The first half of the 16th year of Chengshun was a rare and peaceful year for the Chu Empire.
The internal situation is also relatively calm. There is no major political turmoil in the upper echelons of the Dachu Empire, and there are no policies that have a relatively large impact. The internal situation as a whole continues the strategy of focusing on the development of industry, agriculture and commerce in the past few years.
Even the chieftains in the Southwest and Qingkang areas who had often made trouble in the past could not continue to make trouble because they were almost killed.
The external environment is also relatively calm.
In the Nanyang region, with the end of the Malay Peninsula War and the signing of armistice agreements with the Portuguese East India Company and the Kingdom of Aceh, the large-scale wars of the Chu Empire in the Nanyang region were completely over. Although there are still some follow-up There are small-scale armed conflicts against indigenous people, but there is basically no involvement of the military. Many of them are carried out by the armed trading companies themselves.
Just like the Nanyang Trading Company, which is doing things on the Indian Peninsula every day, the Shibazhi Trading Company has recently been trying to open up markets in various places on the Nanyang Islands, such as Luzon, Borneo and the East Indies. Naturally, some conflicts broke out with the local indigenous people, the Dutch, during the process. Various local 'piracy activities' have been extremely rampant recently.
But this kind of thing is normal for the Nanyang waters. Pirates, this is the norm in the Nanyang waters. It would be abnormal if there were no pirates.
The south is generally fine, but in the western region, Zhungeer has been hiding in the Turpan area since he lost Hami. He also tried to send troops to attack the Hami area to destroy the Chu army's settlement, but since he was beaten several times by the Chu army's cavalry, After an ambush and the loss of several thousand troops, the Jungar people became completely honest...
As for the Chu army, they are also busy carrying out reclamation and development in places such as Hami and Guazhou in the rear. Before the large-scale military reclamation in Hami and other areas is completed, the Chu army will not easily continue to launch large-scale westward expansion operations. , otherwise the logistics cannot support it.
Zhungeer and the Dachu Empire have stopped large-scale military operations one after another, which means that the war in the Western Region has calmed down. At most, what is left are some small-scale battles caused by patrols, spying on intelligence, etc. That's all, but it doesn't affect the overall situation.
Therefore, in the Western Regions, although Zhungeer is still at war with the Chu Empire, there is actually no war in the Western Regions!
To the north, Mobei Mongolia has long been conquered by the Great Chu Empire, and under the continued influence of the Great Chu Empire, it is constantly being naturalized and integrated.
According to the optimistic estimates of the empire's senior officials, under the continued huge pressure from Russia, and the empire has shown goodwill to the three major tribes in Mobei many times, it has repeatedly stated that it is willing to accept them to recognize their ancestors, and promised to treat the three major tribes. The leaders of the tribe will receive certain preferential treatment.
The three major Mongolian tribes in Mobei are now increasingly inclined to fully integrate into the Chu Empire, rather than just existing as a vassal.
Therefore, it is very likely that the three major Mobei Mongolian tribes will completely join the Chu Empire in a peaceful manner in the future and become part of the empire itself.
As for Russia further north, although it continues to try to expand eastward, it is currently blocked by Mobei Mongolia, and the Russians' strength in the Far East is actually just that, and the forces that can prevent mobilization are only small-scale forces.
It would be difficult for those nomadic tribes to deal with it on their own, but it was not worth mentioning for the Chu Empire.
The situation in the south, west and north was relatively stable, which allowed the Chu Empire to usher in a rare period of peace.
Taking advantage of this time, the Da Chu Empire Army also launched a new round of military reforms!
This round of military reform does not involve basic tactical organization, but more about adjustments to the command structure and force composition.
For example, there are currently too many division-level establishments, resulting in a large number of senior generals. At the same time, many units have the title of division, but the actual strength is only a few thousand people, and some second-class divisions stationed in the mainland have very poor combat effectiveness. .
In addition, the Army has Class A divisions and Class B divisions, but it also has combat readiness units, standing units, and garrison units. It is also a Class A division, but because of the divisions between combat readiness and standing units, personnel, equipment, and even treatment are incompatible. Inconsistent.
In response to many problems, the Da Chu Empire Army is preparing to reorganize the first-class divisions and second-class divisions, and plans to reduce the number of first-class infantry divisions from thirty to fifteen, and the number of first-class cavalry divisions from twenty Reduced to ten, plus a number of field artillery brigades and regiments that maintain combat readiness; independent cavalry regiments; independent mixed regiments and other units, the total strength is expected to be 350,000.
The above-mentioned 350,000 troops will be classified as Class A troops and are required to maintain full combat readiness all year round.
At the same time, some downgraded first-class divisions and some outstanding second-class divisions were classified as new second-class units.
