"Because of Zhou Zining's meritorious service, he was awarded a second-class Yinglong Medal, and Zhou Zining was promoted to brigadier general..."

In the position of the National Social Army not far from the defense line of the Beiyang Army, Zhu Qinglan was hanging a silver Yinglong medal on Zhou Zining's chest. (Ying Long, a dragon with wings.) ）

On Zhou Zining's chest, the Ying Long Medal was making a gesture of flapping its wings and flying and raising its head to roar.

After Zhu Qinglan hung up the medal, he smiled and slapped Zhou Zining's chest with his fist.

"You actually want me to award you a medal, you kid is better than your division commander!"

General, lieutenant general, major general, brigadier general, as the army commander Zhu Qinglan's military rank is lieutenant general, but Zhou Zining is only a colonel regiment commander, Zhu Qinglan is at least three levels older than Zhou Zining, no wonder Zhu Qinglan said this with a smile.

And hearing Zhu Qinglan say this, Zhou Zining was just surrounded by a group of envious people in the middle and kept having fun...

(At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the military rank system of the New Army was second-class private, first-class private, regular soldier, corporal, sergeant, sergeant, sergeant, second lieutenant, lieutenant, captain, major general, lieutenant general, and general.) There are no two military ranks, colonel or brigadier general, so in addition to colonel as regiment commander, major general is brigade commander, lieutenant general is division commander, and general is only army commander. It is clear that the Manchus did not think about the formation of the army group ... ）

Although the defeat of the cavalry of the two regiments in front of the battle was only of tactical significance, the effect he had was strategic. This is also why Zhou Zining was awarded the rank of brigadier general, you must know that in the establishment of the National Social Army, the brigadier general can already serve as a brigade commander. This is also why, when he learned that he was going to be awarded, Zhou Zining would ask the governor if he was going to build a cavalry brigade.

Of course, Yan Guang also has his own selfishness. In his opinion, Zhou Zining and the other three have been familiar with him very early, even earlier than Song Dinghan and Wang Er, so if they develop, it is not a good thing for the three of them to sit on their own lineage.

Otherwise, Zhou Zining would not have been awarded the rank of brigadier general, you must know that although brigadier general is only the lowest rank among generals, it is already beyond the reach of many people. A soldier who does not want to be a general is not a good soldier, and although there is only a line between a colonel and a brigadier general (major general), I don't know how many soldiers are unable to cross this obstacle in their lifetime...

As for the medals? The Ying Long Medal is divided into three classes, gold, silver, and bronze, but this does not need to be detailed.

After being awarded the rank of brigadier general, although Zhou Zining was already qualified to become a brigade commander, because at present, at least at present, there has not been a cavalry brigade establishment, so Zhou Zining can only temporarily serve as his cavalry commander. When the cavalry brigade was also built, he was promoted to the commander of the cavalry brigade.

And because of the heavy casualties of Zhou Zining's Third Cavalry Regiment in the battle before the battle, after being awarded, Zhou Zining's cavalry regiment will be transferred to the rear for rest and replenishment. Fortunately, when Yan Guang bought a lot of Arabian horses, he didn't need to worry about not having enough horses, or having to replenish them with returned Mongolian horses.

"But I really didn't expect that in the end, it was your kid who became the first general!"

After Zhu Qinglan and the others retreated, Zhao Wenping had already said with a smile, and Chen Yuguo on the side also followed after coming up. "Yes, I didn't expect that you would be the first of the three of us to become a general, and when this battle is over, you will have to treat you well after returning to Chengdu!"

As a care for acquaintances, in addition to Zhou Zining serving as the cavalry commander of the Third Division, Zhao Wenping and Chen Yuguo also served as the commander of the artillery regiment and the commander of the infantry regiment in the Third Division respectively. Fortunately, the three of them all graduated from the regular military academy, so they are all very competent.

As fellow villagers, they have studied abroad together in Yueben, although the three of them are not friends in the general corner, but they are also close friends who know each other well. It's just that there will be competition between friends, for example, the three of them have been competing for who will become the first general, and now it is obvious that Zhou Zining has become the winner in this competition, so if Chen Yuguo and Zhao Wenping want to continue to compete, they can only compete for the second position...

In front of his friends, Zhou Zining also put on a smug posture, making the three of them laugh non-stop.

Looking at the three people laughing, Zhu Qinglan and the others in the headquarters also crossed their arms and watched the excitement on the side.

For young people, Zhu Qinglan has always been very tolerant. What's more, Zhou Zining has just won a while, which has greatly boosted the morale of the whole army, and Zhu Qinglan will not say anything at this juncture, as for the others? ―――――― except for Zhu Qinglan, there are only three major generals and division commanders in the whole army with higher ranks than Zhou Zining, and these three people are all busy in their respective units now, and the rest are either at the same level as Zhou Zining or lower than him, and it is even more impossible to stand up and say anything in this situation.

