wild trail

Chapter 404
During the conversation between the two, Zhou Yan gained a deeper understanding of the history of the Xia Kingdom. A tribe of less than a hundred people developed into a powerful country with a population of millions and countless lands in just over ten years.

Hearing such a miracle made his blood boil, and only after listening to the battles told by the captain, did he realize that this world is actually so wonderful.

And Yancheng at this time!

The rainy season has passed, and with the arrival of the dry season, more drought-tolerant potatoes have been planted in the field. By this time, the potatoes have broken through the ground. The vast farmland is extremely green as far as the eye can see. The children of the farmers are in the canal beside the field I led a small ceratopsian to graze, and a few bare-bottomed children jumped into the ditch to avoid the hot sun, and occasionally caught some fish and shrimp from the water. The children enjoyed the peaceful time comfortably.

It's just that the calm was broken with the sound of rumbling footsteps. A cloud of dust rose from the official road not far from the farmland, and groups of soldiers passed by the farmland quickly.

Seeing these soldiers in military uniforms, the children were extremely excited. They climbed onto the big tree and stared at the passing troops from a distance.

This army does not carry spears or waist knives, and each soldier carries a stick with a strange shape on his shoulder. The children here have never seen this strange army, and they all guess what the stick is for. .

In front of the team, Lin Shupi, who was nearly forty years old, was riding on a giant deer. As a superior, he seemed to have an aura of calmness and prestige.

Although he was not much older than Wang Lang, the hard life in the early years made him look much older than his actual age. His original black hair was already half white, but his body was quite strong.

The new army behind them is Xia Guo's first firearms unit. Under the hard work of the Ministry of Industry, the firearms battalion has been equipped with a thousand Taichu Type I rifles.

And this new army was separated from the imperial forest army, so it can be said that it was under the jurisdiction of Lin Shupi.

And today is the day to test the training results of this new army. In the western suburbs of Yancheng, Wang Lang and civil and military officials will also go there to prepare to inspect this new army with all firearms.

This is the first time that Musketeers have appeared in front of the world. Lin Shupi knew that there must be no mistakes in this review. Wang Lang devoted a lot of effort to this army. And he, the commander in chief who supports Wang Lang, won't look good either.

Looking at the sky, Lin Shupi urged: "Order the team to speed up, and we must arrive at the school grounds within an hour."

The general of the Musketeer Battalion turned his mount and shouted at the team: "The whole army runs forward!"

The soldiers groaned secretly in their hearts. It was very uncomfortable to run forward in such hot weather, wearing heavy armor and carrying muskets.

But the military order was like a mountain, even though he cursed secretly in his heart, he started to trot under his feet.

The long team quickly passed the farmland, looking at the distant army, these children have not yet come to their senses.

"The army is so powerful!" A child said excitedly.

"When I grow up, I must be a general!"

"I'm going to be a general!"

"Li Er, you have no shame in being a general with such a small body!"

The children climbed down from the tree and started fighting around the topic of who would be the general. After the playing, no one was interested in this topic anymore.

At around ten o'clock in the morning, Lin Shudai led more than 1000 musketeers to the camp in the western suburbs on time.

With the arrival of the Musketeers, the huge school grounds immediately became lively, and the civil and military officials on the high platform looked at this new army curiously.

Lin Jianya looked at the tree bark below, and snorted coldly, "I don't see anything special about this army. The formation is fairly neat and barely usable."

"Didn't the Baron envy the Imperial Forest Army before? Why do you dislike them now?" Lin Huo looked at Lin Jianya with a half-smile.

When Lin Huo said it so straightforwardly, Lin Jianya couldn't help but snorted softly and said, "If this army is trained by me, it will only be more powerful."

Lin Huo shook his head and smiled.

This is a rush of hoofbeats coming from outside the school field.

"Your Majesty is here!" the knight shouted loudly.

The civil and military officials asked questions and stood up one after another, looking in the direction of the official road from a distance.

Under the protection of hundreds of guards, Wang Lang came slowly towards the school field in a vehicle.

Walking into the school grounds, Wang Lang got off the deer cart, glanced at the neatly lined troops on the school grounds, and nodded in satisfaction.

"My ministers welcome you, Your Majesty!"

