When Sima Shuwo was accumulating strength in Huangzhuang, the court meeting in February of the second year of Yuankang, and the entire Jin Dynasty was still inconclusive on the issue of the new policy proposed by the crown prince. But by the end of February, as the Empress had become more and more powerful, and the Crown Prince still had no intention of repenting, all the families realized that the implementation of a new policy in the new town was inevitable.

Sure enough, in late March, when all the fields in Huangzhuang were cultivated with the help of new farm tools and horses, the court gradually reached a conclusion. Just before the holy decree arrived in Xincheng, Sima Shu's firearms development finally made a breakthrough.

Compared with other places in the world, several villages near Huangzhuang have become more and more prosperous after nearly half a year of recuperation, especially after Sima Shu threw down a large amount of money.

On this day, Sima Shu took Zu Ti, Jiang Tong, Du Xi, Xu Chao, Sima Ya and others to a secret base outside Xincheng County.

It is located in the middle of nowhere, and it is surrounded by guards for dozens of miles, and idle people cannot enter it at all, and even the two sides of the river next to it are blocked by Sima Shu with a wall, and it is strictly forbidden for anyone to swim in.

As soon as the hour passed, with Sima Shu making a gesture, Xiao Dengzi ran out, and after a while, there was a drum sound in the distance, and when everyone immediately quieted down, they all raised their eyes.

I saw four soldiers no more than twenty-five or sixteen years old, wearing standard leather armor and bamboo hats, beating drums hanging on their chests. This drum is not quite the same as the small drum originally used by the Jin army, the drum body is made of white iron sheet, covered with a thin layer of cowhide, and it is much larger, and it is hung diagonally on the chest. The two sergeants held a drum stick in each hand and beat it rhythmically.

With the sound of drums, a group of sergeants came out in formation. Zu Ti and other generals could see at a glance that this team was a standard of three hundred people, and they were also wearing leather armor and bamboo hats, but their decorations were different. A wide leather belt was tied around his waist, and three boxes made of hard cowhide hung on the right, and a leather box on the left.

In their hands they were not armed with the famous Jin spears, but with an iron pipe more than four feet long (four feet five inches, one point and forty-two meters), which was embedded in a long wooden frame and held by the sergeants on the right side of their bodies.

Listening to Sima Shu's introduction, this thing is called a musket, but everyone still doesn't know how to use it.

More than 300 sergeants also have a boxy backpack on their backs, and I don't know what is inside, there is an ax hanging on the top of the backpack that is not like an axe, and a big knife is not like a big knife.

With the sound of the drums, the group of sergeants walked not far from the crowd, and the leading officer gave a command, and the sergeant in charge of beating the drums immediately beat the drums in a hurry. The sergeants hurriedly lined up in three teams, facing everyone on their sides.

The officer raised his hand, and the drumming stopped. He then began to order: "Load! ”

The sergeants stretched out their left hand, took out a round metal ball from the leather box on the left, put it in their mouths, and then held the gun in their left hand, first opened an iron buckle behind the gun with their right hand to reveal an iron pool, and then took out a long conical paper tube from the box on the right, and bit a hole with their mouths.

The sergeant flattened the gun with his left hand, poured some black powder from the paper tube with his right hand into the iron pool, then poured all the powder from the paper tube into the barrel, then poured the metal pellet in his mouth, and finally crumpled the paper cylinder into the barrel and stuffed it in. The sergeants then drew an iron bar from the front of the barrel, poked it several times in the barrel, and then inserted it back into place.

At this time, the sergeants held the wooden handle of the gun in their right hand and the front of the gun in their left hand. All of them watched quietly as the sergeants quickly completed the series of movements, looking forward to what surprise they would bring next.

When Sima Shu killed the assassin in the street, he used an unknown 'secret weapon', which once made everyone feel incredible, and today they also want to know what the prince will let everyone see something unprecedented.

The leading officer shouted: "Ready!" ”

Hearing this, the sergeants fully opened the slightly open clasp with their right hand, and then raised their guns, the plank behind the barrel rested on their right shoulder, and their right hand held something similar to a crossbow machine, and their left hand was slightly bent in front of the barrel. The gun was held flat, and the muzzle of the gun was all pointed towards a row of wooden targets two hundred feet in front. Since the sergeants stood in three rows, the barrels of the last row protruded from the shoulders of the first row of sergeants.

"Fire!" The lead officer shouted.

The continuous explosion sounded suddenly, and the barrel of the gun in the hands of the three hundred sergeants flashed a ball of fire one after another, and then spewed out a cloud of gray smoke, which was extremely terrifying. And the row of wooden targets also sounded a crackling sound. Due to the different reactions of the sergeants, they could not shoot at the same time, and even some sergeants did not fire the first shot, so they quickly opened the gun again, and then pulled the trigger, and then fired the first shot. But there were still a dozen sergeants whose guns were not fired.

But that's it, the firing of these three rows of muskets startled everyone, such a huge sound, as well as the sound of spitting fire and spitting smoke, even Zu Ti and others, who are used to seeing the world, couldn't help but be startled.

In the smoke, the lead officer gave another order: "Ammunition!" ”

The sergeants repeated the action they had just done, while the sergeants who had not fired checked it, put some more medicine in the iron pool, and after a while, with the officer's order, the three rows of muskets opened fire again, and the dense projectiles hit the wooden target with another chaotic sound.

Jiang Tong and the others couldn't help but be dumbfounded: "What the hell is this musket?" How can it be so fast! ”

Zu Ti and other generals were excited, these new firearms that Sima Shu showed them today opened a new realm for them, and the firepower released by these firearms was continuous and extremely fierce, and I asked which army in the world could receive such a blow.

