Chapter 64 Artillery (3)
Judging from the casting technology currently at our disposal, it would not be a big problem to directly install a 24-pound front-loading cannon. However, even if a 24-pound cannon is cast now, it will be of no use to ships in urgent need of artillery equipment - the two captured sailing ships in Victory Port did not have a displacement of more than 150 tons, and they did not even have a 12-pound forward-loading gun. Fa arranged on board. And if the 24-pounder guns are deployed as coastal defense guns in Victory Port and Yulinjiao, they will face the problem of insufficient gunners.
A 24-pound muzzle-loading gun requires at least six gunners to operate the cannon, which weighs more than two tons. And if the coastal defense artillery is really to be deployed, it will obviously not be as small as one or two. Then the Military and Police Department will have to face a dilemma - or drag all the members of the Military and Police Department to practice drills. Cannons, or else let these cannons be placed in fortifications to scare people.
So the 24-pounder gun was immediately rejected in the discussion, and then the 12-pounder gun that could not be equipped on existing ships was quickly rejected, so the level of the experimental product was finally reduced to a 6-pounder gun. As for the technology related to cannon casting, the Military and Police Department has long prepared a lot of information. The iron mold casting method and the internal mold water cooling method are all technologies that are far ahead of the current era.
The Ministry of Metallurgy, under the leadership of Liu Xingli, immediately began to design the process flow on site, while the Ministry of Industry and the Military and Police Department quickly completed the drawing design amidst the noise - in fact, there was nothing special to design. Historically, in the military, It has been equipped with many 6-pound cannons, and finally chose one of the French cannons that appeared on the European battlefields in the 19th century as a model.
"Let's talk about the organization and tactics of artillery." After deciding on the design plan, Tao Donglai didn't even have time to take a sip of water and immediately led to the next topic. This meeting has been going on for almost three hours. If we procrastinate any longer, no one will be able to sleep tonight.
"Our artillery and artillery will be very limited in the near future. Isn't it a bit premature to discuss the establishment issue now?" Ning Qi, who was in charge of manpower, was very sensitive to any excuse for the military and police department to occupy a large number of people, and immediately raised questions. To establish an artillery force, a group of people must be released from work for artillery training, and these people are likely to gradually transform into professional soldiers. With the current number of people in the Crossover being less than 500, Ning Qi doubted how much of an army this population could support.
"Sweden has already begun to organize regiment-level artillery at this time, and the French established a full-time artillery regiment in the 1670s. As leaders of the times, we must be ahead of the times!" Yan Chujie lost no time in replacing Tao Donglai added circumstantial evidence.
"If we could have the same population as Sweden and France, I wouldn't mind if the military and police department formed an artillery regiment. You can form an artillery division if you want. But the problem is that we don't even have enough people to go up the mountain and cut down trees!" Ning Qi He immediately refuted Yan Chujie's so-called arguments without hesitation.
Yan Chujie immediately became as frustrated as a rubber ball. He really could not refute Ning Qi's statement. Population is now the biggest bottleneck restricting the development of the traversal. Whether it is organizing production or preparing a professional army, it has to be constrained by the shortage of population.
"Let's talk about tactics." Seeing that this road was blocked, Tao Donglai had to bypass this big pit first and turn the topic to a more professional part. Sure enough, when it came to artillery tactics, a large group of civilian bureaucrats, including Ning Qi, were basically speechless. Almost all people participating in the discussion were people from the military and police departments. Occasionally, a few military fans from other departments would express their opinions. .
Regarding the tactics of early artillery, whether it was city offensive or defensive battles or field battles, offensive or defensive battles, later generations have long summarized a large number of standardized tactics based on countless actual combat examples. What the military and police departments need to do now is to combine them with their own actual conditions. , just copy and implement part of it. The Military and Police Department even prepared a large stack of position layout diagrams and hung them on the whiteboard for explanation. The military residents were naturally very interested and highly involved, while those who were not interested in the military were dozed off watching it.
The meeting lasted until a little after midnight, and it was not until the Metallurgical Department came up with the preliminary process flow that Tao Donglai announced that the meeting was adjourned. Of course, things are not finished when they are said and done. Early tomorrow morning, personnel from relevant departments will gather in the metallurgical workshop to participate in the actual research, development and manufacturing of artillery. When everyone yawned and dispersed, Tao Donglai said hello: "Laoyan, Ning Qi, you two stay here for a while, I have something to say."
The two looked at each other and sat back down again.
"I thought about the artillery establishment again just now. Ning Qi was right. We were indeed a little too hasty." Tao Donglai first convinced Ning Qi.
