If it is a field battle, Marin's 20,000 army, Lübeck and Hamburg's 10,000 army can completely defeat the Danes. However, it is certain that when you see so many enemy troops, the other party will definitely choose to retreat into the castle and defend it.
The last time I attacked Yevre Castle, a mere thick oak door, and so many Kohon mortars were bombarded for more than a day, which made Marin very dissatisfied. In fact, although Kohon mortars were loaded less and saved gunpowder, the impact of the shells was not sufficient, and they depended entirely on the impact of the weight. Therefore, Marin looked forward to a more powerful artillery.
For example, the famous "Red Barbarian Cannon", which is the 18-pound British Koufei Lin Chang cannon, was very powerful when bombarded the city wall. Although the shells were not as heavy as the Kohhorn mortar, the impact was definitely greater than the other party. Why? Because the charges were different...
The Kohhorn mortar, although the shell weighs 24 pounds, can charge up to 255 grams. Even if the purity of gunpowder is not high, it only uses 280 grams, which is more than half a pound.
The Red Cannon weighs 18 pounds, and the charge can be loaded at most 6 pounds of gunpowder according to the principle of 1 to 3. Therefore, although the caliber is not as large as the Kohon artillery, the speed of the cannon ejected from the bore is far higher than that of the Kohon artillery. The efficiency of bombarding the oak door with the Red Cannon artillery is definitely much higher than that of the Kohon artillery.
But the biggest problem is that the Red Cannon is too heavy, weighing 2 tons. Such a heavy cannon body, plus the cannon stand, is very heavy. Generally speaking, it is difficult for a horse to pull the cannon cart loaded with the Red Cannon. Even if it is pulled, it is a snail climbing and often needs to rest. Therefore, in ancient times, transporting Red Cannons on land not only required more than one horse to pull the cart, but also required a large number of civilians to be dispatched. Because when the cart was going up the slope, it was dragged two or three tons of heavy objects and could not go up the slope. More than a dozen civilians had to be sent to pull forward and push backward...
So, as long as you take the Red Barbarian cannons to fight, don’t want to march quickly...
Marin's military idea is to be fast, preferably blitzkrieg, which makes the opponent unable to react, similar to the German army's thoughts during World War II. However, because there is a lack of powerful siege tools, it is difficult to do it quickly. It is also possible to bypass the opponent's fortress, but it is easy to cut off the supply line by the enemy in the fortress, which is very dangerous.
Marin saw it through the last shelling of Yevre. Although the Kohon mortars are much more capable of siege than those three-pound guns and six-pound guns, it is just that. Even if a large number of Kohon mortars are equipped, it will take several days to deal with ordinary fortresses.
Therefore, Marin was particularly eager to obtain a heavy artillery that was convenient for transportation and was more powerful than that of the Kohon artillery to attack the city.
In theory, this idea should be a luxury, but Marin's luxury hope came true...
It turned out that Marin had arranged for the casting gun factory to develop Karen naval guns, requiring the length of the barrel to be shortened while the caliber remains unchanged to reduce the weight of the gun body. In this way, the shorter the gun body and the reloading of ammunition can be accelerated. The lower the weight, transportation and resetting will be easier.
Originally, Marin planned to ask the craftsmen to cast standard Karen naval guns with an outlet diameter of 32 pounds and a total weight of 771.8 kg. However, after working for so long, the craftsmen were still very conservative. Until now, they have only created a transition Karen naval gun with a total weight of 750 kg and a diameter of 18 pounds.
When Marin visited the gun factory, he was very dissatisfied with the development progress of Karen's naval gun. However, after seeing the development progress and data, he came up with a new idea...
"Caru (Casting Cannon Craftsman, Old John's apprentice, was originally your blacksmith in Texel Island). Do you think you have created a 750 kg-weight, 18-pound Karen Cannon?" Marin asked seriously.
Karu, the chief engineer of the Second Casting Factory, nodded affirmatively:
"Yes, Lord Earl, we have developed the 18-pound Karen gun with a total weight of 750 kg!"
