After the competition, Yang Wen cleared his throat and announced the start of the weapons drill. He invited the leaders of various Miao tribes to gather in Bozhou. His daughter's wedding was just a pretext, but in fact he wanted to take the opportunity to form an alliance and discuss the fight against the Mongolian army. The wedding was scheduled for three days later. During the waiting period, hundreds of guests ate and drank freely in Banzhou, which made the officials in charge of the economy quite heartbroken. This official suggested to Yang Wen many times to discuss the alliance before the wedding. After the wedding, each tribe could leave after purchasing supplies.
Of course Yang Wen knew that many people in Bozhou Mountain were poor, and coupled with years of fighting and the construction of Hailongtun, their financial resources were already very tight, so he agreed to this proposal. But before the alliance, he had to show the power of Banzhou, so that he could subdue the powerful chiefs of each tribe and let them follow him to fight against the Mongols. It is said that the completion of Hailongtun has made the chiefs' respect for the Yang family much higher, but some people still don't take it seriously. According to their words, "Although this Hailongtun is indestructible, it cannot be moved. Although our mountain stronghold is not as good, it is also difficult to break through." This means that in front of the Mongolian army, Yang Wen, like everyone else, would only cower and defend.
These words will naturally reach Yang Wen's ears. He knew that it would be difficult to convince these local snakes in Miao territory without bringing out some trump cards. During yesterday's banquet, when Ouyang Xuan proposed a long-range shooting contest, he knew that his son-in-law would definitely win with the strength of firearms. He also took advantage of the situation and proposed a weapons drill on the school grounds, using the firearms of the Banzhou Army to give these powerful chiefs a two-shot attack to completely frighten them.
The second batch of firearms brought by the Pili Army as betrothal gifts are still in Banshu City, fifty miles away, while the first batch of muskets and grenades are old-fashioned models, making the demonstration more cumbersome. Yang Wen then decided to let Yang Yan's guards take the field. Their firearms were exactly the same as those of the Pili Army Field Brigade, and they received careful guidance in Chongqing Mansion. They now became the elite of the Bozhou Army. It would be most suitable for them to conduct weapons drills. In Yang Wen's view, in order to scare these powerful chiefs, they must take out the things that are packed in the box. Naturally, they will not have the idea of "too advanced to be displayed conveniently."
Yang Yan's guards wore uniform uniforms and walked onto the school field with uniform steps. Under the captain's order, they all turned around and saluted Yang Wen, and then turned to the target. This team naturally learned from the Perak Army. At first, Ran Zhong, who was in charge of the guard, didn't take much notice of the formation. He thought that the Bozhou soldiers were brave, good at fighting and fearless of death, so there was no need to learn these weird postures. Later, after Cao Ergou talked about the importance of queues and orders and prohibitions, Yang Yan ordered to strictly follow the instructions of the Pili Army instructors without any changes. Now it seems that this decision was extremely correct. The more than thirty guardsmen were as powerful as a hundred-man army.
Following the order, these thirty people quickly formed three rows. There was another order: the first row lay down, the second row half squatted, and the third row stood. These were actually the three shooting postures used by Ouyang Xuan. After the preparations were completed, the guard captain issued the order to fire, and the target was the ten straw men in front. With intensive explosions, the first row of muskets sprayed out fire and smoke, and then the second and third rows also opened fire. After the third platoon opened fire, the first platoon had reloaded and began the next round of shooting. This cycle goes back and forth, forming a continuous and uninterrupted firepower. This is the famous "three-stage shooting" of the Perak Army.
The sound of a single musket during the competition was already loud, but now a row of muskets firing simultaneously is even more shocking. After several rounds of shooting, the straw man in front had become staggering. The captain of the guard gave another order, and the lying soldiers in the first row quickly stood up, hung their muskets diagonally behind them, and each took out an iron ball the size of a fist from their waists. After running for a while, they threw the iron ball at the target with all their strength. Then there was a series of loud noises like thunder on the ground, which deafened the crowd watching from a distance. When the gunpowder smoke cleared, we could see that there were still straw men in front of us, and only broken wood chips and grass clippings were burning on the ground.
After the loud noise, the huge school grounds fell silent. Yang Wen was very proud. It seemed that the huge power of firearms had frightened the chiefs. It is said that this drill also shocked Yang Wen, and he believed even more in the rumors about the invincibility of the Perak Army. Although the Bozhou Army had obtained firearms a long time ago, Yang Wen ordered people to demonstrate them, and even used them himself, but they never expected that the power of large-scale use would be so terrifying. As for why the Bozhou Army did not use it on a large scale, there is no other reason. This thing is too expensive. Yang Yan once mentioned to him that the Pili Army gave her the weapons and ammunition for the guards, which were worth their weight in gold. What's more important is that this thing has a price but no market. No matter how much money it pays, the Pili Army will not sell it.
Next, the Guards practiced tactics such as group defense and bayonet charge. After seeing the tremendous power of the firearms in front of them, these tactics no longer attracted the interest of the powerful chiefs. In their view, this was just adding a spear point to the musket, turning the musket into a short spear that could be used for close combat. On the one hand, they are looking forward to the following drill, and on the other hand, they are also looking forward to it ending as soon as possible so that they can go to Master Yang or his son-in-law Ouyang to see if they can buy some firearms. At this moment, Yang Wen was smiling and talking to Ouyang Xuan and Lu Dezhi who were sitting next to him, while patiently waiting for the tactical drill to end. He had already seen the eager and hungry expressions on the faces of those powerful chiefs. He was going to give them another big shock.
He immediately announced that the final weapon drill would be held in the afternoon. Because the weapon is too powerful, in order to avoid casualties and damage to Hailongtun facilities, the drill will be conducted at the foot of the mountain. As soon as these words came out of the school, Mr. Yang became excited. What kind of weapons would be more powerful than the firearms just now? Will Lord Yang be worried about damage to Hailongtun's city wall made of bluestone, lime and glutinous rice? Could it be that the gods from the sky really sent down thunder? Faced with everyone's questions, Yang Wen smiled and said nothing. He wanted to whet the appetite of these powerful chiefs.
In the afternoon, everyone arrived at the foot of the mountain early. The performance venue is in front of a small forest, and next to the small forest is an unexpected solitary cliff. In front of the grove, a group of Banshu soldiers were busy. Some were digging soil to build walls, and some were carrying things. Next to them were two piles of things, which were tightly covered with cloths coated with tung oil. A powerful chief tried to go to check, but was blocked by Bozhou soldiers. They pointed to the pavilion half a mile behind and said: "My lords, the pavilion is the place to watch. Master Yang is waiting for everyone there."
When Yang Wen saw that everyone had arrived and ordered the unimportant people to stay away, he ordered the procession to begin. Everyone saw the Bozhou soldier remove the cloth, revealing two long black tube-like things with wheels. A few well-informed people speculated that this strange-looking object was the legendary artillery. In fact, the artillery of the Perak Army was originally iron-gray. After being transported to Banshu, in order to prevent rust, it was painted black with tung oil mixed with earthen paint.
Yang Wen gave the order, and the ordering soldier waved the order flag to the gunner. Then, two deafening loud bangs sounded one after another, like thunder from the sky. The chiefs standing half a mile away also felt the slight shaking of the ground. At this moment, they couldn't help but think of a legend. This legend was widely recited by monks and storytellers in Bozhou City. It said that there was someone in Xichuan who could ask the gods to rain down thunderbolts. Could it be that he was the son-in-law of Mr. Yang?
