With 100,000 elite soldiers at the start, what should you call me?

……

"Commander, you've come at the right time. My engineering department has already built the first mortar."

As soon as Li Tian arrived, he saw Minister Fei Hongyun leading a group of workers, gathered together.

"A mortar? They made it so quickly?" Li Tian was very surprised when he heard the news.

Although making a cannon is simpler than making a gun, it still requires some technical skill.

Li Tian, ​​an outsider, found it unbelievable, but the experts in the engineering department thought it was perfectly reasonable.

After all, the high-walled furnace had already been built and steel had begun to be smelted, so it was only natural to produce a mortar.

"That's right, Commander. Although we can't start large-scale production yet, we can still produce in small quantities. The only thing missing is to test the actual level in practice, which is what we are doing now," Fei Hongyun said.

They weren't gathered together like country bumpkins observing a mortar; they were preparing to test it.

"So the problem with the shells is solved too?" Li Tian asked.

"We have ample copper, iron, and smokeless powder, so making artillery shells is not difficult. This test is also to examine the quality of our artillery shells."

Fei Hongyun gestured for everyone to make way, as a 60mm standard light mortar was positioned in front of them.

Five bronze-yellow shells lay on the ground. The shells were teardrop-shaped, with blunt heads and long, conical tails with fins. Their appearance was almost identical to modern shells.

Li Tian was quite excited when he saw this. With this kind of light weapon, his troops would be able to receive artillery support at any time in future battles.

In fact, the predecessor of the mortar was the ancient mortar, which is absolutely correct.

After Li Tian captured Jianning Prefecture, he seized light cannons such as the breech-loading cannon. These cannons had a high rate of fire, were reloaded, and were lightweight, resembling modern light cannons.

The group arrived at the testing ground.

An open space at the foot of a mountain.

The mortar is operated by three people. The three people first lower the tripod and set up the mortar. One person aims and positions it, one person holds the shell, and one person fires the shell.

"Tell them to be careful, place the mortars next to the trenches, and roll the ammunition directly into the trenches, just in case," Li Tian instructed.

He didn't want to lose personnel because of the experiment.

"Don't worry, Commander, they are all professionals," Fei Hongyun assured him.

In fact, they had conducted several trials when the product was still a semi-finished product; this product is simply the mass-production version.

"The experiment begins."

At the command, the three gunners immediately got ready. The second gunner handed over the shell, the first gunner took it, aimed it at the muzzle, and then put down the ammunition.

A crisp bang.

Then, a loud explosion erupted from the target painted on the distant mountain, sending debris flying and dust billowing up.

The experiment was a complete success.

"The 60mm cannon has a kill radius of approximately 15 meters, weighs 24 kilograms, has a maximum range of 1600 meters, uses 2.9 kilograms of ammunition, has an elevation range of 45 to 85 degrees, a circular firing arc of 360 degrees, a maximum rate of fire of 25 rounds per minute, and a service life of approximately 4000 rounds."

Fei Hongyun watched the experiment, explaining the data to Li Tian with a slight smile on his lips, as if everything was supposed to be this way.

"Good, good, good." Li Tian was in a good mood. As long as he had light weapons like mortars, his fear of insufficient firepower would be greatly relieved.

"Very good. Everyone in the lab will receive a reward. The main person in charge will receive 5,000 taels, the secondary person in charge will receive 3,000 taels, and everyone who participated in this project will receive 50 taels."

"Afterwards, I will have the Ministry of Internal Affairs issue credit currency."

Li Tian immediately offered a reward.

However, it uses the monetary units of that era.

The Ministry of the Interior has produced its first paper credit, which is currently only used within the military and primarily by the new army.

"Thank you, Commander." Fei Hongyun was also overjoyed; five thousand taels was a huge sum of money in this era.

The large houses surrounding the government office are now worth only about two to three hundred taels of silver.

You can't possibly spend it all, you can't possibly spend it all.

However, due to the fact that fiat currency had just been established, this money could only be used within Jianning Prefecture.

Therefore, they need to continue expanding.

"Minister Fei, are we ready to mass-produce mortars now?"

Li Tian is now eager to establish the first artillery company, specifically for fire support.

Fei Hongyun shook his head; "It's not possible yet. Although we have built a hydraulic forging platform, some key components can only be produced by the technical department's laboratory equipment. To achieve mass production, we need to build a more complete industrial system."

"The closer a weapon is to the level of modern warfare, the more it tests the level of a country's industrial system. With our current industrial level, we can indeed produce many modern things, but mass production is not possible."

"If the commander is willing to send more manpower and forcibly expand production capacity, I estimate that only 30 mortars can be produced per month."

Li Tian was not surprised to hear Fei Hongyun's words. There was still a long way to go if they wanted to use the products of this era to quickly advance to modernization.

There's no use in him being anxious.

Moreover, Fei Hongyun mentioned a crucial point: the industrial system.

This requires building a complete industrial chain.

"Commander, there are a few more points. Our coke reserves are not optimistic. If we want to continue smelting other metal products, we need a lot of coke."

"This requires building a relatively complete industrial chain, including the metal processing industrial chain, rolling mill, precision tool industrial chain, standardized parts system, energy and transportation support, and other important industrial sectors."

This entire industrial chain faces countless challenges, but as people from the future, they don't need to take any detours.

"How long will it take to build these industrial chains?" Li Tian asked.

Fei Hongyun replied, "We already possess modern technological knowledge and don't need to take detours, so it won't take long."

"The first step into the steam age was to produce a steam engine with sufficient horsepower, which would take one to two years."

"After the steam engine was invented, we were able to enter the steam age in some regions. There was no need to rush to apply it to the whole country. We only needed to build an energy transportation system and then directly use the convenience of the steam engine to enter the electrical age."

"I estimate it will take five to eight years to enter the electrical age. We are already working on water conservancy projects, but we cannot manufacture many precision parts. At most, we can make carbon filament light bulbs for lighting in some areas, but we cannot achieve large-scale popularization."

"With the advent of the electrical age, we can then officially promote the industrial-scale supply chain nationwide."

"This era requires the construction of large-scale infrastructure, and various industrial sectors will also experience rapid development, such as aircraft, automobiles, ships, and chemicals."

"In about thirty or forty years, after the complete power infrastructure is built, we will be able to enter the information age."

Fei Hongyun is like a designer planning the future, outlining the blueprint for the future step by step.

Even if they take the shortest route, it will take their entire generation's time to enter the information age.

Li Tian's eyes gleamed; "Minister Fei's words were like a revelation, clearing away the fog for me. Today, we will use these three development steps as the outline to formally establish our future development strategy."