War is full of surprises most of the time. Almost all wars cannot develop completely in the direction expected by the generals.
Because war is not a one-sided matter, but involves the participation of both sides or even more parties.
And you can't control everyone's thoughts, including your own!
Therefore, in actual combat, many senior generals seem to have formulated perfect combat plans, and it seems that as long as they follow the plan, they can win.
But in fact, battles often do not proceed according to the plans made in advance. Various accidents occur midway due to changes in the enemy or simply friendly forces, or subordinates.
Zhuote Babatur just thought that the retreat plan he made was perfect, but when it came to the battlefield, it turned into a mess.
Not only did Zhungeer's battle deviate from the plan, but even the Chu army actually deviated greatly from the original battle plan.
At least, the Chu army had not made much preparation for this large-scale battle outside the city. Many people had not even thought that these Zhungeer barbarians gave up their good defense of the city and instead ran out to fight with themselves. decisive battle.
So much so that after the hasty battle, although some battles were won, in fact, the subsequent pursuit operations did not achieve much results, at least there was no direct force under the command of Zhuot Babatur.
This is because the Chu army was rushing to attack tough battles at the beginning...
According to the assumptions of Army Lieutenant General Liao Hongpo and many other senior generals, the Zhungeer people should not be stupid and not ignorant of the Chu army's field battles, especially the strength of the Chu army in frontal decisive battles. After all, the Dongji people had fully learned the lesson many years ago. It surpassed the Chu army's strong field strength.
There was a large-scale cavalry battle between the Chu army and the Eastern captives. Tens of thousands of cavalrymen participated in the battle. The result was a disastrous defeat for the Eastern captive cavalry led by Hauge. In subsequent field battles, the Eastern captives also ended in a disastrous defeat. .
The Jungar people knew all these situations without even having to work hard to collect all kinds of intelligence... After all, these original wars spread almost throughout the grasslands and even the entire East Asia region.
The powerful Dongdu was completely killed by the Chu army in just one or two years, which shocked a lot of people's jaws.
These are enough to prove the Chu army's field combat capabilities, especially its powerful ability in frontal battles.
Why did the Dongji people focus on defending the city like the previous Ming army? It wasn't because they couldn't win in field battles. They had no choice but to defend the city.
Under such circumstances, as long as the Zhungeer people are not stupid, they will not easily engage in a decisive battle with the Chu army.
According to this idea, Army Lieutenant General Liao Hongpo's battle plan was to prepare for the storming of Hami City. Otherwise, why would he bring the Second Infantry Division, a first-class combat readiness division, for the purpose of attacking the city?
But he didn't expect that Zhungeer didn't follow the routine and dared to take the initiative to go out of the city and fight head-on with the Chu army in the wilderness.
After dismissal, although the Chu army also won a big victory, it still felt like something was missing...
Although Zhuote Babatur was defeated, the losses were all cannon fodder and troops from other tribes. His own direct lineage of more than 5,000 cavalry and several thousand people who also belonged to the Jungar tribe were all fine.
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In other words, in fact, the Chu army's strategic concept of annihilating Jungar's main force in the eastern region through the Battle of Hami has failed.
But at any rate, Hami City was successfully captured.
Although the city was already an empty city, not only the population and supplies were taken away by Junger in advance, but even some buildings in the city were set on fire.
But what the Chu Empire wanted was not the city itself, but only the oasis area around Hami City.
Therefore, from an overall strategic perspective, the Chu army still achieved a great victory.
As Army Lieutenant General Liao Hongpo's good news came back to Jiayuguan, soon a large number of materials needed to build fortifications and colonization, including various tools, grains, and livestock, set out from Jiayuguan, preparing to go to Hami City for military colonization.
Along with a large amount of supplies, there were thousands of young people from the settlement camps.
The Gansu Governor's Yamen had prepared relevant materials and young people for cultivation early, and was waiting for the frontline military to take over the Hami Oasis before going to develop and cultivate it.
Next, Hami and the area east of Hami will enter a state of intensive farming, in the hope that next year a large amount of food will be produced on-site to supply local farming youth and garrison troops.
As long as the military reclamation in Hami, Guazhou, and Shazhou can be successful, the Chu army's logistical pressure in the Hexi Corridor will be greatly reduced by next year.
When the logistical pressure is reduced and there is no need for the rear to continue to use a large amount of manpower and material resources for large-scale blood transfusions, it means that the Chu Empire has established a firm foothold in the western region of the Hexi Corridor, that is, the Kansai region.
