March 18, the second year of Guangde.
Nanjing, Longjiang Pass.
The spring rain is scattered, the water is rippled, gulls and herons gather, porpoises and fish float, sails and rafts come and go, and the mountains and rivers are reflected.
Sun Chuanting, whose beard and hair were all white, stood at Longjiang Pass, looking far into the distance with his old and dim eyes.
The river surface was densely covered with battleship masts. Rows of soldiers of the Eighth Regiment wearing black military uniforms lined up to board the ships. The artillery made a creaking sound as it was transported onto the sampan.
In the southern suburbs of Stone City, a stone's throw away from Longjiang Pass, the clear sound of firing from Type 36 rifles could be heard. The shouts of soldiers could still be vaguely heard. A faint smell of gunpowder smoke floated in the air. The recruits of the First Corps were undergoing three rounds. A daily live-fire exercise.
This situation made Sun Baigu, who had retired for many years, feel as if he had returned to a familiar battlefield. He stroked his beard, nodded and smiled:
"Okay, okay, with strong troops and strong horses, we will definitely sweep away the Japanese country this time. Our great Qi will be mighty..."
Sun Shirui, who was supporting him, heard this and quickly corrected him: "Dad, you are confused. This is not a naval battleship, but a troop transport. They are not going to fight the Japanese country, but to quell the rebellion in Jiangnan."
Sun Chuanting laughed dryly, scratched his gray hair on his temples, and nodded to his son:
"Mi Sheng, your father and I were dizzy after seeing so many warships. I remembered that when the Supreme Emperor went to fight the Japanese pirates, it happened many years ago. They are old and no longer useful."
"Dad, General Zhao is still waiting. Let's go quickly while there are few people around to see the Fushun."
"Yes, yes, help me over quickly and meet Zhao Xilong. I don't know when we will see you next time."
Sun Shirui supported his father and walked tremblingly towards the troop transport ship Fushun docked on the shore.
It was a light warship with a full side load of 88 long guns and two 58-pound super short heavy guns on the forward gunwale.
Although the Fushun was just a troop transport and not the Qi army's main ship, it still made great achievements in battle.
In August last year, during the Liaonan naval battle that determined the fate of the Imperial Navy, the Daqi fleet did not hesitate and ran into a pirate battle column that was ten times its own size.
Fushun took the lead and opened fire first.
Two short and heavy guns of astonishing power fired grapeshot.
An enemy ship that was unlucky enough to block the Fushun had two masts broken off, instantly losing 97 pirates and losing its combat effectiveness on the spot.
~~~~
Sun Chuanting slowly came to the troop transport ship and looked up at the mast and deck above his head. The shore was bustling with people, and the auxiliary soldiers were pulling their horses on board.
Sun Baigu stretched out his old hand with a dead branch, reaching towards the battleship named after the city he had operated, his fingers trembling slightly.
Zhao Shujiao waved back and hurriedly came forward to meet him. Before Sun Chuanting could see him clearly, he knelt down on one knee, cupped his fists with both hands and said:
"The general is going to pay homage to Mr. Sun Ge. He is wearing armor, so it is inconvenient for him to kneel down. Please forgive me!"
Sun Chuanting quickly helped up his former subordinate, his wrinkled old face smiling like a cracked walnut.
"Get up, get up, don't let your subordinates see you, I'm no longer a chief assistant."
Just as Sun Shirui was about to salute, Zhao Shujiao was already standing at the side, consciously helping Sun Chuanting up.
Sun Chuanting pointed at Sun Shirui standing next to him, breathing slightly:
"I just heard about it from Mi Sheng. I heard that the Eighth Corps was transferred to Nanjing. I wanted to catch up on old times, but I knew you were busy with military affairs and hadn't come yet. I didn't expect you to leave so soon."
Zhao led the teacher quickly and said: "Mr. Ge, this time I went to Jiangnan to quell the rebellion. I didn't want to make a big show of it, so even the Supreme Emperor didn't come to practice it. Few of my former colleagues came."
Sun Chuanting nodded: "There are not many old people in Kaiyuan, and even fewer who came to Nanjing. Qiao Shoufu is seriously ill now. I don't know if he can survive this year. Mao Yuanyi and Wang Huazhen are also in poor health..." ·If Yuan Shaobao is still alive, the position of chief assistant must be his."
Yuan Chonghuan was a good friend of Sun Chuanting during his lifetime, and the two had a close relationship.
Hearing what Sun Chuanting said, Zhao led his teacher to see things and miss people, and the scene of his old boss's tragic death in the Japanese country came to mind.
"Xilong, don't be merciful when you go to Jiangnan this time. Those wealthy gentry are more ferocious and difficult to deal with than the Japanese pirates and slaves."
