Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 1000 Rapid Fire Bronze Cannon

In recent years, the Ming Dynasty had frequent exchanges with Western countries, and had many contacts with Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands. Recently, the English country competed with the Dutch on the sea, and also came to trade with China. The Ming Dynasty also had contacts.

Facing the rising powers in the sea one by one, Wang Yan even planned to plan a mission, just like the Sanbao eunuch who went to the West, to go to the western feudal states to see how big these opponents can compete with the Ming Dynasty. ,how far.

However, there are a lot of things behind his ass right now, and this is just one of his thoughts.

In the communication between China and the West, the Jesuits undoubtedly played a huge role.

He not only introduced Western technology and Christianity to China, but also translated Chinese culture and philosophy into Western characters and passed them back to the West.

China may not be outstanding in terms of science and technology, but it is very prominent in terms of culture, system, and ideology. The propriety, justice, benevolence, wisdom and trust advocated by Confucianism can be said to be political correctness at that time. Classics", "Sun Tzu's Art of War" and other books have been translated.

Wang Yan has a very close relationship with the Society of Jesus, so this time, he naturally attracted some members of the Society of Jesus.

Wang Yan allowed them to preach freely, but the believers must abide by the laws of the Ming Dynasty, that is, the national law is greater than the religious law, and their political status is the same as that of local Buddhism.

Western missionaries, the common method used in missionary work is to set up churches and missionary schools first, which indeed brought a different landscape and ideological impact to Nanjing, but this is not too unusual. As early as before the Song Dynasty, Quanzhou had Before the Nanjing teaching plan, the Jesuits also had activities in Nanjing.

Building a church costs unimaginable money and takes a long time.

Wang Yan funded the Jesuits to build a cathedral in Nanjing. Bo Yingli, a director of the Jesuits who was writing "Chinese Philosopher Confucius" in Macau, was immediately excited when he got the news. He wrote a letter to the Pope, delighted to report his missionary work in China. As a result, while packing his things, he rushed to Nanjing from Macau.

In addition to training craftsmen, the Ministry of Industry Academy actually has another function, which is to improve and invent new instruments and firearms.

Regarding firearms, the person in charge is Bi Maoliang, the younger brother of Bi Maokang who invented the first self-generating firearm in the eighth year of Chongzhen, who wrote "Army Book".

"Army Book" is a wonderful book. The Ming Dynasty can now produce self-generating firecrackers, mainly because of the records in this book. Unfortunately, this book was banned and destroyed by the Qing Dynasty during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Fortunately, there is a single copy Keep it, and later generations will know that China once had this artifact, and it is not behind the world.

The Bi family is also a big family in the south of the Yangtze River. Bi Maokang and his brother Bi Maoliang are Jinshi, and there are several candidates in the family.

In addition to Bi Maoliang, there is another person, Bo Yingli, who came from Macau. However, due to the problem of physical fitness and the inherent concepts of the court, the Ming Dynasty has not yet fully opened up, so the school is dominated by Han people, Xiyi As a supplement.

At this time, Wang Yan came to the firearms area, and Bi Maoliang and Bo Yingli waited inside.

There were also many models in the room. Wang Yan looked at it, and then his eyes fell on one model. He pointed with a smile and said, "This is the Hongyi cannon!" Bi Maoliang who was on the side immediately stepped forward and said, "What Your Highness said Yes, this is Hongyi Cannon!"

Bo Yingli was a little unhappy when he heard this, "Your Highness, although Daming is the overlord of the East, it shouldn't be so arrogant. I know that the Hongyi you mentioned refers to the Dutch, but as a Westerner, I don't think His Highness We are treated the same as the Chinese."

Wang Yan still has some self-cultivation. He basically doesn't use the word "Yi" in front of Xiyi. After all, they are opponents who can compete with Daming at sea.

The Hongyi Cannon was called that all the time in the Ming Dynasty, and he blurted it out after scanning so many models just now.

