The next day, just as dawn broke, Wang Han summoned all his men to the drill ground and had Cai Yan bring a pigeon with her.
“Yesterday I led a group to bring back a batch of special weapons.” On the drill ground, Wang Han said to his generals, “and I plan to use these weapons to build a special army.”
Upon hearing this, the generals under Wang Han couldn't help but look curiously at the two boxes, one large and one small, at Wang Han's feet. Although they didn't know what special weapons they contained, weapons that Wang Han could choose to use to build a special army must be extraordinary.
Seeing everyone's curious gazes, Wang Han didn't keep them in suspense. He directly opened the large, long box at his feet, took out a Type 38 rifle, and explained, "This is called a rifle. It's a long-range weapon, similar to a bow and arrow, both used to attack enemies at a distance. However, this weapon is much more powerful than a bow and arrow. While it can't kill someone from a thousand miles away, if used well, it can easily reach 500 meters. Moreover, its speed of attack is very fast, and its lethality is greater than that of a bow and arrow. When it attacks an enemy 500 meters away, it's only a blink of an eye. Once they've got their eye on you, you basically can't dodge. This weapon can even hurt me."
"So powerful! Five hundred meters, and it's practically impossible to dodge. It could even injure our lord." Upon hearing this, everyone stared in astonishment at the rifle in Wang Han's hand. Wang Han was known for being impervious to arrows; no one had ever been injured by him before.
At the same time, they also admired Wang Han greatly. The almost invincible Wang Han actually managed to equip his army with weapons that could harm him, without worrying about others using such weapons against him. They admired his courage in putting his own safety aside.
"My lord, I do not agree to equip the army with this item," Zhao Liu was the first to stand up and object. While he admired Wang Han's abilities, he still had to stop his decision. Wang Han was their backbone, even the hope of China; it would be disastrous if someone used this to harm him.
"My lord, I also do not approve of equipping the army with this item." Zhou Qi quickly added, "This item is too dangerous; it would be better to destroy it."
“My mind is made up, you don’t need to persuade me anymore.” Wang Han shook his head and said, “Equipping the army with this thing will make our army almost invincible. What is this little danger? Weapons are always a double-edged sword, it all depends on how they are used.”
Seeing that Wang Han had made his decision, they, as his subordinates, could no longer object. They were anxious, but it was a pity that Xi Zhicai was not here, otherwise they would have asked Xi Zhicai to persuade their lord.
"Now I'll demonstrate how to use this weapon," Wang Han said, opening another box and taking out five bullets, which he held up to show everyone. "These are bullets. This weapon needs bullets in it to work; otherwise, it's just a stick."
"Now I'll show you how to load it. First, pull this open, this is called the bolt. Then, put the pointed end of the bullet forward in; you can fit five. After putting them in, pull this open again." Wang Han pulled the bolt open and demonstrated how to load the bullets one by one. Then he pulled the bolt open again.
“Now you can use it. You need to aim at the person or thing you want to shoot, like this. Cai Yan, release the pigeon.” Wang Han said, gesturing for Cai Yan to release the pigeon in her hand. He then raised the gun, rested the butt on his shoulder, and aimed at the pigeon that Cai Yan had released, keeping his eyes on the crosshair.
"Bang..." A crisp gunshot rang out.
A few puffs of white smoke rose from Wang Han's Type 38 rifle. In the blink of an eye, the pigeon, which had already flown far away, was almost shot in two and fell from the sky. The crisp sound of the rifle startled them. Then came surprise. In the blink of an eye, the pigeon, which was more than a hundred meters away, was shot down. They hadn't even seen what hit the pigeon.
Soon, a soldier picked up the dead pigeon.
Wang Han took the pigeon and showed it to everyone. The pigeon's body was almost broken, which showed that the weapon fired from Wang Han's rifle was very powerful.
"Issuing this item to the army would indeed make them invincible," Zhang Sai said in surprise.
Seeing everyone's surprised expressions, Wang Han said, "I plan to use this weapon to build an army of 15,000 men. In addition to equipping them with the new weapons, they will also be uniformly equipped with a longsword and a very long short dagger (bayonet). At the same time, I will change the organization of this army to a five-five system, with five men forming a squad, with one squad leader. Five squads form a platoon, with two additional platoon leaders and deputy platoon leaders. Five platoons form a company, with two additional company leaders and deputy company leaders. Five companies form a battalion, with two additional battalion leaders and deputy battalion leaders. Five battalions form a regiment, named the Rifle Regiment, with two additional regimental leaders and deputy regimental leaders, totaling 3,437 men. Including dedicated logistics personnel who are not equipped with this weapon, a regiment will have 3,600 men. We will form four regiments in total, one of which will be understrength and will be the logistics regiment, responsible for logistical transportation during combat. Each regiment will also be equipped with a large number of horses."
"My lord, who should be the four commanders of these four rifle regiments?" Zhao Liu asked first. He couldn't stop Wang Han from forming the rifle regiments, so the question of who would command them was his biggest concern; he wanted to keep the reins firmly in his lord's hands to ensure his peace of mind.
"Zhao Liu, Zhou Qi, Wu Yong, and Zheng Dian, you four will serve as regimental commanders, all under Zhao Liu's command. You are responsible for selecting the soldiers yourselves, choosing the young and strong as possible. You will appoint the deputy regimental commander and subordinate officers yourselves. You have five days. Once the soldiers are selected, training will begin immediately. Ammunition will be issued in fixed quantities daily. I will explain the training methods to you later. Daily drills are also required. After each day's training, weapons must be stored away, and all spent bullet casings must be handed in," Wang Han said. Wang Han not only wanted to form a rifle regiment but also to teach them trench warfare tactics and bunker defense methods from later generations. Scatter warfare methods alone were not practical in this ancient world where thousands or even tens of thousands of people charged in groups. The best way to deal with a group charge was to concentrate firepower or conduct mobile harassment tactics. In addition, Wang Han wanted the soldiers to practice marching in formation.
"Yes, sir." Upon hearing this, Zhao Liu and the other three responded loudly. The four of them were the best at commanding the rifle regiment. They were all members of Wang Han's inner circle and knew each other well.
"The weapons will be divided among the four of you. The large boxes contain six rifles each, totaling 12,000 rifles, and the small boxes contain 600 bullets each, totaling 600,000 bullets," Wang Han said to Zhao Liu and the other three. He then instructed Zheng Dian, "Zheng Dian is in charge of the logistics regiment. After selecting the soldiers, you can put the training aside for now. Go back and bring the books here, and also bring the others over."
"Yes, sir." Zheng Dian quickly replied.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
