Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 576 The King of Hundreds of Soldiers—Cannon

After the New Year, everything in Dadu gradually returned to normal. Soldiers preparing to be drafted came to gather outside the city one after another, and the docks and roads became busy. Every day, more people and materials gather here to prepare for training.

Outside the city, several new camps were set up, and a group of Beiya elites were also transferred here, planning to participate in the next battle.

These nearly 200 soldiers were transferred from ten thousand households in Timur Salai. Most of them were local Kipchak and Caucasus nomads, and they were fellow villagers of the Mamluks in Egypt. Therefore, the Khan's court specially selected them to form three squadrons, preparing to use them for political display when the time comes.

This time, in addition to Guo Kanghe Tu Huan, Theodora also squeezed out time and rushed over, saying she wanted to take a look. Several people stood by the flat grass and watched everyone practice riding and shooting.

At this time, the Beiya soldiers had finished running and were performing various sideshows. In front of them, Li Anning was riding a horse, firing his bow left and right, and cleanly shooting down the targets on both sides, showing off his skills to everyone. The crowd burst into cheers for the first time.

"It's such a familiar scene. But in the blink of an eye, so many things have happened." Tuo Huan said with emotion.

"How can anyone shoot arrows more accurately than me..." Next to him, Guo Kang was paying attention to other things.

"It's okay, Hu Lu Bu Hua should not be as accurate as you in archery." Tuo Huan said bluntly: "Of all the girls my grandma has taught, she is the one who is the least serious about learning weapons. I have never seen her practice archery a few times."

Theodora seemed a little dissatisfied, but she was probably used to having fun and humiliating her, so she didn't care. She just glared at the other person, looked back and forth, and said, "Where's Li Xuanying? His little lover asked me to help deliver the letter again."

"I'm writing something over there in the big tent." Guo Kang said.

During this period, Li Xuanying burst out with great enthusiasm for creation. After the previous incident was over, Theodora took Eudocia away and asked the Queen Mother to help take care of her. Later, the imperial court began to organize the army, and they were not allowed to meet again. Perhaps because he couldn't see his young lover, Li Xuanying vented his excess energy on writing songs. Guo Kang was also happy to save trouble and left him alone.

After training every day, he returned to the camp and squatted in the barracks to ponder the lyrics. He did not pester others. He just finished writing every day and sang to Shi Huizhen and Nurhachi there. When I was done thinking about it, I went to Guo Kang to submit the manuscript.

Soldiers still prefer these simple lyrics, but some people can't understand them.

Zhu Wenkui himself told Guo Kang that his great-great-grandfather's military orders at that time included provisions prohibiting sergeants from learning to sing, because after all, the army cannot always be like rice balls. If it is formalized, the bishop must put an end to these things that delay training and destroy the morale. Behavior. I don't know if it is good to open an opening like this now. He himself doesn't know how to train soldiers. I hope Guo Kang will think more about it.

Guo Kang explained that this is a special method for special circumstances. These Russians have such a poor foundation. If they are asked to memorize military laws and various training requirements, they will definitely not be able to remember them, so they will have to find other ways. All religions like to chant scriptures, because singing is a common method to assist memory, and it is used all over the world. From this perspective, this method will be quite useful when recruiting new soldiers in the future.

Moreover, military songs are neither embarrassing nor embarrassing in traditional military thought. Sometimes it is denounced as an unfashionable profession, and sometimes the official collects and composes military songs. Of course, judging from the results, soldiers do have a need to sing some songs, and they will compose their own songs without anyone caring about them. Since the pre-Qin Dynasty, there have been songs passed down.

However, the style of the military songs of his time copied by Guo Kang is actually quite special. Contrary to many people's impressions, whether in ancient China or other countries, there are few military songs with a "high-spirited" atmosphere. There are some stories of soldiers encouraging each other, or officers encouraging soldiers, but they are only a minority.

For example, the drum music of the Han Dynasty, except for a few pieces dedicated to praising the emperor, was almost all about soldiers' complaints about the war, including classic pieces such as "Battle City South". Many of the lyrics are full of complaints about the hardships of war, as well as straightforward descriptions of the bloody cruelty of battles. After listening to it, let alone encourage morale, it is good if it does not scare people away. And this is already the official repertoire of the Yuefu after being collected and screened by the government. I don’t know what the others are like.

