It can only be said that the difference in strength between people is too huge. In terms of making guns and cannons, the brothers Zhao Shizhen and Zhang Jian can be called the strongest in the world.

Of course, Mr. Zhao, who is like a kind father, can still point out the direction for his beloved disciple and nephew so that they can avoid detours.

During this era, bronze cannons in Europe were plentiful, of all lengths, thicknesses, and sizes. However, given that there was no fundamental innovation in the design and casting of bronze cannons over the next three hundred years, it is entirely possible to skip over these cannons with strange names and take a look at what the British installed on their sailing warships.

Young Master Zhao activated his innate skill - human brain search, and found that the guns on the British fleet's battleships had not changed much in the past two or three hundred years. They switched back and forth between five calibers: 6 pounds, 9 pounds, 12 pounds, 24 pounds, and 36 pounds. Regardless of the caliber, the length was basically between 3 meters and 3.1 meters.

In addition to these five types of long-barreled cannons, British ships will also be equipped with a carronade derived from a mortar for close combat purposes.

Therefore, the eldest nephew's task was simple yet arduous - to build these five calibers of long-barreled cannons, as well as the thick and short carronades, and then finalize them based on the test results.

At the last moment, Master Zhao thought of the famous Napoleon cannon, and added two more types to Zhao Shizhen's cannon list, allowing him to slowly make them for fun.

Half a year later, Zhao Shizhen wrote a letter to report that all the guns had been trial-produced in ten pieces and had passed a long period of test firing. The conclusions made Zhao Hao a little surprised. Not to mention the Carronade, the Napoleon gun, which was only half the length of the long-barreled cannon, was not inferior to the British naval gun in terms of range, effective range and accuracy.

This somewhat overturned Zhao Hao's cognition. Isn't it said that the longer the barrel, the more accurate the shot?

It seems that the Napoleon Cannon is worthy of being the pinnacle of bronze cannons. It is powerful and fierce!

Moreover, the Napoleon gun has a much faster firing rate than British naval guns. After switching to fixed shells, it can fire four rounds per minute. Excellent!

This is not difficult to understand. The barrel length of a muzzle-loading gun is proportional to the difficulty of loading. The relatively short barrel of the Napoleon cannon is of course very friendly to the loader.

Of course, such rapid firing cannot last long, because the bronze cannon is not heat-resistant and will become soft if fired too quickly, but it is still much faster than the long-barreled cannon.

What’s more important is that the same 12-pound Napoleon gun saves nearly half the copper compared to the British naval gun!

~~

In the naval battles of the Age of Discovery, a large caliber was meaningless, and a larger solid shell could not cause more significant damage than a smaller solid shell. This was also confirmed in Zhao Shizhen's report, which showed that the power of a 24-pound cannon and a 12-pound cannon was almost the same.

Even the accuracy of the shooting was not important, since everyone was shooting at the face, so they could hit the target anyway. Beyond 400 meters, they could not cause any damage to the warships. If the galleons were firing at each other, it would not be too late to fire within 200 meters... The British would only fire within 100 meters. They made the guns longer so that they could more accurately attack targets on the shore.

Therefore, in naval battles, the most important things are actually the rate of fire and the number of guns. The faster and more my guns fire, the greater the damage I can cause you. This is the essence of naval battles throughout the Age of Sail.

Therefore, no matter from which perspective, the 12-pound caliber, which is 117 mm; the Napoleon cannon with a barrel length of 14.3 times the caliber, which is 1.67 meters, is the best choice for shipboard.

After some careful consideration, Master Zhao ordered that the Napoleon cannon be used as the main naval gun, with the first batch of 300 guns produced and named Yongle Cannon.

However, considering that the 12-pound gun weighed 557 kilograms when the Marines were landing, plus the gun carriage weighed several hundred kilograms, easily exceeding 1 ton, it was too heavy to be used as a field gun. Zhao Hao also asked Zhao Shizhen to build 100 6-pound, or 93 mm, small Napoleon guns, and named them Xuande Cannons, as secondary guns and field guns for battleships.

In addition, 100 carronades with a length of 1 meter and a caliber of 145 mm were cast and installed on board as weapons and equipment for the fleet's close defense and anti-personnel killing.

Zhao Hao named this thick and short cannon Hongxi Cannon...how appropriate.

If nothing unexpected happens, the three of them, Big Black, Fatty and Little Black, will be the three main gun types of the Japanese fleet.

~~

That afternoon, Master Zhao inspected the construction project of the Tamra base without stopping.

Compared with the complex functions of Xingang City, the construction of the naval base is much simpler. The docks, windbreak walls, military camps... are currently concentrated near the military port.

In order to accommodate the huge smuggling fleet, the harbor here was originally too large. Windbreaks are much easier to build than breakwaters, so the construction progress here is much faster than that in Xingang City.

Zhao Hao saw that in front of the tall windbreak wall, workers were busy setting up a platform, preparing for tomorrow's garrison establishment and oath-taking ceremony.

"Are you all ready?" he asked a rather meaningless question.

"Everything is ready. Today's rehearsal went smoothly. We can set off at any time!" Wang Rulong, the commander-in-chief of the expedition, responded in a deep voice.

"Have the Portuguese arrived?" Young Master Zhao suddenly asked out of the blue.

