Master Yuan, start!

"Slightly spicy, France!"

Chapter 427 Miss 75's First Appearance

"Boom boom boom"

When the rumbling sound of artillery came from the south, inside Zhennan Pass, Liu Yongfu was sharing the hardships with his soldiers, moving sandbags together to reinforce the city wall.

Before he could react, he heard Chen Guangyuan, the military advisor of the Black Flag Independent Brigade of the National Revolutionary Army, shouting to the defenders inside the pass:

"French cannons, scatter quickly!!!"

Before joining the National Revolutionary Army, Chen Guangyuan studied artillery command at the Incheon Military Academy. As soon as he heard the dense artillery fire, he knew it was definitely from the French.

“At least a hundred cannons. Only France could gather so many cannons in Lingnan in such a short time.

The French probably wanted to take advantage of the fact that Zhennan Pass was still under repair and fire their artillery first, bombing the pass before it could even be repaired!

Thinking of this, the anxious Chen Guangyuan dodged the artillery fire while running madly to the Zhennan Pass city wall built on the mountain, overlooking the extent of the damage to the fortifications being built outside the city.

However, after the smoke and dust cleared, before he had time to observe the damage to the fortifications, Lu Yongxiang saw another scene and his eyes suddenly widened.

Under the city wall, dozens of soldiers who had not had time to dodge were lying on the ground in all directions, with broken limbs flying everywhere and their chests heaving. It was obvious that they were not alive.

"Xiufeng Chen Guangyuan, it's all my fault. I let them go out to get stones, which caused them to lose their lives."

Lu Yongxiang lay on the wall of Zhennan Pass and looked down, and also saw this miserable scene.

Both of them were staff officers stationed in the Black Flag Independent Brigade of the National Revolutionary Army, but one was good at positional warfare and the other was good at mobile warfare.

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The main person in charge of defending Zhennan Pass was Lu Yongxiang. He originally wanted to send more people out of the pass today to mine some stones and wood to bring into the city to strengthen the fortifications.

After all, the Black Flag Independent Brigade was not a regular unit of the National Revolutionary Army. The entire brigade had only 10 cannons, 6 of which were 57mm cannon stocks of the Huai Army seized from Qinzhou City.

This is far from the standard of 18 guns per brigade required by the National Revolutionary Army's war preparation regulations.

Therefore, Lu Yongxiang decided to strengthen the defenses and hold on until help.

Most of the friendly forces are currently distributed in Guizhou, northern Guangxi, and Guangdong, and have not yet had time to reach the Guangxi border.

But unexpectedly, the French attacked at this time.

Many soldiers who did not have time to dodge lost their lives in vain under the cannons.

"Zijia Lu Yongxiang's calligraphy, this is not your fault!" Chen Guangyuan patted Lu Yongxiang's hand and comforted him:

"Hurry up and fly the kite. Use the radio to contact the Qinzhou defenders. Have them send a telegram to Guangzhou and the Central Military Commission!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Yongxiang hurried down the city wall and ordered people to find several wooden poles from the Zhennan Pass warehouse, tie them together with a piece of cloth, and then tie the antenna on top of them and erect it high above Zhennan Pass.

The signalman looked up and saw the cloth fluttering in the wind. He desperately shook the hand-cranked generator, hoping to contact the telegraph room in Qinzhou City as soon as possible.

Novel 9 Wu 7424*5

The telegram had not yet been connected, but Chen Guangyuan on the other side had already found a pair of binoculars, leaned on the city wall with one hand, and stared at the aggressive French army.

The more he looked, the more solemn his expression became.

The French artillery did not seem to be the 10mm caliber recoil guns seized under the city of Beijing 90 years ago. However, judging from the vibration of the city wall under their feet, it was not like the 60mm artillery equipped in large quantities by the National Revolutionary Army.

"This power is greater than that of a 60mm caliber artillery." Chen Guangyuan muttered to himself amid the rumbling sound of artillery fire.

