Chapter 205 Cannon is the truth
“The students remember that the father-in-law once said that the truth is always within the range of the cannon, so in the fourth year of the Apocalypse, the students thought of developing the most advanced artillery;
The students made reference to the mortar designed by the father-in-law himself and the Shenwu cannon, which was improved from the Dutch Red Barbarian cannon. The advantage of the mortar is that it is light, but the disadvantage is that the striking distance is not enough, while the Shenwu cannon has enough striking distance. The disadvantage is that it is too bulky. If you want to increase the range, the weight of the gun body must be increased. As a result, this kind of gun can only be used in city defense, but not in field battles. "
Chen Cao's eyebrows jumped: "Oh, have you designed a field artillery suitable for field battles?"
Lin Liangcai nodded, and then took Chen Cao to the manufacturing plant, where Chen Cao also saw something familiar to him.
"Sir, please take a look. This is an artillery piece that students improved from the Shenwu Artillery. It contains the advantages of a mortar." Lin Liangcai pointed to the original black wheeled artillery piece covered with tarpaulin in the factory: "Mortar The firing method of the gun is to fire copper shells with a firing pin, and this improved gun also uses this method. Its advantage is that it does not need to load the shells in the front, but can be loaded directly from the rear compartment door."
As he spoke, Lin Liangcai opened the door behind the cannon. This coincided with the field artillery of later generations. Of course, no one in this era would have thought of such an advanced breech-loaded artillery without Chen Cao's guidance. .
"Thanks to my father-in-law's teachings, the student came up with the idea of breech-loading, and then shortened the muzzle of the gun body. The gun body made of alloy cold forging technology is very strong, and the improved gunpowder is also effective. Great job. After the cannonball is fired, the temperature of the warhead will not burst the barrel. This is also thanks to the cannonball made of copper under the guidance of the Marquis. The disadvantage is that this kind of cannonball is too expensive to make. Each shot costs three taels of silver. .”
Chen Cao observed this improved artillery carefully, and then said: "This cannon is good, how about one shot?"
"no problem..."
With the help of the students, the four people pushed the cannon. Lin Liangcai, who was following behind, said: "This cannon only weighs three hundred kilograms. To put it harshly, on the battlefield, as long as the road allows, two The soldier is enough to push it, and if the mountain road is rugged, it can be disassembled and each person can carry one part..."
"Um..."
Chen Cao just responded, he wanted to see the true power of this cannon.
Lin Liangcai personally stuffed a precious shell into the gun body, then closed the rear compartment door, aimed at the adobe in the distance, and then pulled the rope hard.
Boom...
After a muffled thunder, the shell flew out and hit the adobe three miles away. After the explosion, most of the adobe was cut off. When the smoke cleared, Chen Cao nodded with satisfaction: "How did you come up with this hydraulic device?"
Lin Liangcai chuckled: "The students referred to the spring of the gun, and then learned from Teacher Matthews that the Taixi people had invented this hydraulic device a long time ago, but they were limited to the alloy technology level and manufactured the hydraulic device. It can’t withstand the huge recoil, and their hydraulics are filled with butter.”
"What's inside here?" Chen Cao squinted and observed carefully...
"Students from the engineering department discovered that they had a lot of waste black fat when refining the raw material of fire oil. After refining, there was a lot of sticky oil that was extremely slippery, so the students tried it to increase the strength of the spring. , reacts on the gun body, the recoil is reduced, and it can shoot farther.”
Chen Cao shook his head in disbelief, and then said: "They are all smart, they are just limited to the bottleneck..."
After Lin Liangcai was praised, he continued: "This cannon can shoot four miles away and has a wide range of damage..."
"Hmm..." Chen Cao nodded: "Send an order to reward each person in the Firearms Department from Lin Liangcai on down with a scholarship of one thousand taels, and allocate one hundred thousand taels of silver as follow-up funding..."
"Thank you, Mr. Gong..." Lin Liangcai saluted excitedly: "Mr. Gong, the students are developing artillery that can shoot farther, and we need this money."
"Well, do your best, I will remember you..."
...
"The truth is always within the range of the cannon..."
In the study, Chen Cao was drawing pictures and annotating some important text.
Zhao Xin was standing in front of Chen Cao. He had heard this sentence before, so he smiled and said: "Master, our cannon can hit as far as four miles..."
"Your argumentative skills are getting better and better, Xin Zhao..."
