Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 347 God Cannon

In the evening, Zheng Sen finally returned to the Imperial College in disgrace.

When I came to Yilun Hall and asked, I found out that Shengshang had gone to Bird Clothes Lane.

Zheng Sen hurried to Bird Clothes Lane again, because the Holy Majesty asked him to meet him immediately after returning to the city.

So he turned to the end of Wuyi Lane, and saw a group of barbarians sticking out the door like javelins.

The leader was Wu Batan, who nodded slightly when he saw Zheng Sen, as a greeting.

Zheng Sen bowed back, passed Wu Ba Tan and Yi Ding and walked in, but was stopped by Gao Qiqian.

"Gao Qiqian, what are you doing?" Zheng Sen shouted, "The Holy Majesty called me to see you, and you dare to stop him?"

"Oh, Mr. Zheng, you have wronged our family." Gao Qiqian said with a smile on his face, "Our family has no guts to stop you, but the Holy Majesty is busy now, so I have to trouble you to wait for a while."

Zheng Sen reacted instantly, with an awkward smile on his face.

After waiting for nearly half an hour, Chongzhen finally walked out from the hanging flower gate of Li Zhai.

Zheng Sen hurriedly bowed to the ground: "Minister Zheng Sen kowtows to the Holy One, and the Holy One is blessed and safe."

"No." Chongzhen passed by Zheng Sen, patted Zheng Sen on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "Talk in the car."

After finishing speaking, Chongzhen stepped into the carriage, Zheng Sen said his command and got into the carriage, and sat cross-leggedly opposite Chongzhen.

The Holy Majesty is indeed amiable, but as a courtier, you still have to have a sense of distance.

This is what Zheng Zhilong taught him. Zheng Sen felt that what his father said was right, so he always maintained the humility that a courtier should have in front of the emperor, prince and Yongwang.

Chongzhen's eyes fell on Zheng Sen's face.

I saw several scratch marks on the white jade-like handsome face.

At that moment Chongzhen asked with a smile, "Did this fall from the sky?"

"Yes, I fell." Zheng Sen said with a little shame, "The wind was too strong, and I couldn't control it all at once. I hit the cliff of Guanyin Mountain and fell."

Chongzhen said: "Is everyone else okay?"

Zheng Sen said: "Everyone is fine, but there are some scratches."

"It's good that people have nothing to do." Chongzhen smiled, and said, "How do you feel?"

Zheng Sen sighed, and said, "Your Majesty is right. This hot air balloon is too difficult to control, especially when it encounters strong winds. Therefore, it may be hopeless to form an air force."

Chongzhen smiled and said, "What is your intention of forming an air force?"

Zheng Sen immediately said: "Of course it is to fly on Jiannu's head and throw ten thousand enemies."

"If this is the case, maybe the air force is not needed." Chongzhen said, "If you change your mind, you can also throw ten thousand enemies on Jiannu's head."

Zheng Sen understood immediately, and asked, "Your Majesty, are you talking about flying crows with divine fire? Fire dragons come out of water?"

Shenhuo Flying Crow is a land warfare weapon, and Huolong Chushui is a water warfare weapon. During the Wanli Dynasty and the Tianqi Dynasty, the frontier army and navy were equipped, but it was difficult to see such firearms in the Chongzhen Dynasty.

Because of the high cost of such firearms, the imperial court had no money to purchase them.

"Yes, and no." Chongzhen nodded first, then shook his head, "Although the working principle is the same, the things are two different things, and there is no comparison at all."

Fire Dragon Out of Water is a simple secondary rocket.

Although the Shenhuo Crow has a crow shape, it only has a crow shape. Gliding bodies and aerodynamics do not exist, so it can only do Brownian motion.

Brownian motion means that there is no problem in launching the rocket, but it is impossible to accurately hit the target, and it may be several hundred meters away.

The reason is also very simple. The crow body of the flying crow and the bamboo tube of the fire dragon are all made from local materials and based on experience. There is no uniform standard size at all, and the binding of the booster rocket, the crow body and the bamboo tube is entirely up to the craftsman. According to personal experience, the direction of the booster rocket is slightly skewed, and the direction will be a thousand miles away.

Therefore, firearms such as Shenhuo Flying Crow and Fire Dragon Out of Water also serve as a deterrent, and it is impossible to expect them to kill the enemy, unless it is luck.

Of course, burning the ship at close range still works.

But Chongzhen wants Zheng Sen to make the god cannon, which is not the case.

What Chongzhen wanted Zheng Sen to build was a standardized god cannon.

First of all, this sacred artillery must have a launcher, and each launcher must be the same size, and the launcher must also be equipped with a simple ruler to facilitate the calibration of the firing angle.

Secondly, the main body of the rocket must be a standardized gliding body, which can greatly increase the range.

Finally, both the booster rocket and the warhead must be standardized. The size and charge of the warhead, the size and charge of the propellant rocket, and the installation location must be unified.

Only in this way can the rockets shot out be predictable.

Even if there are still errors, at least it will not be Brownian motion.

Of course, don't expect this god cannon to become the master of the battlefield, this is unrealistic.

