readx;?“ Boom Boom Boom ......"

The Union shelling began again, and countless shells streaked across the sky, drowning the Confederate defenses in a sea of fire. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 In the eyes of Shi Dakai, commander of the Daming Expeditionary Force, Huang Zhisheng, commander of the Second Army, and Jiao Liang, chief of staff, who had just arrived on the battlefield of the Eastern Front in the United States, the federal army's campaign preparations were completely unscrupulous. Unlike in every previous war, when we want to talk about sudden campaign actions, we must do everything possible to cover up our own combat intentions and strive to achieve the greatest suddenness of the battle.

However, according to the Chief of Staff of the Confederate Forces of America, Robert Brown. According to Lee, this is how the operations in the eastern theater of the United States are now. There is no suddenness in the battles that are set out to fight. Because the battle lines between the two sides are almost one, and these are the places where large-scale military operations may be conducted, it is impossible to carry out any surprise attack. Therefore, the assembly of troops, the concentration of artillery, and the transfer of materials on both sides were simply carried out blatantly. At most, it is to carry out some means of concealing the truth and revealing the false in terms of the size of the troops. Actually, it doesn't make much sense either. Because the defensive lines of both sides are very strong and equipped with a large amount of automatic firepower, if they blindly pursue suddenness and do not prepare for artillery fire for a long time, they will use troops to charge hard, and the number of casualties will be unbelievable, which is unacceptable to both sides. And the preparation of artillery fire for a week or even longer also exposed the main target. The opponent's reserves will be concentrated in the corresponding areas!

The Second Army of the Ming Expeditionary Force, which had just arrived from the Western Front to replenish 27 black battalions and a total strength of more than 54,000 troops, was now attracted by this overwhelming artillery fire to Alexandria, which was across the river from Washington.

Arrived at about the same time as them. There are also trains and tens of thousands of horse-drawn carriages. A steady stream of reinforcements and astronomical quantities of clothing, ammunition, food, medicine, and military equipment were being brought in from all sides. Although the Confederate States of America is not yet a truly industrialized country. But in the eastern part of the country, it still has a dense network of railways, and with the support of France and Britain, the country can concentrate an unimaginable amount of war materials. The various headquarters, warehouses, hospitals, and transportation networks were quickly built with the hard work of the sappers. All kinds of supplies are stockpiled in separate categories. Of course, the logistical preparations for this "Battle of Washington" are insignificant compared to the First World War in this time and space more than 20 years later. But for the officers of France and the Ming Dynasty who participated in the command and operations of the Civil War. What we are experiencing now is undoubtedly the best industrialized war practice lesson. Such experience will be systematically summed up and become the basis for the new military reform.

And in this American Civil War, the various ways of organizing and conducting the war will also be sublimated and perfected in future world wars. It can be said that the sound of this war is a rehearsal of a world war, and it also heralds the emergence of a world pattern completely different from that of history.

Cannon roared.

Shi Dakai and Huang Zhishen stood on the Capitol Hill on the south bank of the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C., looking at the tumbling fires in front of them with binoculars. Not far from them was the extended defensive positions of the Union Army. Now it is completely submerged in the thick smoke of gunpowder.

It is clear that the artillery of the Union Army is beyond imagination! The exploding fireball is not a clump. Instead, they rose up one by one, most of them were shells fired by breech guns within 10 pounds, but there were also some shells that exploded with amazing power, releasing bursts of earth-shattering loud noises, turning everything within the scope of the power into a huge crater ten feet deep and dozens of feet in circumference! Both the trenches and the bunkers disappeared without a trace, as if they had never been in this world.

This scene is really unimaginable for a soldier in a peaceful environment in the country - it is 1862 and not 1914 after all. Several staff officers who had just arrived from the Ming Dynasty were holding binoculars with pale faces and half-open mouths, looking at the scene like a volcanic eruption in front of them.

After a while, Shi Dakai put down the binoculars and shouted loudly at Huang Zhisheng: "What's the matter, I haven't seen such a scene in the west, right?" The rumbling sound of cannon tore his voice apart. Huang Zhisheng glanced back at him and said with a wry smile: "It's not that I haven't seen it, I haven't even thought about it!" The artillery of the US Federal Army is really ...... It's amazing! Did they use the Navy's fortress guns for positional warfare? And they also have too many fortress guns, right? Originally, I thought that barbed wire, trenches and machine guns were insurmountable barriers. But now it seems that under such powerful firepower, there is no moat at all! And in 20 or 30 years, the power of cannons will probably increase several times compared to now, right? ”

Huang Zhisheng is not wrong, the artillery of the US Federal Army is indeed powerful! Although the breech-loading rifled gun was not invented by them, the American smoothbore gun casting technology is the most advanced in the world!

Shi Dakai frowned and muttered: "That's true, the theory of omnipotence in defense now seems to be impossible to manage the next world war." Even now, it doesn't necessarily work...... It seems that the cannon used to break the theory of the omnipotence of defense is the cannon! The powerful shells were fired by the Federal Army's Dahlgren heavy artillery. It was a large-caliber cast-iron smoothbore cannon that looked like a wine bottle, and the largest caliber was said to have reached 20 inches! ”

"Sure enough, it's a fortress cannon!" Huang Zhisheng's brows tightened a little more, "But there are too many...... How many of these heavy artillery pieces did they deploy around the entire Washington battlefield? ”

"Or maybe there are three hundred doors!" Shi Dakai smiled slightly bitterly, "It seems that we still underestimate the industrial strength of the Americans!" These Dahlgren heavy guns of theirs were cast using the Rodman casting method, and the yield rate could reach more than 90%! ”

"More than 90%?" Huang Zhisheng shook his head, "It's several times higher than our heavy artillery yield!" No wonder they have so many heavy artillery! ”

Rodman's cannon casting method was the result of U.S. Federal Army Army Major Thomas. Rodman's invention is not complicated, and the Chinese Lan Fangxing has mastered it, is water to cool the red-hot barrel - of course, not to throw the burning barrel directly into the water, which will only rupture the barrel. In fact, the method is to replace the mold used as the inner mold of the barrel with a hollow one, add a cooling water pipe in the middle, and then pour cooling water into it. Of course, the cooling water pipe must be made into a recirculating style to ensure the stability of the inner membrane temperature, such as using the U-shaped pipe mode to start filling water from the inside, so as to continuously circulate cooling.

However, even if Lan Fangxing already knew the secret of Rodman's cannon casting method, there was no way to cast a large number of large-caliber smoothbore guns in a short period of time. Because the cooling rate is a very difficult problem to master, that is, the water circulation speed is particular. If it cools down too quickly, the inner tube will burst, and it must be done at an appropriate speed. It took 10 years from Rodman's theory in 1844 to the scientific and reasonable technical parameters demonstrated by experiments. And these technical parameters, of course, are the top secret of the military industrial department of the federal army. Officers of Lee's rank don't know.

Shi Dakai turned his head, looked at Huang Zhisheng with a worried face, and said with a smile: "Brother Baopei, don't worry, your second army will not be pulled up and consumed." General Lee of the Confederate State has already formulated a plan for the Battle of Washington, preparing to rely on the fortified city of Washington for defense, and after fully depleting the strength of the Federal Army, he will force the Potomac River with elite troops to attack the flank of the Federal Army and annihilate the strategic main force of the Federal Army in one fell swoop! If this plan had been realized, the war would have ended in 1863. Your Second Army, as the sharp knife of the counterattack force, will be directly under my command. As he spoke, he waved his hand and took the lead in walking towards the top of Capitol Hill, "Go, let me see your troops, they are the heroes of the country!" (To be continued.) )