"The arms dealers are not in a hurry." Zhang Bolin said, "Can we also equip smoothbore cannons ourselves? There are too many blank spots in firepower. The three gun towers on the Bopu Highway do not have cannons, and Bairen City also has one.
There are no cannons. In addition, we must always establish an indigenous army. The indigenous army can use smoothbore cannons to form artillery units. In this way, they can be converted into armstrong cannons in the future and a group of qualified gunners can be trained."
Zhang Bolin, a great artilleryman, was most concerned about the artillery team he dreamed of. No matter what kind of artillery it was, it was better to have it than not have it.
Everyone thinks this suggestion is reasonable. Even if we ignore the manufacturing cost and the need to arm the indigenous army, the cost of using smoothbore cannons is much lower. Because smoothbore cannons have no rifling, the shells can theoretically be anything that can fit into the bore.
There is no need for carefully manufactured artillery shells, the simplest ones are just solid iron balls. Even in the 19th century, the lethality of this kind of artillery shells on land and sea was still acceptable - in fact, solid shells continued until the smoothbore cannon was withdrawn from the war stage.
It is still the most fired artillery shell. It is much more reliable than grenades with doubtful killing power.
"Well, we can also develop some special spherical projectiles, such as grenades and incendiary bombs."
"There is another benefit that you may not realize." Wang Luobin said, "Mr. Wen's theory of generation difference."
"Generation theory?"
"In this time and space, at least in our lifetime, we are all outsiders. In order to conquer and rule, we have to rely on the help of local people. So sooner or later, we will establish an indigenous army."
Once an indigenous army is established, it will inevitably become the main armed force across the country because of its large number.
No matter how much effort you put into brainwashing, political work, and control, the military, as a violent machine, will become greedy once it realizes its power, and they will strive for more power and benefits, and the time traveler itself
Power is limited. The only way is to maintain the technological gap.
The 20mm flintlock rifles equipped by the indigenous troops, the traversers must have bolt-action rifle level weapons to fight against. This can ensure that a very small number of people can suppress a large group of people. In the same way, if the traversers can make 92
Infantry artillery, the best artillery equipped for indigenous armies, cannot exceed 37mm recoil.
This theory has not yet been perfected by Wen Desi. He is now thinking about the future military institutions and political organizations every night - "the eternal stability of the time-travelers" is his goal.
After several days of preparation, the cannon casting work began. As a technical reserve and practice, the artillery team will first cast a traditional smoothbore cannon. Generally speaking, smoothbore cannons are best made of copper, and their lifespan can reach almost 1,000 rounds. In comparison
The lifespan of a cast iron cannon is only 600 rounds. However, copper is much more expensive than iron, and it is a precious industrial raw material for time travellers. The pig iron Deng Yingzhou bought from Guangdong has excellent texture and a very low sulfur content. It is very suitable.
Cast cannon.
Historically, pig iron from the Fujian and Guangdong regions in the Ming Dynasty was known for its superior quality. Because the iron-making factories in this region used charcoal as fuel to make iron, the sulfur content was much lower than that of pig iron made from coal in the north. Sulfur is a major factor that makes pig iron brittle and degrades its quality. People in the Ming Dynasty could not understand this reason, but it became a consensus at the time that cannons cast in the south were stronger than those in the north. So much so that in the late Ming Dynasty, large-scale cannon casting was done in Guangdong. In the forty-seventh year of Wanli, when Xu Guangqi was ordered to train troops to defend the capital, he suggested that the court recruit craftsmen from Fujian and Guangdong to come to Beijing to cast cannons. In the third year of Chongzhen, he invited himself to Guangzhou to cast cannons. The reason was: "There are many craftsmen." , the iron material is particularly fine, and the price can be saved by one-third..." In the early years of Chongzhen, Wang Zunde, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, cast 200 cannons at one time.
Wang Luobin suggested recruiting several masters who are good at casting cannons from Guangzhou to demonstrate the traditional Chinese cannon-casting technology. After everyone has an intuitive concept, they can make improvements. Lin Shenhe said it was not necessary: Don't talk about Chinese cannon-smiths in 1628. Even the level of cannon-casting craftsmanship of the Europeans who learned the art at that time was not much higher. There is absolutely no need for time travelers to learn from them.
Matteo Ricci mentioned in the book that the problems of Chinese cannon at that time were: small charge, short range, no front sight, unable to aim, the outer mouth of the artillery bore was wide, the inside was small, and the gunpowder gas could not be effectively gathered, and the inside of the gun bore could not Make it perfectly round, and the bore is not bored. The size and even shape of the cannonball can be whatever you want. The play of the cannon is too large. The artillery has no lugs and is top-heavy. If the charge is too dense, it will turn upside down when firing. Explodes on its own.
