Lanfang's army did not directly become the enemy of the Netherlands and Britain.
The Netherlands and the British didn't know much about this, but they had heard that Zhao Xuening recruited many technicians from various countries and nationalities and built some arsenals specifically to build weapons.
Cornley only observed Lanfang's army out of diplomatic and security considerations, but Marek, as an Englishman who was good at and keen on trade, and as a member of the British East India Company who could buy and sell anything, had another aspect. layer considerations.
For example, recommend weapons produced in Britain to Lan Fang.
Similar to other European armies, military weapons and equipment these days are often provided by some suppliers. Of course, the East India Company also has its own suppliers.
Marek received the other party's "care" before setting off. There are some business geniuses in the other party. They believe that as an emerging country, Lanfang's domestic arms market should still be a blue ocean. If Marek can open up the other party's arms market, Then you will be richly rewarded.
The East India Company headquarters did not know about this matter, and the other company did not feel the need to communicate with them. Of course, as a loyal member of the company, Marek originally wanted to loudly reject this behavior.
But they gave too much, so Marek decided to work part-time as a middleman. If he could sell it successfully, he might be able to make another fortune from it.
Who can have too much of a good thing like money?
He took the risk and came all the way from the British mainland to the crisis-ridden East Indies. What else could he do for it besides money?
Faith in God?
Please, that is the job of missionaries. Marek is not a rigid and principled person. His principles are very flexible.
Zhao Xuening asked Chu Teng to select a company of musketeers to go out, intending to demonstrate the Lanfang Army's combat methods to the two distinguished guests. Chu Teng was very happy and decided to personally serve as the commander of this exercise.
So, when Marek saw the Lanfang Army forming up, he felt something was wrong.
This army was lined up neatly, and even the soldiers' demeanor was almost the same. The entire army showed a high degree of consistency, which was obviously something that could only be shown after receiving excellent training.
Apart from these, the military uniforms worn by the soldiers are the kind of clothing with many pockets, but they are different from those worn by ordinary citizens.
For example, there is a military helmet and a military backpack on the back. The pockets on the body are obviously filled with some things. The four largest pockets all look bulging.
What the soldiers held in their hands was no different from that of the European armies. They were the same flintlock guns. The guns were also equipped with bayonets for fighting. The bayonets shone with a cold light, and they looked like they were of very good quality.
Following Chu Teng's order, the soldiers immediately formed a battle formation, and opposite them, at a distance of about 150 meters, there was a row of gun targets.
What they put out was a more orthodox battle formation. Anyone who is familiar with military affairs can see it at a glance. This is the mainstream method of warfare currently used in European wars.
The soldiers were divided into two columns, the first column half-kneeling, and the second column standing behind.
Then, Chu Teng raised his command knife.
"Load!"
Chu Teng gave the order, and the two columns of soldiers began to load the ammunition needed for shooting.
Cornley and Marek saw Lanfang's soldiers beginning to load ammunition skillfully, and the ammunition packages they used were similar to those of European armies.
Tear a hole, pour the propellant into the charge pool, stuff the remaining part into the gun barrel together with the ammunition package, take out the purge rod and pound the ammunition into it, retract the purge rod, and then raise the gun and prepare to fire.
According to Marek's observation of the movements of the four or five Lanfang soldiers and his mental calculations, the time it took for these four or five Lanfang soldiers to reload ammunition was about twenty seconds.
Does a reload only take about twenty seconds?
This is a speed that only a very elite and skilled musketeer can achieve.
As far as Marek knew, among the armies of the mainstream European powers, only Prussian musketeers could generally achieve this speed under the strict training of the almost demanding Frederick the Great.
Recent news shows that the Prussian army has gone from the path of perversion and has actually begun to require musketeers to complete the ultra-difficult tactical requirement of four shots per minute.
This kind of tactical requirement is difficult for the elite armies of other European countries to achieve.
Regardless of whether Lanfang's soldiers are so proficient in firing skills, at least one thing can be proved - Zhao Xuening has sufficient war resources to train such skilled and capable soldiers.
