"Proprietor, this is the newly developed riding gun in our gunsmithing workshop." Huang Zhong held a riding gun in both hands and handed it to Liu Heng.
Taking the cavalry gun, Liu Heng lowered his wrist. It weighed at least seven or eight kilograms. The gun body was shorter than the self-fire gun used by the infantry, and the caliber was smaller.
"How's the range?"
Huang Zhong said, "The range is not as good as our existing rifles, but the accuracy is about the same. The lead bullets used are smaller."
Liu Heng nodded.
Riding guns are different from walking guns in that they should not be too heavy, so part of the range can only be sacrificed to meet the needs.
Zhao Yutu said, "The cavalry has muskets and sabers. Now it is equipped with a musket and a breastplate. This is also the standard equipment of our cavalry team. It costs a lot of money in total. Raising such a cavalry can cost a lot of money." If we raise four ordinary soldiers of our Tiger Flag, if they are used as border army soldiers, a few can support more than a dozen people."
"The soldiers of the border army are not much better than the bandits. How can they compare with our soldiers of the Tiger Flag." Li Shuheng was quite disdainful of the soldiers of the frontier army.
He himself was born in the army, and he knew very well what the situation was like in the Ming army.
Liu Heng said, "Although the soldiers of the Tiger Character Banner are strong enough, we cannot underestimate the border troops in the border town. Those soldiers and servants are still very strong. If we meet alone, our soldiers may not be our opponents."
Li Shuheng nodded in agreement, and then said, "There are only a few soldiers and servants left in the border town who can still fight. The Ming Dynasty's guard post has been completely abandoned. There are no more troops who can't fight, and only a group of people who can only play with hoes are left." Tenants who farm the land.”
Zhao Yutu echoed, "The Ming Dynasty has millions of troops, but they can't even defeat a Tatar army of tens of thousands. The war in Liaodong continues to deteriorate. I hope things will change after the new emperor ascends the throne."
"I don't think so." Li Shuheng shook his head and said, "The matter in Liaodong can't be solved by changing the emperor."
Being from Liaodong, he knew the situation in Liaodong very well. There were generals everywhere. No matter how much money the court sent, most of it ended up in the hands of these generals. The amount of money that could be distributed to the soldiers was less than one-tenth. .
Liu Heng said, "Well, the affairs of Liaodong are naturally for the officials of the imperial court to worry about. Instead of thinking about whether these are useful or not, it is better to try the riding guns sent by the gunsmith first."
He knew better than anyone else what was going on in Liaodong, but he didn't want to say more. Instead of wasting time thinking about it, he would rather think about how he and Hu Ziqi could survive in this troubled world.
"I'll try it first." Ma Yunjiu stood up.
The testing of cavalry guns was naturally done by members of their cavalry team, and cavalry guns would also be weapons equipped to their cavalry teams in the future.
"Be careful." Liu Heng handed the gun in his hand to Ma Yunjiu.
The cavalry gun had already gone through a round of testing when the gun was made in the gun factory, but the testers were ordinary infantry gunners. Ultimately, it was the people from the cavalry team who had the final say on whether the cavalry gun was useful or not.
Ma Yunjiu, who was holding a riding gun in his hand, asked his horse to be fetched. He turned over and sat on the horse. He raised the reins in his hand and urged the horse to run.
Ma Yunjiu, who was riding on horseback, began to load gunpowder and lead with the ups and downs of the horse's back. After tamping the gunpowder, he raised his hands, aimed at a big tree twenty steps away, and pulled the trigger.
boom!
A stream of smoke from the burnt gunpowder floated out of the gun.
The lead bullet accurately hit the tree trunk, scattering a lot of splinters.
Ma Yunjiu rode his horse in a circle, returned to the crowd, and jumped off the horse.
"Master, this riding gun is good and not too heavy. It is much more convenient to use than the Lumi gun. The rider can save a lot of time when using it. The accuracy is also good. It can hit a tree trunk that is more than thirty steps away with one shot. , has a longer range than a handgun."
