"500? I think my officers have too little appetite for 500 of them. Wang Jue smiled and listened to his officers report on the number of tanks purchased, shook his head and said slightly teasingly: "I plan to equip at least 1,500 such tanks in the new army." ”

The armored unit of the new army that Wang Jue is forming can be said to be the most elite and the most modern army in the entire Ming Empire. This army was equipped with a large number of cars, mules and horses, and there was basically no pure infantry in the traditional sense.

In terms of its composition, this unit also refers to the more flexible troop establishment displayed by the German Empire in the war with France -- with divisions as the basic constituent units, organized into armies to independently complete combat missions, and in the general direction, corps as units form group armies and implement unified command.

In this composition, Germany uses cavalry divisions to emphasize mobility capabilities, but Wang Jue believes that the new armored divisions he established can replace cavalry as the basic composition to form armored fist troops, instead of cavalry, in the direction of a large campaign, to carry out longer-distance and large-depth assault operations against the enemy.

The main reason why the No. 1 tank is slightly larger and has more fuel reserves is because Wang Jue emphasized that this weapon must have the combat capability to launch an attack on an important target 200 kilometers away after a replenishment. In Wang Jue's idea, this "armored cavalry" will be able to break through the enemy's important defense line, interspersed with detours, and completely destroy the enemy's fragile rear, so as to achieve the purpose of the campaign more efficiently.

"Let the factory in Tangshan hurry up to produce the No. 1 tank, and we must test whether this weapon can really carry our expectations for it in the next war." Wang Jue instructed the officers around him: "In addition, let the staff officers draw up an accurate battle plan, assuming that the Liao River is forcibly crossed near Tieling. ”

"Yes! Sir! The officer stood upright, pressed his right fist into his chest, saluted, and turned away.

After the officer left, the second officer stepped forward, saluted, and said: "Commander, a telegram from the Beijing Division, Your Majesty asked Factory 1014 to give up part of the production task of the No. 1 tank to appease the Chiyou Company." ”

"Chi You...... Chiyou ...... This appetite is really so big that it makes people tangled. Wang Jue hesitated and knocked on the desk in front of him, and finally agreed to this assignment: "Let Chiyou Company be responsible for the production of the turret of the No. 1 tank, if Your Majesty wants other companies to join in, the body and tracks can be discussed." ”

He knew that once this kind of weapon began to be equipped on a large scale in the army, then it would be impossible to eat such a huge cake by relying on a single manufacturer, and instead of being forced to divide these production capacities at that time, it was better to take the initiative to take it out now and use it as a bargaining chip to gain more benefits for himself.

At present, the expansion and training of the new army can be described as rapid and ever-changing, and a large amount of ammunition and countless weapons are consumed almost every day. Establishing a good relationship with these arms giants can definitely be said to be a beneficial and harmless thing, as long as these arms dealers open some back doors for the new army, it is enough to make Wang Jue happy.

The 1014 factory in Tangshan began to produce this new weapon in full swing after testing a prototype of this tank, which is called a secret weapon. The latest news is that through the efforts of the workers, 10 vehicles have been produced, which will soon be transported to the front line for the troops to familiarize themselves with and test.

"Commander, I heard that this batch of tanks is now on the way, and it will be in our hands in two days at most, should we arrange for troops to take over? After all, this thing is strictly confidential, and we must test and use it, so don't you arrange it in advance? A staff officer suggested to Wang Jue.

"Let Zhang Jianjun's 1st Army and 1st Division receive this batch of equipment, and when the time comes, I will personally inspect his army!" After Wang Jue heard this suggestion, he nodded and agreed: "You draw up an observation and study plan, first find out the equipment thoroughly, and see if there are any problems." ”

The commissioning of a weapon is definitely not a simple process, and it requires all kinds of tests from the installation to the formation of real combat effectiveness. Although this kind of test is fast in a state of war, and there is a real combat environment to test, it is not an easy task.

Especially with this kind of weapon, which has never been installed before, it is a very complicated process. Wang Jue thought about it briefly and found that in the existing troops, there is really no standard that can be referred to if you want to form this kind of tank force.

There are so many things to re-plan, such as the number of vehicles that should be equipped to transport fuel for these new tanks, the vehicles that will be responsible for repairing and towing these tanks, the corresponding maintenance workers and skilled workers, plus spare parts and related tools......

Even if the quality of the soldiers of the new army is higher and the education is better, when directly dealing with such large-scale changes in the establishment and innovative development, Wang Jue also feels unprecedented difficulty. He subconsciously touched the tip of his nose, smiled bitterly and shook his head.

There are too many things to change and plan, and the challenge of forming an unprecedented armored force seems to be even greater than defeating the enemy army in front of you. Thinking of this, Wang Jue also had to be cautious, and said: "Gather the senior officers of the 1st Army, and in 2 hours, hold a meeting in my temporary headquarters!" ”

He had to arrange various tasks, at least in terms of vehicles and fuel, and arrange special officers to be responsible for supervision, and on the other hand, he also had to explore the establishment of armored troops, after all, this was very different from the original infantry.

Aside from anything else, the new No. 1 tank needed a driver, an electrical crew, and an artillery commander for a total of three members, and it was obvious that the traditional infantry establishment could not be used as the basic establishment of the armored unit -- if the squad unit continued to be retained, the number and size of the entire armored force would be so large that it would affect the command.

"It seems that we can only use the car as a unit, cancel the squad as a unit, and use the tank platoon as the basis for the establishment." Wang Jue walked towards his headquarters while thinking in his mind how to design the world's first armored force more perfectly.