Chapter 249: Upgraded Heavy Artillery Units

Although Nie Shicheng returned to Lushun alive, although the losses of the Beiyang Army in the Battle of Pyongyang were smaller than those of the Japanese army, the pressure on him in this battle was still huge, especially the power of the 280mm heavy artillery that destroyed the world and left an indelible impact on Nie Shicheng's heart. So much so that now Nie Shicheng feels that the forts in Beiyang are not necessarily reliable. Not only Nie Shicheng, but everyone who experienced the Battle of Pyongyang had a deep fear of this Japanese 280mm siege gun, which made a train-like sound and could destroy the strongest bunker with a single shot.

Port Arthur is known as the fortress of Gibraltar in the Far East, but what level does this fortress reach? Nie Shicheng and the others are quite clear. There are a total of 78 fortress guns in this fortress, but only 18 guns are over 100mm! There are also 8 of them that are mortars! The others are all at the level of camp guns, which are not even as good as the 107mm heavy guns and 120mm heavy guns of the Japanese army.

Although the artillery of the Beiyang Army was strengthened. The firepower has been greatly improved compared with the original Beiyang old army. At present, each brigade of the main force of the Beiyang Army has independent long-range artillery converted from 4.7-inch naval guns and army artillery mounts, as well as German-made 152mm howitzers. The former has a range far superior to the Japanese 120 guns and 107mm cannons, while the latter has a short range but huge shells. It is said that this combination is already good for dogs. But from the actual combat, there is still an advantage in the face of the Japanese army's 120mm guns and 107mm guns, but once those perverted siege guns are added, these things will not work.

The reason is simple, the 120 gun has a long range. However, the weight of the bullet was only about 22kg, which was not powerful enough to deal with the reinforced siege artillery bunkers of the Japanese army. The 150mm cannon may be enough, but it can't reach it, you say depressed or not? And now, with the arrival of the Russian fleet, the situation at sea has become a mystery again. Whether the Beiyang Fleet could guarantee the blockade of the Japanese army while dealing with the Russian fleet, even Xu Jie did not dare to guarantee. So the defense of this Lushun Pass depends entirely on the army itself!

So Nie Shicheng and Ma Yukun discussed with Zhang Wenxuan, the commander of the Beiyang Protector Army, Peng Yi, the commander of the Nanyang Regiment, Yang Sihong, the governor of Taiwan, and others, and decided to establish a special force to deal with the Japanese siege heavy artillery! The best way to deal with heavy artillery is heavy artillery! Knock them out at a greater distance. The idea is simple and correct, but it is very difficult to implement!

First, what kind of artillery should be chosen to deal with the Japanese siege artillery? Second, how can these weapons be deployed and maneuvered? In order to ensure that they could destroy the Japanese heavy artillery units with one blow, Peng Yi and others proposed to use more than 6-inch heavy guns, and there were only two kinds of these weapons in Lushun, one was the 8-inch gun on the Guiyuan ship, and the other was Garibaldi's 10-inch gun.

As early as before the return of the Yuanyuan ship, Beiyang had purchased a large number of 8-inch guns to arm Zhiyuan and other ships and as spare guns for replacement, so now there is still a certain amount of 8-inch guns in the Beiyang warehouse, of course, the number of 10-inch guns is not much because of the cost. In terms of power, the latter is definitely better, and once it hits, the 280mm siege cannon will definitely be hanged! But the shortcomings are also obvious, this thing is too heavy, and the cannon body alone is more than 31 tons! Although it must be used after being truncated, it is impossible for the army to find a gun mount and transport with sufficient strength!!

So Nie Shicheng and others chose to improve the 8-inch naval gun as the army's heavy artillery. The weight of the cannon body of this thing is also terrifying, and the weight of the gun body of the 8-inch 40L gun has reached more than 16 tons! This weight also exceeds the existing transportation capacity of Beiyang. But fortunately, after cutting off part of the barrel, the weight of the gun body finally dropped to about 8 tons, and then repairing the damaged gun chamber and reinforcing the muzzle is about the same. With the addition of a new army gun mount, the work of converting this naval gun into a land artillery is complete!! …,

The artillery problem is solved, and then there is the transportation problem, which is really difficult if you want to rely on horses to pull this thing. For this reason, the Beiyang technicians specially said that the artillery was divided into two parts of transportation, one part is the gun carriage, the other part is the barrel, in order to ensure the smooth transportation, the Beiyang garrison area also specially repaired the road! In order to strengthen the mobility of the 8-inch guns in the fortified area, Peng Yi also proposed to build a small railway and preset artillery positions. Then a small train was used to tow heavy artillery for maneuverable combat.

The hardware construction of the heavy artillery unit is completed, and then the software construction is completed, and having a gun does not mean that there is everything, because after the artillery is truncated, it is necessary to make a new gun table. Moreover, in order to give full play to the range of 8-inch guns exceeding 12 km, the original artillery command mechanism had to be changed. In the absence of precedent, the Germans came up with such an approach.

