afterglow

Chapter 569: Able to lead troops, interfere less when there is no problem; look forward to being a master

"There is no suspense, everyone is very sensible." Zhou Changfeng folded the letter in half again, stuffed it back into the envelope, and handed it to Lin Xi.

The latter asked: "Do you want to wake up Madam?"

"She just woke up. I can go."

"Yes."

Zhou Changfeng, whose brows showed joy, immediately turned around, climbed the stairs to the second floor, and opened the door.

As soon as he entered the door, he met the wide-eyed Xia Xiaoshi, whose expression seemed to say: What's wrong?
"Everything is fine, everything is fine." Zhou Changfeng clapped his hands easily and said, "Relax and go to sleep!"

He opened the closet door and sighed while taking the clothes: "I've been putting it off until now, but I'm finally on the right track!"

"Sir, you seem to be ready to make a move."

"How can you use derogatory words to describe your own family? You have no husband! Xiaoshi, you need to teach you a lesson."

"Please be sure to put this away and we won't disturb you." Fang Shujun handed over a piece of paper with both hands.

The Ming Army Infantry Division includes the division's automobile transport regiment, equipped with more than 3 2-ton trucks and more than 3 -ton trucks; in addition, the division's artillery regiment is also equipped with a medium-sized automobile battalion, equipped with More than a dozen -ton trucks.

"Uh...yes."

The series of follow-up matters after this have nothing to do with me. It is the court officials who need to be busy, so I should just worry about business. He thought so.

"I have a lot of things to do from now on until the end of the month. I'm very busy. If you have any small matters, you can make your own decisions." Zhu Lingjing, who looked tired but had a calm demeanor, said calmly.

At this time, what was facing him was the Chengtian Gate, which was thousands of steps away, and on the left and right were the various official offices of the imperial court.

The commonly used street greening trees in the Ming Dynasty Prefecture are different and unique - Yingtian Prefecture mostly uses sycamore, soapberry, and ginkgo; Shanghai Prefecture mostly uses sycamore, camphor, and liquidambar; Guangzhou Prefecture mostly uses renface, big-leaf crape myrtle, and kapok. .

What impressed Zhou Changfeng most during his trip to Europe was the motorization and communication capabilities of Germany, France, Britain and the United States, with Britain and the United States first, followed by Germany and France.

"Anyway, I'm leaving to welcome this brand new court!"

In the middle of the note, written from right to left, was a short, scrawled, somewhat messy handwriting, which said: "If you are able to lead the troops, you will interfere less when there is nothing wrong."

"Sir... pull down the curtains..."

"Huh?" To be honest, Zhou Changfeng never expected that he would suddenly mention the proposal that was criticized and ended hastily a few months ago.

When I passed through the Qianqing Gate and was about to get on the shuttle bus, I was stopped. When I looked back, I saw a few people walking diagonally from behind.

Zhou Changfeng walked to the window and pulled up the curtains. The faint morning light slanted into the room through the square window lattice and sprinkled on the soft bed.

Sitting on the shuttle bus, Zhou Changfeng subconsciously wanted to fold the note in half, but immediately stopped and folded it flatly into a book and stuffed it into his handbag.

The car drove on the road with front and rear escorts, heading straight to the original garrison of the 1st Marine Brigade...

Since the equipment standards of the Ming Dynasty's standing army during peacetime were relatively high, and it has not suffered a major defeat to this day, the degree of motorization of most infantry divisions is quite considerable - although the Ming Dynasty's automobile industry is relatively weak.

Zhou Changfeng's car "Jingjia-1106" with a red plate and white letters drove onto Chongli Avenue and quickly turned left.

The plane tree, also called the plane tree, is a common street greening tree with strong adaptability and good shading effect. The disadvantage is that catkins fly in the spring.

Zhou Changfeng, who was feigning anger, raised his hand to strike. Xia Xiaoshi quickly pulled up the quilt to cover her head, but was still pinched several times by the former through the quilt.

"There must be no delay in getting down to business."

The seal on the note is a large dark red square seal with the words "Treasure of the Emperor" written in seal script.

It's almost time, and the wave of bicycles during rush hour has long since disappeared, and the road is smooth.

It would be a lie to say that I am not envious. Zhou Changfeng was determined to vigorously promote modernization and strive for excellence.

The middle-aged man at the head was none other than Fang Shujun, who was the family magistrate of the Princess Mansion at that time. Another middle-aged woman, Zhou Changfeng, had only been seen a few times. She was one of the main attendants of the Supreme Emperor.

His mood was hard to calm down, and it was surprisingly better than he had originally expected.

"It's good to be young. Zhou Daizhao moves so fast."

The atmosphere in the Forbidden City is still the same as yesterday, tense and solemn, and access control is very strict.

