Dantu Town, suburbs.

The military flag is unfurled, and the tiger is like a forest.

Nearly two thousand soldiers, facing each other in an open space on the bank of the Yangtze River, lined up two phalanxes.

One of the phalanxes was 400 small Japanese soldiers with swords and birds, wearing Japanese-style ashigaru iron armor and hats.

Of course, these Japanese soldiers are not invading Japanese soldiers, but Zheng Zhilong's family!

Among the Japanese goods sold by Zheng Zhilong, there is one called "Japanese soldiers". Although Japan's turmoil ended thirty years ago, the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate was stabilized. However, the sequelae of Japan's Warring States - the problem of too many ronin, has still not been completely solved. A group of samurai who had participated in the wars of troubled times and lost their lords became sought-after goods on battlefields all over the South Seas.

Not only do the monarchs of the South Seas like to hire them, but even the Western colonists and the Oriental pirates like Zheng Zhilong like to charge into battle with cheap and high-quality Japanese ronin.

Therefore, in Zheng Zhilong's army, the naval battles were fought by Chinese, while the marines used the soldiers as family members.

The Zheng soldiers were all equipped with bird guns and swords, and they also built iron hats and carcasses according to the style of Japanese ashigaru armor - the so-called carcass is actually a kind of plate armor made of iron plates, cardboard, wooden boards and other materials, which is made with reference to European-style plate armor.

Zheng Zhilong is rich, and his territory is close to Foshan, the center of the East Asian iron industry, of course, he will not fool people with cardboard and wooden boards, and his Japanese family Ding Yishui is equipped with iron carcasses and iron hats, and his defense ability is quite not weak.

The other phalanx was composed of four horizontal columns stacked on top of each other, and nearly 1,600 officers and soldiers, all dressed in neat red cloth and iron armor, stood silently, showing a surprisingly perfect formation.

It's not just their lineup that's surprising about them, but also their gear. Among the 1,600 officers and soldiers, except for the standard-bearers, drummers, trumpeters, and horsemen, all use firearms! A quarter of them were equipped with heavy turtledove-footed firearms, and the rest were equipped with bird-sized guns. And all the birds' guns are equipped with three-foot-long spikes!

Under the sun, more than a thousand thorns glowed with cold light, like a jungle composed of sharp knives!

Not to mention Zheng Zhilong, who is not very good at land warfare, even the German Ryan Stein, who has been on the battlefield of the Thirty Years War in Europe for half his life, also widened his eyes and looked at the "jungle of sharp knives" in front of him with incredible eyes.

The combination of firearms and scimitars like the Japanese, Ryanstein has seen a lot, and the Turkish sultan's own soldiers are equipped in this way. But it's the first time I've seen a knife directly in the mouth of the firecracker.

Can a gun still fire when a knife is inserted?

"Father," the tall, slightly thin Ryan Stein asked John Tong in German, "how did the knife fit the musket?" Can I still fire a knife when I have it installed? ”

"Yes, this is a sleeve bayonet," said John Tang, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has made a sleeve spear spur, which can be directly applied to the body of the gun. ”

"That's it!" Ryan Stein showed an extremely surprised expression, "Why didn't I think of that?" This will be an invention that will change the pattern of warfare...... It's amazing! ”

"Changing the mode of war?" Tang Ruowang was stunned, "Is it so powerful?" ”

"Of course!" Ryan Stein nodded, and said, "This invention is a perfect combination of a blade and a firebolt...... I think it will knock out the spear in the future. ”

"Knock out the spear?" The envoy of the Portuguese Viceroy, with curly black hair, was a very handsome Macau arms dealer Alfonso. López showed a surprised expression, "A musket with a blade can deal with cavalry?" ”

"Yes!" "It's not as effective as a spear, but it's definitely better than the scimitars used by the Japanese...... If these Chinese musketeers could use their arquebuses correctly, they would surely be able to defeat the same number of Japanese musketeers. ”

