The training of gunners is also a microcosm of the training methods of the Tang Army, and these trainings all cost money, and they cost a lot of money.
The Army of the Tang Dynasty actually relied on strict military laws, high-intensity training, and generous treatment to win the war!
Guns and cannons are just an addition!
Without guns and artillery, the Tang army could still defeat the Ming army by relying on bayonets in hand-to-hand combat!
Of course, having guns and artillery is more powerful, and many tactics of the Tang Dynasty Army are based on guns and artillery, so to a certain extent, guns and artillery are also an indispensable part of the Tang Dynasty Army.
However, without ammunition, the Tang Army could still fight with bayonets!
When Li Chunjing led tens of thousands of troops to attack Yuezhou from Nanchang, Jiangxi, he said to his chief of staff: If we don't have ammunition, will we not fight? Are bayonets used for reading?
But no matter what, the Tang Army was actually a very expensive army. Its equipment, training, and treatment were all a level higher than those of the Ming Army!
The Army of the Tang Dynasty spent more than one million taels of silver to raise an infantry division, even if it did not fight. However, maintaining a force of 15,000 men in Dubiao's side only cost four to five million taels.
Two silver coins.
Under such circumstances, if the Tang Army cannot defeat Zhang Yue, then Li Xuan will doubt whether his officials and generals have embezzled all military expenses, just like the Ming Dynasty opposite!
After spending so much money, Li Xuan actually wanted to see the Tang Army defeat the Ming Army directly with guns and artillery.
He couldn't see this kind of hope before, but Su Song's battle made him see this kind of hope.
In this battle, the Tang Army gave full play to its firepower advantage, especially grenades and hand grenades, and made great achievements.
This also led to a significant reduction in casualties of the Second Army in this battle!
The Second Army fought for several days, but its casualty ratio was the lowest among the Tang Army's previous offensive operations. In this battle, the Second Army's total casualties were only about a thousand.
These also included the gunners who were killed and wounded in the early artillery battles, the assault battalion soldiers who were killed and wounded at the beginning of the general offensive, and the soldiers of the 7th Infantry Regiment. To be honest, the casualties in the subsequent offensive operations were not large.
You know, this is not the frontal decisive battle in the field that the Tang Army is best at.
The Ming army on the opposite side was not an ordinary Ming army, but the main force in Dubiao, and it also relied on Susong, a city that they had managed for several years and had complete city defenses.
However, even so, in the face of the artillery shells and grenades of the Tang Army, it still failed to display the defensive capabilities expected by the senior generals!
In fact, to counter the current offensive method of the Tang Dynasty Army, the best way for Supervisor is to learn from the Europeans in building bastions!
It's a pity that Zhang Yue doesn't know what a bastion is yet, so he still builds city defense facilities according to the traditional city defense model. At most, he just adds some small things to make it more complicated.
But in essence, it is still a traditional city defense!
And this kind of city defenses has almost no resistance in the face of current artillery and grenades.
After receiving the battle report of the Battle of Susong, Li Xuan gave instructions to increase the research and development of grenades and hand grenades, especially to strive to make long-barreled cannons capable of firing grenades as soon as possible.
Although the Army used to attach great importance to this matter, when Li Xuan personally gave instructions, the level of attention was different.
After all, although the Army's funds are large, they are also limited, and most of them are needed to maintain the size of the army and for combat purposes. The funds that can be squeezed out to invest in the research and development of new weapons are actually very limited.
Within the limited funds, what can be invested in the research and development of grenades and hand grenades is even more limited. But now, the Privy Council has quickly made a decision. In order to improve grenades and hand grenades as soon as possible, they are ready to invest heavily in the fuze part!
On the one hand, it was decided to invest part of the funds in the Royal Institute of Technology to form a specialized fuze research and development team. When it comes to scientific research and invention these days, no one is more reliable than the teachers and students of the Royal Institute of Technology.
In addition, they are also preparing to offer a large reward. No matter who can provide a usable new type of fuse, they will receive a very generous bonus.
Even if the proposed fuse is imperfect and immature, as long as it has some reference value, you can still get a certain amount of bonus, and the bonus starts with a thousand taels of silver.
If the new fuse can be directly put into mass production and use, then the bonus will be the maximum amount of 50,000 taels!
This is not the first time that the military has offered rewards to outsiders. In the early days, they also offered rewards for spring technology and how to cast large-caliber artillery with iron.
But it is a pity that in the Tang Dynasty these days, there are still very few civilian technical personnel, and their basic quality is not very good. If they can't even work with the teachers and students of the Royal Institute of Technology, they will do it even more
Won't come out.
