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Chapter 1383 Simple and crude

Small size has its limitations, but it also has its advantages. What is the navy's greatest asset? If only one answer is allowed, it would definitely be warships. However, warships themselves do not conquer cities or plunder; they are merely platforms for loading, transporting, and using weapons. Therefore, the navy's greatest asset is its naval guns.

Currently, most Qin-class and Han-class warships are equipped with the Type 33 cannon, which uses a 100mm caliber, 28-caliber barrel, 6 rifling grooves, and a wedge-shaped breechblock. The bare gun weighs 1375 kg, and the gun carriage weighs 315 kg.

It fires cast iron wedge-shaped armor-piercing projectiles, using 1-4 kg of propellant, and can penetrate 60 cm of wet teak wood at a maximum distance of 1800 meters. However, this 1800 meters is not the maximum range of the Type 33 cannon, but rather its effective maximum direct fire range.

By adjusting the firing angle and depending on the propellant charge, it can also be used as a land-based cannon, with a maximum range of 4 kilometers when firing cast iron hollow projectiles. If the propellant charge is increased regardless of the barrel's lifespan, a range of 6 kilometers is also achievable.

Judging from key parameters such as caliber, length, weight, range, and rate of fire of naval guns, the progress of the Ming Dynasty's navy and army in recent years has been very limited.

The so-called Type 33 shipborne cannon was actually just the Type 24 with the addition of 3 rifling grooves, further optimization of the casting process and breech structure, which reduced the overall weight by 200 kg and increased the firing elevation angle by 12 degrees. It was completely identical in most important parameters.

The 24mm breech-loading cannon has been in service with the troops for 11 years, and apart from being modified into the Type 33 in the 33rd year of Jingyang, its key parameters have never changed.

In other words, the Ming Dynasty's military industry made no progress in artillery research for more than ten years, which is in stark contrast to the previous rapid progress, minor improvements every three years, major changes every five years, and complete transformations every ten years.

The entire navy knew where the problem lay, yet they were all helpless. It wasn't that the military industry wasn't working hard on research and development, nor that the technical commanders weren't carefully collecting parameters and actively providing feedback.

Instead, the emperor, with a stroke of his pen, cut more than half of the funding for the artillery research and development department, and the remaining funds were mainly used for the development of army artillery, while most of the research and development projects for shipborne artillery were suspended.

Huang Nanping and Zhu Haiou did try to argue their case, but unfortunately the emperor was determined not to let the navy use more advanced naval guns. He even said that unless the Europeans caught up in naval gun technology, the Ming navy would not be able to replace its equipment on a large scale within ten years.

The reason is simple: the cost is too high! With the current naval gun technology, we are already far ahead of Europe. If we blindly pursue newer naval gun technology, the cost-effectiveness ratio will drop significantly, which is not very meaningful.

Currently, the naval guns used by the navy are mainly the Type 33, and the number of them is very large. The casting and processing are also very mature, so there should not be any major changes. It would be most cost-effective to replace them on a large scale when the leading advantage has been almost completely lost, and to upgrade the industry at the same time.

After explaining why they didn't replace the equipment with more advanced ones, the emperor didn't spare Huang Nanping and Zhu Haiou, who were incorrigible, and gave them another lesson on the topic of "waste is shameful!"
The emperor said that the court's money all came from taxes. Apart from supporting the royal family, paying officials' salaries, repairing bridges and roads, and building water conservancy projects, most of this money was used for military purposes, that is, to support the army.

However, the army cannot directly generate revenue, meaning that the army does not pay taxes and does not make money for the court. Since there is no way to increase revenue, the government must cut spending, and the most important aspect of this is saving.

If a problem can be solved with one warship, don't send two; if a victory can be won with one shot, don't fire two; if a base can be defended with one garrison, never use two!
However, there was a crucial prerequisite: ensuring victory. Winning while conserving resources placed higher demands on the naval leadership. Those capable were retained, while those incapable were quickly removed. Under this overarching policy, the Naval Staff, with its ingenuity and creativity, devised a unique defense system for Suez and Fao ports, known as the "Sea-Land Coordination," or the "One-Month Tactic."

In short, this system is built on warships and naval guns. Specifically, it maintains only basic defensive capabilities during peacetime, with a maximum of one marine corps unit stationed there.

This Marine Corps guard wasn't tasked with defending the port, but rather with stalling for time. Using their existing forces and weapons, they calculated how long they could hold out based on the enemy's size, and if they realized they were outmatched, they immediately notified the Colombo naval base to request assistance.

The communications ship will arrive at the Colombo base in about 11 days. Including the time for assembly, preparation, and return, it will take about 20 days. This means that the Marines stationed at these two ports will have to hold out independently for at least a month.

It sounds like a long time, but in reality, it's almost impossible to defeat a well-prepared Marine or Army Guard in a positional battle within a month.

If quantity were to compensate for quality, a lengthy assembly process would be necessary, which would certainly not escape the notice of the Statistics Bureau, the Ministry of Rites, and the Advisory Office. Ultimately, whether they could reach the battlefield before the Ming reinforcements arrived was a major question.

Once the reinforcements from Colombo arrive, the number of enemy troops will be irrelevant. Each warship has at least 20 cannons, 10 on each side, and any two squadrons could easily have over 600 cannons, with a single deployment of around 300 cannons.

Every warship is an arsenal, and it is a major taboo to expose the army to the firepower of the fleet. No matter how brave and skilled the soldiers are, they cannot compete with the hardness of steel and explosives.

The standing army of the Republic of Venice now has the privilege of being the first to suffer a large-scale naval bombardment. The effectiveness and the success of the tactics will be clear from their casualties.

景阳三十五年（1639）10月17日上午10时许，停泊在红海尽头苏伊士港外的21艘大明海军战舰隔着码头和城区，向正在进攻城市西侧的威尼斯军队发起了大规模炮击。

But the first to suffer were not the Venetian Republic's army, but the local residents and merchants on the docks who refused to listen to advice. They thought they had heard the cannon fire and were not afraid, insisting on staying to watch the spectacle.

However, a large fleet salvo is quite different from ordinary cannon fire. Not only did it smash many small boats docked at the pier to pieces, but it also caused varying degrees of damage to nearby buildings. Of course, the Venetian Republic's army suffered the most.

After several days of probing, Jerusalem theater commander Antonio Barberini believed he had a good grasp of the situation and therefore decided to launch a general offensive this morning.
The process went relatively smoothly. The Ming army was quickly suppressed by the dozens of cannons that suddenly appeared, and the first batch of 4 siege troops approached the city wall area without suffering too many losses.

(End of this chapter)