When Li Xuan entered the test site with a group of important civil and military officials behind him, He Haoyuan, as the specific person in charge of the military's grenade fuze project, was also fortunate to be taken with him by Army Major General Zhou Dai, the current minister of the Ministry of Ordnance, in case he
When he can't answer a specific question, someone can give him a hint.
In this way, we can better explain the situation of the new fuse to His Majesty at any time.
Following the Minister, he was only two steps behind His Majesty, and was only more than three meters away from the Holy Emperor. This distance was also the closest He Haoyuan had ever been to the Holy Emperor since he became an official. He was already in his thirties, but once
On the road, I didn’t even dare to take a breath, and I felt a little light while walking!
So excited!
On the way, Shengtianzi discussed something in a low voice with Lieutenant General Lei Wan and Major General Zhou Dai who were accompanying him from time to time. Because the distance was not far, He Haoyuan could also hear the conversations of the previous few people.
I only heard Emperor Sheng ask about such howitzer development and equipment.
Lieutenant General Lei Wan, the Minister on Duty in the Imperial Study Room and Director of the Privy Council's Operations Department, was naturally familiar with the issue of grenade equipment, and he immediately talked about the current grenade equipment situation of the Tang Army.
"Now our army has a total of 18 howitzer battalions, and has reformed the previous howitzer equipment method and expanded the size of the howitzer battalion. Each battalion has increased from the previous three teams to a total of 12 howitzers.
The four teams now have a total of sixteen howitzers, including three teams of 24-pound howitzers and one team of 48-pound howitzers!"
"Eighteen howitzer battalions are enough to provide sufficient fire support to the current fifteen infantry divisions to support their operations. At the same time, each howitzer battalion is under the direct jurisdiction of each military headquarters, which can concentrate more in key battles.
of howitzer firepower.”
At this time, He Haoyuan heard the Emperor Sheng say again: "Have the Army considered directly assigning howitzers to infantry divisions and mixed regiments? I heard from the generals on the front line that the demand for howitzers is very urgent for various units, and now all howitzers are basically
He also fought with the infantry divisions!"
Lieutenant General Lei Wan said: "What your Majesty said is true. Because howitzers are so powerful, all frontline troops really want to be directly equipped with howitzers. However, our army currently does not have too many heavy howitzers, and the logistics requirements are too high.
, if it is directly assigned to the infantry division, it will be difficult to use it effectively unless corresponding logistics forces are added to the infantry division."
"But in the future, if the development of new fuzes goes smoothly and grenades can be used on long-barreled artillery, we plan to equip nine-pound field guns and even five-pound field guns with grenades. In this way, it will be easier and more efficient to improve field troops.
of firepower.”
After hearing this, Li Xuan nodded slightly: "Logistics is indeed a problem!"
After all, these artillery are not little guys. Although the artillery itself is not too heavy, their shells are too heavy. The shells of field artillery only weigh five or nine kilograms, but the shells of heavy grenade weigh 24 kilograms.
kilograms and forty-eight kilograms, especially the latter which is too heavy and requires special transport troops to supply artillery shells.
Li Xuan remembered that during the previous Southwest Campaign, in order to supply shells for these heavy howitzers, the Logistics Department specially prepared many specialized grenade transport troops.
At present, the smallest howitzers of the Tang Dynasty are 24-pound howitzers. Not to mention the army, even for the navy, they are heavy artillery. Naturally, such heavy artillery cannot be directly assigned to the infantry.
The use of field troops at the division level requires at least a corps-level command structure to make overall arrangements.
At this time, Major General Zhou Dai, the director of the Ordnance Department, also said: "Currently, we have launched the early development of a variety of howitzers, and are planning field howitzers with some 18 kilograms. In addition, we are also designing and developing 96 kilograms.
The super-heavy howitzer, once completed, will greatly enhance our howitzer strength."
After hearing this, Li Xuan nodded slightly: "The research and development of new equipment cannot stop, and the development of the army must not be complacent. We must be forward-looking, and we must take a long-term view of equipment development and tactical development!"
"You may still know what kind of enemies we will encounter now, but no one knows what kind of enemies we will encounter in the future. After all, the enemies are making progress all the time. A few years ago, the former Ming Army
They used bows, arrows, spears, and at least a very small number of firearms, but in the following years, they were equipped with a large number of guns and cannons, which caused a lot of trouble for our unification war!"
"Therefore, the military must always be prepared to face more powerful enemies and the latest technological changes!"
