Although the hit rate had dropped to about 50 percent when shooting at a target at a distance of 200 paces (300 meters), the Ming officials and soldiers who knew how to do it were still stunned.

The Ming Dynasty was very strict in the control of firearms, why was the control strict? Because the Ming court regarded firearms as a strategic weapon, it attached great importance to the issue of firearms. Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty, as long as a civilian official who understands military affairs, he will not ignore firearms.

Therefore, when the Ming army was suppressed by the Later Jin army at the end of the Ming Dynasty, many officials pinned their hopes on the Hongyi cannon imported from the West, advocating the idea that "cannon is truth". For this, he was also extorted by the Portuguese. An 18-pound cast-iron cannon minted in England cost no more than 100 taels of silver, but it was sold for a very high price of 1,000 taels by a black-hearted Portuguese merchant. And the Ming Dynasty actually admitted it and was willing to act as the wronged leader.

In fact, the Furlong cannon was more suitable as a land cannon than the Hongyi cannon and was used against the enemy. However, at that time, because the Ming Dynasty artillery did not have a movable gun mount, it was equally difficult to carry the Fu Lang cannon. In addition, the Ministry of Industry of the Ming Dynasty was also shoddy for the Fulong machine gun, which led to a poor fit between the sub-gun and the mother gun, and serious air leakage, which led to the Fulong machine gun being useless.

In Marin's view, the Furlong cannon with an effective firing range of 300 meters, because of its fast rate of fire, is actually more suitable for serving as an infantry gun in front of the formation. Because, before the enemy's cavalry rushed in front of our formation, it was a few more cannons to be able to fire. Finishing the 5 guns in one go can definitely cause great damage to the opponent. If the gun is loaded with shotguns, the damage will be even more violent.

It's just that the Daming artillery has not had a good movable gun mount (the Tiger Squat Cannon has been shot on the chariot, but the Tiger Squat Cannon power, range and rate of fire are not good, it is a standard earthen cannon, but it has also made a lot of meritorious contributions in the anti-Japanese war), and the general Furlong cannons are mounted on the head of the city or the fort, so they naturally can't play their advantages. The reason why the Furlong cannon was replaced by the Hongyi cannon was because at the head of the city and the fort, the Hongyi cannon with a longer range was obviously more suitable. And the Furlong cannon, in fact, is most suitable for placing in front of the formation. But the premise is that a modern artillery carriage that is easy to transport and quickly deploys is needed......

Ma Lin presented the Furlong machine gun this time, and he dedicated the whole cannon with the modern gun carriage to the Ming court. With modern movable gun mounts, in the future, the Furlong cannon will inevitably be brought to the battlefield and bombard the enemy head-on.

……

On the shooting range, it was not only Liu Meng who was a knowledgeable civil official who was excited. Many other civilian officials who were familiar with military affairs, including Xu Yong and other generals, also slowly realized the superiority of this new type of artillery, its long range, great power, and its deployment and firing speed were very fast, making it an absolute weapon on the battlefield......

Just when the Ming officials and soldiers at the scene were all getting high, Kong Tai coughed and said:

"Lord Shen, Lord Liu, General Xu, we still have muskets on display......

Liu Meng was taken aback, and then said with anticipation:

"Ah, yes, yes, I haven't seen the effect of the firecracker, Deputy Envoy Kong, please show it to the old man!"

Then, Xu Yong, the commander of the Guangzhou avant-garde, immediately ordered his Qianhu to replace the targets in the shooting range of Qianhu with musket targets......

However, the current mainstream musket in the Ming Dynasty is the three-eyed gun. The three-eyed gun is one-handed, and the general firecracker holds the gun in his right hand and ignites the lead with his left hand to activate the three-eyed gun.

The three-eyed guns are three iron pipes tied to the front of the wooden handle, and when the fuse is lit, it fires three shots in a row. However, the reloading of the Three-Eyed Gun is very cumbersome and slow. Therefore, after a round of fire, the firecracker will hold the three-eyed gun in his hand and use it as a hammer to smash the approaching enemy. The head with the three guns tied together is really heavy, and if you hit the enemy, you can't kill the enemy immediately, and the more you can smash the enemy. Therefore, the main role of the three-eyed gun in the Ming army is to give the opponent a triple shot before engagement, and then the firecracker becomes a hammer soldier in close combat......

Moreover, the range of the Three-Eyed Gun is very close, and the general optimal range is only 30 paces (about 45 meters). Within thirty paces, it can break the heavy Kai and deal with the enemy's heavy cavalry.

