Chapter 12: Ming Firearms

Through the introduction of Lu Jiude, the Yongwei Camp's full establishment consisted of 3,600 infantry, 400 artillerymen, and 1,000 cavalry, totaling 5,000 men.

Every infantryman was equipped with a fire musket, while the artillery were furnished with red barbarian cannons, Franchi guns, tiger-crouch cannons, Fire Dragon Emerging from Water, and divine machine arrows — equipment that was quite superior within the entire Ming army.

"Your subordinate Huang Degong pays respects to His Highness the Crown Prince, long may he live!"

Huang Degong finally spotted Zhu Cilang and his party, and upon being introduced by Lu Jiude's men, hurried over to pay his respects.

"Rise!" Zhu Cilang bade him stand, and asked: "Assistant Regional Commander Huang, how does the Yongwei Camp currently train each day?"

Huang Degong replied: "To answer His Highness the Crown Prince, the Yongwei Camp drills twice daily, one shichen each, practicing infantry formations, spear drills, mounted archery, cannon, and rattan shield techniques."

Zhu Cilang shook his head and said: "No, training in these things is of little use. From now on, all of the Yongwei Camp's training items will be changed to armed five-kilometer cross-country runs, push-ups, sit-ups, military combat techniques, musket marksmanship, and battle formations."

Hearing this, Huang Degong grew anxious at once and said loudly: "Your Highness, how can the training items be changed—"

"How dare you! Huang Degong, you would commit insubordination against your superior!" Liu Yuanbin pointed at Huang Degong and shouted shrilly, startling everyone.

Huang Degong was also completely bewildered — I just spoke a bit louder, didn't I? A soldier can't act all coy like some woman, can he? How is this insubordination? Huh??

Seeing Huang Degong dumbfounded, Zhu Cilang looked at him and said with a calm expression: "In all the realm, only His Majesty my Imperial Father and Her Highness my Imperial Mother may address me directly as Crown Prince."

On hearing this, Huang Degong was so frightened he knelt to the ground and said: "Your subordinate was ignorant — please punish me, Your Highness."

Huang Degong's heart was bitter — he was a military man who had barely studied a few years of books; how could he know these rules of the imperial household?

The others were also anxious, fearing that Zhu Cilang might execute this fierce general, for this was a crime of great disrespect — call it grave, and grave it could be.

"In consideration of your ignorance, I shall spare you the crime of disrespect. Report for twenty military strokes of the rod shortly." Zhu Cilang remained calm as he spoke.

Had the man been a mediocre general, Zhu Cilang would have found some way to eliminate him in order to firmly grasp the Yongwei Camp in his hands.

However, Huang Degong was valiant and skilled in battle, loyal to the state, and highly regarded in history. Zhu Cilang was unwilling to move against him — he merely wanted to grind down a bit of his arrogance, so that he would not underestimate his prince.

"Many thanks for Your Highness's mercy."

Huang Degong wiped the sweat from his brow, feeling as though he had just walked through the gates of hell. Dying in battle he did not fear — what he feared was dying in a wretched, inglorious manner.

Zhu Cilang looked at Huang Degong and said: "Have you memorized these training methods I have spoken of?"

Startled by what had just happened, Huang Degong dared not say much more — after all, twenty strokes of the rod still awaited him. He stammered: "Your subordinate has memorized them, only I do not know what push-ups and sit-ups are, nor that combat technique..."

Not only Huang Degong, but even Lu Jiude and Liu Yuanbin failed to understand these unfamiliar terms spoken by His Highness the Crown Prince.

"Military combat techniques are the fighting skills for killing enemies on the battlefield. As for push-ups—"

Zhu Cilang did not know how to explain it to him either. As the Crown Prince, he could hardly get down on the ground and demonstrate before everyone. He gave a low shout: "Sun Yingyuan!"

"Here!" From behind Zhu Cilang, Sun Yingyuan, Assistant Regional Commander of the Eastern Palace guard, stepped forth in response.

Zhu Cilang said: "From tomorrow, you will lead the Eastern Palace guard into the Yongwei Camp, teach them how to train, and train together with the Yongwei Camp."

"Yes!" Sun Yingyuan gave a military salute.

Zhu Cilang had long since planned this out. Previously he had used fifty Eastern Palace attendants to train five hundred Eastern Palace personal guards; now he naturally intended to use five hundred Eastern Palace personal guards to train the five thousand men of the Yongwei Camp, thereby firmly controlling the Yongwei Camp in his hands.

Traditional military training of the past suited cold-weapon combat, but the modernized military training Zhu Cilang implemented in the Yongwei Camp was meant to make training more scientific and better suited to future firearms warfare.

