Become a feudal king from today

"Mortar? Kind of like a bucket. Read М"

In the War Department, Wang Ying carefully looked at the short and stubby cannon on the drawing.

"Well, you can also say that you don't need my teachings on how to cultivate, right?" Zhao Xu said.

Mortars require little skill.

Having personally developed artillery, for Wang Ying, making mortars is like a middle school student doing elementary school problems.

"This official can handle it." Wang Ying said with confidence on his face.

The height of this mortar is only about 60 centimeters, the muzzle is about 150 millimeters, and the cannon wall is five centimeters thick.

There is a hole at the end, which is the fire hole.

The entire gun body is fixed on an iron plate.

The weight is estimated to be about 100 kilograms, and two soldiers can carry it.

Zhao Xu nodded, turned the page, and pointed to the second page.

"Also, the shells of mortars are different from the solid shells of artillery. They are hollow. The principle is similar to that of firecrackers." Zhao Xu said.

Smoothbore guns cannot use hollow bullets.

The high chamber pressure of a strong explosion will cause the hollow bullet to be damaged in the barrel.

Therefore, special bombs must be specially configured.

He would not let Wang Ying explore this issue on his own. After all, Da Song's situation was complicated now and there was not so much time to waste.

Especially when it comes to weapons of war.

Wang Ying stared at the pattern on the drawing. Like the solid bullets, the mortar shells were also spherical.

However, the inside of the ball is required to be hollow, but there is a mouth as thick as a finger left on the ball.

Then he saw that King Yan also drew something like a cork.

A complete blooming bullet is made by inserting the cork into this hole.

"Your Highness, what is the use of this cork? It seems to be the key to this kind of cannonball." Wang Ying asked.

Zhao Xu looked pleased, Wang Ying could still see some tricks.

He said: "This kind of cannonball is called a fuse. Just like a fuse is needed to ignite the gunpowder in the gun barrel, the fuse is also needed for the fuse."

"It's just that, how to ensure that the explosive bomb explodes at the required location?" Wang Ying asked doubtfully, and then he suddenly realized, "I understand, this cork is..."

Zhao Xu laughed and said, "Yes," there is a small hole in the middle of this cork, which can be used to insert the fuse. If the explosion time is short, just push the cork inward. If the explosion time is long, push the cork outward. Pull some to control the length of the lead. "

Wang understood, "That's it."

Zhao Xu continued: "But how far the cork can be pulled out or inserted and at what distance it can explode still need to be tested. Then the results can be engraved on the produced cork."

After a pause, he said: "For example, for a 100-meter explosion, one centimeter needs to be inserted. Write this down. When making corks in the future, mark them to form a standard, so that the artillery battlefield can directly control the explosion according to the marks. distance."

Wang Ying nodded frequently, "I understand."

Zhao Xu exhaled softly, this is the cork fuse.

Compared with having a long fuse directly attached to the artillery shell, it is much more reliable to rely on the soldiers to judge the distance by feel and use scissors to cut the fuse during the war.

Simply put, this is fool-proof, and the error is much better than if the soldiers cut it themselves.

The contemporary appearance of this type of fuse occurred in the late eighteenth century and was used in primitive howitzers of the time.

However, because black powder was still in use at the time, the explosive bullets were not powerful enough and did not attract much attention.

After explaining the matter, Zhao Xu returned to the palace.

In just over nine days, Wang Ying built the first mortar, along with several hollow cannonballs and wooden plugs.

The mortar was transported to the artillery school, and Zhao Xu ordered Chang Wei to bring the artillery generals to visit.

After all, this is one of the artillery they will use from now on.

"Why is the muzzle of this artillery pointed in the sky? Is it meant to shoot the shells into the sky and then fall down to kill people?" An artillery general thought he was very humorous and laughed.

Turning his head, he saw everyone else pouting, and he suddenly shut up.

"Tang Qing, you are smiling happily. Come on, load the ammunition and fire the cannon yourself." Zhao Xu waved to Tang Qing.

This Tang Qing was an artillery captain, responsible for the artillery under the command of the captain, and was in charge of seventy-two artillery pieces.

In the military school, he often saw him, but he was a bit talkative.

"Yes, Your Highness." Tang Qing moved to the mortar amid the gloating eyes of the other generals.

Looking at the cannonballs on the ground, he didn't know how to use them, so he looked at Zhao Xu.

"Tell me what this cannon is used for?" Zhao Xu ignored him and asked first.

Tang Qing scratched his head. He looked at the mortar up and down, then looked at the shells. He hesitated and said: "It seems to be able to hit the enemy hiding behind the wall."

"You're right, now reload the ammunition in the same order as the artillery." Zhao Xu said.

Tang Qing followed his instructions and cleaned the barrel, filled it with gunpowder, loaded the bullet, and then lit the fuse.

"boom!"

After a muffled thunderous sound, the shell flew out.

After flying a hundred meters, the shell fell.

But at this time there was another "boom", and the shell exploded in the air, shining out a ball of flame and smoke.

The generals were originally very calm, but when they saw this scene, they suddenly trembled.

The flame in the sky was bigger than a firecracker.

"This is a bomb, many times more powerful than firecrackers. If flintlock bullet-like marbles are stuffed inside, it can kill and injure a small area of ​​enemies." Zhao Xu explained, "Put lime inside, which is lime. If the bomb explodes like this, it can form a lime dance within at least ten meters, causing trouble to enemy infantry and cavalry. "

The power of a bomb lies in its gunpowder properties.

Even in contemporary times, the research and development of high-energy gunpowder has never stopped, and they are all pursuing the same size and greater power.

In the period when smoothbore cannons and mortars coexisted, smoothbore cannons were more powerful than mortars.

The reason is that the power of black powder explosion is not strong, at most it is only a large firecracker.

But what he wanted was not the power of the mortar.

But its function is different from that of smoothbore cannon.

The difference between fighter jets and helicopters.

"So it can still be like this." Tang Qing's eyes suddenly lit up.

The soldiers still have firecrackers that are only thirty or forty meters away. They can use these firecrackers to throw lime bombs directly on the battlefield.

"Your Highness, what is the maximum range of this mortar?" Chang Wei and other generals naturally realized the important role of the mortar and asked hurriedly.

"This still needs to be tested, but it will not exceed 500 meters." Zhao Xu gave Wang Ying a look.

Wang Ying understood and immediately changed the medicine bag to the largest one and at the same time pulled out the cork to its longest length.

"Boom!" Another test shot.

This time the noise was louder than the first time. The shell flew very large, drawing a long parabola, and finally landed at a position of more than 400 meters. It rolled several meters before exploding.

The craftsman immediately measured the distance and came back: "Your Highness, it's about four hundred and sixty-two meters."

Zhao Xu nodded. This is the maximum distance. After all, he has changed to the largest medicine bag.

"That's enough." Chang Wei laughed, "This distance is more than enough to torment the enemy."

Then he held Wang Ying's hand and said, "Master Wang, build a hundred and eighty gates for the army as soon as possible."

Wang Ying looked disgusted, but still nodded.