My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 365: Concept of Fire Suppression on the Other Shore

Life at sea is fulfilling, with endless training every day. But it is also boring, as you face either the boundless sky or the endless sea every day.

You always need to do something to kill time when you are bored, and on the Dingyuan-class ironclad battleship, the best way to kill time is to open the market and place bets.

As for the content of the bet, it was about the dispute between Xu Da, Li Wenzhong and Tang He over the naming rights of the Naval Musket Battalion.

At the beginning, the content of the bet was very simple, which was who among Xu Da and the other two would win the final victory in the argument.

However, as the days passed, seeing that the three of them still could not come to a conclusion in their argument, the way of betting also changed with the times, from a single bet to how many names the three of them would give to the Musket Battalion.

From the number of names to the content, you can bet on anything, both single bets and compound bets are acceptable. This is something Xu Huizu and Li Jinglong cannot tolerate!
After reprimanding the privates several times, the soldiers finally restrained themselves a little, but their methods became more covert.

However, when Xu Huizu and Li Jinglong found out that Zhu Di was also secretly betting, they collapsed on the spot. Without saying a word, they immediately picked up Zhu Di and beat him up.

At the beginning, Zhu Di was still yelling that it was okay for his brother-in-law to beat him, but why did Li Jinglong, his nephew, dare to do that?

On the contrary, it belongs to Tiangang.

Li Jinglong also had sufficient reasons. He did not beat the man himself, but on behalf of his father Li Wenzhong.

Zhu Di was convinced by this reason.

The two men were still not satisfied after the beating, and they divided up the money Zhu Di had won, which made Zhu Di feel like crying but without tears.

After this, Xu Huizu and Li Jinglong just let it go. Since they couldn't stop it, they might as well end it quickly. Therefore, the two of them looked forward to Chen Zuyi's quick appearance every day, so that they could kill him and then go home.

As the fleet got closer and closer to Malacca, the naval officers and soldiers were fully prepared, rubbing their hands, waiting for the pirates to come and show their skills.

This was the first naval battle since the establishment of the Ming Navy, so they couldn't let down their guard. Even Xu Da and the other two stopped arguing at this time, and instead, they worked with the lieutenant generals under them to repeatedly deduced the attack mode all day long.

During the simulation, Tang He also proposed a tactic that seemed new to everyone, which was to take advantage of the huge range of the artillery on the Dingyuan-class battleships to bombard the land at sea and suppress the pirates with firepower.

The main gun on the Zhenyuan ship had a maximum range of 15 kilometers during sea trial shooting, and an effective range of about 12 kilometers, which far exceeded the original design indicators.

When this range was first revealed, it shocked everyone, and of course the most shocked person was the researcher from the Ordnance Bureau.

They made the cannon, but the results they obtained far exceeded the design specifications, leaving them completely baffled.

After some reverse reasoning, the researchers finally found the cause by guessing.

The indicators set on the original design drawings were based on relatively backward propellant, but the new propellant formula given to them by the strange man, namely smokeless explosive, was far more effective than the original artillery charge.

Tang He believed that based on the effective range of about twelve kilometers, the Dingyuan-class battleships could carry out ultra-long-range strikes at locations about ten kilometers deep in the land in waters two to three kilometers from the coast, and the sighting device on the gun had an observation range of about twenty kilometers.

The four twin-mounted main guns on the battleship are actually equivalent to eight gun barrels, and the firing rate is also extremely high. The shells fired in a quarter of an hour are comparable to the firepower output of an entire artillery battalion in the past. In addition, the shells equipped are of two types: grenades and armor-piercing shells. The grenades are fragmentation shells, which are perfect for group damage to the enemy.

As for armor-piercing shells, they are the most advantageous weapon against city walls and fortresses. Tang He even believed that armor-piercing shells were used to fight against ironclad ships!

Regardless of the type of shell, its power far exceeds the solid bullets fired by previous cast iron cannons.

In addition, the ship has four twin-mounted secondary guns with an effective range of about eight to ten kilometers. The combination of the main guns and secondary guns can form fire strikes on the land at different distances from far to near.

The firing speed of the secondary guns is faster than that of the main guns, so it is entirely possible for warships to suppress the land with firepower.

Tang He made a complete deduction and concluded that artillery attacks could be carried out from a distance of about 8,000 meters from the coast, and that firepower coverage at different distances could be formed on the land in different batches when the distance is three to four thousand meters from the coast.

In this way, before the navy and the army land, they can use artillery to clear a landing area on the beach for them.

After the navy and the army land, the ships can still provide fire support for the navy and the army, and bombard the enemies farther away.

Of course, Tang He always insisted on his own opinion on the naming of the ship's musket battalion.

This suggestion was agreed by everyone except the navy and army, and Xu Da, based on this, put forward an even crazier idea.

That is, after the army and navy land, when they encounter a fortress or defense line that is difficult to attack, they can rely on the advantages of long-distance communication of radio stations to call the fleet to attack specific targets.

When Xu Da proposed this idea, everyone thought he was crazy, so much so that even the army and navy did not refute his proposal!

In Tang He's view, the reason why he proposed the premise of using naval guns to suppress fire on the opposite shore was to ensure that the impact area of ​​the shells maintained a certain distance from the navy and the army, so that even if there was a deviation, the shells would not fall on the heads of the Ming army.

However, Xu Da's proposal was too dangerous. The distance between the musket battalion and the enemy was usually about two hundred to fifty meters. If the shells were not careful, they would fall on the heads of their own soldiers.

Moreover, the killing radius of the grenade is close to 90 meters. Although the main function of the armor-piercing shell is not to kill the enemy in all directions, its killing range is also about 50 meters. Therefore, once in close combat, if the shell explodes on the enemy's position, it is entirely possible to injure one's own soldiers.

Li Wenzhong raised another more practical question, which is how to accurately locate enemy targets and how to provide accurate coordinates for artillery.

Xu Da had many reasons to argue with Tang He about his questions, but the questions raised by Li Wenzhong stumped him.

Yes, how to provide accurate coordinates for the artillery?
After thinking about it for a long time, he couldn't come up with a good solution, and he had no idea where to learn, but this idea was fixed in his mind.

He firmly believed that by using radio and artillery, he could realize his idea of ​​destroying as soon as he discovered it.

Moreover, his ideas can not only be used in landing operations. No matter where they fight in the future, if the scouts go forward and encounter a target that needs to be destroyed immediately, they can immediately contact the artillery in the rear and destroy it in one fell swoop!

But how do you provide the coordinates?
Well, let’s wait until we return to Ming Dynasty and then ask Your Majesty to ask the strange man Li Han!
(End of this chapter)