I want to be emperor

Chapter 67

For artillery, Luo Zhixue has always attached great importance to it. He firmly believes that in contemporary warfare, artillery is an indispensable part and an important weapon to change the mode of warfare.

In the face of powerful artillery, many tactics that can be used in the era of traditional cold weapons and have very good effects will no longer be applicable.

The mode of warfare will continue to change as artillery matures.

In contemporary times, this change has already taken shape. In Shaanxi, the war between the Ming army and the rebel army in the Central Plains may not be obvious, but in the war between the Ming army and the Dongcap in the Jiliao area, artillery has gradually become a part of the war. protagonist.

The Ming army relied on a large number of artillery to defend the city and carry out defensive operations, but this tactic was actually successful, which made the field combat ability low, and even the Ming army, which lost the courage to fight against the Eastern Captives, could still rely on artillery and fortified cities to resist, and This kind of recalcitrance continued until the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

The reason why Dongyao was able to enter the customs was not because of how powerful Dongyao was in combat and directly conquered Shanhaiguan by force, but because Wu Sangui chose to surrender to Dongyao to deal with Li Zicheng due to various factors.

Dongyao was invited into the pass by Wu Sangui.

Similarly, Dongyao is also actively developing artillery, and after installing the Hongyi artillery on a new two-wheeled artillery vehicle, it is directly used in field battles and played an important role in the Battle of Songjin. At the same time, Dongyao has always tried to Siege the city with artillery, but to be honest, the effect is not good.

In the era when there were no open-ended bullets, the solid shells fired by front-loading smoothbore guns were actually of limited use for the eastern city walls, especially the city walls of the big city.

Because the city wall of Dongfang City seems to be made of bricks and stones, but in fact the inner layer is made of rammed earth, and the outer layer is just covered with bricks. What are the characteristics of this kind of city wall? Artillery means nothing.

The really important thing is that this kind of city wall is very thick!

The thickness of this kind of city wall at the bottom of the big city can often reach more than ten meters or even thicker, and the thickness of the top of the city wall is often seven or eight meters or even more than ten meters.

A city wall of this thickness is basically impossible to collapse with the level of smoothbore guns these days. If it is stretched to death, it will leave a hole in it...

Take ten thousand steps back and say that even if it collapses, the city wall will not disappear out of thin air, but will become a collapsed ruin hill, which still has a good defensive effect.

Not to mention the smoothbore guns of the [-]th century, even those conventional field guns from World War I and World War II were basically unable to destroy these city walls. After a few shells came, they disappeared, at most it just changed its external shape.

Of course, the field artillery of later generations used grenades, focusing on shrapnel damage and shock wave damage. The inability of grenade to destroy the city wall did not mean that it could not kill or injure the soldiers stationed on the city wall for defensive operations.

When all the soldiers in the defensive battle are dead, the city wall will naturally lose its effect. In terms of defense and shelling, the traditional city wall is far less effective than the trench. This is why later generations of the East directly abandoned the city wall. Destroy the city wall directly, but the city wall can no longer bear the heavy responsibility of protecting soldiers.

This is still talking about the situation during World War I and World War II, and now in the seventeenth century, there are no explosive shells for artillery, only solid shells and shotgun shells.

This also means that the best way to play the performance of contemporary artillery is to fire at the dense array of the enemy.

This is also the reason why Dongbao likes to pull artillery to the battlefield for field battles, and it is also the reason why the Ming army likes to deploy artillery on the city wall to defend the city.

Because the artillery is too powerful to kill the dense array of vital forces.

The same is true for Luo Zhixue. Before that, he just knew that cannons were a good thing and he must have them. But if you say that he knew why cannons are easy to use at that time, he didn’t even have an accurate concept in his heart about how to use them.

It was not until after the two battles of Songshan, through the successful use of several artillery pieces, that Luo Zhixue figured out the elites who used artillery.

That is to fire at the enemy's dense array!
The previous [-]-jin cannons and the captured [-]-jin cannons could play a huge role in the Battle of Songshan. Luo Zhixue had no doubts about the huge tactical role of the new two [-]-jin cannons.

In order to successfully transport the two finished artillery pieces from Sanshui Village to the front line of Songshan, the Baoxiang Battalion directly mobilized dozens of people.

Instead of being dragged by a horse, it is directly resisted by people. A group of strong men are like carrying a sedan chair. Many people work together to carry the disassembled gun barrel and the gun mount with iron as the main structure.

It took seven or eight days to reach Songshan Village after climbing mountains and wading along the roads that were impossible for horse-drawn carriages.

The difficulty of transporting the two cannons once again strengthened Luo Zhixue's choice to relocate the weapons workshop from Sanshui Village to Songshan Village.

The road in and out of Sanshui Village is too difficult to walk, and the trouble of material transportation is negligible. The artillery cannot be transferred in its normal form.

So after Blacksmith Song and the others arrived at Songshan Village with the two cannons, Luo Zhixue found Blacksmith Song: "The iron-making furnace in Songshan Village has been built, and Master Song, you will continue to forge weapons here later. You don't need to go back." I went to Sanshui Village."

Blacksmith Song also showed joy after hearing this: "It's a good feeling. These are close to Songshan, and the artillery will not be troubled after it is built. It can directly bring down Songshan and use it."

When Blacksmith Song said this, he was also thinking that he might still have a chance to escape these bandits after he came to Songshan Village.

