Chapter 39 How to Use the 39 Bird Gun

"According to the regulations set by the Five Military Commandery, we have to escort the grain and grass from Huguang and Jiangxi directly to the front of the army. Now the only hope is that the court can't raise the military funds and troops, so that His Majesty can cancel the northern expedition plan.

The Duke and the Duke Dingguo's Mansion have also communicated, but there is no way, the imperial pen has appointed."

Zhang Qing's last words completely blocked Wu Zhankui and Wei Meng's retreat. If they still had a glimmer of luck in their hearts at the beginning, it was that their boss could pull them out of the quagmire at a critical moment.

Whether it is the Zhang family, the Wu family, or the Wei family, they are all Fengyang people who followed Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang to rebel, but their ancestors did not have the ability to stand on their own, so the Mengyin they got was a little worse.

At the time of the founding of the country, the status of military generals was far from what it is now.

But now the boss can't shelter them from the wind and rain, and now they can only find ways to improve the combat effectiveness of their soldiers. If they really go up, they will have a greater chance of saving their lives on the battlefield. There is no other way.

Wu Zhankui and Wei Meng looked at each other again, but they both saw deep helplessness in each other's eyes.

There are not many ways for infantry to deal with cavalry, and the requirements for infantry are extremely high, requiring very high tactical qualities, which cannot be achieved by hastily training for a few months.

Facing the charge of the cavalry group, the infantry must at least keep the formation in order.

It seems to be a simple requirement, but it is actually very difficult to do.

At the time of the founding of the country, it was possible to use the military formation to confront the Tartars. At that time, whether it was morale or tactical qualities, the soldiers of that time were far superior to now, and there was no comparison.

So they came up with the method of increasing firepower and concentrating firearms to fire quickly, in order to defeat the enemy before the battle, or at least to disperse them.

Cavalry must attack in groups to be threatening. If the cavalry charges in scattered groups, it is easier to deal with.

Now Zhang Tongzhi wants to ask them about other methods they have thought of. Where can they think of them for a while?

This method was actually suggested by Wei Guangde. When Wei Lao returned home and asked about what he had seen and heard during the expedition, he mentioned the mother-and-child cannon he had seen in Zhenjiang.

At that time, Wei Guangde felt that this mother-and-child cannon seemed to be similar to the cannons of later generations. They were all rear-loading, and a fast firing rate was a must. If there were a large number of gunners firing, it would be possible to defeat the cavalry group.

"Is there no other way?"

Zhang Qing narrowed his eyes at this moment, his eyes kept wandering back and forth between Wu Zhankui and Wei Meng, and a look of disappointment gradually appeared on his face. Finally, he sighed.

"By the way, father, this time the Nanjing Arsenal sent over a batch of bird guns. I heard that Brother Wei also received some. Is that thing useful? That is the latest firearm."

Zhang Shigui, who was standing next to Zhang Qing, suddenly interrupted. He had heard the conversation just now, and now he was just joking, hoping to get rid of the Portuguese cannon first. That thing is really impossible to get.

But Wei Li also brought back a batch of bird guns from Nanjing this time. He was not interested in firearms and naturally had not tried them. However, when he saw Wei Meng, he remembered that he seemed to have heard that Wei Meng had some bird guns.

The trip to Zhenjiang was forced. No family brought their own boys. Only the old ones went alone. Naturally, Zhang Shigui did not go with the army. Everything was heard from the people who came back.

As for Zhang Qing, he naturally would not tell him these little things.

In fact, even Wei Meng still had more than a hundred people in his hands. Zhang Shigui didn't know it afterwards. He only knew it when the senior officials of the garrison suddenly discussed the allocation of military farms.

"Bird gun? There are still such things in the garrison?"

Wei Meng certainly knew about the bird gun. He tried it when he first got it. After returning, his second son often took it out to shoot birds. The sound of "bang bang" of guns was often heard from the back mountain.

"Is this thing useful?"

Zhang Shigui looked at Wei Meng's reaction as if he had grabbed a life-saving straw, and Zhang Qing and Wu Zhankui also cast concerned eyes.

"It is useful when used. The batch of firearms allocated to me this time is of good quality."

Wei Meng could only say this, and he was also wondering how this thing would perform when facing a cavalry charge.

When they heard Wei Meng say that the quality was good, both Zhang Qing and Wu Zhankui were happy.

They still knew the power of firearms. As long as they were well-trained, their combat power was very strong, and the training of firearms was much easier than that of archers.

In order to keep his archers' combat power, Wei Meng allowed them to take weapons into the mountains to hunt instead of arranging them to farm.

As for firearmers, there were also in the Baihu Suo, but they were all sent to farm because they were unwilling to use them. After all, the explosion of firearms was not a joke.

But his own son often took a bird gun, and he didn't know how many shots he had fired.

The reason why he was still confident in letting Wei Guangde use it was because every time Wei Guangde came back from shooting, he would ask Tang San to check the condition of the gun barrel. This was also the reason why he was confident, because his boy knew the danger.

"There are more than a hundred bird guns in the warehouse of the guard, all made together, and the quality should be similar."

Zhang Shigui continued at this time, "This batch of firearms is a new weapon, and it is also for us to try out, so as to facilitate mass production in the future."

"Is this bird gun a new invention? It is indeed easy to use, and it is more accurate than the previous fire guns."

When Wei Meng heard that it was a new weapon, he thought to himself that it was no wonder he had never seen it before, but when he thought of the Portuguese cannon he saw in Zhenjiang, he had never heard of it before, so he was indifferent.

"This blunderbuss was obtained the year before last or the year before that. It was also taken from the barbarians. The Ordnance Bureau copied it after studying it for the past two years."

Zhang Shigui introduced.

"Captured? Did we have a war with the barbarians?"

Wei Meng and Wu Zhankui were also surprised when they heard Zhang Shigui's introduction.

The blunderbuss and the Folan cannon are both very powerful, and they all belong to the Yi people. So how powerful are the Yi people?

Can the Ming army win against them?

At this moment, the two of them had already thought that the north was not at peace, and now there was a new threat like the Yi people who were good at using firearms, and their hearts could not help but pound.

"In the twenty-eighth year of Jiajing, the year before last, probably around that time, the Fujian Guards sent troops to attack the Japanese pirates who were entrenched there. Among them, there were Yi people among them. After the war, some of these bird guns were seized. Because many of us were injured on the battlefield, we were sent to the Nanjing Ordnance Bureau for research on imitation.”

At this time, Zhang Qing opened his eyes and slowly told what he knew about the origin of the gun as if he was reminiscing.

There are many theories about the origin of bird guns. They were introduced from Guangdong and were obtained during the Japanese suppression campaign in Fujian. However, he is the only one here who knows the origin of bird guns. After all, he had contact with the Ministry of War and the Ordnance Bureau in Zhenjiang. He knows. It’s not surprising that there are more.

"There are also barbarians among the Japanese pirates?"

Wu Zhankui was a little surprised, "Didn't they say they were all Japanese and Han pirates?"