Yang Fan sorted out the information on military forces he had on hand.
Currently, Yang Fan has organized a cavalry army on the grassland. He planned to reorganize an infantry army, with officers drawn from the retainers' regiment and soldiers drawn from the elite of the territorial militia.
There are currently three cavalry divisions under the Cavalry Corps, and each cavalry division is composed of two cavalry regiments.
This time, the twelve peripheral tribes of the Tumut tribe were wiped out, the nobles and cavalry were forced away, and the tribesmen, cattle, sheep and livestock were annexed. Gained a large population again.
Among these newly increased populations, there are enough capable men to add another cavalry regiment to each cavalry division. It was expanded into a cavalry corps with three divisions and nine cavalry regiments.
The camels that Yang Fan instructed Ali to purchase are about to arrive.
Yang Fan will add another camel gun regiment to each cavalry division. Mainly equipped with small-caliber Camel cannon and Gatling machine gun. Used to enhance the firepower of the cavalry division.
In this way, the cavalry corps will be reorganized into three cavalry divisions and twelve cavalry regiments. Plus personnel directly under the military headquarters and division headquarters. A huge force with a total number of nearly 50,000 people.
In the future, the cavalry army will be permanently stationed in the Mongolian area and will be the main military force to deter Mongolia and establish slaves.
To form an infantry army, it is necessary to develop advanced infantry weapons. What kind of weapons can be used, what kind of tactics and troop formation can be used. Generally speaking, there are three types of weapons for infantry.
Artillery, machine guns, rifles.
With current technology, artillery must be able to follow infantry marches and maneuver on the battlefield. Artillery that cannot be moved is meaningless. It can only be a burden to the soldiers. Increase the logistical burden.
In this era, artillery that relied on mules and horses and infantry manpower to transport and push it could ensure battlefield mobility and march, and the total weight should not be too heavy.
The Napoleon gun is the ceiling of forward-loading infantry guns. The technical level has basically reached its peak. Going further back, it is the breech-loading Armstrong cannon equipped by the British lobster soldiers in the Second Crow War.
Yang Fan decided that the artillery force would be equipped with similar types of artillery with improved designs based on the Napoleon cannon. The main improvement is to use steel instead of bronze, which greatly reduces the weight. Improve mobility.
This gun has been put into production in the first half of the year. There is already a certain amount of inventory. It can be put into use by the troops at any time.
This kind of gun can be divided into three types according to the weight of the shell. Three-pounder guns (battalion-level guns), six-pounder guns (regiment-level guns), and 12-pounder guns (division-level guns).
The total weight of the artillery of more than twelve pounds was too great. Because the roads and bridges of this era were in poor condition and the mule and horse towing capabilities were limited, they were not suitable for army use.
If a siege gun is needed, it must be equipped with a large-caliber, short-barreled heavy mortar. But Yang Fan has a gunpowder-propelled grenade launcher and a heartless cannon. So this is waived. Yang Fan's existing equipment is lighter and easier to carry.
Three-pounder guns, equipped to the battalion level.
Yang Fan decided to improve the design of the three-pounder gun based on the 1776-type 3-pounder gun. The historical use of this gun was during the American Revolutionary War.
In terms of performance, range: 365 meters; caliber: 76mm, barrel length: 0.65 meters. Yang Fan has modern scrap seamless steel pipes with good performance as the gun barrel, which can control the total gun weight to less than 150 kilograms. Two soldiers can easily maneuver the cannon. A skilled soldier can fire a 3-pounder in 30 seconds.
Six-pounder gun, equipped with troops directly under the regimental headquarters of the infantry regiment.
Yang Fan's six-pound gun was designed based on the m1841 6-pound (projectile 2.54 kg) field gun. The main purpose is to improve the gun mount and install bearings. Increase field marching speed and reduce resistance. At the same time, steel was used instead of heavy bronze to reduce the weight of the artillery.
In terms of performance, the original gun has a caliber of 3.66 inches (about 93mm), a barrel length of 1.52 meters, and a weight of about 389 kilograms. Range 1370 meters.
After Yang Fan improved it, he used modern seamless steel pipes as the barrel. The caliber was changed to 100mm and the weight was reduced to 250 kg.
The twelve-pounder gun is used as a division-affiliated artillery and is equipped with artillery units directly under the division headquarters.
The gun is designed based on the m1857 12-pound field gun.
