Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 229: The musket volley was fake?
Lu Jin was not very clear about what Wei Ziming had done in Nanchang, nor about Wang Dayuan's upcoming trip north. He had been very busy these days, studying how to make guns and cannons, training soldiers, and supervising the progress of the construction of city defense fortifications in Anqing.

Anqing is still missing a city wall. If it is not repaired, it is very likely that the newly acquired Anqing will be lost again.

However, he also paid attention to some intelligence matters, especially the intelligence maps collected by Bao Yu from various places, which were what Lu Jin was most concerned about.

He matched the sizes of city walls, road traffic, hydrology and climate in various places with the electronic maps he brought from modern times, and then redrawn them to make the most reliable map of this era.

As for the deployment of troops in each city and so on, Lu Jin was not particularly concerned, because the military force in a war was a dynamic thing, it could be considered as "software". Who knew which city's troops would be transferred away and which city's troops would be strengthened in the future? This type of intelligence was too time-sensitive, so it was necessary to place spies in the city for long-term development and keep an eye on it at all times.

It would be better to first collect the "hardware" information of various places, such as roads and city defenses. Although the enemy may also build city walls, such a large project is difficult to conceal from people. As long as the local intelligence station finds that the enemy is building fortifications, it can report it immediately.

On the other hand, in Luzhou, after Zhang Wen came back last time, Lu Jin quickly asked him to bring the captured soldiers from Tongcheng, in addition to the original troops of the Sixth Regiment. Lu Jin's adopted son Lu Pojun also brought back a cavalry battalion composed of Chelibuhua's surrendered soldiers and three thousand war horses from Haozhou.

After all the troops arrived and after some reorganization, Zhang Wen's Sixth Regiment was officially changed into the Second Brigade of the Imperial Guard, which was the same combined brigade organization as Zhu Shou's.

Zhang Wen was appointed commander of the Second Brigade with the rank of major general, commanding all the battalions of the brigade.

Li Jun served as the deputy commander of the Second Brigade with the rank of colonel, commanding four musket battalions and concurrently serving as the battalion officer of one of the musket battalions. There were three other battalion officers, namely Zhen Yuanji, Zhen Yuanqi, and Xu Wei, each leading a musket battalion.

The Zhen brothers surrendered and joined the army in Tongcheng with their father Zhen Yanlong. Xu Wei is an old brother that Zhang Wen brought from his hometown village. He worked his way up from being a squad leader to a company commander of riflemen. Now he has been promoted to a battalion commander of a thousand households. He is considered one of Zhang Wen's own and can be used with confidence.

Otherwise, if the core of the firepower of the combined brigade, the four musket battalions, were all surrendered generals, it would be a bit worrying.

Qin Zhao, the former commander of the 6th Regiment and Zhang Wen's brother-in-law, served as the commander of the artillery battalion with the rank of colonel. The artillery battalion was under the command of 64 field artillery pieces of various types.

Zhang Wen's cousin Zhang Liang served as the battalion commander of the Xianzhen Camp with the rank of colonel, in charge of a battalion of heavy infantry equipped with heavy armor and lances.

There are also two grenadier vehicle battalions, whose battalion commanders are Chen Hui and Zhang Zhen. Among the two, Zhang Zhen was also brought out from Zhang Wen's hometown village, while Chen Hui was a surrendered general under Kang Maocai. He was previously a centurion under Li Jun, and later served as a company commander under Li Jun. This time, the two of them were promoted together, which can be regarded as an internal balance.

Lu Pojun, the adopted son of Lu Jin, was the battalion commander of the Second Brigade Cavalry Battalion, and under his command was a group of newly recruited Mongolian surrendered soldiers.

Previously, due to the lack of horses, the cavalry battalion of Zhu Shou's brigade had been vacant. This time, more war horses were captured, so it was just right to fill the cavalry battalion of the brigade. Guo Xing's younger brother Guo Ying was appointed as the battalion officer of the cavalry battalion.

After the personnel and horses were matched, the Second Brigade officially entered the training stage. Qin Zhao learned that he was assigned to the artillery and had to learn arithmetic with Yang Huan, a 15-year-old kid. He was immediately overwhelmed.

But there was no other way. The artillery battalion of the combined brigade was originally a core output unit. Lu Jin and Zhang Wen were not at ease handing it over to ordinary people. Besides, Qin Zhao might be the one with the highest cultural level in the original Second Regiment. Although he was not particularly good at arithmetic, he had a cultural foundation after all. If he couldn't learn it, then others would be even less likely to learn it.

However, other generals were not idle either. The four musket battalions and two grenadier battalions of the combined brigade all needed to be equipped with muskets. That means six battalions of muskets. Since muskets were the main weapons, the generals naturally had to learn how to use them first.

However, the production of muskets is still very limited, with only about 900 produced per month, which can only equip one battalion. Not to mention Zhang Wen’s Second Brigade, even Zhu Shou’s First Brigade now has only three battalions of muskets, and there are still three battalions waiting to be replaced.

