Su He looked at the sand table in front of him. He mobilized nearly 300,000 troops from the main army and guard and reclamation troops to deal with the Ming Dynasty's encirclement and suppression.
Both sides have tried their best, and the outcome of this war will affect the future situation.
Only when Su He won this war could he truly become a prince.
On the northern front, Su Hu was the commander-in-chief, leading the Third Army, Guards Army, Fourth Army, and Artillery Division.
130,000 people attacked Shaanxi's 200,000 Ming army.
The Third Army, the Guards Army and the Artillery Corps are all ace units with great merit.
In Xing'an Prefecture, Su Shan's Sixth Army was responsible for defending the Ming Army in Xunyang Prefecture, Huguang. This army defended well.
On the southern front, Su Xiong was the commander, the Fifth Army and the Yangtze River Navy were responsible for defending the Ming army in the direction of Huguang and Jingzhou.
The First Army and the Second Army attacked southward and captured the entire southwestern region.
The center line relies on the rear area for defensive operations, and the combat difficulty is not high.
As the southern front troops entered the southwest region, Suhe's estimated combat casualties were not as high as non-combat attrition.
Su He already understood what Qu Tian reported.
They didn't know the cause of the disease and classified it as miasma.
Su He knew about this disease, which is malaria, a very common disease in tropical areas, caused by the parasite Plasmodium.
It is a disease caused by parasites.
There are two specific drugs for treating malaria, both of which are substances extracted from plants.
One of them is cinchona cream, which is extracted from the cinchona tree in South America.
This drug has serious side effects, and malaria parasites can quickly develop resistance to this drug.
But it is very effective in treating malaria.
This kind of medicine is not available in Suhe. Even if the cinchona tree species is obtained, there is no place to plant it. It is a tropical tree.
Another effective drug for treating malaria is the famous artemisinin.
Artemisia annua, from which artemisinin is extracted, exists widely in China.
Su He remembered that artemisinin needs to be produced through cold extraction, and the extraction liquid is ether.
Su He has arranged for people from the Institute of Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences to start developing artemisinin.
Artemisia annua has sufficient raw materials, and they also have a large amount of ether here. It is only a matter of time before the research on artemisinin is successful.
Qu Tian's report also made Su He pay attention to medicine.
Not only antibiotics, but also powerful drugs like artemisinin can effectively prevent soldiers' casualties.
He has asked his wife Wang Wenjun to lead the doctors at Hanzhong Hospital to begin research on Yunnan Baiyao, Huoxiang Zhengqi Water, Rendan and other medicines.
Yunnan Baiyao is an extremely effective wound medicine.
Later generations of Su He learned about some medicines used in Yunnan Baiyao.
He didn't know the specific formula, but Su He believed that so many Chinese medicine practitioners were studying it together.
Yunnan Baiyao cannot be formulated 100%, and similar drugs can also be produced.
Huoxiang Zhengqi water and other medicines are specially designed to prevent heat stroke.
Glycerin is already available to prevent frostbite, but there is currently no drug treatment for heatstroke.
The scorching heat in the south and the hot and dry weather in the north have caused heat stroke to become a common disease in the military.
…………………………
Su He and Li Fengming took a carriage and rushed to the largest training ground outside Hanzhong City.
Tian Jiapeng invented the milling machine, and the craftsmen in the arsenal used the milling machine to make rifled guns and rifled cannons.
Rifled guns have been mass-produced, and now rifled guns have also made major breakthroughs.
Zhang Yuliang led the elite artillery division and was testing the effects of rifled cannons and some new firearms.
The Guards also has some troops at the training ground. Zhang Wansi's cavalry regiment is here to cooperate with the Guards in training the infantry on how to restrain the cavalry.
The Guards' mission to the north this time was to target the main force of Guan Ning's cavalry.
The carriage is speeding on the cement road, and the carriage with spring shock absorption function does not feel any bumps in the carriage.
"Your Highness, King Qin, won't you lead the troops in person this time?"
Li Fengming was a little surprised that Su He was stationed in Hanzhong this time and did not lead troops to fight again.
Su He smiled and said: "We need to train the generals on the front line.
Our current foundation can already allow us to fail once or twice.
The training for the generals is completely different if they follow me by my side or if they lead the troops alone."
The Qin army has now grown stronger and started fighting on two fronts again this time.
If Su He goes to any front, it will affect the other army.
Wherever he is, supplies and reinforcements will definitely be given priority.
Worrying not about scarcity but about inequality will slowly cause cracks in the army.
Today is different from the past. The Qin army has also begun to become regular and is no longer a grass-roots team.
