Liao Dashan rowed the oars in his hand hard, and pushed the small boat to the shore with the other comrades on the boat.

Even though he kept his head down, he could still see the land in front of him constantly exploding, the harbor was bursting with fires, and some buildings near the docks had collapsed.

Such a fierce artillery bombardment was more fierce than the artillery salvo of a division he saw, and he was shocked to turn back slightly, just in time to see the many naval guns of the Fuxi firing a salvo, only to see that the muzzles of those 150 mm naval guns released several huge flames, and after the fire flashed, the rumbling sound crossed the sea and reached Liao Dashan's ears.

Meaningfully, he moved his gaze forward in the direction of the shelling, only to see that several clouds of explosion smoke and dust had risen from the port in front of him.

In the sound of the explosion, it was as if the shouts and screams of the personnel could be heard!

With the strong fire support of the fleet, Liao Dashan and their wooden boats soon arrived at the beachhead!

One of the sergeant squad leaders at the head was the first to stand up, shouting: "Hurry, hurry!" ”

Then, the sergeant squad leader, who was about 30 years old, was the first to jump into the water, raising the rifle high in his hand, and at the same time did not forget to tell his subordinates: "Raise the gun, don't let the water blister!" ”

Although the latest Empire rifle, the 1864 Linde rifle, is already made of metal bullets and has some waterproof ability, it is best to avoid allowing the gun to be blistered directly by water, especially seawater, unless it is unavoidable.

Guns that have been soaked in seawater can easily deform their wooden butts and other parts. At the same time, seawater is more corrosive and will also cause greater damage to some parts of the gun.

Liao Dashan looked at the bullet pouch on his chest. Normally, bullet pouches are usually hung around the waist, but this kind of landing operation. In order to avoid who gets the bullet soaked, the pouch containing the bullet is usually raised to the chest or back.

Turning over and going into the water, the water is not deep at this time, only about half a meter or more, but only more than half a meter, but due to the resistance of the sea water, it is still more laborious to walk.

Thankfully, there is no concept of beachhead anti-landings these days. Normally, the defending side does not build defensive positions on the beachhead, and then carry out intensive fire interception of the enemy who is landing.

Of course, this is not to say that they do not want to do this, but because the density of firepower in the modern era is relatively low, even if they intercept it, it will not have much effect, but will be covered by the dense naval fire of the attacking side.

In modern times and even in the next few decades, the density of naval artillery firepower far exceeds that of land.

The naval guns in the fleet are usually medium and large caliber naval guns, four or five inches of caliber are considered small six inches, and seven inches can only be regarded as secondary guns. Eight-inch or even nine-inch naval guns are the caliber of the main guns, and the number of these guns is quite large, and the previous broadside battleships had dozens of guns. The main guns of the new generation of ironclad ships with central gun emplacements are generally kept at about four, but with the addition of secondary guns. Generally, it can also be done to the extent of more than a dozen to twenty or thirty doors, and the specific amount depends on the size of the tonnage.

For example, the Fuxi ironclad ship is now carrying out artillery bombardment missions. It has two twin 150mm open air turrets and six 120mm secondary guns on the side of the side. And then there were four eighty-mm single-mounted secondary guns.

This firepower is not comparable to that of ordinary armies!

As for the army, the artillery units of its field units still use old front-loading rifled guns, mainly 75-mm front-loading rifled guns, and some are 90-mm front-loading rifled guns.

A very small number of siege heavy artillery units will have 180 mm or 200 mm heavy artillery, but this kind of heavy artillery is generally a front-loading short-barreled mortar gun, not a conventional cannon.

In fact, whether in contemporary or later generations, the firepower gap between the army and the navy is quite large, and it is very normal for the firepower of a warship to exceed the firepower of a division of the army.

Of course, the first half of a landing operation is generally relatively simple, because there is usually no battle during the landing process, and the real battle takes place after the landing.

Liao Dashan followed his squad leader across the sea, and when he finally stepped on the beach, he saw a young lieutenant in front of him who was not much older than him, with tender skin and white skin, waving his hand.

Liao Dashan recognized him, it was the platoon commander of his platoon, a young second lieutenant who only graduated last year, surnamed Xu, and it was said that he was born in a wealthy family.

