The Portuguese in Macau also learned from Bi Francis that the Ming Dynasty was now overseen by a young prince as regent. After hearing that the regent had an open attitude towards them, they were very excited.
Although they had finally reached an agreement with the Ming Dynasty before, paying 20,000 taels of silver tax and 500 taels of land rent a year, and achieved the result of leasing Macau, this was not very stable.
As Portugal weakens, it is now facing more and more challenges and threats in the Far East. The Portuguese in Macau do not want to have a stalemate with the Ming Dynasty. Instead, they want to have a better relationship with the Ming Dynasty so that they can concentrate on dealing with the Dutch and the Spanish.
British people etc.
Zhu Yihai bought cannons, guns, and gunpowder from them, and sent them large sums of money. The Portuguese were very excited. But Zhu Yihai was willing to let them freely enter the Ming Dynasty to preach, and even opened a church, which made them so excited that they almost fainted, let alone
, Lu Jianguo also opened four new trading ports to them: Guangzhou, Ningbo, Fuzhou, and Wenzhou.
This time they worked overtime to cast twenty-six 24-pound cannons and delivered them. They even bought one and got one free to build twenty-six three-pound cannons. This kind of three-pounder cannon was used by King Gusta of Sweden in Europe.
The artillery used by King Husband II to supplement his field artillery force is called regimental artillery. It is said that a regiment is equipped with two three-pound cannons. It takes a musketeer to fire six rounds of ammunition, but a professional gunner can fire eight regiment-affiliated three-pound cannons.
Pound gun, mainly using grapeshot or shrapnel.
Compared with the four-pounder that weighs half a ton, its three-pounder has a shortened barrel and a lighter gun mount. The 1.2-meter-long three-pound regimental gun weighs only 283 kilograms even with its mount.
, and uses wooden box-mounted cannonballs, which greatly saves time.
In Zhu Yihai's view, this three-pounder cannon should be called an advanced version of the Ming Dynasty Tiger Crouching Cannon. It has a longer range, is faster and more precise, and can also be quickly maneuvered in the field.
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The coachman drove eight draft horses and pulled a huge cannon slowly, followed by ten artillerymen.
"Actually, a cannon only needs two gunners to complete loading and firing." Although Lao Bi was a missionary, most of the missionaries in these days were mathematicians, and all of them were good at casting cannons.
They are all all-round experts. "The rest of the people are mainly responsible for resetting the artillery after firing and protecting the position."
"I suggest that your Highness form a specialized artillery unit, with each cannon equipped with dedicated coachmen, gunners, engineers, and escorting musketry infantry."
"The lonely town of Shenji is a specialized firearms unit."
It is indeed difficult to transport a 5,000-kilogram heavy artillery. It is pulled by eight horses and ten soldiers are pushing it behind. Someone has to be on the side with a hoe and shovel. If there is a pothole in front, you have to go there immediately.
With the paving and matting in place, you can imagine how difficult it would be to transport these cannons if it rains and becomes muddy.
The cannon was so majestic that wherever it passed, countless people rushed to watch it and made sounds of amazement.
The artillery carriage was very slow, and it took a lot of time to pull it to the bottom of the city.
In order to protect this cannon worth 5,000 taels of silver, Wang Zhiren also specially transferred a hundred taels of shield cars. These shield cars covered with cowhide were also built for siege. They were lined up in front of the cannon cars with a three-layer shield wall for protection.
With.
There was still a mile away from the city wall, and the driver had restrained eight horses.
The French mercenary gunners with hooked noses, red beards and blue eyes quickly began operations.
The groom took away the draft horse.
The artillerymen first carried hoes and shovels to clear and level the artillery emplacements.
A group of people were watching the excitement, including Governor Wang Zhiren, Admiral Wang Xiang, and even several bachelors. This thick and big copper guy was really powerful.
Weighed by catty, one catty is worth one tael of silver.
