Regarding Li Xuanying's question, Guo Kang himself really doesn't have a good explanation.

He still has a relatively limited understanding of the war situation in this era. Especially in large army operations, there is basically little experience.

Regarding the choice of armaments, what Li Xuanying said is actually right. The military always likes uniform and efficient equipment, and the situation of various weapons is basically a special case, or a last resort. But it just so happened that the weapons of this era happened to be the era of notoriously chaotic firearms.

Due to the many problems of firearms in the early days, everyone could not figure out where the best route was, so for a long time, various gunpowder versions of "Qimen weapons" emerged one after another. From the time before and after the Renaissance, the Italian craftsmen were "ahead of their time"; By the end of the Ming Dynasty, people from all walks of life had come up with a bunch of "black technology in the end of the Ming Dynasty", which was basically in this category.

Although many of the designs seem to be very advanced and have the meaning of modern weapons, it is easy to receive praise from later generations. But under the conditions of the time, it was difficult for these weapons to meet the needs of the designers. And when the flintlock pistol matured, it soon swept away the rivers and lakes, replaced all kinds of strange firearms, became the spear of the firearms age, and made the soldiers' weapons similar.

And the technology of using bayonets, much later than that.

Flintlock pistols began to spread in Europe in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The bayonet, on the other hand, was a hundred years late, at the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century. However, the presence of a bayonet does not mean that there is relevant training and teaching. It's even later to get rid of the "secrets" they want.

For a long time, when the bayonet was used, European officers did not consider it necessary to train soldiers in this area. If you need to use a bayonet, then you just rely on instinct and rush forward, and you don't need to be taught at all. On the other hand, there is really little room for bayonet fighting technology, because on the battlefield, there is basically no bayonet fighting.

At least in this era, bayonet charging and bayonet fighting are two different things entirely. The vast majority of European soldiers simply did not have the courage and technology to engage in hand-to-hand combat at close range, and could only shoot at a distance. So as long as one side has enough morale and musters up the courage to rush forward, the other side will definitely run away. Until the time of Napoleon, bayonet combat was extremely rare, and casualties in combat were not the decisive factor in victory or defeat. Some military scientists even claim that they have never seen a combat in a battle in their lives.

"How is that possible?" Li Xuanying said with a smile: "It is yourself who practices arrows, not this bow." Now if you find a recruit who is not good at archery and use a musket with me, he will definitely not be as accurate as me. Not to mention anything else, the stability of the eyes and arms alone is much worse. ”

The military is not a castle in the air, it is fundamentally based on politics. In the final analysis, the establishment and training of the armed forces and the self-orientation and enthusiasm of soldiers are also determined by political factors. In fact, even Napoleon's infantry, which had been trained for three months, was seriously unqualified cannon fodder in the eyes of the Purple Horde, not to mention the even more untrained "garbage soldiers" of the other families.

"I discussed it with Xiao Zhu and the craftsmen. This musket, now the air leakage is too serious, and the efficiency is actually very low. "However, these can be improved by improving the process," he explains. In addition, there is a lot of room for improvement in the manufacture of gun barrels, and they said that they will find ways to conduct research in the future to see how to improve the quality. ”

Although Napoleon's army was finally wiped out by the "syphilis general", this line of thinking still shocked other Europeans. Since then, the training of soldiers' mental encouragement, physical training and bayonet technique has become popular. The first batch of bayonet textbooks also appeared at this time.

But at that point in time, it was 400 years away from the present. It is difficult to say whether the situation at that time was suitable for now. Therefore, even if you really remember the bayonet tutorials of later generations, it may not be suitable for the current situation.

"And this musket, no matter how delicate it is, is no match for a bow. Its projectile is much cheaper than an arrow. Compared to this thing, all bows are Seiko products. He patted the barrel of the gun and said, "Most of our soldiers use bows and arrows, and I don't see that everyone thinks bows are too expensive to use." It can be seen that the key is not the price problem, but that we have not yet developed a habit and have no supporting industries. If it can be promoted, it will definitely have more advantages for bows. ”

"The guns we mass-produce are definitely not at this level. After all, this is a little bit of what those masters have to say, how can we have the mind to bring this kind of Seiko product to all the soldiers. Guo Kang said.

"It's good now, and if we look into it any more, it will definitely be even better. I'm still very optimistic about this thing. He looked really appreciative, and he specifically sighed again: "It's a bit of a waste to give those Ross people first......"

