The first thousand four hundred and forty-five chapters set up their own targets and hit their own
In Jinling City in late October of the 22nd year of Xuanping, the autumn wind was already blowing. Even though the sun was still shining brightly during the day, at night, it was chilly.
Li Xuan stood on the balcony with his coat on.
He holds a thick report in his hand. This is the summary report of the Nanyang Campaign submitted by the Joint Operations Command!
Because so far, or from the founding of the Tang Dynasty to the present, the Tang Dynasty has never had an institution similar to the 'Supreme Command' that can rule and command the navy and army. The Army Privy Council and the Navy Command are independent of each other and directly related to each other.
Responsible for Li Xuan.
However, detailed alliance and cooperation between the various military services are still indispensable. This was the case in this Nanyang Campaign and the subsequent Indian Ocean Campaign. In this regard, Li Xuan also made some targeted arrangements.
For example, the Joint Maritime Transport Department established in the early years was an organization composed of generals and personnel jointly dispatched by the army and navy. It played a major role for the first time during the Nanyang Campaign, coordinating and being responsible for the logistics and transportation issues of the army and navy, and avoiding
Disagreement between the army and navy caused logistical difficulties.
During the subsequent Nanyang Campaign, due to the lack of communication between the army and the navy, and at the same time, there were many differences in strategies in various directions, and it was difficult to coordinate the army and navy operations.
Li Xuan expanded the Joint Maritime Transport Department and finally reorganized it into a Joint Operations Department. Li Xuan personally took charge of the work. The personnel were also composed of senior generals from the three official armed forces of the Army, Navy and Guards.
, its personnel include two military ministers on duty in the imperial study room, and then members of the major departments under the Army Privy Council, such as the Military Command Department, the Staff Department, and the Logistics Department.
Similarly, the Naval High Command also dispatches personnel from the Military Command Department, Chief of Staff Logistics Department, and others.
However, this agency has no actual power and does not have the power to mobilize any troops.
Its functions and powers are mainly to coordinate the coordinated operations of the army and navy!
To put it bluntly, this organization is a place for generals such as the Army and Navy Guards to sit together and quarrel. It does not have any actual authority in itself.
This report is also the first official report after the establishment of this organization. It mainly reports on the Nanyang Campaign in which the Army and Navy Guards cooperated.
However, introducing the process of the battle is not the point, because there is actually nothing to say about the process of the battle. It is nothing more than the navy attacking the port and the army capturing the city of Malacca, and then also taking over some of the Portuguese colonial strongholds on various islands in Southeast Asia.
.
And the overall strategic direction has nothing to do with this organization.
This report talks more about some issues!
what is the problem?
That is the many problems exposed by the military during the Nanyang Campaign!
For example, a very important point was raised by the Army. Although it seemed to be smooth sailing during the attack on Malacca City, many problems were exposed under the smooth sailing surface.
Especially the artillery issue!
Although Datang was widely equipped with a large number of artillery and grenades, the range and power of the artillery were still very difficult for the strong bastion.
During the attack on Malacca, excluding the naval gun support firepower, the siege force used more than two hundred artillery pieces, nearly half of which were over nine kilograms, including heavy ones such as twenty-four kilograms and eighteen kilograms.
Naval gun.
The shelling process seemed violent, but it failed to completely destroy the city defense of Malacca.
Although the howitzer shells that have high hopes have played a great role, they still have major flaws. The most important flaw is the lack of penetration, so that the grenades can only explode on the surface of the enemy's fortifications, but cannot
Penetrate the enemy's fortress and explode deep inside.
Similarly, the navy also raised this issue. Although they achieved brilliant results when they used naval guns to bombard the enemy's coastal defense forts, when they subsequently bombarded the coastal defense forts on the top of Malacca City, it was because
The grenades lacked penetrating power, resulting in little success.
For this reason, the army and navy simultaneously raised such a question!
This problem is very serious. Artillery cannot completely destroy the enemy's defenses, which will pose a great threat to the infantry units that subsequently attack.
During the Battle of Malacca, when the infantry launched a general attack, although they captured the city of Malacca in a short time, the attacking infantry also suffered relatively heavy casualties.
The total casualties of the army and the Guards together reached 2,300. This number of casualties does not sound like a lot, but it was still a big blow to the Tang military, which had been going smoothly.
When the Tatars fight, they rarely suffer such huge casualties.
A considerable number of them were non-combat attrition. The landing troops took sea ships all the way south, which was very bumpy, and the environment in Nanyang was not very good. In addition, during the landing operations, they were also hit by heavy rain for several days. Therefore,
During the ship transportation and subsequent landing operations, hundreds of people were attacked by diseases and were forced to reduce their numbers.
