"Clean the barrel. Eight-eight reading, 23o" Ximang frowned and shouted.
The gunner who was cleaning the barrel carefully walked to the front of the barrel and used a brush to clean the residue inside the barrel.
The remaining six gunners all hung their heads, knowing that the shot just now was not fired well, and they were still humiliated in front of their boss.
"Substitute and bring up the second group of gunners."
Seeing that the barrel of the gun was cleared, Simang called eight more gunners to come forward.
There were only two four-pounders for training, and each gun required four gunners. The eight gunners were divided into two groups of four.
Simang looked at the eight gunners in front of the four-pounder and said, "The target is the mound directly in front of us. When we are ready, we will fire on our own."
Each four-pounder cannon has a different division of labor among the four gunners in front of it. Each gunner is skilled in doing his own thing. Finally, the gun and cannon are loaded before being handed over to another gunner to start firing.
Following two cannon blasts, two solid iron balls flew out from the muzzle.
These two groups of gunners were stronger than the previous two groups. The first impact point of the iron ball was already close to the mound, but it still missed and missed a lot.
With a dark face, Simang waited for the gunner to clear the barrel and then shouted, "Two more groups are coming up."
The four-pounder gun required four gunners, each in a group of four. Simon had a total of ten groups of such four-pounder gunners.
When the last two groups of gunners finished firing, Simang had a gloomy face.
Of the ten groups of gunners, none of them hit the target. It was either far away, close, or missed. It can be said that it was a huge loss of face for him, the gunner instructor.
"I am reporting this to the Master. My subordinates have not trained the gunners well. Please punish me." Xi Mang stood in front of Liu Heng and apologized.
Liu Heng waved his hand and said with a smile, "Don't be so serious. These people have been in your hands for only half a month. They can skillfully control our four-pound cannon, which shows that you are serious about teaching. As for accuracy, this cannot be done." It's all your fault. They need to learn too much. I believe that if you give them some time, they will be able to train them into excellent gunners. Read the book in 88 years, o"
"Yes, my subordinates will definitely train them to become excellent gunners." Simang said with his chest raised.
"I believe it." Liu Heng smiled and nodded.
He is already very satisfied with these gunners. You must know that half a month ago, these people did not know how to operate a gun. Now they can not only charge the gun well, but also clean the barrel after firing. It can be seen that , these people are already very skilled and must have practiced a lot.
As for not hitting the target, there is nothing that can be done about it. After all, these people's training time is too short, and the first shot itself will have a lower hit. The real bombardment always starts from the second round.
"Master, these gunners may not be able to join the third thousand-man team yet." Zhang Hong said with a frown.
The reason why I say this is because these gunners are preparing to join the third thousand-man team in the future.
Liu Heng nodded slightly, then looked at Ximang and said, "How long will it take for this group of gunners to be trained and qualified?"
Simang thought for a while and said, "It will take two months at the fastest. They have too much to learn."
"Actually, these gunners are much better than the gunners of the Ming Dynasty's frontier army. At least they have no problem controlling four-pound cannons." Li Shuheng said.
"No." Liu Heng shook his head slightly and said, "It seems that we can't count on them for the time being, so we can only transfer some gunners from the First Thousand Team and the Iron Field Thousand Team to supplement the third Thousand Team. .”
"Okay then." Li Shuheng nodded.
Considering that the First Thousand Man Team and the Tiechang Thousand Man Team were mainly located within the territory of the Ming Dynasty and rarely had the opportunity to use cannons, it was not impossible to transfer the gunners to the third Thousand Man Team.
After watching the gunners trained by Simang, Liu Heng took people to see the four-pound cannon made by Louis and others.
Now that the cannon field already has iron molds, the cannon production speed is much faster, and all the cannons produced are iron cannons, saving a lot of copper materials.
However, only five qualified four-pound cannons can be built in a month. Currently, there are only twelve four-pound cannons in the entire Tiger Flag, and the rest are Franco machine guns and tiger squatting cannons.
"How is the construction of the flower bomb going?" Liu Heng asked Huang Zhong beside him.
Huang Chong said, "Through the relationship with General Li, we got craftsmen in this field from the Qing Military Department. Now we have successfully created a batch of blooming bullets. In the future, our four-pounder cannon will not only have solid bullets, but also blooming bullets." , in the future, gunners can choose whether to use solid bullets or blooming bullets based on battlefield conditions."
Liu Heng said, "Equip some explosive bombs to Xi Mang for gunner training."
"Yes." Huang Zhong agreed.
Li Shuheng, who was following him, asked, "Would it be too wasteful to train with explosive bullets?"
Compared with solid bullets, blooming bullets are used up as soon as they are used up, and they are not very effective when recycled. On the contrary, they are solid bullets. After they are used up, they can be returned to the furnace and then reused again.
Liu Heng said seriously, "Don't be afraid of spending money. As long as we win the business war with Fanji Chamber of Commerce and occupy the grassland business road, we will have enough money in the future."
"I'm worried too," Li Shuheng said, "Now is a critical period in our fight with the Fanji Chamber of Commerce, and every little bit we can save is worth it."
Liu Heng waved his hand and said, "Our gunners must be familiar with the artillery and cannons they use. This is related to their life and death on the battlefield in the future. I would rather spend more money than let our Tiger Flag people go to the battlefield, because Unfamiliar with their own weapons and killed.”
Seeing what Liu Heng said, Li Shuheng stopped trying to persuade him.
The group soon arrived at the gun-making workshop.
Today's gun-making workshops have long produced qualified bayonets and used them with rifle guns.
This rifle gun is not a matchlock gun, but a self-generated fire gun later developed by the gunsmith.
The existing matchlock gun of the Tiger Flag still cooperates with the spearman.
Compared with the Tiger Banner Cavalry, which is already equipped with cavalry guns, only the 1,000-man team among the several combat brigades is equipped with self-generated fire muskets. The Tiechang Thousand-man Team and the newly established third Thousand-man Team still use Lu Secret gun.
Returning from the musket-making workshop, Liu Heng said to Li Shuheng, "You need to stay and guard the grassland. I'm afraid you won't be able to come back in a short time. I will send a special brigade of infantry muskets and four four-pound cannons to accompany them." You go to the grassland together and wait for your orders."
"There aren't many four-pounders in the first place. Taking away four at once would be too many." Li Shuheng frowned.
Liu Heng said, "I don't have to hide it now. Not long ago, the secret spies on the grassland sent news that the convoy we sent to Mobei was attacked by horse bandits several times. It was all done by Su Nang. I'm worried that I After snatching several convoys from the Fanji Chamber of Commerce here, Su Nang will set up our Tiger Flag's cargo storage point on the grassland."
"If it doesn't work, let the convoy bring back the goods from the reserve point." Li Shuheng said.
Liu Heng shook his head and said, "If the goods are left on the grassland, Bu Shitu and Namu'er may not be able to help each other. If we really want to transport the goods back, I'm afraid they will be the first to take action."
"Even so, I will definitely protect our Tiger Flag." Li Shuheng promised.
Liu Heng thought for a while and said, "You can make up your own mind about matters on the grassland. Don't let people from Su Nang and Fanji Chamber of Commerce rob our goods. We would rather destroy the Tiger Flag than Let outsiders take it away.”
Li Shuheng nodded solemnly. 11
