Tian Qinyun was just too lazy to take care of the troubles in the Carlo Kingdom. In addition to leaving a mixed force of about two thousand people to garrison the area to maintain the follow-up situation, he directly led his troops back to Gehe Prefecture.
On the way, he made a few random excuses to teach a few tribes of indigenous kingdoms who were not very respectful to the empire, and took the opportunity to test out some new rifles.
Although the scale of the battles was relatively small, at least a lot of actual combat test data was obtained.
After seeing the actual test report, Tian Qinyun breathed a sigh of relief.
Damn it, conducting a new weapon test is more difficult than directly destroying several indigenous countries. It is still thankless. If you do well, you will get no credit. If you do not do well, you will be punished.
If I had known earlier, I would not have used this batch of new equipment at that time.
Equipped with new equipment, this sounds good, but in fact it will not bring any changes to the 18th Division. The battles that should be won can still be won, and casualties are still so few.
I went out for a walk and found that among the entire 18th Division, only two unlucky ones were killed and more than a dozen were injured.
The two unlucky guys who were killed in action accidentally fell off the deck when the troops were boarding the ship. They were already dead when they were rescued. Strictly speaking, this is not considered death in action, it is an accident at most.
, but for the sake of the soldiers’ posthumous names and for the sake of their families.
The officers still gave them a quota for death in action.
After all, the pension for death in battle is much greater than the pension for accidental death or injury.
As for the dozen or so injured, several were injured accidentally, and only a few were injured due to fighting.
Strictly speaking, the 18th Division fought a battle with zero casualties!
Because they had never had close contact with the enemy, before the infantry came forward, the artillery units were already directly shelling several kilometers away, and then the enemy collapsed.
Many soldiers of the 18th Division went on the war for more than a month. In fact, they did not even see the enemy from the beginning to the end, and they did not fire a shot. Then the officers above announced that they had won the war.
This made many soldiers of the 18th Division feel very ridiculous, because they felt like they were fighting a fake war!
In particular, many infantry officers were particularly aggrieved. After returning to Gohe Prefecture, they did not look good to the artillery brothers next door for a long time.
After finally getting an opportunity to go out to fight, these infantry officers are still counting on meritorious service. They don't ask for great military exploits. In fact, defeating the natives like this is not a great achievement, but at least they must make their resumes look good.
ah.
These officers went overseas to suffer hardship, not just for their military exploits, to have a better resume, and to facilitate their promotion in the future.
But those artillerymen were good at finishing the battle at once, leaving the infantry with nothing to do. It is strange that those infantry officers could look good to the artillery.
While the infantry officers were angry, the officers of the 18th Artillery Regiment were smiling.
The infantry can't win any battle merit, which means their artillery performs well.
This blast went all the way, no matter what the natives were, they were all blown to pieces. How enjoyable it was, and how much credit it deserved.
"You didn't see it at the beginning. When our 40-gun was pulled up and fired, the teeth of Wang Liping's big soldiers were almost broken!"
"That's right, the regiment leader saw that they were pitiful, so he ordered the brothers to fire a few fewer rounds. Otherwise, if we fired at them so fast, they wouldn't even be able to save the last ten minutes of fighting time!"
"That's right. In fact, we were kind-hearted to provide them with artillery support, but in the end, they all showed their faces to our artillerymen!"
"Next time this happens, let them charge with their own guns, and we won't fire from behind!"
"You are stupid, how can you not fire cannons? This military merit is just like a mosquito's legs. If you don't eat other people's infantry, you won't even be left with dregs!"
While a group of artillery officers were chatting happily, Major General Tian Qinyun was also entertaining several people in his office.
One of the major generals, who was about fifty years old, was the chief of staff of the 23rd Army.
A brigadier general was the logistics director of the Indian Army Headquarters of the Imperial Army of the Tang Dynasty.
The current overseas military deployment and institutions of the Tang Empire are greatly different from those in the early years.
The Tang Empire established five ministers in charge of military affairs in overseas territories around the world, namely, the 'Minister of Military Affairs in charge of Europe', 'Minister of Military Affairs in charge of the Red Sea', 'Minister of Military Affairs in charge of India', 'Minister of Military Affairs in charge of Africa' and 'Minister of Military Affairs in charge of America'.
Minister of Military Affairs', these five ministers of military affairs are all at the level of lieutenant general, but because of their status as imperial envoys, they are very special.
Therefore, these five military affairs supervising ministers are actually fully responsible for the military affairs in their respective jurisdictions, including the army and navy.
However, it is limited to combat.
However, the construction, dispatch and other authority of the army and navy still belong to their respective branches.
The Tang Empire had a minister in charge of Indian military affairs in the Indian region, but this minister was not stationed in the Indian peninsula, but in Ceylon.
In fact, the Indian Affairs Supervisory Office of the Tang Empire also worked in Ceylon.
Therefore, Ceylon Island was actually the military and administrative center of the Tang Empire in the entire Indian Ocean region.
There are Imperial Army India Headquarters, Navy Indian Ocean Fleet Headquarters, etc. on the island.
As for Gehe Prefecture, there are military command structures such as the 23rd Army Headquarters and the 18th Division Headquarters.
