Thousands of Marines, all uniformed, have percussion guns, advanced bronze alloy field smoothbore cannons, reliable disc metal fuzes, and wooden shrapnel grenades that far exceed the technical level of European colonists.
The combination of these created the combat effectiveness of the ground troops of the Great Chu Empire, and they swept across the coastal areas of Northeast Africa, all the way to Mogadishu, and controlled this most important city in the coastal areas of Northeast Africa.
The process of the battle was actually no different from a series of battles in the Chu Empire over the past twenty years or so. Basically, the artillery bombarded the infantry and then the infantry charged, and the infantry charged and the artillery bombarded... It was just like this back and forth.
But don't think that this old-fashioned tactic doesn't work... The reason why the Chu army keeps using it is because it works!
It was with such a set of weapons and equipment and advanced tactics that the Chu army began to sweep across the former Ming Dynasty, Dongdao, Zhungeer, Russia, Nanyang countries, and European colonists during the Unification War.
The subdivision of such a simple and old-fashioned tactical system is line tactics and the concentrated use of a large number of field artillery tactics, which brings about infantry and artillery coordination.
The line tactics, or what some people jokingly call the queue-to-shoot tactics, are typical features of the Chu army over the past twenty years.
Even in recent years, the Chu Empire has begun to use a small amount of equipment and equipment with Type 16 muzzle-loading rifles. There is even an entire division in the Guards that has been equipped with muzzle-loading rifles.
Now, domestic production and testing of Type 18 breech-loading rifles have begun in small quantities.
However, the main infantry in the Chu army is still front-loaded muskets: Type 21/Type 23 front-loaded smoothbore percussion guns. Line tactics are still the core field tactics in the army.
In terms of field artillery, the Chu army has maintained an absolute lead for many years. Not to mention the huge number of field artillery, the performance of the artillery is also that of other countries' artillery.
For example, the current main field artillery of the Army is still a front-loading smoothbore gun made of copper alloy.
However, the copper alloy formula used to cast the artillery is better and the processing technology is better. Therefore, the performance of the copper front-loading smoothbore gun produced is better. Among them, the 115mm field gun has an effective range of up to 1,500 when firing solid bullets. 100 meters. When launching grenades, the effective range can reach 1,200 meters.
This gave the Chu army's field artillery a great tactical advantage.
Although both of these are front-loaded smoothbore weapons, the percussion gun and the copper artillery produced by modern technology far exceed the performance of the flintlock guns produced in European countries. As for the matchlock gun, it is even better. do not talk.
Therefore, even in a series of battles in Northeast Africa, when the local European colonists fought against the Chu army, they actually used flintlocks, adopted line tactics composed of pure musketeers, and imitated the Chu army. Artillery was used intensively, and infantry and artillery were used in coordination, but they were still beaten by the Chu army.
Why?
Because the performance of the Chu army's guns and artillery far exceeded theirs, especially the artillery.
When this is reflected in actual combat, the Chu army's 115mm field artillery will appear. It will start bombarding the lines of European colonists with solid bullets from a distance of 1,500 meters, and use extremely lethal missiles at a distance of 1,200 meters. When advanced grenades bombard the lines of European colonists.
The artillery of the European colonists was powerless...even unable to effectively counterattack, because their effective range was too short and they lacked effective grenade firepower.
For example, the twelve-pound field cannon used by the Portuguese had an effective range of only six to seven hundred meters due to casting technology and propellant performance issues, and they rarely used grenades on a large scale.
The fact that grenades are not used on a large scale does not mean that they cannot produce any fuses, but that their basic level is too poor to produce qualified grenade shells...
The metal disc fuses used by the Chu army have been used for more than 20 years. Many European colonists and even some indigenous countries were able to obtain more or less samples of grenades through some channels and then imitate them... even if they are The processing capabilities are not very good, and it is impossible to produce a qualified and cost-controllable metal disc fuse, but there is still no problem with the wooden fuse.
Therefore, fuzes and wooden ammunition holders do not actually limit the large-scale use of grenades in European countries.