It is precisely because of the existence of the three-eyed gun that the Mongol tribes in Mobei, in the Ming Dynasty, gradually abolished the heavy cavalry, and basically evolved into light cavalry. Why? Because the death cavalry of Genghis Khan's era was useless. In front of the Three-Eyed Gun, the heavily armored death squad was also sent. Later, the Manchus were able to win because they adopted cotton armor, which was more suitable for resisting muskets. And the cotton nail technology is also learned from the Ming Dynasty......

Thirty paces away, the Three-Eyed Gun could not hurt a heavily armored enemy. However, at 50 paces, it can still hurt enemies who are not armored at all. But generally this kind of enemy without armor is some cannon fodder. Hitting them with a three-eyed gun is also a waste of ammunition.

In general, the power of the three-eyed gun is probably about the same as that of the short musket. Of course, the barrel length of the three-eyed gun is also very short. If you don't count the length of the wooden handle, the length of the barrel is about the same as that of the Western short musket, and the power is naturally similar.

And the barrel of the arquebus, which is often more than a meter long. The longer the barrel, the faster the initial velocity of the bullet out of the muzzle, and the longer the range, and the same is true for artillery. Therefore, the long-barreled arquebus brought by Marin was naturally much more powerful.

According to the shooting habit of the three-eyed gun, the avant-garde firecrackers in Guangzhou set the gun target at a distance of 20 paces (note: although the armor-piercing killing distance of the three-eyed gun is 30 steps, it is convenient to aim within 20 steps. Within 20 lanes and 30 steps, this distance may not necessarily hit. The same is true for arquebuses, which are generally aimed within 70 yards (63.7 m). However, the musket was a little inaccurate at a range of 50 meters. The extreme lobster soldier musketeer, on the other hand, will withstand a wave of enemy fire and will not shoot until within 30 meters. At this distance, even recruits can hit). Kong Tai looked at it and disliked it too close. So, I negotiated with Xu Yong and put the target at a distance of 30 steps......

"At a distance of 30 paces, could it be that their muskets are better than those of Da Ming?" The onlookers of the Ming Dynasty officials were full of discussions.

However, when I saw the musketeers of the Beihai Kingdom take out the muskets, the barrel was much longer than the three-eyed gun of the Ming Dynasty......

Long barrels are difficult to machine, and barrels are different from gun barrels. The barrel is cast, and the wall is generally very thick. And the barrel is generally made, and the wall of the tube is very thin. However, to be honest, a barrel with a thin wall is much more difficult to process than a barrel.

The Ming Dynasty had a bad tradition of treating craftsmen as slaves. Generally, craftsmen who have entered the household registration of craftsmen have basically become slaves of the imperial court. Any civil official with a big sesame seed can call and drink to those great craftsmen. In fact, this tradition was inherited from the Yuan Dynasty by the Ming Dynasty. The Mengyuan Dynasty regarded the Han people as slaves, and the artisans were no exception. And the Ming Dynasty also inherited this unreasonable system. Therefore, the status of the Ming craftsmen is low. Because there was no hope, even if there was an invention, the credit would be snatched away by the civil officials, so the level of craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty stagnated, and in the late Ming Dynasty, it was surpassed by the West......

The reason why the three-eyed gun with a short barrel was used in the early Ming Dynasty was also related to the lack of technology to make a long barrel. It was not until the Jiajing period that the Portuguese, in order to tie up with the Ming Dynasty, passed on the technology of making long barrels and the Furlong machine gun to the Ming Dynasty......

The distance of thirty paces was really not difficult for the musketeers sent by the Beihai Kingdom this time. You must know that these people are all sharpshooters specially selected by the Beihai Kingdom, just to show them to the Ming Dynasty. So, their archery skills are very superb.

With the sound of gunshots, the smoke gradually cleared. After seeing that the musketeers of the Beihai State had put down their muskets, the musketeers of the Ming Dynasty in Guangzhou went to take back the targets and show them to the two political envoys......

After Shen Rui and Liu Meng saw it, they were surprised to find that there were gun holes on these gun targets...... In other words, in this round of shooting, all 15 musketeers who participated in the shooting were on target. Moreover, most of the people hit bullet holes very close to the middle of the target, and the results are quite good......

"Sure enough, good marksmanship!" Liu Meng praised.

