Let's start with solid shells-these shells have no gunpowder inside and are made of iron or lead. A small amount of them are ground into balls with stones. It is mainly used to attack cities and penetrate wall fortifications, with a long range, but it is not very lethal to people, unless it directly hits or hits other objects, causing them to break and splash, causing indirect casualties.
Shotgun-At that time, it was a powerful field artillery. It consists of several kilograms of lead-iron particles, some of which are filled with gravel. Hit a large area when shooting, mainly killing people. However, the shotgun has a fatal weakness, that is, its range is short, and its effective killing is about 300 meters (for example, within 500 meters).
Finally, let's talk about the flower bomb, another name for explosive projectile, which is filled with gunpowder. It is named after the shrapnel when it explodes, just like a blooming flower. Iron shell flowering shells appeared in China since the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, and its improved version was used by the Yuan Army in the Japanese conquest. In the middle and late Ming dynasty, cannon-fired flowering shells were widely used, such as Ningjin Dajie, which was a successful example of using this kind of shells.
There are two kinds of ammunition for ancient artillery. One is the solid iron ball mentioned above, which appears spherical in the later stage. It is filled with gunpowder and ammunition, and there are holes in the shell for wooden fuses.