Judging from the military history of our army, generally speaking, quite a few people, including some documentary records, believe that the inventor of the "heartless gun" was Nie Peizhang, the engineer company commander of our army who came from the Northeast Army.
But internationally, this simple projectile weapon, or its similar explosive package projectile device, appeared very early.
As early as World War I, the British army used projectile barrels called "Levins cannons." This kind of heartless cannon is not our original invention.
The British production method at that time was also very simple. It was to seal the bottom of a 300mm large-diameter smoothbore steel pipe, and then load the propellant, sealing device, and shells in sequence.
The British Levins cannon mainly fires incendiary bombs, unlike our rabbits which fire explosive packets.
After installing the cannon, set the launch elevation angle of the projectile barrel according to the target to be attacked. After fixing the elevation angle, ignite the propellant and eject the projectile.
Yang Fan first made a small-caliber one to test-fire. The first one was not as big as a large oil barrel. At that time, gas and oil barrels were made of readily available materials.
There are two types of ammunition for Levens guns.
The first one is a three-gallon gasoline barrel (one imperial gallon is about 4.5 liters.), which is used to burn local targets.
The second one is a poison gas bomb.
What Yang Fan copied was actually the Li Wensi cannon. Its firing range was about 180 meters. This distance exceeded the direct shooting distance of a bow and arrow, but it was still within the projectile range.
There is oil flowing out of the ground naturally in that place in northern Shaanxi, and mining began as early as the Song Dynasty.
Yang Fan is going to conquer Ordos this time. This plateau is in the north of northern Shaanxi. Then collect more oil. Using the method of distilling liquor, you can distill gasoline. If you want to make incendiary bombs, it is not a big problem.
Yang Fan asked the craftsmen to bury the projectile barrel at a 45° angle.
Then he guided them, and used a scale to prepare the propellant powder on site. They also prepared a silk-wrapped propellant pack.
It's a pity that Yang Fan's maroon gunpowder is not available here as a special propellant. Maroon gunpowder burns evenly and linearly. Unlike black gunpowder, it burns violently and is not easy to explode.
In addition, a 300 mm diameter cork board is used as a sealing material to prevent air leakage. After the cork is under pressure, it will automatically expand, blocking the gaps and increasing the range.
Then put another cylinder wrapped in cowhide into it. This was filled with twenty kilograms of gunpowder prepared by Yang Fan on site.
Daming's gunpowder formula is definitely not as good as Yang Fan's ultimate formula for later generations.
In fact, the main difference lies in the nitrate content. The modern black gunpowder formula has a high nitrate content. In order to enhance the power, white sugar is added to the Yang Fan statue.
Zhang Shize quickly took out his notebook and shamelessly wrote it down.
This bastard never gives up any opportunity to learn from Yang Fan.
"What are these white particles you added?" Zhang Shize didn't know they were white sugar.
In fact, white sugar has been produced since Ming Dynasty, and the yellow mud filtration method was used.
As long as he tastes it, he can tell that it is white sugar, but he does not dare to taste it randomly. Who knows what Yang Fan added to it. His master is a Taoist priest, and if it is poisonous, it will be ruined.
The old god Yang Fan said: "One sulfur, two nitrates, three charcoal, plus a little Da Yinwan." The explosive power of white sugar is four times that of tnt. As long as it is used properly, it is definitely an explosive force multiplier.
"This is my Yang family's secret recipe, do you want to learn it?" Yang Fan said confidently.
"Tch, I don't like to talk." As a senior yamen official, Zhang Shize also has self-respect.
"Okay, everyone, hide behind the big rock thirty meters away. Then you can trample the soil into a firmer state."
Afterwards, a large group of people moved away from each other and hid behind big rocks.
This big rock is a wavy monolith more than two meters high and more than ten meters long, which is enough to protect everyone.
It's not that Yang Fan is being cautious, the point is that this thing is really unreliable and very prone to accidents. Many times, it blows up its own gun crew before it hits the enemy.