As for now...it's just duckweed without roots. Once there is a problem with the Hexi logistics line, tens of thousands of troops on the front line will be hungry.
Based on this strategic situation, Army Lieutenant General Liao Hongpo also suspended the westward offensive and began to order the garrison in the direction of Hami to build a defense line, set up a peripheral patrol cordon, and dispatched small and medium-sized cavalry units to conduct sweeps and intercept operations on the periphery.
At the same time, it also cooperated with the Hami prefect’s Yamen to carry out land reclamation and land reclamation!
In order to strengthen the local defense capabilities, Army Lieutenant General Liao Hongpo applied to his superiors to mobilize a group of artillery for deployment in Hami.
The Chu army seems to have mobilized a large number of artillery, but the actual cost will not increase much, because these artillery will be fixedly deployed for defensive operations and will not be easily used for mobile operations.
Although artillery is very expensive, it depends on who uses it and how it is used.
For the Chu army, the cost of the artillery unit mainly consists of three parts. One is the daily maintenance cost, which is simply the cost of eating horses; the other is the cost of ammunition for combat and training, and the last is the purchase cost of the artillery itself.
If it is a field artillery unit, the maintenance cost is very high on weekdays. There are many people and mules and horses, which is several times higher than that of an infantry unit of the same strength.
But if it is a defensive artillery unit, the cost of this thing is much less. The mules and horses can be eliminated, the logistics personnel can be greatly reduced, and even the artillery crew members can be reduced. As for defensive artillery, they only occasionally fire live rounds during training. As for combat, they have to be actively attacked by the enemy to be useful.
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Therefore, the artillery units permanently deployed in various fortresses and forts actually do not cost much.
As for the cost of the artillery itself...this thing is actually very cheap compared to the maintenance cost and ammunition cost.
A good bronze 115mm field cannon only costs six to seven hundred Chu Yuan. It doesn't seem cheap at first glance, but you have to know that this is the Great Chu Empire...
A huge empire with an annual military expenditure of tens of millions of dollars!
These fixedly deployed artillery basically do not need to consider mobility and can tolerate greater weight, so iron-cast artillery can also be used. For iron-cast artillery, the cost can be further reduced to one or two hundred Chu Yuan.
A cast-iron 115mm field gun, which costs two to three hundred yuan, is less than the food expenses of the gun crew members for a year.
Therefore, in the Da Chu Empire Army, there is actually no shortage of artillery. What is lacking is the military expenditure to maintain the mobile combat capabilities of these artillery...
Therefore, the current use of artillery by the Chu army is quite special. Mobile artillery can use advanced artillery if it can. Anyway, the same maintenance cost, then it must exert greater performance.
A large number of second-class divisions are also equipped with a large number of artillery, but these artillery are basically fixed deployment and lack mobility.
Therefore, don't think that the weapons and equipment of the Chu Army's second-class division are poor. In fact, they are not. The only difference is their mobility.
The deployment of a large number of artillery in the direction of Hami is based on this consideration.
Anyway, artillery is not expensive, and fixed deployment does not cost much, so just deploy it in large numbers.
Liao Hongpo went to the top and applied for hundreds of artillery pieces for fixed deployment in Hami City and the surrounding fortresses.
And these hundreds of artillery pieces are all medium-caliber artillery or even large-caliber artillery. Even the largest caliber cannon equipped in the army, which is the 14-pound cannon, is 130 mm cannon. Four of them were brought over.
The 130mm cannon is a typical long-barreled cannon. It has a long range and great power when firing solid shells. It is a combat weapon in the independent heavy artillery unit of the Army. It is usually used for siege operations or fortress defense.
It's just that after these artillery arrived in Hami, they were thrown into fixed forts everywhere. They didn't even have many supporting mules, horses or even logistics troops, and they basically had no mobile combat capabilities.
If you want them to gain mobile combat capability, you will need to mobilize at least several thousand draft horses.
The amount of logistics transportation required to maintain rations for thousands of draft horses is enough for the army to maintain a garrison of tens of thousands of infantry in Hami.
Based on various realities, such strange things happen.
If this were replaced by other countries, there is a high probability that it would be impossible to see this, because for many countries, guns, especially such advanced artillery, are difficult to cast, are expensive, and have low output.