However, Liao Dashan didn't understand why he came to join the army with such a good background and earn this military salary, although the income from the army is a lot, but it is probably nothing for those rich and noble families.

Private Liao Dashan naturally couldn't understand why the elite class of the empire was so enthusiastic about joining the army!

From the perspective of feudal dynasties, the early stage of a dynasty is often the peak of the military general class, in this period, it is often the military heavy and the military light and the military light generally appear in the middle and late dynasties.

Among the more than 130 nobles in the empire, there are less than 20 royal nobles and nobles, and there are only about 20 civil nobles, and the rest are all military generals.

In recent years, among the few newly promoted nobles who have been awarded aristocratic titles, only one person belongs to the civilian system, that is, Li Bocang, the imperial minister to Japan, and the other seven or eight people are still military generals.

Expanding the territory is the best way to obtain a noble title.

At the same time, for a monarchy, in fact, the aristocracy often has a greater sense of belonging to the country than ordinary people, why? Because they are the interest class of the country, defending the country is tantamount to defending their title and social status.

And this kind of defense is not only limited to the outside world, but also to the inside.

At the same time, when Lin Zhe formulated the aristocratic system, he positioned the domestic aristocracy as a military aristocracy, if it could be cultivated similar to the modern military aristocracy in Britain or the Junker aristocracy in Germany. That's the best thing to do.

In addition to these factors, the children of the empire's elite enthusiastically joined the army. is also because the road to the army is also the road to the official career.

And this is not only limited to the aristocracy, but also for most students in the country. Being able to be admitted to the two major military academies is a great blessing in life.

In particular, the Army Military Academy, which is the dream school of countless graduates of high schools in China, has a large number of students applying for the entrance examination every year, and there are many people who apply for the examination, and the enrollment scale is still so much, so the admission rate is also rising year by year.

It is much more difficult to apply for the exam than the Imperial University and the Naval Academy.

After joining the army, he served as an officer for several years. If you are unlucky, you can't be promoted smoothly, and then after you retire at the age arrangement, you will generally serve professionally in the locality, and this kind of demobilized military officials are actually very welcome in the locality, and the reason is very simple.

Which category of people in the contemporary empire has the highest overall quality? There is no doubt that it is the officer class, to be precise, the officers who have been systematically studied and trained by the two major military schools.

Especially in the early years of the Empire. Students with modern scientific knowledge are basically in the military, and when the Imperial University was established, they had to go to the military to seconded officers to give lectures!

The textbooks used by domestic schools such as the Imperial University were also compiled in the early years of the Army School. At present, most of the Western books in China, especially science books, are translated by students from the two major military academies.

Many peculiarities within the empire. As a result, domestic students are very enthusiastic about joining the army, and this enthusiasm does not only refer to the elite class. Rather, it refers to the student class.

Liao Dashan naturally didn't know much about this, the reason why he joined the army. The reason is not as complicated as those officers, his reason is very simple, he has five brothers and sisters in his family, he is the eldest, he can't fill his stomach at all by relying on a few acres of thin land at home, in order to free up food for his younger brothers and sisters, but also to earn a salary to support his family, he resolutely signed up for the army at the age of eighteen.

Now the salary he sends back every month through the military post office has greatly improved the life of his family, and the family has also written to the family, saying that the family is ready to save again, and is ready to continue to provide for his third brother to apply for the Anhui North High School.

After Liao Dashan received the letter from home, he immediately replied: Let the third brother take the exam first, and he will solve the tuition fee after being admitted.

His third brother is eighteen years old this year, although the family was poor a few years ago, but because of his intelligence, he was greatly appreciated by the old Xiucai in the village, and even let him study his own private school for free, which is also regarded as the primary school in the official name, and then he was successfully admitted to the county higher primary school, until the Fu primary school, since entering the school, his studies have been among the best all year round, as for the tuition fee at the beginning, it was borrowed from the east and the west, and later it was supported by Liao Dashan.

In these days, there are no scholarships or anything like that, government schools cost a lot of money, and local governments often grit their teeth to run schools, and if they come to school for free, the local finances will be even more unbearable.

Fortunately, the salary of soldiers in this year is not low, although it is a little difficult to support a person to go to school, but it will be over by gritting his teeth.

But studying below junior high school and going to higher high school or even university are two different things, although the tuition fee of junior high school is also expensive, but Liao Dashan can barely make ends meet, but senior high school is completely different.

