Chapter 67 Test Gun
As for the operation of this kind of front-loaded artillery, most of us have seen it in various film and television works, but when it comes to actual operation, we can't pick out a few experienced people. There are more than 80 people in the entire military and police department, including veterans of the Navy and Air Force, but there is not a serious person who has served in the artillery force. Even the three people from the North American Gang who claim to have practical experience have only had two or three shooting experiences in National Gun Association activities.
However, this is not a problem for those who are well prepared. Someone has already looked up the standard operating procedures for front-loaded artillery in the 17th century from a large database. Now they just follow the instructions and follow the steps step by step.
Even so, the large number of long and short wooden poles sent from the wood workshop still made the people present feel a little dizzy. These wooden poles are all artillery loading tools that the carpentry workshop rushed out overnight in accordance with the requirements of the Military and Police Department. There are brushes dipped in water to extinguish sparks in the barrel, brushes to wipe the water out of the barrel, hooks to remove the remaining powder packets from the barrel, a loading rod to fill the gunpowder and shells, and a long rod for ignition. Functions vary.
The four gunners first divided their tasks, and then simulated the drill several times according to the operating procedures to ensure that everyone clearly remembered the work they were responsible for before they began to prepare for the official test firing. Other onlookers first went down to the bomb shelter trench, with only the upper part of their shoulders exposed to watch them operate.
"First shoot at a zero-degree angle. Only after determining the flat firing range can you adjust the angle." As the commander, Wang Tom was actually not sure, but fortunately he knew how to test the new smoothbore cannon.
"The shooting angle is zero degrees!" Yan Chujie announced loudly. The recorders standing in the trenches immediately took notes, and the shooting data would later be used to tally hit rates and calculate fire tables.
"Two packs of charges!" Yan Chujie continued to inform the shooting parameters loudly. This charge was jointly calculated by the Ministry of Metallurgy and the Ministry of Chemical Industry, and is the optimal charge on paper. But the actual effect has yet to be proven by test firing.
"Load!"
A spherical cast-iron shell was inserted through the muzzle, and Morgan inserted a loading rod into the barrel to compact the shell and powder charge.
"Ready to shoot!"
Wang Tom inserted an iron awl through the ignition port to pierce the powder bag, then filled the ignition port with gunpowder and installed the match rope.
"Shoot!"
Qiao Zhiya, who was in charge of igniting the ignition, put the ignition pole's flame onto the match rope at the ignition port. The ignition port quickly spurted a stream of sparks upwards, and then heard a loud bang, and thick white smoke and flames spewed out from the muzzle. The gun body and the gun mount suddenly retreated, slowly stopped under the influence of the small slope behind the gun emplacement, and then slid back a short distance.
The smoothbore cannon ejected very quickly. Everyone saw a black shadow falling to the ground hundreds of meters away. Then it bounced several times and flew forward for dozens of meters before hitting the target. The mound stopped.
"What a loud noise!" Some of the unprepared travelers complained with their buzzing ears.
Tao Donglai had jumped out of the trench and used a telescope to check the landing status of the artillery shell: "It hit a mound 400 meters away and stopped. It seems that the effective range from this angle is within 400 meters."
After one shot, the technicians conducted another flaw detection test on the gun to ensure that there were no hidden dangers such as internal cracks in the gun during the previous firing. Others were already running excitedly towards the place where the shell landed. Everyone wanted to see with their own eyes how powerful this less than three kilogram shell was.
The last bounce of the shell left a long mark on the ground. Yan Chujie excitedly pointed at the 30-meter-long bullet mark and said: "If this gun penetrates the dense formation, it will directly plow a bloody path." Ah!”
The depth of the shell that finally hit the mound was still more than ten centimeters, which shows the amazing lethality brought by its huge kinetic energy. This is just the smallest 6-pound cannon. The power of the larger 12-pound, 24-pound, and 32-pound cannons will be several times that. Every time I think about this, the big bombers in the Military and Police Department get excited. Incessantly. Next, the test gun team adjusted different firing angles and fired about ten more guns. Finally, it was determined that the effective range of this gun was about one thousand meters. In fact, after exceeding 800 meters, the flight trajectory and final impact point of the artillery shell will deviate greatly, and it has nothing to do with the previously aimed target position.
This effective range is naturally incomparable with later generations of artillery, but for the traversers, this range is completely sufficient. The narrowest point of the gorge leading to the open sea from Port Victory Harbor is only 400 meters, which is almost exactly the distance at which this small cannon has the highest hit rate. The Military and Police Department believes that as long as two or three of these small cannons are mounted on both sides of the gorge, it will It is enough to blockade the port and prevent foreign enemies from breaking in from the sea.
