wild trail

Chapter 370
The demonstration of the matchlock gun allowed the soldiers to see the power of this new weapon.

After Wang Lang fired a shot, he checked the gun and found nothing abnormal. He was very satisfied with the shooting effect this time.

"This is the weapon you will use in the future. It is more useful than bows and arrows if you use it well!" Wang Lang said to everyone.

Then Wang Lang asked the soldiers to line up to get the guns. The soldiers touched the muskets in their hands, as excited as children getting a new toy.

"gather!"

Following Wang Lang's shout, the soldiers immediately became serious, straightened their backs, and stood up straight.

The long-term training made them conditioned reflexes, and the phalanx of 100 people stood neatly.

Although Wang Lang gave them weapons, he did not give them the method of shooting immediately. Twenty started training from the most basic gun formation. The army must undergo rigorous training in every detail.

To train hundreds of people to look like one person, they are robots without their own thoughts on the battlefield, and they only need to obey the commander's order to be a qualified soldier.

He has been paying attention to the forest bark of this army all the time, and immediately rushed here non-stop after the Shinbone soldiers reported.

Coming to this barracks, seeing these soldiers carrying a strange thing on their shoulders after group training, Lin Shupi hurriedly came to Wang Lang's side, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, is there another good thing?"

Wang Lang glanced at Lin Shupi and said, "Your news is pretty fast!"

Lin Shupi laughed and said, "Your Majesty personally trains the soldiers. How can I not pay attention to such a big matter. Your Majesty, what are those soldiers carrying?"

"Musket!"

Lin Shupi scratched his head and said, "Musket? What are you doing?"

Wang Lang picked up the musket left aside, threw it to Lin Shupi, and said, "That's it, let's see for yourself!"

After receiving the musket, Lin Shupi was startled, and said to himself, "It's so heavy!"

After repeatedly checking the musket in his hand, he found that it looked very similar to a cannon.

"Your Majesty, how do you use this thing?"

Wang Lang took the musket and said, "Come with me."

Lin Shupi followed Wang Lang to the shooting range suspiciously, watched Wang Lang skillfully perform some complex operations, and pointed at the target in front of him, "Bang!" It was a shot.

Looking at the punctured plank, Lin Shupi was startled from ear to ear.

"This this..."

Wang Lang smiled and said, "How about it!"

"It's amazing, it's amazing, it can penetrate such a thick board!" Lin Shupi walked to the target, looked at the board that was pierced, and said in surprise.

However, Lin Shupi suddenly said: "Your Majesty, just now I saw that you took a long time to shoot once. Is this thing so slow? Presumably His Majesty is planning to use this musket to replace the bow and arrow."

Wang Lang nodded and said: "As expected of a veteran who has led the army for many years, I have exactly this plan. Although the fire rate of the musket is not as good as that of the bow and arrow, but with the cooperation of each other, it can still produce good results."

"Could your Majesty please explain in detail." Lin Shupi cupped his hands and said.

For this kind of long-range weapon, I plan to use the three-stage shooting tactics of the archer, which can make up for the slow fire rate of the musket, and can continuously cause damage to the enemy. However, the musket also has its limitations. This weapon encounters Bad weather cannot be used, such as rain and snow. At present, muskets cannot replace bows and arrows, and the range of muskets is not as good as bows and arrows. These muskets can only be used for training at present. I will not prepare until the performance of muskets is improved. Expanded Musketeers. "Wang Lang said slowly.

Lin Shupi thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty is really thoughtful." Lin Shupi said with a smile: "Your Majesty, if this musket is really installed in the army, can it be installed in the imperial army first?"

Wang Lang said: "For the time being, your forbidden army should use bows and arrows. This heavy weapon should be equipped with the frontier army first."

Lin Shupi sighed secretly, and knew that Wang Lang was right. The real combat troops of Xia Kingdom were the frontier troops stationed in various places. When they were really used for the forbidden army, unless Xia Kingdom was about to perish.

"Your Majesty, can you give me this musket?"

Wang Lang smiled and said, "Do you know how much it costs to make a musket now?"

