In the spring of the thirty-eighth year of Chengshun, new good news finally came back from distant Europe.
This battle report, which spanned nearly 30,000 kilometers of waterways and was brought back by the navy's fast communication ship, set off from Spain in Europe and took more than two months to reach Jinling City.
And this battle report, which was sent back after traveling tens of thousands of kilometers, brought good news to the empire's top brass.
Since the European Expeditionary Force of the Great Chu Empire landed in Cadiz last autumn and launched its attack on Spain, after going through the Cadiz Landing Battle and the Battle of Hacksburg, it not only gained Cadiz, a coastal port facing the Atlantic Ocean, as a Landing at the stronghold, they also annihilated more than 30,000 Spanish troops.
Then the Chu army continued to advance into the interior of Spain, and fought fierce battles with the Spanish army that resisted the blocking along the way. However, how could the Spanish army, which still held flintlock guns, early smoothbore cannons, and used line tactics, be able to withstand it? The Chu army, which had already installed breech-loaded rifled rifles and breech-loaded rifled artillery, used skirmishing tactics to attack.
The powerful field offensive capabilities of the core main force, the 53rd Division, are simply not something that the Spaniards can resist. Often, the Spaniards have finally managed to assemble a certain number of troops, and are defeated by the Chu army without even seeing the faces of the Chu army's infantry. The army was defeated by overwhelming artillery fire.
The Chu army's breech-loaded rifled artillery, using an effective range of several thousand meters and huge explosive power, fully demonstrated what it means to be the god of war. It exploded all the way, and the Spaniards were defeated. There was no way they could effectively stop the Chu army's attack. .
In some small-scale infantry battles without large-scale artillery, the Chu infantry equipped with breech-loaded rifles also let the Spaniards who were still playing line tactics know what modern warfare is.
They don't even need skirmishing tactics... The infantry of the Chu army only need to use the ultra-long effective range and high rate of fire of the Type 18 rifles to carry out long-distance coverage strikes, and they can basically harvest the Spanish line in large pieces. The lives of the infantrymen.
Even...the Spanish infantry did not even look to launch an effective counterattack.
Because the flintlock guns used by the Spaniards have an effective range of only more than a hundred meters, and in actual combat, in order to obtain a certain hit rate, they often fire within a hundred meters... This is the inherent characteristic of the front-loading musket, and It doesn't matter what kind of army it is. In the past, the Chu army did this in the line era.
What was the most typical tactic in the army of the Chu Empire, and what was the most fearful tactic among the natives everywhere in the 1900s and 1920s?
They lined up and marched forward with firm steps, carrying the casualties all the way. They did not launch a salvo until they were only more than thirty meters away from the enemy. After a round of salvo fire, the opponent did not say 100%, but 100%. Ninety-nine people will collapse... No army can withstand such a direct volley!
After the volley, the opponent collapsed, and then directly launched a bayonet charge, and then it was time to harvest the heads.
A thirty-meter salvo followed by a bayonet charge is the classic infantry tactic that the Chu Empire Army is most proud of in the past thirty years...
It is said to be tactics, but in fact there are no tactics at all. It relies on courage and discipline.
Therefore, although this tactic is a classic, in fact, even the regular troops in the Chu army can only do this... After all, this classic tactic has a prerequisite, that is, it must bear the enemy's firepower and continue to attack. He didn't shoot until he was thirty meters forward.
Of course, on the actual battlefield, because the enemy's firepower is thin, the Chu army's queue will not suffer any casualties during the advancement. Therefore, even the second-class regular army can often play like this in actual combat... because there is no need to carry it hard. Advancing with casualties requires little courage and discipline.
However, if they encounter European enemies who also use line tactics and are equipped with flintlock rifles, these second-rate regular troops will often not do this...
If both sides of the erection are line infantry, the use of this tactic will require very high levels of courage and discipline on the soldiers... To put it bluntly, if you don't train the soldiers to be emotionless wooden people, you can't play like this. of……
Because the casualties during the advancement process will not be small, it is difficult for the soldiers to continue to move forward without changing their expressions when their comrades fall in pieces. The comrades in the back row can also take a step forward without expression. Step over the bodies of fallen comrades to take up positions, making sure the lines are neat.
Therefore, the difficulty of facing different enemies with the same tactics is different.
In the face of enemies using line tactics, there are not many regular troops of the Chu Empire who can do this. Generally, only the elite troops in the first-class divisions can do this.
However, the commander of the Chu army is not stupid. In past wars, when encountering relatively powerful enemy infantry, the Chu army would not stupidly play with the enemy and line up to kill them. Instead, they would pull up a large number of artillery and blast them!
