Chapter 134: Russian Muskets
After all, these Russians were invited guests by the Qing court, and soon after, someone came to announce the holy decree and ordered the city gate officials to let the Rakshasas enter the city. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
Just as Fan Yuxin was arguing with the leader of the Eight Banners, Nan Huairen walked out with a group of Qing soldiers and announced the holy decree. Seeing the arrival of the holy decree, the leaders of the Eight Banners and Fan Yuxin knelt on the ground one after another, and even the Russian envoy Yakovlevich also knelt on the ground because he had received Fan Yuxin's explanation in advance. However, the five hundred Russian soldiers did not kneel.
In real history, Qianlong asked the British envoy Macartney to bow three times and bow nine times, and in the end the British envoy failed, and the Qing court continued to close the country, leaving the British with the impression of a barbarian.
At this time, the Russian envoy Yakovlevich reluctantly knelt down because he received a special explanation from Fan Yuxin. In fact, the Russians had already begun to support Galdan at this time, and the Russians' influence had already penetrated into the Turkic tribes of the Western Regions, and the Russians also had their own ambitions to incorporate the Northwest Turkic tribes into their territory. In order to realize this ambition, Yakovlevich knelt down and felt that it was nothing.
After Yakovlevich stood up, he excitedly stepped forward to greet Nan Huairen.
Nan Huairen said in Russian: "Welcome friends to Qingguo! My name is Nan Huairen, and I am a missionary from Europe. ”
When Yakovlevich heard that Nan Huairen could speak Russian, he replied happily: "I didn't expect Mr. Priest to know Russian!" What a pleasure to meet the priest here! ”
Nan Huairen introduced Yakovlevich: "This is Mr. Lysus, an Italian missionary! ”
"It is a great pleasure to meet you here! Although I am an Orthodox Christian, and you are Catholics, we are all descendants of God! Yakovlevich said with a smile.
Although they came to protect the Qing Dynasty, the 500 Russian soldiers were not allowed to enter the inner city, but were arranged by the Qing army to camp outside the city and stationed, and only a few Russian envoys and their entourage entered the inner city.
Yakovlevich was allowed to enter the Forbidden City and met Kangxi at the Palace of Nourishing Hearts. Naturally, Bumu Butai also came to the Heart Cultivation Palace. Although Kangxi has been in power for many years, Bumu Butai is still not at ease in this kind of major event, and he also rushed over in order to give advice to Kangxi at a critical moment.
"Your Majesty the Emperor of the Qing Empire! This is the equipment of our Russian Empire, please look at it, Your Majesty! "Yakovlevich had weapons offered.
Nan Huairen acted as the interpreter, and after translating Yakovlevich, several eunuchs came up with large boxes. Inside the box were various muskets given to Kangxi by the Russians.
Kangxi asked the box to be opened, and a eunuch took out a Russian arquebus from the box and presented it with both hands.
"This kind of fire gun is heavier than the bird gun we use in the Qing Dynasty, and it is not a self-generated fire gun, but also a fire rope." Kangxi was a little disappointed when he saw this heavy Pishaw arquebus.
Whether it was the bird gun used by the Ming army before or the bird gun used by the Qing army later, the weight was about eight catties. And this Russian arquebus, which the Russians paid tribute, weighed at least fourteen pounds! It's almost twice as heavy as a bird's gun! Of course, the barrel length is also longer, and the caliber is larger than that of the bird.
Nan Huairen explained: "Heavy also has the advantage of being heavy, the heavy firebolt has a thicker tube wall, and it is not easy to explode, because the gun tube is long, the muzzle velocity of the projectile is high, the projectile weight is heavier, and the influence of the wind is also smaller, and the accuracy is also higher." ”
After all, Kangxi had studied some mathematics and physics with Nan Huairen, so he naturally understood Nan Huairen's words. In real history, Kangxi was deeply afraid of the power of science and technology because he had studied modern science and technology with Nan Huairen, and realized that horseback archery would eventually be eliminated by firearms, so he would prohibit the development of firearms. However, the Qing court's ban on the development of firearms brought China behind the West.
You can ban it at home, but can you ban it abroad? But the Qing government didn't think so, they took advantage of the civil strife in the Ming Dynasty to steal the Central Plains, they just wanted to maintain their rule and enslave the Han people forever, not make the country strong.
Kangxi nodded: "The weight is heavy, and it can hit farther and more accurately, but this kind of firearm is not suitable for us, it is only suitable for the Rakshasa people who are tall and tall." ”
Nan Huairen said: "Don't worry, the emperor, there are other firearms!" ”
A eunuch took out a Russian flintlock pistol from the box and presented it with both hands.
Like the Pishaw arquebus, the weight of the Russian flintlock pistol is much heavier than the flintlock pistol currently copied by the Qing army. Of course, the advantages are also obvious, high accuracy and long range. The Russian flintlock pistol, although it is also a smoothbore gun, has an effective firing range of more than 70 steps, which is much farther than the 50-step flintlock pistol used by the Ming and Qing armies.
Nan Huairen talked with Yakovlevich for a few words and said to Kangxi: "The musketeers of the Rakshasa people are also equipped with an axe, and when they shoot, the axe stands on the ground as a support; In close combat, the axe can slash people. It's just that the axe is a sharp weapon, and it is inconvenient to bring it into the palace, so it was not brought in. ”
At that time, it was very strict to enter the palace, and it was naturally impossible for outsiders to bring weapons into the palace, and axes belonged to weapons, so it was naturally strictly forbidden to bring them in. And a musket that is not loaded with bullets and gunpowder is almost the same as a burning stick, and of course you can bring it in.
After Kangxi looked at the flintlock pistol, he asked again: "There is a kind of self-generated fire gun that can hit very far and very hard, and it can hit a hundred and fifty paces away. I wonder if you have such weapons in your country? ”
Yakovlevich replied: "We also have this weapon, and we brought it in. This musket originally belonged to the Danish army, and our army captured a lot of it during the fight with the Danish army, and it is now also equipped in our army. ”
The eunuch opened another box, took out a Danish rifle from it, and presented it.
Kangxi glanced at it, turned his head to the eunuch and said, "Bring the remote self-generated fire gun seized from Ming Wei, I want to compare it." ”
The eunuch "chirped" and retreated, and after a while, the eunuch came up with a rifled gun captured from the Ming army.
Kangxi compared the two muskets and found that the rifled guns used by the Russians were heavier than those of the Ming army, and the workmanship was not as fine as that of the Ming army, and it looked much rougher, so he couldn't help frowning: "How far can this self-generated fire gun hit?" ”
Yakovlevich replied: "You can hit ninety sand ropes away, which is equivalent to one hundred and fifty paces for you." ”
"The range is comparable, but the weight is much heavier, and the workmanship is not so fine." Kangxi shook his head.
Obviously, Kangxi's first impression of Russian firearms was that they were too rough, and the things used by the Russians were stupid and coarse, and they felt no more advanced than those of the Ming military.
"Your Majesty, although the firearms of the Rakshasa people are rough, they are durable, and they are cheap, so they can be purchased in large quantities." Nan Huairen did his best to help the Russians sell their weapons.