Based on the feedback from the front-line cavalry and the tactical requirements, the Privy Council Ordnance Department has put forward several requirements for the cavalry's special fast transport vehicles!

One is the need to ensure speed, the second is the need for excellent passability, and the third is to ensure a certain load capacity.

Because this kind of fast transport vehicle is intended to be assigned to a cavalry unit with two horses and three horses, and this kind of cavalry can maneuver at short and medium distances, such as less than 100 kilometers, which is very fast.

It is basically impossible for ordinary military four-wheeled transport vehicles to keep up, so it is necessary to design a new type of fast transport vehicle.

After putting forward a series of indicators, the Ministry of Ordnance launched a tender for dozens of enterprises engaged in the design and manufacture of horse-drawn carriages in China, but the Ministry of Ordnance did not expect these carriage companies to come up with any good designs, but counted on the Royal Institute of Technology.

As a result, dozens of carriage companies came up with all sorts of messy plans, but in the end the military chose the design provided by the Ordnance Department.

The design solution was simple, which was to reduce the size and weight of existing military transport vehicles, while optimizing shock absorption, and to provide both four-wheel and two-wheel designs.

Although it is said that the carrying capacity of the four-wheeled heavy carriages of the military has reached as much as 1.5 tons, if such a heavy carriage is driving on an official road in good condition, there is naturally no problem, but if you want to follow the troops to maneuver in the field, especially if you want to keep up with the rapid maneuvering speed of the cavalry, then it is impossible.

You must know that Kang Changning's cavalry troops are all single-horse and double-horse guarantees, and some cavalry units are even single-riding three-horse, and their running speed is very fast, if they do not consider logistics for long-distance running, the daily rush speed can reach more than 45 kilometers.

In more extreme cases, it can even be achieved 50 or even 60 kilometers a day, but in this case, it will have a very big impact on the combat effectiveness of the troops, and if you run fast, the horses will be wasted, and there will be a large number of non-combat attrition in the troops, and finally the cavalry can appear on the battlefield, and it would be good to have half of them.

Kang Changning's cavalry troops can run more than 45 kilometers a day, so the new type of fast transport vehicles also need to reach this speed.

In addition to the crucial speed, because the cavalry's marching roads could not always be official roads, or even in the wilderness, the new vehicles had to be very passable and able to run with the cavalry in the wilderness.

The speed is fast, the passability is good, the load capacity must be maintained at a certain level, and more importantly, according to the military's consistent tradition of stinginess, the cost must be low.

The military, especially the army, is notoriously stingy, and in order not to spend money on military rations needed to maintain the daily needs of the troops, even the main field units are now reclaiming wasteland in the garrisons and playing with farming, raising pigs, chickens, ducks, cows and sheep.

When purchasing ordnance, last year, the South China Weapons Company upgraded and modified the flintlock pistol in service, and adopted a more advanced steel barrel, and this kind of barrel is more difficult to explode, and at the same time, the life is longer.

Just when the South China Arms Company thought that the army was going to make large-scale purchases, it turned out that the army didn't want a single shot!

When I asked why, the person in charge of the Ordnance Department of the People's Army came directly with one word: "It's expensive!" ”

It turned out that the people of the army after repeated trials and calculations, and then came to a conclusion that there is no obvious difference in performance between the new gun and the old gun, and in terms of the cost of life use, although the new gun is cheaper, the purchase price is higher, and then after a comprehensive calculation, they found that if the old gun is used, the cost of life use is a little lower!

Because of such a small cost, the army did not hesitate to refuse the service of this new gun!

Of course, what is more critical is that it is also because this new gun has not brought any obvious improvement in combat performance, and the life of the body tube is more and less, which has little impact on actual combat.

As a result, the Guards were equipped with muskets made of new materials for barrels, but the army was useless, which also made the South China Arms Company depressed, so it had to be purchased by the army after the manufacturing cost was reduced.

The same is true for military equipment such as horse-drawn carriages, where the military is very price-sensitive and requires guarantees below a certain price.

The military's requirement to be cheap and easy to use is naturally impossible to achieve, and it can only be a certain trade-off, but under the trade-off of the new fast carriage, the final trade-off plan chosen by the military is to retain speed and passability, sacrificing the load capacity and cost, especially the increase in cost is not too concerned.

