Volume 1: The Rise of Elanhill Chapter 0025: Rekindling the War
If all the 7,000 rounds of ammunition were distributed, each rifle would only be equipped with eight rounds. Chris felt that this number of bullets was not enough for a regular training, let alone an offensive operation.
The limited number of bullets reminded Chris of the difficult period known as the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. In that era, each soldier in the poor Chinese army had only a single digit of bullets to use.
"This number of bullets is definitely not enough. I need at least 100,000 bullets to be sure of winning a war." Chris's face turned ugly, and he said to Smith: "I can solve any technical problems you have... but the production capacity of bullets... you must increase it for me!"
As he spoke, he clenched his fist in front of Smith: "This is a task that must be completed! Do you understand?"
"Understood..." Smith knew that expansion was imminent for Ireland Hill. As the driving force of expansion, industry must provide all the materials needed for this war, including weapons and ammunition, as well as various other products.
This is the interesting thing about modern industrial civilization: in order to industrialize, it expands outward at all costs, and in order to expand, it must madly expand its own industrial scale. It seems to be a paradox, but in the paradox there is a bloody road to glory.
"The production of hand grenades..." Chris asked about the production status of another powerful weapon. Since bullets were too precise to be mass-produced, making hand grenades became the only way to improve the combat effectiveness of the troops.
Even during the most difficult years of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, even in the darkest workshops behind enemy lines, hand grenades could be produced continuously. The main reason was that the production process was indeed not complicated.
In the history of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the production speed of hand grenades even exceeded that of bullets in some areas. This also indirectly proves that the production process of wooden-handled hand grenades is very simple.
The most sophisticated fuzes can also be mass-produced by hand, but the disadvantage is that the detonation rate of such hand-made fuzes is not very high. However, this is tolerable, after all, as long as half of the grenades can be detonated normally, it is enough to suppress the enemy.
The grenade Chris chose for his troops was also the most classic wooden-handled grenade, the famous German M24 grenade. There was a reason for choosing this type of grenade.
Because of the advanced weapons and equipment, Chris estimated that his troops would be on the offensive for the next two or even three years. If the Magic Empire did not participate in the war, his troops should be able to move freely in the mortal areas.
Since the main focus is on offensive operations, offensive grenades must be used. Chris rejected the egg-shaped grenades, which are more complicated and have a shorter throwing distance. Because the firepower of the troops is still seriously insufficient, using grenades as close combat weapons is also a way to fill the firepower gap, so the M24 grenade has become a better choice.
In the era without mortars and submachine guns, close-range fire suppression can basically only be accomplished by grenades. In this case, wooden-handled grenades with long throwing distances and not easy to roll off are much better than defensive grenades.
Another reason is actually easy to understand: Seris, which is rich in giant trees, has extremely advanced woodworking technology. The craftsmanship of making wooden handles for wooden-handled grenades is very mature, and the materials are also very sufficient, so there is no need to worry about production problems.
For these reasons, the M24 grenade has become the standard weapon for the soldiers of Ireland Hill, and has been produced in large quantities recently - however, the first few batches of grenades often malfunctioned and misfired, and were later nicknamed "War Hammer" by the soldiers...
"The production speed of hand grenades is very fast." Speaking of this, Smith finally regained some confidence: "We have produced 4,000 hand grenades. In ten days, we may be able to produce 1,000 more!"
Chris finally felt relieved, because if he had grenades as a supplement, his troops would be able to prepare for battle more quickly and fire the first shot in the Principality of Ireland Hill's external expansion.
Now he had no way to stop his plan: if he chose to give up, the people of Elanhill, who were doomed to go bankrupt, would tear Chris apart and replace him with a more radical monarch.
…
That night, Chris summoned Wagron and others to prepare for a new round of war plans. A careful analysis and inspection before the war was a necessary condition for victory. Chris did not want to fight an unprepared battle, so he hurriedly held a meeting with all his men in advance. This time, he had three main attack directions to choose from.
"We have just made a benevolent alliance with the Alante Empire... It would be irrational to start a war at this time." Dess gave his own opinion: "At least in the past six months, Alante has been a very safe rear area for us."
