sweeping the world

Chapter 954 Never Give Up
The firearms unit cost of a rifle brigade is more than the total cost of two standing infantry, and the logistics of the firearms unit are more troublesome.

The same is to raise an army, not counting the deployment of weapons for the firearms unit, just to ensure logistics, the cost will be the cost of six standing armies.

Riflemen's usual training costs at least ten five baht coins for each shot fired, and the barrel is worn out and needs to be replaced for one barrel, which costs five hundred five baht coins.

Every time you shoot, it will naturally wear the barrel. Another point is that the barrel is not steel, but a barrel mixed with iron and other materials. After about 220 shots, there is no accuracy. After 450 shots Afterwards, not only the caliber becomes larger, but also small irregular bends appear.

The current cost of a flintlock gun, including labor costs and material value, has reached a high price of [-] five baht coins.The same five baht money is enough to make six swords or knives, or fifteen if it is changed to a long spear.For the price of three flintlocks you can make a good set of metal armor.

If an army of firearms troops is really compiled, it is impossible to be all riflemen, and it must be attached to artillery troops.

At present, even the cheapest bronze cannon, including labor and materials, costs [-] pieces of five baht per piece.

No matter how a firearms army should be attached to the artillery unit of a brigade, based on a squad as a gun, that is at least 240 guns.

It is impossible for an artillery brigade to have all the guns of the same caliber. There will be small-caliber guns for melee support and large-caliber guns for long-range suppression.

At present, the largest caliber gun reaches 320 mm, and the cost of one gun is 13 five baht coins. An artillery unit of a brigade will have at least one battalion of heavy artillery. 75 guns are 970 million five baht coins.

Those weapons are still calculated by the cost. Since they were built by the Shaofu, there is no profit for the supply to the military. Otherwise, it is like the price of selling the smallest caliber gun to an armed privateer. A smallest caliber gun is 18 five baht.

Although such a high price has the difference between the base for land use and the base for ships, it is considered a conscience price if it has not been tripled.

In addition, don't think it's too expensive. If you want to buy it, you have to go through various political trials. If you are not a high-ranking person or have no high-ranking guarantee, you are not eligible to buy it.

It is a historical trend for firearms troops to eliminate cold weapon troops. Liu Yan has repeatedly emphasized and repeated this point long ago.

However, Liu Yan kept emphasizing that even though everyone could see the ferocity of the firearms troops before going through the test of war, they would more or less subconsciously suspect that it was inevitable that the firearms troops would be dragged into the battlefield for actual combat.

On September 13, 27, there was no farewell ceremony. The Rifle Brigade, which had been training for a year and seven months, was paired with two artillery battalions and set off.

With the current strength of the Han Empire, no matter what kind of arm it is, there is enough animal power to travel. Simply put, it is to ride a horse, and to be more particular, to sit in a carriage.

The army was going to take the national road leading directly to Yanmen County. From the military camp on the edge of the Qinling Mountains to the north, it needed to pass through the suburbs of Chang'an.

The movement of troops marching will not be small. The people near the city wall found that a large-scale army was marching. They first watched it curiously and found that this army was completely different from what they had seen before.

Most of the soldiers of the Rifle Brigade ride in a carriage, which is a carriage with a long carriage, which has a veritable name called a boxcar.

Some of the riflemen rode on horseback. They were mistaken for the cavalry musketeers that appeared in the last military parade, but they were actually a group of riflemen on horseback.

"Where is this going?"

"It looks like he's going to northern Xinjiang."

"Are you finally going to teach those blind guys a lesson?"

"Several barbarian tribes formed an alliance, and it's time to destroy their families and destroy their countries!"

The officials of the Han Empire would selectively post some news in the form of notices, and the common people could get some news that the officials wanted them to know from the notices.To be more transparent is to guide public opinion, usually reporting good news but not bad news.

The reason why it was in the form of announcements instead of publishing newspapers was that Liu Yan didn't have the skills for the time being, and the current situation was not so suitable.

Julian and Xyas came to see a tail in a hurry. When they arrived, they happened to see the last part of the van carrying the riflemen.

