Win the Ding 1617

Kong Youde's two thousand gunners lined up in four rows according to the battle formation of the Southern Guangdong Army described by Dorgon, and walked forward slowly with guns on their shoulders.However, the formation is quite messy.The queue was loose and had to stop and reorganize every few steps.

However, fortunately, the officers were shouting and commanding in the ranks, and the soldiers of all ministries just kept their eyes on the representative officers and the team's flag-recognizing march.Although the formation is chaotic, the basic organizational system and general formation are quite complete.

On the two wings of the slow-moving four-row formation, hundreds of cavalry each served as escorts, preventing the imaginary Ming army cavalry from rushing in from the two wings to attack the team of gunfire soldiers.

"It's just a mere imitation!"

There was a smile on his face, but Dorgon gave Kong Youde such an evaluation in his heart.

After entering the customs and returning, he, his younger brother Doduo and his older brother Azig had already discussed in private, no matter what, he wanted to capture a firearms force of at least thousands of people. , To grow into a unit, drive those packers out of the city to practice the formation of crouching tigers and opening mountains.

"This kind of formation can be used to deal with the Ming army on the front line of Ningjin. If it is used to deal with the Nanyue army, I am afraid that they will be beaten to death by artillery fire!"

Dorgon commented on Kong Youde's troops in his heart.

After walking for dozens of steps, the blunderbuss lineup arrived fifty steps away from the thousands of straw targets that were also arranged in four rows. For some unknown reason, Dorgon introduced the Nanyue Army to Huang Taiji and Kong Youde. This is a crucial statistic when fighting the tactic of firing at thirty paces.Intentionally or unintentionally ignored by Kong Youde.

"How can there be such an army in the world that can withstand the enemy's artillery shells and go within [-] steps of the opponent's army before firing?! Our fourteenth prince must have been defeated by the Nanman, so he found a way for himself!"

In private, Kong Youde and his righteous brother are both adopted sons of Mao Wenlong. Shang Kexi and Geng Zhongming, who were known as the three mine disciples in Liaodong back then, disagreed with Dorgon's statement.

Moreover, whether it is the various ministries of the Ming army or the Jiannu Eight Banners, the application of firecrackers is considered to be around seventy steps. Although the range and lethality of the firecrackers made by Jiannu are stronger than those equipped by the Ming army, But the consciousness of Kong Youde and others still stays in the realm where at least fifty steps is the best policy.

"Raise the gun! Fire!"

The leading officers in the team issued a series of passwords.The firecrackers that had already been loaded were held flat on their chests by the soldiers.Aim at thousands of grass targets not far away and pull the trigger.

There was a deafening sound of gunfire.The targets lined up not far away were staggered by the dense projectiles. The hot projectiles passed through the dry wheat straw blown by the autumn wind, and suddenly bursts of blue smoke rose from the grass handles, and soon small flames burned everywhere. stand up.It became more and more obvious that this burst of firecrackers was extremely powerful.

"Second column. Step forward!"

"Third column. Step forward!"

The sound of dense volleyball was endless, and row after row of gunfire soldiers stepped forward and pulled the trigger.Launch the projectile in the gun chamber, and the projectile turns the grass target not far away into a burning torch.

Seeing this scene, Jierhalang, Haoge and others were delighted but shocked.

"In this way, the Ming army in Jinzhou and other places will no longer be the opponent of my Qing soldiers! Just blast their formation with cannons, and then thousands of firecrackers will bombard them in a row, and then take advantage of their collapse , the brigade of cavalry will rush up!"

"Fortunately, the king of Japan was escorted and captured back to Shengjing first. If I go south with the two of their brothers, I'm afraid I will end up with the same fate as Xianghongqi!"

Cannonballing, musket shooting, and cavalry charging, Hauge's tactic is undoubtedly successful, because there is also a guy who used this tactic and almost conquered the entire European continent.

The use of firearms was not uncommon in the Qing army, and even artillery was widely used. From the famous Hunhe bloody battle, the Qing army noticed the role of artillery in attacking the Ming army's positions.Historically, during the Songjin War, both the Ming and Qing Dynasties used a large number of Hongyi cannons.In the battle of Songshan alone, the Qing army dispatched [-] artillery shells, [-] Hongyi cannons, and [-] catties of gunpowder.After this battle, and even after the Songjin war was captured, the Qing army stationed in Jinzhou already possessed a hundred Hongyi cannons, while most of the Ming army artillery outside the pass fell into the hands of the Qing people. Many Hongyi cannons.

