Luo Zhixue has always attached great importance to artillery. He firmly believes that in contemporary wars, artillery is an indispensable part and an important weapon in changing the mode of war.
In the face of powerful artillery, many tactics that could be used in the traditional cold weapon era and were very effective will no longer be applicable.
The pattern of warfare will continue to change as artillery continues to mature.
In modern times, this change has already taken shape. In Shaanxi, the war between the Ming army and the rebels in the Central Plains may not be obvious yet, but in the war between the Ming army and the Eastern captives in the Jiliao area, artillery has gradually become a war The protagonist.
The Ming army relied on a large number of artillery to defend the city and conduct defensive operations, and this tactic was actually successful. This allowed the Ming army, which had low field combat capabilities and even lost the courage to fight in the field against the East, to still rely on artillery to carry out stubborn resistance against the fortified city, and This stubborn resistance lasted until the fall of the Ming Dynasty.
The reason why Dongli was able to enter the pass was not because of how powerful Dongli was in fighting and directly conquered Shanhaiguan by force, but because Wu Sangui chose to surrender to Dongli to deal with Li Zicheng under various factors.
Dong Ni was invited into the pass by Wu Sangui.
Similarly, Dongli is also actively developing artillery, and after installing the Hongyi artillery on a new two-wheeled artillery cart, it was directly used in field battles, and played an important role in the Battle of Songjin. At the same time, Dongli has always tried Attack the city with artillery, but to be honest the effect is not very good.
In an era without explosive shells, the solid shells fired by front-loaded smoothbore cannons were of limited use for eastern city walls, especially those in large cities.
Because the city wall of Dongfang City looks like it is made of masonry, but in fact the inner layer is made of rammed earth, and the outer layer is just covered with bricks. What are the characteristics of this kind of city wall? Let’s not talk about the low cost. It makes no sense for artillery.
What's really important is that this wall is very thick!
The thickness of the bottom of this kind of city wall in a large city can often reach more than ten meters or more, while the thickness of the top of the city wall is often seven or eight meters or even more than ten meters.
A city wall of this thickness is basically impossible to collapse with today's smoothbore cannons. If it collapses, it will leave a hole inside...
Taking a step back and saying that even if it collapses, the city wall will not disappear out of thin air, but will become a collapsed ruined hill, and it will still have a good defensive effect.
Not to mention the smoothbore cannons of the 17th century, even the conventional field artillery from World War I and World War II were basically unable to destroy these city walls. No matter how you hit them, the soil and masonry that make up the city walls are all there, and they won’t be destroyed because of you. After a few cannonballs came over, they disappeared. At most, they just changed their external form.
Of course, later generations of field artillery used grenades, which focused on shrapnel damage and shock wave damage. The inability of grenades to destroy city walls does not mean that they cannot kill the soldiers stationed on the walls for defensive operations.
When all the defensive soldiers died, the city wall naturally lost its effectiveness. Traditional city walls were far less effective than trenches in defending against shelling. This is why later generations of the East simply abandoned city walls. It was not because advanced artillery technology could Directly destroy the city wall, but the city wall can no longer shoulder the important task of protecting soldiers.
This is still talking about the situation during World War I and World War II, but now in the seventeenth century, artillery does not have any explosive shells, only solid cannonballs and cannonballs.
This means that the best way to maximize the performance of contemporary artillery is to fire at a dense array of enemies.
This is why Dongli likes to bring artillery to the battlefield for field battles, and it is also why the Ming army likes to deploy artillery on city walls to defend the city.
Because the artillery's damage to the effective forces of the dense array is too strong.
The same is true for Luo Zhixue. Before, he just knew that artillery was a good thing and he must have it. But at that time, he knew why artillery was useful, and he didn't even have an accurate idea of how to use it.
It was not until after the two Songshan battles that through the successful use of several artillery pieces, Luo Zhixue finally figured out the elite of using artillery.
That is to fire at the dense array of enemies!
The previous 200-jin artillery and the captured 100-jin artillery could play a huge role in the Battle of Songshan. Luo Zhixue had no doubt about the huge tactical role of the two new 600-jin artillery.
In order to successfully transport the two already built artillery pieces from Sanshui Village to the Songshan front line, the Baoxiang Battalion directly used dozens of people.
Instead of dragging them with draft horses, they directly used human resistance. A group of strong men worked together to carry the disassembled gun barrel and the gun frame with the main structure made of iron, just like carrying a sedan chair.
Climbing mountains and wading in rivers, and walking along roads that were inaccessible to carriages, it took seven or eight days to reach Songshan Village.
The difficulty of transporting these two artillery pieces once again confirmed Luo Zhixue's decision to move the weapons workshop from Sanshui Village to Songshan Village.
The road in and out of Sanshui Village is too difficult to walk, and the transportation of materials is troublesome. The artillery cannot be transferred in its normal form at all.
So after Blacksmith Song and the others arrived at Songshan Village with the two cannons, Luo Zhixue found Blacksmith Song: "The iron-making furnace here in Songshan Village has been built. Master Song, you can continue to make weapons here. There is no need to go back." Went to Sanshui Village."
Blacksmith Song also looked happy after hearing this: "This is a good sentiment. These are close to Songshan. It won't be a hassle to build the artillery later. It can be used to bring down Songshan directly."
When Blacksmith Song said this, he was also thinking that he might have a chance to escape from these bandits after arriving in Songshan Village.