After the soldiers finished loading, Chu Teng waved his sword.
"put!"
Bah bah bah bah bah bah...
With a burst of rising white mist and neat gunshots, two rows of soldiers fired a volley together.
After the volley was completed, Marek and Cornley observed the gun targets in the distance and found that many gun targets had been smashed. This showed that the effect of this round of volley was quite good. The training of Lanfang soldiers The level and sophistication of weapons are guaranteed.
But this was not over yet. After the volley, Chu Teng waved his sword again.
"Free Fire! Start!"
Following his orders, the soldiers immediately began firing freely.
Volleys are loaded and fired together. Soldiers cannot fire at will without the commander's order.
Free fire is another tactic. The commander does not require the soldiers to shoot together. After the soldiers are loaded, they can shoot at will. There is no need to wait for orders to launch a salvo, giving full play to the soldiers' personal abilities.
These two shooting tactics have their fans in various European countries, and each has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Generally speaking, European military strategists believe that the efficiency of free fire is higher than that of volley fire, but free fire has greater requirements on soldiers and weapons. If the training of soldiers and the sophistication of weapons cannot be guaranteed, then volley fire is still acceptable. good.
Marek and Cornley both knew this.
In front of them, they were surprised to see the soldiers of Lanfang's army giving full play to their abilities and shooting freely at the gun target in front of them. Each soldier's movements were quite skillful.
What surprised them even more was that three minutes later, the fast soldiers had fired eight or nine times, but their shooting still did not stop and continued.
Marek couldn't hold back his surprise.
Although flintlock guns have good advantages over matchlock guns in terms of performance, the same problems with matchlock guns exist as flintlock guns, that is, the quality of the firearm itself.
First, the flintlock gun is also a muzzle-loading gun. The gunpowder, which is the main provider of kinetic energy, will not be fully burned, and there will be dregs in the barrel.
If these scum cannot be cleaned up in time, the better ones will have shooting obstacles. After a few shots, they will no longer be able to fire. The worse ones will explode the chamber, endangering the safety of the shooter himself.
Secondly, even if gunpowder is not a problem, the manufacturing quality of the firearm itself is also very problematic.
These days, European ordnance is often placed by the military and handed over to arms manufacturers in some famous industrial cities for production. It is rare for them to organize their own production. In order to save costs, the royal family and the military often choose the one with the lowest price. Products provided by arms dealers.
For things like muskets, cheap products are not good, and good products are not cheap. Once you choose the solution to reduce costs, you must accept the result of a large increase in defective products and a higher failure rate.
From this perspective, it is precisely because everyone cannot afford higher costs that quality problems will occur after a few shots, so cold weapons have been unable to leave the battlefield.
Even the appearance of the bayonet was originally to make up for the emergency situation that the musketeers had to face after they were unable to continue firing due to various reasons. In order to allow the musketeers to maintain their combat effectiveness, they would not be unable to continue fighting after the muskets turned into fire sticks.
Generally on European battlefields, after everyone fires several rounds at a distance of more than 100 meters from the opposite side, one party will stop shooting and charge with a bayonet. The final way to win is a cold weapon fight.
There are many cases where the outcome is determined directly by musket shooting, but in more cases, the quality of the weapons of both armies will still prompt both sides to use hand-to-hand combat to determine the outcome.
This situation has always existed in this era and even for hundreds of years to come, and it is even more common for Marek, who has military experience.
But now that I saw that Lanfang's soldiers could continue to shoot after shooting so many times, I suddenly became curious about the quality of the weapons of Lanfang's army.
Weapons of this quality are definitely not impossible, and they are definitely not impossible to make, but it is a bit strange to appear in the hands of big-headed soldiers and become the weapons of big-headed soldiers.
It's not surprising that Lan Fang is rich.
