When they heard Luo Zhixue say that twenty taels is not expensive, Xu Zhixian, Zhu Xingfa and Wang Xiazi all looked at Luo Zhixue. They couldn't understand why Luo Zhixue said that.

The average purchase price of matchlocks used by infantry today by the military is about five taels of silver. This is the price of a complete set, including muskets, spears, gun belts, ammunition belts, etc.

Even at this price, it’s actually not cheap!

Money is relatively valuable these days, and except for food, other things are not expensive overall.

As a comparison of prices, the monthly salary of an ordinary worker in the Hantian Arsenal today is about one or two or five yuan, and the food expenses have to be deducted from it. As for the technical workers and management personnel, they are not representative, so let’s not mention them.

.

The subsidies for soldiers of the Chu army are 800 cash for first-class soldiers, 500 cash for second-class soldiers, and 300 cash for third-class soldiers.

Of course, the soldiers of the Chu army not only received subsidies, they also had free food and clothing, which really cost them three or four taels of silver.

The recruits from the Ming Army are between 20 and 30 taels for the ordinary battalion sentries; the salary of the new standard army is higher, with 3 taels or even 4 taels of silver, but again, the soldiers of the Qian Ming Army cannot get it.

, many will be deducted.

Well, the income of Ming army soldiers also does not include personal soldiers, cavalry, low-level officers and other groups, only ordinary soldiers.

In other words, the purchase price of an infantry musket equipped in the Chu army is higher than the cost of raising a soldier for a month.

The blunderbuss made by the Ming army are cheaper, costing only three taels each, and the more expensive ones only cost four taels.

In addition, a short cannon of two hundred kilograms only costs a few dozen taels of silver, and a mortar cannon of eighteen kilograms costs a hundred taels of silver. The Ming army had a large number of offensive cannons weighing tens of kilograms, and the squatting tiger cannon was even cheaper, costing as little as a few taels of silver.

, you can buy it for no more than ten or twenty taels of silver.

The two-and-a-half kilogram field cannon in the Chu army only cost more than a hundred taels of silver for the iron ones, and the bronze ones were more expensive, costing more than two hundred taels of silver.

The purchase price of a five-pound bronze field cannon is much more expensive, with the entire cannon costing more than 400 taels of silver.

The nine-pound bronze field cannon is currently the most expensive weapon in the Chu army. The purchase price is more than 700 taels of silver.

This purchase price is because the arsenal has added a considerable profit, otherwise it would be even cheaper.

However, the arsenal also needs to operate, expand and conduct technology research and development. Appropriate profits are definitely needed, otherwise there will be no way to develop.

In this era when the main field artillery only costs a few hundred taels of silver, a musket costs twenty taels of silver, which is very expensive.

Zhu Xingfa and others believe that if the cavalry is equipped with a small amount of equipment, then it is acceptable. After all, the cavalry is an expensive branch. Arming a cavalry with a horse and armor alone costs hundreds of taels of silver, and raising war horses is also very expensive.
p>

The most important thing is that cavalry cannot be mastered quickly. It cannot be like the infantry, where you can just find a young man who can be trained for two or three months and then be sent out to fight.

Cavalry, even those half-baked cavalry in divisional cavalry regiments, are very valuable.

Twenty taels of silver Suifu muskets are acceptable for equipping cavalry, but for equipping infantry...it always feels like a waste.

Faced with the doubts of his ministers, Luo Zhixue said: "The twenty taels of silver you are talking about are probably the purchase price of cavalry pistols, which is the quantity of several thousand guns at most."

"In this way, if the cost of the production line is spread evenly, the price will definitely be expensive. After all, the arsenal under the Ministry of Industry will not do loss-making business!"

At this time, Zhu Xingfa also said: "Your Majesty, the pistols we plan to purchase are initially two thousand. If they are used well, we may increase the number of two thousand more later. The price of Ding Gangyi from Hantian Factory is very high. It must be twenty."

Only two silver coins can be used to make it."

Luo Zhixue said: "This is reasonable, but if the production of this flintlock gun is increased, instead of two thousand, but twenty thousand or even two hundred thousand, the cost can be greatly diluted. By then the price will be

It’s definitely coming down.”

Luo Zhixue didn't ask anyone from the Ministry of Industry to find out how much the reduction would be, but he estimated that it would be possible to cut the purchase price in half after the production volume increased and the costs were equally divided.

"Let's not mention how much less the price of this Suifu musket can be. Once equipped with a flintlock musket, we can fully use musketeers in combat and completely abandon spearmen!"

"The complete set of equipment for a heavily-armored spearman costs at least thirty-five taels of silver. A lightly-armored spearman also costs about fifteen taels of silver. At the same time, training is more troublesome and the requirements for personnel are higher."

"If the spearmen can be dismantled, even if the new musketeers are more expensive, it will still be a good deal!"

What Luo Zhixue said had not been told to Xu Zhixian and others before, so they all showed doubts after hearing Luo Zhixue's words.

Xu Zhixian said: "Your Majesty, even if a new musket is installed, the spearman still needs to be retained, right?"

"Spearmen, especially heavy spearmen, have always been the core combat strength of our army. If they are directly dismantled, the close combat capability will not be guaranteed!"

What Xu Zhixian said is also true. The spearmen in the Chu army are currently the core combat force.

