There was a loud "boom", as if a thunder exploded from the ground. It shocked the eardrums and made the ears ring. Lin Meng couldn't see the iron bullets spraying from the crossbow mouth. He could only see the fire from the crossbow mouth forming an outward jet.

At the same time as the heavy crossbow body retreated violently, white smoke filled with the pungent smell of sulfur rose from the crossbow mouth, covering a large area...

Lin Fu, Gao Zongting, Wu Qi, Ge Cunxin and others all used the scopes to observe the shooting area. Lin Mengde did not expect that the movement during the launch would be so earth-shattering. He was surprised for a moment. When he picked up the scopes to observe the area where the missiles fell, Iron

The bomb had already splashed into a huge wave that was more than ten feet high in that sea area——

The target ship was about 11 to 20 feet away from the waves. As the waves rose and fell, you could clearly see the waves splashing onto the deck of the target ship.

Although the shooting accuracy can only be regarded as unsatisfactory, the earth-shattering noise when it was fired and the flying waves caused by the falling bullet showed that its threat was definitely not comparable to that of the traditional scorpion crossbow and bed crossbow. Lin Mengde asked Lin Fu in surprise:

"Such a sharp weapon is very useful in attacking a city. Why not equip it on horse infantry first? Mount it on a cart, drag it with mules and horses, and go out in front of the formation. It can be said to be invincible when used in field battles!"

Although Lin Mengde was good at paying bills, he had spent time with generals over the years and had been immersed in military affairs for a long time. Although he was not as good as Gao Zongting, Wu Qi, Ge Cunxin and others, he was definitely not as good as a layman, and he could ask key questions.

point.

Lin Fu was thoughtful, while Gao Zongting answered Lin Mengde's question: "The several types of fire-fighting crossbows trial-produced by the Ordnance Supervisor weigh more than three thousand kilograms. Although they can shoot distant objects four miles away and can attack cities, they are

For use in field battles, a crossbow needs to be equipped with fifteen soldiers and four horses. The fire crossbow with a range of less than 1,000 kilograms has a range of about two to three miles, and can shoot iron bullets with less than 12 kilograms. Even if the crossbowman is more skilled, one stick of incense will

At that time, only three solid bullets could be fired. Therefore, the time of one round was enough for the enemy cavalry to rush to the front of the formation. Considering that the longer the range and the larger the charge, the possibility of the chamber exploding would increase, which is not appropriate. At least.

At this time, the Fuhuo Crossbow is still inferior to the intensive use of bed crossbows and scorpion crossbows in battle formations..."

Huaidong used bed crossbows and scorpion crossbows in infantry battles. The tactics of scorpion crossbows have been perfected. In siege battles, the use of heavy sling crossbows can completely suppress the enemy. Therefore, the motivation for tactical innovation is not strong. Especially in ambush.

The early technology of crossbows was far from perfect, and the military naturally did not advocate that the army be too eager to equip the crossbows.

The range of the Fuhuo Crossbow is only one or two times higher than that of the traditional bed crossbow and scorpion crossbow. However, at sea, the enemy has no way of using cavalry to quickly attack the battle formation like in infantry battles. The Fuhuo Crossbow is even more powerful when equipped on warships.

for superiority.

More importantly, the scorpion crossbow is a projectile weapon and can only be placed on the deck. The deck space of sea ships is always limited, and there is no way to install too many scorpion crossbows. Although the bed crossbow can be placed in the cabin, it

After being placed in the cabin below the deck, due to the shooting angle problem, it can only attack more enemy ships, but the attack power of the bed crossbow is very limited in its destructive power against enemy ships——

Although Lin Fu has always wanted to upgrade naval warfare tactics, due to limitations of war equipment, naval warfare is still based on traditional near-side combat. Even relying on the strength of the hull, brutal collision has become the most important tactic of the Huaidong Navy.