However, he thought about it and found that Li Xuanying seemed to be very tolerant of this weapon, neither feeling that "the times have changed", nor did he feel that this weapon was any threat, so he asked: "You have practiced bows and arrows for so many years since you were a child, don't you think this weapon will make everyone practice in vain before." ”

"It seems that this is indeed the case......" Guo Kang felt that it also made sense.

"That's a bit of a waste." Li Xuanying said: "This thing is still very easy to use as a long-range weapon. It should be given to veterans first. Those Rus' people, let them take their spears first, and help guard the baggage. In the future, if you train more, let's think about going to the front line. ”

"It's not impossible." Li Xuanying shook his head: "Have you ever been to a bow-making workshop?" A horn bow has to be done for at least half a year. If it's better, it will take three years. It also costs a lot of money to make arrows, and they often break when they are shot, so they may not be able to be recycled. ”

The first famous person who began to pay attention to bayonet training was probably the Russian military strategist Suvorov at the end of the 18th century. He made a number of specialized targets for the soldiers to train on bayonets. It's just that there are still no requirements for specific stabbing actions, just some actions when dealing with cavalry, and others, let everyone think about practicing by themselves.

Thinking of this, Guo Kang asked, "Then what do you think if we reduce demand?" For example, give these firearms to those Rus' recruits. This thing should be simpler than a bow and crossbow, and it doesn't require a lot of physical strength. ”

And more importantly, the situation of the Purple Horde is also too far behind other European countries.

"Look at the helmeted target." He pointed to one of the grass targets: "I'll go over there and shoot, you all get out of the way." ”

And this difference is also because of the national system and culture. To put it bluntly, the Purple Horde could not learn from European countries and engage in the "sea of garbage" tactics. In the same way, it was difficult for Europeans to directly learn from the Purple Horde and organize citizen soldiers. Because European countries are still basically feudal, and the Purple Horde is ...... I don't know what the system is called, there is a fundamental difference. Everyone wants to learn, but they can't learn.

And the most important thing about the changes in the Napoleonic era is not military. It was only after the French Revolution that the European military community finally realized that infantry could also be morale-boosting, and it was quite useful. In addition, Napoleon also began to promote the idea of training soldiers, and he believed that it was not possible to call soldiers merely to gather people together; This can only be truly done through training, mentoring, and skill. Therefore, he required at least three months of training for infantry and four to five months for cavalry.

And even this extremely simple training is not widely accepted. At the time of the joint operation between Russia and Austria, the Austrian officers scoffed at Suvorov's approach. Of course, from the perspective of posterity, they are not wrong. With the quality of the Austrian infantry, if you can't intercept the cavalry by shooting, then you don't have to think about the follow-up action. How can people have that morale to fight against cavalry within the attack distance of bayonets......

Guo Kang, Tuhuan and others all stayed away. Li Xuanying went to the blacksmith shop, took out a pistol, loaded it with bullets, and hung it on his waist, in front of the quiver. Then, he walked to the center of the field, stood with his back to the target, gestured to Guo Kang, and then shot back and shot him in the back.

"Alright, let's see." He said.

Everyone ran to the target to look, only to see that the upper half of the grass target had been broken, and the head and helmet of the grass man had fallen to the ground. Guo Kang picked it up and looked at it, and found that his shot was right under the helmet and on the breastplate. If it's a real person, it's just a smash of the face.

"How did you do this?" Guo Kang was shocked.

"I didn't practice much." Li Xuanying turned the pistol and inserted it back into his waist: "Don't I say it, this is much simpler than archery, a few hits, familiar with the characteristics of this thing, you can play it very well." ”

"Okay......" Guo Kang compared his shooting level, a little helpless.

But if you think about it, there are many opinions about the accuracy of firearms. Stereotypedly, the accuracy of smoothbore guns is at a random level, and a dense queue is required to ensure a hit rate. But judging from some actual test records, it is difficult to say. Both the tests of the Europeans and the actual combat experience of the Ming Dynasty proved that the hit rate of the arquebus was not low. According to Qi Jiguang, the hit rate of the musket is five times that of the bow and arrow, and it can hit eight or nine times out of ten when shooting, and the accuracy is high enough to shoot down flying birds, so it is called "bird gun". And in both Eurasia and the East, there are cases of sniping with arquebuses, and it is clear that its accuracy is at least in line with the expectations of users.

And the reason why there is such a bad battlefield performance, to put it bluntly, is that people can't do it.

