Chapter 231: Research and Development of Steam Tanks
The Seven Guards of Kansai didn't dare to have any dissent in the battle. The combat power of the Ming Dynasty's army was now completely beyond their ability to resist. Even if they were not frightened to death, they would only have to hold on for a few more days. The gap between their team and the Ming Dynasty had already widened.
, the gap in equipment.
The difference between cold weapons and firearms is greater than that between bare hands and swords. Moreover, unless they capture Ming's firearms in a short period of time, they will not be able to make them themselves. Even if they seize the firearms, they will not be able to make subsequent supply ammunition on their own.
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As long as they don't make tactical mistakes and Ming's army advances slowly, it will be fine.
The entire Chagatai Khanate has a vast territory, complex terrain, and numerous desert areas, so if you are not familiar with the terrain, you will easily suffer from the terrain. This is why Zhu Zhanzhen and Zhu Gaoxu both feel that they must have the Seven Guards of Kansai.
Zhu Gaoxu's establishment of power has been completed. Zhu Zhanxu went to Jiayuguan after receiving the news. He wanted to give both kindness and power. Zhu Gaoxu was in charge of leading troops to fight, and Zhu Zhanxu was in charge of showing kindness and kindness. In fact, it was just like your parents teaching you a lesson.
It's the same, one has a black face and the other has a white face, and the other has a new trick, and is eaten all over the world.
When Zhu Gaoxu came back, he brought back the leaders of the Hami Guard and Aduan Guard. Zhu Gaoxu identified the original commander of the Hami Guard, Qian Shi, as the commander. As a reward for killing the original commander, this man also promised Zhu Gaoxu that he would do well.
Allegiance to the Ming Dynasty.
As soon as he arrived at the city gate, Zhu Gaoxu met Zhu Zhanxu who greeted him: "Zhanxu, your weapon is really easy to use."
"Second uncle is still very good. He defeated the Hami Guards in one day."
Zhu Gaoxu laughed and put his arm around Zhu Zhanzhen's shoulders and introduced him to the leader of the Aduan Guard: "This is the commander of the Aduan Guard, Halemi. This is our good brother. When I fought against the Hami Guard, I specially
We sent troops for reinforcements, but I didn’t expect that I would defeat them in one day.”
Zhu Gaoxu was like a man who was 1.8 meters tall, no matter what he said, he was over 1.8 meters tall. He was afraid that others would not know that he had captured the Hami Guards in one day.
And looking at the relationship between him and Aduanwei, we know that he must be taking benefits from others. This is the case with Prince Han, he will do things even if he takes the money.
Zhu Zhanzhen asked all the commanders of the Seven Guards of Kansai to come to the same room. With Zhu Gaoxu's establishment of authority this time, other things would be much simpler.
Zhu Zhanzhen saw that several people looked at each other and looked at each other. They had been forced to stay in Jiayuguan for the past few days. He also heard that Zhu Gaoxu had destroyed the city of Hami Guard in one day. This Hami Guard was in Guanxi.
The strength is considered to be one of the best among the Seven Guards.
"Commanders, the King of Han invited you to come to Jiayuguan before, but the Hami Guards deliberately did not come. In recent years, they have been disrespectful to the Ming Dynasty, so the King of Han punished them. We in the Ming Dynasty have always treated people with courtesy. Of course, we should treat people with courtesy first.
If you don't accept our courtesy, then accept our soldiers."
Zhu Zhanzhen's words made the other people still look bad, with a threatening tone.
At this time, the cantaloupe was brought up, and Zhu Zhanchen greeted everyone: "Everyone, let's eat cantaloupe. We are all our own people, and we don't want everyone's relationship to become tense. Your help is indispensable for this daimyo's expedition to the Chagatai Khanate."
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Aduanwei's commander had the most lively head and immediately said: "If the King of Han and the King of Zhujiang County have access to my place in Halemi, please ask. I am willing to send 5,000 troops to assist the Daimyo's Western Expedition."
"I will also send five thousand troops." The commander of Hami Guard immediately stood up to show his sincerity. Both of them had agreed with Zhu Gaoxu on the road, so they were extremely active at this time.
