Chapter 58: Counseling strategy

Chapter 58: Counseling Strategies
Two days after receiving the distress letter, Cecil, the intelligence chief, placed the information about the situation in Bairdine and his own analysis on the Earl’s desk.

Paul read it with a frown on his face, it looks like this friend of his is really in danger, now he has been put under house arrest, just waiting for those few traitors to divide the spoils and then pick a suitable day to cause an accident, just like his unlucky old man.

Cecil asked, “If your lordship wishes to rescue Earl Garnard, I’ll send all the personnel I can mobilize on hand to Baildin, and try to find out the details of those few traitors.”

Paul rubbed his chin, “Whether or not to rescue I still have to confer with the people to discuss, but it is always right to get information early, so send your men there first.”

Half a day later, Paul summoned the high-ranking personnel from both the military and political sides to gather in the lord’s mansion and showed them the distress letter from Myron Garnard.

The matter of bannermen playing a conspiracy to mess up the lord’s ascendancy was not much, but it wasn’t necessarily that rare, and it was said that another neighbor, the Kent family of Emden, the family’s earldom was a bit of an unorthodox source, so no one in the audience showed too much surprise.

Watching the people circulate the letter in turn, the Earl sitting on the first seat was anxious: “If my future reforms conflict with the interests of these people here, will they conspire to kill me?”

Just as he was ruminating, Chief Steward Ford spoke out and asked, “How do you intend to deal with this letter?”

Paul replied, “Cecil has already sent someone to Bairdine to find out the details of those rebel ministers. However, I have not yet decided whether to go to rescue Cameron immediately, and if I do, what should be the method of rescue, so I would like to find everyone to discuss it.”

Bryce hammered the table after hearing this, “Earl Garnard is your friend who you have played with since you were a child, or your blood sworn brother, you will be reviled if you don’t care about him.”

Hey hey Bryce, although I know you have a straight character, but can’t you say it to me in private? Saying it in public makes it difficult for me.

Paul’s face is a little hard to bear: “I did not say not to save him, but we also have to weigh their own strength, this is not to invite everyone to discuss it.”

The so-called blood oath brothers, somewhat similar to the dynasty’s sworn brothers, as a child of Myron and Paul is very compatible, in their respective mothers to do under the auspices of the two brats into the blood oath brothers.

Speaking of which, both of their mothers died very early ah, Paul a bit of emotion, this life’s mother what looks like to come, did not leave a portrait or something, they can not remember.

Ford steward is very pleased, the young lord did not because of the victory over the pirates and proud and conceited, not because of a moment of blood courage and venture to provoke a war that may not be won, but weigh the pros and cons, convene a wide range of people to consult the views of the people, as a party of the lord has been very qualified.

He stroked his long white beard and said: ”Abandoning the blood oath brothers regardless is indeed improper, if there are rumors spreading out it will not be good for your lordship’s reputation. But we can’t act rashly, don’t forget that Lord Ganade is still in the hands of the other side.”

“And look at the meaning of this letter, the rebel ministers have not realized that things have been defeated, if we directly under the banner of rescue to send troops, not to mention how to win or lose, in case the other side is forced to be unfavorable to Earl Garnard how to do?”

Paul found a step, said with a worried face, “This is what I am worried about.”

At once, Bryce made a big red face.

Chief Steward Ford continued, “I do have a method, Lord Earl’s birthday is coming up, you can send out invitations widely and invite the nobles of the Northwest Region to come to the party. “

“Oh?” Paul had forgotten all about his birthday, these days were busy with fighting pirates and building the navy.

“I personally brought the invitation to Butua to invite Earl Garnard, first to confirm whether he is safe, in reason, as a brother of the Lord’s blood oath he has to come to congratulate him even if there is a heavenly event, if he does not come then it would be too unusual, so those rebels should have no reason to block it, of course, provided that they still did not realize that Earl Garnard had already known the conspiracy up to that point in time .”

“Well ……,” said Paul, almost understanding what was meant.

Chief Ford stroked his beard and said, “It’ll be good when Earl Garnard arrives on our territory, directly send out a wide circular in his name, calling on the surrounding lords to crusade against this group of rebels.”

Paul hammered his palm: “Let’s do it, or I’ll go over there myself.” The crowd in the hall objected in unison.

“His Excellency the Earl cannot risk his own life!”

“What if that group of rebels senses something?”

Paul had to dismiss the idea.

……

Chief Steward Ford soon left for Butua with an invitation, while Paul prepared for a possible future war.

With the constant recruitment of craftsmen and the training of apprentices, the team of gunmakers had reached 30 men, and after the craftsmen’s efforts in the meantime, the number of muskets possessed by Arda’s army had reached 60, which was capable of arming a platoon plus a squad.

This number of muskets allowed Paul to play the “three-strike”, “six-strike” tactics, to keep the firepower continuous and uninterrupted.

But to Paul’s regret, the flintlock musket technical difficulties have not been overcome.

First of all, the spring reed is more difficult to manufacture, not to say that the manufacture of qualified, but the qualification rate is too low, the strength of the spring a little weak will not hit the spark.

Even if the fire, there is still the problem of gunpowder, the experimental flintlock pistol now made from pulling the trigger to fire will take more than three seconds, because taconite can only hit a little spark into the pool of medicine, if the ignition speed of the gunpowder is relatively low, it will take a lot of time to ignite the entire pool of medicine, and rely on the hit of a little spark, the sensitivity of the gunpowder can not be lit at all.

While both rely on the pilot hole to ignite the gunpowder in the barrel, a corded gun requires significantly less firing powder than a taconite gun; after all, a cord that thick with the end of the cord burning sticking out can ignite a large portion of the gunpowder in one go, burning quickly into the pilot hole.

The solution to this dilemma requires the kind of high-quality, extremely finely ground powder, but grinding is too inefficient under purely manual conditions.

Every time Paul saw the long cord of fire on the soldiers as they practiced shooting he became quite upset.

Rope guns were too affected by the weather, and when firing, the rope was easily ignited by the explosion of the priming powder, so the musketeers had to be separated from each other by a certain distance, and the firing array needed to be thinned out a little bit, resulting in the inability to form a denser firepower.

But there are still two advances that make Paul feel gratified, one is the socket bayonet was made, this will allow the musketeers to a certain extent do not rely on the protection of the spearmen, fortunately today’s equipment is not as bulky as the earth’s early musket, or else it is not really practical to give it a bayonet.

Secondly, with the invention of a new type of paper, the use of paper shells made of “fixed cartridges” were produced in large quantities, the paper shells are wrapped with lead bullets and gunpowder, and the outside is coated with butter to prevent moisture. From then on, musketeers did not have to carry bottles and jars full of gunpowder on their bodies, which increased the speed of loading and allowed them to control the amount of powder loaded precisely.

As for heavy firepower, the 6-pounder bronze cannon was successfully experimented with and added to the equipment sequence of Arda’s army, two of which have been built so far, and four 4-pounders have also been cast.

In addition to these large guns, Paul also made the “Tiger Squatting Cannon” of the Ming Dynasty.

This lightweight artillery barrel is thin, not powerful, range up to 500 meters. But mobile and flexible, two soldiers can carry. It could be fired at a wide angle of elevation, with a curved trajectory. The gun was fixed to the ground with large iron nails and iron claws on the front, firing loose bullets or gravel to kill the enemy. And it is cast from pig iron, the cost is extremely cheap.

As a weapon to support infantry combat at close range, it was somewhat similar to the later mortar, so in this world, it was directly named the mortar.

(End of chapter)