With everything in place, it's time to enter an era of rapid development!
Although lathe technology was not mature enough to manufacture precision guns and cannons, other types of guns and cannons could still be made!
That's artillery!
As far as I can remember, Li Xin learned about Gong Zhenlin's "Illustrated Explanation of Iron Mold Casting Cannons" in his history textbook, which described the manufacture of homemade cannons.
Although it was a muzzle-loading smoothbore cannon, in this era of cold weapons, artillery could certainly play a greater role than thunderclaps.
Immediately, Li Xin searched through the intelligent technology section and found "Illustrated Explanation of Iron Mold Casting Cannons," which he then copied down.
Even the graphics and parameters inside were compared one by one.
The present-day Dongning City has the Dongning Ironworks, the Gunpowder Bureau, the Ordnance Bureau, and the Manufacturing Bureau.
By transferring some technical personnel from these factories and bureaus to form an artillery bureau, they were able to produce iron mold cannons according to the "Illustrated Explanation of Iron Mold Casting Cannons".
Let's do it!
Li Xin, together with He Chaojun, He Tongyuan, Zhang Hong, and others, began searching for qualified personnel.
These talents not only need to be technically skilled, but most importantly, they must be loyal and reliable!
In this era, the very appearance of artillery was bound to cause a great shock to the entire world!
Therefore, secrecy is of utmost importance!
Moreover, it was even more important than gunpowder!
After rigorous screening, about thirty people were initially selected to form the first batch of technical workers for the Artillery Bureau.
Immediately, Li Xin also gave the book "Illustrated Explanation of Iron Mold Casting Cannons" to these skilled workers for study and imitation.
Even the gunpowder bureau cooperated with the artillery bureau in research and production.
The "Illustrated Explanation of Casting Cannons with Iron Molds" divides the cannon barrel into several parts and produces a set of iron molds in advance.
Then, iron molds were used to produce cannons, which not only increased the speed significantly, but also made them much safer than cannons produced by clay molds!
After several days of research and development, the iron mold has been produced.
A batch of high-quality molten iron was also transported from the Dongning Ironworks.
After lining the iron molds with soil, molten iron was poured into several molds.
After a series of sizzling sounds, the red-hot molten iron gradually cooled down.
The next day, after the cannon barrels cooled down, the workers skillfully removed the barrels and then fused them together.
The carpenter also attached the completed gun mount and wheels to the cannon.
In just one or two days, a groundbreaking cannon was born in the Da Gan Dynasty!
Looking at the simple, muzzle-loading smoothbore cannon in front of him, Li Xin's eyes gleamed with a burning light.
"Is the gunpowder ready?"
Li Xin quickly asked.
"Ready!"
The worker replied and then took out several burlap bundles containing gunpowder.
These were also custom-made gunpowder packages produced by the gunpowder bureau under Li Xin's guidance.
"Let's go, let's try it out at the training ground!"
Li Xin said in a deep voice.
Immediately, He Chaojun's Shenji Battalion, carrying this cannon, headed towards the drill ground east of the city.
On the training ground at the edge of the mountains and forests east of the city, cannons were set up on the open ground.
The crowds in the mountains and forests ahead, as well as the area near the drill ground, have been dispersed to ensure absolute secrecy!
After everything was ready, He Chaojun frowned and said, "Load the gunpowder!"
A soldier from the Shenji Battalion filled the cannon barrel with a fixed gunpowder package and gently poked it with a long wooden stick to compact it.
"Load the shells!"
Another soldier loaded a 20-pound solid iron shot into the cannon barrel.
"Prepare!"
The archer, torch in hand, was ready at any moment.
"ignition!"
The torch was brought close to the fuse at the breech of the cannon, and the fuse was ignited.
The fuse hissed, carrying sparks through the gap into the cannon barrel, instantly igniting the fixed propellant charge inside.
boom!
Suddenly, an orange light emanated from the cannon muzzle, and a black shell shot out, heading straight for the distant mountains and forests.
The air was thick with the smell of gunpowder, which was quite pungent.
The loud noise and the force it generated caused the ground to tremble slightly.
Li Xin, on the other hand, squinted as he gazed at the distant mountains and forests.
A short while later, a large flock of birds took flight from the mountains and forests.
Thump!
A muffled sound also came from the direction of the mountains and forests.
Seeing this, Li Xin breathed a long sigh of relief.
"Well done!"
Li Xin couldn't help but exclaim in admiration, "It seems the artillery has been successfully tested!"
Even He Chaojun, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but get excited.
The shells that were just fired, roughly estimated, traveled three or four miles!
Moreover, the fact that the sound could still be heard from such a distance is enough to show just how powerful this cannon was!
If more of these cannons could be produced and equipped in the Shenji Battalion, then when encountering grassland bandits, we wouldn't need to worry about range like with catapults.
Even from beyond their range, they could hit the grassland bandit camp!
This will be a groundbreaking product!
A solid iron shot weighing 10 or 20 pounds, even if it hits a city wall, would probably leave a large hole!
At that time, the siege battle can also yield unexpected results!
The more He Chaojun thought about it, the more excited he became!
He turned to look at Li Xin and said excitedly, "Your Highness, could you produce more cannons and equip them all for our Shenji Battalion?"
In his excitement, He Chaojun noticed Li Xin's calm and composed face.
In a flash, he understood why His Highness had chosen their Shenji Battalion to test the cannons. Perhaps His Highness had long planned to equip the Shenji Battalion with cannons!
"Granted!"
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