Chapter 501: The True God of War!

Although it was a smoothbore gun, the Napoleon was already a weapon with high firing accuracy at the time, enough to engage the enemy at a distance of 1,000 meters, and both the Union and the Confederates used the same gun and name, but there were some subtle differences. The name given to it by the Union forces was the M1857 12-pounder field gun. A standard 12-pounder Napoleon gun has a barrel length of 1.68 meters and weighs about 556.5 kilograms including the gun mount.

The Napoleonic cannon, like most artillery of the period, fired solid, explosive, shotnel and shrapnel shells. Its popularity and success were mainly due to the size of the breech, firepower, maneuverability and low weight. Among them, the size of the breech is directly related to the utility of the shell.

When attacking long-range targets, solid shells are fired as a means of hitting enemy artillery positions, dense forces, and similar large targets. A single solid shell was enough to turn a large group of infantry into fleshy stumps with severed arms. During the Civil War, soldiers were accustomed to seeing the 5.44-kilogram shells fly across the battlefield like oversized baseballs.

The shell appears to be flying very slowly, as if it can be grabbed by reaching out, but it is actually a terrible illusion. If a soldier can't dodge a shell that is close to running out of momentum, he will be blown to pieces, with little hope of survival.

Napoleon cannons can also fire many types of explosive shells, the most typical of which is a 4.3-kilogram spherical shell containing 900 grams of black powder, which is detonated by a typical time fuse. It is a pity that the Tiger Benjun has not yet researched a more effective fuze technology, and this blasting bomb can only be abandoned for the time being.

Trained gunners can shell the enemy at a rate of two shells per minute, dropping to one round per minute if they want to bombard the enemy continuously, so that the chamber can be sufficiently cooled and can be fired for a long time. If enemy infantry swarms and reduces the distance between themselves and the artillery position to within 368 meters, the artillery will continue to fire shotgun rounds at a rate of 4 rounds per minute until one of them turns and flees or is killed.

However, the reason why Zhang Zhun likes this artillery is not its range of up to two kilometers, nor the explosive shells it fires, nor its high rate of fire, but its entire set of supporting tools, such as gun trucks, ammunition trucks, etc. Napoleonic artillery already has the prototype of modern artillery, such as artillery companies, artillery platoons, etc., when a large army is marching, Napoleon artillery can also follow the march.

During the march, the Napoleon cannon can quickly change the mode of battle, and in just a few minutes, it is able to shell the enemy. There are even some cattle men who can shoot while on the road. This is undoubtedly an unprecedented weapon for the infantry of the Tiger Army, which may suffer from the surprise attack of the Tartar cavalry.

At present, the cannon of the Tiger Army, the Flying Dragon Cannon, is still pulled separately. In other words, there is no special supporting artillery carriage. The same goes for these Hongyi cannons. Whether it is a Wyvern Cannon or a Hongyi Cannon, there is only a fixed gun mount. The fixed gun carriage cannot be moved quickly. When firing, the gun carriage must be placed on the ground, and then the Wyvern must be lifted up and reassembled before it can be fired.

After the bombardment is over, the Wyvern must be dismantled and placed on the wagon before the march can continue. This conversion process takes at least half an hour. And half an hour is enough time for people to rush up dozens of times. Especially if you encounter the Tartar cavalry, maybe the Tartar cavalry has rushed up and ravaged, and the artillery has not yet had a chance to fire.

Don't think that you can fire a cannon by casually loading it on a carriage, the strong recoil can completely overturn the carriage. Only the specially designed gun carriage, which fully considers the influence of recoil, has a special gun carriage support, and has special axles and wheels, can ensure the safety and accuracy of cannon shooting. Therefore, the design of the artillery carriage is very important. Even, more important than a simple imitation of the Hongyi cannon.

"My lord, if there is this artillery car, our artillery battalion can also fight everywhere." Mo Ru said excitedly. Just like Zhang Zhun, the soldiers of the artillery battalion also have great resentment about the mobility of the artillery. The last time the Japanese attacked, they immediately set out after receiving the order. As a result, because the road was really difficult to walk, by the time they reached the halfway point, the battle was over.

No matter how powerful the artillery is, if it can't enter the battlefield quickly, it is useless for heroes! If it can be equipped with the corresponding artillery vehicles, whether it is fighting or walking, it can be competent, then the artillery can often appear on the battlefield and become the real god of war.

