Chapter 130 Folang Machine Cannon

Author: Fat Bird Goes First

Chapter 130 Folang Machine Cannon

Captain Alfonso was stunned for a moment, not realizing the seriousness. He took Su Ze to the gun room.

This armed "merchant ship" was built in Manila. Because it had to travel to the New World, it had sufficient firepower.

This ship adopts a side gun room design. When preparing for an artillery battle, a ship with this design only needs to turn the ship's rudder and face the enemy ship with its side, and then use the side salvo to bombard the target.

The New World has three gun rooms on the left and right sides, with a total of six guns.

Su Ze excitedly opened the gun room and saw only a Franco machine gun lying on the gun mount.

Sure enough, there is a cannon!

[You can learn the skill "Cannon Shooting" in the gun room where you found it. Do you want to learn it? 】

"study!"

It was these Western businessmen who brought the Folan cannon to the Ming Dynasty. These guns were originally naval guns!

Su Ze walked up to the cannon and touched the barrel of the cannon. He was so excited that someone would come to give him a pillow when he fell asleep!

The price of blunderbuss is not high, but a Folang machine gun costs twenty or thirty taels of silver.

Money is second, the key is that Su Ze can’t buy it at all!

Now someone came to the door, and Su Ze naturally couldn't let it go. He looked at the Folang machine gun carefully. This kind of rear-mounted artillery can actually only be regarded as a transitional weapon.

Because of the casting technology problems of this era, the Franco machine gun is a breech-loading smoothbore cannon, consisting of a barrel, a belly and a sub-cannon.

When firing, load the powder and projectiles into the sub-cannon, then put the sub-cannon into the belly of the cannon, aim with the front sight and rear sight on the barrel, ignite the sub-cannon fire door and launch the projectiles.

In fact, the Fo Lang machine gun had already appeared in the Ming Dynasty during the Zhengde period. At that time, it was called the "Invincible General Cannon" in the Ming Dynasty.

Wang Yangming once wrote an article "Book of the Legacy of Fo Langji", which tells the story of how he put down the rebellion of Ning Wang Chenhao and had people cast the Folang cannon overnight.

However, although the Ming Dynasty court has begun to manufacture Folan cannons, that is a matter for the imperial court. A small coastal guard station like Changning Guard will never be able to share the Folan cannons cast by the court.

Although Su Ze longed for artillery, he also had a clear understanding of the power of the Folan cannon.

Although it is boasted as powerful in various time-travel novels, in reality the power of this kind of cannon is limited.

The reason is also very simple. The shooting of the breech-loaded sub-cannon looks very sci-fi, but in fact this design sacrifices the air tightness of the artillery.

The air tightness is insufficient, and the amount of explosives must not be too much. Compared with the Hongyi cannon introduced to the Ming Dynasty later, the power of the Folan cannon is really far behind.

But now Su Ze has no choice. More advanced than the Franco cannon is the Hongyi cannon, which is a front-loaded smoothbore cannon that has already appeared in Europe at this time.

But the Portuguese were so poor that they simply could not afford this new type of firearm.

It would have to wait until the seventeenth century for the Hongyi cannon to enter China.

Forget it, people still can't be too greedy.

These six Folan cannons are advanced enough for the Changning Guard.

Su Ze stroked the Fran cannon, causing Captain Alfonso on the opposite side to feel a chill.

Isn't this Ming officer a pervert?

Su Ze waved his hand and said to Captain Alfonso:

"Captain Alfonso, first tow the New World back to our dock in Changningwei, and then we can make a long-term plan!"

Captain Alfonso wanted to resist, but now the ship had run aground and could not move.

Captain Alfonso wanted to move, but when he saw the black hole of the bird's gun, he swallowed his words of protest.

Captain Alfonso could only accept his fate and obey Su Ze's "suggestion".

There are more than 70 crew members on the New World. Among them, like Alfonso, only five are from Portugal and two priests are from France. The identities of the remaining crew members are complicated.

Among them are chief mates who are mixed descendants of Portuguese and local natives from Goa, Cambodian sailors from Southeast Asia, Malacca watchmen, Gujaratis, Luzonites, Bengalis, Champas and Nanyang Chinese sailors.

.

This was very surprising to Lin Mojun, who had never seen a Western ship before. She had never seen so many different skin colors of people.

However, the entire cabin of the New World was stinky, and the crew and sailors were also dirty. Considering the various horrific infectious diseases in this era, Su Ze suggested that Lin Mojun place them near Changning Guard.

on a small island.

Su Ze also asked people to prepare anti-virus lime, and ordered the sailors to burn all their clothes, and asked them to clean them before giving them cotton clothes.

Special people were sent to deliver food and water. Although Captain Alfonso expressed strong protest, Su Ze still detained the crew at Changning Guard.

Lin Mojun asked with some confusion:

"Should these Western barbarians be reported to the Haido Yamen?"

Su Ze looked at the New World anchored outside the dock. He was reluctant to hand over the ship to the Fujian Haido Yamen!

The New World is a 400-ton ocean-going ship!