In the Dachu Empire, the production capacity of the arsenals is honestly over-capacity... As for the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises, it has been a long time since the major arsenals under its command expanded their production capacity.
The current production capacity is too much. If we expand it further, why would we build so many artillery pieces...
In order to solve the production capacity problem and also to make money, major arsenals are now actively contacting major trading companies in an attempt to further expand their share of arms exports.
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Although the military does not allow the export of flintlock guns, advanced artillery and grenades, it does not impose too many restrictions on matchlock guns and backward-generation artillery.
"First Evolution"
Relying on exports can prevent the empire's major arsenals from suspending production due to reduced orders from the military.
And this is also where China has been unified and started the horrors of industrialization.
It may be difficult to say per capita, but relying on the huge land and population, the total amount of various industrial products can reach a level that is difficult for other countries to match.
This was only a few years after unification, and the industrialization of the Chu Empire was still limited to water-powered equipment!
If the steam engine age is successfully launched, the industrial production efficiency of the Dachu Empire will increase exponentially. By then, the industrial strength of the Dachu Empire will be even more terrifying.
Other countries didn't know it, but the Jungar people were the first to appreciate the powerful national power of the Chu army.
Since Zhuote Babatur withdrew from Hami, the Jungar people have not been too far away from Hami. They still have troops stationed not far to the west to monitor the Chu army in Hami City and try to attack and destroy it.
The Zhungeer people can't just watch the Chu people settle down in Hami!
If the Chu people can settle down in Hami for a few years, the war situation will be even more unfavorable for Zhun Geer. Not to mention counterattacking Hami city, it will be difficult to stop the Chu army that continues to advance westward from Hami.
But when Zhungeer sent troops to attack and wanted to destroy the Chu army's settlement in the oasis outside Hami City, they were intercepted and blocked by a large number of small checkpoints and forts on the periphery.
These small fortresses may not seem big, with only a hundred or even dozens of soldiers stationed there, but artillery is deployed in almost every small fortress.
These fortresses also exist independently, but there are often multiple small fortresses not far from each other. In the middle is a simple city wall built by the Chu army on the spot. This simple city wall is actually very thin, only about two or three meters high.
It can be said that it is a city wall, but it is better to say that it is an obstacle and a convenient passage connecting the fortress.
In this way, multiple small fortresses can be connected together to support each other.
The Jungar people sent several troops to attack these fortresses, but they were all beaten to disgrace. Sometimes they did not even build the Chu army's figures, but were hit by the opponent's artillery and suffered heavy casualties.
As for bypassing these small fortresses and going directly into the hinterland of the oasis to carry out destruction, then you have to worry about being shut down and beaten.
From a military point of view, bypassing the fortress and going deep into the enemy's territory is tantamount to handing your back to the enemy. It is a very dangerous thing. If you don't do it well, the entire army will be destroyed.
You said that the Zhungeers have many cavalry and can run fast without any problem... It's as if the Chu army has no cavalry. The Chu army's cavalry stationed in the Hami area has three cavalry divisions and one divisional cavalry regiment.
Therefore, Zhungeer tried several attacks but failed. After losing hundreds of people, they gave up the attack completely. They were not willing to do this loss-making business.
Under this situation, the fighting in the Hami area gradually calmed down. Zhungeer retreated westward and stopped attacking, while the Chu army had no intention of continuing to advance westward due to logistical problems.
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For a time, the war between the Chu army and the Jungar people seemed to have stopped.
But many people know that the current lull is just a prelude to the next war.
Because in mid-October, the Da Chu Empire officially rejected the Jungar people's request for peace talks, even though the Jungar people recognized the Da Chu Empire's occupation of the area east of Hami and were even willing to pay a certain amount of compensation for it.
The Dachu Empire still rejected the Jungar people's request for peace talks and demanded that Jungar completely withdraw from the territory of the Dachu Empire, the territory of the original Yarkand Khanate.
The refusal of peace talks this time also means that the ambitions of the Chu Empire are far from being satisfied.
Zhungeer was also dumbfounded by this... They did not expect that the Chu Empire would have such a big appetite. After taking over the Kansai Seven Guards region, they were still not satisfied.
This clearly shows that they want to completely enter the Western Region.
It is estimated that it won't be long before the troops of the Chu Empire appear in Turpan!
Not only did the Chu Empire not want peace talks, but in fact the opinions within the Jungar were not unified. In particular, the Jungar people were greatly interfered by Russia.
