Volume 4 is in the ascendant Chapter 469 Times Have Changed
Bang——Pu La La La——
A cannon blast was followed by a series of collision sounds that seemed quite scattered compared to the sound of the shells breaking and falling to the ground.
I saw small iron beads with a diameter of half an inch "spraying" out of the barrel.
In the end, we chose three feet for one meter and ten inches for one foot, instead of continuing to choose the decimal system between feet and meters. After all, the concept of feet is more deeply rooted.
The range of the cannon's "shotgun shells" is far less than that of solid bullets, but after the fine shotgun shells are sprayed out, they can directly turn the enemies within a hundred meters in front into sieves.
Also under the elastic force, shotgun shells can also play a "splashing" effect, further increasing the impact area...
The cavalry commanded by Gao Shun were severely beaten before they approached the "safety line"!
If it was a normal general's command, even if there were five men with one leader and all the grassroots generals, they would definitely be completely defeated now. Only Gao Shun's restraint ability could force micro-management and stop the chaos. After three bombardments, the experimental cavalry was reduced by more than half, and Gao Shun's micro-management was greatly improved...
Under Gao Shun's forceful control, the experimental cavalry slowly entered the safe range, and this round of experiments was declared over!
Bai Tu then said: "In fact, there is another kind of artillery shell. Zhongda was too decisive just now and did not give Yuanzhi the chance to use it. We can let him try it out." As he spoke, Bai Tu asked the messenger to pass the message to Xu Shu.
Then Xu Shu demonstrated it again in the air. It was still with small pellets, but this time they were in a thin iron barrel as big as a cannonball, and the elevation angle when fired was greater than that of a shotgun shell.
This is called "grapeshot".
Compared with shotgun shells, grapeshot remains a whole when it is fired out of the barrel. It will disperse after being fired for a certain distance or even after colliding with the target.
Therefore, although the range is closer than solid bullets, it is much farther than shotgun shells. However, the attack range is also much smaller than shotgun shells, and its nature is between the two.
However, Gao Shun charged without hesitation, and showed no signs of retreating or wandering under the strong restraints, so the grapeshot for the medium-range attack was not used...
As for high-explosive bombs, or shrapnel bombs, the Ministry of Industry has been trying them before. Unfortunately, because the difficulty of ignition has not been solved and the stability is too poor, the cost-effectiveness is not high at present.
The traditional "shrapnel bullet" in history actually originated at about the same time as solid bullets. Shrapnel bullets were not only found in the West, but also in the Ming Dynasty in the East.
However, the principle of this kind of primitive shrapnel shells is that there is also a fuse in front of the shell. After loading, the fuse of the shell is ignited from the muzzle, and then the gunpowder that fires the shell is ignited from the back...
If the timing is not properly controlled, the bullet will either not explode or burst. This type of shrapnel bullet can now be produced by the Ministry of Industry, but the burst rate is as high as 1%.
Don't underestimate 1%. For an individual, no one will keep doing something with a 1% casualty rate, but artillery firing shells is not something that needs to be done once or twice, but continuously.
A burst rate of up to 1% is enough to completely destroy the morale of the artillerymen, and even the firing of ordinary artillery shells is greatly affected.
Historically, neither the Ming Dynasty nor the West relied heavily on traditional shrapnel bombs. It was not until the emergence of wooden tube fuses, a delayed fuse that could be ignited by the heat when the shells were fired, that high-explosive bombs returned to the vision of the great powers and quickly became mainstream.
However, advanced armor-piercing bullets made from solid bullets have never been outdated. After all, even though they are less effective in killing soldiers, their ability to damage fortifications and armor is irreplaceable.
During World War II, the Chinese army suffered from the fact that there were too many shrapnel shells and too few armor-piercing shells, which resulted in them sighing at the wall . Although they were clearly the invaded party, they could only tear down the wall.
The reason why high-explosive bombs quickly became popular was not to kill infantry, but because some powers at that time had not yet fully replaced their armored ships and still had a large number of wooden warships.
Solid bullets are enough to penetrate wooden warships, but in naval battles, the sealed compartments at the bottom of the ship must be destroyed in order to completely sink the enemy. Otherwise, even if the upper cabin is torn to pieces and the deck is smashed, as long as the sealed compartments are not flooded, there is a chance to regroup and fight again.
When using solid bullets to hit the part below the sea surface, it will be blocked by the sea water and the effect will be poor. Only when it hits a position just above the waterline and low enough, it will be considered a "critical hit".
High-explosive bombs can explode after falling on the deck, and there is a chance that they will damage the sealed cabin below, thus becoming a powerful weapon for destroying wooden warships.
That was also the only stage when high-explosive bombs completely outperformed armor-piercing bombs. Soon all countries discovered this and replaced their ships with armored ones.
If the armored ships bombarded each other, the firepower of the high-explosive bombs at that time would be like scratching an itch, and it was more targeted at the sailors.
So everyone switched back to firing solid bullets, or armor-piercing bullets, until later, when torpedoes were invented, and the ability to directly attack underwater parts appeared, it occupied half of the naval battles again...
