In fact, the Han 457 breech-loading rifled gun is derived from another niche product of Hantian Arsenal: the Han 45 rifled flintlock gun.
This thing is very simple. It is carved with two rifling lines on the basis of the 13-year-old flintlock gun. It still uses the front loading and flint firing method.
The advantage is high accuracy and long range. The disadvantage is that the loading is very complicated. In actual combat, it may not be loaded for several minutes... If this rifle is used in face-to-face line combat with troops using Suifa rifles, they will die miserably. of.
Therefore, although the military also purchased a batch, they were not distributed to ordinary soldiers, but only to soldiers with particularly good marksmanship and some elite skirmishers, mainly for long-distance hunting.
More often than not, they often kill enemy officers in front of the formation!
It sounds like a sniper rifle from later generations!
The Army did not even grant a formal firearms number, that is, a year number, to this small-scale firearm.
Not every kind of military equipment can get a formal year number. After all, the number of years is limited, and there are many types of weapons. If every kind of military equipment adopts a formal year number, it will look very messy and there will be a lot of them. Rifles, artillery, etc. of a certain year.
Therefore, the military will only grant official year numbers to some equipment that are relatively large and representative. Other common equipment generally uses manufacturer numbers.
This is the difference between the 13-year-old flintlock gun, the 22-year-old percussion gun and the Han 45 rifle.
The Han 457 breech-loading rifle is based on the Han 45 rifle and modified with a tail-end screw lock, becoming a breech-loading rifle.
The rate of fire of this thing is very fast. After special training, the shooter can achieve a rate of fire of about five or six rounds per minute, which is more than twice that of traditional smoothbore muzzle-loading guns. As for muzzle-loading rifled guns, it is even more incomparable. It takes a few minutes for that thing to fire out.
But the Han 457 rifle still has little practical value... because the air leakage of this thing is too serious. When shooting, if the shooter dares to lower his head and aim, it can directly burn the shooter's eyes out!
Moreover, due to serious air leakage, the power of the projectiles is also seriously insufficient, and the export kinetic energy is directly less than two-thirds compared to the front-loading gun.
The most important thing is that while this thing has serious flaws, it is also very expensive... Just processing the rifling is already very expensive, and you also need to build a thread locking mechanism. The production cost can directly soar to more than one hundred yuan per piece.
Therefore, the Guards only used a small amount of equipment for testing and then threw it away. This thing has no actual combat value.
On the other hand, front-loading rifled guns like the Han 45 front-loading rifled gun are niche, but they still have a certain market.
Although loading is difficult, the Army still purchases a lot. In addition to the Han 45 rifle, it also purchases the Tian-12 rifle produced by the Tianjin Arsenal. This is also a front-loading rifled rifle, but the rifling is different from the Han 45 rifle.
These front-loading rifled rifles are issued to soldiers with good marksmanship, and are mainly used for accurate shooting at long distances!
At the same time, many powerful people in the country also like to use this thing when hunting...
For hunting, as long as you have accuracy, you don't need to consider the reloading speed... Besides, you can also let your followers do the reloading.
Therefore, in the Dachu Empire, breech-loading guns are currently not very good, and front-loading rifled guns are only a small amount of equipment due to their high cost and difficulty in loading.
The main military standard equipment is still the silly-looking smoothbore flintlock gun instead of the muzzle-loading rifle.
As for the breech-loading rifle, this thing is even less reliable.
Only the Guards have been very enthusiastic. Over the years, they have never given up on developing breech-loading rifles. Now that they have a new flash cap technology, they want to use this thing to build a breech-loading rifle. .
Not only the Guards are unwilling to give up, but the Hantian Arsenal is also unwilling to give up...
Hantian Arsenal has also been obsessed with breech-loading rifles for almost ten years, and its obsession with breech-loading rifles is as deep as that of the Guards.
This is also the reason why these two companies were able to come together to develop breech-loading rifles. It was purely because they had a similar affinity for breech-loading rifles.
No, after the Guards offered a research and development contract for a new breech-loading rifle, Hantian Arsenal accepted it, and then prepared to continue working on the breech-loading rifle.