Artillery is much more reliable than infantry. At least so far, no enemy army can withstand the Chu army's bombardment.
The same was true on the Spanish battlefield. Although the infantry of the 53rd Division of the Chu Army had a great advantage, the front-line commanders of the Chu Army did not use the courage and discipline of the infantry to fight to the death. Instead, they used their own artillery superiority to strike. enemy.
Seventy-five-millimeter field guns and mountain guns, plus seventy-mm infantry guns, these three types of artillery have fully demonstrated their performance on the Spanish battlefield.
In particular, the performance of the 75mm mountain gun is even more outstanding.
Because the transportation facilities in places like Spain are backward, the roads are not good, and the bridges are few and fragile, this has also led to the use of the 32-year-old 75mm field gun weighing more than one ton on the battlefield to be compared. big limitations.
Therefore, many of the artillery with combat effectiveness and support for infantry operations often only have the Type 34 75mm mountain gun and the Type 34 70mm infantry gun.
Although the performance of the 70mm infantry gun is also very good and it is a very good artillery to accompany the infantry support, its range is still a little shorter. The maximum effective range is only 2,200 meters. In order to obtain a certain shooting accuracy in actual combat, In fact, the maximum range will not be the extreme 2,200 meters, but will be chosen to fire at around 1,800 meters.
The 75mm mountain gun is much more powerful, and its effective range can reach almost 3,500 meters.
Therefore, on the Spanish battlefield, the 34-year-old 75mm mountain gun actually assumed the role of long-range suppressive artillery and assumed the long-range artillery mission on the entire battlefield. This role should have been the 32-year-old 75mm borne by field artillery.
This change once again reflects how important the weight and mobility of artillery are in overseas areas... Given the limited transportation facilities in overseas areas, no matter how good the artillery is, it is useless because it is too heavy... ...How can it bring out its superior performance if it can't even be used on the battlefield?
This is also the case for the past many years. Although the performance of the 32-year-old 75mm field gun has been very excellent in all aspects, it has performed well in areas with good terrain and good transportation facilities such as the local area, Central Asia and even North America. It is very excellent and is the core artillery piece of the army of the Chu Empire.
However, this artillery was disliked in many overseas battlefields. First, during the Burmese War, this artillery was sprayed bloody by front-line troops, forcing the Army to urgently develop and purchase a 75mm mountain gun.
Then on the Indian battlefield and the African battlefield, the performance was unsatisfactory.
Later, the Chu Empire Army simply reduced the number of artillery equipped with this type of artillery for overseas garrison troops, and then increased the number of 75mm mountain cannon equipment.
Sometimes whether a gun is good or not, its own performance is important, but whether it is suitable for the actual battlefield conditions is actually more important.
There is no best weapon, only the most suitable one.
Otherwise, if the Da Chu Empire Army dares to bring its army-level support artillery, that is, the 34-year-old 120mm howitzer to Europe...it is estimated that these artillery will not reach the battlefields in the interior of Europe after the war is over!
Because the marching weight of this thing is more than five tons. As far as the basic transportation facilities in Europe are concerned, it would be troublesome to let this thing carry out long-distance mobile marches. To put it bluntly, if you want to let a battalion of one hundred and twenty When a millimeter howitzer battalion goes on the battlefield overseas, you must first equip it with an engineer battalion. This engineer battalion must have at least one pontoon bridge company dedicated to bridge repair.
Otherwise, you basically can’t expect it to be used on battlefields overseas...
Not to mention overseas, even in the local area, this kind of artillery is actually only used as military-level support artillery, and the number of equipment is not large. So far, there are only more than a hundred equipped in total, most of which are equipped on the terrain. A flat local area with relatively good transportation.
In the southwest, Qingkang and other areas, there is no such thing, but a 120mm light howitzer instead.
It is also in this context that the Type 34 120mm light howitzer actually replaced the 120mm howitzer and became the main military-level support artillery.
In the Spanish battlefield, the 120mm light howitzer also gradually joined the battlefield in the later period, and later participated in the Battle of Madrid. With the cooperation of dozens of 75mm field guns and mountain artillery, it carried out a devastating attack on Madrid. Long-range bombardment.
Finally, the foundation was laid for the Indian third division to conquer Madrid.
Why was it the 3rd Indian Division of the servant army that finally captured Madrid, and not the 53rd Division, the core main force of the Chu army on the European battlefield?
Naturally, it was because the generals of the Chu army were not stupid and would not invest their regular troops in street fighting and suffer unnecessary battle losses.
In large-scale field battles, the main force such as the 53rd Division can completely defeat the indigenous people and ensure that its own casualties are very few.
