Chapter 57 Gun Test
On the Yiluansi parade ground, all the guards stood on the side, watching the center of the field with bated breath.
Chi Qi raised her musket, pointed the muzzle at the wooden target one hundred and twenty paces away, and breathed lightly.
Wang Lu, the Supervisor of the Military Equipment Bureau, hurriedly handed over the burning paper with both hands. Chi Li took it and lit the fuse.
With a loud bang, the wooden targets in the distance exploded in all directions, the ground was covered with flying fragments, and the wooden stakes that were stuck in place were on fire.
The guards' ears were buzzing from the noise, and when they saw the miserable state of the wooden target, they couldn't help but gasp, imagining that if it hit a person, few would survive.
Zhao Mingyue was watching from the side and was secretly amazed. The power of this firearm was much greater than that of a bow and arrow!
Arrows cannot penetrate copper, leather, and iron, but the same cannot be said for firearms.
The guards took the wooden target down, replaced it with a new one, and tied a layer of iron sheet around it.
Zhao Mingyue immediately stepped forward and said, "Mother, let me try!"
Chi Li didn't think there was anything good about this gun. It had an average range, average power, and an incredibly strong recoil. It could easily miss the target if you weren't careful. It didn't even have an automatic ignition system. It was really just a piece of iron.
When Zhao Mingyue ran back to the palace excitedly and asked her to make a batch of firearms for the Jinwu Guards, she thought that the world's technological level was higher than she had imagined. However, the result was that the greater her expectations, the greater her disappointment.
She threw the musket to Wang Lu, twisted Nan Ma's wrist, frowned, and said, "If this musket is to be useful, it needs to be improved."
Wang Lu nodded repeatedly, took the musket, and reloaded it with gunpowder and iron bullets.
But in his heart, he was complaining that Princess Mingyue was really going to cause him trouble. This firearm only looked powerful, but it could not compare to other people's spears and swords when used on the battlefield.
Zhao Mingyue had no idea what he was thinking. Seeing him struggling to load the gunpowder, she couldn't help but say, "This is too slow! By the time I finish loading the gunpowder, the enemy's arrows have already fired several times!"
Wang Lu smiled and said, "Princess, you're right. This musket has too many flaws. Sometimes it even explodes and injures our own people. There's really no need to put so much effort into making it."
As he spoke, he handed over the loaded musket.
Zhao Mingyue took it and her hand suddenly dropped it. It was quite heavy. Fortunately, she had strong arms and could barely hold it. She imitated Chi Li's previous posture, holding the gun in one hand and the paper in the other to light the fuse.
With a bang, the gun fell from her hand. Looking at the target, she saw that she had missed the target and only hit a small corner of the iron.
Zhao Mingyue looked at her hands that were shaking from the shock and was extremely surprised. How could her mother hold her hand so firmly just now, catching her off guard at all!
However, this musket does have too many flaws, and I'm afraid it will be of little use against the enemy in battle, let alone for the new recruits of the Golden Crow Guard to practice with.
Zhao Mingyue picked up the fallen musket and looked at Chi Li. "Mother, this musket takes a long time to load and is heavy and difficult to carry. It would be great if it could be as light as a bow and arrow and could fire continuously."
Wang Lu couldn't help laughing when he heard this. "Princess, you're just daydreaming! If there really was such a good thing, the Xiqi Kingdom would have been beaten to its knees and begged for mercy long ago!"
Zhao Mingyue's face flushed red. She wanted to refute, but she was afraid that she didn't know the subject and what she said would make people laugh, so she stopped talking.
Chi Li put her hand on Zhao Mingyue's shoulder and looked at Wang Lu coldly, "Wang Jiancheng, are you saying that you don't have the ability to make this rapid-fire musket?"
The smile on Wang Lu's face froze, and he muttered, "Your Majesty, it's not that I'm incompetent, but it's just that firing a musket continuously is impossible."
Chi Qi sneered in her heart. If she hadn't been worried, she would have taken out the pineapple and fired a hundred shots at him. She would have seen if he dared to be stubborn and refused to make a continuous-fire musket.
She said coldly, "Since you can't do it, let someone else do the job of making firearms."
Wang Lu lowered his head, but he didn't care in his heart. There was no one in the Military Equipment Bureau who knew more about firearms than him. If Empress Dowager Chi wanted to manufacture and improve firearms, she really had to find him.
Chi Qi knew what he was thinking without even looking at him.
He raised his hand and called Liu Shen'ai over. "Wang Lu, you can resign and go home. Starting tomorrow, Liu Shen'ai will be the Supervisor of the Military Equipment Bureau."
Wang Lu suddenly raised his head, incredulous. "How could she, a coach, be the Supervisor? Does she even know how to make firearms?"
Chi Yan was talking to Liu Shen Ai in her mind, "Your database should contain information on how to make firearms, right?"
"Searching... Found 1,600 results..." Liu Shen'ai honestly checked the data before announcing, "Theory is one thing, practice is another! You don't even want to spend your points, so you're just grabbing me, right?"
Chi Li simply ignored her last sentence and said with satisfaction, "That's fine. Let the craftsmen handle the practical matters."
Anyway, as the queen mother of a country, I have plenty of money.
Chi Li looked at Liu Shen Ai and smiled. "I want a batch of rapid-fire muskets, equipped with sights, with a range of 200 steps or more. Can you do that?"
Liu Shenai gritted his teeth and nodded expressionlessly.
