It's a pity that the Guards has a relatively small scope. Although the overall quality is good, there are only so many people. When it comes to strategic research and other things, it is still not as good as the Army.
So although I have noticed the problem very early and have been trying to solve it, the progress in the past few years has not been smooth.
However, starting this year, after many years of research, the Guards integrated many previous improvement plans and finally proposed a series of brand-new tactical reform plans.
And it has already been reported to the emperor, but I don’t know how the Holy Emperor feels about this reform plan of the Guards.
If the Holy Emperor still feels that it is not feasible, then he will probably have to continue to study it.
But what he didn't expect was that the Holy Emperor Li Xuan was actually a little surprised after seeing the Guards' tactical reform plan.
Even though it was just words, Li Xuan could still feel some atmosphere from these words that was obviously not in line with this era.
For example, the two brigades and four regiments system may not seem like much on the surface, but the key point is that in the reform plan of the Guards, the brigades in the two brigades and four regiments system are used as basic tactical units during combat.
It will strengthen artillery, cavalry, baggage and other auxiliary units, thus forming a mixed brigade.
Although the term "mixed brigade" is no longer unfamiliar, there were many two-regiment mixed brigades in the early days of the Tang Dynasty Army!
But the mixed brigades at that time were independent troops, while the current brigades are placed under the divisions.
In addition, the detailed tactics have also changed greatly, further widening the distance between infantry, controlling a wider front with fewer troops, and paying more attention to the use of artillery, especially the use of light artillery by grassroots troops.
In terms of reform, it is proposed that when the troops fight overseas, the troops often operate on a small scale. Unless there are special circumstances, most overseas battles take place at the company and battalion levels.
Military operations requiring the Tang Empire to dispatch a regiment are now relatively rare.
In this case, the artillery power of grassroots units should be further strengthened, and light artillery should be directly assigned to infantry companies and infantry battalions.
Instead of directly using the 75mm light howitzer or the 55mm howitzer as before.
At present, in the Tang Empire, regardless of whether it is the Army, the Guards or the Marine Corps, there are only two types of support artillery at the grassroots level. One is the 60mm howitzer, with an effective range of about 3,500 meters, and the other
It is a 75mm howitzer with an effective range of up to 4,000 meters.
However, although these two are often issued to infantry regiments for combat, it is impossible to issue them to infantry battalions or even companies.
Even though these two artillery pieces look small, they actually weigh 500 to 600 kilograms and require professional artillery to operate them.
To this end, the reform plan of the Guards proposes to develop and equip a small-caliber light howitzer with an effective range of two thousand meters. It can accompany infantry battalion-level troops in direct maneuvers, maneuver through pack horses, and can be transported by manpower when necessary.
And can maneuver quickly during combat.
Although the Guards proposed this artillery, they defined it as a light howitzer.
But in Li Xuan's view, light howitzers are still unreliable. No matter how hard they are used, those howitzers can only move hundreds of kilograms, and it is difficult for manpower to transport them directly. At the same time, if the caliber is too small, the power will be insufficient.
Today's artillery shells are still filled with black powder. The caliber of today's 60mm howitzers is already small enough. If we make 40mm or 30mm howitzers, they will only make a sound to the enemy. It's nothing.
Lethality.
Therefore, in Li Xuan's opinion, it is better to engage in mortars directly than to engage in these.
In the past, mortars could not be built because problems such as barrel materials, primers and propellants could not be solved.
But now, thanks to the defense industry that has been developing, many technologies no longer have problems.
It is absolutely possible to create a mortar similar to that of later generations. At most, the performance will be slightly worse, but it is still better than those small-caliber howitzers.
Therefore, after Li Xuan read the reform plan of the Guards, his focus was not on the detailed reform of the Guards, but on the supporting artillery of the grassroots units.
It also sent word of mouth to the relevant research departments. The current small-caliber artillery is still a bit heavy and difficult to carry and use when small-scale troops are organized in overseas areas. The relevant research departments were ordered to develop lighter infantry support artillery.
, and it is also necessary to ensure that the power of this support artillery cannot be too small.
Forget about thirty millimeters, forty millimeters, and the like. If you have the skills to fire such small-caliber shells at the enemy, you might as well just shoot them with a rifle.