Although Songshan Village is considered the hinterland of Funiu Mountain, it can communicate with the outside world after crossing Songshan Mountain. This also allows Songshan Village to obtain more supplies from the outside world.
While the transportation of supplies is more convenient, it also means that Blacksmith Song can more easily take his family to escape from the mountains.
Although Blacksmith Song tried his best to help Luo Zhi learn how to make guns and cannons during this period, he was very active.
However, Blacksmith Song would never forget that Luo Zhixue and the others were a group of rebels who forcibly captured his family from Lushan County and took him to Funiu Mountain.
After arriving in Sanshui Village, he also recognized the reality. In order to ensure the lives of his family, Blacksmith Song did his best to build guns and cannons for these rebels without any hidden secrets.
But if there is a chance, he will still take his family and run away.
You can't just think of yourself as a rebel after you get to the den of thieves.
Luo Zhixue actually didn't care much about Blacksmith Song's thoughts, because now not only Blacksmith Song's family could make guns and cannons in the weapons workshop.
In the past few months, Luo Zhixue had sent many clever people to serve as apprentices behind Blacksmith Song and his son.
Blacksmith Song didn't even have the chance to hide his secrets, and he didn't dare to, because Luo Zhixue had said before that after the first batch of guns were built, at least one apprentice must master the complete gun-making process, and one apprentice must master the complete gun-making process. Gun Craft.
If not even one apprentice has mastered the relevant craftsmanship in a few months, Luo Zhixue will conclude that Blacksmith Song and his son are hiding something for themselves and have not taught them as much as they can, and then Blacksmith Song will be slapped on the butt.
At that time, Luo Zhixue didn't explain it very clearly, but Song Tiejiang was not an idiot, so he naturally heard the threat, so he was more attentive when teaching.
As a result, among the apprentices led by Blacksmith Song, one person has initially mastered the entire cannon-making process, and two others have already mastered the gun-making process.
In addition, there are two people who learned to build cold weapons, and now they are also successful.
Therefore, even if Blacksmith Song and his son escape, it will not affect the operation of the weapons workshop, but the time to increase production will have to be postponed for a few months.
Of course, even so, Luo Zhixue still didn't want Blacksmith Song to leave.
The three father and son are all skilled craftsmen. In this era, they are all high-tech talents. Luo Zhixue will not let them go easily.
So after Blacksmith Song arrived in Songshan Village, Luo Zhixue promoted Blacksmith Song and made him the manager of the weapons workshop.
In the past, there was no one in charge of the weapons workshop. Luo Zhixue was directly responsible for the management. However, now that Luo Zhixue is the general, he has a lot of things on his hands. It is no longer possible to personally manage the many affairs of the weapons workshop. Someone has to take care of it. Weapons workshop.
Tiejiang Song is a suitable person for this. He has excellent skills and is relatively stable but flexible.
The first thing the weapons workshop did when it moved to Songshan Village was to start the casting preparations for the second batch of artillery and prepare for the large-scale production of improved bird guns.
Before the second batch of artillery and muskets can be mass-produced, the two 600-pound artillery pieces and nearly ten blunderbuss produced in the first batch must be tested in order to make improvements in the subsequent mass production process.
After Luo Zhixue saw the two 600-pound artillery pieces assembled, he ran over and observed them carefully for a long time.
This artillery still looks relatively primitive, and is a little different from the modern smoothbore cannons in some movies and TV series in his memory, but it doesn't matter, the tube is long enough anyway.
As for the gun mount, it uses a pure iron gun mount, which is different from the two-hundred-pound light cannon's gun mount that uses both iron and wood.
Mainly because the recoil of the 600-pound artillery is greater. At the same time, Luo Zhixue requires that after the artillery is maneuvered in place, he can put down the artillery and go directly into combat.
This requires a lot of strength for the gun mount.
After thinking about it, Blacksmith Song and the others simply used all iron to build the gun mount.
After Luo Zhixue took a closer look at the two artillery pieces, he personally tried to push the artillery to maneuver, and found that he could still push it...
If several artillerymen push it together, this kind of artillery can be quickly transferred over short distances on the battlefield.
This mobility is enough.
Subsequently, horses were used to drag the entire artillery crew, including the artillery and ammunition carts, in complete condition for maneuver testing. The entire artillery crew used eight horses to pull the artillery and ammunition carts and continue marching on the uneven country roads.
The entire maneuver test was perfect!
The relatively light weight and wide double-wheel and front guide wheel design allow this artillery to maneuver on dirt roads. Even if it encounters some steeper slopes, it can be passed with the help of artillery.
There were no surprises in the subsequent live ammunition test. Both the effective range and power met the original design standards.
This gun has almost every benefit, the only problem is that it’s expensive!
It's not that the artillery itself is expensive, but the artillery unit that maintains the artillery is expensive.
In order for this thing to exert its combat effectiveness, in addition to the artillery itself, an additional carriage must be added as an ammunition cart. The artillery plus ammunition cart must be equipped with at least eight horses.
The ration consumption of horses is about four times that of people. Eight horses are almost equal to the food and grass expenses of more than 30 people, plus the ration expenses of more than ten artillery crew members.
In other words, the daily food and grass expenditure of just one artillery is equivalent to an infantry squad of almost fifty people.
Now the daily food and grass expenditure of these two 600-pound artillery pieces is equivalent to the food and grass expenditure of an infantry sentry.
This maintenance cost is not low!
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I'm not in a good state today, sorry for the late update.
