Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 427 The Subversion of Infantry Tactics

"boom!"

On the morning of May 18, 1640, in the eastern suburbs of Shixing City, Dongping County, the testing ground for bullets at Xinhua Military Industry was still shrouded in the morning mist of late spring when a crisp gunshot suddenly rang out, startling a flock of birds in the nearby woods into flight, flapping their wings and soaring into the azure sky.

A captain in the General Armaments Department of the Army put down his musket, looked at the target ahead, and waited for the observer to give a signal as to whether it had hit the target.

"Hit the target!?" The captain was shocked when he saw the observer raise a green signal flag indicating a hit. "He's not making that up, is he?"

The target was a full two hundred meters away from where he was firing. If it were an ordinary flintlock musket, the bullet would have no idea where it would go, let alone hit the target accurately.

"Sir, you jest!" Chief Firearms Engineer Wei Yingkun glanced at the silent senior officer beside him, then said with a forced smile, "Some time ago, one of our test shooters at the military factory accurately hit a target from over 300 meters away. Well, even at a greater distance, 400 or 500 meters, with enough luck, you could hit the target."

"Is that so?" The captain looked somewhat hesitant, glancing at his companions and then at their superiors.

"Then let's try the target at 300 meters." Zheng Lihui, Deputy Minister of the Army and head of the General Armaments Department, picked up a musket from the test stand, preparing to personally test the gun.

"Minister Zheng, let me help you load the ammunition." A test gunner from the military factory approached him solicitously.

"Yes, thank you for your trouble." Zheng Lihui smiled slightly and handed over the musket.

After receiving the musket, the test gunner placed it upside down on the ground, took out a pre-loaded powder pack from his bag, tore open the paper powder pack with his teeth, carefully poured it into the barrel, and gently patted the gun body to ensure that the powder was completely in the chamber. Then he took out a conical lead bullet from his bag, placed it in the muzzle with the bottom facing down, and pulled out a cleaning rod from his waist to gently push the bullet to the bottom of the chamber.

He pushed the trigger smoothly twice in succession, and heard a slight "click" from the chamber, indicating that the bullet was in place. Then he switched the hammer to the half-ready position, poured a small amount of ignition powder into the powder tank, and closed the powder tank cover.

"Minister Zheng, it's loaded and ready to fire at any time." He respectfully handed over the musket with both hands.

"How many shots can you complete in one minute?" Zheng Lihui asked gently as he took the musket.

“Reporting to Minister Zheng…” the test gunner raised an eyebrow and said with considerable pride, “I can complete at least four loading and firing cycles per minute.”

"Hmm, not bad, not bad." Zheng Lihui cocked the hammer to the fully cocked position, then lowered the buttstock to his shoulder, preparing to aim and fire. "If this type of musket were to be put into active service and equipped by the troops, we might need to ask you to come to the army to instruct the soldiers on how to load and fire quickly."

"Serving the military is my greatest pleasure!" The test gun officer immediately beamed.

"Minister Zheng, you can fire now," Wei Yingkun whispered, noticing the observer waving a blue flag a few times three hundred feet away.

"Hmm." Upon hearing this, Zheng Lihui steadily raised the musket, closed his left eye, squinted his right eye, and aimed at the upright target three hundred meters away.

Although the target is made to be roughly the size of a human body, at a distance of 300 meters, it looks only the size of a fingernail. Whether one can hit the target by sight requires a considerable amount of training.

Or, you need a lot of luck.

"boom!"

After aiming for a long time, Zheng Lihui finally pulled the trigger. With a sudden jolt of the buttstock, a puff of white smoke came out of the muzzle, and the bullet flew into the distance at a speed invisible to the naked eye.

"Ha, missed the target." The observer in the distance raised the red flag indicating that the shot had missed the target, and Zheng Lihui laughed self-deprecatingly.

“Minister, perhaps the gun’s range isn’t that far,” a lieutenant officer stepped forward to reassure him.

