Hong Tao has never loved the army. It has been several years since the founding of the country. In addition to getting some police, the largest land armed force of the Jinhe Empire is more than 300 Marines... Even if it was forced to set up an army, it was still a small one, with the same number as that of the Marines, all of which were 300.

He could not train the army himself, so he could only borrow a few officers from Swan's father as instructors, and then set up an army school in Mayi Port, sending hundreds of young people over fifteen years old who were skilled in Chinese who were trained and studied while training.

In fact, everyone misunderstood Hong Tao. It’s not that he doesn’t like the army, but that he thinks there is no need to get a army that consumes money and food, and is useless. He is a pragmatist and he is not very interested in anything useless.

The starting point of this army is relatively high. It is not so much an army, but rather an officer training base. These children not only need to learn horse riding, cavalry tactics and infantry tactics, but also have to learn mapping, survival in the wild and the use, maintenance and tactics of new weapons.

If the empire encounters an unprecedented security crisis and needs a larger army to go to the battlefield, as long as these hundreds of officers are available, they can quickly expand them based on these officers ten times or hundreds of times. If the supply of troops, equipment and weapons can keep up, tens of thousands of regular troops will be exposed in half a year to a year.

Since its birth, the army of the Jinhe Empire has been completely different from the army of any country in the world. It is mainly reflected in the type of weapons used. This is inevitable, with Hong Tao, the maverick Prime Minister. The Imperial Army is destined to be a pioneer of the times. The army he built was extremely simple, with only two major arms, one called musketeers and the other called artillery.

Musketeers do not use spears, but must be equipped with flintlock smoothbore guns before being equipped. It is easy to understand that the deck cannons weighing hundreds of pounds have been modified and then loaded with gun chariots, large wheels and steel shafts, and can be pulled by horses to follow the cavalry units. It is not difficult to operate when encountering field battles, so remove the horses. The cannon chariots are fixed in the soil with their feet. Then they can be loaded and fired. Flowering bullets, solid bullets, and shotguns can be used.

Why use a smoothbore gun instead of a rifled gun directly? Didn’t Imperial Metal Group have developed a rifled gun? This is Hong Tao’s cunning side. He wants to squeeze out the oil and water of every invention, and it is so satisfying to suppress it from level to level, but it is very wasteful. Just like playing cards, the other party made a pair of nine, and it only needs to use a pair of ten tubes. There is no need to use a pair of a, and there is no need to throw a bomb out.

There is another benefit to doing this, not military, but economic. No business in the world is as profitable as arms trading. After working hard for half a year, whether it is to squeeze sugar or make wine, the final harvest is not as good as the rifles made by a few workers in a few days.

Some buyers of arms sales are that not only the Southern Song Dynasty and Mongolia are fighting in the world. The Japanese archipelago, the Indian Peninsula, the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe are all good dumping places. Even the expansion of the empire in Kalamba Port and Cape Town Port also requires the use of the army to solve the problem. First, equip the smoothbore guns to their own army to fight others, train soldiers to be familiar with this kind of hot weapon, and also advertise new weapons. When the effects of the new weapons are displayed, some people can manufacture them in large quantities and sell them to countries in need.

Don’t be afraid of having no money to buy. I use a rifle as a loan to you first, so I’m so righteous. Of course, the loan needs to be paid, and it’s okay if I can’t afford gold and silver. There are always some mines in your country, specialties, and so on. If you really don’t have people to pay, it’s still the same thing, it’s so righteous!

What? You don’t have these... Damn! Is there any need for your country to exist? You can just make a fool of yourself if you don’t want anything. Follow the boss. You can plant whatever I ask you to plant, dig whatever you ask you to dig, and you can hit whoever you ask you to hit. As long as you are obedient, the loan is aid, and you don’t have to pay back. Have you ever seen such a righteous person?

"Old Wen, please go to Lin'an and ask Zheng Xiang if you need new weapons. This is the rifle just equipped by the Imperial Army. If you are interested, we can send a team of army to the Jianghan defense line for a live-fire exercise, and use the local Mongolian army as the exercise target to let them see the effect with their own eyes. If it is easy to buy, it will be considered in vain. The loss will be borne by the empire." After he had good things, Hong Tao first thought of the Southern Song Dynasty, so Wen Nan was found.

"Why did Your Majesty suddenly become generous this time? The cannons were so tightly covered, but the rifle came to the door on its own initiative?" Wen Nan was a little vague about Hong Tao's sudden change. Every time Hong Tao took the initiative to give others benefits, he might be digging a hole.