Zhao Mingyue immediately looked at Wang Lu and said sarcastically, "My Sixth Master is extremely intelligent. He can not only make firearms, but also make rapid-fire muskets. Unlike Lord Wang, you can't do anything. You should step down and let others take over!"
Wang Lu was so angry at her words that his face turned blue, but he had no way to refute. How could he have thought that he would lose his official hat just because of a few wrong words.
I can only curse in my heart, what big things can a group of women do? Just wait, on the day of the military parade, you, the Jinwu Guards, will be defeated miserably sooner or later!
Who knows, we may have to ask him to come back when the time comes.
Compared with his method of spiritual victory, Zhao Mingyue felt really happy in her heart. After all, getting A Niang's support for the firearm matter could be said to be half the success.
After all, in her impression, A'niang always made plans and never made a mistake, just like she could pick the moon from the sky as long as she wanted.
If she wants to become as powerful as her mother, she needs to work harder!
Zhao Mingyue returned to Shanglinyuan and told Zhao Yuzhang about the firearms. Zhao Yuzhang thought that the matter was entirely due to her mediation and praised her a lot.
After that, the recruits continued their training as usual. Day after day, their movements became more and more skillful, and their formations became more and more orderly.
Zhao Mingyue also made rapid progress. Not only did he eat and live with the soldiers, he also had to get up an hour earlier every day to learn battle formations and tactics from Zhao Yuzhang. In the morning, he watched the captains train the soldiers in formation, in the afternoon he practiced archery and long swordsmanship, and in the evening he listened to Xue Qi's lectures, studied history books and debates.
That afternoon, Zhao Mingyue, as usual, was dressed in moon-white clothes, holding a long sword, walking between the teams, inspecting the soldiers' archery and gun training.
The soldiers present had cast aside the laziness and weakness they had when they first joined the army. They looked resolute, and each move they made was vigorous, with their shouts shaking the sky.
At this time, a soldier came to report, "Master Baizong, the people from the Arms Bureau are here!"
Zhao Mingyue's eyes lit up, "Please come in!"
The soldier took the order and left. After a while, Liu Shen'ai led the people from the Arms Bureau and brought in a large wooden box. Zhao Mingyue opened it and saw dozens of muskets neatly arranged inside. The style looked very different from the last time.
The news spread quickly in the military camp. When Yuzhao and other generals heard the news, they all gathered around.
Liu Shenai picked up a musket and demonstrated it to them.
"This is the sight, and this is the trigger. Pulling it will strike the flint and automatically ignite the gun," he said, removing the wooden sub-gun mounted under the barrel. "It's pre-loaded with gunpowder and bullets. Once you push them into the chamber, you can fire and shoot. After you fire one, you replace it with another."
After she finished speaking, she picked up the gun, aimed it at the rocks to the west of the training ground, and pulled the trigger. With a bang, rock fragments flew everywhere. Before anyone could react, she disassembled and reassembled the sub-gun and fired again.
The onlookers' eyes widened.
"We made a hundred in the first batch, but eighty-three were scrapped. Only twenty-seven are usable. Divide them among yourselves. I'm leaving now."
After Liu Shen'ai delivered the things, he turned around and left with his people.
While Zhao Mingyue was still immersed in the power of the newly developed musket, the others had already started to grab the guns.
There is one centurion in each bureau, and there are a total of ten bureaus with 1,200 people, divided into 27 teams, and each bureau can be divided into 2.7 teams.
Yuzhao reached out first, "Our bureau must get at least four!"
The others followed suit and stretched out their hands, "Then I'll take three!"
"Hey! You've all taken everything, what are we going to use?"
"This is just the first batch. You can wait for the second batch. To be honest, the soldiers under my command are only suited to shooting."
"They're not suitable for anything. Everyone knows they don't even know what a firearm is. Give me the gun!"
By the time Zhao Mingyue reacted, they were about to fight.
At this moment, a cough was heard. "Two per round, and the remaining seven will be placed in my tent."
Everyone stopped arguing immediately and turned around. They were about to ask who was coming and asked if he wanted seven more, but when they saw the person coming, they were choked.
"Ahem—yes, General!"
————
Just when the Jinwu Guards were fighting over a few muskets, Zhen Rui was leading two palace soldiers to inspect the Zuoying Guards.
Qian Qian specially selected sixty tall and mighty male soldiers to form an imposing team, and demonstrated to Zhen Ruicai their skills of breaking stones with their iron fists.
"Don't worry, sir. The quality of the female soldiers of the Golden Crow Guard is far inferior to ours. I sent my men to check them out before, and they can't even march in formation. You can expect to see them make a fool of themselves during the parade."
Zhen Ruicai nodded approvingly, "Very good. Remember to tell them to hold back and not get hurt. After all, it's just a competition, a test of martial arts skills. There's no need to fight to the death—ah!"
As he was speaking, a loud bang was heard from the Jinwuwei’s base next door.
Zhen Ruicai immediately held his head and looked around in panic, "What's going on?"
Qian Qian remained calm. "It was the Golden Crow Guards practicing with muskets. I've seen those muskets before at the Arms Bureau. They're powerless and slow to reload. By the time they've fired a shot, we've already chopped them down with our swords."
Zhen Rui finally calmed down and said with a smile, "It seems Zhao Yuzhang has no other options, so he relies on such a tricky weapon as the musket, which is ultimately not up to par."
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