Lord of the Desert

Chapter 538 Inertial Fuze

"This cannon was designed by Hong Fan himself and manufactured by Cao Hanhai, a master of the Golden Magnetic Sect, using special high-quality steel. It was finalized in June of this year and named the 'Three-Three Cannon' after the year."

Qian Hong's voice was full of pride.

"The shell weighs ten pounds, the cannon weighs twelve hundred pounds, it is breech-loading, rifled, and the breech and breechblock use precision tapered threads. After tightening, the gas leakage rate is less than one percent, which can maintain continuous loading and firing at an elevation angle. The rate of fire has been increased from one round per minute of traditional muzzle-loading cannons to three rounds per minute, and the barrel's firing life exceeds four thousand rounds..."

Sweat beaded on his forehead, reflecting the blazing sunlight, as he rattled off the artillery's specifications and performance parameters.

Hong Fan calibrates the weapon, Qian Hong loads it.

After the breechblock was tightened, the fiery true energy ignited the fuse remotely.

A sudden burst of fire and thunderous sound caused the ground to tremble and dust to rise three inches high; two seconds later, a ball of golden fire rose up a kilometer away.

The shot missed by six meters, not only knocking down the iron target at the core, but also tearing apart more than ten wooden targets around it with dense shrapnel.

"How could it hit a target from a kilometer away with a single shot?"

Bu Tianze was taken aback.

"This destructive power is quite impressive even for someone at the Innate Realm!"

The Heavenly Secrets Manual is particularly weak in combat. Although Bu Tianze has the cultivation level of the Yuan Magnetic Realm, his full-force attack is only slightly stronger and his range is far inferior.

On the other hand, Kaiming Bank had been established for many years, and Zhuang Liren was already familiar with artillery and could see more intricacies.

“Conical shells, lead casings, and fixed propellant charges—you’ve copied the rifling from rifles onto artillery.”

As he spoke, he took a cannon out of the ammunition box to inspect it.

What about the range and the circular error probable (CEP)?

(Circular error refers to the radius of the circle centered on the target that includes 50% of the impact points.)

"The maximum range exceeds three thousand meters, and the circular error probable at a distance of one thousand meters is ten meters. When combined with exploding shells, it can achieve precision strikes."

Qian Hong returned immediately.

"Therefore, the range is four times greater than that of a smoothbore cannon, and the accuracy is five times greater."

Zhuang Liren nodded unconsciously, watching intently as Hong Fan used a wet cloth push rod and a stiff bristle brush to clean the gun barrel.

Black powder leaves a lot of residue after burning, so the cannon must be cleaned after each firing. This is where the difference in firing rate comes in – muzzle-loading cannons must lower the barrel to -5 degrees after each cleaning, which takes 20 seconds, while breech-loading cannons can be cleaned directly from the breech, without this requirement.

The gun mount is reset, ammunition is loaded, and the breech is closed.

The barrel angle remained unchanged, saving another ten seconds of aiming time.

Ignition, activation.

The shot missed the target by twelve meters, causing Zhuang Liren to frown deeply.

"Li Ren, being only four zhang away from a distance of one thousand meters is already quite remarkable."

Bu Tianze spoke up.

"That's not what I care about."

Zhuang Liren smiled.

With his innate cultivation, although he wasn't very good at fighting, he could see things a thousand meters away as if they were right in front of him—he could clearly see the shell just now, and it was obvious that it only detonated when it hit the target.

"This shell probably doesn't use a time-delay fuse?"

Zhuang Liren looked at Hong Fan.

A delayed-action fuse is a wooden fuse tube inserted into a pre-drilled hole in the projectile body, filled with slow-burning gunpowder, and ignited by the muzzle flash to control the detonation time.

"Duke Zhuang had keen insight, and both the high-explosive shells and shrapnel shells of the 33-shot cannon used brand-new inertial fuses."

Hong Fan replied.

"The warhead has a built-in counterweight that propels the firing pin upon impact, puncturing the mercury fulminate detonator and achieving instantaneous detonation upon contact. After testing, the probability of duds has been reduced from 40% with a time-delay fuse to 50%."

He also felt a bit emotional when he said this.

Although the 33 cannon was still using outdated granular black powder, it was equipped with a precision inertial fuse that only appeared in the late 19th century of the previous life, and its overall performance was comparable to that of field guns in the 1860s.

This is precisely the characteristic of the engineering community in Dahua: a lack of basic education and a huge gap in the development level of various fields. However, as long as martial artists can exert their strength, it is not difficult to make generational achievements. Take Cao Hanhai as an example; his ability to knead metal at will far surpasses that of any machine tool in his previous life.

