Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 48 Infiltration Tactics Tutorial

At seven o'clock in the evening, hundreds of officers sat upright in the hall.

Li Mingyuan drank a sip of tea, sorted out his thoughts, stood up and said, "I have finished talking about the content of Sun Tzu's Art of War. This time I will explain to you the tactical changes in modern warfare."

Li Mingyuan gave a brief opening speech and paused. The officers below immediately focused and prepared to listen carefully.

"The history of human civilization is a history of evolving wars. Before the Ming and Qing dynasties, the mode of warfare was still hand-to-hand combat, and the key to victory in a war was the combat effectiveness of the soldiers on both sides.

However, since the emergence of firearms, war has entered the era of hot weapons. Although the individual combat capability of soldiers still plays a big role in war, the key to determining the outcome of the war has become the quality of weapons and equipment. "

Li Mingyuan picked up the stick and pointed to the place representing the mainland and said, "The Battle of Baliqiao was a typical duel between hot weapons and cold weapons.
In this battle, the Manchu chieftain Senggelinqin led more than 30,000 Qing soldiers to fight against the 6,000 British and French allied forces. Among the 30,000 Qing soldiers, there were 10,000 Mongolian cavalrymen who were the pillars of the Qing court.
At the beginning of the war, Senggelinqin ordered the cavalry to assault the enemy line. All 10,000 Mongolian cavalry charged forward, but facing the British and French forces fully equipped with rifles and cannons, the cavalry charge that the 10,000 Mongolian cavalry were proud of was useless. After the entire battle, more than half of the Qing army suffered casualties, while a total of twelve British and French soldiers were killed.

Wang Xiaoshan, if you were the commander of the Qing army, how would you command this battle? "After talking about the Battle of Baliqiao, Li Mingyuan asked.

"Prince, the gap between our weapons and equipment is too great. If I were in command, I would order the troops to retreat and not make meaningless sacrifices."

Wang Xiaoshan thought for a while, then stood up and answered.

"Knowing that we are no match for the enemy, retreating to preserve our strength is the safest method. However, if I were in command, I would not do this."

All the officers below were looking at Li Mingyuan, wanting to hear his opinion.

"War is based on the comparison of strength between the enemy and ourselves.

The Qing army had more than 30,000 troops, while the British and French allied forces had 6,000, and the Qing army had the advantage in numbers.

In terms of weapons and equipment, the Qing army was equipped with sabers, bows and arrows and a small number of backward firearms, while the British and French coalition forces were equipped with muskets and cannons. In terms of weapons, the British and French coalition forces had an overall advantage. In this case, if they wanted to thwart the attack of the British and French coalition forces, what should the Qing army do? "Li Mingyuan kept the officers in suspense and asked them a question.

The officers below thought hard, but obviously there was no good solution.

“The Qing army’s weapons and equipment are inferior to those of the British and French coalition forces. It is unlikely that they will be able to annihilate the British and French coalition forces, but it is still possible to severely damage the enemy and prevent them from invading the capital.

First, select one thousand elite cavalry and three thousand elite infantry, and then concentrate all the firearms of the entire army on the selected four thousand people.
Three thousand infantry and one thousand cavalry, with two hundred cavalry and six hundred infantry as the basis, formed into five mixed units.
After the troops were organized, the remaining 9,000 cavalry assembled and stood by, and the 20,000 infantry set up multiple lines of defense to block the enemy layer by layer, so as not to engage in a hard battle with the enemy. Once the enemy launched a strong attack, they would retreat to the next line of defense after a brief resistance.

When the British and French allied forces attacked the infantry defense line, five teams of cavalry wandered around the allied forces, looking for gaps in the enemy's defense. Once the enemy showed a flaw, the selected cavalry used their muskets and the cavalry's breakthrough ability to quickly break through the enemy's defense line, and then 9,000 cavalry immediately followed up to expand the breakthrough range. In this way, with the Qing army blocking in front and the cavalry breaking into the defense line in the back, the British and French allied forces would inevitably suffer heavy losses. "

After Li Mingyuan finished speaking, he put down the stick and waited for the officers in the hall to digest the knowledge he had shared.

The officers below discussed among themselves for more than ten minutes. One officer raised his hand and asked, "Sir, if our army defended Baliqiao, would it be better than the Qing army?"

"Your name is Qian Jianyu, right? I remember you gave me some advice before." Li Mingyuan did not answer him, but instead talked about his past.

"Hehe, I was ignorant before, please don't be offended, Your Highness." Qian Jianyu said embarrassedly.

At a meeting, Qian Jianyu once looked down on the Peruvian army and was taught a lesson by Li Mingyuan, so Li Mingyuan had an impression of him.

"After the attack on the Dulaya Mine, I remember you were the deputy company commander. What is your position now?"

"I am a humble person, but I am currently the battalion commander of the second battalion of the third regiment of the Zhenwu Division."

"You've become a battalion commander at such a young age. That's great. Work hard and strive to become a regiment commander as soon as possible." Li Mingyuan nodded in encouragement.

Li Mingyuan was very gentle towards every Chinese officer or soldier, and did not treat them differently just because they were junior officers or soldiers. Therefore, Li Mingyuan also gained the loyalty and love of the Independence Army.

