The Fifth Division, Shanhaiguan Army exercises.

According to the exercise program of the base camp, the Fifth Division was the first to conduct the exercise, and the exercise course was the coordination of infantry and artillery. In order to make the exercise more closely related to actual combat and to train the exercise of infantry and artillery coordination tactics of officers and soldiers, the Second Army Command ordered the dispatch of all artillery corpses of the three divisions and special corpses to form the Second Army Artillery Special Detachment with more than 600 artillery gates in large and small artillery.

Except for the more than 200 artillery guns owned by the emperor's personal army brought back to China from Japan, the rest were seized from the Jianzhou rebels, the former Li Rubai army and Liu Ju army artillery, and dozens of Shenyang City artillery guns.

Among them, there were as many as 214 generals who got guns in the field, and more than 370 other large and small Folang machines. The medicine alone transported more than 3,000 kilograms from the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau at one time.

Just in terms of the number of artillery, the Kanto exercise of the Second Army was the largest since the founding of this dynasty. The number of artillery carried by Chengzu during his expedition to the north of the desert was only more than 300.

All this is due to the spirit of "large artillery and firepower" in Eunuch Wei's military thought. "It must be both big and strong" is a spiritual training sentence written by Eunuch Wei to the special artillery detachment before the exercise began.

On the eve of the exercise, the forehand command center located in Balipu had sent operating staff to select the exercise area.

This area is less than four miles away from Shanhaiguan. Because most of the areas are hilly and the soil is black, it is also called Black Tuling.

The Fifth Division was responsible for the main force of the army. At the meeting with senior generals of the Fifth Division, Eunuch Wei praised them for not only being the "steel army" of the Imperial Army, but also as the flower of the Imperial Army. He hoped that their exercises at Heitu Ridge could create a good situation for this Kanto exercise.

The head of the Fifth Division, Anguo Temple, personally commanded the front line. When the artillery completely covered the Heitu Ridge, the commander of the Anguo Temple Division issued a charge order.

"You guys, this exercise is related to the fate of the Imperial Army and the fate of the Empire. I hope you can join the exercise with the best fighting attitude!"

The commander of the Anguo Temple Division drew out his command knife and pointed towards Heitu Ridge, "Then, let's start!"

"loyalty!"

The smoke signal flare gave clear action instructions to the participating officers and soldiers. With the rumbling of artillery soldiers, more than 20,000 officers and soldiers of the Fifth Division, which had already assembled, issued a charge to Heitu Ridge.

The operational staff of the base camp and the Forward Command Center closely watched the progress of the Fifth Division, and they kept reporting the effects of the exercise to the Forward Command Center.

At one moment, the Eighth Brigade of the Fifth Division first entered Heilu Ridge, and the vanguard was less than 500 meters away from the artillery bombing point.

The speed and distance of the army's advance were also constantly transmitted to the artillery, but it was not transmitted by a dedicated person, but by a cigarette cartridge as a clear indication signal.

This is also the first time that the Emperor's personal army used smoke bombs to transmit the speed of the troops' advancement and distance against the enemy. To this end, the staff of the Emperor's personal army made great improvements to the smoke bombs. With the help of folk fireworks craftsmen, the Emperor's personal army's smoke bombs have been improved to seven colors. Under the premise of the combination of these seven colors, the base camp has formulated a complete signal transmission program.

For example, two red, one blue and one yellow means that they have entered the enemy's frontier position. After receiving the signal, the artillery must immediately increase the shooting distance. This repetition allows the artillery artillery to continuously suppress the enemy when the infantry advances to fight.

However, due to the limitations of the artillery range of this era, the artillery was also practicing courses such as moving the artillery position forward to ensure that the artillery range can always be within the enemy's position.

Therefore, this exercise is not only a drill of the coordinated tactics of infantry and artillery, but also a large drill of infantry and artillery movements.

At this time, there were endless smoke bombs over the Heilu Ridge, which tested the eyesight of the personnel behind the school. The artillery observers must capture and ensure the correct meaning of the combination of these signals, otherwise they will have major consequences.

The effect of using smoke cartridges at night is stronger than during the day, so in addition to the transmission of smoke cartridges, the commander is also very important.

The two signal transmission systems are carried out simultaneously, so that mistaken attacks can be avoided to the greatest extent.

Regarding why the exercises were not carried out during the day, but chose to be carried out at night, Eunuch Wei gave an explanation that the emperor's personal army must adapt to night combat. He hoped that the imperial army would not only be a war-going army during the day, but also become the object of fear in the enemy's heart at night.

The Fifth Division's charge and shooting drills were excellent. Several target areas set up in Black Soil Ridge were successively occupied, and the final long live charge was the biggest highlight of this exercise.

This is a charge of nearly 10,000 soldiers, and it is the largest group charge since the establishment of the Imperial Army.

Accompanied by the sharp whistle, tens of thousands of officers and soldiers of the Fifth Division bravely attacked towards the highest end of the Black Soil Ridge in dense formations, holding new muskets with bayonets cast at the front.

"At the ugly moment, the officers and soldiers of the Fifth Division, who had the flowers of the Imperial Army and the honor of the Steel Army, launched a long live charge towards Heitu Ridge. The mighty Imperial Army officers and soldiers went one after another. Their fearless spirit deeply shocked me. At that moment, my heart was like blood burning. If it weren't for my duty to restrain me, I would have wished I could personally join the tide of charge!" - "The Great Exercise" by Lu Shuren, a war correspondent from the Emperor Ming Daily.

"Long live!"

The officers and soldiers of the Ninth Brigade who were first to rush to Heilu Ridge burst into cheers.

"Long live, long live, long live!"

The officers and soldiers of the entire Fifth Division made a trembling cheer on Heitu Ridge. They inserted the battle flag representing the Fifth Division on Heitu Ridge. They sang their military songs in the direction of Shanhaiguan.

In the loud military song, the division chief Anguo Temple always stared at Shanhaiguan several miles away.

The division commander could not see Shanhaiguan, but this did not prevent him from looking at the gate of the imperial capital with a sharp gaze.

"Then, the army there should be able to see my Fifth Division, and should also hear our voices!" The division commander asked the staff around him.

"Yes, you, they should be able to see and hear!" said Taro Watanabe, the prisoner of the Nakamura fleet of the Nakamura, bowed.

"Is that true!"

The division commander slowly stepped forward a few steps, "So, how long does it take to win this door to close?"

"Go back to you, one hour!"

Taro Watanabe was very sure, because before that, he and his intelligence staff disguised themselves as vendors and had conducted detailed reconnaissance of the Shanhaiguan.

The reconnaissance data specifically covers the garrison forces and the generals leading the troops.

"One hour, yell!"
Chapter completed!