The world's first actual machine gun combat did not occur in the Guards, which was the first to equip machine guns, nor in the Army, which had a relatively large number of equipment, but in the Navy.
It is not even the Marine Corps responsible for land operations, but a temporary support force formed by sailors on naval battleships.
The more than 60 landing support combat troops organized by the cruiser Quang Ninh, in addition to carrying rifles and other light weapons, also removed a 12mm heavy machine gun on the ship and installed it on a two-wheeled gun rack. Along with the local
The garrison troops went to fight.
In the ensuing expulsion and purge battle, this machine gun burst out with amazing combat effectiveness.
According to the battle reports reported by the frontline troops, the actual combat time of the machine gun was only about half an hour, but the results were quite brilliant.
This machine gun alone killed at least two hundred enemy soldiers.
This battle report was quickly reported by the Navy, and was finally sent back to the native Jinling City. Not only the top brass of the Navy knew about it, but the top brass of the Army and Guards also knew about the huge results of the first actual battle of the machine gun.
This also directly led to the Army, Navy and Guards once again increasing their purchase of machine guns, and it is expected to equip more machine guns.
Among them, the Guards is preparing to increase the equipment size of machine guns to at least 100 per division, and together with mortars, they will be directly distributed to infantry companies for equipment.
A brand-new "gun platoon" was even established specifically for this purpose, equipped with 60mm mortars and 8mm machine guns.
Naturally, the Army will not be so perverse, but it is also considering equipping each division with at least twenty-four eight-millimeter machine guns.
The same goes for the Navy, which has increased the number of machine gun equipment for the Marine Corps.
The emergence of heavy machine guns will once again increase the density of medium and short-range firepower of the Tang Dynasty military, making the Datang military, which is already invincible, move towards an even more invincible direction.
Today's army and navy of the Tang Empire have a very complete firepower system. The army's 120mm long-range heavy artillery and 150mm cannon are enough to carry out long-range artillery fire on the enemy ten kilometers away.
A large number of field howitzers can hit enemy targets more than four thousand meters and within ten kilometers.
Seventy-mm infantry guns and mortars can effectively cover targets ranging from 500 meters to 3,000 meters.
The machine gun can cover a combat area within one thousand meters.
The last rifle is responsible for the combat area within 500 meters.
Finally, there are grenades responsible for the combat area within thirty meters.
Many weapons form multiple fire strikes from far, medium and near.
And no indigenous country in the world can resist this kind of firepower.
The Tang Empire itself knows this, and even the indigenous countries know this. Over the years, these indigenous countries have basically learned to be wise, and they should not offend the Tang Empire.
In this way, it is understandable why the Ottoman Kingdom was so willing to sell the area within ten kilometers on both sides of the Black Sea Strait directly to the Tang Empire to serve as a military base. It was a one-time sale for 2.2 million Tang Yuan, all at a discount.
The high-end export weapons provided to the Tang Empire include cap-fired smoothbore guns, new smoothbore cannons that can fire delayed fuze round grenades, and different specifications, including some plate armor that can effectively resist muskets.
The arms business of the Tang Empire was very large, and it provided a wide variety of export weapons, including muskets, various versions of matchlocks, and various versions of muskets, which could fully meet the needs of different customers around the world.
However, some of the high-end items are still not easily exported, such as the percussion musket, which is a restricted export weapon. It does not mean that you can't buy it if you have money.
When the Tang Empire exported various weapons, in addition to making money, it also considered the final impact of these weapons, especially whether it would cause an imbalance in the local situation.
In the past, it was naturally impossible for the Ottoman Kingdom to buy these good goods, but seeing that they had sold both sides of the Black Sea Strait to the empire, and even their own capital was still within this range, the Tang Empire could be considered
After being generous for a while, as a supplement, he exported a batch of the most advanced export model weapons to them with restrictions.
