In February 1912, the land of China fell into unprecedented anxiety ().

The armistice between the north and the south is in vain, Anhui and Huaibei are still fighting endlessly, and the north is even more bloody. The three provinces in the upper reaches of the Yangzi River, which had been the first to calm down, once again set off a bloody storm, with people being arrested and killed every day, and in just a few days, thousands of diehards and gentry who resisted the New Deal were raided and shot, or their entire families were expelled from the province by soldiers. Those who had resisted the new policy in the past also turned their backs in the newspapers overnight, and they also took the initiative to cooperate with the government and the army in implementing the new policy, and even sent people in many remote villages to put up big-character posters propagating the new policy. [Search for the latest updates.]

Don't wait for that

o At the end of the day, the more than 50,000 troops of the Wehrmacht attacked in all directions, turned their heads and began to crack down on the ruffians, hooligans, and bandits roaming in the three provinces, especially in Sichuan, where there were often three or four cases of bandits who had been forcibly disarmed by taking advantage of the Baolu Movement to establish themselves as kings, and even those comrades and brothers who did not accept the control and turned a deaf ear when they received the disarming notice.

Before these were over, there was a shocking thing in Guizhou. Guizhou Liu Xianshi, Dai Huan and others jointly launched a mutiny with the Constitutional Party, not only killed Huang Zelin, Zhang Bailin and others, but also massacred the Autonomous Society and soldiers who were unwilling to surrender after the occupation, and more than 4,000 people fell in a pool of blood in Guiyang City in only three days. Due to the bombing of the telegraph station, it was not until 5 February, after Guiyang had stabilized initially, that the news was sent from Anshun, more than 100 miles away, to Yunnan and the whole country.

The news came out of the whole country in an uproar, although the operation of the national defense forces in the three provinces was larger in scale and involved more people, but because of the long span, it was not so shocking, and the scene in Guizhou was a solid shock to the ordinary people who were eager to live a peaceful life after the overthrow of the Manchu Dynasty, when careful people began to search for the background of Liu Xianshi and Dai Huan and others and the reasons for launching the Guizhou Incident, they found that they were all involved in three names, Liang Qichao, Cai Yi and Tang Jiyao.

At a time when everyone unanimously condemned the Guizhou Incident and considered it the beginning of the unrest in the Republic of China, another even more sensational and frenzied news came out of Beijing.

On February 6, after more than 200 years of internal and external troubles, the Manchu Dynasty issued an annual settlement allowance of 4 million yuan in Nanjing, and when the wind of the Northern Expedition gradually became a prairie fire, Yuan Shikai conveyed the edict scheduled to abdicate on February 12 to Wu Tingfang, the southern negotiator, and he conveyed it to the Nanjing government. At the same time, Yuan Shikai also publicly stated for the first time that "the republic is the most virtuous state", and said that the Qing Emperor had abdicated the throne and had been signed by Shikai, and the date of the proclamation was the end of the imperial government, the foundation of the Republic of China, and the order was to achieve a perfect status and never make the monarchy in China again.

Although there are still six days left, many people can't wait. Shanghai, Nanjing and other big cities even sounded firecrackers, gongs and drums.

This news also plunged the three provinces into a carnival, and even Song Ziqing, a person who rarely said and laughed, praised a few words when he met people, as if he had forgotten the war in Guizhou, and only after returning to the temporary headquarters in Changsha did he gradually show a solemn sè, and his fingers kept sweeping around the map.

"Song Ziqing, you are still the chief of the General Staff, you are not worried about the Guizhou Army and the Dian Army, right?" When his fingers just circled Anshun, south of Guizhou, a voice sounded from behind, and when he turned his head, Jiang Fangzhen actually appeared at the door in a military uniform, and said, "Brother Baili, why are you here?" ”

"You didn't make the fuss? It just so happened that Zhang Wenjing was going to send some new equipment, so I came to ask, why did Hao Duanduan send more than 30 crash course officers to Guizhou, are you still afraid of Cai Yi? Jiang Baili has never been polite when he speaks, and Song Ziqing is also used to it, so he smiled dumbly: "Brother Baili, I am smoking a crash course officer ()!" These people have all completed the three-month graduation period, what does it have to do with Cai Ye. ”

Due to the urgent shortage of officers in the National Defense Force, the National Defense University continued to retain the crash course after its opening, and the more technical soldiers in the crash course, the longer the time is for ordinary army officers, while the regular university class needs to study for two to three years before graduation, so Jiang Fangzhen immediately said: "If it weren't for the time for them to graduate, do you think I would have released them?" ”

Song Ziqing didn't bother to pay attention to him, and asked, "You just said that Zhang Wenjing sent equipment?" Is it a machine gun or a replica of the seven-barreled five-barreled gun? ”

