weaving

Chapter 739

And these flowering shells...

There is also a special fuze. Zhang Cheng's location is far away from the artillery array of Shenji Battalion. Even with binoculars, he can't see the specific situation of the fuze clearly.

However, you can still vaguely see a long section outside, which shows that the fuze is not completely prefabricated, but needs to be subtracted according to the calculated flight time of the shell.

This kind of fuze is different from ordinary fuzes. It is very particular about the preparation process of the military factory. It is necessary to ensure that the fuze will not be extinguished when the gun flies at high speed, and it must also keep burning at a constant speed, so that it can be accurately landed and exploded.

After the gunner loaded the cannon and installed the delay fuze, he also installed the fuze on the fire door of the mountain-piercing mine cannon. Only in this way can he complete all the preparations for launching.

…………

At this time, the fuzes used in the flowering ammunition in the Ming Dynasty army were almost all hollow reed tubes with a built-in drug twister, and the corresponding length was cut according to the measured target distance before loading.

This just causes a problem, according to the difference of shell quality, the difference of fuze quality can make the explosive shell easy to advance or delay explosion.

Moreover, looking through the binoculars, the gunners of the Shenji Battalion separated a layer of wet soil after putting in the blooming shells, and finally sealed the muzzle with wax, so that only the shell fuze was exposed outside.

Zhang Cheng knows that this is to prevent the flame and power generated by the propellant from causing the shell fuse to ignite quickly, causing the shell to explode in the chamber or explode early. After all, it is no different from a solid iron ball. It's just iron.

From this point of view, the flowering bombs made by the craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty are nothing more than that. The technology is still immature, and the operation process is extremely cumbersome. The processing of shells is more time-consuming and expensive.

No wonder, this powerful blooming ammunition has not been popular among the various armies of the Ming Dynasty, and all armies still generally use solid iron or stone ammunition.

Zhang Cheng not only thought of the flying cannon in his own army, Shi Tiegen and Li Chengmao also used the reed tube fuze at the beginning, which also had the problem of premature explosion or delayed explosion.

Later, the wooden tube fuze and the bottom wooden support proposed by themselves were successfully developed by them. After several months of test firing summary, the wooden support flowering bomb equipped with wooden tube fuze was finally finalized.

It's just that my own wooden shells are developed and used on the basis of flying guns, and I don't know if they are suitable for these large-caliber mortars.

…………

In the midst of everyone's attention, Shenji Battalion's first wave of mountain-piercing and ground-breaking artillery was ready.

This wave was all poisonous smoke bombs, which were filled with gunpowder, gravel and iron filings, as well as chamaejasma, asphalt, arsenic and other substances.

The technology of poisonous smoke bombs was quite mature in the Ming Dynasty, and it was also widely used by the Ming army in various places. However, they mostly used it when defending the city, and rarely used cannons to shoot explosive bombs.

Because the mortars had to fire poisonous smoke bombs, the Shenji Battalion did not use swan horns to direct the salvo.

Chen Jiugao, the former battalion commander of the Shenji Battalion, took a deep breath again, and shouted loudly to his general Chen Shihu: "Pierce the mountain and break the ground, fire the cannon!"

After receiving the order loudly, Chen Shihu turned around and yelled at the gunners of 25 large-caliber mortars arranged in two rows in the distance: "Poisonous smoke bombs, fire!"

With the waving of the command flag of the Chinese Army and the passing of orders, on the artillery array in front, from left to right, two gunners stepped forward nervously next to each mortar.

I saw one gunner step forward and quickly ignite the fuze of the poisonous smoke bomb at the muzzle, and the other gunner quickly ignited the powder twister at the fire door of the mortar behind the gun position.

"Hiss... hiss... hiss..."

Everyone in front of the artillery formation of Shenji Battalion was staring at the sparks flickering on each mortar, the two fuzes that ignited almost at the same time, especially those gunners who were in charge of firing the artillery, were always worried about the poison. The fuze of the smoke bomb will burn out ahead of time, causing the chamber to explode or explode prematurely.

"Tom...Tom...Tom..."

Amidst the slightly dull sounds, a large group of flames flashed at the muzzles of the mortars of various calibers, and large streams of dense smoke spewed out.

The barrels of the mortars just vibrated violently, and the wheels of the gun carriages also penetrated a little deeper into the soil. The poisonous smoke bombs shot out from the muzzles, flashing a string of flames, and shot straight to the ground. The cannon formations of the Empress Temple of the Qing Army rushed towards them at top speed.

In the large formation of the Chinese army, although Hong Chengchou, Zhang Cheng and others did not personally feel the tension when the poisonous smoke bomb was launched, even without binoculars, they could still see the flight path of the poisonous smoke bomb piercing the sky.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

All of a sudden, there were several explosions, and several groups of huge flames appeared in the air, followed by large groups of black, white, gray, and finally blue smoke that quickly diffused in the air.

It was actually a few poisonous smoke shells that exploded ahead of time while flying in the air. In the sky in those places, several large groups of scattered blue smoke were slowly falling, which seemed quite strange.

"Ah... oops..."

On the artillery formation of Shenji Battalion, from small soldiers to officers and generals, they all sighed in unison.

"Ah. Whoops!"

Seeing this scene, Chen Jiugao couldn't help feeling very annoyed. He patted his big fat leg vigorously, and shouted to the gunners in front: "Next time you fire, the fuze of the poisonous smoke bomb will be longer for me!"

Zhang Cheng also saw that the poisonous smoke bomb launched by Shenjiying exploded in the air ahead of time, and couldn't help sighing: the fuze of the blooming bomb is really long rather than short.

After all, people at this time have a natural fear of cannonballs, and it is impossible for the fired cannonballs to be thrown back.

Of course, it is possible to run far away before the shell explodes!

However, it also depends on the size of the position. If the position is small, or if they are fighting in an formation, it will be inconvenient for the enemy to run around, otherwise it will be completely defeated.

…………

At this time, on the position of the Niangniang Temple of the Qing Army, many earth walls have been bombed and collapsed.

Taking advantage of the cessation of the artillery fire of the Ming army, they organized the removal of soil and rocks, stepped up to repair the collapsed defense lines everywhere, or were busy rescuing the wounded everywhere.

Under the command of Geng Zhongming, the Tianyou Army also fired two rounds of artillery bombardment at He Zhenxiong's subordinate Ming army in Xuanzhen.

Fortunately, there was no movement for a long time on the Ming army's position, and they just breathed a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, there was another rumbling sound from the artillery formation of the Ming army, and everyone exclaimed: "The Ming army is firing again!"

For a moment, like ants on a hot pot, the crowd commotion, no matter how the Shangguan yelled and scolded, they didn't realize it, screaming and running back and forth, trying to find a safe place to avoid the shelling.

(End of this chapter)