A large number of new recruits have been trained for a long time. They already know who they fight for and whose soldiers they belong to.
The military school students in Suhe occupy the vast majority of officers' positions.
Since the rise of Suhe, many orphans have been adopted, and most of them have become military commanders below the company level.
The most important grassroots soldiers who control an army.
After winning many wars, Su He's reputation in the military reached its peak.
Su He's control over the army became tighter, and no one could replace his position.
The size of the army has also reached nearly 300,000. Losing one or two troops will not cause any damage.
The most important thing is Su Xiong and other generals. After many wars, they have grown up.
Su He can safely hand over the army to them.
His main job from now on is to improve industry and economy.
As long as there are enough money, food and guns, the soldiers under his command are not afraid of any army.
The Qin army has now completed the use of firearms and no longer relies on swords and spears to fight.
An all-firearms army relies heavily on logistics and industry.
Even if all the checks and balances in the army failed and Su He cut off their logistical supplies, the army would lose its combat effectiveness.
The Qin army was very powerful with muskets, but if they really fought with the Ming army with swords and spears, they might not be able to compete with the experienced Ming army.
The strong combat effectiveness of the Qin army was based on the basic industry that Suhe worked hard to create in Hanzhong.
Firearms can only exert their powerful power if they become large-scale.
This is also the reason why Su He is not afraid of Daming's muskets.
Without the support of the coal and steel industry, the cost of hand-forged muskets would skyrocket.
The Ming Dynasty simply could not afford an army purely equipped with firearms.
The small number of firearms produced in the Ming Dynasty must have been in the hands of the servants.
Firearms such as muskets are not deployed on a large scale and have limited combat capabilities.
Corrupt officials were rampant in the Ming Dynasty, and they were everywhere.
The quality of the muskets in the hands of the Ming army may not be very good.
Li Fengming was in the carriage. He and Su He discussed when the Ming army might launch a full-scale attack.
Li Fengming chatted for a long time and saw that Su He was in a good mood.
He then tactfully advised: "Your Highness, King Qin, will not accept military orders from abroad.
If you give up personally commanding the troops, you must fully delegate power to the frontline generals.
The battlefield is changing rapidly, and even the generals on the battlefield are sometimes unable to seize opportunities.
Not to mention His Highness King Qin who is thousands of miles away."
Su He understood what Li Fengming meant.
"Mr. Li, don't worry.
I don't trust people when I employ them, and I don't trust people when I doubt them.
We will definitely give full authority to frontline generals."
After hearing this, Li Fengming smiled on his face and persuaded Su He.
Just to remind Su He and prevent Su He from making some stupid moves.
The probability of this happening is low, but if it happens it will be a huge problem.
If the monarch does not trust the general's ability, this is a disaster for a power.
Two of the four famous generals of the Warring States Period were defeated by the hidden fifth general Guo Kai.
This is based on King Zhao's distrust of frontline generals.
Su He knew that if the monarch arbitrarily interfered with the command of the frontline generals, the war that could have been victorious would lose its backbone because of the army.
The general's timid command led to the failure of the war.
This kind of operation has a special word to ridicule it in later generations, micro-operation.
Emperor Chongzhen of the Forbidden City was a well-known master of micro manipulation.
Chongzhen didn't know how to fight, and he was very impatient.
Under his urging, the Ming army was often forced to attack without being ready.
Su He observed this encirclement and suppression, and there were also signs of Chongzhen's micro-management.
Chongzhen's urging was too urgent, and the Ming army prepared to launch an attack in winter.
This is by no means a wise choice militarily.
The carriage quickly arrived at the training ground. The troops being trained at the training ground included a cavalry regiment, an artillery division regiment, and a Guards regiment.
Zhang Wansi, commander of the cavalry regiment, Zhang Yuliang, commander of the artillery division, and Li Dazhuang, commander of the Guards Corps, are all here.
The Guards, in particular, have been training here for more than three months, just to find ways to restrain the cavalry.
In Su He's impression, two methods of restraining cavalry were the most effective.
The first is more efficient cavalry. The nomads in the northern part of the Central Plains relied on this method to suddenly rise to power.
The Xiongnu during the Han Dynasty and the Turks during the Tang Dynasty have both disappeared on the grasslands.
The descendants of the Turks established the Ottoman Turkish Empire far away from East Asia.
The Xianbei, Liao and Jin people have all disappeared, and most of them merged with the Han people and became part of the Han people.
The Hou Jin claimed to be the descendants of the Jin people, but they had nothing to do with the real Jin people.
It was impossible for Su He to adopt this method. The area he was in was a traditional Chinese farming area.