Zhao Shujiao clasped his hands and said: "The final general will definitely fulfill his mission!"
Sun Chuanting motioned to his close friend's subordinates to get closer.
"The Emperor's ambition is Japan. Within five years, the army will conquer Japan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and it will become one of the bases for the Eastern Expedition."
"So, this time, you must not only ensure that the southeastern city is not destroyed and prepare for the future hoarding of food and grass for the army, but also kill all the rebels to prevent them from colluding with the Japanese pirates and causing endless harm. Remember, these two things are the same. You can’t be wrong. Otherwise, you will end up like me. Remember, remember..."
Zhao Shujiao did not expect that there was such a level. He was grateful and thanked Sun Chuanting again.
At this time, the low and mournful sound of cymbals and gongs came from the deck of the Fushun. The fleet was loaded and ready to weigh anchor.
Sun Chuanting said goodbye with tears: "Go."
Zhao Shujiao looked at the old man with white hair on his temples and slightly red eyes: "Mr. Ge, take care."
After saying that, he stepped on the sampan and boarded the deck of the Fushun.
One by one, the troop transport ships raised their sails and slowly sailed out of Longjiang Pass.
Zhao Shujiao stood on the bow of the boat, facing the biting cold wind, looking at the lonely figure on the shore, until Sun Chuanting's figure turned into a small black dot and disappeared into the water and sky.
~~~~
The 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Eighth Corps, consisting of 3,000 infantry, cavalry and artillery troops, set out from Nanjing, divided by land and water, and marched day and night towards Taicang Prefecture City.
Daqi's transportation routes are mainly divided into waterways (including inland rivers and sea transportation) and land routes.
Liu Zhaosun knew the importance of good transportation, so even before he became emperor, he paid great attention to the repair of post roads and the replenishment of military stations.
In the first month of the first year of Wuding, an order was issued to "build additional water and horse military stations, delivery stations, and emergency delivery shops"①. In the ninth month of the ninth month, Jiayin issued an order to "change the post offices of the former Ming Dynasty into stations"②.
Infrastructure work such as expanding post roads and setting up military depots was carried out on a large scale as Qi continued to expand.
Every time the Qi army conquered a place, they built roads and set up stations on the spot.
In June of the first year of Wuding, Pu Gang occupied Linqing; in March of the following year, the Supreme Emperor personally led an army and won a military victory against Zuo Liangyu.
In the first year of Taichu, Bumbutai led Horqin to surrender, and then "set up Kaiping Guard (to govern the east of Zhenglan Banner in present-day Inner Mongolia), and set up eight military stations: Liangting, Shen'a, Saifeng, and Huangya in the east to connect Daning (ie. The Daning Dusi governed the west of present-day Ningcheng in Inner Mongolia), and to the west were Huanchuan, Weilu, Ming'an, and Xining four stations connected with Dushi (today's Dushikou, Hebei Province)"③.
In the third year of Taichu, Deng Changxiong pacified Shanxi, and then "renovated Qianming Station, built roads, each ten feet wide, and set up a military station every sixty miles"④.
The Great Qi pacified Shanxi, Shaanxi (eastern), Mongolia, Shandong, Henan, Jiangxi, Huguang, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Liaodong, and carried out drastic reforms of the former Ming post stations. They converted the post stations into military depots and gave them more military value. The empire Military depots extend across the country like blood vessels.
By the second year of Guangde, Daqi Military Station and Chidao formed a transportation network centered on Shenyang and Nanjing and radiating across the country.
In the eighth year of Guangde's reign, the North-South Grand Canal was successfully dredged, sea-canals coexisted, maritime transportation flourished unprecedentedly, and water stations on both sides of the river and sea flourished.
Historical records record: "The water horse post is more dense than the vines"⑤, and there is a grand situation of water, land and sea extending in all directions.
Thanks to the laying of cement tracks, improvements in war horses, carriage shock absorption technology and the gradual application of steam power.
Imperial transportation has reached the fastest speed in more than two thousand years.
In previous dynasties, post roads could travel up to 500 miles a day and night.
At its peak, Daqi's horsemen could deliver official documents as far as 1,000 miles in a day and night (thirty years after Guangde).
Emperor Wu of Qi conquered Malacca and sent his cavalry from Nanjing to Indochina. The journey was more than 7,000 miles and it took only eleven days to cross Chidao.
Qi Xuanzong put down the rebellion of the Mughal Kingdom and sent troops to Delhi. The journey from the southwest to Delhi was more than 8,000 miles (across the Himalayas), and the Southwest Corps only traveled for fifteen days.
