Chapter 1465: Firearms Training
"Report, there is the latest report." The guard soldier handed the latest report to Zhu Pingan.
Zhu Pingan opened the Tang Bao and browsed it briefly. The Tang Bao recorded many incidents of Japanese invasion. He found news about the Shangyu Japanese pirates in the second two-thirds of the second page of the Tang Bao. Yesterday, this group of Japanese pirates committed suicide. The soldiers from Jixi County, Huizhou robbed She County, Huizhou. After plundering two villages, they marched overnight and raided Jingde County, the border of Ningguo Prefecture. Tangbao also recorded that Cai Yao, the canon historian of Jingde County, gathered more than 1,100 soldiers and horses from all walks of life and purchased a coffin from a coffin shop. He said to his subordinates, "I have been greatly favored by the imperial court for generations, and I have received honors from generation to generation." I have no repayment for my virtuous father's support. Now the Japanese pirates invade the territory and kill my father and the common people. , Cai will swear to the death to exterminate the Japanese pirates. If I succeed, this coffin will be filled with Japanese pirate heads, and I will use the Japanese pirate heads to commemorate the souls of my father and fellow villagers in heaven. If I fail and die on the battlefield, you can put me in the coffin and carry me back. "After saying this, people carried the coffin all the way and swore to go out of the city to destroy the Japanese pirates.
Tang Bao only recorded that Cai Dianshi swore an oath to leave the city. When it was issued, Cai Dianshi had not yet fought with the Japanese pirates.
Tangbao is optimistic about Cai Dianshi's suppression of Japanese pirates. Tangbao analyzed that the previous attempts to suppress Japanese pirates in counties failed because they did not have enough troops. They only had three to five hundred people to suppress Japanese pirates. Now this group of Japanese pirates is the only one left. There are less than 120 people left, and Cai Dian has enough history. They gathered more than 1,100 soldiers and horses, and their strength was ten times that of the Japanese pirates. In addition, Cai Dianshi was skilled in bow and horse, and was from a family of military generals. Cai Dianshi also carried the coffin and went on the expedition. He was determined to die and to suppress the Japanese pirates. The so-called The mourning soldiers will win, and Cai Dianshi will be able to succeed immediately in this battle.
I hope Cai Dianshi can succeed immediately.
Zhu Ping'an closed the newspaper and recited silently, but in his heart he was sweating for Cai Dianshi.
Without him!
This group of Japanese pirates are too strong.
If it were not for the elite troops, the ordinary people and the garrison troops would not be a match for this group of Japanese pirates.
The average military superiority was not enough to annihilate this group of Japanese pirates. Shaoxing Prefecture gathered more than 2,000 troops to suppress the Japanese pirates, but they failed to achieve success. Instead, they lost troops and generals. Although the Japanese pirates now only have more than 110 troops, the Japanese pirates were originally One hundred and fifty men, the loss was not too much, and the waves were scouring the sand. The remaining Japanese pirates were all the best among the best, and each of them had experienced hundreds of battles. Cai Dianshi's more than 1,100 troops were not enough. To establish sufficient advantages against Japanese pirates.
So, Zhu Pingan was a little worried about Cai Dianshi.
"Bang, bang, bang"
On the Taohuaji campus, the Zhejiang army has begun live ammunition drills. There is smoke and a pungent smell of gunpowder.
One of Zhu Pingan’s training directions for the Zhejiang Army is the use of firearms.
If crossbows were a major revolution in ancient warfare, then firearms were a subversive revolution in warfare.
It is a historical necessity that hot weapons replace cold weapons. Zhu Pingan decided to advance this step.
Zhu Pingan has a clear understanding of himself. His understanding and experience of cold weapon warfare do not have much advantage compared to this era of cold weapons. Compared with famous generals of this era, such as Qi Jiguang , Yu Daqiu and others, they are actually far inferior to them. However, when it comes to hot weapon wars, it is no exaggeration to say that Qi Jiguang, Yu Daqiu and others in this era, no one can compare with themselves. This is hundreds of Advantages of years of experience. Therefore, whether it is to adapt to the development of the times or to exploit strengths and avoid weaknesses, Zhu Pingan will definitely push the Zhejiang Army on the road to weaponization.
