In May 1879, Shangnan County, Shaanxi Province, located in Shangluo area, was named after Shangshan Luoshui, the junction of three provinces, lofty mountains and mountains, and sparsely populated. In the past, Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, defeated Tongguan Nanyuan, and it was here to recuperate, Zuihou went out of the mountain to kill King Fu until he invaded Beijing.

Now, a large-scale military firing exercise is underway.

As early as half a month ago, this area was strictly blocked, and the originally scarce traffic was completely cut off, and no one was allowed to enter this area without a special pass from the Ministry of Military Affairs. At this time, the Ministry of War has also been changed to the Ministry of Military Affairs, and Peng Yulin, as the Minister of Military Affairs, will also preside over the exercise. At the same time, many observers were assigned to monitor the entire exercise, and many of these observers were foreign instructors in the former units, and Ding Yuntong gave them the power to independently send telegrams to themselves and evaluate the performance of various units, believing that in this way they could obtain more objective information.

The troops participating in the exercise included Zuo Guigui's 2nd Division, Zhang Shusheng's 3rd Division, Song Qing's 5th Division, and Jinshun's 7th Division, as well as more than 3,000 guards academy soldiers transferred from four training camps, with a total strength of 30,000 troops. For the sake of secrecy, the participating units did not know each other's establishment, and different units were not allowed to contact and exchange with each other.

The reason why Ding Yuntong chose this place as the location of the exercise is that it is relatively remote, which is convenient for blockade and secrecy. Moreover, the terrain is complex and diverse, with mountains, forests, hills and peacefully intertwined, and it is possible to practice tactics under various geographical conditions.

The exercise officially began after careful preparation.

The entire exercise completely abandoned traditional military tactics, and all kinds of complex formations that had been handed down in China for thousands of years disappeared, and straggler tactics and infantry and artillery coordination were strictly trained.

In the past, it didn't matter whether it was the Hunan army or the Huai army. When facing the enemy, they all stand in several rows, like shooting targets, and the cannons are mixed in the gaps between the rows of soldiers, waiting for the officers to wave their flags and fire the guns together. Now these situations are strictly forbidden.

When the troops attacked, they either attacked by surprise or prepared for artillery fire first, and then the infantry had to advance in a skirmish line, with five or six paces between the soldiers and moving in a leaping manner, always suppressing the opponent with fire during the movement.

When defending, troops rely on bunkers, establish defensive depth, focus on firepower allocation, and retain reserves. At the same time, the defense should also be coordinated with infantry and artillery, try to block the opponent with artillery fire, and then use platoon guns to repel it.

The heavy artillery battalion should concentrate its firepower, set up specific observation posts, and constantly correct the attack coordinates of the artillery.

Cavalry is more used for reconnaissance, flank attacks or harassment, and try to avoid frontal assault with cavalry.

Change the traditional way of attacking during the day and resting at night, emphasizing defense during the day and strong attack at night.

Each regiment is equipped with two telegraphs, and at the regimental level and above, the telegraph is combined with movement communication, and the regimental level and below rely on the movement communication of the signal corps.

Logistics support has set up a supply station, which is responsible for the supply of materials and the transfer of baggage and heavy loads to the troops, and at the same time undertakes the construction of the troops' camps, the maintenance and replenishment of combatants, the reception and treatment of the wounded, sick and various items, as well as the battlefield clean-up, the collection of abandoned military supplies, battlefield investigations, battlefield people's livelihood and other complicated matters.

In the course of the live-fire exercise, a confrontation exercise was specially set up, and the two participating units were divided into black and white armies. When an artillery attack on a specific area, the number of casualties is estimated according to the accuracy of the artillery strike, compared to the density of the defense of the other army, and subtracted from the latter. The attacker then uses tactical attacks such as surprise attacks and flanking flanks, and the ratio of casualties between the attacker and the defender is set to four to one, and Zuihou determines the winner according to the corresponding position changes of the troops and the remaining number of troops.

The whole exercise lasted for more than a month, and in fact the preparatory work took even longer, but even so, there were still many errors in the exercise, and seven soldiers died unexpectedly, except for one who died of sudden illness, and the rest were hit by stray bullets.

Ding Yuntong has always maintained contact with the exercise headquarters and has also continuously received reports from observers. Know these casualties. Dante insisted on the live-fire exercise, so that the soldiers could get used to hearing the sound of gunfire.

During the exercise, the cadet soldiers of the Guards showed a relatively high quality, and because they received regular training, they had a strong ability to accept it, and their tactical awareness was better than that of ordinary soldiers in military training. Ding Yuntong was very pleased to be able to skillfully use firepower in the exercise, practice tactics purposefully, and prefer to carry out ambushes, outflanks and sneak attacks.