The real problem that limits their ability to use grenades on a large scale is that their basic metallurgical level is too poor, making it difficult to produce qualified grenade shells on a large scale and cheaply...
This is because when a grenade is launched, it needs to withstand a huge bore pressure. At the same time, the grenade is hollow and needs to contain enough explosives inside. However, black powder is used these days. If you want to ensure the power of the shell, you need to install it. Don’t use too little black powder.
This means that the cartridge case cannot be too thick, and if the cartridge case cannot be too thick, it will need to withstand a huge chamber pressure, which requires very high materials, not to mention if you want the grenade to explode to form a large number of fragments, instead of It is necessary to use prefabricated shell fragments to break the shell merchant that exploded in half by impact.
The combination of these requirements makes it difficult to get ordinary pig iron.
How did the Chu army solve these problems?
It's very simple. The Chu army's grenade shells are directly produced from steel.
You said that the indigenous people also use steel for production, even if it is just low carbon steel... The source of this material is not easy to solve. The raw materials can only be obtained by hand forging, which is very expensive.
Even if you have the raw materials, there is still a more critical question: how do you plan to process these steels?
The processing of steel is not easy.
The combination of these difficulties has led to the fact that many indigenous countries know that the howitzers of the Da Chu Empire have samples, but they are unable to imitate them...or they can only imitate small quantities, unable to form large-scale production and apply them on the battlefield.
As for military products... you have to consider the price!
It takes skilled craftsmen a long time to hand-produce steel grenades. Putting aside the quality issues, the cost alone is unbearable.
Therefore, after these indigenous countries try it, they will basically give up, and then turn to iron grenades... Although this thing is not very powerful after explosion and has a short effective range, it is within their technical range and its power is Shortcomings can also be made up for by increasing the caliber, just like the Chu army at the beginning.
In the early stages of the Unification War, the Chu army used all large-caliber mortars, and they used calibers that were not powerful enough to make up for it.
Nowadays, these European countries also do the same, but these early mortars are not very easy to use in field battles.
The Chu army's mortar system at that time was generally used for siege, and was basically not used on a large scale in field battles... It's not that I haven't tried it, but I have tried it, but the results were unsatisfactory and even miserable, so I gave up. Use early grenades for field use.
At present, the Europeans can only rely on field artillery with a range of only a few hundred meters, plus some mortars with a longer range and less power to fight against the Chu army's artillery.
In this way, it was naturally vulnerable to the Chu army's artillery system.
After all, the Chu army has a huge advantage in artillery range, and the Chu army's artillerymen are not stupid. They will not fight you within a range of three to four hundred meters, but will hide and fire from a thousand meters away.
This situation is particularly obvious in several small and medium-sized battles in Northeast Africa. The Marine Corps artillery fires from a thousand meters away, using the huge advantage in range to gain tactical advantages. After the advantages are accumulated, they become strategic advantages.
Then those European colonial armies could only watch themselves being beaten unilaterally... and then try to adjust, whether it was counterattack or retreat, they would eventually fall into a disadvantage.
One defeat, another defeat, and finally a rout was staged in Northeast Africa... and even this rout was transmitted to the local indigenous people next door.
When the Chu army advanced from north to south and along the seaside, some local indigenous people along the way would voluntarily abandon the city and did not dare to stop them in any way!
The Chu army is so scary!
Not only the huge fleet on the sea is despairing, shouting devil, but also the Chu army's ground combat troops fighting ashore are also despairing.
Naturally, the Chu army would not be polite to the local indigenous people who took the initiative to flee and then surrendered some port cities. They simply took down the coastal areas of Northeast Africa in one fell swoop and controlled all the coastal port cities, thus completing the Total de facto control over the coastal areas of Northeast Africa.
It's just that we still need to continue southward to the coastal areas of East Africa, but we also need to control the Northeast Africa and other areas behind us. The ground forces are already somewhat insufficient.
In order to alleviate the problem of insufficient manpower for the African expedition, the Chu army transferred more than 2,000 Indian army soldiers from India and formed the third regiment of the Indian Army.
