Then Zheng Zhilong led Chongzhen to one of the gun positions on the first deck.
The deck of the Zhou Yu is divided into three layers. The top and second layers are equipped with 4-inch naval guns, 24 on each layer. Only the first layer is equipped with 6-inch cannons. 16 6-inch guns are arranged on both sides.
There are perforations drilled into the side of the ship and eight doors on one side. This firepower configuration is typical of old-fashioned battleships.
In the era of true cannon giant ships, the cannons were rotating turrets placed on the top deck.
Chongzhen also became interested at this moment and asked the officers and soldiers on the ship to fire five rounds at the uninhabited Jiangxinzhou.
Chongzhen mainly wanted to see whether the rate of fire of the newly developed 6-inch breech-loaded gun could really reach the two rounds per minute that Zheng Zhilong, Zhang Jimeng and others boasted in the Tang newspaper.
In another world, naval guns would not reach two rounds per minute until the end of the 18th century.
Zheng Zhilong immediately shouted: "Starboard gun, target the sandbank in the middle of the river in front, five rounds of rapid fire!"
As soon as the order was given, the naval officers in the cabin immediately became busy. They measured the range, adjusted the shooting parameters, and those who prepared the cannonballs brought in the cannonballs. You
Loading tools such as gun barrels, towels, and gun wipes were also quickly prepared.
After a while, the gunners of the eight guns reported that they were ready.
Chongzhen also asked Zheng Zhilong to prepare a clock, which was made by the Daming Watch Factory based on Western clocks. It was originally used by Pascal and Boyle for scientific experiments, and later became popular.
Now it has even entered wealthy families and become a living room decoration.
By the way, Daming Watch Factory is already developing pocket watches and watches that can be carried with you.
There are many industries like clocks and watches. After Chongzhen started up the industrial machinery of the Ming Dynasty, it began to operate according to its own rules, and many industries that even Chongzhen had not thought of were derived.
After preparing the clock, the eight 6-inch naval guns on the starboard side fired one after another.
Accompanied by the loud "boom, boom, boom, boom" sound, the eight huge cannon bodies immediately slid back along the guide rails.
Chongzhen, Zheng Zhilong and several naval officers immediately raised their telescopes. The telescopes they used now were no longer the monocular telescopes they used before, but had evolved into binoculars.
Through the telescope, you can clearly see several sand pillars rising from the sandbank.
In addition, there were several water jets rising from the river in front of and behind the sandbar. Apparently, several artillery shells missed and failed to hit the sandbar.
Chongzhen didn't care about this.
Because the area of the sandbank is not large, it is still far away.
My eyes returned to the cabin, but I saw that the eight cannons had been pulled back to their original positions by the reset device. You
The reset device of the naval gun is similar to the multi-bow tandem crossbow, but the deformation amount is much larger.
Then a strong soldier picked up a sledgehammer and hit one handle hard. After the handle rotated at an angle, another soldier stepped forward to pull the other handle.
Soon, the heavy breech opened outwards along the hinge.
Then there is another routine operation. First use a wet gun eraser to extinguish the sparks in the gun barrel and cool the gun barrel at the same time. Then wrap the gun barrel with a towel to dry the gun barrel.
The other group took out the iron wedges and filled the fire door with lead wires.
The barrel of the gun was quickly wiped clean, and then the shells were loaded inside.
First, insert an iron ball with a diameter slightly smaller than the barrel of the gun. In order to prevent the iron ball from rolling, it is also wrapped with silk. After inserting the iron ball, there is a medicine tube wrapped in paper. You
Of course, paper and silk are soaked in nitric acid.
Then insert the iron wedge back, close the breech block, and then tap the handle with a hammer to tighten the breech block.
Because the margin is not large, the handle rotates a small angle with the breech block and is then locked.
Then, the gunner used the ignition rod to insert the iron wedge fire door. The fuse of the fire door burst into flames instantly, and then ignited the 12 kilograms of smokeless gunpowder loaded in the gun barrel. The burst of 12 kilograms of smokeless gunpowder in turn caused a full 50
The heavy iron ball was pushed forward violently, and the barrel of the gun, which was one foot and five feet long, gave the iron ball sufficient acceleration.
With a huge roaring sound, another round of shelling was completed.
Chongzhen raised his telescope and saw several floating masses rising from the sandbank.
Then there were three more rounds of repeated operations, and the five shells were quickly fired.
Chongzhen put down the telescope and asked: "Gao Banban, how long did it take in total?"
Gao Qiqian replied in a high voice: "It takes one minute and fifty-nine seconds to get back to Long Live Lord!"
Excluding the artillery shells, it actually took one minute and fifty-nine seconds to load four artillery shells, which is almost two rounds per minute. This speed really surprised Chongzhen.
Zheng Zhilong asked with a proud look on his face: "Your Majesty, are the 6-inch naval guns sharp?"
"It's not just sharp, it's quite sharp." Chongzhen said with a smile, "Now our Ming Navy has powerful ships and cannons, which are enough to span the four oceans and seven continents, hahaha."
"Your Majesty, then send troops quickly!"
Zheng Zhilong has already been impatient. You
He couldn't wait to find the Francons and Dutch people in Southeast Asia to fight again.
Although Zheng Zhilong won the battle at Liaoluowan, his own losses were not small, and he was lucky to win. But if they fight again now, Zheng Zhilong is confident enough to crush the Dutch.
"Send troops?" Chongzhen asked with a smile, "Who will we send troops to attack?"
