Chapter 42: One Battle Determines the Heart of Man
The Qing army assembled 30,000 troops to attack the Baoding Army, and Xia Jun received the news and immediately began to deploy a plan to annihilate this Qing army. Although he looked down on the combat effectiveness of the Qing army, he still attached great importance to it in terms of tactics.
The plan was set as "using leisure to await labor", head-on confrontation, and blocking the rear route.
The battlefield was chosen in the area of Shuixi, Jian'an County, which is very flat and conducive to the deployment of troops during battles. In addition, a part of the force was arranged to ambush between the mountains, first letting the Qing army pass by, and then blocking their original path to death.
After the troops that were facing each other head-on defeated the Qing army, they then attacked from both sides and completely annihilated this group of Qing soldiers. 30,000 Qing soldiers were killed, which can bring in 3 million points.
As the government offices in western Fujian had been overthrown, Xia Jun withdrew most of the second-line troops from various places and formed a force of 5 battalions.
Four of the battalions were formed from second-line units, and one was a regular battalion.
Xia Jun also established a staff headquarters, with members consisting of students from the Army Academy and Chen Xuan-yu, who served as the chief of staff.
"There may be some artillery in the Qing army, and we are short of artillerymen. Although we have grenade launchers, if we can't quickly defeat the Qing army once the war starts, there may be some casualties during the battle," said Chen Xianyu.
According to the reconnaissance team's investigation, among the 30,000 Qing troops gathered by Song Shou, there were indeed some artillery pieces, although they were relatively outdated, but there were several Western-style cannons, possibly Krupp, but the scout from the reconnaissance team was semi-illiterate and couldn't recognize the model of the artillery, only able to distinguish that it was a Western-style cannon.
The problem is that the security team doesn't even have a single cannon now.
Cannons are very expensive!
A French 75mm quick-firing gun requires 2,000 points for one gun, plus a towing vehicle, which requires 2,200 points. A shell costs 20 points each.
This made Xia Jun feel very unprofitable, especially the shells. The bigger they were, the more expensive they were. A single large shell was enough to exchange for a gun, or even several M1 Garands.
So all along, Xia Jun had never equipped the security team with artillery, but now it's not possible to not equip them, after all, there will always be hard battles to fight, and without artillery, it's really hard to win!
In a field battle like this, there's no artillery, so it's not a big deal. Although we might suffer a bit, we won't lose too much. Since it's necessary, Xia Jun nodded and said to them: "A batch of artillery will arrive in two days, let's form an artillery company first."
"But who will lead this artillery company?" Xia Jun asked.
Chen Xuan Yu shook his head, he didn't know either!
He studied infantry, not artillery, and he didn't understand artillery very well.
"Alright! Let's draw lots then!" Xia Jun said helplessly. On that day, Xia Jun conducted a lottery at the Jianzhou Military Academy and selected 10 students from the first batch of 100 students to establish an artillery department.
Xia Jun immediately replaced them with 6 French 75mm quick-firing guns, a type of artillery that was improved by France in 1917 and had great firepower.
Weight: 1,544 kilograms
Length: 2700mm
Ammunition: High-explosive / Fragmentation / Armor-piercing 5.97-7.25 kg are all common 7.24 kg
Caliber: 75 mm
Common transport: Gun motor carriage (6 horses) / Artillery tractor
Elevation: -11° to +18°
Field of view: 6 degrees
Rate of fire: 15 rounds per minute
Initial velocity: 500 meters per second
Effective range: 6 to 7 kilometers.
The greatest advantage of this 75mm quick-firing gun is its high rate of fire, with ordinary quick-firing guns having a rate of only 6-8 rounds per minute, while the French 75mm quick-firing gun can reach 15 rounds per minute, and there is not much difference in range compared to other guns of the same level.
Six 75mm guns, plus six traction trucks, and 5,000 rounds of ammunition cost Xia Jun 113,600 points, which made Xia Jun's face ache.
It seems that the military industry must be developed as soon as possible, otherwise it will not work out.
These conventional weapons, if they can't be exchanged, try not to exchange them. Otherwise, no matter how many points are accumulated, it's not enough. This is just an artillery company, and so many points have been spent on it. Of course, the most expensive thing is still ammunition. How can a war be fought without firing shells?
At the speed of the Qing army's march, it would take at least a week to arrive in Jian'an County, and Xia Jun began to deploy troops on the battlefield.
The route of the Qing army is easy to judge, and it will inevitably go from Fuzhou to Nanping, then from Nanping to Jian'an, all along the provincial highway, and must pass through the Shuixi area.
Xia Jun led three battalions to Shuixi, where one battalion was deployed in the mountains near Baishuiyuan Village, waiting for orders from headquarters. Once they received the order, they would rush out of Baishuiyuan and block the official road.
The other two battalions were deployed in Shuixi, and the artillery company's combat position was arranged at Dayang Mountain, with a range that could cover the entire battlefield.
The training of the artillery company unfolded quickly, but for the security team that had not been in contact with artillery, it was not easy to form a good combat effectiveness. The live firing exercise began immediately, but used training shells, which were much cheaper.
Just as the security team was preparing for battle, the hearts of the people in northwest Fujian were not so stable. At this time, northwest Fujian declared autonomy, and many people felt lost.
Because they were worried about the Qing army's approach, some local gentry had already planned to flee.
However, within the security team, they were very stable and their morale was not shaken at all. Instead, they yearned to fight against the Qing army to showcase the 'excellent' combat skills that the security team had trained hard for. Although their individual combat skills were already quite good, compared to Western countries, they still had a way to go, after all, Western countries relied on machines to fight wars. Compared to Japan, their combat skills were somewhat inferior, after all, the accumulation of time couldn't be made up for in a short period.
Jianzhou University was even more turbulent, with those students from the Guangfu Society who had joined the Hanmin Party shouting slogans to overthrow the Qing dynasty and being extremely excited about the autonomy of western Fujian.
Although it is not independent now, they believe that day is not far away.
Li Shilin was also worried, at this time the fate of the Li family depended on whether the security team could withstand the Qing army. If they couldn't withstand the Qing army's attack, the first to die would be them, the Li family.
The change in western Fujian was entirely due to him, Li's family.
Li Shilin didn't blame his daughter either, what's the use of blaming her now that things have come to this? If Xia Zhēn really has the ability to create a new world, then the Li family will still have to rely on Xia Zhēn for their livelihood in the future.
Xia Jun only asked him to let his daughter go, but Li Shi Lin did not agree. Now the Qing army is about to come and suppress, at that time it will be chaotic, if people get lost, what to do?
Last time Li Shijian returned to the country because he was unhappy, so when he wanted to go out and play, he agreed, but was hijacked by bandits. This time Li Shilin is determined not to let him go.
This time, the autonomous wave in northwest Fujian can calm people's minds, depending on the battle between the security team and the Qing army.
————
A new day, tickets, evaluation votes, whatever votes are all needed, collection is a must!
Thank you again to the brothers who gave their all yesterday!
