The range is okay. The range of the muskets of this era certainly cannot be compared with modern firearms, but it is much longer than the maximum range and effective range of the bows and arrows of this era. Thirty to fifty meters is no problem.
With this thirty to fifty-meter advantage, the advantage of firearms is reflected. I can hit you, but you can't hit me. When I finally get into the range of the bow and arrow, you have already suffered heavy casualties. At this time, I retreat in time to increase the distance. In the game, it is a typical kite-flying...
Precision is an issue.
The firearm technology of this era was limited, and they were all smoothbore rifles. The shooting accuracy of smoothbore rifles was limited. It was not because the soldiers were insufficiently trained, but because the smoothbore rifles had inherent defects and their shooting accuracy was inherently insufficient.
In order to improve the accuracy of the musket, rifling is necessary. The rifling is the soul of the barrel. The rifling can make the bullet rotate at high speed after firing, so that the bullet head keeps the predetermined direction and faces forward.
However, Zhu Ping'an was not a science student. He only knew that rifling could improve shooting accuracy. As for what the rifling looked like, round, straight or spiral, Zhu Ping'an was not clear. Zhu Ping'an also did not know how to carve the rifling on the barrel. In addition, after the rifling was drawn, whether the bullet needed to be adjusted, whether the steel of the musket barrel needed to be adjusted, etc., Zhu Ping'an also knew nothing.
However, these do not affect me. I can propose the idea and let the two firearms craftsmen of the equipment battalion develop it. With this idea and direction, we should be able to make it after more exploration. Well, I will go to the two craftsmen later. As for the rifling theory, we can convince them with a gyroscope. The faster the gyroscope rotates, the straighter it stands, and it rotates around the axis all the time.
But I can't guarantee how long it will take for the rifle to be manufactured. After all, it is a groundbreaking thing. I estimate that it will take the two craftsmen a long time to make it, maybe one or two years, two or three years, three to five years or even longer.
But now the war against the Japanese was about to begin, and there was no time to wait for the rifle to be invented.
The problem of shooting accuracy must be solved. Except for extremely outstanding marksmen, the average soldier's hit rate at 70 meters is only 55%, which is almost a 50% chance of hitting the target. That is to say, if the enemy stands there motionless for you to aim at, there is only a 50% chance of hitting the target, just like throwing a hard shot in the market. As for the hit rate at 150 meters, it is only 35% and 33%, which is almost a 30% chance of hitting the target. Killing the enemy on the battlefield is a cruel fight of life and death, so it must be 100% to achieve the goal, and you cannot rely on probability.
But how to solve it
Actually, strictly speaking, the accuracy of bows and arrows is not as good as that of fire spears. In the current martial arts examination, if you hit a target of about 100 meters, you will pass if you hit it with one of three arrows...
Of course, the shooting accuracy of the crossbow is much higher, but the loading and firing speed of the crossbow is much lower than that of the bow and musket, which is another matter.
How is the shooting accuracy of the bow and arrow solved... Zhu Ping'an touched his chin and pondered. The classic and shocking scene of rain of arrows in the blockbuster "Hero" immediately emerged in his mind.
Then Zhu Ping'an's eyes lit up. Bows and arrows are used to concentrate archers and thousands of arrows can be fired at once. The same can be done with muskets.
If the accuracy is insufficient, then we can make up for it with quantity. The hit rate of a single musket is 55%, what about two muskets, three muskets...
Then, the famous line-up shooting tactic in modern history appeared in Zhu Ping'an's mind.
The tactic of firing squad may seem simple and stupid, but it is actually extremely cruel and effective. It is the most suitable tactic for matchlock guns, and it is also very suitable in the era of flintlock guns.
Only when the accuracy and efficiency of firearms are improved to a certain level will the tactic of queuing and shooting become obsolete.
The tactic of shooting in a line, the exact name is the line tactics, the tactic of shooting in a line is just a joke made by later generations.
The so-called line-up shooting tactic means that soldiers do not line up in wide and shallow dense lines. There are two to four rows of soldiers in a line, and then they fire in unison, striving for the greatest firepower density to ensure lethality.