Zhu Cilang took a Rum musketeer's musket from one of the Yongwei Camp soldiers and examined it carefully for a moment. This was the first time he had come into contact with such an old firearm — compared to the rifles of later generations, it was practically antediluvian, yet this Rum musket was currently the most advanced firearm in the Ming army.

The Rum musket was improved in the twenty-sixth year of the Wanli reign of the Great Ming (1598) by the firearms researcher Zhao Shizhen, who adapted the matchlock musket tributed by the Turkish state of Rum (the Sultanate of Rum). It was more advanced than both the bird-gun musket (matchlock) and the three-barreled fire musket, chiefly in its longer range and greater power.

Its range could reach a hundred paces, roughly one hundred fifty meters, and it was fitted with a flash-pan mechanism allowing use in windy conditions — a function possessed by neither the matchlock nor the three-barreled fire musket. Its drawback was that it was rather heavy.

Zhu Cilang looked at it for a long while, then had someone load gunpowder, preparing to test-fire it himself.

"Your Highness, absolutely not! This thing is prone to bursting its barrel — it's far too dangerous." Not only Lu Jiude and the others, but even Xu Sheng and Sun Yingyuan immediately stepped forward to stop him.

Zhu Cilang was also startled, and only then remembered — although Ming firearms had developed very well, with nearly every man in the Capital Camps possessing a musket and local guard stations having a very high rate of distribution as well as local firearms manufacturing...

Yet due to quality issues, the barrels were prone to bursting and injuring soldiers, to the point that many soldiers were unwilling to use them, and the development of Ming firearms was severely hindered.

By the end of the Ming, soldiers would rather take up blades and charge into battle than face the enemy with muskets, for fear that rather than being killed by the enemy, they would be wounded or killed by their own musket bursting.

"Firearms this powerful, yet they are worse than a fire poker — how infuriating!"

Zhu Cilang was faintly growing angry. If the Great Ming had properly developed its firearms, with such overwhelming firepower, what business would the Jianzhou barbarians have had?

In the final analysis, it was corruption and shoddy workmanship in manufacturing that caused muskets and cannons to fail quality standards, making soldiers afraid.

Zhu Cilang suddenly thought of another question: "Why is it that the muskets issued to my Eastern Palace guard have no quality problems?"

The Eastern Palace guard also drilled with firearms every day — why were there so few reports of barrel bursts?

Lu Jiude wiped the sweat from his brow and said: "Your Highness's person is worth ten thousand gold — you are the future of the Great Ming. However villainous the men of the Armory Bureau may be, they would not dare put you at risk. The firearms issued to your guard are all meticulously crafted, and are regularly inspected and replaced."

Zhu Cilang nodded — at least these men had some sense. At the same time, he confirmed that the Ming's firearms problem was not truly technical, but lay in manufacturing.

In truth, those few hundred muskets could not embezzle much silver anyway. But if His Highness the Crown Prince ever took a whim to fire off a few shots for fun, and the musket burst while firing...

Then everyone up and down the Armory Bureau would lose their heads — even the dogs. Naturally, they would not dare gamble with their lives.

"Find someone skilled to pick out all the good-quality muskets in the Yongwei Camp, and report the situation to me when done." Zhu Cilang commanded.

This simply would not do. The Yongwei Camp had to be equipped with firearms that met quality standards. In cold-weapon combat, no matter how valiant an army, after a few hard battles, its men would be spent.

Good sources of soldiers were hard to find now, and even when found, they required vast amounts of time to drill and gain combat experience. The Great Ming did not have many years left — it could not wait, and could not afford the drain.

If firearms were used, there would be many advantages — first, their power was greater than bows and arrows, and their range was also longer.

A qualified musketeer, so long as he was not an idiot, needed at most only a month of training. Those with quick minds and nimble hands and feet could reach the battlefield in just four or five days. At the same time, muskets made no great demands on a soldier's physique — a lad of thirteen or fourteen could operate one.

As for the Rum musket, Zhu Cilang was still somewhat dissatisfied. He wanted to use the most advanced firearm of this era — the flintlock musket — but at present, it likely existed only in Europe.

The flintlock musket is a firearm that ignites and fires by striking flint. Compared to the matchlock, its advantages were too numerous: faster rate of fire, smaller caliber, shorter barrel, lighter weight, less recoil, longer range, and so on.

Especially in night combat — the burning match cord of a matchlock gave off light and smell that easily exposed a soldier's position, while the flintlock had no such worry.

An official of the Great Ming had also invented the flintlock in this period, and submitted a memorial requesting its adoption throughout the army, but because the court had no money, it was never promoted.

What was that official's name? Zhu Cilang could not recall it at the moment, but he should still be alive now. He could only wait until he returned to the palace, then search through past memorials and archives to find this man.

The editors are on holiday for the Dragon Boat Festival and haven't changed the contract status yet — at the latest by Monday. I'm stockpiling chapters; two updates daily from here on.