The Rise of the European Emperor

The difference in density between iron ball shells and stone shells is nearly three times. Therefore, if iron ball shells of equal weight are used, the caliber should be reduced to more than one-fourth of the original.

The change of the material of the shell will also affect the change of the gunpowder loading. If the amount of charge is increased rashly, it is easy to cause the chamber to explode. Therefore, Marin did not dare to change the shell material easily. What's more, it is still a copper cannon that is prone to problems. Moreover, with the structural strength of ships from other countries in this era, 50-pound stone bombs are enough.

Moreover, if a reinforced concrete structure is used, the strength of the concrete shell may exceed that of ordinary stone shells, and it is also very resistant to building when used to smash ships. In addition, its processing difficulty is still very low...

You must know that the difficulty of processing stones into stone balls weighing several pounds and processing them into large stone balls weighing 50 pounds increases exponentially. If you want to stockpile a batch of 50-pound stone balls, the processing difficulty alone is amazing.

But if it is changed to the pouring method with cement, the difficulty and cost of its manufacture will be greatly reduced. Even if a batch of iron wire is filled inside the concrete shell, the cost is much simpler than grinding a large natural stone into a 50-pound stone ball shell. Moreover, the cost is also lower. After all, although the cost of drawing iron wire in this era is relatively high because it is made manually, it is still much cheaper than transporting a huge stone weighing hundreds of pounds to a mason's shop and grinding it into a stone ball. Moreover, the strength of reinforced concrete is stronger than that of natural stone...

In fact, Marin not only improved the shell manufacturing method of the lizard cannon, but also planned to improve the manufacturing process of the lizard cannon. It intends to use mild steel instead of copper for the short-barreled mortars of the Basilisk Cannon. Can't, because Coster...

You know, it takes 7,000 pounds of bronze to cast a basilisk cannon, how expensive is it? 20 basilisk cannons are equivalent to 140,000 pounds of bronze!

According to the copper price in Europe in this era, this is equivalent to nearly 10,000 pounds of silver! Converted into gold coins, the total price would be 99,000 gold coins!

But this is only the cost of materials, and in fact, the price of artillery is often double the cost of materials. That is to say, to purchase these 20 Lizard Cannons, Marin will spend at least 198,000 gold coins, which is close to 200,000 gold coins!

Therefore, even a wealthy man like Marin can't buy too many Lizard Cannons at once, he can only buy 20 of them first.

Next, the craftsmen of the domestic cannon foundry studied how to use low carbon steel to cast the basilisk cannon. If steel is used to cast this gun, the cost will be reduced dozens of times. At that time, once the development is successful, Marin intends to equip the capital of each 250-level armed merchant ship with a lizard cannon. When dozens of armed merchant ships fire at the same time, even if the accuracy is not good, as long as one or two shots hit the opponent, the opponent's ship can be finished...

In addition, Marin wants to increase the experience of casting large-caliber artillery of Beihai country cannon craftsmen through the casting of lizard cannons, and increase experience reserves for the development of Pexan cannons.

For this reason, Marin intends to hire several craftsmen who are good at casting lizard cannons from Venice with high salaries, and specifically cast lizard cannons for the North Sea country. At that time, Marin will arrange for the best cannon-casting craftsmen in Beihai to study with them in order to be inspired. After all, "Stones from other mountains can be used to attack jade", maybe influenced by the process of casting cannons, it can inspire their thinking in developing Pexan cannons...

...

However, affected by this incident, Marin has a new thinking about naval construction-it also intends to add a batch of Calais ships to the navy...

not right

Strictly speaking, Marin intends to add a batch of galleys similar to the Calais to the navy as an important supplement to the navy.

Although Marin didn't know the glorious record of the Calais ship in history, he could also imagine the superiority of this warship from the structural characteristics and armament of the Calais ship.

However, the Calais is actually a slight modification of the original Venetian galley. Strictly speaking, this is still a galley, which is not very suitable for the sea conditions in the Atlantic and North Sea regions.

In fact, Marin's judgment was completely correct. Don't think that the Calais ship is extremely powerful in the windy sea conditions, but the problem is that in the Atlantic Ocean and the English Channel, there are very few times when the wind is light, and most of the time it is still beneficial to the English sailing warship. Therefore, most of the year, the French Calais ships can only hide in the military port, waiting for the arrival of the windy weather, very passive. If it weren't for this reason, the French fleet would have suppressed the British fleet long ago and seized sea power.

Although Marin didn't know this period of history, he also had his own judgment. He believes that in order for the Basilisk Cannon to exert better combat effectiveness, it is necessary to have a ship with better power.