The situation of firearms in the Ming and Qing Dynasties reversed. Tang Ruowang, a Western missionary at that time, exclaimed: "He has strong horses, sharp arrows and strong bows. He has surpassed me by a lot, and recently his firearms are comparable to mine. Who cares about my amazing skills? It is known to be there. At present, firearms are so expensive in Western countries, but the enemy not only has them, but now they have them widely..."

There is such a record in the Tang newspaper issued by Fan Chenggong, the guard general of Songshan: "The bandits have loaded up with artillery fire and attacked Songshan on the 25th and 26th. The situation is very critical. Six hundred and one cannons were found in the city. , all weighing more than ten catties, there are forty red barbarian cannons installed on the south wall, and twelve oxen are used to fire each cannon."

After this battle, the Qing people even proudly threatened: "Arranging one hundred cannons as a group, how can any city be able to withstand three or four days of fierce attack?" In fact, after the Qing army entered the pass, the famous several In the first battle, Yangzhou, Tongguan, and Jiangyin, the most important reason for the victory was the role of cannons.

Faced with the loss of their own technological advantages, the Ming Dynasty was a housekeeper's magic weapon, but it became a weapon in the hands of others. At this time, those missionaries in Beijing took the opportunity to create public opinion: "The barbaric Tatars have already If we have acquired sharp firearms, our Chinese division is not as good as they should quickly cast heavy artillery, or buy it from the Bogarao artillery factory."

Not to mention that the missionaries are so excited, firearms and various technical products have always been Hongyi's advantage in knocking on the door of China.

After the German missionary Tang Ruowang came to China, in the seventh year of Chongzhen, together with Luo Yagu, he presented a telescope brought from Europe to the Ming emperor. It was wrapped in yellow silk, and it was accompanied by a gold-plated mirror frame and copper accessories.This matter was valued by Emperor Chongzhen and all walks of life in the government and the public. Not only did Tang Ruowang receive an audience award, but the Chinese government also organized forces to imitate it. At that time, China completed the first self-made telescope, which was called the peeping tube.

Before that, the Christian name was "Paul".Pro-Western figures such as Shanghai Prime Minister Xu Guangqi, who had already entered the procedure of Catholic canonization, bought red barbarian cannons from Portuguese people in Macau many times. Transported to Ningyuan City outside the pass.

After the Battle of Ningyuan, the fame of the Hongyi Cannon rose, arousing the enthusiasm of the government and the public to buy and imitate it. In the first year of Chongzhen, Portuguese mercenaries came to Beijing.There are two hundred soldiers inside.There are also 31 blunderbuss masters, craftsmen and companions, with a total of seven large iron blunderbusses, three large copper blunderbusses, and [-] hawk-beaked blunderbusses, led by the Western leader "Xilao of Gongsha".these artillery pieces.Emperor Chongzhen bestowed the name "General Shenwei".

at the same time.The Ming court also imitated Hongyi cannons in batches, mostly in the southeast coast, until the third year of Chongzhen.There are more than [-] imitated Hongyi cannons of large, medium and small sizes. In history, more than [-] Hongyi cannons of various types were built during the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

It stands to reason that such artillery costs the country such a huge amount of human, material and financial resources. In the late Ming Dynasty when the fiscal deficit was huge and the treasury was empty and tense, it should have seen the effect of investing such a huge amount of financial resources. Why did it come after the Songjin Battle? Overtaken by the "barbaric Tartars" instead?

Very simple, it can be seen from a set of numbers.We analyzed from the process of purchasing Portuguese artillery and making Lumi guns that Xu Guangqi admired. The official cost of a Lumi gun was 150 taels of silver. In the Kangxi and Yongzheng years of the Qing Dynasty, the cost of a bird gun was only a few dollars. Two silvers, what's with the huge price difference?

In addition, Xu Xiangguo, who is keen to buy the so-called Portuguese original artillery, will not know that many of the armaments of the Portuguese, Spaniards, and English in the East are purchased from Guangdong.That being the case, why bother to buy from the Portuguese?The reason, only two simple words, rebate!

The artillery purchased by the officials of the Ming Dynasty ranged from small Hongyi cannons to large cannons. The price ranged from at least a hundred taels to several thousand taels. Weighs 23 jins.

