Take the arsenal to Da Ming

Chapter 243 Field Cannon

Because the wrought iron produced was in short supply, the arsenal did not stop casting copper cannons.

However, a distinctive feature of copper cannons is that they are too heavy, which is not conducive to maneuvering, so these copper cannons are mainly used for warships, city defense and coastal defense.

The cannon made of wrought iron tends to be smaller and lighter. This is what Tang Ning called a field cannon.

The concept of field artillery was first proposed by Tang Ning in Daming, which made the classification of artillery clearer.

Field guns, city defense guns, mortars, ship-borne guns, etc.

It's just a pity that these artillery are still mainly firing solid bullets. The so-called shotguns are also miniaturized solid bullets, and their lethality is far inferior to the real grenades that cause damage by the fragments and shock waves produced after the explosion.

Grenades are also called flower bombs and high-explosive bombs.

Grenades can also be manufactured with today's technology, but they are mainly used by individual soldiers, similar to earthen grenades, but need to ignite the fuse.

This kind of howitzer cannot be fired, because the shell cannot withstand the impact of the chamber pressure, and the shell will explode before it is fired.

However, Tangning had already discussed the principle of shrapnel shells with Song Yingxing. He wondered how long it would take for the research and development team to develop this type of cannonball that was obviously much more lethal.

So before this, the new army could only use solid ammunition honestly. Fortunately, under Tangning's continuous promotion, the artillery has improved a lot.

First of all, he reduced the weight of the artillery and unified the standard, thus increasing the mobility of the artillery;
Secondly, he adopted the propellant of the fixed charge package, which improved the firing speed and shooting accuracy. This method was first advanced in the flintlock gun, and then began to be implemented in the artillery;
Furthermore, the use of filled tubes instead of loose powder in the ignition holes simplifies the aiming and loading process.

There is also his improvement of the materials for casting cannons, and the next step is to develop more powerful cannonballs.

Although these improvements are not qualitative leaps and have no real epoch-making significance, it is only a matter of time before the Ming-made artillery, which was originally lagging behind the world, becomes the top of the world.

Because of this, Song Yingxing didn't even change the name of the artillery, and still called this artillery the red cannon, but now this improved red cannon is more suitable for field battles.

However, the red cannons used by the Qing army were not good at field battles, and the siege effect was good.

It may be that for a long time, the Qing army will not have the concept of field artillery.

……

It is said that after the enemy cavalry saw the new army advancing step by step, they also slowly walked out of the army formation, and their soldiers pointed directly at the new army.

However, their speed of travel is not fast.

Ming Andali observed the formation of the new army for a long time, he did not expect that the new army could maintain such a neat and complete march while maintaining this formation.

From a distance, it looks like three moving squares, Ming Andali felt for the first time that this kind of hollow phalanx seemed not to be trifled with.

But the new army was gradually approaching, and he knew that Andari had to be the first person to test out the formation of the new army. It was really unpredictable what the final result would be.

The new army's camp was less than six miles away from the Qing army's main formation, and Ming Andali had to speed up his march, otherwise, he could directly attack the main formation by allowing the new army's artillery to advance.

In fact, how did he know that the red cannons of the new army were greatly reduced in weight for the benefit of field battles, which would inevitably reduce their power and range.

Now there are three main types of red cannons in the new army, 2.5 kg, 4 kg and 6 kg.

The least powerful 2.5kg cannon has an effective range of only about two miles.

The most powerful 6kg cannon has an effective range of just over three miles.

This is also the main reason why the artillery of the new army fired around two or three miles away.

The large red-clothed cannons of the Qing army could threaten targets five miles away, but it was too troublesome to transport, so the Qing army preparing for field battles rarely carried red-clothed cannons.

Ming Andali instinctively thought that the new army's artillery would only be more powerful, but he never thought that Tangning would rather reduce the power and use the artillery's field performance.

"Rumble..." Ming Andali speeded up his march, with the sound of horseshoes, and he was only about four miles away from the new army.

Sun Kexian gave an order, the artillery stopped and immediately began to build positions.

The three hollow phalanxes of the new army have also been transformed, and the characters of Pin are changed to be side by side.

The distance between the two hollow phalanxes on the side and the hollow phalanx in the middle is more than a hundred feet, and the artillery divided into two parts is placed in the middle of the gap between the three hollow phalanxes.

After the artillery was ready, the enemy cavalry had already entered the range of the artillery, and with an order, the command flag soldier violently waved down the command flag in his hand.

"Boom boom boom..." Cannonballs flew out one after another, and then rushed into the enemy's formation fiercely. The horse neighed continuously, and the enemy cavalry also accelerated the impact speed.

Afterwards, the artillerymen of the new army switched to using grape shells and cannonballs to fire one round each. Seeing that the enemy cavalry was approaching and could not fire the next round, they immediately put the red-clothed artillery in place and retreated with the captive cannon. Rear.

One hundred feet, fifty feet...

The soldiers of the three hollow phalanxes who were originally standing still, after an order, the soldiers in the first row immediately half-kneeled on the ground, the second row squatted, and the third row stood upright.

"Swish..." All the soldiers raised their flintlock guns, and instead of shooting in rows as before, they were ready to shoot together.

Forty feet, thirty feet...

"Fire..."

With an order, "Bang bang bang..."

The three hollow phalanxes fired quickly at the soldiers of the Mongolian cavalry, and a barrage of hundreds of muskets rushed forward fiercely.

"what……"

"Baby, baby..."

The screams of the soldiers and the neighing of the horses were intertwined, and a group of cavalrymen fell off the horses, and the horses fell down one by one, and the formation of the Mongolian army suddenly became looser.

The cavalry behind continued to speed up, and the soldiers of the new army quickly loaded their ammunition.

When the enemy cavalry approached less than ten feet away, another round of shooting was quickly carried out, and a group of enemy cavalry fell down again.

The counterattack of the enemy cavalry also started, mainly by shooting with bows and arrows, and continued to close the distance.

The archers in the hollow phalanx of the new army also started to fight back. These archers were not real soldiers of the new army, but Lu Guangzu's troops. But with the new army at the front, they were not too worried, and their morale was high.

"Kill..." Roaring, the Mongolian cavalry divided into several groups and rushed towards the three hollow square formations of the new army, trying to use the impact force of the cavalry to break open these hollow square formations.

Some cavalry wanted to turn around to the side of the phalanx, but only bullets greeted them, because all the soldiers of the new army were facing the outside, and the defense strength in all directions was the same, and there were no loopholes.

Finally, the two sides fought at close range. Facing the charging horses, the soldiers of the new army directly stabbed the bayonet on the flintlock without giving in.

"what……"

"Kill..." The screams and shouts were intertwined, and soldiers from the new army fell down from time to time, but it was the cavalry of the Mongolian army that fell more.

(End of this chapter)