary Flang machine cannon after all, and it cannot be easily repaired. In other words, it is really difficult to copy these parts. Some parts have been repeatedly tested to finally achieve satisfactory results.

Zhang Zhun said excitedly: "Come on! Let's take three consecutive shots to see the effect!"

Sun Qinkai said: "Okay!"

Mo Ru was a good artillery player, so he naturally left the work of firing. He took several other gunners to quickly adjust the angle and distance of the cannon, then loaded solid bullets inside and fired medicine.

There is a detail to be mentioned here. In the era of black gunpowder, in addition to the height and low angle of the muzzle, there is another very important data, which is the number of emitted drugs. Within the allowable chamber pressure, the more charges, the farther the emission distance will be. Conversely, the less charges, the shorter the emission distance. Only when the inclination of the muzzle and the amount of gunpowder cooperate with each other can the final range be determined.

In the era when there was no quantitative charge, the launching medicine was usually measured with a spoon, one spoon, two spoons, three spoons...ranging from it. Therefore, when firing cannons, you can often hear commands such as "twenty degrees, three spoons", "fifteen degrees, five spoons". In addition to professional artillery, ordinary people really can't understand it. Zhang Zhun also heard strange things at the beginning, but later he found out what was going on.

In the fierce battle, the spoon may be loaded unevenly, some more, some less, or half of the gunpowder in the spoon may be sprinkled out by shaking hands. It may also be because of nervousness that the amount of spoons is forgotten. Five spoons are needed, but only four spoons are needed. Or four spoons are needed, but five spoons are needed. In this way, the range of the cannon will be incorrect.

Now, Mo Ru and Sun Qinkai have made detailed regulations on the amount of gunpowder based on the experience of paper-shell gunpowder from the Hu Ben Army. They also use paper-shells to load parts of gunpowder according to different chamber pressure requirements. The amount of gunpowder contained is different. When calculating the range, you only need to use appropriate amounts of launching medicine based on the angle of the muzzle and the corresponding chamber pressure.

This kind of launch method was indeed a bit difficult at the beginning. As we all know, the cultural level of artillery battalions soldiers is not high, and it is even more difficult to make a calculation. However, based on his own research, Mo Ru formulated a corresponding table and listed the twelve most commonly used main launch methods. Each one should adopt the corresponding code for the muzzle height and the chamber pressure.

This code name is the twelve zodiac signs that everyone likes, including rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog and pig. The further the code name, the smaller the amount of gunpowder in the paper shell, the smaller the pressure of the chamber. The further the code name, the greater the amount of gunpowder in the paper shell, the greater the pressure of the chamber.

For example, the amount of gunpowder code-named "Rat" is less than two pounds, so the solid bomb can be barely dropped half an inside and out. The amount of gunpowder code-named "Pig" is a full nine pounds, and the solid bomb can be dropped ten miles away. At that time, as long as the commander reports the height of the muzzle and the code of the chamber pressure according to the range needs, the gunner can operate blindly.

For example, if you want to shoot a target five thousand meters (ten miles) away, the launch command for the solid bullet should be "forty-five degrees, pig", that is, the muzzle height is forty-five degrees, and the charge code-named "pig". If you want to shoot a target three hundred meters away, the launch command for the solid bullet should be "five degrees, rat", that is, the muzzle height is five degrees, and the charge code-named "rat". Chain bullets and grape bullets are different.

Over time, the officers and soldiers became familiar with such commands. After conditioned reflexes, they could react immediately and greatly accelerate the shooting time. Using such commands, the firing speed of the Red Cannon can be accelerated to about one shot per minute. Such a firing speed is twice as high as before.

"Bang!"

With a loud bang, a dazzling fire broke out from the muzzle of the Red Cannon.

The solid bullet burst out and roared towards the opposite mountains.

"puff!"

On the opposite mountain, a tree stump was smashed to pieces.

The trunk on this tree stump has been broken, leaving only a piece of the stump, probably a man hugged it so wide. The solid bullet hit the stump, causing great damage, and wood chips fly around, and the entire stump was knocked out a lot.

"Good fight!"

Zhang Zhun put down the Qianli Mile Mile and said with satisfaction.

Zhang Zhun was still satisfied with such power. If he hit the city wall, he could definitely break a hole. An important purpose of the Red Cannon is to attack the city. For example, attack Dengzhou City. Therefore, the stronger the impact and destructive power, the better. As long as the power of the Red Cannon is enough, it can blow the walls of Dengzhou City, and Dorgon and Duoduo who are hiding inside have no ability to resist at all.

"Change grape bullet!"

"Twenty degrees, snake!"

Mo Ru shouted quickly.

Soon, the grape bomb and the launching medicine were loaded.

"Bang!"

With a loud bang, a dazzling flame burst out from the muzzle again.

After the grapes ejected out, they stretched out quickly.

"Crazy!"

It seemed like a shower on the opposite hillside.

A large number of marbles splashed. Some splashed on the remaining wooden stakes, while others hit the soil directly. The marbles hit the wooden stakes were bounced away and kept jumping, making a bang bang sound. The marbles falling in the soil were deeply sunk in the soil. The wooden stakes were obviously stronger than people. If there were people on the mountain, they would definitely be bleeding and fell to the ground.

The caliber of the Red Barbarian cannon is much larger than that of the Dragon Cannon, so the caliber of the grape bullet fired is also much larger than that of the Dragon Cannon. A such grape bullet contains at least 300 finger-sized pig iron marbles. Once the grape bullet explodes, a dense barrage will form around it, which can cover all enemies within a radius of more than ten feet. As long as it is within the cover range of the grape bullet, it is impossible to avoid it.

"Yeah, not bad!"

Zhang Zhun held up the Thousand Mile Mile Mile Mile and said in admiration.

Zhang Zhun was also satisfied with the power of the grape bomb.

In the face of the enemy's sea of ​​people tactics, grape bombs are indeed the most powerful weapon. It seems that the Red Cannon can fire grape bombs to about a thousand meters away. Even if it is used to deal with cavalry, it is very powerful. Unfortunately, the Red Cannon is too heavy to maneuver quickly. In addition to siege, defending the city, and naval battles, Zhang Zhun cannot find the use of the Red Cannon for the time being.

"Chain change bullet!"

"Twenty-eight degrees, dragon!"

Mo Ru called Tao again.

"Bang!"

With a loud bang, the chain bounce roared out.

After flying for a distance in the air, the chain bullet hit the opponent's mountain and knocked down several trees. In order to show the power of the chain bullet, Mo Ru specially raised the gun a little and hit the places where there were still trees. As a result, the trunks of the bowl were cut off from the middle by the chain bullet, and they broke into two pieces and fell down rumblingly. The dust at the scene was rolling, and the momentum was quite amazing.

Chain bombs are rarely used on land, mainly used in naval battles. Such power is enough to cause fatal damage to the masts, sails and ropes of enemy ships. If the distance is close, heavy chain bombs can even directly smash the enemy ship's side. As long as the main battleship in naval battles has a displacement of more than 500 tons, they will definitely be equipped with red cannons, which is also a powerful weapon that the Hu Ben Army Navy will focus on developing in the future.
To be continued...