In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 256 The Birth of the Heavy Cannon
At this time, Tang Bo, the servant of the Firearms Bureau, and Zhang Xiaoshi, the doctor, led people to meet him.

Liu Fu, the head of the Craftsmanship Bureau that makes cold weapons, is just a doctor, and belongs to the subordinate unit of the Ministry of Industry.

The Firearms Bureau is a separate department, directly under the emperor. Tang Bo and Liu Fu are the Yi kings who took refuge at the same time. Now their official positions are two levels behind.

It can be seen how much the emperor attached importance to the Firearms Bureau.

However, Zhao Yurui did not treat Liu Fu badly, and gave Liu Fu all the benefits as servants, and Liu Fu was also very satisfied.

The Firearms Bureau and Craftsman Bureau are next door. Not long after Emperor Zhao Yurui arrived, Liu Fu also came next door with a few people.

The emperor was standing at the foot of Phoenix Mountain at this time.

Opposite is Phoenix Mountain, and the mountain wall is directly used as a gun target.

Five hundred steps away from the mountain wall, there is a new 27-[-]-jin heavy artillery made by the Firearms Bureau, the '[-]-style' Baoqing cannon.

In Jeju Island, the Firearms Bureau began to manufacture artillery with three main specifications.

350 catties are reused for city defense and ships.

250 Jin and 150-170 Jin, these two kinds are used for field battles.

Later, after testing, it was found that the 150-170 catties gun had too far a range and was not powerful enough.

Its shells are only about two catties, and after hitting the target, the kinetic energy basically disappears.

And like a 250-jin cannonball, which weighs four catties, it can roll a long way after hitting the target, and can cut the feet of many people or horses.

After the battle between Shandong and Yan Shi and Shi Tianlu last year, the artillery battalion quickly responded.

The power of a 250-jin solid bullet is still not enough.

If the 250-jin cannon hits a person or a horse, it will be offset by a lot of force. Sometimes it will stop directly when it hits a person's chest, and there will be no rebound or jump.

Hitting the head, shoulders or feet and the ground, etc., can also roll up, causing secondary damage.

Therefore, the artillery of the Song Army had better not hit the target directly at that time. It would bounce and roll when it hit the ground, but it could cause more damage.

This proves that the power of the shells is still not enough.

Qian Daqing of the Artillery Battalion said that if the caliber of the artillery is larger and the range is longer, one shot can tear a long blood path and the lethality can be doubled.

This required larger and heavier shells.

So bigger and heavier artillery was put on the agenda.

Zhao Yurui's initial idea was mainly for the consideration of field battles. The heavy artillery could not be loaded and unloaded by the carriage.

The four-wheeled carriage they built can hold 250 catties of artillery, and can also hold some shells and gunpowder in the same car. The full load is [-] catties. They use two horses, and the speed is relatively fast. It is suitable for long-distance marches when soldiers push it down without civilian husbands.

No matter how heavy the artillery is, it cannot be loaded and unloaded by a carriage, and can only be dragged behind. It will require more people to push it, and the marching speed will definitely be affected.

However, considering that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Hou Jin often dragged several thousand catties of artillery around, Zhao Yurui decided to also build a thousand catties of heavy artillery.

The artillery in the late Ming Dynasty was big and heavy, and the gunpowder formula was not standard, so the power of the so-called Hongyi cannon was still amazing.

But the Hongyi cannons in the late Ming Dynasty had to be pulled by four oxen. Because there were not many cannons, Zhao and Rui had too many cannons, so they could only be drawn by horses, so the weight could not be too heavy. Finally, a heavy cannon weighing 1000 to [-] jin was built.

At this time, Tang Bo was introducing the data of the new artillery to Zhao Yurui.

"The length is 170, the circumference is 23, the inner diameter is twelve, and the double diameter is twelve."

When Zhao Yurui heard that the data was different from the previous guns, they looked at Tang Bo suspiciously.

Tang Bo hurriedly introduced him carefully.

There are a few differences between the Type 27 artillery and the previous ones. First of all, it is known from the circumference and inner diameter data that the gun wall has been thickened.

The cannon walls are thickened for durability.

In the Zhangqiu battle, the fastest time someone fired a cannon was about 5 minutes, and the slowest was about 8 minutes.

Basically, after the first shot, the cavalry rushed to the front, and the second shot could only be fired towards the enemy's rear.

At that time, in order to kill the enemy, everyone tried to shoot as fast as possible, but the continuous firing made it difficult for the barrel to cool down and was easily damaged.

If you fire one shot in 5 minutes, and hit seven or eight shots in a row, the barrel may be deformed.

Although it was barely usable at the time, it had to be recast after the war.

"Now the gun wall has been thickened. After our experiments, we found that if one shot is fired within one stick of incense (5 minutes), it takes about twelve shots before the barrel deforms."

And a battle with heavy artillery can usually end with about ten artillery pieces.

If there are enough heavy artillery and the firing time is slower, maybe six or seven artillery can end the battle.

"How heavy is the shell now?" Zhao Yurui asked.

The current shell has a diameter of about eleven and weighs 5400 grams. (Song 600 grams per catty), about nine catties in weight.

It is equivalent to more than ten kilograms in later generations.

This shell is relatively heavy, and the largest Hongyi cannon shell in the late Ming Dynasty only weighed about [-] catties.

The largest Hongyi cannon was three meters long and weighed several thousand catties. When Houjin was hauled, it took four oxen and dozens of people, and the march was very slow.

But the power of heavy artillery is obvious.

Tang Bo said that the nine-pound shell hits a person within two hundred steps and can directly penetrate a person.

