With the arrival of the thirty-seventh year of Chengshun, the European free trade plan formulated by the Dachu Empire last fall also completed the preliminary preparations.
A large amount of military supplies and goods organized by merchants have been loaded onto a large number of ocean-going ships and shipped to South Africa in Africa.
At the same time, the governor's office of Africa of the Chu Empire also received relevant orders early, and gathered a large amount of materials locally, mainly grain, etc. for military supplies, and built a large number of warehouses, barracks, etc. at the western end of South Africa and the port of Cape Town on the Atlantic coast. .
In the European free trade plan, Cape Town will play an important role and become a strategic transit point for the army and people of the Chu Empire to enter Europe.
A large number of materials from Africa, West Asia, India, Southeast Asia and the mainland will be gathered and transferred here.
This also includes military strength!
For this time's European free trade plan, although the troops mobilized by the Da Chu Empire's military were not too large, they were definitely quite a lot.
Some of the main forces participating in the war were drawn from Africa, and some were drawn from West Asia and India. After the forces from the above-mentioned regions were drawn, the gap was supplemented by forces dispatched from Southeast Asia and the mainland.
The above-mentioned army troops transferred mainly include the 53rd Infantry Division and a mixed regiment under the 29th Infantry Division. These two units are both standing second-class divisions and are serious regular troops in the Army of the Chu Empire.
Because they have been stationed overseas for a long time, although these two units are only named as second-class divisions, they are actually as full as the first-class divisions.
The 53rd Infantry Division has more than 16,000 troops, equipped with three complete infantry regiments, one divisional artillery regiment, one divisional light cavalry regiment and one divisional baggage corps.
Moreover, before the expedition, the division completed a series of reforms to rifle the breech, including the replacement of new rifles and artillery, and also carried out organizational reforms and tactical changes.
Since the Chu army began to equip breech-loading rifled rifles and breech-loading rifled cannons on a large scale, it gave priority to equipping the Guards troops and the first-class divisions of the army, as well as the Marine Corps and armed tax police.
Next is the standing second-class division stationed in hot spots and ready for combat missions at any time.
In terms of rifles, the Army and the Guards are mainly equipped with Type 18 rifles produced by Hebei Arms Company, while the cavalry units use the short-barreled version of the Type 18 lance.
The Marine Corps is mainly equipped with Type 19 rifles produced by Huguang Arms Company, and their sailors are also equipped with short-barreled versions of Type 19 rifles.
Although both are single-shot breech-loading rifles, their gun structures are completely different, but they both use standard 11*60 mm copper-cased bullets.
In addition, there is a more special rifle in the Dachu Empire, which is the Qiming rifle that uses an internal magazine and can load five rounds of bullets at a time for continuous firing... This kind of rifle is expensive and has many early problems. Currently, it is only taken advantage of. Armed tax police are in use.
However, it is worth noting that the large-scale use of this rifle by armed tax police has also attracted the attention and attention of patrol police departments in many provinces in the country. Patrol departments in many provinces have successively purchased this special company. Issue rifles to equip their armed patrol officers.
After all, when armed tax police and armed patrol police perform their tasks, they face relatively similar enemies, mainly irregular enemies. For example, armed tax police mainly attack local businessmen who evade taxes and overseas indigenous businessmen. . The armed patrols are more straightforward and target profiteering criminals.
What they need is not something simple, reliable and cheap, but more powerful rapid-fire firepower, which can form absolute small-arms fire suppression against small-scale enemies, and be cheaper when fighting in areas with complex terrain such as cities.
Of course, the two of them need to use Qiming rifles, which is also closely related to the excellent performance of Qiming shotguns owned by Jiangnan Arms Company.
The Eighteen Rifle used by the Army and Guards, the Nineteen Rifle used by the Navy, and the Qiming Rifle used by the armed tax police and armed patrols.
There are as many as three types of main rifles in active service in the Dachu Empire... that is to say, the military has long formulated standard ammunition. The bullets used in these three rifles are universal, otherwise the logistics supply will be troublesome.
The 53rd Infantry Division, as an army unit, naturally uses the eighteen rifles that are said to be simple, reliable, and extremely cost-effective...
The 53rd Infantry Division, which uses new rifles, is also different from the old troops in terms of organization. They mainly use skirmish lines as their main tactics, so the grassroots organization is also different.
In the line era, it was basically useless. It was only a squad organization used for management. In the skirmish era, it played an extremely important tactical role.
Even the battalion-level organization has undergone considerable changes. In the past, a line infantry battalion would have at least five companies, and some would even have six companies.
However, in the newly organized troops, each battalion only has four companies, but each infantry company has more troops. Coupled with the logistics support personnel, in fact, the strength of each battalion can still reach 700 or 800 people.
As for the regiment-level troops, in addition to three infantry battalions, there is also an artillery company. This artillery company is equipped with six Type 34 70mm infantry cannons produced by Jiangnan Weapon Company.
This is an infantry support artillery specifically developed and produced according to the strong requirements of the frontline troops in the Burma Campaign... It only took four months from project request to design finalization and mass production.