The high school of this year and the high school of later generations are two different things, and the high school has another name, that is, the college preparatory course.

Often there are only one or two in a province, and in Anhui, where Liao Dashan's hometown is located, there are only two high schools in the province, and in northern Anhui, there is only one, which is not only competitive, but also quite expensive, and ordinary people can never afford it.

However, no matter what the era, those talented and intelligent people are always not lacking in Bole, and many local gentry, especially those of the same clan, are very willing to sponsor those potential students to study, which is not their kindness, but a long-term investment.

Anyway, a little tuition fee is nothing for them, but if the sponsored students get ahead in the future, the potential benefits are not small.

Therefore, many contemporary students who go to college, especially those from poor families, often have someone behind them, and of course, this has also created a rather interesting atmosphere, that is, these college students are basically married.

Many rich and noble families subsidize poor students to go to college, and then directly marry their daughters to him and tie them together.

It's similar to catching a son-in-law under the list in the imperial examination era.

If his third brother can be admitted to a higher secondary school or even go to college in the future, it is unreliable to rely on other people's qualifications, and he will have to pull down his face, and then borrow some from his comrades-in-arms and a few superiors.

The salary of soldiers in these years is not low, and the salary of professional soldiers above the non-commissioned officer level is even higher, let alone officers, dozens or even hundreds of yuan a month.

Liao Dashan pondered that he would borrow it from his comrades-in-arms and superiors, and it was estimated that he would be able to make up the tuition for the third brother.

Anyway, Liao Dashan is determined to pay attention to the third brother, their old Liao family has been for hundreds of years, and it is not easy to produce a scholar, whether the old Liao family can get rid of poverty in the future and embark on the road of wealth, hope is on his third brother.

Liao Dashan looked at the second lieutenant in front of him, and inexplicably began to think in his heart that it would be good if his third brother could also be admitted to the military academy after he went to a higher middle school.

Second Lieutenant Xu naturally didn't know Liao Dashan's thoughts, at this moment he was shouting hard, gathering the forty or fifty people under his command, there was a little confusion when he rushed to the stall just now, and the soldiers in his platoon were divided into three small wooden boats, and during the landing process, they were far apart, so he was quite laborious, so he gathered the soldiers of the three squads under his command.

Then began to advance further towards the land.

Before landing, he was given a fairly simple combat mission, which was to be the first to land, then to advance inland after landing, to clear the beach of possible enemies, and then to establish a beachhead to defend against enemy counterattacks in order to cover the subsequent landing of friendly troops.

After learning that his platoon was the first landing force, the young Second Lieutenant Xu was not afraid or afraid, but was full of confidence and expectation.

What does it mean to be the first to land and be the first to go into battle?

Danger and military exploits!

But the danger is not important in the face of military merit.

Ensign Xu, as rumored outside, was born in a powerful family, and he was also a rare aristocratic family in the empire.

His father is Xu Caishi, this name may not be anything to ordinary people, even in the military, he is not a famous general or anything like that, but Xu Caishi is a senior army general, and he was from the dragon layer in his early years. After the establishment of the empire, Xu Caishi, who was a major general in the army at the time and served as the commander of a division, was awarded a baron.

The year before last, he was promoted to lieutenant general and currently serves as the commander of the Fifth Army, but unfortunately the title has not been improved.

With such a father of a high-ranking military officer, it is no exception for Second Lieutenant Xu to follow in his father's footsteps and join the army.

He naturally hopes to be like his father, to be able to gradually rise up, and finally to be able to obtain a knighthood, you must know that his father's baronial title is not hereditary, whether Ensign Xu can inherit the title in the future, and whether he can maintain the noble family in the future depends on Ensign Xu's efforts.

When Ensign Xu led his troops inland and saw a group of Russian soldiers running over, he seemed to see that it was not the enemy, but military merit beckoning to him!

Soon, under a series of orders, Liao Dashan, who participated in the actual battle for the first time, and his hands were already a little trembling, adopted a kneeling position, and then pulled the trigger towards the enemy a hundred meters away, thus killing the first enemy in his life.

Ensign Xu, who was full of excitement, and Liao Dashan, who was afraid and afraid, formed the contemporary Chinese army.

This is their war! (To be continued.) )