These second-class units, taking the infantry division as an example, retain all officers and non-commissioned officers, 70% of the actual soldiers, and 30% of the necessary mules and horses, but they have all the weapons and equipment of the division fully stocked, and the nearby areas must Ensure that there are enough civilian mules and horses for emergency mobilization.
Unlike the old second-class division that only focused on local suppression and defensive operations, so a large number of soldiers were missing, and there were almost no logistical auxiliary troops, including mules and horses. The new second-class division retained all the backbone troops such as officers and non-commissioned officers. , and stockpile weapons and ammunition.
After emergency mobilization and replenishment, they can be fully equipped in the shortest time and have the ability to maneuver, and then go to other areas to fight.
This new type of second-class division is actually what is often referred to as a standing division within the army in recent years.
These standing second-class divisions are planned to include twenty-eight infantry divisions, twelve cavalry divisions, twelve independent artillery brigades and other units. The total strength is expected to be about 400,000.
Finally, a large number of the remaining B-class divisions were classified as C-class troops. These C-class troops will be abolished at the division level. The provincial garrison headquarters will directly serve as the command organization of the C-class divisions in each province, with regiments as the backbone. The establishment is based on the specific establishment of battalions and sentries, which are stationed in various places.
In fact, many second-class divisions did this before. At the same time, the commanders of provincial garrison headquarters were often directly concurrently held by the local commanders of the second-class divisions. Otherwise, everyone would have the same military rank, and conflicts would easily arise.
At the same time, the proportion of personnel in artillery, logistics, cavalry and other technical arms that consume a lot of money is greatly reduced.
These C-class divisions will become complete local garrison troops to garrison local areas, suppress civil unrest, and occasionally suppress bandits and hunt down gangsters. If it is a border area, then the firepower configuration can be appropriately strengthened to cooperate with the regular army in defensive operations.
However, unless there is a large-scale war that requires large-scale mobilization, these C-class divisions will have no chance to fight across regions or even abroad.
This division actually directly finalizes the names of combat readiness, standing, and garrison forces that have been implemented in the army in the past few years, and is not just a verbal title.
After reorganization, the Dachu Empire Army has a combat-ready Class A Division of 350,000 people, a standing Class B Division of 400,000 people, and a Class C Division of more than 400,000 people, with a total strength of approximately 1.15 million people. .
However, the only ones who can really be dragged out to fight are the A-class division and the B-class division, which total about 750,000 people.
Theoretically, it is a little less than the previous million combatable troops, but in fact this is just a theory. In the past, many second-class divisions seemed to be able to mobilize, but in fact they could not be mobilized... many second-class divisions It has long been reduced to a local garrison force, and its subordinate units are dispersedly deployed with a sentry here and a sentry there...
A second-class division is dispersed and stationed in county towns or traffic arteries in dozens of counties. It is troublesome to assemble it. Moreover, after the troops of the second-class division garrisoned in these places are transferred away, there will only be a few patrol police left in the local area. There will be a small number of armed patrols even if something happens, so they won't be able to deal with it if something happens.
In fact, after the reform, the Army can use more field forces than before, and its combat paths are also stronger. The Army can also concentrate manpower and material resources to make these field forces stronger.
This can be seen from the changes in the new organization of the divisional artillery regiment of the combat readiness division A!
The new combat-ready Class A division, the divisional artillery regiment of its infantry division, is directly equipped with artillery according to the standards of Class A divisions. It has three standard 18-gun artillery battalions, with a total of fifty-four division-affiliated artillery pieces.
Each artillery battalion has three artillery posts.
Each artillery post has six artillery pieces, four field guns and two howitzers.
Among them, the field artillery and howitzers, the artillery equipped by different troops are not uniform!
They are distinguished based on the climate and geographical environment of the deployment area. For example, for dismounted artillery units deployed in plain areas, the field guns are all Chengshun 13-year-old 115mm standard field guns, and the howitzers are Chengshun-14-year-old type. 150mm howitzer.
For troops deployed in areas with inconvenient transportation such as mountainous jungles, the standard field gun will be replaced by the Chengshun 15-year-old 115mm mountain field gun, also known as the 115mm mountain gun; the howitzer will be replaced by the Chengshun 15-year-old mountain field gun. 14-year-old 150mm light howitzer.
The above four kinds of artillery are the main divisional artillery of the new combat-ready first-class division of the Da Chu Empire. They are equipped with different artillery in different terrains.
In addition, the artillery regiment of the cavalry division is different. The artillery of the cavalry unit is a very special type of cavalry artillery, which attaches great importance to mobility. Therefore, the artillery posts under the artillery regiment of the cavalry unit all use specialized cavalry artillery. .
Basically, the cavalry artillery post is equipped with four 90mm cavalry cannons and two 150mm light howitzers.