As long as the fire-volting crossbow that can be placed in the cabin can hit the target, it can have considerable destructive power on enemy ships; in theory, it can also increase the number of crossbows equipped on a Lin Zhengjun-class battleship to one hundred

With more than one frame, the warship's long-range strike density suddenly increases by ten times, and the strike range increases by two times——

In comparison, the accuracy of the Fire Crossbow is worse than that of the Scorpion Crossbow and the Bed Crossbow, which is already an insignificant shortcoming.

Precisely because the accuracy of the Fuhuo Crossbow is only unsatisfactory, a warship needs to be equipped with more intensive war crossbows. Within one mile of the nearside, there are forty or fifty Fuhuo Crossbows on one side of the cabin at the same time.

When launched, the enemy ship will have to be very lucky to avoid it.

The Fuhuo Crossbow has improved the combat capabilities of battleships beyond the times. It is a super weapon that can eliminate near-side naval warfare tactics. Although the Fuhuo Crossbow still has various shortcomings that need to be overcome, as long as the advantages of the Fuhuo Crossbow are recognized, the military will

None of the generals in the department advocated that the naval division should give priority to equipping the new fire-fighting crossbows, which could increase the combat power of the Huaidong Navy to the point where the Donghu people would despair.

There were twelve bottles of Fuhuo Crossbow squatting there on the crossbow field. The huge crossbow body also made Lin Mengde, Liu Shidu and others gasp when they saw the true appearance of the Fuhuo Crossbow.

It is far away, so it is impossible to accurately estimate the specific size at the moment, but squatting in the middle of the crossbow field, with the crossbow directly facing the sea, it is definitely much larger than the traditional scorpion crossbow and bed crossbow.

At present, a heavy-duty bed crossbow together with the frame only weighs a little more than one thousand kilograms. At this time, the heaviest fire-fighting crossbow developed by the Ordnance Supervisor weighs more than three thousand kilograms in just the crossbow shot. In terms of weight alone, it can beat the two.

It won’t be a crossbow of the same level.

Lin Mengde and Liu Shidu were also full of curiosity. With the test firings one after another, they kept asking Gao Zongting, Ge Cunxin and the Ordnance Supervisor officials responsible for supervising the production and testing of the Fuhuo Crossbow...

***************

Forced to squeeze out 200,000 silver dollars from his pocket, Lin Mengde couldn't come to Haizhou in vain, so he naturally took advantage of this opportunity to take a good look at Haizhou. Before that, in order to build Haizhou into a

The Northern Army's logistics support base, the Privy Council, has invested a large amount of resources in Haizhou.

It happened to catch up with the first snow in Xu Si, and the road back to Jiangning was temporarily blocked by snow. Lin Mengde and Liu Shidu followed Lin Fu across the sea and boarded the East-West Connecting Island to see the military defense of Haizhou. In particular, the cost of a new warship under design

As high as 500,000 silver dollars, as an appropriator, how can you blindly follow the opinions of the military department without seeing the firing of the Fuhuo Crossbow with your own eyes?

Although there is also a test site in Jiangning, the test of the large-scale fire-volting crossbow is still in an absolutely confidential stage. In order to hide it from the enemy's spies, the tests of the large-scale fire-volting crossbow are all conducted on isolated islands. Yingyou Island's

The experimental crossbow field was built just two years ago.

Lin Mengde wanted to see how the Fuhuo Crossbow was firing, so he could only take a boat trip to the island.

****************

Dongxilian Island, also known as Eagle Island, got its name from the west cliff of the island, which looks like an eagle flapping its wings. It is actually divided into two independent islands, located in the sea east of Haizhou City. Standing in the south of Haizhou City

On Houyuntai Mountain, facing each other across the sea, Yingyou Island lies in a long strip in the clear sea waves.

Yingyou Island is nearly 20 miles long from east to west and about four miles wide from north to south. It is like a natural barrier outside Haizhou Port - there is a ferry on the east island, where more than a hundred fishermen lived in the early years, and it is hidden among the green hills; the west island

There are also several fishing villages, with strange peaks four to five feet high rising out of the sea. They stand like gates against the cliffs of Yuntai Mountain behind the shore, locking the Haizhou Port on the inside.