The original gun had a barrel length of 66 inches (1.676 meters 14.3 times the caliber) and a caliber of 117mm. The gun body weighed 1227 pounds (556.57 kg) and the left and right wheels had a diameter of 57 inches (1.45 meters).
Total weight (barrel, carriage plus wheels) is 2,445 pounds (1,109 kilograms). The total gun combination (full gun plus front trailer and attached ammunition box) weighs 3865 pounds (approximately 1750 kilograms).
Yang Fan made relatively large improvements to the twelve-pounder gun. Mainly because this kind of artillery is too heavy. The current road conditions in Ming Dynasty are worse than the environment during the Civil War.
After improvements, solid rubber tires and bearings were used instead of the original cast steel wheels.
After casting, the barrel blank is forged by water hammer and repeatedly quenched, and the barrel is made by using a boring machine to dig out the barrel. Ditch the heavy bronze barrel.
At the same time, the gun mount design was optimized, the ammunition cart was improved, and the weight was significantly reduced.
After improvement, the caliber became 122 mm, and the total weight of the gun was 500 kg. Including the ammunition cart and portable ammunition, the total weight does not exceed 1,000 kilograms.
The common 75mm field gun in modern times has a total combat weight of about 1-2 tons and generally requires 6 horses to pull it. The improved twelve-pounder can be towed by three heavy draft horses.
The twelve-pounder was a powerful piece of artillery. It is very suitable as a division artillery.
When loaded with 1.13kg (2.5 pounds) standard propellant charge (flake black powder), the muzzle velocity of the twelve-pound shell can reach 439 meters/second. When the shooting angle is 5°, the range can reach 1480m, and when the shooting angle is 10°, the shooting range can reach an astonishing 1911 meters.
The solid bullets of the twelve-pounder can easily penetrate the entire company column at a distance of 600 yards. The six-pounder can only penetrate half a company column at a distance of 200 yards - and only barely.
The difference in power between the two when firing shotshells is even more obvious. Although the effective range of the shotshells fired by the six-pounder cannon is equivalent to that of the twelve-pounder cannon, the number of shotshells fired by the six-pounder cannon is less than half that of the twelve-pounder cannon.
This results in its killing range being far different from that of the twelve-pounder gun. Many gunners even complained that the suppressive ability of three six-pound cannons firing shotgun shells was equivalent to that of one twelve-pound cannon.
The twelve-pounder gun is even more effective at destroying houses and walls, as well as battlefield fortifications.
The main types of ammunition are solid bullets, explosive bombs/grenade, shotgun shells, and sometimes grapeshot.
The explosive bomb is a spherical shell weighing 4.3 kilograms, which is filled with about 900 grams of black explosive. After the explosion, it usually produces no less than 20 large fragments, and is detonated by a typical time fuse.
In order to withstand the high chamber pressure of the original cannon, the projectile wall of this projectile was made very thick, and the charge was limited, so it was less powerful. Yang Fan loaded it with 900 grams of chemical fertilizer explosive, which is equivalent to 540 grams of TNT. The explosive power is very impressive. Highly phosphorus-containing projectiles can have more than 200 fragments.
The standard shotgun is a thin-shelled projectile weighing 5.44 kg. This projectile contains 68 bullets with a diameter of 1 inch. Each bullet is 1 inch in diameter (about 97 grams). The bullet is made of sawdust or other soft materials. of powdery substance.
On the one hand, it is to prevent the thin projectile body from being squeezed and deformed, and on the other hand, it is also to prevent the contained projectiles from making noise due to collision with each other during marching.
Such shotgun shells will break apart after being fired, and the contained projectiles will fly towards the enemy like a metal rainstorm. These heavy small projectiles will still have a certain lethality at a distance of 200 meters.
Because of its strong penetrating power, it can continuously pass through the human body. It is essentially a small solid bullet. Within a radius of 200 meters, everyone will be penetrated, and almost no one will survive. The lethality is very powerful.
The infantry corps is equipped with artillery at the battalion, regiment, and division levels. Super-large-caliber weapons like heartless cannons are placed under the military headquarters. Organized into an independent artillery battalion.
From now on, the cavalry corps will be responsible for fighting in the grassland direction. The infantry corps is responsible for fighting within the Great Wall. The cavalry corps was stationed at Dolon. The infantry corps was stationed in New City.
Not anymore today.