After the 18th Division was deployed to Gehe Prefecture, it was directly under the command of the 23rd Army.
This time, the people from the Army Headquarters and the Indian Headquarters came, naturally not for the Karo Kingdom. It was just a small indigenous kingdom, and they would not let their superiors specially send people to inquire.
They sent people here this time to equip the 18th Division with various new equipment, especially the performance of the Combined Type II rifle. In addition, the 40 light howitzer was also their focus.
Regarding the Joint Type II rifle, Tian Qinyun said this: "This rifle is much better than the previous single-shot rifle, and its actual combat performance is quite outstanding!"
Although the infantry did not have much chance to perform in this battle to quell the Kingdom of Carlo, at any rate, the Type 2 rifles could be used in actual combat.
Tian Qinyun said as he handed over a report: "This is the use report of the second-type rifle written by the next few infantry regiments. The soldiers on the front line are still very satisfied with this rifle!"
Several people on the opposite side also smiled when they heard this!
"That's good. The Privy Council is still worried that the Type 2 rifle will encounter problems in actual combat!"
"Fortunately, we have conducted numerous tests in advance and have improved many of the exposed defects before testing the equipment in large-scale actual combat. Otherwise, we still don't know what problems may arise!"
Tian Qinyun and other generals are very satisfied with the performance of the Joint Type II rifle. More than a month of actual combat has fully proved that this rifle is relatively adaptable to the climate and environment in India. At the same time, the soldiers
People reported that it is very convenient to load and shoot, and the effective range and accuracy are also very good.
Although some people say that this gun is not as good as the latest improved model of the Lee Fu rifle, people with a little bit of rationality simply ignore such remarks.
What is the price of the Li Fu rifle, and what is the price of these two rifles?
The price gap between the two is huge, and it's normal to have a performance gap.
After all, weapons are what you pay for. What the Army wants is not the best, but the most cost-effective.
"Since there are no problems in actual combat here, it is estimated that the next step will be to install it in several other areas for actual combat testing. If the testing goes well, it is expected that starting next year, it will be equipped on a large scale throughout the entire army."
The research and development, testing and equipment of the Joint Type II rifle are all major projects, and the actual combat testing of the equipment of the 18th Division is only one of many aspects of testing.
The report of the 18th Division was quickly sent to the Ordnance Department of the Jinling Privy Council.
After seeing the good performance in actual combat, the Ordnance Department finally decided to officially mass-produce Type 2 rifles and at the same time continue to send Type 2 rifles to some troops deployed overseas for actual combat testing.
According to this large-scale actual combat test plan, troops deployed in Africa, the Red Sea, the Americas, and Europe will all have a unit equipped with this rifle.
After the global testing is completed, it will be officially installed on a large scale.
The test of the Joint II rifle went smoothly, but the test of the 40 howitzer encountered some troubles, although the 18th Division deployed in India reported that the 40 light howitzer performed well.
However, the 47th Division deployed in Banten Province reported that these 40-gun guns were not very useful in tropical areas.
On the one hand, the weight is still a bit enlarged, making it difficult to maneuver. On the other hand, the corrosion resistance of the artillery barrel is poor, and it is easy to rust and corrode in humid and rainy environments.
To put it bluntly, the quality is not good.
Therefore, the Ordnance Department has officially issued a letter to Northern Arms Company, asking them to make follow-up improvements in response to the issues raised by the military. Otherwise, do not expect subsequent orders.
After Northern Arms received feedback from the Army, the company's top executives responsible for the Army's artillery project went crazy and scolded the management of its subordinate factories.
Although this matter is just an ordinary problem in the eyes of the army's top brass, in the eyes of Northern Arms Company, this problem is very big.
Because this 40-zero howitzer is a product that Northern Arms Company has high hopes for.
In recent years, Northern Arms has been in decline, especially in the field of artillery. It failed to compete for the Army's new artillery project.
On the other hand, the artillery business of Jiangnan Arms Company and South China Arms Company is becoming more and more prosperous.
Needless to say, Jiangnan Arms Company, its subsidiary Shanghai Artillery Factory is the son of the Navy. The Navy's medium and large-caliber artillery are all made in Shanghai.
Even the Foshan Gun Factory, a subsidiary of the South China Arms Company, relied on its newly developed spring-tube annealing cannon to win a large number of orders from the Navy for small and medium-caliber rapid-fire naval guns such as 120 mm and 100 mm.
As for Northern Arms Company, due to its lagging behind in the field of long-barreled artillery, it has been completely unable to obtain orders from the Navy.
Moreover, even Northern Arms Company’s basic base, namely the Army’s artillery orders, has been taken away a lot by Jiangnan Arms Company and South China Arms Company in recent years.
You know, from the era of front-loading artillery to the early days of rifled breech-loading artillery, the artillery produced by the Tianjin Artillery Factory and the Zhengzhou Artillery Factory, both affiliated to the Northern Arms Company, were all artillery for the army, regardless of whether they were train guns or small-caliber howitzers.
, that’s all owned by Northern Arms Company.
But this situation has slowly changed in recent years.