The Military Governor in Dream of the Red Chamber

An hour later, the women finished their shooting posture training.

After a short rest, Huang Xiuer shouted again, "Everyone, get ready, load ammunition..."

The women, kneeling on one knee, held their muskets firmly in their left hands, opened the trigger, and reached into their medicine pouches with their right hands, skillfully pulling out a paper tube.

They stuffed a corner of the paper tube into their mouths, tore a hole with their teeth, aligned the opening with the lighter, carefully poured in a little gunpowder, and then put the lid back on.

Next, the remaining gunpowder along with the lead bullets was stuffed into the barrel, and then the ramming rod was pulled out to forcefully tamp the gunpowder and lead bullets together.

Finally, the burning fire rope is clamped onto the dragon head, the whole movement flowing smoothly and seamlessly.

This is the result of their training over the past month.

Of course, this is training now, using blank cartridges, which don't contain any gunpowder; it's just simulating the steps of a real shooting exercise.

Jia Chen dared not actually let them fire continuously with gunpowder. There was enough gunpowder available, but the problem was that Jia Chen was worried about the quality of the muskets.

Although these muskets were selected, problems are inevitable if they are fired too many times.

Therefore, Huang Xiuer and her colleagues mostly used blank cartridges for simulation, and only occasionally had a few precious opportunities to conduct live-fire shooting.

Given Huang Xiuer and the others' current condition, they can basically trigger it twice per minute.

The arquebusiers in the Da Hong army did not use paper tube ammunition; even the skilled ones could only fire about once a minute.

In the chaos, an ordinary arquebusier might only be able to fire once every two minutes.

Of course, Huang Xiuer and her team are only training now and haven't actually faced the enemy yet, so the effectiveness of their training remains to be seen.

"One hundred paces, fire!" Huang Xiuer shouted.

Everyone simulated a launch.

"Clean the gun barrels~~~Load the ammunition~~" Under Huang Xiuer's command, the women began another round of the cycle.

This is their training these days—repetitive and tedious, yet no one complains of being tired; they've been diligently carrying it out.

In addition to these training exercises, Jia Chen also repeatedly emphasized the importance of discipline in musket shooting.

Everyone must obey orders. Anyone who fires indiscriminately will be beheaded.

Such is the military order of the Da Hong Army: firing without orders, even if it kills the enemy, is a crime.

Because if one person doesn't obey orders to fire, it can easily disrupt everyone's rhythm.

Especially on a real battlefield, when facing an enemy charge, people are already under a lot of tension. If someone fires first, it can trigger a chain reaction and cause serious consequences.

Therefore, discipline must be taken seriously.

Wang Baisheng and his group often pointed and whispered about Huang Xiuer and the others.

They didn't think much of the musket squad, especially since it was made up of women; how powerful could it be?

"Don't look down on muskets," Jia Chen said, noticing Wang Baisheng and the others.

"Sir, I'm not trying to be mean, but this musket does have a long range and great power, but you still need to be accurate. Also, your so-called three-stage firing technique is useless. What good are those few?" Wang Baisheng said, pointing at Huang Xiuer.

"What if there are even more muskets in the future?" Jia Chen asked.

"Didn't Master Lu say that it's impossible to manufacture muskets? There probably aren't many usable muskets around Beidong Road," Wang Baisheng said.

"Just because we can't build it now doesn't mean we can't build it later," Jia Chen shook his head and said, "Aren't you going to train?"

Wang Baisheng chuckled and ran off.

Wang Baisheng and his team were also busy training the loading and firing of the tiger crouching cannon.

Because the Tiger Crouching Cannon used high-quality iron, its overall weight was much lighter, around 30 jin (15 catties) per cannon, while the Da Hong Army generally used one weighing around 36 jin (13 catties).

The weight of 30 pounds is enough for one person to carry, ensuring mobility.

This is not only useful for defending the city, but it can also be deployed for field battles in the future.

With just one other person carrying the shells and ammunition, two people can operate a tiger crouching cannon.