"How do I know what? They were all sealed in wooden boxes, and I wanted to see if they were blocked by the gendarmerie, but they didn't look like a cannon. After Jiang Fangzhen finished speaking, he walked to the map and asked, "It's been six days, you haven't done it yet, right?" ”

Song Ziqing didn't hide it from him, pointed to Zunyi and said: "A battalion of the Fifth Division has already passed Zunyi, and it will be able to reach Guiyang as soon as tomorrow morning, and the first brigade is following behind, about a day away." From the time when Anshun sent out the power yesterday, Cai Songpo should get the news three days later, even if he leaves immediately, it will not be until tomorrow evening. ”

"Yes, I got the first shot." Jiang Fangzhen nodded with satisfaction, and suddenly shook his head again: "It's a pity that it's not your credit, it's the soldier's good job." ”

Song Ziqing can only scratch his head about this guy, because Qiu Wenbin and his party safely withdrew Shi Bing's telegram, so now everyone knows that he blew up the Guiyang telegraph station that night, resulting in Guiyang being unable to immediately contact the outside world, plus Liu Xianshi and others were busy with the Autonomous Society and disobedient soldiers first, and it was not until Anshun on the fifth that they got the news. So on this issue, he admitted that Qiu Wenbin did a good job, and said: "I got it first, but Cai Songpo also has some skills, which cannot be underestimated." ”

"What's the skill? It's nothing more than following that Liang Qichao to fool around, without his own thoughts, without his own system, to the end. It's just a fiddling chess piece. Jiang Fangzhen didn't have a good impression of Cai Yi, just because this person lacked his own position, especially because he felt that he was short-sighted to worship Liang Qichao as a teacher.

Although Song Ziqing also stayed in Germany, he had never dealt with Cai Ye, so it was not good to comment, so he pulled him and said: "Let's not talk about this, let's go and see what equipment was sent, and it was actually hidden from the president of our Army University ()." After the two arrived at the school, Song Ziqing found that Su Hongsheng was also here, talking to Yang Qiu, who rushed to hear the news, and his fingers were still pointing to the carriage full of large and small wooden boxes next to him.

After seeing Yang Qiu, Su Hongsheng immediately asked the military police to carry down one of the wooden boxes, and after opening it, the contents made Song Ziqing and Jiang Fangzhen a little stupid, only to see a black steel pipe about one meter long and arm thick lying horizontally in the box, and there was also a triangular bracket and a large iron plate with a depression in the center next to it. Yang Qiu was suddenly excited when he saw this, mortar! The mortar that you most urgently need has finally been made at the most critical moment!

"Old Su, what is this?"

"Cannon!" Su Hongsheng didn't mention how excited he was, and immediately asked the soldiers to assemble it.

Cannon? The two who had studied in Germany were a little stunned, what kind of cannon is this? In fact, they are not to blame, the mortar is a new weapon that only appeared during the Russo-Japanese War, and when the two of them studied abroad, Germany had just successfully developed and prepared the troops, and it was a monster with a short body, even at this moment, it was not mass-produced. Mortars in the modern sense know that in 1 year, France was equipped with buffers, and the shortcomings of the gun body and the gun carriage were overcome before they were formed.

The soldier who installed the mortar looked like he had been moving for a long time, and he was more skillful in his movements, and he quickly installed an 80-mm mortar.

This mortar is a copy of the later Type 67, and the tail of the gun is equipped with a pulling mechanism, which is convenient for peacetime training. The barrel is obviously thicker and thicker, which is because Yang Qiu does not trust the domestic artillery steel, so he purchased a large number of weapons-grade steel pipes from the United States, which are prepared for the mass production of mortars. The buffer machine is a single-tube double-reed type, and the direction and height machine adopt a mechanical gear structure, which can rotate the large and small bevel gears and screws by rotating the handle, so that the high and low screws can move up and down, giving the gun height and low firing angle. The sight is also mechanical, since there is simply no optical manufacturing equipment in the country.

It's rudimentary, but it's a modern mortar that can be used! After the soldiers finished installing and opened the ammunition box, Yang Qiu's last breath was also relieved. In the ammunition box, there were six shells lying side by side, and the wings, tail rods, and medicine packs were all complete, and only the rubber air closure ring was replaced by resin rubber because there was a shortage of rubber in the country, and it was necessary to wait for the vulcanization equipment purchased from the United States to arrive before we could find a way to make vulcanized rubber ().

"All tried?" Yang Qiu's voice was a little anxious, and after he saw the mortar, he had the idea of taking the opportunity to completely transform the Fifth Division into a mountain division, because mortars were the best fire support weapon for mountain divisions. Su Hongsheng was calm, the last time the Han-1 light machine gun was completely tested before it was shown to Yang Qiu, this time the mortar was actually made a month ago, but because this kind of cannon has never been built, it can't be replaced, so he held Yang Qiu's instructions and training manual for more than a month before he finally put his mind at ease and delivered it.

