A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 738 Huaiyu’s Three-Eyed Gun

The emperor's decree.

For the six towns in Lingnan, 3 soldiers from Guanlong and Henan were transferred directly to [-] soldiers.The six towns are all recruited and garrisoned by the Henan government troops in Guanzhong, and are no longer selected and reorganized from the Lingnan native soldiers.

One Tongjunfu will draw 200 people, and 3 people will be drawn from 150 Tongjunfu.

150 groups were drawn.

Among them are fifty cavalry regiments and one hundred infantry regiments.

A regiment of 200 people is drawn from each unified military government on a regiment basis. This is also to ensure combat effectiveness, and there is no transfer of the entire government. This is also the practice of selecting soldiers from the Tang Dynasty for expeditions. Generally, they are drawn in units of teams and regiments. , it is rare to say that the entire government is directly taken away.

What's more, the soldiers of each Tongjunfu are usually divided into groups. Some go to Beijing to stay on guard, and some take turns to go to the frontiers to guard the borders. Those who are not on duty work at home and farm. There will never be a whole army of people in the Tongjunfu. Idle.

After the decree was issued, the Ministry of War issued an order to issue fish charms, and the Yamen of the Twelve Guards selected military attachés.

These 5000 transferred government soldiers will be reorganized into six military towns, each with [-] people.

Guard envoys, deputy envoys, chief historians, Sima, Liu Cao, military officers, recorders, bookkeepers, military officers, as well as a series of positions such as military envoys, town generals, school lieutenants, brigade commanders, and team leaders must be arranged.

When the recruitment order is issued to each government, they will gather in the capital of Honshu within ten days, and then arrive in Guizhou and Guangzhou within three months. They will then be stationed in the six governor's offices in Lingnan and reach the designated garrison area.

We have plenty of time, but it’s a long way to Lingnan.

Fortunately, this is the first batch of Laofu soldiers to go to Lingnan. They all have experience in expeditions.
The mothers and wives of the soldiers prepare to collect clothes and food, and prepare their mounts or pack donkeys. The regiments and teams also need to mobilize armor, swords, guns, bows, arrows, and tent provisions from the armor storehouse.

In Guanzhong and Henan, one-third of the unified military government received the task of sending troops.

Wu Huaiyu was also busy making preparations for the expedition in Chang'an.

He, the Lingnan Road Observer and Deposed Ambassador, was actually the general manager of the Southern Expedition. The emperor gave him two banners and two festivals to control all the troops and horses in Lingnan. At the same time, he was also given the right to inherit and worship. It can be said that he has great power and has both civil and military control. .

Fan Xuanfu personally wiped his armor and polished his blade.

Gao Twelve and the others also rushed to make a jersey.

The emperor gave Wu Huaiyu [-] Beiya Baiqi and Qianqi elite, and added [-] flying cavalry and Shenji battalion. This time he had [-] personal troops to escort him south.

However, Fan Xuanfu and the others felt that it was not enough, so they forced themselves to piece together [-] cavalry for Wu Huaiyu.There are children and soldiers from the Wu family, as well as children and tribes from the Fan family, Li family, Qiu family, Yun family, Gao family, and Duan family, the wives and concubines’ natal families.

They are all carefully selected,

These 1000 troops are not among the 3 people in the six towns of Lingnan.

They even prepared eight horses for Wu Huaiyu's mount, thirteen sets of armor, and five horses.

"This time I'm patrolling Lingnan Province, I'm not going to fight. Those slanderous officials don't need me to go out in person. What can I do with these preparations? I can only bring two sets at most."

“It never hurts to bring more with you, so you’ll be prepared.”

Wu Huaiyu couldn't resist them and went with them, but still firmly rejected Fan Xuanfu's idea of ​​sending Sword Girl to accompany him.
No need.

It's not convenient.

"How about I go to Lingnan with Alang and serve Alang." Gao Twelve said,
"You should stay and take care of Juliusho. There are so many people around me. I don't need you to take care of me."

Wu Huaiyu comforted his reluctant wives and concubines. He first went to the imperial garden outside Xuanwu Gate to receive the [-] imperial cavalry given to him by the emperor, and then went with the captain of the Shenji Camp to the Shenji Workshop in Qujiang, south of the city. A batch of firearms were received in the machine arsenal.

