Chapter 141 Southern and Northern Army

At five o'clock the next morning, the entire army of the 24 towns had gathered and drove away from the western suburbs of military camps and went to Wanhu to wait for distribution.

At about 5:20, three referee teams came here from the Army Yamen.

After a brief rectification and inspection, the Southern Army followed the first referee group to cross the river to Tanwei Island. Tanwei Island is a deserted island. Except for the river beach near the north, there are several thatched fishermen's huts, the entire island is completely deserted.

A few days before the exercise, the Army yamen had requisitioned 300 large and small ships. Before the Southern Army and the Northern Army officially fought, all ships were used to provide them to the Southern Army to cross the river. After the war began, 230 of them belonged to the Northern Army camp, and the remaining 70 were controlled by the Southern Army.

It was already six-thirty when the Southern Army all arrived on Tanwei Island.

The evaluation work of the exercise was officially implemented at 6 o'clock. Although the attack time of the Northern Army was stipulated at 7:20, the command and formation work of the Southern Army and the Northern Army in all aspects before the war was also an important basis for testing strategic literacy.

The Southern Army Command immediately landed on Tanwei Island, and all generals gathered here to discuss how to arrange defense lines.

As the deputy commander of the Southern Army, Wu Shaoting was preparing to launch a surprise attack and counter-defense as an offensive. But this morning he received news that this exercise was just a propositional exercise, which means that the referee team had made clear regulations that the Southern Army must be defeated and the Northern Army must win.

The entire exercise process is just to examine whether the twenty-four towns meet the standards of formal troops in defense and offensive operations. Naturally, no unexpected things need to happen.

Therefore, Wu Shaoting had to give up any unruly idea and follow the exercise rules step by step.

He felt a little strange. There were so many military TV dramas in the 21st century. During the exercise, there were always some restless generals who used strange tricks to destroy the exercise rules. In the end, not only were they not punished, but were also praised by a certain commander. If it were in a real environment, this restless general would inevitably be dragged out and shot!

After thirty minutes of discussion, the Southern Army Command decided that the artillery team would all arrange Tanwei Island to suppress the first ferry attack with the maximum firepower. As for the main force, they basically crossed the Jiao River and arranged a second line of defense in Jiaokou. Although doing so seemed a bit like a rogue war, this was also a conclusion drawn after some strategic consideration.

First of all, Tanwei Island is a deserted island with a small area. The island is basically full of Gobi Deserts and there are not many obstacles.

Secondly, the preparation time before the war was completely insufficient, and it was impossible to temporarily build fortifications. If the main force was left here, the Northern Army would almost be disabled as long as it was used to use a base of artillery to defeat it.

The reason why artillery troops were left here to organize firepower was not because Tanwei Island faced Lijiang and easily hit it halfway. There are two purposes: the first is to attack when the northern army was at its highest morale and to slaughter its spirit; the second is to buy time for the arrangement of the second line of defense in Jiaokou.

There is a reason why the exercise is so urgent and hasty. This is a question, and all the conditions given by the questioner are testing the abilities of the twenty-four towns.

After the resolution was made, the Southern Army Command immediately ordered the first army that had just stepped onto Tanwei Island to quickly cross the Jiaojiang River to Jiaokou again. The headquarters also evacuated and followed the large army to Jiaokou to deploy defenses. However, before leaving, Zhao Sheng suddenly posed a problem for Wu Shaoting, and he asked Wu Shaoting to lead a team of troops to stay in Tanwei Island and be responsible for coordinating the battle situation on Tanwei Island.

Wu Shaoting was happy at that time. Zhao Sheng was obviously just to let him be cannon fodder. After the first round of the Northern Army's offensive, he died with Tanwei Island, and there was no scene of appearing in the next exercise. However, he did not refuse. This was the first order issued by Zhao Sheng. If the first order had a problem, the referee team next to him would not have any good impression.

It doesn't matter to him, it's just an exercise, and he doesn't intend to use this exercise to show anything.

The combat indicator Zhao Sheng gave Wu Shaoting was that he had to stick to Tanwei Island for five hours to gain the most time to arrange the second line of defense. Anyone could see that this combat indicator was very difficult.

Wu Shaoting had only one infantry team in total, plus the forty guards and sixty gunners of the artillery team, with a total strength of less than 250. The artillery team only had eight guns. Although it was a relatively new Grusen Five Life and Seven Mountain Crossing Quick Cannon, the eight guns covered the shooting area, and it was impossible to completely suppress more than 200 ferry ships.

But the command still needs to be executed. As for whether you can hold on for five hours, you can only take one step at a time.

After all the main forces of the second bid retreated, Wu Shaoting began to organize the defense of Tanwei Island.

He was surrounded by three assistants, Chen Fang, Li Jishen and Zhang Dakai, the commander of the artillery team. It was already seven o'clock, and the Northern Army could launch an attack at any time.