The changes in divisional artillery are mainly reflected in the abandonment of 90mm field guns in infantry units and the further differentiation between dismounted artillery and mounted artillery.
The firepower of the regiment has not changed much. The standard artillery posts under the jurisdiction of the infantry regiment are still four 65mm field guns and two 115mm howitzers. Both of these artillery pieces are infantry support infantry artillery that have been in service for many years and have performed well.
The above six types of artillery together constitute the support firepower of all divisions in this military reform.
And the performance of these artillery has been greatly improved compared to the previous artillery.
In recent years, the development of artillery in the Chu Empire has also made great progress with the advancement of materials and processing techniques in the Chu Empire over the past decade.
Although the artillery currently equipped seems to have the same caliber and is still called a 115mm field gun, its performance has actually been greatly improved compared with earlier products of the same level.
Such as the Chengshun 13-year-old 115mm field gun. This artillery has greatly reduced weight while ensuring the effective range and shooting accuracy of the old artillery. The total weight is compared with the old 115mm field gun. , at least more than two hundred kilograms lighter.
The weight reduction of more than two hundred kilograms can greatly enhance the maneuverability of this artillery, and because of the reduction in weight, today's 115mm field guns can bear some of the burdens that the previous 90mm field guns could bear. rapid mobility to support combat missions.
There is also the Chengshun 14-year-old 150mm light howitzer. Despite its large caliber, this artillery actually only has seven times the barrel.
Therefore, it is very light. The barrel weight is only over 200 kilograms, and the column weight is only over 800 kilograms, which is less than half the weight of a 115mm standard field gun.
This series of 150mm light howitzers also rely on their advantages in maneuverability and firing power. They have long occupied the position of division-level light howitzers and have become the first choice for division-level howitzer firepower in cavalry units and mountain jungle units.
Even if the Chu Army has successively produced several different 115mm howitzers, 130mm howitzers, etc., it cannot shake the important tactical status of this artillery in complex terrain and rapid maneuvering missions.
It is worth noting that due to the poor impact of the 90mm field guns in many actual battles, the Dachu Empire Army has taken the lead in completely dismantling the 90mm field guns in the Class A Division, and replaced them with 115mm light field guns, namely 115 mm mountain cannon to be replaced.
Although the previous 90mm field gun was lighter than the 115mm field gun, its power was still too small. When firing solid shells, the killing kinetic energy was more than one level worse than the 115mm field gun. It was fine within a range of four to five hundred meters. , but after the shelling distance reaches seven or eight hundred meters, the lethality of the solid shells of this artillery will drop sharply.
At the same time, because the caliber is too small, when the grenade is fired, the charge of the 90mm grenade is also small, and the explosive power is really unsatisfactory.
How to put it this way, this kind of artillery is not satisfactory in terms of the power of solid shells at long distances, and it is not very good at firing grenades. As for the close-range firepower of three to four hundred meters, although it is OK, but... the 90mm field gun is a full gun A big thing that weighs thousands of kilograms is reduced to competing with a 65mm regimental field gun that only weighs a few hundred kilograms. So what's the use of it?
How should I put it, the tactical positioning of this kind of artillery in the Dachu Empire Army is very embarrassing...it can't stand up to its weight of thousands of kilograms.
Due to the awkward tactical positioning, the performance of several different series of 90mm field guns in recent operations in the Western Region and Southeast Asia was unsatisfactory.
Therefore, this time the Army directly made up its mind to throw this thing into the garbage heap of history, and then replaced it with a 115mm light field gun, also known as a 115mm mountain gun.
This is the Chengshun 15-year-old 115mm light field gun, which the Army simply calls the '115 Mountain Gun'.
This 115 mm light field gun is the work of the Dangtu Artillery Factory. Although its caliber is the standard 115 mm, the multiple caliber is very interesting. It is a fourteen times caliber that is rarely used by artillery in this era.
This diameter is just stuck between the local field gun and the howitzer. Theoretically speaking, the barrel is too short for the field gun and too long for the howitzer.
When firing solid artillery shells, the long-range artillery power and accuracy of more than 1,000 meters are not very good. Although the weight is lighter than the 115mm standard field gun, it is not said to be lighter than the 90mm field gun...
At first glance, they all seem to be shortcomings!
However, whether the performance of any weapon is good or not depends on its tactical positioning.
This kind of artillery of the Da Chu Empire Army is used by mountain jungle troops deployed in mountain jungles and other areas with complex terrain and poor traffic.
In terms of power, thanks to the improvement of new copper alloy barrel technology, when this light field gun fires solid shells, its lethality within a kilometer is still relatively objective, at least much stronger than the 90mm field gun... After all, the caliber A little bigger.
As for the distance of more than 1,000 meters... Since they are all light field artillery, how can we talk about the power of shelling more than 1,000 meters?
