When Li Chunjing, the commander of the re-established Second Army, heard about the front line of the heavy artillery battalion, he was also excited to watch the live ammunition training. However, he did not go forward to watch, not even a group of senior generals of the Second Army who accompanied him to inspect.
None of them came close.
Why, because although this thing is powerful, it is also very dangerous.
At present, the technology of howitzers is not yet mature, and it is very dangerous when fired. If the fuse of the shell is ignited, but the fuse of the propellant is not ignited smoothly, there will be only one result: explosion of the barrel!
Therefore, the engineers sent by the Zhaoqing Arsenal to provide technical guidance said that the operation of this kind of artillery must be very careful. They even said that when the Zhaoqing Arsenal conducted research and development tests in the early stages, there were several accidents, and there was even one.
In the explosion accident, the test gun crew was canceled on the spot, two people were killed on the spot, and seven or eight others were injured.
Therefore, it was specially emphasized to the military that this artillery must not pursue a rate of fire, otherwise errors may occur during actual combat, and once an error occurs, the chamber will explode.
Engineers at the Zhaoqing Arsenal even bluntly said: The gunner who controls this heavy howitzer is dancing on the tip of the knife. If he is not careful, he will be in catastrophe.
This is also the reason why the Zhaoqing Arsenal has not yet developed a long-barreled howitzer, because it is too dangerous when fired.
Although short-barreled artillery is also dangerous, as long as it is operated properly and no mistakes are made, safety can still be guaranteed.
After a lot of busy work and checking it several times, a major in charge of directing the live ammunition test said to Li Chunjing: "Sir, we are ready to fire!"
At this time, Li Chunjing, who had the rank of lieutenant general on his shoulders, said: "Now that we are ready, let's start. Let us fully experience the power of this heavy howitzer!"
After Li Chunjing said that, the major immediately said: "Yes!"
Not long after, on the artillery position in front, a 24-pound heavy howitzer was ignited. Immediately afterwards, everyone saw a cloud of white smoke coming out of the extremely thick, but extremely short barrel.
There was a thick white smoke, and at the same time, they also heard a loud noise!
Just hearing this loud noise shocked this group of generals. The sound of this cannon fire was simply earth-shattering. It was much stronger than those field cannons. Even the largest nine-pound field cannon in the Army was far behind.
Not as good as that!
Isn't this a big move? The heavy howitzer developed and equipped by the Tang Dynasty was originally specially prepared for siege, so it requires huge power!
At the same time, due to the relatively small explosive power of black powder, in order to obtain ideal explosive power, a large charge is required, and a large charge will make the shell larger, larger, and heavier.
, and at the same time, because of the short barrel, the energy of the propellant will be greatly wasted, so if you want this kind of shell to travel a long enough distance, you need more propellant.
A heavy howitzer of the same caliber, also known as a mortar, often requires twice the propellant of an ordinary cannon. However, even so, its range is somewhat inferior.
At the same time, with the increase in propellant, in order to allow the barrel to withstand high chamber pressure, if the material technology is not up to standard, the only option is to passively thicken the barrel.
Therefore, the barrel of a mortar is often twice or even three times that of an ordinary artillery piece of the same caliber.
These restrictions and designs led to the birth of the heavy-duty short-barreled howitzer, also known as the mortar!
At the same time, because the artillery shells still use matchlock fuses, they cannot be used in long-barreled artillery. At the same time, the power of black powder is limited, and its use in mortars with too small a mouth is of little practical value.
Even small-caliber mortars usually refer to twelve-pound mortars, while twenty-four-pound or even thirty-two-pound mortars can actually only be regarded as medium-caliber mortars.
A mortar weighing more than 64 pounds can barely be regarded as a large-caliber mortar. You have to know that the Army has entrusted the Zhaoqing Arsenal to develop and produce larger-caliber mortars.
But even so, the Army is preparing to purchase large quantities of nine-pound and fourteen-pound howitzers, but they are not intended for use by heavy artillery in sieges, but are intended to serve as indirect fire support firepower for infantry.
Because despite the large caliber of howitzers, they are actually very light in weight. A fourteen-pound howitzer, not counting the base, only weighs a mere 130 kilograms. And because it is made of iron, its weight is very light.
The cost is quite low. If mass-produced, the price of this kind of artillery will not exceed fifty taels, which is roughly equivalent to the price of ten rifles!
The nine-pound howitzer weighs only a few dozen kilograms, so the price is even cheaper!
In fact, the reason that limited the Tang Army's large-scale use of small and medium-caliber mortars was not the cost of the artillery itself, but the cost of ammunition. If you fired more rounds, the cost of ammunition would be higher than the price of these mortars.
The current Datang Army is still studying how to better install these mortars, but before that, they plan to solve the fuze problem first. The current firing mode is too dangerous, even for the most professional and rigorously trained soldiers.
Artillerymen cannot say that they can guarantee the safety during firing.