"Hey, what I said is like I used to be. I gave it to such a money-making thing as cement, and I didn't ask them for a penny. I sold the war horses in the Nanning military horse farm to the court at the price of Guangma, and I never thought about it. The Shilu Mine court said I didn't stop me from participating in the shares. Now it's like I mine them and I have to transport the ore to Qiongzhou to get half of it. Have I said anything? The Empire and the Song Dynasty are like brothers who have separated. There can be some conflicts in private, but when it comes to dealing with outsiders, their ideas must be consistent. The Mongolian Empire has the same idea.

Failed at sea, and it was also damaged. But the territory of the north is still in their hands. Doesn’t the court want to take it back? With my weapon, coupled with the appropriate tactics, a little training can form a strong combat power. The Northern Expedition is not a dream! As a descendant of a Han, of course I hope to see my hometown back in my lifetime and return to the hands of the Han people. It would be better if I could go up and go around in person." Hong Tao’s words were reasonable. He explained his greatness and selflessness before, and the root of this idea was very touching.

"It would be better to let Qi Zu send a few craftsmen to teach the Song Dynasty's court to produce by themselves..." Unfortunately, the audience was Wen Nan, a foreign minister who had been fooled by Hong Tao for many years. In the face of Hong Tao's passion, Wen Nan basically had no reaction.

"...Old Wen, you must be firm in your position. Are you an official of the Song Dynasty or an imperial official? Why do you always help the Song Dynasty? "Hong Tao was choked and Wen Nan keenly caught the key to this matter, that is money! These guns were sold to the Song Dynasty, not to be given to the Song Dynasty. Since it was sold, it was a business, so don't be so sad.

"Isn't I going to understand Your Majesty's instructions thoroughly before I can grasp the right measure? How to use this thing? Can you teach me first, and also demonstrate it to Zheng Xiang and the others?" Wen Nan saw that Hong Tao was about to be angry, so he immediately changed into a smile and opposed his immediate boss, which was very unwise.

"No! Don't, if you don't try, maybe they plan to buy it, but you can't sell it any more. This thing is powerful, with simple operation, but it also has great disadvantages and is not very accurate. Just like cannons on warships, it needs many people to use it together, and the density can make up for the accuracy. If you demonstrate alone, you can't fight anything. Will people still buy it? This is just for you as a sample, and let them see it. The professional problem will be asked to be discussed by the accompanying army officer. Your task is to convince Zheng Xiang to agree to our army to conduct a small-scale practical exercise on the Jianghan defense line, so that they can see the effect of use with their own eyes. As long as the battle is won, they must buy it." Hong Tao knew very well about the performance of the front-mounted smoothbore gun, so it was impossible for Wen Nan, who had never fired a gun, to be conspicuous in the Southern Song Dynasty court.

This kind of gun came out much earlier than the rifled rifle. At that time, Qi Zu's flintlock device had not been produced yet, so he had to ignite it with a fuse. Since there was no suitable steel to make the barrel, it weighed a little too much at that time. A 1.5-meter-long smoothbore rifle weighed about twenty kilograms. Most people could not hold it to shoot flat, and they had to put a wooden stick under it as a bracket. Moreover, its range was not too far, and it looked more than 100 meters. If it had a hit rate of 50%, it had to narrow the distance to forty or fifty meters. In addition, the loading was troublesome and the firing rate was slow, and it was not as effective as a large reflex crossbow.

However, with the emergence of open furnace steel and flintlock devices, the spring of smoothbore guns has arrived. With better steel and suitable tool steel, the thickness of the barrel is getting thinner and the accuracy is getting higher and higher. After using whale skin to cover lead bullets, the range can reach 300 meters, and a hit rate of 50% can be achieved within more than 100 meters, exceeding all current flat-fire weapons.

The same smoothbore gun weighs less than ten kilograms now. After a short period of training, ordinary people can throw away the bracket and shoot with them. With the flintlock device and fixed charge pack, the rate of fire of this gun can reach two rounds per minute. A 20mm caliber lead bullet can tear off any armor from one hundred meters away, and even if it cannot be penetrated, it can injure those wearing armor, which is more powerful than all currently single-soldier long-range weapons.

The main advantages of flintlock rifles are not limited to their power, rate of fire and range, but their ease of mastery and manufacturing cost. A musketman only needs to train for about ten days to proficiently operate a flintlock smoothbore gun. With a reasonable loading procedure, the rate of fire in one minute is easy to achieve. It takes less than two hours to build a flintlock smoothbore gun in the Empire Metal Group. This thing is produced in accordance with standardized mass production. With a simple hydraulic drilling machine, boring machine, forging hammer and heat treatment process, if you start working with all your efforts, you can create more than ten finished products a day.
Chapter completed!