Not to mention anything else, after Zhao Xuening took control of Java Island, Zhao Xuening could make a lot of money just from the trade of malaria drugs. However, the speed at which the war burns money cannot be matched by the speed at which he makes money. If this quality The fact that firearms became common equipment in Lanfang's army can only prove two things.
First, Lanfang has its own military production system, which is relatively mature.
Secondly, Zhao Xuening is willing to throw a lot of money into it, spending more money to purchase higher-grade raw materials and carry out deeper finishing, regardless of the cost.
At this point, he was more willing to pay than the European monarchs, and was even willing to suppress his own quality of life for it.
Is it true that the European royal families and nobles cannot afford to make more sophisticated weapons and equipment?
Absolutely not.
If they are willing, they will be able to form an elite army that will shock Europe. Sweeping Europe is not a dream - however, they always value the luxury of themselves and their families more important.
They like Qing porcelain, tea, silk, luxurious clothing, fine food, utensils made of gold and silver, and cosmetics made of precious spices.
They are more willing to use their money to buy rare objects thousands of miles away to show off, rather than improving soldiers' weapons and equipment.
Marek believes that the daily expenses of a member of the British royal family are enough to replace a company or even a battalion of soldiers with more sophisticated weapons and equipment to enhance their combat effectiveness.
It's a pity that this kind of thing will never happen, even if everyone knows it, it will never happen. The nobles will never lower their quality of life to improve the combat effectiveness of the soldiers.
But in Lanfang, this situation seems to exist.
Zhao Xuening's personal wealth is definitely huge. Both the Netherlands and the British can be sure of this. However, they did not expect that Zhao Xuening would use a large amount of wealth to improve soldiers' weapons and equipment, equipping them with equipment that even Europe's elite armies could not defeat. Sophisticated weapons that may not be usable.
From this point of view, Lanfang's rise is by no means a miracle. Behind the seemingly miracle is the cornerstone of a large amount of wealth and firm determination.
Marek took a deep breath and looked at Zhao Xuening, who was looking at his army with a pleased expression.
For some reason, he suddenly felt that the guy in front of him seemed not satisfied with the title of the Uncrowned King of the Spice Sea.
If he was satisfied with this, why didn't he start enjoying luxury, but instead strengthen the armament of the army?
There are no more enemies for him here. No one can defeat him. Who is his imaginary enemy?
Is it Spain that controls the Philippines?
Or...
Is it the British that is gradually taking control of India?
Unlike what Marek thought, what Cornley thought was all excitement except for a little bit of nervousness.
He didn't expect that Zhao Xuening had already cultivated such an elite armed force.
It is said that Lanfang has an army of 30,000 people. If such an army can guarantee combat effectiveness and weapons and equipment, wouldn't it be a trivial matter to deal with the British in this area?
He believes that if Lanfang's army can guarantee such combat literacy, then Lanfang, with 30,000 armed forces, can be regarded as a medium-sized country with certain strength even in Europe, and it can fight a few battles to show its existence. Sensational.
The British are powerful, but they have too many colonies and their power is scattered. In the East alone, Cornley believes that if Zhao Xuening works hard for a few more years, he can completely challenge the British hegemony in India and completely expel them from the Spice Sea. It's just the prelude to the whole operation.
So Cornley glanced at Marek.
By coincidence, at this moment, Marek also glanced at Cornley. Their eyes collided, and they both seemed to understand some emotion contained in the other's eyes.
After ten shots, the free-firing soldiers stopped shooting. The soldiers in the front row also stood up, holding their guns, pointing their shining bayonets diagonally upwards, and shouted "ha" together, as if they were ready. Prepare for charge and hand-to-hand combat.
The uniform movements are chilling.
Chu Teng nodded and ordered again.
"Take a break! Look to the left!"
After hearing the order, the soldiers stood with guns in one hand, stamped their feet in unison, turned their heads to the left, and organized the entire queue. Their waists were straight and full of energy. The momentum of an elite army was clearly visible.
Zhao Xuening was very satisfied with this and looked at Cornley and Marek.
"Boy, how does my army perform? How does it compare with European armies?"
