naaapseattle #696 - Concept of Coastal Defense Artillery
#696 - Concept of Coastal Defense Artillery
Just as Horn was flipping through the recent issues of "Truth Daily" to check on the movements in Thousand River Valley after his departure, Melia tapped her teacup with a spoon, the crisp sound echoing in the sun-filled room.
Seeing Horn's questioning gaze, Melia said, "You've really made a name for yourself in this battle. News of your repeated defeats of the Fran army has spread throughout Thousand River Valley. Defeating Liah in the north and Fran in the south, people aren't quite used to winning like this."
"They'll get used to it if we win a few more times," Horn said, nonchalantly putting down the newspaper and grinning.
A smile also appeared on Melia's face. "Is it my imagination, or have you become a lot more arrogant than when I first met you?"
"If young people aren't arrogant, are they even young?" But as he said this, Horn changed the subject, his expression becoming more serious. "We benefited from the terrain and the information gap, otherwise, we wouldn't have won so easily this time."
This wasn't Horn being modest, but the unanimous conclusion drawn from the post-war summary.
In the swampy creek terrain, the knights lost their most important mobility and could only fight on foot.
Moreover, they didn't have enough understanding of the spring-powered cannons and dared to advance in dense, deep formations, which led to such an easy victory.
If it had been on wide, flat terrain, those 3-pound cannons probably wouldn't have fired many times before being suppressed by the charging cavalry and arrows.
The transcendent knights still had some skills. Although Horn had been winning consistently, accumulating a lot of confidence, he couldn't turn a quick defeat into a quick victory.
"I heard you've developed a new weapon called a spring-powered cannon?" Melia's eyes flashed with scrutiny. "I heard people say it can devastate dozens of miles with a single shot?"
"How is that possible?" Horn said with a wry smile. "It's just a larger version of the spring-powered rifle. You've seen those before."
The spring-powered cannon was the most outstanding weapon in the Black Serpent Bay War.
Originally just an enlarged version of the leather cannon, it was rapidly updated and iterated by the rear artillery factories and armories due to the pressure of war.
Although it's still not perfect in some aspects, there are basically no problems with putting it into use.
Unlike the Holy Rifle, the spring-powered cannon can be loaded from the breech, but its essence is a mother-and-son cannon. What affects its firing frequency is actually the process of replacing the spring chamber.
Thanks to the outstanding contributions of the knight lords to the new spring-powered cannon, Horn collected a lot of new data about this type of cannon.
A 3-pound Falcon cannon requires a 1.5-pound orichalcum spring, fires about once every 1 to 2 minutes, uses about 700 pounds of iron, and weighs about 450 pounds in total.
A 6-pound Sandpiper cannon requires about 3 pounds of spring, can fire about once every 2-3 minutes, uses 1800 pounds of materials, and weighs about 1580 pounds in total.
Since this type of spring-powered cannon doesn't need to consider air tightness, that is to say, it doesn't need to consider the impact of cast iron annealing on performance, it can be brittle or thin.
When dwarves cast it, they only need to use iron or even mud molds to cast the upper and lower sections, then wrap them at both ends with long iron bars and rivets, leaving an exhaust groove in the middle, and install a gear shaft at the rear end.
Such a 3-pound Falcon cannon costs about 15 gold pounds, while a 6-pound Sandpiper cannon costs about 32 gold pounds, and a 12-pound Griffin cannon costs about 65 gold pounds.
According to the reports from the rear, about 12 3-pound cannons or 8 6-pound cannons can be produced each month. The 12-pound cannon is still being improved and has not yet been equipped.
The Grand Duchess didn't hide anything and said directly, "Give me a few, and I'll also build an artillery factory. Give me that water-powered winding thing too."
"Okay," Horn nodded. "However, you have to pay for the patent for this technology and then pay annual patent fees to the inventor."
Melia frowned. "This is to deal with the Liah people, not for my own personal gain."
"I know," Horn said seriously. "I can make up for the patent fees you pay him through other budget items."
"Why? Isn't this equivalent to moving money from one pocket to another?"
"No matter what the essence is, we have to have this attitude," Horn took a sip of the long-unsipped black tea. "Otherwise, who would be willing to share their technology in the future when the guilds are opened?"
Currently, the patent-related laws and departments are still being planned because the Thousand River Valley government's control over the local areas is not yet that strong before full centuplication.
Introducing the patent and invention system in advance can only be implemented on Autumn Dusk Island at most.
Thinking of the patent system Horn mentioned earlier, although skeptical, Melia still exhaled a breath of turbid air. "Okay, but before my artillery factory is built, I want to place an order at the Mayo Town artillery factory. I may need 10 Griffin cannons and 30 Sandpiper cannons."
"What do you need so many cannons for?" Horn was surprised to hear this number.
"To prepare for the Liah people's invasion," Melia pointed to the north. "I plan to install shore-defense Griffin cannons at the rapids of Rapid River City and Evergreen City, thereby locking down the enemy and reducing their water transportation and advancement possibilities.
As for the 30 Sandpiper cannons, they will be placed on the six fortresses on the northeastern border, one of which is close to the river and can use water power to wind the springs.
Two other fortresses are at the passes from Gravel Plains to Upper Reeve County and North Mound County, where there are strong winds all year round. I'll see if I can use wind power instead of water power to wind the springs."
Hearing the words "shore-defense Griffin cannon," Horn's eyes lit up.
Gently stroking the rim of his cup, his thoughts raced like galloping horses.
He hadn't thought of this before. Placing Griffin cannons or even 24-pound Dragon cannons on the shore or even by dams, using water power to wind the springs continuously, might reduce the firing frequency of 12-pound cannons to within 3 minutes.
Due to the long-term water conservancy projects in Hotam County, there are almost ditches, sluices, and small dams everywhere.
Originally, Horn was worried that the Thousand River Valley's plains almost had no dangerous terrain to stop the Liah cavalry.
But if there was no danger, he could create danger.
When the Liah people arrived, they would have to gnaw through one gun emplacement after another, and behind them were the two large granaries of Langsand County and Caxia County.
Further back, there was Black Serpent Bay, an ally that continuously provided funds through the spice trade. They could exhaust the Liah people just by attrition.
Unless the Liah people could obtain military transit rights from the Fran people, but it was obvious that the Fran people would not give up transit rights, otherwise, the revanchism in the country would explode.
Thinking of this, Horn had a flash of inspiration and suddenly looked up. "Why do you need these spring-powered cannons so urgently? Is there any unusual movement on the Liah side?"
Melia was silent for a moment. "You know, the Liah civil war is now coming to an end. The two duke armies basically have no possibility of counterattacking, so some changes have taken place in the Liah domestic situation."
"What changes?" Horn quickly asked.