For most of the time, the level of training of European soldiers was so low that it was outrageous. Not only with bayonets, but also with the guns themselves.

During the Qianlong period, the musketeers of the Eight Banners could practice shooting 45 rounds a year; During the Jiaqing period, because the Eight Banners were no longer required to use bows and arrows, the musket practice in the system also increased. In the 19th year of Jiaqing (1814), it was stipulated: "The infantry commander ascended to the Yamen...... In addition, there is a concentrated drill, in which 75 rounds of live ammunition are fired, and one shot is rewarded with five cents.......

This may not seem like a lot, but it is already scary compared to its European counterparts. Prussia, a contemporary of Qianlong, was considered to be a place with relatively high quality of soldiers at that time, but the most elite soldiers under Frederick the Great could practice shooting ten times a year, while ordinary privates had almost none. That was enough for them to fire the most ferocious rifle fire of the time, because other countries were not as good as him. For example, the armies of France and Russia theoretically have a maximum of six rounds a year. The actual situation depends on how greedy the officer is.

By the time of the Napoleonic Wars, many countries began to try to increase the amount of training due to urgent military needs. At this time, the British Army was implementing the strategy of elite troops, and the level of training was the highest, a light infantry could fire 50 rounds of live ammunition and 60 rounds of empty ammunition a year, and a private could fire 30 rounds. The Prussians were supposed to be the same standard of training in theory, but in practice, after Frederick's death, the Prussian army quickly became corrupt and rigid. Not to mention 30 rounds for privates, there can only be two shots per person on paper, plus the officers are corrupt, it is normal to not practice at all.

In Austria next door, theoretically one person can practice ten rounds a year, and the French still have six rounds in their drills, but Napoleon and others often train the infantry according to the situation, and it is normal for the main force to practice dozens of rounds a year. And the Russians, even when the elite is trained, are only at the level of eight rounds. As a comparison, the green battalion at the end of the Qing Dynasty, after heavy deductions, also had ten rounds for soldiers to train. His lower limit is the upper limit in many places......

Therefore, if we look at it from the perspective of the Purple Horde, the military situation in modern Europe is a special case. And it's also too backward to learn much.

The inferior quality gives everyone the illusion that the European countries have armed extremely large armies in this way, but this is not the case. At the time of Louis XIV, the total number of French troops was roughly between 150,000 and 260,000, and the population of France at that time was about 21 million. This ratio is roughly 1:100, which is actually not much different from the Central Plains. Because during the Han Dynasty, the ratio of the main pawn to the total population was also this number. France, on the other hand, was already the most organized country in Europe at that time.

It can be seen that the "sea of garbage" in the age of firearms, that is, compared with the Middle Ages, there were more people. Compared with countries that really have the ability to organize, he has not "sea" either.

For the Purple Horde, it was a matter of course for all people of appropriate age to receive military training. If you can make the trained reserve soldiers more than the garbage soldiers on the other side, then the latter will not be discussed at all.

Thinking of this, Guo Kang was no longer entangled.

"Then it doesn't matter so much." He simply gave up on other ideas and said, "Let's focus on the training first, and then talk about anything else." ”

"The training went well." Li Xuanying replied: "I also sorted out the song you said last time." ”

"Huh? So fast? Guo Kang once again showed a surprised look.

Li Xuanying didn't bother to explain to him, turned around directly, and asked the guards outside the clearing to call everyone over. After a while, old Hans returned to the field with a group of Rus.

Although everyone was disgraced, some of them still fell lightly and bared their teeth. But everyone looked happy, full of energy. Driven by old Hans, they quickly stood in line.

"Do you remember the song I taught you a few days ago?" Li Xuanying asked.

"Remember!" And they all answered.

"Okay, let's sing it together."

After he finished speaking, he took the lead. The recruits followed, singing — or rather shouting — in strange accents of different tones.

"Great Qin swore to unify the four seas, and the commander of the war commanded him to keep it in his heart:

The first court must obey orders from the court, and those who disobey orders are guilty of fighting all merits.

Second, don't disturb the bad reputation of the people, our people will protect the barbarians, and they will sweep away.

……”

The song is not long, and when they finished shouting, Li Xuanying said to Guo Kang: "How about it, this time is simple enough, right?" I specifically looked for Shi Huizhen. She can listen to it with relish, so I taught everyone to sing. ”

"Let's still call it "Battle Marshal Training Song", what do you think?"

(End of chapter)