Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 462: The Possibility of Building Artillery
In the era of cold weapons, the death rate on the battlefield was actually very small.

Most of them died from infection after being injured. Compared with being killed directly, injuries have a greater impact on the army.

As long as the musket has a range of more than a hundred steps and can hurt people, it can be used on the battlefield.

When he arrived outside the hall, Zhao Xing saw Chen Kui and two soldiers holding wooden boxes behind him.

"Greetings to Your Majesty!"

When Chen Kui saw Zhao Xing coming out, he quickly saluted.

"No gift!"

Zhao Xing waved his hand and said, "I heard that there has been some progress in the development of the musket. Let me take a look."

"Yes!"

Chen Kui responded, opened the wooden box in the hands of the soldier behind him, and took out a bronze object that was as thick as an adult's arm and looked like an iron rod.

"I followed your Majesty's instructions and used iron to make a bamboo tube. It worked at first, but the range didn't change. Later, the power of gunpowder increased, so I replaced it with new gunpowder, and the range increased."

"But the new gunpowder is very powerful. If there is too little, the range will be reduced, and if there is too much, it will easily crack. So I tried to use bronze and some iron, and the effect was very good..."

Although Chen Kui was nervous in front of Zhao Xing, he forgot about his nervousness when he talked about his professional field. He looked excited and started talking incessantly.

"Cough cough..."

Cao Mian coughed a few times to interrupt Chen Kui and reminded him, "Let's demonstrate it first so that His Majesty can see its power."

"I spoke too much at the time, I hope Your Majesty will forgive me."

Chen Kui came back to his senses and realized that he had talked too much nonsense, so he bowed quickly.

"It's okay. I like to hear it." Zhao Xing said with a smile.

Zhao Xing is still very patient with such talents.

He asked someone to find some thick and light armor for the arrangement, while Zhao Xing and Chen Kui started chatting.

The musket was just a transition, and what Zhao Xing wanted most was the flintlock.

Regarding these, Zhao Xing only knew the general principles, and the details still needed to be studied.

After sending Chen Kui to the Firearms Bureau, Zhao Xing had someone give Chen Kui some of the principles of muskets he had written, so that he could study them.

He really wanted to know what progress Chen Kui had made in this regard.

The technology of the arquebus was simple, but when the Ming Dynasty came into being, it was replaced by the matchlock gun.

But in terms of lethality, the matchlock gun is not necessarily greater than the musket.

The accuracy of the musket is difficult to guarantee, but the destructive power can be imagined since it can spray a large area.

However, a huge drawback is that replacing gunpowder filling gravel is very slow.

Although the matchlock is also slow, it is much faster than the musket.

As for the flintlock, it is easier to use. After all, the matchlock needs to be ignited, and it is not easy to use in windy and rainy weather.

This is also the reason why firearms still needed to be used in conjunction with cold weapons in the early Ming Dynasty.

However, the results were not ideal, and Chen Kui made little progress in his research on the musket.

The main reason was that the internal structure of the musket was still somewhat complicated. Zhao Xing only had a general theory and didn't know the internal structure.

To put it simply, the musket can be seen as a simplified version of gunpowder, which uses gunpowder to spray out gravel.

There is no high technical content, but the musket is different.

"Your Majesty, I have no idea about muskets for now, but after reading the description of cannons, I think it is possible to make bronze cannons." Chen Kui said.

"Really?"

Zhao Xing was delighted when he heard this. Even if cannons were invented in this era, they would only be the kind that fired iron eggs and had limited power.

But this thing was still very useful in the era of cold weapons.

It can be used for both siege and field battles, and the most important thing is the range.

Although he was not sure about the range of the early artillery, it should be at least a thousand meters, right?

Although the range of the bed crossbow is more than a thousand meters, it is expensive and difficult to operate. Most importantly, it has certain requirements for terrain and can basically only be used to defend the city.

"I dare not guarantee it, I can only try my best. But if we are making cannons, iron alone will not be enough. I'm afraid we have to use bronze. The cost will definitely not be low." Chen Kui said.

"It doesn't matter. I will provide it no matter how much it costs." Zhao Xing said nonchalantly.

Copper was a trading currency in ancient times. It was used during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and it did not become the mainstream currency until the Han Dynasty.

Even in the Qing Dynasty, it was still in use.

This was because the Central Plains dynasty lacked gold and silver.

Although it exists, it is not enough for the entire country to circulate it as currency.

The Han Dynasty was not bad because business was booming and a large amount of silver flowed in.

During the Ming Dynasty, even the circulation of gold and silver was banned.

A cannon must weigh at least several hundred pounds. Even if some iron is added, a lot of copper is consumed, so the cost is indeed expensive.

But in terms of the effect, Zhao Xing felt it was totally worth it.

If it really doesn't work, just attack the island country, there is more money there anyway.

Once the cannons are manufactured, with the Song Dynasty's artillery technology and the cannons installed, the island country will not be able to resist at all.

Therefore, Zhao Xing didn't care about these at all.

Zhao Xing was worried that Chen Kui might not understand enough just by reading the booklet, so he explained to him in detail the theories he knew.

After the eunuch came to report that everything was ready, Zhao Xing ended the exercise reluctantly and asked Chen Kui to practice.

Chen Kui took the order and started to tinker with it.

It took Chen Kui about half a cup of tea to finish it.

Chen Kui is already very skilled even though he has spent so much time on it.

Even if ordinary soldiers have undergone rigorous training, they may not be much faster than him.

At this time, even if the enemy is a foot soldier, they can rush to the front before the gunpowder and stones are loaded for the second time.

There is almost no possibility of using it a second time on the battlefield.

But this thing is cheap, so just make more and spray it before a battle. Not to mention the lethality, the deterrent effect is overwhelming.

"Your Majesty, I am going to light a fire."

Chen Kui gave a reminder and after getting Zhao Xing's permission, he lit the fuse at several wooden stakes with iron and light armor hanging on them about 150 steps away.

"boom…"

There was a loud bang, and a pungent smell of gunpowder was emitted from the musket, and a series of clanging sounds came from the distance.

After the smoke cleared, Zhao Xing went forward to check.

There were only a few marks of stones on the heavy armor, which disappeared after wiping with hands.

The places where there were iron pieces on the light armor were not damaged, but the places where there were no iron pieces were broken.

Zhao Xing was speechless. He thought that what Cao Mian meant by light armor could not be resisted was because it could be penetrated.

Now I understand that the reason is that there are no iron plates in other parts of the light armor except for the important parts.

But after thinking about it carefully, Zhao Xing felt relieved. After all, it was just a stone, and it was not realistic to want to penetrate the iron plate.

It is said that stones cannot withstand such power, and even the materials used to make muskets cannot withstand it.

Even so, it is enough. At worst, you can soak the stones in manure water first.

Even if the skin is just scratched, it will get infected later.

Don't underestimate the wisdom of the ancients. Although they didn't understand what bacteria were, they knew to deliberately let the arrows rust, or soak the arrows in feces when shooting.

Cao Mian looked at Zhao Xing with some trepidation. He hadn't made any progress for such a long time and had made such a big mistake last time. He was afraid that Zhao Xing would not be satisfied with the result this time.

(End of this chapter)