Tang Yuanze looked at the 18-pound light howitzer that was firing continuously in front, and then looked at the smoke and dust caused by the continuous explosions on the enemy fortress in front, and couldn't help but smile.
"Okay, let's fight like this, continue the shelling, and completely suppress them!" Tang Yuanze muttered to himself, then turned to the adjutant and said: "The artillery unit has almost fought, let the first and second battalions The charge is launched, and the third battalion is ready to reinforce the front line at any time.”
"This time we will kill the enemy in front in one go!"
Having said that, Tang Yuanze also thought to himself: "If I fight well this time, I can hope for the rank of brigadier general after I finish fighting on the Western Front."
Otherwise, the main attack mission of No. 3 Passage that he had worked so hard to grab would be in vain.
Tang Yuanze, commander of the 98th Infantry Regiment of the 25th Division, with the rank of Army Colonel!
He also belongs to the early generals of Conglong, but he did not climb up step by step from a soldier, but an officer in the second phase of the Army Officer Academy.
He was originally literate in Dongwen. He first became a military clerk in Conglonghou, his hometown in Chubei, and was soon arranged to study at the Officer Academy.
After completing his studies, he was gradually awarded the rank of lieutenant and served as regimental staff officer, sentry commander, battalion commander and other positions. During this period, he made many meritorious deeds and received the attention of his superiors.
Last year, he was transferred back to the staff department to serve as combat staff, and at the same time he learned new line tactics and was trained.
After completing his studies, he was transferred to the newly formed 24th Division as the deputy commander of the 98th Infantry Regiment, promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel, and acted as deputy commander of the regiment.
After the 98th Infantry Regiment was formed, he naturally became the commander of the 98th Infantry Regiment and was promoted to the rank of Army Colonel.
Because being transferred to serve in a newly formed army often requires several months of training, and there will be no combat missions during this period. For the Chu army, which was in the midst of the Unification War and a period of great expansion, training in the rear was of great importance to many people. It is not a good choice for a capable and ambitious general.
However, in order for the new troops to complete training as soon as possible and form combat effectiveness, they cannot lack these capable officers. In order to resolve these conflicts, the Chu army often transferred some capable officers to deputy positions when training new troops. The deputy position will be used to handle the affairs of the principal position. After the establishment, the deputy position will be converted into a regular position and then promoted to one level.
The purpose is to allow these capable officers who want to go to the front line to make meritorious service and get promoted, so that they can settle down and train the new troops, especially the new first-class divisions.
The training of the new first-class division was very important to the Chu army last year and even this year.
Under such circumstances, Tang Yuanze, a young and promising mid-level officer in the army, was able to stay away from the front line for as long as a year and still maintain a relatively rapid promotion.
However, Tang Yuanze's ambitions were even greater than those of ordinary officers!
After becoming the colonel commander and the commander of the main infantry regiment of the new first-class division, he naturally set his sights on the higher-level brigadier general rank.
In the current large-scale Chu army, only generals with the rank of brigadier general or above can be called senior generals. Colonel officers are just middle-level officers.
Army brigadiers, within the army, are generally the brigade commander, deputy division commander, and chief of staff of the old first-class divisions. There is no brigade commander in the new first-class divisions, so there are only deputy division commanders and chiefs of staff.
There are also some independent artillery brigades, cavalry brigades and other units whose brigade commanders also have the rank of brigadier general. There are also some independent garrison troops, such as the garrison troops currently stationed on Daguang Island, whose commander is a brigadier general.
Another major system in the Chu army, the second-class division, is now the same as the new first-class division. Only the deputy division commander and chief of staff have the rank of brigadier general, and there is no brigade commander.
In fact, the first few second-class divisions last year were established at the brigade level, and all the establishments were modeled after the old first-class divisions.
However, these second-class divisions often need to be garrisoned in separate places and rarely have combat missions. There is no need or necessity to assemble into brigade-level units. The establishment of two brigade-level units at the same time will lead to too many senior generals and too many levels of command. And other issues.
Finally, considering the future replacement of flintlock muskets and the reorganization of new formations, it is also to further reduce military expenditures.
The Army simply changed the organization of the later second-class divisions into one division and three regiments, and completely abolished the brigade-level organization.
Several early second-class divisions with two brigades and four regiments were also reformed into one division and three regiments.
So now, all the second-class divisions in the Chu army have one division and three regiments. However, because the second-class divisions still use old equipment, tactics and organization, the number of the second-class divisions is only a few thousand men.
After all, an infantry battalion under the old organization had only more than 600 troops, and a regiment only had about 2,000 troops. However, under the new organization, an infantry battalion had more than 900 troops, and a regiment could have more than 3,000 troops. These two The gap between them is huge.
Regardless of whether it was before or now, in the Da Chu Empire Army, only after becoming a brigadier general can one be said to be a general, a senior general in the army.
