Chapter 58 Discussing Strategies
Two days after receiving the distress letter, intelligence chief Cecil placed the intelligence about the Bailding situation and his own analysis on the Earl's desk.
Paul frowned after reading. It seemed that his friend was really in danger. He was now under house arrest. He was just waiting for the traitors to divide the stolen goods and choose the right one. If something unexpected happens one day, he will be just like his unlucky father.
Cecil asked: "If your Excellency wishes to rescue Earl Garnard, I will send all the personnel I can mobilize to Bailding and try to find out the details of those traitors."
Paul rubbed his chin: "I still have to discuss with everyone whether to rescue me, but it is always right to get information early. You should send someone there first."
Half a day later, Paul summoned senior officials from both the military and the government to gather in the Lord's Mansion and showed them a letter of distress from Myron Gardner.
Although there are not many cases of vassals plotting to get rid of their masters, it is not necessarily that unusual. It is said that another neighbor, the Kent family of Emden, has the title of earl. It didn't come from the right place, so no one here showed much surprise.
Watching everyone circulating the letter one by one, the earl sitting at the head of the table felt uneasy: "If my future reforms conflict with the interests of these people here, will they conspire to kill me?" "
While he was thinking about it, Director Ford asked: "What are you going to do with this letter?"
Paul replied: "Cecil has sent someone. I went to Bairding to find out the details of those traitors, but I haven't decided yet whether to rescue Mailon immediately. If so, how to rescue him, so I want to discuss it with everyone."
After hearing this, Bryce slammed the table: "Count Garnard is your friend since childhood, and he is also your blood-sworn brother. If you ignore him, you will be reviled."
Hey. Hey Bryce, although I know you have an upright personality, can't you tell me in private? It’s very embarrassing for me to say it in public.
Paul was a little embarrassed: "I didn't say not to save him, but we also have to weigh our own strength. Shouldn't we invite everyone to discuss it."
The so-called blood-sworn brothers , a bit similar to the sworn brothers in China. When they were young, Myron and Paul got along very well. Under the control of their respective mothers, the two little kids became blood-sworn brothers.
Speaking of which, their mothers died very young. Paul felt a little emotional that he couldn’t even remember what his mother looked like in this life, and there was no portrait or anything like that.
Butler Ford was very pleased that the young lord did not become arrogant because of his victory over the pirates, nor did he recklessly provoke a war that might not be winnable because of a moment of bloody courage. Instead, he weighed the pros and cons, called for extensive consultation with everyone, and as a lord of one party Already very qualified.
He stroked his long gray beard and said: "It is indeed wrong to abandon the blood-sworn brothers. If there are rumors, it will be bad for your reputation. But you can't act rashly. Don't forget Lord Canard." It's still in the opponent's hands."
"And judging from the meaning of this letter, the rebels haven't discovered that the matter has been compromised. If we directly send troops under the banner of rescuing people, let's not talk about the outcome. What if the opponent is pushed too hard and it will be detrimental to Count Garnard?"
Paul found the steps and said with worry: "That's what I'm worried about."
All of a sudden. It made Bryce blush.
Manager Ford continued: "I have an idea. The Earl's birthday is coming soon. You can send out invitations widely and invite the nobles in the northwest region to come to the party."
"Oh?" Paul said it was his birthday. I had completely forgotten that these days I was very busy with suppressing pirates and building a navy.
“I personally brought the invitation to Butua to invite Earl Garnard. I first confirmed whether he was safe and reasonable. As a blood-sworn brother of the Lord, he must go ahead even if there is a big thing. Come to congratulate, it would be too unusual not to come, so the rebels should have no reason to stop them, of course, provided that they still do not realize that Earl Canard has learned about the conspiracy by that time."
" Well..." Paul almost understood what he meant.
Controller Ford stroked his beard and said: "It will be easy to wait until Earl Garnard arrives in our territory. We will directly issue a notice in his name and call on the surrounding lords to crusade against this rebellious gang."
Paul slapped his palm and said, "That's it, or I'll go there myself." Everyone in the hall objected.
"Your Majesty, the Count, must not take personal risks!"
"What if those rebels notice something?"
Paul had no choice but to give up. Got this idea.
...
Consultant Ford soon went to Butua with the invitation, while Paul prepared for a possible war in the future.
With the continuous recruitment of craftsmen and training of apprentices, the firearms manufacturing team has reached 30 people. After the efforts of the craftsmen during this period, the number of muskets owned by the Arda army has reached 60, which can Armed with a platoon and a squad of troops.
This number allows Paul to play tactics such as "three-stage attack" and "six-stage attack" to maintain continuous firepower without interruption.
But what makes Paul regretful is that the various technical problems of the flintlock gun have not been overcome.
First of all, spring reeds are more difficult to manufacture. This does not mean that qualified ones cannot be produced, but the pass rate is too low. If the strength of the spring is slightly weakened, it will not be able to produce sparks.
Even if it fires, there is still the problem of gunpowder. The experimental flintlock gun now manufactured takes more than 3 seconds from pulling the trigger to firing, because the flintlock gun can only shoot a little spark into the powder pool. , if the burning rate of the gunpowder is relatively low, it will take a long time to ignite the entire gunpowder, and with the few sparks produced, the gunpowder with low sensitivity cannot be ignited at all.
Although they all rely on the fuse hole to ignite the gunpowder in the barrel, the requirements for propellant in the matchlock gun are obviously lower than that of the hammer gun. After all, the end of such a thick match rope is burning and can be used in one go. Ignite a large piece of gunpowder and quickly burn it into the fire hole.
To solve this problem, you need high-quality, extremely finely ground gunpowder, but the grinding efficiency is too low under purely manual conditions.
Paul felt quite unhappy every time he saw the long match rope on the soldiers' bodies when they were practicing shooting.
The matchlock is greatly affected by the weather, and when shooting, the matchlock is deflected by the explosion of the ignition powder, which can easily ignite the gunpowder on the musketeers themselves and their comrades. Therefore, the musketeers have to keep a certain distance between themselves, and the shooting array needs to be lined up. A little sparse, so that denser firepower cannot be formed.
However, there are still two improvements that make Paul feel gratified. One is that the sleeve bayonet has been manufactured, which allows the musketeers to not rely on the protection of the spearmen to a certain extent. Fortunately, now The equipped matchlock is not as bulky as the early matchlocks on earth, otherwise it would be unrealistic to install a bayonet on it.
The second is that with the invention of new types of paper, "fixed bullets" made of paper shells were mass-produced. The paper shells were wrapped with lead bullets and gunpowder, and the outside was coated with butter to prevent moisture. From then on, the musketeers no longer had to hang bottles full of gunpowder on their bodies, which increased the speed of reloading and allowed them to accurately control the amount of gunpowder.
As for heavy firepower, the 6-pound bronze cannon was successfully tested and added to the equipment sequence of the Arda army. So far, two have been built, and four additional 4-pound cannon have also been cast.
In addition to these large artillery pieces, Paul also developed the "Tiger Crouching Cannon" from the Ming Dynasty.
This lightweight artillery has a thin barrel, is not very powerful, and has a maximum range of 500 meters. But it is flexible and can be carried by two soldiers. It can be launched at a large elevation angle and has a curved trajectory. Use large iron nails and iron claws on the front to fix the cannon body on the ground, and fire shotguns or gravel to kill the enemy. And it is cast from pig iron, so the cost is extremely cheap.
As a weapon that supports infantry combat at close range, it is somewhat similar to the later mortar, so in this world, it was directly named a mortar.
(End of this chapter)