1636: The China Venture

by Eric Flint

  “It generally has a three-man crew; today, that will be myself and my two gunners.” Von Siegroth’s wave encompassed his two assistants. “As you see, it has twenty-five barrels. With a properly trained crew, it can fire five or six volleys a minute—that’s one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty bullets in the air each minute.

  “Of course, you ideally want more than one of these.” He patted the volley gun. “Our standard battery is six volley guns. They are light enough so each can be drawn by two horses if absolutely necessary, but we assign six horses to the gun to allow for losses. You’ll also want a horse-drawn ammunition wagon, since a volley gun expends ammunition so quickly.

  “Since you’ll be facing Jurchen cavalry up in the northeast or Mongol cavalry in the northwest, you’ll also want to give the battery some infantry support, so the cavalry can’t press home a charge between volleys. But…” The colonel’s voice petered out. Even making allowance for the proverbial Asian inscrutability, the minister’s reaction to the demonstration of firepower seemed muted.

  “I have heard that at the Battle of Ahrensbök, the volley-gun fire alone was enough to stop the French cavalry charge,” Mike offered.

  “Yes, that’s right,” said von Siegroth. “But it is best if the infantry moves up quickly to support the volley guns.”

  “Is there something we can clarify, Minister?” asked Mike.

  Lu Weiqi paused to collect his thoughts. “This volley gun of yours appears to be simply a scaled-up version of weapons we have had in China for many years. I will give orders for the appropriate items to be fetched from the arsenal and we can compare them to your volley gun after our luncheon. Perhaps I am overlooking an important distinction. In the meantime, what else do you have to show me?”

  Von Siegroth motioned to his two gunners, and they brought out a Swedish “regimental cannon,” a bronze three-pounder. This was his invention; he had test-shot the first one on May 5, 1630 and supervised the first German production back in 1632. It wasn’t as thick or long as a standard three-pounder, and thus weighed only six hundred pounds. In consequence, it used a smaller powder charge and had a reduced range.

  “These are the first artillery that can maneuver with the infantry onto the battlefield, instead of being held stationary in a great battery. In the Swedish Army, two of these guns are assigned to each regiment of twelve hundred men. Just two men are needed to operate it, one to load and fire it, the other to traverse it. It can be drawn by a single horse, but two are better.”

  The minister watched, seemingly approvingly, as the gunners demonstrated how readily the regimental gun could be hauled, unlimbered and loaded. “What’s that?” he demanded, pointing at the cartridge.

  “I believe you are accustomed to first putting in the powder charge, either loose or in a cartridge bag, ramming that home, then inserting the wad and ball and ramming those home.” As he said this, he formed a circle with his left thumb and forefinger, to simulate the muzzle, and then demonstrated the ramming steps with his right hand. “This gun uses what we call fixed ammunition, that is, a cartridge consisting of a premeasured flannel bag of gunpowder wired to the projectile.”

  “Premeasured? So you can’t control how far the ball is projected by how big a charge you use?”

  “No, although you could if you saw the need have a couple of differently marked cartridges, say one with a light charge and the other with a strong one. But that would complicate supply, and you can still control range by adjusting the elevation.

  “What’s important is that the cartridge makes for much faster loading. With a properly trained crew and a supply of these cartridges, this gun can fire twenty rounds an hour. That’s four times for every three rounds shot by one of your musketeers. In fact, let’s show you. Fire five rounds as fast as you can, lads!”

  When the smoke cleared, von Siegroth added, “The maximum range is about three hundred yards, and these guns usually fire either solid shot or canister. The closer the enemy, the more likely we are to use the latter.”

  “Canister?

  “Canister or case shot is essentially a thin hollow iron or tin sphere filled with small lead or iron balls, cubes or scraps, and packed with sawdust. Or we could use bag shot, in which the balls were held inside a cloth bag. The metal or cloth ruptures as it leaves the muzzle, spraying destruction.” Or as von Siegroth’s American friends thought of it, turning the cannon into a giant shotgun. “As a last resort, we could just toss scraps of metal into the barrel and fire them off, what we call langrage or hailshot. Unfortunately, the little nasties coming out of the barrel don’t travel far, so all of those are of use only at relatively short range.