Because the brigadier general's epaulettes also have gold stars.
Major generals wear two gold stars, lieutenant generals wear three, and admirals four.
Tang Yuanze's current hope is that after fighting this battle on the Western Front, he can wear the yellow-backed gold star epaulettes and become a real general.
But if you want to become a general and become one of the senior generals, military merit is indispensable, so this time you must fight well in this No. 3 passage.
It’s not about winning, it’s about winning beautifully.
The superiors have sent you all the precious 18-pound light howitzers. You can use the new grenades at your disposal. Under such circumstances, taking down Channel 3 is Tang Yuanze's essential job.
Winning is normal, failing to win is dereliction of duty.
On the premise of winning, you must also play well, so that you can add points to your resume.
Therefore, since Colonel Tang Yuanze learned that he had to conquer Passage No. 3, he ran here many times to look at the terrain on the opposite side, and then carried out a complete attack plan with a group of officers and regiment staff.
To attack the enemy, it is not possible to win with thousands of people rushing forward in a swarm. The Ming army on the opposite side is not stupid, and they also have large and small artillery and muskets, and even if they are not good, they also have a lot of bows and arrows.
Facing an enemy that relied on the terrain, built fortresses and trenches, and had numerous firearms for defensive operations, it was not easy to capture this place, especially when casualties were minimized.
Now, the preliminary work of Tang Yuanze and other officers has received initial rewards. They formulated a detailed artillery plan before the battle, carefully selected and constructed artillery positions, and ensured that their twelve 18-pound light howitzers can perform as they should. Some effects.
And these twelve 18-pound light howitzers did not disappoint him!
These artillery were deployed in three places, and their artillery positions were carefully selected. They were about three to four hundred meters away from the front line, with good shooting range, and there were anti-slopes.
This is a howitzer, and in order to attack the enemy troops hiding in the trenches, it uses a relatively large elevation angle when launching to ensure a relatively curved trajectory, so that the shells can fall into the enemy trenches and explode.
At the same time, it is anti-slope and can avoid the enemy's short-barreled and direct-aimed counterattack fire from small-caliber field artillery.
The most important thing is that the rate of fire of these howitzers is almost the same as that of field artillery firing solid shells. It is not like the mortar. It is very troublesome to fire a shot. It takes a long time to toss back and forth. The slow rate of fire can make people anxious.
The accuracy is also very high, far beyond what those mortars can compare with.
This kind of howitzer, which is similar to a field gun in terms of rate of fire and accuracy, is much more powerful.
The new grenade with a caliber of 150 mm weighs 8.2 kilograms. The internal charge is not a small amount, and the power of the explosion is not small.
Even though it is not as abnormal as the 48-pound grenade, it can easily kill a group of people if it accurately hits the enemy's position.
Accurate and dense 150mm grenades continued to fall into the Ming army's position guarding Channel 3, not only suppressing their counterattack firepower, but also causing a large number of casualties.
At this time, a large number of Chu army infantrymen, carrying flintlock rifles with bayonets attached and loaded with bullets in advance, and wearing light half-body armor specially designed for musketeers, came from various positions towards the Ming army position ahead. Launched a charge.
As the infantry charged, reinforcements came from all the regiment's own and friendly forces, and a total of eight two-and-a-half-pound field guns also fired at the defenders' targets ahead.
The rate of fire of these two and a half kilogram field guns is faster than ordinary gunpowder. This kind of artillery using fixed propellant can basically achieve rapid fire of two rounds per minute.
At the same time, the flashy new 65mm caliber howitzer was not used, but solid shells were directly used for shelling.
Under the suppression of powerful artillery fire, the Ming army soldiers hiding in the trenches on the opposite side once wanted to control the artillery to counterattack, but they were quickly retreated due to heavy casualties.
After paying dozens of casualties, the Chu army's infantry charge successfully crossed a distance of several hundred meters, climbed a steep slope of several hundred meters, and successfully captured the defender's trench defensive position on the outside.
Immediately afterwards, the 98th Infantry Regiment of the Chu Army continued to launch attacks under the cover of powerful artillery fire, capturing multiple fortresses one after another, and finally advanced the battle line to the front of the large fortress guarding Channel 3.
As long as this large fortress is captured, the Chu army will be able to completely pry open this valley path named Passage No. 3 by the Chu army.
Although this path is currently only passable on foot and has steep twists and turns, if you can control this path, then the engineering troops and tens of thousands of civilians who have been prepared in the rear will immediately enter it to repair the road. It won't take long for this mountain path to be It will be widened into a road large enough for carriages.
More importantly, after occupying Passage 3, the Chu army can use this direction as a breakthrough to occupy the mountains between Passage 3 and Tongguan City, and then move a large number of artillery to several of the mountains, directly condescending. Shelling Tongguan City.
By that time, Tongguan City cannot be said to be easily accessible, but it will be much easier to attack by force.