Well, a breech-loading rifle to be precise.
After all, for people nowadays, the biggest advantage of rear-loading compared to front-loading is that it can be loaded quickly. Secondly, it can use rifles to make the gun more accurate and have a longer range.
Everyone likes rifled rifles, but everyone knows that front-loading rifled rifles are difficult to load and can only be used on special occasions or as collections.
There is no future for front-loading, and rear-loading is the only solution.
But how to solve a series of technical problems in the after-installation solution is a very big challenge for the Dachu Empire industry.
With the current basic technical level of the Da Chu Empire, especially the level of finishing, they want to create a usable breech-loading rifle.
Enough...
Not to mention that the Guards and the Hantian Arsenal are still obsessed with breech-loading rifled rifles. Let’s say that after the Army received the first batch of 22-year-old percussion rifles, they first conducted some tests and then issued them directly. Practical testing has been carried out in the Fuso area.
The Dachu Empire's army was huge and garrisoned in all kinds of areas, so it was easy to conduct corresponding actual combat tests.
It happened that the military was fighting in Fuso, and the army also sent thousands of people there to cooperate with the navy.
Therefore, the first batch of more than a thousand 22-year-old percussion guns were packed and put on military transport ships. Together with other transport ships transporting supplies, they were escorted by many frigates and cruisers of the Navy. Set sail from Shanghai Songjiang Naval Base, heading east.
They arrived at Jeju Island first. The Chu Empire had completely militarized Jeju Island in its early years. At first, it was mainly to eliminate external influence and cultivate excellent war horses here. However, later due to the demand for Fuso trade, and the expansion of the Jiangnan coast to the East China Sea, To meet the province’s shipping needs, Jeju Island has become a supply point for passing merchant ships.
, and established the Ryukyu Prefecture for direct rule. This place was also an important supply base for the Chu Empire when it left the Pacific.
It is also an important port for ships from the southern part of the empire to go to Fuso.
The transport fleet continued its journey after replenishing supplies in Ryukyu, heading straight to Tsushima Island.
The Chu Empire had previously sent a fleet and thousands of marines to Fusang. They first arrived at the Port of Busan to rest and replenish personnel and supplies.
Then, under the pretext that the Japanese daimyo clan that controls Tsushima Island, namely Tsushima Fuchu Domain, violated the trade agreement between the two sides and smuggled and transported contraband, they requested to be stationed on Tsushima Island to search for evidence.
Before the Sou family could react and thought there was some misunderstanding, the Imperial Navy fleet had already arrived at Tsushima Island and made a forced landing.
After a simple battle, Tsushima Island was directly controlled.
At this time, Tsushima Island had become the outpost and the most important supply base for the Chu Empire to enter the Fuso region.
The destination of this supply fleet is also Tsushima Island.
When the transport fleet arrived at Tsushima Island, in addition to transporting a large amount of supplies, it also brought thousands of army soldiers from Busan Port.
These army soldiers belong directly to the 45th Division of the Da Chu Empire Army. They are a second-class standing division. They were stationed in Liaoxi Province for a long time. In the past four or five years, they were transferred to Donghai Province for garrison. They focused on training for sea crossing and landing, mountain warfare, etc. Even officers and soldiers will learn the Japanese language, understand some customs of Fuso, and check out the geographical features of the Fuso Islands.
This force is a combat force specially prepared by the Army for the direction of Fuso.
Although the empire did not have a strategic plan to attack Fuso in the early years, the army was unable to make corresponding preparations. Whether it was to prepare for Fuso's invasion or to attack directly in the future, once the empire had a need, the army could directly Top it up.
Therefore, there is a combat unit like the 45th Division specially prepared for the Fuso operation.
There are not only troops like the Forty-fifth Division that are dedicated to Fuso. In fact, the Dachu Empire Army will have a number of specialized troops to deal with different enemies or potential enemies. In the early days, several first-class troops were prepared for the Nanyang region. division.
Today there are mountain jungle troops facing Myanmar and Bangladesh in the southwest.
In the Qingkang area, there is also a specialized plateau mountain force, which is prepared for the direction of India.
