Under Li Zhi's command, a World War I-level defense system was quickly built outside Huai'an City.
Li Zhi had also built defensive camps before to maximize his own firepower, such as building a camp at Qingshankou. However, the enemies targeted by such camps were Qing soldiers with cold weapons. Qing soldiers did not have large-scale equipment of firearms, and the defensive power of the camp
It can be lower.
In the face of Jiangbei Army's rifles and artillery, the old-fashioned city walls and barracks are no longer effective. Both sides fight with rifled guns and cannons. Wooden barracks, city walls and even bastions are not the best way to defend themselves. In this situation
In a war situation, the best defense facility is the World War I-style trench system.
The trench system consists of trenches, barbed wire and bunkers.
The first is a trench surrounding the city wall of Huai'an City. The trench is two meters deep, which is deeper than the height of the soldiers. Li Zhi's design is to allow the soldiers to step on a small bench just enough to shoot, but they do not need to when walking in the trench.
Bow down and bend over.
Of course, the use of benches also has a defensive purpose. If the enemy rushes into the trench, they will not be able to use the trench to attack the Tigers without benches.
Next is barbed wire. Barbed wire can effectively block the charge of enemy cavalry and infantry. It is easy to lay and has good effect.
In recent years, after converter steelmaking began to produce cheap steel, Li Zhi began to build reinforced concrete buildings in batches. To build such buildings, it was natural to use iron wire to tie steel bars, so Li Zhi had various types of iron wire on hand. In Huai'an City
The steel needed to lay two rings of barbed wire outside is not very large, and there are sufficient stocks in nearby states and counties.
The last thing that needed to be built was the bunker. Under the threat of a thousand heavy artillery pieces from the Jiangbei Army, Li Zhi was not prepared to build an open fort. Instead, Li Zhi planned to build a bunker based on the terrain outside the city. Bunkers were often built in raised mounds next to trenches.
, using the thick soil layer as cover, only opening on the front to expose the cannon muzzle.
The muzzle of the bunker is only one or two meters above the ground. Under the thick soil layer is 40 centimeters of reinforced concrete, which is extremely defensive.
Eight hundred heavy artillery pieces from the Southern Route Army were placed in these bunkers.
Li Zhi built 800 bunkers in one breath, 200 bunkers in each direction, east, west, north, and south. Four heavy cannons could be placed in each bunker. In this way, the 800 heavy cannons could be moved from the trenches to any part of the city.
direction, you can concentrate your artillery to bombard the enemy at any time.
There was a lot of cement and steel bars in stock in Huai'an, but it was not enough to build 800 bunkers. Li Zhi asked the prefectures and counties near Shandong to immediately start transporting supplies to Huai'an and strive to collect the required cement and steel bars within fifteen days.
Eight hundred bunkers sound scary, but they are actually the same amount of work as pouring concrete for 800 small houses. Li Zhi mobilized 20,000 residents in the city to build these facilities. With the strength of the people and the strength, it would only take a few days to build these defense systems.
The two hundred meters in front of the city wall are all areas controlled by the Huben Army. The Jiangbei Army can only fire a few cannons from a few miles away to harass Li Zhi's construction team. Moreover, the construction of trenches and bunkers is basically digging holes and only needs to be in one place.
After digging a deep enough hole, all subsequent tunnels that can be expanded from this hole must be worked underground. Jiangbei Army's artillery can't hit the civilians in the tunnel at all.
More than twenty days later, Li Zhi's trench defense system was basically formed.
During this period, although Jiangbei Army was eyeing Huai'an City, it did not launch a large-scale attack. After all, thousands of people would die every time they attacked. Without a guarantee of victory, Jiangbei Army would not come to die in vain. They were waiting for Li Zhi's new defense.
After the system was established, the generals of Jiangbei Army were dumbfounded.
Shi Kefa held up the telescope sent by the Dutch, looked at the defense system in the distance, and took a few breaths of cold air. The ditch deep into the ground suddenly made the Jiangbei Army's artillery useless.
For people of this era, the trench system at the level of World War I was undoubtedly a brand new thing. Li Zhi's defense system deeply shocked the generals of the Jiangbei Army.
If the Huben army was defending on the city wall, no matter how it leaned against the wall, the cannon would still have an angle to hit the Huben army. However, after the soldiers of the Huben army entered the trench, Shi Kefa discovered that it was impossible for the cannon to hit the soldiers in the trench.
It's very simple, because even if the cannon is ejected, the curvature of the curve is extremely limited. If the cannon is fired towards the trench, the shell can only hit the back wall of the trench when it falls, and cannot harm the Tiger Soldiers walking in the trench at all.
Unless the soldiers of the Tiger Army come out to shoot, the cannon directly hits the soldier's head. But the probability of that is so small that it can basically be ignored.
The Jiangbei Army, which had no explosives, was helpless against the Tigers and Ben Army hiding in the trenches.
Jiangbei Army's artillery fired at Li Zhi's trench system at first, but then they ceased fire directly to avoid wasting shells and gunpowder.
The defensive power of the bunker wrapped in thick soil is even more incredible. The mud more than half a meter thick outside the bunker seems to be a layer of armor, blocking all Jiangbei Army's artillery shells.
The Jiangbei Army's artillery could not hit the Huben Army, but the cannons in the Huben Army's bunkers could bombard the Jiangbei Army.
Shi Kefa looked at Li Zhi's ditch and bunker with a telescope and was speechless.
"What method did Li Zhi use? How did he make the soldiers jump into the ditch to avoid the shells, which made all our cannons useless. Will Li Zhi not guard the city wall in the future?"
Zuo Liangyu held up a telescope and looked at Li Zhi's defense system. After pondering for a long time, he shook his head and said, "I am afraid that such a defense facility cannot be broken through."
At this time, Shi Kefa had not seen the head of the Tiger Army soldier standing on the small stool, and said: "However, Li Thief's soldiers cannot shoot after entering the pit, so how can they fight against our gunmen?"
Wu Sangui said: "My soldier, we might as well send a gunman to try!"
Shi Kefa nodded and said: "Yes! Let the fire gun go up and charge."
This month, Shi Kefa received more than 10,000 new rifles from the rear, and his strength became even stronger. Having made up his mind, he asked 20,000 Jiangbei Army soldiers to charge forward with rifles.
Soon, Shi Kefa witnessed the magic of the trench system.
The history of World War I has proven that for a trench system filled with riflemen, whoever attacks is seeking death.
When the skirmishers of the Jiangbei Army rushed into the trench 400 meters away, the soldiers of the Huben Army stood on small stools one by one, with their little heads exposed above the trench.
Underneath the small heads were thousands of rifles with scopes. Only a loud horn was heard, and the soldiers in the trenches of the Tiger Army opened fire, pouring bullets at the Jiangbei Army who were exposed on the battlefield.
Seeing the new tricks of the Huben Army, a cry of exclamation suddenly sounded from the Jiangbei Army. It turned out that Li Zhi's soldiers were hiding in the trenches and could stick out their heads to fight at critical moments.
With only one head exposed and shooting like this, it would be very difficult for the soldiers of the Jiangbei Army to hit the Huben Army. Moreover, the Huben Army also wore a steel helmet on his head, so the bullets from the Jiangbei Army could not hit the front of the helmet stably, so the Jiangbei Army's bullets could not kill the Huben Army soldiers at all.
The Jiangbei Army soldiers on the battlefield were attacked just four hundred meters away. In the huge skirmish formation, soldiers were knocked down from time to time by the rifles of the Huben Army.
