Three days later, Li Hongzhang also received the news of the fall of the Democratic Republic of South Vietnam, and immediately discussed with Zhang Lexing to withdraw the army stationed in the area of Xu Huai.

He felt that time was running out, and he had to master the Twist Army before Wang Feng withdrew from South China, otherwise there would be no second way out except to surrender as soon as possible.

Li Hongzhang is also from a science background, and he hates the deviance of the Democratic Alliance, and he will not demote Wang Feng unless he has to.

As the Democratic Allied Forces extinguished the Democratic Republic of South Vietnam at an unexpected speed, the land of China fell into a rare period of calm, but under the appearance of calm, all sides were intensively strengthening their combat readiness.

In the Xishan camp in Beijing, the soldiers of the Eight Banners wearing Western military uniforms carried out various military training under the command of the foreigners, such as running with weights, wading, shooting, and firing artillery.

In the early spring, the sun was shining, and Xianfeng was also in good spirits, as if he had walked out of the shadow of the split between the two Guangzhous, and watched the training subjects with great interest.

"Honorable Emperor of China!" Bao Ling, who returned to Beijing after a circle from Singapore, also accompanied Xianfeng, and said with a slight smile: "How do you feel about this new army?" ”

Xianfeng was dressed in military uniform, standing next to an artillery, the artillery on the training ground was different from the artillery in Xianfeng's impression, two huge ironwood converged wheels, and there was a slender and slender cannon.

He didn't take Bowling's words. Xianfeng pointed at the artillery and said, "Fire a cannon for me to see, and hit that target ten miles away." If you hit it, I'm rewarded! ”

Bao Ling hurriedly gave a look. To the two British soldiers next to the artillery, Xianfeng's face sank, and he said unhappily: "Don't want you foreigners, come, you guys come and shoot!" ”

Xianfeng hand-picked a few Eight Banner soldiers, these people had some drums in their hearts, in the usual live-fire drills, this distance to hit the target ten miles away, the first hit rate did not exceed one percent. This can't be helped, Western artillery involves the application of ballistic calculations and trigonometric functions, for the Eight Banners who do not have any modern mathematical knowledge, it is luck to hit, and it is normal to miss, so Bao Ling will instruct the British army to open fire.

You know, Xianfeng definitely wants to see the starting shots, but in fact it is difficult to do this, even if it is the British army and the Democratic Alliance. The grasp is only about fifty percent, otherwise there is no need for positioning before the cannon is fired.

"Wow!" But what can the emperor do? The Eight Banners soldiers bowed and bowed.

Bao Ling was also very anxious in his heart, although he couldn't hit Xianfeng and couldn't do anything with him. But if Xianfeng is happy, it is also convenient for them foreigners to act in Beijing, how can this be good? What exactly does it take to make sure you hit the start?

Then. Mai Lian, the US commissioner in Beijing, rolled her eyes and bowed to Xianfeng: "Our Western cannon has gathered the latest science and technology from Europe and the United States. The hit rate is guaranteed, but unlike the old Chinese artillery. You can't shoot hastily, you must measure and calculate the target, and then make a guide, so please wait a while. ”

After Mai Lian's reminder, the Eight Banners soldiers were immediately blessed to their hearts, and they all counted, and after a while of eye contact, they made a division of labor.

One of them took the measuring ruler handed by the foreigner, stood in front of the artillery, observed and measured in a good way, and waved his arm and shouted: "Go to the back, go to the back, look at my gestures, make a flag!" ”

The two people turned around and ran away, one mile in the Qing Dynasty was equal to five hundred and seventy-six meters, and ten miles was more than five kilometers, and before they were halfway through, the two people disappeared in the noisy training ground, but the people in power led by Xianfeng did not take it seriously, what they wanted to see was not the boring process of firing the artillery, but the exciting result of the firing of the cannon!

Several people in front of Xianfeng were still preparing, the cannon barrels were moving up and down, and the two people who ran out even risked their old lives, and they ran in a hurry, shouting loudly at the soldiers guarding the target when they were about to approach the target.

In these years, if the bully can get benefits, no one takes the bully seriously at all, and several soldiers guarding the target immediately got busy, took the explosives and put it at the bottom of the target, and pulled a fuse to light it.

The two of them pretended to counter-measure in the direction of the artillery, anyway, Xianfeng couldn't see the name, estimated the time, looked back, felt that it was almost over, and hurriedly waved the flag!

On the side of the artillery, the artillery officer also waved the flag violently: "Release!" ”

The gunner tugs the rope!

"Boom!" With a bang, a ball of fire erupted from the muzzle of the gun, which knocked out an empty shell, that is, there was no warhead, only an empty shell, which was dedicated to training shells, which could save costs in training.

The black dot quickly disappeared in the sky, and after about ten seconds, there was a violent explosion at the target in front of it, and the flagpole was lifted into the air!

