Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

The master and apprentice under the tree did not know that they would be shocked by Zhu Di's brilliant appearance later, and they were still carrying on the concluding conversation.

"Why can artillery be cast from steel? Even if this can be achieved with machines, the raw materials for making steel remain unchanged. Wouldn't all the artillery made like that be sky-high in price?"

Zhu Gaoxu was still confused. This meant that although the Ming army began to try to cast cannons from steel during the Hongwu Dynasty, this attempt was not successful.

The technology at that time was to stir-fry molten iron to reduce the carbon content of the iron. The iron cannon molds were then put into a kiln and simmered to decarburize the cast iron into steel.

But this method was too troublesome and too costly, so after it was built, the gentlemen of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion decided to forget it!

After that, the Ming army never tried it again. When the Battle of Jingnan started, because the artillery of this era was too heavy, they were all city defense artillery instead of field artillery. Most of the cities in the north were destroyed, so there were no Comes in so many uses.

Therefore, in Zhu Gaoxu's understanding, artillery is made of copper and stone. Steel sounds good. Even if the Ming Dynasty's pitiful steel output is used to build cannons weighing more than a thousand kilograms, it may still be impossible to complete. thing, and it’s too expensive.

"So, you can't look at the creations of the industrial age with the thinking of the agricultural age."

Jiang Xinghuo smiled and said: "In the agricultural era, production depends on the weather. If God says it won't rain this year, it means it won't rain. People have no other choice but to build water conservancy projects to store water. But the industrial era is different. Industrial manufactured products are different from food. It’s different. Raw materials are input, made by hand and machine, and finished products are produced. People can control every step, and there are very few external interference factors.”

"The same principle applies to the production of military supplies. Machine tools, that is, machines that make machines. Don't ask the question of what comes first, the chicken and then the egg. In short, the improvement of the accuracy of machine tools will lead to the advancement of machines, such as steam engines. It can improve the efficiency of coal mining, thereby improving iron smelting capabilities and creating better machine tools. By that time, the cannon casting molds produced by the machine tools must be much more sophisticated than the current Ming Army cannon casting molds."

In fact, Jiang Xinghuo did not mention one thing, that is, in the history of his previous life, until 1856, after Henry Beyman invented the Beyman converter steelmaking method, oxygen was used instead of air to make steel in the converter to eliminate the One of the shortcomings of the Beibelin converter method is that the steel has high nitrogen and phosphorus content. Only when the production cost of steel is reduced enough to be mass-produced and used.

But this point is too troublesome to talk about. Jiang Xinghuo just wanted to use the "military" industrial progress that Zhu Gaoxu was most interested in to let him understand how the manufacturing power of the industrial country is different from that of the agricultural country.

Zhu Gaoxu was thoughtful and then asked: "Mr. Jiang said that artillery can be cast with steel in the future and its size can be reduced. So, does that mean that fire guns (muskets) can also be reduced?"

Jiang Xinghuo was stunned. He didn't expect Zhu Gaoxu to be so sharp in military affairs. He nodded and replied.

"Of course."

——————

Go back in time a little bit.

"Why are you stopping me?"

Zhu Di looked at the big boy hanging on his arm with an angry expression.

"Father, calm down!" Zhu Gaochi didn't explain, he just held Zhu Di to prevent him from pushing the wall.

At this time, Zhu Di became more and more angry as he thought about it!

Zhu Di just heard about industrialization as something new and forced himself to understand it in order to implement changes.

But the military industry is different!

This is related to the issue of military combat effectiveness that Zhu Di cares about most.

We have heard the most critical moment, but now there is no sound. Isn’t this more uncomfortable than holding it in?

And just when Zhu Di's strong hands pressed against the wall again.

The voice of his silly son came again. Zhu Di's hand that was about to use force stopped and he frowned.

"The fire gun can also be reduced in size?"

As the world's number one general, Zhu Di knew very well that firearms were useful on the battlefield.

Since the Battle of Baigou River, Zhu Di had been tortured by firearms like a swarm of mosquitoes. Guo Ying, one of the twenty-four generals in Huaixi, used the "three The tactics of "segment attack" coupled with the "swarm of bees" fire arrows caused Zhu Di's cavalry raid to fail; in the battles of Dongchang and Jiahe, Sheng Yong also used car formations with firearms to continuously delay Zhu Di's offensive.

Therefore, Zhu Di also began to study the role of firearms. He had long planned to form a "Shenji Battalion" that combined chariots, firearms, crossbows, and light and heavy infantry to coordinate with the main cavalry troops.

Jiang Xinghuo's words at this time undoubtedly made Zhu Di more confident.

But Jiang Xinghuo's next words made Zhu Di a little unhappy.

Jiang Xinghuo's voice came over: "Not only can firecrackers be reduced in size, but together with artillery and the armored vehicles I just mentioned, firecrackers will definitely become the main force in land wars in the future. Now traditional archers, cavalry, etc., They will all perish."

Zhu Di frowned and said softly:

"What a bunch of nonsense!"

The military concept of "cavalry is king" has long been integrated into the soul of this world's number one general with the glorious victory of brutal battles one after another.

