While Zhu Jishi, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was leisurely strolling on the beaches of Hawaii and vacationing on the shores of Lake Biwa in Japan, the newly formed Ming Expeditionary Force was conducting the most arduous pre-war training and military exercises. Especially after the advent of the two powerful new weapons, machine guns and breech-loading guns, the senior generals of the Ming army were eager to know how much the army's tactics would change as a result.

As a result, this unit, which is now only an army, has received the best and latest equipment from the beginning: the Jason-Type 1858 rifle, equipped with a barrel magazine that can be loaded with 8-round 38-caliber round-nosed metal fixed ammunition; improved gun carriages, reduced the number of barrels, and thus made it lighter, the Jason-1859 machine gun, which could be quickly transferred in trenches; A Bessewheat 5-pound breech gun modeled after the British Armstrong 5-pounder gun. In short, they are the most advanced weapons of this era, and even if they are used in the First Sino-Japanese War in history, it is more than enough. Moreover, all the weapons equipped with the Daming Expeditionary Force were all produced on the land of the Ming Dynasty, and after more than ten years of efforts, China's industrialization, especially heavy industrialization, seems to have achieved a leap!

The 40,000 officers and men of the First Army of the Expeditionary Force were also drawn from the elite of various units of the Ming Army. Almost 100 percent of the officers and soldiers have participated in the war against Russia and have seen the real mountains of corpses and a sea of blood. Over the past few days, various exercises have been repeatedly carried out in the plains and mountainous areas of northeastern Liaoning, which are very close to actual combat. The General Staff Headquarters and the War Department of the Ming Army also dispatched three armies that were still using old equipment (in fact, not very long) to cooperate with their drills.

It is also near Tieling, relying on mountains or rivers, with barbed wire, trenches and even fortresses. A defensive line that stretched for dozens of miles was built. The expeditionary force also had army units of the Ming army that cooperated with them in the exercises. Take turns playing as an offensive and defensive force. It is hoped that through the continuous exercises, we will find the most suitable combat mode for the future battlefield.

In the night, signal flares of different colors rose and fell one after another, and General Liu Jiong and General Shi Dakai looked at the preset positions opposite each other in the telescope. Now it is the expeditionary force to defend, to cooperate with the other Ming army offensive of the exercise. Due to the huge gap in firepower, the Ming army exercise command decided to attack by means of night fighting. In the binoculars, only a faint figure could be seen, moving vigorously through the imaginary gap in firepower. The Ming troops who served as the attackers all carried 20 grenades (training bullets) with wooden handles. Their task was to brave artillery fire to approach the defenders' positions and then force them out of the trenches with a rain of grenades! The staff officers around the two generals were busy. According to the information transmitted by the signal flares, the heralds were loudly ordered: "The second field artillery group will start moving positions in 30 minutes!" ”

"The first cluster of field artillery must be deployed in place within 20 minutes!"

"The offensive on the 205th Heights must be strengthened, it is the commanding heights of the battlefield, and it must be captured as much as possible!"

Shi Dakai knew that after this order was conveyed by the heralds, the troops who received the order would meticulously carry out all the tactical movements. Except that no real live ammunition is fired, the rest is exactly the same as on the battlefield. The purpose of the exercises during this period is to find out how the war will change after the new weapons are used. Obviously, due to the advent of the Jason-type machine gun. In the future, the scales of the battlefield will once again tip on the defensive side. Although the rear-loading cannon that appeared at the same time also gave the attacking side a little more points, the technology of the rear-loading cannon was too immature. The life of the cannon is too short, and the fuse performance of the blasting shell is very unreliable, at most only a third of the shells will be detonated. Moreover, the destructive power of 5-pound or 5-pound shells is still not great enough to help the enemy squatting in the trenches. And the Jason-style machine gun is simply a life harvester! Not to mention the traditional phalanx and horizontal formation, even the dense skirmish line is also a little bit of a death! The only reliable tactic is to use the cover of night to attack. But it's still hard to get!

