The cornucopia was brought over, and seeing that Zhu Ming was a little excited, he kept circling around his master, and then leaned his head to the side and rubbed it straight.

"Your nose is getting smarter."

Zhu Ming untied his waist pocket, grabbed a handful of beans and spread them in his hand, and the cornucopia immediately stretched out his mouth to eat.

The horse was sixteen or seventeen years old, not too old, and had just said goodbye to his prime.

A very few of the well-cared for horses can even serve for twenty years.

As long as Zhu Ming lives in Tokyo, he will go to the Tiansijian Ranch a few times a month. First, he fed a few of his war horses by hand, and secondly, he also practiced riding and archery to prevent his martial arts from being rusty.

Wanyan Zongfu led his war horse over, looked carefully at the cornucopia of beans next to Zhu Ming, and said, "Good horse, it's a pity that you're old." ”

Zhu Ming smiled: "Its body is still vigorous, how do you know that it is old?" ”

Wanyan Zongfu said: "The war horse is over fifteen years old, and the front teeth grow very quickly. The prince's fine horse has longer incisors than a prime horse, but not particularly long, and should be between fifteen and twenty years old. ”

"You've got a good eyesight!"

Zhu Ming praised him sincerely, and then deliberately provoked: "One day, I will raise troops to go to the capital of the Jin Kingdom, if Your Excellency can sacrifice the city and descend quickly, you can be made a horse marquis." ”

Wanyan Zongfu was furious in his heart, but he didn't show it at all, and only said: "In the future, let's talk about it in the future." Does the prince want to shoot first? ”

Zhu Ming said: "Guests first, please." ”

Wanyan Zongfu turned over on the horse with a bow, and the treasure bow in his hand should be a trophy from the Liao State.

The bow and arrow of the Jin Kingdom are mostly used for horse and step, the bow body is relatively narrow and delicate, and the pulling force is not strong, which is convenient for riding a horse and firing quickly. However, its arrows are slender, the flight distance is large, and the penetration is strong.

The Khitan bow has a wider body and more pulling force, which is quite easy for the generals to use.

There is no such thing as the best bow, only the more practical one.

For example, because the Song bow was valuable for ploughing cattle, the Northern Song Dynasty had allowed the use of sheep tendons to make bows. Although this thing is not as powerful as the ox tendon bow, it is well received by the low-level soldiers. It does not require much of the soldier's arm strength, and can combine the population advantage of the Song Dynasty to train archery troops on a large scale.

In later generations, Qinggong was very awesome, but it was not very practical in the south, and daily maintenance was the biggest problem.

Wanyan Zongfu rode out on horseback, and the first arrow hit the nine rings, the second arrow hit the eight rings, and the third arrow hit the nine rings......

For a nobleman who doesn't often go to war, this is a very good achievement. After all, his test object was not Yang Zaixing, but Prince Zhu, who was also pampered.

Ten arrows were shot, a total of seventy-six rings.

Wanyan Zongfu rode back, and even asked people to put away their arrows and put them all back into their quivers.

He ran to the audience where Zhu Guoxiang was and bowed his hand, and then came to stand in front of Zhu Ming, looked down at Zhu Ming who was standing on the ground and said, "It's ugly!" ”

This move was somewhat rude, but it was not a battle of will, but a show of toughness after a show of force.

The hidden meaning behind it, to put it bluntly, Jin Guo is not afraid of war, and if he can't negotiate peace, he will accompany him to the end.

The civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty were quite angry when they saw this, and there were still those who wanted to wrestle with Yan Zongfu.

Zhu Ming smiled slightly: "Take my weapon!" ”

I saw a guard rushing to the box with a long box, Bai Sheng opened the lid of the box and took out a weapon, and respectfully held it in front of Zhu Ming.

Wanyan Sosuke suddenly changed color, this is a musket!

Although he had not seen it on the battlefield, he had already heard about it.

