Chapter 424: Katyusha Rocket Shells

Hearing Bi Maokang's words, Zhu Youxiao immediately became interested.

Rockets were something Zhu Youxiao had always valued, but it was just that after all this time there had been no results, which had left him somewhat disappointed.

He hadn't expected that this time Bi Maokang had been hiding such a treasure.

On the soil of Cathay, the most famous rocket was the Fire Dragon Emerging from Water, except it had never found much good application on land.

But on the battlefields of the world, rockets had never been retired. Among the more famous rockets was the Congreve rocket.

The rockets propelled by gunpowder in the Song Dynasty were roughly introduced to India during the Yuan or Ming Dynasty, and were quickly copied and improved upon by the Indians.

When Britain, France and other countries invaded India, they were hit hard by the Congreve rockets, so they learned this rocket technology and in turn improved upon it.

In an era when cannons were too heavy and cumbersome to transport, rockets played a very important role, even being called the soul of artillery without a barrel.

Whether it was the Anglo-French wars or the Opium War, rockets were present throughout. It was only later, when cannons became lighter and more powerful, that rockets gradually withdrew from the stage of historical warfare.

But rockets never completely left the stage of war. After sustained development, missiles were born on the foundation of rockets.

Anyone from later generations knew what missiles were — the true great power of a nation: the Dongfeng Express.

Although those missile fantasies were impossible now, rockets were still something worth working on. After all, the Great Ming had the technical foundation, and rockets had no great technical difficulty — producing them wouldn't take too much effort.

The only requirement was adding triangular tail fins so the rocket could maintain its direction while spinning in flight, not flying wildly off course. It could also accurately hit its target.

There might be some deviation, but this thing was inherently an area-coverage lethal weapon, so a slight lack of accuracy wasn't much of a problem.

Now that Bi Maokang said they had already been manufactured, how could Zhu Youxiao not be delighted?

"Take Us to see them at once!" Zhu Youxiao said to Bi Maokang, his tone somewhat urgent.

Before cannons met Zhu Youxiao's expectations, this rocket was the best substitute product. Whether for long-range attack or defending a city in battle, it was a truly formidable weapon.

Zhu Youxiao could hardly contain himself.

Seeing His Majesty so pleased, Bi Maokang was even happier in his heart.

He really hadn't guessed wrong — His Majesty truly liked this thing. It hadn't been in vain that he had worked on it day and night for so long.

So Bi Maokang hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, this way please."

The group quickly walked to the shooting range beside them.

There, five rockets of varying sizes were parked, all placed upon triangular frames, arranged very neatly.

Clearly Bi Maokang had been well prepared.

Looking at the big fellows before him, Zhu Youxiao smiled and nodded, saying: "Introduce them."

Bi Maokang nodded and said: "Yes, Your Majesty. We have made a total of five models of rockets, increasing in size from left to right."

"The one on the left is the smallest, only five jin. After ignition, its range is fifty zhang. The rocket shell is made of iron; when it explodes it produces tremendous power, and the fragments also have great lethality."

"Beyond that, in order, there are fifteen jin, twenty-five jin, thirty-five jin, and the largest at fifty jin. Among them, the farthest range can reach three hundred zhang, with extraordinary power."

There was inevitably a hint of pride in Bi Maokang's tone.

These rockets were made with all their heart and effort, so naturally they wanted to explain them thoroughly. This was also their achievement — future promotions all depended on this.

"At the tail of the rocket shell, following Your Majesty's instructions, we added triangular tail fins. After launch they can stabilize the rocket's body, keeping it from deviating from its course while spinning, thereby locking onto the target as much as possible and reducing the margin of error."

"In this regard we conducted many experiments and found the most suitable angle and the tail fins best matched to the rocket shell's size. Only after completing all this did we achieve what we have now."

In this respect, the Great Ming's craftsmen were not at all behind, since rockets had already been manufactured on Cathayan soil before, and combined with the principle of arrow fletching, there was no great difficulty in manufacturing them.

The main problems were in concepts and materials. As for concepts, Zhu Youxiao had already told them; as for materials, research and development had been ongoing without ever stopping, so the problem wasn't great either.

Now the Great Ming's copper-iron alloy craftsmanship had reached a very high level, and there was no longer any problem casting the rocket shell bodies.

Looking at the fuses trailing behind the rocket shells, Zhu Youxiao said to Bi Maokang: "Try it right away — launch two to test."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Bi Maokang quickly agreed.

Although they were going to launch, Zhu Youxiao naturally couldn't watch from here — he was escorted by guards to retreat a good distance away.

Bi Maokang then arranged for people to begin launching the rockets, starting with the smallest.

Soon someone used a torch to ignite the five-jin rocket shell.

The five-jin rocket shell had a much shorter fuse, and the propellant was quickly ignited. Then sparks hissed out from the rocket's tail, emitting white smoke.

The flame blazed up fiercely, and the rocket shell instantly flew off the launch frame.

