The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 53
All the guns of the Dragon Guards have been equipped with new gun mounts.Integrating movement, launch, and ammunition transportation, the gun mount itself is a part of the artillery transport vehicle.

This kind of gun mount is not only extremely fast to disassemble and assemble, but also much lighter than the thick wooden gun mounts used by the Qing army at present. To transport the same artillery, it needs twice as few horses as the Qing army.

The convenient and high-speed movement of artillery can bring many benefits. The most important thing is of course that it can reach the best position in a short time and bombard the enemy from the best angle.

In the era when the shells were all solid iron balls, the best killing mode of the cannon was to "penetrate the enemy's ranks".For example, if the enemy troops are lined up, moving the artillery to the side of the line will undoubtedly cause the greatest damage, while bombarding the line from the front will have the worst effect.

But for the kind of artillery that can maneuver two miles in two hours, by the time you get around to the side, others may have left for more than an hour.

In addition, the survivability of artillery that can move flexibly is also stronger.

Once the position of the old-style artillery is locked by the enemy cavalry, basically they can only fight recklessly or give up, because there is no time to transfer.

However, artillery equipped with new gun mounts can choose to move behind their main infantry, wait for the battle situation to change, and then wait for an opportunity to attack.

Therefore, the mobility of artillery has been paid more and more attention by the armies of various countries since the seventeenth century.

When Napoleon, an artillery fanatic, came to power, nearly half of France's artillery was changed to cavalry artillery.It is to equip all the artillery, ammunition vehicles and artillery with horses, which are extremely mobile.When fighting a war, it can be described as ecstasy, where the enemy is weak and where is the bombardment.

Mounting artillery is also Zhu Linmi's future development goal, but right now he has very limited military horses, which are only enough to equip the cannon with horses for the time being.

However, his artillery is to train horseback riding. When there are more horses in the future, they can be quickly converted into mounted artillerymen with transport vehicles.

The new gun mounts equipped by the artillery were also designed by Zhu Linmi to imitate the gun mounts of Napoleon's six-pound guns.

In addition to the special structure of the detachable wheels, a thick screw is installed at the breech of the gun, and the elevation angle of the muzzle can be adjusted by turning the screw.Compared with the traditional method of raising the gun mount to correct the shooting angle, the accuracy is several orders of magnitude higher.

In addition, thanks to the high-quality steel of Suji Iron Works, the load-bearing part of the entire gun mount is made of fine steel, plus the axle of medium-high carbon steel, the entire gun mount is not only compact in structure, but also far more durable than wood. Gun mounts.

Of course, the new artillery mount is just one of the new armaments that Zhu Linmi has designed in recent months.

With Song Yingxing as his right-hand man, he can spare a lot of energy to upgrade the technology of army equipment.

For example, the spring wheel pistol, after he drew the design drawings, has been mass-produced by the watchmaker Serio.

There are more than 30 apprentices sent by Zhu Linmi in his watch workshop, most of whom are relatives and nephews of ironworkers.

These apprentices are now able to help the watchmaker make parts for spring wheel pistols.However, due to the complex structure of the spring wheel pistol, they can only produce more than 40 sets of bolts in a month.Coupled with the barrel produced by Lu Ning, it is the main source of the short guns that the Dragon Guards are currently equipped with.

In addition, the casting of artillery has also started at Suji Iron Works.Under the guidance of Song Yingxing, the more than 20 gunsmiths from the Ganzhou Military Bureau quickly completed the manufacture of a series of equipment from copper melting furnaces, clay fan drying furnaces to lifting frames.

The blueprints of the artillery are not a problem. Zhu Linmi can draw artillery of various calibers at any time, and the structure is even better than the European artillery of this era.

It’s just that casting cannons is a very labor-intensive job. Five to 60 people are required to operate the furnace alone. In addition, the demand for artillery is limited, so after casting six six-pound cannons and two 24-pound mortars, they did not continue to manufacture more .

However, the iron molds for the cannons have already been made, and if necessary in the future, a large number of cannons can be produced in a short time.

