African Nationhood

The weather in Handu in June is sunny, dry and comfortable.

After Qu Sangqian got up early and finished playing Ba Duan Jin, he walked slowly to the living room.

He is 60 years old this year. Although he is younger than Tian Liang, he is really not young anymore.

In the past two years, he has paid more and more attention to taking care of his body. Last year, he listened to his wife's advice and learned Baduanjin Kungfu from an old Chinese medicine practitioner.

After practicing for more than a year, the effect is not bad. His body bones are getting lighter and lighter.

Sitting at the dining table, the relaxed-looking woman in silk pajamas brought him a bowl of millet porridge, pickles and two deep-fried fried dough sticks.

Qu Sangqian smiled at his wife and then started to eat breakfast. While using chopsticks to stir the hot porridge in the bowl, he picked up the "South China National Defense News" next to him and read it.

After the South African War, Chairman Shi proposed to start a military newspaper, mainly for officers and soldiers.

This newspaper is mainly to show the development of the South China Army, and will also highlight the deeds of some model soldiers in the military camp.

In addition, this newspaper will also report on some foreign military developments. At the same time, this newspaper will also regularly publish articles on novel tactical ideas.

Today he discovered a report with a novel viewpoint, titled "A Brief Discussion on New Artillery Tactical Thoughts."

This article pointed out that since the establishment of the Nanhua Company Artillery Battalion, the artillery teaching ideas in the Nanhua Army still follow the traditional artillery thinking.

That is, in the form of direct shooting within the visual field, in other words, it is a shooting method that directly aims at the target within the visual distance.

If there are no terrain obstacles, the visual distance is generally about 2500 meters, so field artillery does not require a very accurate aiming machine.

But now the major military powers in the world have been sparing no effort to develop large-caliber heavy artillery.

On the other hand, our Nanhua Army has been focusing on the development of light artillery, and light artillery has the disadvantages of insufficient firepower and too short range.

We all know that boxing matches are divided into weight classes.

No matter how flexible the lightweight selection is, it cannot cause a fatal blow to the heavyweight boxer.

Heavyweight boxers, on the other hand, can endure sneak attacks and hits from lightweights and wait for opportunities.

Once a heavyweight boxer seizes the opportunity, the heavyweight boxer can knock out the lightweight boxer with one blow.

It is time for us to change our thinking and keep up with the pace of the times and focus on developing artillery tactical thinking with all-round firepower coverage.

……

The article also pointed out that large-caliber artillery is not only more powerful, but also has a range far beyond that of ordinary field artillery, so traditional artillery can no longer meet the needs of combat.

In order to cope with the development of artillery in the new stage of warfare, the South China Army should adopt more advanced artillery thinking.

The new gunnery idea proposed in the article is called the "indirect shooting" method.

The so-called "indirect fire" is to hide the artillery units' positions on the reverse slopes of mountains and other places where the enemy cannot directly observe them.

Then our own artillery units also conduct operations without direct visual sight of the target. This is the so-called "indirect shooting."

……

In "Indirect Fire", the author lists the current advantages of the South China Army, which is the separation of South China's three armies.

The air force can very well help the army artillery to observe the coordinates and orientation of the enemy's artillery positions, but the enemy is unable to detect the coordinates and orientation of its own artillery positions. This is a very beneficial form of combat for the own side.

Seeing this, Qu Sangqian laughed secretly.

"Are there any jokes in the military newspaper? Why are you so entertained?"

Qu Sangqian put down the newspaper, picked up the bowl and took a sip of millet porridge.

"An article in the newspaper was too simple. I just laughed because I thought it was funny."

The wife was noncommittal after hearing this. She never interfered in her husband's work matters. This was the tacit understanding between their husband and wife for more than 20 years.

After breakfast, Qu Sangqian successfully put on his regular clothes and a soft-brimmed military hat with his wife's service. He got into the Crown car and drove towards the military headquarters on the outskirts of the city.

……

Construction of the military headquarters building in Hanking has begun, but until it is completed, the commanders are still working at the military headquarters building in Handu.

Nowadays, long-distance communication is developed. If something happens, you can communicate by phone or radio. If there is an emergency meeting, you can rush there by car.

Arriving at the military building on the edge of Handu City, Qu Sangqian walked briskly towards his office.

People kept saying hello to him along the way, and he nodded in response.

Arriving at the office, he rang the bell on the desk. Soon a young military man opened the door and walked in.