"..." Upon hearing this, Wei Yingkun became anxious and was about to step forward to explain, but when he saw that Zheng Lihui seemed to still feel some regret about missing the target earlier, he stopped in his tracks and swallowed back the words he wanted to say.

“This gun has a range of more than 300 meters.” Zheng Lihui shook his head and said, “When we came here, the technical parameters they gave us showed that the effective range of this gun is about 500 meters, and the maximum killing distance is more than 700 to 800 meters.”

"Minister, there's no doubt that rifled guns have a longer range than smoothbore guns, but surely the range of this kind of musket shouldn't be this exaggerated?" The captain looked at the musket in his hand in surprise.

Several years ago, Xinhua Military Industry also produced several rifled guns with a range of three to four hundred meters and a shooting accuracy far exceeding that of the smoothbore guns currently equipped by Xinhua Army.

However, due to the difficulty in loading rifled guns and their high manufacturing costs, they were not adopted by the military but were instead used as a reserve of military technology for further optimization and improvement.

A week ago, Xinhua Military Industry sent a letter saying that its newly developed rifled gun had made a major breakthrough and that several usable finished guns had been manufactured, and asked the General Armaments Department to come and inspect them.

At the same time, Xinhua Military Industry also sent the technical parameters of this type of musket so that the military would have a clear understanding when conducting verification.

Initially, the officers in the Equipment Department received the technical data from the military industry with a very scrutinizing and critical attitude.

Moreover, there is deep skepticism about the gun's ability to fire at a distance of six or seven hundred meters.

They once thought that Xinhua Military Industry might have made a mistake in its work, incorrectly labeling the maximum range as the effective range.

It's important to know that a firing range of 600-700 meters is almost the same as that of a 75mm light artillery piece used in land warfare.

With such a long range, not only would the enemy's infantry formations be unable to reach our Xinhua Army, but even their cavalry would likely find it difficult to launch a short-range attack under such long-range strikes.

If our Xinhua Army were to equip itself with such long-range muskets on a large scale, it would surely be able to easily break through the enemy's formation even when the enemy poses no threat.

Anyone who dares to fight alongside our Xinhua Army is simply a sitting duck.

I can easily take your life, while the weapon in your hand can't even reach me!
Currently, the flintlock muskets equipped by the Xinhua Army are not only inexpensive to manufacture, but also have a rapid loading rate of two to three rounds per minute on average. Some outstanding soldiers can even fire five rounds per minute, which is 30% faster than their European counterparts at the time.

Because the Xinhua Army generally used paper-based fixed ammunition, which involved placing the gunpowder and lead bullets needed for a single musket firing on a sheet of oiled paper, then rolling the oiled paper into a tube and tying both ends tightly with string, so that the gunpowder and lead bullets were wrapped in the paper tube, thus making one paper-based fixed ammunition.

When in use, the soldier only needs to take out a paper-made cartridge, then use his teeth to tear a notch at the tail of the paper-made cartridge, pour the gunpowder into the barrel through the notch, and then stuff the remaining paper tube and the lead bullet wrapped inside the paper tube into the muzzle. Finally, he pulls out the cleaning rod and pushes it into the bottom of the barrel.

Compared to the matchlock musket, this simplified process doubled the rate of fire of the flintlock musket, enabling soldiers to fire a dense enough barrage of bullets to make them no longer weak and helpless even against small cavalry charges.

Judging from the performance of this new type of firearm developed by Xinhua Military Industry, it is simply an incredible design.

Not only does it have a long range and high accuracy, but it also boasts the loading speed of a smoothbore musket, giving it an overwhelming advantage over existing army firearms.

"The key to the outstanding performance of this musket lies in the bullet it uses." Zheng Lihui raised his hand, gesturing for the test shooter to take out a lead bullet.

“Look…” He reached out and pinched the bullet, showing it to his two subordinates. “This bullet is streamlined in shape, with a caliber slightly smaller than the barrel, so it can slide in easily. Its bottom is hollow, with a small wooden plug embedded inside.”

