Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 75: The Rifle Shows Its Power
When we arrived at the firearms training ground, we heard gunshots one after another and smoke filled the air.

According to the "Military Training Minutes", the target for the matchlock gun was set at eighty steps away, five feet high and two feet wide; the target for the single-barreled gun was set at sixty steps away, five feet high and two feet wide; and the target for the three-barreled gun was set at thirty steps away, five feet high and two feet wide.

Based on the setting of the target, it is not difficult to see that the accuracy and range of the matchlock gun are better than those of the single-barreled gun, and the single-barreled gun is better than the three-barreled gun.

Danchu had high hopes for firearms and first inspected the assessment of the musketeers. The infantry battalion had a musketeer sentry, all equipped with matchlocks. The army was short of matchlocks, and the musket sentry was supposed to have 31 matchlocks, but in reality there were only 17, and 14 were still missing.

The sentry leader was named Luo Jinke, with high cheekbones and a long thin face. He was originally a corporal in the Musketeers, which were founded by the Portuguese mercenary Ferreira and whose backbones were mostly foreigners.

Luo Jinke was very intelligent, had accurate shooting skills, and was skilled in loading bullets, so he was promoted to sergeant by Ferreira. During the military expansion, Luo Jinke was promoted to sentry leader and was highly regarded by the battalion commander.

Seeing Danchu and the others, Luo Jinke hurried over to salute and said respectfully, "Marshal."

Danchu nodded slightly and asked, "How many people have taken the exam? How were their scores?"

"Reporting to the commander, twelve people took the test, two were excellent, three were good, five passed, and two failed."

Similar to archers, musketeers are assessed by shooting three times. Those who hit all three shots are excellent, those who hit two shots are good, those who hit one shot are qualified, and those who miss one shot are unsuccessful.

The results were much better than those of the archers, and everyone finally showed a relieved smile on their faces.

Danchu smiled and said, "Don't worry about me, just continue organizing the exam."

"Yes!" Luo Jinke turned to the soldiers taking the test and said, "The Marshal is watching. Everyone must use all their skills. Don't panic, don't make mistakes, and try to hit all three shots. Wang Daquan!"

"To!"

"Step out! Get set, go!"

Luo Jinke took an hourglass and turned it upside down. The sand slowly flowed down and the timer began. The time was about two minutes, and the musketeers had to load three bullets, aim, and shoot within two minutes.

The musketeers were all selected in advance, and most of them were smart. Although Wang Daquan was a new soldier, he was also very smart. After receiving the order, he immediately took the musket and started loading ammunition.

He half-crouched, first holding the muzzle of the matchlock gun facing upwards in front of him, then opened the small bamboo tube filled with gunpowder and poured the gunpowder from the muzzle into the gun chamber.

The ratio of gunpowder to bullet weight must be appropriate. Otherwise, if there is too much gunpowder, the barrel will explode easily, and if there is too little gunpowder, the bullet will have no power.

In the early days, the Ming army loaded bullets at a ratio of one to one, for example, if a three-cent bird gun was loaded with three cents of gunpowder, then after actual combat, it was decided to load bullets at a ratio of four to three, for example, if the bullet weighed four cents, then three cents of gunpowder would be loaded.

In order to increase the speed of loading, the Ming army usually loaded the gunpowder in advance and put it into small bamboo tubes. When loading, they just poured all the gunpowder in the bamboo tube into the muzzle, which was simple and easy.

Next, Wang Daquan opened the ammunition bag at his waist, took out a six-cent lead bullet, wrapped it in oil paper, and pushed it into the barrel with a plunger, compacting it together with the gunpowder.

The third step is to open the fire door cover, clean the gunpowder residue at the fire door, take out a bamboo tube, pour the gunpowder on the fire door of the bolt to ignite the fire, and close the fire cover to prevent accidental firing.

Step 4: Take out the gun stand, prop it up on the ground, and place the barrel on the gun stand. Gently blow the match to make sure it is still burning. Then open the fire cover and press the metal hook with the match into the fire port.

This is a heavy matchlock gun that requires a gun stand for support. It has heavy lead bullets, great power, a long barrel, high accuracy, and a good armor-piercing effect.

