Soon, the old craftsman, Niu Dafu, led the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi Chen Jin and his group, surrounded by the brigade guards, to a corner southwest of Luorong County.
Niu Dafu pointed at a section of the city wall and walked:
"Sir, it's here! When the mountain torrent broke out, it rushed over from the west. There was a master among the thief chiefs who proposed to use a large ship and place several iron tools on the bow. Then, thousands of people pushed the large ship and hit the city wall along the mountain torrent, causing a gap to be broken..."
Chen Jin stroked his beard and said:
"This method of breaking the city is amazing!"
Niu Dafu nodded and said:
"Although it's wonderful, it's also done with the flow. At that time, the mountain torrent rushed from the west and the water flow was very fast. If it were a gentle water flow, the impact force would not be so large, and it might not be able to break the city wall. However, because of Hu Zhubu's corruption, this section of the city wall was not firm. It was not made up of glutinous rice juice and brown sugar. With more than 30 years of wind and rain, it was definitely not very reliable. Therefore, I thought that I could try to attack it with artillery, or open the gap."
“So great!”
So, according to the guidance of Old Man Niu, the Ming army mobilized 20 local cannons to bombard the city wall. Sure enough, they heard the difference...
If a shell hits a normal city wall, a relatively crisp sound will be made. However, the shell hits this section of the city wall, a muffled sound will be made. This muffled sound is somewhat similar to the sound of a weakened drum... Obviously, the city wall is indeed hollow...
So, the Ming army was even more vigorous when they bombarded. After all, the Ming Dynasty was not short of gunpowder. The ingredients of saltpeter, charcoal and sulfur were only slightly insufficient. After all, the Ming Dynasty did not produce natural sulfur, and it was often obtained by yalverns from pyrodite. Therefore, unlike in Europe, the Ming Dynasty was the most expensive, while saltpeter and charcoal were relatively cheap...
Of course, the so-called expensive sulfur is relatively relatively high. Compared with Europe, sulfur here is still cheap, only a few dozen cents per catty. Therefore, the cost of Daming gunpowder is low, so you don’t have to be stingy when using it. After all, ordinary people now set firecrackers made of gunpowder during holidays.
But after bombing, everyone was embarrassed to find that the local cannons produced by the Ming Dynasty seemed to be insufficient...
Why? First of all, the caliber of those earth guns is relatively small, similar to the Franco machine gun, or even a little smaller. In addition, the tube is shorter... In this way, the cannon will be released slowly and the impact force will be small...
More importantly, the artillery in the Ming Dynasty at this time was very much made of stone bullets. After all, using iron bullets was a bit extravagant. Moreover, these earth cannons were usually used to bombard enemy battle formations in front of the formation, and rarely used to bombard city walls.
Two days later, Mr. Niu brought Chen Jin to observe the results of the battle and found that it was not ideal. The city wall was bombarded by stone bombs, and it seemed to be loose, but it was just a little short of...
"It would be great if it was replaced with an iron bullet!" Niu Dafu shook his head and said.
"It's hard, iron ball shells are not without. However, it's difficult to make a suitable shell. After all, if it's not suitable for the cannon, the iron balls are difficult to polish, and the stone balls are easy to polish." said an old gunner.
At this time, Chen Jin's aide, Master Zhou, suddenly said:
"Dongweng, have you forgotten the Fran cannons sent by the ten ghosts?"
Chen Jin slapped his head suddenly and said:
"Yes, I almost forgot about them!" Chen Jin quickly ordered the Governor's personal barracks to drag 10 Franc cannons to the front of the formation...
Then, these 10 Fran machine cannons replaced the position of the short-barrel Ming earth cannon and began to bombard the city wall...
These 10 Franco cannons are equipped with iron bullets, a total of 500 rounds. The Franco cannon has a very fast firing rate, and it even took only ten minutes to shoot out the shells... Although the city wall was smashed to pieces by 500 iron balls, there were no shells...
So, the Ming army asked the sword and shield soldiers to hold the shield and went to collect iron balls and shells under the city wall...
However, there were usually moats around the city walls of the Ming Dynasty. Most of them fell into the moat. In the end, after paying some price, the Ming sabre and shield soldiers only recovered more than 90 shells - these were all hit on the city wall and bounced back on the ground... If you want to recycle more, you have to sneak into the moat and fish. But the rebels on the top of the city are not blind. If you dare to go into the river to fish, they will definitely kill you with stones or shoot arrows... So, they can only recycle so many...
"It's not enough to fight!" Chen Jin was suddenly a little depressed.
At this time, Li Sanshui, a hundred households who were mobilized from Guangzhou Avant-garde to help train artillery, suddenly stepped out and bowed:
"Sir, we can cast more shells!"
"Casting shells? How to cast them?" Chen Jin was a civil servant after all, and he didn't understand these things.
Li Sanshui waved his hand and asked his subordinates to take a sand box up, pointing at the sand box and saying:
"We can turn sand and cast iron bullets, very fast!"
After saying that, Li Sanshui briefly explained the process of using wet sand to turn sand to cast shells. This method was actually introduced to him by Kong Tai. Even this sand box was given by Kong Tai.
Niu Dafu raised questions at this time:
"Mr. Li, Lao I am a craftsman. Although he is mainly engaged in civil engineering, he has a little understanding of casting. If you cast iron bullets according to your method, the iron bullets will definitely be bumpy! After all, if wet sand poured into wet sand, water vapor will definitely rise, which will give the shells more space! Such shells are not real!"
Li Sanshui remembered what Kong Tai said, shook his head and said:
"Brother Niu, this is a bad statement. This kind of casting law enforcement will indeed make the shells open again. But so what? Iron bullets with gaps and iron bullets without gaps are all used to smash people and walls? As long as the size is right, the cannon can be used, so why bother with the gaps? "
Niu Dafu thought about it and it was really...
The craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty did not know how to turn sand casting, but they used wet sand casting, and the iron tools had many gaps, which were often not reliable. Therefore, whether it was casting cannons or casting iron ball shells, they later changed to using the clay mold method.
But the biggest disadvantage of the mud mold method is that the mud mold will take at least two or three months to dry. Moreover, if you use it once, the mud mold will be scrapped. Therefore, casting iron cannons and iron ball shells seems so troublesome. In addition, iron is more expensive, so the Ming cannons are mostly made of stone bullets. After all, stones are everywhere.
In fact, the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty also fell into a misunderstanding. Because the cannons withstand a certain amount of pressure, they naturally cannot have air holes, otherwise they will explode. However, the shells are not so expensive. Anyway, they are pushed out by gunpowder gas to smash people, so they don’t need to be so precise.
After all, the shell needs the impact of the kinetic energy brought by its mass, rather than the strength and durability. As long as the quality is similar, the effect of a flawless iron ball and an iron ball with equal mass full of gaps will be almost the same.
Moreover, if casting with wet sand, the speed is very fast. Just pour the iron through the injection port into the hollow part of the iron ball pressed out in the two halves of the sand box, and the shells will soon form. Although the wet sand is heated and steam will make a lot of honeycombs on the iron ball, so what? What should I do if I hit people and walls hit the iron balls?
Chapter completed!