Although the matchlock gun has various shortcomings of hurting yourself first and then hurting others, in an era of low human rights, this shortcoming of the matchlock gun is not a big disadvantage at all.
It is difficult for the rulers to even feed the soldiers, and military salaries may not be paid out. The death of an individual is like the death of an ant, which means nothing. Even the so-called pension can eat up more than half of it. They will care about the matchlock gun. What are the shortcomings that can cause injuries to soldiers?
Such a cheap and powerful unit can achieve economic victory even at the cost of human lives.
Therefore, this shortcoming is a huge driving force for countries to develop gun technology faster, allowing them to replace their armies more quickly, gradually phase out expensive weapons with high training costs, and replace them with cheap weapons with low training costs.
In the process, firearms gradually became the mainstream of the world's military.
Of course, Su Yonglin is also a ruler, and the low training cost of firearms is also a huge temptation for Su Yonglin.
Before the birth of the musket, the Godarm bow was really expensive! Crossbows are really expensive!
Although they have mature technology, the man-hours required to build them are really long and long. Compared with the production cost of muskets, the Divine Arm Bow and the Crossbow really have no advantage.
And it’s very troublesome to train! Very expensive!
With the same money, we can train musketeers several times as many as crossbowmen, so why not?
What's more, this is the mainstream development direction of future wars. If there is no better choice, how can we stop moving forward?
Su Yonglin then decided to train these two hundred people to death.
When more muskets were manufactured, more high-quality soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were recruited to start training, preparing to build them into the first musketry team and the earliest reserve officers of the musketry team in the Ming army.
In the future, when the number of muskets increases, they will be able to immediately serve as the backbone of the army, pull out a large-scale musket unit, and officially enter the battlefield to fight, kicking off the war in the musket era.
Having said that, some difficult questions remain.
For example, the problem of barrel size caused by hand-made muskets.
In the era before machine manufacturing, two guns made by the same craftsman would have different barrel sizes, so fixed ammunition would be at risk.
What should I do if the size is not enough to fit it in?
Force it in?
Then wait for it to explode.
Su Yonglin encountered this problem when training musketeers.
Some gun barrels just couldn't fit iron bullets, even if they were lubricated with oil. However, some stubborn soldiers still foolishly pushed them in without reporting the gun. As a result, the guns were destroyed and several people were injured. personal.
fracture.
So after comprehensive consideration, Su Yonglin decided to abandon the iron bullets and change the projectiles fired from the muskets to lead bullets that are easier to polish and have a softer texture. At the same time, the musketeers were equipped with grinding tools so that they could polish the lead bullets to make them more suitable for the gun. Pipe caliber technology.
The Bureau of Firearms provides projectiles and tries to ensure that the size of the barrels is consistent as much as possible, but when this is not possible, the musketeers have to use their own tools to polish the projectiles suitable for their firearms.
After a while, the musketeers mastered the art of polishing lead bullets. They would polish the lead bullets to almost match the size of the barrel, then wrap them in a thin layer of linen cloth, apply a little oil, and then insert them into the barrel smoothly.
Although most of their ground lead bullets are packed irregularly, such ammunition does have advantages.
During the experiment, Su Yonglin discovered that when a lead bullet pellet hits the target, it brings great damage to the target.
For example, a wooden box can be smashed directly.
When using pigs for mobile shooting experiments, ten musketeers shot together, and only one hit the running pig.
But the lead bullet that hit it directly burst open the belly of a pig weighing several hundred kilograms. Blood and internal organs flowed all over the floor. The pig died on the spot.
Su Yonglin felt that many modern firearms did not have such lethality.
Su Yonglin didn't quite understand the principle, but he thought that perhaps it was precisely because of its irregularity that this kind of hand-milled, roughly round ammunition caused such horrific lethality to living things that once fired, Medium, basically an explosive blow.
The probability of death is high.
Although the shooting accuracy and range are far inferior to modern firearms, as long as this kind of firepower is concentrated and the quantity is large enough, the damage it brings to the enemy will be terrifying.