After a brief thought, he formulated an adventurous defense plan. He let two cannons hide in the fishing village, with the muzzle facing the river beach to the west. The other three cannons organized the main firepower, and crossed the fishing village to suppress the ferry boats in the north at the location of the Gobi rocks behind the fishing village. The last three cannons suppressed the northeast and northwest directions respectively.

Although the artillery commander had arranged the arrangements as per the order, he was very puzzled by such arrangements.

Zhang Dakai came to the temporary command post behind Tanwei Island, found Wu Shaoting and asked, "Mr. Wu, if you arrange it like you, aren't the two cannons in the fishing village in vain? If you ask them to aim at the west side, and if you can't fire at the beginning, we will only have the firepower of six cannons."

Adjutant Chen Fang nodded, he also didn't understand Wu Shaoting's approach.

Wu Shaoting smiled, poked the map on the table with a command whip, and said, "Tanwei Island is an island, do you understand?"

Zhang Dakai and Chen Fang naturally nodded.

Wu Shaoting said: "Since it is an island, the Northern Army can land from any direction. Don't think that they can only attack from the north. We will press all our firepower to the north unless they are all fools and keep feeding the soldiers to our guns."

Zhang Dakai and Chen Fang immediately woke up, but then they had questions.

"But Lord Wu, how can you be sure they will land from the west?" Zhang Dakai asked again.

"Can't we induce them to land from the west?" Wu Shaoting smiled secretly.

"Induce? This..." Zhang Dakai was obviously a little unbelievable.

"Mr. Wu, how do you induce it?" Chen Fang asked repeatedly.

"Didn't you notice it? The firepower of our artillery is suppressing the river from 140 degrees northeast to northwest, but the west is unprepared. This is a kind of temptation." Wu Shaoting said relaxedly.

"Oh, so that's how it is! Lord Wu is indeed using troops like a god." Zhang Dakai praised repeatedly.

However, Chen Fang still frowned, looking worried. He was wondering in his heart, would Lord Wu take the problem too naturally? Military tactics are full of military tactics, and war is also a trick. What's more, this plan of empty city has long been well known. Will the generals of the Northern Army not know?

He couldn't help it for a moment and asked, "Mr. Wu, but..."

Wu Shaoting interrupted with a smile: "I know what you want to say. The more you think about it, the more you can't understand it. The only way is not to think about it. I believe that the Northern Army has observed the movements on Tanwei Island. When they see the main force of the first bid retreat, they will inevitably think of the lack of troops on our island and have no way to take care of the defense of the entire island."

Although Chen Fang was still a little worried, she nodded and sighed: "I hope this is the case."

Wu Shaoting smiled confidently and said, "Don't worry, I have asked Li Jishen to set up an ambush circle!"

Chen Fang asked, "Is it in the west?"

Wu Shaoting smiled but said nothing.

At this time, the curtain of the command post was lifted open, and Li Jishen hurriedly ran in. His face was covered in sweat and he looked out of breath. It was obvious that he had just been working on a while of physical work.

When Wu Shaoting saw Li Jishen, he immediately asked: "How is it, have all the things I arranged?"

Li Jishen nodded repeatedly, and without waiting for his chest to calm down, he immediately replied: "Sir, brothers, you must all be ambushed according to your instructions, and there will be no mistakes."

Chen Fang and Zhang Dakai didn't think much. In their opinion, Wu Shaoting must have arranged for Li Jishen to lead the infantry to set up an ambush to the west beach.

Wu Shaoting responded and said, "Very good, then let's guard this island to the death."

After waiting for a few minutes, a long military horn sound came from Lihu Lake to the north, which announced that the Northern Army had officially begun its attack.

The six artillery on Tanwei Island each fired a live ammunition, and the shells fell into the center of Lijiang River, blowing up several waves of water. The artillery on the north bank also fired a live ammunition, which also fell into the river. The purpose of this was to mark the angle and direction of the firing of artillery soldiers of each side, so as to predict the casualties of the artillery war between the two sides.

After the test launch, the Northern Army ships began to cross the river, and about 30 ships followed the pre-plan to break through from the front. Although the exercise was a silent battle, the soldiers from both sides were very nervous because the atmosphere of the battle was very strong, and for the soldiers who participated in the military exercise for the first time, it felt very immersive.

At the headquarters of the Hubei Army in Li, the generals of the Northern Army are discussing the next plan to cross the river.

"The Southern Army's artillery blocked half of the river, but the firepower was all concentrated in the north. Our army first carried thirty ships and 400 soldiers. Under this firepower, there were probably more than 40% of the casualties. When we arrived at Tanwei Island, the firepower on the island shore was expected to be more dense. Although it would not be wiped out, it is very likely that it would be in a dilemma at the beach." A staff officer speculated on the map hanging on the blackboard to the generals present.
Chapter completed!