Lu Xiangsheng stayed in Qingzhou Fucheng for three days, during which he had a pleasant chat with Liu Yan.
When Lu Xiangsheng led his troops back to Jinan Fucheng, Liu Yan also loaded the promised troops and equipment and handed them over to Lu Xiangsheng to take away with him.
After sending Lu Xiangsheng away, Liu Yan sent someone to find Song Guan and prepared to make a telescope.
Telescopes are a must-have item for marching and fighting. They can see and grasp opportunities from miles away. Especially for artillery, they are an artifact to increase accuracy.
Liu Yan had learned about Kepler telescopes before traveling through time. Although the name of this telescope sounds very professional, its structure is very simple. It is just a combination of two convex lenses and two total reflection prisms. It can magnify distant objects dozens of times.
This simple telescope is enough for Liu Yan's current needs.
A few days later, Song Guan received the order sent by Liu Yan and rushed to Qingzhou Fucheng with several capable craftsmen from the glass workshop. 33
Liu Yan took out the sketch he had drawn and asked them to grind an 80 mm diameter convex lens objective lens and a 30 mm diameter convex lens eyepiece according to the drawings, and grind two total reflection prisms.
Those craftsmen were all "go-getters" in the glass workshop. They took the drawings provided by Liu Yan and studied them carefully for a while. After a few quiet discussions, they all nodded and wanted to make the things on the drawings. It's not a difficult task.
Moreover, everyone followed Liu Yan's order and brought a sufficient number of glass lenses from the glass workshop, including concave mirrors, convex mirrors, and plane mirrors, which were enough to develop telescopes.
Liu Yan immediately arranged several empty rooms in the General Military Mansion as temporary "workshops" for Song Guan and others. Song Guan and several craftsmen began to get busy. After a while of grinding, the lens was polished that afternoon.
Liu Yan was very happy after hearing the news. He came to this temporary workshop and personally measured the focal lengths of the two lenses. Then he found a copper tube that the coppersmith had made in advance according to the drawings, with a large front and a small back, with a fold in the middle.
"You put the objective lens, prism and eyepiece in according to the requirements of the drawing."
Liu Yan first made some gestures himself, and found that he still lacked this kind of hands-on ability, so he asked a few craftsmen to do it.
I saw a craftsman volunteering to play with the lenses and copper tubes, and it didn't take long to finish them.
Liu Yan raised the telescope and looked at the courtyard outside. He found that the effect was not very good because the distance was too close, so he called everyone to the city wall. I saw Liu Yan looking outside the city. The telescope was finally completed, and Liu Yan could clearly see the small scenery in the distance.
"It's done!"
Liu Yan made a simple estimate. Although this imitation Kepler telescope has a simple structure, it has a magnification of at least twenty-five times. Such a multiple would be considered rubbish in later generations, but in this era, it is sufficient as an auxiliary tool for artillery and battlefield command.
Telescopes in the West had just been invented at this time and were extremely expensive. There are very few people in the Ming Dynasty who use telescopes, so it is extraordinary that Liu Yan can imitate a telescope on his own.
With telescopes, the New Army battalions can get twice the result with half the effort when they go out to conduct inspections at night. From now on, each camp will stay up at night and scan with telescopes from high places, so that they can monitor the movements within several miles.
In this way, you need to rush to the enemy's vicinity at risk, and the chances of engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy's scouts are greatly reduced. This can greatly reduce the casualty probability of the new army's elite Ye Busu, and also greatly improve the capture of Ye Busu. Military intelligence capabilities.
Not only that, the telescope is an artifact for the artillery battalion.
With the help of telescopes, the correction of artillery shooting is much more accurate. When the artillery battalion officers now make corrections, they mostly rely on their eyesight, and many times they have to rely on personal experience and even luck. With the help of telescopes, artillery officers can accurately estimate distances, as well as the terrain and landforms near distant enemy troops, etc.
Even if the artillery battalion is deployed at a high place, the artillery battalion officers can use telescopes to clearly see the impact point of the artillery shells several miles away. They can very intuitively check the effect of the artillery bombardment and judge the enemy's state after being bombarded. These are all judgments of the commander-in-chief. The battlefield situation is an extremely important basis.
Of course, with this telescope, the new army generals can also better observe the battlefield situation, instead of just relying on night-time reports to make judgments. After all, on the ever-changing battlefield, any news will be inaccurate or delayed. , will cause irreparable damage to the war situation.
This shows that the telescope has high military value. Liu Yan decided that the telescope was a top-secret material and could not be sold to the outside world. It was only equipped to the battalions of the New Army. If friendly forces need it, you can send a few out as gifts when circumstances permit.
Standing on the top of the city, Liu Yan said to Song Guan: "This thing will be called a telescope from now on. After you go back, you have to organize craftsmen to mass-produce it. Make thirty of them first and finish them within fifteen days. Then the stationed troops will Escort him to Qingzhou Fucheng."
