I want to be emperor

Chapter 480 Passage No.[-]
Tang Yuanze looked at the [-]-pound light howitzer that was firing continuously in front of him, and then at the smoke and dust raised by the continuous explosion on the enemy's fortress in front of him, he couldn't help but smiled.

"Okay, just fight like this, keep shelling, and completely suppress them!" Tang Yuanze said to himself, then turned to the adjutant and said: "The artillery unit has almost finished fighting, let the first battalion and the second battalion Launch a charge, the third battalion is ready to reinforce the front line at any time."

"This time, we're going to kill the enemy in front of us in one go!"

After all, Tang Yuanze thought to himself: "If you fight well this time, after you finish fighting on the Western Front, you can expect to be a brigadier general."

Otherwise, it would be a waste of the main mission of the No. [-] channel that I worked so hard to grab.

Tang Yuanze, head of the No.20 Eighth Infantry Regiment under the No.90 Fifth Division, with the rank of Colonel!
He also belonged to the generals of the early Conglong, but he did not climb up step by step from the soldiers, but an officer in the second phase of the Army Officer Academy.

He was already literate by Dong Wen. He first became a military Chinese bookman after Conglong in his hometown in Chubei, and was arranged to study in the Military Academy not long after.

After studying, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant step by step to serve as regiment staff officer, post commander, and battalion commander. During this period, he made a lot of meritorious service and was valued by his superiors.

Last year, he was transferred back to the staff department to serve as a combat staff officer, and at the same time, he learned new line tactics for training.

After studying, he was transferred to the newly formed No.20 Fourth Division as the deputy head of the No.90 Eighth Infantry Regiment.

And when the No. 90 Eighth Infantry Regiment was formed, he naturally became the head of the 98th Infantry Regiment and was promoted to the rank of colonel.

Because it often takes several months for training to be transferred to a new army, and there will be no combat missions during the period. For the Chu army, which is in the period of the unification war and a period of great expansion, training in the rear is very important for many Not a good choice for capable and ambitious generals.

However, in order for the newly formed troops to complete training as soon as possible and form combat effectiveness, there must be no shortage of these capable officers. Acting as a deputy to the principal's affairs, after the establishment, the deputy will be converted to a regular, and then promoted to a higher level.

The purpose is to let these capable officers who want to go to the front line for meritorious service and promotion be able to calm down and train the new troops, especially those new first-class divisions.

The preparation and training of the new first-class division is very important to the Chu army last year and even this year.

Under such circumstances, Tang Yuanze, a young and promising mid-level officer in the army, was able to stay away from the front line for a year and still be able to maintain a relatively rapid promotion.

However, Tang Yuanze's ambition is even bigger than that of ordinary military officers!
After becoming the colonel commander and the commander of the main infantry regiment of the new first-class division, he naturally set his sights on the higher rank of brigadier general.

In today's large-scale Chu army, only generals above the brigadier general level can be called senior generals. Colonel officers are just middle-level officers.

Brigadier generals, in the army, are generally the brigade commander, deputy division commander, and chief of staff of the old-style first-class divisions. There is no brigade commander in the new-style first-class divisions, so there are only deputy division commanders and chiefs of staff.

In addition, the commanders of some independent artillery brigades, cavalry brigades and other units are also brigadier generals, and there are also some independent garrison troops, such as the garrison currently stationed on Dayuan Island, whose commander is a brigadier general.

And the other big system in the Chu army, that is, the second-class divisions, they are now the same as the new-style first-class divisions. Only the deputy division commander and chief of staff are brigadier generals, and there is no brigade commander.

In fact, the few second-class divisions that started last year had brigade-level establishments, and all establishments followed the old-style first-class divisions.

However, these second-class divisions often need to be stationed in separate places, and they rarely have combat missions. There is no need or need to assemble into brigade-level troops. Setting up two brigade-level troops at the same time will lead to too many senior generals and too many command levels And other issues.

Finally, considering the future replacement of flintlock guns and the reorganization of the new system, it is also to further reduce military expenditures.

The army simply changed the establishment of the second-class divisions to a system of one division and three regiments, and completely abolished the brigade-level establishment.

The early second-class divisions with two brigades and four regiments were also reformed into one division and three regiments.

So now, all the second-class divisions in the Chu army are one division and three regiments, but because the second-class divisions still use old-fashioned equipment, tactics and organization, the strength of the second-class divisions is only a few thousand people.

After all, an infantry battalion under the old system has more than 600 troops, and a regiment is only about 900, while under the new system, an infantry battalion has more than 3000 troops, and a regiment can have more than [-] troops. The gap between the two But very big.

Regardless of whether it was before or now, in the army of the Great Chu Empire, only after becoming a brigadier general can one be able to call himself a general, a senior general in the army.

Because the brigadier general's epaulets also have gold stars.

