There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 54: Divine Cannon
Jingzhou Prefecture City, New Firearms Workshop.

This firearms workshop was not built in the outer city area, but in an empty house in the East City District (formerly Manchu City), which was actually the shaman hall discovered before.

Nie Yu didn't mess around. He simply moved all the shamans out and didn't want them to be civilians. He just handed them all over to Hui Ling to take away. As for the other miscellaneous ritual instruments, those made of gold and silver were melted down for money. Those without gold and silver were sold, and those that couldn't be sold were thrown away.

Then they specially found monks and Taoist priests, who performed rituals and spread black dog blood inside, and it became the current Han Army Firearms Workshop.

It’s not that Nie Yu is superstitious, but the craftsmen in the city are afraid. Unless a ritual is performed, they will never come.

He quickly led his men to the firearms workshop. Sure enough, an apprentice was already waiting at the door. Upon seeing Nie Yu approaching in his casual attire, he quickly bowed and greeted him, "Greetings, General..."

Nie Yu didn't bother to talk anymore and said directly, "Take me over there quickly. I want to see how the new cannon is being cast."

"Please follow me, General." The apprentice did not dare to delay and led Nie Yu inside.

Soon, they arrived at an empty courtyard.

This new firearms workshop covers a large area, including the already spacious shaman hall. The walls on both sides were demolished and all were merged and expanded into one piece.

Nie Yu saw at a glance that there was a huge cannon placed in the center of the yard, and he applauded.

"Okay! Okay! Okay!"

Feng Xiuyong was also surprised: "Is this the latest red cannon cast by the Firearms Workshop?"

What are the red cannons? With his previous identity, he had naturally seen them. They were mainly artillery transferred from other provinces and sent to the battlefield in Hunan.

But in Feng Xiuyong's impression, the red cannons used by the Qing army were indeed large in tonnage, but very crude, or he only now felt that the Qing army's artillery was very crude.

In his impression, the red cannon of the Qing army was full of potholes and tiny holes. In order to prevent the barrel from exploding, circles of iron hoops were put on the outside.

However, the newly cast cannon in front of him was completely different. Not only was the barrel ridiculously long and its surface smooth like a work of art, but there was no iron hoop to prevent the barrel from exploding, and even the mold seam could not be found.

Looking closer, one can see that the barrel wall is extremely thin, much narrower than the barrel wall of the Qing army's red cannon.

According to conventional cannon casting, the narrower the tube wall, the easier it is for the barrel to explode. Because the ancient steelmaking technology was not up to standard, the larger the cannon was, the narrower the caliber was. Otherwise, it would be easy for it to not be able to withstand the chamber pressure and cause the barrel to explode.

Feng Xiuyong couldn't help but say, "General, this cannon..."

Nie Yu waved his hand and said, "Let's go and try to get him out of the city now!"

Of course, he could guess what Feng Xiuyong wanted to say. It was nothing more than that this cannon did not meet the characteristics of a "Red Cannon". It had no iron hoop, a larger caliber, a narrower barrel, and was smooth without any seams.

This is of course true. Modern technology produces seamless steel pipes that are fully qualified for making World War I cannons, let alone the Red Cannon.

Moreover, this is not the Red Cannon, he just used this name out of habit. It is definitely not the Red Cannon, but another more familiar name - Cannon.

There are seamless alloy steel pipes, how can we not do something fancy with them?
The drawings were provided by Nie Yu. Of course, he couldn't get the drawings of the latest model of cannon, but he could get the original cannon.

This thing has a long barrel and a long range. It is much more powerful and destructive than the red cannon. A few shots can bring down the city wall.

The only flaw is that it can only attack local enemies and cannot bounce and kill like the Red Cannon.

A group of people laboriously used a mule cart to move the long-barreled cannon all the way from Dongcheng District to an open space outside the city, and found two apprentices to serve as temporary gunners.

The shells are also specially made, using solid bullets, because shrapnel shells are difficult to solve for the time being. The gun barrel is not afraid of exploding, but the shells cannot withstand the chamber pressure, so they have to explode, and better materials have to be used.

"Pass the order down, prepare to fire."

Nie Yu stood on the city wall with a pair of binoculars in his hand, watching the apprentices operating the cannon not far away.

"Yes."

The messenger ran over quickly to deliver the message.

A large group of people stood around him, including Han army generals and officials from the General's Mansion. They were all quite curious about this new cannon, or rather, looking forward to it.