"It looks like there are no fewer than 7000 people in the queue. It should be the legendary army?" Xias used the word 'legendary' mainly because he heard a lot of speeches, and the only thing he saw with his own eyes was in the military parade. That time: "The Han Empire really wanted to attack the north, so it would attack the Huns first."

They came later, did not see the artillery battalion, let alone the baggage train, and the riflemen marching on horseback were the rear.The only way to guess how many people there are in the army is to look at the length of the queue first, and then count the number of people in a van.

"You said..." Julian asked very uncertainly: "If you ask to go to watch the battle, will Emperor Han agree?"

They had seen firearms in action on the Asan battlefield, but it was just that one time that they had an indelible impression, and they were eager to learn more.

"We only saw shelling last time. This time, the troops of the Han Empire included what they called riflemen." Of course Xeas wanted to watch the battle, but he could guess: "Since the Han Empire didn't make a big publicity, I'm afraid Will not agree to our going to watch the game."

Julian thought about it for a while, and it made the same sense. He sighed and looked at the Han army that was drifting away.

Regarding the acquisition of firearms, Rome and Sasanian have tried more than once. At the beginning, it was an official negotiation.

There was no way to buy firearms, so they tried to negotiate the purchase of gunpowder, but they were still rejected cleanly.

There is no way to get it through formal channels, and the Persians started the informal channels first. Of course, it is not the Persians who blatantly steal and rob. They let the non-Persians do things that are sneaky or openly robbed.

Given the importance attached to firearms by the Han Empire, it is not easy to obtain firearms or gunpowder through informal channels. Those people instructed by Sassan did not do anything. Kill or capture, nearly two years have passed, many people sent by Sassan died (disappeared), but there was no result at all.

Later, Rome also started its own actions. Of course, they didn't let the Romans do it. They also sent non-Romans, but there was no progress.

Until the gunpowder production workshop in Shaofu was attacked by more than a hundred aliens, those aliens were naturally wiped out, but they also angered Liu Yan.

You must know that Liu Yan can use the map in his mind to distinguish between the enemy and the bug. He has "scanned" it before, but the "red dots" are scattered, and they are not in any important area. Too much fighting.

There was a major incident of foreigners attacking the gunpowder workshop. After 12 years, Liu Yan came to clean up again, and personally commanded the guards to arrest and kill.

What I don’t know how to evaluate is that when Liu Yan “scanned” those high-level foreign officials who were the guides, they displayed blue, not neutral white or hostile red, which once made Liu Yan suspect that the system was broken up.

Liu Yan used a lot of energy to think and observe later, and found that it was not the system that was broken, but those high-level crooked nuts who wanted to become allies of the Han Empire from the bottom of their hearts.He also determined the law of the system to identify the enemy and the enemy, but instead of using actions to identify, he adopted a kind of idealism.

That "big cleanup" was a big commotion. Not only Wai Guoren was arrested and killed, but also more than [-] people in the country. They were sanctioned no matter what reason they were hostile to Liu Yan or the country.

Crooked nuts are hostile, no matter what their identities are, they will not have any chance to complain when they are sanctioned.Some crooked nuts actually did nothing, they were just hostile to the Han Empire from the bottom of their hearts, but it is not wrong to be sanctioned just because they are hostile to the Han Empire.

Liu Yan is more pleased that there are no officials or nobles among the sanctioned personnel.

In fact, it can be said that Liu Yan had already identified them once when he became an official and conferred a title, and then they have become vested interests, and those who are hostile have either been identified long ago, or they are satisfied with their current life after becoming vested interests.

The hostile people in Chang'an were wiped out, which greatly shocked those important ministers who knew a little bit. They were extremely grateful that they were loyal to Liu Yan, and at the same time, their fear of Liu Yan was even deeper.

There is no way to obtain firearms from informal channels, and the attempts to obtain them from informal channels have repeatedly failed, and even evolved to the point where the transferred personnel were arrested or killed within a few days of entering Chang'an, although the probability of obtaining them through formal channels is infinitesimally small, Rome and Sasanian still did not give up.

"Let's go." Xyas looked at the troops who were so far away that they could only see a black shadow: "You should try everything, maybe the Emperor Han will agree."