In the eyes of outsiders, the people of the Central Plains in the classical era were probably quite sophisticated. Although they made war-weary remarks every day, there was no shortage of people in the army. Instead, a bunch of people crowded into the army to join the army and grab their heads...

And this situation is not uncommon. In other words, this kind of complaining song is the mainstream sung among soldiers. In Europe at the moment, the songs sung by mercenaries are mostly lamentations and satires.

Even in the 20th century, the songs circulated in the army of the Red Horde Khanate, which had the same beliefs, still contained some lyricism and melancholy unique to the Slavs. However, most of the new batch of military songs from the Central Plains have different emotions, which are relatively rare. The songs he gave Li Xuanying as a reference were already relatively soothing songs. Otherwise, everyone would probably think that this person has mental problems. How could he be so positive and happy even after fighting...

As for Zhu Yuanzhang's regulations, he didn't know the situation at the time and couldn't say. Moreover, when the Ming army arrived at the back, their state was no different than begging for food. The only thing worthy of praise is probably Junhu's willpower. They were able to persist in fighting despite the lack of military pay all year round, and even went to King Qin to fight hungry. His loyalty to the court was so high that it would be the envy of all the Song, Yuan and Qing Dynasties.

Until the end of the Ming Dynasty, Taizu, who was a beggar, had long gone away, and Taizu's beggars were still defending the Ming Dynasty. They were too loyal...

Of course, these are not the main things. The main job of him and Zhu Wenkui now is to try to produce more firearms. This time they brought Tuohuan to see them and they also talked about these things.

During the chat, the drill ended quickly, and Tuohuan ran to chat with the soldiers and express condolences to them. Guo Kang learned that this time, the officer assigned by Wanhu Mansion to lead the team was Li Anning's cousin, so she came along to play. It is estimated that he was the newcomer recommended by his family after Yeluxin took office.

Guo Kang had only met him a few times, so he just said hello. Tuohuan was familiar with everyone, so he asked his attendants to bring two good bows and gave one to each of his sister and brother. He also told the soldiers that he would treat everyone to a drink today, and they had already delivered them outside the camp gate. Pull him in soon. Because he had something to do later, he didn't stay much longer and left first amid the cheers of everyone.

"We'd better go to the workshop and have a look." Guo Kang took the time to say.

"Is there something new?" Theodora was obviously interested.

"It's not new. It's just a finalization of the previous design. I hope you can do a favor and let the ordnance factories around Dadu produce these weapons." Guo Kang replied.

"Are we still in time?" Tuo Huan asked.

"Just take as many as you can." Guo Kang said, "There's no need to stop for follow-up. This type of artillery has great advantages." "Oh, it's the '88 Cannon', right?" Tuohuan remembered.

"Shh, don't say it in front of him." Guo Kang quickly reminded.

As they walked, he introduced them.

He told everyone that in his opinion, the king of weapons these days is not a spear or a bow and arrow, but a cannon. Moreover, this seating arrangement should not change for a long time to come.

However, today's artillery is very confusing, and the craftsmanship and technology are also uneven. This may be a problem all over the world, and Zi Zhang is no exception. Therefore, he has been trying to find the best artillery under the existing technical conditions and standardize it.

Before, he, Zhu Wenkui and others made several alternatives. Although some of them were damaged during the offensive and defensive battles at Prince Wu's Mansion, fortunately, everyone already had experience and could make new ones.

These days, many areas in Europe are still using old-fashioned stone cannons. Large stone cannons are difficult to move and have almost no field value. There are various types of small stone-shooting cannons, and their power and hit rate are generally worrying. Relatively speaking, their newly designed artillery has found a good balance between portability and power.

In Guo Kang's expectation, this kind of artillery should be equipped by brigades and battle groups, and could be pulled by animal power that the battle groups themselves could maintain. On the one hand, it must be able to suppress the enemy's ballistae and other artillery. On the other hand, it must be able to destroy the enemy's vehicle barriers, as well as the parapets and war sheds at the top of the city beyond the range of muskets and bows. At present, this requirement has been met.

