The weather is sunny and windy, and the waves are not big.
Off the coast of Fuzhou, ten Fuzhou ships that have been maintained in advance are lined up. There are no iron-clad steamships because they require more time for maintenance.
In front of them was a small boat, with no one on board.
On the warship, everyone looked at the flagship with curiosity. On the warships close to the flagship, there were also soldiers touching the Shenwei artillery assigned to their ships, and from time to time they stretched out their hands to look inside the gun barrel, with strange looks on their faces.
"Do you think this divine artillery can really hit that far, and can it still hit?"
"I guess it's okay, otherwise, wouldn't the war situation be very embarrassing?"
"This is not a shameful issue for the war. If it is exaggerated and deceitful, can it deceive the emperor? Can the emperor be named Divine Artillery?"
"This cannon is much smaller than the Hongyi cannon, but it is even more powerful. I still find it incredible. Is it because of the weirdness in the barrel? I can't figure it out, I really can't figure it out!"
"If you can think about it, you are not here, but in the war station. Maybe you can go to the Royal Academy of Sciences to get a knighthood!"
"Stop talking, it seems to have started over at the flagship, just watch!"
"..."
The other soldiers were still quarreling at first, but when they heard the reminder, they all stopped talking. They all stared at the flagship with expectation in their hearts.
If it can really hit small ships in the distance, the combat power of the Ming Navy will definitely be greatly improved, making it even more difficult to have an opponent!
On the flagship side, Yang Zhan, Zhang Tongchang and others, like their subordinates, were looking forward to it and wanted to see a miracle happen.
For them, it was absolutely a miracle to be able to hit the boat from such a long distance!
The most skilled gunners in the army, under the guidance of the craftsmen of the Military War Bureau, have become familiar with the process of loading ammunition, and used auxiliary tools to measure the distance to the boat, and then selected the appropriate amount of gunpowder according to the parameters specified in the manual, and
Adjusted the elevation of the Divine Cannon.
After everything was ready, they all turned to look at the commander in chief, waiting for orders.
"Fire!" Yang Zhan didn't think much and immediately gave the order.
For him, witnessing the miracle as soon as possible will give him peace of mind!
After receiving the order, the artilleryman lit the fuse at the time he thought was appropriate according to the angle of the ship's swing.
At this moment, everyone on the flagship, from the commander-in-chief to the ordinary soldiers, were all staring at the burning fuse, watching it burn out.
Suddenly, the artillery made a sound: "Boom!"
At the moment when smoke came out from the muzzle, everyone immediately raised their heads and looked at the small boat in the distance.
I saw a spray of water shooting up from a place less than two feet away from the boat.
Needless to say, the shell just hit the place where the water splashed.
No hit on the boat!
However, the soldiers on the flagship, as well as the other warships watching from the side, cheered in unison.
"Ah, you are so accurate!"
"Yeah, I almost hit it!"
"If this were a salvo, a few shells would definitely hit the boat!"
"It is indeed a divine artillery! From such a long distance, if it were replaced by a Hongyi cannon, I don't know where it would hit. It is absolutely impossible to hit it so accurately!"
"..."
Amid the praise, some people also questioned, saying: "Is it just a coincidence that it hit the edge?"
Just as he finished speaking, he heard another loud noise from the flagship: "Boom!"
When everyone heard the noise, they immediately raised their heads to look at the boat.
On the other side of the boat, about three feet away, there was another splash of water, which was very eye-catching.
Although they still missed, the cheers of the Ming army soldiers rang out again, even louder and louder than the first time.
As naval officers, they all naturally know that the error of firing artillery on the ship is several feet, which is completely acceptable.
At such a long distance, it can almost be said that it is very accurate.
They all had a mental estimate of the range and accuracy of the Shenwei Cannon. Thinking that this artillery was indeed much more powerful than the Hongyi Cannon, they all became happy.
At this moment, suddenly, a continuous sound of artillery was heard from the flagship.
"Boom boom boom..."
Almost at the moment when the artillery fired, the small boat in the distance was hit by a cannonball.
Seeing this scene, the Ming army officers and soldiers on these ten warships all cheered.
Although based on their experience, after seeing the accuracy of the previous two test runs, they knew that if the artillery salvo fired, it was estimated that some shells would definitely hit the boat. However, when the boat actually hit the boat, their cheers were still louder than
The previous two times were much more lively.
"Look, look, I think I can hit it!"
"You don't have to worry about it, who doesn't know you can hit it!"
"With such a long distance, a single volley can hit it. Haha, if we fight with the Japanese army again, their ships will not be able to get over at all!"
