In the autumn and September of the thirty-fifth year of Chengshun, just after the Mid-Autumn Festival, a very special army came outside Hefei City: the First Division of the Dachu Empire Army.

For the Chu Empire itself, this army was actually quite normal, just one of the more than ten first-class infantry divisions in the army.

Although he has a high rank, a long history, and extensive military exploits, he is by no means special.

But for the contemporary Chu Empire, this army is very special.

Because this First Division is the first infantry division in the army's defense area to be fully equipped with breech-loading weapons and form combat effectiveness.

This division has been stationed in Zhengzhou, an important town in the Central Plains for several years. It is the core force of the strategic mobile force in the hinterland of the Chu Empire.

b. The division can rely on the convenience of Zhengzhou's cross railway network to quickly travel to any place in the empire that is accessible by railway, whether it is Liaodong in the northeast, Central Asia in the northwest, Guiyang in the southwest, or the states in the south.

Even Songjiang in the east.

They can all arrive in a short time!

b Many railways and inland river transportation hubs of the Great Chu Empire Army will station such first-class combat readiness divisions and the more powerful second-class divisions.

The First Division was transferred from its base in Zhengzhou to Hefei City, not for a change of defense, nor for an outing, but to participate in a large-scale exercise held by the Army: the Imperial Hefei Exercise!

Also participating in the exercise were an A-class division and a B-class division that had not completed the change of equipment, as well as a cavalry brigade.

The goal of this exercise is very simple, that is to verify the actual combat effectiveness of the new army equipped with breech-loading weapons in large-scale combat.

Everyone now knows that breech-loading weapons have huge advantages over various old weapons, and new-style armies have advantages over old-style armies.

But how big the advantages are, how they are embodied, and whether there are further goals, all of these need to be verified one by one.

In the previous overseas battles, although breech-loading weapons and skirmishing tactics unleashed powerful combat effectiveness, to be honest, the military strength of Burma, Siam and even the indigenous North American troops were too weak to serve as a grindstone for the Chu army.

Let the Chu army expose more problems.

But overseas indigenous armies are not the only ones who are still transitioning from cold weapons to hot weapons, or are simply using cold weapons.

There are also European armies and the Ottoman Empire armies in West Asia that are already widely equipped with flintlocks. The indigenous armies in these areas have also learned from the Chu army and begun to use column tactics extensively.

In the future, the Chu army will definitely face these armies. After all, the expansion of the Chu Empire will not stop.

Even if they don't fight other European countries for the time being, Russia will definitely continue to fight... After all, the two countries are still in a state of war so far. The two sides have never signed a treaty such as an armistice agreement, but they have actually been at war for many years.

No real-scale battle has broken out.

Under this circumstance, in order to further explore the problems of the new army, better use tactics, and better deal with the indigenous army using column tactics, the Army held a live-fire exercise.

There are not only new armies like the First Division, but also armies like the Sixth Division, the Forty-third Division, the Eighty-ninth Division, and the Thirty-sixth Cavalry Brigade, which are still equipped with front-loaded smoothbore guns.

Luo Zhixue is also more concerned about this... Well, he is not interested in the new army defeating the old army. He mainly wants to see the tactics of the new army and even the confrontation between the new armies.<

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Therefore, Luo Zhixue not only went to watch, but also brought the First Division of the Guards with him, preparing to arrange an exercise between the First Division and the First Division of the Guards.

bAt the same time, this exercise is not only a simple live-fire exercise, but also exercises the long-distance attack capability, logistics supply and other capabilities of the combat-ready troops.

Therefore, this exercise did not start after the First Division arrived in Hefei.

It actually started two days ago!

Three days ago, the exercise headquarters officially issued an exercise order to the First Division stationed in Zhengzhou through an expedited train, requiring them to immediately take the train to Hefei City to participate in the exercise.

After receiving the order for the exercise, the First Division immediately assembled and prepared troop carriages. Just three hours later, an infantry battalion of the division stationed at Zhengzhou Railway Station boarded the train and headed south!

They went south along the Youhan Railway, then to Xinyang, and then eastward along the Jingxin Railway (Jinling Pukou-Hefei-Xinyang).

After a combat-ready infantry battalion at the front set off, more trains were urgently transported and prepared, and at the same time, more troops of the First Division also began to pedal off.

b And it is rare to use trains for night transportation...Contemporary train transportation is limited by technical conditions, backward communication, etc. It is generally operated during the day and inspected at night. The Railway Corporation has also tried to open night transportation before.

, but it was suspended after a few accidents.

However, this is only talking about ordinary civilian transportation. In fact, night transportation is also possible under special circumstances, especially military transportation tasks.

u001bOf course, the speed of train transportation at night is far less than that during the day.

The First Division set off by train as quickly as possible and headed straight to Hefei.

It took only two days to travel more than 600 kilometers to reach Hefei. This also includes the emergency assembly of the First Division in Zhengzhou to collect train skins and board the train.

This shows how much the use of railway transportation helps the military's mobility.

During the Wuchang Uprising in the original time and space, the Qing army relied on the railway and transferred the troops of Zhang Xiyuan's 58th Standard Battalion in Kaifeng to Hankou in just two days.

In the following days, the Manchu Qing Dynasty relied on the railway to mobilize thousands of troops to Wuhan to participate in the encirclement and suppression.

This is still an emergency situation!

Let’s not discuss other matters in this battle. If we simply discuss military issues, this battle perfectly demonstrated the speed of railway transportation of troops.

The reason why the First Division of the Chu Army was able to carry out the exercise so quickly was because this exercise was not an impromptu exercise. The First Division knew that there would be such an exercise half a year ago, but they just did not know the specific content and detailed time of the exercise.

But there are all kinds of preparations that should be made.

For example, train skins... This is actually all communicated with the railway company in advance. Although the railway company cannot have a large number of train skins waiting for you, it can also be arranged from the train dispatching, and more nearby places can be kept.

Trains and trains, as well as smooth contact information, so that when the military needs them, the locomotives and trains can be in place quickly.

Another example is the procedures for emergency assembly and boarding. The First Division has made detailed plans in advance and often conducts internal drills.

b Therefore, the division was able to fight directly from Zhengzhou to Hefei in two days, which was inseparable from a lot of advance preparations.

But then again, the First Division is originally a combat-ready Class A division, and it is located in the strategic location of Zhengzhou. Its original mission is to quickly and easily go to a certain area to fight by taking a train.

The contents of these exercises were originally the daily training subjects of the First Division.

Luo Zhixue was very satisfied with the fact that the First Division was able to arrive in Hefei so quickly and with all its personnel.

This is the mobility capability that a combat-ready first-class division should have!

Otherwise, why spend so much money to support these combat-ready troops... The money you spend to support one first-class combat readiness division can support two second-class divisions...

After the First Division arrived in Hefei, the main generals of the First Division first went to meet with Luo Zhixue, and then led the team to develop the scheduled exercise venue.

This is a typical offensive and defensive war exercise. Each old army plays the role of an indigenous army, using front-loaded smoothbore guns and column tactics to conduct defensive operations. For this reason, these old armies have also built a bastion defense system in the exercise venue that has not been used for some years.

...In Europe, the bastion defense system is still the mainstream, and there are many bastions...

The first division's exercise goals are long-distance raids and offensive capabilities.

This long-distance journey involves not only railway transportation, but also the land march after leaving the railway.

Therefore, the exercise venue is not actually Hefei, but the suburb of Dingyuan in the northeast of Hefei, which is about 80 kilometers away!

However, the exercise headquarters, in order to verify its long-distance attack capabilities and logistical supply capabilities, forced the First Division to go in a circle and map out a march route of 140 kilometers, in order to simulate an attack on the indigenous people 140 kilometers away.

Goal.

The whole journey can only use the carriages and pack horses owned by the division itself, and it is not possible to use the official roads with good roads... The roads in the Dachu Empire are in good condition, and many official roads are good gravel and cinder roads, but overseas and

When the natives are fighting, there is no such a good road for you to take.

Therefore, the First Division took some dirt roads, and there were no bridges in some places, so it needed to build emergency bridges by itself.

This is quite frustrating!

But even so, many generals in the military who have experience in leading overseas troops believe that the basic conditions for the First Division to advance are still very good... When fighting with indigenous people in overseas areas, how can there be such good flat dirt roads for you to walk on? There are many

The place is full of small roads that even carriages cannot pass.

For example, when Myanmar was fighting before, there was no smooth road for you to walk on... When the Chu army was fighting, artillery maneuvers basically relied on pack transport. This was also the reason why the Myanmar Army was in urgent need of 75mm mountain guns.

But...the First Division is a serious plain-type Class A combat readiness division, with an artillery regiment under it, equipped with thirty-six 75mm field guns and eighteen 75mm mountain guns.

There are also a large number of four-wheeled and two-wheeled carriages carrying several baggage loads.

It’s unrealistic to ask them to go mountain climbing with all their crews and also require high maneuverability!

In the Chu army, the ones responsible for this kind of task are the mountain and jungle troops, such as the 8th Division and the 14th Division that fought in the Nanyang region before. The artillery they are currently equipped with is all mountain artillery...even the 75mm field artillery.

No.

According to the exercise plan, the First Division galloped on the dirt road for four full days before finally arriving at the scheduled exercise site and starting the exercise.

The following exercises between the two sides used blank ammunition specially designed for exercise training. It was quite lively when you came and I fired.

After all, the old-style troops participating in the exercise include three divisions and one cavalry brigade. They have a huge advantage in strength. Although they are at a disadvantage in terms of armed equipment, they still rely on their advantage in strength to carry out resistance in various ways.

Especially the use of cavalry units to carry out raids and attacks.

This fight is quite lively.

But in the end, the First Division still relied on its absolute firepower advantage to push forward... and overthrown the old-style army that was several times its own strength.

b Especially in the final offensive and defensive battle, the intensive artillery firepower and rifle firepower made the opponent unable to raise his head when directly attacked, and could only rely on fortifications to resist.

After this exercise, Luo Zhixue spoke highly of the commanders of both sides.

b Based on the results of this exercise within the Army, some generals proposed equipping division-level troops with larger-caliber breech-loading artillery.

A 120mm howitzer is too heavy to equip, but a 100mm taller howitzer can be used.

After all, when the enemy hides in the fortifications, although the power of the 75 mm caliber artillery shells is not bad, it is still a bit inferior. If there are about 100 mm howitzers, the shells will be more powerful and can kill a large number of people hiding in the fortifications.

The enemy inside.
To be continued...