Chapter 283 Zheng Guoben (30) Artillery Battery Plan
The main difference between siege artillery and field artillery is the vehicle, which Gao Pangpang knows without Liu Xin’s introduction. The biggest difference must be between “straight artillery” and “curved artillery”. After all, the former has a smaller caliber and longer range.
The longer barrel is a longer barrel, and the latter is a short barrel with a larger caliber and a shorter range. It is basically impossible for these two kinds of guns to have multiple uses with one barrel and multiple uses with one bomb.
So no matter what, after distinguishing between "direct artillery" and "curved artillery", it is inevitable that the logistical burden will increase. No matter how you think of a solution, you can only try not to increase it too much.
However, with the addition of "curved artillery", both the Ming army and the Southern Xinjiang garrison will definitely have a considerable increase in their lethality against the enemy. This improvement mainly lies in the range of damage to enemy personnel, war horses and other effective forces.
, as for attacking fortified areas, under the current technical level, we still have to rely on "direct artillery", which is a cannon with a straight trajectory.
Now that the technological progress of artillery has achieved initial results, Gao Pragmatic has to propose corresponding artillery tactics. But he did not immediately express his opinion, but raised a question to Huang Zhiting and Liu Xin: "In your opinion
, after the batch equipment of 'Bent Cannon', what new tactics should our artillery adopt to cooperate?"
Huang Zhiting and Liu Xin looked at each other. Liu Xin smiled slightly and made a "please" gesture to Huang Zhiting. Huang Zhiting responded with a smile and nod, not too polite, and said: "As for the 'Bent Cannon', it is still in the research and development stage these years.
I paid close attention to it at that time. Judging from some of the tentative technical indicators, there are generally several characteristics. Its range is relatively short, but it falls from the head, so it is difficult for the enemy to guard against it; its killing range is large, but it causes
The probability of injury or disability is much higher than death.
Although this is a new type of artillery that Jinghua has been researching for more than ten years before launching it, there are actually many prototypes of it. When I was a child, I accompanied my father in the imperial army to suppress rebellions, and I saw at least five or six types of firearms in the army.
, can be said to be some kind of 'flowering firecrackers'."
When Huang Zhiting said this, she glanced at Gao Pragmatically and said, "Master, do you still remember that when you reformed the army's military industry and logistics system, you cut off a large number of strange firearms production and equipment?"
Gao pragmatic smiled: "Of course I remember that there are more than fifty types of beheading that I personally ordered to be chopped off, not to mention those that were not even delivered to me, but were proactively taken out by the Ministry of War in response to my orders.
Cut off."
"That's it." Huang Zhiting said: "I wonder if the master knows about the poisonous fire flying cannon?"
"I remember, but I remember it not because of anything else, but when I compiled "Huidian", I recorded it according to the manuscripts of my predecessors."
Gao pragmatic recalled a little and said: "This thing is made of wrought iron, like a general's mouth, and contains more than ten taels of gunpowder. The mouth of the cup is filled with pig iron, and it looks like a flying cannon. It contains five taels of sulfur poison, and the medicine line is always tied in one place.
The ignition cannon fired first, and the flying cannon was fired 200 steps away, shattering and injuring people."
After a pause, Gao Pragmatic shook his head and said: "You can say that it is a kind of 'bent cannon', but I don't regret cutting off the production of this thing. The reason is very simple. Its power is already
It is too weak, and some inexplicable so-called poisons are added to it, making it useless and can only make a sound on the battlefield.
Secondly, its range is too short. Two hundred steps is no more than 340 meters. At this distance, even if the enemy troops are both infantry, they can only reach it in one charge. It is impossible to fire a second shot, let alone the official army at that time.
The main imaginary enemy is the Mongolian cavalry."
Huang Zhiting smiled and said: "The power and range are indeed a bit different. Otherwise, what would Jinghua have been doing for more than ten years? I just want to say that there were actually many such explosive cannons and ammunition at that time, except for this
There are poisonous fire flying cannons, as well as thunder flying cannons, watermelon cannons, flying cloud thunder cannons, flying exploding cannons, wind-drilling fire meteor cannons, etc."
This time Gao Pragmatic just nodded slightly but didn't say much. He knew that Huang Zhiting would not look back at these antique products for no reason and must be expressing something through them.
Sure enough, Huang Zhiting continued: "So, do you know how these strange flower artillery officers and soldiers used them in the past?"
This really confused Gao Pangshi. He had always believed that these gadgets were useless in his early years, so naturally he would not study how to use these fancy but limited power things.
Gao Pragmatic shook his head decisively.
Huang Zhiting seemed to have guessed it a long time ago, so she smiled and said: "As the master said, these things are too weak and have insufficient range... so they are often used flexibly."
Gao Pragmatic frowned: "Flexible use? What is flexible use?"
