Qi Lei was unimpressed with the combat effectiveness of the Qing soldiers, and Qi Lei felt that with the combat effectiveness of the Qing soldiers, they would not use the mountains and lakes around Kunming to organize defense, so he ordered the troops to take Kunming directly.

The route Qi Lei chose was like this, passing through Liangwang Mountain in the east of Kunming and entering Yangzong Town, using Yangzong Town as an advance base for attacking Kunming.

Yangzong Town is a rich town, a lot of food, its north side is Yangzong Sea, Yangzong Sea is a huge lake, the local people have not seen the sea, so they call the lake "sea", with this lake, the Chinese army can almost not consider the problem of water source, in the process of marching, the water source is a big problem for the Chinese army, many times there is no water source on the mountain road.

Between Yangzong Town and Kunming, there are few mountains, which is not enough to become a defense point, and when Yangzong Town is taken, you can take Kunming directly.

Now it seems that as long as you pass through Liangwang Mountain, it will be easy to capture Yangzong Town, so Qi Lei ordered his subordinates to attack Liangwang Mountain, and the first step is to go to Liangwang Mountain for reconnaissance.

Qi Lei originally thought that the Qing soldiers would not set up a defensive position at Liangwang Mountain, but the results of the reconnaissance surprised him, and his subordinates reported that the Qing soldiers had built a large number of forts on both sides of the four mountain roads that passed through Liangwang Mountain.

Qi Lei hurriedly followed the scouts to watch, only to see that those fortresses were located halfway up the mountainside, only about fifty meters from the ground, although the height is not high, the way up is extremely difficult to walk, there is only a sheep intestine path, two people can walk side by side, such a terrain, it is almost impossible for the infantry to capture the fortress.

Qi Lei asked in surprise: "That fortress can be built in that kind of place, how did they build it?" ”

The scout replied: "According to the villagers, the Qing soldiers captured a lot of local people and asked them to move raw materials such as mountains and rocks little by little. ”

Qi Lei looked at the fortresses all over the mountain road, and his heart moved slightly, the Qing army is ruthless enough, so many fortresses, how much manpower does it take to build them.

Qi Lei thought for a while and asked, "How many defensive forces are there in the fortress?" ”

"We can't go in to reconnoiter this, but according to the fellow, the fortress looks small from the outside, but it is actually very large inside, and it is not a problem to put fifteen or sixteen people in."

"Is there water and food in there? Without these two things, the people inside would definitely not survive. ”

"We also asked the villagers this question, and the villagers said that the Qing soldiers had stored a lot of food and water in the fortress, which could last for half a month."

"Half a month!" Qi Lei shook his head silently, half a month is too long, his own troops have more than 3,500 people, and counting all kinds of guides and migrant workers, the number of people is more than 4,500 people, so many people have to consume a lot of food and water every day, and the logistics and transportation are overwhelmed for a long time.

Qi Lei made up his mind to take down these fortresses in the shortest time, so Qi Lei asked, "How is the firepower of the fortress?" ”

"We have just conducted a fire reconnaissance of the forts, and it turned out that there are three or four rifles in each fort, and the marksmanship of the Qing soldiers is very accurate, and some of the forts also have Makqin heavy machine guns."

"In other words, if we want to break through this mountain road, we will inevitably encounter heavy casualties?"

"Yes, Brigadier, it seems that this is true now."

"Okay, I see, you go and rest first." The scout gave a "snap" salute and turned to leave.

Qi Lei returned to the headquarters and gave an order: "The artillery companies belonging to each regiment should immediately use sixty-millimeter mortars to attack the Qing fortress. ”

At this time, the artillery establishment of the Chinese Army was as follows: each regiment had an artillery company under its jurisdiction, equipped with 12 HP-1 60mm mortars, and in wartime, it could be fought alone or dispersed into various battalions; Each division has an artillery regiment and is equipped with 30 HP-2 75-mm howitzers.

However, this is only the current artillery formation, and after the HP-3 1005mm howitzer enters service, the HP-1 and HP-2 will be equipped to more basic units.

This time Qi Lei dispatched a brigade, in fact, the division headquarters can strengthen the divisional artillery regiment to Qi Lei, but from Hekou to Kunming, it is a mountain road, and it is really inconvenient to move with HP-2.

As soon as Reviver's order was given, the artillery battery immediately went to the mountain road and launched an attack on the fortress.

The mortar shells fell on the fortress with a sharp whistling sound, but after the thick smoke, I saw that the fortress was safe and sound, the fortress of the Qing army was made of huge mountain stone barriers, and the mortar shells of 60 mm caliber could not even hit it, and the artillery company had exhausted half of the base number of shells, but it still could not hit the fortress.

The artillery company immediately reported to Qi Lei, and Qi Lei felt extremely tricky for a while, the HP-1 mortar could not hit the fortress of the Qing army, and the HP-2 75 mm howitzer could only be dispatched, but the howitzer was very heavy, and it still needed to be pulled forward, and if you want to move from the estuary to the battlefield, it is better than ascending to the sky.

