Chapter 1786: Let's Go Blast the Black Cannon!

At a newly opened firing range near the garrison town of Xuanfu, the senior and mid-ranking officers of the headquarters army had all gathered together. Every man was in military dress with arrow sleeves, sword at his waist, crowding around Zhu Youjian as they carefully studied a row of thirty-six somewhat slender bronze cannons, along with the assorted men assigned to work them.

To be honest, in the eyes of these headquarters army officers, the thirty-six bronze cannons were nothing special. The barrels were very thin, which meant the shot was light, nothing like those thick-barreled Hongyi cannons. The casting material was bronze, which was both expensive and heavy, so these cannons were certainly not cheap, and they were inconvenient to move.

The one thing that did catch the headquarters army officers' eyes was the carriage used by these thirty-six bronze cannons — a two-wheeled carriage of somewhat complex construction that allowed the firing angle to be adjusted very conveniently, and which could also be combined with a two-wheeled cart to form a nimble, mobile four-wheeled wagon.

This design was far superior to the three-wheeled carriage of the general's cannon, which had trouble gripping the ground and would recoil a long way with every shot. The gunners therefore had to pile up an earthen slope behind the cannon's rear, which meant the cannon could not be moved on the battlefield and had little chance of achieving results. Piling earth and setting up a cannon made too much noise and took too long, so it was impossible for the enemy not to notice. And once the enemy noticed, would they just stand there stupidly waiting to be blasted?

That was why the Ming army's general's cannons had never played much of a role in field battles — otherwise the outcomes of the Battle of Sarhu and the Battle of Hun River would have been rewritten. Perhaps Nurhaci would not even have dared to rebel!

These thirty-six 3-pounder cannons had been hauled into the firing range by seventy-two mules, with each cannon assigned two mule handlers and five gunners.

The two mule handlers assigned to each cannon had been sent by the Directorate of the Imperial Horses, while the five gunners had all been recruited by Sun Yuanhua in Macau and Foshan — one of them a Westerner, two black men, and two blacksmith's apprentices recruited from Foshan. Foshan Town in Nanhai County, Guangzhou Prefecture, was now one of the four great towns of the realm (Hankou Town, Jingdezhen, Zhuxian Town, and Foshan Town), and also one of the four great gathering places of the realm (Beijing, Hankou, Suzhou, and Foshan). One can well imagine how prosperous it was!

And what supported Foshan Town's prosperity was its local iron industry — Foshan had neither large mines nor mountain forests (in this era there was still no coke smelting, only charcoal smelting and coal smelting), yet by virtue of convenient transport and the advantage of blending Eastern and Western iron-smelting and casting techniques, it had leapt to become a major ironworking center. Even the Portuguese had hired Foshan blacksmiths to help them cast iron cannons; although the product quality was not as good as English goods, they could still be made.

Meanwhile, in Southeast Asia, Annam, Burma, Siam, and other countries had seen frequent warfare over the past several decades, and all had introduced Western matchlock muskets, which in turn stimulated demand. The various foreign guns made in Foshan were often sold there by Western or Ming sea merchants (pirates) as foreign guns.

Moreover, as early as the Wanli period, the Spanish heavy matchlock, also known as the turtledove arquebus, had begun to spread to Foshan, gradually becoming the flagship product of Foshan-made foreign guns and the favorite firearm of Ming sea merchants and pirates. Foshan's blacksmiths not only copied the Spanish heavy matchlock, but also innovated on its basis, producing large matchlocks of even greater power such as the great turtledove gun, the great wind-chasing gun, and the winged-tiger cannon.

This time, Sun Yuanhua, who had gone south to buy guns and cannons, had not only ordered 3-pounder battalion guns in Macau, but had also ordered a batch of individual turtledove arquebuses in Foshan Town — two thousand in total.

It was precisely because he had to wait for this batch of 3-pounder battalion guns and turtledove arquebuses to be finished that he had been delayed until mid-second month of the Chongzhen year before hauling the foreign guns and cannons back, along with foreign officers and soldiers, to report to Zhu Youjian.

A Portuguese officer named Gongsha de Xilao was the cannon-corps Assistant Regional Commander whom Sun Yuanhua had hired. Amid a string of his commands, the 180 assorted gunners began deftly separating the thirty-six 3-pounders from their carts (ammunition carts), then deployed them in a line across the firing range, every muzzle aimed squarely at over a hundred wooden targets 150 paces to the front.