When the three of them had enough trouble, Zhu Qinglan came out and clapped his hands.

"Okay, okay, don't make trouble, let's go and arrange the combat mission first!"

Hearing Zhu Qinglan, the highest-ranking officer, say this, including Zhou Zining and the chiefs of staff of several other divisions, they all saluted with their legs.

"Yes!"

Like the atmosphere at the headquarters, the atmosphere at the positions of the National Socialist Army was relaxed.

After all, not long ago, his own cavalry taught the opponent's cavalry a hard lesson, and defeated the opponent in a 2:1 situation. In addition, after the victory of the Qianjiang Campaign, although more than 100,000 Beiyang troops were assembled on the opposite side, the officers and men of the Guoshe Army on the position still looked very relaxed, and many soldiers even chatted with other soldiers there with a "cloud of smoke" after digging the fortifications.

However, compared with the National Social Army, the Beiyang Army on the opposite side was much heavier.

Without him, it is impossible for the cavalry of his two regiments to be overturned on his back by a person killed by one regiment of others, and it is impossible not to be heavy...

And in the headquarters at the rear of the position, Feng Guozhang, Duan Qirui and others also surrounded the weapons on the table with heavy faces. Standing at the round table, Meng Xiaozeng and Nan Yuanchao, who had obviously changed from colonel to lieutenant colonel, pointed to the weapons on the table.

"Two adults, these are the weapons used by the cavalry of the National Army during the battle..."

However, although the rank has changed from colonel to lieutenant colonel, the faces of the two have not changed much, and it is obvious that in their opinion, saving a life is the best result.

However, Feng Guozhang didn't care about the two of them, he just squinted at the Madsen light machine gun and the revolver-type grenade launcher on the table.

"What kind of weapons are these?"

Hearing Feng Guozhang's question, there was no need for Meng Xiaozeng and Nan Yuanchao to answer, and someone on the side had already answered.

"This should be a light machine fast gun made in Northern Europe and Denmark, with a caliber of eight meters, a speed of 2,000 meters, 12 rings per (second) clock, and it is extremely handy..." However, after explaining the Madsen light machine gun, the staff officer scratched his head when he looked at the grenade launcher. "However, this weapon is not very clear, at least as far as the lowly knows, there is no such weapon in Europe."

Nodding, he didn't care when he heard that the staff officer didn't know about the grenade launcher, after all, his performance on the battlefield, no matter how he looked at it, the Madsen light machine gun was much stronger than the grenade launcher, so Feng Guozhang just looked at the Madsen light machine gun on the table and said slowly.

"I didn't expect the National Social Army to have such a sharp weapon."

After hearing Feng Guozhang's words, the staff officer interjected on the side.

"In fact, this kind of weapon is not only available to the National Socialist Army."

"Oh?"

Hearing the staff officer's words, Feng Guozhang, Duan Qirui and the others were taken aback at first, and then turned their heads to look at him.

The staff officer was not nervous when he arrived, but walked over the crowd to the table and whispered.

"As far as the lowly knows, this weapon is called the Danish Type 1904 light machine gun in addition to the light machine gun. In 1908, that is, in the 34th year of Guangxu, the technicians of the Guangdong Manufacturing Ordnance Factory used to make them by hand, and the finished products were no different from those of foreign countries. At that time, the production of handmade products was 2 to 3 per month. Later, the Guangdong Manufacturing Ordnance Factory once telegraphed the German Krupp Gun Factory and learned that it would cost about 300,000 taels of silver to build 10 machines. The case was not approved, and the plant continued to produce eight-meter-mile light machine guns by hand. However, this was already a few years ago, and later the factory had purchased machines for the manufacture of light machine guns, and sent them to them on the eve of the Xinhai Revolution, and after the establishment of the Kuomintang, the name of the factory was changed from the Guangdong Ordnance Manufacturing General Factory to the Guangdong Arsenal, and the Danish eight-meter light machine fast guns were also changed from 2 or 3 to 20 per month..." "But......... He remembered that the magazine of the light machine fast gun should only have a capacity of 30 rounds, but the magazine in front of him had a capacity of at least 100 rounds, which also made the Danish light machine fast gun much more powerful, but it is unknown why it was so lowly. ”

These weapons were collected by Beiyang soldiers on the battlefield after the withdrawal of Zhou Zining's cavalry.

At that time, there was chaos on the battlefield, the corpses of the soldiers of the National Social Army and the Beiyang Army were mixed together, and Beiyang might send reinforcements out at any time. So although a lot of weapons fell to the ground, Zhou Zining still decisively chose to evacuate.

