As expected - as soon as he said this, Nagakura Shinpachi, Serizawa Kamo and others immediately gave him a look.

The vicious eyes, the gloomy atmosphere... all expressed their dissatisfaction.

Souji, who has a delicate mind and is good at "controlling the scene", immediately laughed out loud when he noticed that the atmosphere was different. He quietly changed his position and moved to the middle of Hijikata Toshizo, Nagakura Shinpachi and others.

Both sides are separated.

"Although swords are no longer as powerful as guns and cannons, I believe there are still things in this world that only swordsmen like us can do!"

As she spoke, she flashed her trademark bright smile.

I have to say that Souji's smile does have a special kind of magic.

Whenever she smiles, even the angry person will always become calm due to the infection.

The saying "don't hit someone with a smiling face" has been applied to her time and time again.

After her mediation, the originally unharmonious atmosphere suddenly improved a lot.

Then, Souji squinted his eyes faintly and cast an annoyed look at Hijikata Toizan beside him.

To a certain extent, what Hijikata Toshizo just said was indeed too hurtful.

As warriors obsessed with swordsmanship, Nagakura Shinpachi, Serizawa Kamo and others all regard "live by the sword and die by the sword" as their creed in life and devote their entire lives to the sword.

Hijikata Toshizo's words just now were like saying to them: Your swordsmanship and your life creed of "treating your sword as your life" are completely meaningless!

Although they were dissatisfied, they could not even utter a word.

The reason is simple - they have no way to refute...

Since joining the Shinsengumi, the generals' horizons have broadened a lot, but there are still many limitations in their military thinking.

Their impression of iron cannons still remains in the Warring States Period, that is, "fairly useful long-range weapons."

The generals, including the two great thinkers (Hijikata Toshizo and Shannan Keisuke), all viewed firearms in this way——

Iron gunners can only play a supporting role on the battlefield! If you want to defeat the enemy, you have to rely on the heroic fighting of the infantry and cavalry!

The most fundamental reason for this understanding is that they have never seen the power of the "modern army".

Looking back at history, we can find that the Western powers relied on naval battles to subdue the shogunate and vassals, and never used armies.

In the "Black Ship Incident", the United States only sent 4 warships, but the shogunate surrendered without a fight.

Not long ago, the U.S.-French allied forces violently attacked Changshu in the Shimonoseki War. The fleet sailed directly to the Shimonoseki Strait and fired its cannons, which directly destroyed Changshu's coastal defense forces and left Changshu without any resistance.

In this way, the Japanese people naturally only know that the navies of the Western powers are very powerful, their ships are very powerful, and their cannons are very powerful.

They lack a correct understanding of the armies of the Western powers.

Because of this, to this day, the extreme idea of ​​"holding this Tiangang sword and smiling at the Marines, foreigners are just shit" is still widely circulated.

There are still many people who believe that if there is a land war, the brave and invincible men of the Wu family will definitely beat these barbarians to the ground!

Therefore, when Qing Deng ordered the generals to come to watch the musketeers' drill early this morning, many of them had a nonchalant attitude.

Isn’t it just an iron cannon? What’s so interesting about it?

As long as you understand their views on firearms, it is not difficult to understand their contempt, nor is it difficult to understand their inexplicable horror after witnessing the true power of "Western iron cannons"!

He came here nonchalantly, watched nonchalantly...and then was dumbfounded! He was speechless for a long time!

Except for Satsuma, which has completed some modernization, the shogunate and the feudal lords still widely use backward firearms.

The front-loaded smoothbore flintlock gun, the matchlock gun that was not outdated even in the Warring States Period...are all "museum-grade" weapons.

These rotten antiques are nothing compared to the rifle everyone just saw!

A distance of about 10 meters, 300 rounds of bullets, and a 10% hit rate - this seemingly low-pitched hit rate is far better than every firearm known to the world!

As we all know, the "endurance" of ancient armies was very poor.

An army that can withstand a 10% casualty rate on the battlefield is considered an elite army.

For an ordinary army, the casualty rate reaches 5% as the limit.

If it were a lack of training and lack of organization, they might have lost only a few comrades before they dispersed.

The rifle Qingdeng brought back...that is, the M1861 rifle has an accuracy of 10%.

