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The summer of 1846 was unusually hot. This is especially true in Guangzhou, which is located in the south. In addition to dealing with government affairs, Long Yufei basically stayed in the palace and was reluctant to go out. Although Guangzhou became the largest city of the Chinese Empire and the temporary capital, it was still unsuitable as the capital of the empire in general. Long Yufei had already thought about it, and after unifying the whole country, he would immediately move the capital.

At the beginning of August, the Imperial General Staff came up with a battle plan against the Manchus and Russia, which was divided into two parts, the first part was aimed at the Manchus, called the 'Qing Eradication Plan', and the second part was aimed at Russia, called the 'Bear Slaughter Plan'.

On August 12, Long Yufei listened to the report of the Operations Department on the combat plan at the Imperial General Staff. In addition to high-ranking officers of the General Staff, commanders of the armies of the Army, commanders of naval fleets, marines and commanders of units directly under the General Staff also gathered at the General Staff. This war is a matter of great importance, and Long Yufei hopes that the whole country and the whole army will work together.

Before the War Department reported the plan, Long Yufei summoned the generals of the military, and he asked everyone to pay attention to this war, and strive to completely destroy the Manchus this time, if the Russians dared to intervene, they would cut off the Russians' hands and let them know the power of the Chinese Empire.

The generals all patted their chests and assured Long Yufei that they would definitely win this battle. For many of the generals, they hadn't fought for a long time. In the war in Burma, only a few armies participated. The rest of the army can only be greedy. This time there will be a large-scale war, and most of the troops will be involved. Only by fighting can they gain more exploits. to have a chance or evil promotion. The commanders of the Imperial Army, almost all of whom have the rank of major general, all want to be promoted to lieutenant general, general, or even marshal!

After meeting with these generals, Long Yufei went to the war room of the war department to listen to the report of the war chief, Lieutenant General Sun Hao, on the battle plan. Prime Minister Lee Deok-sung. Foreign Minister Lin Zihao and Finance Minister Liu Mingde also attended the meeting. Fighting against the Manchus was not just a matter for the army. The government will also need to provide strong assistance. At that time, both the diplomatic and financial aspects must make every effort to ensure that the war is fought and that the empire will be victorious in this war.

"陛xià." The 'Elimination Plan' is mainly divided into four directions. The first direction is the Yangtze River defense line. We expect to invest 6 armies and 200,000 men in the Yangtze River defense line to break through the Yangtze River in three ways and march north of the Yangtze River. Although the Qing army had about 400,000 men north of the Yangtze River, we were confident that six armies would completely defeat them. In the second direction, in the northwest, two infantry corps will set out from northern Sichuan, capture Shaanxi and Gansu, and march to Shanxi, Henan, and other places. Cooperate with the Central Front. The third direction is the Korean direction, where the Imperial Army has now concentrated two armies. After the start of the war. These two armies will break through the Qing army's defense line on the west bank of the Yalu River, capture Mukden, attack Shanhaiguan from the north, and block the Qing army's retreat to the outside of the pass. In the 4th direction are 1 corps and 5 marine brigades. This will be our mobile troops, who will wait for an opportunity to land on the eastern coast according to the development of the war situation. In addition, the reserve is a newly formed 6 infantry corps! Lieutenant General Sun Hao, Minister of Operations, said.

"The 6 newly formed infantry corps, have they already completed their training? What about combat effectiveness? Long Yufei asked. Originally, without the intervention of Russia, the Manchu Qing could have been defeated by relying solely on the army before the Chinese Empire. However, in the event of a possible Russian intervention, the Empire had to be fully prepared. Therefore, the retired soldiers were recruited as a last resort, and six additional infantry corps were formed.

"Your Majesty can rest assured, the soldiers mobilized this time are all soldiers who have only been retired for a year, they have not forgotten their fighting skills, and their training has ended, and their combat effectiveness has been restored to their peak state. Even when fighting against the regular army, they were not inferior in any way. General Niu Meng, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, said with a smile. Admiral Niu Meng is not young, and he feels that his talent is somewhat lacking, so he has begun to delegate power. This war may be the last battle after he became chief of the General Staff. He had already decided, and after this battle, he submitted his resignation to Long Yufei and resigned from the post of chief of the General Staff.

Long Yufei nodded, he believed in the combat effectiveness of the imperial soldiers. After a year of hard work, the 44 heavy machine gun has improved its performance, its range and rate of fire have been greatly improved, and it has been equipped to the platoon level, which has allowed the firepower of the Imperial Army to be further improved. In addition, mortars were equipped at the platoon level, which once again strengthened the firepower of the infantry. At the battalion level, mortars were no longer equipped, but newly developed infantry guns.