  “But we now have something better. Shrapnel shells. They look like solid shot, and can be projected almost as far, and they explode like fireworks, sending pieces of nastiness everywhere nearby.”

  These were not the first shrapnel projectiles in the new universe. Back in July 1633, Red Sybolt had used massed Hale rockets with shrapnel warheads to interdict the Vltava River Bridge in Prague. The warheads were similar to case shot, except aerodynamically shaped rather than spherical, and containing a small explosive charge and a contact fuse. The last was a modification; the Hale rockets had used time fuses.

  The advantage was that you could deliver antipersonnel grief at long range; the disadvantage, rockets just weren’t accurate. You had to use them, as Red did, in large numbers—his launcher had twelve rocket tubes.

  So, instead, you could fire a spherical shrapnel shell from a smoothbore cannon. The principle was the same—the projectile had an explosive charge by which it scattered sub-projectiles—but the shell was fired essentially the same way as solid shot. The cannon’s own powder charge was smaller, of course, since the shell was lighter than solid shot of the same caliber. For the same reason, the shell wouldn’t travel as far as the solid shot—less mass, therefore less inertia to overcome air resistance—but it would go much, much further than case or bag shot.

  In the old time line, the shrapnel shell was invented by Henry Shrapnel in 1784 and originally called “spherical case shot.” It was most effective when fired so as to burst in the air above and in front of the enemy, but that required a properly cut time fuse.

  Von Siegroth had been able to put his hands on a small number of newly manufactured shrapnel shells. If the Chinese liked them, he’d be happy to send back an order for more. The more the better, actually.

  “Now, to help you appreciate just how nasty these shrapnel shells are, the ordinary target won’t do. Boys, bring out the stormtroopers.” That name had been suggested by Martina.

  The “stormtroopers” were mostly scarecrows, dressed in off-white robes. However, there was a scattering of papier-mâché-over-wire “officers” dressed in black. Von Siegroth’s assistants set them up about six hundred yards away from the firing line.

  “Ah, the troops of Chang Hsun,” said the minister. “Although the color is wrong.”

  “Come again?”

  “During the Tang dynasty, Chang Hsun had a thousand straw mannequins made and dressed in black, and lowered by rope from the battlements at night. The enemy saw this, thought it was a sortie, and fired many arrows. The mannequins were then hoisted back up and the arrows stuck in them were harvested.”

  “Clever.”

  “What was even more clever was that after doing this a few times and the enemy catching on, they lowered real soldiers in black clothing. The enemy did nothing to stop them and were massacred.”

  “Even better. Anyway, with these little three-pounders, use of shrapnel shells in place of case shot isn’t worthwhile, since there’s not enough of a range improvement. But with bigger guns, you have the ability to deliver a case-shot effect at long range.

  “So we are going to demonstrate this using a short twelve-pounder. Its barrel is only six feet long, instead of the usual nine, but it weighs only about nineteen hundred pounds, which made it easier for me to bring it to you. It doesn’t quit
e have the range of a long twelve, but the range is long enough for you to imagine just how far we can cast the net of death over the battlefield.”

  Earlier that day, a team of eight horses had pulled up the twelve-pounder to the firing line. Six Chinese soldiers were on hand to help von Siegroth’s two experienced gunners with the demonstration, and Mike Song was present to make sure that there were no deadly mistranslations.

  “Canister shot spreads out as it travels from the muzzle, which is why we prefer not to use it at more than three hundred, even two hundred yards. But we can use shrapnel shells at six hundred to twelve hundred yards, easily. That’s because the projectiles don’t spread out until the burning end of the fuse reaches the bursting charge and the shell explodes.”

  Von Siegroth’s team fired several shells. The first flew well past the targets; von Siegroth cursed and ordered that the elevation be reduced.