Due to the overdeveloped transportation in the empire, by the end of Liu Kan's reign (1680s), there were 200,000 horses in the Qi capital, and each horse produced about 30 kilograms of horse manure every day, which amounted to 100,000 tons of horse manure a year.
The urban pollution caused by horses is far more serious than the later smog. Not only does horse manure smell bad and look disgusting, it is also a breeding ground for flies, parasites and infectious diseases. Because many horses are overworked, it is common for them to die on the streets.
Therefore, the replacement of horse-drawn carriages by steam locomotives in the later period was not only a technical trend, but also an inevitable requirement for urban sanitation.
~~~~~
"I don't know how many years it will take to attack Japan."
"Lao Li, it's almost time."
Li Wenbiao, the general instructor of the Eighth Corps, followed Zhao to Taicang.
In early March, the Eighth Corps arrived in Nanjing and rested outside the city for half a month. Before they could wait for the order to come to Fuhai to attack the Japanese country, they were told to go to Jiangnan to quell the rebellion.
Everyone is a little angry.
The backbone of the Eighth Corps were the veterans of the Eight Thousand Headquarters who had withdrawn from Japan. In the first year of Wuding, many of the family members of the Eight Thousand Headquarters soldiers died in Kyushu, under the knife of the Shogun.
Revenge against Japan is the only reason for the existence of these veterans.
On the deck of the Tieling troop carrier, veteran Zhou Tiedong was carefully wiping his Type 36 rifle. Some recruits who were not used to riding on ships were lying on the side of the ship and vomiting violently.
The Type 36 rifle is similar to the British Enfield 1853 rifle and is a masterpiece of the Minie rifle.
The length of the projectile is the length of the entire ammunition, and the cavity is filled with propellant.
It is said that a craftsman from Sichuan in the workshop was inspired to come up with this invention after seeing the blowing gun of a chieftain from western Sichuan.
Raysmith submitted this invention to the Imperial Firearms Special Committee, which once rejected the invention. The reason they gave was: "The spherical shape is the only projectile shape used for military purposes."
Before that, muzzle-loading rifles fired spherical projectiles. The shooting accuracy of such projectiles was very impressive, so a dense front line was needed to make up for the lack of firearm accuracy.
Although the Type 29 rifle already has rifling, in actual combat, soldiers need to use a loading rod to stuff the projectile into the barrel, and then try their best to embed it into the rifling. The whole process is cumbersome, complicated, and full of dangers. The softer lead Once the bullet changes, it will affect the shooting accuracy.
This rifle was recognized by various regiments as useless and was quickly abandoned by the fire rifle soldiers.
Until the emergence of Sanliu Style.
It uses an oval projectile with a deep and small blind hole at the bottom and a conical cast iron metal plug on the outside.
This oval-shaped projectile is easy to load. When fired, the gunpowder gases push the cast iron metal plug forward into the blind hole, so that the projectile expands and becomes embedded in the rifling.
Type 36 quickly passed the tests of workshops and firearms committees.
This rifle has a caliber of 17.83mm, a barrel length of 990mm, four riflings, and a twist rate of 1:78.
The barrel is fixed to the full-length walnut stock by three bolts. The bottom plate of the stock is made of brass and the total length is 1397mm.
It is equipped with a vertical frame rear sight, a sight range of 823 meters, a wheat grain front sight, and a bayonet mount. Equipped with a 432mm long triangular sleeve bayonet, which is fixed through the bayonet on the front sight and the bayonet sleeve, and is locked by a spring lock.
The projectiles and propellant of Type 36 ammunition are packed in tin-lined double-lidded leather ammunition boxes and hung on a black cowhide strap.
In actual combat, the gunman took out a cartridge from the ammunition box, bit open the back part with his teeth, and poured a penny of gunpowder into the barrel. The cartridge is then turned over, the pellet at the other end is inserted into the muzzle along with the outer cartridge, the exposed cartridge is torn off, and the loading rod is used to load it into the bottom of the barrel.
As of the second year of Guangde, a total of about 50,000 Type 36 guns were produced in Shenyang and arsenals across the country.
In the future Jiangnan counterinsurgency and the bloody battles between Japan and Japan, the Sanliu Style and his improved version of the 38th Style will let the enemies of the empire know what despair feels like.
Note:
① "Qi Hui Yao" Volume 75 quotes "Da Zheng Ji".
② "Qi Hui Yao" Volume 75 quotes "Da Zheng Ji".
③ Volume 75 of "Qi Hui Yao" quotes "Minutes". According to Volume 18 of "Minutes", it says: Guangde established a military station in the 31st year of his life. The two versions are different.
④ "History of Qi·Biography of Chieftain".
⑤Volume 75 of "Qi Hui Yao" quotes "Dian Principles of Zhao Dynasty".
