I want to be emperor

Chapter 318 Logistics (Two in One)

When Xu Zhixian arrived at the front line of Ruichang City with a group of generals and staff officers, the Ruichang City he saw had turned into a huge barracks.

This Ruichang City was originally just an ordinary small county town. The area of ​​the urban area was originally very small, and the permanent population in the city was less than [-].

But since last year, tens of thousands of soldiers have poured into this small city, which is more than the original permanent population of the city.

The garrison of so many troops will naturally have a huge impact on the local area.

The Chu army stationed troops in this city, and Jiujiang City not far away also had tens of thousands of officers and soldiers stationed there. Many gentry were not fools, so they naturally knew that this place would become a battlefield sooner or later.

When the Ming court's army comes over, won't they, the civilians in the city, suffer.

Therefore, many people left Ruichang City one after another, went to other cities or simply lived in the countryside to avoid the war.

Therefore, in the current Ruichang City, apart from a few big gentry families who risked war to do business in the city, there are actually not many big gentry families living in the city.

But ordinary people leave less.

On the one hand, they can't go!

For ordinary people, it does not mean that they can live smoothly without leaving their original houses and livelihoods. Many people have very low ability to resist risks.

Furthermore, it is difficult to leave the homeland, and many people do not want to leave their hometown.

In the end, they also had some confidence in the Chu army, thinking that the war would break out, but judging by the appearance of the Chu army, even if the war broke out, there was a high probability that the Chu army would go east and attack Jiujiang...

Instead of the Ming army running from Jiujiang to fight Ruichang.

This confidence is brought about by the continuous victories of the Chu army.

You may not like or even hate the Chu army, but you have to admit that the Chu army is really good at fighting...

On the contrary, in Jiujiang City opposite, more people left the city.

Regardless of whether they were wealthy gentry or ordinary citizens, eight out of ten people who had the conditions to leave had already fled in the past half a year.

So don't look at the mansions of the dignitaries and gentry in Jiujiang City, but in fact there are only a few clansmen living with their servants, and a large number of direct clansmen have basically run away.

And what's more interesting is that many of the big gentry who ran away did not go to other areas controlled by the Ming Dynasty, such as Nanchang, the Hukou area in the east, but directly to the area controlled by the Chu army in the west. Some of them simply went directly to Xingguo Prefecture and Daye County in Hantianfu.

Although the Chu thieves in the west are quite strict in collecting taxes, they are very polite.

What's more, these big gentry families in Jiujiang don't have any farm or business houses in the area controlled by the Chu army. They just ran to live to avoid the war.

That is to say, although the Chu thieves are very ruthless in collecting taxes, they have nothing to do with them...

On the contrary, those Chu thieves especially welcome them, big gentry with a lot of money and soft money, to settle down under the control of the Chu army.

Even if you are not settling down, but just staying temporarily, you are welcome.

As long as you come with money, no matter whether you buy a house to live in or eat, drink and sleep, it can bring consumption to the control area of ​​the Great Chu Empire.

Where there is consumption, there is a market, and where there is a market, there is taxation.

Therefore, a very interesting situation has appeared in some families of the big gentry families on the front line of Jiujiang.

Their patriarch has a large number of farms, commercial houses and other industries in Jiujiang Mansion. He hates the Chu army very much, and also strongly supports Shi Kefa to fight against the bandits. Among Shi Kefa's many donations, the local gentry in Jiujiang donated money.

On the other hand, these gentry families sent some of their clansmen with a large amount of gold and silver to Huguang under the control of Chu thieves, mainly in the Hantianfu area to escape the war.

Of course, they will not go to Ruichang City, which is also the center of the war vortex. Although there is a high probability that the Chu thieves will take the initiative to attack Jiujiang, but in case of accidents, the Ming army will attack Ruichang City. Wouldn't it be a trap to go to Ruichang now?

Therefore, in the area controlled by the Great Chu Empire, Xingguo Prefecture and Daye County in Hantian Prefecture accepted a group of wealthy gentry families who came from Jiujiang Prefecture to escape the war, but there were not many wealthy gentry households in Ruichang City who were willing. wait.

By now, Ruichang City has basically turned into a huge military camp.

Major General Cao Hongsheng, the commander of the First Division, led Xu Zhixian to inspect the defense of the city, and introduced to Xu Zhixian: "Now we are on the front line of Ruichang, and the main garrison is the main force of our division and a brigade of the Seventh Defense Division."

"In Ruichang City, there are most of the main force of our division. There are three infantry regiments, a transport regiment, an artillery regiment, and an engineer battalion. In addition, there are the No. 14 garrison brigade of the [-]st mortar regiment and the [-]th garrison division."

