Chapter 707

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“Heavy smoothbore gun?”

Song Changping was somewhat surprised upon hearing the name of this firearm.

Chen Qi stared at the drawing on the ground for a while and said, “Your Majesty, isn’t this just a larger firearm? And this firearm looks very clumsy; it would be more practical to use artillery instead.”

Hearing this, Xiao Ming explained, “This heavy flintlock gun has a long range and great power, and it can fire many projectiles at once. It can even penetrate cavalry armor directly from two or three hundred meters away. Artillery certainly has great range and power, but its disadvantages are that it’s clumsy and expensive. This heavy smoothbore gun is easy to produce, and two people can operate it. It will be more effective when used in wagon formations.”

The two nodded, now understanding that Xiao Ming’s purpose in manufacturing this heavy smoothbore gun was for wagon formation defense.

After a pause, Xiao Ming continued, “To defeat the barbarians, we must go deep into the grasslands. Using heavy smoothbore guns in conjunction with wagon formations will produce unexpected results. At the same time, to complement this heavy smoothbore gun, you must modify the chariots.”

“We await Your Majesty’s instructions.”

Xiao Ming then began to draw on the ground again. In modern times, the appearance of tanks and machine guns ended cavalry. Now, he obviously couldn’t build modern tanks with machine guns, but he could build heavy smoothbore guns with armored chariots.

This chariot modification primarily focused on two aspects: one was to add firing ports for heavy smoothbore guns on the chariots, and the other was to add bladed spikes to the outer armor. The main purpose was to prevent barbarian slave soldiers from climbing.

After defeating the barbarians using wagon formations in Jizhou, he believed that the barbarians must also be looking for ways to break the wagon formations.

And for the barbarians, the simplest and most brutal method was to fill it with the lives of barbarian slave soldiers.

Although the barbarian population was only four to five million, the barbarians had always loved enslaving others, and these slave soldiers were a force that could not be ignored.

It was precisely because he considered this point that he planned to focus on building armored chariot formations during the upcoming period. These chariots would be equivalent to mobile redoubts on the grasslands, and a heavy smoothbore gun could load dozens of normal firearm projectiles at once, effectively acting as a shotgun. The combination of the two, coupled with the cooperation of musketeers and cavalry within the wagon formation, would create a heavily guarded fortress.

After explaining his ideas to the two, they agreed to the task.

Song Changping sighed and said, “Your Majesty’s ambition is great, and I am filled with admiration. However, the border troubles from the northern grasslands have never ceased throughout history. One barbarian tribe is driven away, and decades later, another tribe grows strong. It’s a never-ending cycle.”

During this time, Song Changping often went to Bowen Academy to read books. Besides the manufacturing of firearms, he also read some history books, and couldn’t help but feel a bit emotional.

Chen Qi, on the other hand, understood nothing except artillery technology, but Song Changping’s words made him a little worried. “Your Majesty, what Song Changping said makes some sense, but the northern lands are barren and cold. No one is willing to settle there, and only the barbarians are happy to go to that place.”

Xiao Ming frowned upon hearing this. Chen Qi’s words touched upon the very problem that was currently giving him a headache. The barbarians were different from feudal lords like Prince Zhao and Prince Yan.

The feudal lords relied on collecting taxes from their feudal states to build and strengthen their armies, so losing their feudal states meant losing everything.

But the barbarians were different. They were a semi-pastoral, semi-agricultural ethnic group, and their strategy was expansion and plunder. One could say that the barbarians were already on the path of colonization, but unlike Western overseas colonization, the barbarians had been engaging in bloody colonization on the Eurasian continent.

Such cunning barbarians with many hideouts meant that even if he destroyed the barbarian tribes near Changbai Mountain, the remaining barbarian tribes could still migrate deeper into the vast grasslands, waiting for a power vacuum to appear in that land again.

But this was intolerable to Xiao Ming, because his goal was to solve the northern problem once and for all.

Otherwise, he would be attacked from both sides and unable to concentrate on vying for colonies with Western powers overseas.

Standing up and pacing with his hands behind his back, Xiao Ming said, “I already have an idea. I will not give the barbarians any more breathing room.”

Song Changping scratched his head. This was not within his purview, so he said, “Your Majesty, I merely spoke casually. For me, diligently producing firearms is equivalent to fighting the barbarians.”

“That’s a good point. It’s enough for you to provide the army with quality and quantity of firearms.” Xiao Ming smiled. At this moment, he suddenly remembered something and asked, “Oh, by the way, how are the percussion caps that I asked you and Lu Tong to research coming along?”

At the mention of this, the two’s expressions became excited. Chen Qi said, “Lu Tong and I have experimented three times in the laboratory, and we have achieved some initial results. Simply put, we can now use percussion caps to replace flints.”

“That’s good. You must produce the percussion caps as soon as possible,” Xiao Ming nodded. He and Lu Tong had researched the manufacturing of percussion caps many times, which was why the research progressed so smoothly.

Song Changping then said, “Your Majesty, the research on percussion caps is almost complete. I am preparing to begin production of percussion cap firearms. This type of firearm only uses percussion caps and paper cartridges. Each shot only requires installing a percussion cap, eliminating the step of flintlock guns where gunpowder had to be poured into the flash pan.”

Xiao Ming was not surprised by Song Changping’s words. For him, with Qingzhou Province’s current industrial capacity, firearms could only be developed to the level of percussion cap breechloaders.

As for metallic cartridges, they were a product of the post-electricity revolution, after another leap in production. The cost of producing them now would be too high.

The huge consumption of bullets at that time would be unbearable for him. After all, the bullets had copper casings. He estimated that a single metallic cartridge would cost around two taels of silver.

So, after weighing the options, before the electricity revolution arrived, he could only focus on percussion cap firearms.

After all, compared to flintlock guns, percussion cap guns improved firing reliability and rate, overcoming the problems of unreliable firing, high misfire rates, slow firing rates, and poor gas sealing of flintlock guns. Moreover, there would no longer be any concern about firearms failing in rainy weather. If they could be widely adopted by the army, it would mean his firearms were a generation ahead of the West.

However, although the percussion cap firearm was an improvement, it only offered some advantages in firing rate and stability. It could not change the mode of warfare, only providing some advantages on the battlefield.

“I had this idea when I asked you to research percussion caps. Since there’s progress with percussion caps now, let’s start. And from now on, the rule for the military workshop will be: one generation in use, one generation in research, one generation in design. This will ensure there are no gaps in weapon development,” Xiao Ming set the rules for the military workshop.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Song Changping and Chen Qi bowed and said.