Chapter 397 Evaluation

On the square in front of the Chengqing Hall, the ministers surrounded Luo Xin and his party in the shape of a crescent moon.

Xiao Wenxuan and Xiao Ming stood in the middle of the meniscus.

Watching Luo Xin take out one long stick-shaped weapon after another from the wooden box, Xiao Wenxuan looked surprised, he said to Xiao Ming: "Ming'er, is this a musket?"

"Yes, Father, this is the gun used in the battle of Jizhou. It's actually very simple, but it's just a small gun."

The ten muskets that Xiao Ming brought this time are all arquebuses, and there is a arquebus at the position of the gun.

In combat, it is necessary to ignite the arquebus to launch, and this is the disadvantage of the arquebus.

Because firing requires a match, the shooter often has to carry several meters of match on himself.

When the weather is wet, the match rope is extremely difficult to ignite. Generally, the musketeer will ignite both ends of the match rope in order to fire a second shot at any time. Only in this way, a match rope cannot be burned for a long time, and it is easy to Can't be used during siege because there is no matchstick.

Another disadvantage is that the lit match is easy to find at night, which makes it difficult to carry out sneak attack operations at night.

In general, it was so many disadvantages of the matchlock that led to the rapid elimination of the matchlock after the appearance of the flintlock.

Now Xiao Ming is ready to sell the matchlock gun because he is confident in the advantage of the matchlock gun over the flintlock gun.

"Well, it does seem like the artillery has shrunk. Ming'er, you are so smart, doesn't this mean that every soldier has a cannon in his hand now?" Xiao Wenxuan laughed and was extremely happy.

Due to the lack of horses, it was difficult for the Great Yu Kingdom to defeat the barbarians in the wild. Now the appearance of this new type of weapon immediately gave Xiao Wenxuan hope.

These days, he attaches great importance to the firearms battalion, and now there is a new type of weapon installed, he is naturally excited.

Xiao Ming echoed with a smile and said, "Although it is a reduced artillery piece, its power will also be greatly reduced."

At this time, Luo Xin had already handed over all ten arquebuses to the soldiers. When they were in Qingzhou, these soldiers had already practiced the firing process of arquebuses, so after they got the arquebuses, they were very skilled in loading them and just waited for them to be fired.

Ready, Xiao Ming gave Luo Xin a wink at this time.

"Launch!" Roxin shouted at this time.

After receiving the order, the soldier immediately lit the match, and used the match to ignite the gunpowder in the gunpowder pool. With the sound of a "bang", a burst of white smoke came out.

Xiao Wenxuan was startled by the movement of the arquebus, even though he was prepared in his heart, as were the ministers, some of whom even trembled with fright.

"Oh, the sound of this musket is really not small."

"Yes, but why hasn't one of the targets been hit?"

"..."

After the arquebus was fired, the ministers began to whisper.

In today's courtroom, no one of them jumped out to accuse Xiao Ming. One is because Xiao Ming has made too much credit this time. Finding fault at this time is tantamount to finding fault with himself.

Secondly, Xiao Ming holds Shanhaiguan in his hand, which means that Xiao Ming holds the safety of the north. At this time, he is a high-level authority, and he is afraid of being attacked by Xiao Ming. After all, Xiao Ming has this ability now.

The most important thing is this new weapon and musket. They represent the interests of different gentry clans in the Great Yu Kingdom, but no one wants to offend Xiao Ming, because they are also eager to get this kind of weapon.

The comments of the ministers reached Xiao Wenxuan's ears, and Xiao Wenxuan was also a little embarrassed. He said to Xiao Ming: "Ming'er, why didn't any of these targets hit."

"Father, this musket relies on intensive shooting, which is naturally very different from a bow and arrow. In fact, the accuracy of a musket is not comparable to that of a bow and arrow." Xiao Ming said lightly.

The musket was criticized by the army at that time for its unstable performance during the exchange of hot and cold weapons. Qi Jiguang, a general of the Ming Dynasty, once described in detail the funny situation of the musket in the army: either the soldiers had lead bullets and forgot to reload, or the soldiers were careless. Bullets swallowed, or the soldier holding the gun incorrectly causes the ammunition to slip out of the barrel, even if the shot is poorly aimed.

So many faults eventually led to the Qi family's army only equipped with two bird guns, and the rest were cold weapons.

Therefore, even if he brought the arquebus this time, it was still a question whether the generals of the banned army could see it after the demonstration.

"Bow and arrow are not as good as, so what's the use of this matchlock gun?"

After Xiao Ming's words were spoken, a general suddenly spoke up.

The other ministers also mean the same, if it weren't for the fact that Xiao Ming relied on the musket to defeat the barbarians, they would be even more disdainful.

Luo Quan said loudly at this time: "Your Majesty, a single musket is indeed not as practical as a bow and arrow on the battlefield, but the last commander has seen His Royal Highness King Qi's musket team. Thousands of people form a column to ride and shoot, and the musket will emit great power. , and a qualified archer needs years of training, but even if an ordinary person can kill a barbarian cavalry with a musket, the barbarian does not lack horses, and the Dayu country does not lack soldiers."

Xiao Wenxuan looked at the blank bullseye and swept the musket again. Luo Quan said exactly what he was thinking. The advantage of the barbarians is the war horse and the skilled archer, which is the disadvantage of the Great Yu Kingdom.

But the musket can make up for this disadvantage. He asked again: "Ming'er, what is the power and range of this musket?"

"The range is not a bow and arrow. Its power is much greater than that of a bow and arrow, and it can penetrate the armor of a barbarian at a distance of 90 steps." Xiao Ming said.

For him, the purpose of this time he came with the arquebus was to promote this weapon and achieve arms sales.

This time, the north has been settled, and now they have signed a nomination certificate. Regardless of whether the nomination certificate is useful or not, the princes should be more honest for the time being.

After marrying Fei Yue'er back, he basically won't come to Chang'an again. After that, he will fully manage his fief and completely make up for the technological gap with the West.

Therefore, when he came to Chang'an this time, he came to seek money, one for a commercial and trade agreement, and one for arms sales.

As long as these two things are achieved, he can continue to make profits and use the money to upgrade the fiefdom.

"More powerful than bows and arrows?" Xiao Wenxuan was a little moved by Xiao Ming's words.

He pondered for a while, and said: "In this case, it's better to equip a batch of guns to try it out. This time, it's better to equip the firearms battalion with 5,000 muskets."

The purchase of artillery has cost millions of taels last time, and it must be expensive to continue to purchase artillery now.

So Xiao Wenxuan didn't want to buy too much at once, lest the ministers make irresponsible remarks. After all, the firearms battalion that was built at a huge cost is just a decoration, and there is no real record on the battlefield.

Moreover, the accurate head of the musket did make him doubt the combat effectiveness of the musket.