On the front line of Chengtian Fortress, Commander Xu Jinjin looked at the 155mm heavy artillery of the artillery regiment, firing armor-piercing projectiles.
The steel bars of the armor-piercing bullet hit the three-meter-thick concrete fortress hard, and the huge metal jet directly punched a small crater in the concrete wall of the fortress.
Seeing this situation, Commander Xu Jin sighed with emotion, Gui State was still too weak.
If he was still in the imperial army, it would only be a fortress of the size of Chengtian Fortress.
The empire will launch rail trains and fortress guns with a size of over 300 mm, and a few shots can penetrate the fortress.
Gui State neither has the ability to manufacture fortress guns and artillery shells larger than 300 mm, nor does it have the ability to transport such behemoths to the front line.
Gui Kingdom lacks weapons and ammunition, which can be purchased from the empire or from vassal states with large-caliber artillery production capabilities.
Whether it is the Song State in Europe or the Zhao State, Wei State, and Cao State in the Americas, they all have such strength.
The ability to transport weapons to the front line is even more important.
Even if Fuping Province was not affected by the disaster, Gui State did not have the ability to quickly build a railway and transport such heavy weapons to the front line.
This kind of artillery shell weighs only a few tons, and the artillery weighs dozens of tons. It cannot be transported by truck.
Only trains and ships have this kind of transportation capability.
Commander Xu Jin felt it was a pity that he could only use three offensive heavy artillery pieces capable of firing special armor-piercing projectiles.
The artillery regiment has eight other howitzers, which have great destructive power against personnel, but have little effect on reinforced concrete fortresses.
The battlefield was filled with smoke, and the Gui army lined up neatly, watching the artillery regiment and the fortress fire at each other.
At this moment, Chief of Staff Zhu Mingming came over with a gloomy telegram.
Seeing his partner's expression, Commander Xu Jinjin asked with some confusion: "Chief of Staff Zhu, what changes have occurred on the front line.
Even if the Wu army has support, the fate of armies from other countries will still be the same."
Commander Xu Jin was most afraid of armies from other countries who would end up in the name of enforcing the alliance.
After several years of preparation, Gui State has a domestic army of 20,000 to 30,000 people, but only 20,000 troops can be mobilized.
The same is true for the State of Wu. The defense will use militia, which makes it appear that there are more troops.
This is the number of troops generally available to European countries.
When the soldiers of the empire see the troops of their vassal countries, they will definitely show a mocking expression.
As a military commander, he commanded less than 8,000 troops.
The army commander of the empire commanded more than 40,000 troops.
They are both military commanders, but the difference in strength is too big.
He knows that this reason is quite helpless. When the country recruits talents, it must provide higher treatment.
The number of troops is not enough to command more troops, but the treatment must be sufficient.
This has resulted in the vast majority of generals and the troops they command being in a state of "dissatisfaction".
Nowadays, the armies of various countries are basically composed of Han people, mainly the first batch of immigrants.
The first batch of immigrants from each country, those who are the most loyal to each country, are limited in number.
The second batch of large-scale immigrants have not yet completed their belongings, and their enthusiasm for joining the army is not high.
Aboriginal people, select a group of people who show loyalty and join the second-line army to be responsible for regional defense.
Let them join the frontline troops and master a large number of weapons.
Only Fujian dared to be so crazy, but there was a reason for him to do so.
The Fujian country has a deeper heritage and has experienced a long founding war. They have been able to select a group of indigenous people who are loyal to the Fujian country.
The Gui State had just been established and had insufficient foundation to dare to do this.
Non-my family, its heart must be different.
China has a very long history, and the consequences of various policies can be found in history.
Xu was promoted to Army Commander. These thoughts passed briefly as he waited for Chief of Staff Zhu Mingming's answer.
Chief of Staff Zhu Mingming handed the telegram to Commander Xu Jin.
"This is the latest information sent by the Metropolitan Governor's Office.
Our lurking personnel in Wu State have sent telegrams.
Wu State has mobilized Jianye's First Chariot Regiment to go to Chengtian Mansion to support.
The State of Wu ordered the militiamen of Chengtian Prefecture to lay out a huge minefield behind the Chengtian Fortress."
Commander Xu Jin received the telegram and read its contents carefully.
"Wu Guo's transfer is basically transparent to our country."
He shook his head and said helplessly: "Espionage activities are difficult to avoid. There are people from Wu State at the top, so there must be people from Wu at the top in our country.
When we were transferred here, we really thought we were here for disaster relief.
The confidentiality of this matter is extremely high. Only a few people know about it, so the secret is not leaked.
We now know the movements of the State of Wu, and the State of Wu must know our movements.