"Our division's third infantry regiment and the first division's cavalry regiment are stationed in Dunzi Town in the north of Ruichang City. The troops in this direction are mainly to guard the land transportation line from Fuchi Town to Ruichang City and avoid being attacked by the enemy. At the same time, there is also a small pier along the river in Dunzi Town, which can be used as a backup docking point for river transport materials."

"Now all ministries along the entire line are fully staffed. Even the No.14 garrison brigade has allotted the best cold weapons, and also added a batch of birdcracks and short-barreled artillery that we captured before."

"There are a lot of materials in the city. Just five catties of shells, the warehouses in the city have stockpiled a full [-] rounds."

"As for the most important mortar shells in the Eastward Campaign, especially the 48-jin mortar shells, we currently have [-] rounds in stock."

After hearing this, Xu Zhixian said: "These ammunition, if you let the Ruichang garrison use it, it must be enough, but it is still far from enough to meet the needs of the various ministries in the east!"

"The eastward army has a lot of artillery. In addition to the first army, the third army will also deploy troops to participate. At the same time, it will also cooperate with the second army on the Jiangbei front line to fight."

"At the same time, in order to strengthen the artillery firepower, we also transferred some artillery forces from other ministries to strengthen the eastward troops."

"In a fight, hundreds of artillery pieces are fired at once, which consumes a lot of ammunition."

At this time, Major General Qiu Feiya, the executive deputy director of the logistics department, stepped forward and said, "Don't worry, Chief of Staff Xu, the ammunition reserves in Ruichang City are only our preliminary reserves. There is a large amount of ammunition stockpiled in the military warehouse in Wuchang, and the shipments have been carried out according to the plan."

"Before the Eastward Campaign was launched, I dare not say too much, but we can still equip each cannon with at least [-] shells."

"In addition, Hantian Factory and Xiangyang Factory are working overtime to produce ammunition, most of which will be directly transferred to the eastward front."

Xu Zhixian nodded slightly after listening, but he didn't just listen, but also went to see it himself.

He personally took people to the multiple ammunition warehouses in Ruichang City to check in person to ensure that there was no shortage of ammunition in reserve, and there were no situations such as shoddy goods.

He, Xu Zhixian, came to the front line of Ruichang this time, not just to take a look around, he came to check the combat readiness of the eastward campaign with His Majesty's will.

When he returned to Wuchang, he was going to submit a detailed report on the preparations for the Eastward Campaign to Luo Zhixue.

Among all kinds of combat preparations, the hoarding and transportation of food, grass and ammunition is undoubtedly the top priority. This is why Xu Zhixian went to inspect the military supply warehouse as soon as he arrived at the front line.

After checking the situation in the warehouse, Xu Zhixian convened a symposium with logistics-related generals to listen to the current transportation situation of various military supplies such as grain and ammunition on the front line.

But in this symposium, Xu Zhixian frequently heard the term four-wheeled carriage!
As the head of the Army Staff Department of the Great Chu Empire, in fact the chief of staff of the entire Great Chu Empire, Xu Zhixian has a lot of affairs, and the focus of his work is more on strategic control, and he doesn't pay too much attention to some details. many.

He knew about the four-wheeled carriage, but he didn't know why the logistics officers mentioned this word frequently when they made reports.

With doubts, he picked up one of the reports and looked at it. It was the report of the transport vehicles of the First Transport Regiment, that is, the transport regiment of the First Division.

Among them, there are 150 four-wheeled carriages, including [-] special four-wheeled ammunition vehicles and [-] four-wheeled general-purpose transport vehicles.

Carriage?

Xu Zhixian remembered that Chu Jun once used a four-wheeled carriage last year, but the technology of the four-wheeled carriage was not mature at that time, mainly because the bearing problem could not be solved, and the wear and tear was relatively large.

Later, after adopting cylindrical bearings, the problem of bearings was solved, but the bearings produced were also given priority to all kinds of mechanical equipment. After all, the mechanical equipment of each factory is the largest user of bearings, and it is also more important.

Most of the bearings supplied to the military are also used for artillery.

The artillery is mounted on a gun mount for maneuvering. This gun mount has two wheels during combat, but it is a very typical four-wheel structure when it is in the marching state.

The artillery itself is relatively heavy and requires high mobility, so the requirements for the gun mount are also high. After the new cylindrical bearing is produced, in addition to supplying various mechanical equipment, it is basically used for the gun mount.

As for the carriages used by ordinary logistics troops, the priority is basically at the bottom.

After all, ordinary old-fashioned carriages can also be used, at most, they are more worn out and need to be repaired more frequently.

But looking at the report now, the number of four-wheeled carriages used in this supply unit has increased, and the production of bearings in the rear has also increased.

