"Your Majesty, please, this is the Shenwei General Cannon!"
In the foundry office of the Ministry of Industry, Nan Huairen proudly pointed at his masterpiece, the Shenwei General Cannon, and invited Zhao Qiang to take a look. A group of officials from the Ministry of Industry carefully accompanied him on both sides.
Zhao Qiang carefully looked at the Shenwei General Cannon and saw that its barrel was more than two meters long, with a caliber similar to the 110mm muzzle of later generations. The entire barrel was cylindrical, thin at the front and thick at the back. There were five hoops on the face, ears on both sides, and a tail.
There is a spherical crown. There are stars on the muzzle and square of the bottom for aiming. There is also an inscription on the bottom of the cannon body, which is engraved with the words "Made on March 2, the 15th year of Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty", which means that this cannon is nine years old.
Years old.
After walking around the powerful general cannon, Zhao Qiang stopped and asked Nan Huairen: "How much does this cannon weigh?"
After listening to Zhao Qiang's question, Nan Huairen hurriedly replied: "In reply to your Majesty, this cannon weighs two thousand three hundred kilograms. Your Majesty, please!" Pointing to the bottom of the cannon, he explained with some showoff: "This cannon's fire door is rectangular. Every time
Three to four kilograms of powder are required to fire the gun, and each cannon weighs eight to ten kilograms. One shot will be fired until the power is exhausted, and all those who are hit will be reduced to meat. The power is very huge! This cannon also took several years to build.
It was successfully developed." As he spoke, Nan Huairen's face was obviously very proud of himself, as if he was proud of his outstanding contribution.
The Shenwei General Cannon is different from the ordinary red-coated cannons, because this cannon is mounted on a wooden gun cart, which is convenient for attacking and defending cities and field battles. It is much more flexible than the red-coated cannons fixed at the top of the city, and is somewhat similar to later field cannons.
Similar. But no matter how flexible it is, the cannon body weighs more than 2,000 kilograms, which is equivalent to weighing more than one ton. You can imagine how difficult it is to pull such a behemoth to the battlefield.
After thinking for a moment, Zhao Qiang ordered Nan Huairen and the officials from the Ministry of Works: "Pull this cannon one hundred meters to me."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Nan Huairen and the officials from the Ministry of Works did not dare to neglect, and hurriedly called over a hundred craftsmen from the Ministry of Works and asked them to demonstrate to the Regent how to drag this powerful general cannon.
Suddenly, someone put a rope around the cannon body, and someone used a wooden cart that had been prepared to cushion it underneath. More than a hundred craftsmen were busy there. Four horses were tied to the other end of the rope, and the cannon body was rolled to the wooden box cart.
, someone drove the strong horse, but the cannon did not move. Following the shouts of the craftsman, more than thirty people came forward to fire the cannon. The strong horses neighed, and the strong men shouted, and the cannon slowly began to move.
Nan Huairen has been observing Zhao Qiang's face, wondering what Zhao Qiang can do with this cannon. He believes that this powerful cannon is the best cannon in the entire East, and it is not inferior to the current European countries. Coming to the East
Later, he followed the habits of Easterners and required big and heavy cannons. Under this idea, he successfully developed three types of cannons: Shenwei General Cannon, Wucheng Yonggu General Cannon, and Shengong General Cannon. For this purpose, Kangxi received
Many awards from the emperor. Now, the Han regent who usurped the Qing Dynasty also wanted him to build cannons. Naturally, Nan Huairen once again put his proud efforts in front of this new "conqueror" in order to win the other party's recognition.
.But what makes Nan Huairen depressed and disappointed is that the new regent in front of him does not seem to like his proud work, because his face does not have the smile and satisfied look that ordinary people should have when they come to this cannon.
"Are all Kamui cannons the same weight?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, we use a unified standard to manufacture these cannons." Nan Huairen stood there cautiously, not daring to show any proud expression.
After receiving Nan Huairen's affirmative answer, Zhao Qiang sighed. The 2,000-pound cannon in front of him was certainly powerful, but with four horses and dozens of manpower, it moved as fast as a turtle crawling.
