Rise From the Humble

"The art of doubling the diameter of artillery? What kind of art is this? How come it has never been heard of before. The foreigners dare to call it the fundamental principle of artillery in such a big tone? Our ancestors didn't know this artillery diameter doubling technology before. Didn't they also create it in the same way? Are there artillery? Speaking of which, the foreign artillery is still learned from our ancestors."

Zhang Hong muttered a few words in dissatisfaction, but before Zhu Pingan could speak, he narrowed his one eye again, and then murmured thoughtfully and nodded, "Yes, foreigners are good at calculations and always talk about the game." Enns, when I was stealing troops from Nanyang, I saw foreigners always taking out a book of ghost drawings to calculate before making artillery parts. At first, I thought that foreigners were religious and had to recite spells and cast spells before making artillery. Now that I think about it, it was probably about calculating the diameter of the artillery. Yes."

Zhu Ping'an nodded noncommittally and said softly, "Maybe. I have never met foreign craftsmen and I don't know their habits, but according to the records of foreign firearms, they do like to use public calculations to calculate."

"Please teach me the art of doubling the diameter of artillery." Zhang Hong begged, "If it is true as the foreigners say, I will be able to make artillery that is not weaker than the foreigners and will not embarrass my ancestors."

"Of course, firearms originate from China. I believe that Mr. Zhang, you will be able to develop firearms that are not weaker than those of foreigners. I will tell you everything I know. However, I am also familiar with the art of doubling the caliber of artillery. I only know a little about it, but I don’t know why. The so-called artillery doubling technique refers to how many times the wall thickness of the gun body is multiple times the caliber of the gun muzzle. It mainly refers to the ratio of the length of the gun body to the thickness of the muzzle. I am still I noticed something in the latest and most cutting-edge artillery classics of the Ming Dynasty. It states: "When the foreign barbarians cast cannons, they were very cautious in measuring the length, size, thickness, and thickness. They did not dare to rely on cleverness and imagination to make mistakes, so they must follow the rules." It must be a true example of comparing degrees. The method is not based on the size, but only on the diameter of the barrel. This means that the size of each gun is different. I read many classics and understood that it can only be based on a scientific method. Only by designing the size of each part of the artillery in a fixed proportion can the artillery achieve the best balance between weight and power. Otherwise, the gunpowder will either have too thick wall thickness, which only increases the weight of the gun body, or insufficient wall thickness, which will easily cause the risk of explosion. ." Zhu Pingan nodded and said slowly.

Zhang Hong listened with seriousness on his face. He couldn't help but be filled with emotion when he heard this. He was greatly inspired and asked quickly, "So there is such a saying for making artillery. No wonder I always thought that artillery was either too heavy or easy to explode. I don’t know proportional geometry is the best balance.”

"I don't know how to calculate the specific artillery diameter ratio. I didn't understand it when I read it, so I can't remember it. However, I saw a summary in the book that said that after countless tests, the artillery diameter ratio of the gun body and muzzle At about 22 times, the power and range can reach a relatively ideal value. In addition, it is recorded in the latest and most advanced artillery classics of the Ming Dynasty that "the foreigners have a method of proportional calculation, based on the caliber of the barrel. For example, a cannon, agreed If the bore diameter is one inch, then the cannon wall should be one inch thick near the tail, seven and a half centimeters thick near the ear, and five centimeters thick near the mouth. Therefore, from the outside, the cannon wall should have a sharp muzzle and a plump tail. The circular diameter of the ear The length of the ears should be one inch, and the proportions are mutually beneficial." Zhu Ping'an said a little embarrassedly, there was no way he was a liberal arts student, and he saw firearms and other things on the Internet out of interest in modern times.

It's thanks to my good memory that I managed to remember some of it, otherwise I'm afraid it would be even more embarrassing.

"The gun diameter of the gun body and muzzle is about 22 times, and the powerful range reaches an ideal value. Sir, does the gun body here refer to the barrel length or the overall gun length?"

Zhang Hong asked for advice.

As expected of someone who secretly learned artillery skills from a red-haired barbarian, this question was asked professionally.

"It refers to the length of the barrel." Zhu Pingan thought for a while and made sure that his answer was not wrong.

"Thank you, sir. If the method of doubling the diameter of artillery is correct, it is really an incredible technology. How long is the gun body, how powerful is it, and the geometry of iron and copper required? All the key problems of these artillery have been solved. In the past, when developing artillery, I always feel that the heavier the artillery, the thicker the muzzle, the thicker the barrel, and the more gunpowder it contains, the greater the power of the artillery. Therefore, artillery has a thick barrel and a thick muzzle, but the length of the barrel is ignored. No wonder, in the past I always feel that although the artillery is heavier and thicker, its power is not satisfactory, and explosions often occur. It turns out that the thicker the artillery, the better."

Zhang Hong said excitedly, getting more and more excited as he talked, "This artillery multiplication technology is incredible. No wonder the Hong Mao Yi's artillery is better than ours. No wonder I always feel that the size of the Hong Mao Yi's artillery is different. It turns out that it really does. Something. At present, the artillery of our Ming Dynasty is too heavy and has limited power. The artillery for city defense needs to be powerful, and it needs to be flexible and easy to carry for siege and field operations. With the art of multiplying the diameter of artillery, ordinary people can be in weight and power. Find a balance between them, reduce the weight of artillery, increase the power of artillery, and greatly improve urban defense artillery and field artillery."

Zhang Hong was excited and gearing up, preparing to work hard to improve both the city defense artillery and field artillery.

"Master Zhang, the main enemy at present is the Japanese pirates. I want Master Zhang to help me develop a portable artillery that is suitable for the watery, forested and hilly terrain in the south of the Japanese River, and is easy to carry and transport. The current Franco machine gun Although it is powerful, it is too bulky, the range of the bowl-mouth gun is too short, and its power is limited. There is an urgent need for a new type of lightweight artillery to attack Japanese pirates."

Zhu Ping'an saw that Master Zhang was very ambitious and wanted to develop and perfect artillery such as city defense artillery and field artillery. He did not sweat on his forehead. Even with the art of doubling the diameter of artillery, improving artillery could not be completed overnight. It would not take ten years. It can't be completed in eight years.

At present, the Japanese pirates have no time to delay. The Japanese invasion is getting worse and worse day by day, and there is not so much time.

Therefore, Zhu Ping'an directly pointed out the direction and asked Zhang Hong to develop a targeted artillery suitable for the terrain of Jiangnan.

Instead of wasting time, effort and money on developing a wide variety of artillery, it is better to carefully develop one artillery piece. The south of the Yangtze River is mostly covered with hills, forests, and paddy fields. Bulky city defense artillery and field artillery are not suitable. Only light artillery is suitable.

"I was browsing the classics of Europa and other foreigners in the Hanlin Academy library, and found that one of the volumes recorded a sketch of an artillery piece. It was a light artillery that the foreigners were developing. In order to facilitate shooting, the artillery firing was arranged in a fixed position. The posture is like a tiger squatting, firing at an elevated angle."

Zhu Ping'an gave a brief description of the Tiger Crouching Cannon commonly used by Qi Jiguang in the future, and asked Zhang Hong to use more advanced artillery multiplication techniques to improve and develop it. He believed that he would not be disappointed.

"Don't worry, sir. The common people will definitely live up to your expectations." Zhang Hong clenched his fists hard, hit his chest hard, and said loudly.