Lin Gao Qiming

Since the beginning of the mainland conquest, many institutions of the Senate have gradually moved to Guangzhou. Some of them only set up branches in Guangzhou although their headquarters did not move. However, due to the large number of businesses and the growing number of so-called branches, the headquarters has become something like a stay-at-home office. Some departments have begun to relocate as a whole.

The General Staff and the Army Department were the first central agencies of the Senate to be moved to the mainland as a whole. According to the decision of the General Assembly at the end of 1635, various central departments first established offices in Guangzhou. However, as the military struggle continued to deepen, the General Staff and the Army were overall relocated. After all, the focus of the mainland strategy is on ground combat, but the General Staff and the Army Department are across the sea, which is not conducive to military struggle.

When I first arrived in the mainland, conditions were very limited. The General Staff and the Army came together and settled at the Yuanming Military Academy in the east of Guangzhou. It was surrounded by fences. Except for some old buildings, most people set up tents to work.

The field state lasted for nearly half a year. Since most of the veterans were sent to the replenished front-line troops, they had to make do with tents.

Naturally, no one could bear such a simple environment. The war entered a stalemate stage, and Director Hong of Lianqin started to squander the land.

Outside the east gate of Guangzhou, a piece of land is circled next to the Pearl River, which is roughly the area of ​​​​Dalu Road in the old time and space. Used to build new headquarters. This time the tent was replaced by a simple room, and the original barbed wire + bamboo fence was replaced by a formal brick wall. Later, bastions were added to the wall, and supporting barracks, trenches, and forts were built one after another to become a military fortress to defend Guangzhou, and the simple houses inside were also converted into buildings one by one. By the beginning of 1637, all the simple buildings in this place, which was temporarily named "South China Command", were finally demolished. Infrastructure such as office buildings, wired telegraphs, dedicated docks, dormitories, tap water towers, coal dumps, boiler rooms, and bathhouses are basically in place. It became the largest stronghold of the Army in Guangzhou.

The General Staff and the Army Department also moved to Guangzhou. Subsequently, some training bases previously set up in Hong Kong have also moved to the mainland. After all, Hong Kong's conditions are still too restrictive, and water resources are limited. Placing too many large institutions there will conflict with affect their daily operations.

The Army and the General Staff are still crowded into an L-shaped three-story building, but the conditions are much improved than before. Some elders joked that if hostile saboteurs sent a rocket to this building, Fu Bo's army would be paralyzed.

After the main battles and bandit suppression battles have basically come to an end, both the Fubo Army and the National Army have entered a rest stage. The work of the General Staff and the Army Department has become relatively easy, and they can focus more on troop building and training.

The army has demonstrated its value as the number one gold-eating beast of the Senate in nearly two years of continental conquest and security wars. Many natural problems were also exposed. As a result, these issues evolved into a big discussion about whether the military system needs to be changed and whether weapons should be upgraded.

These two topics are considered annual topics in the Senate and are discussed every year. The conclusion is...no.

As a veteran of the First Weapons Design Bureau said angrily: "The power of inertia always exceeds the desire for technological change." This is true, but the reason for the great inertia lies largely in the costs and benefits of technological change.

Contrary to what the elders think, military managers, whether they are third-world armies or the US military that is alone in seeking defeat after the Cold War, are essentially not interested in "technological leadership", but consider "cost" more.

Of course, as a warrior, the more advanced the weapon, the better. It is best to use Zentraedi technology to break stones. However, weapons are essentially "waste" that has no output but only consumption. Military managers have to consider the costs of maintenance and use.

In April 1637, spring was in full bloom in Guangzhou. Various flowers and trees in the General Staff Courtyard are blooming, bringing a touch of bright color to the place. Dongmen Chuiyu, the permanent secretary of the Fubo Army General Staff, was reading a letter in his office in this L-shaped building.

Although his title has not changed from beginning to end, he has always been "Permanent Secretary of the General Staff", and he has never actually served as a military officer or been in charge of an important department, but Dongmen Chuiyu's military rank has steadily risen. If he hadn't been more modest , insisted on refusing promotion, and now can hold the rank of major general.

Although Dongmen Chuiyu was still a colonel, he was the most powerful veteran officer in the Fubo Army - not one of them.

Although according to his military rank and position, there are several veteran generals and comrades before him, as well as the Minister of War, but being in charge of the daily affairs of the General Staff greatly exceeds the power he possesses.

In his office at the moment, the Dongmen elder is writing a reply letter.

The letter was an official letter from the Danzhou Industrial Zone Management Committee, and the content of the letter was about the "Lianqin No. 37 Arsenal".

