open sea

Chapter 392 Cannonballs
Chen Mu himself forgot to let Guan Yuangu think about the cement, but Guan Jiang always remembered it.

The proportion of cement was figured out by Guan Yuangu. This thing is not complicated, and it is very similar to the materials used in the past, but the proportion is different. However, there is no precedent for this in the Ming Dynasty, so we have to keep trying in a stupid way. Chen Mu gave the raw materials, and Guan Yuangu had a lot of manpower for him to use, and this is how cement came into being.

In Guan Yuangu's words, cement is not difficult to make, and steel bars and iron ribs are not difficult to make. It took all stupid effort, but it was very laborious to transport so much cement and steel bars.

Guan Yuangu wrote to ask Chen Mu to come back, not to ask him to see the cement tower.

The craftsmen of this era are far different from those of later generations. They are more like craftsmen, meticulously crafted, even if it is a cement-structured Taoist pagoda, in fact, there is no difference from the outside of the buildings in the past.

Ten five-jin cannons bombarded a concrete wall at intervals of a hundred paces, and three rounds of salvo just cracked the wall, which was enough.

"With this, we can also build permanent fortifications. If the iron ribs are difficult to make, we can use wood or bamboo. If the lime is not enough, we can also use Nanyang volcanic ash. There are Dafuduo idle around Nanyangwei, and Nanyang is full of volcanic ash. Sending a fleet of 20 Daifuku ships can bring back [-] shi in the past two months."

"Master, in fact, it is made of cement, which saves iron."

Chen Mu was playing with the kerosene lighter made by Nanyangwei, wondering: "How do you say that?"

A lighter is a small thing with an iron shell and a cotton core, and it can be used for flint lighting. It is very convenient to start a fire outside as long as you prepare a little kerosene.This one was made by Nanyang Wei, and it has not yet been put into mass production. According to Lu Tong, the commander of the Navy's Jiangwutang Mountain, this thing should also be equipped with the entire army of Guangdong and Guangxi.

Chen Mu brought another and most important reform to the Ming army, which was the standardization of equipment.

Carrying equipment has now been implemented throughout the Guangdong capital. Junior officers made of canvas, general school leather, backpacks, and blankets are all produced in Xiangshan. This small thing alone can make it easier to start a fire. Only, one for each small flag is good.

Guan Yuangu said something to his entourage, asked Chen Mu to wait, and said to Chen Mu: "There are more and more fleets, and the consumption of iron bullets is also increasing. The stone bullets are light, but they are also very hard. The old man thinks that if some of them are replaced by cement bomb, can the cost be lower?"

Chen Mu disagreed, and said, "Can this thing smash the plank of the ship?"

If they were all replaced with stone bombs, it wouldn't be a joke if they couldn't smash the enemy ships.

"Not cannonballs, but cement bullets for shotguns and muskets."

As Guan Yuangu was speaking, his entourage brought two small buckets. Chen Mu knew at a glance that they were shotguns used by the Ming army. The bottom of the small iron cylinder was filled with wood, and the top was sealed with a paper shell. Cement bombs of uniform size.

I heard Guan Yuangu say: "Stone bullets are lighter. Using this as a shotgun can hit farther. It's just enough to hit people, and it's powerful enough."

This is very interesting, Chen Mu immediately opened his hands and shouted: "Take the armor, breastplate."

The pistol at the waist was filled with stone bullets, and after a while, some servants put on breastplates in the yard. Chen Mu shot them every ten steps. After the flag army brought back the stone bullet, Chen Mu looked at it in amazement.

The stone bomb cracked, but it didn't shatter, because it was mixed with fibers, that is, cloth, obviously Guan Yuan came prepared.

The bullets fired by muskets don’t really change the power much. Lead bullets and iron bullets are the same. It’s nothing more than using whatever materials are available in the country to make bullets. There is only one standard, and it is not easy to break. Daming has a lot of iron, so naturally use iron to make it. .

But cement is indeed too brittle compared to metal.

Seeing that the power is not bad, Chen Mu asked the family soldiers to take the long bird blunderbuss for a test shot, saying: "If the power is not bad, use part of it to make blunderbuss bullets and shotguns. This thing is light, and the banner army can save two catties. It's not bad. .”

Heavy artillery shells are definitely not enough. Nowadays, the trend of various countries on the sea is that the ship planks are getting thicker and thicker. Only heavier and heavier shells can penetrate the hull of the enemy ship to achieve the effect of sinking the enemy ship. However, ship shotguns can be used Cement projectiles are used to reduce costs. Anyway, hitting people, especially sailors who lack armor, can penetrate without much effort.

In fact, the damage is stronger if it cannot be penetrated, and it can directly make people lose their combat power.

"Just use it for a while. In two years, there will be no iron deficiency. In the future, it will still be the world of explosive bombs. That thing is not good for cement."

When Chen Mu said this, Guan Yuangu laughed, and asked, "Master, speaking of flower bombs, is it easy to hit the horn?"

"The horn of the explosion?"

Mentioning this, Chen Mu shook his head and said, "In the future, we should do less ramming. The era of gang-fighting at sea is over, and naval battles are ultimately battlefields of artillery."

Chen Mu also didn't want to dampen Guan Yuangu's enthusiasm. He finally innovated something, and it wouldn't be good if he directly rejected it, but it is true that the angle of the explosion has basically no effect at present.

On the contrary, when he came back this time, the fleet followed a ramming ship and hit the rocks at sea. The ramming blasted on the rocks and frightened the sailors of the fleet. Fortunately, the design was exquisite and no one was hurt.

"Yes, the master said that the ram should be made on the shell, and the bundle of explosives has been made."

Guan Yuangu seemed extremely happy. He was an old craftsman and didn't know much, but he was guided by Chen Mu. What could make a craftsman happier than making new and useful things?

Soon, the bundle of explosives and several boxes of new-style shells were placed in front of Chen Mu, which frightened him.

Is this thing stable?In case of an unstable explosion, the Ming Dynasty's generation of elites were destroyed on the firearms they made, what a loss it would be.

But Guan Yuangu is also very concerned about this matter.

The wooden box for the shells is specially made, and inside the flat box are layers of wooden grids, which just fit the long shells on it.

"Hey, how did you know that the cannonballs should be long and pointed?"

The geometry of the Ming Dynasty is not very good, and the algebra is strong. The craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty should not know about this streamlined way to reduce wind resistance. Chen Mu was very surprised by this, but Guan Yuangu quickly gave the answer, saying: "Long round Is the canister okay? It seems that the old man did the right thing, there must be a mechanism to ignite the wheels after the impact, so it is made like this."

Guan Yuangu is really ruthless, some are drill ship blasting bombs, some are big-headed bullets for tiger squatting guns, all of them are fired with machine wheels, and the tiger squatting guns are directly upgraded to mortars.

However, Guan Yuangu said that this shell is still in the deliberation stage in the Navy Lecture Hall and cannot be put into use. He said: "The big-headed shell of the tiger squatting cannon is not a problem. The fragments can explode ten or twenty steps in a radius. A hundred paces is fine, but this long bullet will turn over before it can hit very far, and most of the time it can’t fire, and it’s too close to a five-pound and ten-pound gun when shooting a hundred paces, and I don’t know what to do.”

How to do?
Chen Mu nodded heavily, he knew the reason for the flipping too well, and said: "Try engraving the rifling in the barrel of the gun several years ago, and you must remember to thicken the rifling of the new gun before engraving the rifling, use copper instead of iron, this thing It’s a big baby, and it must be made no matter what.”

(End of this chapter)