Zeng Ziyun was a little surprised to hear Li Xuan talk about handguns, and that he wanted the Guards to equip the Guards with handguns on a large scale. He was not surprised that Li Xuan knew about handguns, nor was he surprised that Li Xuan let the Guards equip them with handguns.
Equipped with handguns, but was surprised that Li Xuan actually wanted the Guards to equip the Guards with handguns on a large scale.
Although firearms have been widely used a hundred years ago, the proportion of firearms equipment in the Ming army today has reached more than 10%, but it is limited to this. This 10% proportion also includes most of the
As for the artillery, as for the 'hand guns', which are often referred to as individual muskets, they are actually only a small part of them.
The Ming army wanted to equip large-scale muskets for individual soldiers. That was only after the blunderbuss was introduced to China.
Therefore, it is not surprising that Li Xuan plans to equip the army with handguns. However, Li Xuan said that the army should equip a large number of handguns. This is a bit abnormal. This made Zeng Ziyun feel that although the young pseudo-emperor in front of him
He has a little bit of intelligence, but he is obviously too smart.
Firearms are powerful, but there are also many restrictions on the use of firearms. Not only are they limited by the weather, but also except for the heavy artillery, the power of handguns used by individual soldiers is not very good. The three-eyed gun commonly used by the Ming army today,
Most of the time, the Ming army used it as a mace. It was much more reliable to hit the enemy directly with a three-eyed blunderbuss than to fire bullets.
Immediately, he said with an expression of confidence and even disdain: "Even if a handgun can injure the enemy a hundred steps away, but if the enemy comes within a hundred steps, it will not be able to ignite the fire. If there is no infantry, the cooperation and protection of the cavalry, the firegun alone will not be able to fire."
Defeat without a doubt"
Speaking of this, Zeng Ziyun paused for a while and then said in a firm tone: "Even if a handgun can injure an enemy at a hundred steps, it is still far inferior to a strong bow!"
Hearing Zeng Ziyun's words, Li Xuan turned his head and looked at him, secretly thinking that this man was quite capable and knew the shortcomings of firearms.
Li Xuan naturally knew that firearms these days were unreliable, but he didn't say he wanted to be equipped with the three-eyed muskets in the Ming army. What he really wanted was a mature matchlock gun or even a flintlock gun.
And even if he is equipped with flintlock muskets, he has no intention of making all the troops under his command consist of musketeers. He will still train ordinary cold weapon troops for use together.
"It seems that General Zeng is quite knowledgeable about firearms. Have you ever heard of muskets?" Li Xuan continued to find out the details about Zeng Ziyun.
Zeng Ziyun said: "Bird gun? I have heard about it in the past two years. I heard that the Japanese pirates along the coast often use it!"
Bird guns, also known as shotguns, were the standard muskets mass-produced and equipped by the Ming army after the mid-Ming Dynasty. They were also the standard muskets of the later Qing Dynasty.
But now it seems that Zeng Ziyun has only just heard of this kind of musket, and the Ming army has not yet introduced it and equipped it on a large scale.
Li Xuan said: "I heard that the bird gun is light and powerful, so I want to have craftsmen make it!"
Zeng Ziyun no longer expressed disdain at this time, but he felt that the pseudo-emperor Li Xuan was quite knowledgeable.
He had heard about bird cannons. It was said that they were not only light but also powerful, far superior to all kinds of hand cannons currently in the army. However, he was curious about how Li Xuan planned to make them.
You must know that even the imperial court cannot master the method of making bird guns. How can these rebels in the valleys of the Pseudo-Tang Dynasty be able to make bird guns?
He doesn't believe it!
There are just a few rebels, and there are only a thousand rebels. There are probably not even a few blacksmiths among them. How do they want to make a weapon that even the imperial court cannot make?
I won't believe it even if I beat him to death!
But not long after this idea came to him, he saw a personal guard in the form of Li Xuan walking up, and this man was holding a strange-shaped iron rod in his hand.
