Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 148

The first battle between land and sea came to an end, and more people were eager to see the power of the traverser's first self-made firearm in this time and space.

Lin Shenhe acted as an artillery instructor for the time being, and first demonstrated the entire firing process of the smoothbore gun.Smoothbore guns had formed a set of relatively standardized firing procedures in Europe in the 17th century, and there were many different special equipment. In addition to ammunition, the most important thing on the gun carriage was the loading tool.It can be said that this gun cannot be fired without a loading tool.In the battle, after the infantry and cavalry attack the artillery position and occupy the position, if the time is too short to drag or destroy the cannon, they will try to destroy the loading tool.Similarly, if artillerymen need to abandon their guns and flee for their lives, the first thing to do is to take away the loading tools. This is to prevent the enemy from using these artillery to attack us immediately. Second, if the position can be regained, they can fire immediately with the loading tools.

"What the hell is this?" Ying Yu said with emotion as he looked back and forth with these long and short wooden poles.He is a retired 130mm cannon artillery soldier, and now he wants a young man who has never been a soldier to teach him how to shoot a cannon.

The size and shape of this set of filling tools were drawn by Lin Shenhe one by one, and then jointly manufactured by the wood factory and the machinery factory: the first one is a cannon brush, the top of the wooden pole is wrapped with wool, and it is used to extinguish the remaining gunpowder after dipping in water. On Mars, the artillery team searched the database for a long time and there was no wool inventory record. First, it replaced it with kapok. The second is a ** brush, which is similar to the previous one. It is used to dry the moisture left by the previous steps; The wooden rod of the vortex-shaped spiral iron hook is used to remove the paper or fiber that may remain in the gun bore-the charge of the European artillery at that time had already adopted quantitative charges, and the gun used paper or flanges according to the amount. Wrapped in velvet; the one with the swollen head is the loading rod, which is used to stuff the gun and projectiles tightly.Finally, there is an ignition rod. The original version is more complicated. Lin Shenhe simplified it and replaced it with a captured short spear wrapped around a matchlock.

"Let's start the test shooting now." After several simulated dumb shots, Lin Shenhe saw that everyone had basically mastered the whole shooting process.Decided to start the real shooting.

For test shooting, the easiest thing is to shoot directly at the sea. However, there are no reference objects such as reefs or small islands on the sea outside Bopu, and it is impossible to measure the actual distance of the shells. The final shooting range is a wasteland in the port area. , near Lingaojiao.

Targets were set up on the shooting range, and twelve small mounds like tombs were piled up with soil, divided into three groups, with distances ranging from 400 meters, 800 meters to 1200 meters.In addition, a benchmark was erected 1500 meters away.

"Report, how to aim?" Ying Yu has already entered the role of artillery.He suddenly realized that his artillery knowledge was completely useless in front of this gun. He didn't know how to use the sight on the barrel or how to measure the angle.

"Use this." Lin Shenhe unloaded a small suitcase from the front car. This box is completely different from the bare wooden box produced by Bopu Wood Processing Factory. It is an old and well-made product at first glance.

"This is a real 18th-century artillery measuring kit that I brought from America."

"This is a cow?" The artillerymen squeezed their heads over, wanting to see this 19th-century antique.

There is something similar to a protractor inside. It is a measuring tool nailed to a right angle with two copper rulers, one long and one short. There is a 1/4 arc ruler connected between the two feet, and the scale is engraved on it.Lin Shenhe introduced that this is called the gun gauge, and the purpose of the gun gauge is to measure the elevation angle of the artillery.

He demonstrated to everyone how to use it, inserting the long handle into the muzzle, and reading the elevation angle of the barrel on the arc through the vertical line.

"What's the use of this angle?" Lin Shenhe said, "Actually, it needs to cooperate with the shooting table." He showed everyone a form engraved on the inside of the box cover, all in English, with many numbers.

"This is the shooting table. The so-called shooting table is the specific shooting data obtained by the factory through the target shooting test before the artillery leaves the factory. For example, when using a solid bullet, charging 1 pound, and rising 5 degrees, how far can the shell shoot. This Not only solid bullets, but also grenade, shrapnel and incendiary bullets are listed on the table."

"Modern artillery also has it." Ying Yu recalled the shooting meter on the 130 cannon he had operated.

"That's right, that's how the concept of firing gauges on modern artillery came about. However, the Yankee who was shooting cannons with me said that this thing originated very early and appeared in the 16th century."

The word "fuck" puts an obscene grin on someone's face.

"With the shooting meter, as long as the gunners can estimate the distance, they will know what angle to adjust the artillery to." Lin Shenhe picked up another copper square plate with a wire.

"This is the gauge, the artillery rangefinder at that time." He introduced the principle and usage of the distance measurement.This is a simple mathematical tool that uses the principle of similar triangles to calculate distances. Of course, it is not worth mentioning to traversers who have received a complete modern education.

