The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 9
The bird gun is the standard equipment of the royal guards, and the imperial guard turned around and took a gun from the colleague guarding the imperial garden.

Zhu Yujian was about to order the two imperial guards to fire guns for comparison, but Zhu Linmi reached out and took the flintlocks, "Uncle Huang, why don't you let my nephew come here." He took out a handful of things from the sack he brought, and continued , "There is another treasure here, which happens to be displayed together."

"Anything else?" Zhu Yujian looked into Zhu Linmi's hand, and saw that he was holding a handful of paper bags slightly bigger than peanuts.

He didn't ask much at the moment, nodded and said: "Okay, show me a demonstration."

Zhu Linmei rolled up her sloppy sleeves, stuffed the paper bag into her waist purse, glanced at the wooden target opposite, frowned at the eunuch and said, "This wooden target is too thin, let's stack a few more layers."

Pang Tianshou was taken aback, and thought that this was a board more than an inch thick, but he still called for people to stack the four boards together and set up a large neat row.

Zhu Linmei nodded to the imperial guard who was holding a Lumi gun beside him, "Let's start."

As the two of them each took out their tools and began to reload, Zhu Yujian's eyes widened. At first, it was obvious that the proficient imperial guard was fast, and he had already started pouring the propellant. Pour the black stuff into the medicine pot.But then, Zhu Linmi stuffed the rest of the paper bag into the mouth of the gun, pressed it with a stick, pulled the hammer and raised the gun to shoot.And the imperial army on the side is still blowing the matchlock...

In a short while, Zhu Linmi had fired the blunderbuss six times, and the imperial army had just raised the blunderbuss for the fourth time.This is because Zhu Linmi's movements are obviously slower than his opponent's. If the two are equally proficient, he may be able to fire eight to nine guns!
Zhu Yujian knew very well what this rate of fire meant. The best firearm currently equipped by the Qing army was nothing but the Lumi blunderbuss.If this flintlock had double the rate of fire than Lumi, it would almost be equivalent to twice the strength of the Ming army during the battle!

After the two put down their guns, Zhu Yujian hurriedly asked Zhu Linmi, "Why didn't I see you loading lead bullets just now?"

Zhu Linming picked up the paper bag used for the previous launch and opened it, only to find that inside was black sesame grains of gunpowder, and on the top of the paper bag was a lead bullet.

"Uncle Huihuang, this thing is called a fixed-loading bomb." He explained to Zhu Yujian, "Pack the weighed gunpowder and lead bullet together in advance, tear a corner when fighting, and pour out a little as primer, and the rest It can be fired directly into the gun.”

Zhu Yujian was very surprised. This seemingly simple invention reduced the previous steps of taking lead bullets, loading lead bullets, compacting, and pulling out the stick. Actions are the most time consuming.

He was very happy in his heart, but he asked cautiously: "How far is the shooting distance and power of this new gun compared to the bird gun?"

Zhu Linmei pointed to the wooden target opposite, "Uncle Huang will know it at a glance."

Pang Tianshou hurriedly directed the little eunuch to carry the wooden target on the opposite side.

I saw that the first layer of wooden planks on the side of the imperial army was shot through, and a piece protruded from the back of the second layer, but the third layer was not damaged.

On Zhu Linmi's side, the first and second floors are all pierced, and the third floor may have cracks or fragments of lead bullets embedded in it.

"Why is this gun so powerful?" Zhu Yujian asked immediately.

Zhu Linmi picked up the paper bag again, "It's not the gunpowder that is powerful, but the gunpowder.

"The powdered gunpowder burns too fast in the gun barrel, and the firepower contained in it is released in an instant, and most of it is wasted, and at this time the lead bullet has not yet flown out of the gun barrel."

He held up the "black sesame" in the paper bag and said, "I harden the gunpowder and then crush it into granules. In this way, there will be gaps between the powder particles, the burning speed will slow down, and the contained firepower will be released evenly. The gunpowder shoots far. And power can be greatly improved."

"It's so powerful that it can break through a cotton armor fifty steps away!" Zhu Yujian couldn't help nodding, and praised, "A treasure! These two things of Lin Mi are indeed treasures! With this sharp weapon, the Qing Dynasty can destroy them!"

