In early April, Li Zhi's boring machine had been built for three months, and the craftsmen had produced more than 6,000 new guns. Li Zhi's 4,000 recruits were already equipped with a Minie rifle, and they practiced target shooting every day.
After several months of shooting training, most recruits can hit the human-shaped target at a distance of 200 meters. On average, they can hit the target eight or nine times out of ten shots. After a few more months of training, it is estimated that the soldiers will be able to hit the target every time.
Target.
Li Zhi now has 8,000 soldiers. These soldiers are equipped with Mini rifles and their combat effectiveness is much stronger than other infantry of this era. To say that one can fight two is a conservative estimate, and it is talking about facing the Qing army who has been fighting for a long time. If the opponent is
Against bandits and bandits, Li Zhi's infantry can defeat one against three, or even one against four.
Li Zhi's artillery force was equally powerful. Li Zhi used copper body iron core technology to transform the artillery of this era, and at the same time installed bearings on the gun carriages, which greatly improved the mobility of the six-pounder in the field. Li Zhi used iron molds
When casting cannons, the scrap rate is very low, and a cannon can be cast in a few days. The army is equipped with many cannons and the firepower is very fierce.
But Li Zhi's army still had shortcomings - the cavalry was not good enough.
Li Zhi has not organized regular cavalry until now. Some soldiers have war horses, but they are only mounted infantry. In a real fight, they still have to dismount and shoot with rifles. There is no cavalry in Li Zhi's army that actually fights on horseback.
Even the bandits' Tang horses have far stronger impact than Li Zhi's mounted infantry.
Without cavalry, the army has no impact and relies entirely on the shooting of infantry and artillery. And without cavalry to protect the flanks, the riflemen are always in danger of being attacked by cavalry groups on the flanks. If the flanks are overwhelmed by the enemy's cavalry, the entire battle formation will collapse.
Shake or even collapse.
Not to mention pursuit battles that require the mobility of cavalry. Troops without cavalry cannot pursue and kill deserters. Winning can only be a small victory, but once defeated, it will be a huge defeat, which is very dangerous.
Moreover, the cavalry can also play the role of scouts, going out to spy on the enemy's intelligence. If there are no cavalry who can fight against the enemy, there will be no scouts who can move freely, and they will be blind on the battlefield. Although Li Zhi's telescope made Li Zhi
He could see the situation several miles away, but Li Zhi had no idea what was happening further away.
In order to adapt to future battles, Li Zhi urgently needed to build a strong cavalry team.
Li Zhi's army originally had more than 2,000 war horses and pack horses: 700 war horses and 1,600 pack horses. After defeating Yanguli, Li Zhi captured another 1,100 war horses on the battlefield. Now Li Zhi
There are 1,800 war horses in total.
Using these horses, Li Zhi decided to set up three cavalry battalions, with a total of 1,500 cavalry troops. The cavalry soldiers were veterans of the selected vanguard regiment who had experienced battles.
These veterans are not only warriors who have seen blood, but each of them has practiced fighting for two years. Their sword fighting skills are the strongest among Li Zhi's army. Moreover, these veterans are equipped with military horses captured in previous battles and are skilled in riding skills.
The cavalry wanted to break out and fight, so Li Zhi had no choice but to choose them.
Li Xing is now the leader of the Selection Regiment. Hearing that Li Zhi wanted to turn his 1,500 soldiers into cavalry, Li Xing was a little stunned.
"Brother, I don't know how to fight hand-to-hand with cavalry!"
Li Zhi smiled and said: "Metal combat is the last resort. I will equip your cavalry with handguns. After using rifles and handguns, the enemy will have collapsed long ago."
Of course, Li Zhi would not let these cavalry rush up and fight the enemy casually. These cavalry were still equipped with Mini rifles. The cavalry could shoot when they were two hundred meters away from the enemy. After a round of bullets, they mounted their horses and engaged in battle.
Moreover, Li Zhi also wanted to equip this cavalry team with muskets, so that they could shoot again when they rushed to the enemy 20 meters away. After two shots, if the enemy had not collapsed, they could rush up to fight hand-to-hand. I believe this tactic is enough to make the choice
The soldiers of the vanguard defeated the same number of enemy cavalry, or even more than their own number.
The handgun can be said to be the pistol of later generations. In close combat, the flexibility of the pistol is enough to determine the outcome of the battle.
After making up his mind, Li Zhi began to make handguns and drew the handguns he designed into drawings.
The handgun designed by Li Zhi is also a Mini flintlock gun. Although this kind of gun is usually fired at a distance of more than ten meters, it may also be used for emergency shooting at a distance of twenty or thirty meters. Sometimes it is
A certain degree of accuracy is required, and Mini bullets can provide a much higher hit accuracy than round projectiles. Moreover, Mini bullets have good airtightness, are more powerful than leaky round bullets, and have stronger armor-piercing capabilities.
Finally, because Li Zhi's soldiers were accustomed to using Minie rifles, they suddenly felt a little uncomfortable using smoothbore rifles on pistols. The craftsmen of Li Zhi's 200 Minie guns had 200 special rifling broaching machines to pull the rifling.
The cost is not high, so of course I choose a rifled gun.
Although the pistols of later generations were also short-range weapons, they were also rifled guns.
The handgun designed by Li Zhi is 35 centimeters long and weighs three kilograms. It also uses flint hair to ignite.
During the battle, the cavalry first loaded the gun with gunpowder, primer and bullets, wrapped the bullets with cotton cloth and stuffed them into the chamber to prevent the bullets and gunpowder from falling out of the gun. Then they inserted the gun into the leather bag on their waist.
In the battle, when you encounter an enemy at close range, you take out the gun from your leather bag and shoot directly.
The cost of a handgun is only five taels, and gunsmiths can make one in seven days. In late April, Li Zhi had obtained 1,500 handguns and equipped them with 1,500 horses.
Cavalry of the Vanguard Regiment.
On the second day of May, the weather was already very hot, and everyone put on light summer clothes. Li Zhi took several officers to the training ground to watch the cavalry of the Selected Front Regiment demonstrate how to charge into battle with muskets.
Fifteen soldiers lined up in three rows and first shot at the scarecrows 200 meters away. Only crackling gunshots were heard, and holes were punched out in the fifteen scarecrows. It has been two years since the fifteen soldiers of the Selection Regiment joined the army.
He trained thousands of target shots, and all fifteen shots hit the target.
After firing their rifles, the soldiers got on their horses and rushed towards the scarecrow in front. After rushing to a distance of twenty meters, the cavalrymen pulled out the muskets on their waists and shot at close range. The scarecrow was hit by the musket, and another piece of grass fell.
Flying.
After shooting, the soldiers put their muskets into their gun bags and pulled out the knives on their waists. They quickly passed by the scarecrow and slashed at the scarecrow's body.
After the training was completed, the cavalry used rifles, muskets and waist knives to kill the scarecrow three times.
Seeing the combat effectiveness of the gun, several officers were very excited and started talking around Li Zhi.
"Brother, your gun is really powerful. You can knock down a large area at a short distance!"
Zheng Kaicheng said: "Sir, this gun is very effective. It is equivalent to giving the soldiers another chance to shoot."
Li Laosi thought about it and said: "My boss, if this gun can be equipped with infantry, it can also increase the number of shots fired by the infantry."
Li Zhi nodded and said: "The infantry equipment is also good with muskets, but the output of musket workshops is limited now. It will take several months to get one for each person."
When Zhong Feng heard that Li Zhi intended to equip the infantry with handguns, he laughed loudly and said: "Sir, we must give every infantryman a handgun. I can't wait!"
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