In street fighting, the weapon advantage of an individual soldier will be greatly offset, and backward weapons can also kill people.
After all, the Spanish soldiers used flintlock guns and could shoot you dead at close range in the streets and alleys.
Therefore, the regular army of the Chu army basically did not engage in street fighting in European wars, and they all let the Indian army of servants fight.
This is also the reason why a large number of Indian legions were mobilized to participate in the war in Europe, in order to undertake non-frontal and highly uncertain combat tasks such as street fighting, local garrison, and escort logistics, thereby reducing the casualties of the regular army.
When they attacked Cadiz, it was the Indian Army, and now it is still the Indian Army that enters Madrid.
When the Indian Third Division captured Madrid, the Spanish royal family, which had fled early, finally gave in and agreed to a series of peace talks made by the Chu Empire.
To fully open the market, tariffs on Chu products must not exceed 10%, and some products must not exceed 5%. Tariff changes must be approved by Chu.
The Dachu Empire invested 7 million Chu Yuan to acquire all Spanish overseas colonies in the Pacific, America, Atlantic, Africa, etc., including Mexico, Central America, South America and other places.
At the same time, Spain needs to pay an indemnity of 12 million Chu yuan to the Chu Empire.
Regarding these two items, in fact, what the Chu Empire initially demanded was an indemnity of five million Chu yuan and the transfer of all overseas colonies by Spain... However, the Spanish negotiators did not know what to think, and believed that the unconditional transfer of overseas colonies was not enough. Well, they proposed to increase the total amount of compensation and sell the overseas colonies to the Chu people.
The core remained unchanged, except that it became the Chu Empire in name only and purchased colonies from the Spaniards.
Maybe the Spaniards want some psychological comfort?
The Chu people didn't care about this. Anyway, they only wanted five million in compensation and all the Spanish overseas colonies.
This colony is easy to talk about, and the Spanish will not be able to pay for the five million compensation for a while... In order to resist the Chu invasion, the Spanish actually spent a lot of money in the war that lasted for several months, and the royal family had no money. .
In desperation, the only option was to find a financial bank loan from the Chu Empire's partner in formulating war reparations!
The loans provided by financial banks to indigenous countries overseas are often relatively shady. This time they provided the Spaniards with an annual interest rate of 7% and a 10% discount... using the Spanish customs duties and some taxes as collateral.
This is considered quite conscientious. Last year, the Finance Bank provided a loan to the Mughal Kingdom, with an annual interest rate of 9% and an 8.5% discount on delivery... The key is to look ugly.
At first glance, the annual interest rate is only 7%, and 9% does not seem to be high.
However, this data cannot be compared with that of later generations, because all countries in later generations have the same credit currency. This money is said to be money, but in fact it is just a piece of paper. The specific value depends on one mouth.
The money of the Great Chu Empire is a serious gold standard currency. One Chu Yuan is equal to 3.5 grams of gold.
The gold standard currency has a great feature, that is, it is difficult to have inflation. On the contrary, deflation often occurs... because the production of gold is often difficult to keep up with the productivity improvements in the industrial era, that is, The growth rate of wealth has led to insufficient currency in circulation, leading to deflation.
Why did the Great Chu Empire spend so much time searching for gold mines all over the world, even setting up a South African territory in Africa? It was just for the gold in South Africa, and what did it need gold for?
It is to increase the money supply and avoid deflation.
In fact, after the Dachu Empire adopted the gold standard system, the actual purchasing power of gold around the world has been rising. The price ratio of gold to silver has even exceeded one to twenty, and it continues to rise... According to the views of some domestic economists, the price ratio of gold to silver may rise to one to thirty...and this will not take long, it may be reached within ten years.
For many indigenous countries in the world that still use silver as currency, such as those in Europe, they suffer a huge loss in settlement when trading with the Chu State.
The Da Chu Empire, which adopted the gold standard currency, was different from later modern countries in many economic models. Therefore, many things that later generations may take for granted did not exist in the Da Chu Empire, and some things that often appeared in the Da Chu Empire This situation is very difficult to occur in modern countries of later generations.
For example, in the contemporary Dachu Empire, there is no economic risk of inflation, but there is a risk of deflation.
In the absence of inflation, loan interest rates for bulk funds are actually relatively low because there is no need to take inflation costs into account.
In the case of inflation, if an asset wants to maintain its value, it will need a certain number of points of annual interest just to offset the inflation guarantee. If you also want to offset the capital cost, labor cost, etc., you have to add a few points... these Only then can you think about asset appreciation…
And in the case of deflation... Where money is placed, it will become more and more valuable if nothing is done.