It was really expensive to have eight horses and dozens of people to wait on him. They all wanted to see if he was worth the price and treatment.
The maximum effective killing range can reach more than three miles. Nowadays, shooting from a distance of one mile is undoubtedly the strongest killing range. On the sea, if fighting at this distance, if it hits an enemy ship, it can often penetrate the ship's plank.
The tall mercenaries are all burly and strong, and they operate skillfully.
He straightened and fixed the cannon, then began to clean the barrel, charge the gun, and feed more than 20 kilograms of iron pellets into the barrel.
One of the gunners also took out a bunch of artillery tools and began to measure them. After struggling for a while, he finally put away the tools with satisfaction.
"This cannon only requires two people to load and fire, so why do so many people do it?" He Tengjiao asked.
"After this kind of cannon is fired, it has a strong retreat force and the gun position will move, so at least ten people are needed to move the cannon again. In addition, they also serve as musketeers to protect the artillery and prevent the enemy from breaking into the artillery position during the battle."
everything's ready.
"Your Highness, the gunners are in position and have already aimed at the South Gate Tower of Hangzhou, asking for permission to shoot!"
Zhu Yihai looked at the city gate tower a mile away.
Although the range of a cannon can be several miles, the accuracy of this kind of cannon cannot be too high. Even if it is one mile, there is a high probability that it will miss.
He first took out two balls of cotton prepared in advance and stuffed them into his ears, then covered his ears with both hands and moved back.
"You also need to step back first and stay far away."
Zhu Yihai retreated dozens of steps without forgetting to stand behind the shield car.
Wang Chuangzi took ten steps back and felt that enough was enough.
Liu Mu, who had the word "kill" written all over his face, originally wanted to step back a little more, but when Wang Chuangzi stopped, he also stopped.
Several bachelors took twenty or thirty steps back and stopped.
Zhu Yihai waved to them, "Stay back a little more. This cannon is very loud and can reverberate for more than ten miles."
He Tengjiao felt that it was not so exaggerated. It was just a cannon. When he was in Huguang, it was not that there were no cannons in the army, and he had also seen cannons being fired. It was not that exaggerated.
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City head.
When Zhang Cunren saw the huge cannon, he couldn't help but look back at the Hongyi cannon on the city. He always felt that the cannon on his city was much smaller than the one below the city.
Momentarily horrified.
The Ming army actually had cannons stronger than them?
At this time, there were twelve Hongyi cannons in Hangzhou City, four at the east gate, one at the north gate, four at the south gate, and three at the west gate.
In addition to these twelve Hongyi cannons, there are also eight bronze cannons, twenty Franjis, one hundred and seventy Weiyuan cannons, and one hundred and twenty other artillery pieces, for a total of three hundred and thirty.
However, although there are more than 300 large and small cannons, the twelve red cannons weighing 3,900 kilograms are really powerful. Others, such as the Franco machine and the Weiyuan cannon, are all small cannons, such as the Weiyuan cannon.
The long-range cannon is like a big vase, weighing only one hundred and twenty kilograms. It is said that it can be aimed and fired at a thousand paces, and can hit three kilograms and six taels of lead. But in fact, this thing is mostly loaded with small lead.
In-step shot.
The Fran machine has a rear-mounted iron-cast sub-cannon. Although it has a fast range, heat dissipation, and low cost, it has low power at close range. Even the larger Qianjin city defense Fran machine has this problem.
"Where did these fake cannons come from?"
"Those seem to be red-haired fans. Could they be from Macau?"
Zhang Cunren saw that the gunner was skillfully operating and the people around the gun position were retreating. He also realized that the gun was about to be fired. He hesitated for a moment, but finally raised his legs and walked away.
A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall.
Although the cannon has no accuracy, who can guarantee that one's luck will be that good?
When Taizu Nurhachi led his army to besiege Ningyuan, Yuan Chonghuan placed the red cannon on the top of the city and blasted it. Taizu was seriously injured with one shot, and he died not long after he was carried back.
