This was not the first time for everyone in the Funiu Mountain Baoxiang Camp to play with artillery, but when others saw that sixteen horses were needed at the artillery post to maintain only two 600-pound artillery pieces, they still couldn't help but feel The cost of artillery is huge.
"If we keep doing this, we don't have that many horses!" Zhang Malin, the sentry officer at the artillery post, was worried himself.
"In the past, four horses were enough for a two-hundred-pound artillery fire. If you go out of the mountains and go to a flatter place, you can save another horse. If necessary, it is not impossible to directly use the ammunition for human resistance."
"The captured 100-pound light cannon is even easier. It can be pulled by two horses. When there are no horses, there is no need for horses. It can be pulled by people."
"But this 600-pound cannon is difficult to handle!"
The artillery post has now become the largest user of horses after the cavalry post. There are two 600-jin cannons, two 200-jin cannons and three 100-jin cannons. The carriages that pull the cannons and the ammunition have already been It took thirty horses.
Although there are many mules and horses in the Baoxiang camp, most of them are at the cavalry post. Apart from the more than one hundred mules and horses used by the cavalry post, there are only more than fifty mules and horses left.
More than half of the more than fifty mules and horses were used directly by the artillery posts, leaving only more than twenty mules and horses for transportation.
Even if the need for mules and horses to transport baggage is ignored later, it is impossible to continue to expand the artillery posts, because it is impossible to free up more mules and horses for the use of artillery posts.
Luo Zhixue is naturally very clear about Zhang Malin's concerns, and he has been solving this problem. The first and second sentries he sent out before were not only responsible for recruiting food, but also requisitioning mules, horses, iron tools, etc. various strategic resources.
So Luo Zhixue said: "Wait patiently, I believe Brother Lin and Brother Wang will bring us good news."
"However, even if there is a shortage of mules and horses, the training of artillery posts still needs to be stepped up, and more artillery must be trained as much as possible. The weapons workshop has begun to make molds for making cannons, and has ordered four 600-pound cannons and four For the task of a two-hundred-pound artillery piece, before the artillery piece is built, the artillery post must have gunners ready in advance."
Hearing this, Zhang Malin looked happy. After all, the more artillery, the larger the size of his artillery sentry, which also meant that he had a greater say in the Baoxiang Camp group.
However, he was still worried: "With so many cannons, will the pressure on us be too great?"
Luo Zhixue, however, didn't take it seriously: "It's hard to say what will happen in the future, but it's always right to get the artillery out first."
The construction period of artillery is too long. It takes several months from the start of construction to the completion of an artillery.
And Luo Zhixue was extremely determined to build and expand the artillery force. Regardless of whether there were enough mules and horses, Luo Zhixue would build out the artillery first.
"Let's get the artillery out first. We don't have mules and horses now, so we can wait. Besides, we can also directly deploy the artillery in a fixed manner..."
"If the Ming army doesn't attack in a big way later, we will still stay in the Funiu Mountain area. If we put more artillery on Songshan Mountain, it will be easier when the Ming army attacks!"
In Luo Zhixue's plan, the Baoxiang camp will still focus on defensive operations in the future, and at most, some small-scale troops will go out to attack, collect grain and other unconventional operations.
For defensive operations, the artillery troops of the Baoxiang Battalion naturally do not need to perform any maneuvers. They can just put the forts on the fort for fixed deployment. This kind of fixed deployment does not require mules and horses to drag the artillery around the world.
Not only artillery, but also mules, horses and carriages are not needed for baggage transportation. After all, defensive operations are carried out at the doorstep. Food and ammunition can be transported directly on the shoulders of civilians without carriages.
In other words, during defensive operations, the Baoxiang Camp actually did not have a great need for mules and horses.
With the continuous increase of artillery, the usual increased cost is the cost of casting artillery and ammunition, plus the maintenance cost of artillery.
And this kind of cost is affordable in today's Baoxiang camp.
The cost of ammunition is mainly the cost of gunpowder purchased from outside. The price of gunpowder is naturally very expensive. However, if there is no war, artillery posts rarely conduct live-fire training, so daily training expenses are not large.
As for when it comes to war, who cares whether gunpowder is expensive at that time? Naturally, we will fight as much as we have.
The casting cost of artillery is actually not high. The price of a two hundred kilogram short-barreled artillery is only more than twenty taels of silver, which is not as expensive as a set of armor...
A 600-pound cannon cost only 140 taels of silver, which was roughly equivalent to the price of three war horses.
Although it is difficult to estimate the cost of Baoxiangying's self-made artillery, well, there is no ex-factory price for the artillery and other ordnance in Baoxiangying's weapons workshop. They are all self-made and used, and even the raw materials are purchased by the caravan and prepared for them. .
At the same time, the craftsmen in the weapon workshops do not receive wages. They are provided with food, housing and clothing. Not only themselves, but also all daily necessities for their families are directly distributed for free.
However, based on the cost of purchasing iron materials and other materials, as well as the daily expenses of craftsmen and purchasers, it can be generally inferred that a 600-pound cannon built by Baoxiang Camp, including the gun mount, is roughly Around one hundred and forty taels of silver...
