Chapter 390: Mortars and Shells

"A mortar? It looks a bit like a water bucket."

At the Armory, Wang Ying carefully examined the short, thick artillery piece on the blueprint.

"Hmm, you could say that. You don't need me to teach you how to build it, do you?" Zhao Xu said.

The technology required for a mortar is not high.

Having personally researched and built artillery, for Wang Ying, building a mortar was like a middle schooler doing elementary school problems.

"This subordinate can handle it." Wang Ying wore a confident expression.

The height of this mortar is about sixty centimeters, the muzzle is about 150 millimeters, and the barrel wall is five centimeters thick.

There is a hole at the rear end, which is the touchhole.

The entire cannon body is fixed onto an iron plate.

The estimated weight is about one hundred jin, and two soldiers can carry it while walking.

Zhao Xu nodded, turned the page, and pointed to the second page.

"Also, the mortar's cannonball is different from the solid shot of artillery; it is hollow, and the principle is similar to a firecracker," Zhao Xu said.

A smoothbore cannon cannot use hollow shells.

The high chamber pressure of a violent explosion would cause the hollow shell to break inside the barrel.

Therefore, specialized ammunition must be configured.

He would not let Wang Ying grope around for this problem on his own; after all, the current situation in Da Song is complex, and there is not that much time to waste.

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Especially regarding weapons for war.

Wang Ying stared at the pattern on the blueprint; like the solid shot, the mortar's cannonball is also spherical.

However, it requires the interior of the sphere to be hollow, while leaving a finger-thick opening on the sphere.

Then he saw that Yan Wang had also drawn something like a wooden plug.

A complete explosive shell is made by inserting this wooden plug into the hole.

"Your Highness,

what is the use of this wooden plug? It seems to be the key to this kind of cannonball," Wang Ying asked.

Zhao Xu looked gratified; Wang Ying was still able to see some of the logic.

He said: "This kind of cannonball is called an explosive shell. Just like how lighting the gunpowder inside the cannon chamber requires a fuse, this explosive shell also requires a fuse."

"If it is just like that, how can we ensure this explosive shell explodes at the required position?" Wang Ying asked in confusion, then he suddenly realized, "This subordinate understands, this wooden plug is..."

Zhao Xu laughed, "Exactly. This wooden plug has a small hole in the middle, which can be used to insert a fuse. If you need a short explosion time, push the wooden plug in a bit; if you need a long explosion time, pull the wooden plug out a bit. This is how you control the length of the fuse."

Wang Ying understood, "So that's how it is."

Zhao Xu continued: "However, how much to pull out or push in the wooden plug to make it explode at what distance still needs testing. Afterward, just engrave the results on the produced wooden plugs."

He paused and said: "For example, to explode at one hundred meters, it needs to be inserted one centimeter. Record this, and when manufacturing wooden plugs in the future, mark it to form a standard. In this way, the artillerymen on the battlefield can directly control the explosion distance according to the markings."

Wang Ying nodded repeatedly, "This subordinate understands."

Zhao Xu let out a gentle breath; this is a wooden fuse.

Compared to a long fuse directly on the cannonball, where soldiers have to rely on their own sense of distance and use scissors to cut the fuse during battle, this is much more reliable.

Simply put, this is foolproof, and the margin of error is much better than soldiers cutting it themselves.

This type of fuse appeared in the late eighteenth century in the contemporary era and was used for the primitive howitzers of that time.

However, because black gunpowder was still being used at the time, the power of the explosive shell was insufficient, and it did not receive much attention.

After giving these instructions, Zhao Xu returned to the Prince's Mansion.

In just over nine days, Wang Ying had built the first mortar, along with several hollow cannonballs and wooden plugs.

This mortar was transported to the artillery drill ground, and Zhao Xu ordered Chang Wei to bring the artillery officers to observe it together.

After all, this would be one of the artillery pieces they would use in the future.

"Why is the muzzle of this cannon facing the sky? Is it meant to shoot the cannonball into the sky and then have it fall down to smash people to death?" An artillery officer thought he was being humorous and laughed out loud.

Turning his head, he saw that everyone else was pursing their lips, and he suddenly shut his mouth.

"Tang Qing, you're laughing quite happily. Come, you come and load the shell and fire the cannon yourself," Zhao Xu beckoned to Tang Qing.

This Tang Qing is an artillery Captain, responsible for the artillery under the Commandant, in charge of seventy-two artillery pieces.

He often saw him at the Military Academy, but he was a bit of a loudmouth.

"Yes, Your Highness." Under the gloating gazes of the other officers, Tang Qing moved to the front of the mortar.

Looking at the cannonball on the ground, he did not know how to use it, so he looked at Zhao Xu.

"You tell me, what is this cannon used for?" Zhao Xu ignored him and asked first.

Tang Qing scratched his head, looked at the mortar from front to back and top to bottom, observed the cannonball, and hesitated: "It seems to be able to hit enemies hiding behind walls."

"You're right. Now load the shell; the sequence is the same as with the artillery," Zhao Xu said.

Tang Qing followed instructions to clean the barrel, fill the gunpowder, finally load the shell, and then lit the fuse.

"Boom!"

After a sound like a muffled thunder, the cannonball flew out.

After flying for one hundred meters, the cannonball began to descend.

But at this moment, there was another "Boom" sound, and the cannonball exploded in mid-air, flashing with a burst of flame and smoke.

The officers had originally had very calm expressions, but seeing this scene, they trembled slightly.

This ball of flame in the air was much larger than a firecracker.

"This is an explosive shell; its power is many times that of a firecracker. If you put lead pellets like those for a flintlock bullet inside, it can kill or injure a small area of enemies," Zhao Xu explained. "If you put lime inside, it becomes a lime bomb. Exploding like this, it can at least form a ten-meter range of lime dust, causing trouble for enemy infantry and cavalry."

The power of a bomb lies in the performance of the gunpowder.

Even in the modern era, the development of high-energy Gunpowder has never ceased, with everyone pursuing the same volume but greater power.

During the period when the Smoothbore Cannon and the Mortar coexisted, the power of the Smoothbore Cannon was superior to that of the Mortar.

The reason lies in the fact that the explosive power of Black Gunpowder is not strong, being at most like a large Firecracker.

However, he did not actually require the Mortar to have much power.

Rather, it was its function, which differs from that of the Smoothbore Cannon.

It is like the difference between a fighter jet and a helicopter.

"So it can be used this way." Tang Qing's eyes suddenly lit up.

Soldiers can only throw a Firecracker thirty or forty meters by hand, but with this thing, they can directly launch a Lime Bomb on the battlefield.

"Your Highness, what is the maximum range of this Mortar?" Chang Wei and the other generals naturally realized the important role of the Mortar and asked hurriedly.

"This still needs to be measured, but it won't exceed five hundred meters." Zhao Xu gave Wang Ying a look.

Wang Ying understood and immediately swapped in the largest powder charge, while also extending the Wooden Fuse to its maximum length.

"Boom!" Another test fire.

This time the sound was louder than the first, and the Cannonball flew quite far, tracing a long parabolic arc, finally landing at a position over four hundred meters away and rolling a few meters before exploding.

The craftsman immediately measured the distance and returned to say, "Your Highness, it is approximately four hundred and sixty-two meters."

Zhao Xu nodded; this was the maximum distance, as the largest powder charge had been used after all.

"That's enough." Chang Wei laughed heartily, "This range is more than enough to torment the enemy."

He then gripped Wang Ying's hand, "Director Wang, build a hundred or eighty of these for the army as soon as possible."

Wang Ying looked disgusted, but still nodded.