"How?" Yu Qiuping once again met Charlie's skeptical gaze unwaveringly, "Do you think that the hit rate of the fire gun is not as good as that of a bow and arrow?" ”

"Yes." Charlie nodded firmly.

"Bows and arrows are obviously not as easy to operate as firebolts!" Yu Qiuping immediately analyzed it in a down-to-earth manner, "If you shoot at a close target, the hit rate of firearms and bows and arrows is very high!" But if you shoot at a distant target, the bow and arrow are much more difficult to operate than the musket! ”

"The bow and arrow flying out is an arc!" Yu Qiuping exaggerated an arc with his hand as he spoke, "When the archer aims, he also needs to consider the angle of the bow and arrow and the angle of the parabola!" And the bow and arrow are very light and susceptible to the wind, and the archer must also consider the wind speed or something! But it's not the same with a firecracker! I just need three points and one line, and I can aim in a straight line! ”

"Your Highness, all this is not what you think." Charlie shook his head with a determined expression, "If you don't believe it, you can let you try it with that gentleman." ”

The gentleman Charlie was a cannon instructor sent by the people of Tennojiya, named Kazuyoshi Tsuda, and according to the display case of Tennojiya's shop in Tsushima, he was a good hand at using iron cannons, and he was famous even throughout Sakai Town.

"Okay!" Yu Qiuping was a little annoyed by Charlie's arrogant appearance, "Tsuda-sama, please try it with that longbowman." ”

·

The two targets were placed twenty feet away from the two of them, and Charlie and Kazuyoshi Tsuda were each preparing for the shooting. Charlie had his bow and arrows serviced every day, so there was no need for trouble, just a simple test of the strength of the bowstring and he was ready. And what Kazuyoshi Tsuda has to do is much more troublesome.

He first poured out the chamber of the gun, removing the residue of gunpowder from the previous shot. Then he took out a brush similar to the test tube brush of later generations, and reached into the chamber of the gun to clean the residue again. After that, he poured gunpowder from different small bags into the chamber of the gun in proportion, and poured another projectile into it. Next, the projectile and gunpowder were compacted with a throughbar. After that, he began to carry out the operation of ignition. He first rubbed the flint in his hand to start a fire, and then used it to ignite the fire rope that was caught in the hook of the iron cannon.

When everything was finally done, Kazuyoshi Tsuda raised his hand to Yuakihei - in the meantime, nearly a minute had passed.

After Yu Qiuping nodded, Charlie and Kazukichi Tsuda shot at the same time! The sound of the bow and arrow was quickly overwhelmed by the roar of the iron cannon fire, and many of the ashigaru people around who had never heard the sound of gunfire were suddenly frightened.

Both the arrow and the projectile were fired at the target at a speed barely visible to the naked eye, making a crisp and dull crashing sound. Yu Qiuping and Chang Panbei's officers walked to the side of the target to check the results of the shots—they all hit the red circle of the heart.

In order to compete with each other, Charlie asked to move the target back 20 feet again, and he and Kazuyoshi Tsuda completed the shooting again. This time, Charlie still shot steadily in the red circle, but still slightly to the side. And Tsuda Kazukichi's iron cannon was not so accurate at the moment, and only hit the position of the seventh ring.

When the shooting distance moved to 60 zhang, Yu Qiuping already understood that Charlie had won. In this era, the effective firing distance of the musket was only about 150 meters, and most soft bows were about the same distance. The crossbowman, or longbow, has a much longer range - Charlie's ultimate range is nearly 300 meters.

Sure enough, Charlie shot at the junction of the 10th and 9th rings this time, and Kazuyoshi Tsuda only hit the target and almost missed. Yu Qiuping understood that Tsuda Kazuyoshi's kung fu was already quite good, and it was the iron cannon itself that determined that it was impossible for it to aim with high accuracy at such a distance.

"Your Highness, this is how it turned out." Charlie clenched his longbow with some pride, "Archers are ranged troops that are more powerful than musketeers. Regardless of the power of the musket, it is true that it is not as accurate as the musket. The Archer can kill him before he reaches the shooting distance. ”

"Thompson," Yuqiu, who was slapped in the face, was a little overwhelmed, and he didn't want to lose face in front of so many people, he defended again: "That's not because iron cannons are inferior to bows and arrows!" It's Thompson, you're so good at archery! If you change to a normal archer, you won't be able to shoot Tsuda-sama! ”

"But from what I've heard, Tsuda-sama is also a great musketeer." Charlie mercilessly pointed out Yu Qiuping's mistake, and the people around him couldn't help but laugh when they saw Yu Qiuping deflated - everyone thought that the iron cannon was definitely not as good as the bow and arrow. Those Nanban things are just a fresh game for the rich daimyo, how can they really be used on the battlefield?

"No, no, no! You don't understand! Yu Qiuping seemed to have found an idea, and said loudly again: "The firecracker doesn't need a high hit rate!" We can take the approach of group shooting to improve the hit rate! Maybe a firecracker can't hit an enemy from a distance of thirty feet! But 100 musketeers shot 100 ashigaru shots at a distance of 30 zhang, and a dozen people would fall on the opposite side in a salvo! ”

"Archers can also fire volleys to improve their hit rate." Charlie retorted with an unchanging face, "The volley of our English longbowmen is terrifying to all the nations of the continent. ”

"But the longbowmen are not powerful!" Yu Qiuping keenly discovered the loophole in Charlie's logic, "You shoot from a distance of thirty zhang, and you can't kill the person wearing the carcass pill!" But the firebolt can definitely kill with one hit! Even if he hadn't been killed directly, so much dirty gunpowder, shards, and iron slag would have been enough to infect the ashigaru on the other side, causing him to die of tetanus soon after! ”

Charlie listened to Yu Qiuping's head and head for a long time, and did not refute it directly, but asked Yu Qiuping to let him compete with Tsuda Kazuyoshi again. Yu Qiuping didn't know what to do, but he still agreed to his request.

