I want to be emperor

Chapter 287 The Chu Army Can't Fight

The huge consumption of ammunition in the Battle of Linxiang not only placed severe demands on the finances of the Great Chu Empire, but also posed a huge challenge to the military production capacity of the Great Chu Empire.

In the Battle of Linxiang, facing a hedgehog-like fortified city like Linxiang, if the Chu army did not have hundreds of artillery supports, it would be impossible to fight.

But now, except for the first and fifth divisions of the Chu army, other units, even the guards, are not filled with artillery.

The reason why more than 300 field artillery and mortars were able to be concentrated in the Linxiang campaign this time was that two main divisions were concentrated. At the same time, a part of the artillery of the first division was transferred, and one was prepared to be used on the first mortar on the Eastern Front. The artillery regiment was called in.

This is a change of direction, a change of time.It is also difficult for the Chu army to replicate this grand occasion.

After all, there is only outside Linxiang City, and at the same time, there is no fighting in the direction of Jiujiang on the east line, and the distance between Linxiang and Jiujiang is relatively close. The Guards Division was transferred to reinforce the Eastern Front.

Only in this way can we safely and boldly concentrate two main divisions and a group of main artillery.

If you switch to other directions, except for the subsequent east route Jiujiang direction, other places will be very difficult.

But now that it is so difficult to siege the city, and the requirements for the number of artillery are so high, subsequent attacks in other directions may be more troublesome.

And it is difficult to change in a short time.

The production of artillery takes time, requires a large number of skilled workers, and requires a large amount of equipment. No matter how much a artillery costs, it is difficult for the Great Chu Empire to quickly produce enough artillery in a short period of time.

The limited production capacity of artillery has also led to the lack of artillery in the various departments of the Great Chu Empire Army, not to mention the continuous loss of artillery during the operations of each department.

Don't look at the artillery as a big guy, but like the musket, it will continue to wear out during the battle.

No, after reporting the casualties, Xu Zhixian told Luo Zhixue a very uncomfortable battle damage: "In this battle, our army has a total of [-] field artillery pieces and [-] mortar barrels. When the service life has reached the design service life, it needs to be transferred to the second-line army or scrapped.”

Hearing this, Luo Zhixue frowned.

He has known about the wear and tear of artillery, especially when the Chu army was still using two and a half catties of iron field artillery in the early days. The lifespan of the barrel was very impressive. The design limit has been reached, and the standard charge can no longer be used.

If you want to continue to use it in the future, you can only use shells with reduced charges, and at the same time reduce the frequency of shelling.

In order to solve this problem, Luo Zhixue started to comprehensively promote the manufacture and equipment of bronze field guns in June and July last year.

After the Chu army began to manufacture and use bronze artillery on a large scale, the problem of too little barrel life for field artillery has been greatly improved, although the cost of bronze artillery is more expensive, and it is several times more expensive.

But at the same time, the life of the barrel has also increased several times. In comparison, although the initial equipment cost is relatively high, the full-life use cost is actually similar.

More importantly, after the life of the barrel is extended, the artillery unit can fight freely, and there is no need to worry that the barrel will not be able to withstand it after a few artillery battles...

However, although the bronze artillery is equipped, there are still a large number of iron artillery in the Chu army.

For example, all kinds of short robes equipped in the garrison, no matter whether they are self-made or captured, are all iron cannons.

At the same time, the 48-jin mortars, [-]-jin mortars, and [-]-jin tunics in the main division are all iron cast artillery. ,
The mission life of these cannons is very low, and they often fail to fire two to three hundred rounds. The quality of some short iron cannons seized from the Ming army is even worse, and they often fail to fire a hundred rounds.

This also caused the Chu army to scrap various artillery pieces after almost every battle.

Some poor-quality short robes captured were often scrapped and returned to the furnace. The early iron two-and-a-half-pound field guns were only temporarily transferred to the second-line troops at low frequency to reduce the charge and use them, and then wait for the replacement.

The scrapping of the artillery has further intensified the pressure on the Chu army's military production.

Well, not financial pressure.

Because the artillery itself is actually very cheap, the purchase cost of the most expensive nine-pound bronze field cannon used in the army is only more than 800 taels of silver, and other artillery is even cheaper, such as the eighteen-pound mortar gun, which only costs more than 100 taels It's only two silver coins.

The procurement cost of artillery with a mere few hundred taels of silver is a fart for the Chu army with a military budget of 500 million... Just squeeze out 10 taels of silver, and you can buy hundreds of bronze field artillery...

However, the Chu army now has a total of only a hundred bronze field cannons.

Why so few?Is it because the Great Chu Empire couldn't afford it?
impossible!

It is purely because of the limited capacity of the arsenal.

The artillery problem will be a major factor that will limit the improvement of the Chu army's combat effectiveness in the future, at least before the full mass production of the Hantian Arsenal.

