Hearing what Deng Kui said, Su Hao turned to Tu Wenhuan and asked: "Mr. Tu, do you think what Deng Kui said makes sense?"
Tu Wenhuan said: "They are all from the military. They have bold personalities and don't know much about the rules. Please don't mind, Brother Su. However, I think there is some truth in what Deng Kui said. You said that the Japanese pirates might be able to count them."
I think it is still possible for tens of thousands of people to attack our Ming Dynasty. Think of Folangji, which is what you call Europe, which is probably thousands of miles away from our Ming Dynasty. Even if we can transport tens of thousands of people to our Ming Dynasty at one time, how can we attack us?
The Ming Dynasty had millions of soldiers?"
Su Hao said: "Mr. Tu, if I say that 6,000 Folangji people can fight from Guangzhou to the capital, do you believe it?"
"Of course I don't believe it." Tu Wenhuan said frankly, "Manpower is always limited. Even the Oala cavalry back then could not afford to march straight into the Ming Dynasty with just a few thousand people."
Su Hao shook his head. The logic of war in the age of firearms cannot be understood by people in the era of cold weapons. During the Opium War, the British army relied on thousands of people to defeat tens of thousands of Qing troops. There are also
, the Europeans have now occupied the coast of India and established colonies there. If they want to attack China, they are not far away.
Su Hao said: "Mr. Tu, you don't know something. What Europeans rely on is the power of firearms. Using firearms to deal with our cold weapons, even if the number is small, there is still a chance of victory."
"Firearms?" Deng Kui laughed mockingly from the side, "Su Xiucai, do you know what firearms look like?"
"I know a little bit." Su Hao replied, joking, as a modern person, how can he not know what firearms look like?
Deng Kui said: "The firearms of the Fo Lang machine are nothing more than Fo Lang machine cannons and matchlock guns. In fact, they are just firecrackers in our army. These firearms do have some power, but they are difficult to load, troublesome to ignite, and cannot hit in one blow.
If you get hit, you will have to wait for death. Our army is also equipped with a lot of firecrackers, but guess what?"
"How is it?" Su Hao asked.
Deng Kui replied: "Those fire blunderbuss can still be used in battles elsewhere, but they are useless in Yunnan. Yunnan is known as the sky is never sunny for three days. When it rains, the match ropes get wet, and the fire blunderbuss
It can't be fired, and in the end we have to rely on soldiers to charge with swords and spears."
"Why, are the fire guns in the army still lit by match ropes?" Su Hao asked Tu Wenhuan.
"Of course...why, does Brother Su know any other methods?" Tu Wenhuan asked sensitively. From his previous conversation with Su Hao, he felt that this person had some different and unusual insights, so he guessed that Su Hao might
I also know of other methods.
Su Hao thought for a while and said: "I heard that the Folangji people have improved the traditional muskets and used flint to fire them instead of match ropes. The muskets that use flint to fire have a much faster rate of fire, about 2
It can be launched once in a few minutes."
"There is such a sharp weapon?" Tu Wenhuan said in surprise, "Brother Su, can you tell us in detail?"
Su Hao saw something like a flintlock gun in a movie. He didn't know when the Europeans invented the flintlock gun, nor did he know what a flintlock gun really looked like. However, from a principle analysis, he
It can still be explained clearly.
The traditional musket is to put the fire-powder into the barrel of the gun and then use a lit match to start the fire. In Europe, there was a saying that musketeers brought a large plate of match rope several miles long to fight. The principle of the flintlock gun is
A piece of flint and a firing device are used instead of a match rope. When the firing device hits the flint, the flint will emit sparks, which can ignite the gunpowder in the gun chamber and complete the firing.
Su Hao was not sure about the firing speed of the matchlock gun, but in his impression, the flintlock gun could fire two shots per minute, which should be much faster than the traditional matchlock gun.
Here, we have to talk about the timing issue in ancient China. Before Western clocks were introduced to China, the Chinese divided the day and night into 12 hours, and at the same time divided the day and night into 100 quarters. In this way, each hour is equivalent to
At eight and one-third quarters, each moment is equivalent to 14.4 minutes in later generations. Under the quarter, there is also a unit of "minutes", and each quarter is divided into 60 minutes, also called "small minutes". Calculate this way
, a "small minute" is equivalent to 14.4 seconds in later generations. Su Hao said that one shot was fired every 2 minutes, which is equivalent to one shot in half a minute when converted into time units in later generations.
In addition to the fast firing speed, the flintlock gun has another advantage, which is that in the situation mentioned by Deng Kui, in windy and rainy weather, the match rope carried by the fire gun soldiers is easy to be blown out or doused, but the flintlock gun
It is not affected by the weather.
The principle of the flintlock gun is actually very simple. It’s just that the predecessors may not have thought of it, or even if they have thought of it, they cannot realize it due to the manufacturing process. Su Hao feels that with the technological level of China in the Ming Dynasty, it is necessary to create a flintlock gun.
It's not a difficult thing.
"The general principle of a flintlock gun is this..."
