Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 315 The First Military Exercise

On August 52, Qianlong's 20nd year, the Beihai Navy's autumn military exercise was postponed for [-] days, and all participating troops were in place, and finally started.

In this exercise, the first, second, fourth and fifth regiments of the Beihai Navy were deployed, divided into red and blue teams, with a total of 1 people.The red side consists of the second and fifth regiments, with Liu Sheng as the commander and Wu Siyu as the chief of staff.The blue side consists of the first and fourth regiments, with Wang Yuanfang as the commander and Sheng Haizhou as the chief of staff.

The third regiment and the Qingye Battalion did not participate in this exercise. The third regiment was responsible for guarding the outposts in the west and south of Fuldan City, while the Qingye Battalion and the newly formed seventh regiment were responsible for guarding the outposts in various parts of Beihai Town.

The four regiments participating in the exercise are all composed of three battalions, each with 2500 soldiers, including three infantry battalions, a cavalry platoon, a mortar company, an engineering company, a health team, a communications team, and a horse transport company.In addition, the 12 D30 howitzers of the Beihai Artillery Battalion were divided into two, belonging to the red and blue armies respectively.

The strategic policy of the entire exercise is to use mountainous and plain areas as combat venues to test the North Navy's rapid breakthrough capabilities, siege, and night defense capabilities.The red and blue sides conduct offensive and defensive drills in two stages.

According to the director's plan, the first phase will be from August 23 to 26, and the red team will be the main attack; the second phase will be from August [-] to August [-], and the blue team will be the main attack; the third phase will be a military parade.The headquarters of the two armies formulate their own strategic plans based on the above-mentioned operational strategies.

On the night of August [-]th, the main forces of the red and blue sides entered the predetermined location and stationed. According to the intelligence of the scouts on both sides, Liu Sheng and Wang Yuanfang formulated their own combat missions.

Zhou Heichuang, the acting company commander of the third company, turned over and jumped off his horse, and asked the cooking squad leader with a smile: "What are you having for dinner tonight?"

The cooking squad leader said: "Eat well, stewed meat, big steamed buns."

"Okay, let's do it quickly, and dig trenches as soon as we are full."

Zhou Heichuang is Monk Zhou, and now that he has been promoted, it is inappropriate to be called "Monk".This guy's real name was Zhou Heizi, but he thought his name didn't sound good, so he changed his name to Zhou Heichuang.

After dinner, Monk Zhou checked the camp facilities again, arranged a fixed post, and then went back to rest in the tent grandly.Unexpectedly, in the middle of the night, there was a burst of gunfire from outside the camp.As soon as he got out of the tent and was about to check it out, a small staff officer sent by the director's department rushed in from a tent and said loudly to Monk Zhou: "Commander Zhou, according to the notice from the director's department, your department has no mobile or dark sentries at night. , was attacked by the enemy, and a platoon suffered heavy casualties!"

Monk Zhou asked suspiciously: "What's the situation? We are in our own defense zone."

A platoon leader asked anxiously, "We didn't even fire a single shot, and we suffered heavy casualties?"

The little staff officer straightened his neck and said: "Once the exercise starts, this area will be a battlefield. If you are careless, don't blame the director department. Execute the order immediately."

Monk Zhou had no choice but to let a row of more than a dozen people be regarded as dead or seriously injured.There is no way, who made it a row to be in charge of security tasks tonight, since they are careless, they should be unlucky.Then the health team came out, wrapped the soldiers like a group of big rice dumplings, and carried them away on a stretcher.

On the next morning, the red and blue headquarters sent cavalry companies to carry out reconnaissance, and searched and moved forward.

The cavalry of the North Navy came from the ten surrendered armored soldiers captured in the first battle of Bear Island. Later, some cavalry soldiers were selected from the recruits to form the early cavalry platoon. After two years, it was gradually expanded to 200 people. The scale can be said to have grown from scratch.

To become a qualified cavalryman, one must learn to serve the horse.Brushing the horse, checking the mouth, tying leggings, and learning to feed the horse and chop hay for the horse are the most important lessons for every cavalryman.According to the cavalry handbook of later generations, cavalry should also be trained to walk on stilts; only when the 1.5-meter stilts are firmly stepped on can they be qualified for riding;

After being assigned to war horses, the horses must be trained.You must know that except for trained military horses, other horses are just livestock no matter how good they are.The cavalry would ride slowly every day, train the horse to raise its head, lower its back, and then get on the saddle to practice running.As soon as the horse stops, tie the rein to a high place and let the horse raise its head.Unlike other horses, war horses must raise their heads even when sleeping, except when drinking.Military horses must develop the habit of discipline.Hearing the sound of the gunshots, you can't move around, you can't eat anything other than the manger, you can't chew things, kick the stables, or bite people. You must get used to putting on the bridle, putting on the bit, and hanging the harness.

The cavalry also had to learn techniques such as riding and lying down to shoot, and saddle on the horse.After mastering the basic horsemanship, learn to immediately shoot, immediately hack, immediately throw bombs (throwing backwards), cross obstacles, and immediately provide ambulance, etc. In addition, you must also learn tactics such as charge formation, encirclement formation, and cover formation.