There are no horses at all here, only a small number of southwestern horses, which can barely be used as war horses.
The cavalry regiment led by Zhang Wansi only had 2,000 men and more than 3,000 horses.
This is Suhe, with all the cavalry talents and useful war horses that can be found.
The second method is to use powerful firearms to suppress the cavalry.
The cavalry is the pinnacle of the cold weapon age, and it will be restrained by a firearms army with sufficient firepower.
The cavalry officially withdrew from the war stage after machine guns entered the battlefield.
The brave and tough nomads have become a nation that sings, dances and is hospitable.
The machine gun was not invented, but rifled guns and rifled cannons appeared.
The cavalry was directly transformed from the main force into a second-line force.
Suhe now only has the most rudimentary rifled guns and rifled cannons.
He does not require the cavalry to be defeated, as long as the cavalry attack can be resisted, then the goal will be achieved.
When Su He and Li Fengming stepped out of the car, they heard several special whistling sounds and the violent explosion of artillery shells.
Su He was more concerned about the situation of artillery. This god of land warfare was the most important weapon against cavalry.
They walked to the artillery test range.
Li Fengming saw the strong strength of the artillery in front, and there were some obviously special artillery pieces.
"Your Highness King Qin, I still know something about the rifled cannon in front.
Is that iron box also a kind of cannon?"
"Mr. Li, you will be able to see it later. I believe its power will surprise you."
Su He looked forward and saw a very common four-wheeled carriage with firearms made of many iron pipes.
This is the big killer weapon prepared for the cavalry, the original rocket launcher.
Traditional granular gunpowder, plus some chemical additives such as sugar and potassium chlorate.
It becomes a propellant with excellent properties, which can propel the rocket launcher to a distance of several hundred meters to five thousand meters.
Combined with the newly developed collision fuse, it is very powerful.
The most important thing is that this kind of rocket launcher has a relatively low cost, but its accuracy is not very high. It is only suitable for attacking large-scale enemies.
Su He and Li Fengming watched the artillery battalion soldiers operating rocket launchers.
The soldiers lit up the rocket launchers, and dozens of rockets flew towards the firing range ahead.
There are many scarecrows on the shooting range, mainly testing the accuracy of rocket launchers.
More than half of these rocket launchers never reached the shooting range.
Most of them deviated from the direction, and a small number of them fell off halfway.
After they landed, they exploded immediately, and a huge shock wave destroyed everything on the shooting range.
Li Fengming looked at this scene and said in surprise: "Your Highness, King Qin, the artillery can now control the delay fuze so accurately.
I saw these cannons, they exploded almost the moment they landed."
Su He smiled and explained: "This is a newly developed collision fuse by the craftsmen, and the official test started today.
Inside the cannonball is a glass tube with a metal ball.
Tian Jiapeng designed a relatively complex mechanical structure that balances force through springs.
There is no impact on the transportation and firing of artillery shells, even if they roll down the mountain
When the cannonball hits the ground and suddenly stops moving, the huge inertia generated can cause the metal ball to break the glass tube.
The glass tube contains a chemical reagent that ignites the gunpowder in the cannonball.
Mr. Li, you just need to know that if this kind of fuse exists, the shell will explode when it hits the ground."
Li Fengming said in shock: "With this kind of collision fuse, blooming bullets will definitely replace solid bullets and become mainstream artillery shells."
Su He pointed ahead, where there were more than twenty cannons with thick muzzles.
Their appearance is similar to the 150 heavy cannon, and the gun body has a silver-white metallic luster, proving that it is a cannon made of all steel.
The cannon was ejected from the chamber and the huge whistling sound marked the powerful initial velocity of the cannonball.
Su He held a telescope and watched the soldiers around the trial site reporting in flag language.
The artillery shell went directly to the target 5,000 meters away, and landed more than 4,200 meters away.
When the shell hit the ground, it immediately made a huge roar and destroyed everything around it.
When Su He saw this scene, he couldn't help but applaud.
He believed that as long as there was sufficient ammunition, no cavalry could break through their defense line.
The fact that artillery shells can fly so far is due to current technological advancements.
When Su He saw that the test firing of the heavy artillery was completed, he took Li Fengming and the guards to the artillery base.
They walked towards the cannon, and the artilleryman was using a small hook to pull out a copper metal barrel from the barrel.
Zhang Yuliang saw Su He arriving and said excitedly: "His Royal Highness King Qin.
Rockets are very powerful, and their powerful range allows us to strike first.
The power of the rifled cannon is so powerful.
The ability of these craftsmen is really outstanding, and they actually thought of such a way to solve the problem of rifled guns.