This is why the Great Chu Empire invested huge sums of money in the construction of the Hantian Arsenal and a series of supporting projects.

The Great Chu Empire is rich now, but even if it is rich, it cannot buy more artillery...

In fact, a similar situation also happened to Yang Sichang. No matter how poor Yang Sichang was, he could still find several 10 taels of silver, but the new two-and-a-half-pound field artillery under Yang Sichang's hands was just that little.

It's not that he can't afford it, but that he can't find more skilled gunsmiths.

Skilled gunsmiths are just that much, no matter how rich you are, you can't increase the production capacity too much in a short period of time.

-

After a battle in Linxiang, the number of artillery required is too large, and at the same time, the loss is not small. Similarly, the consumption of ammunition is also very scary.

Xu Zhixian said worriedly: "The shells we hoarded in the eastern suburbs of Linxiang should have been enough to take down the entire south of Chu, but in the first battle of Linxiang, the shells we fired accounted for half of the total."

"In the future, we will attack Baling, Yuezhou, Changsha, Hengyang and other strong cities. I am afraid this batch of ammunition is not enough!"

Luo Zhixue closed the battle report at this time, and said: "I will report the ammunition issue to the Ministry of Industry, and continue to work overtime for production. In addition, you and the Logistics Department will think about it and transfer a batch of ammunition from other directions for emergency!"

"Now we need to give priority to supplying the Chunan front. After taking Changsha and Hengyang, we will consider strategic offensive issues in other directions."

For the issue of ammunition, Luo Zhixue didn't have a good solution either.

The total production capacity of ammunition is limited, and the amount of hoarding is also limited. If the front line of Chu Nan is not enough, the ammunition can only be drawn from other directions.

It can't be said that Chu Nan's massive spring offensive stopped because of insufficient ammunition.

In addition, Luo Zhixue estimated that this time, due to the massive loss of artillery and ammunition, the military expenditure for the Chunan fortification would be more than expected.

I don't know exactly how much now, but I have to plan ahead.

Otherwise, if this continues, the Chu army will be reduced to the same level as the Ming army, unable to fight...

As a result, just after the Linxiang campaign ended, Luo Zhixue didn't even bother to enter Linxiang City, and didn't pay much attention to the follow-up campaign to clear and suppress, let alone the vanguard troops who had already left Linxiang to attack Baling in Yuezhou.

Instead, they continued to convene a group of civil officials in the camp in the eastern suburbs of Linxiang, especially officials from the Ministry of Taxation, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

A group of civil servants were in the tents of the military camp, not talking about wars or strategies, but discussing how to solve the problem of military expenditure.

At the very beginning of the meeting, Luo Zhixue set the tone: "This time the Chunan offensive will cost more than we estimated before. The exact amount is unknown, but if Baling, Changsha, Hengyang, etc. If the places are so difficult to fight, the overall expenditure will at least increase by more than half."

"And the empire's inventory of money and food and expected tax revenue have a fixed amount. When the budget was drawn up before, all the usable ones were included. Today, I called all my lovers here to brainstorm and see how to open source!"

Huang Chengxuan, the Minister of Finance at the bottom, could not help but sigh in his heart after hearing only open source, but not any words of throttling.

According to the fighting style of the army's prodigal sons, let alone 500 million military expenses, even if 2000 million or even directly doubled to 3000 million taels, it is probably not enough for them.

Hitting the small city of Linxiang, even half of the ammunition prepared was shot out.

It would be hell if there was no shortage of military spending.

But these words can only be muttered in his heart. Now that Chu Nan's offensive is in full swing, it is at a critical moment. At the same time, winning Chu Nan is of great strategic significance to the overall situation of the empire, so no matter what is in his mind, he will You can't break the cold water at this critical moment and drag your feet.

Otherwise, the generals of the military could kill him with one knife...

Not a hyperbolic adjective, but an actual description.

After all, the Great Chu Empire was different from the Ming Dynasty.

The Great Chu Empire now has the Township Protection Army, and then there is the General's Mansion of the Township Protection Army, and then there is the Great Chu Empire.

The army is the foundation and leading force of the Great Chu Empire.

The various administrative agencies are purely agencies that serve the army.

This can be seen from the various administrative agencies in the Great Chu Empire, and the final powers are the two major agencies of the Ministry of Taxation and the Ministry of Industry.

These two institutions, one collecting money and food, and the other manufacturing ordnance, both directly provide support for the war.

And other agencies, even the Ministry of Civil Affairs, are not as important as these two agencies.

Therefore, in today's Great Chu Empire, civil servants are much worse than military generals. Huang Chengxuan really angered the military. If the military generals collectively attack him, it is estimated that His Majesty will not protect him...

Therefore, Huang Chengxuan consciously did not put forward any criticism of the military's extravagance and waste, like a prodigal combat method, but after careful consideration, he proposed to Luo Zhixue a way to raise military expenses.

Mint coins!
(End of this chapter)