Xiao Ruxun nodded his head and immediately ordered Wang Hui to prepare the wooden tablets for the first round of training. At the same time, he wanted to see if he could pick out soldiers who were proficient with the spear and make them officers.
In fact, when the Ming Dynasty was founded, Zhu Yuanzhang's requirement was that there should be ten musketeers in every hundred households. Xiao Ruxun's idea was to train a group of musketeers who were proficient with the spear and train them to form a powerful and concentrated firepower. Then, they could form a separate army and cooperate with the main army in battle. At this point in time, the musketeers were far from being able to replace the use of swords, spears, bows and crossbows. They could only be used in special situations and this was the time.
Moreover, even on flat plains, as long as there were enough musketeers and a firm formation, even if they were to face the enemy's heavy cavalry, they could still face the enemy. With the combination of musketeers and musketeers, they might be able to catch the enemy off guard.
As for the future … after Xiao Ruxun had a certain level of success and reputation, he would think of ways to improve the musketeers and start researching flintlocks. After all, the appearance of flintlocks was the true dawn of the firearms era.
His injuries had just healed and Xiao Ruxun had been working for a long time. He felt that his energy was running low but he still needed to keep watch. So, he walked backwards and leaned against the side of the podium to relieve some of the pressure. Wang Hui noticed Xiao Ruxun's abnormality and walked to Xiao Ruxun's side. He said softly, "General's injuries have just healed. It's better for you to return to the residence and rest. I will take care of things here."
Xiao Ruxun slowly shook his head. "This matter is of great importance and I must take care of it personally. I am fine and can still stand. However, I am afraid that I will not be able to stay in the barracks tonight. Zi Heng, I will leave the barracks to you tonight."
Wang Hui nodded his head and cupped his fists. "Yes!"
From then on, all the way until the sun set, the sounds of the muskets firing could be heard incessantly. In the end, Wang Hui even pulled in a group of soldiers from the reserve troops who knew how to use muskets, and only then did he finally pick out three hundred musket soldiers who could be used in battle. Xiao Ruxun then ordered for fifty people to be selected from the four hundred reserve troops to be the auxiliary soldiers of the musket team, and issued the remaining one hundred and seventy-eight muskets that could be used. Tomorrow, they would practice their coordination.
Before returning to the residence, Xiao Ruxun also checked the musketeers that Wang Hui said were useless. He found that not only was the manufacturing crude, but the barrel that was supposed to be made of fine iron was actually rough iron. It would be strange if this kind of musketeer did not explode! No wonder Qi Jiguang had lamented that the firearms were crude and useless when he was guarding Ji Town. It was precisely because of this that the Ming Army could not use such fine firearms.
This was because of the Ministry of Daming had a lot of problems.
"To think that this kind of musketeer could be transported out of the warehouse and transported to the border. If it was not discovered in time and was only discovered when it was needed during the war, wouldn't it be a waste of the military and national affairs? Take a look, can this musketeer be used?! "
Xiao Ruxun was furious. He threw a useless musketeer on the ground and rebuked the quartermaster of the armory, "You were the first to come into contact with this batch of musketeers. Since you discovered that there was a problem with the musketeers, why didn't you report it?!"
The quartermaster hurriedly knelt down and begged for mercy, "General, please understand. Since the invention of the musketeers, it is already a miracle that sixty percent of the musketeers sent by the imperial court could be used. In the beginning, we often reported that nearly half of the musketeers were useless and requested for a replacement. But every time, it was like a stone sinking into the sea, never to be heard from again. There was nothing we could do!"
Xiao Ruxun glared at Wang Hui angrily. Wang Hui had been in charge of the firearms unit in his army for the past two years. Wang Hui's face was full of shame as he said, "It was not that the quartermaster deliberately hid it from us. It was just that our words carried no weight. These musketeers have always been like this since they came out of the workshop of the Ministry of Works. It has been like this for decades since the invention of the musketeers. There was nothing we could do. Even if we reported it to the imperial court, they didn't know how to solve it."
He knew that what they said was the truth, and he also knew that there was a big problem with the craftsmen and process system of the Daming Dynasty. But now, all of this was not something that Xiao Ruxun could solve. Not to mention that he was a general and couldn't interfere with government affairs, even if he was a civil official, under the pressure of the powerful interest groups, even a fierce person like Zhang Juzheng couldn't change the overall situation. How could a small General like him change the situation?
In the 20th year of Wanli, 1592 AD, there were fifty-two years left until the Daming Dynasty's demise, nearly sixty years. In the end, what could he do? What could he change? What could he do to reverse the fate of the Daming Dynasty? No matter how many mistakes the Daming Dynasty made, it was still a Han Dynasty. If there were mistakes, they should be dealt with by the Han people themselves. Even if it was difficult to reverse the past, and a new dynasty needed to be overthrown, it should be the Han people who made the decisions. They should not have thrown the country to the Manchurian Qing after the internal strife!