"I will follow the instructions of the prince and strive to make achievements and get promoted." Qian Jianyu said loudly.

"Young people are energetic and motivated, which is great." Li Mingyuan nodded with a smile.

Qian Jianyu has a spirit of never giving up and daring to take risks. Li Mingyuan admires young people like him very much.

"Qian Jianyu, do you want to change your military unit?" Li Mingyuan said with a smile.

Qian Jianyu's eyes lit up, and just as he was about to agree, he rolled his eyes and said cunningly, "I wonder what position the prince has arranged for me?"

"Haha, you're still picking on me. I originally wanted to make you the commander of the reconnaissance battalion, but seeing your attitude, I'd better forget it." "Don't be like this, Prince. I'm willing to be the commander of the reconnaissance battalion." Qian Jianyu said anxiously when he heard that Li Mingyuan planned to make him the commander of the reconnaissance battalion.

"Okay, I won't tease you anymore. The commander of the reconnaissance battalion, Feng Changqing, has just been transferred to the Flying Cavalry Regiment of the Imperial Guard Brigade as the commander. The position of commander of the reconnaissance battalion is vacant. You will report to the Special Forces Headquarters tomorrow morning."

"Thank you, Prince." Qian Jianyu said excitedly.

"Haha, don't rush to thank me. Let me answer your question first."

"If it were the current Chinese Independence Army, I would order the special forces to raid the enemy headquarters, then have the Imperial Guards Brigade assault the enemy's flank, and finally use two divisions to give the enemy the final blow and wipe out the enemy completely." Li Mingyuan shouted in one breath.

"The prince is wise." The officers below said in unison.

"Do you know what the core of my tactics is?"

The officers below looked at each other in bewilderment. They thought that the tactical arrangements Li Mingyuan mentioned made sense, but when it came to the core tactics, they didn't understand what they were.

"Sir, we are all uneducated people who can't even read a single word. Just tell us directly."

"Yes, Prince, just tell me quickly."

The Chinese officers thought about it for a long time but still couldn't figure it out, so they asked one after another.

Li Mingyuan estimated that if they waited a little longer, they would not be able to figure out the key to the problem, so he said directly, "Firepower intensity, mobility, and assault are the core tactics of war.

When the number of troops on both sides and the intensity of soldier training are similar, the army with greater firepower will have a greater chance of winning.

However, when the overall strength of the two armies is balanced, the success or failure of the war is determined by the comprehensive use of firepower intensity, mobility, and assault.

Firepower intensity is easy to understand, mobility is currently mainly achieved by cavalry, and assault may not be well known. "Li Mingyuan was excited, picked up a pen and wrote a few words on the paper, raised it and said, "Assault has a special tactical system, I named it infiltration tactics."

The infiltration tactic was invented by the German army in World War I, and was invented here by Li Mingyuan more than half a century in advance.

"The core of infiltration tactics is to use small combat units to take advantage of the gaps and joints in the opponent's defense to infiltrate the opponent's defense system, strike important targets, cut off transportation lines, sever the relationship between defense deployments, and create conditions for frontal attacks.

Specifically, there are 4 parts:
1: Short and intense bombardment The purpose of this bombardment is to suppress the enemy rather than try to destroy it, which can effectively shorten the bombardment time.

2. Under the cover of the barrage, the assault troops set out and penetrate into the weak points of the enemy's defense line. They will try to avoid fighting until they have destroyed the enemy's artillery units and command structures.

3. When the assault troops have completed their mission, follow-up troops equipped with artillery will attack the enemy strongholds that the assault troops bypassed.

4. It is only in the final stages of the assault that ordinary infantry begins to clear out the last remaining resistance of enemy units.

Using infiltration tactics, assault troops have to break through enemy lines and fight without support, so their equipment and individual combat power are much stronger than ordinary soldiers.

In Li Mingyuan's plan, the assault soldiers were equipped with grenades, light machine guns, rifles, and pistols.

Hand grenades have a long history and were first invented by the Chinese.

In the 15th century, rudimentary hand grenades appeared in Europe. In the mid-17th century, some European countries equipped their elite troops with field grenades and called the soldiers who were specially trained to use this type of ammunition grenadiers.

By the 19th century, with the development of guns and artillery and the reduction of castle attacks and defenses, grenades were once unpopular.

Hand grenades played a role on the battlefield again in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904. In World War I, hand grenades were widely used due to the rise of trench warfare.

The Chinese Independence Army is not yet equipped with grenades. Among the weapons that Li Mingyuan traded with Prussia, in addition to rifles, artillery, and machine guns, Li Mingyuan also specially customized 30,000 grenades to equip the commando soldiers.

"A soldier who doesn't want to be a general is not a good soldier. Although most of you are ordinary lieutenants now, you must also study military theory seriously to lay the foundation for commanding large troops in the future." Li Mingyuan concluded after introducing the infiltration tactics.

"Yes."

"Go home tonight and think carefully about the military content I've talked about. Tomorrow night, submit your thoughts and understandings to your team leader. That's all for tonight. Disband."...

(End of this chapter)