The target that Yang Fan aimed at was a large locust tree in the distance. This tree was three feet in diameter at breast height and had been growing for who knows how many years.
It is dead now, but the tall trunk and branches are still there. It looks very scary in the dark night. If anyone comes out to urinate in the middle of the night, he will look like an old monster from Montenegro. There are many round stones under the tree, which look like
Lin Chong was like the big tree he encountered in the wild boar forest.
Yang Fan took out a lot of industrial earplugs from his backpack and distributed them to everyone. Xiao Niangpi and Lin Yueru were very familiar with these and plugged them directly into their ears. Everyone followed suit and plugged their ears.
"Who is going to light the fire? Which of you is going to do it?" Yang Fan turned around and asked.
A group of craftsmen collectively took a step back, revealing a silly boy of sixteen or seventeen years old.
Zhang Shize grinned, patted his shoulder and said, "Okay, good boy, you have the guts. What's your name?"
This silly kid was so frightened that his legs were shaking. He trembled and said, "The little one, the little one's name is Qu Zhiping."
"Take it, go ahead." Zhang Shize handed the torch to him.
The young man went there tremblingly.
The fuse was more than ten meters long. After the boy lit it, he turned around and ran back like a rabbit that had been hit by an arrow.
Yang Fan and Zhang Shize poked their heads out of the gap in the big rock to see the heartless cannon in the distance. They saw the cannon barrel sticking out of the ground diagonally, about a foot long. The fuse was crackling and burning.
Xiao Niangpi and Lin Yueru couldn't help but be curious and stuck out their little heads from the left and right sides of Yang Fan to follow. Yang Fan pressed him back again. The angry Xiao Niangpi stepped on his foot.
The time for the fuse to burn was not long, but everyone was very nervous. It felt like a long time passed.
Boom! A loud noise.
Fire and flames spurted out from the muzzle. The unconscionable gun's violent recoil was then directly knocked into the ground by the reaction force when it was fired, and it was invisible.
A cylindrical yellow object flies out of the muzzle. This method of firing does not have a large chamber pressure because the exit speed is not fast, and the trajectory of the gunpowder packet flying out can be seen with the naked eye.
There was no wind today, and the dead big locust tree also had a huge crown. Then the cannonball fell on the crown. Under the action of gravity, many branches were broken, and then it hit a thick branch and got stuck.
After a few seconds, the fuse burned into the powder bag.
With a loud bang, twenty kilograms of black gunpowder exploded into an orange-red fireball directly on the tree crown.
A scorching wave of air hit us. Everyone felt their clothes fluttering in the hot wind.
It was already very cold at this time, but everyone still felt the scorching strong wind more than 200 meters away.
Lin Yueru and Xiao Niangpi immediately stretched out their little heads to take a look after the shock wave passed.
"Wow! It's so scary." Xiao Niangpi expressed her amazement using the words she learned from Yang Fan.
"Holy shit, shit, shit!" Zhang Shize also used Yang Fan's spoken language to express his dumbfoundedness.
Lin Yueru covered her mouth with her small hands in surprise. Her big eyes were widened, and she looked in horror at the huge locust tree in the distance that had been burned into a torch.
Yang Fan looked at the huge torch in the distance and felt very satisfied. He knew that if white sugar was not added, it would not have this effect. White sugar has an additional burning performance.
When we reach northern Shaanxi, we can make incendiary bombs. Yang Fan feels that incendiary bombs are more effective against city walls than gunpowder packets.
The long-lasting burning can make the enemy unable to defend.
Yang Fan knew a formula for an incendiary bomb, which was definitely more effective than the British's three-gallon gasoline barrel. That was the formula for the Molotov cocktail. Yang Fan remembered that the formula was gasoline plus sugar, plus some scrap rubber.
The incendiary bombs made in this way are enough to turn the city wall into a sea of flames.