The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 371 Weapons
Chen Wang's current direct descendants are naturally from Hanzhong Town.

According to the establishment, they are divided into battalions and guards.

When the town was first established, the number of troops was set at 13,400, but this was the number on paper.

In fact, after several military expansions, the total number of soldiers in Hanzhong Town under Chen Wang's direct control was naturally more than this.

Originally, the lack of expansion was due to insufficient military resources, but after entering Henan and receiving a large amount of money, this problem has long since disappeared.

While in Henan, Chen Wang recruited local refugees and began to expand his army.

The camp that Chen Gong recruited in Hanzhong Mansion was also expanded under Chen Wang's instructions.

Although there are still five battalions in Hanzhong Town, the number of soldiers in the town has actually exceeded 20,000.

The main camp under Chen Wangzhi's leadership has 6,000 people, an increase of 1,000 people.

The reinforcement battalions under Chen Gong and Zhou Yumao have also been expanded, and now have a total of more than 7,000 troops.

The guerrilla battalion under Huang Long and Zhang Er originally had only 3,000 troops in total.

But now the actual total strength of the two men has reached 4,000.

And this was even after Chen Wang took away a thousand cavalry from two divisions under his two battalions.

If the two cavalry divisions taken away by Chen Wang are included, the total strength of the guerrilla battalions under Huang Long and Zhang Er alone reached 5,000.

Counting the five thousand newly recruited battalions.

Now Hanzhong Town alone has a total of 22,000 soldiers, which is nearly 10,000 more than the original number.

However, Chen Wang did not intend to return the two cavalry divisions that he had taken away to Huang Long and Zhang Er.

The cavalry of these two divisions were elite cavalry selected from all the soldiers and horses under Huang Long and Zhang Er's command.

Although Huang Long and Zhang Er are not characters, they still have dark spots in their bodies where they seek glory from the Lord.

But it turned out that the soldiers and horses following them were all the best among the best in the army.

Selecting the best among the best, a thousand people were selected in total.

These thousand people are all highly skilled, brave and good at fighting.

When inquiring about their backgrounds, almost 70% of them were originally from the border army.

These thousand cavalry were originally the backbone of Huang Long and Zhang Er's army. Separating these thousand cavalry from Huang Long and Zhang Er's command would undoubtedly greatly reduce their control and strength over the troops and horses under their command.

What Chen Wang needs is this effect, because only in this way can he better control Huang Long and Zhang Er.

Chen Wang had already thought of the reason for the separation from the beginning.

He plans to organize all the current elite cavalry into a separate battalion.

When he first received Luo Rucai's military order to go south, he summoned cavalry from each battalion to go south in order to concentrate his strength, reduce the number of subordinates, and better control the surrendered troops.

Zhang Er and Huang Long's two battalions, Chen Wang, drew a thousand men in total, and Wang Guoning, who surrendered later, also drew 500 fine cavalry, all for this reason.

The newly formed cavalry battalion has a total of more than 3,000 people.

The other more than a thousand people are the Liao cavalry who have been following Chen Wang since Chunhua, as well as the cavalry recruited and selected when they were in Hanzhong. There are probably more than a thousand people in this group.

There are also five hundred knights who were originally subordinate to Chen Hongfan. After Chen Hongfan was dismissed, most of his servants were entrusted to Chen Wang.

Chen Wang plans to use the newly formed cavalry battalion as a guard battalion, which he will personally command, with Zhao Huailiang as his deputy to assist in the management.

The main barracks is dominated by infantry, and is under the personal control of Chen Wang. Hu Zhiyi, as a guerrilla in the Chinese army, assists in the management.

It is important to firmly hold the military power in your hands.

Now Chen Wang actually has a cavalry in his hands. The Guards Cavalry Battalion has 3,000 people, and the main barracks, excluding the transferred cavalry, still has 5,000 people.

The two battalions of soldiers and horses, totaling 8,000 people, were directly under Chen Wang's control.

Plus the newly formed Guards Cavalry Battalion and the newly trained 1st Battalion.

The current Hanzhong Town actually has not only five camps, but seven camps.

The Seventh Battalion has a total of 22,000 people, and there are 9,000 guards in Hanzhong Mansion, totaling more than 31,000 people.

This is his current base.

Chen Wang glanced at the records of each camp in the documents and had a plan in mind.

"How is the situation at the Ordnance Bureau?"

According to the current situation, more than 30,000 people are enough to cope with the subsequent situation. No matter how many people there are, it will be difficult to hide and manage, and the expenses will also increase accordingly.

Although the large amount of money obtained from Henan temporarily alleviated the urgent need.

But the current expenses are still higher than the income, so it is not feasible to sit back and have nothing.

