unclear

Chapter 680: Strange Tactics
The specific method is not surprising or mysterious at all. It is just an additional packaging process.

After the ammunition is produced, the ammunition factory no longer packs the projectiles and propellants separately, but wraps them together with silk. In order to prevent moisture, they are dipped in melted spermaceti or paraffin and wrapped with a thin layer.

When using it, the soldier only needs to tear off the paper on the bottom of the silk tube, put the lead bullet and the propellant stick bonded by whale oil into the barrel, and poke it to the bottom with a cleaning rod. Since the lead bullet with a conical head and a hollow tail is slightly smaller than the caliber of the rifle, loading is not difficult at all.

If you are not going to fire immediately and are afraid that the bullet will fall out, you can roll up the silk used for wrapping into a ball, place it on top of the bullet and push it in together. This will naturally block the barrel without affecting the firing and will not produce too much burning residue.

In the ninth year of the Jingyang period, Zhao Shizhen improved the Jingyang Type 5 rifle based on Lu Zhanwei's feedback and developed the Jingyang Type 9 flintlock rifle.

The new gun has a caliber of 12 mm, a length of 130 cm, and a weight of 3.6 kg. The flintlock has also become a steel wheel friction type, which is very similar to the lighter in the rear view. With the flint that is manually crushed and re-pressed, not only is the size reduced and the weight reduced, but the ignition effect is also greatly improved.

But the caliber, length, and weight are all smaller, but the propellant has not been qualitatively improved. Will the power decrease? That's for sure. The effective range of the Yangyang Nine-style against unarmored targets is only 300 meters. If you want to penetrate two layers of iron armor and one layer of cotton armor, you have to put it within 150 meters.

However, the emperor still had a high opinion of the gun and immediately approved the large-scale production and replacement of the new gun. He also gave a corresponding response to the misunderstanding of some naval and army officers.

He said that it was difficult for both the navy and the army to shoot at a moving target more than 300 meters away with the naked eye. In this way, the Yangyang Type rifle was overpowered.

The large caliber, heavy weight, long length, and extra projectile weight and propellant that were previously used in order to achieve farther, more accurate, and greater power have all been wasted.

Guns are not about being more powerful, nor are they about being able to fire farther. As a common weapon used by the military on a large scale, the key is to have appropriate power, cost-effectiveness, maintainability, and low cost.

To put it bluntly, he just wanted to quickly expand the size of the army at the lowest cost and in the simplest way. At this time, the lighter and shorter the rifle, the shorter the shooting distance and the lighter the recoil, which actually became an advantage.

Any adult man who is not stupid or disabled can basically complete the forced march test with a Type 300 rifle on his back after a few months of training. In the shooting assessment, the human-shaped target was adjusted from 200 meters to meters. Seven out of ten fixed targets and four out of ten moving targets were considered qualified.

Every time the veteran loaded a bullet, he would take off the bottom seal and stick it on the flintlock steel wheel. When the trigger was pulled, the steel wheel would rotate and the small piece of paper would be rubbed off. If there was no paper on the steel wheel, the chamber was empty, otherwise, it was time to reload.

Although the method was crude, the effect was obvious. As long as the gun was fired in the trenches without much movement, the small piece of paper covered with whale oil and paraffin would stick firmly to the steel wheel.

There is no obvious difference between veterans and new soldiers except for their mental state. It is more about these inconspicuous tricks. Although small, they can save lives. Many small tricks together can lead to victory.

When the whistle sounded again, the army soldiers stood up, lay on the edge of the trench and aimed their guns. It was at this time that they saw the enemy for the first time.

"Damn, so many!" Then someone started to complain. He had followed the emperor out of the pass to fight the Jurchens, but he was not assigned to Li Ruzhang's army who blocked the Tashan Fort. Some of them were added to the army vanguard later. Looking at the dense cavalry more than 300 meters away and feeling the shaking of the ground beneath him, it would be a lie to say that he was not afraid, and it was not to say that he was at a loss.

"Hold steady...Hold steady...Get ready...Toot..." The captain shouted at the top of his voice, standing up straight and doing the last distance measurement while watching the charging cavalry. Then he puffed up his cheeks and blew a long syllable from the copper whistle with all his strength.

In fact, in the army, centurions are much more dangerous than soldiers, and have much greater responsibilities. When the troops are defending, the soldiers can all hide in trenches or bunkers without even showing their heads. But centurions have to walk around, check the equipment and status of each soldier, and often expose their bodies.

When the troops were charging, the centurions had to charge along with them, guns in hand. Although they were not required to lead the charge, they could not hide behind and try to survive. There were thousand-man forces and guards' staff officers behind them who would keep a close eye on the officers' performance.

"Bang bang bang... bang bang bang..." The Ming army positions, which had been completely suppressed by the momentum of the cavalry brigade's charge, suddenly woke up amid the sound of explosions like frying beans and rising white smoke.

Thousands of bullets were pushed out of the gun barrels from the northeast and west sides at the same time by the hot high-pressure gas. The lead alloy could not withstand such a great pressure. The cavity at the tail of the bullet was squeezed open and spread to the surroundings. When it hit the harder inner wall of the barrel, it had to soften, and some of them were deeply embedded in the rifling.

Then it started to rotate due to the angle of the rifling, spinning faster and faster until it finally broke away from the barrel and rushed towards a person or a horse at high speed at an angle infinitely close to a straight line.

"Odd numbers, reload... Even numbers, aim... Steady, steady... Beep..." The captain had no time to observe the shooting effect. He immediately stood up and shouted loudly for the second group of soldiers to stand up. After confirming that everything was correct, he blew the whistle again.

In fact, less than 50% of the soldiers could actually hear the whistle and then shoot. More soldiers were kidnapped by the gunfire from adjacent positions and pulled the trigger involuntarily.

"Your Majesty, the student did not do well and should be punished!" In the center of the position, Ding Shun stood on the roof of the van and could clearly see the shooting situation in three directions. His face looked very unhappy.

From the first wave of shooting, each side had never been in order, and as the number of shots increased, the firing became more and more scattered. The quick soldiers had already fired four or five times, while the slow ones had just finished loading the third round.

It is definitely not the soldiers who caused this phenomenon, but the officers. It is a reflection of insufficient training. Since it is so obvious, don't wait for the emperor to question you. Taking the initiative to admit it can still show a good attitude.

"What were you talking about?"

Hong Tao put down the telescope and tilted his head. He heard Ding Shun talking, but he couldn't hear clearly what he said. At this time, the army soldiers had just entered the state, and the sound of rifles came one after another, and his ears were full of popping noises.

(End of this chapter)