The Rise of the European Emperor

Although it is cool to bombard people with artillery, Marin found a problem - the 50 Frans captured from the army of the Electoral State of Saxony were equipped with bronze guns, and the calibers were not uniform...

Of the 50 Fran cannons, some were 2-pounders, some were 3-pounders, and some were 4-pounders with mixed calibers. Moreover, even with the same caliber, there are slight differences due to the casting process.

Therefore, if the captured Fran cannon is used for combat, it is also necessary to manufacture matching ammunition. Fortunately, it is not difficult to cast cannonballs. As long as there is a template cannonball with a high degree of fit, you can use the sand casting method to cast the exact same cannonball. Although there must be some honeycombs in the shells cast in the wet sand because of the water vapor, but because it is a shell, not a barrel, it has no effect. Anyway, it's used to smash people, and the iron balls are definitely harder than the human body if there are honeycombs. If you smash it, it must be finished...

And, to Marin's surprise, according to the captured Saxon artillery, many of the Saxon artillery were shot with stone bullets, not iron balls. Because the current iron smelting technology in Europe is backward, most blacksmiths still use the method of directly reducing iron ore on a red-burning charcoal fire to smelt iron. Therefore, European iron prices are still very expensive. Therefore, it is not bad to be able to use stone cannonballs instead of iron balls...

"Stone cannonballs... It seems that the power is not enough, it can't hit the city wall..." Malin muttered.

However, he quickly realized that the infantry artillery was for hitting people, not for sieging the city. Iron balls were not necessary. Stone bullets were definitely enough.

However, for Marin, producing stone bullets is more troublesome than producing iron ball cannonballs. To produce iron ball cannonballs, as long as the standard shells of the model are used to press out the space in the sand box divided into two halves, then the two halves of the sand box are separated, and then put together, pour the molten iron from the casting hole above, and it can be cast very quickly. Shots of the same size.

If you use stone bullets, you need to use a stonemason to polish them by hand. Although masons can also grind stone bullets to the exact same size as iron balls, it is time-consuming and not as fast as sand casting. Other countries use stone bullets because iron balls are too expensive, but Marin doesn't care... He has an iron-smelting blast furnace, uses coke to smelt iron, and imports hematite from Luxembourg to smelt iron, and there is a lot of molten iron. Therefore, he does not care about the cost of the iron ball. Moreover, grinding stone balls is too time-consuming and inefficient. Therefore, Marin still intends to mainly use iron ball shells.

However, one day, after seeing workers building cement roads in the city, Marin immediately changed his mind...

why? Because Marin came up with the idea of ​​using concrete to cast shells...

Yes, cement the shells. Stone cannonballs are difficult to polish because a mason is required and it takes a lot of time. With cement, it's easier.

After thinking about it, Marin felt that it was possible to make two iron bowls that could fit together. Then, put the mixed cement into the iron bowl. After a while, when the cement balls can not fall apart, then separate the iron bowls on both sides and take out the cement balls to air dry or dry them in the sun. Then, a cement ball cannonball was born...

Infantry artillery hitting people with iron balls is indeed a waste. Anyway, it's smashing people. The difference between an iron ball and a cement ball is not very big. Also, how cheap are cement balls? It is very convenient to pour, and it can save a lot of money than using iron balls...

When he thought of it, he did it, and Marin immediately called a craftsman to cast an iron bowl divided into two halves, which was specially used for pouring cement balls and shells. However, the processing of iron bowls seems to be a bit difficult. After all, it is an iron thing, and it is troublesome to make molds.

Later, a craftsman simply suggested that it is better to use a wooden bowl... A wooden bowl can also set the shape of the cement, and it is easy to process a wooden bowl, and the carpenter can make fine adjustments at any time.

Unlike iron bowls, if casting fails, it is very difficult to modify. As for the wooden bowl, the carpenter can adjust it by tapping it with an axe for a while. It really doesn't work, just replace it with a wooden bowl, the wood is worthless...

After several days of hard work, a method of holding cement-cast cannonballs together with two hemispherical wooden bowls was born...

As long as there is cement, pouring the cement ball cannonball is not too simple - pour the cement directly into the bowl, force the two hemispheres together, and squeeze out the excess cement. Then wait for an hour or two, the cement in the bowl is not easy to fall apart, and then remove the two halves of the wooden bowl, so that the cement ball is exposed to the sun or dried or air-dried... A cement ball cannonball is completed...

After the cement ball is dry and hard, after testing, it is not very different from the stone cannonball. Anyway, it's enough for hitting people. After all, the human body must be at a disadvantage when it confronts the cement ball head-on. Even if the cement ball is smashed, it doesn't matter. After all, cement is not valuable. If it's not a big deal, you need to get a few new ones. Even if a gap is made, it doesn't matter, just put some cement on the gap, and it can continue to be used as a shell after it has been air-dried. But people are different, being hit by a cement ball cannonball is either dead or disabled, and it is useless to wear plate armor. That kind of kinetic energy, even if it can't pierce the plate armor, can shatter your bones and cause you to shatter to death.

Marin called his men together and showed them the cheap cement ball. As Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kohler immediately fell in love with this low-cost shell. As a confidant of Marin, Kohler knows how low the cost of cement is. At least, much lower than the iron ball. Because, to make iron balls, it is necessary to import hematite from Luxembourg, and then smelt it into molten iron through the equipment and craftsmen of the steel plant. Finally, through the sand casting craftsmen, they are cast one by one. A series of costs down, much higher than cement shells.

And what about cement balls? Just find a construction worker, mix the cement, and then take out the mold wooden bowl. No craftsmanship is required, and ordinary construction workers can produce this kind of shells, which is extremely simple.

Although Marin said that the bombardment of the city wall and the naval artillery battle still requires the use of iron balls. However, switching the infantry guns to cement balls can definitely save a lot of money. For Chancellor Kohler, nothing is more important than saving money.

As for the problem that the cement balls and shells are easily damaged due to bumps, it was just like what Marin had planned before—to bring a few construction workers with the army, and a little cement and yellow sand. If there is a gap in the recovered cement ball, stir some cement and apply it to the gap of the cannonball, dry it in the sun, blow it, and a new infantry cannonball is out again...

Marin is very proud of his original invention, it seems that there has never been a cement cannonball in history...

No wonder, though. Because, when cement appeared (in the 19th century), solid shells had been eliminated, and it was already the world of blooming shells. So, naturally, no one thought about using cement to pour shells. After all, cement can be made into solid bullets like stone balls at most, and cannot be made into blooming bullets.

Therefore, the cement ball cannonball that Marin made is really original. Moreover, because there is no cement in other countries, if you want a cottage, you have to master the cement technology first...