Zhang Cunren went down to the city with a dark face, Xiao Qiyuan, Tian Xiong and others also left one after another when they saw this.
Zhu Guopan was far away from the cannon, and his heart suddenly felt proud. He didn't leave, but stood there. He wanted to see the Ming Dynasty's red cannon bombard the city of Hangzhou with his own eyes.
Sudden.
Zhu Guofan saw a red light flash from the muzzle of the cannon, and then felt a violent vibration under his feet.
Immediately afterwards, there was a loud thunder sound from the sky, and the rumble was like the sky falling and the earth cracking.
Then came a louder scream.
From far to near, arriving in an instant.
Zhu Guofan felt his ears tingling, and then he couldn't hear anything.
The next moment, my ears heard the sound again.
Loud rumble.
He only saw a group of black shadows shooting towards him.
The top floor of the city gate building at the South Gate of Hangzhou is gone.
Amidst the crashing sound, half of the gate tower's corners exploded, and broken wood flew everywhere.
The guards on the city gate screamed in agony. Many people were injured by the broken wood and tiles, and some of them were even killed directly by the unlucky ones.
Zhu Guofan's body was covered with dust. He stretched out his hand and touched it a few times, but found no injuries or bleeding.
At this time, after the cannonball shattered half of the city gate and buildings, it actually continued to fly into the city, hit a house in the city, blew a big hole in the wall, and even blasted out from the other side, and then hit a house next door.
It hit the wall, made a hole in it, and then fell to the street.
There were screams from the upper floors of the south city.
More lucky guys were stunned.
This cannon is too powerful. If it hits the city wall, even this thick brick-clad city wall may not be able to withstand a few bombardments, right?
Thinking of the Ming army having such a powerful weapon in their hands, the Qing army on the city couldn't help but tremble. They originally thought that the city had high walls and strong walls, so they could not be afraid of the besieging army below. But now that the opponent has such a big cannon, how can they defend it with such a small number of people?
?
Under the city, in the city gate, Zhang Cunren and others stood silently. When they heard the screams above, Zhang Cunren frowned.
A servant ran out and came back later to report the situation.
Hearing how powerful this cannon was, Zhang Cunren's lips trembled.
Xiao Qiyuan felt his hands and feet were cold, "Fortunately there is only one cannon."
Zhang Cunren was not so optimistic. The Ming army could not have just one red cannon.
Outside the city, cheers soaring to the sky could be heard from afar.
He Tengjiao got up from the ground in some embarrassment. The sound of the cannon just now was so loud that it even shocked him and made him fall to the ground with a gray face.
Liu Mu and Wang Xiang were shaking their heads there. They were so close that they still felt like their heads were buzzing.
Zhu Yihai walked out from behind the shield car, took out the cotton stuffed in his ears, and looked at the power of this shot with a smile on his face.
"These Franco gunners are really amazing, they actually hit the target with one shot."
He thought he couldn't hit it, but who knew it turned out to be a hit.
"Ten taels of silver will be awarded to the chief gunner, five taels to the assistant gunner, and twenty taels each to the rest of the gunners and the groom."
"Your Highness, this cannon is so powerful that it should be given the title of General." Wang Zhiren was also beaming and very excited.
Granting cannons the title of general was a routine practice in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Calling cannon a general has been around since the time of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang.
Not only are the cannons given the title of general, they are even sacrificed to the cannons every year. These weapons in the military are very respected.
At this time, there were four red-coated cannons in Hangzhou City who were named Divine Power Generals.
"Then I will grant you the title of an invincible general!"
Zhu Yihai was also very happy. The Macau people didn't lie to him about the five thousand taels of silver. One gate has such power. If all twenty-six gates were pulled over, lined up in a row, and fired with artillery, wouldn't the Hangzhou city wall have to be destroyed?