How can such speed be used on the battlefield? Let alone dragging it to the battlefield, I'm afraid the person will be dragged across before even halfway.
On the battlefield, the mobility of the army is the key to victory. Although the Shenwei Cannon is powerful, it can only be a burden if it moves so slowly. This cannon can only be used for city defense and not for field battles. Zhao Qiang is disappointed
He shook his head, and after recalling it in his mind, he asked Nan Huairen: "Can we reduce the weight of the cannon to less than one thousand kilograms, preferably five hundred to eight hundred kilograms. Can we do it?"
"this"
Zhao Qiang's request made Nan Huairen and the officials of the Ministry of Industry stunned at the same time. It is not difficult to reduce the weight of the cannon. The corresponding specifications and dimensions are just reduced. But in that case, the power of the cannon will be reduced a lot, and it will not be as powerful as the original one.
That kind of power.
"Does the prince mean small cannons instead of big cannons?" Nan Huairen frowned and asked Zhao Qiang. He wanted to determine what the regent really meant. If the other party wanted the cannon to be light and powerful, then obviously, using an oriental cannon
In other words, you can't have your cake and eat it too. Between lightness and power, the regent can only choose one, and he can only follow one requirement.
"Yes, what I want you to make is a small cannon. The smaller the better." Zhao Qiang replied to Nan Huairen in the affirmative.
A director of the Ministry of Works boldly asked: "But in that case, the power of the artillery will be greatly reduced. I am afraid that it will not be helpful to the war after it enters the battlefield. Please think again, Your Majesty."
"Small cannons have the advantages of small cannons, and big cannons have the advantages of big cannons, but I want small cannons now. Well, but who said that the power of cannons will be reduced if they are small."
Zhao Qiang glanced at the crowd with a smile and said: "The cannons we will build in the future will all use blooming cannons, and there is no need to fill them with solids."
"flowering?"
Nan Huairen and the officials from the Ministry of Industry were stunned again: What is blooming?
The history of the flower gun in China is very long, two to three hundred years earlier than that of the Europeans. During the Ming Dynasty, the flower gun was widely used in the military. In the West, a hole is made in the cast iron body to open the flower gun.
The wooden message tube is plugged, and slow-burning gunpowder is installed inside the message tube to detonate; while the flowering in the Ming Dynasty has a protruding platform on the surface of the sphere, and the explosive is inserted into the small hole and twisted to detonate. After the explosion, the sphere is scattered, and the inside is wrapped.
The iron pieces exploded like "a goddess scattering flowers", and the power could reach more than ten feet. Compared with the solid iron ball, the power of this kind of exploding cannon increased exponentially.
The solid killing range is linear. As the body falls, it jumps and kills humans and animals in a straight line. The blooming weapon explodes and scatters as soon as the body hits the ground. All humans and animals within a dozen square meters will be affected immediately and to the greatest extent.
In terms of killing effects alone, Huahua is undoubtedly the best weapon for artillery.
In the sixth year of the Apocalypse, Nurhachi led the 130,000-strong Jin army across the Liao River with an unstoppable force, marched westward, and besieged Ningyuan City. Yuan Chonghuan led the Ming army to defend Ningyuan with only more than 10,000 people, ten times the number.
force to contend with it.
When Yuan Chonghuan reported that his troops were approaching the city, he summoned his soldiers and gathered the people outside Ningyuan City in the city. He killed pigs and sheep and "pricked the blood to encourage the soldiers and soldiers to swear to live and die with the city." He ordered all the troops to be filled with troops in Guangxi, and the participating general Zu Dashou was stationed separately.
In the four gates, the army and the people shared the same hatred of the enemy and sternly refused Nurhachi's persuasion to surrender. Yuan Chonghuan commanded the army and the people in the city to resist bravely and repelled the fierce attacks of the Jin army many times. He also ordered the Hongyi artillery to be lit and destroyed a corner of the Jin army's barracks with one shot.
