After the Wanghai Castle was captured, Zhou Qingfeng ordered them to search and confiscate the property. Before the fleet left, the useful people and materials were moved as much as possible. The small boats were tied to the stern of the big ships. Those that couldn't be moved were either executed or burned. The requirement was to completely destroy the Wanghai Castle, the pirate's lair, and not let it rise again.
Among the materials, Zhou Qingfeng saw a few Crouching Tiger Cannons and a lot of muskets. Last night, Wu Daimen had reported to him that the pirates had a lot of firearms and were quite powerful.
The Crouching Tiger Cannons were rubbish. These small cannons didn't even have wheels and needed to be carried by the gunners. Moreover, their range was short and their power was particularly small, so they were worthless. However, the captured Crouching Tiger Cannons were made of iron and could be brought back as iron. Zhou Qingfeng was rather surprised by the dozen or so muskets. These muskets were light matchlocks and their power was enough to penetrate ordinary iron armor.
The firearms of the Ming Army had always been crude. Zhou Qingfeng had seen a lot of matchlocks in Fushun. The barrel was made of rolled material and was very thin. Basically, it would explode with one shot. No one used this thing at all. The reason why the craftsmen made this thing was because the officials had embezzled the materials used to make the guns. However, the craftsmen had to take out enough, so naturally, they made a pile of junk.
Zhou Qingfeng had asked the captured pirates and learned that these muskets came from the Military Bureau of the Ministry of Works in Nanjing. However, they had to pay enough money to use them. This showed that it wasn't that Daming's craftsmen were bad, but that Daming's officials were really bad. He had personally used the musket a few times and felt that although it was cumbersome to use, it was much easier than training archers.
Chai Jie watched Zhou Qingfeng fiddle with the musket and said, "This thing is useless. I can shoot ten arrows for every shot it shoots."
With a bang, Zhou Qingfeng aimed at a stone about thirty meters away. He didn't hit it and it was quite far away. He touched the barrel with his hand and felt that it was a little hot, so he stopped and said to Chai Jie, "I can train a hundred musketeers for the time it takes to train one archer. Also, you will be exhausted after shooting ten arrows. A gunner wouldn't feel bad even if he fired ten times. "
"I can shoot 20 arrows in a row now. I will definitely not be exhausted." Chai Jie was very worried that Zhou Qingfeng would look down on her and anxiously argued.
"What about your subordinates?"
Chai Jie was speechless for a long time. Her subordinates were all girls, and they were naturally weak. Whether it was spears or swords, they were no match for the male soldiers. Bows and arrows were the only weapons they could use. Even so, the bows they used were not strong enough. As for firearms, they didn't need to be fired by humans at all. They could easily kill people from fifty meters away.
"A gunner can easily carry a hundred rounds of ammunition and fight continuously for several days. Could you possibly have a hundred arrows? "
Chai Jie was even more speechless. There were only eight arrows in a quiver, and an archer could only carry two quivers at most. Any more would not only be too heavy, but also very inconvenient. The lead used for the musket was small, and only a pot of gunpowder could be used for a long time. Their endurance in combat was completely incomparable.
Seeing that Zhou Qingfeng was testing the musket, Wu Men and Gao Daniu also came over. After listening to Zhou Qingfeng talk about the advantages of the musket, Wu Men also joined the conversation and said: "Sir, this firearm is powerful, but it's even more expensive. I'm afraid we can't afford it. "
"No matter how expensive it is, it's still cheaper than human life." Zhou Qingfeng touched the barrel again, and after feeling the temperature drop, he started to load it again. Seeing his complicated gestures and dazzling operation, Chai Jie weakly complained: "What's so good about this thing? It still needs a rope, and when it rains, it definitely can't be fired. "
With another bang, Zhou Qingfeng still couldn't hit the rock thirty meters away. He looked at the musket in his hand that couldn't be aimed without a crosshair, and said to Chai Jie with a bitter smile: "This kind of musket needs to be improved, but we will have to use it sooner or later. Bring back the captured musket and give it to your female soldier company. First set up a musket squad, and when necessary, your entire company will be equipped with firearms. "
"Specially set up a squad?" Chai Jie was good at archery, and after she got Zhou Qingfeng's pulley bow, she treated it like a treasure, feeling that it was a sign of her being trusted. Now that she was asked to use a musket that she didn't understand at all, she felt like she was going to be abandoned. "Are we not going to use bows and arrows in the future?"
Zhou Qingfeng didn't have the slightest intention of backing down on this point, "We will not use bows and arrows on a large scale in the future, we must start using firearms from now on." After saying this, he looked at Gao Daniu and Wu Men, "We must keep up with the times, and in the future, the infantry will also need to be equipped with muskets and cannons. Spears can still be used for a period of time, but axes must be eliminated. "
Gao Daniu and Wu Men were just rejoicing that they didn't have to be forced to change weapons like Chai Jie, but after two seconds of happiness, they heard this bad news. Especially since Wu Men used axes, but Zhou Qingfeng had always hated his axes. He asked with a belly full of grievance, "Do we have to change too?"
"Not for a year, but we need to understand." Zhou Qingfeng thought about it, at the moment, they could still rely on spears to suppress the situation, so he didn't ask the infantry to change immediately, after all, he didn't have enough firearms on hand. "When our territory is stable and we have money, we will definitely change. Not only do we have to change spears, we won't even wear armor in the future. "
Not wear armor?
