Chapter 40: The New Army (4)
"Your Majesty, there's no need to rush." Sun Chengzong's old face rarely broke into a smile. Yang Gaizhi thought he had seen wrongly, it was rare to see Sun Chengzong smile! That face full of whiskers, how hard it was for him to crack a smile!
"Master Sun?......" Yang Gaofeng couldn't understand why Sun Chengzong was smiling so strangely.
"Your Majesty, look at this!" Sun Chengzong said as he pulled out an object from the drawer.
"Model?"
"Yes indeed, Your Majesty." Sun Chengzong's old face was smiling with such joy that his whole face was all wrinkled.
"Could it be a chariot model?" Yang Gaoxing exclaimed!
"Yes indeed, Your Majesty. This is a model of the war chariot that I had made by an old subject...". Sun Chengzong's old face was red and beaming with joy.
……
"......" was utterly shocked! Yang Reform could only express his shock with even more shock, ancient armored vehicle ah!
"Master Sun is truly talented, this has indeed helped me greatly. In the future when we conquer Eastern Barbarians, Master Sun's contributions will not be forgotten and will surely be recorded in history..." Yang struggled to reform for half a day, but only managed to squeeze out such a sentence.
"Your old minister has already thanked Your Majesty, please take another look..." As he spoke, Sun Chongzong's old face was still smiling, and while smiling, he took out an object from the drawer.
……
"What's this 'Che Ying Bai Ba Kou Da Shuo He Bian'? Master Sun, what is this?" Yang asked.
"This is an humble work of old minister." Sun Chengzong's old face was as red as a blooming flower.
Is this teacher also a writer? Yang Gaofei was puzzled, feeling that this master is still a "writer". "... Is this the configuration and tactics of the war chariot?" Yang Gaofei became excited. Ready-made war chariot configurations and combat methods, what a great thing!
"Your Majesty is wise."
As soon as I wanted to sleep, someone sent a pillow. If you want a "tank" armored vehicle, someone will send the configuration and tactics of the war chariot. This is simply a divine golden finger for oneself! Yang Reform looked up at the sky and laughed loudly: "Haha, haha, hahaha..."
Yang was overjoyed, still thinking about how to copy some tank armor and infantry collaboration tactics from Baidu, when his master suddenly sent him an authentic original version. Yang found that his master was very lovely. Yang couldn't help but want to "kiss" this old face twice.
It's really too good! Can't be described in words!
……
Half a year later, the excitement of Yang's reform had just subsided.
"Master Sun, you are indeed a good master for me. I was just worried about the Eastern Barbarians, and Master Sun has brought me such a treasure. I don't know how to thank Master Sun."
"Your Majesty needn't say so, this is all what your old minister should do." said Sun Chengzong.
……
"Master Sun, please hurry up and tell me the key to this, I can't wait any longer." Yang was indeed impatient, and he couldn't help but want to immediately gather people to start building war chariots and recruit and organize an armored unit.
"Yes, Your Majesty..." Sun Chengzong's old face was smiling the most today, as if these wrinkles had decreased a bit. One smile, and all the wrinkles on his face were gone.
……
"The old minister was reorganized and expanded on the basis of Qi's chariot camp... with four vehicles as one unit, four units as one balance, two balances as one collision, and four collisions as one camp. Each camp has more than 6,000 people, 128 vehicles, and a combination of cavalry and infantry equipped with various cannons totaling 352 guns..."
One vehicle is a class, four vehicles are a row, four rows are a company, two companies are a battalion, and four battalions are a brigade-level unit? This is quite similar to the later army's troop organization! A brigade has more than 300 artillery pieces... Yang's reform was shocking! This is not much less than the German army's artillery in later generations.
Thinking of the warlords' infighting during the Republic of China era, a battalion having several small cannons was considered elite, truly incomparable!
……
Yang's reform shocked the world, and after that, there was always a lingering energy in his chest. He couldn't help but want to sing loudly towards the sky and laugh wildly to vent his emotions. His triumphant smile, his triumphant smile...
"Master Sun is preparing how many such camps?" This camp can be compared to a brigade-level unit of later generations. Its strength is equivalent.
"Your Majesty, this matter is not easy to say, it all depends on your financial resources. I, the old minister, recall that when Commander Qi was in charge, he formed seven battalions, each with over 3,000 men, totaling over 21,000 people. Therefore, logically speaking, I believe we should at least form three new mobile battalions, totaling over 20,000 men, to be sufficient for one battle." Sun Chengzong's eyebrows furrowed again as he carefully analyzed Yang's reform plan.
Seven chariot troops (three thousand men's troops)! No wonder General Qi was able to sweep across the grasslands and shock the border regions back then! They looked down on Mongolia as useless! It turns out they were abused many times by this "transcendent" firepower configuration, no wonder later on Mongolia became a vassal state. Emotions run deep here.
Yang Reform seemed to see, one after another, a chariot appeared on the vast grassland, above the horizon, all were dense and numerous Ming dynasty chariots, thousands of cannons pointed at the top of the Mongolian people. The sun sets, thousands of cannons fire together, the earth is shaking, the sky is trembling, the Mongolian people are bleeding. Ten thousand rifles fired simultaneously, the Mongolian people saw hell beckoning to themselves...