"Ah, this is the way the master used words to express it. In fact, I have to say it, it is a hammer in the east and a mallet in the west." Huang Zhiting spread her hands and said: "These cannons are very small, one or two stronger soldiers.
They can be carried and run, so when the enemy is camped in the field, they can be used as a weapon to harass at night. After firing one shot, they can be moved and another shot can be fired at another place.
It may not be useless when two armies are facing each other. For example, you can form several small teams outside the main army formation. Each team can carry two or three such small cannons, and when the enemy troops line up, advance or retreat, they can run near them and fire one.
Cannons can also interfere with it."
"That's it." Gao Pragmatic rolled his eyes and said angrily: "There are so many different types of things, and the result is that they can have a harassing effect? It seems that I really did not do anything wrong by cutting off the production and equipment of these things.
."
Huang Zhiting said with a smile: "I won't go into details about their disadvantages. I just want to say that when these things became the current Jinghua Curved Cannon, although they have been very different, some of the ideas can still be used.
Improvement and reference.”
"For example?"
"Things that can be improved, such as changing from piecemeal to concentrated firepower." Huang Zhiting said: "Concentrated firepower is a combat principle that the master has emphasized time and time again, and it must also be adhered to in the application of Jinghua curved artillery.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Compared with these old small cannons, the Jinghua Curved Cannon has greatly improved both range and power, and its quality is much more stable, so it can be concentrated
Use to further increase lethality.
However, concentration and concentration can also be flexible. Assume that our army now faces Chahar's superior cavalry attack with inferior forces. According to the current tactical principles, our army must deploy a bayonet hollow square.
Before the advent of the curved artillery, if the hollow square array was not large enough, it would be difficult for our original artillery to be useful, because if the square array was too small, the artillery's firing angle would be insufficient. An artillery with a sufficient firing angle might also be able to fire
It's of little use beyond the range of the enemy's approach.
But it's different with the curved cannon. The curved cannon has a larger firing angle and won't hit too far. Its shells can go over the top of our infantry array to hit the attacking enemy.
The reason why I say that I can be deployed flexibly means that even in such a square formation, I can concentrate one side to attack the enemy. As for the large army field battle, splitting up the troops, etc., I can also formulate a special force.
...The curved artillery unit is based on a basic organization of several or more than ten cannons, forming a curved artillery unit that can be flexibly deployed, mobilized, and struck flexibly."
Although Huang Zhiting's expression was not perfect, Gao Pragmatic understood what she meant and was quite surprised because it was a very forward-looking suggestion. To a certain extent, Huang Zhiting's suggestion would not be considered in the context of European military history.
In comparison, it has even reached the conceptual level of artillery application in mainstream military thought during the Napoleonic Wars.
Concentrated use of artillery is a very iconic principle in Napoleon's tactics. Gao Pragmatic also likes to use concentrated artillery, but his previous concentrated use is not exactly the same as Napoleon's concentrated use. Perhaps it should be said that Gao Pragmatic used to
Concentrating artillery is a concentration at the strategic level, while Napoleon's concentrated use of artillery is a more detailed application at the tactical level.
This means that Gao Pragmatic's previous "artillery concentration" simply temporarily concentrated the artillery under his jurisdiction for use, while Napoleon's "artillery concentration" was to separately organize the artillery from the beginning, so that it could be used independently during the war.
They can be used or taken apart and used individually. They can also support each other at any time, etc.
The reason for this difference is that Gao Pragmatic usually did not care about front-line command in previous battles because he was a civilian, not a soldier or a general.
Gao Pragmatic knows that his tactical command level is not much better than that of ordinary generals, let alone compared with some famous generals - not to mention Qi Jiguang, the god of war, even Liu Wei and others, their tactical command level is definitely far behind
Super pragmatic. Therefore, everything Gao pragmatism did in the past was biased towards overall progress, and it was difficult to go deep into the specific establishment.
Take a look at the Imperial Guards that he nominally created. Although he was responsible for the establishment of the Imperial Guards, how much role did he play in the specific training, including tactical research, etc.? It was all handled by Qi Jiguang. Gao
The most pragmatic thing is that when Qi Jiguang says how many muskets and how many artillery pieces are needed... meeting Commander Qi's requirements.
But now, Qi Jiguang has retired, but artillery has developed to a new level. The army's application tactics urgently need to adapt to such changes, so they have to find more professional people to handle it. Originally, being pragmatic meant finding Ma Gui and Liu Wei.
, Qi Jin and even Zhang Wanbang consulted on the new generation of famous generals, but he never expected that he would have such a talented person with a keen tactical vision in his own family!
The suggestion Huang Zhiting just made immediately reminded Gao Pragmatic of Napoleon's basic artillery organization: artillery battery.
In the Napoleonic era, the basic unit of artillery was the battery. Of course, the right to use these batteries was concentrated in the hands of the army and even the highest commander.
During the battle, the higher-level command department will basically assign an artillery company to each division to provide fire support. Although the French army is organized into an artillery regiment with 6 artillery companies, each company of the artillery regiment must also be assigned to the division level.