"Commander, what do you want to order?"

"Go find the author who wrote 'A brief discussion on artillery tactics and thinking' in today's National Defense News. I want to talk to him."

"Yes, Commander."

……

When I went to work in the afternoon, I heard a knock on the door.

"Come in."

A young noncommissioned officer followed the secretary and said, "Commander Qu, the author of that article is here."

Qu Sangqian looked up and found that the young sergeant was still a student at the military academy.

"Sit down, don't be formal, what's the young man's name?"

The young sergeant had a round face and many pimples on his face. It was the first time he met a big shot, so he was inevitably a little nervous.

"Reporting to Commander Qu, my name is Zheng Jiarui. I am from Fuzhou District. I am currently studying at the Harbin Infantry Academy."

"Well, Xiao Zheng, the article you wrote is very good, but it is too shallow. I hope you can write more in-depth. Do you think it is difficult?"

Hearing that the army commander actually entrusted him with such an important task, the young noncommissioned officer was inevitably excited.

"Commander, I can do it, but my knowledge is very limited. I don't know if the direction of my efforts is right."

Qu Sangqian thought for a while and said after careful consideration: "Your article said that our South China Army has an air force that can establish a tactical advantage, but you underestimated people's wisdom.

There are no absolute technical barriers in this world. Once a new technology is developed, one's own tactical advantage will only be temporary.

No one can guarantee when the enemy will be able to imitate or imitate similar fighters.

In addition, around the world, in addition to our Nanhua aircraft, there are also hot air balloons and airships used as observation tools. At the same time, the enemy can also send small teams to lurk near artillery positions for detection. "

After hearing what Commander Qu said, Zheng Jiarui realized his shortcomings.

"Well, I understand. It's just that you want me to write more in-depth. In which direction do you want to go deeper? I only had a temporary feeling when I wrote this article before."

Qu Sangqian laughed, "Well, I only have some crude thoughts on this issue.

For example: how to quickly detect the opponent's battlefield layout and how to quickly locate the enemy's artillery positions;

Also, how to use one's own advantages to quickly attack the opponent, so that the opponent completely loses the ability to counterattack, etc., can be used as tactical ideas for in-depth exploration.

Not only artillery thinking, but also joint sea, land and air operations.

Whether we can establish a three-dimensional attack posture and so on, these are the tactical directions and strategic ideas that we should explore.

In short, there are many things that can be explored in depth in the construction of tactical thinking, and these are all I can think of for the time being.

The rest needs to be enriched by you young people. After all, we are all old and our thoughts have become rigid. "

Zheng Jiarui was excited to receive so many in-depth exploration directions and tried to remember them.

To be on the safe side, he begged directly: "Commander Qu, I think it's better to take notes."

Qu Sangqian nodded, "Yes, Chairman Shi also often said, 'A good memory is worse than a bad pen.' This is a good habit of yours, keep it up."

Zheng Jiarui nodded with a smile, then took out a pen and paper from his backpack and started writing furiously.

When encountering someone they are unfamiliar with, they will ask questions, for fear that they will get the wrong idea.

During the narration process, Zheng Jiarui also tried to discuss with Commander Qu some doubts he encountered during his learning process.

For example, covering positions, in his opinion, the "covering positions of artillery" theory is very unreliable.

For traditional artillery that relies on "three points and one line" to fight, combat positions are often exposed. Artillery combat positions in the direct shooting era are difficult to conceal.

After all, the artillery is large in size and has a high elevation angle, and the rear gun mount must be frequently mobilized to adjust the direction of fire. Therefore, the artillery position in the field is completely exposed, and it is impossible to quickly build a covered bunker like an infantry position during battle.

In his opinion, rather than laboriously arranging useless shielding positions in open areas, it would be more reliable to place artillery positions at commanding heights with broad views, such as plains or low hills.

Qu Sangqian agreed very much with Zheng Jiarui's point of view, so after the two of them discussed it, they decided to modify the concept of "covered position": the so-called "covered position" refers to placing artillery positions where the enemy cannot see and are difficult to find. Artillery positions.

(For example, if you place artillery in a valley and shoot across a small hill, the enemy cannot see your own artillery, and even the flames and smoke from the muzzle cannot be observed. This is a perfect shielding position.)
When it got dark, Qu Sangqian and Zheng Jiarui left the military building. After sending the young noncommissioned officer away, Qu Sangqian returned home by car. (End of chapter)