The Rise of the European Emperor

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The craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty were relatively smart, but they had not received systematic education since they were young. All their knowledge basically came from their masters or taught by their fathers and grandparents. Therefore, it is difficult for them to achieve great achievements in the future. However, some very easy things can still be achieved. For example, a master craftsman named Xu Kuan thought about using iron to cast cannons.

After all, the cost of iron is much lower than that of copper. If the cast iron cannon is successful, the cost of materials alone can save a lot of money. You must know that in the Ming Dynasty, copper could be directly minted into coins for circulation. Thousands of catties of copper means thousands of catties of coins. Therefore, using iron cast guns is the most economical choice.

For this reason, Xu Kuan and his apprentices intentionally made dozens more clay models when they were making them. Then, after the bronze cannon was cast, he applied to Zhang Quan, the eunuch in charge, to try to cast the cannon with iron. Zhang Quan is the godson of Zhang Yongren, who is in charge of the affairs of the Military Bureau. He also felt that it was cheaper to cast iron cannons than copper, so he agreed to allocate iron materials for Xu Kuan and others to try.

But this attempt was not ideal. Out of dozens of clay molds, only three cannons were finally cast. Moreover, after firing multiple rounds, the bottom of the gun body became soft due to overheating, and two of them also exploded, resulting in the death of 3 gunners on the spot and 5 others were seriously injured. Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty did not treat lower-level soldiers as human beings, and no one cared about how many died.

In the end, Xu Kuan realized that the technology of iron cast guns was more difficult, and, in order to be safe, the gun body must be thickened, especially the thickness of the rear gun body, to avoid explosion.

However, there is still a long way to go to come up with mature artillery and casting technology...

Marin didn't know what happened in the Ming Dynasty. In fact, Beihai had already had the ability to cast cannons with steel. For example, those heavy artillery are basically cast with low carbon steel.

However, in order to control the technology, Marin did not let others know that his artillery was made of iron, and deliberately used all copper cannons on the export artillery. Without him, it is just raising the threshold of use.

You must know that large-scale casting of cannons with copper is not affordable for ordinary people. After all, copper in Europe is more expensive and costs more. Marin deliberately used copper-cast cannons, which is also raising the threshold for artillery equipment-want to equip cannons? Do you have money to cast? As soon as they heard that many copper-cast cannons were needed, poorer monarchs would give up immediately... Then, only local tyrants were left who could really equip artillery on a large scale... Then, Marin needed to focus on dealing with it, only those few It's a local tyrant opponent, and the difficulty will be much lower...

In fact, this set, the old beauty of later generations, played the most slippery. Why are later generations of the United States keen on advanced fighter jets and missiles? Because ordinary countries can't do it... Electronic technology alone can't be played in China in the 20th century, let alone those ordinary countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Because everyone can't play,

So, in the end, everyone can only spend a lot of money to buy advanced weapons from Lao Mei...

But in fact, the whole world has been led astray by the old United States-is it really necessary to equip advanced fighter jets that cost two to three billion U.S. dollars each? Is it really necessary to use advanced missiles that cost millions of dollars each?

In fact, it's not necessary at all!

Lao Mei deliberately advocates and raises technical standards, in fact, to mislead countries—look, I should use such a good weapon, and everything else is rubbish...

But in fact, many times, those particularly advanced weapons are not necessary at all...

If it is an ultra-long-distance precision strike, those very cutting-edge high-tech advanced weapons are indeed needed. But what about ordinary regional friction? Do you need advanced missiles worth millions or even tens of millions of dollars to open a fire? no need at all...

To give a simple example, two very small and poor countries in Africa fought each other because of border friction. Both countries are very small in size, let alone missiles, even cannons can cover each other's entire territory. At this time, is it necessary to use advanced cruise missiles with GPS satellite positioning? Not at all!

Such a conflict between small countries does not require any advanced missiles or advanced fighter jets at all. Moreover, these two things are generally not available to the country-if you shoot a few more rounds, the country will go bankrupt...

At this time, it is something like the Katyusha rocket launcher, which is especially suitable for regional conflicts - launch a wave of rockets without thinking, and call it a day... As for the cost... the cost of a Tomahawk missile is a hundred or so Ten thousand dollars, while ordinary rockets are only a few thousand dollars. If it is not a long-range strike, but a close-range conflict, a fool will use that kind of precision missile.

In fact, a rocket is a missile without electronic equipment such as a guidance system, and vice versa. If it weren't for the special rockets of the "Guardian" with a range of hundreds of kilometers, the cost of the rockets would be unbelievably low. However, in a head-on conflict, the difference is actually not that great.

For example, when encountering the enemy's main force on the frontal battlefield, the effect of rockets and missiles carrying ordinary warheads is actually not much different. Unless it is used to accurately strike the enemy's headquarters, the difference can be seen. If you want to destroy the enemy's vitality, you must use rocket launchers. After all, it was powerful enough and cheap.

Although the "Guardian" rocket with a range of two to three hundred kilometers in later generations costs as much as 100,000 US dollars, if it is an ordinary rocket without range extension and without electronic equipment upgrades, the cost is shockingly low. Marin remembered that he had heard that during the conflict with Yue Monkey in the last century, the cost of a 109 rocket was only more than 100 yuan...

Of course, everyone’s wages were low at that time, with an average monthly salary of only a few dozen yuan. But a rocket is equivalent to one or two months' wages of ordinary people. In future generations, it will only cost a few thousand dollars.

Think about it, on the frontal battlefield, hundreds of thousands of troops face off. Are you cost-effective to bombard the enemy with a few missiles worth millions of dollars, or is it cost-effective to use hundreds of rockets at the same value?

