Chapter 1296 New Artillery
Since Haihan started the arms sales trade many years ago, artillery has always been one of the most favored objects on the weapons list among customers. So much so that Western countries like Portugal had to give up selling old weapons to Far Eastern countries at high prices, and instead imported artillery from Haihan to arm their colonies in the Far East. Haihan's artillery business has gradually grown from exporting dozens of cannons per year to now exporting hundreds of cannons per year, and its profits are far higher than that of rifles.
Although the scale of Haihan's exports is now much larger than in the past, the demand gap still exists objectively. The large and small city passes in Annan alone require thousands of city defense artillery. Of course, the use of a defense plan such as a strong city and powerful artillery was naturally recommended by Haihan's military adviser. Otherwise, how could a country like Annan, which was under the protection of Haihan, need so many city defense artillery. The city defense artillery bought from Haihan at a high price and brought back to China for deployment. In fact, most of them were never fired, and they were just placed on the top of the city and slowly rusted.
Are the Annan people so stupid that they can't understand Haihan's arms sales routine? That's not necessarily the case. Some of them are lining their pockets and taking huge kickbacks; some are pretending to be deaf and dumb, ignoring the fact that it has nothing to do with them; and some need to use this arms trade to consolidate the military alliance with Haihan. There are many vested interests involved, and the situation is relatively complicated. However, the long-term maintenance of this unscientific arms trade is not just a matter of Haihan's choice. Annan's internal reasons also account for a large part. part.
In fact, other buyers have more or less similar situations. Urban defense artillery has always been the main type of artillery exported by Haihan. In addition to making a lot of profits for Haihan, these heavy big guys will not pose much direct threat to Haihan, and they can incorporate the armaments of these countries and regions into Haihan's military industry system. It can be said that It is a sales strategy that achieves multiple goals with one stone.
However, the cannons unveiled today are not urban defense cannons. After the tarps were removed from the cannons, they were revealed to be four field cannons with different calibers. The biggest difference between this kind of gun and the city defense gun is that there are two huge wheels under the gun body, which can be directly pulled and transported by animal power. There is a mechanical device under the gun body, which can easily adjust the shooting angle by turning the hand wheel. In addition, there is a hoe on the gun mount, which can be lowered to the ground during war to unload the recoil when firing and stabilize the gun body.
Haihan has exercised extremely strict control over the export of field artillery in the past few years. Even a regular customer like Fujian Xu who is not short of money and has good connections can only buy a handful of field artillery from Haihan every year. number. On the one hand, this is to control risks. After all, the guns sold may be turned into weapons used to attack the Haihan Army on the battlefield one day in the future; on the other hand, almost all the output of Haihan Ordnance Industry is used to meet the needs of the military. In order to meet the demand from other countries, there is basically no excess production capacity for export. After all, the structure of this field gun is much more complicated than the bare barrel of the city defense gun, and the manufacturing time required is much longer.
For many buyers, the Haihan field gun has always been a hot spot for purchase. Since the number of field guns sold by Haihan Ordnance every year is extremely limited, and the enthusiasm of buyers is very high, it seems unfair to which company they sell to first. Therefore, starting from 1631, the annual sales of field guns were based on bidding. The monthly shipments were limited to five guns, and the delivery period was one year. Bidding was conducted in batches. The monthly shipments were awarded to the highest bidder. , and there is only one specification of the six-pounder gun, so there is no room for pick and choose.
If you want to equip your own army with the advanced Haihan artillery as soon as possible, you will inevitably have to bid at a high price. Buyers with less financial resources can only wait for a few big customers to buy it before making any plans. Of course, it does not mean that the price will be much cheaper if you are at the back of the queue. For wealthy and willful customers, participating in the bidding for each batch is the best way to lower the purchase cost. Haihan intentionally does not limit the number of bids it can participate in each year, so basically the sales of twelve batches of field artillery in a year will have a pretty good performance.
During the most intense period of the Fujian Strait War from 1631 to 1633, Xu Xinsu did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to purchase field artillery in order to strengthen the armament of her army as soon as possible. The highest unit price even exceeded 10,000 yuan, which was more than the price of urban defense artillery of the same level. Three or four times as much. Because of this, buyers have never been satisfied with Haihan's supply capabilities.
