Records from 1638 show that the price of an arquebus was 18 shillings and 6 pence, that a fork carriage for an arquebus was 10 pence, and that the strap worn by a soldier (to which was attached a tube containing a *, the number of which was exactly 12 in conjunction with the 12 apostles) was 2 shillings and 6 pence in 1629. Around the same time, the salary of a soldier/craftsman was roughly 6 pence, and it can be seen that the most basic equipment of a soldier (excluding gunpowder, guns, bullets, and other things) was roughly equivalent to a soldier's salary for 44 days, or one and a half months. 20 shillings (1 shilling equals 12 pence) is equivalent to 1 pound sterling, which was equivalent to the value of 10 taels of silver in the early 16th century, but by the 17th century, after several currency crises, the value of a pound was only about three or four taels of silver.

In the Ming Dynasty, Japan paid a tribute of 10,000 catties of sulfur, and the market price in Japan was eight wen per catty (including freight), totaling eighty yuan.

During the Yongzheng period, gunpowder was 2.6 cents of silver / catty.

1,000 guns, each consistently 500 wen, 1,500 yuan.

One hundred knives, each consistent 500 wen, a total of 150 pieces.

The armor collar is valued at fifty times according to the previous price.

In 1718, the wooden casing of the rocket was covered with a canvas soaked in hot adhesive. The *use* of the rocket was made of 36 pounds of saltpeter, 16 pounds of sulfur and 12 pounds of basswood charcoal. * Not hammered, but pressed into a rocket. Geisler's rocket was loaded with 1 16-pound bomb. The first new rocket had a maximum range of 1,500 yards, which Congreve soon increased to 2,000 yards.

The maximum strength of the rocket corps is a rocket company, each company has 3 platoons, each platoon has 2 squads, and each squad has 5 teams, each group has 3 soldiers, and each soldier carries 4 12-pound rockets. There are also two soldiers in each squad who are responsible for four pack horses carrying ammunition, each carrying 18 12-pound rockets. Each platoon is equipped with 2 rocket vehicles, 1 each for heavy and light ones. The heavy rocket vehicle launches a 24-pound rocket and is operated by 4 soldiers. The light rocket vehicle launches a 12-pound rocket, which is operated by 2 soldiers. Whether it is a heavy or light rocket vehicle, it can launch 2 rockets at the same time. Each squad is equipped with 1 two-wheeled carriage drawn by 2 horses to carry ammunition, and in a combat environment, each carriage can carry 60 rockets. Thus, the full strength of one rocket company consisted of 178 officers and men, 6 rocket vehicles, 6 two-wheeled carriages and 164 horses, carrying a total of 260 24-pound rockets and 1,200 12-pound rockets.

"The charge of my 1 32-pound rocket is comparable to that of a shell from a 10-inch mortar", the maximum range of the Congreve rocket is 3000 yards, while the maximum range of the 10-inch mortar is only 2000 yards. Moreover, Congreve rockets are highly maneuverable and can be carried even by individual soldiers. In contrast, the 10-inch mortar gun can be called the "most bulkiest weaponry" in active service in the army. In addition, from an economic point of view, the advantages of the rocket are obvious. Although the cost of a 32-pound rocket is almost the same as that of a 10-inch shell (a 32-pound rocket is worth 1 pound 1 shilling 11 pence, and a 10-inch shell is worth 1 pound 2 shillings and 7 pence), it is clear that the cost of a rocket launcher cannot be compared with that of a cannon. Despite this, the British Army eventually abandoned the rocket, and the reason for this was that, in addition to the deep-seated prejudice of the Duke of Wellington against rockets, the Congreve rocket itself did have insurmountable shortcomings: low accuracy and unstable performance. In fact, in most cases, the rocket will not be able to accurately hit the target, and if it hits, it can only be assumed that the target unfortunately hit the rocket. What alarmed the British even more was the erratic "zigzag" flight trajectory of the rocket, which could rush into their own ranks if the wind direction changed slightly.

Rocket SpecificationsAmmunition TypeMaximum Range (yards)Maximum RangeAngle of Fire (degrees)

42-pound arson rocket L 18-pound incendiary 300060

42-pound arson rocket, 12-pound incendiary 300060

42-pounder fragmentation rocket large 12-pounder spherical bomb 300060

42-pounder fragmentation rocket trumpet 5.5-pounder spherical bomb 300060

32-pound arson rocket L 18-pound Incendiary 200060

32-pound arson rocket, medium 12-pound incendiary 250055 - 60

32-pound arson rocket, 8-pound incendiary 300055

32-pound fragmentation rocket, 9-pound spherical bomb 300050

Around the middle of the 14th century, the butt, or handle, was invented to support the barrel of a pistol. At first, the barrel was simply clamped to a four- to five-foot-long wooden pole, so that, even with a backing, the hit rate was still low.