Yang realized that it was no wonder the Ming army had a significant psychological advantage when fighting against the Mongols, daring to fight them to the death. It turned out that for these hundreds of years, especially in recent decades, they had been bullying and oppressing the Mongols!
……
Half a moment later, Yang reform finally came back to his senses.
"Two or three chariot brigades [six thousand people's army]? Wouldn't that be too few?" Three six-thousand-people armies combined would be a super-strong division-level unit by later standards. There were over a thousand artillery pieces of various calibers. A force of this scale would put even the elite German divisions of World War II under immense pressure. However, Yang thought that one division was still too few, and at least seven or eight such divisions would be needed to deal with the Wild Boar Skin, so as to truly unleash a barrage of cannons and crush them."
"Your Majesty, this is what I, your old minister, have conceived based on the situation when General Qi and the Mongols fought in the past. The number of people is roughly the same, but now the situation with the Eastern Barbarians, the Later Jin, is different from back then. Therefore, I suggest that we form nine armored car regiments, combine them into an armored army, totaling 50-60 thousand men. This way, when engaging with the Later Jin, we can ensure complete victory... Sun Chongzong also paid attention to this, one brigade has six thousand men, several hundred cannons, and nine such brigades..."
Yang Reform was intimidated by Sun Chengzong's words, it seems that this master is not a kind person! Nine such troops [six thousand people large troops], are three super divisions, such military power... hum, Yang Reform only wants to say, three thousand gates of cannons, the total force of wild boar skin is only 50 or 60 thousand people, you're too terrifying! It's really like Mount Tai crushing the top!
Yang Reform felt a bit overwhelmed and said, "Master Sun, isn't this configuration a bit... too luxurious? The Eastern Rong has only tens of thousands of soldiers who can actually fight."
"Your Majesty, you must not think that way. When a lion hunts a rabbit, it uses its full strength. The total number of Eastern Barbarian soldiers who can fight is also over 500,000 to 600,000. Does Your Majesty think that the Eastern Barbarians will not send all their troops into battle? I, your old minister, have arranged for nine chariot regiments, and our military strength is only equivalent to that of the Later Jin. Only then do I dare say that we have a sure chance of victory. Your Majesty must not think that it will be easy to pacify the Eastern Barbarians..." Sun Chengzong was getting anxious, his words were somewhat urgent.
……
Yang's reform is a bit embarrassing. Still, his own master, the old general thought it through, three super masters, nine six-thousand-man troops, and only then can they say they can beat Wild Boar Skin, and on their side, they must not make any "mistakes". Lion Blog Turtle also used its full strength, which is absolutely correct. Wild Boar Skin will not send out just one or two million men to fight with you just because you have a single troop of soldiers.
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"Master Sun, if we were to build such a war chariot army, have you calculated the amount of silver needed?" Yang Gaoyi asked this with a hint of nervousness, knowing that such a super configuration would require a huge amount of silver to be piled up.
……
Sun Chengzong's old face turned red and white, white and red, after several such changes, he finally moved his lips slightly, spitting out a few words: "This old minister also doesn't know..."
Yang's reform was like being struck by lightning, and Sun Chengzong didn't even know how much silver his own war chariot army needed! This is truly shocking. There can only be one possibility - this amount of silver is frighteningly large.
Equipping a cavalryman requires about 60-70 taels of silver, so equipping 10,000 cavalrymen would cost around 700,000 to 800,000 taels in the first year. This "chariot army" is a combination of chariots, infantry, and cavalry. With three divisions totaling over 60,000 men, if one-third are cavalry, that's around 20,000 cavalrymen, which means just equipping them would cost around 1,560,000 taels of silver. Adding the chariots themselves, draft animals, artillery, firearms, supplies, and personnel expenses, the numbers become astronomical; in a year, it wouldn't be less than 40-50 million taels of silver to maintain such an "extravagant" army. If you train too intensively, consumption will increase even more, making it impossible to sustain. During battles, even more money is needed, and consumption increases further; if you want to use this army to fight a war, you'd better have tens of millions of taels of silver ready, or else don't even think about taking action.
Yang reformed and calculated the price slightly, then expressed that the pressure was too great, and he only had 20-30 million taels of silver available for use. It's really quite shabby.
……
"Your Majesty, it's better to start with simplicity and gradually add complexity. It would be more suitable to first equip three chariot regiments... Three regiments of six thousand men each is equivalent to one division." Sun Chengzong thought for half a day and felt that his idea was indeed too fanciful and unrealistic. Three regiments were more appropriate.
Three battalions are twenty thousand people, and the cost is reduced to around one or two million taels, which is what Yang's reform can afford.
Yang's reform is so depressing! After thinking for half a day, he said: "Sigh... Then let's follow Master Sun's words and train three battalions first." Yang's unbearable pain was all caused by the silver coins. If only he had enough silver coins in his hands, he could build three super brigades and crush the Wild Boar Troupe. Alas, he only had 2-3 million taels of silver on hand, and the Ministry of Revenue was still asking him for more silver coins, so it was hopeless to expect anything from them. Therefore, training three battalions was already the limit of Yang's reform.
Yang felt depressed and anxious about his mission as a "salary slave" once again: it seemed he still had to work hard to make more money.