Under the leadership of Lin Huo, civil and military officials greeted Wang Lang one after another.

"You Aiqings are flat!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Wang Lang walked up to the high platform slowly, leaning on the railing and looking at the army with their heads held high on the school field, the corners of his mouth curled up.

"Okay, okay! This is what our Great Xia army should look like!" Wang Lang said excitedly.

"Your Majesty is wise!" all the officials shouted.

Lin Huo looked at the pendulum clock placed aside, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, please take your seat. There are still 15 minutes left before the inspection. The weather is hot. Your Majesty can drink cold drinks to relieve the heat."

Wang Lang nodded and said, "Sit down too!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

After the officials sat down, they wiped the sweat from their necks with their sleeves. Wearing tightly covered court clothes in such a hot weather is definitely a torment.

Wang Lang drank a glass of fruit juice with ice cubes, and immediately felt much cooler.

Time passed slowly in the conversation with civil and military officials, and at [-]:[-] in the morning, the review officially began.

All civil and military officials stood up, and Wang Lang walked forward, looking at the orderly army below.

Lin Shupi took off his helmet, stopped his waist and walked out of the team, saluted Wang Lang, and said loudly: "The firearms battalion of the Yulin Army should have 500 people, and there are actually 500 people. Your Majesty please review."

Wang Lang took a deep breath and said, "The Musketeer Battalion, start the review!"

Lin Shupi turned around on the spot and shouted: "The Musketeers listen to the order, and the inspection begins!"

As soon as the words fell, the Musketeers' phalanx spread out like a wave, and they were divided into small phalanxes of 300 people.

Each small phalanx is commanded by an officer, preparing for this demonstration according to the pattern during training.

After using the musket for so long, the officers are confident in a review.

"Boom boom boom!"

With the sound of a steady drum, the first group of 300 people marched out in neat steps.

The sound of rushing armor echoed in the school field like the sound of the tide. To Wang Lang, this sound was more beautiful than any other music. It was the sound of the army, and it was the sharpest knife of Xia Kingdom.

After the phalanx walked 100 meters, the officer shouted: "Stand still!"

"Wow!"

After a sound of armor leaves colliding, the musketeer stood still in place as if he had been cast with a hold technique.

Lin Jianya's eyelids twitched when he saw this scene, laymen may not be able to see anything, they can only feel that this set of smooth and flowing movements is really beautiful, but for Lin Jianya as the leader of the scene, this is amazing things.

Although it is only a short [-] meters, it is not easy for so many people to be able to act like one person. Even among the troops under his command, the most elite troops are inferior to these soldiers. It's very ugly.

"In battle formation! Spread out!" The officer shouted loudly.

The original square formation of fifteen by twenty was skillfully transformed into a line formation of 100 people by three lengths and three widths. It took less than 300 minutes for a team of 2 people to change formation. This kind of efficiency made Wang Lang nod again and again.

"My dear friends, how about watching the Musketeers!" Wang Lang said with a smile.

Lin Huo nodded and said, "This musketeer team is indeed an army built by His Majesty himself. In terms of formation and marching changes, it is difficult to find a comparable army in the Xia Kingdom."

All the ministers also nodded in agreement with Lin Huo's point of view.

"This is all in exchange for the soldiers' hard training. From now on, our army in Xia Kingdom must look up to them. Only in this way can we be soldiers of lone wolves and defend our country!" Wang Lang said solemnly.

"Your Majesty's teachings must be remembered!"

All the ministers said in unison.

At this time, the musketeers, who had completed the line formation, looked ahead quietly.

Under the command of the officer, charging, compacting, igniting, fixing everything is going on in an orderly manner,

The first row took a step forward, put the musket on the bracket, and aimed it forward.

The officer swung his command saber obliquely downward and shouted, "Let it go!"

"Boom!"

A hundred muskets fired at the same time, and the sound was like thunder.

The target wall erected in front had already been riddled with bullets.

The officer didn't care about the results of this shooting. After the first row finished shooting, they quickly retreated, while the second row stepped forward, and after firing, they quickly started a new round of shooting.

After a long period of rigorous training, the real effect was seen at this time. There was no panic in such a complicated rotation of shooting. Although this was just a drill and there was no sense of fear on the battlefield, Wang Lang could do it to this extent. Already very satisfied.