Sun Yuanhua and his two deputies — Han Lin, a juren from Shanxi, and Song Yingxing, a juren from Jiangxi — stood behind the row of thirty-six cannons, waiting at any moment for Zhu Youjian's order to fire.

The headquarters army officers murmured among themselves in low voices.

"These cannons deploy fast!"

"Indeed — thirty-six of them set up in less than the time it takes to burn one stick of incense, loading and all."

"They're packed tight too, one right next to another. Aren't they afraid of a barrel bursting?"

"They won't burst. Bronze cannons, not cast iron — how could they burst?"

"These cannons can even be hitched to a two-wheeled cart to make a four-wheeler. They can keep up with cavalry!"

"Right — cavalry and artillery working together, invincible under heaven!"

Zhu Youjian, the man in all the Ming who understood cannons best, stood with his hands behind his back, looking over the row of 3-pounder bronze cannons before him, his face so full of smiles there was no room left for more. Sun Yuanhua, along with Song Yingxing and Han Lin recommended by Xu Guangqi, had done their work very reliably — at least the 150,000 taels from the privy purse he had issued had not been spent in vain.

Although the cannons had not yet fired, the sheer efficiency of deploying the artillery was already worth it. The 3-pounders could not shoot far either — their effective range was within 200 paces, and against massed targets there was no reason they should miss.

The ability to move quickly, deploy quickly, and fire quickly on the battlefield was what real combat power meant — although Zhu Youjian had never personally handled a cannon in his previous life, he had thoroughly memorized all manner of artillery tactics and artillery drill manuals from the military academy.

Xu Guangqi, Minister of the Ministry of Works, and Johann Adam Schall von Bell, the Western missionary still serving in the Directorate of Astronomy, had also come to Xuanfu with Sun Yuanhua and the others, and now followed Zhu Youjian with looks of astonishment.

The reason for their astonishment was that Zhu Youjian, while inspecting the cannons, was conversing with Schall in fluent Latin!

The content of the conversation touched on two matters. First, inviting the Portuguese captain-major of Macau and the Governor-General of Batavia to Beijing to discuss a commercial treaty — from the implications in Zhu Youjian's words, he intended to establish maritime trade offices and treaty ports at Tianjin, Songjiang, Ningbo, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou, opening trade with all the countries of East and West!

Second, dispatching envoys to the various Western countries.

This His Majesty actually understood foreign affairs thoroughly!

At that moment a suona horn sounded — all thirty-six cannons were ready. Sun Yuanhua turned to look at Zhu Youjian, the man in all the Ming who "understood cannons best and understood foreign affairs best": "Your Majesty, all thirty-six Hongyi small cannons are in position and ready to fire at any time!"

Zhu Youjian hastily stopped his conversation with Xu Guangqi and Schall, then plugged his ears tightly before nodding.

He was standing very close to the position where the thirty-six cannons were arrayed — if he did not cover his ears, he would surely be deafened!

Sun Yuanhua raised a small red flag and swept it down sharply.

The Portuguese officer Gongsha de Xilao personally commanded one 3-pounder. He had just been aiming with a wooden ruler carved with many graduation marks, then issued orders for the other cannons to adjust their firing angles by moving the wooden wedges beneath the cannons' rear. Seeing Sun Yuanhua wave the flag, he immediately ordered the gunners to thrust the burning matchcord, wound around a short halberd, into the cannon's touchhole. Two plumes of smoke spurted simultaneously from the muzzle and the touchhole, and only then came the deafening roar!

Crack! A crisp sound — a square wooden target 150 paces away was instantly smashed to splinters!

Seeing that Gongsha de Xilao had hit his target, the gunners of the remaining thirty-five cannons also lit and fired one after another. This time it was truly formidable — the roar of thirty-five cannons merged into one continuous thunder, and choking gunsmoke began to spread. Three-pound iron balls rained down upon the dozens of wooden targets 150 paces away, instantly shattering more than ten of them!

Afterward, most of the cannonballs that had struck the ground rebounded and flew forward another two or three hundred paces before plunging into the earth once more.

Before the smoke of the first volley had even cleared, the gunners had already completed a second round of loading, and then came another earth-shaking roar, followed by a third round, a fourth, a fifth — until every wooden target ahead had been blasted to fragments, and only then did the firing cease.

Across the firing range, there was suddenly complete silence. Everyone held their breath, as if stunned by the dense bombardment.

No one knew how long it was before Zhu Youjian's loud voice was heard: "Fine cannons! Pass on Our edict — in three days we march. We're going to blast Hong Taiji's black cannon!"

(End of Chapter)