They have already boarded the pirate ship, and everyone has a rebel hairstyle. They must be hoping that the Han army can become stronger and stronger. Even if they may still be destroyed, at least they can go further and occupy a province or half a province. It is also good that they don't die in obscurity.

Outside the city at that time.

"The general has given the order, prepare to fire!"

"Okay... okay."

The two apprentices nodded quickly, and then calmly began to clean the ammunition chamber of the artillery, carefully filled it with gunpowder, and then stuffed the last special shell into it.

Leave the fuse for ignition.

"Ready!" "Aim a little harder, never mind, it should be this direction."

"Fire! Run!"

The two apprentices fiddled with the aiming, but when they couldn't move it anymore, they gave up and lit the long fuse.

Then, he ran away.

This run was almost the fastest speed I had ever run in my life.

"boom!"

There was a huge roar, like thunder. A shell was fired, and the position of the artillery itself retreated a few steps. The temporary gun platform dug on the ground was full of cracks.

The target set in the distance was a huge rock that had been placed on the river bank at some point in time.

I was lucky enough to hit the target with one shot.

The huge rock exploded with a loud bang, making a violent noise. Even though they were standing on the city wall, everyone seemed to be able to feel the earth-shattering power (psychological effect).

Feng Xiuyong reacted quickly, kneeling down and shouting.

"Your Highness Feng Xiuyong congratulates the General. This red cannon has been forged. It is even more powerful than the pseudo-Qing cannons. It will surely help our Han army conquer cities and reclaim land, drive out the barbarians, and restore China!"

"Congratulations, General, for forging a magical cannon!"

The others realized it later and hurriedly knelt down and bowed.

This time, they knelt down willingly. With such powerful artillery, the Qing army was nothing. There was hope for the whole world.

Today they are rebels, but tomorrow they may become prime ministers and founders of a new country!
Nie Yu put down the telescope expressionlessly. He was not satisfied with the power. "Sure enough, it still has to explode..."

"General, what did you say?" Feng Xiuyong didn't hear clearly for a moment.

Nie Yu shook his head: "It's okay, you guys get up first! Now that this cannon can be cast, the firearm workshop will start casting new cannons from now on! Don't worry about the barrel problem, just have them cast it according to the same method as the current cannon. Be sure to cast 20 guns first, and mass production of fire guns should also be put on the agenda."

With artillery, we naturally need muskets. We must build a complete firearms force to truly fight against the Qing army and future foreign powers.

Nie Yu added, "The new army's training should also include musket and artillery exercises. The salaries of all new recruits who practice musket and artillery exercises can be appropriately increased. I have a book here that I can use to show them how to practice. The Secretariat will come up with a plan for the specific salary details as soon as possible."

Feng Xiuyong quickly bowed and replied, "The Secretary's Office will definitely see to it."

Nie Yu turned to look at the generals and ordered, "He Shunan, Bai Nan, Chen Younian, and Xu Sanlang, you guys should train hard these days, especially Chen Younian and Xu Sanlang. You two are now commanders, and are considered generals in the army. According to the rules of the pseudo-Qing Dynasty, you are also officials. I didn't care about your illiteracy before, but now I can't. While we are not fighting now, you should train with Bai Nan and He Shunan and learn to read!"

Chen Younian and Xu Sanlang thought that the general had something to tell them, but they didn't expect that the order was to learn to read.

"General, we two can't read!"

The two of them immediately cried out in pain.

Speaking of which, among the four generals of the Han army, only two can read. One of them, He Shunan, can only read with difficulty because he has never received a proper education. He is just an officer of the Green Camp of the pseudo-Qing Dynasty and can understand some commonly used words in the army.

Nie Yu smiled and said, "You two don't need to know everything. Just like Commander He, you can recognize some common military characters and write your own name."

Chen Younian still didn't want to learn: "General, I am Old Chen..."

"This is a military order!" Nie Yu said seriously in an instant.

Well, Xu Sanlang, who was about to speak, stopped talking.

Nie Yu smiled again: "Haha, don't worry, your study will not be in vain. As long as you can learn the common military characters within a month, this general will give you some magical weapons."

"Ah? Divine weapons?"

"It's not really a magical weapon! But you'll definitely like it."

This time, Chen Younian was finally stopped from talking.

Seeing He Shunan and Bai Nan peeking at him, Nie Yu said with a smile, "You two can help them learn the characters, and you will also have a share of the magic weapon."

"The general will obey the order!"

　Congratulations to the book friends for their 23 votes

　　
　
(End of this chapter)