White smoke curled up on the school grounds, and the air was filled with the faint smell of gunpowder. The civil and military officials had opened their mouths wide in surprise, watching the Musketeers shoot round after round in surprise.

Listening to the sound of the projectile hitting the dirt wall, the officials could imagine what would happen if the opponent was replaced by an enemy. Faced with such a fierce attack, it was hard for them to believe that there was such an army in this world that could fight against the earth. It will not collapse under such an attack.

The first group of musketeers, after six rounds of shooting, quickly adjusted their formation, lined up in a square formation and retreated to the side, handing over the inspection field to the friendly troops below.

Bang bang gunshots resounded throughout the land in the western suburbs, shocking everyone's hearts. Although everyone has seen the power of artillery, compared to artillery, this individual weapon shocked them more strongly .

The appearance of muskets can make them clearly realize that the mode of war has changed. In the face of this killing machine, personal bravery is almost useless.

In front of rows of musketeers, even if you are as strong as a cow and extremely brave, no matter how brave a soldier is, he will not be able to play any role with a single bullet.

Lin Huo swallowed his saliva, and said, "Your Majesty... Your Majesty, with such an army, my country of Xia will be the most powerful country in the world."

Wang Lang shook his head and said, "It's not enough now, do you know how much the equipment for 500 people cost!"

"This minister doesn't know!" Lin Huo said with some embarrassment.

"Wood Wind! Tell me!"

"Your Majesty! Colleagues, our Ministry of Industry spent a total of [-] copper coins to build these [-] muskets!"

Mu Feng's words shocked everyone. Thirty thousand copper coins is not a small amount. Xia Guo's treasury's annual income is only more than 30 guan, and it only costs a tenth of the money for the 500-man musketeer team.

"Your Majesty, why is this musket so expensive!" Lin Jianya asked.

"This musket is extremely cumbersome to build, and the manpower and material resources it consumes are far from comparable to spears and swords. The quality of our Xia country's steel is not good, and it is very troublesome to make steel suitable for making gun barrels. At present, we can't make it big in a short time. A musket team of 3000 is almost the limit for a large-scale musketeering team.”

After Wang Lang finished speaking, Lin Jian raised his eyebrows, looked at Mu Feng and said, "Mu Shangshu, there are so many craftsmen in your Ministry of Industry, since you have such good things as muskets, why don't you think of a way to improve steel for a thousand dollars?" Five hundred muskets cost [-] guns, and one gun costs [-] guns, which is too damn expensive, who can afford it!"

Mu Feng twitched his lips when he heard this, and said, "Mr. Lin, do you think improving technology is so easy? The craftsmen haven't even returned home for several months because of these [-] muskets. Your ministers, who don't want to improve the technology of steel smelting to the current level, our Ministry of Industry is worthy of His Majesty, and worthy of the blood and sweat of the people!"

Lin Jianya snorted coldly. He was at odds with these civil servants who like to drop their schoolbags. When he wanted to ridicule a few words, Wang Lang said: "Technology improvement cannot be completed overnight. This matter cannot be rushed."

Lin Jianya curled his lips and looked at the school grounds.

At this time, all the Musketeers had finished their drills, and the earth wall that was used as a target was already riddled with holes under the impact of these thousands of projectiles, and it seemed that it could collapse with just a slight push.

Lin Shupi gave a military salute to Wang Lang, and said in a loud voice, "Report to Your Majesty! The Musketeer Battalion's drill is over, please give instructions to Your Majesty!"

Wang Lang said loudly: "Mike warriors, your performance today did not disappoint me. Your hard work was not in vain. You used your actions to let the ministers of the court see your value. From now on, you will be the regular army of the Xia Kingdom. Today you You will have your own names!"

As soon as the words fell, the musketeers were very excited. A troop with its own number is not only an elite for Xia Guo, but this number will accompany them for life. The glory of the troop is also their own glory, and compared to those without a number For ordinary troops, the military pay that soldiers can get is not comparable to that of ordinary troops.

The double reward of honor and material made these musketeers almost jump for joy, but thinking of the occasion at this time, they suppressed the excitement in their hearts and couldn't help but straighten their waists even more.

(End of this chapter)