Ning Qi nodded and said: "Old Tao, I hope you can figure it out. This is not because I mean to hinder your military and police department, but the actual situation is like this. Your military and police department will transfer ten people to be artillery. I will Just ten less laborers. What can ten laborers do? Ten laborers can cut down at least fifty trees a day, mine four or five tons of ore, build a relatively stable boat-shaped house, and open up twenty acres of land... ...Old Tao, our population is too small now, and we can’t afford too many soldiers!”
"I admit that what you said is correct, but..." Tao Donglai changed the subject: "Now that we have begun to consider equipping artillery, the plan to recruit indigenous troops must be implemented."
"Are you going around in a circle and going back to the topic just now?" Ning Qi couldn't help but be surprised when he heard this.
"Let me explain." Yan Chujie was obviously a little dissatisfied with losing the previous debate. He immediately took the topic and said, "Answer me a question first. How many migrant workers are there currently in the territory we control? Ning Qi thought for a while and replied: "If you include the two newly established communes and labor camps, the number of people who have been working on our construction site for a long time should exceed 700, and there are at least one to two hundred scattered workers." Mainly short-term work for one or two days.”
"Have you calculated the growth rate of the number of migrant workers?" Yan Chujie continued to ask.
Ning Qi nodded and said: "Now there are at least twenty or thirty new people arriving every day, and sometimes there will be fifty or sixty people a day."
"That is to say, the number of outsiders under our rule will soon exceed a thousand." Yan Chujie sighed: "I think you should also know very well how many people are available in our Military and Police Department - the Military and Police Department has a total of eight Thirteen people, more than half of them hold multiple jobs like Lao Tao, and usually work in other departments. After deducting the teams stationed at the salt farm, Yulin post, labor camp and patrolling the sea every day, do you think we can still do it. How many people are left to ensure the security of the two bases and maintain security at the construction site and the migrant worker station? ”
"Well..." Ning Qi was really stopped by Yan Chujie's question.
As the director of human resources, Ning Qi is also very aware of the staffing of the Military and Police Department. Indeed, as Yan Chujie said, most of the retired soldiers with skills have been stuffed into part-time jobs in departments that can utilize their expertise, and they can really stay in the military. The Police Department, as a standing military and police force, actually does not have many people. Even the North American Gang, which was the main force in the early stage of the military force, has recently begun to show signs of having to disband due to problems with the work distribution of its members. In this way, the Military and Police Department will Even a standing patrol force at sea cannot be guaranteed, let alone maintaining daily security.
"I think you also know that there have been several disputes in the migrant workers' camp recently. If our military and police department had not received the news and dispatched in time on two occasions, it would have probably turned into large-scale fights. What really happened? I don’t think anyone wants to see this kind of consequences.” Yan Chujie said in a very sincere tone: “In order to maintain the good situation of stability and unity, our military and police department now needs to expand its strength.”
"There are now more than a hundred hard laborers in the labor camp, and our guard force is very limited. We can only arrange four people every day. Once a problem occurs, four people and four guns may not be able to control the situation." Tao Donglai also joined in: "You have to know that the environment we live in now is far less stable than that of later generations. A few policemen can control tens of thousands of people. In the month we have been here, two battles have broken out. This is not something that everyone can sit down and play in peace. In the era of negotiation skills, we should start fighting as soon as possible, and we cannot organize defense forces urgently every time when trouble comes. ”
Ning Qi shook his head helplessly and said: "Then what are you going to do? Do you have a plan?"
When Yan Chujie heard that he relaxed, he immediately nodded and said: "Yes, yes, of course! Old Tao, isn't the plan in your hands? Tell Ning Qi quickly."
The military and police department's recruitment expansion plan is actually very simple. It is to recruit a group of healthy, honest and obedient young people with clean family backgrounds from the indigenous residents currently in the territory controlled by the Chuanchuan people, and train them as the prototype of the future naturalized civilian army. The establishment can be temporarily integrated as a military and police force, serving as a security maintenance force in peacetime and as an auxiliary force in wartime. The members who have already joined the two communes have been registered and are relatively reliable, so they will definitely be the key targets for recruitment.
"Then how many people are you planning to recruit?" Ning Qi knew that there was really no reason to stop the Military and Police Department on this matter, so he simply asked openly.
"According to the military establishment of later generations, it's not too much to start with a company, right?" Tao Donglai asked tentatively.
Ning Qi calculated in his mind that there were ten people in a squad, three squads in a platoon, and three platoons in a company. Plus the company commander, cooking squad, signal corps, etc., this company had more than a hundred people. , then shook his head and said: "The two communes combined have less than 300 people. You are going to recruit more than 100 people in one breath. Are you not planning to leave labor force for the communes?"
"We can change the recruitment policy a little bit, recruit some from the commune, and recruit some from the society!" Tao Donglai was very flexible. Seeing that Ning Qi's tone was not very firm, he took the initiative to make a small concession.
(End of chapter)