After the soldiers were installed, Yang Qiu couldn't wait to take everyone to the shooting range. Everyone only saw that the soldier adjusted the angle of fire and loaded the shell from the top, and then there was a soft bang, and when the green smoke rushed out of the muzzle, a black dot could be clearly seen rushing into the distance.

"Boom. One. ”

The power of the shell loaded with more than three kilograms of all-yellow sè explosives is still very good, and with the pre-engraved fragments, it instantly shatters the target in the distance, and the size of the fire ball can even be compared to a 75mm field gun! Song Ziqing and Jiang Fangzhen didn't care about the danger, and they all rushed over to experience the power and use of a new mortar. Only Yang Qiu secretly frowned and asked, "Has the maximum distance been tested?" ”

Su Hongsheng was still quiet in joy, didn't notice his god, and said: "The farthest distance can hit 1 meter, but the accuracy of this distance is relatively poor, and the most accurate is about 800 meters." Everything else is fine, it's just a bump fuze one. We can't produce it, and we still need to use German origin. ”

1 meter ̈ Yang Qiu scratched his head, remembering the one fell swoop during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, "The 82 cannon is really wonderful, it can't be fired and poured out, it's not good, even people with guns are reimbursed." This sentence refers to the criticism of black powder as a propellant pack, with short distances and unstable ballistics. At that time, the solution of the New Fourth Army was to grind waste film into powder. Now film is still a luxury product, but fortunately, nitrocellulose is already available, and he said: "Tell Zhang Wenjing and Shen Shukai to see if you can import a batch of nitrocellulose, and you can use it to experiment on whether you can make propellants, if you can, simply purchase a set of equipment, don't be afraid of spending money." The quality of self-produced fuses should be improved as soon as possible, and when those Austro-Hungarian workers are in good health, let them do precision work first, and you will learn from it, for the time being. Let's import a batch. ”

After Yang Qiu explained what needed to be improved, he asked, "How much has been made?" How many doors can be produced each month at the current level? How many soldiers can operate such a cannon anymore? ”

Su Hongsheng didn't dare to deceive, and immediately said: "The main thing is that we don't have seamless steel pipe technology, and we all rely on casting, so now there are only eight and six, twelve and four, and there are more than a dozen gunners who can use it." At present, the most important thing for the artillery factory is to copy your seven-barrel light cannon according to the drawings, so it tentatively sets six guns of two calibers each month, and this kind of shells is also newly made, and it can only produce about 3,000 per month at present. ”

"Don't be in a hurry about the output, you must be able to use one to build one! I have already ordered a lot of these barrels from the United States, and they will be delivered in two months at the latest, and the main thing at the moment is to perfect the process. Although Yang Qiu was anxious to send the mortar to Guizhou for actual combat testing immediately, in order to encourage everyone, he comforted everyone before saying: "Ziqing, you immediately send a report to Zhang Wenjing, and ask him to send these cannons and gunners to Guiyang for actual combat testing as soon as possible, and help Su Xiaohu by the way." ”

Jiang Fangzhen and Song Ziqing happened to come over and hear this, and they looked at each other and smiled. With this kind of cannon that a strong man can carry away, the heavy firepower that caused everyone the most headache in the battle of Guizhou was finally solved.

The rumbling sound of artillery in the shooting range made Chen Guofu, who came to look for Yang Qiu, a little stunned, especially when he saw the strange-looking mortar, he couldn't help but walk there. Song Ziqing was still a little worried about Chen Guofu's identity, after all, he was Chen Qimei's nephew, and he was afraid that he would know too many leaks, so he immediately shouted: "Guofu, is there something wrong?" ”

The young Chen Guofu didn't have so many ideas, but he thought that this kind of small cannon was very novel, and when he heard the shout, he immediately ran over, took out a telegram and said, "Inspector, chief of staff."

Just now we received a nationwide power call from the governor of Yunnan Cai Yidu! He said that since ancient times, Yunnan and Guizhou have been each other's teeth, and now Guizhou and Guizhou have become a bandit country, and when they heard that Liu Xianshi and other gentry had called to beg for help, how could our Yunnan army bear to sit idly by and let its bandits run rampant. ”

"Brother Pao?!" Yang Qiu smiled dumbly, it was really a dangerous wall pushed by everyone, and he fought against Brother Pao on his side, and Cai Ye actually learned to use this trick. glanced at the mortar that had been put away, and said with a smile: "Let's electrify, we will also electrify the whole country!" Defend the revolution, sweep Guizhou, suppress bandits, and maintain stability! ”。！。