Fang Er did not answer Fang Xuanling's question about the price, but instead smiled and said, "Please allow me to keep you in suspense for a moment, and I will answer Duke Fang's question later."
The more he refused to say, the more Fang Xuanling had a bad premonition.
This ship was to be paid for by the Ministry of Revenue, using the output of future silver mines!
With the propulsion of the propeller, the large ship slowly sailed out of the dock and entered the Ba River channel.
The speed was very fast, much faster than the boatmen rowing.
Moreover, it was very stable. The huge steel keel was not only sturdy but also served as ballast.
The swift river current only caused the Zhenyuan to sway slightly.
After a stick of incense, the Zhenyuan sailed from the Ba River into the main channel of the Wei River.
The river surface here was wider, and the current was faster.
When the ship reached a deserted area, Fang Er asked Li Shimin for instructions.
"Your Majesty, this area is wide. Shall I have them fire a few shots to let Your Majesty see the power of this new cannon?"
Li Shimin nodded in anticipation.
The cannons on the ship were different from those he had seen in Fang Family Village before.
They were smaller than those that fired solid iron balls, and larger than those of the trench mortars.
He just didn't know about their power.
The dukes beside him immediately became interested.
"I'll do it, I'll do it! I like firing cannons the most! Hahahaha!"
After Cheng Yaojin finished speaking, he rubbed his hands and walked over, grabbing a cannon at the bow of the ship.
Following closely behind was Chai Shao, who grabbed another cannon at the bow.
Others could only go to the cannon positions on the sides of the ship.
Fortunately, excluding the dukes who were not in court, the number of people present this time was far less than the number of cannons.
So, there were still plenty of cannons for everyone to have one.
After everyone had chosen their positions, Wei Zheng suddenly found Hou Junji to his right.
Thinking back to the scene of firing cannons in Fang Family Village before, Wei Zheng shivered. He glanced at an empty cannon in the distance and switched over.
That guy was a disaster, he didn't want to be implicated.
Wei Zheng's actions made Hou Junji recall the little monkey's burned experience before.
Then his face turned red. He looked at the cannon in front of him with some trepidation, but he was unwilling to stand aside and watch others fire cannons.
Seeing that all the dukes had chosen their cannon positions, Fang Er said to Li Shun, "Have someone bring the cannonballs."
Li Shun turned around, walked to the stairs, and descended into the ship's cabin.
Before long, a group of craftsmen appeared on deck carrying wooden boxes.
When the boxes were opened, each box contained six cannonballs. The craftsmen distributed the cannonballs to the dukes and helped them attach the fuses to the cannonballs.
There were two types of fuses: time fuses and impact fuses.
For safety reasons, these were stored separately from the cannonballs.
This time, it was only a test firing. It was not suitable to fire at the river embankment, so they could only fire into the water. Therefore, time fuses were installed.
After installing the fuses and explaining how to fire, the craftsmen stepped back two paces and stood behind the dukes, just in case.
Fang Xuanling did not choose a cannon. Instead, he stood beside Fang Er, looking at the cannonballs, his mouth twitched.
"Marquis of Liaodong, I don't know, how much silver does this cannonball cost per shot?"
When he was calculating accounts in the Ministry of Revenue, Fang Er had set the price of trench mortar shells at four guan per shot, which made him very uneasy. This was a money-burning item!
Seeing his conflicted expression, Fang Er smiled and said.
"Duke Fang, you can rest assured. That small piece of land won't need many cannonballs.
Moreover, the craftsmanship of the artisans in the workshop is becoming more and more exquisite, so the cost price of a cannonball is only three guan."
Although three guan was still expensive, it was still much cheaper than four guan.
Fang Xuanling finally felt relieved.
"That's very good. However, please ask Marquis of Liaodong to use as few cannonballs as possible. Earlier, I saw that the ram on this large ship was very sharp. If it can be sunk by ramming in close combat, it is best to ram as much as possible."
Fang Er only nodded slightly, without making any promises.
Cheng Yaojin's cannonball had already been fitted with a fuse. He shouted to Li Shimin, "Your Majesty, Old Cheng will fire the first shot!"
After speaking, he opened the breech of the cannon, pulled the pull ring on the time fuse, and quickly inserted the cannonball into the barrel.
The time fuse had a double-layer structure, with a curved powder channel between the two outer shells. The gunpowder used in this fuse burned slowly.
This could ensure that the cannonball would explode three breaths after the fuse was activated.
Cheng Yaojin wrapped the pull rope at the breech of the cannon around his hand and pulled hard.
The hammer in the breech hit the primer of the cannonball hard.
Boom!
The primer was ignited, igniting the propellant. The winged cannonball instantly flew out of the barrel with a burst of flame.
The hull of the ship only shook slightly before returning to its stable state.
The cannonball flew more than a thousand meters before plunging into the water.
Then, with a bang, an explosion occurred, splashing water several feet high.
Cheng Yaojin was stunned, and not only him, but everyone looked at Fang Er with disbelief.
This damned thing flew too far!
Li Shimin was shocked: "Kid, can this cannonball fly that far?"
Fang Er nodded: "This mainly depends on the propellant charge."
The trench mortars used before only had fuses and cannonballs.
The current cannonballs were modified into three parts: the fuse, the warhead, and the propellant charge.
The fuse was responsible for the firing method of the cannonball.
The warhead was responsible for causing casualties.
The propellant charge was divided into several models according to different propellant amounts, for different combat ranges.
Fang Er explained this, and Li Shimin understood.
"In other words, it's like using how much force when drawing a bow. Am I right?"
Fang Er nodded.
Li Shimin stared at him and asked, "How far can your cannon shoot at its maximum range?"
Fang Er was only promoting the metric system in the workshop, which was meters, centimeters, and millimeters.
When Li Shimin asked how many zhang, Fang Er didn't react immediately and said casually, "Two thousand meters."
Li Shimin was confused: "What is two thousand meters?"
Fang Er patted his forehead.
"Your Majesty, meters are the units used in my workshop. One zhang is equal to three meters, and five hundred meters is one li."
"One zhang is three meters. How many zhang is two thousand meters?"
However, Li Shimin could calculate it after converting it to li.
One li was one hundred and fifty zhang, which he still knew.
"In other words, this cannon can now shoot up to six hundred zhang away?"
Thinking of this, Li Shimin looked at Fang Er seriously and said, "I want at least ten of these cannons placed in each border prefecture of the Great Tang. How long will it take?"
Uh, this question stumped Fang Er.
He nudged Fang Xuanling with his hand: "Duke Fang, how many border prefectures are there in the Great Tang?"
Fang Xuanling said calmly.
"There are nineteen prefectures and sixty-three cities in the border of the Great Tang."
Damn!
With so many cities, according to Li Shimin's request, that would be six hundred and thirty cannons.
Cannons are a small matter, but the consumption of cannonballs is huge!
Even if they don't fire, just to keep them ready, each cannon should have at least ten or twenty rounds, right?
How many is that? Tens of thousands of cannonballs.
This order is lucrative!
Fang Er said with a smile.
"Your Majesty, six hundred and thirty cannons, with twenty rounds of ammunition for each as a regular supply, requires one hundred and twenty-six hundred cannonballs.
It will take at least half a year."
Li Shimin nodded after hearing this.
"It's decided. Put it on credit first!"
Fang Er...
"Fine, you're just poor!"
Fang Xuanling listened from the side with a heartache.
By this calculation, the cannonballs alone would cost over three hundred thousand guan!
But he thought that since it could be put on credit, if there was no money to pay back later, they would just continue to owe it.
Heh heh heh, the feeling of being able to overdraw in advance is great!