Zhang Houqun, lieutenant general of the Han Imperial Army, commander of the 10th Army of the Guards Corps.

The 10th Guards Army, within the Guards Corps, is a relatively mysterious unit. The 30th Guards Division, equipped with Mammoth heavy tanks, came from the 10th Army. The 28th and 29th Guards Divisions under him were the only two mountain divisions of the Great Han Emperor.

In the South China Continent, where an altitude of more than 1,000 meters is considered a peak, the formation of a highly targeted mountain force was the result of Jiang Shuai's vigorous insistence. His Majesty expressed support for Jiang Yunsheng's idea, so the original Mountain Brigade also became two divisions and six brigades, namely the 28th and 29th Guards Divisions, after the great expansion of the Guards.

Since there were basically no suitable locations for the training of mountain troops on the entire South China continent, the 28th and 29th Guards Divisions were stationed in the Sudirman Mountains on the island of New Guinea all year round. The highest peak in Oceania, Mystic Jaya, is located in this mountainous area at an altitude of more than 5,000 meters.

Here, there is also the largest copper deposit, which belongs to the Nanyang Governor's Palace.

Unlike other regions, the Sudirman region, located on the equator line, is hot, humid and has a variable climate. Because of its sparse population and slow development, the vegetation here is extremely dense, and there are even legendary cannibal tribes in the rainforest.

For true climbers, "Mystic Jaya" is not a good place to go. The snow line here is extremely high, and there are too many unknown factors to climb "Jaya" compared to the highest peaks on other continents, such as "baptism of rocks" and tropical diseases. Therefore, the Nanyang Governor's Office closed the Chaya Peak a few years ago on the grounds of protecting the environment and mining copper mines.

But there is no shortage of brave climbers in Mystic Chaya.

The Guards Regiment's mountain combat training camp is located in the Zebra Rock area below the mountain. Almost all of the officers and men of the 28th and 29th Mountain Divisions of the Guards have had the experience of climbing the summit of Jaya Peak. In one sense, each of them is a mountaineer.

In the Guards Mountain Forces, there was not a large part of the armored forces. The most extravagant thing for each mountain brigade is the 100 or so "Clouded Leopard" wheeled mountain off-road armored personnel carriers, and their main role in mountain troops is not to fight in assault operations, but to assume battlefield command.

The rest of the equipment of the mountain division also differed significantly from ordinary troops. The standard weapon of the soldiers is the "Snow Mountain" BM39 Type 7. 62 mm automatic rifle with an effective firing range of 630 meters. Designed for mountain troops, the rifle has a metal tubular folding handle and pistol-shaped grip, and even the plate machine is specially designed to allow soldiers to shoot while wearing winter cotton gloves.

The independent combat units of the mountain divisions, like the other guards units, were set up at the regimental level. Each mountain regiment, in addition to two mountain combat battalions, also had a fortress battalion and an engineer battalion. The supply regiment directly under the division headquarters is more different, and their comrades and partners are mules.

Mules, offspring born from the mating of horses and donkeys, are male and female, but infertile, and there are two kinds of donkey mules and horse mules (horses give birth to horse mules, and donkeys give birth to donkey mules).

This hybrid combines the advantages of horses and donkeys, with strong endurance and strength, especially in remote mountainous areas where transportation is not developed.

The mountain troops of the Guards are all horse mules, although in terms of the number of years, horse mules are shorter than donkey mules, but horse mules have a gentle temperament, not so much donkey temper, the most important thing is that horse mules are more intelligent, empathetic, and easy to understand the training requirements.

The Guards set up a special farm for this purpose to breed horses and mules of excellent breeds, and the General Assembly even listed this as an important research topic.

Among the mountain divisions, mules, which are good at walking on complex terrain and rough roads, are the main means of transportation. This is also a distinctive feature that distinguishes mountain troops from other ordinary units.

Even the heavy-fire 155-mm howitzers in the mountain troops were towed by several horses and mules. Of course, in the mountain divisions of the Guards Army, there is also a well-known weapon - the "Hagami" 105-mm light howitzer. This cannon is one of the results of the production of modular weapons at the base, which can be disassembled into 11 parts in a very short time, which are transported by mules. Moreover, the firing range of the "Feather" light howitzer can reach more than 10,000 meters, which ensures that in complex terrain areas, mountain troops can also have sufficient artillery support.

Another distinctive feature of the Konoe Mountain Division is their clothing. In addition to the new mountain camouflage uniform, the famous gray mountain beanie and the golden metal eagle cockade became the most popular hat for young people in the south of the empire in autumn and winter. Without a replica mountain beanie, they are embarrassed to walk on the street. Girls don't knit a beanie for their boyfriends...... "No wonder no male god likes it, you clearly want to be lonely for a lifetime." ”

Even His Royal Highness Tianlin in Weiyang Palace had several miniature versions of the Golden Eagle Mountain Hat early on—they weren't imitations.

The popularity of mountain fur hats in other major alliance countries was after Lieutenant General Zhang Houqun led the 10th Guards Army to land in San Francisco during Operation "Hou Xi".