The Army often uses different equipment and tactics to target different enemies or potential enemies, and uses them to form highly targeted specialized units.
The 45th Division was a unit created by the Army to fight against Fuso. The officers and non-commissioned officers in this unit knew the situation in Fuso relatively well, and many of them were real Japanese people.
With such a force, when the empire decided to cause trouble in Fuso, it would naturally not forget them and had already decided to let them participate in the Fuso war.
During the previous Battle of Tsushima, because the scale was too small and the main focus was on sea crossing and landing operations, the Navy was asked to do everything. The 178th Regiment under the Army's 45th Division was used as the second batch of reinforcements. The troops came.
However, after the 178th Regiment arrived at Tsushima Strait, one of the infantry battalions was ordered to install a brand new rifle.
This is the 22-year-old percussion gun that is freshly released and has not yet been put into actual combat.
After receiving this rifle, the soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the 178th Regiment conducted simple adaptability training, and the training progress was pretty good.
After all, compared with the 13-year-old flintlock gun, only the structure of the bolt mechanism has changed. Everything else is exactly the same.
Although the difference in gun structure has led to slight changes in the loading procedure, it does not mean that it has become more complicated, but that it has become simpler, and several steps have been omitted.
Therefore, in actual operation, it is simpler and more convenient to use than a flintlock gun.
Therefore, soldiers adapted very quickly during modification training.
While the soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the 178th Regiment were undergoing adaptive training in order to fully adapt to the new rifles as soon as possible, the officials of the Domain Affairs Department of the Ministry of Etiquette and Education of the Dachu Empire were not idle either.
They issued an ultimatum to the Edo shogunate, asking the Jianghu shogunate to cooperate with the empire in hunting down the remnants of the Ma Zong clan, and to cooperate with the imperial military in landing other areas of the Zong family to carry out arrests.
It is said that the empire will crack down on smuggling trade, tax evasion, infringement of the imperial customs interests, and the destruction of the normal business environment by the Sou clan. If the Edo shogunate dares to protect the remnants of the Sou clan, it will surely be severely punished by the empire.
In short, it was some intimidation that forced the Tokugawa family to give up resistance.
Of course, in fact, if the Tokugawa family is dissatisfied and insists on resisting, it will not change the outcome. It will just expand the scale of the war slightly.
But it is absolutely impossible for the empire to spit out Tsushima, nor is it possible for the empire to give up a series of subsequent plans.
The Dachu Empire still has many plans in the future, the most critical of which is to obtain a foothold on the Fuso Islands, which can be used as a foothold for military garrison and trade.
This kind of foothold is not just a leased area, it is as simple as a store. In fact, if it is a leased area, the Chu Empire already has an area in Nagasaki Port controlled by the Tokugawa family. There are hundreds of imperial soldiers stationed in Nagasaki there. .
The foothold of the Dachu Empire was not just a colony, but a direct territory, and then it could use this direct territory to conduct direct trade with other daimyo in Fuso, instead of needing to go through the Tokugawa family as in the past. .
To put it bluntly, the Dachu Empire actually wanted to put aside the second-rate dealers of the Tokugawa family and do business directly with those famous people.
The purpose of doing this is to obtain economic benefits secondarily, but mainly to stir up the situation within Fuso and make them chaotic first.
A powerful central government with internal stability, and a Fusang that developed industrialization knowledge because of its contact with the Chu Empire, is not a good Fusang!
Therefore, the Dachu Empire plans to divide and conquer Fusang first, and then decide whether to annex or not, but let them fight first...it will be easier to deal with after the fight starts.
The most important thing is that you can make more money by fighting.
You must know that apart from textiles, the major export products of the Da Chu Empire are arms!
Although the textiles in Fuso are also selling well, those damn Fuso people actually got a new hand-operated textile machine. Although the scale is small, if nothing is done and they slowly develop, it is also a big threat.
As for arms, although Fuso's Tokugawa family has purchased a lot of imperial arms over the years, Fuso has not had any large-scale wars, so these weapons are not expensive.