The most typical figure among them was undoubtedly the commander of the 57th Infantry Regiment, who traveled all the way to Malacca and fell ill just a few hours before the battle was about to begin.
Another part was due to attrition due to various random accidents during the landing operations.
The remaining more than a thousand casualties were all combat casualties during the attack on Malacca City.
And because casualties are generally caused by gunfire, the death rate is very high, and coupled with the lack of medical conditions in the later stages, many of the injured cannot survive.
There were more than 1,300 casualties in total. During the siege, more than 500 people died on the spot. However, the number of people who died due to injuries in the later period also reached more than 500. In other words, 1,300 people died.
Among the many casualties, more than a thousand people were killed, which is a quite terrifying number.
As for the navy, the casualties were very small. They suffered about a hundred casualties in the Battle of Malacca, mainly losses suffered during the battle with the Portuguese coastal defense batteries and the subsequent attack on the port.
After the war, the Army believed that there were three main reasons for such large non-combat attrition and combat attrition. One was that the transport ships were so junk that the sea journey was too bumpy. For this reason, it was recommended to develop larger tonnage and make navigation more stable.
The transport ships must be at least 1,000 tons, and those small ships of 400 to 500 tons should not be used.
The second is that the medical level is too low, otherwise there would not have been so many casualties due to illness and the subsequent casualties would not be able to treat a large number of casualties. For this reason, the Army hopes to set up a specialized military medical research institution to study better methods.
Treatment methods, especially treatment methods for trauma caused by guns, etc.
Third, it is believed that the performance of artillery is insufficient, especially its poor ability to destroy solid fortifications, which results in the failure to completely destroy the enemy's artillery fire. As a result, in subsequent infantry attacks, infantry casualties are greater. At the same time, if the enemy also attacks on a large scale
If equipped with grenades, the existing artillery cannot effectively suppress the enemy. For this reason, the army hopes to improve the performance of the artillery. Specifically, it will increase the effective range. Five or six hundred meters is not enough. It must be one thousand meters or even two or three thousand meters. And in this
Accurate hits can be obtained at a distance, followed by improved artillery shells, which make the shells more powerful and have the ability to penetrate fixed fortifications!
The navy also believes that the existing sail battleships, even those modified with steam engines, are no longer suitable for modern naval warfare. Poor maneuverability is a fatal flaw. Once the enemy is also equipped with steam engine battleships, then now
Some sailing battleships are modified to become the future main fleet, and they are simply unable to effectively deal with the threat of enemy fleets.
Because the hulls of most sailing battleships modified with steam engines are originally pure sailing battleships and do not provide much space for subsequent steam engine modifications, so the trouble caused by the modification is also very much. In addition, more importantly, the battleship's
The protective capabilities are seriously insufficient.
Facing the fire counterattack from the Portuguese shore defense artillery, there was almost no resistance. As long as the Portuguese naval guns could hit the target, they would definitely cause losses to the Tang warships. Nearly a hundred people were killed and injured here.
caused by such circumstances.
For this reason, the Navy has proposed accelerating the construction and installation of steel steam battleships so that these wooden battleships with pure sails can be thrown into the garbage heap of history as soon as possible.
Both the Army and the Navy raised a series of problems, and then put forward thoughtful suggestions or solutions to these problems, but in Li Xuan's view, they were all nonsense.
Do these problems exist?
To a certain extent it exists, but it doesn't exist.
The weapons equipped by the army and navy of the Tang Dynasty were basically an era ahead of their time. The combination of flintlock muskets, howitzers, and steam engines was extremely powerful. When they conquered Malacca, without a large number of grenades to assist them, they would not have been able to do so.
It is impossible to take down only a thousand casualties.
The Holy Roman Empire spent 45,000 men to besiege the city of Metz, which had only a few thousand people. In the end, they all returned with a disastrous defeat. You know, the Holy Roman Empire's artillery fire was not bad, and they defeated it in one day.
Seven to eight thousand rounds of artillery shells.
However, the huge difference between these solid bullets and grenades resulted in completely different results.
Therefore, the equipment level of the Tang Dynasty's military was already very advanced compared to other countries at the same time.
But the army and navy regarded themselves as enemies, put up a big target, and said to Li Xuan: The enemy is too powerful, we must strengthen our armaments.
In Li Xuan's opinion, this operation is the same as later generations of Americans saying that aliens are too awesome and we must develop more advanced weapons.