"It's a pity, ......, we are Ming, there are too few such elites." Luo Hengxin, the governor of Xuanda, who was wearing an official robe and standing on the high platform of the military camp with Zhu Qizhen, who was wearing a bright yellow armor, looked at those brave and high-spirited Ming soldiers, and couldn't help but sigh with such emotion.

Looking at those pro-army soldiers who were dressed in leather armor inlaid with armor, covered with red battle jackets, iron helmets on their heads, and leather boots on their feet, they looked like bright lichens and armor, lined up in a team of swords and axes, and walked out of the gate of the barracks with neat steps, every five hundred people were in a queue, the head and tail of the team were sword and shield soldiers, and on both sides, they were pikemen, and those in the middle were the fire soldiers.

These musketeers should now be called musketeers, because since last year, Zhu Qizhen has sprinkled silver taels and recruited fine craftsmen, which has finally greatly improved the smelting level of Xuanfu, and the most important thing is that it is no longer the kind of individual workshop-style steelmaking.

Instead, large-scale steelmaking was adopted, and the steelmaking technique naturally adopted the steel frying method, which was the best smelting method of the ancient Chinese people, and this smelting method has continued to be used in later generations.

In addition, instead of being a mess of materials used in steelmaking as in the past, coke is used entirely. Don't believe it, during the Song Dynasty, the technology of coking had already been produced in the Central Plains, and it was recorded.

After the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the coking technology has also been improved and developed, making the coking technology more and more perfect, and the coking carbon is closer to the ideal degree.

And Xuanfu is close to Datong, and several teachers and fathers who have been recruited with a lot of money happen to know how to coke, which is why Zhu Qizhen will be crazy to purchase coal from Datong, even in the 21st century, coal is still the most important raw material for steelmaking, there is no one.

With the same standard of smelting methods and the same specification of fuel, the quality of the steel produced by the Xuanfu Iron and Steel Plant has reached an unprecedented height, which makes Zhu Qizhen feel that money can make the devil grind, but also has to admire the wisdom and ability of those Ming craftsmen.

In addition, Zhu Qizhen is a traverser after all, so he naturally knows that the length of the barrel and the smoothness are all strong guarantees to ensure the accuracy and range of the musket.

-------------------- Zhu Qizhen naturally transmitted this concept to the thoughts of those fine craftsmen, so the muskets held by Zhu Qizhen's pro-army today have changed significantly from the muskets of the Ming Dynasty, which are closer to the appearance of the muskets of later generations, and all military fans who have seen flintlock pistols on videos and pictures are very clear that making flintlock pistols is not too simple.

After a short period of effort, the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty mastered the technology of making springs from mild steel, although they were made by hand, because they strictly followed the standardization and assembly production that Zhu Qizhen said from the beginning. Soon, improvised flintlock bolts were developed. Moreover, it was applied to the firearms of the pro-soldiers in Zhu Qizhen at the fastest speed.

In the past, the musket used by the Ming Dynasty, the fire letter used, the letter was mostly used incense, and sometimes, simply took the fire fold to order, Zhu Qizhen, who saw this scene, really had nothing to say, but couldn't help but feel a little proud, if it wasn't for himself, maybe the improvement of the Ming Dynasty's firearms would have to be pushed back for a hundred years.

This kind of infantry musket using flintlock guns and paper ammunition has a theoretical firing rate of three times per minute, and under strict and even cruel training, the rate of fire of Zhu Qizhen's pro-army musketeers has reached a firing rate of five times a minute, that is to say, if the musketeers are lined up in three teams, then, almost every five seconds, a barrage of fire will be formed, effectively killing and injuring the enemy.

For this point, Zhu Qizhen is very proud, such musketeers can be called professional soldiers, they load ammunition more than 100 times a day, aim and fire live ammunition training, but they are completely piled up with white silver.

And it is precisely because of Zhu Qizhen's investment regardless of the cost that they were able to meticulously maintain the formation, shoot and load ammunition under the deafening sound of artillery fire and the rain of arrows flying in the sky.

Each battalion of musketeers numbered only one hundred and fifty men, but they were able to provide their comrades with more powerful fire cover than in the past.

And the center of the team, in addition to twenty carriages, there are artillery, and these artillery, all pulled by two horses, each battalion, there are four cannons, and these cannons, no longer like the Ming Dynasty in the past, the style of artillery, or rather, has undergone obvious changes, the barrel has become thinner, longer, and more importantly, the volume of the cannon has also become lighter, this caliber of 2.5 inches of artillery, can fire a cannon weighing six and a half catties (1 Ming Jin = 596.8 grams) shells, the weight is only more than five hundred catties, It is more convenient and flexible to move, and the two horses can pull this gun to move quickly on flat ground.

