Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 449 Encarnacion

Early in the morning, just as the sky was getting light, a loud military bugle sounded in the Encarnacion military camp. Hearing the bugle call, Pang Zhenyun, commander of the 1st Mixed Brigade, put on his military uniform, shoes and hat like an ordinary soldier, and then walked towards the training ground.

The vast training ground was already filled with soldiers. Teams of soldiers, organized into companies and platoons and based on different military divisions, were conducting their daily tactical training under the leadership of their respective officers.

The military songs were loud and the military discipline was strict. Looking at the soldiers training on the training ground, Pang Zhenyun felt a sense of pride and confidence in his heart.

Eight years ago, when he led nearly a hundred young and strong men to Annan to join the Nanyang Army, he never imagined that he would have the opportunity to lead such an army to fight abroad.

The 9000st Mixed Brigade has two large regiments and several auxiliary units, with a total of 15 people. It is equipped with 75 Jianye Type 12 heavy machine guns, 7000 mm field guns, and more than Jianye Type rifles. In terms of the number of breech-loading rifles alone, the amount of weapons and equipment of the st Mixed Brigade now exceeds the total number of breech-loading rifles owned by the entire Annan court.

The 100st Mixed Brigade is the old main force of the Han Army. Although more than two-thirds of its core troops were withdrawn in the past few years due to troop expansion and other reasons, after the addition of more than graduates of the junior command major of the Army Officers School, the grassroots organizational structure and overall combat effectiveness of the st Mixed Brigade have been restored to a great extent. Perhaps because of the addition of a large number of new recruits and military academy graduates, the comprehensive combat effectiveness of the st Mixed Brigade cannot be compared with its previous peak period, but with military academy graduates who have received formal military education taking over the tactical command of the grassroots combat units of the st Mixed Brigade, and some veteran officers with rich combat experience in command and correction, I believe that it will not be long before most of them will grow into qualified grassroots military commanders after experiencing the baptism of a real battlefield.

The ammunition materials used for the Jianye Six-Year Rifle and the 75mm field guns equipped by the regular army's division and brigade-level units are all new types of smokeless gunpowder.

Among them, the Jianye Six-Year Type rifle uses Type B single-base smokeless gunpowder as the propellant, while the propellant used by the 75mm field gun is double-base smokeless gunpowder ballistite.

Type B single-base smokeless gunpowder and double-base smokeless gunpowder ballistite are the most advanced rifle and artillery ammunition in the world. Under Li Mingyuan's early guidance and intervention, the Han native government completed the formula research and development of type B single-base smokeless gunpowder and double-base smokeless gunpowder ballistite one year ahead of France, and then completed the trial production of rifles and artillery using the two types of gunpowder as propellants in early 1885.

At the end of January 1885, the Hanguo Iron and Steel United Group and major military industrial enterprises began to produce the Jianye Six-Year Type rifle and new artillery. After four years of production and operation, by the first half of 1, the total production capacity of the Jianye Six-Year Type rifle gradually dropped from an annual output of 4 to 1889, and the annual output of the Jianye Six-Year Type heavy machine gun dropped from 7.2 to 5.3.
The production capacity of various types of artillery has dropped from 800 guns per year to 650 guns.

The annual output of various rifles and artillery shells remained stable at approximately 7500 million and 37 rounds, respectively.

The military production capacity of the Han Kingdom has room for further improvement. However, considering the cost issues of ammunition production and maintenance in peacetime, the major local military enterprises did not expand their military production capacity indefinitely under the instructions of Li Mingyuan.

Comparing the current military industrial production capacity, military weapons and equipment, individual combat effectiveness and other aspects of the Han State and the Republic of Brazil, Pang Zhenyun and most of the participating commanders agreed that the Republic of Brazil had almost no chance of winning.

However, the Republic of Brazil is not the Han Dynasty. Their senior officials and generals did not place intelligence gathering on enemy countries in a strategic position like the Han Dynasty did. As a result, they had never truly understood the strength of the Han Dynasty's military industry and army.

Of course, the Han Kingdom attaches great importance to external intelligence, but also attaches more importance to the confidentiality of internal intelligence. Even if the top leaders of the Republic of Brazil make great efforts to develop intelligence investigations on all aspects of the Han Kingdom, it is difficult to obtain crucial information such as the performance, quantity, deployment of troops, speeches and other related information of the new military weapons.

Emerging industrial countries have all-round advantages over backward and conservative countries. Comparing the objective strength of the Han Dynasty and the Brazilian Republic, even if there is one or more people with excellent strategic vision within the Brazilian Republic, they will not be able to make fundamental improvements to the huge and corrupt system of the Brazilian Republic.

