Zhu Ping'an shook his head slightly. He was not satisfied with this round of volley. It was not that he was dissatisfied with the gunpowder. Although the gunpowder produced a lot of smoke, the improved granular black powder was actually very powerful. What made Zhu Ping'an dissatisfied was that this round of volley was not uniform.
Among the first three rows of soldiers, about a quarter of them opened fire half a beat late, and then they fired their guns.
However, after counting the bullet holes on the target, Zhu Ping'an's dissatisfaction subsided a little.
When firing at a distance of fifty meters, the Zhejiang Army's hit rate was still acceptable, with eighty percent of the three rows of targets hitting the target. In particular, the first row of targets were riddled with holes and the hit rate was almost one hundred percent. Only three targets missed the target.
If it was on the battlefield, this round of volleys would have knocked down the Japanese pirates like wheat. Even if the Japanese pirates were wearing Japanese-style armor, they would still be killed by black powder muskets at a distance of 50 meters. The power of black powder is not something that ordinary armor can defend against.
"Reload!"
Zhu Ping'an ordered the first three rows of soldiers to load and fire. Because of the oil paper gunpowder bags, the efficiency of loading ammunition was more than twice that of the contemporary Europeans and Japanese pirates. Moreover, since the fixed amount of gunpowder was wrapped in oil paper in advance, there would be no mistakes such as too little gunpowder and insufficient power, or too much gunpowder and explosion.
In less than a minute, all the soldiers in the third platoon of the first group loaded the ammunition under the command of Zhu Ping'an.
"Ready, fire!"
After Zhu Ping'an gave the order, the first group of Zhejiang soldiers fired another round of volleys, and black smoke filled the air again.
This second round of volleys was much better than the first. More than 90% of the soldiers managed to fire in unison, and less than 10% of the soldiers fired slightly behind by about half a beat.
Then came the third round of volleys, which was even better. Only seven or eight soldiers lagged behind by half a beat, while the rest of the soldiers all managed to fire in unison.
After three rounds, the black smoke caused by the firing became quite thick, and the vision was inevitably affected.
Before the second volley of soldiers' training, Zhu Ping'an had to temporarily change his shooting position and move 20 meters to avoid the smoke. Of course, this was also training. If it was in actual combat, the position could not be changed at will. He had to bite the bullet and fire in the smoke.
This time, Zhu Ping'an had three rows of new targets set up to facilitate the hit rate test.
For the second group of soldiers, Zhu Ping'an ordered them to carry out a three-stage attack, also at a distance of fifty meters. After the first row of soldiers opened fire, they retreated to the back and concentrated on reloading. Then the second row of soldiers stepped forward and held their guns horizontally to fire again, then retreated to reload, and the third row of soldiers stepped forward to fire, and so on, the three rows of soldiers took turns firing.
Bang, bang, bang…
Bang, bang, bang…
Bang, bang, bang…
The pause time between the three rows of soldiers firing was no more than five seconds, and the firing was almost uninterrupted, which indeed increased the firing efficiency by three times. However, compared with the first group of soldiers, the firing density was reduced by 30%. Of course, this is certain. The first group fired three rows at once, and the second group fired three rows in a row. The firing density of one row is definitely 30% lower than that of three rows at once.
After the round of shooting, Zhu Ping'an checked the bullet marks on the target. The hit rate was slightly lower than the first round, but the overall difference was not big. However, considering that it was a fixed target after all, if the enemy was moving, the hit rate would definitely be discounted.
In addition, on the battlefield, soldiers will inevitably be nervous and excited, which will further reduce their hit rate.
Zhu Ping'an seemed to be thinking about something, then waved his hand to order the second group to continue firing, firing two waves of six shots in a row.
Zhu Ping'an discovered that the first wave of three shots was almost relatively continuous.
However, after the second wave of reloading, the time interval between the third and fourth shots was obviously longer.
After all, loading the muskets of this era was relatively troublesome. Although Zhu Ping'an had brought oil paper ammunition in advance, loading the muskets of this era was still cumbersome.
In order to maintain the effectiveness of shooting, after the musket is fired and before being reloaded, the barrel must be cleaned with an iron rod to poke out the remaining gunpowder to prevent impurities from affecting the accuracy and power of the musket's next shot.
So, after the third shot, there was a pause of nearly a minute before the fourth shot was fired.
Zhu Ping'an believes that after the Zhejiang Army trains for a period of time, the speed of gunpowder loading can be further improved, and the interval between the third and fourth shots will be shortened to less than half a minute.
However, after careful study, Zhu Ping'an shook his head.
Although the three-stage firing is better than the Europa-style three-row volley in terms of continuous shooting, the loading of the muskets of this era is very cumbersome, the firing rate is limited, and with only three rows, it is impossible to maintain the continuity of firepower.
Moreover, the three-stage attack of firing in rows is far inferior to the three-row volley in terms of firepower density and lethality.
Imagine that on the battlefield, if you use three-stage firing, the firing speed can be relatively continuous, but the enemies fall one by one; but if you use three-row volley firing, the enemies fall in batches. On the battlefield, these two killing effects have different deterrent effects on the enemy. Will the enemy be shocked to see his comrades fall one by one, or to see his comrades die in large numbers? Without a doubt, it is the second one.
The reason for adopting the Yongji formation is to improve the shooting accuracy and density of the musket, ensure the firepower output, and make up for the shortcomings of the current musket.
In a certain period of time, the more bullets fired, the greater the lethality. This is an obvious truth.
Therefore, after this verification, Zhu Ping'an considered it for a while and decided to adopt the European style three-row volley method.
Come to think of it, Europe's tactic of shooting in a line has been tested in more than a hundred years of bloody wars. The British have been able to dominate the world for more than a hundred years with their tactic of shooting in a line, so it must have stood the test of actual combat experience.
Although I wouldn't say it's the best tactic, it's definitely the most suitable tactic for smoothbore guns.
However, taking into account the terrain characteristics of the southeastern coastal area, such as many hills and gullies, crisscrossing rivers and canals, and narrow roads, this terrain may not be able to accommodate the Zhejiang army's horizontal formation of three rows in a row; and the Japanese pirates are accustomed to close combat and good at raids. If the Japanese pirates fearlessly break into the Yongji formation, there will be great trouble.
Therefore, Zhu Ping'an added two variations of the Yongji formation, namely a six-row thick formation and a nine-row thick formation. Three rows formed one group, six rows formed two groups, and nine rows formed three groups. After the first group of three rows fired in unison, they retreated to concentrate on reloading. Then the second group of three rows of soldiers stepped forward to fire in unison, and they rotated one by one in turn, thus improving the three-stage attack.
This not only takes into account firepower and sustainability, but also adapts to the terrain of Jiangnan and restrains the combat characteristics of the Japanese pirates.
After some experiments, Zhu Ping'an nodded with satisfaction and fixed it.