Chapter 711: Military Conference on the Northern Front
"Soldiers, you are the newborn dragons, the underwater swords of the Renaissance Army Navy, and the hope of the future of the Navy."
"Now you are about to embark on the real battlefield. I know that it is the first time for many of you to embark on the battlefield. Are you afraid?" Dong Shuheng asked impassionedly.
"Don't be afraid!"
"Don't be afraid!"
…
Although the submarine force is not large in number, most of them are not tall.
But their voices were so loud that the surrounding lake seemed to tremble.
The ripples running around seemed to be shaken by the voices of the soldiers.
It has been more than two years since the submarine force built its first experimental boat.
During this period, they only conducted several sea trials out of the Yangtze Estuary. This was their first time venturing into the ocean.
The first high sea battle.
Among them, Dong Shuheng's ardent expectations were placed.
Today, Dong Shuheng rarely spoke a lot to them.
Some are encouraging, some are teaching, and some are showing concern and condolences.
This is not only encouraging these officers and soldiers, but also encouraging myself.
He hoped that he could firmly believe in defeating the Great Empire.
When we face an opponent who is stronger than ourselves, in addition to being more prepared than the opponent, we must also have enough courage and the confidence to win.
After the mobilization meeting, Dong Shuheng called Guo Yan over to explain Yifan specifically.
In addition to asking him to supervise Deng Gong, don't let Deng Gong put himself in danger.
He also told Guo Yan to pay attention to his own safety.
Next is some battle matters, some knowledge of submarine warfare, Dong Shuheng can master it, and he has already told them about it a long time ago.
What he wants to explain is that the submarine force is the FNA's trump card and should not be used until critical times.
Dong Shuheng didn't say it in front of all the officers and soldiers just now. In fact, the submarine force is more like an assassin's sword.
The assassin's sword should be hidden in a dark place and cannot be released until the critical moment.
Dong Shuheng has already asked the Southward Army to build a base for the submarine force in Jaffna in the Palk Strait in advance.
There are many hidden harbors there. The tonnage of submarines is not large, and the requirements for ports are not high.
The terrain in this strait is very suitable for submarine ambush.
Because of the cruising range, this narrow strait allows the submarine force to wait and wait.
In order to ensure the normal command of the submarine, Dong Shuheng even installed the newly developed and expensive radio station on the submarine this time.
These little black guys can be said to have integrated all the black technologies of the Renaissance Army.
After months of peaceful confrontation, the battle for Nagpur finally began.
The allied forces of the subcontinent are still on the defensive side.
Peng Yulin was cautious in using his troops. The army he commanded this time was not the Renaissance Army. Therefore, his ability to withstand defeat was weak.
He didn't have a very intuitive understanding of the soldiers under his opponent or his opponents.
Therefore, defense is his best choice.
The Wayne River flows through Nagpur from north to south and originates from the Satpura Mountains in the north. It is a natural barrier.
The defense line of the subcontinental coalition forces was built along this river.
This saves them a lot of time in building a line of defense.
This time the commander of the British army became General Campbell, who had made great achievements in the Crimean War.
General Campbell was very good at attacking tough battles. He was probably the first general to study coordinated infantry and artillery operations.
Because the command of the battle failed, General Robert was willing to play second fiddle.
However, Campbell also sought General Robert's opinion when formulating the battle plan.
Robert was right in at least one suggestion, that is, the combat effectiveness of the subcontinental coalition armies was uneven.
At least the fighting power of those indigenous soldiers was not taken seriously by the Daling people.
In early January, after several months of repairs, Campbell sent 100,000 soldiers and 200,000 servants to form a center corps to press against the coalition's Nagpur defense line.
The Yin army will take advantage of the dry season to launch a wave of attacks, trying to advance the front to the eastern region before the rainy season comes.
But that's not all, because Campbell knows that his opponent in the middle is not that simple.
The coalition forces concentrated half of the main army in the middle, and the servant troops they equipped were also of the highest quality.
Therefore, the Yin Army dispatched a partial division, which marched along the state of Gujarat toward Jhansi.
The Yin army knew that Jhansi was the core of the Northern Alliance.
Once this is captured, the Northern Alliance may collapse.
Along the way, the Yin army sent a total of 50,000 Yin troops and 100,000 servant troops. This was already a sign of how highly the natives of the Northern Alliance looked up to them.
Peng Yulin's judgment obviously had some problems. He believed that the Yin army would attack Calcutta with all its strength.
Because the Yin army is proud, and they will move forward at all costs for their primary goal.