The Han Kingdom currently produces more than 20 Type 18 rifles. Excluding 2 rifles equipped to the regular army and navy, the remaining rifles are in inventory. If some front-line troops of the Brazilian Republic show relatively outstanding combat capabilities, then the Han Kingdom will take corresponding countermeasures. On the one hand, it will mobilize reserve troops to the Paraguayan battlefield. On the other hand, it will temporarily increase military industrial production capacity, arm more troops with inventory and recently produced guns and artillery, and continuously send them to the front-line battlefield until the enemy is crushed, leaving the Brazilian Republic's army no hope of turning over.

Pang Zhenyun was promoted to commander of the 1st Mixed Brigade. As a senior officer, he had the opportunity to see the planned combat plan for the Encarnacion direction of Jiufen. According to possible emergencies in the Republic of Brazil and Paraguay, the General Staff Headquarters made various response measures. Even the extremely low probability event that the front-line troops of the Republic of Brazil would go against their norm and defeat the 1st Mixed Brigade appeared in the combat plan of the General Staff Headquarters.

The staff officers of the General Staff Headquarters are busy tinkering with various combat plans in peacetime. For a simple battle, they can come up with several or even dozens of different plans. Although Pang Zhenyun believes that as the command center of the army, it is necessary for the General Staff Headquarters to predict the impact of various possible or sudden events on the progress of the battle, some events that are almost impossible to happen do not need to be included in the combat plan.

Thinking of some jokes among his colleagues about the General Staff Headquarters, Pang Zhenyun naturally smiled.

It took Pang Zhenyun more than eight years to rise from a grassroots officer to the brigade commander of a 9000-man force. If the st Mixed Brigade performed well in the Paraguayan War, he might have been able to change the shoulder straps on his uniform to the rank of major general. After inspecting the soldiers' training as usual, Pang Zhenyun was about to turn around and return to the temporary headquarters of the st Mixed Brigade when he saw Shen Dehui, the brigade's combat staff, walking towards him.

"Commander, good news!"

Major Staff Officer Shen Dehui (born in 1863, a graduate of a military academy in Germany) found Pang Zhenyun, walked quickly to his side, and said happily: "The headquarters has assigned us an additional 105mm howitzer regiment. The regiment has 36 artillery pieces, all of which use double-base smokeless gunpowder ballistite as propellant. This stuff is good stuff. With it, our brigade's heavy firepower attack capability has been improved by more than a little bit!"

"After a long wait, we finally got some good news. Let's go and see what these guys look like. Why did the General Staff Headquarters treasure them so much that they kept them hidden away and were reluctant to assign them to us?"

With the support of a 105mm artillery regiment, Pang Zhenyun was in a good mood and said with satisfaction.

"Haha, don't worry, Brigade Commander. There is more than one piece of good news. The General Staff Headquarters learned that the Republic of Brazil has sent 2 additional troops to Paraguay. They are worried that the enemy will increase along the combat route of the First Mixed Brigade, so they sent us two more guard regiments, a total of 3000 reinforcements, led by Lieutenant Colonel Hu Kunshan, commander of the Fourth Guard Brigade, to assist our brigade in combat."

"One more person means one more helper. With 3000 garrison troops helping us, our combat operations will be carried out more smoothly."

There was no change on Pang Zhenyun's face. He smiled faintly and said, "Let's go. Call the commander of the first regiment, Zhang Wenlian, and the commander of the second regiment, Zhou Shanchu. Let's go together to welcome our new colleagues."…………

"Brother Zhenyun, we haven't seen each other for several years since we parted in Annan."

Seeing the people coming out of the camp to greet them, the commander of the 4th Security Brigade, Hu Kunshan, bowed and smiled.

"Haha, due to the busy military affairs, I was not able to spare the time to meet and reminisce with Brother Hu. I feel very sorry."

Pang Zhenyun laughed and welcomed Hu Kunshan and his party into the camp. He said, "Back then, you, me, Zhu Bingqing, and Li Tang were all passionate about fighting against the barbarians. We each led a hundred people to join the Nanyang Army. Now, the four of us have returned to our homeland with the army and are serving in different units. In just eight years, thousands of miles of Annan have become a French colony, and we have become officers of the empire. When I think back on it in my spare time, it seems like a lifetime ago."

"I feel the same way when I meet Brother Zhenyun again."

Hu Kunshan observed the weapons, equipment and training of the officers and soldiers of the First Mixed Brigade and said enviously, "Eight years ago, we only wanted to kill three or five French barbarians to avenge our humiliation, and we would have no regrets even if we died in a foreign land. But today, seeing the might of Brother Zhenyun's troops, I don't have any regrets at all."

"If the brothers who sacrificed their lives back then knew what was happening in our homeland today, they would be able to rest in peace."

Pang Zhenyun sighed and continued, "Brother Hu, you don't have to envy the weapons and equipment of the First Mixed Brigade. After the Paraguayan War, Brother Hu and the brothers of the Fourth Guard Brigade will have fought hard and, when rewards are given in the future, they may be able to win the opportunity to be reorganized into a regular army."

"Haha, then I'll take advantage of Brother Zhenyun's good words."

Hu Kunshan laughed.

(End of this chapter)