"Of course he is from the Netherlands." Zheng Zhilong said without thinking.
"The Flemish people are fairly honest, but the most dishonest are the Dutch."
Chongzhen knew that Zheng Zhilong was talking about the Dutch, or the Dutch East India Company.
We are now in the first half of the seventeenth century, which happens to be the period when the Dutch were at their most powerful. You
During this period, the Netherlands had 15,000 merchant ships and more than 80,000 sailors. The total tonnage of its ships was almost that of Portugal, Spain, Britain, France and other countries combined. It was known as the coachman of the sea.
The tonnage of Dutch warships has also reached 1,500 tons, and they are equipped with more than 100 ship-based guns.
The Hongyi cannons of the Ming Dynasty were imitated from the ship-borne guns of Dutch warships, and the so-called Hongyi was the Netherlands.
Of course, Portugal, as a veteran maritime overlord, still controls many strongholds in Southeast Asia.
But for the time being, the Ming Dynasty could not care about competing with the Dutch and Portuguese for Southeast Asia. There was now a more important thing to do, which was to capture the population, or to be more precise, to capture the labor force.
Because the industrial population in Jiangnan is almost exhausted.
If Jiangnan continues to be allowed to siphon off the agricultural population in the surrounding provinces of Jiangxi, Fujian, Henan, and Huguang, there will be a systemic crisis in Ming Dynasty’s agricultural production. You
Therefore, the top priority is to seize labor from abroad.
This is essentially the same as the slave trade in another world.
It is the huge demand for labor that has given rise to the crazy slave labor trade.
At that moment, Chongzhen waved his hand and said, "No, don't rush to fight the Dutch."
Zheng Zhilong was stunned when he heard this, and subconsciously asked: "Then which one should we fight?"
"Japan!" Chongzhen looked into Zheng Zhilong's eyes and asked, "What does the Duke of Min think?"
"Japan?" Zheng Zhilong was stunned again when he heard this. It was not that he felt pity because his wife was Japanese, but he felt that the Japanese navy was simply not worthy of being an opponent of the Ming Dynasty's navy. Ru
"Your Majesty, the Japanese country does not need to use the main force of its navy at all."
"If you send a partial division at will, you can sweep away the Japanese navy."
After a pause, Zheng Zhilong continued: "Your Majesty, if you want to fight us, you must fight the overlord of the sea. The overlord of this sea area is now the Netherlands. After defeating the Netherlands, our Ming Navy will be the overlord of this sea area."
.”
Chongzhen smiled and shook his head, and then said: "Mr. Min, please listen carefully. I mean to attack the Japanese country, not to attack the Japanese navy. What is the point of attacking the Japanese navy?"
"Japanese country?" Zheng Zhilong understood now, but was even more surprised, "The Holy One wants to conquer Japan?"
"Does the Duke of Fujian think this is feasible?" Chongzhen asked again, "Is it possible for the Ming Dynasty to conquer Japan? And how much army and navy would be needed?"
Zheng Zhilong almost blurted out: "Your Majesty, it is impossible to conquer Japan."
"Oh?" Chongzhen asked with a smile, "Why does the Duke of Fujian think so?"
Zheng Zhilong said sincerely: "Your Majesty, I visited the Japanese country many times when I was young. Zhuojing is the direct daughter of the Tagawa clan of the Hirado domain in the Hizen Kingdom of the Japanese country, so I know a lot about the Japanese country."
"Most of the Japanese people are fierce and aggressive. This can be seen from the two Japanese rebellions of Renchen and Dingyou. The ferocity of its warriors is not much inferior to that of Jiannu."
"Moreover, the Japanese country is not like our Central Plains dynasty that unified the whole world."
"The country is actually divided into many small countries, and they often attack each other."
"Because the Japanese country is not a unified dynasty, but is composed of hundreds of small vassals. The so-called emperor is just a decoration, and the power of the shogun is also limited. Therefore, if the Ming Dynasty wants to conquer the Japanese country, it must conquer these hundreds of small vassals one by one.
To build a vassal state, this is really a long-term and huge project."
After a pause, Zheng Zhilong continued: "And this is not the most troublesome thing. The most troublesome thing is that the Japanese country is far away from the ocean. Not to mention the traffic jam, the transportation of grain and grass is also very difficult. Once the Japanese vassals rise up and rebel, the imperial court will not be able to do it in time.
Send troops to rescue, so even if you conquer it, it will be difficult to defend it." You
From these words, it can be seen that Zheng Zhilong understands the Japanese country.
Zheng Zhilong did not deliberately exaggerate, he was telling the truth.
But this did not prevent the Ming Dynasty from defeating the Japanese countries, because what the Ming Dynasty wanted was not conquest, but people.
Chongzhen had a little understanding of the history of the Japanese country. The Japanese country during this period should have been under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate. If nothing else, it should have been passed down to the third generation of shoguns.
But these are not the key points. The key point is the population of Japan.
Chongzhen once read a historical document that during the Tokugawa shogunate's reign, the total population of Edo, where the shogun was stationed, was likely to exceed one million. Kyoto, the imperial capital, and Osaka, the commercial center, also had a population of more than 300,000.
The total population of Japan is very likely to be 12 million, or even more. You
The notorious slave trade only sold 10 million slaves in four hundred years.
Thinking of this, Chongzhen laughed: "Dr. Min, I have never thought about conquering Japan."
"Gah?" Zheng Zhilong was stunned again when he heard this. If he didn't want to conquer the Japanese country, what would he do to conquer the Japanese country?