Xu Guangqi and Hong Chengchou once ordered a large number of Hongyi cannons with shells weighing ten catties from Westerners. At that time, each piece was quoted at 1000 taels of silver. The quotation for a shot costs four taels of silver.

It is because of this behavior of introducing advanced western technology that Xu Xiangguo left a place name of Xujiahui in Shanghai. Among his descendants, there was a granddaughter named Ni Guizhen. The granddaughter's children, son-in-law, and more It is famous, so I won't repeat it!

Huang Taiji, who was sitting on the throne, was very satisfied with the continuous shooting effect of the firecracker, and a rare smile appeared on the fat black face.As the deafening volley of firecrackers continued to sound, thick white smoke rose up, and the smile on Huang Taiji's face became more intense.

The loud noise of the firecrackers and the scorching flames of the projectiles made the Manchu relatives behind him very excited. The straw targets erected fifty steps away from the firecrackers and the thick wooden boards on which the wheat straw was bound were smashed into pieces. Crack flying.Seeing this kind of power, Hauge and the others, who had never directly fought against the Nanyue Army, blushed with excitement.The deafening volley sounded after another, and after the two thousand firecrackers fired a round of firecrackers, there was no straw target erected in front of them, leaving only embers of wheat straw burning all over the ground. The choking smell of gunpowder filled the air everywhere, making it difficult to see ahead.

"Stick with the gun! Kill!"

Kong Youde gave a rough cry, and all the officers in the team who had followed him since the time of Dongjiang Town yelled in unison, and the blunderbuss soldiers of each team took out their blunderbuss swords from their waists and put them on the barrels. A short spear about five feet long appeared in the hands of the gunfire soldier.

"Long live the Qing emperor! Long live, long live, long live!"

The officers jumped on their horses and led the two thousand firecrackers to rush towards the imaginary enemy positions that were still emitting green smoke and flames.

Such a scene, of course, would make Huang Taiji very pleased.

He ordered people to call Kong Youde and the others to the front, and took the firecracker on Kong Youde's back to look carefully.He fondled the black and thick firecracker fondly. The barrel of the firecracker made of wrought iron was slightly hot. It seemed that Kong Youde had set off the firecracker himself just now, and the mouth of the firecracker was still emitting light smoke.

"Prince Gongshun, you are good at firearms. From your point of view, how do the guns of the Qing Dynasty compare with those of the Ming Dynasty?"

"The fine craftsmanship and sharpness of our Qing Dynasty's guns are far superior to those of the Ming Dynasty! What's more, the firearms used by our Qing soldiers are all self-made, and the ammunition for the guns is endless. Unlike the Ming army, most of the excellent guns are Outsourced."

Kong Youde pondered for a moment.Immediately pointed out the gap between the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Huang Taiji was very satisfied with Kong Youde's answer, and passed down the decree that today's soldiers participating in the drill and the craftsmen of the military workshop will each be rewarded with two buckets of japonica rice and a piece of clothing.

Don't underestimate the two buckets of japonica rice, at the current grain price in Shengjing, it's almost ten taels of silver.

"Chen Banda, you have made great achievements in casting cannons, and you have also made firecrackers for me, and you have also made achievements in developing springs. I should have rewarded you for your kindness. But there is another thing that lingers in my mind just now. I don't know if you finished."

Huang Taiji is in a very good mood today, so he has the leisure to circle around with Chen Banda.

"I'm blunt, please make it clear, Your Majesty."

"You barbarian! The emperor told you some time ago that you must make firecrackers that are the same as those of the southern barbarians. Have you ever done this?!" Hauge was really polite to Chen Banda, a Chinese craftsman. also no.Just reprimand loudly.

"The emperor, please give me the imperial fire blunderbuss." Chen Banda was not polite.He reached out and snatched Kong Youde's firecracker, and began to disassemble it at Huang Taiji's feet.

The two firecrackers were quickly dismantled into two piles of parts, and Chen Ban took out a stick of charcoal stuck in his ear.On the parts of Kong Youde's gun, a Chinese character for king was written to distinguish it from Huang Taiji's.

"Even if I have the courage, I dare not scribble graffiti on the imperial utensils."

As he spoke, his hands were still busy, and in a blink of an eye the two firecrackers were reassembled again, "Please ask the emperor to order someone to try shooting and see how it works."

Amidst the bangs of two firecrackers in the distance, Chen Banda knelt in front of Huang Taiji and talked eloquently.

