Daming kill

Chapter 126

On the next day, two trainee gunners whom He Zhuzi found came to Yangpitan. One of them was proficient in tiger crouching cannon and the other was proficient in Franco machine gun.

In fact, Li Ping didn't have much hope for these four cannons, because they were too small and rough, and Li Ping doubted their power.

But they are cannons after all, as long as they can be used, Li Ping thinks they will be farther and more powerful than bird guns.

It is not used for attacking fortifications, but it should still have some effect on defending the river with static defense. After all, there is nothing more effective than bombarding people crossing the water with cannons.

In fact, Li Ping didn't know much about the tiger crouching gun or the Frang machine gun before. Although they frequently appeared in various historical works, Li Ping never had a good understanding of them, let alone Researched.

Because Li Ping felt that there were many names of various types of artillery in history, the same type of artillery may have different names in each dynasty, generation, country, or even region, but nothing more than different lengths, thicknesses, materials, and processes. It is basically the same as the cannons that are placed on the city walls for tourists to take pictures in most modern scenic spots. The difference is not very big, and the power and function are also very basic.

Therefore, he never got to know him well, he just listened to his name.

It wasn't until he saw the cannons brought back by He Zhuzi that Li Ping realized that he had taken it for granted. "Historical knowledge" was so barren and ignorant. These two cannons were very different from the cannons in Li Ping's impression. .

It should be said that they are too small.

The length of the two tiger crouching guns is about 70 centimeters, and 7 iron hoops are added to the whole body at approximately equal distances.There is no gun ear, and naturally there is no gun mount, just like a big thick iron pipe, but the wall of the pipe is very thick.

What's even more strange is that there are two iron claws under the gun head of this gun, which are very similar to a machine gun rack, and there are two downward iron nails on the buttocks (similar to the ones nailing rails, but much shorter), the full weight About 40 catties.

Due to their relatively small size, although the two tiger squat guns look like little tigers when they are erected, they are actually more like two mortars with half-shortened brackets.However, the elevation angle of the mortar generally exceeds 45 degrees, and the elevation angle of this gun is lower than 45 degrees.

The two Franco cannons are even more weird. They are longer and slightly heavier than the tiger crouching cannons.It is estimated to be about 90 centimeters long and weigh about 45 kilograms. Moreover, there is a long, pointed iron rod like a handle on their buttocks. This iron rod alone accounts for nearly one-third of the total length.

The two Franco cannons are slender overall, with rear sights and front sights, and earrings on both sides, and are mounted on a small wooden frame through the earrings.

Because the way of mounting the Francois machine gun is to insert a smooth iron rod connected to the ear into the round hole of the wooden frame, so the artillery can be moved up and down by manipulating the long iron rod on the buttocks. Turn left and right, the flexibility of the muzzle rotation is amazing.

But what is even more surprising is that this Fran cannon is actually a breech-loading gun.

The first half of it is a standard thin cannon tube with an iron hoop, and the butt is a long iron rod less than one third long. The other part (after the middle) is a much thicker cannon barrel. And it was completely open, and this opening somewhat resembled a rifle with the bolt pulled and the chamber open.

Sure enough, this gun also came with 5 iron barrels with handles that looked like shell casings.

In the communication with the teaching gunner, Li Ping realized that the Tiger Crouching Cannon was actually a kind of artillery invented by Qi Jiguang and used in large quantities. It was mainly for the convenience of the infantry to carry.

Of course, there are bigger ones, which are placed on special gun mounts, which are enough to attack the city.

The two Franco cannons belonged to the small Franco cannon, as well as the large Franco machine gun and the normal Franco machine gun.The Frang machine gun was learned from the Fran machine man (Portuguese) in Jiajing Dynasty about 120 years ago.

The biggest feature of this cannon is that you can first load the sub-cannons (the five iron cylinders with handles like shell casings) with ammunition and ammunition, and then put them directly into the opening of the cannon body to ignite and fire. Switch to another sub-cannon and fire again.

Theoretically, as long as the sub-cannons continue, the Fran cannon can fire continuously, and the firing speed is absolutely shocking.

Because of the unique characteristics of this kind of sub-cannon, this cannon is also called "Sub-Mother Cannon".

At present, whether it is a tiger squatting gun or a Frang machine gun (especially the small and medium-sized ones), the number of equipment in the Ming army is very large. These two guns are the most used on the walls of Xiangyang and Fancheng. There are always doors.

After listening to the explanation, Li Ping's curiosity was completely aroused. He couldn't wait to see the live ammunition shooting demonstration. If he could survive smoothly, he might have to deal with these guns in the future.

