Win the Ding 1617

Group after group of Huang Taiji's pro-army Gebush Xianchao Ha Zema rushed past, fat horses, these sturdy and savage soldiers were all armored and black tasseled, with strong bows and arrows on their backs.With long knives hanging from their waists and spears and halberds in their hands, all of them have a dignified military appearance and are full of majesty.The sound of their horseshoes hitting the ground made a rumbling sound.It's like a torrent is rolling in.

Gebush Xianchao Haying is the most elite and bravest fighter of the Liaodong rebels, and only two people are selected for each cattle record.It can be regarded as the apex of Huang Taiji's heart. Only he, the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, has the right to use this army.With the arrival of Gebush's Xianchao Ha camp, the coated Ahha and idlers on the bank of the Hun River and near the official road from Shenyang to the city have long been driven away. He dared not look up from the ground.

After teams of Gebush Xianchao Haying rushed over, finally, the guard of honor of the brigade appeared.This time he went out for a grand parade in the suburbs, and what he presented was a grand booklet of pomp and etiquette learned from the ceremony system of the Ming Dynasty.

Not counting Gebush Xianchao Ha warriors who were at the forefront, there were thousands of people in the ceremonial guard alone, accompanied by various vehicles and drums.Then finish the various five-color golden dragon flags, wind flags, rain flags, and place flags.There are countless round fans, yellow fans, square fans, peacock fans and so on.Then there are yellow covers, purple sesame covers, emerald green covers, and dragon crank yellow covers, which look like huge mushrooms.There are also golden chairs, golden vases, golden washbasins, golden spittoons and so on.After these things are gone, there will be mighty ministers with swords and guards with swords.

During the guard of honor, Huang Taiji's five-color canopy appeared.

It is two feet high and has a radius of nearly two feet. The purple canopy is embroidered with lotus, ganoderma, chrysanthemum and plum blossoms. There are countless silver wind chimes hanging from the canopy.Blown by the autumn wind, the melodious bells rang from time to time.

Under the canopy, Huang Taiji sat firmly on his beloved horse, squinting his eyes and wondering what he was thinking.Compared with several months in the spring, at this time, he is fatter again.

Under the brocade robe and cloak.A set of well-polished and maintained Nanban armor set off the majesty of this 200-jin chubby man without feeling clumsy or dull at all.

In March, Dorgon handed over all the looted population, weapons, and goods, and Zheng Zhihu and Shanxi merchants traded with them near Ningyuan City for a large amount of grain, allowing the Manchu Eight Banners to survive the spring famine smoothly. .Although the price of grain is still at 30 taels a stone, at the very least, compared to last year and the year before last, when you couldn’t buy grain at 50 taels a stone, or you could only buy grains mixed with countless sand, stone, rat droppings and bird droppings, it’s much stronger. .If you have silver, you can buy food, so that there will be no scenes of starvation everywhere in Liaodong.

After autumn, from the front line of Jinzhou and various places in Xuanda.Another Shanxi businessman helped transport hundreds of thousands of grains and rice, most of which were resold from military leaders from all over the country from their own military rations.

It is Hong Chengchou's responsibility to steal and sell military rations in various military towns. Huang Taiji just needs to buy food for Yin.

As long as there is enough silver, the officials of the Ming dynasty would dare to take out the ancestral tablet and sell it!This is the unanimous consensus of the Eight Banners.

There was enough food for the Eight Banners to survive the winter in the storeroom, so Huang Taiji thought about going to the arms workshop to see how his subordinates made firecrackers and how effective the firecrackers were.His next target was the more than [-] Ming army commanded by Ji Liao Governor Hong Chengchou, who claimed to have tens of thousands of firecrackers.How can one's own firearms not be sophisticated enough to fight against the Ming army?

In front of the armory workshop.An open space with a radius of no less than a thousand mu was carefully rammed in layers with clay mixed with lime and fine sand. Ma Guangyuan, Ding Qiming, Chen Banda, and Wang Tian were kneeling in neat clothes. Waiting for Huang Taiji's car to drive.Not far behind them, ten twelve-pound guns and two thousand firecrackers lined up neatly waiting for his inspection.

Seeing Huang Taiji riding on the Arabian horse captured and presented by Dorgon from a distance, Ma Guangyuan immediately led the crowd to shout long live, Huang Taiji asked them to get up, and ordered Chen Banda to lead, he wanted to see Looking at the scene of casting cannons and making guns, he said, "How about the casting of cannons and making guns?"

After several months, Chen Banda's mental improvement has changed a lot.The unkempt look of the past has a new look, and a piece of cotton is used as a watch.The gown made of black fox fur inside was cut to fit perfectly, and the shaved blue scalp made the whole person look very energetic.

