I want to be emperor

Chapter 467 Weapons of War
These shells flew about 400 meters, landed and then exploded, but Luo Zhixue also saw that one of the shells exploded in the air several meters before landing.

This can't be said to be bad. In actual combat, if it can explode in the air on the eve of landing, the power will be even greater.

But from a technical point of view, it means that this wooden fuze still has certain technical defects, and it is difficult for gunners to accurately grasp the time when the shell explodes.

Luo Zhixue was not surprised by this small accident, and was even less angry.

The level of technology is like this. It is already very good that it can fly out smoothly and explode over the enemy's position without any duds, or it explodes after landing for several seconds.

It may be said that the cost of the artillery group has been pondered over and over again before, and even the fuzes used for testing are selected from thousands of choices.

Luo Zhixue estimated that if used in actual combat, the detonation time error of this wooden fuze would be even greater.

But it doesn't matter, no matter how bad it is, it is stronger than the original external fuse type grenade, and it is much stronger.

So after another series of live ammunition shots, Luo Zhixue took the lead in applauding: "Okay, the empire has this weapon of war, and the unification of China is just around the corner."

After seeing Luo Zhixue taking the lead in applauding, a large group of people behind him also applauded, and many of them were still smiling.

Behind this simple grenade and new artillery is the efforts and pressure of many people.

Now that they have finally obtained His Majesty's approval, they are finally relieved of what they have been raising all along.

Xu Zhixian, Chief of the Army Staff Department at the side, saw that Luo Zhixue was in a good mood, and immediately took a step closer and said, "Your Majesty, this is a good thing. For the troops on the front line, if a division can match a dozen or twenty units, no matter it is a siege or a field battle They can all play a huge role!"

This [-]-pound light howitzer weighs more than a [-]-pound field cannon, and at the same time, it is no different from a field cannon for loading and shooting. Naturally, it can be used in field battles instead of being the same as the original [-]-pound mortar. It seems to weigh only a few hundred catties, but it is actually very troublesome to operate. In the field, the [-] catties mortar cannon is deployed, and the battle may be over...

"This kind of artillery can just replace the [-]-jin mortars in the army, and the cost of use is estimated to be lower."

Luo Zhixue naturally knew why Xu Zhixian said this in such a hurry, it was nothing more than wanting military funds to replace this kind of artillery.

But even if the army generals headed by Xu Zhixian don’t want it themselves, Luo Zhixue intends to give them this kind of artillery. Not only this kind of artillery, Luo Zhixue also intends to let the army’s nine-pound field artillery and even five-pound field artillery also try. With the new type of grenade, although the chamber pressure of the grenade is lower, it is enough to reduce the charge.

In this way, in some tough battles represented by siege battles in the future, a large number of field artillery can directly fire explosive grenades, instead of only firing solid shells with poor effects...

In addition, Luo Zhixue also planned to let the research and development department develop larger-caliber howitzers to replace the existing 24-jin mortars and 48-jin mortars, and use them as the main artillery of the siege artillery.

So he suppressed his hand a little: "This kind of artillery is good, and it can be equipped on a large scale. Looking back at the army, I will think about how to better use the power of this kind of artillery."

"As for the cost of changing clothes, we will add special funds to the budget next year!"

As he said that, he turned to the group of researchers behind him and said, "Grenades are a weapon of war in the future. No matter in field battles or fortified battles, grenades will play a role that cannot be ignored. All research departments must attach great importance to them so that they can be used as soon as possible. Complete the following research and development tasks."

"One, develop a new type of grenade that can be used by long-barreled artillery of four calibers: two and a half catties, five catties, nine catties, and fourteen catties."

"Second, use the new grenade technology to develop a larger caliber siege weapon, that is, a 24-pound howitzer, and then conduct targeted research on a 48-pound howitzer."

"I hope that all the artillery of the empire in the future will be able to use this new type of shell!"

Luo Zhixue is looking forward to leading the army in the future and bombing all the way...

Range is the truth, explosion is king!
As for the solid shells, they can be used temporarily, and the actual combat effect is also very good, but in the future, pure solid shells cannot match the greatness of the Great Chu Empire!

After seeing the live ammunition test of the new howitzer, Luo Zhixue assigned new research and development and production tasks to the Ministry of Industry on the spot.

The people from the Ministry of Industry naturally responded on the spot, and one by one said that they would immediately start the corresponding research and development and production.

After speaking to the people from the Ministry of Industry, Luo Zhixue said to Xu Zhixian from the Army: "The Army must reinstall the new grenade equipment, conduct various tests in advance, formulate manuals, and extensively cultivate targeted technologies. talent."

The large-scale equipment of grenades brings more than just a new type of weapon to the army, but also affects many changes in strategy and tactics.