However, there are also those who do not behave, such as Su Yuanchun, the commander of the 1st Brigade of the 3rd Division, who blindly emphasized fierce attacks and fierce charges, and was resistant to straggler tactics, and even violated the regulations during the exercise, bringing bows and arrows that he had carried with him for many years. was severely reprimanded by Ding Yuntong and demoted to the head of the regiment. The post of brigade commander was taken over by Zhang Gaoyuan, the former subordinate of Liu Mingchuan.

In this chapter, Gao Yuan was brave and strategic, and he also killed and wounded many Japanese soldiers in the First Sino-Japanese War, and he was very strict in governing the army, and his subordinates were well disciplined. In history, he was called "the three generals of the Huai Army" together with Wang Xiaoqi and Nie Shicheng, and they were originally intended to be used for the Guards, but the Guards can only train six or seven thousand people a year, and he is not needed to command.

The exercise lasted until mid-June, and the results of the entire exercise were not as good as Ding Yuntong had imagined; in particular, although the vast number of troops training troops had also undergone new-style drills, they generally still retained the old rules and regulations and habits, and it was evident that it was really not an easy task to enhance the combat effectiveness of the troops.

However, it is gratifying to note that the quality of the Guards is obviously much better, and it is a pity that there are too few suitable instructors, and only a few thousand people can be trained a year at present. Out of the need for secrecy, there are very few foreign instructors who are trustworthy and willing to sign confidentiality contracts, and cut off all contact with the outside world, only a few German officers, out of fanaticism for their careers, are willing to become isolated instructors. Of course, the salary package given to them in China is even higher than that of ministers in the imperial court.

Among the officers and men of the Guards, there was a young officer who caught Ding Yuntong's attention, and this person was a bit conspicuous during the exercise, because this person was mentioned in the reports of several foreign instructor observers.

This person's surname is Wang, his name is Xiang, his name is Jiaju, a native of Yongjia in southern Zhejiang, he is only 19 years old and a company commander.

During the exercises, this person showed great calmness and decisiveness and was able to deal with various problems in the best possible way. In particular, after the exercise, he also put forward an idea of his own to the command, that is, to use artillery fire to form a barrage and slowly advance on the battlefield, and the infantry to follow and advance a few hundred meters behind this barrage, so that the opponent could not organize a defense in time.

Ding Yuntong looked at it and was a little stunned, isn't this Xu Jin's barrage tactic? This tactic is said to have been invented by the French, but it was used on a large scale by the Germans during World War I and is a classic fire support tactic.

However, Ding Yuntong did not think that his army could train such tactical abilities. This barrage requires a good understanding of the enemy's entire defense. Artillery and infantry had to have rapid communication and close cooperation. Artillery must have very professional control skills. The infantry also had to be of great courage and trust in their own artillery, daring to advance behind the barrage of their own artillery. Such an army would need to have a high level of tactical literacy and strict battlefield discipline. Ding Yuntong didn't think that the officers and soldiers of this generation could use such tactics, not to mention that they didn't even have field telephones yet.

But even so, this Wang Xiang can have such avant-garde ideas, which also reflects his military ability, Ding Yuntong can't help but remember this name in his heart, and pay more attention to his growth, who knows if this person will not be a great commander in the future?

Not long after the end of the military exercise in Shangnan County, a similar exercise was launched in Guangxi, with the participation of the 1st and 4th Divisions.

Later, army exercises were also carried out in Nianzhuang in Jiangsu Province and in Dabie Mountain, at the junction of the three provinces.

Ding Yuntong said: From a military point of view, the exercise is not only about tempering skills, but also about allowing commanders and their subordinates to get acquainted with each other and greatly enhance their combat effectiveness. In the Qing Dynasty army in the previous life, whether it was the Hunan army or the Huai army, when there was a war, it recruited soldiers, trained, and fought wars. After the war, he was disbanded and returned home to farm. When there is something, recruit new soldiers, train, and fight, so it is a bit like the garbage military system of the Song Dynasty, where there are no permanent soldiers, and it is strange that the combat effectiveness is strong. Before Nazi Germany in the previous life, before World War II, many army generals had to go to the soldiers' barracks and live with ordinary soldiers for half a year to familiarize themselves with the situation at the grassroots level.

Off the coast of Fujian, the Qing Navy was also conducting live-fire exercises at sea, led by the cruiser Yangwu.

At this time, Ding Yuntong frowned, looking at the Jihua sketch of the coastal defense batteries in Fujian, Zhejiang, and Taiwan sent by Ding Richang, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, but this map could not satisfy him.

"Someone is coming, pass on Ding Richang, I want to meet him."