In terms of food, military horses are not animals that can be fed by just putting them on the grass and gnawing on the grass.The food cost of a military horse in the Beihai Navy is higher than that of a person.What they ate every day were beans, bran and grains, which had to be cooked before they could be fed to the horses; in addition, they had to be fed salt, stone powder and other feeds to enhance their physique.

The cavalry companies of the red and blue sides met in the third area at noon that day, so more than 200 cavalrymen first fired blank bullets at each other 200 meters away, and then rushed up holding the wooden sticks that replaced the sabers.

In the beginning, these people lined up and rode horses and jogged in small steps. When the two sides met, they raised their sticks and pretended to hit me and I hit you.After a while, an accident happened.

"Ouch! You're so cruel!" A cavalry platoon leader on the red side couldn't dodge in time, and was hit on the forehead, and a big bump grew out after a while.

"I'm sorry brother, I missed it!" The platoon leader on the other side apologized with a smile.

"No! Let me hit you too to make it even."

As soon as the words were finished, the cavalryman on the red side rode forward and slapped the man on the blue side on the back.

"Ouch! You fucking hit me!" Lan Fang swung his stick and smashed it.

Seeing that something was wrong, the red side dodged the opponent's stick, turned around and ran away, and the blue team's platoon leader followed closely behind.

At this time, the subordinates of the platoon leader on the red side saw the platoon leader being chased wildly, so they all stepped forward to stop him.As a result, the platoon leader on the blue side didn't take these little soldiers seriously at all, as long as they dared to come up to stop them, they would be hit with a stick.The platoon leader who ran away from the red side saw that his own people were coming, so he killed the carbine again, and more than a dozen people together cleaned up the platoon leader from the blue side.The blue side was also anxious when they saw it, so Hula rushed up to more than 20 people and started a scuffle.

The fighting between the two sides became more and more serious, and in the end they all started a real fire. Some cavalrymen were afraid of injuring their horses, so they jumped off their horses one after another, and began to fight each other with wooden sticks.What's more, they even threw away the wooden sticks and started a hand-to-hand fight
"You fucking dare to tear my clothes off!"

"I don't like you a long time ago, I have to clean you up today!"

"Ouch, my nose!"

"Dogs are not allowed to bite people"

Samusu, the commander of the red cavalry company, hurriedly got off his horse and stepped forward to stop him. During the chaos, a soldier waved his hand and punched Samusu right in the cheek.Bayan, the commander of the blue team, saw it, and sat on the horse and laughed; who knew that he had just laughed a few times before being dragged off the horse by some soldiers from the red team.

Now it was even more chaotic, Sam covered his face angrily and yelled: "There is even one, beat him up!"

Not far away, the small staff of the director department who was in charge of judging were dumbfounded.This is not a cavalry confrontation, it is a gang fight!
When the pickets sent by the director department arrived, two hundred war horses were grazing leisurely, and two hundred cavalrymen were sitting on the ground with bruised noses and swollen faces.
The third company where Monk Zhou was in received an order from the battalion commander Michelang at noon, asking them to cross the center line and march towards the Blue Army's No. [-] area as the vanguard. The enemy is destroyed immediately.

An hour later, the sharp knife squad sent a message that the blue army was not found.So with a dense figure swaying in the forest, Monk Zhou led Sanlian carefully through the forest.

Because the first row was arranged by the director department to suffer "heavy casualties", the second row passed through the woods first, and their next goal was to seize the hillside to the south.

At this time, Monk Zhou's voice came from the walkie-talkie: "Second row and second row, you hear the whistle in 5 minutes, and immediately attack the hillside, the first and third rows quickly follow up, and immediately build a defensive position after occupying the hillside, sharp knives Ben went west to conduct reconnaissance, do you understand?"

"clear."

Five minutes later, as the whistle blew, Monk Zhou shouted: "Attack!" The second row started running with a huff, and the other two rows followed in battle formation.

These are all tactical moves that have been practiced in the training base. They have gone through many drills when marching northward. The soldiers of the third company also know that this is a drill, and all of them are very relaxed.

However, at the same time that the second platoon launched an attack, from the flank of the southern hillside, a company of Blue Army soldiers suddenly emerged from the bushes and started shooting at the second platoon. , Judging from that posture, it is also intended to occupy there for defense.

At this time, there were dozens of ping-pong-pong gunshots, and of course all the bullets fired were blank.

Holding the binoculars, Monk Zhou yelled, "Damn you! You're hiding here! Everyone, speed up!"

"Come on!" The second platoon leader lying on the ground shouted, then got up and snatched a red flag from the soldier's hand, spread his legs and was about to run wildly.

"Stop!" The little staff officer ran out again, with beads of sweat hanging from the tip of his nose and forehead, and shouted at the second platoon leader: "No enemy situation was found, and you were attacked. Your platoon members will be reduced by one-third."

