wild trail

Chapter 391 Desperate
Naturally, Wang Lang would not be left behind in the training of musketeers. The musketeer battalion of 3000 people was undergoing rigorous training every day.

In Nuo Da’s barracks, the phalanxes practiced marching in formation one by one. Although the movements were simple and boring, Wang Lang knew that the simplest method was also the most effective. In the era of matchlock guns, only this kind of mechanical training could ensure the full potential of muskets. maximum effect.

However, due to the shortage of muskets at present, in terms of musket operation, only a small part of these musketeers have mastered the shooting method of muskets, and even a large part of them have never held guns.

Fortunately, the production of Taichu's first-style rifle was successful, and this problem will be solved soon. The operation of the musket is not complicated. As long as these soldiers have a good foundation, when the guns are released, they will soon be transformed into real combat power .

The era of matchlock guns has officially arrived. In this world, human beings have been at the forefront of all civilizations militarily. With advanced military technology, Wang Lang believes that human beings will never disappear into the forest of races.

Muskets are not only long-range weapons, as long as they are equipped with bayonets, they can replace spears. In another world, muskets have been combined with bayonets for a long time. As a traveler, Wang Lang will naturally not let this kind of thing happen in this world. superior.

The bayonet is not complicated, the important thing is this way of thinking. Wang Lang, who is somewhat foresighted, designed the style of the bayonet himself. The first-style rifle in the early days has no front sight. Regarding this point, it is not that Wang Lang forgot to design it, but it is intentional.

The accuracy of the matchlock gun is basically negligible, and it makes no difference to the musketeer whether there is a front sight or not. Therefore, in designing the bayonet, Wang Lang did not use a plug-in bayonet, but planned to make a sleeve-type bayonet.

The sleeve-type bayonet designed by Wang Lang is to make the hilt of the dagger hollow. When in use, it is directly placed on the barrel. A hand guard was made, and the blade of the bayonet was almost half a meter long.

With such a long blade and the length of the matchlock gun, it is almost as long as the length of the spear. If you want the bayonet to be fixed firmly, you must make it strictly according to the specifications when making it. It will be an extremely huge challenge for Chinese craftsmen.

When Mu Feng saw Wang Lang's bayonet design, he frowned into Sichuan characters. He has worked in the Ministry of Industry for so many years, and he can see at a glance that the difficulty is not much easier than making a musket.

Although Mu Feng knew that Wang Lang's idea was right, he really couldn't guarantee that he could fulfill Wang Lang's request.

"Your Majesty, this is indeed a bit embarrassing for the craftsman. It is simply impossible to fit the bayonet on the barrel of the gun." Mu Feng sighed.

"There is no need for Mu Aiqing to be so difficult. I naturally know the difficulty. Craftsmen now make gun barrels with their own exquisite craftsmanship, but everyone is different, even if the same person makes gun barrels. It is exactly the same, but why don't you give up the human forging method and find a way to improve water conservancy machinery. The power of the water flow is almost the same. What I want is the barrel of the musket as if it was made in the same mold. Before the bayonet, you have to make a mold for making the musket barrel." Wang Lang said slowly.

"Mold for musket barrels? Your Majesty, how is this possible? The barrels are all forged through continuous forging. How can this be used as a mold?" Mu Feng quickly retorted.

Wang Lang didn't know how to answer Mu Feng's question. He didn't study mechanical processing or metal smelting, so he didn't know much about these difficult questions.

There is a general idea in his mind, he wants to use drilling to process the barrel, but all of this is based on the premise that there is a drill, and the drill that can drill the barrel must be extremely hard.

At present, in order to save costs, the barrels of guns are made of the most common steel, which is still quite different from the steel used for swords.

Wang Lang doesn't understand high-carbon steel and low-carbon steel. If he wants to get the steel for making drill bits, he must go through continuous trial and error.

Even if the steel is finished, the corresponding lathe design is still a problem. After he really tried it, he realized that the most common thing in modern society involves countless fields behind it.

It's just a small drill that stumps itself.

Seeing that Wang Lang didn't speak, Mu Feng also began to think about the question he asked in his heart, but he didn't have a clue now.

The guards outside the door looked into the hall from time to time. The emperor who had passed the Great Xia Dynasty and the first-rank official of the current dynasty lowered their heads in thought, the atmosphere was quiet and weird. Stumped by a problem.