“This time, I plan to set up an additional artillery battalion for our northward expedition, equipped with six 33mm heavy cannons,” Hong Fan said.

"This expense must be quite substantial."

Bu Tianze stroked the scorching cannon barrel and sighed.

"It is very high. The one-time investment is at least 10,000 guan, and the annual maintenance requires at least 10,000 guan."

Hong Fan also showed a pained expression.

"Why is it so tall? Even if a martial artist with innate cultivation were to make this cannon by hand, it shouldn't cost two thousand strings of cash per cannon, right?"

Bu Tianze was furious upon hearing this.

"But what Qian Hong just said about the Golden Magnetic Gate controlling you?"

"That's not it. A cannon only costs two hundred strings of cash, but the key is that it also requires two hundred people and sixty top-quality pack animals."

Hong Fan explained.

"Six cannons require two hundred men?"

Bu Tianze was even less convinced.

"Weren't you and Qian Hong enough to handle the cannon just now?"

“Master Bu, you may not know this, but that was just a demonstration, not a battle. Ordinary soldiers do not have the cultivation levels of me and Qian Hong.”

Hong Fan replied.

"Each cannon requires a gunner, who is responsible for calculating the range and elevation angle and giving commands."
One gunner and two people: extinguishing the fire, scraping and removing slag, and dry brushing.
Two gunners were responsible for loading propellant, carrying shells, and loading ammunition.
One igniter holds a fuse and lights the fuse;

The reset team consists of six people and is responsible for resetting the gun mount, which had recoiled several meters after firing.
Three substitutes familiar with the entire process serve as personnel redundancy in case of casualties.
The transport team consists of three people and is responsible for the sorting and transport of ammunition.

The artillery and its accompanying ammunition carts require ten horses and two drivers to pull them.

The above personnel total twenty for one cannon, and one hundred and twenty for six cannons; this is not enough, the entire artillery battalion also needs an additional fifteen-person engineering team to be responsible for the preparation of the position and the repair of equipment, and another thirty-person guard infantrymen - this does not include the command system, military doctors, veterinarians, cooks and miscellaneous workers.

In short, six cannons and two hundred men was already an extremely streamlined result.

These days, Hong Fan has been busy with these things, and he already knows the specific numbers by heart.

"The annual salary of an ordinary infantryman is 20 guan, while that of an artilleryman, who is a technical branch, is at least 25 guan. The annual food cost per person is 4 shi, plus 6 liang for vegetables and meat. The remaining food, salt and vegetables, weapons wear and tear, and replacement of armor and clothing add up to 8 liang or more."

Regarding livestock, a draft horse costs ten strings of cash, a healthy mule twenty strings, and a pack animal requires at least ten strings of cash in fodder per year. Add to that the cost of ammunition, and it wouldn't amount to ten thousand strings of cash a year, would it?

Ten thousand strings of cash may not sound like much, but it was actually equivalent to the annual income of many first- or second-class powerful families.

Will the Ministry of Revenue pay for this?

Zhuang Liren asked.

"No, the court will provide me with 2,000 armored soldiers, chariots, horses, and firearms from the Liangzhou camp, and will then allocate 80,000 strings of cash annually as provisions and pay; therefore, I will have to subsidize my own high-ranking personal guard battalion, artillery battalion, as well as my staff and guest advisors."

Hong Fan smiled wryly.

"For example, if I ask Xu Yuntao, the former general of the Hundred Victories Army, to lead troops, I can certainly give him a position of the sixth rank, but the court will only give him a salary of 1,500 shi; a mere 750 taels is not commensurate with the status of a veteran general of the Four Directions. I should at least supplement it to 6,000 shi. No matter how frugal I am, I will have to spend at least 20,000 guan a year."

"Spending one's own money to defend the border—that's truly noble and virtuous!"

Bu Tianze's words were half a joke and half an expression of admiration.

"Self-interest came first, it just so happened to be the right time."

Hong Fan cupped his hands in greeting, indicating that he could not accept the honor, and then led the two to the Kaimingxing Restaurant for a meal.

The group kept to themselves throughout the journey.

August had not yet arrived, and the beacon tower city was still a thousand miles away.

Hong Fan, however, was lost in thought, pondering the human geography of the northern border of Hezhou, and even the Battle of Juling.

P.S.: The outline and details for Volume 6 are not finished yet. I'm fixing bugs and thinking about settings every day, and I'm losing hair all the time.

But my daughter is very cute, hehe.

(End of this chapter)