Lu Jin gathered all the officers above the platoon level from the two brigades, a total of about two hundred people, just enough to form an officer company, and then personally taught these people how to use muskets and battle formations.

The group of officers learned quickly. On the first day, they learned about the various parts and components of the flintlock rifle, the firing principle, and how to use it. They disassembled and assembled the rifle by themselves. On the second day, they learned loading techniques and training. On the third day, they practiced live-fire shooting, with each person firing 20 rounds. They basically mastered the performance and usage techniques of the musket.

Even the officers were amazed at how quickly they could master this new weapon. As both were long-range shooting weapons, the crossbow was slightly easier to practice than the bow, but it would take months to become proficient in using it. The situation with the bow was even more exaggerated, taking years to master it to a qualified level, but it only took them three days to learn how to use the musket.

After learning how to shoot, Lu Jin led them to conduct shooting tests. Although this flintlock rifle was invented by Lu Jin, and he also knew some of the flintlock rifle volley firing methods that were circulated on the Internet, he had never actually commanded line infantry. He didn't know what the performance of the musket was and how to use it on the battlefield. As the saying goes, seeing is believing, and it is never as good as trying it yourself to be sure.

Therefore, in the military camp training ground in the northwest corner of Luzhou City, Lu Jin specially transferred twenty pieces of two-millimeter-thick, 40-centimeter-wide, and 60-centimeter-high rolled steel plates from the iron factory to be used as shooting targets for them.

In the first round of testing, the maximum direct aiming range was 200 meters, and a single gun was used to shoot at a single target. One large and four small standard shotgun shells were used, with a total of five bullets in each shot. Ten shots were fired, and a total of 8 bullets hit the target.

There were ten rounds of ammunition, each of which was a shotgun shell with five bullets, which meant that a total of 5 bullets were fired, 50 large ones and 10 small ones, and 40 of them hit the target, with a hit rate of only a pitiful 8%.

Among the 8 bullets that hit the armor, none of them were large, only two of the small ones penetrated the armor, and the remaining six only left dents to varying degrees.

However, a group of generals were still amazed at the power and accuracy.

The newly surrendered Zhen brothers were transferred to the Imperial Guards Musket Battalion. At first, they thought Lu Jin wanted to take them away as hostages to make their father obedient and at ease. Later, other generals were assigned to various regiments, and only the two of them were assigned to this newly formed combined brigade, which was still the Musket Battalion. The two brothers thought Lu Jin wanted to use them, the surrendered generals, as cannon fodder.

But now that they saw that they were equipped with such powerful weapons, those previous ideas disappeared instantly. The two brothers were still young and especially liked new things, and they couldn't let go of the flintlock rifles in their hands.

The results of the first round of shooting came out, and before Lu Jin could comment, the eldest of the two, Zhen Yuanji, took the lead in speaking well of him.

“Although only eight arrows hit and two penetrated, I think this is already very rare. Marshal, you should know how to be content. If it is also a long-range shooting troop, if it is a crossbowman, it is not necessarily possible to hit the target after firing ten arrows at such a long distance. Even if one or two arrows hit by chance, it is not certain that they can penetrate such thick armor.

"There is another more critical problem. This type of flintlock rifle is easy to use. No matter whether you are elite or not, you can shoot that far after simple training. If you change it to a bow and arrow, how many people can pull a hard bow that can shoot 12 steps? Where can we gather thousands of such strong and brave soldiers?" Zhang Wen nodded when he heard it. He felt that this new little brother was very sensible. He immediately praised, "That's true. Our two brigades, musket battalions, and tens of thousands of musketeers can shoot that far. If we change it to archers, I'm afraid we can only gather them with the whole country's strength.

"And I think there is another problem. Didn't the Marshal say before that the muskets should be fired in a line? Then we are also attacking the enemy's army formation, so how could there be only one person? This test can't actually measure anything.

"Of the 50 bullets fired from those ten shots, how many would have missed the target? The enemy formations on the battlefield are densely packed and stacked one after another. I would say at least half of these 50 bullets would have hit people. Even if they didn't hit the one we were aiming at, the people next to him wouldn't have been able to escape."

"That's right. I thought so too. We should arrange the targets into a military formation and then shoot to see how many we can hit." Zheng Yulin, commander of the musket battalion of the 1st Brigade, also said.

Lu Jin nodded, "Of course I know, but we have to test them one by one. We have 20 steel plates this time. In the next round, we will line up these targets and fire shots with a single musket to see how many we can hit and how much armor we can penetrate. Who will shoot in the second round?"

"I'll do it. My battalion has been refitted for two months. I've practiced for a long time and I can shoot accurately." Guo Xing from the 1st Brigade immediately stepped forward and asked for the order.

"Okay, then let Guo Xing shoot."

"Yes."

So, the second round of testing began soon. Ten rounds were fired with a single gun. The target was changed to 20 densely arranged steel plate chest targets. The distance was still meters. Bang bang bang bang. With Guo Xing's continuous firing, a strong smell of gunpowder soon filled the shooting range.

