Kong Youde's 2,000 musketeers, lined up in four columns according to the battle formation of the Southern Cantonese army described by Dolgon, carrying the muskets on their shoulders, slowly marched forward. However, the formation was quite chaotic. The queue was loose and had to stop every few steps to regroup.

However, fortunately, the officers shouted and commanded in the ranks, and the soldiers of each department just stared at the flag recognition march on behalf of the officers and their own team. Although the formation is chaotic, the basic structure and general formation are quite complete.

On the two flanks of the four horizontal columns that slowly marched forward, hundreds of cavalry each took on the task of guarding and preventing the imaginary Ming cavalry from rushing through the two wings to attack the ranks of the firecrackers.

"Dong Shi is just following suit!"

There was a smile on his face, but in his heart, Dolgon gave Kong Youde such an evaluation.

After returning from entering the customs, he and his younger brother Duoduo and elder brother Azig had already discussed privately that they wanted to capture a fire army of at least a few thousand people no matter what.

"Such a formation is acceptable to deal with the Ming army on the Ningjin front, but if it is against the Nanyue army, I am afraid that it will be beaten by a burst of artillery fire!"

Dolgon mentally commented on Condu's troops.

After walking dozens of steps, the firecracker procession came to a distance of fifty paces from the thousands of grass targets that were also arranged in four columns, and for some reason, Dolgon introduced to Huang Taiji and Kong Youde the tactics of the Southern Yue army in the battle to march to thirty paces before firing. was ignored by Kong Youde, intentionally or unintentionally.

"How can there be such an army in the world that can withstand the enemy's artillery fire and projectiles to within thirty paces of the opponent's army formation before firing?! It must be that our fourteenth prince was defeated by Nanban and found a step for himself! ”

In private, Kong Youde and his righteous brothers, both Mao Wenlong's adopted sons, Shang Kexi and Geng Zhongming, who were known as the three mines in Liaodong, disagreed with Dolgon's statement.

Moreover, now whether it is the Ming army or the Jiannu Eight Banners, the application of the firearm is believed to be up and down seventy steps, although the range and lethality of the firearm made by Jiannu are stronger than the equipment of the Ming army, but the consciousness of Kong Youde and others is still at least at the realm of fifty steps is the best policy.

"Raise the gun! Fire! ”

The leading officers in the team issued a series of commands. The guns, which had long been loaded, were held flat on the chests of the soldiers. Aimed at thousands of grass targets not far away, he pulled the trigger.

A deafening sound rang out. The targets not far away were staggered by the dense projectiles, and the hot projectiles passed through the wheat straw that had been blown dry by the autumn wind, and suddenly bursts of green smoke rose on the grass handles, and then small flames burned everywhere. It became more and more obvious that this burst of fire was extremely powerful.

"Second column. Advance! ”

"Third column. Advance! ”

The sound of a dense platoon of guns was incessant, and a column of firecrackers stepped forward and pulled the trigger. Shoots a projectile from the chamber of the gun, which turns a nearby grass target into a flaming torch.

This scene made Zilharang, Hauge and others feel refreshed but shocked.

"In this way, the Ming army in Jinzhou and other places will no longer be the opponent of my Qing soldiers! Just blast their formation with cannons, and then there will be a series of bombardments by thousands of firecrackers, and then while they are scattered, a large group of cavalry will rush forward! ”

"Fortunately, the king of Japan escorted back to Shengjing first, if he goes south with the two brothers, I am afraid that I will be the same as the red flag!"

Artillery bombardment, musket hitting, and then cavalry charge, Hauge's tactics were undoubtedly successful, because there was also a guy who used such tactics and conquered almost the entire European continent.

The use of firearms was not uncommon in the Qing army, and even the use of artillery was widespread, starting from the famous bloody battle of the Hunhe River, the Qing army noticed the role of artillery in attacking the Ming army's positions. Historically, during the Battle of Songjin, both sides of the Ming and Qing dynasties used a large number of Hongyi cannons. In the battle of Songshan alone, the Qing army transported 10,000 artillery shells, 40 Hongyi cannons, and 10,000 catties of gunpowder. After this battle, after the capture of Songjin, the Qing army in Jinzhou already had 100 Hongyi cannons, and most of the artillery of the Ming army outside the Guanxi fell into the hands of the Qing people, only Wu Sangui stationed in Ningyuan, there are still more than 10 Hongyi cannons.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the shape of firearms was reversed, and the Western missionary Tang Ruowang exclaimed: "His man is strong and strong, and his arrows and bows are strong, and he has beaten me a lot, and recently the firearms are enough to be comparable to me. At present, firearms are expensive in Western milling, and the enemy not only exists, but now they are widely available......"

