Daming Yuanfu

Meng Guzhezhe's words were perfectly timed, and they happened to cover up the delicate atmosphere in the scene. Gao Pragmatic was very pleased. It seemed that Meng Guzhezhe had indeed understood what he had said to her before, and in a mixture of anger and joy, he changed the topic to what he wanted.

"That's a good question. This is also the reason why I came to test riding and shooting with you today." Gao Pragmatic didn't mince words and said that he was here mainly to accompany you today, and the test of the gun was just by the way, but he said straightforwardly that he wanted to test the gun. That's the main purpose.

On the one hand, this is because Meng Guzhezhe is just a concubine after all, and Gao Pragmatic does not have to accommodate her as his wife. On the other hand, he knew that with Meng Guzhezhe's intelligence, he must have clearly seen the reason at this time, and those words would appear to be false, which was unnecessary.

After saying this, Gao Pingshi turned directly to the emperor and asked: "Maybe the emperor sees the uniqueness of this short gun?"

Of course, Zhu Yijun had seen muskets before, and even played with them a few times thanks to his high pragmatic cooperation. However, he only knew a little bit about the specific structure of muskets, and he was not really proficient.

Therefore, faced with the highly pragmatic problem, he briefly played with it and examined it before shaking his head decisively and saying: "Compared with the Wanli II Style, except that the gun body is much shorter, there doesn't seem to be any difference." Then he paused. After a pause, he thought about it and said, "Oh, I remembered. The short barrel of the gun seems to be a characteristic of the lance... Is the current Wanli II lance also this short?"

Gao pragmatic nodded and said: "Exactly."

Zhu Yijun suddenly changed his subject and asked doubtfully: "Why is this lance much shorter than the rifle?"

"Of course it is for the convenience of combat." Gao Pragmatic explained: "The musket is no better than the old lance. Its function is similar to that of a crossbow. Therefore, while ensuring the power, it should be made as small as possible, so that it can be used by the cavalry. If it is made larger, , the cavalry requires both hands to abandon the reins when using it, which defeats the original intention of making this weapon."

Zhu Yijun obviously didn't quite understand, so he asked: "Original intention?"

"Yes." Gao pragmatically said: "Your Majesty should have seen the competition between the minister and Meng Gu just now, and also saw how the minister used this lance, and how Meng Gu rode and shot. I don't know, according to the emperor's opinion, the battle between the minister and Meng Gu Who is the better rider?"

"Uh, well..." Zhu Yijun coughed slightly, as if he didn't want to comment.

Gao Pingshi smiled and said: "It doesn't matter, I am an official. Your Majesty does not need to worry about whether I will feel embarrassed because of Your Majesty's outspokenness."

Zhu Yijun couldn't stand it anymore and said with a smile: "Since you said so, I have to say it bluntly - it seems that Mrs. Ru's riding skills are indeed better than yours, and she is worthy of being the best horseman in Manchuria. A girl from the Ye He family. When you are shooting, you hold the rein with one hand, but when she draws the bow, she is completely free from the rein. This shows that in terms of riding skills, she is definitely better than you."

Meng Gu Zhezhe was a little worried when he heard this, and glanced at his master secretly. Unexpectedly, Gao Pragmatic nodded calmly and said: "Yes, the emperor hit the nail on the head. I think my riding skills are not too bad, but compared to Meng Gu's In terms of performance, it is definitely far inferior. However, Your Majesty, I am afraid that my shooting performance is even better than that of Meng Gu."

Zhu Yijun was doubtful: "Really?" According to his understanding, since there is such an obvious difference in riding skills, then shooting skills should be about the same. How can Gao Pragmatic be so confident?

Gao Pragmatic smiled but said nothing. He waved to the shooting range, and immediately ten servants came quickly, each holding a target. Gao pragmatically stretched out his hand towards the emperor as a gesture of invitation and said: "Your Majesty, the target is here. Please check it."

How could Zhu Yijun know any inspection targets? But fortunately, there is no professional skill in this matter, because it is too intuitive-if there is an arrow stuck in the target, it is Meng Guzhezhe's score; if there are bullet holes, it is Gao Pragmatic's score.

And Zhu Yijun didn't even have to look at each one carefully. Fei Yingdong next to him just glanced at it and reported the results: "Ten targets, the master won a total of 67 rings, and the princess won a total of 61 rings. In addition, the master has a target. Missing the target, all the marks are on the target.”

After all, it was a bit embarrassing to miss the target. Gao Pragmatic coughed lightly and explained to the emperor: "Your Majesty, the reason why I missed the target was because of my insufficient riding skills. At that time, the horse bucked a little too much, and I was distracted and controlled. I hope I can make the horse run more smoothly, but at the same time, when the time comes to shoot, I will be distracted and miss the target."

When he said this, he looked at Meng Gu and said, "That's not the case with Meng Gu. She has been raised on a horse since she was a child. She can be a human and a horse, so this situation will not happen. Therefore, although she does not have such a sharp weapon in my hands, But on the contrary, every arrow can hit the target - of course, the accuracy of the bow and arrow is not as good as the musket in my hand."