Xu Zhixian didn't ask too many questions. After all, the bearing is just a small detail under the huge military industrial system of the Great Chu Empire, so he doesn't need to pay special attention to it.

On the contrary, he is more concerned about the carriage: "This heavy carriage has a large cargo capacity, and at the same time, it has better defense capabilities in the wild. If conditions permit, we should use more heavy carriages!"

The logistics department official on the side said: "We are also aware of the advantages of heavy four-wheeled carriages. The amount of goods transported is very large. Now the new heavy-duty four-wheeled carriages we are equipped with can transport [-] yuan on ordinary official roads. One hundred catties of goods, this transportation volume is unmatched by two-wheeled carriages."

"However, this kind of heavy-duty four-wheeled carriage has relatively high requirements on roads, and places near the front line or places with complex terrain often do not have well-formed roads, so the use limitations are relatively large."

"So our carriages are mainly light four-wheeled carriages and two-wheeled carriages."

At this time, the logistics officer also sighed a little: "In fact, even if it is a two-wheeled carriage, our rations are not too much now. The carriage is easy to get, but the mules and horses are hard to find!"

"Heavy four-wheeled carriages often require two or even four horses, and even two-wheeled carriages also require two or one horse."

"And the number of mules and horses in our army has always been relatively tight, and the bulk needs to be used by various combat troops. What is left for our logistics troops is only those three or two crooked melons and cracked dates!"

"So the current main means of transportation in our logistics department is actually the wheelbarrow."

"But don't tell me, it seems that a single wheelbarrow is used to transport materials, but it doesn't use mules and horses, and you can directly recruit young and strong people, and you don't pick the terrain, even if it is a mountain path. .”

"In all previous large-scale combat operations of our army, this wheelbarrow has undertaken a large part of the material transportation."

After hearing this, Xu Zhixian laughed: "That's true. I remember that during the Changsha battle, in order to meet the ammunition and food needs of the front line, your logistics department mobilized more than 5 civilians to use wheelbarrows to transport ammunition to the front line."

"This unicycle made a great contribution to the victory of the Changsha Battle!"

In a logistics transportation meeting, Xu Zhixian was basically able to figure out the material transportation situation in the frontline troops. For example, those logistics troops had more four-wheeled carriages, and those troops had more two-wheeled carriages. The logistics department had prepared a few Transport battalions, what are the conditions of these transport battalions and so on.

After some understanding, Xu Zhixian has a deeper understanding of the combat readiness on the front line, and has made up his mind to pay attention. When he returns to Wuchang, he will talk to Yu Xiujie from the logistics department to see if he can further expand the four rounds. The number of equipment for the carriage.

Heavy four-wheeled carriages have higher requirements on the road, but it is possible to make light four-wheeled carriages that are better adaptable to the road.

In any case, this four-wheeled carriage saves mules and horses more than the two-wheeled carriage, and is more cost-effective.

As for those wheelbarrows and the like, they are all special equipment for the transport battalion under the logistics department, and the supply units in the combat troops are generally not equipped with these things.

There are two types of logistics units in the Chu army. One is the supply units under the combat units, that is, the supply regiments and battalions under the main divisions and garrison divisions.

The other is the transport battalion and transport regiment under the Ministry of Logistics.

Among them, the transportation regiment and the transportation battalion under the logistics department are not fixed establishments, but basically all temporary establishments. Except for a few backbones who are soldiers, the rest are temporarily recruited civilians. They are engaged in the transportation of materials in the rear.

The supply battalions and supply regiments in the combat force have a fixed establishment, and all personnel are professional soldiers, and they are fully armed, equipped with muskets, spears, swords, and even artillery. Simply put, the supply battalions and regiments, they It is an armed logistics transport personnel.

It is usually used for material transportation close to the front line, and it will face enemy attacks at any time.

Their task is mainly to escort supplies to the front line with armed forces, and sometimes they also serve as escorts for transport battalions and regiments, escorting transport battalions and regiments for material transportation.

Under such circumstances, the transport battalions in the Chu army often used mostly horse-drawn carts, and there were no wheelbarrows that existed in large quantities in the transport battalion.

Since there are a lot of horse-drawn carriages, if conditions permit, Xu Zhixian still hopes that each logistics battalion can be equipped with more four-wheeled carriages, so that not only can more materials be transported, but more importantly, it can enable the logistics troops to have more powerful vehicles. Defensive combat capability.

Relying on four-wheeled carriages for defensive operations is quite useful, especially when facing cavalry attacks, as long as the carriages are connected and surrounded, it will be a small fortress.

And the Chu Army's supply troops in the fortress are fully equipped with guns, even two and a half catties of field artillery.

Under such circumstances, it will be very difficult for the enemy to attack the supply troops.

(End of this chapter)