There is such a record in the Tang newspaper issued by Fan Chenggong, the defender of Songshan: "The thieves carried many artillery fires, and attacked Songshan on the 25th and 26th, and the situation was very critical, and 601 cannons were found in the city, all weighing more than 10 catties, and there were 40 Hongyi cannons installed on the south wall at present, and 1 cannon with 12 oxen. ”

After this battle, the Qing people even proudly threatened: "If you put a hundred cannons as a faction, how can it afford to attack in three or four days?" In fact, after the Qing army entered the customs, the most important reason for the victory of several famous battles, Yangzhou, Tongguan and Jiangyin, was the role of artillery.

At this time, those missionaries in Beijing took the opportunity to create public opinion: "The barbaric Tatars already have sharp firearms, but our Chinese division is not as good as casting heavy artillery as soon as possible, or buying from the Bugarao Artillery Factory." ”

Not to mention that the missionaries were so excited, firearms, and all kinds of technical products, have always been the advantage of Hongyi knocking on the door of China.

After the German missionary John Tang came to China, in the seventh year of Chongzhen, together with Luo Yagu, he presented a telescope brought from Europe to the Ming Emperor, wrapped in yellow silk, with a gold-plated frame and copper accessories. This matter was valued by Emperor Chongzhen and all walks of life in the government and the opposition, not only John Tang was received and rewarded, the Chinese government also organized forces to imitate, and the first self-made telescope in China was completed that year, called the speculum.

Previously, the name of the religion was "Paul". Xu Guangqi, the prime minister of Shanghai, and other pro-Western personages who had already entered the Catholic canonization process, bought Hongyi cannons from the Portuguese in Macao many times, and only during the Apocalypse, they bought 26 Hongyi cannons, 19 of which were left in the capital, and the rest were transported to Ningyuan City outside the Guan.

After the battle of Ningyuan, the Hongyi cannon became famous, arousing the enthusiasm of the government and the opposition to buy and imitate, and in the first year of Chongzhen, the Portuguese mercenaries came to Beijing. There were two hundred soldiers in it. There are also 31 gunners, craftsmen and companions, with a total of 7 large iron guns, 3 large bronze guns, and 30 eagle beak guns, led by the Western commander "Xilao of Gongsha". These artillery. Emperor Chongzhen gave the name "Shenwei General".

Meanwhile. The Ming court also imitated the Hongyi cannon in batches, and the location was mostly on the southeast coast, until the third year of Chongzhen. There are more than 400 imitation large, medium and small Hongyi cannons, and when the Ming Dynasty died in history, more than 1,000 Hongyi cannons of various types were made.

It stands to reason that such artillery costs such a huge amount of manpower, material and financial resources of the country, and in the situation of the late Ming Dynasty, when the financial deficit was huge and the treasury was empty and tight, it should have seen the effect, why was it surpassed by the "barbaric Tatars" after the Battle of Songjin?

It's simple, you can see it from a set of numbers. We analyze from the process of buying Portuguese artillery and manufacturing Lu Mi Gong recommended by Xu Guangqi, the official cost of a Lu Mi gun is one hundred and fifty taels of silver, and in the Kangxi and Yongzheng years of the Qing Dynasty, the cost of a bird gun is only a few taels of silver, what is the huge price difference?

Also, Xu Xiangguo, who is keen on buying the so-called original Portuguese artillery, will not be unaware that many of the armaments of the Portuguese, Spaniards, and English in the East were purchased from Guangdong. In that case, why do you have to buy it from the Portuguese? The reason is only two simple words, rebates!

The artillery purchased by the officials of the Ming Dynasty ranged from Hongyi small cannons to cannons, with prices ranging from at least 100 taels to thousands of taels, and even purchased Hongyi large bronze cannons weighing 7,000 catties, and the shells alone weighed 23 catties.