But then again, if the fuze problem is solved, the Tang Army will not need to equip these small and medium-caliber short-barreled mortars, because they can completely stuff these grenades into the existing long-barreled artillery, thereby obtaining more
Good actual combat effectiveness, and by that time, the Tang Dynasty will officially enter the era of explosive bombs!
However, Li Chunjing naturally has no time to think about these things. That is what the engineers of the Ordnance Department of the Privy Council and the Ministry of Industry should consider. What Li Chunjing should consider is how to make good use of these twelve big guys to defeat the Ming army.
turtle shell!
If we can use these big guys to break the tortoise shell of Nanchang during the autumn and winter offensive, I am afraid no one will dare to make irresponsible remarks about his promotion to lieutenant general!
As long as he captures Nanchang, his military exploits will be worthy of the rank of lieutenant general!
He wants to make his army lieutenant general worthy of his title!
Li Chunjing was promoted to the rank of Army Lieutenant General when he took up the post of Commander of the Second Army a month ago. He was also the second Lieutenant General in the Tang Dynasty King's Division, and the first one was naturally Hao Bainian.
Hao Bainian was promoted two months earlier than him, in May.
Li Chunjing also knew very well why His Majesty promoted him to a military rank, so that he could suppress the group of arrogant generals under the Second Army. The Second Army was also full of talents.
There is Wang Shanxu, a veteran who was the first to join the army, and Brigadier General Gu Shizhong, the leader of the Fourth Mixed Regiment who performed extremely well in the battles of Chenzhou and Guiyangzhou.
During the reform of the temporary regiment, Li Xuan added a first-level military rank in the army and navy, and added the rank of brigadier general between colonel and major general. This is because although the scale of the Tang Dynasty King's Division gradually expanded, and Li Xuan wanted to
It is necessary to strictly control the number of people above the major general level, but the size of the mixed regiment is almost the same as the previous infantry brigade, and it is not appropriate to use the rank of colonel, so the rank of brigadier general was added.
The other group leaders, etc., are mostly veterans with outstanding military exploits.
Although Li Chunjing was also highly qualified, he was not as good as Hao Bainian. When Hao Bainian was promoted to lieutenant general, no one even said a word of gossip because Hao Bainian's military exploits were there.
But when Li Chunjing was promoted to lieutenant general, it caused a stir. The reason was that in the past year, Li Chunjing led the 4th Infantry Division in western Guangxi, western Guizhou, and eastern Yunnan without fighting.
Through large-scale battles.
However, this does not affect Li Xuan's appreciation of him. In the past, Li Xuan admired Li Chunjing more, but he also felt that Li Chunjing was more radical in tactics, but he led the 4th Infantry Division to fight the Ming army in the southwest.
After a year of drilling in the mountains and valleys, his tactical style became more prudent.
Radical yet steady, this is what Li Xuan wants to see!
The war mission in the Jiangxi direction is very heavy. If you want to pry open the turtle shell of the Ming army, Wang Shanxu, a veteran with insufficient pioneering skills, is not enough to do it. Neither is Fang Xitong, a man who only thinks about pleasing himself. And Hao Bainian has to do it.
Huguang continued to support the overall situation, so after much consideration, Li Xuan chose Li Chunjing.
Since you have chosen to use Li Chunjing, you must naturally support him, and a lieutenant general rank is the best support!
When Li Chunjing led the Second Army north to prepare for war, Li Xuan did not forget to provide him with various supports. First, he established the Fourth Supplementary Brigade toward Ganzhou. The role of this supplementary brigade is the same as that of other supplementary brigades.
Provide new recruits for the frontline troops and maintain the situation.
Although military expenditures are tight, this year after taking control of southern Jiangxi and the area south of Hengyang in Huguang, a lot of taxes and soldiers were provided to the Tang Dynasty. In addition to the actual strategic needs, the fourth supplementary brigade was established.
It is imperative.
According to the current plan of the Tang Army, the supplementary brigades are integrated with the provincial recruit training camps.
Nowadays, the training time in the recruit camp is still one month in the past, but it is also stipulated that after the recruits complete basic physical fitness and discipline training, they must go to the provincial supplementary brigades to continue training to ensure a complete training time of at least three months.
According to this system, the existing three supplementary brigades were not enough, so Li Xuan established a supplementary brigade in each province to train new soldiers and shoulder the task of suppressing the rear.
The previous three supplementary brigades, the first supplementary brigade was in Huguang, the second supplementary brigade was in Guizhou, and the third supplementary brigade was in Guangxi. Therefore, Li Xuan established two new supplementary brigades, the fourth supplementary brigade in Jiangxi.
Brigade, the newly established Fifth Supplementary Brigade in Guangdong.
The supplementary brigade and the provincial recruit battalions are integrated with each other, and are mainly responsible for the mid-to-high-level training tasks of new recruits, providing qualified recruits for the frontline troops, and at the same time shouldering the task of suppressing the rear.
With the supplementary brigade, the frontline troops can fight with confidence without worrying about the recruitment of new recruits and rebellion in the rear!