Sosuke glanced into the wooden box and found that there were other things in the box, such as an iron tool that looked like pliers (a bullet mold).

Since it is not manufactured on an industrial assembly line, there must be an error in the caliber of the barrel of the musket.

As a result, each musket was equipped with a cartridge maker, and the soldiers received not lead bullets, but mass-produced lead blocks. By heating the lead before the war and squeezing it with a bullet mold, it is easy to make your own bullets.

This was in conflict with the mass production of paper shells, which led to two choices for musketeers: either to stuff the paper shells of gunpowder and bullets separately, or to make their own paper shells before the war.

Homemade paper shell bullets are also simple, disassemble one end of the gunpowder paper tube, put the lead bullet in it, and then use the excess paper shell to wrap and fix the lead bullet.

It is because of the use of paper-shell bullets that the Great Ming Musketeers can achieve one round a minute, and the elite musketeers can reach one shot in 50 seconds or less.

Otherwise, it's normal to shoot every three to five minutes.

Because there are too many distractions in actual combat, and emotional tension is easy to get busy.

Modern people use old-fashioned arquebuses for testing, without any interference, without the premise of paper shell bullets, if there is no mistake in the whole process, the fastest speed can be fired in more than 20 seconds.

There was also a pouch in the wooden box, which contained the paper-shelled buckshot that had already been made.

The musket in front of me was specially made, and even the handle of the gun was inlaid with filigree and precious stones.

Moreover, it is a front-loading flintlock pistol!

Wanyan Zongfu was surprised, and asked, "Dare to ask the prince of the Ming Kingdom, is this also considered riding and shooting?" ”

Zhu Ming asked rhetorically: "What is riding a horse and releasing a gun, not riding and shooting?" ”

Wanyan Zongfu was speechless.

"Armor!"

"Yes!"

It's not about anyone, it's about the target.

The prince was thrifty, and all he used was the eliminated armor. The rusty armor pieces were put back together, and although it was very stretched for war, it was no problem to use it for test firing.

Zhu Ming first erected the flintlock pistol, then stuffed the paper bullet into it, stabbed it with a stabbing strip, and then turned over on the horse.

Countless spectators stood up, a few people still held civilian binoculars, and even the officials were extremely curious.

There are many stories about firearms in Tokyo, and there are many people who have seen muskets with their own eyes. But usually the musket is carried on the soldier's body, and people only see its shape, but do not appreciate its power.

Legend has it that Emperor Zhu traveled overseas, and the immortals granted three volumes of the Book of Heaven, of which firearms were on the Book of War.

This is an immortal weapon!

I saw Zhu Ming riding a horse for a while, and suddenly reined in the horse and slowed down, stopping when he approached the target.

The cornucopia trampled on the spot, undulating on horseback.

Zhu Ming simply jumped off his horse and stood to aim at the target wearing waste armor.

No one laughed at him, because the focus was no longer on mounted archery, but on showing off the Great Ming Firearms.

Pull the blow and pull the trigger.

"Bang!"

Smoke rose and bullets flew out.

hit the target, but it was a little off, if you take off the armor and take a closer look, it is estimated that there are only one or two rings of results.

Zhu Ming tore open the paper shell bullet with his teeth, loaded and stabbed it, and then continued to get on his horse and run, and then dismounted and shot.

Still hasn't missed the target, Prince Zhu has obviously practiced.

Moreover, this flintlock pistol is specially made, and thanks to the hands of skilled craftsmen, the firing rate can reach 85%, and there are very few cases of dumb fire.

The third shot finally missed the target.

Zhu Ming didn't continue shooting, but rode back to laugh at himself: "Recently, I have neglected to practice, and my skills are a little sparse, but it makes Your Excellency laugh." ”

Wanyan Zongfu dared to laugh, he quickly ran to the target, and saw the pierced armor vest chilling.

What else do you play mounted archery?

It's the age of firearms!