Having said this, Li Xuan paused for a moment, and then said: "If we can't find a direction for arms development, we can also target ourselves, find out our own weaknesses, conduct targeted research, and then equip ourselves with updated equipment.
weapons to fill our weaknesses!"
"Before the enemy defeats us, we must defeat ourselves first and then become stronger!"
What Li Xuan said is naturally not unfounded, but a fact!
Because in terms of detailed tactics and equipment level, in fact, the current Tang Dynasty is still slightly inferior in terms of navy, but the army is absolutely at the top level in the world.
Let’s not talk about East Asia. It is basically still in the cold weapon era. Only the armies in a few areas are equipped with a small number of matchlocks and artillery. Even Europe at the same time was still in the period of the Spanish Grand Square, with matchlocks.
Form an infantry phalanx with spearmen and fight with a few artillery pieces.
Compared with them, the current Datang Army is much more advanced!
In other words, the current Datang Army has become a learning object for others, but it is difficult for itself to have a clear development direction. This is like the United States in later generations.
Since the end of the Cold War, they are no longer equal opponents in any sense, and they have no objects to learn from or imitate. In the end, they can only figure it out on their own, constantly conduct various experiments, and cast nets to catch fish in order to defeat the aliens.
The army was reformed to achieve the goal, but it was difficult to achieve.
After all, being a pioneer requires too much price, it is too difficult to succeed, and you will take detours every minute.
On the contrary, latecomers have it easy. They only need to develop step by step in the footsteps of successful people without making any detours.
Fortunately, today's Tang Dynasty has Li Xuan. Li Xuan knows better than anyone in this era what the future direction of armaments development will be. After having flintlocks and artillery, the next step is to develop grenades and Mini rifles.
, then came breech-loading rifles, breech-loading artillery, and then the rapid-fire era.
Of course, it is too early to talk about breech-loading guns and rapid-fire guns. The top priority now is to get out the grenades.
When the grenades are produced, it can basically be announced that the Tang Dynasty King's Division has officially entered the ranks of the modern army!
When talking about Army howitzers with Lei Wan and Zhou Dai, Li Xuan naturally did not forget about the Navy. After all, the generals who came to inspect today were not only the Army, but also the Navy.
In fact, the Navy is also deeply involved in the research and development of new grenade fuzes. After all, the Navy also needs new grenades.
Today, the heavy short-barreled howitzers of the Tang Dynasty are not only equipped by the army, but also by the navy, and there are more of them. Currently, basically every navy warship will be equipped with a short-barreled howitzer.
Some river warships, offshore patrol ships, and armed merchant ships are generally equipped with a small number of 24-pound howitzers, ranging from one to two or three.
Some large battleships, such as frigates, cruisers and even battleships under construction, in addition to 24-pound howitzers, will also be equipped with 48-pound howitzers, and there are more of them.
The total number of howitzers in Linlin's total is actually more than what the army currently equips. From this, it can be seen that the navy's demand for grenades is actually more urgent, especially the demand for long-barreled howitzers, which is almost unstoppable.
There is no doubt that grenades are heavy for the navy. When a howitzer hits an enemy warship, the explosion can not only destroy a large number of enemy manpower, but also damage sails, masts, even cause fires, and even detonate gunpowder on enemy ships.
, causing a violent explosion.
The only trouble is that the hit rate of the short-barreled howitzer is too low. When used on land, the accuracy is not very good. When it is moved to a ship, the accuracy is even worse.
When fighting at sea, if the distance is slightly farther than two or three hundred meters, the hit rate of this short-barreled howitzer basically drops to single digits. As for more than three hundred meters, haha, you can only see water columns.
.
The previous few successful grenade hits were achieved by the Navy's firing within 100 meters, and the hit rate was still very low.
The distance within 100 meters is not the distance that the Tang Dynasty Navy likes to engage in, because this distance can easily be approached by enemy warships, and then forced to engage in boarding battles.
The Tang Navy needed to launch artillery shells two hundred meters away, preferably around three hundred meters away, use the speed and maneuverability of its own warships to seize the T-head, and then fire with side artillery.
And this also creates a very embarrassing problem!
Therefore, although the navy is currently equipped with many howitzers, these howitzers are basically artillery used to perform land fire support and are rarely used in anti-ship operations.
However, if the new fuze is successfully developed and the long-barreled artillery can also be equipped with grenades, then it can fire at a distance of several hundred meters. Only in this way can the grenades exert their greatest tactical value for the Tang Navy.
Nowadays, both the army and the navy have an urgent need for new grenade fuzes, but can this live-fire test of the grenade fuze be successful?
No one knew, even Bi Zifei, the team leader in charge of this research and development project, was not sure.