This was even more bad news.
Gao Daniu couldn't understand, "Sir, how can we fight on the battlefield if we don't wear armor?"
"In the future, we will use firearms to attack from afar." Zhou Qingfeng thought about it and felt that close range assassinations would still happen on the battlefield, so he added, "At least we won't wear heavy armor that will hinder our movements, light armor is fine."
The valiant generals on the battlefield who charged and broke through the enemy lines wished that they could wear armor from head to toe, even their eyes. In the era of cold weapons, armored soldiers and unarmored soldiers were completely different. Not wearing armor on the battlefield was no different from running naked.
Zhou Qingfeng's order made Gao Daniu and Gao Daniu, who were still thinking about fighting face to face, feel extremely uncomfortable, even frightened. This time, it was Chai Jie who sympathized with them — it was fine if the soldiers didn't have armor, but if the generals didn't have armor, how could they be valiant generals?
This unquestionable request made the soldiers who were still in the olden era depressed, but Zhou Qingfeng wouldn't compromise because of this. When he slowly walked back to the 'Lüshun', a black shadow flew over. The human-faced demon that had completed its evolution appeared again. After it turned into human form, it knelt on one knee and held up the life-bound stone that represented its freedom with both hands.
"Not bad, you are still willing to follow me." Zhou Qingfeng sensed that this human-faced demon had evolved from an ordinary demon to the first layer of Qi and blood. Although it still couldn't fight head-on, it had gained some rare abilities. "I didn't take you in for nothing."
The human-faced demon still couldn't speak, so it could only nod. It was originally a small demon that wandered around the mountains and wilderness, and it hadn't grown after living for hundreds of years. It had lived on instinct for so many years, but it was Zhou Qingfeng who unlocked its intelligence and gave it a new life.
There was nothing else to do in Wanghai Castle.
They boarded the ship and left the shore.
Zhou Qingfeng brought more than two hundred soldiers of the Imperial Guard. When they came, they were all squeezed on the 'Lüshun', but when they went back, they were all scattered. When he returned to the 'Lüshun', there was a platoon of soldiers and casualties on the ship.
Last night's battle went very smoothly, but there were still more than twenty casualties. Most of them had minor injuries, and some were even hit or grazed by their own people's spears because they couldn't see clearly in the dark. There were also many who sprained their feet, and in short, the problems were all strange. The two who died were injured by the weapons thrown by the pirates when they were fighting for their lives, and they died of excessive bleeding.
The bodies of the dead soldiers were wrapped in linen and placed on the deck of the ship. Zhou Qingfeng stepped forward and stood solemnly, saluting in silence. The soldiers who were resting on the side hurriedly stood up, not knowing what to do. Zhou Qingfeng glanced at them and found that they were all recruits who had just joined the army. He didn't know any of them.
"Were you afraid last night?" Zhou Qingfeng walked up to a soldier and asked.
"My … my lord, I'm not afraid," the soldier stammered.
"You're really not afraid?" Zhou Qingfeng grinned and said, "You're still not afraid of the dead? Many of them were injured. I see that you can't even speak properly now. Are you really not afraid or are you pretending? "
The soldier who was questioned didn't know what to say. He was so nervous that he felt like he was holding back his urine.
Zhou Qingfeng walked to the next soldier. "You're not afraid either?"
The next soldier scratched his head and smiled awkwardly. "A little."
"Then are you still afraid after the battle?" Zhou Qingfeng asked again.
"Then I'm not afraid." The soldier who was questioned smiled and shook his head in relief.
Zhou Qingfeng also smiled and said, "Whether you're afraid or not, you fought well last night. I didn't train you much, but you killed a lot of those pirates, and the rest ran away in fear. In the future, if they come out to do evil again, they have to weigh their own abilities. When they see the flag of our 'Revolutionary Army,' they have to hide. "
Hahaha … This time, the soldiers were completely relaxed, and they all laughed.
Zhou Qingfeng found another soldier and asked, "Joining our 'Revolutionary Army,' can you eat your fill?"
"Yes, I can eat my fill. There's enough rice and noodles every day, and there's fish and meat. "The soldier nodded repeatedly. He was only fifteen or sixteen years old, and he was short. The Imperial Guard specially recruited these young people who were still growing into the army. Some soldiers were even younger, only about fourteen or fifteen years old.
Because the current society was too backward, there were a lot of people who were seventeen or eighteen years old with rotten teeth, flat feet, and chicken breasts. Only those who were younger had the possibility of being corrected with enhanced nutrition. Moreover, younger people had better growth potential and had better potential after education. The only trouble was that they needed a lot of training, which cost a lot of money.
When it came to food, the soldiers who were questioned laughed so hard that they almost cried. Many people only ate their first full meal in their life after joining the Imperial Guard, just like when Gao Daniu was recruited. These soldiers cried and wanted to kneel down to Zhou Qingfeng. They only stood up after being sternly shouted at. They swore to fight with Chief Zhou and the 'Revolutionary Army' until the end.
"Hahaha … eat more in the future, grow stronger, and we won't be afraid of fighting again. When you become veterans from recruits, our 'Revolutionary Army' will be powerful. " Zhou Qingfeng patted the shoulders of the recruits one by one, and looked at the ships around the 'Lushun' that set sail together, and laughed loudly, "What I like to see the most is that we are getting stronger step by step."
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