Jagged Warlord

As far as Sichuan, the main battlefield, entered Sichuan, the Beiyang Army included Cao Kun’s third division’s main force, Wu Peifu’s Brigade, Zhang Jingyao’s entire Seventh Division, Eighth Division’s Wang Ruxian’s Brigade, and Feng Yuxiang, who was brought into Sichuan by Chen Huan. Mixed brigades and other scattered troops, the main force of the Beiyang Army concentrated in Sichuan alone amounted to more than [-] people.

At that time, both Yuan Shikai and the Beiyang Army looked down on the Dian Army and the Guizhou Army, saying that one or two divisions would be enough to pacify Yunnan and Guizhou. Yuan Shikai's mobilization of the Beiyang troops alone reached the scale of three entire divisions and four mixed brigades. It also has the domineering spirit of a lion attacking a rabbit.

Compared with the huge lineup of the Beiyang Army, the guards are rather shabby.

For example, the army led by Cai E himself was very powerful, but the number of troops was pitifully small. Li Liejun's army was even more incredible. The troops in his hand were still left by Cai E. But five thousand people.Yunnan Province is a poor province, and it was famously poor in the Qing Dynasty.Since the establishment of the new army in the late Qing Dynasty, the Sichuan Association's salary has been required, which is called financial transfer in today's words, and the annual supply of 80 taels of silver is sufficient.In this uprising to protect the country, only the 30 yuan raised by Li Liejun from the overseas Chinese in Nanyang was economically available. In addition, Luo Peijin sold all his properties, and only 12 yuan was collected, a total of 42 yuan, which was not enough. One can imagine the degree.But fortunately, Li Mohan secretly donated a sum of money, finally allowing the guards to have clean and tidy military uniforms and enough ammunition and military pay for two months.

But despite financial difficulties and few soldiers, Cai E dared to go to the Northern Expedition, but he was not without confidence.

First of all, the terrain of Yunnan is remote and dangerous. Even if you can't attack in advance, you can defend in retreat. Even if you can't compete in the Central Plains, you can still rule the roost.

Secondly, although the Dian Army has only two divisions and one brigade in terms of numbers, plus a total of forty battalions of the garrison, the quality of its troops is far superior to that of the rapidly expanding Beiyang Army.Most of the senior officers in the Yunnan Army came from Japanese non-commissioned officer schools, and the middle and lower rank officers also graduated from the Yunnan Lecture Hall. They are academically excellent, pure in thinking, and possess a revolutionary spirit. Soldiers are comparable.

Thirdly, the ordnance used by the Dian army was also an excellent product purchased from the Krupp factory in Germany in the late Qing Dynasty.In the last years of Guangxu alone, Xiliang, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, ordered from Germany 54 Guantuishan guns, each with 49 rounds of ammunition; 1 Maxim machine guns; more than 1000 new five-child rifles, each with [-] rounds of ammunition; More than [-] ten-shot pistols.

These equipment were second to none in China at that time, and they were not inferior to Beiyang.Of course, it is much worse than Li Mohan's SS.

However, what makes Cai E and others more confident is the division within the Beiyang Department.

At this moment, Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang, two generals whom Lao Yuan had relied on for a long time, both received a cold reception because they opposed Lao Yuan's proclaiming emperor.Duan Qirui had already sat on a cold bench in Beijing at this time, so he had no choice but to thank the guests behind closed doors, ignoring everything, and said to the outside world that his old illness had relapsed and he needed to rest;

But Feng Guozhang, who was based in Nanjing, realized that Lao Yuan had lied to him at the beginning, and complained everywhere that Lao Yuan did not regard him as one of his own.Therefore, in the War to Protect the Nation, both Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang were hesitant to move forward.As the saying goes, you don't have to work hard, Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang simply don't even work.What's more, the two even openly colluded with rebels from all walks of life in the south and negotiated prices.

This is true in the rear, and the front line is not much better.

For example, Wu Xiangzhen, commander of the 26th Mixed Brigade in front of Liu Yunfeng's troops, was from Yunnan, and he didn't want to fight the Yunnan army. He was really forced to delay.The Liu Ti regiment set out from Kunming and captured Xufu within 24 days—and the distance between Kunming and Xufu had 24 stops, which means that it would take [-] days to walk.So Liu Yunfeng didn't fight except for the battle with Wu Lu in Hengjiang, it was just an ordinary march.

Another example is Brigadier Lei Biao. Although he was an important staff member of Chen Huan, Xiu Chenghao was the Dao Yin of Yongning at the time, but at the same time Lei Biao was Cai E’s fellow from Hunan, and he also served as the secretary of the Yunnan Dudu’s Mansion during the [-] era. The long-term backbone of the Cai family.In addition, important figures such as the chief of the military supplies section and the chief of the military affairs section in Chen Huan's staff team are also members of the Cai family.

The situation in terms of guards is similar. Cai E's former enemy commander, non-commissioned officer Han Fenglou, is also Chen Huan's favorite student.The friendship between the two sides is so good, how can Chen Huan and Cai E fight?

