Nanming Engineer

Chapter 365

gun?
Long-range cannon?

Everyone is a little worried. This cannon is not comparable to the Birds. Hundreds of them can be made in a month. That thing is made with silver. A red cannon costs thousands and two hundred silver. Poor people can't afford it. rise.And silver is not enough, you also need iron or copper mines. Copper was equivalent to gold in the past few hundred years and was very valuable. It was only in modern times that iron cannons were developed.

Compared with copper cannons, iron cannons are much cheaper. Although the smelting process of high-quality tin iron is complicated, it is still low-cost compared to rare copper mines.However, compared with copper cannons, due to the casting process and material, the barrel of the iron cannon is easily covered with small holes, which cannot be as smooth as satin. Leading to bombing, the safety is worse.

In this regard, the backward Jurchens were ahead of Daming. Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming rebelled from Dengzhou and went to Houjin with more than 1 people in their entourage. There are many Hongyi cannons.

For Kong and Geng, Huang Taiji led the Houjin nobles out of Shengjing for ten miles to meet them. Gold builds artillery.

Huang Taiji did this because he had suffered enough from the cannons. In Fushun, Dalinghe, and Shenyang, the iron bullets fired from the top of the city smashed the Eight Banners soldiers to pieces. Corpses were everywhere, and even Nurhachi was also He was injured by a cannonball and died early with regret.So after getting the cannon caster that the Ming Dynasty didn't care much about, Huang Taiji regarded it as a treasure and gave him whatever he asked for. Soon after receiving a heavy reward, Houjin's technology made a leap and developed the very representative lost wax method cannon casting. The cannon built in this way has a smooth bore with few flaws, is not easy to explode, and is very easy to use.

On the other hand, in Ming Dynasty, after Sun Yuanhua who escaped from Kong Youde was killed, there was no more firearms expert in the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty.Artisans have low status, low wages, and can't even support their families. No one can care about casting cannons and improving craftsmanship. It's good to survive. Why think so much?

In the early years of Yongli, the large-caliber artillery of the Qing court had surpassed that of the Nanming, both in terms of quality and quantity, and it was much sharper than the mediocre Nanming, especially the Han army who fought in the front line, especially liked artillery. Huan met Wu Sangui in Shaanxi, if Dorgon hadn't worried about his loyalty and didn't equip him with more firearms, otherwise the Kuizhou army would have had an artillery battle with the Qing army outside Xi'an.

Wang Huan has money as well as iron. The silver and iron mines in Sichuan are producing a lot every day. Ma Chongming has to be said to be a genius in business. The accident did not affect production at all, and I don’t know how he did it.

But materials alone can’t make cannons. Skilled and skilled craftsmen are treasures. When Wang Huan thinks of this problem, his teeth itch with hatred. There are so many traitors in this era, but in terms of destructive power, no one can compare Shang Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming, these two people took away the most outstanding gunners and cannon-casting masters of Daming in Dengzhou Prefecture. These people are equivalent to Qian Xuesen of later generations.

Wang Huan did not have Qian Xuesen, but fortunately, he found another master.

Xu Erjue, a member of the military department of the Ming Dynasty.

A few days ago, Xu Erjue came to Hanzhong to announce his decree, but Wang Huan stayed in Hanzhong.In the days before leaving Hanzhong to attack Shaanxi, no matter how busy Wang Huan was, he had to meet with Xu Erjue every day to chat and chat. The artisans who work for lowly jobs know so much about their jobs, and Wang Huan was also shocked to learn from Xu Erjue's mouth that Daming's artillery technology has opened up a huge gap with European artillery technology.

In Wang Huan's era, in Europe, various field artillery and cannons were already installed as standing firearms in the armies of various countries. In addition to fortress artillery and city-breaking artillery, field artillery had developed towards lightweight and portability. France, the United Kingdom A war between China, Spain and other countries would be unimaginable without the participation of artillery.

However, the emergence of the Macau Cannon Factory greatly made up for this gap. In order to gain a foothold in Macau, the Red-haired Ghost spared no effort to pass on advanced artillery technology to the Ming Dynasty, which made many Ming Dynasty officials realize the importance of it.

Xu Erjue is one of them.

Although Wang Huan doesn't know how to cast cannons, he has seen pigs run before eating pork. In the communication with Xu Erjue, he put forward many creative ideas, such as adding cannon ears, quantitative medicine packs, standardized manufacturing and other new words. It made Xu Erjue feel very novel, and he called it enlightenment.

Wang Huan chose a site outside Hanzhong City and quietly built the Hanzhong Military War Bureau. Xu Erjue served as the military ambassador, recruited craftsmen, and focused on casting cannons.

As a result, the two major military bases of the Kuizhou Army took shape. The Shizhu Kuizhou Bingjue Bureau was responsible for manufacturing yellow gunpowder and light firearms such as Niaotong and Hongtianlei. These things were also easy to transport and would not be restricted by road conditions; For the manufacture of artillery and other large-scale firearms, Hanzhong has a well-developed transportation system and can be accessed in all directions. After the artillery is manufactured, it can be easily transported. However, there are not many iron ore mines in Shaanxi, so materials can be obtained nearby.

However, Wang Huan was not optimistic, because the Hanzhong Military Warfare Bureau was opened not long ago, and craftsmen were extremely scarce. Casting cannons could not be done simply by bringing in a few blacksmiths. Without qualified iron cannons made by skilled craftsmen, Wang Huan would not dare to use them. .

The people in the hall are all the upper echelons of the Kuizhou Army. Of course, they also know that the Hanzhong Military Bureau is currently unable to provide artillery, so everyone looks helpless.

"Wait, wait a few more months, Jiang Yu won't be defeated so easily." Wang Huan looked solemnly at the ghostly symbols left by Ma Mingtu again, and the names of the chief generals of the Qing army came into view impressively: "If he is not prepared, he will not dare to rebel. I am sure he can last for a while. Taking advantage of these days, we must stabilize people's hearts, vigorously expand civil affairs, spread the reputation of Kuizhou in the northwest, and spread the reputation of Kuizhou in the northwest. It is completely under our control, which will be handed over to Governor Meng; second, to strengthen military training, the newly expanded thousand-man team is much worse than veterans, and must be trained in the shortest possible time. The three battalion commanders are each responsible for their own At the head of the battalion, the local soldiers and horses will be handed over to Wang Yongqiang; the third is to cast cannons. Within these two months, the first batch of cannons must enter our Kuizhou army! I will take charge of it myself."

He spoke seriously, and everyone listened carefully. Everyone nodded heavily when they heard about their errands. The army and civilians of Kuizhou were divided into two groups, each performing their own duties and cooperating with each other, efficiently and quickly.

In the end, Wang Huan set his sights on Chen Xiang. This tall brother has grown into a burly man now. His shiny bald head makes his thick eyebrows and big face even more fierce. At first glance He looks like a heartless and reckless man.However, Wang Huan knew that Xiang Chen was actually as wise as a fool and had a very measured heart.

"In Guangdong, have you gained anything?" Wang Huan asked.

Chen Xiang nodded slightly, and said in a deep voice: "Bought two with money, tied two, a total of four red-haired ghosts, packed in wooden barrels, and are on the way."

(End of this chapter)