Under the shadow of the Qianqing Gate, time seemed to freeze for a few seconds.

"Go to the detention area to inspect your men. Also, there will be a follow-up to the so-called amphibious group you proposed." This was her first sentence.

The few people then separated. During this process, the female attendant did not say a word from beginning to end.

The early winter morning was a bleak scene. The plane trees on both sides of the street had almost lost all their leaves and were bare. Only the banyan tree was still evergreen, with its green leaves forming shade.

He looked at the two people in front of him and said seriously: "I know what I am doing, and I will definitely live up to expectations."

This is a special note for the palace. The paper is of good quality and the lettering on the top of the note is orange.

Now even the word "Xingchen" cannot be used to criticize himself.

"National war takes priority, right?"

The short "meeting" ended like this.

what?
Zhou Changfeng was in disbelief and read the brief words on the note several times.

Although they had not seen each other for only a day, Zhou Changfeng was surprised to find that Zhu Lingjing was completely different from before.

"I know, I know."

Zhou Changfeng couldn't help but laugh, and he raised his hands in a serious manner and said: "It's clear! I accept the order!"

Based on this calculation, an infantry division that has not been reinforced for battle has approximately 470 trucks of various types (excluding motorcycles and off-road vehicles).

The Military Production Bureau of the Ministry of War is very shrewd. It properly allocates the limited trucks in terms of establishment, giving priority to improving the motorization level of division headquarters, artillery regiments, and directly affiliated units. Good steel is used on the blade.

There are many reasons why the Ming Dynasty Army was hesitant to build motorized troops, but in the final analysis they all come down to one word - money!

Equipping more vehicles requires a stronger level of support—the ability to drive, maintain, and repair.

This requires a large number of technical soldiers, but there is an extreme shortage of this type of people among volunteers, because skilled people rarely join the army on their own initiative, and the Ming army can only train them in their own classes or recruit them with generous pay.

The talent market in the Ming Dynasty is far from saturated. People with certain skills are very popular, and they don’t have to worry about running out of work or making money.

What's more, qualified technicians are precious resources, and they are indispensable for industrial growth. If a large number of technicians are recruited, the entire Ministry of Industry will definitely be the first to object.

It costs money to equip more mobile vehicles, it costs money to improve the level of support, and it costs more money to maintain vehicles... As a result, the motorization construction of the Ming Army has stayed at a basically sufficient level.

The power trolley that Zhou Changfeng invented in a flash of inspiration more than half a year ago has been popularized. After being tested by war, it has been sought after by frontline soldiers. It has proven to be a very flexible and easy-to-use tool.

But it is obvious that Zhou is not satisfied with this. He wants more advanced and sophisticated troops.

Quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes, and qualitative changes lead to quantitative changes. The two can be converted into each other. The Pacific battlefield is special in that it is difficult for either side to invest overwhelming forces-unless the other side is at the end of its rope.

It is generally believed that at similar technological levels, a five-fold quantitative difference is the limit for competition between “quantity” and “quality”.

But can the Americans deploy five times as many combat units as Ming people on the Pacific battlefield?

This is of course a fantasy, and it will not work even if there is strong national power, because nature does not allow it.

So that's where the competition of quality and sophistication comes in. This is Zhou Changfeng's follow-up to his obsession with strengthening advanced construction.

Combined with the draft he was writing, Zhou Changfeng drafted a memorial, which can be said to be the crystallization of his wisdom and experience.

This memorial is called "Prospects for Responses to Future Warfare in the Pacific". It is very lengthy, detailed, and professional. It even includes ruler and compass drawings and simple hand-drawings. It took three empty memorials to complete.

He demanded that from now on all policies for ground combat in the Pacific theater - campaign thinking, troop organization, and weapon design - should be based on these two foundations.

First, it is impossible to defend an isolated island and it will definitely lose.

Second, the terrain and the delivery capabilities of the United States and China determine that there is no multiple difference in the number of troops between the two sides.

In this memorial, the content about the organization of the troops lists the specific organization and required weapons and equipment, and explains the general reasons.

This special motorized infantry division is also called the "Prospective Method Division".

At the beginning of the content, Zhou Changfeng wrote unceremoniously: "I am not satisfied with the military budget of the country. You get what you pay for. Meaningless frugality is irresponsible to the people of the country."

If I win, do I still need to consider money? What's the point of saving money if you can't win?

This sentence is enough to make those who read it feel a little stunned in their hearts - Be good! Why should I get a vaccination first? Could it be that gold is used to build soldiers and horses?

