Chapter 335: Shao Dashuai is scared
Chapter 335: Shao Dashuai is scared
Wherever Shao Quanzhong went, he was basically accompanied by a guard platoon and four battalions of the Guards Brigade.
On the Guangxi New Army side, they train in street fighting during the day and watch plays at night. Soldiers from the Guards Platoon and the Guards Brigade also have to participate in training.
The guard platoon consists of a small number of soldiers who are all tall. Besides looking impressive when they go out, their sturdy bodies can actually surround their superiors tightly to block bullets at critical moments.
They were equipped with both long and short pistols, including Shao Quanzhong himself. The pistol was replaced with the latest breech-loading Colt revolver, named M1869C.
This new type of pistol was historically called M1873, not because it could not be made in 69, but because it was restricted by the patent of the transparent revolver of Rollin White of Smith & Wesson.
The Qing Dynasty didn't care about that. Hailing Patent Office had not received Rowling White's patent application, so the Good Fruit Company made this thing in advance without hesitation.
At that time, Shao Quanzhong was still in Hailing and had not gone to Guangzhou. He immediately found a lot of professional problems with the sample. So, it took several months of improvements before it was finalized again.
Shao Quanzhong doesn't have much other knowledge, but as a warlord who fought for his life with guns, his love for guns is definitely no less than Ren Jun's. He knows every necessary part of a good gun.
The revolver that was modified according to Shao Quanzhong's suggestions has become the so-called "perfect Western revolver" and will not be outdated for at least twenty years.
The Huai Army purchased 1871 guns, and the U.S. Army, which heard the news, ordered guns. However, production will not start until next year to avoid the patent expiring soon in the United States. When this gun was sold, it was called M.
Therefore, the initial 20,000 guns were all supplied to the Huai Army. They made them for their own use, and there was no transaction record, so the patent law could not check and control them.
It can be expected that this revolver will be a big seller in the western United States, just like the repeating shotgun. As an international arms company, Haoguozi Company makes a lot of money, and its own profits can support the supply of weapons to the Huai Army.
The guards' rifles were simply replaced with bolt-action rifles, and they were not equipped with shotguns.
Their combat environment is usually in crowded areas, and they are on guard against individual assassins. Using large shotguns randomly will definitely hurt innocent people. It is more useful to train long and short double sharpshooters.
Half of the guards were equipped with shotguns, engineering shovels and grenades.
The mission of the Guards is not to fight, but to cover the officers' transition at critical moments.
These warriors with melee weapons were all prepared to fight in a blocking battle. They would fight the enemy in close combat and there was no order to retreat. These warriors had the highest chance of being promoted, and since the establishment of the guards, Shao Quanzhong had never fallen into such a predicament.
With the continuous emergence of new weapons, the medieval combat principle proposed by Count Tilly, "simple weapons, plain clothes, and brave soldiers", has become outdated, and different types of troops need to be equipped with different weapons.
This brought greater pressure to the logistics. When Shao Quanzhong finished inspecting the new army in Guangxi and returned to the Governor-General's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi, Shao Yuan was called over by Shao Quanzhong.
"Yi Gu, you can no longer be the governor of Jiangning. Let someone else take over the post temporarily. When the arrangements for Sanmen Island are almost done, let someone else take over. You will now be in charge of the Governor-General's Headquarters and be responsible for the overall logistics of the war against France."
When Shao Yigu returned to office, he immediately changed the mechanical academic logistics deployment of the logistics staff and reallocated the transportation capacity according to the combat plan.
With the arrival of this man known as the "Plywood Logistics General", all idle transportation capacity immediately began to operate frantically.
Feng Zicai's troops in Bangkok received 20,000 bolt-action rifles by sea half a month later. All the four-pound light field guns were also shipped to him, and more than a dozen Gatling guns and more than twenty Williams rapid-fire guns were also deployed.
The bulky heavy artillery brigade was shipped to Hue by sea. Liu Yongfu's troops, who had just been transferred here, found that all their soldiers were not enough to operate these artillery pieces, so they immediately conscripted young men and recruited temporary workers.
Then, the silver and food used for conscripting men were delivered to Liu Yongfu at the right time. For the first time, the Black Flag Army felt the benefits of becoming a non-staff member of the Huai Army.
Where was Shao Quanzhong? After returning from Guangxi, he met Shao Yuan once. He did not stay in Guangzhou at all. He took the Nanyang Navy and the Guards Brigade to Zhenjiang, and then took a grain ship. On the first day of October, he had already arrived in Fengyang.
The Huai Army Song and Dance Troupe began a consolation performance for the Anhui New Army, and Shao Quanzhong inspected Shao Hengzhong's training of the Anhui New Army.
The new Anhui army is positioned to protect the rear supply lines, and combat training is divided into two parts.
One brigade was engaged in traditional trench defense warfare, while the other brigade was conducting "rear-area security clearance" operations using company units.
Trench warfare was against large enemy forces, while security warfare was against elusive militia, so the infantry of the Anhui New Army was equipped with mixed equipment.
A squad of twelve people is equipped with three bolt-action rifles, four shotguns, and a four-man-operated Gatling machine gun. The squad leader is equipped with a pistol and also operates the grenade launcher.
The complicated operation of soldiers putting down their rifles to operate the grenade grenade was cancelled. Each soldier was equipped with twelve grenades and just had to throw them.
This firepower configuration takes into account both long and short range, and can be used in field and street battles. Moreover, the machine guns are madly equipped to the squads. This is the generous behavior after the Gatling machine gun was produced.
On November 15, Shao Quanzhong returned to Hailing and inspected the heavy artillery brigade trained by Zhou Shengchuan.