"yes."
"Also, the manufacturing process of the telescope is also highly confidential. No one is allowed to leak it. You must keep this in mind. All craftsmen involved must be strictly monitored. The finished telescope and the semi-finished telescope must be registered and numbered. Anyone They are not allowed to be taken out of the workshop at will, and those who disobey the order will be punished as slaves, thieves and spies!"
Song Guan's heart trembled, and he hurriedly cupped his fists to accept the order.
Twelve days later, the first batch of thirty telescopes prepared by the glass workshop were delivered to Qingzhou Fucheng under the escort of the soldiers of the First Banner New Army.
After Liu Yan inspected them one by one, he found that these thirty telescopes were all well-made and high-quality. The power of each one was about 25 times, and the error was very small and almost negligible.
So Liu Yan took out twenty-five telescope equipment and gave them to the commanders, commanders and other senior generals of each battalion. As for generals such as General Qian and General Bai, they should wait until the next batch of telescopes are ready before equipping them.
In addition, there were five telescopes, all of which Liu Yan gave to the artillery camp as the standard equipment of the artillery camp.
Two days later, the artillery battalion commander Qian Qian came to report that the artillery battalion soldiers had figured out how to use telescopes to aim and shoot, and Liu Yan was invited to review.
So Liu Yan ordered Qian Qian to lead an artillery team and two Franco machine guns to the east wall, where a simple fort was built.
Liu Yan arrived here first, and then Qian Qian led a group of artillery battalion soldiers and drove several horse-drawn artillery carts up the city wall along the horse path.
This simple fort is located behind the arrows on the city wall. Its overall height is about two meters higher than the city wall. It is a cylindrical pier.
"Sir, my subordinates are here with their troops!"
Liu Yan nodded and briefly asked how the artillery battalion used telescopes to aim. Qian Cong briefly explained it, but it was too general and Liu Yan couldn't hear it clearly, so he said: "Let's get started. , do a few rounds to verify it.”
"yes!"
Qian Chong immediately ordered his men to prepare for the artillery attack. He saw the captain of the artillery team using binoculars to look outside the city for a long time, and then said loudly: "One mile and five feet ahead, target woods, open both doors, load immediately!"
With the aid of telescopes, the efficiency of ranging has been greatly improved, and the accuracy has also improved a lot. In addition, it can also provide gunners with information about the situation near the target.
"There are no pedestrians or houses around the target forest. It is safe and can be bombarded!"
"The target woods are in a depression, so you need to launch carefully!"
A team of artillerymen skillfully operated two Franco machine guns. They used musket gauges, musket rulers and calipers to measure the elevation angle and the amount of gunpowder, and opened fire at the target forest one mile and five feet away.
The effective range of the Folang machine gun equipped by the artillery battalion is about two miles. Now when shooting at a target forest of one mile and five feet, the ballistic trajectory is basically straight. If it is about two miles away, or even a target two miles away, The ballistic trajectory is projectile, and the shelling effect and accuracy will be reduced. But if the target is big enough, you can still hit it by adjusting the angle.
By then, the importance of telescopes will become even more prominent.
"Good angle!"
"Fill it!"
The artillery captain once again used the telescope to observe the target woods. The target composed of a dozen trees was still swaying in the wind. There was no one around, not even an animal. So the artillery captain said loudly: "The target is clear, fire. !”
The two artillery pieces roared almost at the same time, spitting out shells in the tongue of flames. Liu Yan even saw the barrels of the two artillery pieces falter and the shells shoot into the distance at a speed invisible to the naked eye.
One mile and five feet away, the impact point of the artillery could no longer be seen with the naked eye, but Liu Yan looked with a telescope and saw clearly that the artillery shells landed in the woods, and one shell even hit a tree. In the trunk of the big tree that could be surrounded, the big tree then broke from the middle and fell down with a crash.
Liu Yan took off the telescope and smiled on his face. He was still very satisfied with the effect of this bombardment.
At this time, Liu Yan heard the artillery captain shout again: "Correct three steps to the left, advance four steps forward, and fire!"
The gunners went up to drag the gun carriage and relocate the artillery in the middle of the battery. According to the observation of the artillery captain using a telescope, the gunners used the torque to readjust the angle of the muzzle and fired again.
The two artillery pieces fired again, and with the roar, the shells drew an arc in the air and flew towards the target woods one mile away.
Then Liu Yan, Qian Qian and the artillery captain all saw the scene through the telescope. Two artillery shells accurately hit the target and ricocheted back and forth in the woods. This shelling directly knocked down five or six trees!
The artillery captain saw this and shouted excitedly: "Hit the target!"
The gunners also jumped up excitedly and high-fived each other. If they had not used telescopes to assist in aiming, they would not have been confident that they could hit a few trees one mile and five feet away. Such results were enough to make these gunners proud.
Some people died, but not completely...