In fact, Haihan's sales strategy is simply a kind of hunger marketing. It intentionally controls the supply volume to regulate the supply and demand relationship, artificially creating a market situation in which supply exceeds demand, and uses this to affect the final selling price and achieve the purpose of increasing sales. Auction supply seems fair, but the high added value generated in actual operations is far more powerful than Haihan's own price increase, and it is easy to create a competitive situation. In the heat of the moment, various buyers will naturally It’s easier to shout out a high price.
Of course, in order to save money and trouble, it is not impossible to modify the city defense cannon into a field cannon. However, the performance gap between the self-modified knock-offs and the genuine ones is too great. In the city offensive and defensive battles, it is just fine. You have to drag the city defense cannon south. It would be unrealistic to conquer the North. Therefore, the demand for field artillery has not been greatly affected by the sales of urban defense artillery.
The field guns that Haihan Ordnance showed to all parties today are three-pound guns, six-pound guns, nine-pound guns and twelve-pound guns. As for the larger-caliber twenty-four-pound guns and those specially used for bombardment The city's 48-pound cannon had no export plans at all, so it was not included in the display.
However, the audience was not sure whether the artillery that Haihan unveiled this time was intended for export, or if it was just being brought out to whet everyone's appetite as usual, and only after viewing it was it announced that it was not for sale. Therefore, the audience behaved relatively calmly and did not have the same enthusiasm as when they tested the rifle just now.
But at this time, Yan Chujie walked to the front, took the tin trumpet from the guard, and said to the audience: "Everyone, the four types of artillery we are showing here today will be included in the list of export weapons in the future. model, so buyers who are interested in purchasing field guns, please be sure to watch the subsequent artillery demonstration carefully. As for more specific performance parameters, we will issue written information for your reference later.”
There was an uproar in the audience. Although I had always hoped that Haihan could provide more field gun models to choose from, in previous years I was used to rushing to buy six-pound guns. This year, four models were launched at once. It really exceeded everyone's expectations. Everyone had a bunch of questions and wanted to ask Yan Chujie immediately, but Yan Chujie said that he would let everyone watch the demonstration first and ask any questions later.
The shooting demonstration process of artillery is actually very similar to that of rifles. Targets of different sizes at different distances are shot to observe its lethality, accuracy, effective range, operation process, etc. Of course, the target is no longer suitable for iron targets that can be penetrated by rifles. This time, a three-third-thick iron plate was directly lifted out. However, because the target was too large and heavy, it was troublesome to transport it, so only target samples were shown to the audience, and heavy iron targets had been arranged on the target position in advance.
Four artillery pieces with different calibers were fired at targets at the same distance to compare the difference in lethality. Although these smoothbore cannons still use solid shells, because they use Haihan's special gunpowder, their power cannot be underestimated. At a distance of two hundred meters, even the three-pounder cannon with the smallest caliber can easily penetrate the target. . The target position is gradually opened at a distance of 100 meters, but after 300 meters away, the target as big as a door panel becomes a small piece, and there is no scope on the gun to use, so the gunner can only Relying on the ruler and experience for aiming, artillery at all levels gradually missed the target from this distance. However, this is not a problem in the eyes of the audience, because looking through the telescope, the impact point does not deviate too much, and is already above the average level.
However, the lethality of small-caliber artillery has obviously decreased at longer distances, and it can no longer penetrate the iron target. The sound of metal collision when hitting the target is very clear. However, the effective range of these cannons has exceeded 500 meters. The inability to penetrate the iron target does not mean that they are less powerful. In actual combat, even after the cannonballs hit the ground with all their force, the kinetic energy of the re-bounce is enough to knock the human body together with the shield and armor. Tear them to pieces together.
The final result was that the twelve-pounder gun used five shells to hit the target at a distance of 800 meters, which is considered to be the model with the longest effective range. However, it can no longer penetrate the target at this distance and can only leave a deep dent.