Zhu Di relied on the brave and skilled Youyan Iron Cavalry and Daning Jingqi to win the Battle of Jingnan. Although he also valued the application of firearms, he only valued them.

After all, Zhu Di is the number one general in the world who has fought through blood and fire!

Jiang Xinghuo, maybe Zhu Di can be persuaded in other ways.

In the military field, Zhu Di has absolute confidence in his own opinions!

From the bottom of his heart, Zhu Di didn't think that he could win the war by relying on this method. It was just something used to disgust people.

It's okay to stick to harassment, but has no merit in other aspects.

Guo Ying and Sheng Yong only caused him some trouble with this set of things. Can they really stop his invincible cavalry from winning the final victory?

Of course not!

Therefore, Zhu Di easily came to a conclusion from his countless victory experiences and extreme confidence in war.

——Jiang Xinghuo, you said it wrong!

But at this time, Jiang Xinghuo seemed to be competing with Zhu Di across a wall.

Although Zhu Gaoxu was not convinced, he still maintained his usual respect for Mr. Jiang. He asked: "Mr. Jiang, do you think that the armored cavalry (heavy armored cavalry) will lose its role on the future battlefield?"

"Of course." Jiang Xinghuo said with certainty, "Let's not talk about the power of artillery shells. Let alone the future, even now, even stone shells can easily crush heavy armored cavalry into powder. In the future, artillery will also change from now on. The solid bullets turned into explosive bullets, which were more lethal to people and horses, just like the mud bombs thrown by artillery carts (trebuchets) in the Song Dynasty, but they were exploded by gunpowder."

"As for the firecrackers, with the advancement of industry, the penetrating power of the projectiles, the rate of fire, and the range of the projectiles will also exceed those of infantry bows and pedal crossbows. By that time, the armor of heavy armored cavalry will be completely unable to defend against it. Bullets.”

Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but look stern when he heard this.

Although emotionally, Zhu Gaoxu found it difficult to accept the future war described by Jiang Xinghuo.

But in view of Mr. Jiang’s sacred status in his heart, if what Mr. Jiang said is true, then in this way, the manufacturing capacity of the industrial era, let alone other things, is indeed far beyond that of agricultural countries in terms of war.

And this gap, whether it is artillery that can be moved in the field, or firecrackers that are more powerful than crossbows, or even tanks wearing iron armor and carrying artillery for combat, are indeed things that exceed the limit of his imagination.

Zhu Gaoxu took a few deep breaths to calm down his turbulent heart, then looked at Jiang Xinghuo and said, "So Mr. Jiang thinks that light cavalry and heavy cavalry will really be useless in the future?"

Zhuo Jing didn't care about this issue at all, but Zheng He was quite concerned.

After all, Zheng He was not only a military attache, but also one of the best warriors in Prince Yan's palace. If the future war was really dominated by firecrackers and artillery soldiers as Jiang Xinghuo said, then in his opinion, it would be really boring. .

Jiang Xinghuo shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Maybe you won't like to hear it."

Zhu Gaoxu, whose temper has improved greatly recently, instead said: "It's okay, Mr. Jiang, please speak."

Jiang Xinghuo said slowly: "The advantages of the cavalry that dominate the battlefield now are their fast speed and strong maneuverability. The light cavalry can attack long distances and make long-distance detours. The heavy cavalry charges like a strong wind and is unstoppable."

"In the future, we will compare similar vehicles with similar positions. Compared with heavy cavalry, armored chariots that charge into battle have two advantages.

First, armored chariots have stronger impact capabilities. Heavy armored cavalry often requires people and horses to wear armor, then lead the horses on foot, then mount the horses and advance in small steps, and finally speed up and sprint, and can only charge for one or two rounds at most, while armored chariots The car can sprint repeatedly and it is almost impossible to run out of power.

Secondly, the armored chariot's defensive capabilities are also stronger. To crack the Iron Buddha Tu, one can even use the Yue Family Army's horse-cutting tactics, but the armored chariot is immune to all cold weapons, including knives and axes. In front of the armored chariot, They are all as ridiculous as a mantis trying to use its arms as a cart. "

Zhu Gaoxu immediately understood what Jiang Xinghuo meant - compare the armored chariot and the heavy armored cavalry with the same position. The armored chariot not only has strong defensive capabilities, but also has a very powerful assault force. Once this iron-skinned monster breaks through the enemy The defense line is like a tiger rushing into a flock of sheep, any defense will be meaningless!

When he thought of this, Zhu Gaoxu was actually looking forward to what kind of experience it would be like to drive an armored chariot one day.

Jiang Xinghuo was a little stunned at this time.

He sighed and continued: "As for the riflemen and artillery soldiers at the infantry level, you may not believe it. In the future I see, the Westerners rely on these to face tens of thousands of Mongolian elite cavalry. The fearful attack killed thousands of people, successfully defeated the Mongolian cavalry, and himself."

"——Only less than a hundred casualties."

"impossible!"

With a "rumbling" sound, the low and dangerous wall next to the new crooked neck tree suddenly collapsed!

A burly figure appeared in the flying dust.