In early November, Zhao Xin made a special trip back to another time and space to meet Andrew somewhere in Europe. The place where the two met was a small restaurant with only a dozen tables in total.
Rows of red wine were placed on the heavy wine racks, glowing ruby-like under the light. Several strings of garlic and red peppers were hung on the wooden wall panels. Inlaid in several frames on the wall are not romantic oil paintings, but bills signed by a celebrity from a hundred years ago.
Because it was not dinner time yet, the restaurant was very quiet. Except for the two accompanying bodyguards sitting near the door, only Zhao Xin and Andrew were sitting by the window. There was no one else. Looking out from the window, you can just see a large yacht parked in the bay, which belongs to Andrew.
The two of them chatted for more than twenty minutes when they first came together, saying a lot of words that might sound insignificant to outsiders. Then Zhao Xin wrote out his needs on a napkin. However, when Andrew finished reading, he couldn't help but blurt out: "Two hundred, five hundred thousand?! Zhao, who are you planning to start a war with?"
"Haha, it's better if you don't know. In fact, I also change hands."
"The situation has been a bit tense recently, and prices have been rising. Why don't you wait for a while...?"
"No, the goods must be delivered within half a year." Zhao Xin took a sip of water from the cup and said calmly: "Don't worry, the goods will be delivered at the same place. I will be responsible for the transportation myself."
Andrew shook his head helplessly: "Okay. How to pay?"
"Metal."
"This is good, maybe the price will be cheaper this way."
If an outsider heard the content of the conversation between the two, they would not understand what they were talking about. In fact, what Zhao Xin wants is two hundred 122mm howitzers and 500,000 rounds of artillery shells.
A 122mm ordinary grenade costs US$1,000, and a D30 costs US$450,000, so the amount of this transaction is...just do the math.
Many outsiders think that when artillery fires, they just keep loading and firing, and then the opponent's position becomes a sea of fire, and the infantry can win with a desperate charge.
But after so many years of artillery training, especially after the "Battle of Usoliya", Zhao Xin finally realized that there was a set of rigorous calculation formulas behind "artillery land washing" that non-professionals simply couldn't understand. Every move and every move of each weapon must be based on quantitative statistics of data and probability, and these data are all tested by the North Navy time and time again.
Once again, there has never been artillery that can be achieved overnight. Those time-travelers who always talk about using cannons to wash the ground are basically liars, or they simply do not understand what a battlefield with thousands of troops means.
Generally, when calculating the shooting ability of artillery, the base number of ammunition is usually used. Taking the D30-122, which has the most equipment in the Northern Navy, what is the ammunition base of an artillery battalion equipped with 18 guns? The answer is 1404 rounds, an average of 78 rounds per gun.
Half a million rounds of artillery shells, corresponding to three hundred 122mm howitzers, is a little more than 21 base numbers. It seems like a lot, but it's really not much.
The killing area of a 122 ordinary grenade is 0.0067 hectares. The artillery can fire up to six rounds in the first minute of firing, but this is only the first minute.
According to the statistics of the artillery staff of the Northern Navy in the "Battle of Usoliya", when firing continued for three minutes, the average number of rounds fired by each gun was 16, an average of 5.3 rounds per minute; for fifteen minutes, it was 55 rounds. , an average of 3.6 rounds per minute; when the shooting lasts for thirty minutes, depending on the charge, the cumulative number of shells fired is 75 to 90, which means that the average has dropped to 2 to 3 rounds per minute.
Did you see it? This is a process in which the rate of fire continues to decrease.
Eight? That was just the result of a crazy desire to survive in a certain desperate situation. As long as it was manually loaded, it was generally impossible to achieve it and it was meaningless, because it was impossible to attack the ground with artillery fire for just one minute.
One minute I scored eight, and the next minute I was so exhausted that I could only fire three rounds. It was just taking off my pants and farting.
