It is especially suitable for field battles, bombarding the enemy's dense combat formations and curbing its charges.

Although this lightweight artillery barrel is thinner and its range is not as good as that made of bronze, it has completely exceeded the pine cannon, reaching 200 meters, exceeding the range of the bow and arrow.

Of course, due to the limitations of production technology and the difficulty of making it hard to build, it will take some time for the tiger squat cannon to be equipped with a large number of troops to eliminate the pine cannon.

If cast in bronze, because the bronze is tough and not easy to burst, and the ancient Chinese bronze smelting industry has a long history and its technical level reaches its peak, it can be molded as a whole with a higher starting point.

But the cost problem is difficult for Meng Jiuzheng to solve. Copper is expensive and small, so it is difficult to obtain a large amount of raw materials. As for cooked iron, some of it can be produced by itself and can be purchased from the Southern Song Dynasty.

Therefore, bronze cannons are also being cast, mainly to master the process and improve proficiency. However, due to the small number, they will not be equipped with troops in a short period of time.

Meng Jiucheng also wanted to use this as a secret weapon in key battles, thereby causing severe damage to the strong enemy.

Just like he currently has the ability to make muskets, he can use mature iron to build the barrel. However, Meng Jiucheng did not take out the drawings, nor did he assign such production tasks to the arsenal.

Technology has led nearly one dynasty (metal-body firearms only appeared in the Yuan Dynasty). Meng Jiucheng felt that it was more than enough to deal with the current enemies, so there was no need to rush to achieve success and explore all the resources and potential for development.

Of course, as a habitual thinking of time travelers, Meng Jiucheng always hopes to make breakthroughs in weapons and equipment so that the war can proceed as much as possible according to his own ideas.

To put it bluntly, it is just a chance to take advantage of others.

Iron cannons and steel cannons are certainly the direction of development, but to smelting steel that meets the requirements of hardness and toughness, it is by no means possible overnight.

Steel frying method? Blast furnace steelmaking? Top blowing converter? Forget it, these unreliable ideas are left to the shelf, and there is not so much free time to do these things.

Next to the arsenal, there were a group of bone soldiers such as Qian Bangchen, responsible for studying and testing new artillery, recording data, and formulating operating specifications.

Now, they are proficient in operating and showing it to Meng Jiucheng.

The gunners meticulously checked the cannon. First, they used a metal needle to check whether the fire door located at the tail of the cannon barrel was unobstructed, and then adjusted the cannon barrel into place and fixed it with wooden wedges.

Then, they put the firing powder wrapped in linen into the barrel, and then used a round wooden block to install a push rod made of a long handle to compact the medicine bag slightly.

After these tasks were completed, the gunner checked the appearance of the fuze and after confirming that there was no damage, he carefully inserted the fuze into the shell.

Then, the two gunners hooked the shells that had been installed with a "gun hook" similar to a fire tong tong to the pit near the fuze chamber on the shells, and slowly loaded the shells into the barrel.

The reason for this is that the extremely simple primitive delay fuse is to work by relying on the high-temperature gunpowder gas generated by the combustion of the launching drug when the artillery is fired to ignite the slow-burning gunpowder filled in the fuse.

In order to prevent the high-pressure gunpowder gas from blowing directly into the inside of the bullet body along the hole in the middle of the fuze, it is necessary to ensure that the fuze is pointed in the direction of the muzzle when loading the shell.

After all the loading work was completed, the gunners checked the artillery again, then stabbed the fire door with a long awl, pierced the linen used to wrap the gunpowder, and then inserted a fuse into the fire door.

The fuse was lit, sparks blew up, and penetrated into the fire gate.

With a roar, the gunpowder filled the smoke and the shells came out of the chamber and flew into the distance. Because it was during the day, the sparks sprayed out of the fuse were almost invisible, but the white smoke was emitted from the tail.

The shell landed on the ground, and a ball of smoke and dust could be seen from afar, and then—

It is understandable that in order to avoid the accident of shells exploding in the air, gunners usually install fuses with a long explosion delay, and some delays are even as long as one minute.

Meng Jiucheng narrowed his eyes, observed the error of the bounce point, and measured the distance in a decent manner, which was nearly a thousand meters, and the range was terrifying.

Moreover, this will be much safer. With the protection of the earth, even if you fight against the enemy on the top of the city, you will not suffer any losses.

"Yongcai, come here, come here." Meng Jiucheng felt quite satisfied, so he reached out and called Qian Bangchen.

Qian Bangchen looked in the distance, waiting for the loud noise, and with other gunners reminded him, he ran a few steps and came to Meng Jiucheng.

"Marson, this, the delay is a bit long, that—" Qian Bangchen wanted to explain a little, but Meng Jiucheng had already waved his hand with a smile and interrupted him.

"Safety is the first priority." Meng Jiucheng said with a smile: "After all, it's just a demonstration. I only look at the shooting error and distance. What about these two points-"

Boom, a loud bang suddenly broke out, and a large cloud of smoke, shrapnel, gravel and dust rose in the distance.

Meng Jiucheng was stunned for a moment, turned his face and looked at it, smiled and continued, "I am quite satisfied with these two points. Well, this power is also good. You must continue to work hard, strive for excellence in artillery and shooting, and cultivate more excellent artillery soldiers for our army."

"Don't worry, Marshal, humble officials and subordinates will definitely live up to the Marshal's expectations." Qian Bangchen's heart fell to the ground, and his face became relaxed.

"The airtightness of this shell seems to be room for improvement." Meng Jiucheng added thinking: "Can you make some special linen covers, leaving only the place where the shells can be equipped with fuzes. Well, you can give it a try."

Qian Bangchen thought for a while and nodded, "I will try this, and the results will be reported to the marshal soon."

Meng Jiucheng comforted several gunners participating in the performance, and then turned around and left the test site accompanied by Cai Mingyang, the director of the arsenal.

As a scholar, it is very rare for Cai Mingyang to work in this arsenal. Of course, Meng Jiucheng also gave him high treatment, and his level is equivalent to that of a state governor.

"The meteor cannon can cast six doors a day, plus polishing and repairing them a day, which means the output of three doors a day." Cai Mingyang reported to Meng Jiucheng as he walked, "The shells are a little more troublesome, and they can create about thirty one day."

Although we were trying our best to recruit craftsmen and recruit apprentices, it still seemed that there was not enough manpower.

It will take two or three months to make the output breakthrough, that is, after the apprentices mature.
Chapter completed!