Su Hao took out paper and charcoal and drew a rough schematic diagram for Tu Wenhuan. He had never studied firearms, so he could not draw a real drawing, but the idea of using flint to fire is not complicated and can be shown on the diagram.
.
Tu Wenhuan once worked in the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War, and was considered a technical talent. As soon as Su Hao drew the picture, he understood it clearly, and he couldn't help showing a mixed look on his face:
"Brother Su, are you saying that the Folangji people have already made such a musket?"
Su Hao's face turned slightly red. He really didn't know whether the Europeans had developed a flintlock gun, but the large-scale application of flintlock guns had not yet begun. He shook his head and said, "I just listen to that."
Missionary Langji mentioned something, and from what he meant, it seemed that they had just started designing, and there were still some process problems that had not been solved. This should have been the situation a few years ago, but I don't know what the situation is now."
Tu Wenhuan took the drawing and looked at it carefully, his face uncertain. Deng Kui looked at Tu Wenhuan's expression and couldn't help but asked: "Mr. Tu, this Su... what Brother Su said really makes sense.
?"
Deng Kui was not angry with Su Hao at first, so he kept calling him Su Xiucai. Now seeing Su Hao draw a diagram of a flintlock gun, Tu Wenhuan fell into deep thought, and he couldn't help but respect Su Hao in his heart.
Deng Kui actually doesn't care about things like well exploration. Even if Su Hao is an excellent Feng Shui master, Deng Kui won't take it seriously. But when it comes to muskets, it's different. Any kind of weapon
Improvements will affect the lives of thousands of soldiers, and Deng Kui is very concerned about this.
Tu Wenhuan pondered for a long time and said slowly: "This matter is of great importance... Based on my experience, the flintlock gun mentioned by Brother Su should be able to be manufactured. Once such a gun is manufactured and equipped in large quantities,
For the military, it will completely change the mode of war.
If one shot can be fired in 2 minutes, then using three rows of alternating firing methods, it is possible to create a never-ending rain of bullets in front of the two armies. Whether it is Tatar light cavalry or Japanese pirates,
No one can break through such a hail of bullets... On the other hand, if the opponent is equipped with such firearms, then our Ming army will also be helpless."
Su Hao couldn't help but be in awe of Tu Wenhuan. He had never experienced the age of firearms, but he could foresee the combat characteristics of the age of firearms from the improvement of a firearm. The tactic of using fire blunderbuss for three-stage shooting had already been achieved in the Ming Dynasty.
However, because the reloading speed of firecrackers was too slow and ignition was troublesome, this shooting technology did not bring about a revolution in the entire war model. Now, when Su Hao talked about firearms with a higher firing frequency, Tu Wenhuan immediately thought of it.
What will its application in warfare mean?
"What Mr. Tu said is absolutely true, and the students also see it this way." Su Hao said, "If flintlock guns can be equipped in large numbers in the army, then the era of cold weapons that pursues power first will be over. The Mongolian army, which is good at riding and shooting, will
You will be vulnerable to musketry."
A soldier named Hao Tong at the table said: "Master Su, you just talked about this new type of musket... Well, it can be called a musket. It can fire one shot in 2 minutes. I think
It’s quite difficult. Fireguns fire slowly. In addition to the ignition process, there is also the process of loading gunpowder.
In order to speed up the charging process, our army uses paper bags to pack the gunpowder in advance. Every time it is fired, a paper bag is poured into the gun. This is faster than using a horn spoon to weigh it in the past.
More than doubled. Even so, it takes 3 to 4 hours to load a medicine. How can you complete the filling in 2 hours?"
"Is Brother Hao a gunman?" Su Hao asked casually after hearing Hao Tong speak so professionally.
Hao Tong touched his waist, took out a blunderbuss, put it on the table, and said: "I am Lord Deng's personal soldier. You need to practice swords, horses, riding and shooting, and using fire blunderbuss is just one of the skills.
"
"Is this the musket used in the army? I wonder if you can let me see it?" Su Hao said curiously. He had seen a lot of modern firearms, but he had never seen the musket of the Ming Dynasty.
"Brother Su, please take a look." Tu Wenhuan took Hao Tong's gun and handed it to Su Hao.
Su Hao took the blunderbuss and looked it up and down carefully, and said: "It is indeed of exquisite workmanship. Considering the Ming Dynasty...well, given the current level of craftsmanship in my Ming Dynasty, this blunderbuss is indeed a high-quality product."
What Su Hao said was a compliment, but to Hao Tong's ears, it was nothing like that. Su Hao's subtext actually said: According to the current craftsmanship of the Ming Dynasty, it is considered a fine product, but if it is considered to be a fine product by other standards,
Looking at it, it's not high quality.
Hao Tong's blunderbuss was awarded to him by Deng Zilong himself for his great achievements in battle. Among Deng Zilong's troops, this blunderbuss was the most outstanding. The workmanship of other fire blunderbuss was much worse than this blunderbuss.
.It was such a gun that made Hao Tong feel extremely proud, but it did not arouse Su Hao's exclamation. This made Hao Tong unbearable.
"Master Su, have you ever seen a better fire gun than this?" Hao Tong asked displeasedly.