Daqin Engineering Corps

But after thinking about it, I feel that it is not necessary, at least not now.

Because the bayonet of the arquebus is mainly aimed at cavalry... When the arquebus was invented, it was always powerless against cavalry because of its slow reloading and short range.

And if the infantry only has arquebus in their hands, they are almost lambs waiting to be slaughtered in front of the cavalry.

Therefore, for quite a long time after the arquebus appeared, the phalanx still had a certain number of pikemen and musketeers.

At the beginning, it was a five-five configuration, with pikemen used to deal with cavalry, and musketeers used to deal with infantry.

Later, the proportion of pikemen became less and less, until the bayonet appeared... The bayonet is actually a combination of pikes and muskets into a kind of equipment, so the pikemen disappeared completely.

At this time, for Shen Bing, there was no need for a bayonet at all.

Because the Qin army is a strong cavalry army, it is basically impossible for the Qin Musketeers to face the enemy cavalry.

As for infantry close combat... carrying a musket and hanging a sword at the waist is not a conflict.

Instead, Shen Bing was worried that one day if the enemy learned the bayonet, the cavalry in Shen Bing's hands would be useless.

When the matchlock gun entered the production process, Shen Bing on the other side asked Wang Ben to conduct matchlock gun operation training for the Shenwu Army.

This training should have been more appropriate when Li Yan's [-] infantry arrived, but the [-] infantry would probably take two or three months to arrive.

I'm afraid it will be too late to organize training at that time.

Chapter 514 Line Tactics

Another advantage of training the Shenwu army into Musketeers is that they are cavalry themselves and they are also elite cavalry.

If musketeers are only trained as infantry, there will inevitably be the problem of slow maneuvering speed.

But if you combine musketeers with cavalry, you will have both the mobility of cavalry and the combat effectiveness of musketeers.

The fly in the ointment is that the arquebus at this time is almost impossible to operate on horses, especially for filling ammunition.

But this is not a big problem, they can rush to the battlefield and dismount and fight like infantry.

This type of arms was called "Dragon Cavalry" when the arquebus appeared in the 18th century.

For this reason, Shen Bing had to invent a simple horse stake... It is actually an iron spike with a lock on the top, which the cavalry carries with them. Put the rein in the lock, and the horse will not run wild.

So the Shenwu Army became a special branch of cavalry when mounted, and musketeers when dismounted.

For musket training, Shen Bing basically followed the line tactics of the late 18th century, which was the so-called "queue to shoot".

This tactic seems silly: the two warring parties approached each other in a neat and dense formation under the rhythm of drums and fifes, and then fired at each other with an order, and then each was killed until one party collapsed.

But in fact, this is a helpless choice in the era of musket guns: the accuracy of the rifle is too poor. If the infantry spreads out and fires at multiple targets, it is basically impossible to hit.

So they can only line up in a dense formation to hit pieces of projectiles like archery, and rely on the number to form a scale to knock down the opponent.

At this time, the matchlock guns made by Shen Bing were not even as accurate and powerful as the smoothbore guns in the era of online tactics, so they could only rely on this method to fight.

Shen Bing divided the troops into two rows in units of 100 people.

In the era of linear tactics, most countries were divided into three rows, and only the United Kingdom was divided into two rows.

The reason why it is divided into three rows is to have more guns play a role in the first time and then be able to strike first. This can often suppress the enemy in the first time on the battlefield and put it at a disadvantage.

The reason is very simple. In the case of the same strength, if more firepower is used to cause more casualties at the beginning, then the enemy's firepower will be reduced due to casualties, so it will become less and less, forming a vicious circle .

But in fact, the third row has always been unscientific and dangerous:

The first row can be fired from a kneeling position, the second row can be fired from a standing position, and the third row must launch the muzzle through the middle of the second row's shoulders.

This result, on the one hand, will cause the second row of personnel to be troubled by gunshots and thick smoke, and on the other hand, the projectiles fired by the third row can easily accidentally injure the first row of soldiers who operate in a kneeling position...

The bullet blades of the muskets are emitted in a conical shape, and the soldiers in the first row who operate in a kneeling position inevitably have to raise their arms and use the cleaning rod to load the bullets when they are filling the ammunition, so the bullets fired from behind are just right. Hitting the arms or shoulders of soldiers in the first row.

Therefore, most of the infantry who adopted a three-row formation in the later stage did not shoot in the third row, but loaded the second row and used it as a substitute.