How to hit the same tactical target is completely different when there are grenades and when there are no grenades, and there is great uncertainty in these situations where only front-line officers and soldiers are expected to adapt to the situation. How to reduce this uncertainty , to give more guidance to the grassroots officers and soldiers of the whole army, which requires the elite talents of the various departments under the General Staff to conduct special research.

They need to experiment and explore various tactics, and then formulate and promote new tactical manuals.

In the Great Chu Empire, war, including the development of the army, has become a very systematic matter, which is completely different from the military system in traditional dynasties such as the Ming Dynasty.

In the traditional army, the choice of what equipment and tactics the army uses is basically based on the choice of the army commander. As for the more detailed things, it is purely dependent on the grassroots officers and soldiers.

But this is not the case in the Great Chu Empire. The high-level leaders will decide to equip certain equipment according to various situations, conduct in-depth research on these equipment and tactics, and finally select a few tactics to promote.

In doing so, the advantages and disadvantages are obvious.

The advantage is that the low-level officers in the Chu army and even the officers at the battalion level don't need too much brains to fight, they just need to fight step by step according to what they have learned, which can greatly reduce the quality requirements for officers.

With the training and use of officers of the Chu Army, you can randomly find hundreds of young students who can read and write and throw them into the officer school. After three or five months of teaching, they will be pulled out, and they will basically be able to command battalion-level battles... No need. You are so awesome, just follow the steps.

This has also led to the fact that the Chu army often fights in the same way...

At the same time, in addition to being the same, the frontline officers of the Chu army basically don't know how to adapt to the battle.

Therefore, the advantages and disadvantages are very obvious, but the top leaders of the Chu army are still unswervingly promoting this army building strategy.

The purpose is also very simple. The quality of the officers in the Chu army is really not good. Many people are trying to get on the shelves. They only study for a few months as an officer before going to the front line. In a year and a half, he was promoted to the rank of battalion commander, and if he was lucky enough to make meritorious service, he would be promoted to the rank of brigadier general or even major general.

Such a large number of generals who have been quickly trained in such a short period of time and quickly ascended to the top position, Luo Zhixue himself would not believe how outstanding their abilities are...

How to let a group of mediocre rookies lead troops to fight?

The Chu army's method is to compile various conventional tactics into various tactical manuals, and then let the front-line officers memorize them by rote. It is really impossible to bring the manuals to the front line.

If you encounter an enemy, if you don't know what to do for a while, turn to the book...

Luo Zhixue reckoned that this model should remain in place for at least the next one or two years. If military generals were to have higher tactical literacy and be able to independently adapt to changes in the environment, they would have to wait a while to change tactics flexibly.

The current training and employment model of officers also puts forward very high requirements on the hard power of the army.

This is also the original intention of the Great Chu Empire to unswervingly expand more troops, equip more artillery, more muskets, and more armor.

If you can't beat the enemy by playing tricks...then don't play, just rely on more guns, more troops, more shells and food to push them all the way.

Not to mention, the effect is not bad for the time being, at least the Ming Dynasty has been overthrown.

——

In the weapons testing ground, Luo Zhixue watched the live-fire test of the [-]-jin light howitzer, and then watched the test of more than a dozen other new weapons.

Including the improved version of the two-year-style flintlock gun, but this improved bayonet accessory was directly rejected by Luo Zhixue, who asked to continue to use the gun bayonet. As for the bayonet, wait until the cost is reduced.

There are also improved versions of the two-and-a-half catty field guns, new gun mounts, and so on.

But generally speaking, the changes to these weapons are not too big, and they cannot affect the current equipment level of the Chu army, let alone the changes in tactics.

So Luo Zhixue briefly watched the test, encouraged a group of people, and then ordered rewards for the R&D personnel on the spot before leaving the weapons testing ground.

On the third day, Luo Zhixue continued to conduct inspections in the industrial area. In the morning, he went to the Dangtu Heavy Artillery Factory to check the factory's production work.

Dangtu Heavy Artillery Factory, like Hantian Heavy Artillery Factory, is a very typical manufacturer of medium and large caliber artillery, and each has its own focus.

Hantian Heavy Artillery Factory currently focuses on the research and development and production of three types of ship-borne, coastal defense, and siege artillery, the nine-pound cannon, the fourteen-pound cannon, and the eighteen-pound cannon.

Dangtu Heavy Artillery Factory focuses on the short-barreled heavy artillery used by the army. The previous products were 24-jin mortars and 48-jin mortars. Although the factory was established for a short time, it currently supplies more than 80.00% of the Chu army's 48 Mortar production capacity.

Now, the factory will undertake the production task of the new howitzer.

(End of this chapter)