Based on this shape, they cast a batch of artillery pieces of various sizes, divided into several categories. The larger one weighed more than 800 kilograms and required animal power to pull it; the small one only weighed more than 100 kilograms and could be carried directly by infantry. However, the specific levels of installation need to be further tested and even tested in actual combat.

In the open space next to the workshop, craftsmen have installed all the cannons ready for display and lined them up according to size, waiting for them to view them.

"This rack is a bit interesting." Tuohuan immediately saw the obviously different-shaped gun rack under the largest cannon.

"Oh, this is a new design." Guo Kang said: "The previous gun mount was too bulky and the structure was not reasonable enough. I told the Ministry of War before, but the people in the Ministry of War are very conservative when it comes to weapons. I think There is no problem with these now, just ignore me. But this time, since I have changed the cannons and got good materials, I will update them together.”

"Is that so?" Tuohuan stepped forward and knocked on the wood.

"Yes, this is good wood. When we were reviewing the rebels in the city, we caught a few Ross smugglers who were involved with the gangs, and confiscated a batch of high-quality wood from their warehouses. That's it." Guo Kang Tell him: "The businessman confessed that this wood was produced in the endless cold forests in the northeast of Novgorod. It is very strong and durable. It was originally used for the royal family to build a big house. Now that man is finished. , the wood was taken away by us and used to make things.”

"Hey, I can only say that these people really know how to enjoy themselves." He shook his head: "I found some carpenters, and they all said that this is indeed the best material selected. The material is very strong and has been processed before. Not bad. After we made the stand, we tested it a few times and found that the stand was very stable and there were no problems. "

"That's good. After all, there's no waste." Tuohuan nodded.

"For the convenience of movement, I specially designed these large wheels. Then, in order to adjust it faster when aiming, I also added a bracket to facilitate the pitching." Guo Kang continued to introduce: "In addition, the position of the gun body is also It’s good. I specially studied the center of gravity, so that the gun body will sit back when firing, but it will not roll over, which is very safe.”

"Then, there's this thing." He pulled a two-wheeled cart from the side. There was a large cargo box on the cart and a hook: "This cart is matched with the gun carriage. With one set of iron hooks, it can be turned into four wheels, which can reduce the pressure on livestock during long-distance transportation, save animal power and facilitate transportation. "

"Although the gun body and the gun carriage are very heavy, they weigh a thousand kilograms in total. But because the center of gravity is relatively close to the wheels, the gun carriage can be lifted up by manpower with the help of the lever effect." He pointed. Referring to the long tail of the gun mount: "When the gun crew temporarily moves a short distance, as long as two people work together to lift the tail of the mount, they can push it away directly."

"Really?" Theodora said, stepping forward: "I'll try."

"You don't understand this..." Before Guo Kang finished speaking, she gathered up her long skirt and bent down. There is a bracket at the end of the gun carriage that can bear against the ground. The wooden beams on both sides of the bracket are equipped with iron handles for the gunners to hold. Theodora grabbed the two handles with both hands, took a breath, lifted it slightly, and sure enough, she lifted it up.

"It seems to be really light." She said happily: "As expected of Constantine's design, it is really exquisite."

"Don't move around. Those are important weapons." Tuohuan quickly tried to stop her. But Theodora seemed to be very interested, and instead pushed the cannon cart back and forth.

After trying it out a few times, she dragged the breech of the cannon over, put it on the trolley, and hooked it up. Then he grabbed the rope in front of the car, pulled hard, and started walking.

"..."

Guo Kanghe Tuohuan was speechless, watching her pulling the cannon and walking around there. After turning around again, she breathed a sigh of relief and wiped her sweat.

"I haven't been active like this for a long time. It feels quite fun." Seeing that others were looking at her, she quickly explained.

Guo Kang didn't know what fun it was to pull a cannon, but she just wanted to do it anyway. He thought about it and decided to leave Theodora to have fun here and get down to business first.

"Let's take a look at these guns at the back first. I think the craftsmanship here has the potential to be popularized." He continued to introduce them directly.

(End of this chapter)