In a typical field battle, the spearman has two major responsibilities. One is to cover the musketeer so that the musketeer can fire safely.

Second, when launching a charge, they serve as the core combat force in hand-to-hand combat. As for the musketeers, even if they are equipped with spears, they are still not as good as the spearmen in hand-to-hand combat.

On the one hand, the spearmen wear armor, especially the spearmen in the front row who all wear heavy armor. Although the musketeers also wear armor, they are all the lightest half-body light armor.

In addition, the musket is relatively short, only a little over two meters with the stab added, while the spearman's spear is four and a half meters long.

In a melee battle, every inch is stronger.

Therefore, when arraying for hand-to-hand combat, heavily armored spearmen are the core combat force, and all musketeers and heavy-armored sword-and-shielders have to stand aside.

Now Luo Zhixue says that after replacing the new musket, he can directly disarm the spearman, which they cannot understand.

Luo Zhixue, however, directly took the pen and paper and simply drew a few horizontal lines: "Once we install the new muskets, with the characteristics of the flintlock muskets, we can completely make the formation of the musketeers closer.

Even side by side!"

"If we can adopt a three-row formation, or simply a two-row formation!"

"Under such circumstances, compared to the previous soldiers with large intervals and six rows of arquebusiers, our new formation will increase its firepower density several times or even ten times!"

"Just imagine, what kind of effect will a new musketeer unit, whose firepower density is several times higher than the current musketeer unit, have on the battlefield?"

After Luo Luozhixue used charcoal to draw a simple line infantry formation on paper, the two cavalry generals Wang Xiazi and Zhu Xingfa had not yet reacted, but Xu Zhixian, a general with an infantry background, was instantly bright-eyed.

.

He looked at the formation on the drawing and murmured: "Now one of our infantry battalions has more than 240 musketeers, deployed in six columns, and has only forty musketeers for a single round of fire."
p>

"If new muskets are used, with the same types of troops and formations, we can use a three-column formation, which can gather 80 high-altitude musketeers in a single round. If a two-column formation is used, then there are one hundred and twenty musketeers!"<

/p>

"Just by switching to a new type of musket, with other things remaining unchanged, our firepower density can be doubled or tripled."

"If we remove the spearmen, then remove the swordsmen, shieldmen and archers, with the same number of troops, our single round of firepower can focus on two hundred or even three hundred musketeers!"

"Compared with the existing tactics, the firepower is increased by more than five times or seven times!"

At this time, Luo Zhixue shook his head slightly, and then simply drew a pattern on the drawing, and then said: "After using the flintlock gun, we don't have to worry about the matchlock misfire, so we can completely use the salvo combat method, three rows

Or two rows of musketeers can fire all at once, firing out six hundred rounds of ammunition!"

"Imagine all the musketeers, within a distance of about ten feet from the enemy, firing all at once. How shocking would the scene be?"

"Let me ask, how many armies in the world can continue to fight after being subjected to such a violent volley of firepower within ten feet?"

Hearing this, Xu Zhixian stood up immediately: "At least the puppet Ming army does not have such elites..."

"If hit by this kind of firepower, the enemy's frontline troops will probably all die. Even if not all of them will be killed or injured, there will be seven or eight layers of casualties. After receiving such a violent blow in a short period of time, not many armies can continue to maintain their strength.

The courage to fight."

"Even if they still maintain their courage, the formation has completely collapsed!"

When Xu Zhixian was talking, he stood up and walked around twice, and then returned to the table with a few simple formation diagrams drawn by Luo Zhixue: "If there are 10,000 musketeers like this, we can fight against the puppet Ming Dynasty with 50,000 new soldiers."

It’s no big deal to be a standard-bearer.”

Luo Zhixue looked at Zhu Xingfa again at this time: "If there are cavalry equipped with muskets and pistols to help, we can go to the Central Plains and even go to the north to fight a dozen robbers. It will be no problem.

of."

When Zhu Xingfa heard about the captors from the East, he immediately stood up: "Your Majesty, your Majesty, to be honest, the muskets and pistol cavalry I designed are just to deal with those captors from the East. If the troops are sent to Liaodong in the future, I sincerely ask your Majesty to let me serve as the cavalry.

Pioneer General!"

Luo Zhixue looked at Zhu Xingfa and nodded slightly: "I agree. I will send troops to Liaodong in the future. Zhu Aiqing, you will lead the cavalry to lead the battle!"

Luo Zhixue knew that Zhu Xingfa was a member of the Liaodong cavalry, and that his family members had all died at the hands of the Liaodong captors.

This man has a blood feud with Dongluo!

As Luo Zhixue said this, he turned his attention back to the pistol on the table!

After picking it up again and taking a closer look at the firing mechanism of the pistol, he immediately said to the secretary outside: "Let Hu Aiqing from the Ordnance Department come over. By the way, also call Yuan Aiqing from the Industry Department. Well, from Hantian Factory

Ding Aiqing probably hasn’t gone back either, so call him over too!”

"Today, we will discuss the flintlock rifle in detail, especially the follow-up rifle, to see if it can be produced and how long it will take to produce it."

Xu Zhixian immediately said: "The flintlock rifle is related to the future strategic development of our army. Your Majesty, I am here to express my position. If the Ministry of Industry can produce this rifle, as long as it is not too outrageous, as long as it can be controlled at around fifteen taels,
Chapter completed!