In addition to fishing villages and Wuzhuang, there were also monasteries, tide-watching pavilions, and sea-prevention beacon towers built on the island in the early years.

From the second year of Yongxing, the Huaidong Army took over the defense of Haizhou and began to build a water fortress, defense fortification and ordnance supervision test site on Yingyou Island. After the military department correctly determined the Eastern Front strategy, the defense construction of Yingyou Island

As a top priority, the sea area on the east side of the island was even designated as a military restricted area, and fishing boats and commercial ships were prohibited from approaching.

The experimental crossbow field is built on the east side of the Antler Rock in the northwest corner of Yingyou Island. Although the Antler Rock is only about 20 feet high, standing on it, you can see the firing conditions of the experimental crossbow field below and avoid being affected by the crossbow field.

Accidents that may occur on the mountain are affected, so the crossbow viewing platform is located on Lujiao Rock.

The Fuhuo Crossbow practice was personally presided over by Yang Shi, the deputy commander of the Jinghai Division. Lin Fu, Lin Mengde, Gao Zongting and others sat on the crossbow viewing platform at Lujiaoyan. Surrounded by guards, soldiers stood holding knives and halberds, hunting with flags.

The sea breeze makes a rustling sound...

Since the Fuhuo Crossbow is of great significance to the innovation of naval warfare tactics beyond the times, the design, testing and launch of the Fuhuo Crossbow and new warships are also one of the most core military affairs at present.

Lin Fudian asked Yang Shi, the deputy commander of the Jinghai Division, to personally seize the fire crossbow on land. The emphasis on the exercises on the warship and the design of the new warship was evident.

Lin Fu knew as much about the Fuhuo Crossbow as the craftsman in charge of the rehearsal. However, during the rehearsal, he had no time to explain to Lin Mengde and Liu Shidu the various abnormalities during shooting. Instead, he repeatedly used his vision to observe the crossbow site and its landing.

The situation in the bomb area was constantly recorded on the white paper beside me.

Facing the intensive inquiries from Lin Mengde, Liu Shidu and others, the craftsman of the Ordnance Supervisor could still deal with it calmly. However, in addition to Lin Fu's supreme status as the supreme commander, he himself was a new learner and a first-level master of new craftsmanship.

As a character, the pressure he put on the officials at the filming site was naturally unmatched by Lin Mengde, Liu Shidu and others.

Lin Fu holds the title of Bachelor of Chongxueguan. Perhaps in the eyes of outsiders, Lin Fu wants to plate himself with gold, but in the eyes of tens of thousands of craftsmen and hundreds of thousands of craftsmen under the jurisdiction of Huaidong, including Chongxue

Not even the many bachelors in the academy would think that Lin Fu did not have this qualification——

Although it was necessary to ensure that the rehearsal would not be interrupted by accidents and the firing speed was strictly controlled, 200 iron bullets were quickly fired, and only three iron bullets hit the Qianshi target ship four miles away.

Lin Mengde, Liu Shidu and others didn't know whether this hit rate was good or bad, but seeing Lin Fu sitting behind a long desk calculating numbers, it was unclear whether he was satisfied or dissatisfied with this performance. For a while,

The atmosphere was a bit stagnant.

Under the cold sea breeze, Shi Fengtai, an industrial official who had been a minor official in Jiangning's Ministry of Industry in his early years, had sweat dripping from his forehead.

"Yang Shi, come here," Lin Fu summoned Yang Shi and Shi Fengtai, the construction officer assigned by the Ordnance Supervisor to Yingyou Island, and others, and said, "One hit with fifty bullets or one hit with one hundred bullets is used to describe the ambushes.

The accuracy of crossbow shooting is very unreasonable. When a fire crossbow is manufactured at a crossbow field, the shooting accuracy should be relatively consistent. However, during actual test firing, even two to three hundred rounds may not be able to hit the target ship.