When this kind of shell hits a crowd, it can immediately tear a bloody path, and its lethality is doubled.

Zhao Yurui's gunpowder formula is stronger than that of the late Ming Dynasty. Although it is a ten-jin shell, within two hundred steps, it is as powerful as the Hongyi cannon, but after two hundred steps, it is not as powerful as the twenty-jin Hongyi cannon. The cannonballs, after all, their weight is there.

"Your Majesty, in fact, the weight of the cannon can also be reduced, such as those circles and the long marks in the middle—" At this moment, an official beside him said.

Regardless of the model of the artillery of the Song Army, there are three circles in the middle. These three circles protrude around the body of the gun, which also accounts for a lot of weight. In addition, there is a long mark on the body of the gun.

Many craftsmen don't understand why there are three circles. Isn't this redundant.

The long marks are even more ugly.

"This circle cannot be reduced, it must be." Zhao Yurui said with a smile: "It is useful to keep long marks."

Of course he made three circles for a reason.

Before the European wood casting method came in, before the clay casting method and the lost wax method were invented, the cannons in the early Ming Dynasty were hooped in pieces.

Such cannons are extremely unstable and can break easily.

Zhao and Rui put three hoops on the periphery of each cannon, so that outsiders will definitely think that the cannon is composed of three or four sections when they see it.

If it is imitated, it must first make three short tubes and then splice them together. The quality of such artillery is extremely poor, it is not usable at all, and it is easy to explode.

The long marks give people another feeling. They think it is a thick iron sheet that was first made, then rolled up into a barrel, and then connected, so long marks will be left.

These two marks were kept by Zhao Yurui on purpose. Once the cannon is lost and others want to imitate it, they must first make three joints and then connect them together, or roll them up with thick iron sheets. The mud casting method and the lost wax method must be unexpected. The quality of the artillery was extremely poor and had no power at all.

Of course, Zhao Yurui didn't say why they kept these seemingly flawed things, so everyone didn't know that they were from an official family and would be so insidious.

"How many horses can be pulled up now?" Zhao Yurui asked at this time.

Their artillery mount weighs more than 400 kilograms. The mount has two large wooden wheels. The wheels are made of Tie Li wood, which are relatively durable. The wheels are about 1.5 meters high, which is very large.

"To keep up with the infantry, if you don't talk about speed, you only need two horse mules and four people. Of course, the horse mules should be rotated." up.)
If the cavalry wants to carry it, at least four horses are required to follow the speed of the cavalry, and there must also be a rotation, such as a cannon with eight horses, four rotations, and eight people at the same time. Need to push and fill in etc.

The heavier the cannon, the more personnel and materials are needed to support it.

Zhao Yurui previously hoped to reduce the number of civilian husbands who accompanied the army as much as possible, and try not to use civilian husbands where they can be used.

Now that heavy artillery is out, each heavy artillery must be equipped with at least four to eight horse mules, and four to eight people. The logistical requirements have suddenly increased.

Zhao Yurui thought for a while: "Each heavy artillery is equipped with two four-wheeled carriages, one for shells and gunpowder, and one for forage and grain."

After doing the calculations like this, more people and horses are needed to go out with a heavy artillery.

Considering that most of the Song army is still infantry, one heavy artillery is equivalent to four horses and mules, transported by four people, plus two four-wheeled carriages, and two carriages require four people and four horses.

That heavy artillery requires eight horses and eight men, which is still the minimum standard.

In the past, there were more than 500 people in an artillery battalion, 25 artillery pieces, and each artillery piece had four horses and four men, which is equivalent to doubled now.

In the past, an artillery battalion also had [-] horses, mainly for transportation and rotation.

But now, for the sake of rotation, two hundred horses and mules are probably not enough, and at least four hundred horses must be brought, which is almost one horse per person.

As for the manpower, it must be matched with civilian husbands or gunners.

Zhao Yurui's gunners all carried crossbows and spears, they could serve as both infantry and gunners, and now they all had to be grooms.

"There are more than 500 people in the artillery battalion, and the 25 guns remain unchanged. Five shotguns, five Type 27s, and fifteen Type 24s."

Zhao Yurui changed the artillery battalion, and each battalion carried five heavy artillery.

"Each battalion brings another three hundred horses and mules, and seventy four-wheeled carts."

After this restructuring, carriages and mules were added, which were enough to haul heavy artillery in rotation. It also increased the load-bearing capacity and improved the logistics intensity.

Although there are only five heavy artillery pieces, this firepower will be considered relatively strong for future generations.

Because Zhao Yurui designed one army with two artillery battalions.

He has an army of 6000 people. If it is a large army of 6 people, there will be [-] artillery battalions with [-] artillery pieces and [-] heavy artillery pieces.

This kind of configuration does not exist even in the late Ming Dynasty, the late Jin Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty, or the Qing Dynasty.

Even if 10 people came from the opposite side, it would not be enough for him to fight with [-] artillery pieces.

Of course, limited by the productivity of this era and the difficulty of artillery training, he now does not have 10,000 artillery pieces among the [-]+ troops in Shandong.

At present, Zhao Yurui just needs time.

Now Peng Yibin has more than 5 soldiers and horses, and only three artillery battalions are used in field battles.

In addition, some guns are used to defend the city.

In the next step, the imperial court will build heavier cannons of several thousand catties for the important city fortresses, which will require time and materials.

Therefore, Zhao and Rui had to build some cannons for the defense of the important cities in Shandong, and then allocated them to the infantry.

It is also necessary to equip Beijing, Lake, Lianghuai and other places with training artillery.

If he wants the entire army to follow his vision, each army can have two artillery battalions, which is estimated to be three or even five years away.

(End of this chapter)