The flowers bloom two and each show a branch, just when the Wuhu side is fierce, the second mixed association of the Anhui New Army that went out to Jiujiang also started the first battle after the Anhui army left the province! Hu Rui's task for the Second Mixed Association is to be sure to take Jiujiang before October 23rd! In parallel history, Ma Yubao, the commander of the 53rd standard of the Hubei New Army stationed in Jiujiang, declared an uprising on October 23, and then Jiujiang was recovered, and Ma Yubao considered himself the governor. Whenever he thinks of this, Hu Rui can't help it, and jumps up and down angrily. Without him, there is a thorn stuck in his throat, and the feeling of not being able to swallow and spit out is really uncomfortable. The bright fortresses of Madang and Hukou are equivalent to being directly stuck in the throat of the Yangtze River, and the strategic position is self-evident.

Therefore, Hu Rui has this almost obsessive attention to Jiujiang, even more than Nanjing, which is across the river. During the expansion and reorganization of the army, special attention was also paid to the Second Mixed Association. Priority was given to the veterans of the patrol battalion to be recruited, and the German-origin imitation Skoda mountain guns transported from Qingdao were also given priority to the newly formed artillery battalion of the Second Mixed Association. It is precisely because the proportion of veterans in the Second Mixed Association accounts for the vast majority, so after a short three-day training, they initially have combat effectiveness. From Wuhu to Jiujiang, a distance of nearly 400 kilometers. According to the speed of 10 kilometers per hour of the rapid march of the Anhui New Army, it will be possible to arrive in less than 40 hours and two days. However, the Second Mixed Association, which was equipped with a large number of mules and horses, walked for four days, marching and training all the way, and arrived at the city of Jiujiang early in the morning of the 20th. The German freighter, hired to act as a support vessel on the river, began to untie the three cables tied to the stern, and the three armored gunboats, which had been towed to save precious diesel, began to start their engines. The diesel engine was running rapidly, roaring to drive the gunboat forward and cover the retreat of the support ship. All twelve 75-mm guns of the three gunboats were aimed at the two fortresses in the distance for the first time. Hukou and Madang Fortress, located at the throat of the Yangtze River, directly guarding the waterway of the Yangtze River, the Qing court naturally attached great importance to it. Great efforts were made to equip the two fortresses with Krupp 210 mm and 150 mm fortress guns, although the caliber was large, but they were all old frame guns. The rate of fire is slow, the lethality is small, the firing medicine is still black powder, and after each shot, you have to wait until the smoke dissipates before you can recalibrate the firing elements and fire again (the author checked the two calibers mentioned above and found that the 210 mm gun was the Krupp Type 1888. It belongs to the old-fashioned erection artillery, which was used during the Sino-Japanese War). The intensive firing of twelve 75-barreled rapid-fire guns and the rain of bullets that spilled could completely suppress these bulky old rack guns.

Almost at the same time, the artillery battalion of the 2nd Mixed Association also set up artillery positions, lined up the eighteen Skoda 75mm mountain guns in the battalion one after another, and aimed them at Jiujiang. Because Hu Rui attached great importance to it, the intelligence department of the Anhui New Army infiltrated Jiujiang to the point of no addition, in order to prevent the mouth cannons of the alliance from jumping out to seize control after taking Jiujiang, the location of the alliance members and the fifty-three standard commander Ma Yubao was sent to the second mixed association that was preparing to attack the city on the opposite side as soon as possible. With detailed coordinates and parameters, the first salvo of the artillery battalion went to the above-mentioned targets, and the shells pointed to wherever they were like eyes. The fifteen rounds per minute and the firing range of more than 10,000 meters of the Skoda Mountain Cannon made the shelling extremely fierce this time, and a large group of people on the blacklist of the Ministry of Intelligence, including Ma Yubao, the commander of the 53rd standard, were blown up by the shells falling from the sky in such a daze. After losing his command, the 53rd Standard, faced with the ferocious artillery fire that he had never seen before, soon fell into a leaderless situation, and finally collapsed under the artillery fire. The main force of the Second Mixed Association also took advantage of the chaos in the 53rd Standard Formation to quickly mobilize the main force to attack the urban area of Jiujiang, and almost encountered little resistance in the whole process. It was almost effortless to take Jiujiang, and less than 10 of the entire enemy association were wounded by stray bullets during the siege, and there was little other loss. Seeing that the red flag was raised in the sky over Jiujiang City, and it became the two fortresses of Hukou and Madang, which were lone troops, facing the three armored gunboats that were using the dead corners of the batteries to wander outside the firing range and firing fiercely on the river, there was no reason to hang the white flag at the first time! Just kidding, Jiujiang City has been taken, how long can the fortress hold out if it resists? Don't you see that the whole part of the battery has been set on fire by rapid-fire guns?