The reason why the Russians support Zhungar is not because they want Zhungar and the Chu Empire to work together to reduce the pressure on Russia on the Eastern Front.
If there is a truce between Jungar and the Dachu Empire, their plans will be in vain. This is not in the interests of the Russians.
Therefore, Russia has been instigating the internal affairs of Jungar to continue the fight between Jungar and the Dachu Empire.
Therefore, the situation in the Western Region may continue to be chaotic for several more years.
However, although the two sides did not have peace talks and there was no armistice, in fact, the Dachu Empire and Zhungeer did not plan to continue launching large-scale attacks due to their respective problems.
The Great Chu Empire was stationed in Hami, while Zhungeer was preparing to build a real line of defense in Turpan, hundreds of kilometers away!
Although the clouds of war still hang over the Western Region, at least large-scale wars have not broken out anymore.
As for the Da Chu Empire, after seeing that the situation in the west has stabilized a little, the empire's top officials are too lazy to pay attention to the situation in the western regions. Anyway, if you want to fight again, you will have to wait for at least two years or more, and wait for the results of Hami's settlement before continuing. conduct.
As for now, the empire's top officials have a lot to be busy with, especially recently there have been a lot of troubles on the Strait of Malacca. In particular, the indigenous people in some areas under the control of the Dutch have boycotted Chinese businessmen, causing the empire to There are calls from high-level officials to increase troops in the Nanyang region, take advantage of the opportunity to completely capture the city of Malacca, and fully control the Strait of Malacca, and even completely squeeze the Dutch out of Nanyang.
Especially the navy, which has been preaching about the importance of the Strait of Malacca, the threat of the Dutch, etc. every day for a while. They catch people every day and say it, which has made many ministers of staff and co-organizers annoyed...
Your navy wants to attack Nanyang, and we have no objection to attacking the Dutch. If you want to fight, go and fight... As long as you don't ask for military expenses, your navy can do whatever you like...
But the reason why the Navy has been so happy recently is to take advantage of the situation in Nanyang to try to get some extra military spending. The Navy recently planned to build a few first-class battleships. As they were short of money, they wanted to get some extra military spending subsidies.
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These civil servants actually asked them to go to war without paying for military expenses. How could there be any reason in the world? Their navy was not like those idiots in the army who wanted to fight in the Western Regions without any money... They were all crazy!
However, the cabinet is unwilling to provide additional military spending, which makes the navy powerless. It cannot drive a warship and fire its guns at those damn cabinet members.
However, military spending has not increased, and the Navy does not want to stop its plan to expand the number of first-class battleships.
The Navy has always wanted to build more first-class battleships. Since the Guangzhou-class first-class battleships were completed and put into service, their powerful combat effectiveness has fascinated the top brass of the Navy.
With a standard displacement of 2,600 tons and hundreds of naval guns of various calibers, the Guangzhou-class battleship is a veritable maritime overlord in the contemporary era. It has almost no opponents in the Eastern Sea. Even in Europe, it is at the top level. .
For this kind of battleships, the Navy wants to build a few more, and then organize them into several battleship formations of first-class battleships to engage in line combat, instead of the current situation where there are only a few first-class battleships to serve as the main battleships for major fleets. Just a flagship.
When it comes to the navy service, I think that first-class battleships are built to go to the front line, to play in line at the front during battles, and to bombard enemy battleships.
Rather than being used only as a command flagship for senior generals.
It's just that there are only two first-class battleships in service today, and two more are under construction. The number is not enough to form a battleship line.
Therefore, the Navy plans to build more, not more, four more ships, and then a group of four ships to form two first-class battleship battle formations.
It is more flexible and convenient to use in this way, and has higher practical value.
But first-class battleships are expensive. Not only are the ships themselves expensive, but most of the artillery carried on them are heavy artillery, and a large number of heavy artillery are also quite expensive. After all, the price of heavy artillery is much more expensive than the small artillery used by the army.
In addition, battleships are larger and require more crews, so maintenance costs are also very expensive.
If it is replacement, then the pressure is not very great, but the problem is that what the Navy wants is not replacement, but expansion.
The Navy has always been ambitious and wants to build at least sixteen first-class battleships and hundreds of third-class battleships to form a huge battleship fleet.
However, this also means huge military expenditures for the navy. The cabinet has been trying to prevent military expenditures from overspending. Naturally, it is difficult for the navy to get more military expenditures.