Xiao Ruxun closed his eyes, and then opened them again. In his previous life, he was very familiar with the history books. His only regret was that the Daming Dynasty died in Li Zicheng's hands. But Li Zicheng failed to fulfill his duty and was defeated by the Manchurian Qing in the blink of an eye, losing all his face!
Intruders! Intruders! How could he have the face to proclaim himself King or Emperor?
In my previous life, I was helpless. In this life, I still have a glimmer of hope. Since it's like this, I will do my best to save the situation!
Lowering his head, he looked at the batch of defective goods and the trembling quartermaster in front of him. His fiery mood was immediately doused with a basin of cold water. This road might not be any easier than the road of survival in his previous life …
Sighing, Xiao Ruxun had no choice but to throw away the batch of defective goods and set out to return to the residence.
When he returned to the residence, Yang Caiyun had already prepared dinner and was waiting for Xiao Ruxun to eat together. The dishes were also very simple. There was only one vegetable dish and one soup. Since the war was urgent, it was already not bad to have such a meal. After Xiao Ruxun entered the house and changed into regular clothes, Yang Caiyun served him a bowl of thick porridge. "Xunlang's body has just recovered from his injuries. He should not eat greasy meat. It's better to eat some porridge and side dishes to nourish his body!"
Xiao Ruxun nodded his head and took the porridge. He smiled and said, "Caiyun, sorry to trouble you."
"How is doing this for Xunlang considered trouble?" Yang Caiyun had a gentle smile on her face. Then, worry flashed across her face. "Xunlang's complexion doesn't look good. Could it be a military matter?"
Xiao Ruxun was taken aback for a moment. Then, she put down the bowl of porridge and nodded with a heavy expression. "Even if I've kept my guard up over and over again, I still can't guard against something that's rotten from the root. Out of 1,200 muskets, only 478 are usable. That's not even 500. Is this how the imperial court's national funds are wasted? Delaying matters, delaying the army, and delaying the country! "
Yang Caiyun had a worried expression on her face. She said softly, "When I was young, I often heard my father talk about this. Out of 100 taels of silver, it would be considered not bad if only 30 taels of silver could be used. The corruption in the imperial court is widespread and unbridled. It is a foregone conclusion. Even the Grand Secretary cannot change this."
"Sigh …" Xiao Ruxun said slowly in a low voice, "It's fine if they are greedy, but they should never have done it. They even embezzled the border army's military funds. The nine borders are the key to the survival of the Daming. If the nine borders are lost, the capital will be lost. If the capital is lost, those corrupt officials will not be able to get any benefits. The reason why they can be so unbridled in the imperial court is because the soldiers of the nine borders are fighting bravely to prevent the invaders from entering! But they don't even let go of the border army's military funds. They deserve to die ten thousand times! "
Yang Caiyun held Xiao Ruxun's hand and said softly, "Xunlang, do not say such things. Whether it is now or in the future, no matter where xunlang is, you must not say such things."
Xiao Ruxun looked at the worried expression on Yang Caiyun's face. He held Yang Caiyun's hand and nodded. "Don't worry. Your husband will not say such things outside. Today, I am truly angry."
Only then did Yang Caiyun feel slightly relieved.
The next day, Xiao Ruxun put away all of the unhappiness from yesterday and patrolled the city with vigor. Then, he went to the barracks to inspect the army's training. This morning, Xiao Ruxun had sent someone to the city gate to ask if any cavalry had returned to report any news. In the end, there was still no cavalry that had returned. This caused Xiao Ruxun to feel even more worried.
In the barracks, the three hundred cannon soldiers and fifty auxiliary soldiers were already fully equipped and waiting for their training. As soon as Xiao Ruxun arrived, they spontaneously began their target practice. Because Xiao Ruxun had not used lead and gunpowder in the past, he had a large stock of them. The three hundred cannon soldiers and four hundred muskets could not be used up in a short period of time no matter how much they shot. Moreover, this kind of thing required more practice in order to achieve a certain level of skill. Xiao Ruxun was not stingy with lead and gunpowder. It was fine as long as they could hit the target. If they could not, then Wang Hui was already waiting with a dark expression on his face and a few strong soldiers carrying water and fire rods to the side.
Today, Xiao Ruxun's request was no longer just simple target practice. This was no ordinary training, but training on the frontlines. Speed was the key! Today, they were going to practice the three-stage shooting method. In fact, with the firing rate of a matchlock, even the most experienced soldier would not be able to maintain continuous fire in three stages. At the very least, they would need to have six or nine stages. However, there were only so many people at the moment, and it was not realistic to have six or nine stages. Thus, they would start with the most basic three-stage shooting method.
The traditional three-stage shooting method had two meanings. One was to have three rows of cannon soldiers firing three rows of guns. After the front row finished firing, the back row would follow and fire, and so on. This was the Daming method. The other was to have the front row in charge of firing, the middle row in charge of passing, and the back row in charge of reloading. This was Nobunaga's method. The other was to have the front row in charge of firing, the middle row in charge of passing, and the back row in charge of reloading. This was Nobunaga's method.
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