"The supplies we have mobilized cannot support us in attacking an empire as huge as Alante. We only have ammunition for two assaults... In this situation, as long as Alante does not surrender to us and agree to make peace with us, we will collapse completely." Deans also shook his head and analyzed the irrationality of attacking the Alante Empire from the perspective of supplies.
Chris also thought that it was a very stupid thing to bite the hardest bone right away. He felt that they should attack the earth fort. This meeting was just a meeting to unify everyone's views.
"If we attack the Higgs Kingdom, our territory will become a long and narrow strip, isolating Alante from the countries in the north... In this state, our defense area is too long." Chris pointed to the map and said, "Besides, bordering the Magic Empire in advance has never been the result we want."
"So, we can only attack the earthen fort. Break through the earthen fort to the two places of Beijun and make them our territory." Chris drew a line on the map on the table and gestured to everyone: "In this way, although we are still surrounded by enemies on three sides, we have gained many substantial benefits."
"First, the steel and coal mines in Tubao will be incorporated into our country. This way, the materials we need to purchase will be reduced by half, and our funds will be more abundant." Des explained to everyone in front of him: "Just for steel, we can double our production capacity."
Today's wars are actually serving the economy of Seris. So everyone present, except Wagron, is thinking about how to maximize economic benefits with a victory.
In their view, as long as they opened up Tubao and Beijun, they could connect to the trade route of the grassland empire. That place was a big buyer of ironware, salt and cloth, and Ailan Hill could sell a large amount of its goods there.
Having a market is one thing, and the other is saving money on acquiring mineral deposits. This is also one of the reasons why Chris attaches the most importance to attacking Tubao - Smith had said before that Tubao is a major iron producer and has coal mines, which are the most needed things for Seris's industrialization.
"And there is copper in the mines of the earthen fort, which is what we lack the most right now." Smith looked at the survey form of the earthen fort's resources and said, "If we can control a copper mine, it will be easier for us to produce bullets."
At present, the production pressure of the arsenal is mainly concentrated on rifles and bullets. The main factor restricting the production speed of rifles is the defects of precision processing, while the factor restricting the production of bullets, in addition to precision processing, is the scarcity of copper ore.
With no other options, the soldiers of Ireland Hill basically had no copper bullets in their hands, and steel shell bullets mixed with a small amount of pyrophyllite became the mainstream. However, the performance of this type of bullet shell is indeed not as good as that of copper shell bullets, and the experimental results are obvious to all.
"Let the 1st Regiment set out in three days. I will personally lead the troops to conquer the earthen fort..." Chris stared at the map and made up his mind to go to war. He said to everyone attending the meeting: "I want the 1st Regiment to capture the earthen fort in one battle within fifteen days!"
"Unlike Maine and Ferry City, the Earth Fort has a large number of cavalry. So we can't use our own cavalry to gain an advantage..." When it comes to the specific battle stage, Wageron has more say.
He pointed to the map on the table and said, "The cavalry of Tubao was established on the grassland... Their combat effectiveness is stronger than our Seris cavalry. We can't drive them to the city of Tubao, so we can only fight them in the wild."
"What's more regrettable is... they must have heard about Maine and the ferry. It's hard to say whether they have taken precautions against us." Having lost the advantage of first strike, Ailan Hill's troops were faced with the situation where they had brute force but were unable to kill those annoying cavalrymen who came and went like the wind.
The best way to deal with cavalry is actually the machine gun - unfortunately, Ireland Hill now has less than 10,000 rounds of bullets, and a machine gun will be almost used up after half an hour of firing.
"Send two teams of messengers..." Chris did not waver in his determination to attack the earthen fort, and ordered: "One team goes to the earthen fort and declares war on them; the other team goes to Alante and tells them that the earthen fort is colluding with the grassland empire and harassing our border..."
"Prepare for war! For the rise of Ireland Hill! We need war, and only fire can make steel stronger! Light the beacon, follow me, and break the shackles of fate on us!" Chris put his hand on the map and made a simple pre-war mobilization.
Everyone stood up and put their right fists on Chris' chests: "Long live Ailan Hill!"