Therefore, Wang Baisheng and his team were also training in this kind of field combat, not just firing cannons to defend the city.

Since the cannons were forged on their own, Wang Baisheng and his team were fairly satisfied with their quality, so they didn't have much of a problem with the Tiger Crouching Cannon.

The power of the Tiger Crouching Cannon, in particular, surprised and delighted Wang Baisheng and his men.

The Tiger Crouching Cannon was primarily designed for close-range, fan-shaped fire, and was typically loaded with hundreds of small lead bullets or small iron pellets.

After firing, the projectiles spread out in a fan shape, forming a rain of bullets, similar to the effect of a shotgun, causing devastating area damage to dense infantry or cavalry groups within a certain range in front.

Its enormous roar and destructive power can effectively damage the morale of enemy troops, making it a powerful weapon against cavalry charges.

The effective killing range of the Tiger Crouching Cannon is about 80 paces (120 meters), with about 60 paces being the optimal killing range.

The arquebus has the longest range, with an effective kill range of over 100 paces (160 meters) and around 70 paces, and it has a significant armor-piercing effect.

Since the various tribes of the Later Yuan lacked armor, most soldiers were unarmored, and even those who did were wearing simple leather armor with extremely poor protection. Jia Chen believed that the arquebus could better exert its power.

If the archers of the Later Yuan Dynasty dismounted and shot arrows, their effective range could be as far as 100 meters, which is much closer than that of a musket.

This is the range advantage of the arquebus.

Of course, if it's mounted archery, the distance is even closer, and the effective kill might be within 20-30 paces.

To increase their accuracy, the Later Yuan cavalry would also approach this distance to shoot arrows.

Jia Chen had already had ideas about the configuration of firearms.

At 100 paces, the musket was fired.

At approximately 60 paces, the Tiger Crouching Cannon fires.

After about 30 paces, the three-barreled gun was fired.

Three lines of defense can more effectively kill the enemy.

However, the number of arquebuses was limited, so the tiger crouching cannon was basically the main force for defending the city.

"My lord, the snow is gradually getting thicker. Based on past experience, the northern barbarians are unlikely to move south. We can have a peaceful New Year now," Sun Tiechong said as he walked over to Jia Chen, who was standing on the city wall looking north.

"Yeah, with this awful weather, it probably won't come," Jia Chen noticed that snowflakes were falling again. "But we can't let our guard down."

Jia Chen took security very seriously, ensuring that there were always people on the several lookout towers.

Meanwhile, at the Zhenqiang Fort Garrison.

Sun Shaozu visited He Liding again.

"Has the departure date been set?" He Liding reached out and warmed his hands over the charcoal fire; the weather was too cold.

"We'll emerge from seclusion in five days," Sun Shaozu said with a smile. "My side is all ready; we're just waiting for your three hundred elite troops."

He Liding smiled and said, "Don't worry, there won't be any shortage of people. I've had them prepared for this for a long time, just waiting for you to say that."

Sun Shaozu nodded. He Liding was already on his side; they were all in the same boat. With such huge profits this time, he believed He Liding wouldn't take it lightly.

"It's a pity that I can't return until after the New Year. There won't be much income during the New Year," Sun Shaozu sighed.

"Good things come to those who wait," He Liding laughed. "If we had set off earlier, I wouldn't have felt at ease. At this time of year, the Chahar tribe certainly won't be heading south."

"That's true," Sun Shaozu agreed.

He felt a little regretful.

Abuna did not head south; if it had, it could have flattened Qianshanbao.

Jia Chen is still alive, and he always makes Jia Chen grit his teeth.

He had previously thought that Abunai had intercepted his caravan and killed his men, but in the end, the goods ended up in Jia Chen's hands.

Later, he sent people to find the soldiers who had come from the front of the mountain.

Under duress and bribery, they obtained a startling piece of information from them.

That means the people in his caravan weren't killed by Abunai, but by Jia Chen.