One Piece of Song Dynasty

Liu Fa nodded and said: "Okay, you two go to a certain family's house with a certain person. Let's study together the master's purpose of reusing the navy. Although the navy army is not under the control of a certain family, we will definitely have to follow him in the future. Opportunities for naval forces to cooperate in combat operations."

Liu Fa and the other three returned to Liu Fa's mansion together. After arriving in the main room, Liu Fa said: "General Zhai, please spread the map of the Song Dynasty that was hung on the wall of a certain family on the ground."

Zhai Jin replied: "Yes, Liu Shuai." After that, Zhai Jin took out the map of the Song Dynasty from the wall and spread it on the ground.

Liu Fa pointed at the map with a wooden stick and said: "Look here is the location of our island. It is about four hundred miles away from the territory of the Song Dynasty. There is all the sea in the middle. Look at the coastline of the Song Dynasty, from the south of the Yangtze River to the north. Further up this long coastline is the territory of the Liao Kingdom, and the Liao Kingdom's territory also has many places close to the sea."

Zhai Liang asked: "What exactly does Liu Shuai want to say?"

Liu Fa said: "You think my lord has strengthened the navy this time, with new ships and cannons. This is likely to change the form of water warfare. You have all seen the power of cannons. Today's ships are all made of wood. Yes, what will happen if the big iron ball hits the ship?"

Zhai Jin thought for a while and said: "The ship will definitely be smashed."

Liu Fa nodded and said: "Yes, there will be no more close combat in water battles in the future. With cannons, we can destroy the enemy ships from a long distance before the enemy ships get close. Someone dares to conclude that the lord's navy will be in the future." Invincible in the large sea area from Jiangnan to Liao Kingdom. 35xs”

Zhai Jin said thoughtfully: "Yes, if there are hundreds of gunboats like that, they can dominate the sea."

Liu Fa continued: "After becoming invincible at sea, we will have more places to display on this long coastline. If the lord wants to regain Yanyun, then the navy can carry the infantry to land in the Jizhou area, which is far away from Youzhou. Just a stone's throw away. In the past, the Northern Expedition of the Song Dynasty all attacked from the land to the north to recapture Yanyun, and all failed. This shows how difficult it is to recapture Yanyun by land. So this time, if the lord recaptures Yanyun from the sea, can it be done? What about taking someone by surprise and attacking them unprepared? After all, foreigners don’t pay much attention to coastal defense."

Zhai Jin's eyes lit up: "Yes, my lord may really be able to recapture Yanyun in this way, but the number of our infantry landing must be large enough, otherwise once the enemy reacts, it will be easy to repel us."

Niu Gao suddenly interjected: "Actually, in addition to landing at Jizhou as Liu Shuai said just now, we can also send an army to land here. In this way, even if the enemy army reacts, the enemy army will not dare to attack Yan with all its strength until the worries are relieved. Cloud."

Liu Fa nodded and said: "General Niu is right. If we land at Suzhou and Laisu County (later Dalian) on the Tokyo Road behind the Liao Kingdom, we can indeed contain the enemy."

Zhai Jin frowned and said: "But to land in two places, we need hundreds of thousands of infantry. How many ships are needed, as well as grain, grass and other supplies. If we start from Xinghan Island, the journey is not short. ”

Liu Fa thoughtfully said: "This is not what we can think of. Maybe the lord has already figured out a solution. In short, it seems that the navy will play a vital role. You must have a good relationship with the navy in the future. Get along."

Zhai Jin clasped fists with Niu Gao and said, "Yes, Liu Shuai, we understand."

After Li Xin returned home to rest for a day, he continued to test the artillery at the weapons testing ground. Yesterday he mainly tested the range of the artillery at various angles. Today is to test the power of the artillery. Li Xin had some old ship plates removed and placed At the test site, the distances were set to different ranges such as one hundred meters, one hundred and fifty meters..., four hundred meters, etc.

While testing the artillery, Li Xin taught his men how to aim and fire. Whether it was the navy or the infantry, they selected manpower very quickly. The orders just issued yesterday arrived today.

Li Xin and his men used these two cannons to bombard these old shipboards to test the penetrating power of the cannons. After repeated tests, they finally concluded that when the six-pounder gun uses a standard three-pound charge, it can reach four It can effectively penetrate six-inch-thick ordinary ship planks within meters. Even very hard wood can effectively penetrate four-inch-thick planks. The twelve-pounder cannon is more powerful than the six-pounder cannon, within four hundred meters. It can effectively penetrate eight inches of ordinary ship planks, and can penetrate six inches of harder wood. This kind of power is quite good. It can be said that the power is more than enough to deal with ordinary ships, even against the current Song Army naval warfare. Ships can also shoot holes in one shot, effectively penetrating their hulls and causing great damage to the opponent.

While testing, Li Xin also asked the craftsmen to perfect the current gun carriage according to the range of the artillery. They modified the gun carriage, calibrated the range, re-grooved the gun carriage, divided it into several gears, and installed it. When the amounts of ammunition are equal, the range can be adjusted by simply adjusting the gun body to the gear position and inserting the skids, simplifying the aiming steps, so that in actual combat the gunner can quickly adjust the muzzle elevation angle based on visual inspection and improve the accuracy of the gun. Rate of fire.

The entire land test lasted three days. As for the sea test, we had to wait for the new ship to come out before trying again. In the past three days, the two cannons fired hundreds of rounds. After such a high-intensity test, this There were no problems such as cracks or cracks on the two cannons. The cannon bodies were still strong and could continue to be used. This made Li Xin very satisfied. Then Li Xin gave each of the craftsmen in the steel workshop a certain amount of silver rewards according to their division of labor. .

When the new ships come out and are equipped with these two kinds of heavy artillery, Li Xin can start bombarding enemy ships when they are meters away from the enemy at sea. The opponent can't hit Li Xin's navy with those junks, and Li Xin But it can effectively kill the enemy, and Li Xin can even walk sideways on the sea in the future.

While Li Xin was in full swing testing cannons and training gunners, Zhao Yun was about to enter the Liao Kingdom. Liang Xing had been extremely excited since he received Li Xin's message. Finally, he had a helper.

Liang Xing immediately called Niu San: "Niu San, you take people to Cangzhou Tianxiang Tower. Our deputy commander is already on the way. You are here to bring deputy commander Zhao and the people he brought back safely. Don’t bring him to see me when he is brought back. Wait until night to bring Deputy Commander Zhao to see me. Don’t let others discover my relationship with Deputy Commander Zhao.”

Niu San cupped his fists and said, "Yes, Mr. Lang, I know."

Liang Xing is now considered a wealthy man. Shuixianju has spread throughout all the subordinate states of Xijing Datong Prefecture and Nanjing Xijin Prefecture, as well as Zhongjing Dading Prefecture and its subordinate Enzhou and Huizhou.