Thinking about it gave me a headache, Wang Lang sighed and said, "You should step back first. When producing muskets, let the craftsmen make the corresponding handles as much as possible. Let's do this first, and improve after we figure out a way."

Mu Feng nodded, bowed to Wang Lang, exited the hall, and left the palace full of thoughts.

When the book is used, he hates less. This is what Wang Lang feels in his heart at the moment. If he had mastered more industrial knowledge back then, he would not be so embarrassing now.

Xia Guo's development has reached a bottleneck, especially in terms of technology, which has almost reached his limit. If he wants to develop further, Wang Lang must spend a lot of energy and must calm down and concentrate on research to have a chance to make a breakthrough. He is also very helpless.

At the end of June in the 11th year of the beginning!

After several months of arduous sailing, the expedition ship has left the westernmost part of the Chinese mainland and started heading towards Oceania.

This is a completely unfamiliar sea area, and the only thing the crew can believe is the mysterious map provided by the court.

The crew members were full of worries about the journey ahead. If there was no land ahead, they would be trapped to death in the vast sea.

He Tie stood on the mast, observing the nearby ocean as a lookout, looking for land that might appear in his vision.

It has been more than ten days since I left the big desert on the west coast, and I haven't even found a small island in these ten days.

This is definitely bad news for the fleet. The fresh water carried on the ship can only last for about a month. If no land is found during this period, everyone knows what terrible situation they will face.

The atmosphere on the ship was very dull, only a few people were chatting, and most of the crew members stared blankly at the unchanging sea.

The captain looked up at He Tie on the mast, and shook his head. He hadn't found land for so long, and he couldn't help doubting the authenticity of the map.

As time passed, the two expedition ships, driven by ocean currents and sea winds, kept moving forward day and night.

The ordinary days passed day after day, and the crew still found nothing. At this time, they suddenly realized that even now they could not even return.

In the situation where there is no way to go to the village and no shop behind, panic spread among the crew members, morale has reached the lowest level, and some crew members even have mental problems due to the huge pressure.

The captain knew that the current situation was extremely dangerous. In the face of a desperate situation, some people might make extremely crazy moves.

In such a closed space on a ship, as long as something goes wrong, it will be extremely fatal.

In order to prevent this danger from appearing, the captain summoned the trusted sailors on board to prevent accidents.

After three days, nothing was found ahead, and the desperate situation became the last straw that crushed those psychologically fragile crew members.

The situation of waiting for death made them collapse. One night, a sailor hanged himself on the boat. When everyone found out, the body was already cold.

This matter soon spread among the crew, and people panicked for a while.

The captain thinks that going on like this is not an option. Now it is just someone committing suicide. If something worse happens, the whole fleet will be fooled.

A day later, the captain made a decision to let the fully armed sailors arrest all those who were emotionally abnormal and detain them alone.

More than 50 people were arrested in this operation, which shows that the matter has reached a very serious situation.

"Why haven't I seen this damned land yet?" The captain looked at the map on the table and slammed his fist on the table with an extremely ferocious expression.

The sailor on the side was taken aback by his state.

"Captain, what should we do now? Brothers are about to lose their hold."

"What to do? How the hell do I know what to do? Get out! Get out!" The captain kicked the table over and shouted like crazy.

The sailors looked at each other, and they could see the deep worry in each other's eyes.

They knew that the captain was out of order, and if they didn't take some action, what hope did they and others have in this situation.

That night, dozens of sailors gathered secretly and planned secretly.

The sea at night was extremely quiet, but in this seemingly calm atmosphere, a group of sailors with weapons quietly approached the captain's bedroom.

He Tie and Hou Zi were also among these people. When they approached the bedroom, they could faintly hear snoring from inside.

"Guys, everyone just needs to subdue the captain, and don't hurt him." The second-in-command on the ship warned.

Everyone nodded, it is a big taboo in the laws of Xia Kingdom, the crime of kidnapping the captain is enough for them to die several times, but now for the sake of immediate safety, they have to do this.

As the doors were opened, the sailors swarmed in.

The sleeping captain was awakened by the sound and sat up from the boat.

Before he could react, several figures rushed over and pressed him tightly.

"What are you doing, are you rebelling? Damn it, let me go." The captain shouted loudly.

The sailors looked at the mate, waiting for his instructions.

"Let the captain stand up!" the first mate said in a deep voice.

After getting up, the captain stared at the partner who had followed him for many years, his face was extremely gloomy.

