I want to be emperor

Chapter 466 New grenade first debut (two in one)

Looking at the few black cannonballs on the table, Luo Zhixue couldn't help showing joy.

Although these grenades still look like spherical grenades and seem to be the same as the previous grenades, they are actually quite different.

Chang Leshan, director of the Ammunition Research Institute under the Ministry of Industry, was introducing this grenade to Luo Zhixue with joy: "We have designed dozens of different fuze structures according to your Majesty's previous instructions, and finally finalized the Take this wooden fuze."

"This kind of wooden fuze goes directly into the shell, and there is a fire guide hole on the side connected to the internal charge. When firing, the high temperature generated by the propellant inside the barrel directly ignites this tubular wooden fuze. After a certain delay Detonate the shells in time!"

"At the same time, in order to ensure that the shells will not roll over during loading, causing them to lose their alignment, we have added a wooden support to the grenade according to your Majesty's instructions, so that the shells can be positioned in a fixed position when loading. When loading and launching at the same time, the wooden support can better hold the air to increase the chamber pressure, and can also stabilize the direction of the cannon ejection chamber.”

While Chang Leshan said, he also showed Luo Zhixue the fuze tube, and installed it on the grenade without actual charge.

It was precisely because these shells had no charge that Luo Zhixue approached them boldly, and even installed the fuzes himself.

If it is live ammunition, let alone whether Luo Zhixue is afraid of himself, the next group of courtiers will advise in various ways to prevent Luo Zhixue from getting close to such a dangerous thing... If there is an accident and there is an explosion, wouldn't it be necessary? finished?
After Luo Zhixue installed the fuze himself, he took out the fuze and looked at it repeatedly, and finally said: "Okay, the ammunition department did a good job this time!"

"It did not live up to my expectations!"

Hearing what Luo Zhixue said, Chang Leshan finally grinned.

You must know that during this period of time, he and dozens of colleagues in the ammunition department have been under a lot of pressure. After all, His Majesty has personally instructed many times, and he is asking for money and people. Research funding alone is a lot. The next time I allocated 6 taels.

If the new type of grenade cannot be produced, even if His Majesty does not blame them, other people will not make irresponsible remarks.

You must know that there is not only one ammunition institute under the Ministry of Industry, there are more than a dozen other institutes, but not all of them can obtain 6 taels of research funding in just one year.

Ammunition Research Institute, the full name of the Ministry of Industry Ammunition Research Institute, is directly under the Ministry of Industry of the Great Chu Empire. Like the other dozen or so research institutes of the Ministry of Industry, it is an independent research institution dedicated to researching and overcoming major research projects.

Similarly, there are more than a dozen such as the Firearms Research Institute of the Ministry of Industry, the Artillery Research Institute of the Ministry of Industry, the Iron and Steel Research Institute of the Ministry of Industry, and the Machinery Research Institute of the Ministry of Industry.

They have extensively cooperated with the Royal Institute of Technology to conduct research together, and even many of the researchers are teachers and students of the Royal Institute of Technology.

The teachers in the Royal Institute of Technology are basically people who were exposed to science and technology earlier in China. For example, Song Yingxing is currently working as a professor in the Royal Institute of Technology. At the same time, Song Yingxing is also the director of the Textbook Department of the Ministry of Rites and Education. .

There are actually many people like Song Yingxing who have been in contact with and studied science and technology, but most of them are not well-known. In order to search for such talents, the Great Chu Empire directly ordered local governments to recommend them.

And in a feudal empire, everything is afraid of the emperor being serious... Luo Zhixue directly ordered all regions to recommend new scientific talents, and the local officials naturally searched for all kinds of scientific talents.

Not to mention new talents like Song Yingxing, even those foreign missionaries were recommended to the past.

Your Majesty didn't say that the person being recommended cannot be a foreigner...

After these recommended new-style talents pass a certain assessment, those who are truly talented will be arranged to serve as teachers in the Royal Institute of Technology and awarded grades.

Even those who are slightly inferior cannot be teachers, but they will be arranged in various research institutes or factories as much as possible.

In short, any individual talent will not be let go!

In this way, it was possible to find dozens of teachers for the Royal Institute of Technology in a short period of time, and hundreds of engineers for the many factories under its command... Well, although some of them were not willing to be teachers or engineers at the beginning , especially when the Great Chu Empire had not yet had a Northern Expedition.

But it doesn't matter, these people are here, so naturally they won't let them go.

After all, the Great Chu Empire was a traditional feudal empire.

The teachers in the Royal Institute of Technology are talents scoured from everywhere, and the students are no exception. They are also all kinds of talented youngsters recommended by local officials.

