During the Wanli period, there were successively the Battle of Ningxia to quell the Bibai Rebellion, the Battle of Korea to resist the invasion of the Japanese invaders and the Battle of Banzhou to quell the rebellion of Yang Yinglong, which is known as the Three Great Expeditions of Wanli in history. The three major campaigns of Wanli all ended in the victory of the Ming Dynasty, but their negative impact on the Ming Dynasty was also very huge.

The three major campaigns greatly consumed the national strength of the Ming Dynasty and made the Ming Dynasty's economy turn from prosperity to decline. When famine occurred in the late Ming Dynasty due to widespread natural disasters across the country, it was no longer possible for the state to organize effective relief, which led to widespread unrest. In this case, the Jianzhou Jurchens drove straight in, which led to the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

As a former prefect, Li Zhen had more foresight than others. In his opinion, it was not difficult for the Ming court to quell the rebellion, but it was difficult to achieve the goal at the lowest cost, so as to reduce the expenditure of the state finance. In this regard, he coincides with Shen Shixing, Wang Xijue and other senior cabinet officials.

"Brother Gai, according to Guangqi's opinion, it is feasible for our army to take the initiative to go out of the city to find the enemy." Xu Guangqi, who had been silent, interjected on the side.

Su Hao asked, "What is Brother Zi's opinion?" ”

Xu Guangqi said: "Today's battle in the city, Guangqi and Brother Hao were watching the battle, and we discussed it afterwards, and felt that in the field battle, with the firing speed and range of the flintlock pistol, even if we meet the Tatar cavalry, we have the strength to fight." ”

It turned out that when Xiong Minyang led his soldiers to fight with the rebels at the head of the city, Xu Guangqi, Hao Qing and others also hid and watched. They are not just people who watch the excitement, but want to discover the shortcomings of existing weapons in actual combat and think about future improvement plans.

After the rebels retreated, Su Hao and others were invited to a banquet at Xiao Ruxun's mansion, and Xu Guangqi, Hao Qing and others discussed what they had seen and heard in the camp today, and also found some sergeants from the survey camp and the Pingyu Institute to understand the situation. Regarding the matter of fighting a war, the officers and soldiers on the front line have some instinctive intuition, but it is difficult to rise to the theoretical level. Not to mention precise calculations. Xu Guangqi was a mathematician, and he synthesized the opinions of the people and the data collected on the spot to form several sets of combat plans.

"Brother Gai, you see, this is the result of my calculation based on several different situations, according to the number of the enemy and our army, the width of the battlefield, the speed of the enemy's charge, etc., we need to match different formations, choose different firing distances, and also combine solid bullets with shotguns in different ways, in these cases. Our army's chances of victory can be more than seventy percent. Xu Guangqi took out a stack of paper full of writing and handed it to Su Hao and asked him to take a look.

Su Hao took a cursory look at these contents and couldn't help but sigh with emotion. A cow man is a cow man, no matter in which field, a shot is extraordinary. Xu Guangqi did not come into contact with the operational theories of later generations, but he was still able to rely on his ingenuity to come up with an accurate calculation model for destroying the enemy with firearms. Su Hao could not judge whether the conclusions of these models were completely correct, but he believed that as long as these results were handed over to officers and soldiers with combat experience such as Xu Guangzu and Deng Kui. They will certainly be able to take inspiration from it, but apply it to real combat.

"Okay, Zixian, although you are just a literati. But strategizing is more important than a general, by the way, it should be said. One Xu Guangqi is worth ten reloaders. Su Hao smiled and quoted an allusion from later generations.

"What do you mean by a reloader?" Xu Guangqi wondered.

Of course, Su Hao didn't explain this concept, and he then asked, "You have all been to the front of the battle today. How does Brother Hao feel about this battle? ”

Xu Guangqi said: "After Brother Hao came back, he sighed for a long time, saying that although this flintlock pistol is good, it is still not perfect, and he wants to invent a new flintlock pistol, which is best to be able to fire ten or twenty times in a row, so that it will save time to reload one at a time." ”

"Uh...... Brother Hao wouldn't want to invent a heavy machine gun, would he? Su Hao was speechless.

In real history, there were indeed many craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty who worked to improve firearms. According to historical records, in 1598, that is, in the 26th year of Wanli, Zhao Shizhen, a firearms expert in the Ming Dynasty, invented a fire gun that can fire five times in a row, called "Thunderbolt". However, this Thunderbolt is not the same thing as the heavy machine gun of later generations, it is a multi-barreled firearm, somewhat similar to the structure of a revolver. Due to the need to configure five barrels at the same time, this kind of gun is relatively large in size and weight, and is not suitable for actual combat, so it has not been used in practice.

"Heavy machine guns? Could it be that he also pondered about this continuous firearm? Xu Guangqi keenly discovered the new words that came out of Su Hao's mouth, and in the process of interacting with Su Hao, he was used to capturing the sparks in Su Hao's words, knowing that these sparks could often be turned into inventions against the sky.