Seeing the signal flare symbolizing the "failure of the attack" rise, Shi Dakai and Liu Jiong removed their eyes from the telescope and glanced at each other. Shi Dakai said: "It's still not good, there is no way to achieve a breakthrough with 5 times the number of troops!" It seems that the future war will be fought on the defensive. ”

Liu Jiong nodded and agreed: "The machine gun is too powerful, it could have been dealt with by snipers, but after installing a metal baffle, it is not even good to use this trick." If a company is equipped with 3 Jason-style machine guns and takes turns firing and shifting, even the Besemai cannon will not have much effect. The only way to do this is to surprise the ...... But this is a matter of the campaign level, and in terms of strategy, it is indeed a defensive omnipotence now! ”

Several high-ranking officers of the Ming and French armies beside them all nodded in agreement. These days, they have racked their brains to deal with the defensive combination of breech-loading guns + barbed wire + trenches + machine guns + breech-loading rifled guns. There was really no way, they also tried to use the same equipment of the expeditionary force to be responsible for attack and defense at the same time, and the result was the same! The attacking side was bleeding in front of an impregnable defensive line. Even if a few dozen Besemai cannons were concentrated to bombard a little, it would have little effect - although this kind of rear-loading cannon was advanced, its reliability was really not very good, its ability to destroy the opponent's fortifications was very limited, and the price of the shells was too expensive, and trying to flatten the enemy's civil fortifications with shells would definitely bankrupt the richest country in the world. As for the reinforced concrete fortress designed by several engineering officers who graduated from the Department of Civil Engineering of Jese University, it is simply "impossible" to be destroyed! If several such fortresses were to be built in the most critical positions of the defensive line, they would be simply impregnable and invulnerable.

Liu Jiong, chief of the General Staff, thought about it and said to Shi Dakai: "Dare to be, it seems that it is very irrational to attack the defense line composed of machine guns, trenches and barbed wire from the front. Victory is simply impossible! At least until further development of the rear-loading cannon is possible! If you want to succeed quickly in your mission in the United States this time, you must fight a quick decisive battle and occupy the front lines of Washington, Philadelphia, and New York before the American North begins to be heavily equipped with machine guns. Otherwise, it will only be possible to adopt a lasting defense, which will deplete the strength of the north little by little. ”

He paused for a moment, and said with a little hesitation: "But a quick victory may not be beneficial to our Ming Dynasty, if the Southern Army defeats Washington, Philadelphia, and New York in one go, the Northern Army may only surrender, so how long can the civil war in the United States last?" How much benefit can those of us who help boxing out? ”

When he said these words, his brows furrowed slightly, and he naturally knew nothing more about Emperor Zhu's habit of not being able to afford to be early. Thousands of miles away, is it just to go and return? If this future American Civil War ends in a few months, what will the Ming get? I'm afraid it's hard to get a California. And if the north and the south don't fight a bloody feud, maybe when will they be united again in the future, then won't all their efforts be in vain?

Shi Dakai just said "um", "This is a decision made by the government, and the emperor will definitely have a clear explanation, we only need to make two sets of plans now...... I think that if the First Army of the Expeditionary Force, the Mexican Foreign Legion, the French Legion in Mexico, and the Virginia Militia could be used at the beginning of the American Civil War, they should be able to capture Washington, Philadelphia, and New York within one month! ”

His eyebrows furrowed, and he said: "If you want to fight a protracted war, then the South should stop at Washington, the capital of the United States, and control the entire territory of Virginia, deploy defensive lines along the Potomac River and the mountainous areas of western Virginia, establish the Pomac River Fleet, and prepare for long-term defense." However, this line of defense is still too long, and the number of troops required will be astronomical. Moreover, after the northern United States is unable to break through the Virginia defense line, it is very likely that the central plains of the United States will be chosen as the breakthrough point, and then it will only be afraid of fighting a large corps movement war...... After all, the South could not have enough troops to maintain a long line of defense across the central United States. And the sports war will test the ability of both sides to organize the campaign. (To be continued......)