My Italy

The two countries, Japan and Qing, who were calculated by Britain and Italy, were still fighting bloody battles for their respective forces in the Far East.

A month after the war in Shandong subsided, new war broke out in Liaodong.

Located in Haicheng near Liaoyang, this is the front line of the Japanese army in Liaodong. It was also the place where the First Guards Division started its first battle in Liaodong.

The current First Guards Division is different from that in Shandong. It currently has three infantry regiments. (The Fourth Regiment was asked to guard the task force at Weihaiwei, and Lieutenant General Alvaro was worried about the capabilities of the Qing army.)

The difference from Shandong is that the artillery size of the 1st Guards Division continues to increase. At present, in addition to the division's 72 small and medium-caliber artillery pieces, there are also 55 large-caliber artillery pieces, ranging from 120 mm to 240 mm (two 240 mm siege mortars), cannons, howitzers and other artillery pieces. have been seen.

It feels like the 1st Guards Division is about to become the 1st Guards Artillery Division, filled with all kinds of artillery.

In fact, this is understandable. As long as the Qing people pay for it, the army's existing and various types of artillery that are currently being developed need to be tested. There is no more real scene than the battlefield, so this has also led to more and more artillery in the First Guards Division.

Of course, if there are many artillery, they will be very capable in the subsequent battle. Those well-designed defenses by the Japanese army were reduced to ashes under the shadow of these artillery.

In front of the inhumane First Guards Artillery Division, the Japanese army's own artillery was simply not enough. Not to mention that the Japanese army mostly has bronze cannons that are behind the times. These are imitations of Italian 70mm caliber mountain cannons, with a maximum range of only three thousand and five thousand meters.

In the final analysis, the Japanese army stubbornly chose to make their own guns. Because they could not make their own gun steel, they had to make do with bronze guns first.

The Qing army was defeated by the Japanese army whose weapons were inferior to its own, and he became the captain of the transportation brigade.

However, when encountering the Italian army, the Japanese army's little possessions were not enough. Although the Japanese army also had a small number of long-range artillery, they were just a younger brother compared to Italy's huge long-range firepower.

After several confrontations, the Japanese army's long-range artillery ceased its activity, and even the Japanese defenders knelt down in the face of the luxurious and seemingly free bombardment.

The dense artillery shells filled with TNT explosives completely destroyed the Japanese positions. Then under the cover of the Italian army, the Qing officers and soldiers roared and rushed towards the enemy position where there were not many enemies left.

Not to mention, after fighting several such battles in a row, the morale of the Qing army also improved. From the beginning, you can only deal with the remaining enemies, but now you can launch an attack on the enemy's position.

Of course, this was done with the support of hundreds of artillery pieces of various types from the 1st Guards Division.

Once away from these accurate artillery, the Qing officers and soldiers remained the same, feeling as if they were suffering from artillery dependence.

However, regardless of whether the Qing army suffered from artillery dependence, the battle in Liaodong was proceeding in an orderly manner. The Italian-Qing coalition forces are driving the Japanese army out of Liaodong step by step. Although it may take a long time, there is no doubt about the situation.

Haven't you seen ammunition transport ships arriving from Italy to Tianjin every week? This is a guarantee of victory. Although the Italian ammunition increased the price by 20% due to the urgent need and time constraints, the ammunition that arrived on time was indeed the guarantee for this war.

Well, I need to say one more thing here, half of the ammunition transport ships every week transport naval ammunition.

The now recovered task force consumes a lot of ammunition every week. They need to patrol the Tsushima Strait on a routine basis. Ships passing through the Tsushima Strait are often seen shelling the ports on both sides of the strait. Basically every time they return, The ammunition on the ship was depleted.

For this reason, the Navy also asked the transport ship to bring spare gun barrels, ready to replace the 356 mm main gun barrel that is approaching the limit of use.

Thanks to Italy's efforts, the fifty million taels of silver borrowed by Li Zhongtang were consumed at a far faster rate than before.

"Dong Weng, the war can't be fought like this anymore."

Zhou Fu, who rushed back to Tianjin from Liaodong, couldn't help but complain as soon as he entered the governor's office.

"The army consumes thousands of artillery shells every day, and even tens of thousands in the event of a major war. Just transporting these artillery shells requires more than 10,000 civilians. Not to mention other materials, the civilian power outside the customs has been exhausted. , If this continues, the money won’t be enough.”

Well, Mr. Zhou's last sentence is the key. Think about how many grievances Li Zhongtang suffered and how many people secretly accused him in order to borrow these 50 million taels of foreign debt.

That's why Mr. Zhou was so anxious because the money was spent too quickly.

However, compared to Zhou Fu's impatience, Li Zhongtang, the person involved, was much more leisurely.

"How much money do you consume every month now?"

"The monthly consumption of personnel, food, ammunition, etc. in Liaodong requires nearly four million taels of silver."

Li Zhongtang nodded when he heard this, "Including the nearly three million taels of silver needed by Shandong, this month will be almost seven million taels. The money on hand can be used for more than half a year, that's good!"

Seeing that the benefactor was not anxious at all, this did not make Mr. Zhou anxious.

"Sir, this kind of extravagance and waste must be stopped."

"So what do you think we should do?"

"The text requires the Italians to conserve ammunition. We can no longer afford the supply."

"What should I do if I don't care?"

"If you ignore it, well..."

Only then did Zhou Fu realize that they could not survive without Yiren's help.

"You know why I didn't ask, right? Now I, Li Eryin, have invited Yiren to help me, so that the court can take a high look. If I fall out with Yiren because of this, I will be in trouble in an instant."

Hearing this, Zhou Fu couldn't help but said. "For such a major national event, the Italians actually took advantage of it, making us unable to stop and cannot leave them. What a good plan!"

"It's true to say that it's a calculation. This is just a process of calculating against each other. I'm not good enough and there's nothing to say if I can't calculate the other side. Now I can only hope that this battle won't be too ugly."

It was obvious that Li Zhongtang had a clearer mind and knew that there was no way he could solve this matter. Everything depends on the expressions of the Italians, but at that time the only ones who could save him were the Italians, even if it was poison, he had to drink it.

But beyond that, he also saw hope. Li Zhongtang took out a booklet and spread it out. "Yuan Weiting is not bad. He has a sharp mind and knows how to read and listen. This doesn't give me the idea of ​​using Western-style military training methods to train a new type of army."

Master Zhou certainly knows about Yuan Xiangcheng. As a person whom the Lord is optimistic about, how can he forget about it? Besides, the two of them also worked together in Shandong.

"What are you thinking about, Weiting?"

"I don't know either. I heard that he has won over a general of the Italian Army in Weihaiwei and is willing to teach him all the training methods of the Italian Forbidden Army."

"This is not bad, there is such an opportunity!"

"So I thought, let's train a group of troops according to the Western-style army organization first, and let me wait and see the results."

"Your Excellency is wise!"