137: Chapter 137: A plan to conduct an artillery display outside Xianyang City!

Zhao Fusu led a group of military industry personnel to develop the mortar.

A mortar mainly consists of four major parts: the barrel, the mount, the baseplate, and the sight.

The barrel is the channel through which the shell is launched, giving it its initial velocity and direction.

The barrel is usually made of high-strength alloy steel.

Zhao Fusu was fortunate that he had already managed to produce steel.

Otherwise, even if he knew how to build a mortar, the insufficient strength of the materials would cause the barrel to explode.

A sudden realization struck Zhao Fusu: modern warfare was a battle of a nation's industrial capacity!

In this era, by making Great Qin an industrial nation, he would be conducting a dimensional strike against other agricultural nations!

The breech is located at the rear end of the barrel and is connected to it.

Its interior is equipped with a firing mechanism, such as a firing pin.

The breech is connected to the barrel through threads or other methods to ensure airtightness during firing and prevent gas leakage.

The mortar Zhao Fusu obtained through his check-in reward had an internal recoil buffer.

When the artillery fires, the buffer slides up and down along the barrel via a sleeve and compresses a spring, serving to cushion the recoil and helping to improve shooting accuracy.

The mount is used to support the barrel, allowing it to maintain a stable firing posture, and can work with the elevation and traverse mechanisms to achieve pitch and rotation of the barrel.

A seasoned gunner wouldn't even need a mount; they could fire just by supporting the barrel with one hand.

The baseplate is triangular and is also made of alloy steel.

During firing, the baseplate bears the vast majority of the recoil transmitted from the barrel and transfers it to the ground. Simultaneously, it maintains a firm grip on the ground to prevent the mortar from jumping during launch, ensuring stability and safety.

A mortar shell consists of five main parts: the shell body, the stabilizer, the filler, the propellant charge, and the fuse.

The most important part among these is the fuse.

Zhao Fusu observed that the fuse used by the mortar shells was a contact fuse.

This is a type of fuse that controls ignition by coming into contact with a target, also known as an impact fuse or percussion fuse.

The construction method provided by the system used mechanical triggering.

Upon colliding with the target, the firing pin is displaced by the impact, igniting the primer, which in turn ignites the smokeless powder inside the mortar.

The walls of the mortar shell are relatively thin, and the mortar barrel is also relatively thin.

Because the chamber pressure of a mortar is low, the shell does not need to withstand as much pressure as a high-pressure artillery shell. Thus, the shell walls can be designed thinner, allowing more explosives to be packed into the same volume, increasing the lethality of the shell.

A thinner barrel has a relatively larger heat dissipation surface area during continuous firing, resulting in better cooling. This helps maintain the barrel's performance and lifespan, ensuring the mortar's sustained combat capability over a certain period.

Zhao Fusu looked at the modified mortar shells.

The reason these modified mortar shells could achieve direct fire was due to a specific technical point.

A 400mm tail tube had been added to the rear of the shell.

When the baseplate is tilted on the ground at an angle of less than 5 degrees, a pull-string firing mechanism is used to launch the shell.

With this modification, the mortar could perform both direct fire and high-angle fire, greatly increasing its utility.

While Zhao Fusu was researching the meiliangxin cannon and the mortar,

the Nobles of the Six Lands gathered together to plot.

“It is time for us to collectively petition Young Master Fusu to allow us to return to our ancestral lands to pay respects to our ancestors.”

“Young Master Fusu is benevolent; he should agree to it.”

The Nobles of the Six Lands had long wanted to return to their ancestral homes.

Previously, they had applied to the First Emperor, but they were rebuked by him and could only remain quiet.

After the First Emperor's sudden death, they knew the time to return to their ancestral lands had come.

However, they did not raise the matter immediately; instead, they waited until after the First Emperor was buried before preparing to propose their return to Zhao Fusu.

Young Master Fusu was inherently benevolent.

After experiencing life and death, Young Master Fusu would be more able to empathize with their desire to return to their ancestral lands and worship their deceased elders.

The reason they wanted to return was absolutely not to raise an army and rebel once they were back.

They were loyal to Great Qin!

At least, that was what they said.

Their applications to return to their ancestral lands were all sent to Li Si.

Li Si saw through the schemes of these Nobles of the Six Lands as clearly as a mirror.

He originally intended to set them aside and ignore them.

But on second thought, such a major matter should still be reported to Zhao Fusu.

“Oh?”

After Zhao Fusu learned of this, he thought for a moment and said, “Send word back to them; tell them I permit them to return to their ancestral lands to worship their ancestors.”

“What?”

Upon hearing Zhao Fusu say this, both Li Si and Feng Quji couldn't help but stare in shock.

They had thought Zhao Fusu would refuse, but they never expected him to actually allow the Nobles of the Six Lands to return!

“His Majesty the Head of State, this must not be!”

Li Si and Feng Quji immediately moved to block the decision.

With the mountains high and the emperor far away, who knows if they would simply disappear after returning and then start a rebellion.

They would never allow such an act of releasing the tiger back to the mountain to happen.

“Don't be in a hurry.”

Zhao Fusu waved his hand and said, “What you are worried about is nothing more than them starting a rebellion once they return to their clan lands.”

“Correct!”

Li Si and Feng Quji indeed thought exactly that.

They believed the Nobles of the Six Lands thought so too.

Zhao Fusu smiled and said, “I intend to set October 1st as National Day.”

“On National Day, we will hold a military parade.”

“I'll give you a little preview.”

“This parade will be held outside Xianyang City, and the Nobles of the Six Lands will be invited to watch.”

“In addition to reviewing Great Qin's fifty thousand Huben guards and crossbow units, we will also review three thousand Iron Pagoda heavy cavalry, ten thousand revolver soldiers, and perform a bombardment demonstration.”

“We will build a wall outside Xianyang City that is over a hundred meters long, ten meters high, and ten meters wide, and use the meiliangxin cannons for the bombardment performance.”

“Iron Pagoda heavy cavalry?”

“Ten thousand revolver soldiers?”

“Bombardment demonstration?”

Li Si and Feng Quji were both left dazed by what they heard.

When Zhao Fusu was developing these weapons, it was all kept strictly confidential.

Even though Li Si and Feng Quji were the premier and vice-premier of the State Council, they didn't know much about them.

However, they did indeed know that Zhao Fusu had developed many powerful weapons.

For example, those steel sabers that could easily snap a Bronze Sword.

And the firearms Zhao Fusu used when he was attacked by assassins at the Ding Temple on Mount Li were extremely domineering.

Using those firearms, Zhao Fusu had single-handedly blasted thirty assassins to death and heavily wounded ten others.

This record of his was truly a bit exaggerated.

The firearms Zhao Fusu used were also discussed among the common people. It was said that as soon as the fire flashed, someone would die.

The effect was just like an immortal performing a spell—instant and terrifying.