"No blame, hiss!" Another D group: "Yes, not only is the caliber larger, the rate of fire is also much faster!"

Chen Guangyuan frowned as he looked at the flames coming out of the French cannons in the distance.

It didn't know that in front of it was the famous Miss 75, the French M1897 75mm artillery.

This is a field barrel recoil gun developed by the French Schneider Company. Its rate of fire, shooting accuracy and maneuverability are far ahead of artillery of the same caliber.

It can be said to be one of the best performing field rapid-fire guns with recoil barrels before World War I.

A recoil gun generally fires more than ten rounds per minute, and if cooled properly, it can even fire dozens of rounds.

However, the gun can only fire one or two rounds per minute.

By the 19s, large-caliber recoil guns had already been equipped by the Navy, but the Army was still using outdated recoil guns.

The reason why army artillery lags behind naval artillery is that naval artillery can be fixed on ships by welding and bolts.

Relying on the huge tonnage of warships to act as a mechanism to offset its recoil.

But the army is different. Artillery needs to be mobile, used in field battles and sieges. If a gun has a fast firing rate but needs to be stationary for use, it will be useless.

The emergence of Miss France 75 put an end to this phenomenon.

With a caliber that is not considered large, it has considerable destructive power and an astonishing firepower of 15 rounds per minute, and 30 rounds in extreme cases.

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Historically, the French M1897 75mm artillery was even used during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, and was even reviewed in front of Tiananmen Square during the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China.

But at that time, it had a more famous name, the Italian Cannon.

"Chief of Staff Xiao Chen, how do we fight this battle?"

Just as Chen Guangyuan was thinking, several commanders of the Black Flag Independent Brigade ran up. They were once members of the old Black Flag Army and participated in the Battle of Zhennan Pass 14 years ago.

But they had not received any systematic military education and fought solely based on their intuition and talent.

Therefore, once they encountered complex problems that they could not handle, such as the French artillery bombardment in front of them, they were somewhat helpless and did not know what to do.

Before the Battle of Zhennan Pass 14 years ago, the Black Flag Army accounted for the majority of the Qing troops that fled back to Zhennan Pass.

The Black Flag Army also wanted to fight the French army back then. It was not that they were cowardly, but they were bandits who had changed their ways and were not accepted by the Qing army. They were excluded and did not receive support, so they could only flee.

Otherwise, the entire army would have been wiped out in Vietnam.

So this time, after the Black Flag Army was re-established, they held the belief of regrouping and wanted to wash away the shame.

"The enemy's firepower is too dense, too dense. Scatter, you must scatter!" Chen Guangyuan was unsure, he bit his lip and emphasized: 2

"Aren't there simple artillery batteries built on the hilltops to the west and east of the city?

The first, second, and third regiments should pull up their 60mm and 57mm guns and engage them. From a high vantage point, we can fire both indirect and direct fire. I doubt we can defeat them."

"Also, have those sharpshooters with good marksmanship hide on the hillsides along the way to the city gate and shoot from behind!

No matter how powerful the French cannons are, they will eventually come up the mountain to attack the city. If they dare to come up, we will kill them all!"

Zhennan Pass is nominally just a pass, but in reality, it is a fortress built on the saddle between two mountains.

It is like building an artificial city in the area between two camel humps.

If you want to cross this city, you have to go up along the winding mountain road.

"Okay! Chief of Staff Chen, don't worry!" The regiment commander nodded heavily after receiving the military order.

Upon hearing this, the commander of the Second Regiment said passionately: "Fourteen years ago, we were able to defeat the French. Fourteen years later, the French have not learned their lesson and are trying to invade our Chinese territory again.

Last time, more than half of our Black Flag Army was killed or wounded, and only a few were left.

Now President Yuan has raised the black flag again, and I cannot let anyone look down on me!

