Three hundred steps? Ma Cheng looked at the ambassador with a squint when he heard what the ambassador said. The ambassador had a big head and a thick neck. According to later generations, he was either a big man or a kid. This ambassador did not look like a big man, so he must be a kid.

The ambassador knew that the young man in front of him was Governor Ma's son, and now he was so angry that he was seeing him. He quickly whispered: "Second Master, the villain's brother-in-law is the second master's eldest son Gu San!"

Ma Cheng's face changed when he heard the ambassador say this, patted his fat shoulder and smiled, "Haha, it turns out he is his own family! What's your name?"

The ambassador was very happy to have something to do with Ma Cheng, and quickly bowed and said, "The villain Wang Qingwei, his ancestors are also military households under the command of Marquis Gu!"

Unexpectedly, he had something to do with his grandfather's family. It seems that most of his subordinates' official positions were controlled by these people. But this is also impossible. China is a society that talks about human nature. One person is a magistrate who is as good as the gods. Ma Shiying became a rank-level official with heavy troops, so naturally his subordinates have to appoint his own people.

Seeing that the ambassador looked like he had read books, his name was not like other military households, and he couldn't help but ask curiously: "Lao Wang, are you literate?"

"Back to the second master, the villain has been to a private school for a few years before, but it is not a material for studying, so the villain asked his brother-in-law to find an ambassador's job!"

After hearing Wang Qingwei say this, Ma Cheng knew that it must be Gu Changwei who left Zhang Guozhu's relationship. Otherwise, this warehouse ambassador would be a good job of farting the tits, so where would it be this fat man's turn?

Ma Cheng nodded and said, "You said this Lumi gun has a range of 300 steps? It just happened that the second master was fine today, so he fired two shots to play!"

This warehouse is a firearm warehouse, which is relatively secluded. At the same time, there is a shooting range in front of the door, and there are several wooden targets standing two hundred steps away.

When Wang Qingwei saw Ma Cheng holding the Lumi gun to the shooting range, his face turned green. The reason was very simple. The Lumi gun in Ma Cheng's hand was a defective product.

The Lumi gun is the best musket of the Ming army. The production process is very complicated and the price is naturally very high. A finished Lumi gun costs twenty taels of silver, and it is almost as good as the armor on its body.

The price is high, so there is room for opportunism. In addition, the Ming munitions are all handmade, so the craftsmen and craftsmen have different skills and the quality of finished products is uneven. However, the formal channel is that after the weapon production is completed, the military affairs management system needs to be inspected and accepted, and the army can only be equipped after passing the test shooting.

The Lumi gun in Ma Cheng's hand was a defective product that had not been accepted. Wang Qingwei collected it at a price of five taels of silver per shot, replaced the qualified Lumi guns, and then sold the qualified Lumi guns at a high price. As for where they fell, it was not Wang Qingwei's control.

Of course, Wang Qingwei is not doing this kind of business alone. Basically, all warehouse ambassadors do this to varying degrees. How should they make money?

Not all the money Wang Qingwei earned belongs to him alone. He also had to take out most of the money he earned, such as Zhang Guozhu, the central officer in front of him.

Seeing that Wang Qingwei's face changed, Zhang Guozhu knew that something was wrong, so he quickly asked in a low voice: "What? Is there a problem with that musket?"

Wang Qingwei nodded with a sad face. Zhang Guozhu was so angry that he was so angry that he knew this unspoken rule, but if he could find out the second lame Ma Cheng, it would be impossible to explain.

Zhang Guozhu thought for a while and asked, "Do you have qualified Lumi guns here?"

When Wang Qingwei heard Zhang Guozhu say this, he quickly said, "Yes, I'll get it now!"

Ma Cheng came to the shooting range with the Lumi gun alone, took the musket in his hand and took it in front of him to take a closer look. The problem came out. The barrel of the gun was not formed in one piece, but was rolled out of iron.

In fact, most of the early musket barrels were made of fire, and the process was not good. In addition, gunpowder was not very powerful in the early Ming Dynasty, so the barrels made of iron can withstand impact.

However, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, with the introduction of European gunpowder technology, the power of gunpowder became increasingly greater and rolled barrels could no longer meet the requirements. Therefore, craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty learned European craftsmanship and invented drilling.

A qualified Lumi gun barrel naturally needs to be made of cold forged solid iron rods and drilled with a drill bit. These manufacturing processes are introduced in detail in the "Art Chart" written by Zhao Shizhen, a weapon master in the Ming Dynasty.

Ma Cheng didn't know that there was such advanced technology in the Ming Dynasty, and he thought that the barrels of the Ming Dynasty were like this, so he couldn't help but despise him. He knew that Zhang Guozhu came to the shooting range with another Lumi gun: "Second Master, use this musket! Your one has been tested by multiple people, and some cracks need to be repaired by the blacksmith."

Ma Cheng took the musket brought by Zhang Guozhu and knew what was going on. The rod in his hand was obviously stronger than the rod just now, and there were no obvious marks on the barrel. The most important thing was that the inner wall of the barrel was smooth, and it was obviously polished.

Ma Cheng repeatedly looked at the Lumi gun in his hand. The musket was like a work of art. The blue wow barrel was shining and it was obviously of top quality.