"Really?" Alfonso. López was not convinced, "Japanese samurai are very good mercenaries, and the monarchs of the South Seas like to hire them. ”

"Yes, but their equipment and tactics are not good." "They only had light arquebuses, basically no heavy arquebuses, and even more so a lack of artillery. And it also does not use phalanx tactics, mixing muskets and spears. ”

"But their knife skills are really good...... You've just arrived in the East, and you may not have seen these Japanese dwarfs with knives yet! ”

Tang Ruowang interrupted the argument between the two at this time, and he pointed ahead: "Look, there are many wooden targets erected there, it seems that the Chinese musketeers and the Japanese musketeers want to have a try!" ”

"Really? You'll have to take a look! ”

"yes, we need to get a good idea of the country's military capabilities...... The Spaniards at that time had a very low opinion of them! ”

Ryanstein and Alfonso. López turned his gaze to the direction of John Tang's finger, and saw that a row of wooden targets had been placed side by side, and there were three or four hundred!

"Woo ......"

The trumpet sounded immediately afterward, and then the new arms of the new army, which had formed a phalanx, began to move in columns. The four battalions marched in turn, and after they had formed a parallel line with the wooden targets, they stopped their advance, and then turned to face the wooden targets at the command of the officers, and then continued to advance in the direction of the wooden targets, until they were about fifty paces ahead of the wooden targets, and then they collectively set up.

The whole process looks quite neat, obviously a strictly trained unit!

Several foreigners, as well as Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Zhifeng, Zheng Sen, Wu Sanfu and other Ming officials, each with a monocular, began to watch the target shooting performance.

This target shooting competition was proposed by Zheng Sen, if not for anything else, just to let his father see the power of the new army!

If you know that you are powerful, you can put yourself in the right position. In the current Ming Dynasty, the status of the Zheng family is actually unshakable, but you have to know how many catties you have.

With the sound of rapid drums, the turtledove-footed gunners who formed the first column of the four columns of firebolts had finished filling and lit the arquebuses. There was another drum beat, and all the firearms were laid flat and clamped onto the stand.

Syllable!

A gong sounded.

And then there was the thunderous bang!

320 turtledoves fired almost simultaneously.

The projectile, which weighs one or two or five cents, is propelled by the power of the gunpowder deflagration, and shoots out the gun at an initial velocity close to or more than 400 meters per second, and flies towards the target. The distance of only 50 steps is instantaneous, and more than half of the targets are smashed in an instant!

A salvo from 50 steps away can hit half the rate! Although it was target training, the result was quite good.

Several foreigners nodded slightly, while Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Zhifeng's faces changed slightly. The Japanese family members of the Zheng family, who were watching from the sidelines, also showed surprised expressions.

After completing the launch, the 320 musketeers began to reload at the sound of the officer's command. The Turtledove's Foot Firearm is very complex to load, and even with fixed ammunition, it is only a slight improvement.

However, the firecrackers had undergone at least five months of rigorous training, so they were able to reload in a short period of time. Then, under the command of drums and gongs, a second round of salvos was played.

Most of the remaining more than 100 wooden targets were smashed to pieces!

After firing the second volley, they did not reload, but turned into columns in a dense gong and withdrew from the gap between the four battalions, making way for the bird-gunners behind.

Although the whole evacuation process was not neat, it was also clean and neat, and it was obviously often rehearsed.

Then it's time for the Bird Warrior show!

Now the standard combat formation of the new army has changed to a three-column horizontal formation, and their standard tactics are still salvo fire and bayonet assault.

The salvo was fired in one kneeling position and two in a standing position, with the last column holding the fire gun on the shoulder of the second column and firing.

Four dense battalions of birds and soldiers began to advance slowly at the sound of the officer's orders, until they were twenty paces away from the scattered targets, and then stopped at the same time.

Then, as usual, there was a thunderous volley of fire, shattering all the wooden targets that were still standing!