Compared with the New World, Changningwei's Fortune Ship was really too small.

If the New World had not been stranded, there is no telling whether Changningwei could have captured the New World!

How could Su Ze give up this fat meat that was delivered to his door?

The entire New World is made of high-quality teak, which is a good shipbuilding wood produced in Southeast Asia. And because this ship has to cross the Pacific, the materials used are very solid, and they are all trees that are more than several decades old.

The finest shipbuilding wood that has been dried for ten years!

In fact, during the Ming Dynasty, the firearm technology of the Ming Dynasty was not lagging behind. After discovering the lethality of Western firearms, the Ming court soon introduced imitation firearms.

The truly backward shipbuilding technology of the Ming Dynasty.

When Zheng He sailed to the West, the Ming Dynasty could still build large ships for ocean voyages, but now, few of the Ming Dynasty's maritime guards still have docks.

Not only were they unable to build ships, many warships lacked effective maintenance. For example, the Changning Guards originally had two large ships worth 500 pieces each. Later, they began to dismantle the large ships into medium-sized ships. Some guards simply had only small ships left.

However, in this era, because artillery has not yet widened the gap between generations, the Ming Dynasty can still protect its maritime borders by relying on small boats.

For example, in the Tuen Mun naval battle between the Portuguese and the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty used fireships and ship-jumping tactics to defeat the Portuguese fleet, making the Portuguese dare not use force to compete for the Ming Dynasty's port.

This is also similar to the tactics adopted by the Ottomans in the Indian Ocean. In an era when artillery had not yet formed an absolute advantage, relying on lit fireships (Greek fire) and the flexibility of small boats, such land-power powers could still ensure their own

Maritime security.

However, as the involution of maritime warfare technology intensified, various new shipbuilding technologies emerged one after another. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing army could no longer resist the powerful ships and artillery of the great powers.

The Ming Dynasty's ships, including Changningwei's Fu Ship, and Western sailing ships are two different technical routes.

The ships of the Ming Dynasty basically traveled in coastal areas, where the wind was relatively gentle and required relatively high wind control performance. Therefore, the ships of the Ming Dynasty all had hard sails and fore-and-aft sails, but Western sailing ships have developed complex soft sails and square sails.

During the Ming Dynasty, sea-going ships rarely sailed across oceans. After the Longqing Switch, most sea-going ships went as far as the Strait of Malacca. These waters are rocky and shallow, and are more similar to inland sea navigation, so small and medium-sized flat-bottomed ships are sufficient for navigation.

At this time, Western sailing boats with complex sails and large bodies that are difficult to control are at a disadvantage.

For example, during the Battle of Tuen Mun, the Ming army took advantage of the mobility problem of Portuguese warships that were not easy to turn around and won the victory through fire ships.

But the Ming Dynasty ships had a major flaw, and that was the cannon.

The Ming Dynasty's hull structure had a shallow draft and the deck timbers were not tight enough to withstand the recoil of the naval guns. If the ship was not strong, it would naturally be disadvantageous for the guns.

This New World is a treasure to Su Ze.

But treasures are treasures. On ships sailing on the sea these days, I don’t know what kind of dirty things they carry with them.

You must know that the Black Death that swept across Europe was the plague spread through rats on ships. Who knows what terrible infectious diseases these guys have.

Su Ze ordered the New World to stop on the sea outside the dock, spread lime on the deck, and wait until some time later to board the ship and dismantle the Franco cannon.

At the same time, Su Ze also severely punished these little carrots like Lin Liangjun and prohibited them from getting close to the New World.

Next is this harvest. According to today's maritime rules, the New World and the goods on board are the spoils of Changning Guard.

Su Ze was not worried at all about the Portuguese coming to seek revenge. There was no long-distance communication technology these days, and sailing at sea was inherently risky. There were too many ships that sank in storms at sea.

The Portuguese would not know that the New World was captured by Changning Guard. As long as they watched Captain Alfonso and his party, this ship belonged to Changning Guard!

The food on the ship is also an asset of Changning Guard. In addition, the six boxes full of spices are a huge income!

Peppers from Sumatra and cloves from the Maluku Islands were very popular goods in the Ming Dynasty!

It's a pity that this thing cannot be sold in Nanping County.

The reason is naturally because there are not many sales of these luxury goods in Nanping County.

If you want to sell these things, you can either go to Fuzhou City, the provincial capital of Fujian, or go to Yuegang, the smuggling base on the southeast coast.

It looks like he is going on a long trip.

Su Ze made some calculations, and after returning to Changningwei from school in mid-July, Su Ze planned to go to Yuegang.

In addition to selling the stolen goods, Su Ze also needs to buy more muskets.

He wanted to improve the musket, or make his own cannon at Changning Guard, which would also require more materials and equipment, and he would need to develop his "firearm manufacturing" skills as soon as possible.

This time the New World ran aground, Su Ze felt the pressure of the approaching storm. In the 33rd year of Jiajing, the brief peace of Changningwei and Nanping County made Su Ze relax his tight strings. In fact, at this time
To be continued...