As for the other weapons, Yang Sichen first thought of the indigenous killing weapons of the later generations of the People's Liberation Army-simple and practical heartless cannons.
The main body of this weapon was an empty gasoline barrel. After filling it with gunpowder, a disc-shaped explosive pack was placed in it. Then, the gunpowder was ignited, and a 10-kilogram explosive pack could be thrown to a distance of 150-200 meters. The caliber of the barrel was absolutely shocking. The barrel was as thick as the barrel. The huge explosive pack produced a strong explosive impact. Wherever it passed, the bunkers and people would be blown away. Many of the enemies who were blasted to the ground did not have any wounds on their bodies, but they bled from their seven orifices. They had died from the shock. After figuring out this situation, the brothers in the national army simply called this kind of thing a "heartless cannon."
However, Yang Sichen only had black gunpowder in his hands. The burning speed was too low to make an explosive pack, so he could only use it in a well-sealed small wooden barrel. In order to ensure the airtightness of the heartless cannon and increase the range as much as possible, he had to wrap a few layers of linen outside the wooden barrel.
In the end, this kind of heartless cannon had some similarities with the heavy mortar cannons of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. It was used at a high angle and had a short range, but its power was amazing. This weapon was originally used to deal with fortresses, then used to attack cities, and finally showed its prowess on the Huaihai battlefield. At the same time, this cannon could also be used to fire pre-loaded shotgun shells. With such a large caliber, it could shoot out a large area! It was definitely a well-prepared weapon for home travel!!
It didn't matter if the metal buckets were hard to find. They could use two buckets and fill the gap with sand. It could still be used, but the range was probably not as good as the original. However, the ships were not moving fast at this time, so the shooting range was not too affected. Moreover, this was not an iron bucket. The imperial court could not control it. At most, the wooden bucket would be filled with pickled cucumbers!
As for whether the wooden barrel could withstand the explosive power of a pound of gunpowder, Yang Sichen was still unsure. He still had to test it out…
"Boom!"
After a loud bang, a sack containing straw and stones was thrown 350 feet away, but the bottom of the wooden barrel inside was also blown apart.
Obviously, the experiment had failed.
Yang Sichen looked at the bottom of the wooden barrel that had exploded and frowned. It was only the third shot, and the bottom of the wooden barrel had already exploded. This was already the fifth wooden barrel that had been scrapped. Among the five wooden barrels, the best had been fired six times in a row, and the worst had been fired three times.
He knew that wooden barrels might not be as durable as iron barrels, but he did not expect the difference to be so great…
There was a risk in using a metal bucket-who knew how strong the metal bucket was? If it exploded, the destructive power of the broken iron pieces was much greater than that of the broken wood pieces. The power was estimated to be no less than that of a 32-pound cannon. At least no one would be able to survive within a radius of 50 feet.
Yang Sichen started to worry, but Wang Dahai was overjoyed. This was because the power of the rockets designed and manufactured by Yang Sichen had exceeded everyone's expectations. If a ship made of 500 yuan of materials were hit by two rockets, it would sink to the bottom in less than 15 minutes. Even if it fell into the water, as long as it exploded within five feet of the ship, it would still blast a hole in the ship! According to Wang Dahai and the others, with this thing, no one would dare to attack the Yang family's fleet at sea in the future!
However, Yang Sichen knew very well that rockets were much more affected by the wind than artillery shells, and in the future, artillery would still play the leading role in naval battles. Moreover, if he wanted to launch this thing from a ship, the sail cable had to be fire-resistant. Otherwise, the enemy would not be able to hit him, and he would definitely be finished.
Fireproofing materials were naturally not difficult to find. Pyroxene would do! Calcining it at the temperature of smelting steel to obtain reheated rhombus, which could be used to soak and wash cloth, could make ordinary cloth extremely resistant to high temperatures! This was the fire-resistant canvas. After changing to a fire-resistant canvas, the surface of the masts and other wood was also soaked with a layer of re-burned rhombus. It was probably impossible to set the ship on fire!