After all, although the capital of the Ottoman Kingdom is not within the scope of the lease, it is completely surrounded by a military restricted area, leaving only a port and a land channel about six kilometers long and no more than a hundred meters wide to communicate with the outside world.
But strangely, since the Ottoman Kingdom and the Tang Empire officially signed the Black Sea Strait land transfer agreement, there has been an interesting trend within the Ottoman Kingdom.
First of all, the Ottoman king, who had already moved to the outskirts of the capital with his ministers, returned to the capital with his royal family members and dignitaries.
Not only the local dignitaries, but also many wealthy businessmen from other places flocked to Istanbul in large numbers after hearing the news.
Why?
Two words!
Safety!
According to the land transfer agreement, those empires sold to the Tang Dynasty will be the territory of the Tang Empire from now on, and the Datang Empire will turn the above-mentioned areas into military restricted areas and prohibit any natives from intruding.
This also means that if the Ottoman Kingdom encounters any crisis, such as a rebellion or the like, and the Ottoman royal family blocks the 100-meter-wide entrance and exit to the west, then the entire western land part of Istanbul will be completely at risk.
It was surrounded by the military restricted area of the Tang Empire.
Others simply cannot hope to cross these military restricted areas and attack Istanbul from the ground.
This was actually one of the reasons why the Ottoman Kingdom finally agreed to the harsh Black Sea Strait transfer agreement. As for others, the most important reason was naturally because of the warships of the Tang Navy anchored outside Istanbul.
Aside from these factors, another big factor is that once both sides of the Black Sea Strait belong to the territory of the Tang Empire, even if it is a military restricted area, the Tang Dynasty will more or less immigrate to these places and station a large number of troops at the same time.
It is even possible for the troops to choose a suitable place to build a city in the Black Sea Strait and use it as a military base, commercial port, and supply port.
This also means that Istanbul will have more connections with Datang in the future, especially commercial connections.
But the influx of a large number of people has also put Istanbul under great pressure.
Contemporary Istanbul is actually not that big. It is a very typical fortress city. It is a triangular city as a whole, facing the sea on three sides and the Tang Dynasty military restricted area to the west. It is surrounded by tall city walls and the city area is only more than ten square kilometers.
That's all, there is a buffer zone of about ten square kilometers outside the city, mainly to the west. According to the agreement, no buildings or residences can be allowed in this area.
This place originally had a large population, but now that so many people have poured in, the living conditions have become even worse.
The health situation is quite worrying!
Well, the main reason is that the people of the Tang Dynasty are worried. For this reason, they have also suggested that the Ottoman royal family should do a good job in sanitation. Look at you, there are people who die in different ways on the streets all day long. You are not afraid, we people of the Tang Dynasty are afraid!
But after the people of the Ottoman royal family listened carefully to their opinions, they felt that the Tang Dynasty people had nothing to do but that the city was a bit dirty, smelly, and more people had died. It was such a big deal that you, the Tang Dynasty people, deserved to come to their door.
Let's talk.
Besides, those who died are all from our Ottoman Kingdom, and it has nothing to do with you Tang Dynasty people.
Well, a few days later, the diplomats of the Tang Dynasty made a new friendly suggestion to the Ottoman royal family: If you are unable to improve the sanitation in the city, in order to prevent the pollution in the city from spreading to the surrounding Datang territory, we can use kerosene to help you
Free disinfection in the nation’s capital!
The envoy from the Ottoman Kingdom was a little confused. He knew what kerosene was. It was used for lighting lamps, so he wondered: Kerosene actually has the effect of disinfection?
The diplomat of the Tang Dynasty answered truthfully: "Of course it can. The temperature when burning kerosene is very high. Chinese scientists have experimentally proven that ultra-high temperature is enough to kill almost all bacteria and viruses!"
After hearing this, the envoy from the Ottoman Kingdom did not react for a while. He was stunned for several seconds before he reacted: Damn, this bastard is talking about setting fire to the city!