It's not that the army is willing, but there is no way to do it, it can't achieve speed and passability, no matter how cheap the carriage is, it's useless, you can only use expensive things.

However, even with the newly established fast transport carriage, it was actually very difficult to keep up with the long-distance maneuvering speed of Kang Changning's cavalry troops.

But then again, in fact, the marching speed of Kang Changning's troops was nothing compared to that of the Tatars, who could basically maintain a speed of more than 60 kilometers a day when their main forces carried out long-distance and rapid marches during the Battle of Hetao, and in extreme cases, they could even run 70 or 80 kilometers a day.

Why? Nothing else, people are just horses, a cavalryman with three horses is the minimum standard, and even some people fight with five or six or even seven or eight horses.

When marching, they all rotate their horses, and the combat horses are never ridden to conserve their physical strength, so they can run dozens of kilometers a day and still maintain their combat effectiveness.

The cavalry of the Tang Army was not so extravagant, even if it was the main cavalry, it could only be a single horse and two horses, and a small number of heavy armored cavalry could do it with three horses, and the vast majority of ordinary cavalry, especially the divisional cavalry units, were basically single horses and horses, and when marching, it was the cavalry that led the horses on foot.

Unlike the Tatars, there are many horses, and they can directly rotate and march on horseback!

It's just that even though the marching speed of Kang Changning's troops is not as high as that of the Tatars, it is impossible for the infantry artillery and baggage troops to keep up with Kang Changning's rushing speed, and this new type of rapid transport force must be used to barely keep up.

According to the marching standard, in the plain area with good roads, the infantry, artillery, and ordinary cavalry troops under Fang Xitong's direct command can walk about 20 kilometers a day, while the heavy baggage troops and heavy artillery units with a large amount of supplies are even slower.

That is to say, it is impossible for ordinary baggage troops to keep up with the speed of Kang Changning's long-distance running of more than 40 kilometers a day, even if Kang Changning's troops will not always maintain such a long march, but if they run for a few days, they can run one or two hundred kilometers.

One or two hundred kilometers apart, if the baggage troops could not keep up, and the cavalry troops themselves did not carry enough supplies, then the trouble would be great.

Therefore, the cavalry unit will need a fast transport force composed of new fast transport vehicles, in order to be able to keep up with the rapid maneuver of these elite cavalry!

The vehicle is smaller and lighter, the wheels are wider, and the new springs bring better shock absorption for fast passage through difficult terrain.

Although this kind of vehicle does not carry much goods, the transportation cost has increased significantly.

However, in the case of two-horse dragging, the speed is relatively fast when the road is good, and in the case of complex roads, or simply no roads, it can also continue to maneuver, and if it encounters more complex terrain, it can also be dragged by temporary horses or manual pushing.

Lightweight, which is an important feature of the new fast transport vehicle.

With these fast transport vehicles, Kang Changning was able to carry more supplies while maintaining rapid mobility.

Of course, it was only the three cavalry corps that needed fast transport vehicles to follow and provide supplies, because they were the only ones who had the ability to run at high speeds over long distances.

The ordinary divisional cavalry units, because they are riding alone on a single horse, do not need any fast transport vehicles to follow, because their own speed is not fast, and they act with ordinary baggage troops.

In fact, the biggest difference between a cavalry unit riding a single horse and a cavalry unit riding a single horse is in the ability to march.

However, the gap between the two sides in the marching ability is wide, and sometimes, the marching ability is also an important manifestation of the army's combat effectiveness.

A cavalry unit on a single horse marches at a speed roughly equal to that of the infantry, and there is no significant difference.

In the relevant regulations of the Tang Army, when marching in the plain terrain and good roads, the standard marching distance is 20 kilometers per day and six hours a day, and this regulation is applicable to infantry units, five-jin and nine-jin field troops, all cavalry units on a single horse, and ordinary baggage, engineer and other troops. (It does not include heavy artillery units such as heavy field artillery and siege artillery, does not include heavy baggage troops, and excludes special arms such as heavy boats and bridges and engineers)

That is to say, the cavalry on a single horse and the ordinary infantry marched at the same speed over long distances, and there was no obvious difference.

Because regardless of the speed of the horses themselves, when these cavalry units on a single horse and a single horse march over long distances, the cavalry has to lead the horse on foot, in other words, in fact, there is no difference between cavalry and infantry marching, they both have to rely on two legs!