Peng Yulin underestimated the achievements his men had achieved in recent years, and these achievements were recognized by the people of Yu.
Therefore, they did not expect to break through the central defense line where Peng Yulin led the main force in one fell swoop.
Before the news of the Yin army dispatching partial divisions came.
The battle on the center line started first. The Yin army did not feign an attack, but launched a real attack.
As soon as they came up, the Japanese army concentrated more than 200 artillery pieces to violently bombard the coalition defense lines.
In a short period of time, a large number of artillery shells were poured on the coalition positions.
The coalition artillery remained silent.
It wasn't until the enemy's artillery finished its performance and the army began to charge that the coalition's artillery began to bombard them.
In the first wave of attacks, the Yin Army invested nearly 100,000 servants and launched simultaneous attacks on hundreds of kilometers of fronts.
This time Commander Campbell saw a stronger defense than Sevastopol.
Judging from the density of the enemy's firepower, the continuous bombardment by the Yin Army had achieved only average results.
Campbell did not know that the Allied trenches were constructed under the guidance of professional engineers.
And after several months of reinforcement and improvement, the anti-blast holes inside have been reinforced with wooden boards, reducing the risk of collapse.
It is also equipped with complete observation posts, traffic trenches, firepower points, and even special places for dining.
Such trench fortifications cannot be destroyed by simple artillery bombardment.
The soldiers of the coalition forces were also very lucky. If the Renaissance Army had not taught them to dig trenches, dig artillery defenses, and told them how to avoid shelling, how many people would have died right now?
Every time the enemy is about to start an artillery bombardment, the observers on the hot air balloon will use semaphore to tell the following, so that the infantry can avoid it in time.
These coalition soldiers have never had such advanced tactics.
In less than half an hour of just one wave of attacks, the Yin army lost tens of thousands of servants.
Although these lives are not valuable, the Chinese people spent a lot of money to arm them.
It can also reduce one's own casualties. Campbell changed the all-out attack to a focused attack.
He chose an area where the coalition forces were relatively weakly guarded and began to attack.
However, Peng Yulin planned well and had reserve teams at each section of the defense line, so he was always able to avert danger.
This fighting lasted for many days.
Compared with the stagnant progress on the center line, the British partial division on the north road was overwhelming.
The cities previously occupied by the Northern Alliance were lost one after another. The cities guarded by these local soldiers could not withstand the enemy's attack at all.
Many cities even surrendered directly after seeing so many fighting troops.
What's more, some people even joined the party to lead the way.
They have long been dissatisfied with the fact that a woman, Queen Zhang Xi, controls the Northern Alliance.
In particular, Queen Zhang Xi introduced some policies to treat farmers well, which made the local nobles quite dissatisfied.
They even miss the rule of the Great Empire. At least at that time, the Great people would not restrict them from exploiting ordinary people.
Queen Zhang Xi's approach was not wrong. She had to make a choice between the nobles and the ordinary people.
When ordinary people find that life is better under the queen's rule than under the rule of Da Ying, they will know who to support.
It is precisely because of the support of ordinary people.
Therefore, when the Yin army finally crossed the Savindia Mountains and gradually approached Zhangxi, the resistance they received became even stronger.
Although all the princely states in the Northern Alliance are useless, Zhang Xi's army, especially the cavalry unit that the queen has personally built in recent years, is still capable of fighting against the Yin army.
Although Peng Yulin did not support many troops on the northern front, he did send military advisers.
Under the advice of these people, Queen Zhang Xi adopted a strategy of avoiding reality and focusing on the weak.
She divided her cavalry into multiple teams, some were responsible for harassing the main force heading north of the Yin Army, and some were responsible for attacking the enemy's logistics supply lines.
Then Zhang Xi urgently fortified the city to the south and cleared the country, and evacuated all personnel and materials to the Ganges River Basin.
In the past, it would have been somewhat difficult to clear the wilderness here because of the dense population.
But years of war have already greatly reduced the population here.
In addition, much of the land in the southwest of Zhang is directly under the jurisdiction of Queen Bayi.
Relying on her prestige, the work of strengthening the walls and clearing the country went very quickly.
"Queen, Zhang Xicheng must also be prepared to fortify its walls and clear the country." Zhang Deshuai suggested in the simple Zhangxi Palace.
He recently stayed with the Queen.
The liaison work has ended, and his main task now is to spy on the intelligence of the Yin army.
The northern front is where the coalition's control is weakest.
Moreover, the situation here is complicated, as the northwest borders Punjab, which is under the control of the Yin Army.
It borders the rebel state of Gujarat to the southwest.