"How many?"

"Thirty sticks!"

As soon as this number came out, Lin Shupi was shocked and said, "It's so expensive!"

For a seventh-rank official in Xia, the monthly salary is only fifty guan. This musket is equivalent to half a month’s salary for a seventh-rank official. The 100-member musketeer team spent [-] guan for just the musket. If there are tens of thousands of people, that is an astronomical figure.

"The Ministry of Industry has produced one hundred and one firearms, and there is no more. If you want a firearm, you have to wait. The Ministry of Industry has stopped producing this firearm. You have to wait for a new type of firearm to be produced. "Wang Lang said.

Lin Shupi felt regretful when he heard the words, and looked at the beautiful musket in Wang Lang's hand. He was very envious in his heart. Since he didn't have one, he didn't force it, but asked, "Your Majesty, the musketeers with 100 people are considered training. It's over, and they can't go to the battlefield, so what's the use of training them."

"These people are not used for fighting anymore. When the musketeers are formed, they will be the instructors, and these soldiers will be the seeds."

"Your Majesty really sees farther than I do."

"Okay, you've seen the musketeers too. When the real muskets are made, I will approve your imperial army to form a musketeer team of 1000 people." Wang Lang said slowly.

Lin Shupi was overjoyed when he heard the words, and quickly thanked him: "I thank you, Your Majesty."

Musketeer training continues.During the day, Wang Lang spent most of his time in the barracks, training these soldiers, and at night, he had to approve those headache memorials. He couldn't help it. After finishing all these tasks, Wang Lang also worked as a carpenter, designing clocks and watches according to the principle of the watch. The busy time made Wang Lang exhausted.

In Harbor City, after more than two months of training, more than 1000 explorers have basically mastered the sailing technology. Although they do not have a navy major, it is not a problem to go to sea.

It was a sunny day, and at the port, Wu Gang personally saw off the explorers who were about to sail away.

On the harbor, the explorers performed a simple sacrificial ceremony, praying for a smooth sailing.

As an ordinary sailor, He Tie followed the large force onto the huge ship with weapons in hand.

The captain of the explorer was the captain of the navy. After the two big ships weighed anchor, they hoisted their sails and drifted slowly towards the east with the help of the sea breeze.

Standing on the deck, He Tie looked at the coastline that was gradually moving away from him, and felt panic in his heart. Facing the vast sea, he felt fear.

Before long, the land had disappeared from the sailors' eyes, and the sea was all around them as far as the eye could see.

After the initial fear, He Tie sat on the deck bored. As an ordinary sailor, his main task was to wipe the deck, and the rest of the time he just idly stared at the sea in a daze.

At night, watching the night sky from the sea is exceptionally bright, the Milky Way in the distance hangs upside down on the sky like a ribbon, and the cool sea breeze blows by, making people feel refreshed.

The captain called the sailors to determine his position. Xia Guo had already learned from the mouth of the dinosaurs that there was a small island hundreds of miles away from the harbor city, which was the only way for the dinosaurs to attack Xia Guo. On the way, the first stop of the expedition team was to land on that small island and include it in Xia Guo's own territory.

As for the garrison who was worried about the presence of dinosaurs on the return island, Wang Lang gave the answer to ignore it completely. He thought that if those sick dinosaurs fled back, if they landed on the return island for nearly a year, they would not be dead. , the remaining number of people can't resist the attack of the human expedition team at all.

Ocean sailing is doing the same job every day, and even the surrounding scenery remains unchanged, which makes He Tie even feel that the ship is not moving at all.

By recording the rising and setting of the sun, he knew that it had been a month since he left his hometown, and he had not seen a piece of land in this month.

But fortunately, the expedition team did not encounter the legendary storm. According to those dinosaurs, the storm on the sea is extremely terrifying, and the huge ship is as fragile as duckweed in the water in the storm.

However, the good luck of the expedition did not take long. In the second month after leaving the harbor, the expedition encountered trouble.

On this day, the originally calm sky was suddenly covered with dark clouds, and the dark sky made people almost breathless.

There was no wind at all on the sea.