Although the firearms of this era are still very crude and immature, they still have a huge advantage over cold weapons. It is just that people of this era do not understand and apply firearms well enough.
First of all, time cost. It takes less than two years to train a qualified cavalry. It is relatively easy to train a qualified melee veteran, but it also takes a year and a half. It is easier to train a qualified long-range archer than a melee veteran, but it takes a year and a half. It also takes three to five months; to train a qualified fire gun soldier, the time cost is relatively low, and it only takes one or two months.
Secondly, the cost of military resources. The Cold Weapon Age, compared to the Hot Weapon Age, has higher requirements for the quality of the soldiers, physical strength, etc. After all, strength is the basis of combat power in the Cold Weapon Age. If you are weak and have little strength, then you will not be able to wield a weapon. If your broadsword and spear are weak and you cannot draw a long bow, you will be a burden. However, in the era of hot weapons, as long as you can afford a gun, that's enough.
In addition, the cost of battery life. In cold weapon warfare, wielding broadswords and spears, you will be out of breath within a few rounds. Drawing a bow and shooting arrows has a relatively long life, but in ancient times, shooting eight arrows in a row was a qualified archer, and shooting twelve arrows in a row was an elite archer. Generally speaking, an archer shooting fifty arrows in a battle lasting several hours is almost the limit. But as for the firegun, it is much more labor-saving. It takes almost no effort to load the gunpowder, and it is also effortless to pull the trigger. As long as there is enough gunpowder and the gun does not explode, it can theoretically have unlimited battery life.
So the focus of Zhu Ping'an's training for the Zhejiang Army is firearms.
However, it is a pity that the firecrackers and artillery of this era are really too crude. The firecrackers are still matchlock guns, which are too backward. Although Zhu Pingan is a liberal arts student majoring in ancient Chinese literature, he is not as good as a science major. A student like that can make guns and cannons, but he has never eaten pork and seen pigs run away. After all, he comes from modern times and has hundreds of years of historical experience. He still has some ideas for improving the firearms of this era, at least it can provide some ideas.
For example, using flint instead of match ropes, adding rifling to the barrel to improve shooting distance and accuracy, etc.
There is a famous saying that goes, "Genius is one percent inspiration, plus ninety-nine percent perspiration, but that one percent inspiration is the most important, even more important than the ninety-nine percent." All the sweat is important.”
Although I don’t know how to install flint, let alone how to carve rifling on the barrel, I can provide this epoch-making idea. Through skilled craftsmen and thousands of experiments, I can always successfully produce it.
Of course, there are also ideas that can be realized without skilled craftsmen.
For example, an epoch-making technology that improves the reloading speed of a matchlock - oil-paper gunpowder bag. Wrap the gunpowder and warhead in oil paper. When loading the gun, tear the tail of the paper with your mouth and use it. You can load the matchlock gun simply and quickly to avoid soldiers loading too much due to tension, suddenness and other factors on the fierce battlefield. Or less gunpowder is installed, causing shooting malfunctions and accidents. This technique seems simple and inconspicuous, but according to historical development, it was not invented until around the 17th century.
However, it has now been invented by Zhu Pingan in advance. Zhu Ping'an also remembered this technique two days ago after he discovered that the Zhejiang Army was slow in loading gunpowder and often loaded too much or too little, leading to accidents.
Now the Zhejiang Army uses oil-paper gunpowder packets to train gunfire, and its speed has more than doubled.
This technique was classified by Zhu Pingan as a top secret of the Zhejiang Army and was strictly prohibited from being leaked to the enemy.
Of course, Zhu Ping'an did not take it seriously. He recorded this invention technique in a secret book and reported it to Emperor Jiajing. However, the Ming army currently does not pay enough attention to firearms, and its own suggestions may not necessarily attract enough attention. However, I believe that as the Zhejiang Army becomes an army and makes achievements, this situation will definitely change. (End of this chapter)