You know, that's 30 paces away, that's 45 meters away. At a distance of 45 meters, the target of the gun was already quite small in the field of view. It's good to be able to hit the target, not to mention that the bullet hole is close to the center of the target? Therefore, the praise of the knowledgeable Liu Meng is not too much at all.

Shen Rui didn't know much about firearms, but Liu Meng said yes, and he stroked his beard on the side, smiling and making a statement of satisfaction......

However, before the two bigwigs finished boasting, Kong Tai once again asked for a distance of 40 steps to set a target......

The Ming officials and soldiers present were shocked by the distance of 40 paces, but the distance of the Daming firearms to practice shooting was twice the distance, and Western firearms were so sharp?

Soon, they knew that the result of this round of shooting was much worse than the 30-step one, but all 15 people were on target, but most of the bullet holes were not near the center point, but were distributed in the edge of the target......

However, Li Sanshui, the commander of the firecracker team of the Guangzhou avant-garde Qianhu Institute, was taken aback:

"40 steps away can also pierce the target?"

"What? Li Baihu, what do you say about 40 steps through the target? Liu Meng asked with interest, not caring about Li Sanshui's faux pas.

Li Sanshui clenched his fists and bent down, and replied:

"Lord Hui, the fire targets used by our thousand households are all made of harder beech wood. Moreover, this kind of target is very particular. But if you can penetrate this kind of wooden target, it means that the bullet also has the ability to break through heavy armor. Because this beech target is made by imitating the protective power of heavy armor. If you can pierce the target, you can break the heavy armor! ”

"Then, my Ming Ming's three-eyed gun can break through heavy armor in dozens of steps?" Layman Shen Rui asked.

"Back to my lord, it's only 30 steps!"

"Huh? Doesn't that mean that the fire guns of the Beihai Kingdom are also better than the Ming Dynasty? Shen Rui said a little unhappily.

"I'm afraid it's so......" Li Sanshui was also a little depressed. As the leader of the Great Flame Soldiers, he was also a little uncomfortable. After all, he had always been proud to be the commander of the Great Flame Soldiers.

At this time, Kong Tai, who had been silent on the side, interjected:

"The two adults, General Xu, the musket produced by my Beihai Kingdom has the ability to break heavy armor within 66 steps (100 meters). It's just that from 40 paces away, it's hard to guarantee a hit......"

"66 steps...... That's amazing...... Being able to guarantee a hit within 40 steps is also a weapon in the firebolt......" Liu Meng said thoughtfully.

Kong Tai understood very well at this time that the Ming court was probably a little embarrassed, this was what Ma Lin had explained before, and he had to let the Ming save face......

So, he made a Chinese salute and said:

"The two political envoys, General Xu, I am a small and widowed country in Beihai Country, and if I can get my hands on it, I will have firearms. And our Royal Highness the Grand Duke has long been yearning for the prosperity and strength of the Ming Dynasty, and we specially invite ourselves to be a subordinate of the Ming Dynasty. ”

"His Royal Highness the Grand Duke once said that since ancient times, the sword has been matched with heroes, and the wealth and strength of the Ming Dynasty are the best in the world. The sharp firearms of my Beihai country should also be dedicated to the powerful Ming Dynasty to show sincerity......"

After saying such a long "line", Kong Tai couldn't help but flip through the "Tribute Book" in his sleeve, which was full of shameless "lines" written by Ma Lin to guide how to send Daming's sycophants. Kong Tai's words just now came from this treasure book. This thing is very similar to the "Interview Book" that has been passed down in later generations...... However, there are two kinds of treasures, one is to know how to interview, and the other is to guide how to make sycophants...... After all, Kong Tai Chinese limited vocabulary and couldn't organize too many shameless Chinese words...... Therefore, before leaving, Ma Lin gave Kong Tai a "treasure book", which is somewhat similar to Zhuge Liang's "tricks......

Hearing Kong Tai say this, Shen Rui and Liu Meng, the two political envoys, turned their faces better. After all, it is a shame that firearms lag behind people. But Beihaiguo's posture is so low, which makes them feel a lot more comfortable.

Liu Meng nodded and said to Kong Tai:

"Since the lord of the horse country (Ma Lin 'was' surnamed Ma, of course, his surname in his previous life was indeed Ma) is so sincere, this official should play the Ming court and report the heart of the horse lord to the emperor and the elders......"

"In this way, I will thank Lord Liu for being humble!" After speaking, Kong Tai fell to the ground and expressed his gratitude to Liu Meng......