The target was set twenty feet away, and Charlie and Kazuyoshi Tsuda stood up again. This time, however, the situation is different from the last time. As soon as Kazuyoshi Tsuda had just begun to clear his chamber, Charlie had already bent his bow and arrows and swished towards the target. The cleaning and reloading of iron cannons took a long time, and the archers were much more convenient. Charlie shot after arrow, drew his bow and took quick aim, and then let go of his strings. After Kazuyoshi Tsuda finally finished preparing for shooting and shot a projectile, Charlie shot five arrows back and forth with one arrow, all of which hit the bull's-eye!

"Your Highness, that's the way it is." Charlie slowly retracted his bow and stood, "The time for a musketeer to shoot once is enough for an archer to shoot four or five times." Even if His Highness uses the method of salvo fire, it is not as good as the archers. Charlie's words aroused the approval of many officers and archers around him.

"That's it," Nakahide Mimaezaki, who didn't like to be chaotic, added: "After the two armies engaged, the archers could still shoot and cover in the back!" The trajectory of the iron cannon was a straight line, but it was blocked by the person in front! So what else can the iron gunner do? Standing still there? ”

"That's not right!" Yu Qiuping shook his head and said, "If the armor on the opposite side is good, or if you take a shield!" No matter how many rounds you shoot, it doesn't matter! But the firecracker is powerful, and it can kill with a single hit! Have you forgotten that our archers are of little use when it comes to the opponent's elite troops? ”

"And the archers will get tired!" Yu Qiuping found a new argument, "Archers generally have no strength after shooting so many rounds, but iron gunners will not be bothered like this again!" ”

"Haha... Your Highness, don't be funny! Mizenzaki Nakahide pointed at the iron cannon beside Yu Qiuping and smiled, "With the reloading speed of the iron cannon, the enemy should shoot at most twice before rushing up!" I'd like to a few dozen times! Mizenzaki Nakahide's words immediately caused a burst of laughter among the surrounding Tokiwa soldiers.

"It's not like that!" Seeing that his advanced technology had been vetoed, Yu Qiuping protested in some panic: "We can also take ways to improve the loading efficiency of the musketeers!" For example, we can configure the amount of gunpowder in a single shot according to the proportion, and put it in a small paper bag. When you use it, tear open the paper bag and pour everything directly into it, which saves a lot of time! ”

"And! We can also rely on training! We can always rely on training to change queues and march so well, and the reloading speed of the fire gun can definitely be trained! ”

"It's really not possible, there's another way!" Yu Qiuping patted his head and thought of his advantages as a traverser. Oda Nobunaga, I'm going to copy your method politely: "We can line up the firecrackers in three rows!" Everyone takes turns shooting alternately! When the people in the first row finish shooting, they retreat to the last row to reload, and rotate row by row! In this way, we can maintain a continuous firepower, and we can definitely do it according to the level of queue change that we are always ready for! ”

Just as Yu Qiuping had just finished saying this, he suddenly heard a rush of footsteps. Yu Qiuping turned his head to look, and saw that the mantle of Sena Yoshiyoshi was barefoot, and he rushed towards him.

"Don't think I didn't hear it!" Sena roared angrily.

"It's a formation again, and it's a row after a row of rotations, so how many iron cannons do you have to buy!" Sena rushed to Yu Qiuping like crazy in a frustration, grabbed the latter's shoulders and shook constantly: "An iron cannon is 30 times!" How much do you want to buy! Do you want to ruin all our families? ”

"It's not! That's not what it means! Yu Qiuping has been tossed half to death by the stunned Sena clan in the past few days, and when he saw him rushing over like this, he immediately panicked: "We can give the fire gun to Hanamaru and them!" Let them dismantle a few firecrackers, try to imitate them, and keep the cost down! ”

"Momiji! 30 things! You still want to tear it down! Sena was completely furious and roared at Yu Qiuping, causing the surrounding onlookers to laugh.

Imagawa Kaede also stood aside, smiling and watching Yu Qiuping work hard to promote for a long time, but in the end he was made fun of by everyone. At this time, Naoe Tadahei walked up to her side at some point and asked her, "Mastermother, why does Your Highness like these things?" ”

"Oh? These things? Imagawa Kaede looked at Naoe Tadahei with a smile, "You don't approve of this iron cannon either." ”

"yes." Naoe Tadahei nodded, "These things look flashy and won't be of much use on the battlefield." ”

"Now, even Lord Naoe, who has always understood His Highness's meaning the most, doesn't support him," Imagawa Kaede shook his head with a wry smile, "Nahei is going to run into a lot of trouble when he promotes this iron cannon this time." ”

"Huh?" Naoe Tadahei heard what Imagawa Kaede was saying, and asked curiously, "Does the mistress think this iron cannon is of great use?" ”

"That's nature." A mysterious smile appeared on Imagawa Kaede's face, and he said in a low voice, "I'll tell you quietly." As long as it is something new that Your Highness has identified, nothing can be wrong. ”