The news of Jiujiang's capture was immediately reported to Hu Rui in Wuhu by encrypted telegram. In this battle, the newly established Second Mixed Association of the Anhui New Army, together with three armored gunboats, killed more than 230 people, including Ma Yubao, the commander of the 53rd standard, and wounded nearly 500 people. Nearly 2,000 Hanyang-made rifles, four Schneider 37 guns, nearly 30,000 round-headed bullets were seized, and the two fortresses of Hukou and Madang were almost complete with Krupp fortress guns. Less than ten people in the entire Second Mixed Association were wounded by stray bullets during the siege, and this battle was a great victory! Fifty-three of the dead and wounded, and the rest of the men and horses were all held as prisoners in the prisoner-of-war camp, waiting to be disposed of. The Second Mixed Association took the entire Jiujiang almost bloodlessly, and there were two almost complete Haode Fortresses!

After receiving the telegram, Hu Rui finally breathed a long sigh of relief. Jiujiang is in hand, and Zuihou's worries are gone. People are in good spirits on happy occasions, and even the high ammunition consumption on the telegram was automatically ignored by Hu Rui. Money, just make it when it's gone! There is a German, the big wrongdoer, and he is basically repaid. The lives of our cadres and soldiers of the Anhui New Army are precious, they are all cultivated with great difficulty, and there are more artillery and fewer deaths!

"Now I can finally let go and do a big job!"

Hu Rui slapped the telegram on the table and shouted excitedly.

"Report! Sir, may I come in? ”

Before the joy passed, the plague god outside the office came to the door.

Don't look, standing outside the door must be the commander of the heavy artillery regiment, former Wehrmacht artillery battalion major Lucas. The German scum Juri has more than once regarded this product as a later star Lucas. Podosky. Without him, the pronunciation of the name is too similar.

Since the Anhui New Army has only been established for four years and has a weak foundation, there is a shortage of high-end military personnel. Before the crossing, Hu Rui was only in his senior year at the military academy that trained grassroots commanders, and he didn't graduate yet. In terms of higher command, it is not helpful, and only by relying on the battlefield to gradually temper people. At this stage, the commanders of the two divisions and the heavy artillery regiment, as well as the vast majority of the staff members, were all Germans. Of course, those who can sit in these positions have been brainwashed by Hu Rui with modern military thinking. This Major Lucas was no exception, and when he was serving as an instructor in the artillery section of the training battalion, he accidentally saw some handouts on the tactics and role of artillery in future wars drafted by Hu Rui, who was also the commander of the training battalion at the time, and his eyes did not move on the spot. At the same time, he played jishu and barrage Xu Jin...... None of these new terms appeared in the textbooks of the German military academy, and he rushed to Hurui's office after class and discussed the tactics of artillery all night. After that, he directly treated Hu Rui as a god, and after learning that he was appointed as the commander of the only heavy artillery regiment, this thing burst into tears. Take the oath on the spot, join the Chinese nationality, and become a member of the Anhui New Army! Since then, this goods has become the only European race in all the Anhui New Army, and after taking office, he is even more crazy Zhang Luo to raise all the affairs of the heavy artillery regiment, and run to Hu Rui's office twice in three days.

"Come in!"

Hu Rui is powerless, this guy is really persistent.

"Mr. Lucas, you haven't been congratulated on your promotion to colonel, please take a seat."

Hu Rui cried and said with a dying smile.