Due to the low quality of gunpowder at that time, the effectiveness of the gun was also affected. During the transport of gunpowder, the heavier potassium nitrate sank to the bottom, while the lighter charcoal ran to the top, and the gunpowder had to be slightly remixed before it could be used. In addition, there is a lack of sufficient space between the fine powder powder particles to prevent the explosion from proceeding adequately. Because of these shortcomings, it is used in particularly large amounts. Often, gunpowder occupies three-quarters of the barrel. When the gunpowder is loaded, a wooden bolt (called a bottom plate) is placed on top of the barrel, and finally the projectile is loaded, at which point the projectile is actually placed on the mouth of the barrel. Because the gunpowder burned slowly and poorly, it was necessary to put some rags and clay inside the bullet to give the gunpowder enough room to burn, so that the pressure in the chamber gradually increased. So, at first, the pistol actually didn't have much lethal power, it can be said that it was just a weapon of psychological warfare. The loud noises, smoke and flames produced by the explosion of gunpowder often frightened the horses of the enemy cavalry.

In the 15th century, granular gunpowder was invented, which solved the problem of the pressure that should be achieved by the explosion of gunpowder from a pistol. Because the three components that make up granular gunpowder are in a stable state, and there are balanced gaps between the gunpowder particles, the explosion of granular gunpowder is more uniform, and the explosion is almost instantaneous.

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For example, the earliest ammunition made from rolling paper: the earliest record of this type of ammunition appeared in 1586 (14th year of Wanli?). years of the United Kingdom. It began to be used throughout Europe during the Thirty Years' War in the 17th century, but for a long time it did not completely replace the Twelve Apostles (either customary or conservative). However, this ammunition lasted for a long time, and those who have seen the movie "Les Miserables" probably remember the footage in which this ammunition was made, and it was still used in large quantities during the American Civil War.

In fact, until the 17th century, arquebuses played only an auxiliary role in European military formations.

The firing speed of one shot in 1 and a half minutes, the effective range within 90 meters,

Dupuy's "theoretical lethality index", which is three or four times smaller than that of the bow and arrow,

Of course, it was difficult to deal with cavalry.

The three-eyed steel tube is about one foot long, and the mouth is as big as a bird's bronze, which can hold three coins of a bullet. The iron should be cooked, and the two cylinders should be wrapped so that the seam is dense and the size of the eye is appropriate; It is also used to drive it with a steel drill to make the light in the eyes straight and the bullet is accurate. Three pipes into one, with three hoops or only one hoop. Keep your eyes on the bottom so that you don't sit back. After the hammering, a basket of hoops is used to equip the handle, and an iron drill or an iron hoop is used behind the handle." [6]

The most important part of this information is the phrase "the tube is about a foot long"; Due to the "belly length through weight"[7], the three-eyed bronze, which is only one foot (about 30 cm) long, is far inferior to the bird's bronze, which is more than three feet (about 90 cm) long, in its ability to penetrate the armor. From the above data, it can be seen that compared with the bird, which can be cast at a distance of 100 paces (about 181 meters) [8], the effective range of the three-eyed bolt is only 30 to 40 paces (about 54-72 meters). Of course, the point is that as long as the length of the gun barrel can be increased, the power can be doubled; Thus, on the eve of the Battle of Shaldun, the Ming army's three-eyed range may have reached 80 paces (about 144 meters)[9]. Nonetheless, the weapon itself is designed to be either sacrificing penetration or increasing weight in order to achieve the designed purpose of increasing the rate of fire.

The most urgent need for the enemies faced by the Ming army this time was a weapon that could penetrate heavy armor. From the previous narrative, it can be seen that during the entire battle, the typical way of the Jin soldiers was to focus on the heavy armor with long guns and broadswords in front, and the light armor to shoot arrows in the back. It is said that the Jurchens concentrated the ironsmiths at the north gate of their capital, and the ironmen's dwellings stretched for several miles, and specialized in the manufacture of armor: armor, masks, arms, hands, and horse armor were all made of fine iron[10]; The finished armor is shot with arrows, and if it is not dented or scratched, the ironsmith will be rewarded, otherwise it will be killed. [11] Xu Guangqi said that the Koreans were at odds with the Jurchens, and although they were "not without arrows", they were still "dragged in by the slave infantry and withdrew when they refused to be Mamudeng", because of the "strong armor"[12]. It can be inferred from this how the steady and unscathed Jurchen ironmen who accompanied the steady progress of the metal impact under the rain of bullets caused the Ming army to panic and rush to the front of the group of bold imps to hide and lean in front of them and release their guns.

