When Li Xuan entered the test site with a vote of civil and military ministers behind him, as the specific person in charge of the grenade fuze project presided over by the military, He Haoyuan was also fortunate to be taken by the current minister of the Ordnance Department, Major General Zhou Dai, in case someone could give him a little hint when he couldn't answer specific questions.

In this way, we can better explain the situation of the new fuse to His Majesty at any time.

Following the minister's side, only two steps behind His Majesty, the distance from the Son of Heaven is only more than three meters, this distance is also the closest distance to the Son of Heaven since He Haoyuan entered the office, Rao is in his thirties, but he didn't dare to breathe along the way, and he felt a little light when he walked!

Excited!

On the way, the Son of Heaven was discussing something in a low voice with Lieutenant General Lei Wan and Major General Zhou Dai who were accompanying him from time to time, because the distance was not far, and He Haoyuan could also hear the conversation of the people in front of him.

I only heard the Son of Heaven ask about such howitzer research and development and equipment.

Lieutenant General Lei Wan, the minister on duty in the imperial study and the head of the Operations Department of the Privy Council, is naturally familiar with the issue of grenade equipment, and he opened his mouth to talk about the grenade equipment of the Tang Army today.

"Today, our army has formed a total of 18 howitzer battalions, and the previous howitzer equipment has been reformed, and the scale of the howitzer battalion has been expanded, and each battalion has increased from three teams with a total of 12 howitzers to four teams with a total of 16 howitzers, including three teams of 24 kg howitzers and one team of 48 kg howitzers!"

"Eighteen howitzer battalions are enough to provide sufficient fire support for the current 15 infantry divisions to support their operations, and at the same time, at present, all howitzer battalions are under the direct jurisdiction of the military departments of various armies, and they can concentrate more howitzer fire forces in key battles."

At this time, He Haoyuan listened to the Son of Heaven again: "Has the army considered giving infantry divisions and mixed regiments directly with howitzers, I heard from the generals on the front line that the demand for howitzers in various units is very urgent, and now all howitzers are basically fighting with each infantry division!" ”

Lieutenant General Lei Wan said: "What Your Majesty said is very true, because the howitzer is huge, and the front-line troops do want to be directly equipped with howitzers, but the current number of heavy howitzers in our army is not too much, and the requirements for logistics are too high. ”

"However, in the future, if the development of the new fuse goes smoothly and the grenade can be used for long-barreled artillery, we are ready to equip the nine-kilogram field gun and even the five-kilogram field gun with grenades, so that it can be more simple and efficient to improve the firepower of the field troops."

Li Xuan nodded slightly after hearing this: "Logistics is indeed a problem!" ”

After all, these artillery pieces are not small guys, although the artillery itself is not too heavy, but their shells are too heavy, the shells of field artillery are only five or nine pounds, but the shells of heavy grenades are twenty-four pounds and forty-eight pounds, especially the weight of the latter is too heavy, and special transport troops are needed to supply shells.

Li Xuan remembered that in the previous Southwest Campaign, in order to supply shells for these heavy howitzers, the logistics department specially prepared a lot of special grenade transport troops.

At present, the howitzers of the Tang Dynasty, the smallest are 24 pound howitzers, not to mention for the army, even for the navy, they are all heavy artillery, this kind of heavy artillery, naturally, it is impossible to directly assign to the field troops of this level of infantry division, at least it also needs to be arranged by the command organization at the army level.

At this time, Major General Zhou Dai, Minister of Ordnance Department, also spoke: "At present, we have carried out the preliminary development of a variety of howitzers, and are planning some field howitzers with 18 catties, in addition to the design and development of 96 catties of super heavy howitzers, once completed, it will be able to greatly strengthen our howitzer strength." ”

After hearing this, Li Xuan nodded slightly: "The research and development of new equipment cannot be stopped, and the development of the army must not rest on its laurels. ”

"What kind of enemy we will encounter now, everyone may know, but what kind of enemy we will encounter in the future, no one knows, after all, the enemy is also improving all the time, in the early years, the former Ming army was using bows, arrows and spears, at least a very small number of firearms, but in the next few years, they were equipped with a large number of guns, which brought a lot of trouble to our unification war!"

"Therefore, the military must always be ready to meet a stronger enemy, the latest technological changes!"