Rome and Sasanian have been trying to ease the relationship between each other in recent years. The high-level communication has been strengthened. There are no longer a large number of soldiers on the border between the two countries, but the 800-year enmity between the two countries is too great. If you want to become friendly, the military can also be restrained, but the civilians of the two countries are not so easy to restrain, and there are still frictions between the people.

Julian and Xeas who stayed in Chang'an, only he knew what they were like in their hearts, but on the surface they became very good friends, and they were even inseparable most of the time, which made some people guess whether there was something wrong with them. Passionate feelings happen.

Of course, the two couldn't and couldn't just meet Liu Yan if they wanted to. They first went back to the post house to discuss with their respective people, then met at the meeting place, and went hand in hand to the official office of the Ministry of Rites outside the palace.

The main office locations of the six ministries of the three provinces are within Miyagi, and outside the Miyagi are some low-level offices.

The important ministers of all dynasties have their offices in Miyagi, mainly for the convenience of reporting to the emperor, and they don't have to be summoned to go all the way to the palace if something happens.

There is an office outside Miyagi because not everyone is eligible to enter Miyagi, and even if they are eligible, there are usually procedures of one kind or another.

The royal families of two powerful countries came, and Wang Xizhi, who was in charge of Dianzhi (from the sixth rank), received them.

Wang Xizhi is now not only the code system of the Ministry of Rites, but also the doctor of writing.The former is a formal official position, while the latter is a "qing" category.To put it bluntly, the doctor writing is to write something for Liu Yan that does not involve government orders and imperial edicts.

"Dr. Wang!"

"Two, Mr. Wang is in office hours now, please address him as the official of the Ministry of Rites."

"Uh, I met Wang Dianzhi."

"The two came hand in hand, I don't know why?"

After greeting each other, it was Julian who explained his intentions and said that it was a great honor to be able to go to the battlefield to watch the Han army show off their might.

If it were modern times... No, even in the Song Dynasty, who dared to use "show off their might" would be tantamount to pointing their faces and scolding.

Fortunately, "flaunting one's strength" is still an idiom used for praise, because not everyone has the ability to flaunt one's might, and anyone who is said that is something to be proud of.

"The Persians and the Han people have been friendly for generations, and have a long-standing friendship." Seeing Wang Xizhi's hesitation on his face, Xias seemed to be pleasantly surprised that he had a chance to be accepted, and said with eyes full of hope: "Witnessing the bravery of the Han army, you can Make us more aware of the importance of friendship."

Wang Xizhi's hesitation was not because he could make up his own mind. He was hesitant because he knew that there was a concubine giving birth in the palace today. With Liu Yan's usual appearance, unless there was a major event, Liu Yan would definitely put aside trivial matters, even if he didn't come in person. Waiting outside the delivery room will not be easily distracted.He had to think about whether it was appropriate to disturb him with such a trivial matter now.

"Wang Dianzhi." Julian said some flattering words with great sincerity, and begged: "Just conveying, please help."

With a concubine going to give birth to such a thing, Wang Xizhi wouldn't gossip about it. After thinking clearly that today is really not a good time to disturb Liu Yan, he hesitated and said, "I can perform the performance early in the morning."

Although it may not be possible, Julian and Xyas showed expressions of gratitude, and kept saying thanks.

At the same time, they were very happy that Wang Xizhi was on duty at the office today, and it would not be so efficient to switch to someone else, and there would be no reply after ten days and a half months.

Here, Wang Xizhi didn't realize that he had made a mistake. According to the logic, he should have reported to his superiors, layer by layer, and finally presented it to Liu Yan's desk.But because he was able to meet Liu Yan in person, he promised to Cheng Bing their request.

Waiting for Julian and Xeas to leave, a group of Dianxiangsi (eighth-rank) Chen Fei who witnessed the whole process opened his mouth several times, and in view of the duties that a subordinate official should have, he still said: "Dianzhi, my officer Do you want to record it and hand it over to the servant?"

Wang Xizhi didn't seem to understand Chen Fei's implication, and shook his head a little disrespectfully.In his opinion, if he can personally deliver Cheng Bing to the emperor, then he can talk about it himself, completely unaware that he is challenging the rules of officialdom.

Chen Fei was dumbfounded, wondering whether he said it too tactfully or Wang Xizhi was too pure.

(End of this chapter)