"Yes. That's exactly what we're designed for. Zhang Zhun said calmly.

Field artillery, field artillery, as the name suggests, is used for field warfare. Not only can it follow a large army, but it can also quickly change battle formations. The problem is that the current cannons can only be used to siege or defend cities, even if they are dragon cannons. On the ground in China, there are no field artillery in the true sense of the word. At least, so far, Zhang Zhun has not seen it.

The cavalry of the Tartars was a large group of cavalry, often numbering more than 10,000 or even tens of thousands. Once the terrain conditions are suitable, the Tartars can concentrate 10,000 or even tens of thousands of cavalry and launch an assault on the Tiger Army. Such an impact is very powerful. Even if the Tiger Army has a front-loading rifled gun like the Tiger Gun, it will be difficult to completely contain it. Therefore, for a long time to come, the Tartar cavalry will be the main and most formidable opponent of the Tiger Army. The land artillery construction of the Tiger Army must be aimed at containing the Tartar cavalry.

The key reason for the Battle of Baliqiao in later generations was not the strength of the Anglo-French coalition army, but the stiffness of Seng Lingqin's tactics. He used a large number of cavalry to attack the enemy's position of muskets and artillery head-on. Due to the limitations of the terrain, Monk Lingqin also adopted the tactic of adding oil. This is clearly suicide. The final result, of course, was heavy losses, and the troops were completely disabled, including nearly 10,000 cavalry. If he gave full play to the mobility of the cavalry, constantly harassed, fought at night, and ambushed, and strictly implemented the 16-character policy, it would be strange if the British and French troops were not tossed to death, where would he have the opportunity to occupy the Old Summer Palace?

At present, the Eight Banners of Manchuria are on the rise, and whether it is Huang Taiji or Dolgon, they are all masters of using soldiers. Azig, Yue Tuo, Mang Gutai and others are not bad. Dolgon suffered a big loss in Huangxian because he had never been exposed to such a fighting style of the Tiger Army, and he did not estimate that the power of the rifled gun was so powerful, let alone that the power of the ** bag would be so powerful.

However, after Jianlu suffered this loss, he would definitely learn a lesson and would not rashly confront the Tiger Ben Army head-on. They will definitely adopt the best methods of harassment, surprise attacks, and night battles to deal with the Tiger Army. If the Tiger Army suffers a surprise attack and cannot use artillery to return fire as soon as possible, the battle will definitely be relatively passive. Even if you can win, the losses will be very heavy.

Due to congenital deficiencies, it was impossible for the cavalry of the Tiger Ben Army to overwhelm the cavalry of the Manchurian Eight Banners and the Mongolian Eight Banners. Even if Zhang Zhun had great ability, it was impossible for him to make the number of cavalry more than the number of nomadic cavalry. If there were only the Eight Banners of Manchuria and no Eight Banners of Mongolia, maybe Zhang Zhun would still be able to fight. However, with the existence of the Mongolian Eight Banners, it is absolutely impossible to fight the number. There are too many war horses in the Mongolian steppe.

The first news sent by the Maoyan Division was that Haoge, Yue Tuo and other departments of the Tartars had successfully conquered the Naturalization City (that is, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia) and completely surrendered to the various Mongolian tribes. The descendants of Lin Dan Khan, the last golden khan of Mongolia, have already paid tribute to the slave chieftain Taiji. If there is no accident, at the beginning of next year, Huang Taiji will convene all the tribes of Mongolia and hold a meeting. Eventually, the Eight Banners of Mongolia were formed. Since then, the Mongolian Eight Banners have become a powerful support force for the Eight Banners of Manchuria.

Because the ethnic policy adopted by the Jianguo has always been relatively good, Mongolia's relationship with the Jianguo has always been very good in the days to come. A large number of Mongol cavalry fought with Jianlu, effectively making up for Jianlu's lack of cavalry. Later generations often felt that the number of cavalry in Jianguo was very large, often tens of thousands, or even more than 100,000, in fact, most of them were Mongols.

Zhang Zhun also didn't expect to rely on cavalry alone to take out the Tartars. Nomads have the advantages of being nomads, and Han people have the advantages of the Han people themselves. The Han people can rely on strict cooperation, advanced war command art, advanced weapons and equipment, as well as strong national strength and a steady stream of soldiers, to defeat the nomads to the north. Therefore, it is still the infantry that needs to be focused on development.