Watching this rocket shell, a smile appeared on Zhu Youxiao's face.

The rocket shell dragged a red tail flame, spinning through the air as it flew toward the target not far away.

Calling it a target was generous — it was actually just a circle drawn on the ground.

Under everyone's gaze, the rocket shell plunged fiercely into the circle, letting out a thunderous boom.

The explosion instantly kicked up countless clouds of white smoke, clods of earth were blasted into the air, and blazing flames roared up.

Although black powder's power was limited, it couldn't be helped that so much was used. Five jin of black powder was no small force either.

Seeing this, Zhu Youxiao nodded in satisfaction.

This was what he wanted.

"Keep lighting them." Zhu Youxiao looked at Bi Maokang and said with a smile.

Bi Maokang quickly nodded and signaled the man beside him to wave the flag.

Seeing the flag signal, the man nearby quickly ignited the fifteen-jin rocket shell.

Just like before, the rocket shell burned and flew, landing with a thunderous boom as the ground was once again blasted into a large crater — its power was much greater than the five-jin rocket shell from just now.

Although the rocket shells had many flaws — for instance, they could only be launched at a fixed angle, otherwise they would land early without exploding; and if launched too late, they would explode mid-air.

After all, they had never exploded upon landing, so timing could only be calculated by estimation, which made the risk much greater. But seeing such power, many risks could no longer be worried about.

If there were a large number of them, falling in a sky-covering barrage, even if they didn't explode upon landing, it wouldn't delay things for long. If one wanted to put them out manually, there probably wouldn't be enough time.

It could be said this was an excellent weapon.

After the last fifty-jin rocket landed, looking at the enormous crater it had blasted out, Zhu Youxiao nodded in satisfaction.

Bi Maokang at the side, seeing Zhu Youxiao's satisfaction, quickly said: "Your Majesty, next your servant plans to make a launch frame."

"I've already thought it through—we'll modify the army's war carts, mounting nine rocket shells in a single row. Light one fuse, and all nine rockets will fire in sequence."

"Around each rocket shell, we'll place a launch tube. These tubes will have their angles fixed in advance, cast using standardized methods. When needed, just drop a rocket into the tube and ignite it—no angle adjustment required before firing."

To increase the rate of fire, nine rockets launch together, greatly boosting the intensity of firepower.

Zhu Youxiao looked at Bi Maokang, the expression on his face quite colorful.

Damn, no wonder he's a genius in firearms—he's already thought of this method at this point in time.

Isn't this just a rocket launcher vehicle?

Take a cart, put a launch rack on top with nine iron tubes, load one rocket into each tube; the fuses are connected underneath, and when finally lit, all nine rockets fire in a volley.

Why does this thing feel like it has a bit of the style of later-era rockets?

Of course, the gap is far too wide—they can't even be mentioned in the same breath. But nine firing together—just imagining the scene, it should have that sense of bombardment.

Zhu Youxiao nodded with satisfaction and said, "This idea is excellent. Put it into research immediately. Give them whatever men they need, whatever money they need—get it done as soon as possible. Once it's finished, report it to me at once."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Bi Maokang hurriedly agreed.

His proposal had gained the Emperor's attention—this was good news. Once he finished building the thing, there would be more merit to his name.

Bi Maokang felt that the day of promotion and ennoblement was not far off.

Looking at the rockets before him, Zhu Youxiao felt somewhat unsatisfied, then turned to Bi Maokang and asked, "Is there anything else here you can show me?"

"To answer Your Majesty, there is indeed one more thing." Bi Maokang thought for a moment, then said, "Does Your Majesty still remember the hand-cranked machine gun you mentioned before?"

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao nodded and said, "What, have you already built it?"

"Not built yet, but we've solved the problem of the firing pin—we've already manufactured one." Bi Maokang said with some excitement. "It's just that the yield is low and the cost is too high—even more expensive than gold. The main issue is the scrap rate; frankly speaking, the materials aren't up to standard."

"That doesn't matter." Zhu Youxiao said with an excited tone. "Whatever it costs, throw money at it."

This thing was truly excellent—even if it cost as much as gold, it didn't matter, since they wouldn't be making many anyway. It was just a firing pin after all; making a few thousand or ten thousand of them, Zhu Youxiao was willing to pour money into it.

The so-called revolving machine was actually just a hand-cranked Gatling gun.

The reason Zhu Youxiao had such a deep impression of this type of firearm was that it didn't require metallic cartridge ammunition—paper-cased cartridges would suffice.

Its rate of fire could reach two hundred rounds per minute, with either six barrels or ten barrels. If switched to metallic cartridges, it could reach twelve hundred rounds per minute, and that was still under hand-cranking.

Before the Maxim gun appeared, the hand-cranked Gatling was a bug.

Zhu Youxiao had once mentioned it to Bi Maokang—he never expected they'd actually try to build it, and even managed to produce the firing pin!