  The second one exploded a little in front of them, and the targets were seriously ripped up. Mike clapped.

  “That was perfect,” von Siegroth declared, “let’s do another.”

  Von Siegroth realized later that he should have quit while he was ahead. This one landed among the “stormtroopers” which was good, but didn’t go off for perhaps thirty seconds—it seemed to von Siegroth more likely thirty hours.

  “That’s unfortunate,” said the minister. “Couldn’t the enemy snuff out the fuse?”

  “That one had a fuse that was cut too long, or perhaps was defective. Ideally the fuses are cut so that the shot explodes fifty to one hundred yards in front of the enemy, and about ten to fifteen yards above the ground. We have a table correlating the proper elevation in degrees and fuse length in inches with the still air range in yards.”

  Von Siegroth shrugged. “Sometimes it’s hard to estimate the range. We also have shrapnel shells with percussion fuses, which explode when they hit the ground. You can first get the range with those, then switch over to the time fuses. That works better against infantry than cavalry, of course, since the range won’t change as quickly.”

  “I suppose there’s no substitute for experience,” said the minister.

  Von Siegroth nodded.

  “Unfortunately that means that it will take longer to master the use of these shrapnel shells, and also that our troops would require trainers from your people.” At least the minister hadn’t said, from a band of barbarians. “The trainers would probably need to be present for weeks, even months. Politically, it is easier for me to buy a dozen cannon then to have in our midst even a single foreigner.”

  “I’m happy to sell you the dozen cannon,” said von Siegroth.

  “Unfortunately, without the foreign expert on hand, they will just be curios.” He paused. “Let’s eat. We have a modest repast prepared for you.”

  That, of course, was Chinese for a huge banquet.

  After lunch, the minister was ready to show off the Chinese volley guns for the edification of the barbarian. Von Siegroth would have preferred to sleep off the meal, but business was business.

  The minister pointed at a sinister object on the table in front of them. “So, this is a ‘triple victory magically effective contraption.’ As you see, it has three barrels that rotate around this central shaft.” Von Siegroth could see that it was designed for use by a single infantryman, with the barrels fired in turn by a slow match. The serpentine used to hold the slow match, in a copper tube, lay beside it. It had both a foresight and a backsight.

  The minister pointed to the next weapon. “This is a ‘five-barrel thunder-claps magically effective contraption’; the name speaks for itself.” The barrels, according to von Siegroth’s practiced eye, were about eighteen inches long.

  Lu Weiqi picked it up, with the gun handle in his left hand. “You hold it like so, and use the forefinger of the right hand to bring the serpentine down upon the touch hole of the first barrel, then the second, and so on.”

  “How much does it weigh?” Mike asked.

  “About five catties,” the minister replied.

  “Nearly seven pounds,” Mike told von Siegroth.

  Moving further down the table, the minister said, “Our artificers have also devised a different arrangement, with the five barrels in a row, just as you see here.”

  “Next we have the ‘sons-and-mothers hundred-bullets gun.’” This had ten wrought-iron barrels, each perhaps five inches long, mounted on a longer barrel. Each barrel fired what amounted to a shotgun load of ten pellets, hence the name. It had a long handle, and no sights; plainly it was intended for short-range use.

  “While these weapons may be used by a single man, there are also larger ones following the same principle. Bring in the seven stars gun!” the minister called out.

  A soldier standing nearby saluted, and a few minutes later came back with the gun in question. This had what might be termed a “wheelbarrow” mount; it had a wooden handle five feet long, and two wheels that were perhaps a foot-and-a-half in diameter. The gun proper had six barrels, perhaps fifteen inches long, rotating around a longer central barrel.

  “As you can see, we Chinese have advanced military technology.”

  Von Siegroth searched for a diplomatic response. A twelve-barreled ribauldequin had been used by Edward III in 1339, in the Hundred Years’ War. Von Siegroth had seen a twenty-barreled Polish version that the Swedes had captured at the siege of Riga in 1621. Merely giving a gun multiple barrels was certainly not advanced military technology.