Moreover, the Fuso people are also able to make their own matchlock guns on a large scale. The bird guns in the late Ming Dynasty are imitation Fuso matchlock guns.
The empire's arms sales are not good in Fuso. The domestic defense industry-related groups have long wanted to get them to fight so that they can sell more weapons and equipment.
Therefore, the Chu Empire's strategy in Fuso this time is very simple. First seize a place as a foothold, and then use this foothold to infiltrate and control the interior of Fuso. Appropriately take necessary measures to increase weapons sales and destroy their industry. Potential and more.
Based on these requirements, the Chu Empire did not stop but continued southward after taking Tsushima Island.
A few days later, the Dachu Empire's navy landed on Iki Island and directly killed a small number of the Matsuura family's garrison troops on the island. The excuse was that the Matsuura family and the Tsushima clan colluded with each other and participated in smuggling cases against the empire.
This makes many Fuso people speechless... Emotional smuggling is a big basket, and anyone can put it in it, right?
But it doesn't matter whether the excuse is true or not, and it doesn't matter whether others believe it or not. What matters is that the Chu army captured Iki Island again, and then prepared to continue south and land directly on Hirado Island on Kyushu Island.
Hirado Island is a rather special place. It is one of Fuso's foreign trade ports. During the Ming Dynasty, this place was already a famous trading port.
It is worth mentioning that the current Lieutenant Colonel Zheng Sen of the Da Chu Empire Navy, the son of the retired Imperial Navy Admiral Zheng Zhilong, was born on Hirado Island. He grew up for several years before returning to China with his father.
Zheng Zhilong led his troops to surrender to the empire and served in the navy for more than ten years. Zheng Sen was also influenced by his father. He studied hard in his youth and was admitted to the Naval Officer Academy with excellent results, thus becoming a member of the navy of the Great Chu Empire. a member of.
After serving for many years, he became a lieutenant colonel in the navy because of his participation in many naval battles.
Now thirty-two years old, Zheng Sen has become one of the rookie officers in the Imperial Navy. After all, there are still not many thirty-two-year-old naval lieutenant colonels in the Dachu Imperial Navy today.
There are no large-scale external maritime wars. Although the navy performs many tasks, many of them are routine patrols and deterrence tasks. For most naval officers, these are just hard work. It is not easy to get credit.
Zheng Sen was lucky. He encountered the Nanyang Grand Strategy right after graduation, participated in the battle to seize Malacca, and made some contributions, so his early promotion speed was slightly faster.
This step is faster and faster, and only then can I surpass a group of classmates at the same time and become a naval lieutenant colonel.
As a rookie naval officer, Zheng Sen also participated in the battle to land on Hirado Island as the captain of the cruiser Tieling.
And when he watched his own warships and friendly warships shelling the Hirado Island port and covering the landing of a large number of marines, he couldn't help but sigh.
The people at the Domain Affairs Bureau were getting lazier and lazier. This time, Hirato didn't even bother to find a decent excuse. He just said that there were remnants of the Ma Zong clan and went to kill him.
But sighing, in fact, they can also understand the thoughts of those in the Domain Affairs Division: Anyway, any excuse is the same, why bother to make up a seemingly reasonable excuse, just say one and be done.
You don't have to run around, and you still have to mess with the Tokugawa family of the Edo shogunate.
It's better to just make excuses for yourself now, and then drink tea and watch the navy fight.
A large number of Chu fleets arrived at Hirado Island, which dumbfounded the local Fuso people and even the Tokugawa family on the island.
Didn't he say that he wanted to teach Tsushima a lesson and then plot against Tsushima Strait? After the Tokugawa family thought about it repeatedly, they pinched their noses and accepted it due to the situation.
Later, it was said that the Matsuura family, which ruled Iki Island, participated in smuggling together with the Sou family, and then directly took Iki Island, and asked the Tokugawa family to cooperate in the search for members of the Matsuura family.
Although the Tokugawa family was very angry about this, they could only try their best to preserve the Matsuura family. As for the loss of Iki Island, there was nothing they could do.