"Sir Xiexie! Sir, you know, I'm a Chinese citizen like you, and I'm a member of this army. China is my second motherland, and I have sworn allegiance to my second motherland in the same way as I swear allegiance to Germany. I beg your pardon, I am here today in my capacity as the commander of the 1st Heavy Artillery Regiment to ask for your permission to conduct live-fire training with the Heavy Artillery Regiment! For God's sake, now that the troops are about to go south to fight, are you really going to go to war with a group of soldiers who have never even heard the sound of artillery? I admit that the soldiers who have just turned from farmers to artillerymen have done a good job, their qualities are barely tolerable, industrious, hardworking, conscientious, they have them all! German servicemen under the same conditions did not necessarily do better than them! The group of trainees you sent to Germany only underwent simplified course training in Germany, they lacked systematic theoretical knowledge, and if you lacked experience in live ammunition, it was really a black joke! Sir, you are the designer of these two types of artillery, and you have spared no expense to purchase tractors from the United States for the sake of this heavy artillery regiment, so Weishenme cannot conduct a single live-fire training? How about getting the most out of your heavy artillery regiment? ”

Lucas sat on the couch dancing impassionedly, his face flushed with excitement. After he took off his Wehrmacht uniform and put on this army green uniform, this heavy artillery regiment became almost all of him.

The orderly silently wiped the foaming star on his face, served tea to the two, and then hurriedly retreated. Hu Rui, who was sitting opposite, listened to the first Chinese-German army colonel in the army to speak impassionedly. The handsome little face slowly wrinkled into a bun, full of black lines.

Peat! Peat! Peaty! If you really want to follow the live-fire training of one square base per artillery as you said, not to mention that the shells fired by others are enough to build a few more infantry divisions. It's definitely going to be the rhythm of going bankrupt! Peat, cannonballs don't want you to spend money on them, right? The 105 mm shells used in the LeFH18 105 mm howitzer cost 200 pieces for the basic model according to the German army's internal procurement price, and more than 200 pieces after adding freight. A 150-mm shell is nearly 300 pieces, not counting the freight. If you really want to support him to do this, Hu Rui can only file for bankruptcy as a pants. At present, according to the agreement, a production line of Skoda 75-mm mountain guns provided by Krupp has arrived in Anqing, and is being debugged in the newly built artillery production workshop of the Anqing Manufacturing Bureau, and it will take some time before it is put into production. That is to say, the current Anhui New Army has almost no barrel artillery production capacity, and can only produce a limited number of 75 gun barrels. The 105, 150 heavy guns and the required heavy guns all rely on imports!

Take a deep breath, take a deep breath, and resist the urge to go berserk, Hu Rui tried to squeeze out a smile and slowly enlightened:

"Lucas, I don't doubt your loyalty and practices, but I beg your pardon. You see, China is an ancient and backward agricultural country, and the level of industrial production is not at all comparable to that of the industrial countries of Europe. So some things don't apply to China, after all, the actual situation is different. I support and agree with live firing, but you see, we can't even produce 75-mm mountain guns now, we can only produce shells and barrels in a limited way, not to mention those heavy guns. So my opinion is that live firing is a must, but the consumption of one base number for each artillery squad cannot be approved! I'll make a note, you can go to the quartermaster warehouse and get 200 shells, 3 or 4 rounds per cannon will do, and we can gradually proceed in the battle. After all, China does not have the conditions to conduct heavy artillery cluster firing. What do you see? ”

Lucas's gray-green eyes locked on every expression on Hurui's face, and the two mustaches shook and twitched, not knowing what they were thinking. After a moment of silence, Lucas stood up again, pulled the folds on his military uniform, and saluted solemnly:

"Yes, sir! Once again, you convinced me! ”

After speaking, there was wind under his feet and he walked briskly.

The guys in the munitions warehouse are more serious than the Germans, and they are hard-hearted to the point that they don't recognize their relatives. A reinforced company of 200 men was stationed on the side of the warehouse, armed with the same Stern submachine guns as the guard battalion. Specially responsible for the security work of the warehouse, all the personnel and vehicles who require to enter the munitions warehouse must be investigated, as long as there is no document signed by the chief instructor Hu Rui, you can't even enter the door of the warehouse, if you dare to be verbose, those bastards directly greet with submachine guns! Okay, every time Lucas goes to get supplies, he has a feeling of pulling his teeth. Now it's okay, 200 shells are a little less, but it's better than nothing, and it's good to be considered to have seen meat.