The reason why the servant army of the Indian Legion was mobilized was not because of how strong their combat effectiveness was, but purely because it was cheap.
The cost of calling in regular troops is too high, and the risk of casualties is also relatively high. You must know that Africa is not a good place these days. The Chu army's combat effectiveness in Africa in the first stage did not have many combat casualties, but the non-combat casualties reached two More than a hundred people.
This made the Chu army more cautious in subsequent troop deployments.
The war still has to be fought, but regular troops cannot be needed for everything. At the same time, there are no immigrants from the Chu country, let alone militia. Therefore, the Chu army needs a cheap servant army that is not afraid of casualties to assist them in fighting.
The Indian Army assumes this responsibility, and this is also the main purpose of the establishment of the Indian Army.
If they didn't want to build a group of cannon fodder troops, why would the Chu army want to build an Indian army?
When more than 2,000 soldiers of the Third Regiment of the Indian Army arrived in Mogadishu by boat, Captain Lai Hartong, as the deputy sentry officer of the second infantry post in the third regiment, was surprised to find that they had received a brand new Weapons and equipment: Type 23 flash cap percussion gun.
This is the regular army standard equipment in the Chu army. When Har and the others were in India, they first used exported matchlock guns and spears, forming an army that alternated between hot and cold... But after the Chu army actually used it I found that this kind of army is really difficult to use...
The combat effectiveness is not very good, and they are dead in any mission they perform... For the Chu army, training Indian soldiers also costs money. With so many people dying, the training cost is relatively high.
On the other hand, it is also because although the soldiers in the servant army are all Indian pariahs, all the officers are serious Chu people.
These Chu officers were exposed to various line tactics and the like from the day they joined the army. If you ask them to command an army using matchlocks and spears... to be honest, they are really not very good at it!
In the end, I had no choice but to remove the matchlocks and spears, and then equip them with exported flintlock guns and exported artillery. In this way, line tactics and infantry and artillery coordination were used, and the officers of the Chu State commanded them. It’s convenient and familiar when you get up.
Combat effectiveness has increased, casualties have been smaller, and costs have also been reduced.
Therefore, the thousands of Indian Legion servants stationed in India currently use exported flintlock guns and artillery, and their combat effectiveness is not bad.
It's just that after Hal and his friends arrived in Africa, their superiors equipped them with standard percussion guns and standard artillery.
This is because when the Indian Legion is in India, they naturally have to guard against rebellion and so on. It would be good to have a flintlock as weapons and equipment.
But after the Indian Army arrived in Africa, they were outsiders just like the Chu people, and they were all hostile objects of European colonists and local indigenous people... In this environment where they were surrounded by enemies and without the support of their own people, even if they betrayed They did not live long after leaving Chu State.
Even if there is a betrayal and they are cut off from logistical support by the Chu State, they will immediately run out of food and ammunition.
In other words, after the Indian army arrives in Africa, its risk of rebellion is greatly reduced, so there is no need to worry about their rebellion.
At the same time, the overall cost of transferring them all the way from India and maintaining them to fight on the African continent is not low. The top brass of the Chu army did not want these two thousand people to die within two months just after they were transferred here. .
Even if it is cannon fodder, it is a cannon fodder with a cost. If possible, the Chu army's senior leaders still hope that these cannon fodder can be used longer and undertake some more important combat tasks.
Various circumstances prompted the Third Regiment of the Indian Army to receive weapons and equipment from the regular army after arriving in Africa.
In this regard, Lieutenant Haller could actually guess the reason himself.
After all, although he is also an Indian, he is not an ordinary soldier in the Indian Legion, but a deputy sentry officer with the same rank as a captain.
Regardless of position or rank, it is the highest level an Indian can obtain in the Indian Army.
In the early years, all officer positions in the Indian Army were held by Chu people. The Chu Army would transfer officers from the regular army to serve as officers in the Indian Army...
However, as the scale of the Indian Army expanded, too many low-level officers were needed. At the same time, the regular army officers in the Chu Army who had majored in training were not willing to serve in the Indian Army...