Although Chen Banda is considered a genius in military production such as casting cannons and guns, he is much slower in terms of the way of being an official and the morals of the world.He didn't see the burning eyes of Ma Guangyuan and Ding Qiming at all, just took Huang Taiji's horse by the rein and explained to him all the way.

"Returning to the emperor, if there is enough iron, thirty imitation red-haired barbarian twelve-pound cannons can be cast within a year. The cannons are four thousand catties each, five catties of medicine and ten catties of iron are loaded on the cannon carts. It will definitely be able to destroy the strong city and strengthen the country's prestige, which is sharper than Tian Congnian's "God Bless the Great General"!"

"As for the making of firecrackers, although skilled craftsmen are scarce, and for many years, craftsmen have been fighting on their own, and are quite unfamiliar with the current method. However, I have urged many parties and offered a heavy reward. I think five years in the next year A thousand shots can be achieved."

After listening to Chen Banda's words, and seeing dozens of waterwheels spinning along the banks of the Hun River to push the stone mills, drilling for gun barrels day and night, Huang Taiji was quite satisfied.

However, as a king, one must have the prestige of unforeseen events in order to make the following servants do things with sincerity and fear.

He snorted and expressed some dissatisfaction, which made Ma Guangyuan and others who followed him secretly happy. "The 'God Bless the Great General' cannon cast during Tiancong's reign weighed five thousand catties, eight catties of medicine, and eight catties of iron. Compared with the cannons cast by you and others today, you have put some thought into it! However, I I heard, the same cannon, the same cannon, why is the cannon made by the Nanman lighter and lighter, which is most suitable for marching and attacking cities and villages?"

Huang Taiji's question can be considered to be to the point, quite expert.Artillery, in addition to its power, must also consider mobility. The magic cannon that is placed on the top of the city and claims to be able to destroy ten miles with one shot is not what he wants.What he wants is a cannon that can accompany the Eight Banners soldiers and horses marching like a storm. Whether it is a siege or a field battle, a highly mobile cannon is required.

"Returning to the emperor, the officials and others have been puzzled by this matter. The same Hongyi cannon, the cannon and the medicine are the same, but why the Nanman made it is much lighter than mine. I don't know what this generation used to cast the cannon. what material."

At this time, the casting of artillery all over the world is nothing more than these two materials.One is to use copper.The second is to use iron.Countries on the European continent are used to casting cannons with copper, while the English do so because of the lack of copper mines on the islands.Iron material had to be used to cast the cannon.

And China is also a country that lacks copper resources.Otherwise, there would be no such thing as copper coins.Copper is expensive, so cast iron cannons had to be used. In order to prevent the bore from blowing up, the cannon body needed to be thickened, which made the cannon body very heavy.Just like the Hongyi [-]-pound cannon at that time, the cannon weighed [-] jin, which was very heavy and difficult to handle.However, compared with some Hongyi pound guns used by the Ming army, some of them weighed three thousand catties, which is already a lot of progress.Although it is still not conducive to fighting with the army.

"According to the ministers and others who have consulted the princes and soldiers who conquered the Ming Kingdom in the south, it seems that the artillery used by the Southern Barbarians is made of so-called turned steel. There are still many such artillery in Jinzhou, which is confronted by the Qing soldiers. I intend to order people to spy on one or two, in order to get a glimpse of the secrets of casting cannons." Ma Guangyuan finally found a chance to speak behind Huang Taiji's horse's ass, and couldn't wait to attribute the credit to his own name. Down.

"The ministers and others also planned to buy some turning steel to cast cannons. For some reason, this material became extremely brittle after being smelted. I don't know how the Nanman cast it. And the price of turning steel is high and rare, so I intend to try casting it with wrought iron. "

The ten twelve-pound guns lined up in front of the proving ground were made of wrought iron.Although in the hearts of the people, wrought iron cannot be used for casting, but Chen Banda and others cleverly adopted the craft of forging.

The iron bar is melted and refined, and gradually rotated into a circle.The cannon made of wrought iron is much lighter than the cannon body made of pig iron, but how much iron can be saved is not what Chen Banda dared to test at this time, but.The cannons with thin barrels and wide bores in front of them look very cute with bursts of blue light shining on the barrels.This kind of wrought iron cannon has an extremely smooth bore, which makes the loading of the shells very fast.And there is no worry of bombing.The loaded shells can also be quite large.Unlike the artillery made of pig iron, there are many honeycomb bodies inside, which are difficult to grind, and the shells are released slowly.

He patted the sturdy gun mount, looked at the large vehicle used to pull the gun forward, and measured the caliber of the gun with his hands. Huang Taiji was very satisfied.Turning around, he asked Chen Banda and the others: "Such artillery can be used in common use? From my observation, the caliber of this type of artillery is relatively consistent. What method did you use to cast it?"