While sending a report to Lin Fei, asking Lin Fei to mobilize HP-2 artillery to help in the battle, Qi Lei ordered his subordinates to organize a death squad to attack the fortress at night.

Qi Lei's herald rode a fast horse to send back the news, and the herald did not need to return to Hanoi to report the news, at this time Lin Fei's subordinates had already stationed the army in Lin'an Mansion, Lin'an Mansion is a place name in Yunnan, and it was renamed another name after the Qing Dynasty, which is located between Hekou and Kunming.

Lin Fei's subordinates have set up a communication line from Lin'an Mansion to the estuary, and as long as Qi Lei's news is delivered to Lin'an Mansion, it can be quickly transmitted back to the estuary and back to Hanoi.

While the herald conveyed the order, Qi Lei organized death squads to carry out the first attack.

That night, dark clouds covered the moon, and it was pitch black between heaven and earth, and the Chinese death squad launched an attack on four mountain roads at the same time, and they quietly walked up the sheep intestine path up the mountain to attack the Qing army fortress.

As soon as the death squad reached the halfway point, there was a dense burst of gunfire on the top of the fortress, and the bullets rained down, and the death squad suffered heavy casualties in an instant, and the other team members could only retreat, and the method of the death squad attack was helplessly declared a failure.

At this time, Qi Lei realized that people could also stand on the top of the fortress, and at night, the Qing soldiers would go up to the top of the fortress, reconnoiter the situation around the fortress, and shoot whenever there was movement.

It seems that the Qing army entrenched in Liangwang Mountain is more difficult to fight than imagined.

Qi Lei could only order the troops to stop the attack and wait for Lin Fei's reinforcements, and in the waiting time, Qi Lei learned that the Qing army general in charge of the defense of Kunming was Song Fan, the governor of Yungui in the Qing court, this person was a Manchu nobleman, quite a military talent, and during the Sino-Japanese War, he had led the troops to fight a bloody battle with the Japanese army.

After learning that Lin Fei occupied Vietnam, Song Fan asserted that Lin Fei would definitely divide his troops into two routes, all the way north, seize Yunnan, and all the way east, and seize Guangxi, so Song Fan built a solid defense line near Kunming before Lin Fei did not attack Zhennan Pass, Liangwangshan is just one of them, with these defense lines, Qi Lei can't change the offensive route if he wants to.

To Qi Lei's surprise, he didn't wait too long, Lin Fei's reinforcements arrived, this morning, Qi Lei was frowning in the tent, and suddenly a subordinate came to report: "Brigade commander, Your Majesty's reinforcements have arrived." ”

Qi Lei was taken aback, "This is too fast, my call for help has only been sent out for a few days." As he spoke, Qi Lei ran out of the tent, and he was shocked by the scene in front of him, only to see a blonde and blue-eyed young man standing outside the tent, and the man was still wearing the military uniform of the Huaxia Army.

The subordinate introduced on the side: "He is the commander of the reinforcements." ”

Qi Lei couldn't help but ask, "Why is he a foreigner?" ”

The young man obviously understood Chinese, and said with a smile: "Hello Brigade Commander Qi, I am Russian, my name is Solaevsky, but I have already obtained a green card, and now I am considered Chinese." ”

It is not easy to join the Chinese nationality, this young man can join the Chinese nationality, which means that he must have special skills, Qi Lei looked at the young man with suspicious eyes, and the young man smiled: "I am a scientist, so the Chinese Empire issued me a green card." ”

"Scientists? What are you researching? ”

"Originally, my field of research was to be kept absolutely secret, but now there is nothing, anyway, my research results will soon be made public, my teacher is Tsiolkovsky, and I have been following his teacher in rocket research."

Qi Lei asked tentatively: "You said that you are conducting rocket research, then you are the commander of the reinforcements, the weapon you brought this time, should it be a rocket?" ”

Solaevsky smiled and nodded, and Qi Lei hurriedly shook his head, "This is impossible, I have heard that the rocket is very large, larger than the latest HP-3 artillery, and can only be placed on a naval ship, how can you bring a group of infantry?" ”

Solaevsky laughed, "You said that kind of rocket is a large rocket, but what I brought this time is a single rocket, which is portable and can be carried by a soldier." ”

"Can rockets be carried by individual soldiers?"

"Of course, let's go, I'll take you to see our individual rockets." Solaevsky said and took Qi Lei to the open space in the distance, and soon came to a clearing, Qi Lei saw one after another carriages parked in the open space, and the pack horses had loosened their sleeves and were grazing leisurely on the side.

The soldiers around the carriage saw Solaevsky coming with Qi Lei, and they all stood up and saluted the two, Solaevsky smiled: "Open the box and show Brigade Commander Qi our individual rockets." ”

Several fighters opened the big box, moved out a lot of small boxes from the big box, and then opened the small box, Qi Lei looked over, only to see that there was a cylindrical rocket in each small box, with four tail fins in the tail, and a jet-black engine nozzle under the tail.