For this reason, Marin decided to send someone to independently develop a sailing boat that is more suitable for the sea conditions of the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. Among them, its sail arrangement will become the most important part. As for the oars, it is more like adding them to a sailboat.

That is to say, its design thinking and the Calais are reversed - the Calais is based on the galley, and the role of the sail is enhanced.

The paddle boat that Marin wants to design is the other way around—it is based on a sailing warship, and it is improved by adding oar positions.

In essence, the Calais is still a galley, but with improved sails; and the sailboat that Marin asked to design is essentially a sailboat, with oars added...

Although there is not much difference between the two literally, the actual difference is still very big. After all, the Calais is an improvement of the galley, and its maneuverability is still insufficient in windy sea conditions.

The paddle boat that Marin ordered to develop is essentially a sailboat. In the case of strong wind, it will not be affected too much, and it is more suitable for use in the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. Likewise, it favors use on the English Channel.

In the future, Marin will annex England. At that time, the North Sea Fleet will directly face the French Calais ship. Therefore, it is very necessary to develop a warship that can restrain the opponent. Even in light windy weather, it must be stronger than the French Calais ship...

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In addition, Marin was very interested in the fighting tactics proposed by Bidusi. This is simply the idea of ​​naval warfare in later generations-using artillery to solve problems and refusing to fight on board.

In fact, the navy of the North Sea State also has this idea. For example, the main warships of the Beihai Kingdom installed a lot of artillery, ready to use vitality to completely eliminate the opponent.

But the problem is that the cost of side gun salvo is too high. After a naval battle, each warship consumed at least several tons of gunpowder alone.

For example, England's famous sailing warship "Victory", every time it goes to battle, it needs to store 35 tons of gunpowder alone, and 120 tons of artillery shells. After a sea battle, not to mention that all the gunpowder and shells are consumed, but more than half of them will still be consumed.

This scale of consumption, even Marin, feels very strenuous. You must know that the ability of later generations of Britons to fire so vigorously is inseparable from their strong national power. When sailing battleships such as the "Victory" entered service, Britain had already entered the stage of the industrial revolution, and the country's strength was far from being comparable to that of Marin, who only relies on farming now.

An industrial country naturally has the confidence to consume gunpowder and iron ball shells. But Marin is still a farming king now, and it’s okay to consume a lot of gunpowder and iron ball shells occasionally, but it’s too much to do this all the time.

Therefore, it is a good choice to learn from the French, get some sailing boats similar to Calais, and equip them with lizard cannons...

...

Regardless of the large caliber of the Basilisk Cannon, the consumption of gunpowder is also high. But the problem is, a battleship is equipped with only one lizard cannon, even if the lizard cannon can't stop firing, the consumption of gunpowder is limited by only one cannon. However, the results were good enough. The warships of various countries in this era have not yet thickened. Once hit by a 50-pound stone bomb, the probability of sinking is very high...

Therefore, from an economic and practical point of view, it is the most cost-effective to use a paddle boat equipped with a basilisk cannon!

Of course, this does not mean that Marin will give up the idea of ​​naval construction of the giant cannon ship. Because that is the mainstream of the future. Strictly speaking, the galleys that use the basilisk cannons are just taking advantage of the loopholes of this era. Taking advantage of the fact that the warships of other countries have not yet been thickened, it is just taking advantage of a wave.

When other countries react, the shipbuilding industry will be affected. Historically, this is how the British Galen ship appeared—it was purely a way of being forced out by the French Calais ship...

In other words, this kind of warship and tactics can only be rampant for a while before other countries have had time to thicken and strengthen the hull. When everyone reacts, this kind of ship will withdraw from the stage of history.

For this reason, Marin doesn't intend to go too far. He directly ordered the craftsmen of the shipbuilding to use the 250-level armed merchant ship as the model to modify it, increase the oar position, thicken the side, and install a basilisk cannon on the bow...

Refitting with a mature ship type will shorten a lot of time. Once the modification is successful, it can be put into use soon.

Marin intends to add 20 modified sailboats first, so that the size of the main battle fleet of the North Sea State will be expanded to 60 ships. In this way, the main battle force of the Beihai Kingdom in the future will become 20 500-ton warships, 20 250-level armed merchant ships, and 20 modified 250-level galleys using basilisk cannons...

Such a naval scale may not be considered a big deal after the 18th century. However, in this era, it is an out-and-out powerful sea power. Especially those 20 250-modified paddle boats equipped with basilisk cannons. If the 20 basilisk cannons are used together, and the 20 battleships also have basilisk cannons... 40 large 50-pound reinforced concrete shells. The caliber artillery can definitely beat the unprepared enemy to pieces...