This is not to say that the lethality of the God Cannon is weak. Although the energy released by a gram of black powder is only about 800 joules, which is even less than one-fifth of a gram of TNT, but a few catties or even a dozen catties of black powder can be used to make one. Blooming bombs, mixed with broken porcelain, broken glass or barbed wire, etc. in the bomb body, the lethality is still very terrifying.

It is said that the God Cannon cannot become the master of the battlefield because it is expensive and there is no way to blanket it.

A 20-jin lead bullet is only worth eight renminbi, plus ten catties of gunpowder is only 1 tael, and a hundred cannon shot with a Hongyi cannon is only a mere [-] tael.

But once a Shenhuo Flying Crow is worth one hundred taels.

Firearms such as Shenhuo Flying Crow and Huolong Chushui are already expensive enough, and the standardized Shenhuo Cannon is even more expensive. Yes, you heard it right, it will be more expensive after standardization, and the price will double exponentially.

Before, Chongzhen once took it for granted that standardization would reduce costs, but he was soon educated by the cruel reality.

Before obtaining stable, continuous, reliable and strong mechanical power, the implementation of standardization will greatly increase the number and workload of craftsmen. Yes, in the era of manual workshops, standardization can only rely on craftsmen to spend time and polish it with experience. Otherwise, it is simply impossible to obtain parts of the same size.

Therefore, the manufacturing cost is going up.

For example, before the standardization of Lumi guns, the purchase price of each gun was only one tael and one yuan, but after the standardization was implemented, the purchase price of each gun rose to two taels, almost doubled!
The Lumi Gun is not the most exaggerated, the most exaggerated is the Hongyi Cannon.

Before the implementation of standardization, the purchase price of a 4-inch caliber Hongyi cannon (1000 catties) was 100 taels, but after the implementation of standardization, it directly rose to 600 taels, a six-fold increase!
Just purchasing 500 4-inch guns cost the Ministry of Internal Affairs 30 taels!

When Chongzhen first received this price, his first reaction was disbelief. How could it be possible?
Chongzhen immediately asked Huang Zongxi to take Qin Wang Shizi from the Supervision Section to inspect the production line of the Hongyi cannon in the Daming Arsenal. However, the final inspection result was no problem, and the quotation was very reasonable.

The reason is that in order to achieve standardization of size, Hongyi Cannon Workshop has added a large number of craftsmen, and the time for finishing has been greatly extended, and a lot of tools and molds have been added, so the cost has increased.

The standardization of Lumi guns nearly doubled the cost, and the standardization of Hongyi cannons increased the cost sixfold.

It is entirely conceivable that if the Shenhuo Cannon is to be standardized, the cost will definitely increase exponentially compared to the Shenhuo Flying Crow and Huolong Chushui. It is also possible that a rocket can cost a thousand taels, and it may be more expensive.

How expensive it will be will only be known after it is built.

Anyway, before the steam engine was built and matured, and before machining appeared, it was impossible to reduce the cost of such standardized components. The larger the size, the more exaggerated the cost increase.

Because it was too expensive, Chongzhen would not have the extravagant hope of relying on divine artillery to clean up the battlefield.

But if you get dozens or hundreds of rockets and save them for the most critical time, you still have a chance to make a final decision on the battlefield.

So let Zheng Sen try first.

Chongzhen took out the sketch of the Shencannon that he had drawn, handed it to Zheng Sen and said, "Look at the sketch I drew first."

Zheng Sen took the sketch and saw the words "Shenhuo Cannon" written on the title of the sketch, and immediately said aloud: "Shenhuo Cannon? This is what the Holy One said, the different Shenhuo Flying Crow?"

"Yes." Chongzhen said, "Are you interested in building it for me?"

Zheng Sen asked: "My lord, is there any difference between this and Shenhuo Flying Crow?"

"Of course there is." Chongzhen said, "You will know when you create it."

Zheng Sen asked again: "My lord, are you asking for advice, or is it an order?"

"Of course I'm asking for opinions." Chongzhen smiled and waved his hands, "If you don't want to, I will definitely not force you."

"The minister is still unwilling." Zheng Sen was quite stubborn, and said through gritted teeth, "The minister still wants to build an air force."

"You are really... stubborn." Chongzhen couldn't help rubbing his forehead with his hands, "Okay, then you can continue to build your air force, but I have a suggestion here, do you listen to it?"

Zheng Sen said quickly: "I respectfully listen to the hadith."

Chongzhen took out a piece of hemp paper, and took out a quill brush to draw an airship.

Then he said to Zheng Sen: "You change the shape of the hot air balloon to this, and then make it bigger, and your propulsion mechanism may have to be changed."

While talking, Chongzhen drew a set of propellers.

After thinking about it, Chongzhen drew another set of acceleration gears.

He also said: "Blowing air from a bellows is not enough. You have to go through the propeller, and you can't crank it by hand. The hand crank is not as powerful as pedals. You have to pedal, and you have to use multiple sets of gears to accelerate."

"Ah this?" Zheng Sen said with a frown, "Can it fly with so many things added?"

Chongzhen said: "So you have to increase the volume of the hot air balloon, and you have to try it yourself."

"Leader." Zheng Sen rolled up the sketch drawn by Chongzhen, carefully put it in his arms, and then got off the car halfway, and couldn't wait to return to the duty room of the flight department to call his scholars for a meeting.

(End of this chapter)