More importantly, the entry of Yuan's confidant generals such as Cao Kun and Zhang Jingyao, who held heavy troops, had implicitly threatened Chen Huan's own status.Therefore, Chen Huan's enthusiasm for eliminating Cai E was not necessarily higher than his enthusiasm for driving away Cao Kun and Zhang Jingyao.Therefore, although the battlefield in Sichuan was full of chaos, but seriously, there were actually only two people, Cao Kun, the commander of the [-]rd Division, and Zhang Jingyao, the commander of the [-]th Division.

……Dividing line……

Xuzhou Yunlong Mountain has a shooting range built halfway up the mountain. What makes this shooting range unique is its secrecy.There are no signs here, but it is heavily guarded.There are troops deployed one kilometer around the shooting range, and no one is allowed to approach unless there is a special pass.

In 1914, British troops demonstrated what they claimed to be the fastest and best training riflemen of any country in the world.Each has the ability to aim at the target and shoot 1 times in a row within 15 minute within the war range.Utilizing this skill can win the war within six months if the fighting continues.This is not the case, and the British training of fast gunners has little to do with precision shooting.Most fast gunners simply cannot deal with the threat posed to them by German snipers.To make matters worse, apart from some marked area signs and stern warnings from veterans, most soldiers don't understand how dangerous snipers are.In order to satisfy their curiosity, some recruits couldn't help but peek outside the parapet in the trench. A bullet hit the head and fell down weakly. On any given day in 1915 between 12 and 18 men in a single battalion were killed by snipers for this.

In the German army, many farmers were farmers, and they were hunting with rifled shotguns equipped with scopes before the war.Has a wealth of experience in shooting skills and camouflage.People use it.In Germany, unlike England, hunting was a common leisure sport.The extensive forests also provided for hunting, so the use of scoped guns was more common than that of the British.In the UK, hunting with guns is the entertainment of the upper class.Royals, nobles, and gentlemen have the time and money to participate in this elegant and brutal sport.Only a few big game and mountain deer hunters have such scoped rifles and experience with such weapons.

Therefore, as soon as the war broke out, the German part could quickly requisition hundreds of rifles suitable for accurate shooting, as well as issue more than 15000 Mauser rifles and trained and available snipers.Some of these people have been hunters in the forest all their lives or have learned to hunt since childhood. Their familiarity with the terrain and their mastery of skills are much better than ordinary soldiers, and they are better at pursuing the importance of geographical location for their advantages, camouflage effectiveness.Therefore, this group of people seemed to be roaming in no man's land, launching hunting-like sniper operations, adding casualties and fear to the British and French.

In this era, I am afraid that the Germans themselves may not understand the importance of "sniper tactics" more deeply than Li Mohan.Therefore, from the very beginning when the SS became an army, Li Mohan specially encouraged the best shooters in the battalion to gather together for closed training, and later specially recruited mountain people and professional hunters living in the deep mountains to join .The snipers in the training camp usually form a small team of 3 people and a brigade of 24 people, and they can freely choose their shooting positions.

They were personally selected and trained by Li Mohan, and they used Japanese [-]-type rifles that were different from other combat troops.The [-]-type rifle has low recoil and a long range, and the ammunition burns fully in the barrel, which hardly produces muzzle flames and white smoke. It is very difficult to find the lurking position of a sniper from the muzzle flame or white smoke.

The rifle is equipped with a German-made Zeiss 4x optical lens, which Li Mohan borrowed from a German doctor, and then copied a large number of them with fake mobile phones.After Li Mohan's own test shooting, he can accurately hit the target's head within 400 meters and hit the target's chest at 600 meters.As for the target with a maximum range of 1100 meters, Li Mohan felt that there was no need to be demanding, at least not currently.

Today a confrontation test is taking place in the sniper school.The snipers are in groups of 3, shooting at the target platform at positions of 600 meters, 500 meters, 400 meters, 300 meters, 200 meters, and 100 meters, and then the opponents search for the position of the opponent's sniper.In fact, this test does not focus on testing the shooting skills of the sniper, but actually tests the stealth and camouflage ability of the sniper.

The game went on all morning, and most of the snipers were spotted by the opponent at a position of 300 meters.

At the end of the game, Major Lin Shangyong, the commander of the sniper force, blew his whistle and assembled.Lin Shangyong is from Shandong, and he once studied in a German university. He can be regarded as the first person besides Li Mohan to be exposed to sniper tactics among the current Chinese.

As soon as the whistle sounded, the snipers lined up in front of the target stand.Lin Shangwo raised his hand and said in a strong Shandong dialect: "Soldiers, your performance today is not very satisfactory, but considering that your service time is still very short and there is still a lot of room for improvement, I still respect you. You are full of confidence in your future performance. Therefore, I announce that everyone has graduated successfully!"

The soldiers in the audience cheered.

"Wait a minute, you are going to the official residence. What are you going to do? To accept the inspection by the commander in chief, and to accept the graduation certificates issued by the commander in person." Lin Shangyong said loudly: "I want you to cheer up 12 points, Don't embarrass us snipers."

"Long live~"

"Salute to the handsome~!"