Under such circumstances, when the Dachu Empire's financial bank provides loans to external parties, it still adopts an annual interest rate of between 7% and 10%, plus a 19% discount on delivery... It can be said to be very sinister.
But the Spaniards had no choice...either they could come up with five million Chu Yuan in cash, such as Chu Yuan banknotes or equivalent gold, or they could only find a financial bank designated by the Chu people for a loan.
In the end, the only option is to sign a loan contract.
In addition to opening markets, paying indemnities, and selling overseas colonies, the Spaniards also leased some land surrounding the Port of Cadiz to the Chu Empire for a hundred years.
And then there's a bunch of other bits and pieces.
Finally, the Treaty of Chuxicadiz was reached, and the war between the Chu Empire and the Kingdom of Spain officially came to an end, and the two sides entered a state of peace.
What was sent back with the battle report was the Treaty of Cadiz. Although legally this treaty was signed by the plenipotentiary imperial envoy, it had actually come into effect and started to be implemented.
However, Luo Zhixue still issued an order for formal approval with a seal, which was a necessary procedure.
If Luo Zhixue is not satisfied, he can actually deny the treaty and reject it directly.
It's just that Luo Zhixue usually doesn't do this.
After the treaty was officially signed, Luo Zhixue instructed various departments to do a good job in the subsequent development of the Spanish market and the more important work of receiving the American colonies.
According to the treaty signed between the Da Chu Empire and Spain, plus the previous treaty signed with the Portuguese, the Da Chu Empire obtained all the overseas colonies of the above two countries, of which the American colonies were the absolute majority.
This also means that most of the entire American region already belongs to the Chu Empire, because in the previous Americas, the three largest colonial countries were the Chu Empire, Spain, and Portugal.
Among them, the Chu Empire controlled a large area of the west coast of North America, and began to penetrate into the central interior, and has begun to control the Mississippi River Basin.
The Spanish controlled Mexico, Central America, and parts of northern South America.
The Portuguese controlled the east coast of South America, mainly Brazil.
In addition to these three countries, the remaining countries are Britain and France. Their colonies are mainly concentrated on the east coast of North America.
Now, with the Great Chu Empire landing in Europe and acquiring Portuguese and Spanish colonies in the Americas through war, almost most of the Americas, including South America, have become colonies of the Great Chu Empire.
Only the colonies of a few countries such as Britain, France, and the Netherlands are left.
Next, the Great Chu Empire's immigration and development in the Americas will accelerate. It will take over large tracts of Portuguese and Spanish colonies, and station troops, immigrate, develop, etc. This is a very huge task that requires the full attention of the empire's top brass. support.
As the empire has effectively controlled most of the Americas, a single North American governor in the past is no longer enough to control such a large area.
Therefore, after deliberation by the Council of Ministers, the empire officially divided the North American governor's office into four, establishing the North American governor, the east American governor, the west American governor, the south American governor... southeast, northwest, simple and clear.
Governor of North America, whose jurisdiction covers a large area on the west coast of North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the west, down to Mexico, to the Bering Strait in the north, and to the Mississippi River in the east.
Governor of East America, whose jurisdiction extends from the Mississippi River to the west, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Gulf of Mexico and the Mexican region to the south.
The governor of Western America, whose jurisdiction covers the Mexican region formerly controlled by Spain, Central America, and parts of northern South America, roughly as far south as Columbia, Venezuela, and Ecuador.
The governor of South America has jurisdiction over all South America south of the governor of West America, mainly the former Portuguese colony of Brazil, the Spanish colonies of Argentina, Chile and other places.
The pattern of the four American governors in the southeast, northwest and northwest was thus established... However, although the areas under the jurisdiction of these four governors were very large, the actual population under their jurisdiction was not that large.
The largest governor in North America, the Chu State governed a land of several million square kilometers. The population of Chu State was actually only about ten million people... It was a vast land and sparsely populated in the true sense.
The population of Chu people in the other three governors' jurisdictions is even smaller. The population of Chu under the governor of Dongmei is only two to three hundred thousand at most.
The population of Chu State under the governor of Western America is now estimated to be only a few thousand people... The governor of South America only has a few thousand people, and these people are Chu people who have already been here before, doing business. Mainly develop plantations.
So don't look at these four major governors, especially the three major governors other than the North American governor. Although they have great names and larger jurisdictions, the population under their jurisdiction is not large, and it is not even as large as a county in the country...
Therefore, for the Chu Empire, especially for the three newly established governors of the Americas, the top priority is not other things, but immigration... Only with a sufficient number of Chu people under his command can this governor be worthy of the name!