Because there are no hard and fast standards for gifted teenagers, many local officials have recommended a group of supernatural powers in the traditional sense, such as being able to read and write at the age of three, and writing poetry at the age of five.

All in all it was a mess.

However, these students who have passed multiple assessments, among other things, at least have better memory, and at the same time, their brains are more flexible, and their self-learning ability is better.

These teachers and students form the current Royal Institute of Technology.

At the same time, many of the teachers and students of the Royal Institute of Technology also participated in the projects in these research institutes or factories.

After all, there are only so few people in the Great Chu Empire who understand new science and technology. These teachers naturally need to undertake some scientific research tasks while undertaking teaching tasks.

However, Chang Leshan is not a teacher at the Royal Institute of Technology. In fact, he is not considered a main researcher in the Ammunition Research Institute. Although he also knows some technologies, he is more responsible for administrative affairs.

What I do every day is to deal with the big bosses of the Ministry of Industry, other research institutes and other manufacturers. The biggest achievement is not what I have researched, but to rely on various methods to get batches from above. Research funding, and by the way, improve the personal treatment of researchers in the research institute.

In his own words: I don't understand technical things, but I don't have money, so I'm going to find my boss, and there's no one, so I'm going to poach you!

It is precisely because of Chang Leshan's strong support that the Ammunition Research Institute was able to obtain a total of 6 taels of research funding this year.

Don't look at tens of thousands or tens of thousands, which means very little. These days, tens of thousands of taels of silver are almost equal to the annual fiscal revenue of an ordinary government.

The regular tax revenue of the huge Chu Empire is only tens of millions a year.

Putting it on the Ministry of Industry, the total research funding for more than a dozen research institutes is only a few 10 taels a year.

The money these days is still quite valuable.

With the money and the people, the research of the Ammunition Research Institute is also very smooth. After testing one by one from many design schemes, the current design scheme was finally selected, and the final design was perfected.

Chang Leshan first introduced his new grenade, and then took advantage of the opportunity to introduce a new type of artillery developed by them and the artillery research institute next door: the [-]-pound light howitzer.

Just listen to Chang Leshan said: "In order to ensure the power of the grenade, we refer to the 150-jin mortar, and set the caliber to 1.2mm. The barrel is longer than the same caliber mortar, reaching seven times the caliber, which is [-]mm. Meter."

"The reason why the barrel can be made longer is because the wooden bullet holder is used, and the artillery does not have to worry about rolling over when loading and firing."

"The reason why it is limited to short barrels of seven times is because the shells we manufacture are still lacking in the ability to withstand chamber pressure."

"After all, our technology is still lacking. At the same time, in order to ensure that the power charge is not too low, the shell case is generally relatively thin, and in order for the shell to explode, it will not be split in half directly, but will be split into more shrapnel. The pre-fabricated fragmentation process is adopted during processing, which also leads to a relatively limited ability to withstand the pressure of the grenade as a whole in these days."

"After testing, we found that under the long-barreled gun, if the standard charge is used, the shell case will fragment and even cause the chamber to explode."

"Considering that the new type of grenade can only withstand low chamber pressure, when it is used directly on field guns in the future, it is necessary to reduce the charge, and how much should be reduced to achieve a balance between range and safety. We still need to do more. test."

"Because of the low chamber pressure, making a howitzer specially designed to launch this kind of grenade can make the barrel shorter and thinner, so as to control the weight."

"The sample gun we have produced for test firing now weighs only more than 250 kilograms (pure barrel), and the weight of the row is more than 460 kilograms (combat posture, including the barrel, gun mount, and wheels). The weight is more than 820 kilograms (march state, including gun barrel, gun mount, wheels, leading vehicle, harness, standard base ammunition, etc.).”

"This eighteen-pound light howitzer is only slightly heavier than a two-and-a-half-pound field cannon, but a bit lighter than a five-pound field cannon. It has excellent maneuverability. You can use three horses for daily marches, or you can use shorter horses. With four horses, in combat situations, two horses can be dragged to the front line."

"In terms of range, according to the data of our previous tests, although a certain hit rate can be achieved at a distance of 800 meters, it is recommended that the effective range be 500 meters. The range and hit rate can achieve a better balance."

While listening to what Chang Leshan said, Luo Zhixue also stepped forward to look at this [-]-jin light howitzer.

This thing looks, in fact, a bit small...it doesn't look like a heavy gun with a thick 150mm barrel at all.

The length of the entire gun barrel is only 1.2 meters, which is basically equivalent to that of a two-and-a-half-pound field gun, but the caliber of the two-and-a-half-pound field gun is only 65mm...

So this looks a bit out of tune, especially with the relatively large wheels and frame, it feels like a big car that is resistant to spraying, and it is not beautiful...

