Regarding the banditry problem raised by Li Xuan, Wang Chaohong is no exception. Nowadays, everyone knows that banditry is serious in various places, especially in the southwestern provinces.
The Tang Dynasty resolutely maintained a high-pressure attitude towards large-scale bandit dens and various large-scale bandit rebellions. Every one was suppressed for Mao's sake. Because the Datang Dynasty was all bandits, naturally they would not allow others to leave.
My own old path.
However, due to limited energy, the Tang Dynasty can only maintain a high-pressure attitude towards some large-scale banditry. However, for ordinary types of bandits, that is, those who are not large in scale, they usually just rob, and the political impact does not count.
If it's too big, you won't have so much energy to suppress it.
But now, it is different. Seeing that the Tang Dynasty is about to completely unify China, this public security issue is also urgent. At the same time, the patrol department lacks large-scale and organized military force, so the armed suppression of bandits is
, it can only fall into the hands of the military.
Wang Chaohong immediately said to Li Xuan: "Your Majesty, there are indeed many bandits in the southwest region now. Although these bandits are not large in scale and cannot shake the foundation of the Tang Dynasty, they are not a long-term solution."
Li Xuan said: "Well, we can't delay it any longer. You should start taking action after you go back. When taking action, you must be careful and don't bring trouble to the local government!"
If it were the ministers who had just come into contact with Li Xuan, they would probably be in a daze when they heard Li Xuan's words. They said they should pay attention to propriety, but they also said not to bring trouble to the local government.
The first thought of many people is probably that they should not use too much force when suppressing the bandits, so as not to cause big trouble. However, Wang Chaohong, who has been a Conglong for a long time and received personal education from Li Xuan in his early years, is
You know what the Holy Emperor is talking about.
Be careful and don't bring trouble to the local government. This means: kill if you can, and try not to leave any harm to the local government!
Immediately, Wang Chaohong's expression became slightly serious, and then he said: "I obey the order. After I return, I will immediately organize troops to encircle and suppress bandits everywhere!"
Li Xuan nodded slightly. He knew that Wang Chaohong was a smart man, and if his subordinates were smart, it would be easier for him. As soon as he said it casually, they would know what they wanted to do, and they would get things done properly.
of.
As for the banditry in the Southwest, Li Xuan only touched upon it. He only had to say a few words. There was no need to say too much, as saying too much would be unsightly.
The subsequent chat was more about tactics. Li Xuan and Wang Chaohong discussed the current weaponry and tactics of the Tang Army, trying to discover from the perspective of a frontline general like Wang Chaohong.
Something you can't see.
Although Li Xuan was from a later generation and had extraordinary knowledge, in fact, the tactics of later generations may not be useful in this era, because various tactics are matched with various objective environments.
For example, the three-row tactic of line infantry requires a flintlock rifle as a prerequisite. If it is a matchlock gun, how can we play three-row shooting and directly abandon the spearman? The tiger will be shot.
Comes from shit.
When the Army of the Tang Dynasty used matchlocks, the formation listed by the matchlock gunners was six rows instead of three rows, and the spearmen also maintained a large number of them. They did not start playing until they were equipped with flintlock guns in batches.
Three rows of line tactics, and finally eliminated the spearmen.
Another example is skirmishing tactics. In Li Xuan's impression, many war films show soldiers rushing up in groups, falling down when encountering enemy fire, and then counterattacking with guns.
However, scattered troops were not easy to use in the Tang Army, and lying down was even more difficult.
Because in the case of scattered troops, it is impossible to maintain a dense formation. Without a dense formation, sufficient firepower cannot be guaranteed. At the same time, without a dense formation, when facing the enemy's charge, there will not be enough troops to fight.
Today's Army of the Tang Dynasty does not play with scattered formations. Instead, it hopes to form a denser formation and have as high a firepower density as possible.
And if you lie down, how do you reload it?
The musketeer needs to load from the muzzle, and the rifle is so long that the musketeer needs to stand while loading, otherwise it will be impossible to load. You can lie down to avoid bullets, but don't expect to fight back.
Many tactics of later generations may not be applicable in this era. Li Xuan also knew this, so many times, when formulating the development of the army's equipment and tactics, he tried his best to listen to the opinions of the front-line soldiers of the army, and combined them
Develop better tactics and develop better equipment.
For example, when it comes to equipping musketeers with armor, Li Xuan previously believed that armor would affect the mobility of musketeers too much, so in the early days, musketeers were not equipped with armor, regardless of whether it was iron armor, cotton armor, or plate armor.
Not equipped.
However, it was later discovered in actual combat that the casualty rate of musketeers equipped with armor would be greatly reduced, and their combat effectiveness could be greatly increased during the bayonet charge stage.