Zhu Lin thought in her heart, this is just the beginning, and there will be more surprises in the future.

"Alas..." Zhu Yujian suddenly seemed to lose interest again, turned away from the left and right sides, and sighed, "The power of firearms is not enough. I announced to the world that on August [-]th, the royal family will personally confiscate and restore the rivers and mountains, but Zheng Zhilong tried every means to prevent it. One soldier and one soldier. The majestic king of a country has no money or food to mobilize. I am afraid that the matter of personal conquest will only be discredited by the world."

To say that Zhu Yujian was really unlucky, when he was a vassal king, he brought the palace guards to serve Wang Chongzhen, and most of them died on the way to guard the army. In the end, Chongzhen suspected that he had unruly intentions, cut Wang Jue and put him in prison.The Chongzhen dynasty fell, and he was transferred to Guangxi by Emperor Hongguang.Halfway through the journey, Hongguang Dynasty also died. He hurried to Fujian to establish a court, so he didn't even have any vassal kings and guards, and he was a bare-bones commander who was just like a fake.

Zhu Linmei immediately stepped forward and said: "Uncle Huang, my nephew is not only here to offer guns, this soldier also has some plans."

"Oh?" Zhu Yujian said unexpectedly, "What's your plan?"

"My nephew recently learned that Zheng Zhilong transferred some soldiers who were unwilling to cooperate with him to remote places, and did not pay him any money, in order to drag down the battalion." Zhu Lin said, "Uncle Huang can leave these people behind. In Tianxing Mansion, the soldiers are given salaries and equipment. These people all hate Zheng Zhilong, and must feel the court's kindness and be loyal."

Zhu Yujian smiled wryly when he heard the words, "The reason why Zheng Zhilong used the military salary is because the Ministry of Households can't afford the money. Even if there are soldiers, the court can't afford to support them."

"My nephew will be able to settle the matter of military pay, please rest assured, Uncle Huang." Zhu Linmi said this with confidence.He has a lot of new things in his mind for future generations, and he can choose a few to create, and the money he earns can feed thousands of troops without any problem.When he has enough influence, he will advocate the opening of the sea ban and use the profits from foreign trade to support the war.

Zhu Yujian was overjoyed and hurriedly asked, "How many troops are there in this battalion?"

"About eight hundred people." Zhu Linmei answered truthfully.

"Why are there so many vacancies?" Zhu Yujian shook his head. Generally speaking, the first battalion of the Ming Dynasty has about three thousand troops.But he immediately said again: "But as long as there is military pay, I will issue a document to announce to the world that I believe it will not be a problem to recruit one hundred thousand troops."

Zhu Lin suddenly felt a headache, and said to herself, how much money would it take to support 10 people?The old concept of winning by numbers is bad!
He immediately raised his hands and said: "Uncle Huang, my nephew thinks that one battalion should be trained, at most two battalions. One is that the battle is too big, which will arouse Zheng Zhilong's vigilance. If he jumps over the wall in a hurry, the country is in danger. Second, soldiers There are only [-] elite soldiers, as long as they are equipped with flintlocks and cannons, coupled with my nephew's new drill method, they are worth more than [-] ordinary soldiers. Three things...the pressure on the military pay is also less."

After careful consideration, Zhu Yujian nodded slightly, "It is better to use elite soldiers." He immediately asked in surprise, "Can you still practice soldiers?" Then he turned his head and looked at the flintlock beside him, "There is also the method of making firearms. .Why have you never shown yourself before?"

　1. Since the word "shuo" cannot be displayed (shuo next to the wooden character), "shuo stick" is used instead in the text, please forgive me.

　　2. The naming of firecrackers in the Ming Dynasty is really confusing. Birdcup is the general name for matchlock guns, and it also refers to a specific kind of firecracker in some occasions.The Japanese blunderbuss, Western blunderbuss, Sanqian blunderbuss, Lumi blunderbuss, etc. in this article are all types of bird blunderbuss (that is, matchlock guns).

　　
　
(End of this chapter)