Bai Tu roughly knew the principle of delayed twisting, but he didn't know what material or thing it was, so he just provided ideas to the Ministry of Industry. Currently, the Ministry of Industry is still conducting continuous experiments.
It can also be seen at this time that the technology of the Chu State still had a considerable gap compared to the leading powers in the 18th century - not only did it have shortcomings in many aspects, but also... its understanding of the properties of various materials, or the "information" it had, was far inferior to that in the era when steamships went to sea one after another.
After all, one has accumulated talents in various fields, while the other relies on hard drives to continuously jump into technology...
Especially now Pang Tong's energy is still on the Qi machine. Yu Ji is doing the work of delaying the ignition and improving the gunpowder, so the efficiency will be lower.
Yu Ji's strategy of "drawing talismans" can be used for extraction, and "alchemy" can be used for efficient chemical reactions and analysis of the properties of substances, so in this regard, he does have unique advantages.
However...compared with Pang Tong, even though they are both SSR, it is only the difference between T5 and T0!
Yu Ji had thought about looking at it from a different perspective than delayed detonation. For example, he could use Qi-sensitive substances and then use Qi to detonate the weapon in the future.
For this purpose, I went to discuss it with Huang Yueying, who was in charge of Qi weapons, but... Huang Yueying directly rejected it.
Use true qi to detonate?
It is indeed very convenient, but the problem is that as long as the opponent's general sweeps away his true energy, the shell will explode halfway!
Therefore, shrapnel shells are not actually used in the Ministry of Industry at present, and the artillery of the Chu State are all long, straight, black "mountain cannons" suitable for mobility. The bulky, short and thick "mortars" have not been put into use either.
When seeing the performance of the artillery, except for Lu Bu who had seen it before and even reached out to take it, the other generals were surprised and showed complex expressions of excitement and uneasiness.
The excitement naturally came from the thought that if the Chu State had this weapon and equipped the army with it... Plate armor? What kind of plate armor?
I was also worried about the fact that the Chu State had this weapon...
What they were worried about was not that the artillery would hurt themselves, but... if the artillery changed the tactical environment too drastically, would it make the familiar battlefield become unfamiliar?
The loud noises seemed to be the sound of the shackles of time being broken...
Can what I have learned before really support me in future battles?
Fortunately, the Baigong Cannon had been very effective before, so it’s not that no one has thought of using catapults in normal combat. So although these artillery pieces are superior to catapults in all aspects, it’s still possible to adapt to them in advance!
As for the direct threat of artillery, it was nothing to everyone present except a few who were not military generals.
Even in the chaos of an army, it is very easy to dodge, which is much less threatening than the cold arrows shot by experts. Even... as a general, taking one or two solid bullets is just "uncomfortable". The more powerful generals such as Lu Bu, Sun Ce, etc., can completely take them with their faces when they are in a state of divine power!
After everyone asked questions, Lu Bu also explained: "I have tried it before. Cannons, like other weapons, have little effect on the divine power state."
The divine power of transcendent generals , whether it is Lu Bu's "Ghost God" or Zhao Yun's "Dragon Gallbladder", will be further immune to damage from non-generals.
Unlike the "Jade and Gold Warriors' own defense is higher than the Gilded Warrior", in the Divine Power state, it is more like he has additional immunity to ordinary damage.
The heavy arrows shot by Huang Zhong were almost as powerful as solid bullets, so Lu Bu still had to be careful. However, Lu Bu could really take the solid bullets fired by the artillery...
However, only Sun Ce, Zhao Yun, and Huang Zhong nodded slightly to Lu Bu's "experience", while the others ignored him completely - Godly general? What does it have to do with us?
Which general who is invited to be evaluated is not a veteran of hundreds of battles?
Even Sun Ce has battlefield intuition that rivals any famous general...
Although they were in shock, the questions everyone asked seemed very professional. From the cost of artillery or the equipment rate, durability, mobility, manufacturing cycle, to safety and the difficulty of artillery training, one straight question after another was asked.
Yu Ji, who was in charge of the artillery, also began to answer everyone's questions using information and schematic diagrams on the whiteboard .
The safety of Chu's artillery is currently guaranteed. As long as it is not operated in violation of regulations and is not in service beyond its service life, the artillery burst rate is less than 1% - the one percent here does not refer to the probability of a shell bursting, but the probability of a barrel bursting. This means that the proportion of artillery that has reached the limit on the number of uses and has been successfully retired is over 99%!
Of course, if the operation is carried out in violation of regulations, such as not properly cleaning the barrel after firing, or excessive loading of gunpowder, or poor daily maintenance, the chance of barrel explosion will naturally soar.
As for the service limit, according to the Ministry of Industry's suggestion, the new gun can fire solid bullets 5,000 times from the time it is put into use...
Each shot of shotgun is counted as 20 solid bullets, and each shot of grapeshot is counted as 5 solid bullets.
The shotgun shells scatter inside the barrel, so they cause severe wear and tear on the barrel. Of course... the artillery phalanx itself should not be often approached to the point where it needs to use shotgun shells!