Shen Bing knew this, so of course he would not use the three-row line.

At this time, the Qin army is not suitable for adopting the three-row line... If the three-row line is used, each tactical unit must be a multiple of three. Only in this way can it be divided into three rows and facilitate command.

The Qin army is based on "wu" and "shi", which determines that it is difficult to organize into three rows, unless Shen Bing disrupts the organization and uses a new organization.

But this will obviously cause more trouble and make Qin Jun not used to it.

On the contrary, if it is organized into two rows, this problem can be solved very well: the first team is "wu", the second team is "shi", the tenth team is "tun", and the second team is "hundred".

Many of them are integer multiples of "two", so they can be well commanded or flexibly merged and divided during combat.

At this time, muskets had not yet been produced, and training could only be replaced by wooden guns.

These wooden guns were all made by Huomusang carpenters according to the original size of the muskets... This is to allow soldiers to adapt to new equipment and operations better and faster.

Even the barrel of this wooden gun is hollow.

The production of this hollow barrel is a bit troublesome. The barrel needs to be sawed in half first, and then a semicircle is dug out and then closed.

Having a hollow barrel is important.

Because the most important point of training is to load ammunition, not only the speed, but also the process steps must be in place, otherwise you will accidentally fire and accidentally injure.

The main reason is that the Qin army used matchlock guns. After the trigger is pulled, the fire head of the matchlock gun will remain in the position of the fire door. If it is not removed, it will be loaded with gunpowder...and this is very common in tense battlefields .

Another common mistake is to fire the shot at the target without taking the cleaning rod out after the cleaning rod has pressed the projectile into the barrel.

Then the cleaning rod will fly to the enemy together with the projectile.

The result is losing the cleaning rod and no longer being able to reload.

These mistakes are not bad, the most they can do is to injure or disable a soldier.

Another mistake is not checking that the matchlock is properly ignited to launch the projectile... The matchlock of the matchlock gun is often bent, and the fire door is small, and sometimes the trigger is pulled under very coincidental circumstances, but the fire end on the matchlock is not. Pressed on the fire door, that is, the gunpowder was not ignited.

Although the recoil of the matchlock gun is not small and the gunshots are loud, but when the battlefield is tense and the gunshots are ringing all around, this is often ignored, and it is customary to think that pulling the trigger will launch the projectile.

So then reloaded again, and again...

Soon the gun barrel was filled with too much gunpowder and projectiles. If it was successfully ignited at this time, it would undoubtedly explode and shoot out the projectiles inside. to no avail.

In order to avoid such mistakes and accidents on the battlefield, Shen Bing divided the entire loading process into twelve standardized steps, such as taking gunpowder, pouring gunpowder, stuffing paper, pressing to the bottom with a cleaning rod...

Let the Shenwu army rehearse every step until they can operate with their eyes closed and are accurate enough to not miss a single step.

As for practicing marksmanship...

It doesn't matter at all for arquebuses.

With the accuracy of the current matchlock gun, no one can hit it accurately, because you can't know the angle of the projectile when it leaves the muzzle...it bounces up and down in the gun chamber, and finally launches out at a scattering angle.

Sometimes left, sometimes right, sometimes up and down.

In this case, the step of practicing marksmanship can be omitted.

The musketeer only needs to know how to aim the muzzle roughly on the target.

Chapter 515 Training

The training went smoothly, but in more than half a month, the Shenwu Army had already mastered the marching, formation and firearm operation of line tactics.

This may be because the Shenwu Army has rehearsed countless more complex formations before, such as square formations, conical formations, and so on.

So the queue of line tactics is a piece of cake for them.

These tactical formations are necessary because some unconventional problems will inevitably arise in wartime.

For example, if the enemy has a small group of Rangers coming to harass them, if there is no corresponding tactic, there will inevitably be a problem of wasting ammunition... One order, all the soldiers in the first two rows must shoot, so even if they can kill the target, it is not worth the loss.

Therefore, it is necessary to be able to command the orders and tactics fired by a platoon or even half a platoon of soldiers.

But there is another problem with the half-row soldiers firing ammunition: is it the left half row or the right half row, or the odd-numbered row or the even-numbered row?

Obviously odd and even rows are more reasonable.

Because it reduces the density of projectiles evenly and does not have too many fire dead angles. At the same time, when odd-numbered rows are fired, even-numbered rows can be prepared or loaded, so it will form a continuity of firepower, which is very intimidating to a small number of rangers. effect.