This time, Chen Banda did not steal Ding Qiming's limelight, and let the former deputy general of the Beijing camp of the Ming Dynasty, who was captured by Huang Taiji and others in the army, come out to play the right role.

"In the past, craftsmen workshops used the lost wax method to cast cannons. If the weather is hot, the wax is not easy to condense, which is often limited by the season. Chen Si's easy clay casting method, the cannon mud can be completely dry in April. Casting can be done by knocking out the mold mud, and it is not restricted by the weather."

Now it seems that the clay mold method is very primitive and backward, but it must be known that in Europe, from the tenth century to before the Opium Wars, the whole clay mold casting method or the lost wax method was used for artillery casting.Only after the Opium War and the emergence of machinery such as boring machines and lathes, the lathe cutting and casting method was adopted.Therefore, Gong Zhenlin's iron mold casting method, which many people admire, can be regarded as very advanced.

Huang Taiji knocked on the barrel of the cannon, and there were bursts of crisp sounds, but the sound was not made of wrought iron.If you look closely, you can see that the cannon body has two layers, inside and outside.The inner layer is made of wrought iron, but the outer layer is made of cast iron!

"Your Majesty is wise! These casting methods are exactly proposed by Chen Beiyu!"

The technique used by Chen Banda is exactly the double-layer casting method widely used in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The interior is made of wrought iron, which takes advantage of the low hardness but high toughness of wrought iron, and the exterior is cast iron. Cast iron has the advantages of high hardness but brittleness. After the combination of the two, it becomes a situation where the inside of the gun barrel is tough and the outside is rigid, which greatly improves the mechanical properties of the iron gun.Under the conditions of the same wall thickness and the same material, the barrel can withstand greater pressure.

In addition, it also greatly improves the utilization rate of the metal of the outer cylinder, and increases the limit of the elasticity of the barrel, which is of great benefit to the artillery charge and range.However, everything has advantages and disadvantages.That is, the cost is high and the technological process is complicated.

After hearing Chen Banda, Ma Guangyuan, Ding Qiming and others finished their narration, Huang Taiji didn't say much, but ordered them to test-fire the ten Hongyi [-]-pound guns that had been laid out.

Chen Banda cheered up and was about to order the craftsmen in charge of testing the artillery in the armory workshop to get ready.However, the gunners of Wu Zhenchao's camp followed Huang Taiji's order and finished their positions.Get ready to start shooting.Seeing this scene, Ma Guangyuan, Ding Qiming and the others couldn't help feeling the same hatred again. Although they couldn't get used to Chen Banda who jumped up overnight, this guy was somewhat ignorant of the world. , in addition to casting artillery to make firecrackers.It seems that the IQ of other things is very low, and it is not enough to think about it.But Kong Youde of Wuzhenchao Haying was different.

Fortunately, these cannons were carefully cast by Chen Banda and others, and they were tested after filling the gunpowder chambers with gunpowder before. After the gunpowder explosion test, there was no damage to the cannon body or the muzzle burst. "If Kong Youde is not good at shooting, it has nothing to do with me and the casters! It can only be said that your skills are not good!"

The gunners stuffed a shell weighing ten catties into the barrel, and the gunner measured hundreds of straw man targets lined up in the distance with a square meter, estimated the distance slightly, and asked the gunners to pound the shell into the firing position. Then insert the fuse through the fuse.He checked the elevation angle of the muzzle again, and aimed the artillery at the imaginary Ming army formation.

"fire!"

Kong Youde, who was named the King of Zhongshun after defecting from Dengzhou, waved the command flag himself, and gave firing orders to the veteran gunners he brought out from Dengzhou.The gunners waved the torches in their hands and ignited the fuze, only to hear a "boom", and the entire artillery body was pushed back quickly by the huge recoil.

If it is normal, the recoil force should at least push the cannons that are simply placed on the wheeled gun mounts and have no gun emplacements backward by at least ten feet.However, Huang Taiji was pleasantly surprised to find that the cannon only receded backward, pressing a certain metal device on the gun mount until it creaked and couldn't stop "shen yin", but it never retreated that much.

The artillery shells quickly fell on the hundreds of straw figures in people's field of vision, knocking those straw figures to one side and setting them on fire.

The gunners of each gun quickly pushed the artillery back to its original position, regardless of the novelty of this scene.A gunner dipped a wool ramrod in water and used it to clear the bore to ensure that there were no sparks in the bore.The gunner ordered a gunner to block the fire door of the artillery with his thumb to prevent the explosion of the gunpowder caused by the burning particles left over from the previous shooting.

Twenty shells in two rounds razed the Ming army formation composed of hundreds of straw figures to the ground.In the eyes of everyone.Only bursts of green smoke and occasional flames stirred up by the autumn wind remained.