The test firing of the artillery was organized by the river, because many of Li Ping's subordinates had never seen the artillery, and the few who had seen it had basically never seen the operation and use of the artillery, so the test attracted many officers and soldiers to stop their hands work to watch.

Li Ping didn't stop it either, he thought it was necessary for ordinary officers and soldiers to understand artillery.Whether it is bombing or being bombarded, familiarity is better than unfamiliarity.

Because people's greatest superstitions and fears always come from the unknown.

Seeing that Li Ping didn't stop him, more and more officers and soldiers gathered to watch.

The first thing I tried was the tiger crouching cannon.

When setting up the cannon, the two short and thick iron nails on the buttocks of the tiger crouching cannon were inserted into the ground for fixing, and then the small rear part of the whole cannon was half buried in the soil for further fixing.

It turned out that the iron nail was actually used for this purpose, no wonder there was no cannon mount.

When shooting solid bullets, it's okay. It's basically the general procedure of front-loading guns, but it can be clearly seen that the tiger squatting guns are shooting in curves.

Li Ping thought that the sound was relatively normal, the officers and soldiers onlookers didn't fluctuate much, the cannons were not big after all, and Li Ping's blunderbuss troops trained with live ammunition every day and everyone got used to it.

But just one shot almost beat Jiang Xin, which made many people exclaim in a slow and half-beat manner. It is probably the first time that ordinary people have seen a weapon that hits so far.

According to Li Ping's visual estimation, it is about 400 meters away.Of course he will not make any waves on this range.

It was only when the shotgun was loaded that Li Ping became curious.

I saw that the gunner first put the gunpowder line wrapped in cloth into the fire door, then filled it with six or seven taels of gunpowder, put it in the wooden horse, and pushed the wooden horse to the position of the second gun hoop.

After the wooden horse is installed, a small amount of soil is covered on the surface, and a layer of lead and iron is placed on the soil. The lead is covered with a layer of soil and flattened, and then a layer of lead is placed. Cover the soil again, and repeat the cycle until it is full.

When the fire was fired, the gun was much duller, and it directly hit a large spray of small water on the river [-] meters away.

Most of the officers and soldiers onlookers didn't exclaim this time, and more of them just let out "oh" and so on.

Presumably they thought it was not as far as a bow and arrow shot, it was really not enough to see, and they couldn't perceive the meaning of those small splashes.

Only Li Ping knew very well that the crowd used for the intensive charge was obviously very sour.

After trying a few more shots, it was found that the firing range basically did not change much, so I started to test fire the small Franco cannon.

The shooting of this cannon is indeed quite novel.

Because each sub-cannon is installed in advance, just like a single-shot rifle, the sub-cannon barrel is fired once, and the next sub-cannon barrel is directly loaded, which saves a lot of steps such as cleaning, charging, and loading. .

Therefore, each gun can carry out a continuous firing of 5 rounds, and there are live ammunition and shot ammunition, and the muzzle rotation adjustment is also fast.

The continuous firing formation of the Franji is a bit scary, and it really opened a lot of eyes.

It's just that the range of this small Franco cannon is obviously not as good as that of the tiger squatting gun. The solid bullet is only about 300 meters, and the shotgun is only 80-[-] meters, and the shotgun has less ammunition and the barrage is also small.

Li Ping immediately understood that this should be the reason for the poor airtightness.

Because it is obviously impossible to achieve real locking between the mother and child artillery, the craftsmanship and materials of this era cannot solve this problem at all, which is also the main reason why the front-mounted artillery is currently dominant.

After testing the cannons, Li Ping told Ma Yong to let the soldiers who were selected to learn the cannons learn as soon as possible. All the records must be recorded as soon as possible, and the actual live ammunition shooting training should be completed as soon as possible. direct management and command.

But while chatting with the instructor gunner, Li Ping was shocked to hear a piece of news.

The fleet that loaded property and women in Fancheng all day yesterday actually went downstream this morning.

Although Li Ping was secretly alarmed that Zuo Liangyu had decided to run away, he could only scold her in his heart.Things have come to this point, and we can only take one step at a time.

For the next few days, the weather has been very nice and sunny.

In addition, all preparations before the battle have already been completed, and it is impossible to continue to organize excessive training before the battle. The troops mainly rest and adjust, and everyone is very comfortable.

Li Ping found that he had nothing more to do. Every day he walked along the shallow shallows several times back and forth, stared blankly at the map occasionally, and sometimes crossed the river to have a look.