Moreover, uncontrolled expansion of the quantity of the army without paying attention to quality is undoubtedly a recipe for disaster.

The quality of military equipment is of vital importance and is an important factor affecting the combat effectiveness of the army.

Numbers are one thing, and armament is another.

With so many soldiers and horses, if the weapons and equipment cannot keep up, no matter how strong the combat power is, it will not be much better.

"I remember in February this year, news came from Tang Shiping that it was possible to use water to make armor and armor plates?"

Chen Wang put the document on the table, pressed it and turned to ask Chen Gong.

"Brother remembers it right. Mr. Bo has already perfected the hydraulic forging hammer that eldest brother mentioned. The Ordnance Bureau's armor factory has repaired a lot of hydraulic forging hammers."

"It used to take 90 labors to make a pair of Mingjia, but now it only takes 40 labors, which is more than half."

The affairs of the Ordnance Bureau have always been the top priority.

When he was in Hanzhong Mansion, the place where Chen Gong spent the most time was in the Ordnance Bureau, and he naturally knew the situation in the Ordnance Bureau very well.

One work means a worker is busy for a day, and ninety work means a pair of armor means that it takes a worker ninety days to make a pair of armor.

If multiple workers are working on it at the same time, it will naturally be completed faster, but the number of workers used will remain the same.

Therefore, when we talk about the production time, we usually talk about how much work it takes.

"But the kind of breastplate that big brother said needs to be stamped and made in one go. Mr. Bo said that it still needs some time to improve and perfect."

The investment in the Hanzhongwei Ordnance Bureau can be said to be the largest expenditure under Chen Wang's leadership today.

Today's Hanzhongwei Ordnance Bureau is no longer comparable in size to its original size, and the total number of craftsmen has grown from more than 200 to more than 1,000 now.

With the increasing scale, the original system is no longer applicable.

The current Ordnance Bureau has been divided into three factories: weapons, armor, and artillery.

Various weapons are produced by specialized factories. In addition to factories, weapons laboratories and research institutes were also established and were managed by Bo Jue.

An apprenticeship school was also established in the factory to systematically train craftsmen.

The current address of the Arms Bureau is still within the Hanzhong Wei Youqianhu Station where it was originally established.

However, it was no longer in the city of Hanzhong Wei Youqianhu Station, but moved to the bank of the Han River.

Because of the utilization of water power, these machines were naturally indispensable during production, so the address of the Ordnance Bureau was eventually changed.

The Ordnance Bureau is now located on the bank of the Han River south of Qianhusuo. An artificial canal has been dug on the original site of a tributary, and a large number of water conservancy machinery and projects have been built along the canal.

In order to ensure the safety of the craftsmen of the Arms Bureau and prevent technology leakage and confidentiality, Chen Wang later ordered the construction of a city wall to protect the Arms Bureau.

The Ordnance Bureau has actually become a small town.

The residences of more than 1,300 craftsmen from the Ordnance Bureau were also moved to the city, and their families naturally lived with them.

Their travel was also restricted, restricted to the area around the Arms Bureau, and they were not allowed to leave the jurisdiction of Hanzhong Wei Youqianhu Station.

The area of ​​​​the Armory Bureau City is almost the same as that of Senhusho City. After all, there are a large number of workshops and warehouses in it.

And in terms of protection, it is even better than Qianhusuo. Although it is said to be a small town, it is actually closer to a military fortress.

There are more than a thousand soldiers and horses stationed in the Ordnance Bureau City. This is the most heavily guarded fortress within Hanzhong Mansion.

"The Ordnance Bureau is currently in full production. However, because most of the Ordnance Bureau's previous processes used hydraulic power, the drop in the water level of the Han River has also affected the Ordnance Bureau's output, which has dropped significantly. few."

The drought not only affected the harvest of the fields, but also had a considerable impact on the weapons production of the Ordnance Bureau.

Apart from the artillery factory which temporarily does not use hydraulic equipment, hydraulic equipment is indispensable in the Hanzhongwei Military Equipment Bureau whether it is drilling and grinding gun barrels, armor, or making weapons.

"There are currently 3,354 sets of Mingjia in the arsenal, 11,294 cannons, 79 three-pound cannons, and twelve five-pound cannons."

"The Ordnance Bureau can now produce 5,400 sets of Mingjia this year, and 18,000 muskets every year."

Originally, the Ordnance Bureau made cloth-covered armor, and a pair of armor only required about 50 labors, so it could produce about 300 pieces a month.

However, Chen Wang later ordered to abandon the cloth armor and devote all his efforts to making bright armor.