Today's Dragon Guard Army has all kinds of advanced weapons and equipment, which is comparable to the US military in later generations!

Now only the number of officers is the biggest weakness of the Dragon Guards.The number of reserve battalions has reached more than 2000. As long as there are suitable officers, they only need a simple intensive training before they can be converted into regular troops and go into battle.

In the general camp of the Dragon Guards, Zhu Linmei was discussing several controversial places on the military map with several major officers.

The map is drawn with a very thin bamboo pen. The dense contour lines on the map show the topography very clearly. In addition, the hydrology and geological conditions are also marked in detail.

After using this kind of map, the officers of the Dragon Guard Army could no longer accept the old-fashioned map of the Ming Army.

However, in order to draw this detailed map, Zhu Linmi has invested more than a thousand taels of silver, and it is only in Ganzhou and some surrounding areas.

But it is certain that these investments are absolutely worthwhile. Opponents using old-fashioned maps are like highly myopic people in front of the Dragon Guards.

"The water depth of this river needs to be measured by someone."

Just as Zhu Linmei was talking, Ying Tianxiang walked into the general camp with a roster. After saluting, he said to Zhu Linmei, "Master Commander, this is the soldier who won the Outstanding Performance Award in the last actual combat exercise of the whole army. Please have a look at it." .”

Zhu Linmei took over the roster and browsed through it. Most of them were soldiers he had some impression of, and their performance during the rehearsal was indeed very eye-catching.

He signed his name with a pen, stamped his private seal, and returned it to Ying Tianxiang for him to publish it.

In the middle of the school grounds, next to the stele of "Three Disciplines and Six Attentions", stands a thick wooden board as tall as a person, which is the bulletin board of the Dragon Guards.

After a day of training, the soldiers surrounded the place with three floors inside and three floors outside.

Under the literacy campaign of the instructors, more and more soldiers are now literate. Some people read aloud the newly posted post, "The list of outstanding performance awards in the third army actual combat exercise. Infantry battalion, four companies, one platoon, two teams , Xu Sanliu, the first prize..."

There was an envious cry from the crowd.

"Old Xu, you have to treat me!"

"You can do it, first prize! Lifting the wooden pole every night is not in vain."

"Old Xu's bayonet is really good, I am convinced!"

The people before posting continued to read, "...three rows and four teams, Hu Jian, second prize..."

There was another shout all around.

Two days later, in Liangxi Village in the southwest of Longnan County, a group of people dressed in the uniforms of the Dragon Guards hung a big red flower in cloth on the lintel of Xu Sanliu's house, with military drums and horns playing beside it. Play cheerful music.

All the people in the village came to watch the excitement, and those who had something good to do asked loudly: "Is this the champion of the three or six families?"

The instructor who led the team immediately explained to everyone: "Xu Sanliu, a first-class soldier of the Dragon Guards, won the first prize for outstanding performance in the actual combat drills of the whole army! The special prize is ten taels of silver!"

"Ten taels of silver!"

The eyes of the villagers were straightened, it is such an honor to be a soldier, big red flowers are delivered to the door, and so much silver is rewarded!
Immediately, a few stubborn old men who still prevented their younger generations from joining the army ran home and asked their nephews to join the Dragon Guards.When they learned that the Longwei Army had recruited even the reserve battalion, all of them slapped their thighs with regret.

In the afternoon, people from the Mission Office came to Liangxi Village.

The villagers were talking about Xu Sanliu winning the first prize, and rushed towards the entrance of the village together. The Xuanjiao Mansion's show of benefiting the people must not be missed!Now even the time for going to the market is the same as the time for the Xuanjiao Mansion's performances.

After Xuanjiao finished talking about policies and current events, he loudly announced the title of the play: "Jingjun Longwei".

Not long after the play started, the villagers exclaimed—that martial artist on the stage was playing Xu Sanliu from their village!That heroic figure, and his handsome performance on the school field are like the second master Guan coming to this world!

Xu Sanliu's mother almost fainted from excitement.

All those in the village who had daughters at home began to move quietly towards Sanliu Niang.

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(End of this chapter)