One hundred and fifty musketeers, one hundred shieldmen, one hundred pikemen, and fifty artillerymen, plus fifty cavalrymen and fifty baggagemen, this is the equipment of a standard infantry battalion.

And Zhu Qizhen's pro-army now has more than 6,500 troops, divided into six infantry battalions, one artillery battalion, two baggage battalions, and four cavalry battalions.

There are 20 artillery pieces in the artillery battalion, and the caliber is larger than the artillery used by the infantry battalion, which is 3.25 inches, and the weight of the shells used is 13 catties.

Because Zhu Qizhen made strict regulations, the caliber multiple of the artillery was eighteen, and the weight of the heavy artillery used by the artillery battalion was almost twice the weight of the artillery of the infantry battalion.

And the range of this heavy artillery has also been increased accordingly. The firing range of the infantry artillery was about more than a mile, while the effective range of the heavy artillery of the artillery battalion reached one and a half miles. Both the heavy artillery of the artillery battalion and the artillery of the infantry battalion are equipped with three types of ammunition, solid shells, flowering shells and shotguns.

With the help of Zhu Qizhen, the traverser, the shape of the shotgun has been improved, using a cylindrical thin iron box like a can, which is naturally filled with small shotguns with a standard weight of eight coins, such small shotguns are the ammunition used by Zhu Qizhen's pro-army musketeers, which makes the supply easier.

Moreover, this kind of shotgun shell, if it is used in heavy artillery, its range can reach one mile, and even the infantry gun has a range of three hundred meters. At a distance of three hundred meters, it can still easily penetrate the armor and penetrate into the human body. It has made long-distance large-scale killing of the enemy a reality, especially for the nomads, who pay attention to the group charge mainly from the wind, which has terrible lethality and deterrence.

The Ming Dynasty has always attached great importance to the production and maintenance of artillery, so the types of artillery in the Ming Dynasty are also extremely complex, from the general cannon to the tiger squat cannon, in short, if all of them are put out, it is enough to open an artillery museum, and so many types of artillery, it will also bring great burden and trouble to logistics, and maintenance is not good.

--------------------Therefore, Zhu Qizhen's pro-army built with heart completely abandoned the past firearms equipment model, and completely produced according to standardization and assembly line operations, so that the caliber of the firearms produced became more consistent and the error was reduced.

Moreover, it makes the supply of ammunition more convenient, like the baggage li, only need to stock enough ammunition of the same specification, so that several battalions of soldiers and artillery can be transferred and used with each other.

What's more, the improved artillery and ammunition can be said to be a step up the ladder, twenty guns, firing thousands of shotgun projectiles, can almost envelop a space of nearly two miles in width, forming a terrible fan of damage.

And it is precisely because of the appearance of such artillery that Xuanfu Jingwu finally understands why Zhu Qizhen attaches so much importance to artillery, and strongly requires Zhu Qizhen to increase the production of such artillery to supply the forts and guards of Xuanfu border town.

Of course, Zhu Qizhen, who is bent on improving the combat effectiveness of the Ming army, will not refuse, but the current output is really difficult to increase for the time being, after all, no matter how big the Xuanfu is, the craftsmen who can be recruited have already been recruited, and if they want to expand production, they can only find a way, and then try to recruit from other border towns or Tianjin near the Beijing Division.

In Xuanfu, Zhu Qizhen passed the trade of the tea and horse market, and the number of horses obtained enabled him to turn the baggage battalion into a fast mobile force that completely used horses and vans, and could follow the movement of the large army, and the soldiers of this baggage battalion were not like the past, they were only temporarily recruited envoys, but they were all soldiers who had also undergone strict military training, and if anyone dared to underestimate them, then it would be tantamount to sending themselves into the mouth of a wolf in sheep's clothing.

In addition, the cavalry of the four cavalry battalions, like the cavalry of the infantry battalion, are all equipped with three horses, and this extravagant equipment allows them to have enough mobility to carry out raids and strikes even over long distances.

Moreover, each cavalry battalion is also equipped with one hundred and fifty musketeers, which is designed by Zhu Qizhen, a fan of Age of Empires games, based on the Xibaya Lancers in order to satisfy his little dream.

The only regret was that these musketeers had a lot more trouble loading on horseback, so although the cavalry muskets were of the same caliber as the infantry muskets, the barrels were much shorter to make them easier to reload.

(To be continued)