The preparations for the establishment of the new army are progressing smoothly. In mid-October, two regiments have been formed. This is because the grassroots officers are not in place, so the pace of army building has to be slowed down. Otherwise, if we recruit three to four thousand soldiers, it will be almost impossible.
It can be solved in a few days.
There are enough students in the general school hall, but most of them have been enrolled for too short a time and the content they have learned is not solid. It is not appropriate to push them to the military camp too quickly. They must learn mathematics well before they can succeed.
Rules regarding qualifications for leading troops. Even the first cadet company only selected more than 60 cadets to enter the battle order.
After recruiting new soldiers, an urgent problem arises: there are no suitable supporting firearms. You can't build a new army just by relying on swords, spears and grenades, right? That would be too embarrassing for the time traveler.
The first imaginary enemy of the new army is the Eight Banners soldiers of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Let’s not talk about the issue of combat quality, but even in terms of equipment, the current army is incomparable with others.
The main forces of the Eight Banners are all protected by armor, and their swords are all made of fine steel. At the same time, they are also equipped with fine bows and good horses. Not only do they have these, they are not bad at firearms. Kong Youde, I am glad that a few traitors surrendered.
During the Qing Dynasty, the most advanced firearms manufacturing technology of the Ming Dynasty was brought to the Qing Dynasty, so people can now make advanced weapons such as shotguns and red cannons. I heard that the blacksmith shops outside Shenyang City stretch for ten miles, and they are there day and night.
Forge firearms.
Grenade can provide a certain amount of fire support, but the fire range is too narrow and can only be used as a medium and short-range firearm. The shotgun is relatively expensive to build and has limited fire power output. It can only be used as an individual support weapon, not a firearm for all personnel.
Zhu Youjian's idea is to give one gun to every four members of the new brigade first, and wait until the technology is greatly improved in the future to see the situation. The Bingzhan Bureau has already arranged a large number of craftsmen to mass-produce and improved the gun stock.
and shotguns aiming at the facility. It is estimated that it will take more than two months to produce enough shotguns for the first brigade.
The biggest problem now is that there are no suitable support artillery, and the company-level organization must be equipped with artillery. However, neither the Tiger Crouching Cannon nor the Folan Cannon can use new gunpowder, and it is also difficult to fire in terms of rate of fire and maneuverability.
Meet actual combat needs.
After recent pondering, Zhu Youjian decided to improve the existing Tiger Crouching Cannon into a mortar to see if it would work.
Theoretically speaking, the chamber pressure of a firearm such as the Tiger Crouching Cannon is not too high, and the requirements for the gun body are not that high. As long as the casting quality of the gun barrel is improved, it can meet the requirements for the use of new gunpowder.
"Big companion, have you received any news about the improvements in iron mold casting of cannons from the War and War Bureau in the past few days?" In the past, artillery casting was mainly done with clay molds. A few days ago, Chongzhen went to the War and War Bureau to inspect the craftsmanship.
At that time, he suddenly thought of the iron mold process, and he quickly arranged for craftsmen to test the feasibility of this method.
Compared with clay molds, iron mold cannons have advantages in efficiency, stability, and accuracy. The main difficulty lies in the coating of the lining mold. The coating must be able to insulate evenly, and it must not be too thick or fall off casually.
It requires strong viscosity and adhesion. However, when casting a cannon in an iron mold, you can only cast a cannon body with the same thickness at the top and bottom. If it is thin at the top and thick at the bottom, the iron tire inside cannot be taken out.
"Your Majesty, there is news from the War Bureau. They say that they can use iron molds to cast a suitable gun body. They think that this method can also be used to cast the barrel of a bird gun."
"Cast gun barrel? Isn't it a little too rough? Is it suitable for use without drilling it?"
"The craftsman over there said that you can cast the tube hole a little thinner, and then grind and drill it. This will save a lot of effort."
"This seems to be feasible, let them do it this way. Since this method can be used, you can arrange it and let them cast several new mortars according to the diagram I drew. When casting the cannon,
Use steel materials. Has the quality of the steel produced by the Bingzhan Bureau improved?"
"My servant has asked about it. They said that after switching to coke and new air ducts, the steel produced is much better than before. The quality of the steel produced by the steel frying method is similar to that of Fujian iron. It is very easy to use."
"As long as it's easy to use, the caliber error of the cannon cast this time must be controlled within one centimeter, and the weight error of the gun body must be within one or two. If it exceeds this range, it will be considered a defective product!"
Strictly controlling caliber errors is easy to understand, and the stipulated error range in weight is to facilitate quality inspection. For things of the same size, the quality of qualified products should be almost the same. If there is a big difference, it can only mean that the material and casting are different.
There is a problem. Measuring dimensions and weighing are the simplest and most effective quality inspection methods.
A few days later, the War Bureau sent several new cannons to Meishan. These cannons were improved by Zhu Youjian on the prototype of the Crouching Tiger Cannon, combined with the common mortar forms in later films and TV dramas.
Come on. The gun mount uses a snap-on lifting method. This method is more accurate and convenient than the original ring method of adjusting the angle of the Tiger Crouching Cannon. The inside of the gun body is straight, and the outside is thin at the top and thick at the bottom. It is mainly used for defense.
Exploded chamber.
The artillery shell is molded into a conical shape with a sharp front end and a flat back end, with thin sides and a thick middle. A thread is carved into the tail, and then a round tube with a tail fin is cast. When charging, a layer of heat-insulating yellow is first applied to the inside of the shell.
mud, then put the gunpowder into it, and then screw the tail tube into the missile body. A lead will be placed on the tail tube, and the gap will be filled with yellow mud. Prepare the propellant package in advance, and remove the propellant package when launching
After the fuse is ignited and thrown into the barrel together with the shell, the shell and propellant will naturally sink to the bottom due to gravity.
This loading method is much simpler than the Tiger Crouching Cannon. If you are skilled in operation, firing five or six rounds per minute is not a problem. As a company-level fire support unit, it is sufficient at the current stage.
I took the students and instructors from the General School Hall to try out several rounds of artillery in Meishan. The effect was OK and basically met the design requirements.
The company-level support artillery was solved with mortars, which can be regarded as taking away a piece of Zhu Youjian's heart. The regiment and brigade-level artillery, Zhu Youjian felt that there was no time to improve it now, so he could only use the original Fo Lang.
We will make do with the machine and wait until the upcoming battle of Qing troops entering the Pass is over before studying the improvement plan.
Chongzhen did not have much hope for the upcoming battle against the Qing Dynasty and the entry into the Guan Pass. The new army could be organized into a brigade at most, and it did not have any combat experience. It was hard to say how effective it would be by then. His idea was to consolidate the Qing army.
If the frontline of the troops reaches the outside of Beijing, the mission has been completed. If there is spare strength, it would be the most ideal situation to let the new army go out to fight two field battles to practice their courage and skills.
In fact, in such a situation, it is okay even if the new army is not so eager to organize. But Chongzhen was not sure. Although there was no big trouble after the time travel, it still changed some historical processes. If the Qing troops did not follow the plan this time,
The script of history has gone and he is determined to attack the city of Beijing. What can he do? Two years later, Li Zicheng's army invaded the city so easily. The fighting power of the Beijing camp is really uneasy. But now, he feels that even if
If the leader of the Qing army wants to attack the city of Beijing, there is still no problem in holding it. This is not because he has confidence in the new army, but because he has confidence in grenades and mortars. He relies on the city wall and throws grenades with all his strength. The ability in the Beijing camp