The fifth step is to aim, put the rear sight, the gun star, and the target in a straight line, and pull the trigger. The metal hook presses the fuse into the firing port, igniting the primer in the firing port, which in turn ignites the charge inside the barrel. The gunpowder explodes, firing the lead bullet.

With a "bang", the bullet was fired, a cloud of white smoke came out from the muzzle, emitting a pungent smell of gunpowder.

The gunshot was so loud that Yu Houji's body shook and he sneezed twice due to the smell of gunpowder.

Dan Chu had long been accustomed to the smell of gunpowder. After smelling it, his body even felt an inexplicable excitement.

The power and accuracy of the matchlock gun are much stronger than the Manchurian bow, but the firing rate is too slow, and ordinary shooters can only fire one or two rounds per minute. Compared with the matchlock gun, the firing rate of the flintlock gun is doubled, and it can be fired in light rain, and ordinary shooters can fire two or three rounds. However, the flintlock gun has higher requirements for saltpeter and springs, and its reliability is worse. The Ming Dynasty also had flintlock guns, called self-made muskets and self-strike muskets, but like Europe, flintlock guns were not popularized and were usually only used by nobles.

In the future, when you have a stable territory and become stronger, you can start to explore the technology tree. Flintlock rifles are undoubtedly a direction you should work towards.

There were two target positions beside him, each with a musketeer, and gunshots rang out one after another.

Wang Daquan had no time to think about anything else. He hurriedly repeated the reloading action and fired three lead bullets before the hourglass ran out of sand.

Fortunately, he fired three lead bullets within the time limit. The shooting range raised the black flag and stopped shooting. Two soldiers came forward to check and repaired the target with paper and glue.

They returned quickly and reported their results to Danchu: "Reporting to the commander, there are three targets. The left one is good, the middle one is good, and the right one is passing."

Danchu smiled and said, "Not bad, the musket sentry training results are very good."

Wang Daquan got a good grade on the test, and finally a smile appeared on his face. He was extremely nervous during the hustle and bustle just now. Although it was only two minutes, he was so anxious that he was sweating. At least the result was good and he didn't lose face in front of the Marshal.

Danchu asked him, "When did you enter the camp?"

Wang Daquan was a little nervous, but finally answered appropriately: "Replying to the commander, I entered the camp on the 28th of the twelfth lunar month."

Danchu smiled and said, "Well, how come you entered the camp before the New Year?"

"Replying to the commander, my family has many people and food is scarce. I heard that the commander is kind and righteous, so I hurried to join the army."

"How many people are there in your family? How many brothers?"

"There are nine of us, four brothers. I am the third oldest among the brothers, and I signed up for the army with the fourth. The fourth was not selected, so I was selected to serve as a musket post."

"Oh? Why didn't you get selected?"

"He's so short, he's actually only fourteen."

Ancient people used to call their age by their virtual age. A 14-year-old should only be 13 years old. Guangxi is a poor place, and the people are generally malnourished and short. It is normal that Wang Daquan's brother was not selected.

In this chaotic world, children from poor families have no way out, even eating becomes a problem. Joining the army and getting food is indeed a way out.

"It doesn't matter. When you turn sixteen, you can still come and join the army." Cen Danchu seemed to be thinking about something, and then continued to ask, "How many days have you been practicing with the musket?"

"Practicing with muskets..."

Wang Daquan spoke hesitantly, probably because he couldn't count.

Luo Jinke answered for him: "Reporting to the commander, the musket guards started training on the third day of the Lunar New Year, and it has been thirteen days so far. Except for the two days of rest in the middle, there are training every day for the rest of the time."

"Yes, Not Bad."

Practicing cold weapons is very physically demanding. Even archery, pulling the string a dozen times will make your arms weak and limp. Soldiers have low protein and fat intake and are unable to withstand rigorous training, so they must rest regularly.

The musket is much more friendly. Loading, aiming and shooting do not require much strength. The main thing is to be skilled, fast and accurate.

Danchu was very satisfied with the training of the musket sentries. Before leaving, he told Luo Jinke: "You organized the training well, and the soldiers' assessment results are very good. In the future, you have to keep up the good work and don't slack off at all."

"promise."

(End of this chapter)