"The detailed data of the Napoleonic cannon is like this: the firing range is about four miles, which is about the same as the Wyvern cannon. Breech charge. The caliber is about three inches and six minutes (about 120 mm), the barrel length is about fifteen times the caliber, and the weight of the shells is about eleven catties......"

"Materials are still the biggest problem. The main material of the Napoleonic cannon was bronze, and we simply did not have so much bronze, therefore, other materials had to be used instead. Taking into account the need for rapid mobility, the total weight, including the cannon and the gun carriage, could not exceed 1,000 catties. This is the limit of what our path can bear. ”

"The gun carriage had to be specially designed to be able to fire quickly as long as it stopped and performed a few simple movements. The gun carriage was designed to adapt to most roads, including muddy roads. In addition to the gun trucks, there should also be special ammunition trucks to deliver all kinds of shells. Different ammunition trucks, loaded with different shells, facilitate management. ”

"After the development of artillery trucks and ammunition vehicles, some changes may occur in the establishment of artillery. Mo Ru, you have to participate in this matter throughout the whole process and study how to adjust the artillery establishment in a timely manner. If the original Five-Year Plan system is not suitable, it can be changed. The establishment of artillery must be centered on artillery. Not only must there be a cannon, but also that the cannon can be used anytime and anywhere. Otherwise, no amount of artillery is just an ornament. ”

Zhang Zhun described the detailed data of Napoleon's guns one by one for Sun Qinkai's reference. The focus is, of course, on the artillery and ammunition trucks, as well as other logistical support. If all goes well, in the near future, each infantry battalion of the Tiger Army will have its own artillery unit. Such an army is a truly modern army.

Sun Qinkai and Mo Ru carefully recorded the relevant data. Whether they can replicate all this depends on their efforts. Jang Joon had already opened the window in front of them and let them see the bright world outside the window.

"The first step is to successfully replicate the Hongyi cannon."

"The second step is to study the Napoleonic cannon and the associated artillery carriages."

Zhang Zhun set the work procedures for Sun Qinkai.

"My lord, I'll try."

Sun Qinkai replied calmly.

"Good!"

Zhang Zhun was very satisfied with Sun Qinkai's reaction.

As long as these two research tasks are completed, the Tiger Ben Army will be able to completely defy the existence of the Tartars. Whether it is a siege or a field battle, how many Tartar cavalry comes, how many Tiger Ben troops can destroy. The Battle of Huangxian wiped out four or five thousand Tartars in one battle, and as long as there were three or four battles in Huangxian County, the Tartars would be unbearable. If there is a war in ten yellow counties, the Tartars will be close to extinction.

An army that effectively combines front-loading rifled guns and mobile artillery is absolutely terrible in combat effectiveness, at least two hundred years ahead of the current military technology. With such a huge technological superiority, if all of them are transformed into combat effectiveness, any enemy will have to flee from the wind.

"Governor, the heads of the Tartars have been cleared."

At this time, someone came to report, saying that Shi Kefa, Song Degang and others had finally cleared out all the Tartar heads. They really worked tirelessly, and they dug up all the well-preserved Tartar heads. Unfortunately, due to the use of a large number of ** bags during the fierce battles of the Tiger Army, many of the Tartar heads were blown up beyond recognition.

In total, there were three thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine heads. The difference is less than 4,000, and it is conceivable that Shi Kefa's figure is very accurate. In fact, during this time, Shi Kefa was personally involved in the work of the first level. It seems that he was born in the household department, and he is still very sensitive to numbers.

Shi Kefa's hard and meticulous work touched Zhang Zhun. Zhang Zhun, who was a little uninterested in Shi Kefa, changed his opinion of him a little. Undoubtedly, Shi Kefa is indeed loyal to the imperial court, and there is no sign of taking refuge in himself in the short term. However, if there are more such officials in the court, the life of the people in the world and the people of Li can be a little better?

"Mo Yu!"

"Are you all ready?"

Zhang Zhun said suddenly.

"My lord, my subordinates are ready."

Mo Yu replied.

"Good! Just go and see the prosperity of Jingshi by the way! ”

Zhang Zhun said quietly.