In Hanyang City, at the pier dedicated to the Baoxiang Army, many warships of the Baoxiang Army and Navy are moored on one side, while many transport ships are moored on the other side, many of which are unloading cargo.
Dockworkers were unloading boxes of ammunition, as well as various muskets, swords and spears from the ship.
Among the many ordinary ammunition and weapons, there are a group of big guys that are very conspicuous.
This is artillery!
Among them are short and thick iron cast mortars, including three large-caliber 48-pound mortars.
But what is even more eye-catching is a batch of long-barreled artillery. At first glance, this batch of long-barreled artillery is different from the previous two and a half kilogram field guns.
They are bigger!
This is the first batch of five-pound bronze field guns produced by Xiangyang Arsenal!
——
The next day, after finishing today's meeting, Luo Zhixue arrived at the northern suburbs military camp in the afternoon, which is the camp where the main force of the First Division is currently stationed.
I came here not for anything else but to check out the newly arrived batch of artillery pieces.
Ding Gangyi, the supervisor of the Xiangyang Arsenal who went south with the ship, introduced to Luo Zhixue: "This time we sent six 18-pound mortars and three 48-pound mortars; eight two-and-a-half-pound bronze field guns, six Five pounds of field artillery.”
Ding Gangyi pointed to the many artillery pieces lined up in the open space in front and continued: "We have been working overtime recently to produce them. The five-pound field guns among them are the first batch of five-pound artillery pieces we have produced."
Luo Zhixue listened and stepped forward to check. Those 18-pound mortars and 48-pound mortars were nothing to look at. These artillery pieces were still the same as before. They were all made of iron and had no technical content.
What he focused on were the two types of bronze cannons.
He had seen the two-and-a-half-pound bronze artillery piece before. The Xiangyang Arsenal began to produce the two-and-a-half-pound bronze field cannon half a month ago. The first batch of six pieces of equipment was given to the Guards Division.
Overall, the appearance of this two-and-a-half-pound bronze field gun is not much different from the previous two-and-a-half-pound iron field gun. What really changes is the performance of the material.
As for the five-pound field gun, it looks larger than the two-and-a-half-pound field gun. The caliber of the gun is larger, the barrel is longer, and the gun frame is also larger, and it looks extremely thick.
Ding Gangyi on the side also introduced: "This five-pound cannon is generally enlarged from our two-and-a-half-pound field cannon. It is still based on the Hongyi artillery, but we have to do it during casting and processing. More refined.”
"Your Majesty, please see, although the barrel of this bronze cannon is still a cast barrel, after being enlarged and finished by our large hydraulic boring machine, there are no sand holes left by casting inside the barrel, and it is polished smoother ."
The boring machine drilling Ding Gangyi mentioned does not directly drill a solid gun barrel. This is simply unrealistic with the current technology!
The Baoxiang Army now casts artillery, using rough barrels cast from clay molds and then finishing them.
Similarly, the Baoxiang Army's musket production follows the same principle. The barrel is first forged by the rolling method, and then the initially formed barrel is enlarged and polished.
To be honest, in fact, the gunnery technology of the Baoxiang Army, especially the core technology, was not very high and was basically at the same level as that of the Ming Dynasty.
Everyone is using the clay-cast red cannon technology and the matchlock technology passed down from the foreigners. It’s hard to say who is more awesome.
The reason why Baoxiang Army has high output and good quality is simply the extensive use of hydraulic machinery to improve efficiency, increase output and strictly control quality.
As for quality, there is nothing to say about management, and as for output, even the hydraulic machinery and equipment used by the Baoxiang Army have little technical content...
They are some of the most primitive hydraulic machinery. Luo Zhixue directly drew the drawings and asked the craftsmen to make them.
If it were the Ming Dynasty, as long as they were willing to spend money, they could actually do it.
The question is whether Mingting is willing to spend money, or whether it has the money.
When the Baoxiang Army built the Xiangyang Arsenal, the construction cost of the factory alone reached more than 200,000 taels of silver. After the completion of the third phase of the project, the total number of workers in the arsenal reached more than 10,000.
This does not include the Xiangyang Machinery Factory, which provides machinery and equipment for the arsenal. This machinery factory also has more than 2,000 workers.
In order to maintain the operation of the Xiangyang Arsenal, the Baoxiang Army had to spend more than 150,000 taels of silver every month, including raw material procurement, labor expenses, equipment losses, etc.
And this expenditure will increase as the rural protection army continues to expand and requires more weapons and ammunition.
In the next year, just the two core defense factories, Xiangyang Arsenal and Xiangyang Machinery Factory, will conservatively cost Luo Zhixue two million taels of silver.
Although this money, strictly speaking, cannot be regarded as arsenal expenses, but should be included in the military's weapons, equipment and ammunition expenses.
But no matter what, we have to spend more than two million.
So much money, and it was still required every year, even if Chongzhen was sold, he wouldn't be able to get it out.
The so-called sharp guns and cannons of the Baoxiang Army were actually paid for with money.
If you don’t have money, why should you buy a lot of guns and use flat push tactics?
——
Ding Gangyi continued: "After using bronze cast cannons, the new bronze field cannon's barrel has a stronger pressure-bearing capacity, which can effectively avoid the risk of explosion and reduce air leakage, and can also improve the accuracy and power of the artillery shells! "
"This five-pound cannon has an inner diameter of two and a half inches (83 mm). When deployed, the combat weight is eight hundred kilograms, and its total marching weight is one thousand two hundred kilograms. If a five-pound field cannon of the same size is made of iron, Then the total marching weight needs to be at least 1,500 kilograms."
