Traveler Major League

Chapter 74 Firearms

Now that the trade route is cut off, since the flintlock can't be launched in large quantities at once, we can only use our brains to improve the corners and corners.

"Your gunpowder is not very good either!" Liu Ze sighed after watching Sun Mo's gunpowder configuration process, because in his impression, Qi's army's black powder was already perfect, but the reality told him that this kind of technology The promotion has a long way to go.

Although the Ming Dynasty had gunpowder granulation and a relatively mature formula, the proportion formula of black gunpowder is not so simple.

There is no problem with the proportions learned in elementary school textbooks that everyone knows in modern times, but it would be a problem in ancient times.Because the purity of the raw materials cannot reach the modern level, the resulting problem is that it cannot be fully burned and its power is limited.

So what Liu Ze wants to say to this black powder insider is not the driving skills, but the art of driving.

There are still a lot of small doorways and tricks related to the principle. Once used well, the specific power of gunpowder can be significantly improved.

For example, the charcoal mentioned here is the product of dry distillation of wood in a closed container, rather than directly using coal or simple carbon.

If you substitute pure graphite for charcoal, what you make will not work at all.

The quality of the charcoal used to make black powder must be strictly controlled. It must be easy to ignite, burn quickly, have low hygroscopicity, and low ash content. In addition, it must ensure that the charcoal is uniform in composition and properties, and has sufficient calorific value.Wood tar residues and soot particles, visible soil, sand and other impurities, carbon blocks with excessive carbonization and insufficient carbonization, knots with a diameter of more than 15 mm and impurities, and broken carbon with a diameter of 1 cm through the sieve are not allowed.

Therefore, it is very important to choose raw materials for making charcoal. Trees can be divided into two categories: coniferous trees and broad-leaved trees according to the shape of their leaves.Most coniferous trees have higher resin and sacrificial content than broad-leaved trees, and the charcoal produced has a high ignition point and unstable combustion performance. Therefore, the charcoal used in the manufacture of black powder is generally not selected for burning coniferous wood with high resin.

The composition of trees contains cellulose, lignin, water and other substances (resins, starches, sugars, proteins, inorganic salts, etc.) in small amounts.

The epidermis and inner bark of trees contain more resin and inorganic salts, and the outer bark often contains impurities such as soil sand particles.If wood with a skin is used to burn charcoal, it will cause many disadvantages such as uneven carbonization, poor properties, high hygroscopicity, and high scarring point.

Therefore, the wood used for burning charcoal should generally have the epidermis and inner skin removed, and it is best to dry naturally in the open air for a long period of time.After natural volatilization and rainwater washing, the organic and inorganic salts in the wood can be reduced, and the moisture contained in the wood can be kept at a certain level, but attention should be paid to prevent decay.

It is best to use only the xylem (sapwood and heartwood) of the wood for firing black powder charcoal.Xylem is mainly composed of lignin and cellulose, which contains only a small amount of resin and other substances.It is worth noting that the sapwood of the xylem is easy to be bitten by insects, and the heartwood is easy to rot, so strict inspection must be carried out when selecting and processing.

In addition to the influence of resin on the quality of charcoal, the density of fiber structure also has an impact on the properties of charcoal.Generally speaking, under the same carbonization conditions, the wood with a loose fiber structure is soft, and the charcoal fired has a small specific gravity, low hardness, low ignition point, and fast burning speed; while the wood with a dense fiber structure is hard, the charcoal fired High-quality charcoal has a large specificity, high hardness, high ignition point, and slow burning speed.

Charcoal fired from rotten, insect-eaten, and moldy wood has a low ignition point and is highly prone to spontaneous combustion in the air.So don't burn charcoal with these bad woods.In order to prevent these deterioration phenomena of wood, the processed wood should be stored in a dry and ventilated workshop or shed, and at the same time, attention should be paid to prevent impurities such as soil and sand from mixing.