The peculiarity of the Flying Array is that it is entirely a type designed for the purpose of close combat with small units, so that even with only 12, 6, or even 4 men, the soldiers can choose the corresponding combat formation to exert their team combat strength. After killing and injuring some of them, the formation formed by more soldiers may not be able to properly exert the functions and combat power given by its formation, and can only rely on the soldiers to fight to the death, otherwise the formation will collapse; And the Leap Array just ensured that the soldiers could still display their effective combat capability in the face of a decrease in the number of comrades-in-arms. The "hit" formation means pulling out these strong multiplayer combat squads one by one, so it's practically unlikely to achieve the purpose of striking the "smash" – at least in terms of the formation rather than the psychology of the soldiers. The Ming army on Abu Dali Gang performed such a play, and the Jurchen warriors under the command of Huang Taiji fought against the imminent with iron armor and spears, but their uncoordinated individual bravery could never knock out the closely coordinated 12-man Ming army

As for tactics such as "three-stage strikes" to increase the rate of fire, the West was many years later than the East .

At the Battle of Cerignola in 1503, the Spanish mixed formation was a great success. The Spaniards had 8,000 soldiers, including more than 1,000 arquebusiers and 20 cannons. The opponents, the French, had 32,000 infantry and cavalry and 40 cannons. During the battle, the Spaniards had built fortifications consisting of trenches, low walls and stakes, and the positions of the Spaniards' artillery were relatively better than those of the French. The French launched two cavalry charges from the front, which were repulsed by Spanish artillery. Having learned from the experience, the French began to attack the flanks of the Spaniards (the idea was not bad, because it was difficult for the artillery to move quickly, but unfortunately they did not realize that the opposing arquebusiers could maneuver quickly), and this time, the Spanish arquebuses came into play, and both the French cavalry and the Swiss pikemen were repulsed. Several high-ranking commanders (including the Duke of Nemours) also gave their lives to this. The battle of 1503 is considered to be the first battle in which light firearms played a decisive role.

The composition of a typical 16th-century Spanish phalanx is as follows: 1,500 pikemen, 1,230 arquebusiers, 128 heavy arquebusiers, for a total of about 3,000 people. The pikemen are arranged very closely, with a distance of only 0.96 meters between the left and right, and about 2 meters between the front and back, and under normal circumstances, the pikemen will face the enemy's incoming defense line in about 27 rows, so that the front width of the entire pikemen phalanx is 50-60 meters, and the depth is between 50-60 meters. Arquebusiers are mainly found in small squares on the four corners of the pike, with about 240 men per arquebusier (with a range of 150-400 men).

The rest of the arquebusiers were on either side of the pike, so that they could provide immediate support when the enemy attacked from both flanks. 128 heavy arquebusiers were deployed in front of the pike-phalanx. A normal arquebus can only penetrate cavalry armor at close range, while a heavy arquebus can penetrate at long distances (up to 200 yards, but it is obviously very difficult for several enemies at this distance). The purpose of heavy arquebuses was to be able to kill and harass enemy cavalry from a long distance.

The distance between the left and right sides of the arquebusier phalanx is larger, at 1.28 meters, and the distance between the front and back is also about two meters. The arquebus phalanx is the only force that can maneuver quickly, and the arquebusiers usually line up in 8 or 12 rows within each arquebus phalanx (manga, meaning "sleeve"). Sometimes, as an assault force, they would send detachments as small as 15 men to run in front of the enemy to conduct harassing fire, and such detachments would usually be in a row of 5 people in 3 rows.

16 The actual arquebus was complicated to load, and the heavy arquebus also used a fork carriage, which made the loading process even more confusing. It is generally believed that the arquebuses of this era took a minute or a little longer to complete the full preparation for firing. This makes the continuity of fire a serious problem. Fortunately, this is not the first time in the history of human warfare that this kind of problem has arisen, and the military writings of ancient Rome mention how to ensure the continuity of the blow by throwing javelins in groups. In order to solve the problem of continuity of fire, the arquebus phalanx (Manga) in the Spanish phalanx adopted the standing method of 8-12 rows. The basic method is that each platoon of gunners takes turns firing muskets, and after firing, they reload and wait for the command to fire the next round. However, how to quickly and orderly realize this formation transformation process is not a simple problem. Beginning in 1516, the Spaniards began experimenting with various "countermarch" formations: the first row of fires followed the back of the last row to reload the muskets, while the second row prepared to fire. As a result of the cyclical cycle, the phalanx will retreat. However, these experiments have clearly not found a perfect solution.