However, the short development time does not mean that this artillery is inferior. On the contrary, this artillery has received great attention from the military as soon as it was launched, and has been widely praised by front-line troops.
Why?
So light!
This thing is so far the first and only breech-loaded rifled gun in the Chu Empire that can truly accompany the infantry in mobile combat and provide fire support to the infantry at any time.
The caliber of the gun is 70 mm, and the barrel is very short, only eight times. However, it also brings an ultra-light weight. The whole gun weighs only more than 200 kilograms, and because the design positioning from the beginning is Accompany infantry in combat and take into account mobility issues in complex terrain.
Therefore, this artillery can naturally be disassembled and assembled. After disassembly and assembly, it can be carried on horseback. In special circumstances, it can be carried manually... After all, after disassembly, the parts only weigh tens of kilograms.
But light doesn’t mean less powerful!
The shells fired by this thing are actually quite large, and the shell weight is not even lighter than the shells of the 75mm mountain gun, which means that the power of the two is actually about the same.
At the same time, the gun has a wide range of left and right high and low firing ranges, and the maximum angle of deflection can reach 75 degrees... This means that this kind of artillery can hit the enemy behind the bunker in a large curve. This is mainly to replace the role of the front-loaded smoothbore 115mm ultra-light howitzer.
In the Chu army, the front-mounted smooth-bore 115mm light howitzer is actually a small mortar. Its tactical positioning is somewhat similar to the mortars of later generations in the original time and space. Of course...it still fires traditional spherical grenades, which are powerful It is far inferior to later mortars, and its accuracy is not very good either.
For the Chu Army, the Type 34 70mm infantry gun was used to replace the 65mm field gun and 115mm light howitzer in the era of front-loaded smoothbore guns, and became the main support artillery at the battalion level.
Because it is light in weight and easy to maneuver, it is quite powerful. And because of the rifling, the accuracy is not comparable to that of a front-mounted smoothbore gun. In terms of range, because the barrel is relatively short, it is worse than the 2,500 meters originally required by the Army. Quite a few, only two thousand two hundred meters.
But two thousand two hundred meters is enough... After all, the indigenous troops that the Chu army had to deal with in actual combat didn't even have many serious field artillery, and even if they did, they only had an effective range of a few hundred meters.
The Chu army used to gain huge advantages with front-loading smoothbore artillery with an effective range of more than one thousand meters, not to mention the breech-loading rifled artillery that now has an effective range of more than two thousand meters.
Once this artillery was launched, it was widely praised by frontline troops. It participated in a series of battles in Myanmar that year and performed very well.
In addition, the technical content of this thing is average, and the production process is not complicated... After all, short-barreled artillery, its core component, the barrel, is more difficult to produce than those that are more than ten times or even twenty times more difficult. It is said that the difficulty of production is much lower, and the corresponding cost is also much lower.
Under many favorable conditions, the Army began to purchase this kind of infantry artillery on a large scale... At the same time, because the production of this kind of artillery is quite simple, the output of Jiangnan Weapon Company was very large after it was officially put into production.
At the same time, with the intervention of the Army, Jiangnan Weapons Company also licensed this artillery technology to four other weapons companies, so that the other four weapons companies could also produce according to the authorization... Of course, the patent fees cannot be paid less.
Not only this kind of artillery is like this, but in fact the Type 18 rifles, Hebei 75mm field guns, and Huguang 75mm mountain guns are all authorized. The five major domestic weapons companies can produce them based on the patents, but being able to produce them does not mean they can make money. ...After all, the patent licensing fee is not low, and it can basically account for more than half of the profit.
This model of the Dachu Empire was mainly to integrate the output of the five major weapons companies, and also to avoid the dilemma of work stoppage and bankruptcy of other weapons companies after the main equipment was won by one of the weapons companies.
For example, the 70mm mountain gun is intended to completely replace the previous 65mm field guns and 115mm light howitzers, and its equipment scale will be very large.
This also means that the factories that used to produce 65mm field guns and 115mm light howitzers will lose their past orders... How to arrange the conversion of these factories, keep these arsenals from going bankrupt, and ensure healthy competition in the imperial defense industry is also a matter for the military. Something to consider.
Therefore, currently, the five major arms companies can actually produce 70mm infantry guns, but most of the money has been made by Jiangnan Arms Company.
The corresponding factories of other weapons companies have obtained production orders and maintained production, barely able to hold their breath and wait for the opportunity to make a comeback in the future.
The military has obtained a huge production of 70mm infantry guns.
In the thirty-fourth year of Chengshun alone, in the year of mass production, the five major weapons companies in the Chu Empire produced a full three hundred of these infantry guns, and in the thirty-five years, they produced another five hundred.
The reason why the output is so high is because the demand is so great that the Army wants to complete the replacement of all regular troops within five years.
A complete replacement would require at least 2,000 doors.
The artillery equipped by the Chu army is not only 70mm infantry cannon, but also 75mm field cannon, 75mm mountain cannon, and larger-caliber 120mm field cannon, and 120mm light howitzer.
