Gao Shishi's plan for the reform of the Ming Army was "step-by-step" like other reform plans, and its main idea was to ensure the superiority of light weapons firepower first, and then consider heavy firepower.

Of course, this line of thinking is not a decision made by patting the head, but a response to the problems that have arisen in the past.

Heavy artillery such as the Hongyi cannon is certainly very powerful in this era, but in the historical Ming and Jin wars, their role in the Ming side is actually very limited.

If the Hongyi cannon was used in field warfare, it was bulky and unbearable, inconvenient to transport, and the casualties were concentrated in a small area, which could not play much role in the face of flexible and mobile cavalry; If it is used to defend the city, its real effect is not actually in the killing efficiency, but in boosting morale, if the morale of the Ming army is not as collapsed as in history, and it has long been beaten to the point that it does not dare to take the lead, then even if there is no artillery, it can actually be defended.

And if the Houjin adopts the strategy of long-term siege, then even if there is a Hongyi cannon, it is useless, although in this case, it will actually return to the ultra-low efficiency of siege in the cold weapon era, but as long as it can be taken, it can still prove that the Hongyi cannon itself is not of much significance to defending the city.

In history, Zu Dashou guarded the Daling River and Jinzhou, besieged the city twice, and finally surrendered, but he just gave a large number of well-made Hongyi cannons to Houjin in vain.

It has been recorded in the history of Chinese firearms: "The Ming army of Zu Dashoubu, who was besieged in the Daling River for nearly 100 days, surrendered in October of the fourth year of Chongzhen (1631) because of the exhaustion of food in the city, and Zu Dashou was defeated and left Jinzhou." According to the report of the Ming Army's military headquarters on the 19th day of the 11th month of that year, 3,500 artillery pieces of various types, such as Hongyi cannons, exterminators, and general cannons, as well as various military guns, miscellaneous firearms, and a large number of gunpowder and projectiles, were all owned by the Houjin army."

Yes, you read that right, that's 3,500 guns of all types!

Even for modern warfare, this is a considerable amount, but because of the combat idea of trapping and defending a lonely city implemented by Yuan Chonghuan, Sun Chengzong and others, that is, the stupid suicide strategy of the so-called "relying on the strong city and using artillery", such a huge artillery cluster was given to Houjin in vain!

These cannons do not have much significance for defending the city, and once they fall into the hands of Houjin, they become the most powerful helpers to break through the fortified city, and the Ming Dynasty is equivalent to using a lot of money to make and give Houjin the sharpest weapon to break through his city.

Well, it is worthy of Kaishen Logistics in the back and Inspector Yuan in the front.

The battle of Songjin during the Chongzhen period, Jinzhou was besieged, and the Ming Dynasty had to let Hong Chengchou take all his belongings: up to 130,000 troops to aid Jinzhou, but was besieged by Houjin to help, and the siege of Jinzhou was not explained, and the last mobile forces and field clusters of more than 100,000 were actually besieged in Songshan.

During the attack on Tashan in the final stage of the Battle of Songjin, the Qing Heshuo Zheng Prince Jierharang and Dorobelle Duoduo ordered the Qing army to line up red artillery in the west of Tashan City. On the eighth day of the first month of April, the city wall was bombarded with Hongyi cannons, and the city wall was blasted open for more than 20 zhang the next day, and the Qing army infantry cavalry swarmed in, and more than 7,000 people of the Ming army in the three battalions of the city were annihilated. At dawn on April 21, the Qing army bombarded Xingshan City with Hongyi artillery, destroying the city wall by 25 zhang, and the Ming army opened the city and surrendered.

So you see, it turns out that heavy artillery is so unreliable to do these things, and the so-called artillery to fight mosquitoes is nothing more than that.

Therefore, Gao Shishi has always insisted that the weapons most needed in the cavalry operations between the Ming Dynasty and the north were not the Hongyi cannons, which were bulky and difficult to transport, but mines, grenades, various types of infantry muskets with fast rate of fire and large killing area, as well as single-stage multi-launch rockets with Ming characteristics, and various flexible and mobile light artillery.

These firearms have always been the strong point of firearms in the Ming Dynasty, and some are even far ahead of the West at the same time. If the Ming Dynasty made the best use of the power of these native firearms and continuously improved and innovated in the case of limited financial resources, it would be the biggest threat to the Later Jin.

Even if we do not improve the advanced muskets that we have been pragmatically and diligently pursuing, it is enough to make the Houjin cavalry unable to eat and walk around, but it is much more practical to carry out heavy artillery than to further improve the mines, the podiculars (grenades), and all kinds of flamespray cannons, increase the power and ease of use, equip the troops on a large scale, strengthen the border defense, and strengthen the combat capability of individual soldiers.

Under the conditions of difficult conditions and poor equipment, Mao Wenlong was good at using landmines, which had already caused heavy casualties to Houjin and made him cry bitterly. If this type of weapon is comprehensively strengthened and widely used, it is conceivable that Houjin will have no chance to jump at all.

What is the most artillery that Qi Jiguang has equipped the Qi family army with in history? The Tiger Squat Cannon is a light artillery, not a heavy artillery like the Hongyi Cannon.

Therefore, only what suits you is the best. Greed and fierceness are the guiding ideology of naval artillery, how can the army copy this operation?

Speaking of which, it is necessary to raise the second stage of the pragmatic development of artillery: army heavy artillery and naval heavy artillery.

Of course, high pragmatism does not mean that it will not be developed, but it will only be regarded as the main development direction after light artillery is enough to form a crushing advantage at least within the Greater East Asia (which can also be called the Greater China sphere of influence).

And even so, the highly pragmatic heavy artillery development plan did not allocate too much weight to the army's heavy artillery, because there was not much demand for this - he couldn't think of any fortified fortress within the Great China sphere of influence that the Hongyi cannon could not take, let alone the improved Hongyi cannon of the Ming Dynasty.

In his planning, there are only two main directions for heavy artillery:

The first is the navy's ship-borne heavy artillery, which is the only way for the development of the navy. Especially in a few years, the Western colonizers will set off a colonial frenzy in the East, and once the two navies engage in battle, it will not only be the ships, seamen, and commanders who will be compared, but also the power and effectiveness of heavy artillery.

The second is the heavy artillery of coastal defense fortresses, which is one of the key weapons in the development of coastal defense. Historically, why was Arthur Military Port praised by some military fans as a natural naval "divine port"? The reason is that the terrain advantage of the Tiger Tail at Lushun Pass is too great, after the fortress artillery on the Tiger Tail and the Golden Mountain is built, the fortress artillery fire on the east and west sides can completely block the entry and exit of the Lushun Military Port, even if the own fleet is at a disadvantage and cannot go out of the port to fight, but as long as the two sides of the Tiger Tail are blocked, the enemy ships in the open sea can only be dumbfounded, looking at the port and sighing.

The performance of the Japanese army in history also proves this, especially during the Russo-Japanese War, under the premise of the Russian army's own bad luck and convulsions, the Japanese army fought around a military port of Arthur that was cut off from foreign aid for nearly a whole year.

And the premise of all this is to plug the artillery position.