The Ming Dynasty imported thousands of kilograms of Hongyi cannons, each of which actually only cost about a thousand taels of silver. The self-made Hongyi cannons basically cost about a few hundred taels of silver. This price was still the price reported to the court, including the price of "floating". 'And other non-production costs, the pure cost is even lower.
The real price of iron-cast artillery these days is a long-barreled artillery of about three pounds. Well, it is about the same size as the six-hundred-pound long cannon in the Baoxiang Camp. It is also equivalent to two sets of good armor or three pieces of armor. It’s just the price of a war horse, more than one hundred taels of silver
The price of the twelve-pound iron long-barreled artillery has doubled on this basis, around three hundred taels.
It is worth noting that if it is a large-caliber long-barreled heavy artillery, its price will rise rapidly. The price of a thirty-two-pound cannon can buy dozens of three-pound field guns, which can easily cost several thousand taels. This is mainly because of the large-caliber long-barreled heavy artillery. This is caused by the extremely high scrap rate of caliber long-barreled artillery.
The price of Baoxiangying's own artillery is actually relatively expensive, mainly because their iron materials are expensive, plus the scale of the small business has not increased, and it is the first time to make artillery, so the cost is relatively high.
Furthermore, the food rations of the personnel are taken into account, and in today's Henan, food prices have skyrocketed...
After all calculations, the price of Baoxiangying's own cannons should be higher than the actual price of cannons produced by the Ming army.
However, the price of imported self-made artillery in the Ming Dynasty was definitely much higher than the price of self-made artillery in Baoxiangying, and it was easy to double it.
Don't ask why, just ask that Ming Dynasty has its own national conditions!
The cost of a 600-pound artillery piece is only more than one hundred taels of silver. This price may seem expensive to others, but in Luo Zhixue's opinion, it is completely acceptable and even considered cheap.
One hundred artillery pieces only cost more than 10,000 taels of silver. This is not cheap.
Considering that the cost of the artillery itself was not high, Luo Zhixue planned to build the artillery first and then use it as a field artillery if there were mules and horses, and if there were no mules and horses, it would be deployed permanently as a city anti-fire artillery.
In short, no matter how you use them, you must have artillery, and there must be more of it!
As for the mules and horses issue that Zhang Malin is worried about, it depends on how much Lin Dongsheng and Wang Dazhuang have gained outside the mountains.
Most of the mules and horses in the Baoxiang camp were brought here during Sun's founding era, and some were collected from surrounding villages in the past few months. However, the Funiu Mountain area was originally barren, and the mountain people did not There were so many mules and horses, so even if they were all recruited, not many could be recruited.
As the scale of the Baoxiang Battalion continued to expand, especially the cavalry size increased from more than 60 to 100 cavalry, and the artillery force was established, the demand for mules and horses increased, and the Baoxiang Battalion was born. Serious shortage of mules and horses.
This problem cannot be solved within Funiu Mountain. We can only hope that Lin Dongsheng's and Wang Dazhuang's troops who came out of the mountain can bring back enough mules and horses.
Luo Zhixue didn't ask them to bring back a large number of excellent war horses, as long as they could bring back some mules and horses for service.
Even donkeys are allowed...
Before they came back, Luo Zhixue was not idle. He continued to keep an eye on all aspects of camp affairs. After meeting Zhang Malin and hearing about the construction of the artillery unit, he ran to the camp that had just been fully moved to Songshan Village. The weapons workshop conducts a new round of inspections.
Blacksmith Song, who had been promoted to the manager of the weapons workshop, stood respectfully in front of Luo Zhixue and introduced the situation in the weapons workshop to Luo Zhixue.
"General, all the manpower in the weapons workshop has come from Sanshui Village. Because you, the former general, have ordered the establishment of iron-making furnaces and water hammers in Sanshui Village in advance, so our resumption of work is progressing very quickly, and it has already begun. Full production.”
"General, this is the water hammer you ordered before. This thing is very easy to use. It can hammer iron harder than we can by hand, and the force is even. The iron hammered out is better, and it works day and night. , this water hammer is comparable to dozens of strong men working as blacksmiths."
Luo Zhixue looked in the direction he pointed. There was a factory in front of him, and outside the factory was a stream. This stream was directly dammed. The overflowing river water hit down from a high place, and then drove a stream of water behind the dam. The water wheel kept turning, and as the water wheel turned, the sound of hammering could be heard constantly coming from inside the house.
"Let's go and have a look!" Although this thing was personally instructed by Luo Zhixue, and it was even made by the craftsmen after discussing the drawings, this was the first time for Luo Zhixue to see the real thing.
Luo Zhixue is still looking forward to this.
After all, this was his first attempt to promote industrialization, and even though it was only hydraulic industrialization, it was still significant.
As long as it succeeds, who dares to say that Funiu Mountain is not an industrial country...
Alas, there seems to be some problem. Luo Zhixue hasn't founded the country yet...
