Another benefit of training the Shenwu Army into musketeers is that they themselves are cavalry and elite cavalry.
If musketeers are trained purely as infantry, they will inevitably have the problem of slow maneuvering speed.
But if you combine musketeers with cavalry, you will have the mobility of cavalry and the combat effectiveness of musketeers.
The only drawback was that the matchlock gun at this time was almost impossible to operate on horses, especially when filling ammunition.
But this is not a big problem, they can rush to the battlefield and dismount to fight like infantry.
This type of unit was called "dragoon" when the matchlock appeared in the 18th century.
For this reason, Shen Bing had to invent a simple horse stake... It was actually an iron spike with a lock on the top. The cavalry carried it with them. When they arrived at their destination and prepared for an infantry battle, they would drive the spike into the soil and secure it. Put the reins into the lock and the horse will not run around.
Therefore, the Shenwu Army became a special unit with cavalry when mounted and musketeers when dismounted.
For musketry training, Shen Bing basically followed the line tactics of the late 18th century, which was the so-called "queue to shoot".
This tactic seems silly: the two warring parties approach each other in neat and dense formations to the rhythm of drums and fifes, then fire at each other with an order, and then each is killed or wounded until one side collapses.
But in fact, this was a helpless choice in the era of muskets: the accuracy of rifles was too poor. If the infantry spread out and fired at multiple targets, they would basically be unable to hit.
So they can only form a dense formation and hit the projectiles like archery, relying on the number to form a scale to knock down the opponent.
The accuracy and power of the matchlock gun made by Shen Bing at this time was not even comparable to the muskets of the line tactics era, so they could only rely on this method to fight.
Shen Bing divided his troops into two rows in units of one hundred people.
In the era of linear tactics, most countries were divided into three rows, and only the United Kingdom was divided into two rows.
The reason why they are divided into three rows is to have more guns take effect at the first time and strike first. On the battlefield, this can often overwhelm the enemy immediately and put him at a disadvantage.
The reason is very simple. With the same troop strength, if more firepower is used at the beginning to cause more casualties to the opponent, then the enemy's firepower will be reduced due to casualties, and then it will become less and less, forming a vicious cycle. .
But in fact, the third row has always been unscientific and dangerous:
The first row can fire from a kneeling position, the second row can fire from a standing position, and the third row must put the muzzle of the gun through the middle of the second row's shoulders to fire.
As a result, on the one hand, the second row of soldiers will be troubled by gunfire and thick smoke; on the other hand, the projectiles fired by the third row can easily accidentally injure the first row of soldiers who are operating in a kneeling position...
The bullet blade of the musket is ejected from a conical shape, and the first row of soldiers operating in a kneeling position inevitably have to raise their arms to load the bullets with a strip when filling ammunition, so the bullets fired from the rear are just right. Hit the first row soldier on the arm or shoulder.
Therefore, when a three-row formation of infantry was adopted in the later period, most of the third row did not actually shoot, but loaded ammunition for the second row and served as a substitute.
Shen Bing knew this, so of course he would not use the three-row line type.
At this time, the Qin army was not suitable for using a three-row line... To use a three-row line, each tactical unit must be a multiple of three. Only in this way can it be divided into three rows and facilitate command.
The Qin army was organized based on "Wu" and "Shi", which determined that it would be difficult to organize into three rows unless Shen Bing disrupted the organization and used a new organization.
But this will obviously cause greater trouble and make the Qin army unaccustomed.
On the contrary, this problem can be solved well if it is organized into two rows: the first corps is "wu", the second corps is "shi", the tenth corps is "tun", and the second tun is "hundred".
Many of them are integer multiples of "two", so they can be well commanded or flexibly merged, divided, etc. during combat.
At this time, muskets had not yet been produced, so wooden guns could only be used for training.
These wooden guns are made by Homusang carpenters according to the original size of the muskets... This is to allow soldiers to adapt to new equipment and operations better and faster.
Even the barrel of this wooden gun is hollow.
Making this hollow barrel is a bit troublesome. You need to saw the barrel in half first, then dig out a semicircle each and then close it.
Having a hollow barrel is important.
Because the most important point in training is loading ammunition, not only the speed, but also the process steps must be in place, otherwise you will accidentally get fired and injured.
The main reason is that the Qin army used a matchlock gun. After pulling the trigger, the flame head of the matchlock gun will remain at the fire door. If it is not removed, the gunpowder will be loaded... This is very common on a tense battlefield. .
Another common mistake is to press the bullet into the barrel of the gun and then rush to fire it at the target without taking out the bullet.
Then the strip will fly towards the enemy along with the projectile.
The result is that the barrel is lost and ammunition can no longer be loaded.
These mistakes are not bad, at most they will cause one soldier to be injured or lose combat effectiveness.
Another mistake is not checking whether the matchlock is correctly ignited to launch the projectiles... The matchlock of the matchlock is often curved, and the fire door is small. Sometimes, even though the trigger is pulled by chance, the fire head on the matchlock is not. Pressing on the fire door means that the gunpowder is not ignited.
Although the recoil of the matchlock gun is not small and the sound of the gun is loud, in the tense situation of the battlefield and the sound of gunfire is heard all around, this point is often ignored, and the pellets are habitually thought to be fired by pulling the trigger.
So then I reloaded again, and then again...
Soon the gun barrel will be filled with too much gunpowder and projectiles. If it is successfully ignited at this time, it will undoubtedly explode the barrel and eject the projectiles inside. Even if there is a sleeve to protect it, it will not work. To no avail.
In order to try to avoid accidents caused by such mistakes on the battlefield, Shen Bing divided the entire loading process into twelve standardized steps, such as taking gunpowder, pouring gunpowder, stuffing paper, and pressing it to the bottom with a purge bar...
Shenwujun rehearsed every step until he could operate it with his eyes closed and was so accurate that he didn't miss a step.
As for practicing marksmanship...
This is not important at all for the matchlock gun.
With the accuracy of today's matchlock guns, no one can hit it accurately, because you have no way of knowing the angle at which the projectile leaves the muzzle...it bounces up and down in the barrel, and is finally fired at a scattering angle.
Sometimes it's to the left, sometimes it's to the right, sometimes it's up and sometimes it's down.
In this case, the step of practicing marksmanship can be omitted.
The musketeer only needs to know how to aim the muzzle roughly at the target.