In the end, the Chu army had no choice but to select a group of non-commissioned officers, and after a quick training, they were awarded the rank of officers and sent to serve in the Indian Army. At the same time, in order to maintain the initiative of the indigenous soldiers, they also specially set up "Tongwei" in the Indian Army. 'This exclusive military rank is awarded to indigenous soldiers who have served for a long time, have outstanding military exploits, and are loyal.
They are also allowed to serve as platoon leader and deputy sentry officer, two basic officer positions.
However, the number of people is not large, there are only about ten people at present.
Hallel was one of the first to sign up for the Indian Army and participated in almost all Indian Army battles. At the same time, he made many contributions and became one of only a dozen fellow captains at present.
Because of his military rank and position, he naturally knew a little bit about the policies of the higher-ups. Because of geographical factors, the top brass of the Chu army relaxed their suppression of Indian soldiers.
Although he doesn't like the suppression itself, he still knows what to say and won't even oppose anything... It is precisely because of his certain status that he has more channels to understand how powerful the Da Chu Empire is. !
So powerful that Laihar lost all thoughts of resistance!
So suppression, resistance, etc. are not important. What is important is that Laihar knows very well: As a soldier of the Indian Army, and also a rare fellow captain among Indians, if he wants to achieve anything in this life, he cannot Go back to the Indian peninsula.
In the Indian Peninsula, he was an indigenous officer guarded by the Chu people!
But in Africa, he was a friendly soldier trusted by the Chu people!
Therefore, from the moment he set foot on African soil, he never thought about returning to India alive... Why would he go back to that wretched place in India? This time he would have to be put on a leash by the Chu people.
But outside, although he was still a Chu country dog, he was a dog that had been let off its leash.
Although you still need to follow the orders of the Chu people to chase and bite prey, you don't need to wear a leash!
Here, he can gain a future and even more luxurious dignity!
So he made up his mind long ago: either he would make a career here and settle down here in the future, or he would die on this land.
It is impossible to return to India in this life!
Besides, Laihar himself has no favorable impression of India, and even dislikes it: it is a place that has brought him suffering for half his life. He has no good impression of that place, and he does not want to go back and listen to people say: Come to Hahar. Even if you become an officer of the Chu people, you are still a Dalit pariah. Not only are you a pariah yourself, but your future sons and grandsons will also be a pariah...
Always a pariah!
India is like this, why go back? Go back and be a pariah...
There are many people who have similar thoughts to him. In fact, quite a few of the third regiment of the Indian Army who came to Africa think so.
Who told them that they were all untouchables!
Any untouchable would probably not want to live in India under the caste system...even in some colonies on the Indian peninsula under the control of the Chu Empire, such as Bombay.
The Chu Empire did not implement a direct territorial policy in Bombay that wanted land but not people, but an ordinary colonial policy. Therefore, there are still a large number of local Indians in Bombay.
Since there are a large number of indigenous Indians, their various castes are naturally indispensable.
Even if the laws of the Chu Empire implemented in Bombay do not have any caste system, you can't help the indigenous Indians discriminating against each other...
Previously, even Harail, a Dalit who had already distinguished himself in front of the Chu people and became an army officer, could not find any upper-middle caste woman as a wife in Bombay... let alone a wife. Those of the higher castes were unwilling to even come into contact with Halair.
Although Hallel had a gun in his hand, it was still a gun from the Chu people. They, the upper-caste Indian natives, couldn't afford to offend him, but they could hide!
This is an embarrassing situation faced by a large number of Indian Legion servant soldiers. Because they became servant soldiers of the Chu State and worked for the Chu people, they were rewarded with material conditions and were also given internal respect. .
But they still cannot win the recognition among Indians, especially the middle and upper caste groups!
This situation makes the untouchable soldiers of Indian officers become even more brutal when performing tasks in India, especially towards middle and upper castes, even those from lower castes such as Shudras.
I now have a house, a car, money, and a gun in my hand. Why do you still look down on me?
boom!
Make you look down on me...
Well, that’s basically the mentality!