A large number of various types of gunpowder, rockets, etc. were received.

This was the emperor's order. Although no one looked down on the Lingnan slang and barbarians, they were prepared. In the past few years, Datang's Shenji Workshop had been researching and manufacturing firearms and had a lot of firearms in reserve.

These firearms were not used much. Wu Huaiyu used some when he fought the Turks in Youzhou. The imperial court also deliberately concealed the power of these weapons.

Not many people know about it, or they know that the imperial court has firearms, but few can figure out what these firearms are and what their real power is.

The emperor gave Wu Huaiyu magical firearms to protect Feng Ning, Chen Xian and his family. In case of conflict between these Lingnan chiefs and the imperial court, these firearms could show their power at a critical moment.

Huaiyu didn't pay much attention to Shenji Workshop in the past few years, and even deliberately refused to interact with it.

Now he took a look around the Shenji arsenal and found that although there were many types of firearms, they were not as much as he expected and there was not much development.

Muskets and artillery have not come out, mainly various rockets and various mines. The gunpowder has improved a lot, and the fuses have become more sophisticated.

But in general, it has not left the primary stage.

There are muskets, but Bamboo's muskets, one-time consumables and close-range shotguns, are too different from real muskets.

Not to mention artillery.

Shenjifang now only uses catapults to launch various types of mines, including poisonous ones, flaming ones, and explosive ones.
It is said that the Lingnan people worship the god of thunder and frogs, and they like to paint thunder and frog patterns on their bronze cowhide drums.

If the Shenji Battalion's firearms were to show their power among the Lingnan barbarian army, especially during night attacks, they would probably have an unexpectedly large effect.

"I'll give Erlang something good."

Mr. Li Deyu, who was accompanying Wu Huaiyu in the Shenji Arsenal, smiled mysteriously,

This man is now the young supervisor of the Ordnance Supervisor and is also in charge of the Shenji Workshop. He is an official of the fifth rank. He asked the official in the arsenal to fetch a box.

Huaiyu thought there was something good,

When it was opened, there was a three-eyed gun inside.

Made of forged and rolled wrought iron, it looks like three bamboo-shaped single blunderbuss assembled together. Each blunderbuss tube has a small hole in the outer guillotine.Li Deyu held the three-eyed gun and showed off proudly, "This is the most advanced research result of Shenji Workshop, called the three-eyed gun."

“When in use, add gunpowder to the gun tube, and finally fill it with iron balls or cast iron blocks, crushed iron sand, etc., add a match rope to the small hole, light the match rope when in use, ignite the gunpowder, and then the projectile in the gun tube can be fired.
The three gun tubes can shoot in turn, which is extremely powerful. "

Wu Huaiyu looked at this thing,
The blunderbuss tube is about one foot long, three tubes are stacked into one, and three hoops are used. There is a hoop behind the blunderbuss to install the wooden handle, and an iron drill or iron hoop is used behind the handle.

Seeing this thing, Wu Huaiyu was not unfamiliar at all.

Because this thing is basically one of the design drawings he drew when he first started the Shenji Workshop, and even the name was chosen by him.

Li Deyu also used it to offer him treasures.

He picked up the three-eyed gun and looked at it carefully for a long time.

I found that this three-eyed blunderbuss was forged by hand and was quite finely made. The triple blunderbuss tube was dark and cold, and a wooden pole was connected to the back, making the entire three-eyed blunderbuss look like the iron bones of the cavalry.

Neither long nor short,

It can be used as a blunt instrument.

"This thing can do a lot of damage within twenty steps." Li Deyu said.

Huaiyu smiled, that is, it is neither accurate nor lethal outside twenty steps, but think about it, after all, this is the oldest spray gun, there is no rifling, and it is mainly shot. , spray a large area,

Of course it can only be shot at close range.

Wu Huaiyu estimated that the lethality of these twenty steps was exaggerated, and the real lethality was probably only about ten steps.

In the Tang Dynasty, ten steps were equivalent to 15 meters. This distance was not actually close.