This is the current war, where information is transmitted extremely quickly and the situation on the battlefield is basically transparent."
After Commander Xu Jin said this, he also read the detailed contents of the telegram.
He first expresses his opinions on important but not urgent matters.
"Wu's use of chariot regiments did not exceed our expectations.
Our country also has two tank regiments here, with eighty tanks to deal with the enemy.
This is the entire wealth of our Gui Army.
The continuous rainy season in Wu State has just ended, and the road moisture content is very high.
But it does not affect the dispatch of chariots.
I communicated with the generals of the tank regiment and got a very illogical common sense.
The roads that the cavalry could pass before can be easily passed by the tracks of chariots.
There is a physical formula called the pressure formula.
The smaller the contact area, the greater the pressure.
Simply understand, the smaller the contact area, the easier it is to sink into loose soil.
Horses' horseshoes are very small, and they have very high requirements for the road.
Cavalry will never be able to pass on a slightly soft road.
The lowest requirement for roads is tracked combat vehicles, followed by trucks with tires, and the highest requirement is cavalry.
This is also an important reason why chariots completely eliminated cavalry.
The chariot is stronger and has lower road requirements.
It crushes cavalry from all dimensions.
Wu's chariot regiment will never be affected by loose roads, not to mention that in many places in Wu, even if there are no asphalt roads, there are cement roads and slag roads.
Chariots traveling on this road are not affected at all.
We must capture Chengtian Fortress as soon as possible, otherwise Chengtian Fortress will cooperate with Wu's chariot regiment.
We cannot operate at all in this area and will suffer greater casualties."
After Commander Xu Jin finished speaking, he said with emotion: "The news about the chariot regiment is not too urgent, but the news about Wu Guo's decision to lay mines behind Chengtian Fortress is very urgent news.
I can see two main points from this news.
The Governor-General of the State of Wu has given up on the Chengtian Fortress. They do not believe that the Chengtian Fortress can block our army's attack.
But they will never give up Chengtianfu, which is a transportation node connected to the railway.
Once our army masters the railway, the transportation of logistics supplies will be much easier and more troops can be deployed on the front line.
Wu State chose to lay mines in order to delay our army's actions and allow Wu State troops from other defense lines to rush to Chengtian Mansion as soon as possible to support.
Our army must find a way to capture Chengtian Fortress as soon as possible.
Once Wu Guo is allowed to complete the layout of the minefield, our army will have to pay huge casualties if it wants to pass through the minefield. The most important issue is that the troops need enough time to clear the minefield."
Chief of Staff Zhu Mingming shook his head and said: "The matter is very troublesome. We must ask General Lan Ke for instructions to send the army to storm the Chengtian Fortress.
The casualties required to attack the Tiantian Fortress will definitely be much smaller than those incurred through a long minefield.
I guess this is also one of the purposes of the Wu State. They are to encourage our country to attack heavily defended fortresses and consume our military strength."
What would happen if Commander Xu Jin knew this order was issued?
But after weighing the situation, he decided to call General Lan Ke and ask for instructions from the ground troops to attack the fortress.
The call was connected, and Commander Xu Jin explained the reason for the call.
General Lan Ke asked directly: "The machine gun firepower of Chengtian Fortress is stronger than the artillery.
Are your troops confident in taking over Chengtian Fortress?
I'm really afraid that if you defeat them all, you won't be able to take Chengtian Fortress."
When Commander Xu Jinjin heard what General Lan Ke said, he immediately couldn't say anything to refute.
He was born in the Imperial Army School and served in the Imperial Army for many years.
He has limited actual combat experience, but there are no problems with his combat theory and knowledge of weapons.
Now the artillery regiment of the Guangxi Army uses long-caliber heavy artillery to take advantage of its range to engage in firefights with the Chengtian Fortress.
Once the ground troops attack Chengtian Fortress.
The heavy machine guns and small-caliber artillery inside the Chengtian Fortress will inevitably be aimed at the attacking army.
Commander Xu Jin was confident of taking the Chengtian Fortress, but the field hospital would definitely be filled with injured soldiers.
General Lan Ke's tone clearly did not support Xu Jin's actions.
General Lan Ke heard no sound from the other side of the microphone.
He said earnestly: "Xu was promoted to Army Commander. You must remember your identity. You are not a general of the empire. Don't use tactics that can only be used by great powers.
In order to achieve the established combat goals, the empire can bear a certain price of sacrifice.
Our country of Gui is a small country and cannot afford such a price.
Your army has been exhausted, and I only have more than 10,000 people left.
Even if I penetrate the Chengtian Fortress, with these 10,000 people, how much more results can I still achieve?