Therefore, even if the matchlock gun has so many obvious shortcomings that are difficult to solve, the low training cost and high fatality rate are enough for the ruling class to give up and continue to strive for excellence in the development of this kind of individual musket.
Of course, Su Yonglin was not immune to this. He continuously transferred high-quality Ming soldiers from crossbowmen to musketeers, equipped them with muskets, and let them practice musketry tactics every day. He even equipped them with spears and knives that could be used in combat. Shield bearer, training battle formation.
By the middle of the fourth year of Hongwu's reign, he had formed a musketeer force of two thousand people.
On the other hand, in mid-March of the fourth year of Hongwu's reign, with the advanced technology accumulation, the double-multiple blunderbuss light artillery requested by Su Yonglin was born.
The same iron-core copper body, about one meter and seventy-eight meters in length, and a weight of three to five hundred kilograms, can realize its own maneuverability through its own wooden wheel vehicle. It can achieve faster movement by using packhorses or donkeys or mules in conjunction with manpower. Maneuver.
Moreover, the number of soldiers required to operate this type of light artillery is far less than that of heavy artillery. It is relatively easy and can be put into the battlefield on a larger scale.
Su Yonglin watched the strategic test firing conducted by craftsmen and artillerymen.
They arranged a large pile of about 600 scarecrows in a military formation, then listed five light artillery pieces and fired them at a distance of about 200 meters.
After a roar, all five iron bullets hit the scarecrow formation, causing varying damage to the scarecrow formation.
But this military formation is basically abandoned, there is no doubt about it.
Looking at the messy scarecrow military formation, Su Yonglin thought that if it were replaced by the Song Army's military formation made of flesh and blood, the scene would definitely be very bloody.
In about a month after that, Su Yonglin obtained some very accurate data.
For example, the maximum effective range of the current model of heavy artillery, that is, the direct shooting distance at an elevation angle of no more than five degrees, is about 700 meters.
Within this distance, heavy artillery can cause effective direct strikes on targets.
If the elevation angle is raised so that its range exceeds this distance, then the cannonball can still fly, but where it flies depends on its own ideas.
It's free.
This is already the launch data after improving gunpowder and launch technology.
The initial data could not reach this level, so Su Yonglin suggested that the iron bullets be bound to the wooden base, and using their experience in firing the Thor Cannon, the iron bullets and the wooden base formed a badminton-style top-heavy self-stabilizing structure to enhance stability and thereby improve range.
Craftsmen improved the ammunition structure accordingly, thus increasing the effective range of the heavy artillery and improving its accuracy.
With the addition of granular gunpowder and a self-stabilizing structure, the firing effect of the heavy artillery has reached a level that makes Su Yonglin quite satisfied.
The light artillery also incorporated the above technologies and achieved an effective range of 250 to 300 meters, which made Su Yonglin also quite satisfied.
If you want to continue to increase the effective range and shooting accuracy in the future, you will not only need technical support, but also need to use rear sights, front sights, etc., and also calculate ballistics. Artillery must master certain professional knowledge and develop in a more professional direction. .
However, this newly established firearms force does not yet have such strong professional strength, and many things can only be figured out through their continuous exploration.
During this period, all Su Yonglin could do was to provide them with sufficient funds, sufficient training venues, and materials so that they could become more proficient.
At the same time, he also asked educated and high-quality officials from the Firearms Bureau to come to collect statistics, provide mathematical support to the officers and soldiers, and teach them basic mathematical knowledge.
After such accumulation, artillery can play a decisive role only after it actually goes to the battlefield.
But anyway, times have changed.
Gunpowder and steel were transforming the Ming army.
Su Yonglin quickly promoted the military revolution of the Ming army in Zhongdu, making the Ming army stronger and more professional. At the same time, the Southern Song Dynasty did not make any progress and even retreated.
The investigation into the Xu Tong incident came to a conclusion after a period of time. The Fuyang County magistrate, who had come all the way from Fuyang County with difficulty, told the court what he knew. In addition to the report from Jiande side Tang Situi, the Song court side Only then did I finally figure out what happened.
