The prices of iron and copper are several times different. If they were placed in the Southern Song Dynasty, which lacked copper, it would have to be high. However, Hong Tao did not have the data of these artillery. They were just test items and needed to be finalized before they could be produced on a large scale and then loaded. This work is very cumbersome and important, and he must be watched by himself. Qi Zu and those craftsmen were the great heroes of Jinhewan. It was because of them that he helped him and the entire Jinhewan system through a major crisis!

With the warship equipped with artillery, Hong Tao really dared to say that he was invincible in the oceans. As long as he was close to the ocean, he would be his own territory. Compared with grenade launchers, although the launches are all kinds of things, the power of the cannon is obviously many times greater. The range is the most important. Even if the slingshot is large, it is impossible to throw the grenade one or two kilometers away. However, the cannon can be easily achieved. With the range, the attack methods are diversified. Originally, they could only attack enemy ships by hanging fire, but now they can be replaced with solid bullets and direct shooting. The efficiency will be much higher and the attack distance will be much longer. For our own ships, it is safer.

Once these cannons were equipped, the problem of going south or going north that was annoying Hong Tao would be less difficult. Destroying cities with cannons is much more efficient than using grenade launchers, and it is more deterrent. You can use a shorter time to pacify Jawa Island, and then turn around and go north to make trouble for the Mongols. And when you go again this time, you won’t be afraid of those powerful crossbows and catapults. Even if you spray each other face to face, they are not opponents.

Throughout May, Hong Tao basically did not show up in Jinhewan. He had been lying in the dense forest on the south bank, even with craftsmen. He spent every day with the rumbling explosions, and his ears were a little bit back. This effort was not without reward. By mid-June, the three cannons were officially finalized and entered the production stage.

The 155mm howitzer, 285 cm long and 18 times the diameter, is 2,100 kg in total. It uses a standard medicine package (3.5 kg) to launch a solid bullet weighing 12 kg. It can penetrate 30 cm thick hardwood boards at a distance of 200 meters, and the effective direct shooting distance is 300 meters; it can launch a hollow flowering grenade with the same diameter for up to three kilometers.

The 135mm howitzer, 253 cm long, 18 times the diameter, and the total weight is 1,560 kilograms. A standard medicine bag (two kilograms) is used to launch solid bullets weighing 8 kilograms. It can penetrate 20 cm thick hardwood boards at a distance of 200 meters, and the effective direct shooting distance is 300 meters; the hollow flowering bullet with the same diameter can also hit about three kilometers.

An 80mm howitzer, 160 cm long, 20 times the diameter, and a total weight of 410 kilograms. It can fire grenades and shotguns, directly shooting within 200 meters, and hoisting targets within one kilometer.

Hong Tao planned to use these three types of cannons in different places. The 155 heavy cannons were installed on the bottom gun deck of the Jinhe River, with a total of 32; the upper gun deck was twenty-four 135mm caliber artillery. One advantage of this configuration is that it makes the hull's center of gravity lower and has better seaworthiness. Don't underestimate these cannons. A 155mm cannon with a gun cart, with a single weight of nearly three tons, and a thirty-two cannons is 96 tons. A 135mm cannon with a gun cart. A single weight of two tons is also two tons, and twenty-four cannons are nearly fifty tons. In addition, hundreds of tons of shells, dozens of tons of gunpowder, and dozens of additional gunners. If it weren't for a large ship like the Jinhe River with a displacement of thousands of tons, it would not be able to be equipped with so many large-caliber artillery.

The Jiaosha class cannot be equipped with a 155mm caliber cannon on a large scale. It can only place seventeen 135mm cannons on each side, and then install two 80mm small cannons at the stern of the ship.

The 80mm howitzer is not specially designed for warships. It is a dual-purpose naval and land warfare gun, which can provide certain firepower support for the Marines after landing. With crossbows and land mines alone, Hong Tao felt that the Marines' offensive ability was not enough. It would be perfect if there was a small cannon that could be carried. The naval cannon was too heavy and the Marines could not lead it, so he specially made a small cannon that was not too powerful, had a range not too far, but was enough to use a horse to drag it out. Install it on a two-wheeled cannon. As long as the ground was not too rugged and potholes, one or two horses could drag it away.

This thing can not only attack the enemy's fixed target, but also provide firepower support to the Marines. After installing a shotgun, it can have a killing distance of more than 100 meters. If you encounter a small group of cavalry of the enemy, three or four cannons will fire at one volley, and there will be basically no one on the other side. Of course, this is not for the Marines and the enemy to fight face to face. If you encounter a large-scale cavalry, you can fire once after entering the range, and then someone rushed over. The Marines are special forces squads used by Hong Tao to steal chickens and dogs. You can bully small towns without preparation. Catching individuals to set fire is their serious job. They cannot fight on large-scale battles. Hong Tao does not plan to go to the land to push against the Mongolian cavalry. That is not a fool's way of defeating the enemy's strengths.