But when launching grenades, this thing is much more powerful than a 90mm field gun. This is a direct comparison between 115mm grenades and 90mm grenades. You can tell who is more powerful by looking at the caliber.
In terms of weight, this thing is not too heavy. Although it is not easy to maneuver in the mountains, it is easier than the 115mm field gun. It is basically the same as the original 90mm field gun.
Based on the above, the Dachu Empire Army only used this artillery to replace the tactical positioning of the 90mm field gun in the mountain troops.
The 115mm light field gun is said to be a field gun, but in fact it is better to be called a howitzer that can fire solid shells straight away. This is why the army has the abbreviation of "mountain gun" for this type of artillery.
In the troops in plain areas, because there is no transportation problem, the Army directly solves the problem by increasing the number of 115mm standard field guns. Anyway, the weight of the new 115mm field guns has been reduced, making it easier to maneuver. To a certain extent, it can replace the tactical positioning of the previous 90mm artillery.
The final result was that the Dachu Empire Army used the Chengshun 15-year-old 115mm light field gun developed and produced by the Dangtu Artillery Factory to directly replace various types of 90mm field guns and the originally small number, only part of which was equipped. Later, the Chu army discovered the old 115mm howitzer with a twelve-fold barrel that was not very easy to use.
The changes in the firepower of division artillery are generally moving towards larger calibers, which is also to adapt to the tactical and technical needs of the new era.
After all, grenades have become an indispensable and important ammunition weight in the Dachu Empire Army. How well an artillery fires grenades has become an important performance standard for the army to measure a field artillery.
The only thing that hasn't changed is probably the 65mm field gun!
This thing is a serious evergreen tree in the Chu army. From the Funiu Mountain period to the present 16th year of Chengshun, its styles have changed from iron-cast artillery, to early low-level bronze artillery, to more advanced Copper alloy artillery produced by technology.
The 65mm field gun has been continuously improved, but its tactical status has not been affected at all. It has always been the first choice artillery for regiment-level troops in the Dachu Empire Army. Even the lighter 115mm light howitzer cannot shake this The tactical status of this artillery piece.
Even if this kind of small-caliber field artillery is not very good when using grenades, after all, the caliber is too small, the grenade charge is insufficient, and the power is not great. But in medium and close combat, the power is indescribable. The Chu Army I like to use this kind of artillery to fire rapidly at enemy troops hundreds of meters away. It can fire out several shells in one minute.
When the enemy is close, just switch to shotguns and transform into a large-caliber sprayer... which can sweep all active forces within a hundred or two hundred meters in front of you.
In addition, the rate of fire of this thing is very fast...it can basically achieve the same rate of fire as a smoothbore gun.
Apart from poor attack capabilities and poor long-range artillery capabilities, the 65mm field artillery series in the Chu army have no obvious shortcomings. They need to be mobile and maneuverable, have firepower, have a fast rate of fire, and are easy to deploy.
However, requiring a regiment-affiliated artillery to have the ability to attack fortresses and long-range bombardment is a very nonsense requirement.
Therefore, you can see this series of 65mm artillery in all the places where the Chu army is stationed. The reason why this artillery is used so much is that its maneuverability is really good!
On the battlefield, this type of artillery in combat mode can be pushed directly by any two artillerymen to perform emergency maneuvers. It can easily accompany the infantry to advance or escape...
If it is an ambush or defensive operation, even if there is no road, soldiers can directly carry it up the mountain for deployment.
When marching, if there are not enough mules and horses, you can directly use a single horse to pull the cannon, or you can let a few soldiers act as mules and horses to pull the cannon directly, which will also work.
If you are marching in an area with complex terrain and there is really no way to pull it along, you can also just dismantle the artillery... and then use the Thomas to carry the various parts.
If you don't even have Thomas... you can also have several soldiers march carrying these disassembled parts!
This piece of crap is extremely cheap... Chu Yuan can purchase one in a hundred years... The artillerymen of the Chu Army's regiments didn't feel any pain at all during the fight. Most of the time, they violently used various rapid fires... Wait until the battle is over , if the artillery is scrapped, just get a new one.
It’s a bronze cannon anyway, and it can still be remade.
And this kind of excellent artillery can be seen by others. Both the Ming Army and the Dongdu Army have used this kind of artillery on a large scale before.
Nowadays, the Jungar people are no exception. Even some overseas indigenous countries or the Dutch who have the ability to make their own cannons have more or less imitated this artillery.
However, they did not have the systematic material research and development and production technology of the Great Chu Empire, nor did they have the exquisite processing capabilities of large-scale hydrodynamic machinery. Therefore, the performance of the 65mm field cannon they copied was far inferior to that produced by Chu State itself.
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