"Congratulations to the emperor, congratulations to the emperor!" Lan'er couldn't suppress the excitement in her heart, this is my Qing Dynasty artillery, the first hit ten miles away, except for might, she couldn't think of any other words, and hurriedly knelt down to congratulate Xianfeng!

"Long live the emperor, long live, long live!" The ministers and dignitaries who accompanied the inspection, such as Yixun and Yixun, knelt in a row, kowtowing neatly.

"Okay, good, good fight! Hahahaha~~" Xianfeng couldn't help laughing, and Bao Ling and the others also exchanged a tacit smile.

After a while, Xianfeng's laughter gradually stopped, and he raised his hand: "Zhongqing is flat!" ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Everyone thanked them and got up, and Yixun hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, it has only been a short year for the camps of my Beijing Division, and such achievements have been achieved. The emperor should be rewarded heavily! ”

"Hmm~~" Xianfeng faced the gunners who fired the cannons, and said slowly: "You didn't disappoint me, I saw hope in you, today, I give each of you a yellow coat, the title of Gabaturu, and a promotion!" ”

"Slave thank the emperor for the reward!" Those people kowtowed happily in thanks.

Mai Lian smiled slightly from the side: "Your Majesty the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, artillery defeats the enemy, one cannon does not play a big role, and it is still necessary to bombard the enemy with artillery arrays intensively. ”

"Accurate!" Xianfeng waved his hand.

Throughout the training ground, there were fifty guns, and the caliber of these guns was not marked by millimeters, as was the case with the indications of imperial inches.

In that era, except for the Democratic Alliance, there was no unified system for artillery all over the world, shells were calculated in pounds, a kind of artillery fired shells of different weights according to the needs of the range, while the Democratic Alliance Army was a standard shell, before the shells were distinguished by armor-piercing shells, armor-piercing shells, high-explosive shells, submunitions and other shells, a caliber of artillery only fired a weight of shells, and the distance of the range was determined by the amount of charge charged, not the weight of the warhead.

Among the fifty guns at present, there are five inches, four and a half inches, and six inches, and the largest caliber is actually eight inches, although these guns are advanced breech-loading rifled guns, but some of them are not pure breech-loading guns, and the rifling in the barrel is straight, not spiral, so that the propellant of this part of the gun is loaded from behind, and the round shells are loaded from the barrel, because the front-loading shell cannot slide through the spiral to the bottom.

Obviously, the semi-breech-loading guns used by the Qing army were old weapons eliminated by Britain, France and the United States, but for the Qing army, this kind of artillery was advanced enough.

Fifty cannons of different calibers were pushed into a row, the children of the Eight Banners were loaded with ammunition, and the medicine was applied, because they did not need to be aimed at the target, as long as the cannonballs were shot out to fight Xianfeng Yile, so everyone was full of energy, and after being busy for a while, a staff leader stood in front of the cannon and waved the flag: "Release!" ”

"Bang Bang Bang~~" The muzzle of the gun flashed continuously, the distant shooting range was filled with gunsmoke, and a puff of dust was rolled up, hundreds of meters apart, and the ears were buzzing.

It is completely disorganized in the eyes of insiders to shoot like this, but Xianfeng is different, they have never been on the battlefield, they don't know how to shoot guns, they only feel that their mood is agitated, and a mouthful of pride and ambition is born in their chests!

"Good! All right! When the sound of the cannon stopped, Yixun stood up from the review stand, waved his arms and shouted: "I have such a heroic master in the Qing Dynasty, why worry about the short hair!" ”

Even Xianfeng felt that the arms bought from foreigners were not wronged, and the effect was indeed different between what he could see and what he could not see!

Fukang, the commander of the Fengtai battalion, took advantage of the situation and made a thousand: "Your Majesty, please review the three armies!" ”

"Good!" Xianfeng also stood up and took a bite.

Bao Ling bowed slightly and said: "Your Majesty the Emperor of China, it will take some time for the army to assemble, and our ministers of the three countries have specially made a set of Western generalissimo uniforms for you in order to show our respect for you. ”

"This" Xianfeng showed a look of embarrassment, from the original meaning, he was unwilling to wear, the dignified Qing Emperor, what kind of style did he wear the generalissimo uniform of the West? But now was the time to be in a good mood, and he was unwilling to spoil the mood, and Bao Ling showed enough humility that he did not want to destroy the hard-won peace with Bao Ling.

Lan'er smiled and persuaded: "Your Majesty, your soldiers are all wearing Western-style military uniforms and using Western weapons, so it is not inappropriate for you to wear Western-style generalissimo uniforms to inspect them, what do you say?" ”

"Bring it on!" Xianfeng nodded, in fact, he also had a trace of curiosity in his heart, he hadn't worn Western clothes yet.

Bao Ling beckoned back.

A British military attache respectfully presented a tray containing swords, boots, belts, shirts, formal wear, trousers, and hats.

Lan'er reached out to take it before the eunuch, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, let the concubines serve you to change your clothes." ”

"Good!" Xianfeng turned around and walked towards the makeshift house. (To be continued......)