"I saw it. It seemed like ten artillery pieces were fired just now. Two shells hit the boat!"
"It's awesome, it's truly a divine artillery piece!"
"..."
Not only were they happy, but their commander-in-chief Yang Zhan also had a smile on his face, grinning from ear to ear.
It cannot be overstated how important artillery is to the navy!
Nowadays, with this kind of divine artillery, its range is much longer than that of Hongyi cannon. The most important thing is that its accuracy is higher.
In this way, the advantage against the enemy, whether it is ships or coastal defense artillery, lies with the imperial court.
Originally, Yang Zhan knew that he was going to lead these hundreds of warships to the Annan coast to perform military duties and threaten the Annan rebels. To be honest, he was actually a little worried.
Because all along, when the imperial navy faced enemies, whether it was the Spanish in Luzon or the Japanese navy, it basically did not have an advantage in terms of the number of warships, but was almost the same.
However, if he were to face the Annan rebels now, with the combined warships of the northern and southern rebels, and possibly Dutch sailing warships, he would be absolutely at a disadvantage in terms of the number of warships.
Although he said he was not afraid, worry was unavoidable.
The steam-armored battleship is far less useful than imagined. There are many restrictions. Especially when the wind and waves are strong, it will not show its speed advantage. The Dutch sailing battleship is faster than the Fuzhou ship, and it is on board
There are also a large number of artillery pieces. At least in the past, the quality of the artillery pieces was similar to that of the imperial navy's artillery pieces.
As a result, with the Dutch sailing warships to contain them and the Annan rebel warships in large numbers, this mission is very dangerous!
But he didn't expect that the imperial court only allowed him to go out with about a hundred warships to prepare weapons for him to defeat the enemy!
With this Shenwei artillery, although there are only a hundred of them, judging from the results of current test firings, a Fu ship equipped with ten cannons can hit the enemy ship before the enemy fires.
In other words, there are ten warships, which can effectively threaten the enemy. And this enemy refers to the Dutch sailing warships, not the warships of the Annan rebels who have worse warships and firearms.
Furthermore, the task that the imperial court asked Yang Zhan to perform was to intimidate the Annan rebels from staying on the coastal line. This task may have been difficult before, but now, with this divine artillery, it has become easier.
!
The coastal defense artillery of the Annan rebels is just a display. The Ming Navy can stay outside the enemy's range and fire. What's more, the inland river on the Annan side can also be explored.
At this time, Yang Zhan naturally did not know that if the original historical development was followed, at the end of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the Eight-Nation Alliance and the British and French coalition forces would be the reason why the British army could defeat the Manchu Qing Dynasty and sign a humiliating treaty at a very small cost.
, just because their artillery was much more powerful than the Manchu and Qing artillery.
As he thinks now, the Western Yi can hit the Manchu and Qing artillery, but the Manchu and Qing artillery cannot hit the Western Yi. If they are beaten and unable to fight back, their morale will easily collapse and they will feel that the Western Yi is invincible.
Of course, another very important factor is that the Manchus were corrupt and incompetent.
At this time, Yang Zhan, after being happy, asked other warships loaded with Shenwei artillery to start test firing. He did not return home until he sunk the small boat!
But this was not over yet. After they docked in Changle, they went to a remote place to test the power of grenades.
Select the strongest among the troops, draw circles at different distances, place targets, and then ask the soldiers to throw grenades.
"Boom boom boom..."
"Boom boom boom..."
"..."
Explosions sounded from time to time, and as expected, all the soldiers were shocked by the power of the grenade that caused shrapnel damage from the explosion.
Before this, they had only seen live ammunition and shotguns.
Needless to say, live ammunition is a solid bullet; shotgun is actually the kind where various fragments are placed in the barrel and shot out, which can only damage a scattered shape in front of the artillery, and the distance is very close.
But now this grenade can be thrown far away, and then it has the effect of scattering bullets!
In this way, you can imagine how much damage this kind of grenade will do to the charging crowd!
For a time, the officers and soldiers of the Ming Army were all very impressed by the imperial court's ability to create such a powerful new weapon. At the same time, they were also full of confidence in the future war.
Moreover, they also believe that the imperial court will definitely produce better weapons in the future, and will continue to produce better weapons!
Their confidence in the imperial court and their confidence in the future war made them look forward to the next war and eager to gain more military exploits.
For Yang Zhan, of course, he was looking forward to the next battle, looking forward to surprising the enemies, including the Dutch, and beating the shit out of them!
However, it will take time to maintain the warships, but it shouldn't take long before they can go south to Annan to fight!
While Yang Zhan was looking forward to the Annan War, the Western Allies also felt the same as him.