The howitzer has a short barrel, a small chamber pressure, and a much thinner pipe wall, so its weight can be greatly reduced. Of course, the consequence is that the shell is insufficient kinetic energy.

The medicine packaged for the twelve-pound howitzer is only six taels, while the medicine used for the twelve-pound field gun is more than two pounds, and the chamber pressure is more than four times that of nearly five times. The medicine packaged for the twelve-pound field gun is even lower than that of the six-pound field gun.

The gunner loaded the medicine bag and shells, pierced the medicine bag from the fire gate, stuffed the fuse, and ignited the cannon. With a cannon, the twelve pounds of howitzer spit out a ball of fire. The shell flew out about 350 steps and landed on the grass. The bounce was not strong enough. It only bounced a few times on the ground and then lost its effect.

"This kind of cannon is obviously not powerful." Craftsman Zhang Deng shook his head in disappointment.

Another craftsman named Zhao Pei said, "The amount of medicine is too small. Such a thick cannon can only contain less than half a pound of gunpowder. How can it be powerful?"

"I dare not install too much. The wall of the pipe is so thin. If you install too much gunpowder, you may have to explode."

People are talking about this kind of artillery, and they always feel that it is not powerful enough. It is better to fire such heavy shells than to reduce the weight of the six-pound field artillery at half the weight.

Li Guodong sent more than 100 scarecrows to slaughter, and then he used six-pound field guns and twelve-pound howitzers to test-fire shots and shrapnel to observe the effect of the shelling.

The six-pound field gun fired a shrapnel, and thirty-six scarecrows fell down one hundred and fifty steps away. Then he replaced the twelve-pound howitzer fired a shrapnel, and almost all of the more than one hundred scarecrows fell down one hundred and fifty steps away!

Then a shotgun test was carried out. Similarly, the shotgun fired by the twelve-pound howitzer was far more powerful than the shotgun fired by the six hundred field guns.

"This kind of gun is light and small, and it is not as powerful as a six-pound gun when firing shrapnel and shotgun, but when firing shrapnel and shotgun, its power is equivalent to a twelve-pound field gun! And it weighs only one-fifth of the twelve-pound howitzer."

The twelve-pound howitzer, plus the gun mount and the cannon car, weighs only about 500 kilograms, which is about the same as an iron three-pound cannon. The power of the shrapnel and shotgun is far more than that of the three-pound cannon and the six-pound cannon. It is a real killing weapon.

Soon, the first twelve-pound field gun was cast. The cannon was powerful and the solid bullets fired could penetrate a hundred people a mile away. Li Guodong used the scarecrow to experiment with the scarecrow. One thousand scarecrows were erected one mile away, ten horizontal lines, one hundred columns, and one shot, and one shot was shot over, and from the beginning to the end, at least more than one hundred scarecrows fell down.

"This cannon is extremely powerful, but its disadvantage is that it is too heavy. The gun mount and cannon cart are all combined to reach more than 2,000 kilograms. Even if eight horses are pulled up, they will not run fast. If you want this cannon to run fast, you still need to improve the axle." Li Guodong said.

Then you need to add springs and bearings. Li Guodong cannot make these two things by himself at present. The principle of bearings is very simple. If you really want to make them, the technology will not be achieved, and it will take a long time to develop them. So Li Guodong decided that the main function of the twelve-pound field artillery is to siege and defend the city, and to equip artillery units that cooperate with infantry operations. The six-pound field artillery and the twelve-pound howitzer can be equipped with flying cavalry artillery and maneuver with the cavalry.

The technology of casting bronze cannons is simpler than casting iron cannons. The Han people have had more than 3,000 years of casting bronzes since the Shang and Zhou dynasties. The process of casting bronzes is very mature, and casting bronze cannons is not a problem. As for the thickness of the barrel wall and the weight of the cannon body, they are all ready-made materials in Li Guodong's mind. He drew drawings according to the information in his mind and left the rest to the craftsmen to handle.

Shengjing, Huang Taiji sat on the dragon throne and looked around. Like Yue Tuo, he had a smile on his face on weekdays and looked very kind, but when he spoke, he felt majestic and could not be refuted.

Huang Taiji gently stroked the handle of the dragon chair with his thick hand and looked around and said, "Everyone, I have decided to enter Xuanda in July this year and enter the territory of the Ming Dynasty to grab one."

"Enter Xuan Da?" Ajige said there was no oil or water to make money. "What's the point of grabbing Xuan Da? I was so poor that I was dying. What could I get after going to those places?"

"Everyone, the main purpose of entering Xuanda this time is not to plunder a lot of food and gold and silver, but to long-term considerations! Fan Aiqing sent the military information of the Ming Dynasty. Now the bandits in Shanxi and Shaanxi have broken through the defense line of the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers, entered the Central Plains first, and were blocked in Hubei and Sichuan. The Ming Dynasty is mobilizing officers and soldiers to Hanzhong to block the bandits. We cannot let the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers encircle the bandits! They leave Shanxi and enter Hanzhong to suppress the bandits, and we must let them return to Shanxi! What we have to do is to make the wounds of the Ming Dynasty fester and cannot heal! As long as the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers are unable to let go of their hands to eliminate the bandits, the big tree will eventually collapse! At that time, we can easily and naturally enter Yanjing!"

"Master, are we not going to the Gyeonggi this time?"

"It's useless to go. You can get close to the capital of Jingji, but there is no need to enter the city of Yanjing. We just need to transfer the Ming Shanxi soldiers who entered the Central Plains to deal with us, and then take advantage of the opportunity of the Han people escaping into the city to collect all the food in the fields for them. This is enough." Huang Taiji showed a smile from the bottom of his heart on his face. He seemed to see the scene of the Ming Dynasty collapsed under the attack of the Jin and bandits, and the Jin occupied Beijing.

However, Huang Taiji, who was far-sighted, never expected that his strategic plan would be cheaper to Dorgon in the end. He could not sit on the dragon throne in the Forbidden City of Yanjing, and almost let Dorgon sit on it. If Da Yuer had not been dealing with Dorgon, the dragon throne would probably not have been the descendants of Huang Taiji.

Dorgon stood up and said, "Master, we went to the expedition in July, and our army was not enough food and grass. We had not yet harvested food and grass and we rushed to the expedition. I am afraid that our army would run out of food and grass before entering the territory of Ming Dynasty."

"Yuetobele!" Huang Taiji turned his head to look at Yueto, who had just recovered from illness.

"Slave is here!" Yue Tuo stood up.

"I'll leave the food and grass matter to you. The food we stored last year and the food sent by North Korea are not enough. You set off with Dorgon within a few days and go to Guihua City to find Tumote people to ask for food and livestock to solve the problem of our army's food and grass!"

Yue Tou beat him up and knelt on the ground and replied, "But my master, the slave only asked the Tumotes for a batch of food and grass last autumn, but I'm afraid they won't be able to give it."

Huang Taiji smiled: "Yue Tobele, your eyeliner is still selfish! Ben Khan received news from Fan Aiqing that a large number of Han Chinese herd slaves went out of the border last year and planted winter wheat in Hetao. This year, there was a bumper harvest of winter wheat. You can collect grain from them! If Omubu doesn't agree, we don't mind finding someone to replace him as Tumote Khan!"
Chapter completed!