The Allies conquered Sacramento and pushed the front to the Sierra Nevada. The U.S. military used the Kaskar Mountains and the mountains of Nevada to stubbornly resist them. When the news of the obstruction of the attack of the Yangzhou Corps in the mountainous area reached the Honolulu General Headquarters, His Majesty immediately thought of the two mountain divisions on the island of New Guinea, which had been training for several years and had never participated in any other military operations except for their appearances at the National Day parade.

- Zhang Houqun raised his head to the sky and roared, bursting into tears, "Your Majesty, you finally remembered me!" It's finally time for the teenage brother to appear! ”

Raise soldiers for a thousand days, and use them for a while. The 10th Guards Army, well, the 30th Army, which lacked the 10th Heavy Armored Division, appeared in San Francisco (San Francisco) a month later.

Fighting with the Mountain Division was the Indian Legion, which had just been reorganized. Although this legion, commanded by Han officers and composed mainly of Indian soldiers, was less than 80,000 people, the Allied command still gave it the sacred name of "Indian Legion". This means that the Indians, who have been slaughtered by whites like beasts on the American continent for more than a hundred years, finally have their own arms. With the help of the Han people, who were of the same ancestors three thousand years ago, the Indians raised their weapons and began the journey of armed nation-building.

This is a path of bloodshed, a path of sacrifice. From the moment the Indian Legion was formed, many young Indians would fall under the guns of the enemy, on the land where their ancestors had lived for generations, "Many of you are not destined to see the establishment of the Indian kingdom, but your family, your friends, and your lovers will regain the glory of 'sailing for three thousand years,' and they will be free to live in their own country, they will have jobs, they will own fields, they will have their own property, and most importantly, they will have dignity...... ”

Zhang Houqun took a breath, "Nima, this speech written by Your Majesty is really too difficult to memorize!" But seeing the sea of people in front of him, the Indians cheered like a tsunami, and the fanatical atmosphere was almost suffocating, and Commander Zhang also felt a sense of accomplishment, "It seems that it is still very useful to read more!" ”

There is no need to agitate for the Indians to join the army, but the Han army officers who are responsible for organizing the Indian Corps have high requirements for the selection of soldiers, and the requirement to be literate has stuck many people. Most of the young Indians spoke English and Indian vernacular, but in the eyes of the imperial officers, the Indian native language was even more obscure than the language of the indigenous people of South China.

"Are these natives really the same ancestor as us three thousand years ago? Why don't I look like it? ”

"Damn, you dare to doubt Emperor Han's words! Picket ......"

"Damn, isn't this what our brothers said! As for shouting pickets? I'll serve you, at most I'll invite you to a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco for a big meal. ”

"Pull it down, the dishes in those Han restaurants are also called big meals? Our army's cooking class is better than their fried dishes! However, in fact, I also think that these indigenous Indians are not like distant relatives of our Han Chinese, they are a bit like black Africans! ”

……

"I prefer to believe that the Japanese are the descendants of our Han people. After all, everyone has unfilial children who can raise a few disobedient descendants. But these Indians ...... Hehe, brother, you said they wouldn't be like mules in our troops, they would be miscellaneous ......"

"Stop, don't blame my brother for not reminding you, you can't talk nonsense! It is necessary to pay attention to unity, cause ethnic disputes, you can't afford to be guilty! ”

……

The number of the Indian Corps was controlled at 80,000, and together with the 30,000 men of the two mountain divisions of the Guards, it formed the Allied mountain combat force group in the western United States. Lieutenant General Zhang Houqun was tasked with commanding this Allied mountain cluster, breaking through the U.S. army's mountainous defense line in the Sierra Nevada and opening a passage to Salt Lake City, the "crossroads of the West."

In later generations, there was much debate about the Han Emperor ordering the use of improvised Indian troops instead of mobilizing the famous Italian Alpine troops.

The reasons for Mussolini's refusal to allow the Italian army to join the North American war and the Indians' ability to fight in the mountains turned out to be just a joke. However, after Italy joined the Grand Alliance and the Iron Alliance was dissolved, the Italians had to deploy heavy troops on the border to guard against the strong German army, which made it easier to believe.

In fact, this is all speculation. During the period of Operation Hou Xi, Italy and the Empire were still in an absolute honeymoon period, and the anti-war movements that broke out from time to time on the Apennine Peninsula made Mussolini eager to move his office to Chang'an. After completely offending the mustache, hugging the thick thigh of the empire became the only way out for the Italian dictator.

But this does not mean that Mussolini is willing to obey the orders of the Han Emperor in everything. At the moment when the Northern American campaign on the Western Front needed mountain troops, the Italians realized that this was the best time to claim greater benefits from the Han Empire.

The Italian units in the Allied forces in Europe, except for the St. Mark's Marine Division, which made some noise during Operation Overlord, were very mediocre. In terms of military merits, they are far inferior to the Spanish Blue Army, and even less as the Chinese Expeditionary Force, which has fully proved itself after several tough battles.