"Zhao Tong, I didn't expect it to be you."

Zhao Tong cupped his hands to the captain, and said: "Captain, I have to do this too. You are not normal now. For the safety of everyone, I can only control you. If we can return to Xia Kingdom, all I bear the blame alone."

The captain squinted his eyes and stared at Zhao Tong for a while, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"You are right, lock me up. During this time, the fleet will be in your command, thank you very much."

Zhao Tong nodded gratefully to the captain and said, "Captain, we will survive."

"Ok!"

"Starting today, the captain is forbidden to leave this room until land is found. He Heizi, monkey, you two must protect the captain."

"As ordered!"

He Tie and the two said in unison.

The sailors retreated slowly, leaving only He Tie and two guards at the door.

Three days have passed after the mutiny, and it has been more than 20 days now. The fresh water on the ship has been exhausted. In order to save resources, the crew can only drink a little water every day. The boat is no different.

A week later, the fresh water was completely drank. In order to survive, the crew had to quench their thirst with their own urine. Some even had hallucinations. The ocean expedition team was on the verge of death.

He Tie licked his chapped lips, and leaned weakly against the wall. The sun shone on his body, and it was no longer warm, as if the dazzling sun was about to take away the last bit of moisture in his body.

It's just that He Tie has no strength anymore, he hasn't had a sip of water for two days, and he knows that he will die soon.

But now, for some reason, he felt extremely calm in his heart, thinking of his wife and children that he missed in his heart, and with the little strength left, he grinned and smiled at the empty front.

The gods seem to like to test the willpower of human beings. When the crew members were almost desperate, a dark thing appeared on the sea ahead.

When a sailor lying in the shade of the deck tilted his head and looked over there, his eyes couldn't help but widen, full of shock.

"land!"

An extremely hoarse and deep voice came out of his mouth, the voice was so weak that he couldn't even hear it clearly.

Trying to get a little saliva from his mouth to moisten his dry throat, he struggled to get up from the deck while holding on to the railing, looking at the land in front of him and weeping with joy.

"Land! Get up, everyone, get up, I see land."

The sailor's choked and hoarse voice echoed throughout the deck.

However, the sailors lying on the deck seemed to be dead, and no one responded to his words.

The sailor stumbled towards a companion, knelt beside him, shaking his body constantly.

"Brother, get up, get up, we are saved, don't die, you are fucking suffocating."

But no matter how he shook, the fallen companion never stood up.

The sailor wiped away his tears and went crazy trying to wake everyone up, but his long-term dehydration severely reduced his physical strength.

The sudden violent action made his brain feel dizzy, and he staggered and fell heavily on the deck.

Lie down on the warm deck, gritted his teeth, and struggled to think about his Paoze brothers crawling away. He couldn't believe that he was the only living person left on this boat.

Maybe it's God's eyes. With his unremitting efforts, someone finally opened his eyes. When he heard that there was land ahead, the hope of life appeared, and the tenacious survival consciousness of human beings made these people struggle like the light Get up.

He Tie also slowly opened his eyes amid a violent shaking.

"Brother, we can survive." The sailor who woke him up smiled happily.

He Tie licked his lips before he could figure out what was going on, suddenly realized what was going on, and quickly tilted his head to look aside.

In the shadows, the monkey leaned against the wall with its head down, not knowing whether it was alive or dead.

He hurriedly crawled towards the monkey, shaking his body constantly, "Monkey, wake up, you can't die."

But no matter how He Tie shook, the monkey didn't respond at all.

He Tie couldn't believe that his brother who shared weal and woe just died like this. He tried to calm himself down and put his finger on the tip of the monkey's nose. To his delight, although the airflow was weak, it proved that the monkey was still alive.

"Brother, brother, I absolutely cannot let you die in front of me."

He Tie gritted his teeth, looked left and right, and finally fixed his gaze on the dagger at his waist.

Pulling out the dagger at his waist, he scratched his arm without hesitation, letting the blood flow into the monkey's mouth along the wound.

With the moisture of the liquid, the monkey's throat moved, and the instinct of survival made him yearn for this slight chance of survival.

The crew gathered on the deck and looked at the rising land in the distance. The joy of rescuing life from a desperate situation spread among the crowd, but the crew no longer had the energy to cheer loudly. They just looked at the land stupidly. Smiling silly.

(End of this chapter)