However, the captain who has relatively rich experience in offshore navigation knows that this is the prelude to the storm. Looking at the posture, the intensity of this storm will definitely not be too small.

But there was not even a sheltered island around, which made the captains of the two ships feel anxious.

Not long after, thunder and lightning flashed suddenly in the dark cloud-covered sky, and the waves on the sea gradually became rough.

"Sail down, sail down quickly!" the captain shouted loudly.

Knowing that the situation was not good, the watchmen on the mast quickly slid down the mast.

He Tie and the other sailors hurriedly lowered the sails. It is very dangerous to raise the sails in a storm.

The sailors looked at the lightning whistling in Tianzhong in fear, and this time they felt that death was so close to them.

"Boom!"

After a loud thunderclap, the wind blew up on the sea, and heavy rain poured down.The ship was heaving and falling in the turbulent waves, and it was in danger of being destroyed at any time.

The sailors clung to things on the deck to prevent themselves from being thrown into the sea by the shaking ship.

In this weather, falling into the sea is tantamount to pronouncing one's own death.

The captain manipulated the rudder and worked hard to maintain the balance of the ship. The mast made a "creaking" sound in the storm, as if it would break at any time.

The captain was shocked when he saw this. If the mast broke, the ship would be completely useless even if it survived the storm.

"Go and stabilize the mast, go!" the captain shouted hoarsely.

But his voice was quickly drowned in the roar of nature, and only the sound of waves and rain could be heard around him.

He Tie lay down on the deck in fear, holding on to the deck tightly to prevent himself from sliding down.

He heard what the captain said just now, but at this moment he didn't dare to stand up at all, looking at the mast shaking in the violent storm, his face showed a tangled expression.

"What the hell are you doing there in a daze, hurry up if you don't want to die!" the captain roared angrily.

He Tie gritted his teeth, roared and rushed towards the mast, holding on tightly to the cable.

Seeing this, the rest of the sailors ran over staggeringly, trying hard to maintain the balance of the mast.

But not long after, a stunned scene appeared, and I saw a wave of seven or eight meters high on the sea ahead.

The huge waves rushed towards him like a wall of water.

He Tie was suddenly desperate, his face turned pale, and his only thought was that he was going to die here.

"boom!"

The huge waves beat heavily on the boat, and He Tie felt a huge force bombarding himself.

The body flew up involuntarily, and the sea water poured in along his mouth, a suffocation dared to scare him to death.

Not knowing what hit his body, He Tie felt a burning pain in his back, and a mouthful of blood spurted out from his mouth.

After the waves passed, people were scattered all over the deck.

He Tie coughed a few times in pain, and coughed out the seawater mixed with blood that had entered his lungs.

Shaking his head to wake himself up, He Tie was startled when he looked up.

There were originally more than 100 people on the deck, but now only about 40 people are left.

The captain half-kneeled on the deck, grasping the rudder firmly with his right hand. With a pale face, he looked back at the fallen crew members.

He roared angrily: "If you are not dead, get up quickly, check the hull for any leaks, go!"

He Tie quickly got up and ran into the cabin. After checking, the sailors inside found no water leaks in the hull, so He Tie breathed a sigh of relief.

The storm lasted for more than an hour. During this more than an hour, the people on the two boats can be said to have passed through the gate of hell.

When the dark clouds receded and the sun shone again, everyone felt a sense of gratitude for their survival after the catastrophe.

He Tie was lying on the deck exhausted. At this moment, he felt that his body seemed to be falling apart. In order to grab the rope on the mast, the jaws of his hands had been ground to bloody flesh, and he felt a sharp pain when he moved lightly.

The captain leaned tiredly on the railing, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he saw another ship parked nearly a thousand meters away from him. is impossible.

After resting for a while, the captain got up from the ground. In the storm just now, he estimated that he might have deviated from his original course, so he took out the binoculars in his arms and looked around.

Suddenly his eyes lit up, and a small island appeared in the field of vision of the telescope. This discovery was undoubtedly good news for the fleet that survived the catastrophe.

(End of this chapter)