"it is good!"

The officials of the Qing army who lined up to watch according to their respective ranks on the bronze-cast mountain gave out cheers like a thunderstorm.If this kind of artillery fire was used to bombard the Ming army in a field battle, the Ming army would have already collapsed. Let alone hundreds, even thousands of people would run away and even lose their shoes.

"Chen Banda, what is this?" Duoduo rushed forward, touched the slightly hot muzzle, and pointed curiously at the metal device connected to the gun mount at the end of the gun barrel.

"Prince Huiyu, this thing is called a spring." Chen Banda saluted Duoduo respectfully.

"Spring? What's the use of this thing?"

"Speaking of this thing, I should thank the prince a lot!"

In the process of imitating the flintlock, after using the original spectroscopic method to test the size standard of the manufactured firearm parts, the problem that caused Chen Banda and others a headache was the problem of the spring.

Therefore, in addition to ordering the craftsmen to research and develop day and night, Ma Guangyuan and others even mobilized their personal connections to find dozens of Ming army officers and soldiers captured this time from the two white flags and Jierhalang's inlaid blue flag. .

On the one hand, it is sweet words and thick coins, and on the other hand, it is torture with a whip.These former Ming army officers and soldiers who had been in contact with the firearms of the Nanyue Army or dealt with the Nanyue Army searched their brains and contributed one by one the fragments of knowledge in their memory about the various firearms of the Nanyue Army equipped by the Ming Army.

"It turns out that the southern barbarian army's artillery fire is sharp, and this thing called a spring is also a meritorious minister!"

Although he knew the great effect of the spring on the gun, Ma Guangyuan was helpless.For a while, I can only keep trying to figure out imitation.

Without turning steel, Chen Banda and others could only use brass and wrought iron for trial production.The drawn copper wire is used to make the spring used on the firecracker, and the wrought iron bar is used to make the shock-absorbing spring of the artillery.

Although we have gradually found out whether it is copper wire or iron bar, just burn it in red and soften it, and then coil it evenly around the stone pillar and wind it into a circle to get a decent spring, but this strength is what we are familiar with. A term in the field: how much the coefficient of elasticity should be controlled is a difficult problem.

However, compared with the Ming army, the Qing army's investment in military industry can be said to be regardless of capital.What's more, Chen Banda and others are only continuing to conduct small-scale experiments, and the consumption is not a lot.

"I have been thinking hard for several months, day and night, and finally made a useful spring for making guns. I don't forget the well diggers when I drink water. These slaves were captured by the prince when he entered the pass. Wouldn't it be better for you to wait?" Would you like to thank the lord?"

Looking at Ma Guangyuan's smug face, Duoduo wished he could whip up his horsewhip to greet his stinky face, but with Huang Taiji at the side, he didn't dare to do anything wrong.

"In the future, when you enter the customs and arrest the Han barbarians, you must ask the king clearly. What does he do? He can do anything! Anyone who can make cannons, gunsmiths, or any kind of craftsman is not allowed to give to me. Let the king go!" That night, in Prince Yu's mansion, dozens of Niu Luzhangjing knelt in the magnificent hall, their bodies covered with whip marks.

After watching ten twelve-pound guns fire two rounds, Huang Taiji was quite satisfied with the earth-shattering salvo.

"Prince Rui, you told me that day that the tactics of the Southern Barbarians were nothing more than bombardment, and then the firecrackers stepped forward and fired in volley?"

"Returning to the emperor, when the slaves fought against the Nanman army, the Nanman army was like this. After two rounds of volley fire from the whole army, our army was slightly confused, and they stabbed like a forest."

Dorgon was not as sharp-edged as his younger brother Duoduo, who showed all emotions on his face, but he bent down to play back to Huang Taiji very respectfully.

"Your Majesty, I made a decree that day, ordering you to perform soldiers according to the Southern Barbarian warfare described by Prince Rui, and you will demonstrate it to me and the banner lords today!"

Kong Youde's [-] blunderbuss soldiers had already lined up. Many of these people were his old acquaintances in the Ming army in Liaodong or people who had a good relationship with him.The costumes of these people are no different from those of Manchurian and Mongolian banners, except that they are holding firecrackers, sabers hanging from their waists, and they are wearing armor without iron wool.

The gunpowder in his hand is a flintlock that has been carefully made by the military workshop in recent months. Although the gunpowder used is not produced by Nansuo with copper oxide added, it is also carefully manufactured granular gunpowder.

The caliber of the firecrackers is basically the same, fifty steps can break through iron armor, and a hundred steps can also be very lethal to unarmored soldiers.

ps: The Qing army also began to develop its own military industry on a large scale and organize professional firearms troops. What impact will this have on the power balance between the Ming and Qing Dynasties and the pig's feet in the future?