These two disobedient places have expressed their opinions. Naturally, other places cannot remain silent, but they hesitate and don't know how much troops to send.
Zhu Zhanzhen said at the right time: "I think it would be better for each of your remaining guards to send three thousand troops. There are also commanders of the Hami Guards who are willing to lead troops. Are any of the rest of you willing to go? If not, all the seven Kansai Guards
Then the army was all returned, and Harik was in command of the Hami Guards.”
Since the newly appointed commander has followed Ming Dynasty, he must be given a chance to perform.
"Of course, everyone's efforts for the Ming Dynasty cannot be in vain. Now we have established a factory in Suzhou. Some agricultural tools and production tools will be sold to you at low prices to help you with production. If the market is located
Chijin Mongolian Guard is close to Jiayuguan and is convenient for everyone. Of course, we also collect the herdsmen’s cattle and sheep.”
Promoting trade and increasing stickiness will be beneficial to the long-term maintenance of the Kansai Seven Guards in the future.
The Kansai Seven Guards originally had trade with the interior of the territory. After all, the Silk Road has a long history. However, because the Chagatai Khanate lay in the middle, the road to Central Asia was blocked. The only trade between the Kansai Seven Guards and the Ming Dynasty was that the Kansai Seven Guards after all
The number of people is limited, the consumption capacity is insufficient, the demand for goods is not strong enough, and trade cannot prosper.
Zhu Zhanzhen's purpose is still the same as that of the Nanyang countries, to stimulate trade. The wealthy people in these places rely on the Ming Dynasty for their lives, and their stickiness to the Ming Dynasty will increase, and they will favor the Ming Dynasty within themselves.
In places like Cochin and Malacca, the trade of all large commercial houses is inseparable from the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty is their largest customer in overseas trade and their largest supplier in domestic trade. Even if there are voices against the Ming Dynasty in China,
These people will also unite with their own high-ranking officials to suppress them, without Ming Ming taking action, and everyone will live a good life.
Military is the ultimate deterrent, and trade is the long-term means.
"By the way, Ming's army needs war horses now. If you have war horses that you can provide, we will buy them." Zhu Zhanzhen gave the first deal.
The areas outside the Pass have always been the place where the war horses of the Ming Dynasty were obtained. The horses from the Central Plains are not as strong as those from outside the Pass. This is due to the restrictions of the climate region and the differences in species.
…
After some discussion, Qi Wei basically had no room for bargaining. Daming was very strong, which made these people a little dissatisfied.
They have always obtained benefits from the Ming Dynasty, but this time the Ming Dynasty clearly came to suppress them. They had been detained in Jiayuguan for so long before, and now they were so aggressive that they had to send troops to assist. This made them used to obtaining benefits from the Ming Dynasty very uncomfortable.
But if I feel uncomfortable in my heart, I feel uncomfortable. The Ming Dynasty has strong soldiers and horses. This is the confidence.
Several commanders met in private on the way back, leaving aside the commanders of Aduanwei and Hamiwei.
"What do you think about this matter? Are we really going to send troops?"
"Don't you dare to come out?"
"Aren't you going to be a pawn for the Ming Dynasty?"
"Are you going to be the next Hami Guard? Now the Hami Guard's melons have almost been picked off by Ming soldiers. In the past, these melons could be exchanged for a lot of money if sent to the Ming Dynasty. But now the money has not been received, and the city is still bombarded by the Ming Dynasty.
It collapsed. I heard that the Ming Dynasty can also fire cannons from the sky, but I don’t dare."
"The fight from heaven must be a lie. Damn it, the Ming Dynasty is so deceptive."
No one dared to agree with this. The man was afraid that someone would sue him, so he immediately changed his mind: "Anyway, I will send troops to open up trade routes, which is also good for us. I heard that the Prince of Zhujiang County is in charge of the state capital and has improved the entire Nanyang trade by dozens of
times, the common people are extremely rich."
"Is it just that handsome guy? He looks really handsome."
"Don't think about it, I don't like your daughter."
"If you dare to talk about my daughter, I will fight you to the death."