Originally, they thought that the Da Chu Empire would be satisfied after seizing these two islands. They were thinking of talking to the people from the Da Chu Empire's vassal affairs department to learn as much as possible about the matter and sign a formal armistice treaty or something. .
But I didn't expect that the Chu Empire's appetite had not been satisfied, and it would directly target Hirado Island.
Hirado Island, this island actually belongs to Nagasaki under the direct control of the Tokugawa family. This island has been an important international port for Fuso's trade with China and North Korea since ancient times.
In the past hundred years, it had an inseparable connection with Japanese pirates and pirates. During the Ming Dynasty, great pirates such as Wang Zhi and Zheng Zhilong all had their roots in Hirado Island.
This situation lasted until the rise of the Chu Empire and Zheng Zhilong led his troops to submit to the empire. Only then did Hirado Island return to peace, and then became one of the important ports for trade with China.
The Tokugawa family naturally prefers to take direct control of such an important place.
But now, these Chu people actually came to kill them directly, and they said that there were remnants of the Zong family on the island. They went to the island to encircle and suppress these remnants of the Zong family...
There is a remnant of the Sou clan on the island. If you want to find the remnant of the Sou clan, go to Hizen Country and other Sou family territories to find it. What's the point of finding the Tokugawa family's territory?
It's a pity that the Chu Empire didn't bother to pay attention to their protests, let alone their excuses. They were here anyway, and it was absolutely impossible to evacuate like this.
The reason why the Dachu Empire came to attack Hirado Island was not because this place belonged to Tokugawa or any other daimyo. It was purely because this place itself was a Fuso foreign trade port. The port conditions were relatively good and the business environment was okay. Before, Dachu Many trading companies in the empire have set up business offices here to conduct trade. The Dachu Empire actually has a leased land here, and has set up a vassal embassy and an embassy guard of more than a hundred people.
Therefore, it would be more trouble-free and labor-saving to capture this place directly as a base for advancing to the Fuso Islands.
As for the Tokugawa family, it just happened to happen.
No matter who controls this island, the Chu Empire is ready to take it down.
Therefore, as the Chu army began to land, the Tokugawa family saw that verbal protests were ineffective, and Hirado Island was indeed important, so even if they did not want to fight in their hearts, let alone did not dare to fight, they had no choice but to resist. One or two.
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However, this kind of resistance has no practical significance. Some of their small sampans were directly destroyed by the Chu army's warships. Although the forts on the islands were okay, they could not stop the Chu army's fleet's bombardment.
When hundreds of marines landed one after another and launched attacks from the ground against the port fort and other places, the port fort on Hirado Island also fell.
In the next few days, large numbers of Chu troops landed one after another, and with the cooperation of the embassy guards and some merchant guards on the original island, they swept across the entire Hirado Island and completely brought Hirado Island under control.
During this process, the 22-year-old percussion gun also participated in actual combat for the first time with the participation of the first battalion of the 178th Infantry Regiment, and the excellent performance of the percussion gun was fully demonstrated. The battle on Hirado Island has just ended. The relevant actual combat report of the firing gun was accompanied by other battle reports, and the crew of the clipper communication ship rode the wind and waves back home.
The day after the battle report was sent back to the country, various military and political offices of the Chu Empire on Hirado Island, such as the Fuso Governor's Office, the Hirado County Office, the Fuso Affairs Office of the Department of Rites and Education, and the Fuso Garrison Headquarters of the Chu Empire Army Military and political offices at all levels, such as the 45th Division Headquarters of the Da Chu Empire Army and the Pacific Fleet Headquarters of the Da Chu Empire Navy, were established in such a grand manner.
This dumbfounded the Tokugawa family in the Edo shogunate... What's going on? The Fuso Governor's Office has come out? Are you planning to completely annex Dafuso?
This scared the Tokugawa family half to death. On the one hand, they quickly sent people to Hirado Island to find out the news. On the other hand, they were forced to actively mobilize their troops to fight.
It doesn’t matter if you lose a few islands, even if you lose Hirado Island, it doesn’t matter.
But if the Chu Empire wanted to completely annex Fuso, the Tokugawa family would have to grit their teeth and resist even if they knew they couldn't resist.
