The range of shrunk and shotgun are very close, only between fifty steps and one hundred and fifty steps, but shrunk and shotgun are extremely lethal to dense targets, and a large number of shots will be shot.

Since shrapnel and shotguns use low-bridge pressure to fire shells, there is no need for long-barrel cannons, only short-barrel howitzers can fire.

This made Zhao Peng create a howitzer with low chamber pressure and high elevation angle. The weight of a 12-pound field gun is more than 1,200 kilograms. A 12-pound howitzer of the same caliber weighs only 220 kilograms. This weight is almost one-sixth of the weight of a field gun of the same caliber. It is very light in weight, but its attack power is not weak. Moreover, the howitzer can not only fire shotguns and shrapnel, but also fire flowering artillery shells.

Because the long-barreled field gun fires shotguns and shrapnels, the amount of the charge of the launching medicine package is reduced. Although the howitzer with elevation angle is loaded less, its range is about the same as the range of the scabbard and shrapnels fired by the field gun. It is between fifty steps and one hundred and fifty steps, and its lethality is almost the same.

The lethality of the flowering artillery shells fired by the twelve-pound howitzer and the flowering artillery shells fired by the twelve-pound field gun are exactly the same, because the flowering artillery shells rely not on the kinetic energy of the launching medicine, but on the energy generated by the explosion of the internal charge of the shells. The explosion power of the same weight of the shells is of course the same. Therefore, when the twelve-pound howitzer fires the flowering artillery shells, the power is the same as that of the twelve-pound field guns.

However, the biggest disadvantage of howitzers is that they are too weak when loading solid shells. Due to the large elevation angle, the amount of launching medicine is small, the chamber pressure is low, and the initial velocity of the shells is low, so it is not easy to form a jumper after the shells land, and the lethality of solid shells to the enemy is very limited. Therefore, howitzers are generally not used to fire solid shells, but to fire three types of shells: flowering shells, shrapnel and socks.

Next, an artillery with a barrel length of almost the same as the diameter. The barrel of this gun is very thick, but the length of the front body of the barrel is comparable to the diameter. There is a piece of thing that extends from the tail of the barrel that looks like a grip of a gun.

Zhao Peng pointed to the cannon and said, "This is a sky-rushing cannon, also known as a mortar cannon. Because it looks like a stone mortar that pounds rice cakes in the south, it can be called a mortar cannon. The cannon barrel of the mortar cannon is the same as the caliber, but there is a narrow medicine room inside the protruding part of the tail, and the cylindrical fixed-loading package is stuffed into the medicine room."

The mortar cannon is placed on a solid hardwood cannon stand with the muzzle facing up to 45 degrees. Although the small medicine room can accommodate a small spray bag and produces a chamber pressure lower than that of a howitzer, due to the forty-five degrees angle, the range of the mortar cannon is not close, but it is farther than that of a field cannon with high chamber pressure.

This is a 64-pound mortar cannon, mainly used when siegeing the city. Not to mention that a strong city like Shanhaiguan can be destroyed, even a battalion designed by Zhao Peng himself can be easily destroyed with a mortar cannon.

The low-short bulwark can effectively defend against the attack of cannons, but the large-caliber bulwark is the nemesis of the bastion. This kind of cannon is the siege cannon provided for Zheng Sen in the future. In the near future, considering the attack on the Dutch-occupied city of Geranzha, Jakarta, and Manila occupied by the Spanish, this kind of cannon is an invincible siege weapon.

The mortar cannon is not equipped with wheels. The mortar cannon that has just been assembled is placed on the gun stand. During transportation, the craftsmen lifted the mortar cannon and placed it on a ox cart. They used the mortar cannon to reach the shooting range with the mortar cannon.

"Pick down the cannon and put it on the ground." Zhao Peng directed the craftsmen to lift the cannon down and put it on the ground.

The craftsmen opened the powder barrel, took out a slender cylindrical fixed charge pack, held the fixed charge pack, directly reached into the muzzle, stuffed the bag into the medicine room at the tail of the gun, and then stuffed a shell into the muzzle. This completed the loading, and the loading speed was very fast. Standing in front of the gun, you could see the shells in the muzzle.

Because the barrel is very short, not only is it fast to load, but when using flowering shells, the medicine twist can be ignited directly at the muzzle, so the technical content of flowering shells fired by the mortar cannon is much lower than that of flowering shells fired by cannons and howitzers. Because the shells of the mortar cannons are very large and weigh 64 pounds, the destructive power is very strong and can be said to be invincible.

Gu Qian

The craftsman stabbed an iron vertebra through the fire door at the tail of the cannon, pierced the medicine bag, inserted a medicine twist, and then ignited the cannon.

Only a dull roar was heard, and a flash of flames flew out of the muzzle, flying into the sky, drawing an arc, and smashing it hard into the sky above the target.

The shells flew out more than three miles and landed above the target.

This bastion, which acts as a target, is a platform for brick-making. The bottom is pounded rammed earth, covered with solid blue bricks. A solid large iron ball weighing down from the sky and hitting the blue bricks. The hard bricks are like tofu dregs, revealing the rammed earth below, and a crack appears on the ground.

The craftsmen who ran to observe the shooting point of the artillery were shocked by the powerful power of the sixty-four-pound mortars. The two apprentices were stunned and it took a long time to come back to their senses: "What a powerful power! Even if the castle is strong, it may collapse after several rounds of artillery attacks."

At the gun position, the apprentices were cleaning the barrel. Because the barrel was short, the process of cleaning the barrel was also very fast. A mop was stuffed into the barrel, cleaned the medicine room inside, and then cleaned it around the inner wall of the barrel. Then, the cylindrical fixed charge pack was stuffed into the medicine room, and then picked up a firing shell and put it into the barrel.

Since the inside of the barrel is inverted conical, the conical tail is a medicine room much smaller than the diameter. After the shell is put in, the medicine room will be automatically sealed. Therefore, the mortar does not need to be sealed with wooden boards, which saves a lot of loading time. The barrel is short and there is no need to use a push rod to push the shell to the bottom. After the shell is put in, it will automatically land on the bottom.

The second shell put into the barrel was a flowering shell. The flowering shell was lighter than a solid shell. The fifty-eight-pound shell contained twenty pounds of new gunpowder. There was a cork tube fuze on the head of the shell, which could cut the fuze tube according to the distance from the target. There were twists and inducers in the fuze tube.

"Let's fire!" With Zhao Peng's order, an apprentice lit the medicine twist in front of the cannon and quickly ran back. Another apprentice lit the medicine twist in the tail fire gate.

A dull roar sound was heard, and a tongue of flame spurted out from the muzzle, and white smoke filled the air, and huge shells flew into the sky with fire. Standing on the ground, you can see the flames coming out of the fuse tube, which looked like a meteor of fire, flying towards the target.

The shells flew nearly four miles and fell above the target and exploded. Only a loud "boom" sounded earth-shaking. A flash of fire and smoke filled the whole earth. The whole earth shook violently and shook for a long time before stopping.

This cannon was extremely powerful, and half of the bastion was blown away. Although this bastion was a temporary target and was not as strong as a regular bastion, the explosive power of this flowering artillery shell was still very amazing.

The successful casting of field artillery, howitzers and mortars shows that the Nanjing New Army is about to have an unprecedentedly powerful artillery unit. With its current technological level, it is impossible to mass-equip the flintlock rifle in a short period of time, so a powerful artillery is needed.
Chapter completed!