Hearing what he said, Zhu Yijun became more confused and asked: "I still don't understand this. Do you mean that although your equestrian skills are not as good as hers, your gun is worse than her bow and arrow, so even if One shot missed the target, but the final score was better than hers? In other words, a musket is more accurate than a bow and arrow?"

Gao pragmatic emphasized: "It's not that muskets are more accurate than bows and arrows, but that this musket is more accurate than bows and arrows. The shooting skills of bows and arrows are easy to learn but difficult to master. It not only requires extremely stable arm strength, but also has excellent training and preservation." A good bow, and even when shooting, you have to consider what kind of arrows you are using, what the wind speed is at the time... and so on.

In short, an excellent archer not only needs long-term training to improve his level, but also requires long-term training to maintain this level. Just talk about Meng Gu. When she first came to the capital, her shooting skills were better than today. However, she has had less practice in the past few years and her level has declined. "

Meng Guzhe's face turned red and he lowered his head and said nothing. Gao pragmatic saw it and said with a smile: "It doesn't have to be like this. You don't need such superb shooting skills now. You just have time to play and treat it as a pastime." "Yes, sir." Meng Guzhezhe replied in a low voice.

Zhu Yijun took advantage of this moment to finally understand Gao Pragmatic's meaning, and thought thoughtfully: "You mean, the original intention of making this lance was to smooth the gap in riding skills between our Han cavalry and the prairie cavalry? "

"The Emperor's Holy Ming." Gao Pragmatic nodded happily and said: "With this lance, the Han cavalry's riding disadvantage to the prairie cavalry has been equalized by more than half. Or it can be said that this lance saved the Han cavalry." Cavalrymen have at least several years of careful training—at least when it comes to long-range shooting.”

Zhu Yijun's eyes suddenly brightened up, he stared at the lance in his hand and looked back and forth, and said: "That's great! But I still don't understand the difference between this gun and the Wanli II type in the past... I remember the previous one When it comes to accuracy, muskets don’t seem to be very good.”

"Your Majesty." Gao Pingshi stretched out his hand towards the emperor, and the emperor subconsciously handed him the gun.

Gao pragmatically pulled out the new bullet from the barrel of the gun, then raised the muzzle of the gun, pointed into the muzzle and said: "The secret is in the barrel of this gun." Then he handed the gun back to the emperor.

Because Gao Pangshi had already withdrawn the bullet in full view of everyone, Zhu Yijun did not doubt that he was there, and directly stared at the muzzle of the gun with one eye and looked into the barrel. After just one glance, he said "Huh".

Gao Pingshi smiled and said, "Does the emperor understand?"

Zhu Yijun had a puzzled look on his face. He hesitated and asked tentatively: "Whirlpool?"

"You can say it like this." Gao Pingshi smiled and said, "This is called rifling, and it is exactly spiral."

"Why is it done like this?" Zhu Yijun wondered: "When I was a child, I saw in the memorials of the Ministry of War that the barrels made in many places were of poor quality and often exploded during use, and that was the simplest round gun. tube barrel, now that the structure of your gun is so complicated, it must be more difficult to manufacture... If I guessed correctly, the cost will also increase significantly? "

"It has indeed improved, but it can't be said to be 'significantly'." Gao pragmatically said: "I have repeatedly confirmed that if it is manufactured in large quantities, the price will only increase by about 30%."

"Oh, 'only' an increase of 30%?" Zhu Yijun glared at him angrily and said: "You said a large amount, how much is that? In the long run, how many poles does the court need to purchase every year to maintain the new level? old?"

Gao pragmatic shook his head and said: "It depends on how large the size of the musketry cavalry the emperor thinks the court should maintain. According to the minister's opinion, the court's cavalry does not necessarily need to be equipped - for example, the heavy cavalry specifically used to charge into battle does not need to be equipped. And the light cavalry outside the Nine Borders does not necessarily have to be deployed, it can depend on the court's financial surplus."

Zhu Yijun did not answer immediately, but thought for a moment before asking: "Aside from being more accurate than previous muskets, does this new gun have any other advantages?"

"This gun has three major advantages: more accurate, farther, and easier to penetrate armor." Gao Pragmatic simply introduced. Obviously, since this gun bears the heavy responsibility of technical barriers, he will not explain it in detail casually - even to the emperor.

Fortunately, the emperor did not care about the technical details. Instead, he asked again: "Everything has advantages and disadvantages. Since there are so many advantages, then the disadvantage...is the cost?"

Gao pragmatic thought for a while and said: "Compared to the old guns, it is indeed the case."

Zhu Yijun pondered for a moment and asked: "How many cavalry are there in the imperial court now?"

Gao Pragmatic was stunned and asked: "Your Majesty, do you mean everything?"

"Yes." Zhu Yijun nodded and admitted.

This really confused Gao Pragmatic. He shook his head and said: "Your Majesty, as you know, there are always some discrepancies between the number of various arms in various military registers and the actual number. The same is true for cavalry. In addition, Now that the emperor has mentioned this, I have another thing to say... I have been planning for a long time and plan to propose a comprehensive reform of the national military system. If the emperor approves it, there will be some changes in the military establishment in the future."
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Thanks to book friend "Yun Fu Yu Yu" for your monthly ticket support, thank you!

PS: I finally connected a few things together. This chapter is really difficult.