While the soldiers were retrieving the targets from a distance, Yan Chujie came on stage again to explain the performance characteristics of these models of artillery. Although Liu Shang didn't understand this stuff, he listened very carefully and memorized all the information disclosed by Han Chujie. He also knew that Haihan's artillery-making skills were excellent, but he had no idea that the scale of Haihan's arms trade was so large that so many countries would come to order arms from Haihan. Fortunately, Ming Dynasty has not had any more conflicts with the southern countries in recent years, otherwise it may really suffer a big loss due to the gap in weapons.
The soldiers dismantled the target, pulled it back to the auditorium on a horse-drawn carriage, and then demonstrated the effect of the artillery bombardment to everyone. The holes and craters in the iron plate are clearly visible, and it is not difficult to deduce from the bullet marks which type of shell it was hit by.
Although Yan Chujie did not give a more specific explanation on the sales method, but simply revealed that these models of field guns will be on the market for sale, this is enough to arouse the enthusiasm of buyers. Dong Yanyun even stated his position on the spot. He would place orders for four models of artillery and was waiting to see how Haihan would sell them. If nothing unexpected happens, it will be natural to make a lot of money from artillery orders this year.
But the artillery shooting demonstration is not over yet. Yan Chujie announced that he will also display a "concept product" that is still under development here. Then two packhorses pulled a gun cart covered with oilcloth to one of the gun emplacements. Yan Chujie personally stepped forward to remove the oilcloth and show the new artillery to the audience.
Although the caliber of this gun cannot be seen for the time being, there are many officers from various countries present. Judging from the thickness of the barrel, it is estimated that the caliber of this gun is similar to that of a nine-pounder. But the special thing is that this gun does not load shells from the front, because the artilleryman operating this gun has opened a bolt device at the rear of the barrel, revealing a hole. Sure enough, the caliber is consistent with everyone's predictions.
The breech-loading cannon has been equipped in the Haihan Army for some time. Although only a small number of elite frontline troops are currently equipped with it, this news cannot be hidden from well-informed people on all sides, and its firing principle is not a secret. The gun-making technology was limited, and it was impossible to imitate a breech-loaded gun that could be put into actual combat applications. The breech-loading gun that Haihan pulled out for display at this time was also the first time for most people present to see with their own eyes this new type of artillery whose structure was very different from the past.
However, some people couldn't help but have an idea. The Haihan Army has already been equipped with this kind of artillery, and it has even been used in actual combat. You, Yan Chujie, actually have the nerve to call it a "concept product". To put it bluntly, it is not Planning to export? Why bother to be so pretentious and release this thing as a new product?
But those who thought this way were quickly slapped in the face. The artilleryman opened the box containing the shells. What was inside was not a round solid shell, but a long shell with a front cone and a rear column. It was about six inches long and thick. It is consistent with the nine-pounder cannon shells. Judging from its appearance and color, it seems to be made of brass. The artilleryman stuffed the shell into the barrel from the rear, then closed the gun bolt to complete the loading.
"This... can this cannonball be fired?" "Haihan people always have fantastic ideas, and it's not known that they may have magical uses." "Why does this cannonball look a bit like the paper shell fixed-loading ammunition used in Haihan rifles? ”
The audience was talking a lot, and some of them noticed the true characteristics of the cannonball. Copper-cased artillery shells plus barrel rifling are inevitable forms when artillery evolves to an advanced stage. Breech-loaded cannons with rifling have been made for a long time. However, Haihan's metal processing capabilities were limited in the past, making it difficult to make them with actual combat capabilities. Copper-cased artillery shells, this is also a project that Haihan Military Industry has only recently successfully tackled. Of course, judging from Haihan's current production capacity and cost, it is still unrealistic to mass-produce such artillery and shells, so this gun is indeed just a prototype sample. Yan Chujie calls it research and development The concept products in it are not considered to be pretentious.
Looking at the audience's reaction, Yan Chujie knew that this cannon had aroused enough curiosity among everyone, and that was exactly what he hoped. The actual shooting effect of this cannon will definitely give these people a big impact.
(End of chapter)