This was the most advanced tactic that humans could think of in the age of matchlock guns. It was popular in Europe for hundreds of years. The British lobster soldiers of England used this tactic to sweep across India and America, and they were rampant around the world, creating the largest colonial empire across seven continents, known as the Empire on which the Sun Never Sets. When Britain launched the evil Opium War against my country, it used this tactic.
This tactic has not yet been developed and it will take at least a hundred years for it to come out. However, now is the time to let it come out ahead of time.
However, the name of the line tactics is suitable for Western habits, but not for the naming habits of the Ming Dynasty. Line warfare is a test of courage and discipline. As the saying goes, the brave wins when two meet in a narrow road. Therefore, this tactic will be named the Yongdi Zhen in the future.
My impression of the British tactic of line shooting is that they usually line up in three rows, with the first row kneeling, the second row bending over, and the third row standing. At the command, the three rows of soldiers opened fire together, a volley.
I remember in history, at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, when Mu Ying pacified Yunnan, in order to deal with the rebel elephants and other wild beasts, he used firearms. Feeling that the loading of firearms was too slow, he developed a three-stage shooting system. That is, after the first row of musketeers fired, they retreated to the back of the team to concentrate on loading ammunition. The second row of musketeers stepped forward to fire, and then retreated to reload ammunition. The third row of musketeers stepped forward to fire, and the three rows took turns loading and firing, which made up for the disadvantage of the long loading time of the muskets, maintained relatively continuous firing of the firearms, and finally won a great victory.
Twenty or thirty years later, Oda Nobunaga of Japan also developed another three-stage shooting. He arranged soldiers in groups of three, and let the soldier with the highest shooting accuracy act as the shooter. After shooting, the second soldier took over the musket and loaded gunpowder from the front end, tamped it and loaded the bullet. The third soldier adjusted the position of the fuse from the back, moved the trigger to its original position, and then handed the musket to the shooter. In this way, each soldier took turns to perform his duties to achieve the purpose of relatively continuous shooting. With this three-stage shooting, he defeated the Takeda cavalry in the Battle of Nagashino.
Does the Yongji formation adopt the English style, or the three-stage attack
Zhu Ping'an stroked his chin and began to think.
Let's look at practice, which is the only means to test truth.
Zhu Ping'an has made up his mind to implement the Yongdi Formation tomorrow, test it in practice, and explore the shooting method that is most suitable for the Zhejiang Army.
The military parade is also coming to an end.
Zhu Ping'an fulfilled his promise and called the ten best soldiers to the stage. He encouraged them in public and rewarded them with battalion commander-level command swords. This was a waist sword recently made by the Equipment Battalion. Zhu Ping'an came up with the idea based on his impression of the Qi Family Army's sword, and it was made by the Equipment Battalion and named the Zhejiang Army Sword.
It has the style of a Japanese sword, with a larger blade curvature and a smaller width. However, unlike the Japanese sword, the Zhejiang Army sword is longer and harder, with a pick line in the middle of the blade and a dong line on the back of the blade respectively. The tip of the blade also retains the basic thickness of the blade and adopts a V-shaped cutting edge, so it has strong cutting power and powerful chopping ability. This is the standard bloodline of a Chinese sword, which is better than the Japanese sword.
Zhu Ping'an conducted a test, using the improved Zhejiang Army sword to chop against the Japanese sword. After several head-on collisions, the Japanese sword had gaps and even broke.
Due to the limited manpower of the equipment battalion, the Zhejiang Army is slowly replacing this type of saber, giving priority to officers. The officers' command sabers are more sophisticated and more gorgeous than ordinary Zhejiang Army sabers. It is no exaggeration to say that they are a weapon for showing off.
The three squads with the best performance in the parade were also commended by Zhu Ping'an. Each of them was rewarded with three taels of silver and the squad leader was commended for his merit.
The sentry with the best performance in the military parade was the one led by the righteous Chen Dacheng. This surprised Zhu Ping'an a little, but it was reasonable when he thought about it. Yiwu is a natural place for soldiers, and Chen Dacheng is an outstanding person among Yiwu people. Zhu Ping'an praised them highly and had it recorded. In the future, when the army is expanded, all the people in Chen Dacheng's sentry will enjoy priority gold holy rights under the same conditions.
Finally, pigs and sheep were slaughtered, the aroma of meat filled the camp, and the parade ended with the soldiers shouting excitedly.