Relying on Jinhewan's current capabilities, we will start construction with all our efforts and be able to cast about eighteen gates in a month. It will take another year to match all warships with artillery...

Why is it so slow? It is so slow? It can be made more sand molds and there is no shortage of raw materials. But the cast cannon will have to be cooled naturally for twenty days. Don’t worry, the cooling cannon must be polished and smooth the burrs in the cannon chamber. It can only be used after a full-charge test. But the slowest reason is not these processes, but the yield rate is too low. How much is it? 70%! It is not 70% finished product, but 70% waste! If you cast ten cannons, three cannons can be used, which means God is open to the eye. The rest are all waste products and they have to be refurbished.

Why are there so many waste products? It is very simple, and there is no suitable cooling method. Relying on natural cooling alone can easily cause the shrinkage range of inside and outside the gun body to be inconsistent, and then cracks and deformation occur. You cannot use water or other things to help, otherwise it will crack faster because the gun body is too thick, and the surface suddenly shrinks when it is cold, but the inside is still hot. Hong Tao learns heat treatment and also involves how to cool metals. He has some methods to completely solve this problem, but these methods require very strict tests and tests and cannot be used in a short period of time.

Qi Zu and the others are all busy casting cannons, and they don’t have much time and manpower to study this new technology with Hong Tao. Hong Tao can only draw the principles and rough illustrations of this technology and leave it to Qi Zu. When he has time, he will think about it carefully. Now he should use the old method to cast it. One more is one, so use it urgently!

In addition, just casting cannons is not enough, and the production capacity of gunpowder and artillery shells has to be accelerated. In the past, the launch of grenades was ejected by launchers, and only physical strength was required, not gunpowder. Now, every time a shell was broken, a few kilograms of gunpowder were burned out, and the demand for gunpowder increased several times in an instant.

But no matter how difficult it is, it must be made. This is the roar made by Hong Tao at the board of directors! He also used the actual situation to convince some directors who felt sorry for the raw materials and told them what kind of dilemma Jinhewan will face in the next few years. Without the powerful weapon of artillery, he would not be able to consolidate his position as Jinhewan and would not be able to obtain more resources for Jinhewan. It was that simple, Hong Tao had already begun to threaten people by giving up the lead.

This is also impossible. The board of directors is really a board of directors. Although everyone still respects Hong Tao's contribution to Jinhewan, some directors have begun to consider the interests of the group. Not everything is nodded and agreed by Hong Tao, at least you have to give them a reasonable explanation.

Hong Tao was not idle, nor was the Southern Song Dynasty court. Judging from the news that he was sent back from the whaling ship in Lin'an every two months, the Southern Song Dynasty court did not intend to make Hong Tao too leisurely. They felt that Hong Tao was so capable that he could not show his ability to deal with the Mongols and Southeast Asians, so they had to get into it and add some difficulty to Hong Tao.

"Fuck! I really don't know how many bowls of dry rice I'll eat. I dare to think about such a difficult thing? Lao Wen, look, what did your court do? They are going to exhaust me!" In early July, Hong Tao, who had been busy fiddling with artillery in Jinhewan, suddenly appeared in Ximaozhou, pulled Wen Nan out of the classroom of the Navigation Academy and threw him a piece of paper.

What is written on the paper? If Hong Tao doesn't translate it, no one can understand it. It is full of small black dots, small horizontal lines and English letters. This is another unique skill of Hong Tao, the unique skill of this era, Morse code!

Since Luo Youde's shop opened in major cities in Southern Song Dynasty, such as Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Lin'an, Hong Tao sent out a few children from the first to learn modern knowledge with him and asked them to go to Luo Youde's shop as accountants. In fact, their main business was not to settle accounts, but to become Hong Tao's intelligence officers. They regularly wrote the information they collected about the changes in the Southern Song Dynasty's court's policy and the war situation in the north in a secret code, and then brought back by the fast ships that transported whale oil goods to each store. At present, this intelligence website can only be installed in coastal cities because Luo Youde has no shops in the mainland. However, since last year, Luo Youde has also opened a whale oil shop in Jiankang City, and Hong Tao's intelligence officers have followed him. As long as Luo Youde's shop is open, Hong Tao's intelligence officers will follow him.
Chapter completed!