Zu Ti and other martial artists will continue to think that the sergeants of the New Army have been trained for a long time to march in formations and drums, and they have long carved these into their bones, and the collective and cooperative forces have made them vividly wielded. Therefore, it is very easy for the pro-army under the command of the prince to change to this musket formation, but it is just a change of equipment such as broadswords and short swords.

It seems that Sima Shu has long had a long-term plan. They couldn't help but fantasize that tens of thousands of princes' pro-army were all re-equipped with this kind of musket, and at that time, the sergeants who were standing densely in the pro-army fired 10,000 guns and fired a hundred cannons, is there still an opponent in this world?

Just as he was thinking, Sima Shu gave the order to wave the flag, and the musket sergeants stopped shooting, and pulled out a triangular straight sword from the long leather sheath, which was not short and was somehow placed at the front of the musket, and the musket more than four feet long and the straight sword that was at least two feet long suddenly turned into a six-foot-long spear.

With the sound of the drum beating again, the sergeants who were still firing just now turned into spearmen, and began to march slowly forward in formation with their spears, and after half an hour, with Sima Shu's order, the demonstration finally stopped.

Zu Ti and the others rushed forward in a swarm, while Jiang Tong and Du Xi and others exchanged ears, discussed in a low voice, and sighed again and again: "What a murder weapon in the world!" Not to be taken lightly. ”

Zu Ti and the others circled around the neatly standing sergeants, looking up and down at these sergeants equipped with new equipment. When they took the musket, they saw that this thing was very exquisitely made, the barrel was very smooth inside and out, the bolt and other parts were very delicately made, and the straight sword on the barrel, that is, the bayonet that Sima Shu said, was made to be cold and shining, and it was fastened to the barrel and the gun body through a ring, and it was stuck by a groove, which was not only strong, but also easy to install, and the blade was triangular with three long blood grooves on it.

Sima Ya continued to look at the paper tube containing gunpowder, which was conical in shape, a bit like the cigarette rolls of old peasants in later generations. However, the paper of this paper tube is not ordinary, it is soaked in grease, and it should have a certain waterproof and flammable ability.

"The amount of gunpowder used in each gun has been calculated, and the sergeants only need to bite through the paper and pour the powder into it, and they don't need the sergeant to pour the gunpowder cartridge himself, which is not easy to control. You know, if there is less gunpowder, the power of the musket is insufficient, and if there is more gunpowder, it is easy to explode. Sima Shu briefly introduced that there are still many mysteries in this, but he said that these people don't understand it for a while.

At this time, Xu Chao pointed to the "new weapon" on the backpack behind the sergeants and asked, "Your Highness, what kind of weapon is this?" ”

Sima Shu unfastened a rope buckle from a sergeant's backpack and took out the weapon. It is a T-shaped wooden handle, except that the horizontal handle is very short, the vertical handle is slightly longer, and there is a semicircular shovel made of stainless steel in front.

"This is a small shovel used by the sergeants, which can be used to dig trenches, and then the sergeants can hide in the trenches and put their guns. It can also be used as an axe in case of emergency. ”

Sima Shu explained that this was a weapon he had invented based on what he knew about the sapper shovel. The age of firearms also means gradually entering the age of trenches. Musketeers can hide in trenches to avoid direct arrows, and digging trenches during siege is even more essential, so Sima Shu knew that this multi-purpose weapon and tool can be regarded as solving the problem that musketeers have no weapons when they are in close combat, reducing the weight of the items they carry.

"Not bad, not bad!" Xu Chao waved it and found that it was better than ordinary axes, and he praised it again and again.

"Your Highness, when will we be able to equip these muskets?" When Zu Ti asked this, the other people were also fanatical.

"Don't think about it for the time being, at least in a few years we won't be able to get to the point of large-scale firearms unless we have the power of the whole country in our hands now. And it is necessary to eradicate all political opponents and concentrate the forces of the whole country to do so. These firearms were developed with all our strength and painstaking efforts, and even a few craftsmen died. At present, there is only so much, how can it be enough for you to share? ”

"How can that work? Tell the craftsmen to hurry up and make more! Zu Ti and the others shouted out one after another. If you can't get your hands on something good, why don't you tell them to be in a hurry.

"This is the master craftsman in charge of firearms development, let him talk about it." Sima Shu pointed to a craftsman-like figure and said. Zu Ti and the others knew that Sima Shu had great respect for the craftsmen, so they didn't speak immediately, just quietly waited for the craftsmen to speak.

"These 300 muskets were selected from thousands of muskets, which is why the generals saw such a grand occasion. But in reality there were so many scraps of muskets that they simply could not be mass-produced. According to the capacity and progress of the gun factory, even if production officially starts next month, only 200 muskets and 10 artillery pieces will be produced every month. The master craftsman said slowly.

Seeing the disappointment on the faces of Zu Ti and the others, the master craftsman hurriedly said: "However, with continuous improvement and the ability to keep up with the raw materials, I believe that by next year, the gun factory will be able to produce three hundred to five muskets per month, or even more." Artillery could reach thirty to forty per month. ”

"As you've heard, the low rate of firearm scrap and the lack of iron ore have not yet been able to carry out large-scale reloading. However, you can rest assured that in the future, after we solve the problems of raw materials and technology, firearms will be popularized as soon as possible. Sima Shu saw that everyone was a little disappointed, and couldn't help but comfort.

Although there is some disappointment, everyone knows that as the prince controls more territory in the future, the more arsenals will be established, and the output will naturally increase at that time. However, judging from the current situation, the prince will have to stay in the new city for at least five years, and due to the limitations of raw iron ore, it would be good to be able to equip a musket team of 3,000 men during this time.