Ma Cheng knew there must be something wrong with this, but Ma Cheng didn't want to care. After all, he is not a high-ranking official now, and Wang Qingwei has not embezzled his money, so Ma Chengle was so upset that he was not upset.

Ma Cheng has seen firing smoothbore guns on the Internet in later generations, but it is the first time he has done it himself. A Kuding next to him came forward to explain to Ma Cheng, first selecting lead bullets of the same size as the barrel from the lead bullet, then put the lead bullets and gunpowder into the barrel, and then compact them with a strip. Next, take out the gunpowder pot and pour the gunpowder into the fire door. At this time, Kuding clamps the prepared fuse on the faucet at the back of the fire gun, and then pushes open the fire door to reveal the gunpowder inside the barrel, so that it can be fired.

Ma Cheng took the loaded Lumi gun in Kuding's hand, then aimed at the wooden target 200 meters away with Wangshan, pulled the trigger with his index finger, and the trigger drove the fuse on the faucet to contact the gunpowder. The gunpowder in the musket exploded and fired the lead bullet out.

In order to maintain a large caliber of force, the Ming Dynasty's melee gun was fifteen millimeters, so the recoil was also very strong. Ma Cheng felt a shock on his shoulders, and a loud bang in front of him, and then white smoke came out, and the lead bullet in the musket was fired out.

Ma Cheng estimated that it would take more than a minute from the start of the charge to the final launch, and even a qualified musketeer could not compress it to within one minute. It seems that there is still a lot of room for improvement in the Ming Dynasty musketeers.

First of all, the fuse can be cancelled, it can be changed to flintlock, and the loading can be changed to fixed-mounting, which can be used to save loading time, and the decoration on the musket can also be cancelled. Ma Cheng looked at the Lumi gun and was actually equipped with a slashing sabre. This was really unnecessary, and the patterns on the butt stock and gun body could also be cancelled, which was really useless.

When Ma Cheng was thinking about how to transform the musket, Kuding took the target over. When he saw that there was nothing on it, Ma Cheng's shooting was off the target.

Ma Cheng didn't take it seriously when he saw the target off the target. The range of 300 steps that Wang Qingwei said just now was too exaggerated. Ma Cheng estimated that 300 steps was about the longest range. Just like later rifles, the longest range was over 1,000 meters, but the effective range was between 300 and 400 meters, and this kind of musket in the Ming Dynasty was probably the same.

Ma Cheng asked Kuding to set a target in front of his fifty steps, and then placed another target in seventy steps. At the same time, both targets were equipped with armor. This time Ma Cheng wanted to test the power of the musket.

After two shootings, the target of the seventy steps fell off the target again, and there was nothing on it, and the one of the fifty steps hit it.

The point of the shot was on the chest. Due to the blockage of the armor leaf, the lead bullet of the musket did not penetrate the armor. You should know that this target was wearing the most common type of armor. Even if this one was not penetrated, it would be less powerful than a bow and arrow.

Seeing that the Lumi guns were so powerful that they were not as powerful as bows and arrows, Ma Cheng couldn't help but feel very frustrated. In fact, Ma Cheng didn't have to be sad. The power of the smoothbore gun before the rifle appeared was not as powerful as the bows and arrows. It was the brown besieged smoothbore guns of the British army during the Raven War in later generations, and the power was not as powerful as the bows and arrows of the Qing army. But don't forget that the people who decided the war were always people. Because of good training and strict military discipline, the British army could use thousands of people to beat the mob Qing army.

When the British army was fighting against the French army, they could advance to thirty meters away by the French artillery fire before firing. Such an elite army could beat any army even with a musket.

Ma Cheng was deeply influenced by the military enthusiasts on the Internet in later generations. He thought that the smoothbore rifle was extremely powerful and could completely hang bows and arrows, but he did not expect that the reality and ideals were different. He originally compiled 100,000 musketeers according to Ma Cheng's expectations, and then lined up in neat formations and used muskets to kill the Qing cavalry in pieces. Unexpectedly, the muskets, as the main weapon, now have this power, which really disappointed Ma Cheng.

In the late Ming Dynasty, muskets did not become the main weapon. In this era, the armies of countries around the world still retained a large number of cold weapon troops and cavalry. Muskets were only the troops to assist these cold weapon troops in combat.

Firearms of this period are still subordinate to cold weapons equipment. Although the famous Shenji Battalion of the All-Fire Arms appeared, their functions only provide certain firepower and damage when facing the enemy's charge. Subsequent battles are still completed by cold weapons and military branches such as bows, horses, infantry and cavalry.

Zhang Guozhu didn't know what Ma Cheng was thinking. When he saw that the musket could hit the target at fifty steps away, he said happily: "The second young master is so talented! He can hit the target at such a distance!"

Ma Cheng smiled unanimously. He originally thought that the muskets of the Ming Dynasty were infinitely close to the British smoothbore guns during the Raven War. It seemed that they were wrong. Muskets had to be made by themselves. Originally, Ma Cheng wanted to get a hundred muskets from Zhang Guozhu, but now it seems that he doesn't need them anymore. This kind of musket is of no use if it is equipped.

"Mr. Zhao, can you give your subordinates a few shots to familiarize yourself with the shooting process?" Ma Cheng decided to get a few shots to familiarize yourself with the mud legs that you had never touched before.
Chapter completed!