"Okay, don't make trouble. We soldiers must have concluded that the Ming Dynasty's current combat effectiveness is too strong. Look at the artillery and weapons we don't recognize in Jiayuguan. We will have to find a way to get some back by then."
"No, I don't want to." Some people are bold and some are timid.
"How do you think they attacked the Chagatai Khanate? This place is vast and sparsely populated. If the Ming Dynasty wanted to march its army through the desert, many people would have to die on the road."
"Who knows? The prince of Han is good at fighting. Let's just follow him and let him be smart and don't become someone else's pawn."
"But this seems to be a good opportunity to make meritorious deeds. If I win, I don't know what the Ming Dynasty will reward me. The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is very generous."
After stabilizing the Seven Guards of Guanxi, Zhu Gaoxu was preparing for the Western Expedition. A group of students from Huangpu National Military University, no less than twenty people, followed Zhu Gaoxu and a group of generals under his command with notebooks, watching and listening.
Learn from practice.
Zhu Zhanzhen's order was to follow Zhu Gaoxu all the time and discuss military matters with Zhu Zhanzhen and Zhu Gaoxu on behalf of Zhu Zhanxu, so that they could learn actual combat.
Zhu Gaoxu didn't want to teach them, but these people clung to Zhu Gaoxu. Because they were Zhu Zhanxu's people, he couldn't drive them away. Zhu Zhanxu also appointed military positions to them one by one. They were all empty positions and nothing like military personnel.
The first secretary, second secretary, staff officer, and even the cook of the Governor of Grain and Grass. Anyway, with their positions, Zhu Gaoxu could not send them away at will.
They got up early in the morning and waited for Zhu Gaoxu. Zhu Gaoxu always had to discuss things, so he had no choice but to let them listen. These people learned after listening, and even held small meetings to discuss by themselves in the evening. They were very serious, but Zhu Gaoxu felt that these people were just talking on paper.
The literati didn't look like a military attaché at all, and he felt a bit of contempt in his heart.
…
In Suzhou, Zhu Zhanzhen was thinking about developing something new, something, an armored vehicle.
Being reminded by Zhu Zhanji's Vulcan armored vehicle, Zhu Zhanchang thought of this king of land battle tank. If it could be developed, the power of the tank would make it difficult for the Ming Dynasty's land army to resist. The tank, covered with steel and iron bones, could fight.
Nothing is invincible.
But a real tank requires an internal combustion engine, and it would be really troublesome to put in a steam engine.
But now there is still a long way to go in the research and development of internal combustion engines. To build a combat vehicle, you must use a steam engine.
After Zhu Zhanzhen thought about it, there are currently two main points that need to be overcome. One is the weight reduction of the steam engine, and the other is the issue of terrain traversability.
If the locomotive is used, it is too heavy, not that the steam engine cannot drive it, but that the traveling system and the wheel chassis cannot bear it, because it is impossible to lay railways for fighting, and the chariot needs to face complex road conditions.
In order to cope with non-planar road conditions, either the body is raised to improve passability, or a crawler body is used.
What Zhu Zhanji thought of was to raise the car body to improve the passability. This is also a method that normal people can think of. After all, only Zhu Zhanyi came from time-to-time and knew about tracks, but the overall heavy weight, plus artillery and other things, made the support battle difficult.
The wheels of the car bear too much pressure, and there is no rubber and they are all in hard contact, making them bumpy and very easy to break.
Rubber is originally from South America, but it is not available now.
One is weight reduction, and the other is tracks. As long as these two are done, it should be possible to build a similar tank. Although it may not be practical enough, it is more than enough to face the current enemies.
When Zhu Zhanzhen explained the crawler track method to Zhang San and others, Zhang San and others were so surprised that they were speechless.
"Your Highness, you are truly a god. How could you come up with such a method? A car with its own road is simply magical."
"Next, we are divided into two groups. One group will reduce the weight of the steam engine to reduce the unnecessary total weight. Moreover, the size of the steam engine does not need to be as big as a locomotive. It can be enough to drive a chariot and the cannon itself. You have all done it.
I have been a quantitative engineer for so many years, I believe there will be no problem."
These people like Zhu Zhanzhen to call them engineers the most. They were all workers before, but the title of engineer includes the word "teacher", which gives them more respect.
