The New Destiny of the Ming Dynasty

As for the left and right wing adjutants of the grenadier unit, only one relatively suitable candidate was selected.

Because apart from Yang Zhen, no one currently knows what the grenadiers or grenadiers do.

Li Lu had doubts about what role the grenadier team could play, or how much of a role it could play. It was only out of trust in Yang Zhen, or rather, "blind obedience," that he took on the responsibility of forming the grenadier team without hesitation.

Moreover, Yang Zhen's force of nearly two hundred men had already been selected by the musketeers and then by the artillery; one can imagine what kind of men were left.

They are either old, weak, sick, or disabled, or they are not well-liked, or they don't have any special skills.

In short, they were all soldiers that the musketeers didn't want on the left and right flanks, and the artillery flanks couldn't get in either. They were just there to throw gunpowder shells, so as long as they had arms and legs, they were fine.

However, no matter how lacking in skill this team may be, they can always find a tall one among the short ones.

The one chosen was none other than Pan Xizi, the troublesome soldier who had been loudly complaining in the ranks earlier.

This choice surprised Yang Zhen and dissatisfied Zhang Degui, but overall, it fit the temperament of the grenadier team that Yang Zhen envisioned.

Grenadiers are all about daring to charge and fight, not being afraid of death. They really need some hotheads and idiots.

Pan happy, who is fearless, unruly, and disrespectful to everyone, is a perfect fit for the role of grenadier adjutant.

However, Yang Zhen eventually divided the 66 grenadiers into two wings, each with 33 men. Li Lu, the commander, led the left wing and carried the wing flag, while Pan happy served as the adjutant on the right wing, under Li Lu's command.

Yang Zhen led the group to appoint the commanders and adjutants of each team in the advance battalion in front of everyone in the small training ground, and then issued team flags.

Finally, the squad leaders and adjutants themselves appointed the squad leaders and sergeants in public.

The basic organization of the provisional Ningyuan vanguard battalion's musketeer, artillery, and grenadier units was thus established.

Moreover, on that very morning, in front of everyone, Yang Zhen carefully and solemnly distributed the forty Lumi guns that Zu Keyong had brought from Zu Dashou's army to all the soldiers of the musket team, including Zhang Chen and Zhang Guogan.

Based on what he knew that day, he personally demonstrated the use of the "Rumi musket" to everyone in the musket team.

Taking this opportunity, Yang Zhen also instructed Zhang Chen and Zhang Guogan to figure out the maximum amount of gunpowder and the most suitable bullet size for the "Lumi Gun," and reminded them to pre-package the ammunition in fixed quantities after figuring it out.

Of course, Yang Zhen also told them that it would be even better if the gunpowder could be pre-packaged into cylindrical cardboard cartridges according to the caliber of the "Rumi Gun".

In his later years, Yang Zhen didn't know much about guns and ammunition. He had just read a lot of online historical novels and followed what others said, merely imitating what they said.

However, his rudimentary explanations were like a piercing through a window for Zhang Chen and Zhang Guogan, two experts familiar with the various muskets and firearms of the government army, instantly enlightening them.

Pan Wenmao and Yang Shen, who were standing beside Zhang Chen and Zhang Guogan waiting for Yang Zheng's instructions, also seemed to understand something after listening to the speech. Since the amount of gunpowder in the "Lumi Gun" could be pre-packaged in a fixed quantity to increase the loading speed, could the Nine-Headed Bird, Tiger Crouching Cannon and Frankish Machine Gun also pre-packaged pre-packaged gunpowder packets, or even cardboard ammunition, in peacetime?

The firearms technology of the Ming Dynasty was not much behind that of the West at the same time.

In particular, the "Rumi Cannon", the breech-loading cannon, and the imitation "Hongyi Cannon" were at least on the same level as the Western weapons of the same era.

In this era, those in the Ming Dynasty's official army who were proficient in firearms were all striving in this direction. With just a little guidance, Yang Zhen would not need to do everything himself to break through the barrier and take a big step forward in the use of firearms.

Besides his idea of ​​using cylindrical, pre-packaged paper ammunition, Yang Zhen also shared all the flintlock gun ideas he could think of with Zhang Chen and Zhang Guogan, asking them to try them out.

Yang Zhen, holding his "Lumi Gun," suggested that they use the "Lumi Gun" as a prototype musket and try to fix a flint above the "Lumi Gun's" touch gate, so that the "Dragon Head Iron" could strike the flint directly and see if it could scrape off sparks to ignite the gunpowder in the touch gate.

If this method works, then we should modify it as soon as possible, modifying as many versions as we can.

