Compared with those swordsmen who are thunderous and full of peach and plums, iron cannon experts have not achieved the same reputation in Fusang in this era. www.biquge.info There are only Sasakawa Hideshige of Tanegasegashima of Osumi Province, Tsuda Susanaga (also known as Suginobo Aricho) of Tsuda Ryu of Kii Province, and Inatomi Yuhide of Tango Kuni, these people are relatively recognized as grandmaster-level powerhouses.

Although the announcement of this competition was issued some time in advance, after all, the venue was still in Kyoto, and no one came to Osumi in Kyushu, so the favorites in the eyes of the audience were Inatomi Yunao, and Tsuda Tsuda.

Due to the short time of the introduction of iron cannons, there has not yet been a recognized manufacturing standard, so the early "iron cannon family" inherited far more than just shooting skills, but also included a complete set of processes such as forging, processing, and gunpowder blending. It can even be said that the impact of machining and blending on accuracy is much more important than shooting skills.

Because of this, many samurai did not consider iron cannon as a martial art, and therefore despised it, preferring traditional skills such as swordsmanship, spearmanship, and even throwing. But the lords in power are different, but as long as there are well-informed daimyo who can keep up with the times, they attach more importance to iron artillery than to swordsmanship.

From the beginning of the primary election, Oda Nobunaga personally came to watch the iron cannon trial, which fully illustrates his attitude.

Not only did he enter the arena a quarter of an hour early, but he also carefully read the roster of contestants, corresponding to the existing impressions in his mind. After reading it, Nobunaga ordered someone to invite the flat Honhide on the side and asked him:

"Ina Tadashi family, Yamauchi Kazutoyo, Sugihara family, these people are all under your command now!"

"Exactly." Fan Xiu replied calmly.

He knew that no matter how quick Nobunaga was, he would not be able to keep track of every low-ranking samurai in his family. The reason why I can say these names in one bite must have been investigated beforehand. Oda's ninja organization "Feasting" is powerful, and there are so many people involved in this matter, so it is not surprising that it was found out.

However, the draw was not intended to hide anything. He even guessed what Nobunaga really wanted to ask, and simply added: "Not only that, but there are also two Nanban people, who also used the pseudonym of 'tisade' and participated under the arrangement of their subordinates. These people have specially made iron cannons in their hands. ”

"Are those two names?" Nobunaga pointed to two names that were obviously temporary forgeries, "What 'What Saburo', 'So-Shiro', it's really perfunctory." ”

The two pseudonyms were used by two Portuguese, Raphael and Curaoudi. They were worried that the "tos" selected by the Tie Gang were not good enough to give full play to the superiority of rifled guns, so they found two vests and went into battle in person.

"Ahaha...... Fan Xiu forced a forced smile a little embarrassed, "The reason why I did this was actually the request of the Nanban merchant himself. The intention is to show that as long as there is an advanced iron cannon in hand, even the unknown 'He Mou' can defeat the master of gunnery. This kind of thing is the best propaganda for the quality of the iron cannon. ”

When mentioning the words "advanced iron cannon", Fan Xiu deliberately used an accent.

Nobunaga was really concerned about this, and immediately asked, "Is this Nanban merchant so confident in his goods?" ”

Tieshou Fan Xiu did not hesitate to make a package ticket: "I have sent someone to repeatedly try to confirm beforehand, and after using his processing method, the accuracy of the iron cannon has indeed increased greatly." Taking today's competition as an example, it is difficult for ordinary people to shoot a target with a radius of one foot from 20 rooms (about 36 meters) away. But with this new technology, I had 10 shots from each of the 10 iron cannons, for a total of 27 shots. ”

"Such an immediate effect?" Nobunaga's face was a little suspicious.

Just as he was about to explain, it was just time for the primary, and with a shout from the shogunate, a crackling sound rang out in the shooting range, and smoke filled the air.

Today's venue can accommodate up to 16 people at the same time. It took more than five minutes for all 16 to complete 10 shots.

It didn't take long for the results of the statistics to be read out aloud by the commissioner.

"Inoue Tatsumasa, three times; Nagahide Yamada, the second in the middle; Katsuyo Tanaka, the ...... of the missed Ina Tadashi family, four times, Yamauchi Kazutoyo, four times, Sugiwara Iesada, three times. ”

The results reported earlier did not surprise everyone. Three shots are considered to be excellent, most people are once or twice, and there are a few who play abnormally and all miss the target.

And this is already the elite shooter of this era, at least he has the confidence to come and participate in the competition.

Only the three people sent by the Tie Gang family had significantly higher grades.