Most of the craftsmen of the Second Casting Factory were serf craftsmen who had sent Marin to learn casting guns with Old John on Texel Island. Marin had taught them Rodmann-model cooling technology, but did not teach them the First Casting Factory of Old John. Therefore, the qualified rate of finished casting heavy artillery in the Second Casting Factory was much higher than that of the First Casting Factory. Moreover, Marin also believed more in the serf craftsmen of the Second Casting Factory.
However, these craftsmen were born into serfs, had no education and low IQ. Marin asked them to improve artillery and develop Karen cannons. Until now, they have only produced 18-pound Karen cannons, which is slow and is still a long way from the target's 32 pounds.
Even the 18-pound Karen naval gun has a wrong data. Because Marin, who has played the big navigation game, clearly remembers that the British standard 32-pound Karen naval gun should weigh 771.8 kg and a length of 1.219 meters...
However, the 18-pound Karen naval gun produced by the craftsmen of the Second Cast Cannon Factory actually weighed 750 kilograms, which shows that the technical level is still limited. You must know that the steel they used is all medium and low carbon steel, not cooked iron. Although the carbon content is not well controlled, whether it is medium and low carbon steel, the quality is much better than cooked iron, and it is more suitable for casting guns.
Marin also lost confidence in these serf-born artifacts craftsmen who were born in serfs. Fortunately, he had already implemented universal education and even the countryside promoted craftsmen schools in all aspects. Later, when the students in these craftsmen schools grew up, Marin planned to let them completely replace these serf-born artifacts who rely solely on experience and low-level education and become the main force in serf-born artifacts.
But no matter what, the 18-pound Karen naval gun...
"By the way, Karu, if these 18-pound Karen cannons are equipped with gun mounts and converted into infantry cannons, it should be fine, right?"
Marin suddenly had a big brainwave - since Karen cannon is not heavy, has a large caliber, and is very powerful, why can't it be converted into an infantry cannon to attack the city? At least, its power is much stronger than the Kohhorn cannon. After all, it is straight-line bombardment, easy aiming, and great kinetic energy...
After thinking about it, Karu replied:
"It should be no problem. Lord Earl, if you install a gun mount for the 18-pound Karen gun, the total weight will be more than 1 ton. If you use a carriage, you can only walk on a flat road, otherwise it will be difficult to transport. If you walk on a small road, you will not be able to move forward quickly. Unless you use two horses to pull a carriage, you can keep up with the army..."
"This is no problem. It's worth it if you just take it to the siege and waste some animal power..." Marin could imagine that using the Karen cannon infantry version to bombard the city gate is not only more powerful than the Kohhorn mortar, but also much easier to aim. Because the gunner can just aim directly through the Wangshan behind the barrel...
As for the transportation of artillery, it is a difficult problem. Because you cannot guarantee that the artillery carts will definitely walk on flat roads. If you encounter rugged roads or swamps, it is indeed difficult to transport heavy artillery.
Therefore, Marin specifically reminded that the wheels of the cannon stand should be made wider to disperse the pressure and prevent the cannon car from falling into the dirt road and not being able to pull it away.
As for the horses pulling the cart, Marin temporarily planned to use two horses to pull a infantry version of Karen cannon. Thinking of the problem of pulling the force, Marin suddenly remembered the strongman in the horse - the British Sharma.
The Sharma is the heaviest horse in the world. It is tall and has a shoulder height of more than 2 meters. Moreover, it is very strong. A single horse can pull 5 tons of beer. Of course, it is on modern flat roads. There are no flat asphalt roads and cement roads in this era. Therefore, its cargo capacity will be greatly reduced. But no matter what, for a "strongman" among horses like the Sharma, it is still fine to pull a cannon truck with a total weight of one or two tons for a single horse.
However, the Sharma breed seems to have not yet been finalized. Therefore, Marin needs to send people to the UK to carefully search for this tall breed. After finding this giant breed, Marin will order large-scale introductions and specially train them to become high-level horses responsible for heavy artillery to facilitate the marching of artillery troops.
Chapter completed!