Does it mean that the accuracy of this Fuhuo Crossbow is far inferior to others? Without the concept of accuracy, how can the Ordnance Supervisor explain the performance of the Fuhuo Crossbow to the military department?"

"..." Faced with Lin Fu's question, Shi Fengtai answered bravely, "What the Lord said is indeed a problem. It was also discussed in the Ordnance Prison, but there was no good solution." He knew that such an answer would definitely not be able to win over Lin Fu.

I am satisfied, but I can only answer this. It will take some years of accumulation for the new learning to form a system. At present, all kinds of work are still based on the traditional scope of craftsmanship and the rich experience of various craftsmen and craftsmen.

Lin Fu had no intention of questioning Shi Fengtai, and beckoned him to come closer, pushed the paper on the case in front of Shi Fengtai, and said: "Two hundred rounds were fired just now, all targeting the target ship, and three rounds hit the target;

Within ten feet of the target ship, twenty-six bombs were dropped; within twenty feet, one hundred and seven bombs were dropped, and the rest were twenty feet away. The one furthest away from the target ship was one hundred feet away, and three bombs were dropped.

..." At this point, Lin Fu paused for a moment, "I'm giving you this data, do you know what I'm going to tell you?"

"Master, are you going to talk about "The Art of Speculation" performed by Scholar Song?" Shi Fengtai asked anxiously.

"Yes," Lin Fu smiled and said, "Based on your answer, you are indeed qualified to assist Yang Shi in presiding over this crossbow field. I am not dissatisfied with your work, but you cannot relax because of this.

and shooting accuracy. I will not ask you to hit the target ship with any number of bullets. There is no way to determine this. There are too many interference factors during the actual shooting, but with the target ship in mind, ten feet and twenty feet

The proportion of bullets falling within ten feet can be clearly set as a standard; you must do this work immediately to improve it..."

"My lord is wise, not..."

What Shi Fengtai was going to say, Lin Fu waved his hand and said with a smile: "Don't say any flattery. If I want you to do the actual work, you go down first to arrange the next rehearsal..."

In the past, even the most skilled craftsmen only had a vague concept of the shooting accuracy of war crossbows and could not accurately describe it. Therefore, during experiments, they could only be described based on experience, lacking an accurate and clear standard.

Without a precise and clear standard, any technological progress can only rely on the slow accumulation of experience; and once the standard is established, the level of different crossbow fields will be clear at a glance. How to improve the technology by comparing it with the standard?

Only then will there be a clearer direction.

Shi Fengshi and Yang Shi first went down to the crossbow field to arrange the second batch of shooting exercises. When Lin Fu saw Lin Mengde, Liu Shidu was a little confused. Only then did he have time to explain to them with a smile: "The Art of Prediction translated by Song Shixian,

It is also a gambling technique. Two people throw dice against each other. If one person throws a little bit, the second person has a high probability of beating him, but how big is this possibility? Have you ever calculated it carefully? "

"This..." Lin Mengde was born as a merchant, and his knowledge may not be extraordinary, but his experience in handling practical affairs is very good. When Lin Fu mentioned the new learning issue, he didn't understand and just smiled sarcastically.

Liu Shidu, who was born as a Jinshi, frowned and thought carefully. He could not say in front of Lin Fu, "The Book of Conjecture involves gambling, and non-Confucian scholars can take advantage of it." However, he knew about the book "The Book of Conjecture" but had not read it carefully.

, Lin Fu's simple question, he could roughly guess the answer, but he was not sure that it was correct, so he simply hid his ignorance and said: "I am ignorant and ignorant..."

"The issues discussed in "Speculation Technique" are basically similar. The discussion of gambling is just an introduction, but the application is far less than that. Nowadays, Heishuiyang and Nanyang Shipping Company also use this technique to calculate shipwrecks and insurance premiums.

It is worth reading carefully; I have a pamphlet on my desk, which is written by Song Shixian, and I will give it to you, Mr. Liu, when I get back." Lin Fu said to Liu Shidu.
To be continued...