Lin Hai once again carefully described his needs for propellant. After Lin Hai gestured to show what he thought the size of the explosive packaging tube and the size and length of the launch tube should be, Wang Maoduan shook his head like a rattle.

"Uncle, why don't you continue to scold me? I really can't do this." Wang Maoduan chose to give up.

"Tell me, what's the difficulty?" Lin Hai had completely calmed down at this time and decided to spend some time to see if he could solve the problem.

"First, you said this thing called a 'bullet shell' must be seamless and must be formed in one piece. Our hydraulic press can barely do that, but it can't make every one of them exactly the same as you said. We can only say they look similar, but when you really think about it, each one is definitely different.

And as you said, if the shell is made so thin, I'm afraid it won't be able to withstand the explosion of the explosives inside. The reason we made the shell very thick is because during the experiment a few days ago, the shell exploded and injured many people."

"Then...what if it's made of steel?"

"That's also difficult to do, and we have to make a hole in the shell. Otherwise, how are we going to ignite the explosives? We don't have a clue about the substance you mentioned that ignites on impact. But if we use pure nitroglycerin, we can make it ignite on impact..."

"If pure nitroglycerin was used, I believe what happened a few days ago would not have been just an accident. I am not here to have a meeting with you today, I am here to visit your grave..." Lin Hai said unhappily.

However, Lin Hai also understood that he had made a misunderstanding.

Just because you develop explosives doesn't mean you can make a gun that uses explosives as propellant.

On the surface, it seems that I skipped gunpowder and got dynamite, and technology can develop in leaps and bounds, but this is actually forced out. It does not mean that I have obtained some golden fingers that can directly click on the technology tree.

Therefore, the development of metallurgical technology was not up to standard, and there was no substance similar to fulminate of mercury, so it was a dream to make a firearm with breech-loading fixed ammunition.

You must wake up from a dream.

Of course, Lin Hai certainly couldn't admit he was wrong: "I can't do this, and I can't do that... Let me give you a simpler task. Can you do it?"

"Please advise Qinghebo."

"Give up the idea of ​​cartridge cases and launch tubes. Just make the cartridge case bigger and thicker. Won't it explode if it's thin? A thicker one will be fine, right? Then use the cartridge case as a launch tube and directly stuff the projectile we want to launch inside. That way, when the explosives go off, the projectile will fly out.

You can make one first and try it out, then we can compare it with the counterweight trebuchet to see which one is more suitable."

That being said, Lin Hai knew that the oldest muzzle-loading cannon was no match for the counterweight trebuchet. While the maximum range of the oldest muzzle-loading cannon and the counterweight trebuchet was similar—the online novels he'd read said both were around 300 meters—the counterweight trebuchet could hurl explosive packs, while the oldest muzzle-loading cannon could only fire iron balls.

The gap between the two is huge.

However, the counterweight trebuchet can only attack in a curved direction, similar to the mortar of later generations, while the muzzle-loading cannon can fire horizontally and can pose a threat to walls, especially city gates, so it is still worth studying. What's more, the counterweight trebuchet is already the pinnacle of trebuchets, and there is huge room for development of cannons, at least in Lin Hai's cognition, there is no end, so such research cannot stop.

"If I follow Lord Bo's instructions, I can give it a try. However, if I really do that, we will consume a lot of raw materials. Steel is not a big deal, but the key is copper..."

Wang Maoduan looked embarrassed.

"What's wrong with copper?" Lin Hai was puzzled. "Given the priority of your laboratory, is there anyone who can embarrass you?"

"Well, a small amount of copper is fine, but I heard that you, Lord, have arranged that most of the copper be supplied to Laboratory No. 1. It will be difficult for me to obtain a large amount of copper."

In order to maintain confidentiality, Lin Hai implemented a three-person management system for the laboratory. The site was arranged inside the arsenal, with the arsenal responsible for daily management. The Science and Technology Department, headed by Lin Hai himself (currently there is only Lin Hai, and his main job is to write down the scientific and technological development content that Lin Hai has not forgotten), provided technical guidance, and the industrial zone was responsible for raw material control.

Each laboratory only has a code name to the outside world, and they don’t know what each other is researching.

For example, Wang Maoduan’s laboratory is Laboratory No. 2, which mainly studies the use of explosives to make a new generation of weapons, while Laboratory No. 1 is the electrical power laboratory that Lin Hai has been thinking about.

Well, that's a problem, a big problem.

Although Wang Maoduan had not conducted experiments yet, Lin Hai clearly remembered that the earliest cannons were made of copper.

"Well, Zhen'er, please remember this for me and go back to check if there are any copper mines in Cambodia." This is Lin Hai's responsibility. There is no other way. He must find a way to help the laboratory get copper.

"Why not try buying it from the Chen Dynasty or the Empire?" Shi Zhener quickly took out her small notebook and wrote it down.

"We definitely have to try, but during the war, precious metals were strictly controlled by all countries. Direct purchases probably wouldn't be possible, and smuggling alone wouldn't yield much either."

From the last time we melted down the confiscated copper coins, we discovered that most of the copper in each country was used to mint coins. To balance the finances during the war, the courts of various countries had added lead to an insane level, to the point that some coins would break at the slightest touch. This showed that each country was also in a serious copper shortage.

However, if Cambodia has copper mines, it is not impossible to think of a way to solve this problem.

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