"Whew!"

As the whistle sounds, the front of the steam locomotive spews out smoke like dark clouds that are common in North Bay City in summer, and the heat energy from the combustion of coal heats the warm water to a boil, and the tumbling steam pushes the gears and levers to turn at high speed, driving the steel wheels slowly.

Jiang Xiaobai and I sat in the upper class seat by the window, while his butler sat in the aisle reading the newspaper.

Chang'an is more than 300 kilometers away from Zhangping City, and the "B" class train will run for about four hours. (Note 1)

Jiang Xiaobai closed the window a little smaller, so as to prevent the wind from blowing away my hat hanging on the hook. Now the dark clouds that hovered over Chang'an City had turned into heavy rain, crackling on the iron carriages, making a sound that made people sleep for a long time.

Jiang Xiaobai motioned for me to come closer to him so that I could hear what he said clearly in the rain.

"Did you write your dissertation about rifled guns?" He asked.

I nodded, "Yes, the title is "A Discussion on the Role of Rifled Guns and the Tactics of Rifled Guns in a Few Years," which was published in the school magazine at the time. ”

Jiang Xiaobai smiled and took a magazine from the butler's hand, opened it and handed it to me: "Look, this is the latest issue of "Light Infantry", which has announced that it will gradually be reequipped with a Republic 1628 rifled gun. ”

I took it over and skimmed it out, shrugging, "It's going to be the Straits Settlements and the Archipelago Colonies in full costume now, and then the mainland." If it were to be the turn of our Chinese Viceroyalty, it would have been in the forties or fifties of this century. ”

"But why change clothes first in the Equatorial colonies? Fight those uncivilized natives and use rifled guns? ”

I explained: "Because the two colonies of the Strait and the archipelago have been ruled for a long time, the formed resistance forces on them have long been cleaned up in the last century, and the people who are still stubbornly resisting are some natives and guerrillas in the tropical jungles. ”

"If you look at the last few issues of the newspaper, there is a talk about the increase in subsidies for the purchase of guns by colonial nationals, which is probably to encourage immigrants to buy rifled guns at their own expense and pay off the natives in the form of self-defense forces."

Jiang Xiaobai nodded, and asked again: "Then the tactics will also change in the future?" ”

"That's nature." I laughed, "Didn't we see rifled guns when we were in college, and at that time, the effective range of expansion bullets was more than 400 meters, and the current Republic 1628 rifle is estimated to be able to fight 500 meters." ”

"If you use a rifle that can shoot a mile away, and drag it to 30 meters where you can see each other's faces clearly before firing, such an officer will be court-martialed."

"In my dissertation, I proposed that after rifled guns were widely equipped with army soldiers, the first salvo should be 200-250 meters away (Note 2). At this distance, the soldiers had the highest first shot hit rate when they were at rest. After the first salvo, the soldier should immediately switch to a free-fire state, and after loading the bullets, he should find the target and shoot on his own, without waiting for the officer's instructions. ”

"Why do you want to shoot at 200 meters? Isn't the effective range of a rifled gun five hundred meters? ”

At that time, I was stunned for a moment, thinking that even if Jiang Xiaobai was a navy student of port management, this kind of question should not be asked. Later, I figured out that at a time when smoothbore guns were still dominating the battlefield, the vast majority of soldiers were unaware of the tactical point of leaving some output distance for the enemy.

"Because we have to think about the amount of damage we can inflict on the enemy." I explained with some bitterness, "If you start shooting from a distance of 500 meters, on the one hand, it is difficult to hit the target from such a distance, and on the other hand, if you start killing and injuring the enemy at a distance of 500 meters, the enemy will easily lose the desire to attack and start to retreat or flee directly." In both cases, we would have better fight and almost be evacuated by the other side in formation, and it would be difficult for us to even pursue - because we had to cover the relative distance of 500 meters first. ”

"On the contrary, if we start firing at about two hundred meters, the enemy will be in a dilemma. If they were to rush straight up and fight a volley or a melee fight, they would have to move close to two hundred meters under our accurate fire. ”

At this point, I was reminded of the British lobster soldiers, and of course there were no elite infantry in bright red uniforms at this time. If I ever see the expeditionary force of the Republic of Australia and Song Dynasty set foot on British soil, I wonder if the lobster soldiers will be able to carry flintlock pistols and get within 30 yards of rifled gun shooters.