There are two main directions for research. One is light howitzers. In order to ensure power, the caliber cannot be too small. It must be at least 60 mm, preferably 70 or even 80 mm. If the caliber is large, it must be ensured
The maneuverability requires a short barrel, but a certain range must also be ensured. Two thousand meters is a must, because only in this way can the front-loaded artillery of potential enemies be suppressed.
At the same time, other parts are also simplified as much as possible to reduce weight.
At the same time, in order to ensure that maneuvers can be carried out in complex terrain, when necessary, even untrained animals or even manpower can be directly towed and marched.
It is necessary to fully accompany the actions of the infantry units.
Another research direction is mortars. Datang has rich experience in researching front-loaded artillery. It has also researched and equipped many mortars, so many people are familiar with mortars, but they want to meet Li Xuan's requirements.
But it was more difficult. I thought Li Xuan required that this mortar should have an effective range of at least one thousand meters and be able to maneuver quickly with manpower. At the same time, the power should not be small.
Many of these requirements are actually contradictory.
They want to be light in weight and have good maneuverability, but they also want to have high range and high power.
It is not easy to meet these requirements, and the technical challenges for the empire are still very large.
How to put it, in fact, the performance requirements put forward by Li Xuan can even be said to have reached the level of later generations, or even higher.
Mortars are very simple and can be made now, but it is not easy to get a mortar that meets the needs of the troops.
For example, if you build a mortar with a maximum range of 500 meters, the military will definitely not want it.
Because at this distance, for the Tang Army, it was within the effective range of rifle firepower.
For example, if the effective range of a light howitzer is two thousand meters, the Army will definitely not want it, because it cannot completely suppress the front-loaded artillery of potential enemies.
Although the task of suppressing enemy artillery belongs to the 75mm artillery equipped by the divisional artillery.
However, the purpose of developing battalion and company-level artillery is to enable battalion and company troops to have the combat capability of suppressing enemy front-loaded artillery, not to kill enemy infantry.
If you want to kill enemy infantry, you don't need artillery, infantry rifles are enough!
Different opponents have different tactics, so their requirements for weapons and equipment are also different.
Li Xuan rarely said that he would directly apply the weapons and equipment of later generations and force them to be used by the army.
After the instructions were given, Jiangnan Weapons Company was the first to take out a test sample.
They directly modified the design based on the 75mm light howitzer. The caliber was reduced to 65mm, the barrel was shorter, and the gun mount was also simplified in design, all in order to control the weight.
The 65mm light howitzer finally designed is lighter than the 60mm howitzer currently in service, and it is much lighter. The total gun weight is only 250 kilograms. During combat, two soldiers can
Pushing all over the floor.
When marching, any horse can pull him along. If there is no horse, a few soldiers can pull him along.
The ability to adapt to terrain is almost all-round.
At the same time, although the artillery is light and the barrel is relatively thin, they use the most advanced technology and the barrel is forged from low carbon steel, which can withstand greater bore pressure.
Therefore, although the barrel is a bit shorter, it can hold a lot of propellant. At the same time, the shells are also lengthened to increase the charge.
Finally, this 65mm light howitzer, with a weight of more than 200 kilograms, has an effective range of two thousand meters. At the same time, the explosive power of the shell is not much worse than the ordinary 75mm grenade.
In the words of the Ordnance Department of the Army Privy Council, this gun is good, but expensive!
Therefore, a large number of new technologies are used, which directly leads to extremely high costs, and the price is not much cheaper than those 75mm howitzers.
For this kind of 65mm light howitzer, the Army has tried to purchase a batch of them for use. As for whether they will be used on a large scale, it depends on the opinions of senior officials.
After all, this thing is expensive, and the amount of equipment is expected to be very large. It is difficult for the Army, which has money but never enough money to spend, to make such a determination.
As for the mortar project, Jiangnan Weapons Company also came up with a design plan, but their design plan was directly killed by the Army.
If nothing else, the weight is seriously excessive.
The army is interested in the project of Northern Arms Company. They have developed an 80mm rapid-fire mortar. Compared with rifled artillery, the range is naturally not good, only more than 1,500 meters, and the accuracy is also poor.
As for the weight, this thing was developed based on a light mortar from the beginning, so it is naturally very light.
The whole gun consists of a barrel, a base and a support frame, and the total weight of the whole gun is only over 60 kilograms!
According to the Army Ordnance Department, these performance are considered normal, and they are no different from the previous light mortars!
But the reason why the army values it is not because of these, but because of the matching artillery shells!