"My dear nephew, the bayonet combines muskets and cold weapons into one, which is indeed extraordinary. However, I can't understand why my dear nephew designed the bayonet into such a weird shape, like a thick awl with grooves. It can only be used for stabbing and is not suitable for chopping, lifting, cutting and other actions. Can't the bayonet be made into a knife shape?" Duke Wei asked doubtfully after playing with the bayonet for a while.
"Uncle, there are two reasons why the bayonet is made like this. One is reality. The bayonet that comes with the musket is relatively slender, and has high requirements for steel. With today's iron smelting materials, if it is made into a knife shape, it will be soft and brittle. After a few blows with the Japanese sword, the bayonet will break. This thick cone shape is strong enough to withstand a fierce blow with the Japanese sword without being damaged." Zhu Ping'an smiled slightly and bowed in reply.
After Zhu Ping'an first proposed the idea of a bayonet, the bayonets forged by the Equipment Battalion were all knife-shaped.
However, due to the limited iron smelting technology in the Ming Dynasty, even after repeated hammering, the steel was not strong enough and contained many impurities. The bayonets produced were soft and brittle. When tested with a Japanese sword, the bayonet broke after a few hits.
Zhu Ping'an is not a science student and has almost no knowledge of steelmaking. He doesn't know how to improve the level of steelmaking, how to remove carbon and other impurities, and even doesn't know how to make steel by traditional methods. He can only scratch his head.
When the situation was at a stalemate, Zhu Ping'an thought of the famous Type 56 triangular bayonet. He thought that the structure of the triangular bayonet was stronger than other bayonets, more brutal, tough and durable, and the manufacturing process was relatively simple, so he thought it could be made with today's technology.
So, Zhu Ping'an drew a simple diagram, gave a demonstration, and asked the equipment battalion to try to make two three-edged bayonets.
In the end, the triangular bayonets made by the Equipment Battalion were different from the Type 5 or 6 triangular bayonets in Zhu Ping'an's memory. The three edges of the bayonets made by the Equipment Battalion were not so prominent, and the three deep blood grooves on the three sides were not so round. They were relatively rough.
There is no other way. Asking the craftsmen in the equipment camp to hammer out a three-edged bayonet by hand is probably impossible even if they bleed. This is the best they can do.
However, after testing the bayonet, Zhu Ping'an was still very satisfied. The bayonet made by the equipment battalion was strong enough. After being installed on the musket, it could withstand the clashes with the Japanese and the Tiaoci without breaking.
"You two try the bayonets."
Duke Wei threw the installed bayonet to Zhang Bao, pointed at Wei Liangyi, and gave them instructions.
Duke Wei had long noticed the little actions of Wei Liangyi and Zhang Bao who were secretly whispering and singing a different tune, so he deliberately pointed them out and told them to test the hardness of the bayonets.
Duke Wei still had great faith in Zhu Ping'an. Zhu Ping'an said that the bayonet was strong, so it must be strong.
Zhang Bao raised his bayonet at an angle, and Wei Liangyi drew his saber. The two slashed at each other with all their might, bang bang bang, and sparks flew...
After seven or eight fierce blows, the Duke of Wei called a halt to the fight and checked the bayonets and sabers.
After a fierce fight, marks were left on the bayonet, and a notch appeared on the blade of the waist knife.
"Well, yes, the bayonet is indeed very strong." Duke Wei nodded with satisfaction and motioned Zhu Ping'an to continue.
So Zhu Pingan continued, "Second, power. The reason for opening these three blood grooves is, firstly, to prevent the bayonet from being difficult to pull out due to muscle tightening and blood sticking after the bayonet is inserted into the body. With three blood grooves, the bayonet can be easily pulled out after being inserted, and the wound caused will bleed more and be more difficult to treat; secondly, it can reduce the weight of the bayonet and make it stronger."
"As the saying goes, seeing is believing. It's almost dinner time. We're going to kill a pig today to give the soldiers a snack. I hope the governor and the other lords won't be disgusted and will try the big pot meal in our camp."
As Zhu Ping'an spoke, he had someone bring a fat pig, and randomly picked a soldier to kill the pig on the spot with a musket equipped with a bayonet.
"kill!"
The soldier took a deep breath, raised his bayonet, shouted, aimed at the fat pig's belly, and thrust forward with force.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the soldier's bayonet easily pierced through the fat man's body.
Then just pull it out easily.
The moment it was pulled out, the pig's blood spurted out along three blood grooves like a fountain.
The fat pig was stabbed in the stomach by a bayonet, but it didn't die instantly, so it ran wildly in the parade grounds howling in pain, blood spurting out as it ran wildly...
However, the fat pig that seemed to be full of life bled to death in a few minutes. If even the fat pig was like this, it is conceivable that if the Japanese pirates were stabbed like this, even if they did not stab their vital parts, they would still bleed to death.
"Well, the power is indeed impressive." Duke Wei and others nodded.
After the fat pig died, the people in the Huotou Army Camp skillfully pulled the fat pig away, gutted it, and prepared it for a snack.
"Zihou, although firearms equipped with bayonets can fight against enemy charges, your Zhejiang Army's bayonets are limited in function and are not suitable for chopping, slashing, or cutting. In combat, they are still inferior to cold weapons. You can increase the proportion of firearms appropriately, but the idea of relying so heavily on firearms is still questionable."
Zhang Jing said to Zhu Ping'an that he did not agree with Zhu Ping'an's tactical attitude of relying so heavily on firearms from the bottom of his heart.
"Thank you for your advice, Governor. However, I still think that firearms are worth paying attention to in their development." Zhu Ping'an insisted with a bow.
"You..." Zhang Jing shook his head, looking at Zhu Ping'an with some regret. "Originally, considering your achievements in defending the city against the Japanese pirates several times during your tenure in Jingnan and your last time in suppressing the Japanese pirates that harassed Yingtian, I wanted to allocate a group of guest troops to lead with you, giving you more opportunities to display your strategies. After today's inspection, you are worthy of praise for setting up camp and managing the army, and you are also capable of taking on more people. But you rely so much on firearms, whether it is weapons and equipment or battle formations, while the guest troops rely on cold weapons, and the methods and tactics are completely opposite, which makes me feel uneasy to allocate the guest troops to you to lead."
Is there a chance to lead more soldiers?!
Zhu Pingan was stunned for a moment, and an idea suddenly came to his mind, but he quickly shook his head and did not compromise. He chose to stick to his own opinion, "I am ashamed that I have failed the Governor's high expectations."
Although wolf soldiers are stronger than garrison soldiers, but... Thinking of the modern history of humiliation that began with the Opium War, he shook his head without hesitation.
Zhu Ping'an did not want to compromise and change his attitude towards firearms.
Zhu Ping'an understands better than anyone else of this era that firearms are the future! Firearms are the masters of war!
Zhu Ping'an is going to be the butterfly of this era, flapping his wings vigorously again and again, so that everyone of this era can see the future of firearms, accelerate the development of firearms, accelerate tactical changes, and achieve the leap from cold weapons to hot weapons.
Catch up with and even surpass the trend of world firearms development.
We should stop believing in the tradition of "ruling the world with bows and horses" and stop the tragedy of modern China falling behind and being beaten.
This is the most important thing.