Chapter 986

“Bang bang bang…”

“Bang bang bang…”

Flames spewed from the muzzle, and bullets shot out from the barrel. The hillside in front of the machine gun was hit by the bullets, and stone chips flew everywhere. In a short while, under the continuous shooting of the machine gun, a small pit appeared on the hillside.

While the machine gun was firing, the metal casings of the bullets were quickly ejected from the joint of the gun bolt and the barrel. The canvas belt with the bullets was quickly devoured by the machine gun. In one minute, three hundred and fifty bullets and a seven-meter-long bullet belt were all fired.

This was on the premise that the machine gunner could slow down the rate of fire.

Xiao Ming’s eardrums were a little numb from the shock. Looking at the Changping machine gun in front of him, a relieved smile appeared on his face. Although the industrial state of other parts of the Great Yu Empire was still in the eighteenth century, there was no doubt that Qingzhou’s industry had reached the late nineteenth century.

After a long period of technological accumulation, the complete industrial system had reached a period of explosive growth in technological products. The fact that Song Changping was able to manufacture a machine gun similar to the Maxim using the current industrial base was enough to prove the strong industrial strength of Qingzhou.

“Perfect!”

After a perfect bullet belt was completely fired, Xiao Ming gave a thumbs up.

After a pause, he said to Song Changping, “Now that the war in the north is about to break out, it is exactly the time when we need this weapon to counter cavalry. I will give you one month. How many Changping machine guns can you produce?”

“The military factory has not yet built a special production line for machine guns. Some of the parts for these machine guns were still ground out by workers in the military factory using lathes and cannot be bought from other factories. If Your Majesty is in urgent need, I can provide thirty machine guns in one month,” Song Changping said.

“Thirty is enough. This machine gun is a big consumer of bullets, and it seems that our bullet reserves are going to run out,” Xiao Ming said helplessly.

“That’s probably the case. But fortunately, we have no wars in other places, so concentrating them in one place should be enough,” Song Changping said, estimating the number of bullets.

Xiao Ming nodded, “Then let’s do that. As long as we can completely defeat the Golden Tent Khanate, the consumption of these bullets will be worth it.”

After finalizing this matter, Xiao Ming toured the military factory again before returning to the palace. At the same time, he dispatched three hundred soldiers to the military factory to train them on how to use the machine gun.

After all these things were done, Xiao Ming lay on his chair and breathed a sigh of relief.

Qian Dafu saw this and smiled, “Your Majesty has always been worried that Europe would learn our firearms technology, but now that we have this powerful national weapon, those Europeans probably won’t even have time to cry.”

“That’s true. With this thing, we will be able to completely suppress them in terms of firepower, and at the same time, the era of firing in ranks will officially become a thing of the past,” Xiao Ming said with narrowed eyes.

In the history of his time, the firing-in-ranks combat style continued until the appearance of the Maxim machine gun and officially died out in World War I.

This was because dense formations would be slaughtered when facing a machine gun.

“Hehe, if that’s the case, it seems that occupying Southeast Asia is not a problem,” Qian Dafu said with a laugh. When he was in the Department of Minerals before, he learned that the Southeast Asian region was rich in mineral resources, and the climate here was also very suitable for farming. If they occupied this place, they would get a large amount of food and minerals.

A look of longing appeared in Xiao Ming’s eyes. The appearance of the machine gun meant that he could control a large area with a small number of troops. In this way, he would no longer have to worry about the problem of troop strength.

…

Raozhou.

Under the starlight, Qi Guangyi was leading eight thousand rifle cavalry to advance under the cover of the night. During his time stationed in Raozhou, he had basically gotten to know the grassland very well, and he could find the location of the barbarian tribes even with his eyes closed.

This time, he was leading eight thousand rifle cavalry as a special force to harass the three major tribes that were now united.

Compared to ten years ago, the barbarians were much more cautious. To prevent their tribes from being ambushed during the war, they had gathered the three tribes together, built fences around them, and set up artillery to guard against their surprise attacks.

It would be very difficult to directly ambush the tribes like before, and the price would be very high.

Therefore, this time, Qi Guangyi was leading eight thousand rifle cavalry not to attack the three major tribes, but to go around them and directly attack the barbarian cavalry who were going to reinforce the three major tribes.

Since they had such a large force in Raozhou this time, the three major tribes alone would not be able to contend with them. Therefore, Qi Guangyi calculated that Dolgor would send other tribes to reinforce them.

In this way, they would have an opportunity.

Since the size of the tribes on the grassland varied, the cavalry who came to reinforce them would also be in waves.

And just as he thought, after going around the three major tribes, they soon encountered a barbarian cavalry force that was coming to reinforce them.

When they were about to pass through a hill, a barbarian cavalry force of about ten thousand people confronted them head-on. The two armies’ formations were stretched out for a long distance on the vast grassland.

“Corps Commander, they are from the Azure Dragon Tribe,” a guard beside Qi Guangyi said. “Their tribe’s pasture is the closest to the Dzungar tribe.”

Qi Guangyi nodded. Just as he thought, the barbarian cavalry on the grassland would not run away when they saw them. On the contrary, they would definitely chase after them, especially since they had the advantage in numbers.

“Have the soldiers prepare!”

Qi Guangyi said in a cold voice. The distance between the two armies was only a little more than five hundred meters. Through his binoculars, he saw a barbarian general also using binoculars to look at him.

“The Tsarist Russians are quite good to them, even giving them binoculars.” Qi Guangyi frowned.

While he was talking to himself, the bugler sounded the horn. The rifle cavalry immediately moved, lining up in three rows on their horses. Each soldier was holding a carbine.

While the rifle cavalry were moving, the barbarian cavalry on the opposite side also moved. They brandished their scimitars and charged down from the hill.

Qi Guangyi’s expression was serious. This was the first battle of the rifle cavalry. If they could fight a beautiful battle, it would prove that the path of the rifle cavalry against ordinary cavalry was viable.

On the hill, a barbarian general was coldly watching Qi Guangyi and the eight thousand Great Yu Empire’s cavalry.

He was Zak, the banner head of the Azure Dragon Tribe.

Beside him was a tall, bald man. Looking at the charging cavalry, he grinned and said, “The Great Khan is truly a divine strategist. He guessed that the Great Yu Empire would attack our reinforcing cavalry, so he had the cavalry of each tribe march ten miles apart. In this way, once we encounter the Great Yu Empire’s cavalry, we can catch them by surprise.”

Zak laughed when he heard this. “These people of the Great Yu Empire are truly stupid to think that they can be our opponents on the grassland. This time, our Azure Dragon Tribe will take the first credit!”

The novel has already been fully translated up to the final chapter. You can access it on my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair