After returning to the frontline headquarters of the Guards Division, Li Dongshao summoned his brigade commanders, regiment commanders and other mid-level and senior generals, and briefed them on some of the situations and decisions at the Imperial Military Conference.

"Tomorrow's battle, the north area that our Guards Division is responsible for will be the main breakthrough point. By then, no one of the troops can hold back."

"If anyone delays the war for me, even if His Majesty does not blame him, I, Mr. Li, will not give up easily!"

"I also hope that you will remember your tasks and missions in tomorrow's battle, and jointly contribute your strength to the great cause of the empire!"

"As long as we defeat the New Standard Left Army in front of us in this battle, then there will be no second Puppet Ming army that can stop us. By then, these Chunan will be in the possession of our empire."
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"To expand the territory of the empire, to seek happiness and peace for the people, and to seek eternal peace and prosperity for China, these are the responsibilities of our Chu soldiers that cannot be postponed!"

"What's more, we are His Majesty's Guards. We are loyal to Your Majesty. It is the duty of our Guards Division soldiers to fight to the death for Your Majesty!"

"Tomorrow's battle, I, Mr. Li, will fight hard with you all to seize the position, annihilate the enemy forces in front of you, and create a new situation for the empire!"

Li Dongshao talked a lot to a group of subordinates, and talking too much actually proved his inner anxiety.

No matter how much confidence he showed in Luo Zhixue, he was still a little uneasy in his heart.

Leading troops alone in battle, responsible for front-line warfare, and serving as the main attacker. At the same time, he was not an ordinary Ming army garrison soldier or battalion sentry when facing the enemy. He had never interacted with him before, but at first glance it looked like a new standard.

Army.

If you don’t feel a little uneasy, it’s a lie.

That night, Li Dongshao didn't fall asleep until late at night, and even after falling asleep, he didn't sleep well.

When he really fell asleep, he was woken up not long after the guards came in from outside the camp.

It was not yet bright yet, but the Guardsmen had already woken up from their sleep, and the cooks in each unit had already begun cooking pots and preparing breakfast in advance.

After Li Dongshao freshened up, he did not put on the officer's uniform as usual, but put on a lighter armor.

This is a set of full-body cloth armor. It looks gorgeous, but in fact its defensive capabilities are far inferior to the armor of front-line soldiers.

The full-body armor of front-line soldiers, especially spearmen and heavy-armed sword and shield men, weighs dozens of kilograms. It looks like cloth, but it is made up of many large pieces of iron armor. In order to resist firearms, the iron plates on the front are often

It will be thicker.

The thicker the iron piece is, the heavier it becomes.

Li Dongshao's armor is also made of cloth, but the iron plates inside are thinner.

The main reason is that as a senior general, Li Dongshao will basically not lead his soldiers into battle in person. The threats he encounters are actually very small, and they are more likely to be stray bullets on the battlefield.

But then again, in fact, armor, regardless of whether it is the cloth armor from the Chu army, the cloth armor from the Ming army, or any other armor, such as cotton armor, tie armor, chain armor, etc., can be used to deal with it.

The fire door gun is still effective, and it is barely effective against small-caliber cannons at long distances.

However, at medium and short range, it has basically no protective effect against bird cannons.

At close range, even an old fire door gun like the Three-Eyed Gun can't hold it...

If it were the 18mm caliber muskets used by the Chu Army and the New Standard Army, even at a distance of hundreds of meters, all of these armors would be able to make holes with one shot.

The reason why the Chu army still equipped armor on a large scale was mainly to defend against the Ming army, which still equipped a large number of bows and arrows, old-style fire portal guns, and old-style small-caliber bird cannons.

And more importantly, it is to provide protection for soldiers in close hand-to-hand combat.

After all, the proportion of firearms and equipment in the Ming army seems to be quite large, but the proportion of new firearms is still very low.

But when faced with a new army like the New Standard Army that uses large-caliber matchlocks on a large scale, the role that these old armors can play is actually very limited.

However, despite this, the soldiers of the Guards still put on thick armor!

Maybe this armor can save my life at the critical moment!

On the front line, a battalion commander was instructing his officers: "Our battalion is the second batch to attack. After the attack, don't just stand still. Let me move."

"The distance ahead is only a mere hundred and twenty battles away. After the friendly forces attract the enemy's attention, we must cross this distance as soon as possible, rush forward and shoot them hard with a volley, and then directly initiate hand-to-hand combat!"

"Believe me, these puppet Ming troops are all soft-footed shrimps. They may be able to fight against us, but they definitely don't have the courage or ability to directly charge us at close range!"

On the other side of the war, in the eighteen-pound mortar position in the trench, a captain was constantly observing the Ming army breastworks in front and the direction of the trench, and from time to time he wrote it down on paper with charcoal pen.

While observing and thinking, he finally put down his pen and said to a second lieutenant next to him: "The Pseudo-Ming position in the front has not changed much from yesterday. Behind the small soil bags on the left and right are their short robes. It is estimated that each has two doors.

Left and right.

I don’t know whether it is an attacking artillery or a tiger crouching artillery. Once the battle begins, we will remove these short-robed positions to clear obstacles for the infantry to attack!"

"If we can't deal with the infantry before they set off, the 3rd Infantry Battalion next door will be in trouble!"

"Let me deploy the specific tasks. The first team is responsible for the enemy's short robes on the left, the second team is responsible for the enemy's short robes on the right, and the third team is ready. Once the first or second team misses, they will immediately attack the enemy's short robes.

Carry out additional bombardment!"

"Strive to destroy these two short-robed positions within three rounds!"

"Also, during the artillery bombardment, keep your eyes wide open and ask everyone under your command to pay strict attention to safety, so as not to blow up the gun yourself before the enemy can hit it!"

"When shelling, we must strictly follow the procedures. We would rather go slower to ensure safety!"

When the young artillery captain said this, he couldn't help but touch the scar on his face!

This scar is from the explosion of an 18-pound mortar he commanded during the attack on Wuchang last year. The fragments produced by the explosion directly cut his face.

This was because he was lucky because the shrapnel only scratched his face, leaving a gash that was more than an inch long.

Mortars are very powerful, but they are also very dangerous. The mortar troops in the Chu army actually had many accidents.

Some are during combat, and some are simply during daily training.

There are at least dozens of mortar artillerymen who died due to various accidents...

Relatively speaking, the artillerymen of field artillery are much safer, especially the gunners of the five-pound and nine-pound field artillery. They basically operate the artillery a few hundred meters away from the front line to carry out shelling. They are far away from the enemy, and they also use

Why worry about being counterattacked by the enemy's long-range firepower?

Moreover, field artillery will not cause accidents if you are not careful.

However, although mortars are very dangerous and the accident rate is very high, the Chu army still equipped mortars on a large scale.

After all, weapons such as mortars are currently indispensable to the Chu army.

The explosive shells fired by the mortar can not only cause explosive damage that solid artillery shells do not have, but more importantly, the trajectory is curved, allowing the Chu army to directly attack the city head, and even enemies behind the city wall or hiding in the trenches.

And these are things that ordinary field artillery cannot bring.

However, in view of the relatively dangerous situation of mortar operation, the Chu Army has also taken some targeted measures, such as strengthening the training of mortar gunners and formulating strict operating manuals to reduce the accident rate as much as possible.

The infantry on the front line, the gunners of the eighteen-pound mortars, and even the gunners of the two-and-a-half-pound field guns deployed forward are already making final preparations.

Similarly, on several field artillery positions slightly behind, each artillery team is also making final preparations.

Several senior artillery officers who know how to measure distances and calculate shooting elements are making final observations and calculations in order to deliver the shooting elements to each artillery crew on time, and try their best to obtain the expected bombardment in the first few rounds of shelling.

Results.

The entire Guards Division has been preparing for the attack since early in the morning.

On the other side of the battlefield, in the temporary wooden house of the Chinese Army Command Headquarters, Luo Zhixue also ended the last brief military meeting before the battle and made the final strategic deployment.

Luo Zhixue did not stay in the wooden house headquarters, but walked out and went directly to the open space in front of the headquarters.

There are three open tents in this open space to protect from sun and rain. Under the tent on the left is a large table made of wooden ammunition boxes. There is also a sand table, map, ruler, paper, and charcoal pencils on the table.

Waiting for something.

Around the table, there were more than ten staff officers who were arguing over the sand table on the table.

When these people saw Luo Zhixue coming, they immediately stood up straight and began to salute, shouting to welcome His Majesty!

Luo Zhixue smiled and nodded at everyone from time to time. At the same time, he said: "My dear friends, thank you for your hard work. Today's battle cannot be separated from the efforts of you staff members!"

Naturally, everyone shouted: "Thank you for your hard work..."

After Luo Zhixue nodded slightly again, he led Xu Zhixian and other senior generals past the staff officers and then came to a tent at the front.

This place faces the entire battlefield and has the broadest view!

Under the tent, there is already a dragon-patterned grand master's chair.

Luo Zhixue glanced at it. He didn't know where the Taishi chair came from. The dragon pattern was obviously carved directly on it temporarily. It was not easy to find a craftsman. The carved dragon pattern was a bit crooked...

Regarding these small details, Luo Zhixue was naturally too lazy to say anything. He sat down directly and said: Xu Aiqing, it's almost time. How are the various departments preparing?"

Xu Zhixian immediately stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, all the ministries have been prepared according to the scheduled plan and can launch a formal attack at any time!"

Luo Zhixue said: "Very good!"

After that, Luo Zhixue stretched out his hand slightly, took a tea cup from the soldier, took a sip of tea and said: "Since the soldiers are ready, let's get started. Finish the work early!"

"Pass it down, all the soldiers who participated in this battle will have double their merits and double their salaries this month. Those who have made great contributions will be rewarded heavily by me!"

As he said that, Luo Zhixue smiled at the dozen senior generals beside him: "My dear friends, you only have one chance to double your merits, so don't miss it!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone’s eyes became hot!
Chapter completed!