Chapter 32 Correct Answer
Zhou Xuanzhang shook his head and smiled bitterly. For eight months, he had been trying to be a mediocre student, and it seemed that he was about to succeed. But in the end, one assignment ruined everything, and all his efforts over the past eight months went down the drain.
This drawing homework made him an excellent student by accident!
And this honor student has come at the worst possible time!
That Jin Gambler was the Sino-Japanese War, he wouldn't cut off his head just because Zhou Xuanzhang became a top student, but it didn't need to wait until the Sino-Japanese declaration of war, Li Hongzhang would definitely cut off his head!
Because this sandbox and the combat map on the test paper mark the base of the Beiyang Fleet - Weihaiwei Military Port!
The Red Army represents the Beiyang Fleet and the Qing Dynasty's coastal defense forces, while the Blue Army is a hypothetical enemy from the sea, which everyone knows is the Japanese Combined Fleet!
Because in the blue fleet, a giant cruiser appeared, that is the flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet - Matsushima!
The Tianjin Military Academy was an army academy, cultivating army officers, and should not have been concerned with naval ports and their defense. However, since the * war, all foreign threats to the Qing Empire came from the sea, making coastal defense a top priority for the empire's national defense. Before the establishment of the Beiyang Fleet, the Qing military, lacking a navy, focused its attention on coastal defense, establishing a defensive national defense system based on land warfare. Although this system was far from perfect, army officers with some foresight were still relatively familiar with the coastal defense lines.
The Tianjin Military Academy, like the Beiyang Navy, was a direct line of Li Hongzhang's. The teaching philosophy of the Tianjin Military Academy and the military building ideology of the Beiyang Navy were consistent, both aimed at dealing with enemies coming from the sea. Therefore, anti-landing operations were compulsory courses for infantry teaching in the academy, and cadets were more familiar with coastal defense lines.
Weihaiwei Garrison was Li Hongzhang's masterpiece and an important support for the Qing Dynasty's maritime defense.
Weihaiwei is a non-freezing good harbor, surrounded by mountains on three sides, with the entrance facing east, opposite Dalian and Lushun. Liugong Island controls its front, forming two channels to the east and north for entry and exit. Rishima, Huangdao, Yashi and other islands are lined up on both sides of Liugong Island, forming a natural barrier in the harbor, with a dangerous and solid terrain.
On the three sides of Weihaiwei surrounded by mountains, there were 23 large and small artillery forts built, including Rijiu Island, Huangdao, Beishanmaozi, Zhaobeimaosi, etc. The firepower of the artillery forts was sufficient to cover the entire Weihaiwei. The artillery forts were equipped with the most advanced German Krupp cannons and British Armstrong naval guns at that time. Among them, the German 15cm Krupp cannon was the main force of the Qing army, weighing up to 10 tons, with a range of 11 kilometers, and could fire 51kg shells. The British 30cm Armstrong cannon was even more powerful, with a range of 10 kilometers, a muzzle velocity of 360m/s, and was the nemesis of ironclad cruisers.
Near Weihaiwei, there were also large groups of forts, with 19 battalions of the army stationed to defend the artillery positions. The army was equipped with 7.5 cm Krupp heavy field guns and Gatling machine guns, with strong firepower. Once the enemy landed on the beach, the army's gunfire and the heavy artillery on the fort could inflict devastating casualties on the landing troops. A small number of enemies who managed to escape the long-range bombardment would also be subjected to rapid cavalry charges by the Qing army.
Even if the enemy successfully landed, it would be impossible to capture the artillery fort. The fort was built with a 30-meter-high breast wall facing the coastline, and below the breast wall was an open area filled with landmines. On top of the breast wall were hidden forts and exposed forts, forming a strong crossfire, and anyone who dared to approach the breast wall would be pulverized by the intense firepower.
The entire naval port's defense is impenetrable!
The sand table in the drill hall is a miniature of Weihaiwei, 23 artillery positions were simplified to 5, 19 battalions of infantry reduced to 5 battalions, coastal defense guns did not identify 30cm Armstrong cannons, and warships in the naval port did not represent the Beiyang Fleet's Jingyuan and Dingyuan, these two giant ironclad cruisers.
However, any student of the Tianjin Military Academy could see at a glance that this was Weihaiwei's naval port, and this simplified defensive diagram still showed an astonishing power!
However, this powerful Weihaiwei defense line had a weakness. Near the No. 1 battery, there was no 30 cm Armstrong gun, which meant that the entire coastal artillery fire could not cover the sea area within ten kilometers north of the No. 1 battery. In that place, the large-caliber naval guns on the enemy's cruiser could cover the No. 1 battery, so the No. 1 battery would be the soft underbelly of this defense line.
It's obvious that this weakness is intentionally exposed by the examiner, it can be seen that the examiner is extremely confident in the defense of the entire Weihaiwei, and he is deliberately revealing a weakness to test the students.