There is no way to expand without military spending.
In this way, there is a situation where the navy advocates the threat from Southeast Asia and the threat from the Netherlands.
It's a pity that the navy's plan was seen through by the cabinet at a glance...
It’s not that the civil servants in the cabinet know the situation very well. They know that the navy is just bragging. The situation in Nanyang is now very stable. The locals are all very well-behaved. The Dutch have also been sending good intentions to the empire. Maintain the situation in Nanyang.
However, the civil servants are too lazy to care about the situation in Southeast Asia. They only care about one thing: Do you want extra military spending?
If you want extra military spending, no matter what your reasons are, get out of here!
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How should I put it, unless the Dutch seriously damaged the empire's overseas interests, or simply invaded the empire's homeland, don't expect the cabinet to spend even a copper penny in additional military expenditures.
As for small-scale armed conflicts, Tang Fengze, who has been very active in the imperial political arena in the past two years and has great power, is like this: the annual military expenditure of tens of millions includes small and medium-sized armed conflicts. costs of armed conflict.
If the military does not agree with this statement, then it will first withhold several million from regular military expenditures, and then wait until there is a conflict to replenish it to your military.
Facing the new God of Wealth in charge of taxation and finance of the Great Chu Empire, although the military hated him, they did not dare to say that the tens of millions of annual regular military expenditures did not include war expenditures for daily conflicts.
If you really say that, the cabinet will definitely take action on military spending again.
Since the unification of the empire, especially after the destruction of the Eastern Ban, the empire's top officials have been calling for reductions in military spending every year.
Against such a backdrop, once the amount of military spending is reduced, unless a large-scale war breaks out, there is no hope that it will rise again.
Therefore, maintaining the current amount of military spending is the bottom line of the military. Although the amount is still huge, and although the cabinet calls them prodigals every day, the senior military generals pretend not to listen.
You can scold me if you want, but the money cannot be less...
Of course, although the total military expenditure has not been reduced, it has not increased in recent years. At the same time, with the economic development of the Da Chu Empire, the central fiscal revenue has gradually increased. Therefore, from the perspective of the proportion of fiscal expenditures, in fact, the military expenditure of the Da Chu Empire accounts for The expenditure ratio is gradually declining.
In the fourteenth year of Chengshun, which has entered the second half, the combined military expenditures of the army, navy and guards were approximately 40 million Chu yuan, and the Chu army's expenditure budget for that year was more than 126 million yuan.
Military expenditures account for 31.5% of fiscal expenditures.
This ratio was already very low for the Chu Empire. In the early days of the Unification War, military expenditures accounted for more than 90% of fiscal expenditures.
Even during the Eastern Capture War, military expenditures accounted for more than 50% of fiscal expenditures.
After the Eastern Capture War ended, although the total military expenditure did not decrease, the proportion of fiscal expenditures decreased year by year.
It is estimated that by next year, this proportion will have to be reduced to 30% or even lower.
This is also an important means for the cabinet to control military expenditures, that is, although the total military expenditures will not decrease, they will not increase with economic development, striving to reduce the proportion of military expenditures to 25% or even lower.
In this regard, the empire's supreme ruler, Luo Zhixue, maintained a tacit attitude.
Of course, Luo Zhixue only acquiesced to the cabinet doing this, but Luo Zhixue did not express his support. In fact, Luo Zhixue would never talk about cutting military expenditures in public or even in private, nor would he talk about controlling military expenditures in public. .
There are some things you can do, but you can't say.
And there are some things that even Luo Zhixue can't do and can only do it through other people's hands.
Military spending is a super sensitive matter.
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Luo Zhixue knows very well that maintaining a high proportion of military expenditures for a long time is abnormal and will seriously damage domestic construction. However, Luo Zhixue will not do it, nor will he talk about cutting military expenditures.
This is related to Luo Zhizai's prestige and control within the army.
In short, we must not let the military’s resentment be directed at ourselves...
Therefore, we need to find someone to take the blame, and the civil servants in the cabinet are natural scapegoats... What’s even more interesting is that the civil servants are happy to take the blame for controlling military spending, and they are even proud of it and regard it as their own political achievements. Propaganda.
This has led to the fact that in recent years, the civil servants in the cabinet and the military generals have gradually become opposed to each other, scolding each other every day...
Luo Zhixue, on the other hand, is sitting firmly on the Diaoyutai, watching the world with a smile!