When Nobunaga heard this, he was immediately moved, his eyes flashed, he straightened up and grabbed the sleeve of Tohide's coat, and asked urgently, "What is the reason?" ”

"This, I can't say it clearly for a while, it's better to see it than to hear it, I happened to bring a sample with me." Hirate took a few steps back, took out the rifled iron cannon he had prepared from his entourage, and presented it to Nobunaga.

"These carved lines on the inner wall can ensure that the discharged projectile is rotating......" Fan Xiu pointed to the muzzle of the gun and began to explain.

I thought that this physics knowledge would be very troublesome to explain, but in fact, without him having to say much, Nobunaga had already made a sudden realization expression:

"Ah, not bad! If the projectile rotates, it will be smooth, and this makes sense. Nobunaga only thought about it for a short time, and he understood the basic principles of this technology through common sense and imagination. But he immediately frowned again, and asked, "But with so many curved engraved lines, wouldn't it be very troublesome to load?" ”

"Yes." Fan Xiu admitted cleanly, "After the rifling is added, the time to reload a projectile will be extended to three to five times. ”

When Nobunaga heard this, he shook his head to express his dissatisfaction, and asked, "Then why did the people you sent just now have the same completion time as the others?" ”

Fan Xiu smiled helplessly and replied, "This is because they each brought three iron cannons, and there were many retinues to help reload them. ”

"I see." Nobunaga's face showed a look of great disappointment, "How can this be used in battle?" Then he closed his eyes and said no more.

Seeing this, Fan Xiu added: "Using the 'early close' method can slightly make up for the lack of rate of fire." ”

The so-called "early closing" means that the projectile and gunpowder are arranged in proportion in advance, encapsulated together, packed in a bamboo or paper tube, and then poured into the barrel together when used. This technology is said to have been born in Europe 200 years ago. In Fuso, it is said that it was first invented by Tachibana Michiyuki in Kyushu, and it has gradually spread to various places, but it has not yet formed a standardized production standard.

This, of course, increases the rate of fire a little. But in Nobunaga's words:

"A drop in the bucket!"

He's right. This method does not make up for the lack of rifling.

However, he used another passage to arouse Nobunaga's interest: "I am working on a way to improve this 'early closure' technique using cork or paper packets, and honey, but it is ...... for a while."

What Hiseki said is actually the idea of "Mini bullets".

In fact, he knew in his heart that with the industrial capacity of Fuso in this era, it was impossible to make great progress in firearms technology. The principle of rifling and mini ammunition is not complicated, but how to expand production while ensuring technical accuracy is an unsolvable problem.

But on the other hand, even if there is no solution, it makes sense to put forward a direction first.

Nobunaga finally commented: "It's flashy, it's hard to use it for a coincidence, or it can be used as a surprise weapon." But he immediately added: "Tell that Nanban merchant that after this iron cannon becomes famous, I hope that it will be supplied to the Oda family first, and try not to trade with our enemies." ”

While saying it's useless, you have to limit it. Fan Xiu couldn't help but spit out a big groan in his heart, but on the surface, he naturally obeyed orders without hesitation.

Just then, the next round of shooting began. After a loud sound, a little-known young man named "Tian Fu Jingcheng" shot five shots, which was amazing.

But what surprised the audience even more was that Kuraoudi Manaeus, who was nicknamed "A certain Shiro", still hit six shots even after being dumb fired once.

Those who are familiar with the art can vaguely estimate that even the descendants of Inatomi Ryu or Tsuda Ryu can only hit four or five shots at this distance. In other words, this Southern Barbarian, who was hit by six shots, is likely to become the champion of the "Imperial Trial" iron cannon project.

Although everyone knows that the iron cannon is indeed transmitted from the outside, it is really a bit unwilling to let a Southern Barbarian win the laurel in front of the general in front of the public.

In the Fusang country of this era, the only foreign country that was respected by the people to a certain extent was Da Meng, and the Southern Barbarians were still synonymous with horror, weirdness, and barbarism in the hearts of the public. (Except, of course, for Catholics)

Of course, the tie also knows this, and this is undoubtedly very unfavorable for the commercial promotion of rifled iron guns. But he really doesn't have any iron cannon talents under his command, otherwise he wouldn't have to let Kulaudi himself go into battle.

It's also unrealistic to hire a local master on a temporary basis. Because well-known masters are involved in family schools and forces behind them, they will never obey the arrangement 100%, and there is a danger of leaking secrets.

But the little-known "Tian Fu Jingcheng" in front of him made his eyes shine. If the person can be persuaded to cooperate, there may be a better solution to the problem......

He then glanced to the side and saw that Nobunaga didn't seem interested.

So I made up my mind, and I began to think about it.