This is a characteristic of line tactics... It usually has a "half company" organization, and there is also a half battalion or even half brigade organization.

This half company is actually a company formed into a team and divided into two and a half companies with odd numbers and even numbers to meet combat needs.

However, Shen Bing thought that the reason why the Shenwu Army was so relaxed was because they were holding wooden muskets.

In the past half a month or so, Edmund has produced [-] qualified matchlock guns... This speed is a bit slow. If [-] pieces are produced in two months, [-] pieces should be produced in half a month. .

Edmund was a little apprehensive about the lagging progress, he hurried to Shen Bing and explained:

"Dear general, the reason why we lag behind is because we are not familiar with it at the beginning and the elimination rate is high."

"Please rest assured that we will increase the number of workers and expand the production scale in the future, and we will definitely be able to complete [-] within two months!"

Shen Bing nodded and didn't take it too seriously.

There are only 3000 people in the Shenwu Army, and each person only needs [-] sticks.

The reason why Shen Bing asked for [-] guns was because the burnt-cast arquebus guns had a higher blasting rate and shorter service life, and the other [-] guns were spare for replacement.

Now that there are a thousand of them, it is time for the Shenwu Army to use real guns.

So Shen Bing divided the Shenwu Army into three teams, each with 1000 people.

After the 1000 people came up, they took up real guns and practiced.

The soldiers of the Shenwu Army didn't feel anything at first, because it was the same shape and size as a wooden spear, but it was much heavier than a wooden spear.

Then load as ordered, then raise the gun...

With an order, the soldiers of the Shenwu Army pulled the trigger, and after a series of bangs and smoke, a row of armored wooden stakes in front were punched with bullet holes.

The soldiers of the Shenwu Army were stunned on the spot.

At that moment, they were all stunned by the recoil, noise and smoke produced by this unremarkable thing in their hands, so that Wang Ben shouted "reload" loudly, but they turned a deaf ear to them.

This is the effect Shen Bing wants.

If these matchlock guns can scare the Shenwu army like this, then they must also have a considerable shocking effect on the enemy.

On the other side, Antiochus III and Akaifus were inquiring about Huo Musang while organizing the coalition forces.

Antiochus III once worried that the Silk Army would withdraw from Central Asia.

Because he knew that the Silk Army was mostly cavalry, and if they wanted to leave, Seleucid and even other countries would not be able to catch up with them.

But the news he heard showed that his worries were unnecessary.

"Si Guo's army shows no sign of withdrawing, Your Majesty." The spies reported back, "However, they seem to have transferred more supplies and even reinforcements from Si Guo."

Hearing this, Antiochus III breathed a sigh of relief.

He was not worried about how much supplies the Silk Army had, nor was it worried about its reinforcements.

Because in Antiochus III's view, no matter how much supplies and reinforcements the Silk Army has, it is impossible to stop the siege of the coalition forces of several countries.

Thus, Antiochus III said excitedly: "These stupid silk people, they are going to die!"

Akaifus was not so optimistic. He said to Antiochus III: "Your Majesty, the Silk Army is mainly composed of cavalry. How could they not know that we are gathering troops?"

After a pause, Arkefs continued: "If they know that we have assembled our troops and formed an alliance, but have not retreated, does that mean they have the confidence and strength to defeat us?"

After the last defeat, Acaeves had every reason to believe that the Silk Army he was facing was not the "barbarians" that Antiochus III said.

Because the "barbarians" shouldn't be able to use tactics, they shouldn't be able to trick him around, and they shouldn't have more advanced firearms than them.

It was especially shameful that they were calling each other "barbarians" without even knowing what that firearm was.

In Acaevs' opinion, it might be more appropriate for Silk Country to call them barbarians.

But An Tiao III didn't think so.

"You think too much, my general." Antiochus III said: "Didn't you notice? Although the Silk Army has cavalry and firearms, they still dare not fight us face to face. What does this mean? This means that They have no infantry to fight us!"

Acaevus admitted that Antiochus III was right in this regard, and that the Silk Army did have shortcomings in infantry.

"The reason why we failed before was because we were short of troops." Antiochus III continued: "At the beginning you had already attacked the city of Lan, and Huo Musang had only 1 people. If Huo Musang had more soldiers, such as What about 2 people? This battle is likely to be rewritten."

Acaevus made no objection.

Because the fact is true, he withdrew his troops because Huo Musang was besieged, otherwise Lan's City would have been captured.