I want to be emperor

Chapter 311 The Dawn of the Queue

When Luo Zhixue said that 20 taels are not expensive, Xu Zhixian, Zhu Xingfa and Wang Xiazi all looked at Luo Zhixue in unison. They couldn't understand why Luo Zhixue said that.

The average purchase price of the matchlock guns used by the infantry today is about five taels of silver, which is the price of a complete set, including muskets, bayonets, gun belts, ammunition belts, etc.

Even at this price, it is actually not cheap!

Silver is still quite valuable these days, and the overall price is not expensive except for food.

As a comparison of prices, the monthly salary of an ordinary worker in the Hantian Armory is about [-] taels of silver, and the food expenses have to be deducted from it. As for skilled workers and management personnel, that is not representative, let alone.

The subsidy for the soldiers of the Chu Army is [-] Wen for the First Class, [-] Wen for the Second Class, and [-] Wen for the Third Class.

Of course, the soldiers of the Chu army not only received subsidies, they also had food and clothing for free, which was three or four taels of silver.

The soldiers recruited by the Ming army are between two and three taels for ordinary battalion sentries; the salary for the new standard soldiers is higher, with three or even four taels of silver, but it’s still the same sentence, the soldiers of the Ming army can’t get this money, Many will be deducted.

Well, the income of soldiers of the Ming army also does not include groups such as personal soldiers, cavalry, and low-level officers, and only refers to ordinary soldiers.

In other words, the purchase price of an infantry musket equipped in the Chu army is higher than the cost of raising a soldier for a month.

The blunderbuss made by the Ming army are cheaper, one is only more than three taels, and the more expensive ones are only four taels of silver.

In addition, two hundred catties of short guns are only a few dozen taels of silver, and eighteen catties of mortar guns are a hundred taels of silver. The Ming army has a large pile of tens of catties of attacking artillery, and the tiger squatting gun is cheaper, ranging from a few taels of silver. , no more than a dozen or 20 taels of silver can be bought.

For the two-and-a-half catties field artillery in the Chu army, the iron ones are only more than a hundred taels of silver, while the bronze ones are more expensive, costing more than 200 taels of silver.

The purchase price of a five-jin bronze field cannon is much more expensive, and the whole cannon costs more than 400 taels of silver.

The nine-jin bronze field cannon is currently the most expensive weapon in the Chu army, and the purchase price is more than 700 taels of silver.

This purchase price is still a large profit added by the arsenal, otherwise, it will be cheaper.

However, the arsenal also needs to operate, expand and carry out technological research and development. Appropriate profits are definitely needed, otherwise there is no way to develop.

In this era when the main artillery in field battles only cost a few hundred taels of silver, a musket was 20 taels of silver, which was very expensive.

Zhu Xingfa and the others thought that if the cavalry had a small amount of equipment, it would be acceptable. After all, cavalry is an expensive unit. Arming a cavalry with horses and armor costs hundreds of taels of silver, and it is also very expensive to raise horses on weekdays.

The most important thing is that cavalry can't be quick, like infantry, you can't just find a young man and train for two or three months before you can go to war.

Cavalry, even the half-baked cavalry in the divisional cavalry regiment, are very precious.

20 taels of quick-firing musket is acceptable to equip cavalry, but it is used to equip infantry... It always feels like a waste.

Faced with the doubts of the courtiers, Luo Zhixue said: "The 20 taels you mentioned are the purchase price of cavalry pistols, which is a maximum of several thousand pieces."

"In this way, if the cost of the production line is spread evenly, the price will definitely be expensive. After all, the arsenal under the Ministry of Industry will not do business at a loss!"

At this time, Zhu Xingfa also said: "Your Majesty Shengming, the pistols we plan to purchase are initially 20 pistols. If they are used well, we may add another [-] pistols later. The price of Ding Gangyi from Hantian Factory is very expensive. We must say that it will cost [-] taels." Only silver can do it."

Luo Zhixue said: "This is reasonable, but if the production of this flintlock gun is increased, not 20, but [-] or even [-], the cost can be greatly diluted. It's coming down."

Luo Zhixue didn't ask anyone from the Ministry of Industry how much it could be reduced, but he estimated that it would be possible to directly cut the purchase price in half after the production volume increased and the costs were shared.

"Let's not mention how much the price of the flintlock can be reduced, and once the flintlock is equipped, then we can fully use the musketeers to fight and completely abandon the spearmen!"

"A full set of equipment for a heavy spearman costs at least 35 taels of silver, and a lightly armed spearman costs about 15 taels of silver. At the same time, the training is more troublesome and the requirements for personnel are higher."

"If the spearmen can be removed, even if the price of the new Musketeers is more expensive, it will be a good deal!"

What Luo Zhixue said had never been told to Xu Zhixian and the others before, so after hearing Luo Zhixue's words, they all showed doubts.

Xu Zhixian said: "Your Majesty, even if it is replaced with a new musket, the spearman still needs to be kept, right?"

"Pikemen, especially heavy spearmen, have always been the core combat power of our army. If they are directly withdrawn, the melee combat ability may not be guaranteed!"

What Xu Zhixian said is also true. The current spearmen in the Chu army are the real core combat power.