After Zhou Zining's troops evacuated, Feng Guozhang was silent for a while with a blue face. Then let a battalion of infantry deal with it when they get to the general. After all, if this kind of thing is not handled well, it is likely to cause some big changes.

That is, when disposing of the corpses, these Beiyang infantry soldiers found a lot of weapons scattered on the battlefield. Such as the Mauser G98 rifle, the Browning pistol, the Madsen light machine gun and the revolver grenade launcher, among others. Because he was well aware of the importance of these weapons, after preventing his subordinates from continuing to loot the finances of the soldiers killed in the war, the battalion commander took these weapons and reported the matter to Feng Guozhang.

――――――――――

"Quick, good, take your time!"

On the position of the National Socialist Army, the artillery subordinate to the artillery corps is pushing the god of war into the preset artillery position. This time, because there was no damn river blockage, the 120mm and 150mm caliber heavy cannons of the National Social Army could come in handy.

Above the artillery position, several artillery reconnaissance balloons also floated in the air, observing the layout of the Beiyang position while looking for traces of the Beiyang artillery.

"But they're well hidden, the Scout has been on the balloon for at least an hour, but still hasn't found any clues..."

In the general headquarters, Zhu Qinglan used a wooden stick to beat the Hanyang terrain sand table that had just been sent by the Military Intelligence Bureau not long ago, and at the same time said to Yang Shan, Peng Xiu and others on the side.

On the sand table, everything from lakes to hills is available, and according to the reports of the scouts on the hot air balloon, a group of staff officers are constantly adjusting the terrain on the sand table. I believe that it will not take long for every bit of the Beiyang Army's position to appear on this sand table.

And after hearing Zhu Qinglan's words, Yang Shan and Peng Xiu also said with a smile.

"You guy, didn't you underestimate the Beiyang Army after winning a game in Qianjiang? You must know that the group of guys in Beiyang are much more experienced than us, and they suffered the loss of the artillery army when they were in Qianjiang, how could they not remember their surnames for a long time now? ”

As Yang Shan and Peng Xiu said, when they were in Qianjiang, the Beiyang Army had almost been baptized by shells, so how could they not make some changes in Hanyang?

It's just that the range of the heavy artillery of the National Socialist Army is farther than that of the Beiyang Artillery Army, so in addition to concealing the artillery position as much as possible, Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui have no other way to think of it. After all, the largest caliber artillery in the Beiyang Army is only 75mm caliber, while the largest caliber artillery in the National Social Army has reached 210mm. What's more, there is no natural danger like the Dongjing River in Hanyang, and if you want to rely on the Han River, you can only retreat to Hankou. To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that Hanyang's influence was too significant, Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui really wanted to retreat to Hankou or Wuchang, leaving Hankou, which was already empty, to Yan Guang.

Fortunately, after knowing the strength of the artillery of the Nationalist Army, the Beiyang Artillery covered up its own positions and artillery with camouflage, and only waited for the artillery positions of the Nationalist Socialist Army to expose their positions and strive for a single battle, so that the artillery of the Nationalist Socialist Army suffered heavy losses―――――― the sources of artillery in the Beiyang Army were very mixed, including national (imitation), German, and French. Among them, the number of German and said to be the largest, and in 1913, Yuan Shikai had to go east and said that he used a large loan to buy a lot of ordnance

The Meiji 38 75mm field gun had an impressive range of 8,350 meters, while the German 75mm field gun of the same type had a range of only 8,000 meters.

At the same time, in terms of large-caliber artillery, the National Social Army also pays more attention to howitzers than cannons, after all, even Beiyang is only equipped with 75mm caliber artillery in China. And the range of the latest 150mm German-made heavy howitzer is only 8500 meters, which can only surpass the Meiji 38 75mm field artillery line...

Fortunately, the range of the 210mm heavy howitzer is 9400 meters, and the range of the 120mm and 150mm cannons is also much higher than that of the 75mm field gun.

However, even so, we should be cautious, after all, the main force to kill and injure the infantry in the fortifications is the howitzer group, and the 75mm mountain gun and the 105mm light howitzer are within the strike range of the 75mm field artillery, after all, the range of the 75mm mountain gun is only 5750 meters, and the range of the 105mm light howitzer is only 6300 meters. If you are not careful, even if the artillery of the Beiyang Army will be wiped out, the 75mm and 105mm of the National Social Army will not feel better...

"Three commanders, the scouts have passed on the latest reconnaissance results."

As he spoke, a staff officer took the latest information and carefully sketched out on the sand table with several other staff officers, and in a short time, several trenches appeared on the position of the Beiyang Army that had not appeared in the past.

"These are the latest discoveries, and they should be infantry fortifications..."

"Good..."