Xu Guangqi and Hong Chengchou had ordered a large number of shells weighing ten catties from Westerners, and the price of each one was 1,000 taels of silver.

It is because of this act of introducing advanced Western technology that Xu Xiangguo left a place name of Xujiahui in Shanghai, and among the children and grandchildren there is a granddaughter named Ni Guizhen, several children and sons-in-law of this granddaughter are even more famous, so I will not repeat them!

The effect of the firebolt's repeated shots made Huang Taiji, who was sitting on the throne, very satisfied, and a rare smile couldn't help but appear on the black-skinned fat face. As the deafening volley of fire continued to sound, thick white smoke rose from it, and the smile on Huang Taiji's face became thicker and thicker.

The loud sound of the firecrackle and the scorching light of the projectile fired excited the Manchurian nobles behind him, and the grass targets and the thick wooden planks tied to the wheat straw erected fifty paces away by the firecrackers in front of him were smashed and shattered. Seeing this kind of power, Hao Ge and the others, who had never fought directly with the Nanyue Army, were all red with excitement. The deafening sound of firing rang out one after another, and after the 2,000 firecrackers had gone through a volley of firearms, there was not half of the grass target erected in front of them, leaving only the embers of wheat straw burning all over the ground, and the choking smell of gunpowder smoke permeated everywhere, making it difficult to see ahead.

"Spur! Kill! ”

Kong Youde let out a rough shout, and the officers in the team who had followed him from the time of Dongjiang Town shouted in unison, and the firecrackers of each team took out the guns from their waists and put them on the guns, and suddenly a short spear about five feet long appeared in the hands of the firecrackers.

"Long live the Emperor of the Great Qing Dynasty! Hooray, hooray, hooray! ”

The officers jumped on their horses and led the 2,000 musketeers into the imaginary enemy positions that were still smoking and flames.

Such a scene, of course, will make Huang Taiji very pleased.

He ordered someone to summon Kong Youde and others to the front, and took the fire gun on Kong Youde's back to look at it carefully. He couldn't put it down and stroked the black and thick fire gun, the fire gun tube made of wrought iron was slightly hot, thinking that Kong Youde had personally set off the fire gun just now, and the gun was still smoking lightly.

"Gongshun Wang, you are good at firearms, from your point of view, how is my cannon of the Qing Dynasty today compared to the Ming Kingdom?"

"The precision of my Qing Dynasty cannon, the sharpness of its power, far better than that of the Ming Kingdom! What's more, the firearms used by our Qing soldiers are all self-made, and the guns and ammunition are endless, not like the Ming army, and most of the excellent guns are purchased. ”

Kong Youde pondered for a moment. immediately pointed out the gap between the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Huang Taiji was very satisfied with Kong Youde's answer, and passed on the decree that the soldiers and craftsmen who participated in the drill today will each be rewarded with two buckets of japonica rice and a set of clothing.

Don't underestimate this two buckets of japonica rice, with the current grain price in Shengjing, this is almost ten taels of silver.

"Chen Banda, you have a meritorious work in casting artillery, you have also made a fire gun for me, and you have even made a merit in developing springs. I should have rewarded you with a good life. But there was another thing that haunted me. I don't know if you're done. ”

Huang Taiji is in a very good mood today, so he has leisure to go around in circles with Chen Ban.

"The minister is blunt, please make it clear to the emperor."

"You brute! The emperor explained to you some time ago that you must make a fire gun that is the same as that of the Southern Barbarians. Have you ever done that?! Haoge was really polite to Chen Banda, a Han craftsman. Just reprimand loudly.

"Please give the emperor a fire gun for the court." Chen Banda is also not polite. Stretched out his hand and snatched Kong Youde's firecracker, and began to decompose it at Huang Taiji's feet.

The two-pole firearm was quickly dismantled into two piles of parts, and Chen Banda removed a charcoal bar from his ear. A king character was written on the parts of Kong Youde's firearm to distinguish it from Huang Taiji's.

"The minister has the courage to do it, and he doesn't dare to graffiti on the royal utensils."

As he spoke, he was busy in his hands, and in the blink of an eye, the two firecrackers were reassembled, "Please ask the emperor to order someone to test shoot it and see how it works." ”

In the distance with the thud of two firearms, Chen Banda knelt in front of Huang Taiji and talked eloquently.