However, this was not necessary for the time being. They were not building warships now, but exploration ships. Moreover, they were flying scissors sailboats that could run very fast. If they encountered pirates, they could just run away. He would not use a weapon unless he had no other choice.
…………
Since the bottom of the wooden barrel was easy to crack, the problem would be almost solved if he used a single-use wooden board to replace the bottom of the wooden barrel. Then, he wrapped the round wooden barrel, the gunpowder, and the disposable wooden base together to make a fixed ammunition. It was more convenient to use the heartless cannon.
Half a day later, the improved cannon began to test again. This time, the test was smoother than the previous one. After 30 shots, cracks appeared on the wooden barrel. This time, Yang Sichen had expected this outcome. He wanted to change the wooden bucket into an iron bucket and try again, but there was no suitable iron bucket.
At night, Yang Sichen went to find Wang Dahai and told him about it.
Wang Dahai was having a headache too. The thickness of the metal barrel was generally uneven, and it was not easy to find a suitable one.
Therefore, Yang Sichen could only settle for the next best thing. He asked Wang Dahai to find a cooked iron plate that was two centimeters thick and hired a blacksmith to process it into a rolled iron barrel. The seams were tinted with tin, and it was required to fit into the barrel.
Wang Dahai knew that Yang Sichen was trying to produce a self-defense weapon for the Yang family's fleet and had seen the power of the rockets, so he had no objections. Hence, he agreed.
On the morning of the sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, Wang Dahai handed the iron bucket to Yang Sichen. Yang Sichen immediately started the test. The master and servant played the real card from morning until late afternoon. They fired a total of 100 shots, and there was no problem with the inner iron bucket.
Only then did Yang Sichen heave a sigh of relief-this heartless cannon was doable!
After that, Yang Sichen began to draw the blueprint for the heartless cannon. On the afternoon of the seventh day, Wang Dahai, who was waiting at the side, eagerly took the blueprint away.
…………
On the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, a large bucket that was more than four feet long and one and a half feet thick was carried by three people to Yang Sichen. Wang Dahai said,""Young Master, these three used to be Old Master's personal guards.”
Yang Sichen nodded.”
Yang Sichen instructed the three of them to tilt the bucket against a four-foot-tall rock, so that the opening of the bucket faced an empty space. Then, he retreated with the three of them and squatted down a hundred feet away.
After everyone had retreated a hundred feet away, Rongguang stuffed a six-inch thick, nine-inch long sack with a round wooden board at the bottom into a bucket. He took out a lighter and lit the fuse. He also retreated a hundred feet away and squatted down.
With a loud bang, a ten-foot-long flame spewed out of the barrel, and the barrel was pushed back twenty feet. Then, the sack fell forty feet away, splashing a cloud of dust.
Not bad. Yang Sichen roughly estimated that it was 32 degrees, 400 feet. It was completely enough.
After a while, Yang Sichen instructed,""Try changing into a barrel of explosives."
Rongguang instructed the three of them to put the bucket back in place, then brought a round wooden bucket wrapped in linen cloth, put it in the bucket, lit the fuse, retreated ten feet away, and squatted down with his head in his hands.
This time, the wooden bucket did not splash up any dust when it fell 400 feet away. Instead, it turned into a huge fireball. Immediately after, a loud bang shook everyone's internal organs! The strong wind that followed blew them all over the place…
Yang Sichen and the others took quite a while to recover from their shock. They hurriedly ran over to take a look. The explosion had created a huge crater that was about 1.5 meters wide and 1.5 meters deep. Around the crater were a large number of withered reeds that had fallen in a radiating pattern.
"Young Master, what…cannon is this?" Wang Dahai stammered.”
Yang Sichen rolled his eyes and said,""I don't know. This thing looks quite powerful. It's heartless when it explodes. Let's call it a heartless cannon!”
Wang Dahai was speechless.
[PS: God River Crab's skill has improved!] He had banned two chapters of chapter 23, so he had to reconsider the harem plot after that.
Hopefully, cross-dressing scenes would not be banned too much.。。
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。