There is no problem of aiming with smoothbore rifles, because aiming is useless, so it requires fire coverage, large-scale assembly, and then phalanxes, rows and rows of volleys.
Zhu Youxiao smiled and handed the flintlock rifle to Bi Maokang, saying, "Put it away. It's a very good thing. You have done a good job. I will have someone reward you according to your merits later."
"I thank Your Majesty." Bi Maokang said quickly.
"Pull up your rifled cannons and let me see them." Zhu Youxiao said with a smile.
This was a question that Zhu Youxiao was very concerned about, because once there was a cannon with rifling, it meant that the shells could be fired very quickly and could hit the target very accurately.
Artillery shells that can be aimed are naturally much more powerful.
Of course, smoothbore guns can also be aimed. Later mortars are still smoothbore guns, but they require shells with tail fins to accurately hit the target and calculate the impact point of the shells.
Zhu Youxiao naturally told Bi Maokang about this, and they were also studying it. However, this was more difficult because the cannonball had to be filled with gunpowder and explode after it hit the ground.
Although the Ming Dynasty also had artillery shells that could explode after landing, they definitely could not meet the requirements of mortars, so they had to start research again, and there was no progress for the time being.
The most significant progress was actually in the rifling of artillery. Of course, the scientific and technological workers of the Ming Dynasty were not without their own ideas, for example, they developed a new fire dragon emerging from water.
They adopted the idea proposed by Zhu Youxiao and developed a two-stage launch.
A large amount of gunpowder was loaded in the front, mixed with a lot of porcelain and steel fragments to increase the lethality, and even iron balls. The tail fin was used at the back to stabilize the flight, and it was launched from a launch pad.
No matter how Zhu Youxiao looked at this thing, it looked like a prototype of a missile.
When Bi Maokang presented this idea to Zhu Youxiao, he was really shocked.
Since they wanted to do it, Zhu Youxiao let them do it. However, there has not been much progress for the time being, and there are still many problems that need to be solved.
According to Bi Maokang's design, the new fire dragon adopts a two-stage launch method. The gunpowder in the front is responsible for pushing, and the fire in the back is responsible for blasting, which will produce huge power after the explosion.
The problems that need to be solved now are propulsion, sealing, and the explosion problem upon landing. As for the problem of fixing the tail wing, Bi Maokang and his team have almost solved it and can solve all of this problem.
If Bi Maokang's design could really be manufactured, Zhu Youxiao was still looking forward to its power.
Let’s take a look at the rifled cannon first, as this is something that can be used.
Soon the artillery was pulled up.
The steel frame and wheels are all equipped so that it can be pulled by horses.
There is a small cannon on it. Obviously, the caliber and power of this cannon are not too big. Of course, it is impossible to pull up a large one for the experiment here.
Zhu Youxiao knew from the color of the cannon that it was a bronze cannon, and that the rifling problem had not been solved on the steel cannon. However, Zhu Youxiao believed that it would not last long.
Someone brought over a wooden box, opened the lid, and revealed the shells inside. They were a completely new design of shrapnel shells.
You know, due to the power problem of black powder, shrapnel is not the mainstream nowadays.
The mainstream now is still solid iron bullets, which rely on the inertia of being launched to kill the enemy. They are also used to break dense formations, and are not as powerful as those in later generations.
This newly designed shrapnel shell is intended to be used with new rifled artillery.
Bi Maokang put a lot of thought into this, because in order to match the rifled artillery, round shells would definitely not work. But if long shells were used, they would not roll when they hit the ground, and the solid shells would be meaningless.
Therefore, a new type of shell is needed to match the rifled artillery. The only shell used is the shrapnel shell.
In order to maximize the power of shrapnel, Bi Maokang and his team put a lot of effort into gunpowder.
For example, using granular gunpowder and increasing the concentration of raw materials can make the gunpowder as powerful as possible and produce more fragments from the explosion to increase the power of the shells.
Now this kind of artillery shell is the best that Bi Maokang and his team can make. Its shape is similar to the Minié bullet of later generations. Because it has rifling, its accuracy can also be guaranteed.
Zhu Youxiao quickly walked behind the cannon and looked at it carefully.
This is actually a breech-loading gun, and its design was inspired by the Frankish gun. It is very different from the breech-loading guns of later generations that used fixed gunpowder shells, and it does not look as sophisticated or easy to use.
There is a belly at the back of the cannon. Propellant must be loaded into it each time, and then the propellant is ignited with fire to push out the cast iron shrapnel in front, and at the same time ignite the fuse at the tail of the shrapnel.
After the shell flies out, it will burn in the air and then explode when it hits the ground.
Zhu Youxiao felt that this thing was not very reliable, but it was a direction.
Of course, the difficult problem that needs to be overcome is the metal fixed-rocket shells. As long as the problem of metal fixed-rocket shells can be solved, the power will definitely be raised to a higher level and the rate of fire will definitely be higher.
Even so, this artillery was advanced enough at that time.
"Let's try firing a shot." Zhu Youxiao said to Bi Maokang.
Bi Maokang quickly attacked something not far away.
Two people came over quickly and began to load the artillery.
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