The major general wears two gold stars, the lieutenant general three, and the general four.

Tang Yuanze's hope now is to be able to wear gold star epaulets on a yellow background after finishing this battle on the western front and become a real general.

But if you want to become a general and become a member of the senior generals, military exploits are indispensable, so this time you must play beautifully in this No. [-] channel.

Not to win, but to win beautifully.

The superiors have sent you all the precious [-]-jin light-weight howitzers, and you can use the new-style grenades as you please. Under such circumstances, winning the third passage is his essential work for Tang Yuanze.

It's normal to win, but it's dereliction of duty if you can't win.

On the premise of winning, you have to play well, so that you can add points on your resume.

So since Colonel Tang Yuanze learned that he was going to conquer Passage No. [-], he ran here many times to look at the terrain on the opposite side, and then carried out a perfect attack plan with a group of officers and regiment staff.

If you want to attack the enemy army, you can't win by rushing up with thousands of people. The Ming army on the opposite side is not stupid, and they also have large and small artillery and muskets.

Facing the enemy who relied on the terrain, built fortresses and trenches, and possessed many firearms for defensive operations, it was not so easy to take this place, especially when the casualties were minimized.

Now, Tang Yuanze and other officers have also received initial rewards for their preliminary work. Before the battle, they formulated a detailed artillery plan, carefully selected and built artillery positions, and ensured that their twelve [-]-pound light howitzers could be brought into full play. Some effect.

And these twelve [-]-pound light howitzers did not disappoint him!

These artillery were deployed in three places, and their artillery positions were carefully selected, about 400 meters away from the front line, with a good range of fire and a reverse slope.

This is a howitzer. At the same time, in order to attack the enemy hiding in the trench, it adopts a relatively high elevation angle when launching to ensure a relatively curved trajectory, allowing the shell to fall into the enemy trench and explode.

At the same time, the anti-slope can avoid the enemy's short-barreled and small-caliber field guns' direct-point counterattack firepower.

The most important thing is that the rate of fire of these howitzers is almost comparable to that of field guns firing solid shells. It is not like mortars. It is very troublesome to fire a shot. It takes a long time to toss back and forth, and the slow rate of fire can make people anxious.

The accuracy is also very high, far from what those mortars can match.

This kind of howitzer, which is similar to field guns in terms of rate of fire and accuracy, is much more powerful in terms of power.

The new 150mm caliber grenade weighs [-] kilograms, and the internal charge is not a small amount, so the power of the explosion is not small.

Even though it is not as perverted as the 48-jin grenade, if it hits the enemy's position accurately, it can easily kill a group of people.

The precise and dense 150mm grenades continued to fall into the positions of the Ming army guarding the No. [-] passage, which not only suppressed their counterattack firepower, but also caused a large number of casualties.

At this time, a large number of infantrymen of the Chu army, armed with bayonets and pre-loaded flintlock guns, and wearing light half-body armor for musketeers, moved from various positions to the front of the Ming army. Launched a charge.

When the infantry charged, reinforcements from the regiment itself and friendly troops came, and a total of eight field guns of two and a half catties fired at the defenders ahead.

The rate of fire of these two-and-a-half-pound field guns is faster than that of ordinary gunpowder. This kind of artillery with fixed propellant can basically achieve two rounds of rapid fire in one minute.

At the same time, instead of using a flashy new 65mm caliber howitzer, it directly uses solid shells for shelling.

Under the suppression of the powerful artillery fire, the soldiers of the Ming army hiding in the ditch on the opposite side wanted to control the artillery to fight back, but they were quickly retreated due to heavy casualties.

After the infantry charge of the Chu army paid dozens of casualties, they successfully crossed a distance of hundreds of meters, climbed a steep slope of hundreds of meters, and successfully captured the defensive positions of the defenders in the outer trenches.

Immediately afterwards, the No.90 Eighth Infantry Regiment of the Chu Army continued to attack under the cover of powerful artillery firepower, captured several forts one after another, and finally pushed the front line to the front of the large fort guarding the No. [-] passage.

As long as this large fortress is taken down, the Chu army will be able to completely pry open this valley path named No. [-] passage by the Chu army.

Although this path can only be passed on foot at present, and it is curved and steep, but it is mainly able to control this path, then the engineering troops and tens of thousands of civilians who have been prepared in the rear will immediately enter it to repair the road. It will not take long for this mountain path, It will be widened to a road wide enough for carriages.

More importantly, after occupying the No. [-] passage, the Chu army can use this direction as a breakthrough, take advantage of the situation to occupy the mountainous area between the No. [-] passage and Tongguan City, and then move a large number of artillery to several of the hills, directly condescending Shelled Tongguan City.

At that time, Tongguan City dare not say that it is within easy reach, but it will be much easier to attack by force.

(End of this chapter)