Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 567 2.5 Inch Mountain Cannon

That morning, the four messengers left Gaizhou on linden ice.

The ice linden slides extremely fast, much faster than riding a horse. As long as there is no ice hole on the road and falls into the sea, you can cross the North Sea to reach Dengzhou and Dagu on the same day.

At noon that day, Yan Yingyuan from Dagukou and Wang Jiayan from Dengzhou both received urgent deliveries.

After Wang Jiayan received the urgent delivery, he ordered Hu Xinshui to expedite it to Nanjing by [-] miles.

Two days later, the travel-stained messengers entered the city of Nanjing from Taiping Gate, but Chongzhen was not in the city, nor in Qingliangshan Gewuke Workshop, but ran to the arsenal with Zhu Cihong.

Chongzhen was very busy, and after finishing the steam engine, he went on to make mountain artillery.

Before receiving the report, Chongzhen was explaining the 3-inch gun he imagined to Zhan Yangzhi and Bu Jialuo.

Bugarao has become smarter now, and he no longer wants to be proud of his skills, and has become a diligent chief engineer.

Therefore, human nature is actually the same. Without real skills, you will not be truly respected by others, and you will not be truly convincing.

Zhan Yangzhi was filled with emotion when he saw it,

So as long as it is built, it must be an excellent mountain cannon.

"That's it, I will take my leave." Now Zhan Yangzhi is fine.

With the 2.5-inch mountain gun, it can not only fill the firepower gap between the tiger squatting gun and the 4-inch field gun, but also its range and lethality far exceed that of the Frang machine gun or the camel rotary gun.

Chongzhen looked over, and Zhan Yangzhi went on to explain: "Let's not talk about the wheels, frame, gun mount and adjustment mechanism of this 3-inch mountain gun, but the weight of the gun barrel is far more than 200 catties."

But now that Jiannu Lengding also uses this strategy to deal with the Ming army, it will be a big trouble, which means that the Ming army needs to sacrifice many more people, which is really a mistake.

But if you have real skills, you will definitely be respected.

Fortify the stronghold, fight dumb battles, and then combine the bastions. The Ming army adopted this strategy to deal with Jiannu, which is naturally excellent.

Because he knew that Zhan Yangzhi wasn't talking nonsense.

As soon as Zhu Cihong finished speaking, a young eunuch hurried in, panting and said: "Long live Lord, hurry up, there is an urgent delivery from Liaodong, there is an urgent delivery!"

If you are worried that mules and horses are too strenuous, you can also consider matching camels.

Zhan Yangzhi shook his head after hearing this: "Even if the caliber of this cannon is reduced to two and a half inches, the cannon body still weighs nearly 400 kilograms, which is still half of the 200 kilograms required by the Holy One. What's the matter?"

Zhan Yangzhi shook his head and said, "Even so, the gun body still weighs 300 catties, which is still 200 catties short of the 100 catties requested by the Holy One. What can we do?"

After a pause, Chongzhen said again: "Then you should step up trial production."

But in fact, cannons are all spindle-shaped, and the outer diameter of the bottom of the bore is not only 5 inches, but also more than 6 inches, so the weight of the gun body is definitely more than 500 jin, or even 600 jin.

"As long as it weighs no more than 200 kilograms, not only can the packhorse carry it away easily, but it can even be carried by the artillerymen to march when the situation is critical. In this way, the mobility of this mountain cannon can be greatly improved."

After reading the letter, Chongzhen's face instantly collapsed.

Chongzhen frowned slightly when he heard the words.

"Reinforce the ribs." Zhan Yangzhi frowned, this is really possible.

Chongzhen sighed and said again: "Speaking of it, I am still too wishful thinking. I only thought that my Ming army could adopt the tactics of 'strengthening the stronghold and fighting dull battles', but I forgot that Jiannu might also retaliate in the same way. On the other side, I will also follow my example and adopt the tactics of 'strengthening the fortress and fighting the war', but now I am in a cocoon."

Chongzhen seemed to be able to guess what Zhan Yangzhi was thinking, and said: "You don't have to worry about the price, it will never let Daming Arsenal suffer. As for how to allocate production capacity, we will talk about it at that time."

He took out a dagger and cut the wax.

Zhan Yangzhi hesitated to speak. As Dong Weng of the Daming Arsenal, he had to consider many things. For example, after the mass production of this 2.5-inch mountain gun, what is the price?
And how should the production capacity of this mountain cannon be arranged?

"Father, the situation may not be as bad as imagined. This may just be Jiannu's unintentional actions, and it doesn't mean that Jiannu's overall tactics have been innovated." Zhu Cihong comforted in a low voice.

For example, Bu Jialao, now treats Chongzhen as your servant one by one, even worse than Qu Shawei, as if he can't wait to kneel down and lick Chongzhen's toes.

This time Bugarao didn't say a word.

Zeng Guofan only built ordinary camps, and Fan Zhongyan only built conventional forts, but Chongzhen upgraded ordinary camps and conventional forts into bastions!

"After dismantling, the weight of each part must not exceed 200 catties."

"What's the matter?" Zhu Cihong hurriedly said, "Father, what happened in Liaodong?"

After sending Zhan Yangzhi and Bu Jialao away, Chongzhen asked Zhu Cihong again: "Xiao'er, has there been any urgent delivery from North Korea these days? How is the matter with Jiong'er? When will the North Korean craftsmen be able to leave?" ?”

"I remember." Zhu Cihong replied, "Shallow attack and advance construction!"

"Then even in the high mountains of Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces, you can march with infantry."