  “I am sure they have their niche,” he said. “However, we have made certain subtle but important improvements on these great Chinese inventions. As I am sure you can appreciate, it is important that the powder be ignited in a reliable fashion—especially if you are facing cavalry and holding your fire until they come close. You are using slow matches, whereas on our volley gun, a percussion cap ignites the channel of priming powder inside the firing strip.”

  “What is a percussion cap?”

  “It is a small device containing an explosive sensitive to shock.” The caps brought by von Siegroth used fulminate of mercury. While the USE was in the process of switching to potassium chlorate caps, following their development by the French late in the Baltic War, von Siegroth hadn’t been able to obtain any before the Rode Draak set sail.

  “Pulling the trigger releases a hammer, which strikes the cap and ignites it. Unlike matchlocks or flintlocks, it doesn’t depend on flames or sparks, and thus isn’t likely to misfire in wet weather.

  “The percussion cap and firing strip combination also minimizes the time between volleys. It’s easy enough to get off one volley, even with a matchlock, but you want a sustained high rate of fire. Of course, if you’d prefer a flintlock or matchlock ignition, we can modify the volley gun to suit your preference.” While the Chinese used flintlocks to ignite land mines in the fourteenth century, and at least those who dealt with the Dutch and Portuguese had seen European flintlock muskets, the Chinese had stubbornly clung to the matchlock.

  “We can perhaps offer a discount on the caps if you can supply zinc for our use in making cartridges.” At this time, China was the foremost world source of purified zinc, followed by India. The Chinese called it wo ch’ien or pai ch’ien, and the Indians, tutenag. Most of the Chinese production was in the form of a zinc-copper alloy called paktong. Its export was illegal, because it was a currency metal. There was nonetheless a lucrative trade in it.

  The minister walked over to the volley gun, inspecting it closely.

  Von Siegroth held his breath.

  “What you say is thought-provoking,” said the minister, “but this is not the best time to adopt new technology, especially from an outside source. Perhaps in a few months the climate will be better.”

  “Would it help, perhaps, if I repeated the demonstration for your colleagues involved in military affairs? Those would be, I am told, the grand commandant and the vice grand commandant—they are both imperial nobles—and the heads of the military commissions of the right, left
, front and rear. Also the eunuch grand commandant and his deputies. Surely, if they agreed that our technology had potential to improve your military situation, that would make for a better climate, sooner, perhaps.”

  “They were invited to come today but…just sent their regrets.”

  “I know that in China, people don’t like to do business with strangers,” said Mike Song. “They want an introduction by an intermediary.”

  “I wouldn’t have seen you if it weren’t for Admiral Zheng Zhilong’s recommendation,” the minister admitted. “But my colleagues are less familiar with him. And I don’t know you well enough to risk my reputation by recommending you to them in turn.”

  “Perhaps, even if they aren’t ready for a private meeting, they would attend a public demonstration of a less overly military nature,” Mike suggested. “An entertainment. Could you persuade them to see a display of western fireworks, if the colonel here were willing to present it?”

  “Fireworks…” The minister stroked his beard. “One cannot achieve spectacular fireworks without mastery of explosives; so if you give an impressive display, then they are more likely to support whatever representations I make to my counterparts in Beijing. Yes, that would be a good idea. Let my adjutant know what you require in terms of time and space, and on what day you would like to perform. Be sure to consult the calendar and make sure it is an auspicious day, of course.”

  By now, von Siegroth was accustomed to the ubiquitous Chinese belief in portents and signs. He just nodded his agreement—casually, as if the minister had suggested keeping an eye out for bad weather.

  Chapter 40

  Lu Weiqi was sorry to disappoint the foreigners, but the fact was that even though the Chinese had invented firearms, they had not found them to be very useful. Cannon in particular. Some of Lu Weiqi’s skepticism concerning cannon might have been attributable to the unfortunate tendency of Chinese cannon to blow up and thereby kill more of their own troops than the enemy, but there were other concerns that Nanjing’s minister of war considered more important.