Hongyi, who really couldn't pretend to be benevolent, hurriedly got rid of the topic of the "Black Death" and turned to the current firearms configuration of the Russian army. Of course, it was Hongyi who told John Tang according to the knowledge he mastered, or let him judge right and wrong-

IT IS KNOWN THAT THE TYPICAL WEAPONS OF THE RUSSIAN ARMY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE 16TH CENTURY WERE THE "PISHAL" ARQUEBUS AND A SMALL NUMBER OF SMOOTHBORE GUNS. It was not until the last 50 years of the 17th century that flintlock pistols began to appear in Russia, and many of the old Pishaw arquebuses were converted into flintlock pistols. Around 1655, where Xiao Xuanye lived, early rifles (rifled guns) also appeared in Russia, but they were very rare because they were too expensive. In other words, the current Rakshasa is still mainly equipped with the old-fashioned "dander musket".

AT THIS TIME, RUSSIA'S OWN MILITARY FACTORIES HAD LIMITED PRODUCTION, SUCH AS TULA, SOUTH OF MOSCOW, WHICH WAS LIMITED TO 2,000 PISHAW MUSKETS PER YEAR, SO RUSSIA BEGAN TO BUY LARGE QUANTITIES OF ARMS FROM WESTERN EUROPE, SUCH AS 19,000 MUSKETS AND 5,000 SABERS IN 1631 ALONE. In 1647, in preparation for the war against Poland, the tsar imported 2,348 pairs of European-style pistols, and in the war of 1660 another 2,000 pairs. Originally, each cavalry was required to be equipped with a pair of pistols, but the Russian government considered that the number was insufficient, so they also required many noble cavalry to be equipped with Pishaw muskets to reduce the need for pistols.

The Pishaw arquebus was large and bulky, so many cavalrymen preferred to use a reed wheel pistol, and the Pishaw musket was cumbersome and cumbersome to reload gunpowder, and the shooting accuracy was not high. Someone once witnessed an accident in which a Russian soldier named Jacob accidentally injured a Germanic interpreter during a practice and punched a bullet hole in the soldier's clothes.

It is worth mentioning that in the first half of the 17th century, when firearms were prevalent in Europe, Russian irregulars, as well as the retinue of the nobles, continued to use bows and arrows when they went into battle. At this point, Hongyi is especially "satisfied" - at least on the same level as our Qing Dynasty, maybe the quality of bows and arrows and archery skills are not as good as ours!

During this period, the Russian army also used a large number of Turkish, Persian, Polish, and Hungarian sabers and daggers. One of the most important reasons why the Rakshasas were able to produce small quantities of their own weapons was the lack of sufficiently high-quality iron ore, so they had to import them from abroad. For example, in 1629. They bought 25,000 PUD from Sweden. The weight unit, 25,000 pud is roughly equivalent to 4,270 tons) of high-priced iron ore. In 1628, Rakshasa discovered high-quality iron ore veins in the Ural Mountains, but the early production was not impressive. 1629 to 1630. Only 63 pude (about one ton) of pure iron is produced every year. Only 20 guns, some iron anchors and some nails were made from this amount. Since then, however, the Ural Mountains have become a famous smelting base and forge in Russia.

Despite the lack of iron cast guns. However, there is still an ancient technique in the Russian military industry, and that is bronze casting. In the Smolensk War of the 30s of the 17th century, the Rakshasa had 151 cannons and 7 mortars. And the dragoons also had their own cavalry artillery units!

During the conversation, Hongyi unexpectedly learned that as early as the Muscovy period, their artillery was known for its excellent training and exquisite technology, and it was really an excellent class! This surprised Hongyi!

It turned out that the Russian artillerymen at that time received a monthly salary in cash, bread and salt. Because this branch of the army has high requirements for experience, technical ability, and no requirements for background, many artillerymen are proud of this profession, because those who do it have real skills. Therefore, unlike other professions, this class pays attention to the master and the apprentice, and the inheritance of technology is very important, and these artillerymen are also very dedicated.

John Tong even gave an example - in the Livonian War, on October 21, 1578 in Venden, many Muscovy artillerymen refused to retreat because they could not safely transfer their artillery out of the battlefield, insisting on holding their own artillery, truly "the people are in the artillery, the cannons are lost......