"They are here. The reconnaissance ship reported yesterday that they are still anchored in Futianpu, 50 miles south of Pinghu Port. The wind is strong and the waves are rough there, and the port conditions are very average. I don't know why they chose to trade there." Wang Rulong nodded. Only he and a few other people knew that there was another very important reason why the young master scheduled the punitive war against Japan in autumn, which was to wait for these red-haired devils to come.

"They fell out with the Hirado clan." Young Master Zhao said without hesitation, "The conditions of the Omura clan's Fukudaura port are indeed not good, so they are working through the local church to obtain the Omura clan's other port, Fukaeura, which is Nagasaki."

"No wonder the young master wanted me to sweep the coast of Kitakyushu." Wang Rulong suddenly realized, "He also wanted me to announce that the main fleet will arrive soon. Where will the 'Three Lights of Kitakyushu' be? It turns out that he wanted to scare the Omura family and make them ask the Portuguese for help."

As for why Young Master Zhao knew more about Japan than he, the frontline commander, Wang Rulong didn't even bother to think about it - because he was a young master, was there anything in the world that he didn't know?

"How many boats did they come with?" Zhao Hao asked again.

"Three." Wang Rulong immediately presented the sketch drawn by the scout and said, "One is a Fujian ship, and the other two are Western ships. Please take a look, sir."

Zhao Hao took it and examined it carefully. Both ships, one large and one small, were flying complicated Western sails. The larger one had three layers of cannons, with tall forecastle and stern towers. It should be a caravel.

The smaller one only had two layers of guns, no forecastle could be seen, and the stern was also very low, and it was obviously not as majestic as the larger one.

However, Master Zhao stared at it without blinking, his throat trembling noticeably, just like a lustful ghost seeing a naked beauty.

"That's what I've been waiting for! What good luck!" Zhao Hao shouted excitedly, "We can't let it get away!"

"Sir, it's best to set sail tomorrow." Jin Ke reminded in a deep voice: "The Portuguese have come from Macau alone and are deep in the enemy's territory. I'm afraid they are eager to seek benefits and avoid harm. If they know the strength of our fleet, they may weigh anchor and return south."

"Yes, it's very likely." Zhao Hao nodded in agreement and said in a deep voice: "Then as long as the wind direction is right, we will set out tomorrow!"

"Yes!" The two of them responded in a deep voice.

"I will go with you." Mr. Zhao added.

"Think twice, young master..." Jinke Wang Rulong said in unison, "The son of a rich man should not sit in the hall, you must not take any risks."

"No, this expedition is just an excuse. In fact, it is to achieve our multiple goals. I can't rest assured if I don't go to the front line in person." Zhao Hao said decisively: "Don't persuade me anymore, this is an order."

"Yes!" The two of them had no choice but to put their heels together and responded solemnly.

"Don't worry, Brother Wang," Zhao Hao said to Wang Rulong, who had been promoted to junior police inspector, with a smile, "You are still the commander-in-chief. I promise I will not interfere with your operations. I will just bargain with the Japanese."

"Sir, that's not what I meant." Wang Rulong waved his hands quickly. In fact, he was really worried about this, but of course he couldn't say it out loud. "I'm just worried about your safety."

"Don't worry, I will obey your arrangements completely." Zhao Hao gave him a reassurance. What a joke, is there anyone in the world who cherishes his life more than Mr. Zhao? "In front of Brother Jin, I authorize you. If I don't obey your command during the war, you have the right to make me return to the voyage. Is that all?"

Wang Rulong said he dared not, but he finally felt relieved in his heart. Come to think of it, with the young master's wisdom, how could he pretend to know and give orders blindly?

"I am just being overly suspicious."

~~

Early the next morning, a low horn sounded from the military camp below the city.

At the sound of the horn, teams of police officers, wearing exactly the same attire as yesterday, carrying the same large blue thick cotton backpacks, with long rifles slung over their right shoulders and bamboo water bottles covered in blue cloth on their left shoulders, marched in an orderly line towards the dock under the leadership of their direct police officers.

There were also police officers who lined up empty-handed without any luggage. They were responsible for staying at the base.

A quarter of an hour later, the 4,000 police officers from the entire security zone lined up neatly in front of the dock.

The dock was completely silent, and there was not even a cough among the four thousand people.

This is not easy because among the 4,000 police officers, only 1,500 are coast guards who were transferred from the security team and have undergone long-term rigorous training.

The remaining 2,500 people were sailors of Jiangnan Shipping for several months. They were transferred to the garrison area in July and began to receive military training from Director Tong.

Director Tong has great powers. After two months, he has injected a lot of spirit into them. At least when they stand at attention, they look no different from the experienced police officers.

Seeing this scene, Director Tong, who was holding the pitch-black spirit infusion stick, nodded with satisfaction.

He was not wearing a cape, revealing his slim-fitting dark blue tunic with a large lapel and short, flowing sleeves.

There were three silver ribbons on Yesa's sleeves, just like the three silver stars on his helmet, both indicating his status as a senior police inspector.

This time, Director Tong will also go with the army to urge the new police officers to intensify their training while performing their tasks, and will always inspire them with spirit!

With him staring at them with a fierce look in his eyes, who would dare to make a sound?

ps. This is the third update, please vote for me! ! ! !