Therefore, although there are rewards, basically no one can get them!
After all, these days, not many people in the Tang Dynasty even know what a spring is!
However, the technology of springs and large-caliber artillery made of iron is too high-end, and civilian technicians can basically just look at it with dismay, but today's fuzes are different.
What the Army needs is not materials, but a huge breakthrough in processing technology. They just need a novel design so that the artillery shells can be fired safely in the cannon. What is needed here is more innovative design minds.
Therefore, many people couldn't sit still when they saw the 50,000 taels of silver reward for the fuse. Because there was no limit to the reward, even other teachers and students at the Royal Institute of Technology were very interested in this fuse.
Dare to be interested.
Although the Royal Institute of Technology has mobilized five or six of the most talented teachers and students who are good at machinery, artillery, and chemical engineering to form a special fuze research and development team, this does not mean that other members of the Royal Institute of Technology
Teachers and students don't know how to do this.
Immediately, there was a small upsurge in research and development of fuzes at the Royal Institute of Technology!
Not only the Royal Institute of Technology, but also many teachers and students at Guozijian University and Jinling University are interested in this.
The above three universities are currently the only institutions of higher learning in the Tang Dynasty. Although there are not many science and engineering talents in the Imperial College, most of them go for the imperial examination, regardless of whether it is a liberal arts college or a science school.
Most of the students in the college are rushing to take the imperial examination. Once they graduate successfully, most of them go directly to take the examination.
However, there are many science and engineering talents in Jinling University, because when Jinling University was established, it encountered many difficulties. The Ministry of Rites lacked funds and teachers.
Finally, some teachers were transferred from the Imperial College, and then a group of people were recruited from the Royal Institute of Technology, and then the framework was set up. At the same time, in order to solve the funding problem, people from the Ministry of Rites approached many state-owned enterprises under the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises to cooperate and reached an agreement.
A series of agreements were made.
Mainly, companies provide money, and Jinling University helps them train talents. At the same time, Jinling University also needs to offer some specialized courses. For example, Jiangnan Iron and Steel Company donated money and asked Jinling University to open a metallurgical department specifically for them.
Then several textile companies from the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises also joined forces to allow Jinling University to open a textile department.
The three major weapons companies did not lag behind others. They directly donated large sums of money, and then let Jinling University set up a shipbuilding department and a mechanical department, which included shipbuilding, weapons design, gunpowder, etc.
Later, in addition to the original literature, medicine, physics, chemistry, mathematics and other subjects, Jinling University also added many highly professional departments.
And many of the students inside are employees commissioned by major companies to train!
So many officials in the Ministry of Rites complained that Jinling University, which they had worked so hard to build, was about to become a vocational training school under the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises.
But despite complaining, they still endured it for the sake of school funding.
Who makes them have no money from the Ministry of Rites? Jinling University originally had to spend so much money, but now that many companies under the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises are chipping in, they can save the money and use it to open a normal college.
Therefore, turning into a vocational training college means that after the university is established, their political achievements will be achieved, and they will have the confidence to speak in front of the Holy Emperor.
This has led to the fact that Jinling University, although it is currently known as a comprehensive university, is weak in liberal arts, and most of them are highly practical science and engineering departments.
Naturally, there are a lot of talents inside!
After these people saw the 50,000 taels of silver bounty, many of them were just scratching their heads. They thought they had outstanding abilities and immersed themselves in the work. If they thought their abilities were average, they would just recruit a few classmates to work together, even if they didn't succeed in the end.
I got 50,000 taels of silver after doing it, but as long as I come up with a more reasonable plan, I still get 1,000 taels of silver.
The students in Jinling University are not like the students in the Imperial College. All of them have their nostrils turned upward. They are all focused on studying and waiting to take the examination to become officials. They will not waste their studies for a mere thousand taels of silver.
Because of the special nature of the Imperial College in the early days, the students who applied for the school were quite special. Most of them were candidates, while a very small number were from preparatory schools in various places, and all of them were rushing to become officials.
In addition, the Imperial College does not waive tuition fees or provide subsidies, so in order to enroll in this school, except for a very small number of people who can get scholarships, it also requires a lot of tuition and living costs. Most of the students there are of modest means.
After all, many of the students there are elected officials from various provinces, and a qualified official is nothing in the capital, just an ordinary student, but locally, he is the backbone of the stable gentry class.
But many students at Jinling University come from poor backgrounds!