Therefore, the wood is usually made of broad-leaved trees such as poplar, alder, vinegar willow, and willow. Among these woods, young (short-growing) trees should be used as much as possible, and the trunk diameter is best between 60300 and [-] mm. Short trees have less resin and ash content.

It is best to cut down the trees during the germination season. The trees have more sap, rich water and less salt, and the cut trees are easy to peel off the skin, which is convenient for processing; the wood with the skin peeled off is best in the open " Put it for more than half a year, let it dry naturally, evaporate a large amount of water and low-molecular volatiles, and make the pulp solidify and strengthen the fiber, so as to facilitate the carbonization of wood.

But this is only theoretical. The actual black powder reacts extremely complicated due to the purity of the material.

It is also possible to observe other reactions, so there are subtle differences in the ratio according to the purity of the ingredients.

This requires detailed experiments for each batch of raw materials, and the only certainty is that the ratio is not much different from the modern industrial standard.

But before industrialization, there was no precise optimal ratio, because both nitrate and carbon are prone to impurities, and the formula is not widely applicable.

The only thing that is the same is the same principle.

The improvement of the gun mount mainly follows one point, which is to reduce the weight as much as possible without affecting the performance, remove all inapplicable decorations, and use the simplest design to connect the gun mount, tractor and ammunition vehicle together. Transported by mules.

Each gun is equipped with a shoulder rope, which is a rope used for dragging, which can be wrapped around the soldier's shoulder strap, so that the gun can be dragged to a suitable position relatively easily.

The use of mechanical levers makes it easier to adjust the elevation angle, and the screw-adjustable height lifter makes aiming control faster and more precise.

On the march, the split breeches were fastened together with ammunition boxes mounted on them.

During combat, the ammunition box will be placed on the front vehicle for easy access.

Use a longer rope to connect the gun mount to the front vehicle.When it is urgent to move the cannon, just drag the front car to make the cannon move with it, and there is no need to set the cannon back to the front car before moving.

Change the material of the axle to stronger iron instead of wood which is more deformable.The wheel size has been increased while the structure has been made stronger.The harness has wooden holes instead of only leather and ropes as before, so it is stronger and easier to handle.

The mule and horse team was changed to a team of two horses, which can greatly reduce the length of the queue of artillery and baggage units during the march.

Another extremely important point is the unification of weights and measures, and the principle of regularizing the dimensions of all components.The purpose is to make any part of the gun mount, tractor and ammunition vehicle interchangeable.

Of course, there is also the most important shelling technique. Liu Ze doesn't know the details of the current Ming Dynasty's popular square measure and gun gauge. He only knows that the so-called gun gauge can be used to measure the elevation angle of the gun barrel. Gunners can use the gun gauge to measure the height of the artillery. Range and measure the amount of powder the gun should be charged with.

However, although the gun gauge can be used to measure the elevation angle of the gun barrel, it must be measured at the muzzle of the gun at the risk of bullets during operation. Therefore, a gun measuring quadrant that can be used at the end of the gun barrel was improved and invented later.

Gunners believe that the required gunpowder should have an ideal value. The most appropriate situation is to push the shell to the nozzle at the moment when the gunpowder is completely burned. This is the basic principle.

Liu Ze spent an afternoon discussing various equipment issues with Sun Mo and Wei Jiahui, the two heads of the equipment department who had just taken office. Seeing that they still didn't understand, Liu Ze simply lived in the Acropolis. Organize training and discuss plans with technical personnel.

All craftsmen inside and outside the city were recruited into the army, and some young people in the team were sent to form the firearms department, swords and guns department, armor and clothing department, vehicle vehicle department, and miscellaneous miscellaneous departments under the Equipment Department.

Improve various rules, and carry out literacy campaigns and mass meeting propaganda work for all people like the army.

After a few days of busy work day and night, when I was teaching my subordinates in the classroom in the afternoon, a scout sent out before suddenly came back to report.

The second brother will arrive in a day!
(End of this chapter)