Well, all the original Armstrong heavy artillery were transported to Hue, and Zhou Shengchuan's heavy artillery brigade was equipped with Krupp 150mm breech-loading siege guns.
The original Armstrong siege gun had a caliber of 210 mm. It looks like its power has decreased, right?
But this thing uses high-quality artillery steel made using Krupp's secret recipe of large-block crucible steelmaking. The result is that it can fire six shots per minute, and a skilled gunner can fire ten shots.
How many shots per minute did the French muzzle-loading guns fire? The most skilled gunners fired two shots per minute. The theoretical firepower was five times that of the enemy. Moreover, the Huai Army's artillery shells were loaded with TNT, which was much more powerful than the iron balls of the 210mm guns. Compared with the enemy's firepower, it was impossible to calculate.
What's even more bullying is that the effective range of Krupp's heavy artillery is 3500 meters, while the range of French muzzle-loading artillery does not exceed 2500 meters, so the French can only take the beating in the artillery battle.
This was not Shao Quanzhong's ability, it was purely the ability of the Prussians. In the Franco-Prussian War, the French simply lost because of the artillery, and Krupp became famous in this battle.
Shao Quanzhong's ability was that the heavy artillery brigade achieved full mechanization, and the large number of horses used to transport and reposition the heavy artillery were replaced with steam tractors.
This greatly saved manpower, so a reinforced brigade of more than 150 artillerymen was equipped with mm heavy artillery pieces...
Zhou Shengchuan said that all the artillery here were heavy artillery, Prussian six-pound light field guns, which were all equipped to the artillery battalions of the new army.
…………
The Huai Army Song and Dance Troupe began a consolation performance for the Heavy Artillery Brigade. However, Ping'er, the Major General and the troupe leader, did not follow Shao Quanzhong because she was finally pregnant.
Shao Quanzhong has five wives living in his hometown of Hailing: Wenxiu, Hu Liuniang, Ping'er, Maria, and Isabel. Ahem, among the four who are pregnant, the first three are due in April of the lunar calendar next year.
After Shao Quanzhong, Isabel was the only one left as a secretary.
On December 20th, after inspecting the four regular armies under his command, Shao Quanzhong stayed in Hailing to celebrate the New Year.
The song and dance troupe did not disband, but instead held a special New Year performance for the people of Hailing for one month and four days.
On the first day of February in the ninth year of the Tongzhi reign, the song and dance troupe moved to Shanghai and began its Shanghai tour.
Shao Quanzhong stayed in Hailing and took walks with four pregnant women every day.
It is said that it is normal for Shao Quanzhong's wife to stay alone in the house. However, when she was pregnant, she received loving care from Shao Quanzhong. This feudal behavior of valuing his son more than his wife should be criticized.
Shao Quanzhong did not go to Guangdong and Guangxi to govern the country. Instead, he stayed at home to relax and spend time with his wife. No censor in the court or the public impeached him.
Anyone who impeached Shao Quanzhong for not being diligent enough would be scolded to death by his colleagues.
Everyone in the Qing Dynasty should be diligent in their work, but if Shao Quanzhong was lazy, the loyal officials would celebrate. If Shao Quanzhong worked diligently every day, the loyal officials would not be able to sleep well.
Shao Quanzhong's plan was to wait until his three wives gave birth in April, see his three children, and give them names before setting off again.
However, things did not always go as planned. On the fifth day of March, Shao Quanzhong's happy and leisurely days came to an end.
The Huai Army Song and Dance Troupe's performance in Shanghai ended successfully.
Heward sent a congratulatory message and invited the Huai Army Song and Dance Troupe to perform in the United States.
Well, it’s not surprising that people in Shanghai like to watch Huiban opera, but why do Americans also like to watch it?
Well, this series of dramas written by Ping'er is the first time that foreigners have appeared in Huiban opera, and there were a large number of them.
Apple even specially invited two American-type actors to play the main characters Grant and Emery. The actors who played President Andrew, Bismarck, Alexander II, and Queen Victoria were all foreigners.
Even the French soldiers who played supporting roles were played by French veterans.
Grant and Emery are both among the protagonists in the play after Shao Quanzhong. Their positive images are extremely brilliant. The Americans were very proud and immediately extended an invitation.
Hart sent a congratulatory message, praising Shao Quanzhong highly. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that Shao Quanzhong was building momentum among the people and preparing to fight against France.
It seems that Shao Quanzhong is ready to abide by the Qing-British Hailing Agreement and help the British Empire to deal with and contain France. Well, he is really a good lackey.
Then, French Ambassador Luo Shuya immediately lodged a strong protest to the Qing government through the Zongli Yamen.
"Report, the Military Affairs Office called and said that the Huai Army Song and Dance Troupe maliciously slandered France during its performance, causing the friendly countries to be shocked. The country will no longer be a country."
"The French demand that Shao Quanzhong immediately publicly apologize to France and pay 500,000 taels of silver to compensate for the loss of France's reputation. Please, Prince Rui, resolve this issue immediately."
Shao Quanzhong slammed the table and said, "Bullshit smear, didn't the French do what was shown in the play? The French have a shitty reputation, I——"
"Ahem, wait a minute."
Shao Quanzhong glanced at the almanac and rolled his eyes. "Tell the French that the performance will be stopped immediately and I will withdraw the dance troupe immediately. Tell the French to invite journalists from all over the world to wait in Shanghai. I will go to Shanghai in person to apologize."
When the news came out, some were happy and some were sad. Hailing and Shanghai compatriots who were angered by the series were discouraged. How come Shao Dashuai, who we had high hopes for, also became cowardly when facing the French?
(End of this chapter)