I continued: "At a distance of 200 meters, if you want to maintain a formation, the enemy can only walk about two or three meters per second, and it will take about 80 seconds. One minute is enough for us to play five rounds (Note 3). ”

Speaking of this, Jiang Xiaobai and I both laughed. Obviously, an army that can withstand five rounds of salvos from rifled guns with increasing lethality and still maintain formation does not exist in this world.

Perhaps only the most elite guards of the Australian Song Dynasty had such discipline and morale.

"It would be better if the opponent started to run away after two or three rounds of our shooting, and our fighters could continue to shoot them for 300 meters calmly, just as we went to shoot mallards in the fall."

I shrugged: "Those three hundred meters are their death corridor." ”

Jiang Xiaobai breathed a sigh of relief, leaned back in his chair, and looked up at the roof of the carriage, looking intoxicated on the battlefield of shooting wild ducks.

I retold my bachelor's thesis to him in one breath, and I was a little tired, so I took the chrysanthemum tea handed by the housekeeper and drank it in one gulp.

"Sir."

A voice came from behind him.

I quickly got up and looked behind me.

I was greeted by a gentleman, in his early thirties, dressed in a pale gray hanfu, wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, and his eyes were very bright. He stretched out his hand to me: "I'm sorry I couldn't help but listen to the chat between you and your friend just now, I am the manager of the Southern Military Science and Technology Company, and my name is Zhao Ba." ”

I shook hands with him in some surprise, wondering what was the matter with the manager who was sitting back to back across the chair from me: "Hello, Mr. Zhao, I'm Navy Lieutenant Li Ruchu. ”

Zhao Ba smiled and handed me a business card with both hands, and said, "I heard Mr. Li talk about the tactics of rifled guns just now, and I am deeply touched in my heart, I wonder if Mr. Li is willing to continue to teach?" ”

He asked if there was anyone in the seat next to me, and after learning that Jiang Xiaobai had bought it together, he offered to buy the seat at double the price.

"You're welcome, sir." Jiang Xiaobai got up and shook hands with him, "If you are willing to sit, come and sit." ”

Zhao Ba thanked Jiang Xiaobai, sat next to me in a chair, smiled and pointed to the magazine on the table, and said: "You see, the rifled gun that the Ministry of Defense is about to install in the Straits Settlements is the one that our company is responsible for producing. ”

I looked at it, and it was really, so I smiled and said, "I didn't expect the producer of Republic 1628 to be by our side, it seems that the class has just got an axe." ”

He shook his head and smiled: "Why, Mr. Li, as a naval officer, has better tactics for rifled guns than most of the army officers we have come into contact with. I'm not afraid of your jokes when I say it, there are a lot of gray clothes who still want to line up and shoot them. ”

Grey Clothes is a scornful term for the Army, and it seems that the manager has a lot of grievances against them.

"Do you think there is anything else that needs to be modified in the tactics of rifled guns?" He asked, "We're willing to pay you." ”

I thought about it for a moment and said, "As rifled guns become more common, the queue tactic should be quickly phased out and replaced by a full-blown skirmish." ”

"You mean the hunters?" Zhao Ba asked with a slight frown.

"Yes, it's like the current line infantry front, those chasseurs who are responsible for harassing the enemy array." I said, "The line infantry should be abolished and converted into stragglers in groups of three or five." ”

"The reason why we are currently using line infantry tactics is not that salvo fire can increase the hit rate or increase the speed of destroying the enemy, but simply because the hit rate of the smoothbore gun alone is too low, and the psychological impact of the enemy soldiers seeing the people around them fall one by one is far less than the psychological impact of falling down a row of people all at once."

Zhao Ba seemed to understand a little: "Yes, the explanation I heard in the army is the same, the current salvo is to destroy the enemy's psychological defense line and cause it to collapse and escape, not simply to destroy people." ”

I laughed, "Exactly. But when we loaded rifled guns, especially rear-loading rifled guns, the soldiers' single-shot killing efficiency was exponentially improved, allowing them to shoot freely, and they were able to shoot enough enemies before they collapsed. ”

I recommended him to read my dissertation. The North Bay branch of the National Naval University is one of the top naval academies in the country, and the school magazine is still very famous, so it is relatively easy to find the journal from previous years.

Note 1: According to the 1625 Train Speed Increase, the average speed of Class B trains is 80 km/h.

Note 2: "Statistical Table of Hit Rates of Expanded Projectiles", First Bureau of Small Arms of the Ministry of Defense, December 1628.

Note 3: "Republic 1628 rifled gun velocity meter", First Bureau of Light Weapons of the Ministry of Defense, January 1629.