Speaking of this, Li Xuan paused slightly, and then said: "If we can't find a direction for the development of armaments, then we can also take ourselves as our goal, find out our own weaknesses, conduct targeted research, and then equip newer weapons to fill our weaknesses!" ”

"Before the enemy defeats us, we defeat ourselves, and then we become stronger!"

When Li Xuan said this, it was naturally not groundless, but a factual situation!

Because in terms of details, tactics and equipment level, in fact, the current Tang Dynasty is slightly inferior except for the navy, but the army is absolutely the world's top level.

Not to mention this part of East Asia, it is basically still in the era of cold weapons, and only a few regional armies are equipped with a small number of arquebuses and artillery, even if it is the same era in Europe, it is also in the period of the Spanish phalanx, with arquebuses and spearmen to form an infantry phalanx, with a small number of artillery to fight.

Compared with them, the current Datang Army is much more advanced!

In other words, the current Tang Army has become the object of learning for others, but it is difficult for itself to have a clear development direction, which is like the United States in later generations.

Since the end of the Cold War, they have been equal opponents in no sense, and they have no object to learn from or emulate, and in the end they can only ponder on their own, constantly carry out various experiments, cast nets and catch fish, and carry out military innovation with the goal of defeating aliens, but it is difficult.

After all, being a pioneer is too expensive, and it is too difficult to succeed.

On the contrary, the latecomers are relaxed, and they only need to develop in the footsteps of the successful ones step by step, without any detours.

Fortunately, today's Tang Dynasty has Li Xuan, Li Xuan knows better than anyone in this era what the future direction of armament development is, after having flintlock pistols and artillery, the next step is to engage in grenades, Mini rifles, then rear-loading rifles, rear-loading artillery, and then the era of rapid fire.

Of course, it's too early to talk about rear-loading guns, rapid-fire guns, and the top priority now is to get the grenades out.

When the grenade is also made, it can basically be announced that the Tang Dynasty has officially entered the sequence of the modern army!

When talking to Lei Wan and Zhou Dai about army howitzers, Li Xuan naturally did not forget the navy, after all, among the generals who came to inspect today, not only the army, but also the navy.

In fact, the Navy is also very deeply involved in the research and development of new grenade fuses, after all, the Navy also needs new grenades.

Nowadays, the heavy short-barreled howitzers of the Tang Dynasty are not only equipped by the army, but also equipped by the navy, and the number of equipment is more.

Some river warships, coastal patrol ships, and armed merchant ships are generally equipped with a small number of 24-kilogram howitzers, with a few being one and a few being two or three.

And some large warships, such as frigates, cruisers, and even battleships under construction, will be equipped with 48-pound howitzers in addition to 24-pound howitzers, and there are more of them.

The total number of howitzers is actually more than that of the army, which can also be seen that the navy's demand for grenades is actually more urgent, especially the demand for long-barreled howitzers, which is almost impenetrable.

There is no doubt about the heavy weight of the navy, a howitzer hit on the enemy's warship, the explosion can not only destroy a large number of enemy living forces, but also destroy sails, masts, and even cause fires, and even detonate the gunpowder on the enemy's ship, causing a violent explosion.

The only trouble is that the hit rate of the short-barreled howitzer is simply too low, and when used on land, the accuracy is not good, and when this is moved to the ship, the accuracy is even worse.

When fighting at sea, if the distance is a little farther to two or three hundred meters, the hit rate of this short-barreled howitzer basically drops to single digits, and as for more than three hundred meters, hehe, you can only see columns of water.

In the previous few effective grenade hits, the navy only achieved hits by firing within 100 meters, and the hit rate was still very low.

And this distance within 100 meters is not the engagement distance that the Tang Navy likes, because this distance is easily pasted up by the enemy's warships, and then forced to engage in broadside battles.

The Datang Navy needs to carry out artillery shells from 200 meters away, preferably about 300 meters, and use the speed and maneuverability of its own warships to seize the T-shaped head, and then use the side guns to fire.

And this creates a very embarrassing problem!

Therefore, although the navy is equipped with many howitzers, these howitzers are basically used to carry out fire support on land, and are rarely used in ship combat.

However, if the new fuse is successfully developed, the long-barreled gun can also be equipped with a grenade, then it can fire at a distance of several hundred meters, so that for the Datang Navy, the grenade can play its greatest tactical value.

Today, the army and navy have an urgent need for new grenade fuses, but will this live test of grenade fuses be successful?

No one knows, even Bi Zifei, the team leader who presided over this R&D project, is not sure.