Yang Zhen was unaware that his somewhat far-fetched ideas, once they reached Zhang Guogan's ears, left Zhang Guogan, who thought himself an expert with firearms, completely stunned. A voice kept churning within him: "So that's how it can be! It can actually be like this! How could this be! How come I never thought of this before!"

Zhang Chen, who was also observing Yang Zhen to see if he was worthy of his service, looked at Yang Zhen with disbelief and newfound respect, just like Zhang Guogan, after hearing Yang Zhen's casual and seemingly thoughtless words.

Zhang Guogan was physically weak from a young age. While other scions of noble families in the garrison enjoyed practicing swordsmanship, archery, and horsemanship, he was not.

He couldn't lift the most basic stone weight, nor could he draw the most popular strong bow. For a scion of a hereditary hundred-household family, this was a disgrace.

He was bad at all cold weapons, so he forced himself to practice with muskets and matchlock guns with all his might. Even though his right cheek was burned by matchlock guns time and time again, and he was almost disfigured by repeated gunshots, he remained devoted to his craft.

The fact that he is able to earn his current position in the Guangning Army, especially after his father and elder brother died, and that he was able to inherit the title of centurion of the garrison, is all thanks to his current abilities.

However, loading ammunition and ignition methods for the matchlock gun were always a problem for him. Each injury made him determined to find a way to change the situation. But being ignorant and incompetent, he had never actually used the "dragon head iron" to directly strike the flint, a "flint" method, to ignite the gun.

That morning, Zhang Guogan, as if struck by lightning, remained in a dazed and incoherent state after leaving the training ground.

That afternoon, after repeatedly trying to strike the various flints he had collected from his subordinates with the "dragon head iron" of his "Lumi Cannon," Zhang Guogan had a good idea of ​​what to do. Holding his valuable "Lumi Cannon," he went around the streets of Ningyuan City, asking around and searching for a blacksmith shop.

That same evening, news of Zhang Guogan's attempt to "sabotage" the "Lumi Gun" reached Yang Zhen.

Li Lu, who was reporting to Yang Zhen on the grenadier unit's preparations for battle, reminded Yang Zhen: "These Lumi guns are all we have, and they were all borrowed from Commander Zu's army!"

"If Zhang Guogan messes things up and ruins it, when it comes time to return it, I'm afraid I won't be able to explain it to Commander Zu! Zu Keyong is generous and easy to talk to, but he's caught in the middle, so it'll be difficult for him to handle things in the future!"

Seeing that Li Lu had put aside his urgent duties with his grenadier squad to bring up this matter, Yang Zhen simply smiled and dismissed it.

He had no intention of returning those Lumi guns!

Therefore, he completely scoffed at Li Lu's concerns. However, he was still in Ningyuan City for now. Once he left, he would be free to roam the world and would no longer need to worry about Zu Dashou.

If Zhang Guogan and Zhang Chen could actually produce the quantitatively packaged ammunition or even paper-cased ammunition that he mentioned, and transform the Lumi gun into a flintlock musket.

He wouldn't mind if you broke one or even ten or twenty Lumi guns, let alone one.

However, seeing that Li Lu was somewhat worried, he couldn't say it directly, so he changed the subject and said to Li Lu, "Don't worry about Zhang Guogan's matter for now! I've already told you and Pan Xi about your grenadier team's future tactics and missions!"

"If the number of the Ten Thousand Men Cannon, Dragon King Cannon, Thunderbolt Cannon, and Heaven-Shaking Cannon in Ningyuan City is insufficient, or if they are too heavy and unsuitable for your use, you must quickly figure out how to improve them yourselves! You can't wait! You can't rely on others! You can only rely on yourselves!"

"I can only tell you again that as long as there is enough gunpowder and enough time-delayed fuses made of ignition fuses, grenades—yes, grenades—are not a problem at all!"

"Don't just think about the Ten Thousand Men's Cannon, Dragon King Cannon, and Heaven-Shaking Cannon that are already in Ningyuan City! You can try to make your own hand grenades! One or two pounds is fine, three or five pounds is no problem either!"

"Wine jars can be used as containers, and earthenware bottles can be filled with gunpowder. If a blacksmith can forge them, or even better, they can be cast directly with molten iron!"

"Remember! Go find Pan Wenmao first. He's in charge of all the gunpowder I got for the advance battalion! The most urgent task is to prepare the gunpowder! If the gunpowder is powerful enough, it can even explode iron mines cast from molten iron! And the better sealed the iron mine, the greater the explosive power after it explodes!..."