Prince Li Hao's mentality has changed in recent years, causing him to become increasingly pessimistic about the future independence of overseas territories.
But even so, he still feels that he has the ability to suppress the overseas territories for several more decades, at least while he is alive, he can suppress his overseas brothers. As for the future, that will be his son's business.
On this point, his thoughts are similar to those of the Holy Emperor Li Xuan.
Li Xuan also has the determination and confidence to suppress the sons in overseas territories. As for his death, the prince probably will not be able to suppress them.
Unfortunately, the prince also felt that while his father was alive, there would be some turmoil in the overseas territories while he was alive, but overall suppression would not be a problem. The real trouble would be in the future.
I just don’t know if the emperor’s grandson will also have this idea in the future...
In order to continue to suppress his brothers in overseas territories in the future, Prince Li Hao has done a lot in recent years, and promoting global economic integration is one of the most important measures.
If this plan succeeds, it will at least stabilize overseas territories for several more decades.
As for the later stage, it will depend on the development of science and technology, especially the development of the national defense industry.
Therefore, Prince Li Hao is also the one currently promoting the development of national defense technology and equipping the military with more advanced weapons and equipment.
His purpose is not to expand the military, but to directly raise the threshold of the defense industry and raise the threshold of future rebellions in overseas territories.
He wanted to bring out the mechanized troops that his father mentioned. Whether they were expensive or not, and whether they were easy to use against the natives were secondary. What was important was to raise the threshold for rebellion in overseas territories.
Do you want to rebel if you want to get a rifle in the future?
Go ahead and dream!
And it is not easy to produce tanks for rebellion!
As for the rifle, you can almost make it with a basic industrial system. If you work harder, you can also make the artillery.
However, combat equipment such as tanks, battleships, and aircraft that have not yet appeared cannot function at all without the support of an advanced large-scale industrial system.
For example, battleships. During the time of World War I, many countries could build these things. Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Russia, the United States, and Japan were all big names. Even countries like Spain, the Netherlands, and Sweden could build smaller ones. The tonnage of the battleship may be a bit smaller, but that is limited by financial resources, which does not mean that they cannot build it.
But after the 21st century, only the United Kingdom, France, the United States, and China will be able to produce and equip the navy with top-level fleet aircraft carriers.
The same is true for fighter planes. Before and after World War I, even a skilled man could build one by hand. There are many countries that can produce fighter planes. However, after the 21st century, only Europe, the United States, Russia and China are the only ones that can build their own top-level fighter planes. .
With the development of technology and the improvement of performance of these equipments, the quality and quantity requirements of the industrial system are getting higher and higher.
What Prince Li Hao wants to do is to push industrial technology, especially defense-related technology, to a level that makes it impossible for overseas territories to catch up.
This is why in the winter, Prince Li Hao always braves the wind and snow to go to the weapons testing ground on the outskirts of Jinling to participate in the Army's new generation armored vehicle selection test.
More than the military generals, he actually looks forward to the successful development and service of this new top-level land combat equipment, which will promote the mechanization process of ground combat forces.
He wants to build a force that future rebels will need to look up to!
After arriving at the test site, several main persons in charge of the Army Ordnance Department, the only mechanized unit of the Army: the main generals of the First Mechanical Brigade of the Datang Army, several other senior leaders of the Army, the Guards and the Marine Corps represent.
As well as several major contractors for the development of armored vehicles: the armored vehicle research and development teams affiliated to each of the three major weapons companies.
In addition, there are representatives from Songjiang Heavy Machinery Company, Hangzhou Power Machinery Company, Qixiang Automobile Company, and Zhongyuan Automobile Company who provide technical support.
Finally, there are several professors from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Royal Institute of Technology.
Well, those professors from the Royal Institute of Technology came here purely for fun, because the Royal Institute of Technology basically did not participate in the specific research and development of various tank projects, and only provided some theoretical support.
The three major weapons companies are responsible for the specific research and development work themselves, while several other automobile companies provide detailed technical support.
Such a large group of people accompanied Prince Li Hao and looked at the more than ten test vehicles on the playground in front.
Although these more than ten vehicles have different shapes, they all have several similar characteristics, that is, they are wheeled armored vehicles that are developed from automobiles.
Its basic characteristics are that it is wheeled, has a certain amount of armor, and is equipped with a machine gun as its main firepower.
Of course, there are also a few weird vehicles equipped with small-caliber artillery.
However, in this era when the artillery can't even be retracted neatly, and the military is still using rack-mounted cannons on a large scale, it is quite difficult to move the artillery onto a vehicle, whether it is a wheeled vehicle or a tracked vehicle. .
This is why we have been talking about it for many years, but the military has not yet been able to develop the first tank prototype, because they have not even developed the tube annealing gun for the tank, nor have they developed the track system. Understand, even a high-horsepower engine is not enough. In short, except for conceptual drawings and ideas, there is nothing...
On the contrary, the research and development of wheeled armored vehicles has made great progress relying on the development of the automobile industry.
If the world looks at it in the future, the more than ten armored vehicles currently on the market ready for testing will all be rubbish. But for the contemporary Tang Empire, this is already the best they can produce. of armored vehicles.
The person in charge of Jiangnan Weapons Company confidently introduced their company's products to Li Hao: "Your Highness, this heavy armored vehicle is the product of our company that brought together hundreds of engineers to capture it day and night. It It has a structure with two wheels in the front and four wheels in the rear, which can carry greater body weight and has better off-road performance.
The vehicle is equipped with two heavy machine guns, with sufficient ammunition and powerful firepower!
We have also put a lot of effort into protection. Key parts are equipped with six millimeter-thick high-strength alloy steel plates, and other parts generally have four-mm thick alloy steel plates, which are enough to effectively defend against various types of bullets!
The car is equipped with the most advanced high-horsepower gasoline engine at present, which can allow the car to run at a speed of 50 kilometers per hour."
When this person was introducing, the person in charge of the Northern Arms Company who was behind him couldn't help but sneered, and taunted his colleagues in the back in a low voice: At a speed of fifty kilometers per hour, you can only blow on the cement. With the current engine level and such a heavy body, if you run in the wild, you may not be able to get up even if you encounter a small hole."
Sure enough, when this car was tested, the firepower and protection level tests had not yet started. In the first maneuver test, it just lay down on a slope...
This thing is too heavy and cannot climb any steep slope...
This result made the people of Jiangnan Weapons Company a little embarrassed, but after all, they were in front of the prince, so they insisted: "Your Highness, we have another two models, which are different from the heavy-duty model just now, but are neutral.