Although the duel of cutting-edge weapons is indispensable in the war, in fact, the most powerful weapons with low cost and high energy production are the most popular in the war.

Just like in World War II, why did the German army lose to the Soviet Union in the later period? The German Tiger tank is indeed very good, but the Soviet army does not compete with you in technology, we compare the quantity... Although the T34 is not as good as the Tiger tank, it is easy to produce, low in cost, and has a large output! You dispatched hundreds of Tiger tanks, and I dispatched thousands of T34s to surround and beat you to death...

And the f22 fighter jet, which seems to be extremely advanced and costs 290 million US dollars, is certainly powerful. But in fact, it may not be invincible. Among other things, if you make a batch of low-cost drones to fight with them, there is a chance to destroy them. And how cheap are drones? Even if dozens of drones are lost, in exchange for shooting down an f22, it is a big profit. In short, I can afford it, but you can't afford it. If it doesn’t work, I can use low-cost and powerful missiles to destroy your airport, leaving you nowhere to land, or even finish with the airport...

Therefore, sometimes, weapons that seem to be lagging behind, but are low in cost and suitable for mass production, can determine the outcome of the battlefield.

Because, on the battlefield, weapons will always wear out. If you only equip a few advanced weapons, once something goes wrong, your combat effectiveness will be abolished. And even if people lose a few backward weapons, they don't feel bad. Moreover, people have a large amount, so they are not afraid of losses...

Of course, advanced weapons are still needed. The combination of advanced weapons and energy-produced sub-level weapons is the best. In other words, advanced weapons are used to deal with advanced weapons. And those mass-produced weapons are the main force that really kills the enemy.

But why do later generations like to make expensive advanced weapons so much, no matter if it is Laomei, Maozi, or Huaxia? Without him, it is just to raise the threshold of arms production and trade.

The bar was raised, and most countries were turned away. The profits, of course, are shared by the remaining companies.

But when a large-scale war is really going to happen, low-cost, mass-produced weapons with huge lethality are the first choice. At that time, you will find that many expensive and impractical parts on those fighter jets and missiles will be removed, and the whole weapon will become simple and efficient. After all, the ability to "regenerate" is the most important indicator in war.

For example, in World War II, why did the devils lose to Lao Mei in the end? Because the devil's aircraft carrier sinks one by one, and on the Laomei side, the aircraft carrier can't stop launching like dumplings. If one ship is lost, I will make it up again, but on the devil's side, if they can't make up for it, it's over if they hit it.

...

Therefore, the main force of war is often not the most advanced weapons, but the next level of advanced, but energy-producing things. Of course, some of the most advanced weapons are also needed to suppress the situation and deal with the most advanced weapons of the enemy. In this way, the war is easy to fight.

As for the technical competition of fighter jets in later generations, to put it bluntly, it is to raise the threshold and fool fools. And *** can see it very clearly - I won't play ordinary weapon technology competition with you anymore, I specialize in nuclear bombs. do you have f22? I have a nuke! do you have f35? I have a nuke! you have b2? I have a nuke! I can scare you to death with just one move...

Moreover, Russia later became poor and could not afford to compete in technology. Therefore, using this kind of almost rogue method is to make the old beauty who deliberately provoked the competition lose her temper. After all, the development of nuclear bombs alone costs less money and has better results...

But Huaxia seems to be a little bit of a demon, insisting on doing this and that. But in fact, it is more cost-effective to engage in a big killer. However, Huaxia was rich later, so it could keep up. Moreover, by the way, it can stimulate Ah San and waste Ah San's money...

...

All in all, Marin is now focusing on promoting copper cannons, not that iron cannons are bad, but to raise the threshold-if you want to engage in an arms race with me, do you have the money to buy so much copper?

In this way, most of the poor European monarchs and princes were forced to withdraw from the artillery equipment competition, leaving only the rich and powerful countries to participate.

In addition, Marin's iron mold casting method is very suitable for rapid casting of copper cannons, and it can be mass-produced quickly, which is very convenient. When a war is needed, the output can be exploded at any time, and let the opponent know what it means to wash the ground with a cannon...

But in the Ming Dynasty, because they were very cost-conscious, the craftsmen were also a little clever, so it was normal to make iron cannons by themselves.

In fact, Marin, who reads history, knows that the Ming Dynasty first learned to cast copper cannons from the Portuguese in Macau, and then developed iron cannons by himself. As a result, the Macau Bugarao Cannon Factory specially hired Chinese cannon-casting craftsmen to learn how to cast iron cannons in the Ming Dynasty. Prior to this, the Portuguese had always used copper-cast cannons.

The Hongyi cannon sold by the Portuguese to the Ming Dynasty at the end of the Ming Dynasty was not made by themselves, but an 18-pound Koufeilin cannon salvaged from a sunken British warship. After all, Britain is rich in coal and iron resources, but lacks copper, so it was forced to develop iron-cast cannons in the 16th century.

People in the Ming Dynasty were very capable of learning. After all, they had not received the foolish education of the Manchu and Qing courts. Therefore, although the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty were not highly educated, their creativity was not bad. Like Hongyi cannons, the first batch were bought from the Portuguese in Macau. But later, the imperial court was able to cast Hongyi cannons by itself. However, later, a group of cannon-casting craftsmen were taken away by the Manchus, which made it easier for the Manchus to attack the city... What makes people speechless is that during the Opium War 200 years later, the level of firearms in the Qing Dynasty was still at the end of the Ming Dynasty level of...