"After using bronze cast artillery, not only the barrel has a longer life and is easier to process, but we can also make the artillery larger and the barrel longer while controlling the weight in the early stage."
Yuan Gaofeng, the Minister of Industry on the side, also exclaimed: "In addition to the cost of bronze artillery, which is several times more expensive than that of cast iron artillery, it is superior to cast iron artillery in all other aspects!"
"I have discussed with the Ordnance Department before that in the future, the field artillery needed by the Army will still be mainly bronze cannons, but for some of the Army and Navy's large-caliber mortars and subsequent large-caliber ship-based artillery, iron will still need to be used. Cast cannons to save costs!”
Ship-based artillery pursues power. They tend to have longer barrels, larger bodies, and thicker barrels. This also means that more material costs are required. At the same time, ship-based artillery is not very sensitive to weight. A weight gain of around twenty is perfectly acceptable.
Ding Gangyi said: "We are also continuing to study and improve the technology of iron-cast artillery, and strive to cast better iron-cast artillery."
At this time, Luo Zhixue said: "I can rest assured that your Ministry of Industry is doing its job. I can continue to work hard in the future and don't let down the high hopes of a hundred thousand soldiers and millions of people!"
As he spoke, he turned to the commander of the First Artillery Regiment, Huang Xiangbin, and said, "Your regiment is the first batch to install five-pound cannons. How about it? Are there any problems with equipping the new cannons?"
Colonel Huang Xiangbin immediately came out and said: "Your Majesty, the ministry has obtained the test firing manual of the five-pound cannon half a month ago. In the past half month, it has also conducted simulation training with the two-and-a-half-pound bronze cannon. There have been Six artillery groups have completed training. We received this batch of artillery yesterday and we also conducted emergency adaptability training, and the effect was not bad."
Luo Zhixue said: "Okay,
"The rise of our army is short-lived. It has swept across Chubei in just a few months. Even if the rear continues to expand production and works overtime to produce ordnance, it still cannot keep up with the equipment needs of our army expansion. What should I do if the equipment will not arrive for a while? ?”
"Then train first. Once the training is complete, you can quickly form combat effectiveness as soon as the equipment arrives!"
"I have always said, don't let equipment wait for people, let people wait for equipment."
"Come on, let's try firing a few rounds of live ammunition!"
Luo Zhi came to learn today. Naturally, he wanted to see the live ammunition test firing. Otherwise, if he just listened to the introduction, there was no need for him to come.
Huang Xiangbin and the others had been prepared for this since yesterday, otherwise they would not have been able to do so yesterday. As soon as this batch of artillery arrived in Hanyang City and was unloaded from the dock, it was accepted by the First Artillery Regiment and started adapting to it that afternoon. training, and has already fired live ammunition.
Although I can't say how accurate it can be, there is definitely no problem in operating it.
As Luo Zhixue spoke, Colonel Huang Xiangbin immediately said: "I obey the order!"
Huang Xiangbin went up to prepare in person, and took six carefully selected artillery crews to pull away the six five-pound field guns in the open space.
Before the live-fire test, they also briefly practiced marching, deployment, and temporary construction of artillery positions.
Luo Zhixue noticed that although these six five-pound field guns were heavier, thanks to the new two-wheel gun mount, they were still not a problem to maneuver.
Even during the drill, these artillery were carried out directly in the uneven fields. However, when multiple horse-drawn artillery were used and there were artillerymen accompanying them to push the artillery, these five-pound weapons weighing more than a thousand kilograms were used in field battles. The gun can still maintain normal maneuverability in the field.
Seeing that these artillery pieces could maneuver normally in the uneven fields, Luo Zhixue nodded slightly.
This mobility is passable. Although it is a bit worse than the mobility of a two-and-a-half-pound field gun, it is completely acceptable.
After all, this five-pound field gun is not used as infantry support firepower, but as battlefield support firepower. When it goes to the battlefield, it does not need to be used like the two-and-a-half-pound field gun. It will directly accompany the infantry to maneuver and advance, and rush directly to the battlefield. The front.
After the maneuver drill was completed, the temporary artillery position was also constructed.
Then the six five-pound bronze field cannons began to unfold.
The gunners first turned the artillery around, then untied the draft horse that pulled the artillery, and separated the lead vehicle containing some ammunition from the two-wheeled artillery carriage carrying the artillery.
Then push the artillery up and perform preliminary aiming and adjust the angle. At the same time, the gunner carries ammunition from the guidance vehicle.
Soon, after the preliminary preparations were completed, the gunners began to load.
They first cleaned the barrel of the gun, then packed the fixed propellant powder into it, compacted it, and then put in the solid spherical shells. The gunner also punctured the propellant pack inside through a small hole in the tail of the gun and put in the match rope.
The gunner also made final corrections.
After everything was prepared and permission was obtained from the command, the six five-pound field cannons roared one after another.
After watching the shells fired by the six five-pound field guns, one of the shells directly penetrated the multi-layered thick wooden plank in front of the supposed target, and he couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.
Guo Quanshu, the minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, who came to watch from the side, immediately stepped forward and said: "Congratulations to your majesty, congratulations to your majesty, with this sharp weapon, our Chu army will be able to sweep across the nine states in just a day!"