It’s better to be slow than to be impulsive.”
Xu's request to be promoted to Army Commander was directly rejected by General Lan Ke.
Commander Xu Jinjin calmed down and said helplessly: "Remember this humble position. I will never be impulsive in the future. I will focus on preserving the vitality of our army."
General Lan Ke said with satisfaction: "As long as you know your mistakes, our army can fight in trench warfare with the Wu army.
The battle losses of our army must not be too disparate.
When encountering the Wu army's fortress, we can fight slowly. As long as the war takes place within Russian territory, we will not lose anything.
As for minefields, there are many ways to deal with them.
Our army cannot fight in large groups in minefields, and Wu's army has no choice.
The minefield will slow down our attack speed, but this is not important.
We only have 20,000 people, so it is impossible to directly attack the capital of Wu and build Ye.
If you don't have the strength to destroy Wu, then don't think about a quick victory."
Commander Xu Jinjin put down the phone, he sighed and said: "I am still too impulsive. My experience of serving in the Imperial Army has directly affected my judgment.
Fortunately, I did not become the commander-in-chief of this war, otherwise there would have been huge casualties."
Chief of Staff Zhu Mingming also reflected: "I was too eager to prove my ability, and the method I chose was a bit aggressive.
General Lan Ke made it very clear that we do not have the ability to destroy Wu.
This war was just to consume Wu's potential.
This war is also a test of the achievements of our country's military construction.
The total investment between the two countries is only 40,000 to 50,000 people, which is not as good as the previous Thirty Years War in Europe."
They watched the artillery regiment take a short rest.
Due to long-term use of the artillery, the barrel of the artillery became red, the ballistic trajectory deviated, and it needed to be cooled.
Commander Xu Jinjin watched the fortress artillery shells fall in front of the army, blasting large deep craters on the ground.
Facing the extremely powerful fortress artillery, a ground attack is indeed not advisable.
Before their arrival, Chengtian Fortress had already demonstrated the fortress's machine gun firepower.
At that time, Chengtian Fortress was warning them.
If you dare to take another step forward, you will definitely be torn apart by machine gun bullets.
Commander Xu Jin came to the map and looked at Chengtian Fortress in a daze.
As a top student trained by the Imperial Army Academy, he was unexpectedly blocked by this small fortress in front of him.
If word of this war spreads, his abilities will definitely be laughed at by his classmates.
Commander Xu Jinjin murmured to himself: "Wu and Gui are on the plains. How can I be blocked by a small fortress?"
After he read this sentence, his eyes lit up, he looked at the map, and his heart suddenly became enlightened.
"Plain area, this is a plain area, why should I compete with the fortress in front of me.
This fortress has been abandoned by the State of Wu. Do the Wu troops in the fortress dare to come out?
If they dare to leave the fortress, that is exactly what I want."
Commander Xu Jin took the map and found Chief of Staff Zhu Mingming.
Chief of Staff Zhu Mingming saw Commander Xu Jin coming hurriedly with a map.
He smiled and asked: "Commander Xu, do you have any new ideas now?
Don't be too anxious, I asked the general of the artillery regiment.
With the current situation of Chengtian Fortress, we only need a dozen days to defeat it.
This time is already sufficient, and Wu's reinforcements cannot arrive at this time.
I didn’t have a clear understanding of the country’s strategy before.
Our goal is not to destroy Wu State, there is no need to be so eager.
Wu's reinforcements may move very quickly, but today's army is not the army of the past that can fight with a blade.
The ammunition needed for artillery and firearms cannot be easily transported.
Even if there is a railway in Chengtian Prefecture, they will still need time to mobilize supplies due to Wu Guo's previous misjudgment.
The same goes for our country. Because the ammunition is already in place, we can only choose to attack Chengtian Mansion.
Once you choose to attack other places, the army can rush there in time, but the army requires huge ammunition for operations and cannot transport it there in time."
Commander Xu Jinzhen knew that Chief of Staff Zhu Mingming said this, and he was trying to persuade him to proceed steadily and not to be impulsive.
Gui State only had this small army and could not afford to suffer heavy casualties.
Commander Xu Jinzhen unfolded the map and pointed at Chengtian Fortress.
"Our eyes were all focused on this thing.
Chengtian Fortress is very important, but Chengtian Mansion does not have enough troops, so it is not important.
Our army passed through Chengtian Fortress from the flank.
Chengtian Mansion now has no ability to carry out a pincer attack on our army.
The defenders of Chengtian Fortress will never dare to come out.
If Wu Jun comes out, I will be even happier."
When Chief of Staff Zhu Mingming heard this tactic, his eyes lit up.