But relatively speaking, the demand for large-caliber artillery is not that urgent, and even the demand for 75mm artillery is not that urgent.
After all, the opponent is too scumbag... To deal with those overseas indigenous armies, it is not mainly those large-scale offensive operations. Without these mid-to-high-end artillery, only 70mm infantry cannon is actually sufficient.
This is why the Chu army is eager to equip 70mm infantry cannon.
The cost is low, the power, range and accuracy can meet the requirements of the military, and the light weight is convenient for overseas deployment.
Just like the current 53rd Infantry Division, if you bring more than twenty of these infantry guns and fight in Europe, the local traffic conditions will be very bad, and you will be able to get sufficient fire support.
Relatively speaking, the 75mm field guns equipped in the division's artillery regiment have relatively large restrictions on their use.
After all, the 75mm field gun weighs more than one ton.
The fully equipped 53rd Infantry Division was transferred to Cape Duo Port last month. After resting for more than a month, it finally boarded a ship to Europe in February.
Also accompanying him was the 116th Mixed Regiment, which was a mixed force composed of the 116th Infantry Regiment under the 29th Division, a baggage battalion, an artillery battalion, and a cavalry company.
The above two troops totaled 20,000 people, which was the main force of the regular army prepared by the Chu army for the European free trade plan.
In addition, the military has also prepared a servant army, the Second Division of the Indian Army... In fact, this servant army is the main force in the European Free Trade Plan. Most combat missions, especially casualties, may Relatively large tasks will be undertaken by this division.
The servant army was originally used as cannon fodder.
The regular troops sent by the Chu army to Europe were mostly used to serve as the backbone and garrison strategically important places.
In addition to the Army, there is also a mixed battalion of the Guards. However, the style of the Guards has always been to only take credit but not hard work... so there is no such mixed battalion in the first batch of combat troops sent to Europe. Shadow, they are still staying in the Port of Cape Town. They will not go to Europe as the second batch of troops until the military opens up the situation in Europe.
The above are ground forces, and the navy sent the newly established European fleet to fight to provide escort, landing fire support, etc.
Although this European fleet has just been established, the combat ships are actually drawn from the African Fleet and the Indian Ocean Fleet. There are a total of four battleships, six cruisers and 12 frigates.
These warships are all iron-ribbed wooden hull ships. Some of the older ships are equipped with front-mounted rifled guns, but there are also several new ships equipped with breech-mounted rifled guns.
The Navy has equipped a large number of front-loading rifled guns in the past few years. These front-loading rifled guns seem to have settled down, but in fact they are still very useful. At least there is no problem in beating the indigenous people.
Therefore, although the Navy's new ships have adopted breech-loading rifled guns, there are still a large number of front-loading rifled guns in service.
After all, these front-loading rifled guns were quite expensive when they were originally purchased, and they are not unusable now. The Navy plans to continue to use them and replace them when the warships need to be upgraded and modified.
However, the replacement plan is estimated to be limited to a small number of relatively new battleships. As for older non-capital ships, they will continue to use front-mounted rifled guns until the battleships are retired.
The twenty-two warships will cover more than two hundred transport ships of varying tonnage, carrying a large number of soldiers, weapons and other supplies, all the way north along the west coast of Africa.
They are not talking about going straight to Europe. Before going to Europe, they must at least capture several important port nodes on the west coast of Africa. This is not to say that it is for expansion, but purely to capture a few supply ports and bring Europeans to Europe. The sea power was driven out to ensure the safety of sea transportation lines.
And their first target is the Angola region in central Africa, which currently belongs to the sphere of influence of the Portuguese... The Portuguese established several coastal colonial strongholds in Angola, such as the city of Luanda.
When the Dutch and the Portuguese had a fight more than 20 years ago, they once occupied several Portuguese strongholds in Angola, but they were quickly pushed back by the Portuguese.
So this place is currently controlled by the Portuguese!
Although it is said to be control, in fact, like the Portuguese colonies in other places, the Portuguese's sphere of influence is limited to the coast, to be precise, several colonial strongholds and surrounding areas.
It does not say that it rules a large area of local territory. A large number of local places are still controlled by local African indigenous tribes.
What the Portuguese are engaged in here is not colonial rule, agricultural development, or mineral development, but mainly slave trade.
The Chu army was not targeting this place because of any grudge against the Portuguese people... Although the Chu people had bullied the Portuguese many times, they had never had any resentment towards the Portuguese.
As for whether the Putao people resent the Chu people, this... it should be possible, but the Chu people don't care.
There were many natives who were bullied by the Chu people, and even lost their country and exterminated their tribes, not least the Portuguese... In many cases, the Chu people didn't even bother to tell which native country they were annihilating... For example, when they attacked India and West Asia before, When there was an attack on the east coast of Africa, the Chu army would deal with it all the way. Who cares which country you are from!
The same is true for the attack on Angola this time. The attack here was purely because the Portuguese people were blocking the middle of the road, blocking the Chu army's way north.
(End of chapter)