In a typical field battle, the spearman has two major responsibilities. One is to cover the musketeer so that the musketeer can fire safely.

The second is to act as the core combat force in hand-to-hand combat when launching a charge. As for the musketeers in hand-to-hand combat, even if they are equipped with spears, they are still inferior to spearmen in hand-to-hand combat.

On the one hand, the spearmen wear armor, especially the spearmen in the front row are all wearing heavy armor, while the musketeers also wear armor, but they are all the lightest half-body light armor.

In addition, the musket is relatively short, only a little over two meters with the addition of a spear, while the spear of the spearman is only four meters five.

In array hand-to-hand combat, it is inch long and inch strong.

Therefore, in hand-to-hand combat, heavy spearmen are the core combat power, and musketeers, heavy armored swordsmen and shieldmen have to stand aside.

Now that Luo Zhixue has changed to a new musket, he can directly remove the spearman, which makes them unable to understand.

Luo Zhixue took the pen and paper directly, and simply drew a few horizontal lines: "Once we install new muskets, with the characteristics of flintlock guns, we can definitely make the formation of musketeers even tighter. Even shoulder to shoulder!"

"If only we could have three formations, or two formations at all!"

"Under such circumstances, compared with the previous arquebuses with six rows of soldiers, our new formation will increase the firepower density by several times or even ten times!"

"Just imagine one or two, what kind of effect will a new musketeer unit with a firepower density several times higher than the current musketeer unit get on the battlefield?"

After Luo Luo Zhixue drew a simple line infantry formation with charcoal on the paper, the two cavalry generals, Wang Xiazi and Zhu Xingfa, hadn't quite reacted yet, but Xu Zhixian, an infantry general, had his eyes lit up instantly. up.

Looking at the formation on the drawing, he murmured, "In one of our infantry battalions, there are more than 240 musketeers deployed in six columns. There are only [-] musketeers in a single round of fire."

"If we use the new muskets, we can use the same type of arms and formation, we can use a three-row formation, and we can concentrate 120 musketeers in a single round. If we use a two-row formation, then there are [-] musketeers!"

"Just switching to a new type of firearm, and other things being the same, our firepower density can be doubled or tripled."

"If we remove the spearmen again, and then remove the sword, shield and archers, with the same number of troops, we can concentrate two hundred or even three hundred musketeers in a single round of firepower!"

"Compared with the existing tactics, the firepower has been increased by five or seven times!"

At this time, Luo Zhixue shook his head slightly, and then drew a simple pattern on the blueprint, and then said: "With the use of flintlock guns, we don't have to worry about the problem of matchlocks, so we can completely use salvo combat methods. Three rows Or two rows of musketeers fire all at once, shooting out [-] bullets directly!"

"Imagine, all the musketeers, within a distance of about ten feet from the enemy, fired all at once. How shocking would that scene be?"

"May I ask, how many troops are there in the world who can continue to fight after receiving such a fierce salvo of firepower within ten feet?"

Hearing this, Xu Zhixian immediately stood up: "At least the puppet Ming army doesn't have such elites..."

"If hit by this kind of firepower, the front row of the enemy's troops will probably be wiped out. Even if they don't die, there will be seven or eight layers of casualties. After being hit so violently in a short period of time, few troops can continue to maintain their strength. Courage to fight."

"Even if they still maintain their courage, the formation has completely collapsed!"

When Xu Zhixian was talking, he stood up and walked around twice, and then returned to the table with a few simple formation diagrams drawn by Luo Zhixue: "If there are 1 musketeers like this, against [-] puppet soldiers The standard army is no problem."

Luo Zhixue looked at Zhu Xingfa again at this time: "If there are cavalrymen equipped with muskets and pistols to help, we can go to the Central Plains, and even go to the north to fight a dozen captives. of."

Zhu Xingfa immediately stood up when he heard the Dong captives: "Your Majesty is wise, to be honest, the musket and pistol cavalry I conceived were to deal with those captives in the east. Vanguard!"

Luo Zhixue looked at Zhu Xingfa and nodded slightly: "I agree, I will send troops to Liaodong in the future, Zhu Aiqing, you lead the cavalry to take the lead!"

Luo Zhixue knew that Zhu Xingfa was a cavalry soldier in Liaodong, and his family members were all killed by Dongyao.

This person has a deep blood feud with Dongyao!

As Luo Zhixue said, he turned his gaze back to the quick-fire pistol on the table again!

After picking it up again and taking a closer look at the firing mechanism of the pistol, he immediately said to the secretary outside: "Ask Hu Aiqing from the Ordnance Department to come over, by the way, and call Yuan Aiqing from the Ministry of Industry, um, from the Hantian Factory. Ding Aiqing probably didn't go back either, let's call him over too!"

"Today, let's discuss in detail about the flintlock gun, especially the quick-fire rifle, and see if it can be done and how long it will take."

Xu Zhixian immediately said: "Flintlocks are related to the future strategic development of our army. Your Majesty, I would like to express my opinion here. If the Ministry of Industry can produce this sudden-fire rifle, as long as it is not too outrageous, as long as it can be controlled at about 15 taels, we will accept it." The army will order [-] for the first batch!"

(End of this chapter)