*

*

"Old Marfa, the power of the artillery is now known to the whole court. Our firearms battalion, as well as the firearms research institute, must also hurry up preparations. The first batch of selected bannermen and the children of the people, but stopped? After Hongyi sighed at the loyalty and courage of the Rakshasa artillery, he remembered that there was still an important imperial mission at hand that had not yet been completed, and hurriedly asked.

"Back to the master's words, on the first day of September, the imperial court agreed on this matter, and published the "Daqing Firearms Camp Firearms Teaching and Learning Institute Enrollment Regulations", which intends to recruit 30 firearms apprentices in the first phase of the Eight Banners who are 7 years old and less than 10 years old in Beijing, 10 people each from Manchu and Mongolian, and 10 people from the same Tianzi. It's just this people......" John Tang was a little unsure—the original decree didn't mention anything about the people.

"The children of the people sometimes know how to be motivated! Otherwise, why did Ivan, the lord of the Rakshasa Kingdom, promulgate the "Military Service Code", not to break the shortcomings of their 'door system'? "Hongyi's thinking in the past few days has been greatly expanded, that is, he has grown a lot better than himself ten days ago.

The so-called "mendi system" in Russia is a strict system of appointment in which the boyar nobles determine the seniority and inferiority of their descendants and their positions in state organs according to the origin and rank of the family ancestors, and the Grand Duke has no right to interfere with this. That is to say, each family and each person of that family maintains a definite and fixed position in relations with other families and others, and their official positions must be correspondingly consistent.

By the middle of the 16th century, the Mendi system had developed a complete and complex set of calculations. Sometimes, dignitaries often go back eight generations to their ancestors in order to discuss their positions. Such an outdated and backward system is full of drawbacks, but the dignitaries still enjoy it. At that time, it was considered humiliating not to occupy a higher position, but it was not considered humiliating to be whipped in public for stubbornness, and it was not considered shameful even to be regarded as a fool. Because birth is linked to official position, and official position is related to the amount of material wealth, dignitaries do everything possible to pursue their origin in order to make their positions prominent.

The harm of the door-to-door system in the military can be imagined. The important leaders of the army were selected from among the boyar nobility, whether they had command skills or not, as long as they were noble, they were commanders, so they often lost battles. One chronicler writes that when attacking Kazan in 1530, the Russians did not capture the city due to a dispute between General Glinsky and General Belsky over the status of who would enter the city first. Then, in 1547-1548 and 1549-1550, the Russian army attacked Kazan twice and lost due to the battle for the door, so it is no wonder that Tsar Ivan IV complained: "No matter who is sent and who is to do what, there will always be a struggle for official positions, so that we cannot find a sense of security in doing things." ”

The building of the army had a bearing on the foreign policy of the state, on the territory and subjects of the tsar, and on the material interests of the nobility. The battle between the men and the court in the army was not only detrimental to the state, but also to the boyar nobles themselves, who cherished it, and even aroused the strong dissatisfaction of the majority of small and medium-sized nobles.

"In my opinion, in addition to these thirty children of the Manchurian and Mongolian Han banners, there are ten more children of the people, regardless of their origins, who are only looking for smart and studious sons. There is no need to ask for mercy from Emperor Ama in this matter, we will just settle it! Since our research institute is mainly to learn to make and apply muskets and artillery, we should pay special attention to those students who learn artillery, artillery is ...... Oh, and you will definitely become the god of war in the future! Hongyi also quoted a classic statement of Napoleon "in later generations".

"Huh!" Tang Ruowang couldn't think about it, so he should take it down first.

"Besides, the Rakshasa artillery is a school of its own, and there are many places that we can absorb and learn from, the so-called rough and fine. In my opinion, just like the example you just mentioned, the firmness and conviction of the Rakshasa artillery are worth learning from our artillery tomorrow! If you want to be an artillery soldier and attack a city, you must first have the courage and belief to die as if you were dead, the artillery is alive, and the artillery is lost! Hongyi added.

"Faith? You mean...... "John Tong's eyes suddenly lit up—

Faith, what is the most convicted of faith?

(End of chapter)

"A limerick poem? Hidden Head

Reading literature and reading history is only a long breath

I was saying that there was an opportunity back then

The layout is a long-cherished wish

It's hard to come and go

Get up and spend a hundred years

Point out the suffering and diseases of the world

The edge of the town was razed to the sea

Wen'an Wuding tears of joy

(To be continued......) (To be continued......) (To be continued......)