The Hongyi cannon introduced at that time was essentially the same as the various traditional artillery manufactured and equipped by the Ming army. They were all smooth-bore front-loading cannons, using black powder and solid shells. But they benefited from the understanding of science. , European artillery already has some obvious advantages in design, such as thicker barrel walls, larger gun diameters, and thicker barrels from front to back. Therefore, it has advantages in terms of range, lethality, and safety. The gun body generally has a front sight and a rear sight, and the gun body has lugs cast on it, making it easy to set up on the gun carriage, adjust the shooting angle and move easily.
The smoothbore cannon that the time traveler wants to make can be roughly regarded as a kind of red barbarian cannon, but the prototype is slightly more advanced. It is copied from the 6-pound cannon of the French army in the early 19th century. This kind of cannon has an effective range of 500 meters and a maximum range of 1500 meters. , the gun body weight is about 250kg.
Lin Shenhe and Wang Luobin decided to first adopt a Western cannon-casting method from the 17th to 18th centuries, which also required making clay molds.
They asked the wood processing factory to process a batch of special wooden molds: the cone-shaped material used as the support body, and the turned gun tail mold. After completion, the first step was the blank of the male mold. First, the cone-shaped material used as the support body was Use straw ropes to tightly wrap the cannon shape around the shaped wood. At this time, the male mold has a margin of about 25cm from the final size. Then use plaster mixed with clay and water to evenly paste it layer by layer. On the male mold, wait until the previous layer is completely dry before applying the next layer.
When applying it, they made the entire male mold larger than the actual size of the cannon because the casting would shrink. After the last layer of plaster had dried and the shape had been corrected, a layer of wax was applied to the outside of the male mold.
——If there is a lack of paraffin wax, use beeswax instead. The surface of the male mold will be very smooth and will not stick to the female mold in the next process. The gun tail is a machined wooden mold, which is fixed on the male mold furry with screws.
After the male mold is completed, it is used to make the mold for the cannon. The mold is made by applying semi-fluid putty mixed with clay, pottery clay, fine sand and water on the male mold layer by layer. The same layer must be dried thoroughly.
Just apply the next layer. After it is completely dry, add iron bars to the outside of the mold to reinforce it.
After the mold is completely dry, take out the male mold by cutting the head and tail of the mold, taking out the tapered wood in the inner core of the male mold, and then pulling out the wrapped straw rope. Because there is a layer between the male mold and the casting mold
Wax, so it will be easier to take it out. If it is really difficult, you can melt the wax surface by heating to cause the gap to come out. The mold for the gun tail is made separately.
The third part of the mold is the core, which is made of clay attached to the iron bar. It is usually a cylinder, but it may have a special shape in the area where the gunpowder is loaded. The core is loaded into the main mold, and the gunpowder is loaded into the mold.
An iron core brace at the end of the master mold and a clay ring at the muzzle part of the mold hold the core in place.
The separately made female breech molds and female molds for the gun barrel are reassembled together. After the three molds are firmly assembled, the molds must be baked to be completely solid. Finally, the molds are buried with the muzzle facing upward and are filled and compacted next to the furnace.
In the pit, Jiang Ye designed and installed a wooden hanger that could hoist the entire mold. Because the need for cannon casting was not considered when building the iron furnace, the floor of the steelmaking workshop was hardened. It was a last resort.
We had no choice but to build another iron melting furnace in the foundry. However, since there was no need to make iron, it was just a matter of simply melting the metal. The furnace did not use a regenerative furnace. The flow channels were one out of four. Ji Wusheng personally came to guide, and the exhibition
Wuya himself also had some casting experience, so the first casting was a success.
After the casting was completed, it was kept warm for 24 hours before being dug out of the mud pit. After further cooling, the reinforcing ribs on the outside of the negative mold were removed, the mold was smashed, and the artillery team used hammers and chisels to remove the remaining ash on the gun body.
Finally, the casting of this 6-pound cast iron cannon was completed. It still needed further processing to bore the barrel. The mechanical team made a simple boring machine to process the barrel, and the power was not even used.
An electric motor or diesel engine, but a donkey. This donkey drives a winch to drive a boring bar, and the top of the boring bar is a high-carbon steel bore cutter.
Boring operation can greatly improve the smoothness of the inner wall of the gun, but after measurements, it was found that the boring process cannot actually cut a cylinder or correct the deviation of the core during the casting process. In the whole process, the hard residue also damages the boring rod.
Very large. In other words, this process consumes too much.
"No wonder it was changed to the drilling method in 1713." Lin Shenhe was a little frustrated. The drilling method is to cast a solid iron rod first, and then use a drill to drill out the barrel of the gun. This technology was first pioneered by the Dutch.
It was used, but it was not fully promoted until the late 18th century. The British naval arsenal was still using the above-mentioned casting method to manufacture naval guns until 1770.