But a lightweight howitzer is like this, as long as the shells fired are powerful enough.

So Luo Zhixue looked at it for a while, and said to Chang Leshan: "Take it out and try it out. We'll have to fight it to know if this cannon is good!"

After hearing this, Chang Leshan immediately said: "I obey the order!"

Even if Luo Zhixue doesn't take the initiative to speak up, whether it is Chang Leshan today or the people in the arsenal nearby, even the generals of the army will find an opportunity to let this artillery and new grenades be tested in front of the imperial court.

Otherwise, how to promote this new type of howitzer and new type of shells to enter the army quickly and on a large scale!

The factories of the Ministry of Industry are waiting for orders, the research institutes are waiting for rewards, and even the army is counting on an additional military expenditure for purchasing such artillery and grenades!
This is not possible without money.

But in the Great Chu Empire, a large amount of financial support, regardless of whether it was military expenses or administrative expenses, would not have been possible without Luo Zhixue's nod.

So if factories want to get a lot of orders, if the army wants a new support weapon to be widely equipped and used, they need money.

But if you want money, you have to impress Luo Zhixue first.

For a kind of artillery, nothing is more convincing than live ammunition.

Soon, they arrived at the Dangtu Industrial Zone, a weapon testing site specially established for the Dangtu Arsenal and Dangtu Artillery Factory, but now in the weapon testing site, in addition to the [-]-pound light howitzer, there are many other weapons It will also be tested together.

The main purpose is to show face in front of Luo Zhixue. In fact, many of them have already served in batches and put into combat effectiveness.

For example, an improved version of the two-and-a-half-pound field gun is called the four-year-type two-and-a-half-pound field gun.

The improvement of this kind of artillery is actually not big. Compared with the original model, that is, the first-year two-and-a-half-pound field gun, the length of the barrel is mainly lengthened, so that the barrel diameter is increased from sixteen times to eighteen times, although this will increase It is heavy, but it can also give the improved two and a half catty field guns greater range and power.

The engineers in the Artillery Research Institute explained to Luo Zhixue in this way: "All the troops on the front line generally reported that our two-and-a-half catty field guns are relatively poor in range and power. The effective range of about 300 meters is too short, and at the same time, the power is not very enough , especially when facing the enemy with long-barreled artillery, the effective range of 300 meters and the existing power are not enough."

"According to the response of the frontline troops, we lengthened the barrel and appropriately thickened the thickness of the tail of the barrel to increase the chamber pressure. Finally, the barrel diameter of this gun reached eighteen times, and the effective range increased to 380mm. Mi, the power has also been improved to a certain extent!"

Luo Zhixue looked at the new two-and-a-half-pound field gun in front of him, nodded slightly and said: "It is very necessary to continuously improve the weapons and equipment according to the needs of the frontline troops."

In addition to the two-and-a-half-pound field cannon, there are even improved models of the five-pound field cannon and the nine-pound field cannon. time more quickly.

In addition, there are some improvements that cannot be seen on the surface, which are mainly reflected in materials and processing.

It is also a copper cannon, but the processing technology and materials are also very different.

For example, although the gun barrels are all made of copper, they are actually copper alloys, and different material ratios have a greater impact on material properties.

The same is true of the processing technology. Even though the Great Chu Empire still can only use outdated clay mold casting, there is still room for improvement in some details of the technology, especially the subsequent processing and molding of the barrel.

The barrels of the bronze cannons of the Great Chu Empire were not used directly after casting. Instead, a rough blank was cast first, and then a large hydraulic boring machine was used to expand and cut the inside of the barrel to make the inside of the barrel smoother.

The craftsmanship in these details has been continuously improved, but it has not stayed in place.

This is not only true of artillery, but also of muskets.

For example, the improved version of the two-year flintlock gun is mainly based on some problems exposed by the previous original model. For example, the buttstock has been adjusted to make the buttstock more ergonomic (although there is no such word at this time. ), to reduce the pressure on soldiers to adopt this musket.

Secondly, the bayonet was used for the first time!

That's right, a bayonet!

The Great Chu Empire had already begun to use 'bayonets' on matchlock guns, from the earliest plug-in bayonets to the later sleeve-type bayonets.

But the previous two types have nothing to do with knives... The earliest plug-in bayonet is actually a spearhead.

And the knife on the bayonet is actually a spear...

The reason why the real knife-style bayonet has not been used for a long time is also very simple. On the one hand, the material is not good, and the processing technology is not good. The turning part needs to withstand a lot of impact in actual combat, and it is easy to break if it is not strong enough.

But now, when the Tu Arsenal has improved the technology and created a new type of bayonet, its strength can already meet the needs initially. At least when soldiers are engaged in bayonet combat, they don't have to worry about the bayonet being bent or broken.

