Zuo Zongtang rushed to Kunming one after another, and this veteran who was over seventy years old had been running around for the Qing Dynasty all his life. But Guan Xuqing really didn't have the trust to suppress the handsome talents of so many generals below. The only way to make this veteran general work for a few more years is to wait for the army officers who went to Germany to study to come back and take over.

Zuo Zongtang arrived in Kunming first, and recorded in the documents of the imperial court military department that Kunming was garrisoned by the newly formed Feng Zicai department.

Due to his outstanding performance in the Sino-Vietnamese War, Guan Xuqing specially promoted Feng Zicai to be a general, but because the newly recruited soldiers were still in the training period and the equipment was not ready, there was no combat mission for the time being. But as Feng Zicai's old superior, he went to Vietnam this time and passed by his station.

Turning over from the horse was the Minister of Military Aircraft, Zuo Zongtang, the secretary of the Ministry of War, who did not wear a court uniform today, but changed into his marshal military uniform. Feng Zicai wanted to help him get off the horse, but he refused, and he jumped off the horse.

"See the marshal." Feng Zicai knelt down on one knee and gave a standard military salute.

Zuo Zongtang also dismounted with Liu Yongfu, Liu Mingchuan, Wu Ping, Nie Shicheng and Pan Dongmin.

Zuo Zongtang glanced at him and said with a smile: "I heard that you Feng Zicai has made a fortune recently, I came to see the vision, you won't hide it." ”

Since the last time he talked to Guan Xuqing, Zuo Zongtang was ordered to go out of Beijing secretly. Proceeded to form the Southwest Group Army in Vietnam, with 250,000 troops from Nie Shicheng's division, Liu Mingchuan's division, Wu Ping's division, Liu Yongfu's division, and Pan Dongmin's division, ready to enter Burma at any time to fight.

Feng Zicai smiled and said, "What kind of wealth?" The poor are about to be pants, and the equipment of the Hubei Gun and Artillery Bureau is sent to Vietnam, and I am greedy to see it. My brothers are still practicing assassination with wooden guns and aiming. There has been no live-fire practice, and the Mauser recoil is quite strong, and not practicing live-fire is equivalent to not practicing. As he spoke, he looked at the several generals behind Zuo Zongtang, meaning that they had all taken possession of this equipment.

"Go, go, who's. The emperor told me that a kind of grenade bomb recently developed by the Hubei Gun and Artillery Bureau has already been equipped for you, so that the recruits are training. Take me for a walk and show me what this thing is. ”

Not long after, the crowd came to an open field, and not far away hundreds of soldiers were throwing things at some pulverized coal in a circle. Zuo Zongtang led the general behind him to step forward, picked up a black hard iron block on the ground, and said, "This is the grenade bomb you are equipping?" ”

Feng Zicai looked at the things in Zuo Zongtang's hand and said: "There are too few grenade bombs, and I am reluctant to take them out for training, so I usually replace them with iron blocks of the same weight." Saying that, Feng Zicai took an olive-shaped grenade and a grenade with a wooden handle from the soldier next to him and said, "This is true." ”

Zuo Zongtang looked at it and said, "How to use it?" Can you give me a ring? ”

Feng Zicai listened, beckoned the surrounding soldiers to retreat, pulled out the fuse on the grenade, threw his arm and threw it out.

Without waiting for the grenade to explode, Feng Zicai pulled the string of the grenade again, and saw two loud noises one after the other ten zhang away, and the dirt, sand and gravel were splashed in all directions, and when the smoke cleared, there was already a small pit on the ground.

Liu Mingchuan, Liu Yongfu and others behind Zuo Zongtang were so shocked that they couldn't say a word, obviously stunned by this murder weapon. Both of them were people who had lived through the Sino-French war and had a deep impression of trench warfare in the war. In the case of a small difference in the artillery of the two sides, it was almost impossible to break through the trenches with machine-gun fire.

This is the successful use of the trench, and if it is our turn to break through the enemy's trench in the future, what methods will we use to break through it? This is a question that the officers who participated in the Sino-French war have been thinking about.

Now the method has finally appeared, everything in the world is mutually reinforcing, and the grenade bomb is the best weapon for trench warfare.

At this time, Liu Yongfu couldn't stand at first. Cheekily said: "Brother Feng, do you see if this grenade bomb supports our Black Flag Army for hundreds of boxes, those country brothers under me have not seen this thing, if you catch these things thrown over as sweet potatoes on the battlefield in the future, it will be a big loss, so you must give me some, anyway, you can't keep this thing." ”

"Hundreds of boxes?" Feng Zicai's originally red face even turned red at this time: "You are really a big breath, now I have ten bids, and each person has less than five, you want to go so much when you touch your mouth, don't think about it, there is not a box." ”

"Brother Feng, won't it be over if you return the grenade that the military department has given us, anyway, you don't have any combat mission now. This weather is not good, and you are not afraid of this grenade' bomb tide? Liu Mingchuan said on the side.

"Alright." Zuo Zongtang frowned at this time and said: "These grenade bombs are supplied to Feng Zicai's department, and I will write to the emperor to ask all bureaus to step up the production of this kind of grenade bombs to equip all departments." Then the people gave up.

Then everyone came to the artillery mark, where there was no artillery group with many barrels, only more than 20 75mm camp guns, and the artillerymen were conducting * gun training behind. Everyone crossed the trained soldiers to the gate of a warehouse, and under the leadership of Feng Zicai, the group walked in from the small door.

The sunlight shining through the skylight allowed everyone to quickly see the situation in the warehouse. There were rows of smoke-like things standing in front of them, and Zuo Zongtang said suspiciously: "This is a mortar?" In his impression, artillery should be bulky, hundreds of pounds and thousands of pounds at every turn, which is as light as the mortar in front of him.

Feng Zicai nodded at this time and said: "These mortars were all made by Ning Ju, originally there was only one kind of inch cannon (33mm), which could shoot three miles away, and later Ning Ju made a big one, which could shoot five miles away." There are more than 500 such mortars in our department, and I originally wanted one for each company. However, it was later found that the power of a few concentrated guns was no less than that of ordinary artillery, and the heaviest of these cannons was only 15 pounds. So I gathered them together to form a cannon mark. ”

At this time, Zuo Zongtang also thought of the advantages that mortars can bring in mountain encounters, imagine that the enemy can only carry light weapons because of the heavy artillery, but our side has the help of artillery, and its victory or defeat is unexpected.

Pan Dongmin regretted greatly at this time, when he saw the emperor in the capital, the emperor asked him to be responsible for training recruits, saying that there was new equipment to try. At the beginning, I thought that the emperor was coaxing me, and I was reluctant to leave the old army. Now that he saw Feng Zicai's grenade and mortar, the regret in his heart was like a surging river flowing eastward......