Observation through observation posts set up on the front line, and prior measurement of certain markers, these methods were already available, but the problem was how to transmit the information, and for this purpose, the Beiyang Army divided the entire area into small cells on each possible battlefield. Observation posts were then set up at suitable locations, and in terms of information transmission, new telegraph lines were erected to ensure smooth data transmission. Maybe the timeliness is poor, but in the face of the 120-gun position and the 280-gun position that cannot be easily transferred once fixed, the timeliness is almost almost, so bear with it!!

And with the 8-inch new heavy artillery, the Beiyang Army bigwigs are still not satisfied, after all, once the war really starts, Lushun will face the attack of 2 or 3 divisions plus heavy artillery units directly under the Japanese Army. Therefore, a small number of 8-inch guns with limited mobility can only be used against those 280mm or 240mm siege guns. In order to ensure the absolute suppression of the Japanese army's 120mm heavy artillery, Nie Shicheng and others paid attention to the navy's 6-inch naval guns!!

After a series of bloody battles, some 6-inch guns were either damaged or close to scrapping, in this case, instead of piling up these precious resources in warehouses, it is better to pull them directly to the battlefield. In line with the principle of using what can be used and not being thrown away, the technical personnel of the Beiyang Army began to modify the 6-inch guns and 4.7-inch guns that had been eliminated by the Navy, and with the experience of refitting 8-inch guns, with the efforts of the technical personnel and workers, the Beiyang Army has added 6-inch mortars, 4.7-inch mortars, and other "new weapons." This kind of ability to turn waste into treasure and decay into magic, even Xu Jie has to admire!

It is said that the Beiyang Army should be content after getting these artillery, and watching the artillery pieces being "loaned" to the army, Liu Buyun's face was full of displeasure. But what is unexpected is that Nie Shicheng and the others stared at the "eye offensive" of the pipes of the Beiyang Navy Division, and actually fought the idea of those 6-pounder cannons!! It turned out that since the first appearance of assault artillery, Ma Yukun and others found that this 57mm 6-pounder gun was very easy to move, and the two-legged stationary hoe could greatly increase the rate of fire. And considering the possible active attack plan in the future, these artillery that can be accompanied by infantry support have also become a hot commodity in the Beiyang Army!

"Which, Chief Soldier Liu, you see that your Beiyang Naval Division uses 8-inch, 10-inch and even 12-inch cannons, and these 6-pounder guns in stock will be used by the brothers of the army first." Ignoring Liu Buyun's murderous gaze, Ma Yukun said cheekily.

"Ma Junmen, how do I feel that this arsenal is not my Beiyang Naval Division's, but should be changed to the Beiyang Naval Division." Liu Buyun pouted and said.

"Aren't the Beiyang Army and the Beiyang Naval Division both troops under the command of Lord Zhongtang? Even if my brother begs you, can you? Isn't this army also going to defend the fortress of Lushun? Ma Yukun said with a smile.

"Register all the guns lent by the army, don't blame my sailors for the damage and loss of the ordnance in the end." Liu Buyun smiled and gave Ma Yukun a punch, then turned to leave. Yes, now is the most critical moment in the land war, Lushun is not safe, and the Beiyang Fleet is not at ease. …,

When the Beiyang Army was busy preparing for war, the Beiyang Naval Division was not idle. Since Nie Shicheng's troops returned to Lushun safely, Xu Jie, Ding Ruchang, and Liu Buchan have been planning new actions. The current situation is that the Beiyang Fleet seems to be full of good cards, and cutting off the Japanese army's sea supply lines is only the task of minefields. The once mighty Combined Japanese Fleet has been wiped out. The remaining 3 cruisers were also rendered unusable for a short time due to their injuries.

But with the arrival of the Russian armored cruiser. The Beiyang Fleet had to take on the dual task of confronting the Russian fleet and breaking diplomatic relations. In order to counter the Russian fleet, the Beiyang Fast Fleet must be all concentrated to be sure. But there is another problem, that is, it would be bad if the fast fleet did not catch the Russian fleet, and the Beiyang fleet itself happened to encounter the Russian fleet. The Beiyang Fleet, the main team, has not yet been well ordered Dingyuan, Jiazhenyuan, and Zhenhai. With a few soy sauce fighters, facing Russia's 4 cutting-edge cruisers and 2 soy sauce cruisers, I'm afraid it's more than lucky.

Although the Russians did not declare war like the Japanese, in the absence of radio, even if the Russian minister declared war, the Beiyang Fleet at sea would not be able to learn the news in a short time. That is to say, it is necessary to let the Russians go to the black hand at any time. Someone also offered to take the initiative to attack the Russian fleet. However, the gap between the speed of the Beiyang Fleet and the speed of the fast fleet is too large. It's hard to collaborate. And it really can't be justified to take the initiative to attack without the other side declaring war. In addition, the most important point is that the route of the Russian fleet cannot be determined, and it is very likely that it will not be blocked, so this method was quickly abandoned.

Thanks to the book friend Athlon9527, Divine Will, and LX731209 for their monthly ticket support, the naval battle will start tomorrow!! The plan is to sweep the port first, and then meet the Russian fleet~~.