"The emperor's royal thing is made of nine-turn steel in the Southern Barbarians, which is very different from the wrought iron used in my Qing Dynasty. Ranchen's newly made guns, except for the thick guns, are all based on the Nanban fire guns, so they can be used universally. ”

"What kind of secret technique do you use to be so precise?" Lao Daishan sat on the chair next to him and couldn't help but ask in detail.

In addition to carefully surveying and mapping the fire hammer given by the emperor and making it into a mold made in bronze, it is also assigned to several teams of craftsmen in the workshop. Each team crafts only one part of the firecracker, so that the craftsmen only have one item, practice makes perfect, and they are bound to strive for excellence. ”

"The parts made by each team, the ministers and the horses, the Dings, the kings, etc., and the capable people are sent to use the bronze mirror method to test, and those who pass the inspection can be assembled into firecrackers and put them into storage, if there are too many defective parts in a certain team, the captain, the foreman, and the craftsman himself will be punished."

Suddenly, all the princes and princes present, including Huang Taiji himself, were all interested in the bronze mirror method that Chen Banda said, and they didn't know what kind of magical secret technique it was, which could make the original pass rate of 12 out of 12 become so high.

"Actually, it's worthless." Chen Banda is not secretive, in fact, from the moment he showed this trick in public that day, he knew that this trick was bound to spread.

Use two copper mirrors as testing instruments, combine the copper mirror with the detection surface of the parts that need to be tested, shine on the sun, and judge the size of the gap by virtue of the color in the gap between the two parts plane.

This is actually the original spectroscopy, but it still feels unfathomable to those who are there.

"Your Majesty, this is not too surprising, the so-called art industry has a specialty. Chen Beiyu is good at making guns, obedience to the king is good at commanding guns, Prince Li is old into the country, Prince Rui is loyal and courageous, this is a moment of excellence, but they are all the eagle dog minions in front of His Majesty's palace, isn't it caused by the luck of my great Qing Dynasty? ”

Fan Wencheng just rightly set up a step for Huang Taiji's group of Manchurian relatives and nobles who sighed to themselves, yes! Everyone has a specialization in the art industry, each has its own strengths, who can do everything?

With Fan Wencheng's step, everyone immediately smiled, hello, I am good, everyone is also, for the Qing Dynasty has such a sharp weapon, with such a skilled craftsman and long live the mountain.

"Chen Beiyu, since you returned to my Qing Dynasty, you have done a lot of meritorious deeds, but what reward do you want?"

In Huang Taiji's view, the artillery and guns cast by Chen Banda today are no less sophisticated than those made by the Portuguese purchased by the Ming army.

In particular, the double-layer casting method proposed by Chen Banda made Huang Taiji keenly discover that this technique was undoubtedly tailor-made for his Eight Banners. Lack of steel, not so much copper, but also required artillery to be light and powerful, strong mobility, this kind of outer layer of pig iron, the inner layer of wrought iron cast artillery, no less than the Eight Banners under the ribs of the wings.

Although it sounds like the price is a little higher, and the process is more complicated to operate, as long as the artillery can be built and the Ming army can be dealt a fatal blow, no matter how much money and food he Huang Taiji is willing to give, it's a big deal, and then go to the Ming Kingdom to grab it!

As long as Chen Ban opens his mouth, whether it is money, official position, beauty, Tian Zhai, he can meet his needs.

"The work of the minister, how dare you look forward to your majesty's reward! I am only willing to build all kinds of weapons for His Majesty in the armory workshop! Chen Banda kowtowed, and he didn't even dare to say it.

"Your Majesty, Chen Beiyu has exquisite skills and loyalty, why don't you earn your coating?" Fan Wencheng, who had just built the steps for everyone, paved a way for Chen Banda to be a slave of Huang Taiji.

"Chen Banda, are you willing to be my coater?"

Although Chen Banda has not been plundered to Shengjing for a long time, and he has been immersed in technology, he also knows the various systems in the Eight Banners, and now Huang Taiji asks him if he wants to be the emperor's servant, if he doesn't take this thoroughfare, then he is really an idiot genius.

"Slave Chen Banda, please say hello to the master!"

"Very good, since you are my minion, I will transfer you to the Han Army Zhenghuang Banner to listen to it, just build your gun!" (To be continued......)