Chapter 562: Navy building

The Qin State Staff's schedule for attacking the Western Regions was set in early April, because at this time, the Western Regions melted and entered the summer after a very short period of spring. At that time, it was very conducive to offensive operations. It's only mid-December. Excluding two months of training preparation time, plus two months of assembly time. Qin State had a lot of time to speed up the production schedule and equip Li Lin-style machine guns.

Not only that, Qin will send his Heavenly Army troops to participate in the battle this time. The Qin Heavenly Army was newly organized into two airship bombing groups. Each brigade has three airship bombing squadrons. Two heavy and one medium bombing squadron. Qin's arsenal used casting method to cast a sixty-stone iron casting bomb. It contains nitroglycerin that has been carefully compressed and added with diatomaceous earth. Use a detonator as a starting fuze. In order to ensure that the bomb exploded, a clockwork timed fuze was added to the end of the bomb. The clockwork will trigger the tail detonator when it reaches its final position. Then the bomb will be detonated. This is Qin's first aviation bomb.

To this end, Qin will send an airship bombing team as the main force to participate in the battle. A medium and a heavy airship bombing squadron will be used as a reserve force to intervene in local battles at any time.

The State of Qin had obviously used the Western Regions as a place for testing new weapons. This time, because of the participation of commercial organizations, the national army intervened as an auxiliary force. There are few troops involved, so they have sufficient funds to purchase new weapons.

For example, a new type of artillery, a new type of six-inch artillery with a steel frame. There is a threaded rifling in the artillery, and the rear is filled. The shell uses a whole charge, and the propellant uses picric acid. The shell uses a detonator to act as a fuze, and the fuze component needs to be installed on the top of the shell when it is launched. In this way, the impact point and time of the projectile can be determined without calculating the distance.

But unfortunately, the gun mounts at this time did not meet the requirements of later generations of artillery. The main reason lies in the output of steel, which was also just produced at this time. Although the artillery is powerful, it does not use flexible gun mounts. In other words, there is no hydraulic buffer device, and the artillery has great power after using picric acid, which is completely supported by the rigid gun frame. And the overall artillery is a bit cumbersome.

It is also for this reason that the old artillery is still used on a large scale after being modified and reloaded, while the new artillery is rarely used. Weapons are not as new as possible. Soldiers want a reliable weapon, not a new weapon.

However, the government's procurement of new weapons has not yet relaxed. After mass layoffs, the army has a lot of money to buy new types of weapons, so major weapons companies are racing to develop new types of weapons and provide them to the army for free. It is hoped that the army will recognize this weapon in this war, so that a large military order can be obtained.

The National Lieutenant Mansion is the main department responsible for military procurement. They will evaluate various new weapons. It is this assessment that makes the National Lieutenant Mansion busy. Every day, personnel from major companies submit applications for military personnel to enter.

Shangwen has to deal with some economic issues. Because the Queen of South Korea sent a letter, the content of the letter is to introduce Qin's related technology, and there is no problem with funding. Shangwen did not rush to answer her question. Instead, check a newly sent report. This report is about naval construction.

Qin's navy had to move south due to the export problem of the Yellow River. Although the water source of the Yellow River can allow some wooden ships to sail, it is difficult to reach overseas, and even if it reaches overseas, it is very difficult to return to the home base. Taking these into consideration, Shang Wen decisively let the navy move south.

But Zhang Han sent a report soon. Shang Wen is a little worried.

The navy moved south quickly. They set off from Shangdi, passed through Hanzhong and left Wuguan. After leaving Wuguan and entering Nanyang County, he crossed a section of Chu State occupied by Qin State in the Baiqi era to the Yangtze River. In an unknown place, that place was very close to the old capital of Chu State.

There is a mountain to the north, and there is a large amount of wood on the mountain that can be used as a timber base for building ships. It is also conducive to the defensive placement of the fort. There is the Yangtze River to the south, which can be used as a port for naval berthing.

The report also drew a sketch for Shang Wen to see. As for ships, since the south is a relatively low level of development, the fastest-growing state in Qin is Guanzhong, two northern states and one western state, and the rest of the development is at the stage of primitive accumulation of capital. Especially in the south. Qin State's development of the South is very inadequate. The main problem is traffic. Qin Guo is working hard to solve this problem. But it takes time, a lot of time.

It is precisely because of the lack of development in the south that the ship has returned to its original location, and sails will be reused in ship construction. It takes a long time for the steam engine to be shipped, not only the steam engine but also coal. If wood is used, it will cause great damage to the boiler, and the charcoal ash contained in wood far exceeds that of coal. Incidents of blocking the chimney happen from time to time.

However, in terms of weapons, Qin State is more advanced, and Qin State installs different numbers of artillery according to different ship types. The largest blasthole was drilled on the side of the ship, and the number of artillery was increased to 42 artillery. Two of the heavy mortars were used to siege the city. Medium-sized ships will be equipped with thirty artillery, no mortars for siege, fast warships with ten cannons, and small patrol warships with one cannon. The entire system is relatively complete.

The ship’s materials still use wood, and Shang Wen is a little worried, because in this era, as long as a fire attack is launched, these ships may be destroyed. It is not that there is no history, but the subsequent history proves this. Isn’t it true that the Three Kingdoms burns Chibi? Moreover, this is on the Yangtze River, not the sea. It is a long and narrow river, not a wide sea. Chu State occupies the lower reaches and Qin State occupies the upper reaches. Although there is a flow advantage, you do not occupy the downstream hydrological situation. It's easy to be caught off guard, your boat is not fireproof. If the other party attacked suddenly, the consequences would be disastrous.

Although Qin State had advanced instruments and equipment such as sextants and nautical clocks, these things were used on the sea, not on rivers and lakes. The State of Qin fought in the Yangtze River Basin. Shang Wen believes that the Navy does not have much advantage, and, most importantly, no commercial organizations enter. In other words, Qin State does not have merchant ships, and there are fishing boats that can only be regarded as personal fishing, and there is still a serious shortage of ships dedicated to sailing.

Qin State and Chu State maintain good foreign trade relations, and Chu State imports large amounts of Qin State's industrial products. The South needs to be developed. Although there is a certain amount of development, the development effort is not enough. Shangwen wants to strengthen this aspect.