Ma Yunjiu couldn't put it down, playing with the musket in his hand.
As cavalry, whether they were from the Ming Dynasty or the Northern Lu, most of them used bows and arrows, and some of them had no bows and arrows and could only use long soldiers.
Now that the Tiger Flag has cavalry guns, their cavalry can make up for the shortcomings of not having bows and arrows.
Moreover, the biggest feature of riding a gun is that it is easy to learn. Even those who cannot use it can skillfully use a fire gun after just one month of training. Unlike bows and arrows, it takes at least several years to train a skilled archer.
Liu Heng looked at Huang Zhong and said, "Can this kind of riding gun be mass-produced?"
Huang Zhong, who was standing aside, hesitated for a moment and said, "It's possible to mass-produce it, but if you do this, the number of rifles will be squeezed."
Liu Heng said, "Prioritize the construction of cavalry muskets to distribute to the cavalry team. The infantry muskets will be temporarily stopped. The infantry firecrackers will still mainly use Rumi muskets."
"Yes, my subordinates will arrange for the gun-making workshop to make all-out efforts to make riding guns." Huang Zhong answered in a positive tone.
Liu Heng turned to look at Ma Yunjiu and said, "The gunsmithing workshop will do its best to build cavalry guns and give priority to the cavalry team. The cavalry team must also get familiar with them as soon as possible. It won't be long before your cavalry team will go to the grassland in batches."
"Yes, my subordinates will definitely step up the cavalry team's training on mounted muskets so that they can use them proficiently on the battlefield as soon as possible." Ma Yunjiu stood at attention with his legs and assured loudly.
Liu Heng nodded.
Huang Zhong on the side said, "Proprietor, would you like to take a look at the gunsmith's workshop?"
"I'm not going." Liu Heng waved his hand and said, "Has the bayonet I mentioned last time been made?"
Huang Zhong hesitated for a moment and then said, "The bayonet has been made a long time ago, but it is very inconvenient to use it when mounted on a blunderbuss. It needs to be inserted into the blunderbuss mouth every time it is used, and it has to be pulled out from the blunderbuss mouth when not in use. , several test gunners were unwilling to use this kind of bayonet, because it was too troublesome. Just plugging and unplugging the bayonet on the battlefield would waste a lot of time, and the plug was often not secure, and it also hindered shooting."
"The bayonet you made was inserted directly into the mouth of the gun?" Liu Heng frowned.
He clearly remembered that the bayonets of later generations were not inserted into the mouth of the gun. They could be made into sleeve-type bayonets, and a special sleeve was used to fix the bayonet on the outside of the barrel.
Zhao Yutu interjected, "Blacksmith Zhao has a Rumi gun with a steel knife at the end. Why not change the bayonet to a steel knife like the Rumi gun? If the enemy approaches, our soldiers can use it as a horse-killing sword."
Liu Heng waved his hand and rejected Zhao Yutu's proposal, saying, "Affixing a bayonet to the rifle is not only for close combat. The combined length of the bayonet and rifle is not as good as the spears of our spearmen, but it can also replace some of the spearmen's." In the future, the spear teams of each brigade can be abolished and all be replaced by fire gun teams."
After hearing his explanation, everyone thought that the bayonet had such a use.
For a long time, the spearmen of each squadron have not been very useful as a protector of the firecrackers. In many cases, there is no chance to take action. However, when each squadron acts alone, it must bring a spearman with it. , in case any accident occurs and the fire gunner loses his protection.
In most battles, the Spear Team has no chance to form a formation and go to the battlefield, so the Spear Team is neither better nor worse among the tiger-character flag soldiers.
Indispensable, yet somewhat redundant.
But after Liu Heng's reminder, everyone thought of a possibility.
If the riflemen are equipped with bayonets, the spear team can be replaced by the fire gun team, thus reducing the number of spearmen and enhancing the strength of the combat brigade.