"The thing used by the emperor is made of Nanban's nine-turn steel, which is very different from the wrought iron used by us in the Qing Dynasty. The blunderbuss that I recently made, except for the thick barrel, are all based on the Nanban fire blunderbuss. It can be common."

"What kind of secret technique did you use to achieve such precision?" Lao Daishan sat on a chair beside him and couldn't help asking in detail.

"Returning to the prince, the reason why I can supervise the craftsmen to make it the same as the guns made by the Nanman, in addition to carefully surveying and mapping the fire guns bestowed by the emperor, casting bronze molds into precision manufacturing, and assigning several teams of craftsmen in the workshop .Each team only builds one part of the gun, so that the craftsmen only make one item, and practice makes perfect, and they are bound to keep improving."

"For the parts made by each team, the ministers, Lord Ma, Lord Ding, Lord Wang, etc., will send capable people to inspect them with the bronze mirror method. Those who pass the inspection can be assembled into firecrackers and put into storage. If a team has too many defective parts, the team leader, foreman, and craftsmen themselves will all be punished."

Immediately, all the relatives and princes present, including Huang Taiji himself, were very interested in the bronze mirror method that Chen Banda said. I don't know what kind of magical secret technique can make the original one-to-one pass rate so high .

"Actually, it's worthless to put it bluntly." Chen Banda didn't hide it. In fact, from the moment he showed this unique skill in public that day, he knew that this unique skill was bound to spread.

Use two copper mirrors as the detection instrument, put the copper mirror and the detection surface of the part to be tested together, and shine it on the sun, and you can easily judge the size of the gap by virtue of the color in the gap between the two parts. Qualified colors are naturally different, and if the gap is too large, the color will change.

This is actually the original spectral method, but it still sounds unfathomable to those present.

"Your Majesty, there is no need to be too surprised. The so-called art industry has specialization. Chen Beiyu is good at making guns, respectful to the king and good at commanding guns, Prince Li is seasoned in seeking the country, and Prince Rui is loyal and courageous. Could it be that the eagles, dogs and minions in front of His Majesty's Highness are caused by my good luck in the Qing Dynasty?"

Fan Wencheng just set a new stage for Huang Taiji, a group of Manchu relatives who are still sighing, yes!Everyone has a specialization in the art industry, and each has its own strengths. Who can know everything?

With the step of Fan Wencheng, everyone immediately smiled, "Hello, I'm good, everyone, everyone, for the Qing Dynasty to have such a sharp weapon, and to have such a skilled craftsman, there will be endless cheers."

"Chen Beiyu, since you surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, you have done a lot of meritorious deeds, what kind of reward do you want?"

In Huang Taiji's opinion, the performance of the cannons and firecrackers cast by Chen Banda today is no less excellent than the Portuguese ones purchased by the Ming army.

In particular, the double-layer casting method proposed by Chen Banda made Huang Taiji keenly discover that this technique was undoubtedly tailor-made for his Eight Banners soldiers.There is a lack of steel and not so much copper, but the artillery is required to be light, powerful, and maneuverable. This kind of artillery made of pig iron for the outer layer and wrought iron for the inner layer is no less than that for the Eight Banners. It's like a soldier has wings inserted under his ribs.

Although it sounds like the price is a bit high, and the operation process is more complicated, but as long as the artillery can be made to deal a fatal blow to the Ming army, Huang Taiji will be willing to give it no matter how much money and food, the big deal is to go to the Ming country to grab it. up!

As long as Chen Ban opens his mouth, whether it is money, officials, beautiful women, Tian Zhai, they can meet his needs.

"How dare you expect your majesty to reward you for your insignificant achievements! I just want to make all kinds of weapons for your majesty in the armory workshop!" Chen Banda kowtowed, saying that he didn't dare.

"Your Majesty, Chen Beiyu is skilled and loyal, why not accept Zhenghuang's banner as your coat?" Fan Wencheng had just built a lower level for everyone, and made another one for Chen Banda to be Huang Taiji's slave. road.

"Chen Banda, would you like to be my coater?"

Although Chen Banda has been plundered to Shengjing for not too long, and he has immersed himself in studying technology, he also knows the various systems in the Eight Banners. Now Huang Taiji asks him if he wants to be the emperor's slave. If he doesn't follow the avenue, then he is really an idiot genius.

"Slave Chen Banda, please greet the master!"

"Very well, since you are my servant, I will assign you to serve under the Zhenghuang flag of the Han army, and just make your guns!" (To be continued...)