According to the above data calculation, the firepower projection of a 122mm howitzer battalion can be calculated. In the first minute, 108 rounds of artillery shells are fired, 288 rounds can be fired in 3 minutes, 990 rounds can be fired in 15 minutes, and 1350~1620 rounds can be fired in 30 minutes.
Didn't I just say that the base number of ammunition for an artillery battalion is 1404 rounds. Assuming that in an artillery battalion, the killing areas of each artillery shell do not overlap within 25 to 30 minutes, it means that a base ammunition can be used to suppress a killing area of 9.6 hectares.
Assuming that one person is distributed in 1.5 square meters and one cavalry is distributed in 3 square meters, 9.6 hectares can accommodate 64,000 infantry, while only 32,000 cavalry can be accommodated.
However this is simply impossible! Even calibrating the position in advance is impossible. The situation on the actual battlefield is more complicated, and the consumption of ammunition will only be greater.
Still based on the data of the "Battle of Usolye", the mobile formation of the Russian infantry when dispatched was a four-point column. The formation was that each company lined up in turn. The rows are spaced 5 yards apart. Each battalion has one thousand men and consists of eight platoons. The frontal width on the battlefield is 50 yards and the depth is 125 yards.
Calculated in this way, the area of a battalion when it initiates a column march is 5,712 square meters. The killing area of a 122 grenade is 67 square meters, so at least 85 shells are needed to destroy a battalion; taking into account the shooting error and the overlap of the killing area, then based on the calculation of 1.5 base, that is 117 shells.
Although each shell will not land in the same location, the damage range of the shells will definitely overlap. And whether it is 60,000 or 30,000, the enemy will not spread out on nearly ten hectares of open space and stand there, and then wait for 1,404 rounds of artillery shells to blow up all of them.
The greater the distance, the greater the direction error and distance error, and the larger the projectile dispersion surface. When the firing range increases from 10 kilometers to 15 kilometers, the artillery's shooting ability will be reduced by 34%, which means that the accuracy rate will decrease.
The more ammunition is fired, the slower the firing speed will be. Therefore, to achieve a suppressive effect on a large number of enemies within a short time limit, it is necessary to increase the number of artillery and artillery. Of course, quality is also very important.
Why did the Soviet army deploy 12,000 cannons when they attacked Berlin? Do you really think they are just trying to show off their momentum?
Zhao Xinlai had carefully calculated before that if the enemy invaded in large numbers with hundreds of thousands of people, then he would deploy 18 battalions of nearly 300 cannons. Based on a base projection each time, 25,000 artillery shells would be needed.
From another perspective, even ordinary grenades cost so much, which also explains why Zhao Xin has never dared to use rocket launchers. One is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, six tubes per car, and a single salvo can destroy a supercar or a John Deere tractor.
No matter how much money a person has, he cannot sustain such a burning situation. Only industrialized countries with heavy industry in place can do so. So currently Zhao Xin can only choose 122 howitzers and ordinary grenades.
With the existing resources and equipment, he can ravage the island countries, clean up Annan and Batavia, and even go to the other side of the ocean to bully the new "natural rights country". But in the face of behemoths like the Manchu Qing Dynasty and Tsarist Russia, with a population of hundreds of thousands without the support of heavy industry, you can imagine how difficult it would be to overthrow an old system and defend a territory of more than 20 million square kilometers.
...
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
In the winter on the south campus of Wula City in Jilin, three large Zambalak shotguns fired simultaneously at a distance of fifty paces (four feet per step, less than seventy meters) at a square table-sized wooden board covered with a thick quilt. shooting.
Before the smoke could be blown away by the wind, several Qing soldiers ran past the musketeers' positions to check the targets. Behind them were several military attachés from the shotgun battalion.
When we arrived at the target, we saw three black-gray holes as big as the tips of index fingers on the gray quilt, and a few strands of cotton mixed with soil were exposed from the holes.
At this time, a military general came over and asked: "How is it? Have you penetrated it?"
"Sir, please wait a moment, the humble officers will check immediately."