It can be said that it is attacked from both sides.
It just so happens that the main battlefield is in the center line.
So the intelligence work here is particularly important.
"No, how can Zhangxi be left to those yinky dogs? This is the holy land of us Zhangxi people." The queen frowned, showing a bit of coolness and solemnity.
"Queen, Zhangxi is not too far away from the area controlled by the Yu people, and some princely states in the southwest have taken the initiative to defect to the Yu army. Although we send troops to harass the logistics supply line of the Yu army, it will only increase the consumption of the Yu army. No. They will definitely be forced to retreat."
"Then what should we do? Since our harassment has no effect, we might as well retreat and defend the city." Bayi said with some displeasure.
Her current combat arrangements are basically based on the advice of the advisory group.
Now he has to push Zhang Xi and give up his base camp to others.
How could Queen Bayi be willing to do this? After all, she is a woman, so it is inevitable that she will care about everything.
"Queen, let's talk it over and don't be willful, okay? What do you think we should do to eliminate the Yin army and wipe out all the 200,000 troops they sent?"
"It is difficult to eliminate the enemy army. What we are destroying now are servant armies. To put it bluntly, these servant armies are not as valuable as those materials."
"Now the supply line of the Yin army is too short, and the effect of our sneak attack is not very good."
"If necessary, we will withdraw from Jhansi and go to Kanpur. There are inland water divisions of the Holy Army on the Ganges and transport fleets to provide supplies. We don't have to worry about the supply problem. By then, we will be able to move the main
The troops scattered on the plateau to deal with the enemy."
Only then did Queen Bayi realize that Zhang Deshuai was here to act as a lobbyist for the coalition staff team.
"Mr. Zhang, Jhanxi is a strong city, and I don't think it's appropriate to just give it up like this. You are right about maintaining strength, but have you ever thought about how much of a blow this will have to the morale of our Northern Alliance army?
"
Queen Bayi's considerations are not just military, but also political.
After all, the Northern Alliance was only a loose confederacy.
Retreating without a fight, especially in Jhanxi City, will seriously damage the confidence of the entire alliance in fighting.
It will also weaken the prestige that Queen Bayi has finally established within the alliance.
"Okay, Her Majesty the Queen, I admit that what you said makes sense."
"So, Mr. Zhang, you should contact the commander-in-chief by telegram at this time and ask him to find a way to send us some reinforcements. And the people from the staff group will now formulate a plan for me to defend the city. I will
All the old, weak, women and children will be moved out, and Jhanxi City will become a military city."
Sister Yu is determined to coexist with the capital this time.
Zhang Deshuai had no choice but to help her make arrangements.
The plan soon reached Peng Yulin.
Peng Yulin summoned deputy commander-in-chief Chen Yucheng, Zha Kun, Liao Xiangdong, and chief of staff Du Chaoqun to discuss Queen Jhanxi's plan.
Peng Yulin first analyzed the current situation.
"Everyone, it is obvious from the recent battles that the Yin Army made compromises on the center battlefield. They have given up on their plan to quickly break through our center line of defense, and instead adopted containment measures."
"The current northern route seems to be his main breakthrough direction. Although the Dayang Army on the northern route is far inferior in number to the central route, it still has a huge advantage over our troops on the northern route."
"Before, we hoped to use the strategy of clearing the country with strong walls and luring the enemy deep into the enemy's territory to consume the enemy troops. However, we ignored the political impact."
"Now there is a legion of the Holy Army on the northern front, totaling 30,000 people, cooperating with the navy to station in the cities along the Ganges. This is the bottom line we must stick to, otherwise once the enemy flows down the river, our rear will fall into the enemy's army
In the hands of the enemy, the center front will be useless by then."
"What do you think about the Queen of Jhanxi's plan to defend the city of Jhanxi?" Peng Yulin asked his question.
The first person to speak was Chen Yucheng. He knew that Peng Yulin was an upright person and had nothing to say about his character, so during military discussions, he never tried to hide it: "Commander-in-Chief, from the Ganges River Basin.
The Holy Army cannot move. As you just said, the Ganges artery is extremely important to us."
"However, there is nothing wrong with Queen Zhangxi's plan. Indeed, such an important city as Zhanxi should not be abandoned."
"The only problem now is that the Queen of Jhansi does not have enough troops. We must find a way to supplement her troops."
Yes, in the end it is still a question of military strength.
It is difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without rice. Why is it better for Han Xin to have more soldiers? It is easier to arrange things if there are more soldiers.
What ultimately determines the direction of the battlefield is the strength of both sides.