In such an environment, not only Li Ping gradually relaxed, but most officers and soldiers also relaxed. Anxiety and restlessness were gradually replaced by joy, and some small sports activities were organized to prevent officers and soldiers from being too idle.

After staying on the edge of danger for a long time, people get used to it and stop paying more attention to it.

现在，李平的2连和1连的鸟铳排共装备着约150支新造鸟铳和大约20支配发鸟铳以及几支火铳，他们原有的其余配发鸟铳基本都在高强度的训练中废弃了。3连的弓箭排还装备着约50张弓。

After trying out the newly received 100 dominator firearms one by one, Li Ping equipped them to the 8th company that was formed the latest, because the new company was only built for more than a month, and the melee combat was still not reassuring.

As for the three-eyed gun, Li Ping had completely given up on it.

As for the three-eyed gun that is like three short fire guns (actually cast as a whole) tied to the front end of a shovel handle, this thing makes Li Ping very tasteless.

Because the length of the barrel is not as good as that of the bird's gun, the range of the three-eyed gun is naturally much worse than that of the bird's gun.Although the so-called rapid bursts can be achieved in a short period of time, reloading is also terribly slow.

Although the three-eyed gun still has a magical advantage, it can be used as a long weapon by hammering when it is not firing.

But because the shooting range is not as good as the bow and arrow, and the melee is not as good as the spear, the so-called rapid continuous shooting can also be done by the archer. The three-eyed gun did not give Li Ping a good impression, at least it did not conform to Li Ping's army building strategy.

Li Ping also knows that the core advantages of the three-eyed blunderbuss are simple and crude, reliable quality, and dual-use. This is also the main reason why the three-eyed blunderbuss, including the fire blunderbuss, can coexist for a long time with much more advanced bird blunderbusses.

However, because of Song Baolai, what Li Ping does not lack is quality control and precision workmanship, and the three-eyed gun naturally becomes tasteless.

Of course, the operation of the three-eyed gun is much simpler than that of the bird gun, and it is easier to train. It has become one of the favorite firearms of the northern army and the generals of the North because of word of mouth, and it is still the most popular among the entire army group. Good firearms, but it still doesn't mean much to Li Ping who is training elite soldiers.

Out of the consideration of preventing too many types of firearms and insisting on muskets in the future, the three-eyed blunderbuss were finally taken out by Li Ping to barter, because this thing really has many loyal fans in the Ming army.

In this way, relying on 270 blunderbusses, 50 bows, and 4 small cannons to defend this 400-meter-long shoal, and deduct the backup support firearms, there will be one firepower every two meters. But it is still enough to deal with the enemy who can't get up fast at wading.

Moreover, Li Ping built a long row of segmented low wooden walls along the river using the trees felled from the opposite bank.

These segmented low wooden walls can effectively ensure that the musketeers and archers can shoot with protection in groups at the back, and at the same time, they will not interfere with the spearmen on standby at the back to attack the enemies near the shore. Carry out close-range attacks, and can also block the enemy's line of sight to a certain extent, making the enemy confused.

Coupled with the large number of pointed blocking wooden piles along the beach along the river, more than 1000 spear troops deployed behind the river bank, and a small cavalry group of more than 50 people part-time by the reconnaissance company, a criss-cross defense network has been effectively formed. .

Li Ping reckoned that as long as the enemy didn't go crazy or cross the river and attack his flanks sneakily, he would have a high probability of holding the shallows for a few days without causing heavy casualties.

Slowly, Li Ping found that waiting for the unknown is also a torment, and he even longed for the war to come sooner.

Notes:

An important reason for the large number of three-eyed guns in the Ming army is that it is easy to operate, especially the soldiers and generals of the northern army do prefer three-eyed guns to bird guns.

Qi Jiguang once said: "The northern soldiers are impatient with the drama, and they insist that the three-eyed gun is more convenient than the bird gun. In the teaching field, the bird gun hits ten times the speed gun and five times the bow and arrow, and still refuses to accept it."

On the one hand, this is because the craftsmen in the north are far inferior to those in the south in terms of skill level, which led to the fact that most of the bird guns produced in the north during the Ming Dynasty were of very worrying quality, and were not as good as the basic quality guaranteed in the south.

On the other hand, the production process of bird guns is relatively high. If it is not well-crafted, the power and safety of bird guns will not be guaranteed. However, the most lacking thing in the late dynasty is quality control.

At this time, casting (the quality is easier to control) and the three-eyed gun with a long handle are very advantageous in terms of power and safety. Therefore, it became the most reliable weapon for all officers and soldiers at the end of the Ming Dynasty. , it is no surprise that it has a huge following.

(End of this chapter)