Another 50 bullets flew out. A soldier took the target to count and found that this time 37 bullets hit the target. The hit rate was as high as 74%. The only thing was that the dispersion was a bit terrible. At a distance of 200 meters, 37 bullets hit 5 adjacent targets respectively. The other 13 bullets flew to unknown places and were not seen on the targets on both sides.

Among them, seven of the ten largest projectiles hit the target, hitting the left, middle and right targets respectively. Six of these seven large projectiles successfully penetrated the armor. Of the remaining 30 9mm small projectiles on the target, about twenty successfully penetrated the armor.

The overall armor penetration rate is still relatively high, and the armor penetration rate at 200 meters basically reaches about % to %. This is very different from the test results of some muskets hitting plate armor that Lu Jin has seen on the Internet in later generations.

Lu Jin pondered for a moment and felt that this might be the reason why the plate armor breastplate was thicker. The manually forged plate armor breastplate was curved, and the thickest part could reach about 7 mm. What he tested was a 2 mm homogeneous rolled steel plate, so its defensive power naturally could not be compared with that of a hand-forged breastplate.

Seeing this result, the generals were even more delighted.

"Marshal, see what I said just now. If these 50 bullets hit the enemy's formation, at least more than half of them will hit people. Now it seems to be true. This is just a musket shooting. If hundreds of people line up in a row and fire at the same time, I guarantee that as many as possible will be killed." Zhang Wen said excitedly after counting the number of targets.

Lu Jin was also shocked by the hit rate and the kill rate, but the test result made him confused. After all, he had never actually handled a flintlock rifle before. He only read some popular science and jokes on the Internet. However, those popular science stories all advocated exaggerated descriptions such as "the thin red line" and "the British army suffered huge casualties, but their morale did not collapse, and they could defeat the enemy with a single volley at a distance of 30 yards."

But since the range and accuracy of the flintlock shotgun are not as bad as imagined, why did they have to shoot at a distance of less than 30 meters? Are the British army stupid? Or is the rumor on the Internet that the line was shot to death false?
"This kind of musket is really a magical weapon. It is easy to ignite. You don't need to prepare a tinderbox. It comes with a flint and a steel rod. You can fire it by pulling the trigger. And the paper-wrapped bullets are also very clever. The bullets and a certain amount of gunpowder are packed in advance, so you don't have to rush around on the battlefield.

"I have seen fire guns in the Yuan army before. A gunner has bottles and jars hanging all over his body, and he also needs to prepare a fire source. The soldiers on the battlefield are in a hurry. It takes a long time to load a fire gun. The amount of gunpowder filled is arbitrary. If you are not careful, it will explode.

"That kind of musket is usually not loaded on the battlefield. It is loaded in advance and fired once at the critical moment. After that, it can only be used as a stick to hit people. There is no time to reload.

"In comparison, this kind of paper-wrapped ammunition is much more convenient. As long as you are trained strictly, you can reload it multiple times. With a bayonet installed on the front, it can also be used as a pistol. It can be used for both long-range and close combat. Its power is so amazing that it can easily penetrate armor. The Marshal is worthy of being the descendant of Gongshu. He can actually make such an ingenious firearm." Li Jun commented while playing with a musket.

Zhang Wen immediately recalled, "You mean the incident in Chao County? I was in the same regiment at that time, attacking Kang Maocai's right wing. Just when we were about to break through the formation, a row of muskets came towards us. But I don't think the Yuan army's muskets were very good. After one round of gunfire, only about 10 to 20 people fell on our side.

"If we use firearms like the ones we have, we won't be able to break the formation in that battle."

Zhu Shou and Zhang Wen have a say, as they were the only two of Lu Jin's subordinates who had suffered direct blows from muskets. However, the muskets of the Yuan army were too primitive and had limited power, which made many generals not take firearms seriously at first. Only after they saw the current flintlock rifles did their views change.

Li Jun nodded, "That was the time, but I was in the front army at that time, and the muskets were not distributed to me."

The two chatted about the last battle for a while, and Zhang Wen finally realized that he hadn't heard Lu Jin speak for a long time. When he turned around, he found that Lu Jin was frowning and looking thoughtful.

Zhang Wen then came over and asked, "Marshal, what's wrong? Isn't this musket pretty good?"

Lu Jin shook his head. "Nothing. Of course, fire guns are powerful. I'm thinking about how to use them, and what formations to use, how many rows should be formed on the battlefield, and how many rounds of ammunition each soldier should carry."

When everyone heard what Lu Jin said, they also started to think about it. After all, this was a brand new type of soldier, and it had never been recorded in previous military books. So, how to use this new weapon had to be studied.

Lu Jin waved his hand, "Don't worry about that for now. Let's finish all the tests today, and then formulate tactics based on the performance of the musket."

"it is good."

Everyone agreed and then started to continue the test.

(End of this chapter)