The second platoon leader had no choice but to stop, randomly selected a squad, ordered to stop advancing, and sat on the ground waiting for the health team to "lift the corpse".

Monk Zhou was so angry, he thought why he was so unlucky.

If it's the acting company commander, the reason why Monk Zhou is acting as an agent is because he hasn't participated in the short-term officer training class.As a result, all he can think about now is to take down the hillside for "revenge" and completely forget to call for artillery support.

When the third company rushed to the foot of the hill, suddenly at least two companies of blue troops appeared on the hillside, and there was another ping-pong-pong of blank bombs.

There is no need to rush now, the director's department judged that all three companies were killed.The battalion commander Mi Shilang who rushed over angrily scolded Monk Zhou for being a jerk.

On the second day after the exercise started, such two incidents happened, Liu Sheng and Wang Yuanfang were so angry that they reiterated the exercise discipline to each department.

On the third day, the main forces of the red and blue sides advanced one after another according to the predetermined order.The troops of the two sides immediately started a confrontation in the third area, and deployed infantry and artillery positions according to the terrain of the battlefield and the enemy's situation.

Of course, the artillerymen of the two sides could not really fire at each other. According to the requirements of the director department, they fired at the designated shooting range area as an assessment.At the same time, the infantry of both sides carried out a mobile charge.At this time, the staff of the director's department was dispatched to score whether the infantry tactics of both sides complied with the requirements of the drill code, and the shooting speed and accuracy of the artillery.

On the fourth day of the first phase, the two sides continued to conduct offensive and defensive drills.Each side is equipped with echelon forces, divided into combat troops and reserve teams.The blue team built fortifications according to the terrain, set up infantry and artillery positions, and set up ambushes to lure the enemy; the red team, after clearing the outer strongholds of the attack point, first carried out deep fire strikes with artillery, and the infantry took advantage of the situation with squads as units. Attack in a skirmish line.

Because the red team lost a company on the second day of the battle, the offensive and defensive positions were changed at the end of the battle. The blue team switched from offense to defense, and the red team switched from defense to offense.

After the first phase of the exercise, the two sides returned to their respective stations to make comments and summarize the lessons learned in the first phase.At the same time, the director's department issued a disciplinary order to report and criticize the two cavalry companies. The two company commanders, Samusu and Bayan, were each demerited once, and their salary was deducted for two months;Acting company commander Monk Zhou was imprisoned for one day by battalion commander Mi Shilang, and his salary was deducted for one month.

As a result, the participating troops no longer dare to take the exercise as a joke.

In the second stage, the red and blue sides switched offense and defense, all arms of the Beihai Navy were fully engaged in combat, and tactics such as infantry-machine coordination, infantry-gun coordination, and infantry-mountain coordination were fully developed.In addition, the engineering companies of both sides practiced crossing rivers and building bridges and quickly building material warehouses; the transportation company practiced emergency material deployment; the communication company practiced antenna erection, fault handling, and response to various emergencies.

At this point, Zhao Xin felt that the strategic purpose of the entire exercise had finally been achieved.

On the fourth day after the second stage commentary, the North Navy military parade began, and the navy also sent a marine company to participate in the military parade.At this time, all the cadres from the cross-travelers and civil affairs officials who were not very busy came, and representatives from various schools and residential communities were also sent.

The entire military parade procedure included two parts: one was that Zhao Xin and others rode past the parade troops on horseback and inspected various ministries; the other was that the parade troops passed the parade platform in a procession.As for military music, it can only be recorded with loudspeakers.

At [-] o'clock in the morning on the day of the military parade, Zhao Xin and a group of representatives arrived one after another. Commander-in-chief Wang Yuanfang ordered the call to attention to be sounded, bayonets on the rifles, and a gun salute.According to the requirements of the "Exercise Order", the units to be read are arranged in two formations, horizontal and vertical, according to different military types, and the spacing is also different.

Except for Chen Qingsong, Hong Tao, Liu Siting and others who came earlier, the other cross-travelers actually seldom get in touch with the troops, and the most they see are the security police.

But Wu Ping'an and others looked at the tens of thousands of soldiers standing neatly under the parade platform, and they were really shocked.They have been here for the past few days, and they have also heard about how Zhao Xin and the others defeated the Qing army.But they heard that it was the same thing. When they actually saw Zhao Xin's armed force, they finally understood what the Beihai Navy meant in this era.

Wu Pingan looked at the weapons in the hands of the soldiers, and then saw the dozens of artillery and mortars in the distance, thinking how rich Zhao Xin must be, to have an army with so many people!
"Damn it! This can completely dominate the world!" Fan Tong was shocked by the scene in front of him as soon as he got out of the car.

Cao Peng beside him nodded his head and said, "Well, it's not a big problem to punch Man Qing and Japan, but to foot Britain, France and Spain."

Another power plant crossed the crowd and added: "Tsarist Russia must also be counted."

"I don't know what it will be like to confront Napoleon?"

"Napoleon? It's useless to take any wheel!"

(End of this chapter)