Seeing this, the leader of the third regiment did not say anything, but silently tied a black cloth strip embroidered with seven stars on his forehead.

"The Black Flag Army is not a coward!"

After saying that, the three of them saluted Chen Guangyuan. This was the National Revolutionary Army salute that they had only recently learned.

Then they walked down the city wall without looking back.

Looking at the backs of the three people advancing towards the artillery fire, even Chen Guangyuan, who came from the National Revolutionary Army, felt the inextinguishable morale among the Black Flag Army.

14 years later, the fateful showdown took place again in front of Zhennan Pass.

Chapter 428 Real Artillery

"Load the shells!"

Amid the sharp sound of copper whistles, in front of Zhennan Pass, two French artillery battalions loaded 36 75mm cannons at the same time. After watching the several kilograms of picric acid gunpowder shells being stuffed into the gun barrels, the artillery commander looked at the towering Zhennan Pass in front of him and smiled contemptuously.

"The Chinese, like the soldiers in the feudal castle, can only retreat to the city walls. Unfortunately, this is no longer the era of defending the city walls!"

"Three rounds of proofreading, side pass, rapid firing!"

The accurate and concise commands given by the French artillery commanders demonstrate France's status as a European artillery power.

As soon as he finished speaking, the first round of test shells gushed out.

The 75mm caliber can only be considered a light artillery in Europe, but it can be regarded as the first-class heavy artillery in East Asia. Except for the naval guns and coastal defense guns on naval warships, this caliber can almost be said to be the largest caliber of field artillery.

Field guns with a caliber of more than 100 mm were not successfully used in large-scale actual combat before World War I due to the inconvenience of transportation and assembly.

The French Indochina Expeditionary Force Artillery Regiment has a more famous name, the "Raphael Artillery Regiment", which is the artillery unit where Napoleon once served.

Although 100 years have passed and France has changed from an empire to a republic, young French artillerymen are still eager to join the Raphael Artillery Regiment and inherit the honor left by Napoleon.

Therefore, the requirements for joining the Raphael Artillery Regiment are extremely high, and almost all of its members are students who have achieved excellent results in the Artillery School.

Under their operation, the power of the first generation of 75mm field gun was fully exerted.

After the three rounds of calibration firing were completed, the French artillery regiment made a slight adjustment and then fired artillery shells at Zhennan Pass 3 meters away at a standard speed of 15 rounds per minute.

The muzzle velocity was 500m per second, and before the human eye could react, the shell landed precisely near the point where the test firing had just taken place.

The flames from the exploding shells expanded and cracked. The residual heat from the friction of the shells in the barrel of Miss 75 was still there, and the smoke from the muzzle had not yet dissipated, but the sound of explosions had already echoed throughout Zhennan Pass.

Along with the sound of the explosion, there was also yellow smoke floating all over the sky, which was the unique color after the explosion of picric acid explosives.

The "yellow explosive" that the National Revolutionary Army once relied on as a magic weapon for siege was now used by the French artillery on its own heads.

After the Second Industrial Revolution, the chemical industry began to develop almost simultaneously in countries around the world. Any technological progress cannot be hidden.

The technological level of Europeans could not lag behind that of contemporary Chinese. Even if Yuan Shikai had a golden finger that could predict the historical line in advance, he could not change this.

The yellow explosive ingredient chosen by Yuan Shikai was nitroglycerin, while the French chose picric acid.

The power of these two types of yellow explosives is far greater than that of black powder, and they will produce two side effects: toxic smoke. However, due to their unstable properties, they are easy to hurt their own people.

However, compared with the huge advantages of this type of explosives, its minor disadvantages can be completely ignored.

Almost instantly, rumbling spring thunder exploded at several east-west passes of Zhennan Pass, and every shell could send rocks or debris flying.

The soldiers of the Black Flag Independent Brigade, who were unable to dodge in time, were swept by the whizzing debris and suffered severe injuries to their abdomens and backs.