The envoys of Western Xia and Goryeo were also invited to observe the target.

The attitude of the Western Xia envoys was even more respectful, after all, they had suffered a big loss, and they stared at the musket in Prince Zhu's hand.

The Goryeo envoy saw it for the first time, and he had a deeper understanding of the Ming Dynasty's armed forces, and was in a hurry to return to China to tell other officials.

Zhu Ming boasted triumphantly: "The previous fire gun needed to be ignited with a fire rope, but now the fire gun can be fired with flint." In five years' time, I will make 30,000 flintlock torches and make them line up like spearmen. When encountering enemy soldiers, they are divided into three rows and shoot in turn. When the third row of guns is completed, the soldiers in the first row have loaded their ammunition and continue to shoot in a continuous cycle! ”

As soon as these words came out, the envoy of Western Xia was frightened.

And Sosuke Wanyan had really been on the battlefield, and he could imagine the situation when the musketeers were firing non-stop in formation. In this world, what army can resist?

Zhu Ming held a musket and galloped wildly, and shouted when he approached the audience: "Daming Wansheng!" Daming Wansheng! ”

"Daming Wansheng!"

"Daming Wansheng!"

Regardless of the military officials, or ordinary people, they all followed the shout at this moment, and the earth-shattering voice made the envoys of various countries silent.

In fact, Zhu Ming is bragging.

First of all, it is impossible to build 30,000 flintlock pistols in five years.

Secondly, although there are traversers to guide them, bypassing the wrong route of the spring-wheel flintlock pistol, and directly developing the hammer flintlock pistol, the average firing rate is now only 70%. It is not, as the emissaries imagined, that muskets seem to be able to be fired again and again.

Finally, the cost of a flintlock pistol is higher than that of an arquebus.

The real significance of the flintlock pistol is that it can increase the rate of fire and can also be lined up in dense formations.

Arquebuses cannot be arranged in dense formations, which can easily blow up and injure others, and may ignite friendly arquebuses. This resulted in a three-stage attack of the arquebus, which could not effectively cover the battlefield and had to be fired in six rows to achieve the effect.

In addition to the advantage of three shots, the flintlock pistol can also be equipped with a bayonet to play a hollow array against cavalry, which is also something that arquebuses cannot do.

Zhu Ming also thought about making a flintlock pistol, but his lack of mechanical knowledge could not solve the problem of air tightness for the time being, which could easily lead to the musketeer being burned to the face.

Wanyan Zongfu returned to the audience and said with heartfelt emotion: "The sharpness of firearms is incomparable, and non-individual martial arts can be defeated. ”

Wanyan Xiyin said: "Therefore, it is more necessary to negotiate peace, shrink the forces to sweep away Yelu Dashi first, and quell the civil unrest that often arises in the country." It is also necessary to encourage the cultivation and hoarding of grain and grass, so that Daikin craftsmen can also imitate firearms. Only by solving the internal and external troubles, and then using firearms against firearms, can we block the Ming army's soldiers. ”

Wanyan Zongfu said worriedly: "The Ming soldiers are powerful, I'm afraid it will not be easy to negotiate peace, even if the peace talks can be successful, the asking price of this Prince Zhu is not low." ”

Wanyan Xiyin said: "Let's stabilize everything first, in the past two years, we have lost many soldiers and generals, and we can't continue to lose battles." I heard that the eastern and western armies were now afraid when they saw the Ming army, and even the generals in the army were reluctant to face firearms. In the past, even if there was a sea of swords and fires, they would fight to the death. Now that they encounter the Ming army, they are all looking forward and backward, for fear that they will eat shells and bullets if they rush up. ”

Wanyan Zongfu turned his head to look at the audience next door, the prince of Daming was returning to his seat with a flintlock pistol, and even handed the gun to the princesses and side concubines around him.

For a while, Wanyan Zongfu also wanted to become the crown princess, holding the flintlock pistol in his hand for good observation.

(End of chapter)