Zhao Xin laughed, and then said seriously: "Master, urgent report from Liaodong, the slave chief Hachi is dead..."
"Dead?" Chen Cao put down his feather pen and raised his head: "Accurate?"
"It's absolutely true. All the spies in Liaodong spread the news. In addition, Liu Aita also sent people to Jinling to deliver the message. The slave chief Hachi is indeed dead...
It is said that after the imperial court received the news, the emperor had ordered Yuan Chonghuan and Sun Chengzong to allocate three million taels of silver as military expenses, asking them to send troops, with the goal of Liaoyang..."
"So Wei Zhongxian's people have come to Jinling to ask for money, right?"
Xin Zhao nodded: "Master Mingjian, it is indeed true. Master, we have all become money bags."
"Here..." Chen Cao didn't feel any heartache at all. In fact, his current annual income has reached 10 million taels. After excluding all the expenses that should be used, he can still have about 2 million left, and there are more than 3,000 yuan left. Wan was seized as a deposit, and three million taels was nothing.
"We will give it to the emperor if he needs it. Otherwise, how can we show our usefulness? If we don't do this, how can we buy me time?"
Zhao Xin also felt that what Chen Cao said was reasonable, so he nodded: "My subordinates will definitely take care of this matter."
"Xin Zhao, are the rebels a bit slow in their actions?"
"Sir, there is no way for Shaanxi to help right now. There are too many sources of rebellion and they cannot be integrated into a whole. If we deliver goods there, we will be easily exposed."
"Really?" Chen Cao blinked: "Forget it, how are things going in Shanghai?"
"The first batch of goods has been prepared, and we can trade with the three countries in February next year. Huang Shijing cooperated quite well, and Yu Shimin also swore allegiance to the Lord;
The construction is also proceeding in an orderly manner, with 120,000 refugees helping, and 30,000 untouchables recruited from Zhejiang. It is believed that the construction of Puxi Port can be completed before May next year. "
"Also, sir, someone from Wei Gong said that the emperor wants to play in the lake in Xiyuan recently, and asked us to send some nanmu there to make a cruise ship."
Chen Cao's eyes lit up, he thought for a moment and said, "Come here, I have something important to tell you..."
...
"How's it going? How's it going?"
"I... I have already made an agreement with Yunnan. From now on, our foreign trade group will contract all the rice in the three countries of Champa. The price is cheaper than before, and I can make money in the future..."
After hearing this, Chen Cao was very satisfied: "You can buy as much grain as you want. Nowadays, the supply of grain in the Ming Dynasty exceeds the demand. The price of grain in the three provinces of the Central Plains has soared to one, two, seven, and I believe it will continue to rise next year. You, the general manager, must be careful work..."
"Don't worry, sir, I will definitely handle this matter well and won't be sloppy."
...
Chen Cao's leisurely life did not last too long. In the seventh year of the Apocalypse, on the first day of March, twelve days after the dynasty, an imperial edict and official documents were delivered to the Nanjing General Administration Department at a speed of 800 miles.
Xu Hongji, who had been away for more than five months, personally visited Duke Liang's house this time.
Chen Cao will naturally receive the former protagonist cordially. Now that they are both Dukes, Chen Cao has chosen to sit opposite Xu Hongji. This is the etiquette of equality.
"I haven't seen you for a few months. How are you, my father-in-law?"
Chen Cao spoke with a smile, without any flaws.
Xu Hongji, as the veteran first duke of the dynasty, has a ancestral background in figuring out the holy will. Starting from Emperor Wen, once the court takes action against the lord, the first person to deal with it is Duke Wei of Nanjing.
Of course, Chen Cao, as the person involved, must understand this matter.
Naturally, Xu Hongji would not explain such a thing to Chen Cao, so he handed the official document to Chen Cao: "This is an order from the imperial court, and it will arrive together with His Majesty's decree."
There are differences between imperial edicts. The emperor's express opinions may not necessarily be formal edicts, so the person who announces the edict may not necessarily be a eunuch. Just ask a royal guard to bring it.
Chen Cao opened it, looked at it, and then closed the document: "How could this happen?"
Xu Hongji nodded and pursed his lips: "Jian Nu defeated the Daling River in succession. Our army was defeated in the battle of Daling River. The reports in the Di's newspaper cannot be believed, but according to the news from the capital, it is believed that the entire army was wiped out."
Chen Cao put down the official document: "What do you mean, sir?"
