After first deciding with Meng Guzhezhe on the best solution to the Jurchen relocation issue, Gao Pragmatic turned to Huang Zhiting and Liu Xin and said: "In the afternoon, I went to the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of War to talk to them about Gansu's encounter with Buriha Tudong. I have committed a crime, and now I have several situations that I would like to find out from you."
Huang Zhiting and Liu Xin said in unison: "Sir, please speak."
Gao pragmatic first looked at Liu Xin visually and asked: "Xin'er, as for Jinghua, to what extent have the army's artillery classification and ammunition classification been done now, which I have been urging for several years ago? Can it be introduced into actual combat as soon as possible?"
Huang Zhiting also knew about this, but she was not in charge, but the secretariat, so she also looked at Liu Xin.
Liu Xin replied: "So you want to ask about artillery? At present, the 'two plus two' classification of artillery has been completed. If necessary, Jinghua can adjust the title of future shipments at any time.
Such as 'Jinghua No. 1 direct siege artillery', 'Jinghua No. 1 siege curved artillery', 'Jinghua No. 2 field direct artillery', 'Jinghua No. 2 field curved artillery', etc. At present, it is ready to be divided into two categories: No. 1, 2, 3, and 4 straight guns and curved guns according to caliber size. They are also divided into No. 1, 2, 3, and 4 field guns and siege guns according to combat purposes.
Generally speaking, the weight, caliber and other data of siege guns are larger than that of field guns. The vehicles they are equipped for transportation and maneuver are also specially manufactured and the models are different from field guns. "
The words "field battle" and "siege" do not need to be explained, but what they call "straight artillery" and "curved artillery" require a little explanation.
In fact, to put it simply, this "straight gun" is what later generations call a cannon, and the "curved gun" is what later generations call a howitzer.
Non-military fans may not have paid attention to the difference between a cannon and a howitzer. In fact, since both belong to the category of artillery, their basic structures and firing principles are similar. The difference between these two names mainly lies in the type of artillery used. Needs vary.
Generally speaking, howitzers are mainly used for parabolic ballistic shooting, which can hit targets on hillsides or behind bunkers; while cannons are mainly used for horizontal shooting. In later generations, they were generally used to attack targets such as tanks and armored vehicles, or infantry personnel traveling on the ground.
Because of such differences in use, howitzers and cannons have significant differences in some specific details.
For example, later generations of cannons needed to shoot flatly against tanks, so the shells required a high muzzle velocity so that they could hit the target as straight as possible. Otherwise, the projectiles would continue to decline due to gravity. Without sufficient muzzle velocity as a prerequisite, the shells would be difficult to hit. Hit the target effectively from as far away as possible.
The larger muzzle velocity of the shell determines that the cannon needs a longer barrel. Usually the barrel length is more than 40 times the caliber. For example, the artillery mounted on a tank is a cannon.
Howitzers use curved firing and high projectile trajectories, so they do not have high requirements for the initial velocity of the shells. The barrel of the artillery is significantly shorter than that of the cannon, usually about twenty or thirty times its caliber.
In addition, the shell charges of cannons and howitzers are also different. The cannon uses a flat firing angle to hit the tank, and usually has a range limit. Within this range, a high hit rate can be guaranteed, but beyond the specified distance, it will be difficult to hit the target. This is because the range is only that far and generally does not vary much, so fixed shells are usually used and the charge is fixed.
The howitzer can choose different powder packs according to the needs of the long and short range. If you want to hit a farther target, you need more powder. If you want to hit a closer target, you can use less powder. This is adjustable.
Of course, later there were also so-called howitzers, which could shoot directly like a cannon or in a curved direction like a howitzer, combining the two previously distinct artillery functions into one.
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For example, at the time before the high pragmatic time travel, the self-propelled artillery equipped by various countries were basically called howitzers. But there is no need to elaborate on this, because it is impossible to reproduce it during the Wanli years.
Before Gao Pangshi ordered Jinghua's artillery to be classified into "straight artillery (cannon)" and "curved artillery (howitzer)", the Ming Dynasty's artillery technology was still relatively primitive, and it was impossible to separate them even if they wanted to. In fact, let alone the Ming Dynasty at that time, European artillery basically didn't score at this time.
For example, the Hongyi cannon and Folang machine gun introduced from Europe are both cannons. The Ming Dynasty's own Shenwei General and Tiger Crouching Cannon, which are widely equipped with the army, are also cannons.
In other words, before high pragmatism ordered the classification, the concept of "howitzer" basically did not exist - unless you insist that the catapult has a curved trajectory, so it is a howitzer.