He was seriously injured, so he had to withdraw his troops and retreat to Shuangshu Fort in Ningyuan City. He regrouped and attacked again the next day, but still suffered a disastrous defeat. The two armies were in a stalemate for more than 20 days. Later, the Jin army saw that it was possible to break the city. In addition, the Jin army suffered heavy casualties and suffered a great loss of morale.
After fighting again, he was forced to withdraw his troops and return to the main division. Yuan Chonghuan led the victorious troops in pursuit for more than 30 miles, and killed more than 10,000 Jin soldiers before returning to the city victoriously.
On the way back to Shenyang after being defeated, Nurhaci sighed: "Since I joined the army at the age of 25, I have been unable to win a battle or attack. I only fought in Ningyuan and returned with a disastrous defeat." In August of the same year, he contracted carbuncle and died 40 years away from Shenyang. Yun Ai Chicken Burger.
After Nurhachi's death, his son Huang Taiji came to the throne. He was determined to avenge his shame and personally led a large army to attack the Ming army's Ningjin defense line. The Qing army crossed the Daling River and besieged Jinzhou City. Yuan Chonghuan sent reinforcements to contain the Qing army's actions. The Qing army failed After capturing Jinzhou, they turned to attack Ningyuan. The Ming army lined up huge artillery at the top of the city. Chief Man Gui went out to engage in the battle, luring the Qing army into the range of the artillery, and then violently bombarded the Qing army. The number of Qing army casualties was also high. Retreat. This is the famous "Ningjin Victory" in history.
In this "Ningjin Victory", the Ming Dynasty army artillery at that time was not only equipped with blooming equipment, but also equipped with solid guns, also known as "grapes" and graupel. Solid guns were made of iron or lead, and a small amount were made of stones ground into spheres. , this type is mainly used to siege cities and penetrate city wall fortifications. It has a long range but is not very powerful for killing personnel, unless it is directly killed, and once it is directly killed, it will either die or be disabled. However, Nurhaci did not have any broken limbs, so it can be ruled out. He was killed by a solid shot. Again, graupel was a powerful type of field artillery at that time. It was composed of several liters of lead and iron pellets. It could form a curtain when shooting and was extremely lethal. However, graupel had a fatal weakness, the range was too long. Close, generally no more than one mile, Nurhaci would not set up his military camp so close to the city wall, so grazing can be eliminated. In this way, only Huahua is the "real culprit" who killed Nurhaci, and Huahua is the iron shell , can be far away, and the explosion is very powerful at the same time. Therefore, the truth about Nurhachi's death should be that a flower fell near him and exploded, hitting Nurhachi and killing him.
What is thought-provoking is that Huahua, which was so brilliant in the Ming Dynasty, was known to everyone in the country during the Opium War. Even Ding Gongchen, a firearms expert in the Qing Dynasty, did not know what Huahua was. So much so that Li Hongzhang ordered Huahua from the Krupp Arsenal in Germany. Zeng Guofan The Anqing Ordnance Institute was established to reintroduce Western-style flowers. When Zuo Zongtang was fighting the rebellion in the northwest, he excavated more than a hundred flowers from a Ming Dynasty fort site. He couldn't help but look up to the sky and sigh, "This thing existed in China three hundred years ago, but it has been lost now. Bullied by foreign powers!"
Zhao Qiang, who is familiar with history and knows that blooming will eventually replace solids as the weapon of artillery, will of course choose blooming instead of solids. After taking the trouble to squat on the ground and draw a sketch of blooming and explain some of the explosion effects to Nan Huairen and the officials from the Ministry of Industry, Nan Huairen and others immediately understood.
Zhao Qiang's order to Nan Huairen is to build thirty new cannons weighing less than 800 kilograms within one month, all equipped with blooming guns. Within two months, the number of blooming cannons must reach 80. There is not enough refined iron. , the existing Shenwei, Shengong and other cannons can be re-forged. In short, within two months, Zhao Qiang will need 80 cannons that can be pulled by four horses alone. If Nan Huairen and the others cannot do it, Then you have to use your own brain.