Who is this examiner? I believe every student who got the test paper knows that he is Li Hongzhang!
Li Hongzhang brought his own proud work to test the students!
In the Great Qing Empire, being a good officer is not about learning how to lead troops and fight battles, but rather about learning to understand the situation!
Anyone who gets the exam paper knows that Weihai Wei is operated by Li Zhongtang with one hand. He deliberately sells a flaw, not to let students point fingers, but to let students add flowers to the brocade!
As a result, all the students' maps and tasks, without exception, focused on the No. 1 gun emplacement, with various forms of attack and defense, but the outcome was always the defeat of the Blue Army under the gun emplacement. Of course, most students did not come up with this out of thin air, Tianjin Military Academy students still had some skills, they mostly used efficient firepower configuration and maneuvering to make up for the lack of long-range firepower, luring the enemy into the landing beach, where short-range artillery fire and infantry cavalry charges killed the enemy.
Of course, there are also exaggerations. Some students even mobilized 100 15cm cannons at once, boarded the No. 1 gun platform, concentrated firepower to attack the ironclad cruiser on the sea, and wiped out the enemy on the sea! Not to mention whether the No. 1 gun platform can hold 100 cannons, even if it can hold them, the entire Qing Dynasty does not have 100 15cm cannons.
But anyway, the result was a great victory for the Red Army. This proves that Weihaiwei's defense is solid as gold, even if there are weaknesses, the enemy cannot do anything about it, Li Zhongtang's Weihaiwei defense line is impregnable!
All the students were well-behaved except for one who didn't know what was good for him.
This is the inferior student Zhou Cang.
Actually, Zhou Xuanzhang is not ignorant of the situation and is not unaware of the current affairs! Having been in the Qing Dynasty for eight months, he has learned a lot from Jin and has a thorough understanding of the national conditions. In the Qing Dynasty, the superior's preferences are the subordinate's preferences, the superior's will is the subordinate's will, and the superior's proud work, subordinates must not pick bones, otherwise it is courting death!
Moreover, Zhou Xuanzhang, in order to keep his head down, made an effort to be a mediocre student, where would he dare to recklessly stick out.
The problem is that Zhou Xuan Zhang was not an inferior student! In the Tianjin Military Academy, his insight, observation power, judgment and operational ability were absolutely first-rate.
Sometimes, it's quite difficult to achieve a state of being cleverly clumsy. As the saying goes, "it's hard to feign ignorance".
It's not an easy thing for a person with strategic thinking to conceal their sharp edges, and they will inadvertently reveal them if they are not careful. Because anyone, when faced with anything, will naturally choose what they think is the correct answer.
Zhou Xianzhang had to be very deliberate in choosing the wrong answers if he wanted to be a mediocre student. So, Zhou Xianzhang constantly reminded himself that whatever he did, he had to pretend to be confused, and do it convincingly!
But for one to pretend to be muddle-headed, his mind must remain extremely clear!
A person who is not clear-headed cannot pretend to be muddle-headed, because he will involuntarily choose the correct answer.
In the classroom, when he got his exam paper, coincidentally, his mind was in a state of confusion.
Zhou Xianzhang, who had been awake all night, could only think of one thing - how to escape from school.
When he decided to hand in his paper and run away immediately, he was even more unwilling to study the battle map, he just wanted to scribble something randomly and hand it in to settle the account.
It was in this state that he did not recognize Weihaiwei and had no idea that Li Zhongtang was testing the students with Weihaiwei.
However, in his subconscious mind, he discovered that there was a huge loophole in the deployment of the Red Army on this combat map!
Strictly speaking, this is not a loophole at all, but a major strategic mistake!
It's precisely because of this mistake that what seems like a solid defense line is actually just a piece of paper that can be easily broken through!
So, Zhou Xuan Zhang hastily gave out the answer in his confusion.
This answer is undoubtedly correct, and it is the simplest. Zhou Xuanzhang broke through the Red Army's defense line with just a few strokes, and the Blue Army won a complete victory, while the Red Army was completely defeated.
Zhou Xuanzhang finished in just half an hour because this answer was too simple and too direct.
And this answer also gave Ed a big fright as he was invigilating.
Ai De would certainly not go out of his way to curry favor with Li Hongzhang. What surprised him was not that Zhou Xuan Zhang had captured Weihaiwei, but because Zhou Xuan Zhang's answer sheet was too unbelievable!
So Ed ran out of the classroom, thinking Zhou Xuanzhang had gone crazy.
However, after Zhou Xianzhang left in a hurry, Ai De studied the answer sheet alone and found that Zhou Xianzhang's answer sheet was correct!
Zhou Xuzhang's answer was that the Blue Army landed at a small, inconspicuous seaport north of the Red Army's defense line and circled around to the rear of the Red Army's defense line.