Although Songshan Village can be regarded as the hinterland of Funiu Mountain, they can communicate with the outside world after crossing Songshan Mountain, which will also allow Songshan Village to obtain more supplies from the outside world.

While the transportation of materials is more convenient, it also means that Blacksmith Song can escape the mountains with his family more easily.

Even though Blacksmith Song did his best to help Luo Zhixue make guns and cannons during this period of time, he was still very active.

But Blacksmith Song will never forget that Luo Zhixue and the others are a group of rebels who forcibly captured his family from Lushan County to Funiu Mountain.

After arriving in Sanshui Village, he also recognized the reality. In order to ensure the lives of the whole family, Song Blacksmith did his best, and made guns for these rebels without any secrets.

But if given the chance, he would still run away with his family.

You can't treat yourself as a real rebel after you get to the den of thieves.

In fact, Luo Zhixue didn't care too much about Song Blacksmith's thoughts, because Song Blacksmith and his family were not the only ones in the weapons workshop who could make guns.

In the past few months, Luo Zhixue has dispatched a lot of clever people to follow Song Tiejiang and his father and son as apprentices.

Blacksmith Song didn't even have the opportunity to hide his secrets, and he didn't dare, because Luo Zhixue said before that after the first batch of guns were built, at least one apprentice had to master the complete gun-making process, and one apprentice had mastered the complete manufacturing process. gun craft.

If even one of the apprentices didn't master the relevant craft after a few months, Luo Zhixue would think that Blacksmith Song's three fathers and sons were hiding their secrets and didn't teach them wholeheartedly, and the board would hit Blacksmith Song on the ass.

At that time, Luo Zhixue didn't make it very clear, but Song Tiejiang was not a fool, so he naturally heard the threat, so he was more attentive when teaching.

As a result, among the apprentices led by Song Blacksmith, one person has initially mastered the entire gun-making process, and the other two have mastered the gun-making process.

In addition, there are two people who learned how to forge cold weapons, and now they are in good shape.

Therefore, even if the three fathers and sons of blacksmith Song escaped, it would not affect the operation of the weapons workshop, but the time to increase production would continue to be postponed for a few months.

Of course, even so, Luo Zhixue still didn't want Blacksmith Song to leave.

The three of them, father and son, are all skilled craftsmen. In this era, they are all high-tech talents. Luo Zhixue will not let them go easily.

So after Blacksmith Song arrived in Songshan Village, Luo Zhixue promoted Blacksmith Song to be the manager of the weapons workshop.

In the past, there was no one in charge of the weapon workshop, and Luo Zhixue directly managed it. But now that Luo Zhixue is a general, with a lot of things on hand, it is no longer possible to personally manage many affairs of the weapon workshop. Someone has to take care of it. Weapon workshop.

Blacksmith Song was a more suitable person, with strong skills and a fairly stable but flexible personality.

The first thing the weapon workshop did when it moved to Songshan Village was to start the casting preparations for the second batch of artillery and prepare for the large-scale production of improved bird guns.

Before the second batch of artillery and muskets were mass-produced, the two [-]-jin artillery pieces and nearly ten bird guns produced in the first batch had to be tested for improvement in the subsequent mass production process.

After Luo Zhixue saw the assembled two [-]-jin cannons, he ran over to observe them carefully for a long time.

This cannon still looks relatively primitive, and it is a bit different from the modern smoothbore guns in some film and television dramas in his memory, but it doesn't matter, anyway, the tube is long enough.

As for the gun mount, it is made of pure iron, which is different from the gun mount shared by the iron and wood materials of the two-hundred-jin light gun.

The main reason is that the recoil force of the [-]-jin cannon is greater, and at the same time, Luo Zhixue requires that after the cannon is maneuvered in place, it must be put down and immediately put into combat.

This requires a lot of strength for the gun mount.

After thinking about it, Blacksmith Song and the others simply used iron to build the gun mounts.

After Luo Zhixue took a closer look at the two cannons, he personally tried to push the cannons to maneuver, and found that he could still push them...

If several artillerymen push it together, this kind of artillery can completely carry out short-distance rapid transfer on the battlefield.

This mobility is enough.

Later, horses were used to drag the complete artillery group, including artillery and ammunition vehicles, for mobile testing. The entire artillery group used eight horses to continue marching on the uneven country roads pulling the artillery and ammunition vehicles.

The whole motor test was perfect!
The relatively light weight and wide double-wheel and front guide wheel design allow this artillery to maneuver on dirt roads, even if it encounters some steeper slopes, it can pass with the help of artillery.

There were no surprises in the live ammunition test later, both the effective range and power reached the original design standards.

This cannon has benefits almost everywhere, the only problem is that it is expensive!

It is not the artillery itself that is expensive, but the artillery units that maintain it are expensive.

In order for this thing to exert its combat effectiveness, in addition to the artillery itself, an additional carriage must be added as an ammunition vehicle. The artillery and ammunition vehicle must be equipped with at least eight horses.

The ration consumption of horses is about four times that of people. Eight horses are almost equal to the food and grass expenses of more than 30 people, plus the ration expenses of more than a dozen artillery crew members.

In other words, the daily food and grass expenditure of just one artillery is equivalent to an infantry squad of about 50 people.

Now the daily food and grass expenses of these two [-]-jin cannons are equivalent to the food and grass expenses of an infantry post.

This maintenance cost is not low!

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(End of this chapter)