Therefore, the grenadiers were the first to be equipped with armor, and then the musketeers of some elite units. Later, after the heavy armored spearmen were eliminated on a large scale in the infantry regiments, in order to increase the bayonet melee combat capabilities of the infantry regiments, they began to be generally equipped with musketeers.
Equip armor!
Later, light breastplates were even developed specifically for the musketeers. In this case, the weight is not heavy. Although it will inevitably affect the mobility of the musketeers, the impact is not too great. It is barely acceptable, but it is effective.
It can protect against damage from cold weapons such as bows, arrows, swords and spears, and can also defend against bullets at long distances.
And this situation is actually different from the modern troops in Li Xuan's influence!
But the actual combat effect is greater than anything else. When the line musketeers of the Tang Army, equipped with light breastplates and helmets, walked onto the battlefield in dense formation, the battle situation was basically established.
This situation is particularly eye-catching in some small-scale armed conflicts between the Tatars, Oaras, and Turpans on the northern border!
Many of the above-mentioned enemies do not have many guns and artillery. The war model is still basically the same as two or three hundred years ago, with cavalry as the main force. Long-range firepower projection relies on bows and arrows, and short-range firepower relies on swords and spears. In other words, they use all
It is a cold weapon. Although there are some firearms, they are not many.
Under such circumstances, the plate armor equipped by the Tang Dynasty Army can play a huge role!
Regardless of whether it is long-range shooting or close-range slashing, the Tang Army with plate armor is not afraid!
The only troublesome thing is that these enemies are mainly cavalry. Many times they don't play shooting or slashing with the Tang Dynasty infantry. Instead, they will sneak attack when they see an opportunity. If there is no chance, they will mount their horses and leave.
If these enemies foolishly dismount, tens of thousands of people form formations and engage in a decisive battle with the Tang Army, and the Datang Army claims that it can defeat them.
What a pity, the enemies are not stupid!
During the discussion with Wang Chaohong, Li Xuan discovered that Wang Chaohong was also a staunch artillerist. He suggested to Li Xuan that the infantry equipment of the Tang Army was already very good and did not even need to be improved.
The army's artillery power is seriously insufficient.
Yes, the vocabulary he used is seriously insufficient. People who don't know it may think that the Datang Army has no artillery, but in fact, the number of artillery of the Datang Army is definitely the first in the world in this era!
An infantry division with 15,000 men has fifty-four field guns, and two-thirds of these field guns are five-pound guns, and one-third are nine-pound guns.
At the same time, when the Tang Army is fighting today, basically every infantry division can be supported by at least one heavy artillery battalion. Although nominally these heavy artillery battalions are still independently organized, in fact they are basically fighting in conjunction with each infantry division.
Currently, no other army in the world can achieve such artillery power.
But even so, Wang Chaohong still felt that the army's artillery power was insufficient!
Wang Chaohong suggested euphemistically that a division with more than fifty artillery pieces was not enough now. It would be better to have hundreds of artillery pieces. In the future, when encountering enemies in battle, they would fire cannons and hit them with artillery shells before sending infantry to charge forward.
This kind of tactic, to put it more advanced, is the coordination of infantry and artillery. It is not easy to put forward these opinions in this era.
But Li Xuan simply threw his suggestion aside. It was unrealistic to have hundreds of field artillery pieces in one division. Even modern armies did not have such luxury.
Strengthening artillery power cannot simply increase the number of artillery, because the cost is too high.
But to enhance the quality of artillery.
Others don't know, but Li Xuan knows very well that the future is the era of howitzers!
Although today's heavy short-barreled howitzers have many flaws and are even the most dangerous weapons of this era, gunners risk their lives in every battle. However, it is undeniable that these flaws and even heavy short-barreled howitzers are
It has become the current war weapon of the Tang Army. Although the number is relatively small, the results are no less than those of field artillery.
What needs to be done in the future is to strengthen the technical research and development of howitzers, especially the fuze. As long as the fuze problem is solved, the Tang Dynasty will be able to stuff the howitzer shells into the barrel of the long-barreled artillery. By then, it will not be an army field battle.
Whether it's a cannon or a battleship's cannon, they can all fire grenades.
This is the only way to strengthen artillery firepower. As for one-sided increase in quantity, the gain outweighs the loss!
In recent years, the Tang Dynasty has been developing new fuses. Whether in the military or at the Royal Institute of Technology, the research and development of new fuses has always been the highest priority, compared with new artillery and even steam engines.
The research and development priority should be high.
Yesterday, Li Xuan received a report from the Royal Institute of Technology, saying that they had designed a new fuze scheme. The initial test results were very good, and they were preparing to conduct a live-fire test.
So after thinking about it, Li Xuan said: "The Polytechnic Institute has proposed a new design plan for a grenade fuse. The report says that the test results are pretty good. An internal live-fire test will be conducted the day after tomorrow. You can go with me then.