Having said that, several Qing soldiers had already untied the ropes tied to the wooden boards and quilts, and placed the unfixed wet quilts on the ground, revealing the wooden boards covered with a layer of iron.
At this time, several Qing soldiers pointed at the board excitedly and said, "Look, sir, the iron board is unscathed!"
Several Qing generals looked at each other, with a hint of excitement in their expressions. The leading general said: "Look at how many layers of quilts have been penetrated!"
The Qing soldiers in charge of the inspection opened the three layers of quilts one by one, and swept away the dirt, sand and gravel filled in the middle. Only then did they see that the iron bullet had only hit the second layer of wet quilts and stayed in the cotton wool.
Half an hour later, Fukang'an in Wula City, Jilin, learned the news. Several staff members raised their hands and said: "Congratulations, Commander! There is no danger of firing at fifty paces. This method seems to be successful."
After hearing this, Fukang'an showed no joy at all. He picked up the tea cup and took a sip, and said expressionlessly: "Even if it is feasible, it can only block the ordinary rapid fire of the North Sea Pirates. I’m afraid the electric cannon that fires dozens of bullets still won’t work.”
He thought for a moment and then said to the general who came to report: "Try again, shorten the firing distance to twenty steps! I tried the shotgun, and then used the Weiyuan cannon."
"Hey! I obey the order!"
Since the end of the "Battle of Hunchun", the Manchu and Qing Dynasties have been trying to find ways to crack or withstand the bullets of the Northern Navy. Otherwise, the infantry of the Qing army would not be able to attack the Beihai Navy fifty steps closer, and would have to be beaten passively, making it impossible to defeat the enemy.
Digging trenches? no! Mingliang had done this at the Ningguta Camp, trying to use trenches against trenches. However, facing the Northern Navy's artillery, the Manchu and Qing Dynasties had no solution at all.
After the "Battle of Hunchun", Fukang'an issued a reward in the army. Whoever could come up with a way to crack the North Navy's fast guns and blunderbuss would be promoted by two ranks and rewarded with 500 taels of silver.
Two days after the reward was issued, a Qing army gunner who had participated in the sneak attack on Ninggu Pagoda offered advice and used wet quilts. However, the leader's idea has been upgraded from the original 1.0 version of a single-layer quilt with mud to the 2.0 version, using two layers of wet quilts with sand in the middle.
In fact, except for the lack of a square table, this version is infinitely close to the "earth tank" used by the guerrillas in the Japanese turrets in another time and space.
After that, Fukang Anming's generals continued to experiment and increased the number of wet quilts splashed with water from two layers to three layers. However, the amount could not be lifted by two bamboo poles at all. However, the three cobblers stood up to Zhuge Liang. At this time, someone came up with an idea. It was better to use it on the siege carriage.
Carts were commonly used by the Manchus in the late Ming Dynasty, but after the Yongzheng Dynasty introduced a large number of firearms, they gradually withdrew from the stage of history. The early carts were mainly used for sieges. They could resist bows and arrows as well as firearm attacks. They were four feet six inches high and four feet five inches wide. They were placed in front of two-wheeled light vehicles and supported by poles; At that time, three carriages were moving forward side by side.
When the Manchus and Qing Dynasties fought against the Ming army before entering the customs, their carriages were made of thick wooden boards covered with cowhide and iron sheets. They could not be damaged by stones of any size, nor could they be burned by fire. They had strong defensive power.
After many experiments, it finally became a two-meter-square three-inch-thick pine board, one side covered with a layer of iron sheet, and then tied with three layers of quilts splashed with water and filled with two layers of soil in the middle. During combat, it was placed in front of a two-wheeled light vehicle and pushed forward by four soldiers, while the Qing army's musketeers lined up in columns and hid behind the carriage to follow.
At this time, the "earth tanks" of the Qing army could withstand the shooting of the "Zanbarak big shotgun" at a distance of fifty steps, but that was the limit; all the Qing army generals who had fought against the Northern Navy knew that this alone would , unable to cope with the opponent's terrifying cannon.