Of course, on the battlefield, the distance of ten steps is too short. If the cavalry charges, they will hit each other in the blink of an eye.

It is said that the Ming Dynasty's sophisticated three-eyed gun had an optimal range of thirty paces, which could break heavy armor, and could severely damage unarmored targets at fifty paces.

But Wu Huaiyu felt that it was still an exaggeration. Only a group of three-eyed gunmen could fire in a volley to guarantee this power.

Otherwise, if a single soldier wields a three-eyed gun and can hit the enemy in twenty steps, it will be very impressive.

Huaiyu did not ask Li Deyu about the specific situation, but directly went to the arsenal official to ask for the specific parameters. After some understanding, he found that the three-eyed blunderbuss was the latest experimental product of Shenji Factory. Not many have been made so far. The cost is very high, but its power is limited. , mainly distance.Compared with the range of bows and crossbows, it is far behind.

And although it has three blunderbuss tubes, it can be fired three times in a row, but reloading is too time-consuming.

The lethality of any skilled archer and crossbowman is much higher than this, and the current cost of making these three-eyed blunderbuss is very high.

Too bad.

It is made of gunpowder, match rope, and lead. It costs three bucks to load one shot of lead bullet, which is very expensive.

Moreover, the barrel is forged by rolling, which is not easy.This kind of roll is made into a gun tube, and the seams are particularly difficult to deal with.

Anyway, Shenji Workshop made some samples and put them in the arsenal. They didn't make any more later. The cost and power made it impossible to mass-produce and install them.

Li Deyu gave one to Huaiyu.

Wu Huaiyu smiled and accepted it.

I also took some gunpowder and lead. This thing is a new thing. After practicing it, I can be somewhat accurate and can also shoot birds. Of course, it can be used as an iron bone shot. In fact, it is not bad. The triple blunderbuss tube, but It is forged from wrought iron and has three iron hoops on it, which are no less powerful than the Iron Bone Duo.

Even Shenjifang despises this thing as useless.
Wu Huaiyu felt that if the cost could be lowered and the problem of production capacity could be solved, the three-eyed blunderbuss would be good. Not only infantry but also cavalry could be equipped.

The two armies charged,

First, the three-eyed muskets were fired in unison. The lethality at close range would not be small, especially the huge noise, which was probably even more powerful.

Maybe the enemy will collapse in fear.

Unfortunately, in the eyes of Shenji Workshop and even the weapons inspector, the three-eyed gun is useless, much worse than bows and arrows, and crossbows. There is no need to waste money on it.

The crossbow can reach a hundred steps, and the bow can also have a killing range of sixty or seventy steps.
Even bows and arrows can be fired three times in advance.

This three-eyed gun not only shoots slowly and very close, but is also greatly affected by strong winds, rain and snow. It is useless, and the cost of gunpowder, match rope, and lead is much higher than that of arrows.

Huaiyu came out of the divine machine arsenal,
Carrying a three-eyed gun on horseback to shoot birds,

As a result, after a whole day of wandering around, not a single bird was shot down, but two bird feathers were picked up. The frightened wild pigeon flew around and dropped two feathers.

The imperial cavalry accompanying the guards all laughed at the fact that the three-eyed cannon was loud but not lethal. Even those from the Shenji Battalion thought this thing was worse than a rocket.

Wu Huaiyu became more and more excited as he ejaculated. He felt that the roar of this thing was very good. Every time he shot a gun, it would make people's blood boil. The pungent smell of gunpowder smoke made people intoxicated.

The romance of smoke and fire,
It feels much better than archery.

It's true that the range is not good, but if you replace the small lead bullets with lead bullets that cost three cents each, the range will be increased a lot. Thirty steps will be no problem.

But whether you can hit it or not depends on enough time of training, just like archery.But shooting a three-eyed gun and shooting an arrow are completely different.

Archery skills are of no use here.

Wu Huaiyu felt that he had to practice more. Practice makes perfect. As long as he practiced enough, the three-eyed gun would not be more difficult than the bow and arrow.

If you have enough proficiency and an armor-piercing range of thirty steps, Wu Huaiyu thinks this thing is still very good.

(End of this chapter)