Rifled guns can be equipped to every regiment, so I think there will be no suspense in this war."
Su He smiled bitterly and said: "When the cannon goes off, there are ten thousand taels of gold.
Rifled artillery shells are too expensive. To equip an artillery division of yours, I have to withstand the pressure from the cabinet.
We have to use the special military budget to barely be able to support it."
Su He looked at these rifled cannons. All the indicators of rifled cannons far exceeded those of smoothbore cannons.
The maximum range is 4,200 meters. At this range, Su He wants to equip the army with rifled guns.
After thinking about it, Su He gave up the idea.
Rifled guns have too many advantages, but they have only one disadvantage, and that is that they are too expensive.
The cannon itself of a rifled cannon is not expensive, but the shells of a rifled cannon are extremely expensive.
The cost of a hundred rounds of artillery shells is as expensive as a cannon.
Rifled guns and rifled cannons were approved at the same time. Rifled cannons are easier to process because of their larger size.
It was manufactured earlier than the rifled gun.
The rifled gun was not officially mass-produced, so it was stuck on the shell.
The rifled gun has mini bullets, which can bring out the full power of the rifled gun.
Rifled guns can also use solid shells similar to Minie rounds.
But it happened that at this time, Touch Fuze made a major breakthrough.
The chance of catching fire when touching the fuse has increased to more than 80%.
This fire probability can be used on the battlefield.
When the touch fuse is activated, it becomes a powerful explosive bomb.
The touch fuze is not activated and can also be used as a solid bullet.
There is no way to install touch fuses on artillery shells similar to Mini bombs.
Giving up the touch fuze means giving up the most powerful explosive shell.
The power of blooming bullets far exceeds that of solid artillery shells.
Su He didn't want to give up the powerful power of the explosive ammunition, but he couldn't give up the powerful range and accuracy of the rifled gun.
He could only organize craftsmen to study rifled gun shells.
The craftsmen drew inspiration from the Franco cannon shells, and Suhe combined them with later generations of shells.
Guided craftsmen to develop rifled cannon shells, the basic structure of which is similar to that of later generations of cannonballs.
There is just no primer, and the flint ignites the gunpowder in the shell.
In order to prevent the cannonballs from grinding the rifling of the rifled gun, the cannonballs were made of copper.
The texture of copper is very soft and will not get stuck in the barrel like steel bullets, and the rifling of the cannon will not be damaged too much.
After the cannonball is ignited, the warhead flies out of the barrel and the shell remains in the barrel.
The artilleryman needs to use a small hook to pull out the cartridge case again.
This kind of artillery shell has many advantages. The cannon has a long range, high accuracy and great power.
Its biggest disadvantage is that it is too expensive.
Copper is money, and shooting cannonballs is throwing money away.
Su He planned to use tens of thousands of kilograms of copper to directly kill Ming Dynasty's Guan Ning cavalry.
Li Fengming looked at the copper casings on the ground next to the heavy cannon.
He said with emotion: "This kind of artillery shells are really too expensive. It's just like using money to kill the Ming army."
Su He said happily: "Problems that can be solved with money are not problems.
If we defeat the Ming army, we will gain more; if we fail, we will have nothing.
Zhang Yuliang, your artillery division does not need to be stingy with ammunition. The war will begin with saturated artillery fire.
Try your best to intimidate the Guan Ning cavalry so that they will be afraid when they see us."
Zhang Yuliang immediately promised: "Your Highness, King Qin, our artillery division will definitely make heavy artillery a nightmare for the Ming army."
Only when their artillery has sufficient ammunition can they unleash the power of their artillery and achieve more feats.
With Su He's instructions, Zhang Yuliang believed that they would definitely not be short of artillery shells in this war.
In the previous attack on Sichuan, due to the restricted terrain, heavy artillery could not be transported.
In the battle in Sichuan, the artillery division did not use half of its strength.
Their artillery division's meritorious service is not as great as that of the Guard Corps Flying Tigers.
This time in the attack on Shaanxi, there were not so many mountains blocking the way, and the heavy artillery could follow the army.
This time Zhang Yuliang wanted the entire army to take a look at what a heavy artillery group was and why artillery was called the god of land warfare by the King of Qin.
"Let's go see the confrontation training between the Guards and the Cavalry."
Su He was very satisfied with the rifled guns and rockets, and he proposed to take a look at the preparations of the Guards.
Artillery is the trump card, but the battlefield still depends on the performance of the army.
If they can withstand it from the front, the artillery will have room to perform.
They walked to the observation tower at the forward training ground and used binoculars to observe the confrontation training between cavalry and artillery.
Zhang Wansi commanded two thousand cavalry and was launching an attack.