However, within a few days, when the time came to the tenth month of the lunar calendar, as the Manchu and Qing Dynasties obtained more and more intelligence from the Maocheng City, Qianlong and his military ministers finally learned that the Northern Navy was engaged in operations beyond Baiboer Lake. Everyone was shocked by the detailed story of Peking University's defeat of the Russian army.
According to the Manchu spies disguised as Buryats, the overwhelming artillery fire of the Northern Navy on the Belaya River was said to be like the earth falling apart and the end of the world. Tens of thousands of acres of ground seemed to have been plowed, and each crater was almost two feet deep, and some even reached six feet. The Russian army suffered heavy casualties. In the prisoner-of-war camp set up by the Northern Navy east of Usolye, there were tens of thousands of Rakshasa prisoners, and there were even many missing arms and legs.
How can I fight this? After hearing the news, Qianlong's first reaction was that Zhao Xin might use Tsarist Russian prisoners to build roads again. According to reports from Manchu spies lurking in Heilongjiang City, the Northern Navy used tens of thousands of Russian prisoners in the past two days to overhaul the post roads in the northeast. Those roads can accommodate six carriages in parallel, and are paved with gravel and fine sand, making them very flat.
When Qianlong learned about this situation, he felt that he had learned another side of Zhao Xin's character. That is because this person hated Rakshasa so much that he only allowed prisoners of war to do hard labor and did not bother to take them in at all.
Along with the news about the war situation, Qianlong was also delivered to Qianlong one after another about the bumper harvests in various places in Beihai Town this year, which deepened Qianlong's worries.
The opponent's troops were well supplied with food and supplies, but on the other hand, the imperial court was in financial distress due to the military buildup in successive years. Faced with such a predicament, the academicians headed by He Shen and Fukang'an could only curse Zhao Xin and comfort Qianlong with the saying that "those who engage in militarism and engage in unjust actions will be killed themselves".
Finally, after careful consideration, Qianlong made a bold and painful decision-to negotiate peace. His purpose in doing so was first to prevent the North Navy from going south, and secondly to solve Beihai Town from within through political means.
From the secret reports that came one after another about Beihai Town, Qianlong discovered a problem, that is, the territory under Zhao Xin's control was too large. Although the specific population figures were unclear, it was certain that the various ethnic groups under his jurisdiction were mixed. If you are not careful, internal conflicts will intensify. You must know that the Khalkha Mongolia, Western Regions, Jinchuan and Jinchuan, and even the Miao people under the rule of the Manchu Qing Dynasty have been at war with each other in recent years. It took them decades and hundreds of millions of military expenditures to achieve peace.
However, the court had to save face. This kind of embarrassing thing must not be known to the subjects of the world and other vassal states, so he could only discuss it with a few confidants such as Yongyan and Heshen, and he couldn't tell him directly. Someone had to understand him. He took the initiative to share the worries of the court.
Qianlong did not talk about Beihai Town at first, but mentioned that Fukang'an was not in good health recently, and then talked about Fu Heng's expedition to Myanmar, and finally sighed at Fu Heng's early death.
Yong Yan was filled with mist after hearing these words, but He Shen guessed what Qianlong was thinking. So he also spoke in a roundabout way, first complimenting Qianlong's achievements that far exceeded those of previous kings, and then specifically compared Qianlong with Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty.
So Qianlong got off the slope and changed the subject, talking about the five years it took Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty to completely defeat the Turks, and then there was the "Reign of Zhenguan". Immediately, Heshen took the initiative to kneel down and plead guilty, and suggested negotiating peace with Beihai Town in order to give the court a breathing space.
By this time, Yong Yan gradually understood what was going on. Because Qianlong often said that he followed the example of Tang Taizong in his political affairs, while Heshen and Qianlong sang in harmony, clearly talking about Tang Taizong's achievements, but in fact they alluded to the "Wei River Alliance".
()
Set a small goal first, such as remembering in 1 second: Shukeju