Su Hao sorted out his thoughts and said to Xu Guangqi: "The little brother did have an idea, but to realize this idea, the process support required was too complicated, so I didn't dare to put it forward." If Zixian is interested, the younger brother can talk to Zixian about it, and the right is a kind of discussion. ”

After that, he asked someone to bring a piece of paper, found a charcoal bar, and began to draw a schematic diagram of an automatic rifle for Xu Guangqi on the paper. Su Hao is not an ordnance expert, not even a military enthusiast, he can only teach Xu Guangqi the principle of rifle automatic loading from the perspective of an ordinary science student, hoping that the other party can get inspiration from it.

"Use recoil?" Xu Guangqi's eyes sparkled, he immediately grasped the essence of the problem, and formed a rough idea in his heart.

In fact, the principle of automatic rifles is not complicated, it is nothing more than the use of the recoil generated when the bullet is fired to achieve shell withdrawal and reloading, as for various tricks, clever craftsmen can naturally design and manufacture. With the production process of the Ming Dynasty, it is still difficult to achieve the mass production of this automatic filling device, but if it is only manufactured in small quantities, it should still be possible.

"I understand that when a bullet is fired, a recoil is generated, and then the next bullet is introduced, and then it is fired, and there is a new recoil, and so on and so forth, until infinity, and then a gun can be fired continuously. The machine is much faster than the human hand, and a flintlock pistol can become ten or even hundred. Xu Guangqi said excitedly.

Su Hao was infected by Xu Guangqi, and he asked, "Why, Zixian thinks that we can make such a firearm?" ”

"Absolutely." Xu Guangqi said, "As long as time passes, Guangqi will definitely be able to ...... The heavy machine gun was reconstructed, and if there was such a sharp weapon, what would the Tartars fear! ”

"How long will it take you to build it?" Su Hao asked.

Xu Guangqi frowned and said, "It's hard to say, you need to discuss it with Brother Hao before you can decide." This steel-shelled bullet, and so many tricks, are all difficult things, and without three or five years, I'm afraid it will be difficult to finalize. ”

"If you can make such a sharp weapon, what is it in three years and five years?" Li Zhen spoke, he also knew a lot about the military, from the conversation between Su Hao and Xu Guangqi, he could hear the power of this weapon, and think of its impact on the military, and even on the entire history of mankind.

Su Hao naturally knew more about the power of automatic weapons, in history, after the invention of heavy machine guns, the old imperialist countries were almost invincible in the war of conquest of colonies. There is a famous example of a battle, that is, 50 British soldiers with four Maxim heavy machine guns blocked the charge of 5,000 African natives, killing and wounding more than 3,000 opponents. If such weapons appeared on the battlefields of the Ming Dynasty, would the Ming Dynasty still perish?

"I'll leave this matter to you first, but don't make a public announcement before the matter is clear." Su Hao commanded.

"Guangqi understands." Xu Guangqi agreed.

The three of them talked about some other topics, and it wasn't until the third watch had passed that Xu Guangqi left unsatisfied. Li Zhen watched Xu Guangqi walk away, stood up as well, and arched his hand to Su Hao: "It's not too early, and the old man has also taken his leave." ”

"Mr. Li, let's rest early." Su Hao got up to send him off.

Li Zhen walked to the door, paused slightly, turned back to Su Hao and said, "Change, can the heavy machine gun you talked about with Zixian today really be made?" ”

Su Hao said: "In principle, there is absolutely no problem, but I dare not guarantee whether our existing process can be made." ”

Li Zhen said: "Even if this thing can be made, I hope to change it to be used carefully, I am worried that the water can carry the boat, but also can capsize the boat, who knows if this thing came out, whether it is a curse or a blessing?" ”

"This ......" Su Hao was a little stunned for a while.

After Li Zhen said this, he didn't explain, just hugged Su Hao slightly, and then walked away, leaving Su Hao standing alone at the door, looking at the starry sky outside, and fell into deep thought.

The emergence of every weapon of mass destruction will have a profound impact on human society. If such an anti-heaven artifact as a heavy machine gun appeared in the Ming Dynasty, what would it bring?

From the perspective of defending national defense, with such a weapon, the Tatars, the Japanese Kou, and the Jianzhou Jurchens will no longer be a threat to the Ming Dynasty, which will be beneficial to the national peace and security of the Ming Dynasty. But at the same time, if this weapon is in the hands of a tyrant, then the people will no longer have a chance to speak, and who will benefit? Conversely, when this kind of weapon flows into the civilian population, a small armed force can challenge the million-strong army of the Ming Dynasty, and it will expose the Ming regime to more dangers.

All of this means that history will deviate from its original trajectory and go into the unknown. A Pandora's box is opened, and when it comes out, is it happiness or disaster?

Who can say whether it is right or wrong to change history?

Su Hao had deep doubts about his arrival. (To be continued......)