These two thousand cavalrymen all wore breastplates that were integrally formed by hydraulic forging hammers.
The breastplate made of all steel weighs about the same as leather armor, and its protective performance far exceeds that of leather armor.
Cuirassiers are equipped with special rifled guns.
This rifled gun was heavier, had a longer barrel, and the bayonet was lengthened.
Cuirassiers are not heavy cavalry and they cannot charge.
Mainly taking advantage of the range of the musket in hand and the movement speed of the cavalry.
Constantly harassing and consuming enemy troops is a very classic kiting tactic.
The Guan Ning cavalry of the Ming army and the cavalry of the Mongolian Hou Jin Dynasty.
Most of them are light cavalry.
Heavy cavalry has too high demands on both humans and horses.
Only forces with a high level of smelting can create heavy cavalry.
The Liao, Jin and Mongols both occupied northern cities, plundered Han craftsmen, and improved their smelting level.
Only these forces can create heavy cavalry.
With Suhe's current industrial level, it is very simple to build a heavy cavalry.
However, he did not establish heavy cavalry, mainly because the southwestern horses were not capable of carrying heavy loads.
There are only two thousand cavalry in total. If these two thousand can really form a heavy cavalry, they will be an extremely powerful cavalry force.
Two thousand heavily armed heavy cavalry rushed into Guan Ning's cavalry.
Su He is confident that he can defeat Guan Ning's cavalry in one battle.
We can only capture Shaanxi and have contact with the grassland.
Whether it is plundering or buying, there are horses produced in the grassland.
Only the heavy cavalry army has any hope of being established.
Su He continued to look at the situation on the battlefield.
The Guards had many iron wagons, which were connected end to end to form a solid line of defense.
The infantry hid behind the vehicles and continuously attacked the cavalry with rifled guns. There were also some 75 light artillery pieces that used shotguns to kill the cavalry.
They were training, and the guns were not loaded with ammunition.
After Zhang Wansi and Li Dazhuang finished training, they came together to meet Su He.
"How's the training going? Are you sure of victory when attacking Guan Ning's cavalry?"
Li Dazhuang did not add any moisture and said sincerely: "Your Highness, King Qin, rifled guns and new firearms are so powerful.
Rifled guns have a long range and fast rate of fire, and can effectively attack cavalry in defensive battles.
Improved fuzes for mines and grenades, making these firearms more powerful.
The transport vehicles are also unique. Several iron transport vehicles are hooked together from end to end to form a small fortress.
They usually transport food and ammunition, and can provide cover for the army in emergencies.
Soldiers could hide behind and fire calmly to deal with cavalry surprise attacks.
We have preset the battlefield and arranged the positions in advance to make it easier to deal with the cavalry.
Soldiers can dig trenches and lay out barbed wire and mines.
As long as we are given time to prepare, we will definitely make it impossible for any cavalry to come back.
Our current strength can block any cavalry attack.
Not only the Guan Ning cavalry, but also the Mongolian and Houjin cavalry were no problem.
But we can only build a solid defensive position through transport vehicles, muskets and artillery.
The cavalry moves too fast, they really want to escape, and we have no way to pursue them."
Li Dazhuang had suffered losses at the hands of cavalry, and he had been looking for ways for infantry to defeat cavalry.
There has been no progress some time ago, and the barbed wire fence proposed by His Highness King Qin is not very effective either.
However, rifled guns and rifled cannons, combined with barbed wire, slowed down the enemy's speed.
The combination of these three types can quickly kill the cavalry.
Su He looked at Li Dazhuang's confident look, and he felt confident in dealing with the cavalry.
As long as the army can block the attack of the Ming army's cavalry, the war will basically be won. The Ming army cannot defend the city with its cavalry alone.
He looked at Zhang Wansi again and asked: "Captain Zhang, from the perspective of the cavalry, is there any way to stop the cavalry with our tactics?"
Zhang Wansi has been working hard on training during this period.
He knew that the current King of Qin was just the seed for cultivating cavalry.
When they border the grasslands and acquire a large number of horses, then will be the opportunity for the cavalry to develop and grow.
Zhang Wansi thought for a while and replied: "Your Highness, King Qin, I think this set of tactics can already protect the safety of our logistics.
When the cavalry fights head-on and encounters such ferocious firepower, they will definitely avoid its sharp edge and will not rush towards them stupidly.
In our battle on the northern front, as long as we ensure the logistics and keep the muskets and artillery from misfiring, victory will definitely belong to us."
Su He looked at the confident generals and smiled.
The first appearance of rifled guns and rifled cannons this time will definitely give the Ming army a surprise.