Why are there no howitzers with curved trajectories at this time? Due to usage requirements. The reason why cannons became so popular was that the main type of artillery ammunition in this era was solid bullets. Solid bullets will not explode, and their lethality depends on the direct kinetic energy of the bullet itself being launched. However, in actual combat, it is usually necessary to count on the "ricochet" phenomenon to increase its lethality.
In this case, if you use a curved projectile to hit the back of the bunker, because the projectile is dropped from the sky, basically don’t expect the ricochet to kill - it will probably hit the ground directly, and the lethality... can be described as If you don't save one out of ten, what's the use?
So the question is, is it because Gao Pragmatic urged Jinghua to classify artillery because there are products other than solid bullets? Yes, the preliminary product has indeed been produced, which is a primary grenade, or a grenade with relatively primitive technology.
Grenade, also known as explosive bomb, has been recorded in China as early as the 11th century AD. It is an ammunition that uses the fragments and shock waves generated after the projectile explodes to kill or explode. However, the so-called grenades at that time were really primitive. In fact, it can only be said that China had already made attempts in this area at that time. As for the actual combat effects... they can basically be ignored.
The internal charge of those early grenades was very small, so the power was also low. After exploding, they might even just break into two halves. They were far less powerful than those in later movies and TV series. This thing was not widely used in the original history. Wait until after the Napoleonic Wars.
Most of the time in ancient times, the projectiles fired by cannons were solid projectiles and would not explode, but they would destroy all enemies in front of them, and as mentioned earlier, they would also bounce on the ground.
During the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon's favorite Army 12-pound cannon had a maximum range of more than 1,100 meters, and its effective range could also reach 500 meters. [Note: This is about army artillery, but the navy is another matter. ]
After this kind of artillery shell is fired, it will advance forward in a gentle parabola, destroying all enemies it encounters along the way, and will also bounce on relatively hard ground, just like stones floating on the water. Such a solid bullet is enough to wipe out an entire column of enemy troops.
In addition to being able to load solid bullets, the cannon can also be loaded with shotshells and exotic bullets. It is very useful, so Napoleon affectionately called this kind of gun the "French Girl". [Note: But after the English translation, it became "French Daughter", I don't know why. ]
Speaking of grenades, due to the backward casting technology of early grenades, the hollow shell was cast in two halves separately (leaving a fuze hole) and then put together. Due to its low strength, it cannot withstand too high a chamber pressure, otherwise it will explode in the gun chamber. In view of this, grenades were generally used on large-caliber short-barreled mortars with curved fire at that time, rather than long-barreled cannons with high bore pressure.
Its firing method is divided into two parts. First, the fuse of the artillery shell is ignited, and then the propellant fuse is ignited. Then the grenade will hit the enemy's defenses from high altitude in a parabola.
But there are some problems at this time. For example, the artillery shell may explode over the enemy's air, or it may smash into the enemy's fortifications and then explode, or it may simply be a dumb gun, or it may even explode inside the cannon.
These situations were quite helpless in the early days of grenades. Due to manufacturing process issues, not every grenade was of reliable quality, and the fuse that determined the length of time the grenade exploded was not very reliable under the technical conditions at the time.
Simply put, the main factor that determines when a grenade comes out and becomes a useful weapon is the level of technology.
Fortunately, although Gao Pragmatic's hands-on ability is poor, his ability to use his mouth is not bad. As a fan of various strategic and tactical games back then, he had a certain understanding of some of the key technologies of grenades - although he couldn't recover it himself, it would be enough if he just gave theoretical guidance.
The bullet holder, wooden tapered tube and integral casting technology of the artillery shell, which are crucial to the development of grenades, were almost not invented until the late 18th century in the original history. However, the actual manufacturing difficulty of these things is not unattainable. It is possible that they were invented late. The main reason is that the urgency of the demand has not been met.
According to the highly pragmatic guidance, the Jinghua Artillery Factory spent thirteen years to overcome the problem of "flowering artillery", of which seven years were spent on the specific research and improvement of grenade technology (all technical lines were developed in parallel).
Jinghua's improved grenade uses a hollow wooden tube filled with slow-burning gunpowder as a message tube, and relies on the high-temperature gas leakage of the propellant from the clearance (the gap between the shell and the barrel) to the front to ignite the shell fuse. However, during the development process, it was discovered that because the field howitzer prototyped at that time was too weak, it could only rely on large-caliber mortars to show its power, or it could be used on a specially-made ten-fold caliber cannon.
This obviously did not meet the high pragmatic requirements, and even reminded him of the Southern Army's curse on its own howitzers during the American Civil War.
During the American Civil War, the Confederate artillery commander ruthlessly belittled the twelve-pound howitzers in his regiment as "nearly useless" and "almost worthless". He believed that this howitzer was not even as good as a six-pound cannon and only had Useful when destroying wooden village buildings.