Unit. This method of centralized management and use of artillery batteries was not only used by the French army, but was also accepted by the armies of various countries at the time.
Of course, Napoleon, Wellington and Archduke Charles all tried to allocate some light artillery directly to regiments and even units below the regiment. However, because this method was too liberal and was not conducive to concentrating artillery firepower, it was finally changed back to the original status.
At that time, European field artillery was divided into dismounted artillery and mounted artillery. There is not much to say about dismounted artillery. The artillery basically had to march on foot. Senior artillery officers or older junior officers were allowed to ride horses. Of course, there were also gunners on horseback.
Records of artillery carriages towing horses.
William the Great of Prussia founded the earliest mounted artillery and gave this unit a nice name "flying artillery". The French officers at the time saw the performance of this artillery on the battlefield.
Very shocked, but France still has not established a mounted artillery force.
It was not until 1792, after the French Revolution, that two mounted artillery companies appeared in the French army. But it didn't matter. After that, especially after Napoleon came to power, the French army's mounted artillery developed rapidly. By 1807, the French army
There were already 6 regiments (36 companies) of mounted artillery. In 1810, the 7th Dutch Mounted Artillery Regiment was established.
It can be said that the French army's mounted artillery was the highest in Europe at that time, both in terms of absolute quantity and equipment level. The rate of mounted artillery in the British army was also very high. Half of the 26 artillery companies that participated in the Battle of Waterloo were mounted.
Ride the artillery.
According to a record that Gao Pragmatic read in his early years, only 13 of the 42 artillery batteries deployed by Austria on the battlefield in 1813 were mounted artillery; during the Battle of Waterloo, there were 6 mounted artillery batteries among the 17 artillery batteries of the Prussian army;
The organization of the army's artillery is relatively chaotic, and it is difficult to collect accurate data, but it is certain that its ratio is roughly similar to that of the Prussian army.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! At that time, the number and configuration of artillery batteries in European artillery companies were not much different. Among them, the French army’s dismounted artillery had 6 cannons and 2 howitzers; the mounted artillery had 4 cannons and 2 howitzers.
2 howitzers.
Regardless of whether the British army is mounted or on foot, some are 5/1 (5 cannons and 1 howitzer, the same below) and some are 4/2; the Prussian army is all 6/2; the Austrian 12-pounder artillery battery is 8/
2. The mounted artillery battery is 6/2, the light artillery battery is 4/2; the Russian army...well, the situation is unclear again.
Because 12-pounders are heavier, mounted artillery is rarely equipped with 12-pounders, but instead is equipped with a large number of 6-pounders.
The total number of officers and soldiers in artillery companies from various countries ranges from 150 to 200. Each gun has 7 gunners (the French 12-pounder has 8) and a number of infantry to assist in movement and adjust the angle of the artillery. The artillery company is under attack.
You can also provide necessary resistance when attacking.
Among the 7 gunners, the gunner is usually a sergeant, one igniter, one loader, one or two are responsible for carrying ammunition, one is responsible for moistening the gun barrel, and the last one is called ventsman (note: I don’t know how to translate it).
Let’s call it the ignition port operator.
If there is only one person carrying ammunition, and the remaining person is on standby at the rear of the horses and "front car", a lieutenant will be in charge of every two guns, and the captain will be in charge of the entire artillery company.
Gao Pragmatic only knew so much about the establishment of the French artillery company at that time. This was thanks to the fact that he had been addicted to a certain tactical command game for a while, so he checked it out. After excluding the forgotten parts, this was all that was left.
"Ah, I remembered... Zhiting, the artillery establishment ratio of the Dingnan Garrison has always been the highest. Is it because of this that you paid special attention to the application of artillery and gained these insights?" Gao pragmatically asked.
Huang Zhiting nodded and said: "There are reasons for this, but the first time I was concerned about the issue of artillery was actually during the Annan period... The artillery under my command at that time shocked me greatly, and I have been very concerned about it since then.
Regarding the development of artillery, I often think about how to make good use of artillery when I have nothing to do."
Gao Pangshi and Liu Xin looked at each other, suddenly slapped their thighs, and said, "Well, while you don't have to go back to southern Xinjiang for the time being, you can study and test the artillery organization after the advent of the Jinghua Curved Cannon.
I personally suggest that the basic establishment of the artillery should be set at about ten as you just said, which can be regarded as an artillery company. You can go to another hospital to test the specific establishment. In addition to the armed servants who are trained in rotation, I will also provide
The Guards Beijing North Camp informed you and asked their artillery to cooperate with you when you need it, what do you think?"
Huang Zhiting smiled and said: "I naturally depend on the master's orders."
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PS: School is about to start. My wife asked me to call the kids over tonight to discuss three chapters, which delayed some time. However, there is a second chapter tonight, but it looks like it will be after 0 o'clock.