In the memorial, Wang Zhanfa's preparations include:

Headquarters - division headquarters, garrison, motorized gendarmerie, motorized communications team;
Service support units - automobile transport regiment, field supplementary battalion, medical team, post office, veterinary clinic, repair shop;

Combat support units - self-propelled mountain artillery regiment, self-propelled rocket launcher battalion, self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery battalion, self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery battalion, mechanized reconnaissance battalion, mechanized engineering battalion, mechanized chemical defense team, special reconnaissance platoon;

The main combat units are two motorized infantry regiments, one mechanized infantry regiment, and one tank battalion.

The mountain artillery regiment has three battalions, equipped with 36 112mm medium self-propelled howitzers and 12 144mm heavy self-propelled howitzers.

The rocket launcher battalion is equipped with 18 seven-unit 144mm self-propelled rocket launchers.

The anti-aircraft artillery battalion is equipped with 12 twin-mounted 20.8mm self-propelled anti-aircraft guns and 6 single-mounted 38.4mm self-propelled anti-aircraft guns.

The combat defense artillery battalion is equipped with 18 48mm hunter-destroyer tanks.

The tank battalion is equipped with 15 light tanks and 32 medium tanks.

The configuration at the division level is so luxurious, but the configuration at the regiment level has not shrunk. This is completely different from the military and military affairs bureau of the Ministry of War's meticulous and prudent style.

In addition, considering that frontline soldiers particularly like to move the old Type 144 mm howitzer to the front line to directly bombard targets, Zhou Changfeng suggested shortening its barrel and mounting it on a tank chassis to use it as a simple assault gun.

According to the final rough calculation, the full staff of these "Prospect Methodists" is as high as more than 15,600 people, and the standard shipping volume occupied is 250,000 tons. Their mechanization level, communication capabilities, and firepower are all It's going to be top notch.

What cannot be ignored is that automatic rifles will also be given priority in equipping them, which will bring absolute advantages to grassroots units.

When facing the U.S. Infantry Division or Marine Corps, the "Prospective Method Division" has the ability to handle it on paper.

Zhou Changfeng hopes to equip the mechanized infantry regiment under his jurisdiction with professional armored personnel carriers, or even youth and beggar versions of infantry fighting vehicles.

However, these things are naturally not available now, and they still need to be designed from scratch. Therefore, before mass production actually begins, the so-called mechanized infantry will only be equipped with trucks.

The Ordnance Bureau of the Ministry of War has launched several bidding for armored personnel carriers in the past few years. Major manufacturers responded enthusiastically and developed many finished products.

Shuntian Xunjie Company's ZsX-21 half-track vehicle, Shanghai Changyang Company's ZsC-100 half-track vehicle, and Sunchon First Heavy Machinery Company's ZsYj-4 tracked multi-purpose vehicle.

In Zhou Changfeng's opinion, none of these things are satisfactory. Some are too narrow, some are too poor, and some are too complicated.

Fortunately, the Ming Army did not place an order, otherwise it would be a waste to set up a production line for it.

The Ming Army placed a large order for a small tracked multi-purpose vehicle inspired by the Bren machine gun vehicle - the Type 3.2 all-terrain vehicle, which was specialized in doing chores. The purchase price was only yuan.

In the notes in the second half of the memorial, Zhou Changfeng requested the development of a new tracked armored transport vehicle and gave technical specifications.

9. The empty weight does not exceed tons.

2.65. The width of the vehicle shall not exceed meters.

11. The crew cabin can carry people.

4. Can withstand shell fragments and medium-caliber rifle rounds.

5. It must have good passability even in complex terrain.

6. It has the ability to float after installing an external pontoon tank.

If given the choice, Zhou would certainly like to directly copy the M113 or Type 63 armored personnel carrier. Unfortunately, the technological development gap of twenty years cannot be ignored.

Therefore, he lowered the standards appropriately, without limiting the manufacturing cost and driving speed, and even the floating ability requirements were very loose - independent floating was not required, and it was acceptable if the floating tank could be installed.

According to the memorial, it will be enough to form or adapt five to seven "Prospect Methodists" in the future. Part of the deployment and part of the rest will be fully capable of dealing with the Pacific battlefield.

Despite the vaccinations, many dissidents complained that they were too expensive and expensive.

Judging from the purchase price, a top three is really a jaw-dropping luxury.

After settling the scores, some congressmen couldn't help complaining about the waste of people's energy and squandering of financial resources.

Hearing such complaints, Zhou Changfeng sarcastically said with disdain: "What a high-sounding joke! Cherishing the people's power? You don't care much when you should cherish it, but you can't bear to part with it when you really need to use it?"

But this cannot refute the dissidents - after all, if you are not thick-skinned, you will not be able to survive in the political circles of the Ming Dynasty.

Their point of view is: Since the current configuration is enough to defeat the enemy, there is no need to spend so much money. We might as well take a step back and strengthen it a little. This is already prepared for a rainy day.

(End of this chapter)