"However, does this thing make any sense?" Zhang Bolin asked suspiciously, "We all have telescopes, so we can roughly measure the distance with them, right? There are also special instruments."

"If you want to build an indigenous artillery unit, this is just right for them. It is easy to make and not too difficult to use. It doesn't hurt to lose it."

"This is a gun ruler. It is actually a special scale, which is used to measure the amount of gunpowder." Lin Shenhe took out another copper ruler.

As the propellant of artillery, Western gunners believe that the most ideal charge value is that when the gunpowder is completely burned, the shell just shoots out of the muzzle. If it is too early, the gunpowder will be wasted; The friction of the shell will reduce the initial velocity of the shell when it exits the chamber.

This ideal value is of course difficult to achieve, but gunsmiths have been testing the best ammunition ratio through experiments. Since the 16th century, European gunsmiths have attached gun rulers to each batch of guns shipped out of the factory.For the gunners to calculate the charge when using different ammunition.

With the gun ruler, the gunner can roughly calculate the approximate charge of projectiles of different weights through simple calculations.Not only can it save gunpowder, enhance the safety of artillery shooting, but it is also of great benefit to the accurate calibration of the firing range.This technology was introduced into China by Western missionaries in the 17th century.Although China claims to be the first to invent firearms, there is basically no research on gunnery. The concept of ammunition ratio is rather vague.Therefore, as soon as the gun ruler was introduced, it was quickly regarded as a "secret method", so that many books on gunpowder weapons published at that time either did not mention this thing at all, or mentioned it briefly.

China invented gunpowder and cannon, but not artillery.This weird contrast makes everyone a little bit uncomfortable.

"Start shooting."

Because there is no shooting meter available, the traverser starts shooting from 0 degrees of the barrel.

The first trial was the cannon made by traditional cast iron technology.Several people moved the gun mount, and aimed at a mound 400 meters away with the crude front sight on the barrel.

"This accuracy—" Ying Yu felt a bit like an adult playing games with children in kindergarten.

The smoothbore gun shooting is divided into 11 steps. Because it is a cold shot, the first and second steps are omitted. The gunpowder is a fine-grained gunpowder processed by the chemical industry group with captured black gunpowder, wrapped in rough paper , 250 grams per pack.

"Pack two packs?"

"Okay, two packs."

The 6-pound iron round bullet rolled in from the muzzle, and there was no hindrance to the sound.The gap was well grasped. Zhang Bolin carefully pressed the ammunition firmly with the loading rod-this is considered a technical job, and it should not be pressed too tightly, otherwise it will cause smoldering and will not explode.

Lin Shenhe then used a long iron awl to penetrate through the ignition hole, broke the powder pack, and then filled the ignition hole with powder.

"Ready to shoot!" As he shouted, the people next to him hurriedly raised the red flag.The reminder is about to fire.

"Fire!"

"Foreign slave!" Someone in the navy commented.

Following Lin Shenhe's roar, Ying Yu, who was in charge of firing the fire, blew on the matchlock wrapped around the short iron gun, and brought it to the fire port—his heart was beating so hard that the recruits back then didn't even shoot with live ammunition for the first time when they came out of the army so nervous.

The black flame on the igniter snorted, and the igniter spewed out sparks half a foot long like fireworks, hissing loudly.In an instant, the cannon moved back fiercely, emitting thick white smoke and flames, and accompanied by the roaring sound of the cannon, a black shell flew out.

"Banzai!" the navy cheered.

"Traitor! Absolute traitor." Zhang Bolin muttered.

The iron bullet flew out 400 meters away dragging the blue smoke, and hit the ground firmly, the soil mixed with the embers of the gunpowder splashed together.

"It's so fierce." Zhang Bolin's face was ashen.The artilleryist apparently never actually saw a cannon fired.The violent explosion, the vibration of the backseat of the cannon, and the spicy smell of gunpowder make people feel the power of this thing.Compared with the feeling of trying to release various miscellaneous artillery and large firecrackers in the past, it feels completely different.

The cannon moved back a few meters, but the barrel and frame were intact.Lin Shenhe ignored the heat of the artillery and the choking smell of gunpowder smoke, and carefully inspected the barrel.

"How?" Ji Wusheng was a little worried, after all, it was the first time in his life to cast a cannon.

"everything is normal."

"Don't be careless, let's see if there are any cracks or something—" Zhan Wuya reminded that the cast iron cannon is no better than the cannon from the modern arsenal, "By the way, I still have a flaw detector, do you want to take it back and have a look? "

"It's unnecessary." Lin Shenhe thought it was too extravagant, "The flaw detector should be used when casting steel cannons in the future."

Ying Yu also ran over, his face covered in black smoke from the gunpowder: "Is the cannon okay?"

"It's fine, it's solid."

"Come on, let's go and see the situation of the shells together."

(End of this chapter)