The infantry guns equipped by the Imperial Army, not named Type 46 infantry guns, weighed 250 kilograms, had a gun length of 2.75 meters, a caliber of 75 millimeters, a shell weighing 5 kilograms, a muzzle velocity of 200 meters per second, a maximum range of 2,500 meters, and a minimum range of 100 meters. The range and power of the Type 46 infantry gun are much more powerful than the mortars equipped with before. In addition, it is light and easy to transport. It can be transported by pack horse, or directly disassembled into several parts, handed over to the pack horse or soldier to carry it, which is very convenient. Each infantry battalion is equipped with a total of 4 infantry guns, which greatly improves the ability of the imperial infantry battalion to attack fortifications. At least compared to the Manchus, in terms of infantry firepower, the Imperial Army was completely superior. Although the Qing army underwent a similar adaptation to the West, their artillery was small in number, and each infantry division did not have many cannons, which was far from comparable to the imperial army.

"If the Russians intervene in the war, then what are we going to do?" Long Yufei asked. Defeat the Manchus, that's for sure. The only change now is probably what kind of impact Russia will have on the situation after it intervenes in the war.

"Your Majesty, according to information obtained by the Military Intelligence Directorate, Russia has only more than 50,000 troops in the Far East. However, Tsar Nicholas I had already sent 100,000 reinforcements from Europe to the Far East. Of the 100,000 troops, 50,000 Cossack cavalry were included. Lieutenant General Sun Hao said.

"Cossack cavalry? Or 50,000 people? Nicholas I has made a bloody investment! Long Yufei's face was a little ugly. Even though he was a technical nerd, he had heard of the prestige of the Cossack cavalry.

"Do we have a way to deal with the Cossack cavalry of the Russians?" Long Yufei asked. The Imperial Army had very few cavalry companies, each brigade had only one cavalry company, and a corps had only a few hundred cavalry. There are 24 infantry corps in the whole army, but there are only cavalry in the early 10,000s. Far from being comparable to the Manchus and Russia. The Manchu Qing Dynasty forbade the importation of war horses to the Chinese Empire, and the Sichuan and Dian horses were not suitable for war horses, and could only be used as pack horses. Most of the war horses of the Imperial Army were imported from the West. However, although this kind of horse has strong sprint, it does not have strong endurance, and is not suitable for long-distance pursuit. Long Yufei's favorite war horse is a Mongolian horse. Although Mongolian horses are short, they have very good endurance, and at the same time, they are very simple, they only need grass and a small amount of beans, and they are not as expensive as European horses.

"Your Majesty, if we encounter the Russian Cossack cavalry head-on, we will only be able to defend and counterattack with strong firepower, and we will lack the ability to pursue. If you are suddenly attacked by the enemy's cavalry, you may be defeated. For this reason, we can only scatter the scouts and cavalry to avoid the possibility of being attacked by the enemy. General Niu Meng, Chief of the General Staff, said.

Long Yufei nodded, the Manchu Qing Dynasty had 200,000 cavalry, including 100,000 Eight Banner Iron Cavalry and 100,000 Mongolian cavalry, and now Russia has also sent 50,000 Cossack cavalry over, and the Chinese Empire is at a disadvantage in terms of cavalry!

"It seems that we need to speed up the construction of cavalry. Lord Lin, how are our contacts with the Mongolian ministries? Long Yufei asked. If the Chinese Empire wanted to build cavalry on a large scale, it had to recruit the Mongols. The Mongols were natural cavalry, and a mix of Mongols and Han Chinese, with the standard weapons of the Imperial Army, was undoubtedly able to form a formidable infantry.

"Your Majesty, the Khans of all the Mongolian tribes are a little hesitant, after all, it seems that although we are strong, the Manchus are not vegetarians, not to mention the support of the Russians. The Khans of the Mongol tribes were unwilling to make a decision now. Lin Zihao said. Both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Intelligence sent people to contact the Mongolian ministries, however, the Mongols were clearly reluctant to bet at this time.

"It seems that we have to inflict heavy losses on the battlefield to the Manchu Qing, and when the time comes, the Mongols will make a choice!" Long Yufei said.

The generals also nodded their heads one after another. The Mongols were not fools, and although they had a close relationship with the Manchus, they would not have been buried with the Manchus if they were doomed.

"By the way, how is the development of our light machine gun?" Long Yufei asked, the light machine gun is ready to be equipped to the infantry squad level, if each infantry squad is equipped with a machine gun, the firepower will be increased again. Even in the face of the enemy's cavalry, it is not without the power to counterattack.

"Your Majesty, the arsenal is under development. However, in the miniaturization of machine guns, some difficulties were encountered, and now ways are being made to overcome them! General Zhao Yi, Deputy Chief of the General Staff and Minister of Logistics and Equipment, said.

Long Yufei knew that because of the material, it was difficult to reduce the weight of the machine gun. It seems that in this war, light machine guns will not come in handy. (To be continued......)