Despite this, the conception of new chariots in the Ming Dynasty was not a retro regression. The opponents of the Ming Dynasty were mostly nomadic cavalry that came and went like the wind. The cannons at that time were very bulky, and the muskets needed to be filled with gunpowder, and the efficiency was also very low. Combining firearms with chariots was indeed a good idea. Of course, overall, they all started from the perspective of defense.

What Xu Xingxia needed was also a defensive chariot for the time being. He wanted to build several offensive chariots, and with a command, he swept across the desert and destroyed all the Tatars. Unfortunately, this idea was unrealistic at all. The use of chariots required the cooperation of muskets, artillery and a large number of cavalry. If he attacked alone, there was only tragedy.

In fact, the attempts of these predecessors are very effective. At least, he now has ready-made drawings that can be directly copied based on the drawings. For example, a side van is a simple chariot. It is entirely possible to make some improved designs based on the side van and then equip a chariot battalion.

Why does it mean that so many chariots designed by the army are not very practical? The main reason is that the firearms at that time were indeed unable to effectively block the assaults of nomadic cavalry. The smoothbore rifle commonly used by the Ming army was only about fifty meters in range, which was not as good as the bows and arrows of nomadic cavalry. At such a short distance, the nomadic cavalry could reach the front of the chariot with one charge. Once the two sides fought close, the chariot would lose its function.

However, after the rifled rifle is completely different. Compared with the smoothbore rifle, the rifled rifle is a historic great progress. The ultra-long range and powerful lethality of the rifle can kill the cavalry of the nomadic peoples at a distance of two or three hundred meters. This is a great progress for the lethality of the chariot. Under the cover of the cavalry, the torrent of the chariot is rolling forward, almost invincible.

The first ten side vans produced were combined by Xu Xingxia for preliminary experiments. The appearance of these side vans was quite simple, and the surface of the wooden boards was not smooth. Some of the wooden boards had not even been completely washed out. This was the result of rushing work. The production tasks undertaken by the craftsman workshop were too heavy, and there were many newbies, and some unnecessary details were automatically ignored. Fortunately, the rough appearance would not affect the performance of the side van. From the perspective of practicality, it was quite good.

The key to the technical key of the side van is the wheels and axles. In the era without rubber, the side vans used wide wooden wheels. Xu Xingxia calculated that the surface width of the wheel was ten centimeters, which was larger than a palm. Such a width is conducive to the smooth driving of the side van. Even if it encounters softer soil, it will not sink into it immediately. However, due to the lack of rubber, the surface of the wooden wheel is hard, and bumps are inevitable when walking. This kind of bump is torture to the human body, but to the car body.

In order to strengthen the load-bearing capacity of the side van, the side van uses an iron rod as the axle. The advantage of this is that the side van is stronger and will not be easily crushed by heavy objects. The thick iron rod is tougher than the wooden rod. The disadvantage is that the iron rod wears a lot of wear on the wheel axle. You must know that in that era, there was no lubricating oil or balls. After using it for a long time, the wheel will definitely be worn by the iron rod. Judging from the test results, it is not optimistic. Basically, if you walk about a hundred miles, the wheel will be scrapped.

In response to such technical problems, Xu Xingxia habitually offered a magic weapon that would be brave under heavy rewards. He summoned a group of carpenters and announced in a high-profile manner that whoever could solve the wear problem of axle would receive a reward of 300 taels of silver. As a result, a large number of craftsmen actively discussed and studied. Although there was no substantial breakthrough and some small techniques could not fundamentally solve the problem, as time went by, someone would definitely solve this problem.

There is no technical problem, and the rest is tactical problem. The Ming army's troops have actually quite a few vans equipped with. However, there are not many vans with real combat experience. Therefore, how to fully utilize the power of vans is a question worthy of serious discussion.

Xu Xingxia's initial meaning was to simply form a circle fortress to resist the attack of the Tartar cavalry. However, as the experiment continued and the accumulation of experience continued, he suddenly found that the side van was actually quite good when attacking. Especially when the two armies were in a match, the proportion of side vans was easier to use.

If the shape of the side van can be turned into a square shape, and there are movable baffles in each direction, and there are shooting holes on the baffles. Then, you only need to arrange a few people to push the carts in the back, and five soldiers in front are constantly firing, and you can directly hit the enemy's queue. With the power of the Sun and Moon Gun, no one can stop it. When siegeing the city, it will definitely be very useful.

What? It is used to deal with nomadic cavalry, which is useless? Maybe it is not useful at all? That is short-sighted! To be honest, Xu Xingxia didn't think that the Tatars had any major threat! As long as the Ming army became stronger, the Tatars would shrink to the side. As long as the results of the looting south were not as good as the price they paid, the Tatars would be too lazy to go south. The real enemy of the Ming army was the Ottoman Empire in the West!

When the Ming Dynasty was at its weakest, the strength of the Ottoman Turkish Empire in the West became stronger and stronger. Moreover, decades later, its national strength would reach its peak. If the two major powers of the East and the West collided with each other, it would be a battle of tens of thousands of troops, or even hundreds of thousands of troops. On such a battlefield, the assault ability of the chariot battalions was crucial. By the way, the musketeers of the Ottoman Empire were also quite sharp!

As for the Tartars in Liaodong... do you need to pay attention to them? As long as the Ming court itself is not so corrupt and degenerate, the Tartars of the Later Jin Dynasty would not have any chance. In fact, it was caused by too much luck in the Great Jin Dynasty. Xu Xingxia was confident that if he had his own time travel, the Tartars of the Later Jin Dynasty would definitely not have the opportunity to rise.
Chapter completed!