The commander even planned to send this howitzer back to the rear to be melted down and recast into a Napoleon cannon or a thirty-two-pound howitzer. However, he was forced to give up due to production capacity reasons.
China also used howitzers in the early Qing Dynasty. For example, Kang Mazi used explosive bombs (grenades) during his three expeditions to Galdan, and there is a record: "When using (explosive bombs), first put the gunpowder into the medicine chamber. Place wood in between, add an inch of soil, then put the shell into the front chamber, fill the outside of the shell with gunpowder, then separate a layer of wet soil, and finally seal the muzzle with wax. When firing, first light the fuse on the shell from the muzzle, and then Instant fire door fuse.”
When the explosive bombs were used to deal with Galdan's Camel Formation, they made considerable contributions to the Qing army. Of course, what the Qing army owned and used most were the various general cannons (cannons) that fired ordinary artillery shells. The explosive bombs could only be regarded as embellishment.
This old-fashioned flowering bullet has many shortcomings. It is not only unsafe, but also time-consuming and material-consuming to process. Not only did the Qing army not like to use it, but it was not commonly equipped by Western armies. During the Napoleonic Wars, the most widely used equipment were solid artillery shells, grapeshot (grape shot) and various forms of exotic shells. These three types of artillery shells together accounted for more than 90% of the total artillery shells.
However, as I said just now, the problem with grenades lies in the processing technology, and at this point, Gao Pragmatic is playing tricks. During the nearly thirty years of development, Jinghua has always regarded metal processing as one of the most important directions of technological progress, which has created Jinghua's current metal processing level that can definitely be regarded as the first in the world.
The "Jinghua Curved Cannon" series, which came out after thirteen years of professional research, has a grenade shape that is quite similar to a football. It is manufactured using integrated casting technology. It can now explode into thirty-two fragments relatively stably, achieving a high level of practicality. Technical requirements made in the early years.
In terms of leads, because Jinghua invested heavily in mine technology in the early years, it made a breakthrough in high-quality leads more than ten years ago, and it can also produce waterproof leads (because Jinghua also studies mines).
With a good "explosive bomb" and a good fuse, it is not difficult to control the explosion time of the grenade. Of course, following Gao's pragmatic habits, he originally wanted the leads to be cut to different lengths when leaving the factory, so that he could hit specified targets as needed on the battlefield.
However, the test results were not ideal, and technical personnel from the artillery factory and the garrison involved in the school shooting believed that this would also lead to the need to prepare various lengths of fuses in actual combat, which would greatly increase the logistical pressure and would not be cost-effective.
In the end, Gao Pragmatic could only choose to compromise, so the gunners who were later converted to howitzers increased their training intensity. They were required to be responsible for cutting the lead of appropriate length according to the designated target distance on the battlefield.
This requires learning a lot of various knowledge, so the average salary of gunners in various armed forces in Beijing reaches fifteen taels to twenty taels of silver per month, which is basically the same as the regular monthly income of the county masters in the Ming Dynasty. Think about it, the salary of the gunner of a thousand cannons will cost 20,000 taels of silver a month. It goes without saying how expensive gold is.
Of course, fortunately, the "Jinghua Curved Cannon" is a new product. Currently, the total number of howitzer operators in Jinghua is less than 1,000...
After listening to Liu Xin's introduction, Gao pragmatic thought for a while, frowned slightly and said: "In other words...for example, the No. 2 artillery is now divided into the No. 2 field direct artillery, the No. 2 field curved artillery, and the No. 2 attack artillery. Four types of city direct artillery and No. 2 siege curved artillery? In this case, is the total number of artillery pieces too much?"
Liu Xin nodded first, but then immediately added: "It is a lot more than before, but it is not like what the master imagined. For example, if the No. 1 gun is too big, there will be no field version, and if the No. 4 gun is too small, there will be no field version." Siege money.
In addition, the difference between siege artillery and field artillery is actually not big, and the caliber is universal. The main difference lies in the vehicle rather than the artillery itself. In this way, in terms of artillery manufacturing and ammunition supply, it is better to achieve one bomb for multiple purposes without placing too many additional requirements on logistics.
As for transportation, mobility, etc., that is actually a matter of vehicle manufacturing. There is no shortage of carpenters in Ming Dynasty. We don’t have to worry about our production capacity in this area. The solution is not complicated. "
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ps: I came back late tonight, so I should only be able to update once. In addition, I thought about it today. For a long period of time in the future, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I may be tight at night, so I tentatively plan not to make up for updates on Tuesdays and Thursdays every week (in case I do, let’s talk about it separately. ). Of course, the total number of chapters to be updated will not change, and any amount owed will be made up.