Although 9 out of 10 bullets will miss, if you think about it from another perspective, this means that 1 bullet will hit the enemy!

After the musketeers' training level increases, this number can be raised further.

In this way, firearms are no longer useless as a deterrent, but a powerful weapon that can suppress or even defeat the enemy!

There is a saying that "the accuracy is not enough, just make up the quantity".

If 100 rifles are not enough, what about 200? What about 500? What about 1,000?

As long as you gather enough numbers, and then deliberately let the enemy get closer, after the distance between the two sides is shortened, you can directly launch several rounds of volleys, which will definitely collapse the opponent's military formation!

If you're lucky enough and the enemy is weak enough, you might be able to defeat them with just one salvo! Win the battle!

In addition, what shocked the generals deeply was the power of the bullet.

I saw that most of the bullet holes on the target were transparent, and one could see the scene from one end to the other.

In other words, those bullets penetrated the wooden target, which was nearly two fingers thick!

Such a powerful force... Even wearing chain armor is useless!

At this thought, the generals couldn't help but think to themselves: What would be the consequences if their troops encountered this musketry team head-on in the wild?

Guns fired, bullets rained, blood flew, and the army was defeated like a mountain... Such a picture appeared in everyone's mind.

The swords they were proud of were as straight as embroidery needles in front of these advanced rifles!

It is no exaggeration to say - their entire outlook on life has been impacted!

In fact, even the foul-mouthed Toshizo Hijikata is not as free and easy as he seems on the surface.

If you have sharp eyes, you can spot a hint of loneliness hanging between his eyebrows.

He subconsciously raised his left hand and "reluctantly" caressed his beloved sword, Izumori Kanesada, on his waist.

Qingdeng has been silent since just now.

He did this intentionally.

Enough time is left for everyone to be slowly shocked, emotional, thinking, and introspective.

"Creating a firearms force unparalleled in the world" has always been Qingdeng's goal.

Before that, he had kept his mouth shut and introduced the power of firearms to the generals again and again, as well as the importance of building a firearms force.

But in the end, everyone always had the indifferent attitude of "novelists perfunctory followers": OK, OK, OK, I understand.

Ever since, Qingdeng, who was very dissatisfied with this, specially arranged today's "martial arts performance".

Facts have proved that even if you say a thousand words, it is not as good as letting the rifle truly roar once!

Qingdeng could see the changes in everyone's demeanor.

He dared to conclude that after today, even Nagakura Shinpachi, Serizawa Kamo and others, who respected swords the most and had the most traditional ideas, would not dare to arbitrarily mention "muskets are useless" again.

In Seito's plan, the "modernization" and "firearming" of the Shinsengumi were imperative.

Therefore, there is no harm in letting the generals see the true power of modern guns and artillery early, so that they can face the development of firearms and establish a correct military outlook.

After another moment of silence, Qingdeng spoke at the right time:

"The musketeers' reloading speed is still too slow, and the situation is full of problems!"

"According to the two instructors, once the training level is improved and the reloading speed increases, the shooting speed of 'three rounds in one minute' will be achieved at the fastest."

There is no doubt that Qingdeng's words were a ruthless "last strike".

As his words fell, everyone's expressions became more complex and heavy.

At this time, two male voices suddenly sounded from behind Qingdeng:

"Let me make it clear - the M1861 rifle is not the most advanced iron cannon today."

As soon as the handsome-looking man finished speaking, the ordinary-looking man added:

"The M1861 rifle is a transitional weapon."

"Across the ocean, the United States is fighting a civil war."

"In order to meet the needs of the war, this low-cost rifle was temporarily developed."

"Currently, the Americans have developed a more advanced M1863 rifle, and its accuracy and power have reached a new level."

"As for the British, French, Prussian and other European countries, they are also constantly developing and installing new, more powerful firearms."

"Now is an era of technological explosion and rapid change."

"Whether it is military equipment or daily necessities, they are all being iterated at a rapid pace."

"It won't be long before the M1861 rifle we are using now will become an outdated fire stick."

These two people who sang together were none other than the two generals under Rin Kinoshita's command - the "Complex Man" Moriyasu Asai and the "Thunder Slasher" Kanichi Shimada.
To be continued...