"And this design is the most crucial part. When the gunpowder ignites and fires, the gunpowder pushes the wooden stopper, causing the projectile to expand and rotate tightly against the rifling inside the barrel. In this way, it maintains the convenience of loading while achieving the accuracy and range of a rifled gun."

"Minister Zheng is absolutely right!" Wei Yingkun exclaimed sincerely. "Under the guidance of Ministers Mo and Zheng, our Xinhua Military Industry designed and produced these three rifled guns and their corresponding ammunition in less than three months." "After several rounds of testing, they basically meet all the requirements set forth by the two ministers, and the firearms have not experienced many malfunctions during use. Who would have thought that such a small modification to the ammunition would increase the range of this firearm by more than 300 meters, and with such high accuracy, it can be used entirely as a battlefield sniper weapon."

“Yes, the design of this bullet is slightly smaller than the barrel caliber, so soldiers no longer need to use a hammer to knock the bullet in during the loading process.” Zheng Lihui said with a smile, “Well, these bullets can also be produced and assembled in the same way as existing paper-loaded bullets, and the loading efficiency may be improved a little.”

“Yes, Minister Zheng, our Xinhua Military Industry Association will also standardize this type of ammunition according to your instructions.” Wei Yingkun nodded in response.

“Uh…” The captain hesitated for a moment and looked at Zheng Lihui.

“Just say what you mean. As soldiers, we should be more straightforward.” Zheng Lihui said with dissatisfaction, “We’re here today to verify whether this musket is feasible and whether it should be issued to the troops in the future.”

"If you have a problem, speak up immediately. If they can give you the answer directly, they won't hold back. If it can't be solved right away, then go down and redesign and optimize it."

"Yes, Minister Zheng!" The captain saluted him and then turned to look at Wei Yingkun.

"Chief Engineer Wei, how is the penetrating power of this musket?"

"After testing, this musket can penetrate two 15-millimeter-thick pine boards at a distance of 15 meters, with the two boards spaced 50 centimeters apart," Wei Yingkun replied. "Even at a distance of 100 meters, it can easily penetrate a 15-millimeter-thick board."

"What about the iron plate?" the captain pressed.

"Iron plate?" Wei Yingkun paused for a moment, then said with a smile, "This officer must be asking about the effect of penetrating armor."

"Yes."

"We have also tested the protection of the armor, and it can penetrate a 4-millimeter-thick light breastplate within 100 meters."

"What if it's heavy armor?" The captain glanced at his superior and continued, "For example, the Qing army's Bayara people. They usually wear three layers of armor: chainmail, cotton armor, and lamellar armor. Could this musket penetrate their armor?"

"I don't have data on the thickness of the Qing army's Bayara armor, but I believe that this musket has higher kinetic energy. Theoretically, it should be able to penetrate their three layers of armor within 100 meters, especially the thinner parts of the outer iron armor, such as the greaves, arm armor, and face armor."

"What about medium to long distances of two to three hundred meters?"

“It should still be able to cause some fatal damage.” Wei Yingkun thought for a moment and gave a somewhat uncertain answer: “Well, even if the kinetic energy of the projectile decreases slightly during flight, it may be cushioned by the middle layer of cotton armor or the inner layer of chainmail, but the huge impact force will still cause relatively serious damage to the Qing army’s Bayara.”

"We need to verify this on-site."

“Of course.” Wei Yingkun waved his hand, signaling a firearms engineer to prepare the equipment.

A moment later, a pine plank about 20 millimeters thick was erected 30 meters away.

The captain raised his gun and fired, piercing the wooden board and leaving a clear bullet hole.

"If this hits a person..."

"If it's not stuck in the bone, it should go straight through!" Wei Yingkun said in a low voice, "Should we try to penetrate it at a greater distance?"

“Give it a try!” the captain nodded in agreement. “It would be best to find a few more cavalry breastplates to test.”