The same defense mechanism also applies to the defense across the Sanya Bay Gorge, which everyone is optimistic about. The width of the sea outlet there is less than half that of Victory Port. Ships that use this kind of cannon to hit the mouth of the Gorge are completely using If the gun is placed on the forehead and fired, the opponent will not even have a chance to dodge.
Because the firing frequency of this gun was too high, the barrel quickly overheated. After firing more than ten shots, it had to stop temporarily to dissipate heat. However, the gun crew could not stop at all, so they replaced another gun on the gun mount and continued testing. It wasn't until all the more than thirty rounds of artillery shells in the rattan basket were fired out in one breath that the gun crew fell to the ground panting.
"Too tired." Even Tom Wang, who has always been known for his tenacity, couldn't help but complain.
"Still... we have to get on the breech and load the cannon as soon as possible." Yan Chujie panted and said, "This physical work is indeed intense. I underestimated this work before."
The more than ten operating procedures before each launch are fine. Although it is a bit cumbersome, it does not consume much physical energy. However, after each launch, several people have to push the heavy gun mount to reset the gun, regardless of aiming or adjusting the angle. It all relied on manpower, and the two guns were replaced from the gun mount several times. These more than thirty rounds were shot down, which exhausted these four strong men.
As a result of the gun test, the observation group unanimously believed that the quality of the two guns was qualified, met the design requirements, and could be directly used in actual combat. However, the current problem is a serious lack of gunners, not even manpower to operate two guns at the same time for test firing. Even for this reason alone, there is currently no way for the metallurgical workshop to start casting a large number of cannons.
Therefore, the Military and Police Department had to temporarily put away its obsession with establishing an artillery unit immediately. For a period of time in the future, it will still be based on these two guns, rely on continuous test firings to determine the firing schedule, and at the same time train more qualified gunners.
The next task of the metallurgical workshop is to improve the gun casting process based on these two guns. At the same time, it must also begin to study the production process of large-caliber front-loading guns and more advanced breech-loading rifled guns. The Executive Committee also put forward clear requirements that relevant military industry departments must adhere to the weapons research and development principle of "equipment for one generation, production for one generation, and research and development for one generation" to maintain the sustainable development of weapons and equipment. Not only artillery, but also military projects such as gun weapons and warships that will be developed next will also be operated in the same way.
There are quite a lot of complaints from the metallurgical workshops about this arrangement. The hydropower station is still some time away from completion, and there is currently no power and electricity available. As a result, those efficient metal processing machine tools have not been put into use. Therefore, at this stage, almost all metal smelting and processing The tasks were temporarily assigned to the metallurgical workshop. Not only do they now have to manufacture various iron farm tools and daily necessities, but they also have to engage in weapons research and development. Next, they are also responsible for assisting in the production of steam-powered prototypes jointly developed by the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Energy, and they are simply too busy. Liu Xingli has solemnly warned the executive committee that even if such a high-intensity production task arrangement does not exhaust people, it can easily lead to excessive fatigue and production accidents. Once an accident occurs in a metallurgical workshop, the consequences will definitely be death or disability. I'm afraid no one will be able to take the blame.
The metallurgical workshop was not the only one to be ruthlessly oppressed. The Chemical Industry Department and the Woodworking Workshop were also facing the same situation. The Ministry of Chemical Industry must continue to manufacture granular gunpowder for the firearms testing site of the Ministry of Military and Police, even though the production sites and production facilities are not yet complete. The woodworking shop was notified to make a batch of wooden gun targets in the near future for test firing of future firecrackers.
While everyone was so busy that their feet were hitting the back of their heads, there was one department where the staff seemed particularly idle.
Ren Liang sat under a tree by the Tiandu River, holding a bamboo fishing rod in his hand. While fishing, he stared at the laborers sweating profusely on the dam of the hydropower station just a short distance away. Although the Military and Police Department believes that the current labor camp has begun to pose safety risks because there are too few guards, Ren Liang does not think so. The management skills he learned in his work before time travel are now applied to the hard laborers in the labor camps, and the results are very good.
After the hundreds of pirate prisoners entered the camp last month, Ren Liang had already broken them up and reorganized them, with a small number of Ming army prisoners managing the majority of the pirate prisoners. After Luo Shengdong returned to Yacheng with several of his confidants, a certain degree of power vacuum appeared in the hard labor camp. Whether it was out of the desire to survive or consciously exploiting the camp, some people who had been deliberately suppressed by Luo Shengdong began to Gradually showing personal abilities, not only the prisoners of the Ming army, there are also such people among the pirates.
This group of pirates came from a variety of sources, including Chinese pirates from the coastal areas of the mainland, natives from Boni, Borneo and other places in the South China Sea, and a small group of Japanese rogues mixed in. What Ren Liang has been paying special attention to recently is an inconspicuous little man among this group of Japanese ronin, named Minami Takahashi.
(End of chapter)