Compared with cloth armor, the protection of plain armor is naturally stronger, but the disadvantages are that it is more expensive, takes longer to make, and cannot withstand the cold.

But these shortcomings are not considered shortcomings for Chen Wang.

Chen Wang is not short of money now, and there are not many craftsmen under his hands, and they are still increasing. With the help of hydraulic forging hammers, the speed of making Mingjia will only get faster and faster.

It doesn't matter if you can't keep out the cold. When you go to the north, you can wear warm clothes.

As for long-body armor such as cloth-faced armor, in July and August in the South, soldiers wearing it felt like they were in a steamer, and they were unbearably hot.

Taking everything into account, Chen Wang finally ordered the Ordnance Bureau to only make bright armor and helmets, and no longer make dark armor such as cloth-faced armor.

"It's still a little less."

Chen Wang frowned slightly.

This number is undoubtedly an extremely terrifying number for a military town.

But it is still not enough for the power Chen Wang currently has.

This also made Chen Wang want to use the water forging hammer to punch disposable breastplates more and more.

In the entire Hanzhong Town, there are currently more than 17,000 pairs of cloth-faced armor and bright armor in the army.

Among them, there are more than 3,200 pairs of Mingjia, 2,000 of which are in the newly formed Guards Cavalry Battalion.

In addition, there are more than a thousand officers in each battalion, basically worn by the generals' personal cavalry, as well as middle- and high-level officers.

There are more than 14,000 pairs of cloth-faced armor, which are standard equipment for ordinary soldiers.

There are nearly 5,000 pairs of chainmail armor. They are not issued individually. They are generally issued to soldiers wearing open armor to wear inside.

In this way, you can quickly arm your troops and improve their combat effectiveness.

The number of armors in the arsenal is far from enough. Even if they are all taken out, it will only be enough to arm 60% of his troops, and the remaining 40% will be without armor.

"The surrounding craftsmen have almost gathered together. It takes a long time to train new craftsmen. The Ordnance Bureau can no longer increase the output in the short term."

As the weapons bureau of a guard station, the Hanzhong Guard Ordnance Bureau is already seriously over-subscribed.

It is already outrageous to be able to achieve this output. This is because there are a large number of hydraulic equipment that can save man-hours, production difficulty and time.

Chen Gong was a little helpless. Now the development of the Hanzhong Guard Arms Bureau has reached its limit.

When it was first built, it was also based on Luo Guizhong, who was then the commander of the Xi'an avant-garde, and bought a lot of craftsmen.

The next step is to train them yourself and recruit them from the refugees. The latest increase in the number of craftsmen is a group of craftsmen secretly bought from Yunyang Guards.

"I know."

Chen Wang is also aware of the current predicament of the Ordnance Bureau.

"Let's do this for now. Tomorrow you send a message back to Hanzhong and transfer all the Mingjia. First, the main barracks under my command will change their armor. The rest of the armies will use cloth armor first."

Chen Wang calmed down, now he indeed has a large number of craftsmen in his hands.

At first, due to the issue of armaments, we took over the Ordnance Bureau of Henan Jiuweisan Institute and the Kaifeng Miscellaneous Manufacturing Bureau from Gao Mingheng. These bureaus have a large number of experienced craftsmen.

But these craftsmen are still unable to move at this stage.

"How many Oathsworn guns are there equipped with thorns?"

"When the data was submitted, it was 4,427 poles. There is still no way to combine it with the thorns. There are still very few that can be completely fitted directly. Craftsmen still need to polish them individually."

Technical problems are difficult to overcome, and the previous problems still exist. Chen Gong is very helpless.

"The town has recruited many craftsmen who specialize in polishing, but polishing takes too much time, so it still can't keep up with the production of sea oaths."

The problem of the inner wall of the bayonet sleeve is currently limited by the level of industry and is difficult to solve. It can only be manually polished.

Chen Wang also knows this problem.

"All the sworn guns are sent out. After they are sent out, all the armies will be reorganized and all training will be changed to new training methods."

Nearly 5,000 muskets had been distributed before, and with the more than 11,000 muskets now in the arsenal, the replacement of the entire army is almost complete.

"Each battalion uses the Everlasting gun without a spur as a shooting training gun. The Everlasting gun with a spur is not used as a shooting gun."

The barrel of a gun gun has a shooting life and cannot be fired without limit. After the number of shots reaches a certain number, there is a danger of the barrel exploding.

In this case, the Oath Gun without a thorn is naturally the most suitable as a training gun, and it can also be regarded as a use.

I have been writing since the morning until now. I originally thought that I could write 8,000 words in one day, but now it seems that I still think highly of myself. The more anxious I am, the less I can write. There is only one update today. I Adjust your mentality.