Wang Yan was a little embarrassed, and Bi Maoliang who was next to him immediately said, "Your Highness, this kind of artillery is also called a falcon blunderbuss or a half-snake blunderbuss!"

When Xu Guangqi introduced artillery, there was a set of names for Xiyi artillery, but Hongyi artillery was more vivid, so the name Hongyi artillery was often used.

"Falcon blunderbuss." Wang Yan hurriedly said with a smile: "Director Bo misunderstood, we have always called it that way."

As he spoke, he looked at the cannon next to the model that was many times larger than the Hongyi Cannon, and asked in surprise, "What is the name of this cannon? It seems to weigh at least six or seven thousand catties!"

"This is the Big Snake Gun, also known as Western Cannon!" Bi Maoliang said.

Bo Yingli also opened his mouth and said: "This is not the biggest one. It is usually used for fortresses. The smaller one weighs four to five thousand catties and is mainly used for the bottom of battleships."

In order to maintain the center of gravity of Western three-tier warships, [-]-pound heavy guns are generally placed on the bottom layer, and the magnitude of the artillery above is reduced layer by layer.

Wang Yan was not too surprised, because he already knew a few years ago that the red barbarian guns salvaged from the sea in the Ming Dynasty were only the artillery of Western armed merchant ships, probably only twelve-pound guns.

According to Western sayings, the four to five thousand catties should be eighteen-pound guns, and the Hongyi cannons of the Ming Dynasty were mostly twelve-pound cannons of two to three thousand catties, and this six to seven thousand catties should be 32-pound guns.

There are not many ships equipped with four to five thousand catties of heavy guns in the West, and most of them are in the West. They will not sail to the East if they have nothing to do. Most of the ships at sea are armed merchant ships.

"Can this kind of gun be made? How much is it?" Daming must have such a thing. Wang Yan touched the model and raised his head to ask.

"It can be made!" Bi Maoliang nodded affirmatively, "The cannon casting workshop of the Ministry of Industry, a hundred catties of fine iron for casting cannons, about six taels of silver, and the raw materials and artificial technology for casting such a cannon will not exceed 500 taels. "

Before the industrial revolution, there was not much difference and gap in technology.

500 taels a door, which is a bit expensive to be honest, but the total economic output of the Ming Dynasty accounted for at least half of the world, so there is no problem in insisting on building it.

Wang Yan pondered for a while, "Guang will ask the Ministry of War to place orders as needed, and you are going to contact the workshops of the Ministry of Industry to provide them with technology and make a batch first."

Bi Maoliang hurriedly said: "Don't worry, Your Highness, we will help the Ministry of Industry to make the cannon."

The main artillery of the Ming Dynasty is the 32-pound Hongyi cannon, and the [-]-pound cannon is relatively small. Now it is necessary to build a [-]-pound cannon, which can be said to be very large.

However, compared to these giant cannons, Wang Yan is more interested in the small six-pound and seven-pound cannons.

Wang Yan looked at the many molds, and suddenly saw a small cannon, which was obviously used for field battles.

Because it is placed on the cannon carriage, the tail ball of the gun is stuck in the arc-shaped iron groove, and the tail ball can be fixed at different angles with iron bolts according to different shooting angles.

The cannon cart has only two wheels and a ring at the rear, which can be dragged away by horses.

Wang Yan immediately became interested when he saw it. "Response in the army, the airtightness of the Folang machine gun is insufficient, the range is short, and the power is small, which cannot meet the needs of the army. After the self-generated firecrackers were equipped with the army, the firepower of the infantry increased, but the artillery team The strength of the army can't keep up, which limits the flexibility of the army to fight. Do you have improved field artillery?"

Bo Yingli had seen Wang Yan notice the small cannon early on, and he immediately said, "Your Highness, this cannon is an improved version of the Burgundy cannon. The key to rapid fire and rapid aiming is that it is made of bronze and is very light, it can be dragged by two mules and horses, it is very easy to maneuver, and it meets His Highness's requirements."

(End of this chapter)