No, this is not an iron rod. Its slender iron tube is hollow, and there is a curved wooden support at the back. This shape seems to be very similar to the rumored bird gun used by the Japanese pirates. Even if it is not a bird gun, then this
The object of this shape is also very likely to be some kind of firecracker.
If he was not too sure when he first saw the fire gun, then when he heard Li Xuan say: "What does General Zeng think of this bird gun?"
Hearing Li Xuan personally say that the musket was a blunderbuss, Zeng Ziyun looked slightly surprised and thought to himself: "Where did these pseudo-Tang rebels get the blunderbuss?"
At this time, Li Xuan said to the guard beside him: "Try firing one or two and let our guests see it!"
Immediately, the guard next to him took the gun and loaded it. Perhaps this person wanted to show off to Zeng Ziyun, and the loading action was extremely fast, but this person was obviously not proficient in his business.
When loading quickly, I made continuous mistakes, and when I made a mistake, I became a little nervous, so I couldn't finish loading for half a day.
This made Li Xuan on the side look dark!
Damn, this is a bit embarrassing, and it’s embarrassing in front of Zeng Ziyun.
Li Xuan still wanted to show off his guards and guns in front of Zeng Ziyun in order to intimidate and win over Zeng Ziyun. Now that he has such a big trap, Li Xuan's face is a little uneasy.
He secretly swore in his heart that he would punish the guard not to have dinner when he got back.
It doesn't matter if you make a mistake, but it doesn't matter if you embarrass me.
However, although he was thinking this in his heart, he naturally would not show it. Instead, he showed a kind face and said: "Don't be anxious, take your time, there is plenty of time!"
Maybe Li Xuan's comfort had an effect, or maybe after making several mistakes in a row, the guard also found the trick. After a full ten minutes, he finally loaded it.
At this time, Li Xuan, who was about to lose his temper, finally breathed a sigh of relief. If the guard failed to reload successfully, he swore that it would not be as simple as punishing him with a dinner, but would have to deprive him of food for at least three days.
eat!
Even if it's a matchlock gun, you can't load it in ten minutes, and you've been practicing in private for two full days!
After seeing Li Xuan's slight nod, the guard opened the fire door cover, lit the match, and then raised the gun with both hands, placing the wooden butt on his shoulder.
As he pulled the trigger, everyone heard a loud noise, and a cloud of white smoke rose in front of their eyes!
At the same time, a big hole had been drilled into a thick wooden board ten steps ahead!
Seeing that the cannon was successfully fired, several people around Li Xuan shouted loudly: "Okay!"
Li Xuan turned to look at Zeng Ziyun at this time: "General Zeng, the power of this gun is pretty good!"
It has to be said that Li Xuan's words were showing off. You must know that he had spent two or three months on this musket. When he first organized and trained the Guards, he just wanted to use the matchlock gun.
Even flintlock guns were produced.
It's a pity that he is not an expert on ancient firearms. He only knows a rough idea of modern muskets. After spending many times on drawings and going through all the memories of modern muskets in his mind, he finally came up with such a matchlock.
gun.
After several months of research by a few blacksmiths in Huang Zhushan, they finally produced such a prototype gun.
He successfully built a matchlock gun. Naturally, he couldn't let the matchlock gun gather dust. After the test went smoothly a few days ago, he took it out today.
The main purpose was to show off in front of Zeng Ziyun, so that Zeng Ziyun, the captive, could see the advanced nature of their Tang Dynasty, thereby increasing his recognition of the Tang Dynasty.
Of course, it is impossible to make Zeng Ziyun surrender with just a musket, but it doesn't matter, anyway, it will last forever, take your time and grind little by little!
Based on Li Xuan's observation of Zeng Ziyun, he knew that this man was tough-talking, but he was still afraid of death in his heart. As long as he persisted in threats and inducements, over time, he would not be afraid of him disobeying!