At the same time that these staff officers were sketching there, after receiving the latest information, the artillery of the National Socialist Army was also correcting their artillery of various calibers according to the positions shown on the intelligence.

――――――――――

A day later, after a series of preparations. Not only did the sand table used by Zhu Qinglan and others have depicted in detail the defense line of the Beiyang Army and the deployment of various positions, but even the artillery units have also assigned their respective mission objectives, so Zhu Qinglan and others can once again let the Beiyang Army understand the power of the god of war as soon as they gave the order.

After preparing the required base ammunition and spare barrels, several artillery members of the Kuomintang Army hid in the specially opened smoking area and relaxed their nerves by holding the "Yunnan" that had just been released. Artillery is different from other troops, there are flammable and explosive materials that can cause explosions everywhere, and in case of a martyrdom, it is likely that the entire army will be sent to the sky by the explosive ammunition, so if the artillery wants to smoke, they can only go to the specially opened smoking area.

"Lao Li, how long do you think this battle will take to finish...", leaning back against the dirt pit, a young soldier who looked no more than 20 years old spat a smoke ring into the sky, and asked a veteran who was at least 30 years old on the side.

"I don't know." Hearing his companion's question, the 30-year-old veteran shook his head. "There are at least 100,000 people on the other side, and we can definitely win if we win, but when we win is not certain. As he spoke, the veteran took off his military boots and let the athlete's foot, which had been held for a long time, leak out...

Several soldiers around saw that Lao Li took off his boots and didn't say anything, just kept smoking, and then let the smell of smoke in the pit overshadow Lao Li's athlete's foot.

Seeing the appearance of a few companions, Lao Li smiled honestly, and then picked up his feet with his hands...

Seeing this scene, several of the surrounding comrades-in-arms stopped smoking and ran out of the pit directly, leaving Lao Li alone to continue inside...

The National Social Army originally used ordinary rubber shoes, which belonged to the very classic style of liberation shoes in later generations. After all, China's infrastructure is quite poor, and the level of roads is even more backward, so soldiers often have to march with their feet, and at this time, light rubber shoes are very suitable for the soldiers.

So although the soldiers used Mauser G98 rifles, wore Nazi M32 uniforms, and wore German M35 steel helmets, they did wear gray PLA shoes on their feet.

However, after the Battle of Qianjiang, the officers and soldiers of the Kuomintang Army suddenly discovered that although the liberation shoes were very suitable for marching, they were not suitable for fighting in the trenches. You must know that the trenches are very cold and damp, and if you are not careful in this environment, it is easy to suffer from a very difficult "trench foot", which will cause great damage to the combat effectiveness of the troops.

It was precisely because of this incident that Yan Guang remembered the trench warfare that plagued the European soldiers in later generations.

In the trench warfare, although the barbed wire, mines and Makqin make people gnash their teeth hatefully, it is also hated by the cold environment in the trenches. In addition, the southern region is notoriously humid, and the cold weather in January is even more unbearable. Therefore, in order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the soldiers, Yan Guang quickly placed orders with several factories in Sichuan, ordering 200,000 pairs of military boots to ensure combat effectiveness―――――― and by the way, to promote the employment problem in Sichuan.

Nearly two months have passed now, and in two months, it is impossible for these factories to produce 200,000 pairs of military boots, even if they work overnight, but if it is only 10,000 pairs, it is okay. Of course, the quality of these boots is certainly not satisfactory, but even so, these cowhide boots are still popular with soldiers.

After all, compared with the rubber and thin PLA shoes, the cowhide boots are more suitable for the harsh environment in the trenches, and compared with the PLA shoes, the cowhide boots are also more compatible with the M32 uniform.

Therefore, since the cowhide military boots were distributed, the soldiers have brought two sets of shoes, one is the PLA equipment used in the march, and the other is the cowhide military boots used in the trenches.

After all, as the defensive side, the Beiyang Army needs to dig deep trenches, and the Beiyang Army wears neither rubber shoes nor military boots, but very ordinary cloth shoes, as a result, the environment in the trenches not only makes the Beiyang Army miserable, but even the combat effectiveness and morale have dropped a lot.

Just when Lao Li was still picking his feet in the tunnel, and the soldiers were squatting outside the tunnel to continue to "relax", an officer suddenly ran over from the side.

"Gather urgently, don't smoke a few of you yet."

As he spoke, the officer ignored the others and continued to run in the other direction.

It didn't take long for Lao Li to come out of the pit and see many people walking out of the leisure area like them.

"Emergency Gathering..."

"yes!"

Several soldiers outside the door replied.

"Looks like we're going to fight..."

One of the young soldiers spoke. "I hope this war can end sooner, I have already agreed with Ah Hua in the village, and I will marry her in my hometown after the war is over..."

Hearing the young soldier say this, several people around him laughed kindly...

(To be continued)