“Actually, even if this musket’s armor-piercing capability is a little weak, it won’t matter.” Zheng Lihui let his subordinates continue testing, then he summoned Wei Yingkun and said gently, “At worst, we can bring the enemy closer before firing. As soldiers, we must have a fearless spirit of sacrifice. How can we avoid close combat all the time?”

“Minister Zheng is right.” Wei Yingkun nodded in agreement. “Besides, the enemy’s heavily armored soldiers are only a minority. Under the bombardment of our various types of artillery, they may not be able to get close enough to the front lines. Moreover, the movement of heavily armored infantry is extremely slow. When they get close enough to charge, we can unleash a concentrated barrage of fire and kill them right there.”

"How much does this musket cost?"

“Based on our calculations of the three muskets we tested, each one costs… 30-35 silver dollars.” Wei Yingkun said with a slightly embarrassed expression, “Uh, that’s indeed a bit too high a price, four to five times that of the current standard military muskets.”

"However, if the factory mass-produces it on a large scale and makes some improvements to the relevant processes, the cost of this musket should be reduced by about half."

Finally, he looked at Zheng Lihui hopefully and asked, "Um... Minister Zheng, when will your military be able to finalize the procurement?"

"Hehe, we only tested the gun today, how can we make a decision immediately?" Zheng Lihui chuckled a few times, then turned his gaze to the musket on the test bench. "You just mentioned the many performance features and advantages of this firearm, so tell me what its shortcomings or deficiencies are?"

“Uh…” Wei Yingkun hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice, “If we’re talking about the shortcomings of this firearm, there are a few. From the perspective of ammunition, the cork material filling the bottom of this conical bullet is easily affected by the environment. In humid conditions, it may become damp, affecting its shooting performance.”

"From the perspective of the firearm itself, since it still uses a muzzle-loading design, the loading action is restricted and inconvenient when lying prone or in an emergency."

"Another point is a common problem with firearms: after prolonged continuous firing, the barrel is prone to overheating and fouling, which can reduce shooting accuracy and may even lead to firearm malfunction."

"What about reliability?" Zheng Lihui nodded slightly.

However, the minor flaws are acceptable.

"Currently, after firing 20-30 rounds of ammunition continuously, there shouldn't be any major malfunctions... well, there shouldn't be any major problems."

"Can it be further optimized and improved?" Zheng Lihui asked. "We hope that every musket equipped by the soldiers will not malfunction during combat as much as possible, otherwise, it will cause many soldiers to sacrifice themselves needlessly."

“Hmm…” Wei Yingkun nodded solemnly, “Our Xinhua Military Industry will continue to optimize and improve this musket, and will produce a better and more reliable musket in the shortest possible time.”

“Very good!” Zheng Lihui said, “On behalf of the Ministry of the Army, I can promise Xinhua Military Industry that as long as this firearm can be further improved and optimized, we will definitely issue a procurement plan.”

"Yes, the first batch will be no less than three thousand. If its superior performance is fully proven in actual combat, we will use this type of musket as the standard equipment of our Xinhua Army for the next ten to fifteen years."
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"Minister Zheng, are we really going to equip ourselves with that new type of musket in the next year?" the captain asked softly on the way back to the Army Department.

"What do you think of the performance of this new type of musket?" Zheng Lihui asked in return.

"Completely superior to the Type 35-A musket currently used by our army."

"Do you think that if our Xinhua Army were equipped with this new type of firearm, it would have an overwhelming advantage over the Spanish, or even the armies of other countries in the world?"

"Maybe."

“Hehe…” Zheng Lihui chuckled. “I can boldly predict that the new type of firearms that our Xinhua Army has been equipped with will greatly change the current line infantry tactics (in fact, the appearance of the Minié rifle did not completely overturn the queuing and shooting tactics).”

"Huh?" Everyone was taken aback.

"Yes, this could be a military revolution. Just as firearms eventually replaced bows and arrows, this new type of rifled firearm may also replace smoothbore guns."
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(End of this chapter)