I just asked a little bit, and learned that although this thing is already usable, it is more than three times more costly than the current stabbing cost, because the new bayonet uses a large number of craftsmen to forge it in order to ensure its strength. Only then has the strength of the bayonet been ensured.

Luo Zhixue rejected this thing without hesitation!
"In addition to considering the performance of the main equipment, we must also consider the cost performance. The new bayonet is very good, and the research direction is also right, but the cost is still a bit higher. The pressure on large-scale equipment will be too great. You must continue to work hard to reduce the cost. come down."

Luo Zhixue thinks that the current spear stab is quite easy to use, there is no technical difficulty, and the cost is also low, so it is good to use it now.

As for the new bayonet, it seems to have more functions, and it can also be used as a short waist knife for soldiers on weekdays. However, there are too many short waist knives in the Great Chu Empire, and the cost of the short waist knife is much lower than that of the bayonet.

Even if it is a spear and a short waist knife, the cost is less than half of the new bayonet.

Under such circumstances, Luo Zhixue felt that there was no need to change gear for the time being, at least until the cost of the new bayonet was reduced to the level of the total cost of the existing gun bayonet + musketeer's short waist knife.

Even if it is higher, it cannot be too high.

After all, the number of muskets equipped is not hundreds or thousands, but hundreds of thousands.

Now there are a total of sixty first-class divisions and second-class divisions of the Chu Army. In the next few years, these troops will need to be replaced with flintlock guns and restructured into new-style troops. In addition to strategic reserves, daily consumption At that time, the use of flintlock guns is estimated to reach more than one million.

With such a huge amount of muskets used, even if the cost of one tael was increased, that would be millions of taels.

Therefore, when the Chu army purchased weapons and equipment, the cost of large weapons such as artillery and even battleships could fluctuate by tens or hundreds of taels, but for basic weapons such as muskets with hundreds of thousands or even millions of equipment, the cost You will be very concerned about floating a few taels of silver.

----

Luo Zhixue briefly inspected more than a dozen new or improved weapons and listened to the researchers' reports before returning to the rostrum, waiting for the live ammunition tests of various weapons.

In order to ensure safety, in front of the rostrum, there is a defensive wall that is several meters behind, and Luo Zhixue can only show his head when standing on it...

After all, in the live ammunition test, whether it is an explosion or someone with ulterior motives directly uses the test weapon to fire at the rostrum, these possibilities need to be considered.

The first to perform the live ammunition test is today's protagonist, the [-]-pound light howitzer that many people place high hopes on.

Well, in fact, this kind of artillery itself has no meaning. Just this kind of light short-barreled artillery, let alone the artillery research institute, even if it is Daye Heavy Artillery Factory or Dangtu Heavy Artillery Factory, their own research rooms can Design one out.

The real focus of the tests was the new type of grenade.

There are three [-]-pound light howitzers used for the test, and the test items include four links: maneuvering, deployment, shooting, and emergency maneuvering.

These four links are directly related to the combat effectiveness of this new type of artillery.

The first thing to test is maneuvering. Three cannons are dragged by four horses, three horses, and two horses respectively.

This is a mobile test in the marching state. In addition to the artillery itself, it also includes the leading vehicle and ammunition boxes. The overall weight has reached more than 700 kilograms.

Under this weight, it is too reluctant to use two horses, and four horses are actually a bit redundant, preferably three horses.

The test also reflected this point. With the artillery group drawn by four horses, the march was quite comfortable. Even if there were some potholes, even the uphill road could pass smoothly. Even if there were some minor problems, the artillery crew members could With the help of others, he got out of the predicament and moved on.

As for the gun crew with two horses, it is more troublesome. You can’t see it at the beginning, but after you encounter potholes and even uphill roads after walking for a long time, the action becomes slower, and the physical energy consumption of pulling the horse is relatively large. The speed is obviously reduced a lot.

The three-horse battery is located between the two.

But on the whole, the mobility of this artillery is still relatively good. It has a caliber of 150 mm, but the weight of the ranks is only more than 800 kg. The weight of the ranks of the five-pound field gun is more than 100 kg heavier than it...

After the maneuver test was completed, the three artillery pieces arrived at the predetermined location, and the live ammunition test began!
The loading procedure of this kind of artillery is almost the same as that of the field artillery, because there is no need to ignite the fuse of the grenade first like the mortar gun...

Now this kind of light howitzer is loaded with shells, just put the grenade with a wooden bullet holder directly into the muzzle.

The overall process is similar to the loading of field guns.

After loading, I saw the gunners in front firing one after another.

With the sound of several cannons, Sanmei's black shells were fired one after another and flew towards the target ahead.

(End of this chapter)