Chongzhen didn't say much, but just handed the letter in his hand to Zhu Cihong.

"The ribs can be used to strengthen the strength of the barrel."

The production capacity is given to 2.5-inch mountain guns, and there are fewer 4-inch field guns.

But now that Jiannu suddenly learned from the Song army and played a shallow attack on the building, Chongzhen was a little caught off guard.

"Accept the decree." Bu Jialao received the imperial decree and left in a hurry.

But then again, Chongzhen had no other choice.

"300 catties is 300 catties." Chongzhen could only accept the reality.

For more than two years, Zhan Yangzhi spent most of his time in the arsenal, and now he can be regarded as an expert in weaponry in Ming Dynasty.

"Anyway, the 3-inch mountain gun I imagined,"

"Father, the order for the third younger brother has been sent out a long time ago, and there must be a reply in the next few days."

Gao Qiqian reached out and took the delivery.

But Zhan Yangzhi shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, if this cannot be done, it is indeed impossible."

What's more troublesome is that Chongzhen also upgraded this tactic.

Jiannu can't learn from Zeng Guofan's "strengthen the stronghold and fight dumbly", but can learn from Fan Zhongyan's "shallow attack and advance construction", and the essence of these two tactics is actually the same.

300 catties is really the limit of weight loss.

"Impossible." Zhan Yangzhi resolutely objected, "With a caliber of two and a half inches, the smallest diameter of the barrel must be four and a half inches. If it is smaller, it will not be able to withstand the pressure of the chamber."

Gao Qiqian was also secretly worried, thinking that Liaodong would not lose the battle, right?

"Based on the weight of the 4-inch gun, the minimum outer diameter of the 3-inch gun is at least 5 inches, and the length of the barrel is about 8 feet. Then the weight of the gun barrel alone must be at least 500 catties, so no matter what, it is impossible to achieve 200 catties. catty."

At this time, Bugarao retorted: "By reducing the wall thickness of the gun barrel, at least another 100 catties can be reduced."

"Yes, the ribs." Bugarao crossed himself, "I promise in the name of God, the chamber will not explode."

Zhu Cilang fell silent for a moment, but that's right, even he himself didn't believe what he said.

"It can be done!" Without waiting for Zhan Yangzhi to speak, Bu Jialuo rushed to say, "Your Majesty the Emperor, no matter what kind of request you make, your servant Bu Jialuo will definitely find a way to fulfill it for you. "

Having said this, Chongzhen said again: "There are only these points in my request, can it be done?"

Chongzhen shook his head and said, "Lang'er, do you believe this?"

Bugarao said: "In this way, at least another 100 catties can be lost."

"Building slaves is not just about repairing the blunderbuss platform." Chongzhen said in a deep voice, "Lao'er, do you still remember the national policy that Fan Wenzheng used to deal with Xixia during Song Renzong's time?"

Moreover, the 300-jin cannon body can be carried on the march by mules and horses.

To be honest, Chongzhen did not expect that Jiannu would change course and adopt the tactics of "shallow attack and advance construction".

"Damn it!" Chongzhen said bitterly, "I seem to have missed something."

After all, there are only so many skilled gunsmiths in the Daming Arsenal.

If he hadn't adopted this strategy back then, he wouldn't have been able to defend the Huanghuai defense line at all, and Daming would have perished long ago.

If the arsenal wants to explode its production capacity, it cannot do without blacksmiths, and North Korean blacksmiths cannot be let go.

"Yes, shallow attack and advanced construction." Chongzhen frowned and said, "I should have thought of it long ago, I should have thought of it long ago."

When it comes to flattering, you have to be a Francophone.

Because Jiannu has been attacking, attacking, and attacking since the day Laonu raised his troops, from Laonu to Huangtaiji, and then from Huangtaiji to Dorgon, the offensive has never stopped.

The 700-inch mountain gun weighing 2.5 catties is actually acceptable.

After pondering for a moment, Chongzhen said again: "Then reduce the caliber of this gun to 2.5 inches."

"Okay." Chongzhen nodded happily, "With your words, I feel at ease."

[Note: The self-weight of early cannons is mainly in the barrel, and the self-weight of modern artillery is mainly in the gun mount, so under the premise of lower complexity and precision of the gun mount, the weight of early cannons of the same caliber is relatively much lighter]

"However, the weight of the gun mount must be controlled within 200 kilograms, and the wheel assembly must not exceed 200 kilograms, so that the overall weight will not exceed 700 kilograms."

Gao Qiqian was confused by what Chongzhen and his son said, wanted to ask but didn't dare to ask, and scratched his cheek anxiously.

So, the matter has come to this point, regrets and regrets are useless, let's think about how to break this situation.

From the beginning to the end, Jiannu has been suppressing the Ming army and fighting without stopping.

The 2.5-inch caliber is the 80mm caliber, which is similar to the 75 mountain guns of later generations.

"Jiannu also started to repair the gun platform?" Zhu Cihong was also taken aback after reading the letter.

Even if the minimum outer diameter is 5 inches, the gun barrel weighs 500 kilograms.

Zhu Cihong also persuaded in a low voice: "Father, Jiannu may not understand the essence of 'strengthening the stronghold and fighting dumb wars'. Even if you learn it, you can only learn a little superficially. In fact, it does not pose a big threat to my Ming Dynasty. .”

"No." Chongzhen waved his hand and said, "We must prepare for the worst."

Zhu Cihong didn't say any more, because Chongzhen often said that he expected the enemy to be lenient.

The estimate of the enemy should be estimated as high as possible.

(End of this chapter)