Although it is called "Joint Logistics No. N Arsenal", in fact, Lianqin does not specifically manage and build the arsenal - this is still a matter for the industrial department, so this matter is still negotiated through a letter from the Industrial Zone Management Committee.

The letter was not written by a certain elder. This kind of handwritten official letter was called a "memorandum" in the system of the general office, which was considered the highest level. It was signed by the chief secretary of the management committee. The content is about the implementation of Factory No. 37.

This matter is finally here. Dongmen Chuiyu thought when he received the letter.

The rifle was designed in 1635 and finalized in 1637. The problem lies in the finalization.

Now that the shape has been finalized, the Weapons Design Bureau made a proposal to request a replacement. Naturally, the Planning Institute solicited opinions and replacement plans from relevant departments.

The new breech-loading rifle has many benefits, which need no argument. You can tell it alone, not to mention that the elders have already peeked at the homework answers. So the General Staff wrote a very detailed report. First of all, it highly affirms the excellence of the weapon: This is a revolutionary new rifle. After its equipment, the existing tactical system of the Army will completely change.

The problem lies in the phrase "the entire tactical system has changed."

Weapons determine tactics, and tactics determine organization. Although the Minie rifle was an improvement over the flintlock rifle, it did not change the projection speed of the weapon in general, so the Army in 1860 was still the same one that lined up to shoot. The basic tactics used by France, Austria and Prussia at the beginning of the war of German unification were still horizontal and column formations in the era of front-loading guns - although they had already used breech-loading rifles.

If the Army undergoes a comprehensive change of equipment, it means that all existing Army training, organization and tactical systems will be invalidated. The Army needs to undergo comprehensive retraining and reorganization. The old tactical system has been dismantled and the new one has not yet been formed, and the army will be in a weak state. For soldiers, the impact may not be big, and they can adapt to the new weapons in a few months of intensive training.

But it was tragic for the officers.

After long-term practice and exploration, the veterans of the army system have completely understood the line tactics. The training and education of officers and sergeants is also based on this tactical principle. Although there has not been a serious field battle so far, after years of experience summarization and drill training, the organization method of large-scale battles has been basically determined.

By redesigning tactics, the Army will directly lose its active field capability. In large-scale battles, only defensive counterattack tactics can be used.

We are now in the state of conquering the mainland. Attacks by the Ming Army, the Peasant Army, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty, or armed riots by local forces may occur at any time. The Army will be in a state of long-term combat readiness and ready to engage in battle at any time. Large-scale changes in the organizational structure and tactics of the army are bound to cause chaos.

The army is the basic guarantee of political power and must not be chaotic. Therefore, in order not to affect the combat capabilities of existing troops, the most ideal way is to establish new troops that use new weapons and new training. As a result, the size of the army suddenly became larger. Since the new rifle had an absolute advantage over the Migne rifle, the new unit must be filled with veterans in key positions.

It is basically impossible for a veteran to serve as a battalion-level officer.

Therefore, the veteran officers of the army have a completely mixed feeling of love and hate about the comprehensive change of uniforms.

They naturally want their troops to be well-equipped, but they don't want to have to start over everything they have built.

As for Lianqin's view, it is quite unkind.

After the continental war begins, as the controlled area deepens, the front becomes longer and longer, and the size of the army will become larger and larger. Type 1637 will cause extremely huge pressure on both logistics and industrial production capacity. Especially the consumption of ammunition and the supply limit.

Comrade Thorpe pointed out in his report that under the new tactics, the soldiers were in a scattered state and lacked the control and command of officers. In complex terrain and fierce battles, soldiers will tend to fire preventative shots at suspicious targets in order to defeat more enemies before potential enemies attack. Objectively, the consumption of bullets is increased.

Fully automatic weapons will not, because soldiers know that the weapons in their hands can fire a large number of bullets in a very short time and knock down multiple targets.

Minie rifle soldiers know that there is only one bullet in the gun and it takes a long time to reload, so they will shoot more cautiously.

If you switch to a new rifle, the increase in ammunition consumption will be unforeseen.

Since the inland areas are still in the original 17th century, transportation costs are extremely high. If new weapons are used, huge ammunition consumption, logistical requirements and costs will be beyond imagination.

Under the traffic conditions of the 17th century, the ammunition consumption of front-loaded weapons was consistent with logistical limits.

Lianqin said that the weapons are high-end, but we can only supply the most suitable ones. Advanced does not mean appropriate. If we want to completely replace the Type 1637, we need to add a large number of transportation tools, such as boats, carriages, livestock, etc.

The Navy's report was very simple. It just said that the gun was good and that if the length could be shortened, it could be used as an excellent naval rifle. And it was highlighted that the Navy was very well equipped with this new rifle.