"Zhang San, you and your people are mainly responsible for research and development of crawler tracks. You have to do it quickly."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Zhu Zhanzhen himself has never touched the crawler tracks. The closest he got to the crawler tracks was when he stayed on the roadside and watched the excavator. But at that time, he just watched the excavator's bucket flipping and its long arms waving. It was no longer romantic.
Pay attention to the tracks.
Crawler tracks are used on both engineering vehicles and agricultural vehicles. Their ability to pass on non-flat roads is far better than that of tires, but the speed is slower. But that is compared with modern vehicles. In this era, as long as it can match the marching speed of infantry, it can
Just use it first.
After arranging the research and development of steam chariots, Zhu Zhanchang went to work non-stop to deal with the next matter of grain and grass supplies. Zhu Gaoxu was about to go on an expedition. They both agreed that they should first attack the cities to the north of the Chagatai Khanate.
"Why?"
Because the Chagatai Khanate borders Mongolia to the north, the enemy of the enemy is a friend. Zhu Di also went on the northern expedition. On their westward expedition, they must cut off the connection point between the Chagatai Khanate and Oara as soon as possible, otherwise they will be in trouble once they unite.
increased.
They currently have two routes that have been debated endlessly. One is more recognized by everyone, passing through Turpan to Werumu (today's Urumqi), and the other is a detour from the north via Tingzhou to Werumu.
The end point of both routes is Verumu, because Verumu is the most important transportation center in the surrounding area and one of the most important cities in the Chagatai Khanate. As long as Verumu is captured, the Chagatai Khanate will be conquered.
Lost the center of control over the eastern part of the country.
Everyone agrees with the first route because it is easy to walk. Many roads in the Chagatai Khanate are difficult to walk on, and it is easy to get lost even without a local guide to lead the way. However, it is obvious that the Chagatai Khanate will definitely increase its defenses along this route.
Expect maximum resistance.
The other route is difficult to follow, but once you reach Tingzhou, you will be close to Weelumu.
Tingzhou is located in the eastern section of the Tianshan Mountains. It is mainly to be captured. As a resting place for our army, Weelumu is very close. We can advance, attack, retreat or defend. We can use the Ming army's equipment route to open up supplies and keep up. It is just a matter of capturing Weelumu.
A matter of time.
In the end, Zhu Gaoxu's decision was to divide his troops into two steps, attack Turpan all the way, use light cavalry to cause nuisance, prompt the enemy to reinforce Turpan, and then use a detour to attack Tingzhou with a group of troops.
According to the current news, the Chagatai Khanate has not yet ceased war with the Timurid Empire, so the reinforcements they can send must be limited. In the end, as long as Tingzhou and Turpan are fighting on two fronts, Verumu will have easy access.
With our troops and equipment taking priority over the local area, Zhu Gaoxu's only concern was the terrain.
Now Zhu Gaoxu has organized his troops and led the team to Hami. The team to attack Turpan is composed of Ming army and Guanxi Seven Guards teams. As for the team that takes a detour to attack Tingzhou, they are all Ming army soldiers. This matter has nothing to do with it.
People from Xiqiwei said.
The Prince of Han led 50,000 troops out of Jiayuguan. This time he did not bring many large siege artillery. The area was too far and transportation was inconvenient, and the main purpose here was to hold back and extend the front line.
Zhu Gaoxu knew very well that he could defeat the Hami Guards in just one day. He had strong soldiers and horses, strong artillery and long-term control, and he was really lucky. There were different opinions within the Hami Guards. Otherwise, how could they have invaded the city in one day? The main reason was
Opponents surrender quickly.
It was not that easy for the Chagatai Khanate. They were already prepared to go to war with the Ming Dynasty, so they made passive preparations when they had no other choice.
The Ming Dynasty's peace talks required them to sign and transfer most of the country. How could this be possible? However, the war with the Timurid Empire was also dragging on, so they could only passively challenge the Ming Dynasty.
They are now holding on to a glimmer of hope. The Ming Dynasty's army cannot capture their city, or the Ming Dynasty is held back by the Oara Tatars and cannot carry out large-scale operations against them.