Chapter 933

In the bright sunshine of a southern summer, a long line of trucks drove on the bumpy roads in the mountains. Each truck with a load of one and a half tons was stuffed with two squads of combat troops. Twenty big guys with rifles on their backs sat on simple benches fixed on the side of the truck that could be raised and lowered. The machine guns and ammunition boxes were fixed in the open space in the middle of the truck.

Everyone's expression was not good. Although they didn't need to walk, it was already the result of training not to vomit after swaying for one or two hours on this kind of vehicle with imperfect shock absorbers. After vomiting and vomiting, they slowly got used to it.

Lieutenant Colonel Qi Rui's expression was just as bad as the other participants. He used to think that motorized transportation could allow the troops to carry out long-distance travel in a more comfortable manner. After a month of testing, his stomach and all parts of his body were clearly conveying a fact to Qi Rui. Long-distance travel could be completed, but it was not comfortable at all.

"War depends on people!" Qi Rui now completely agreed with his father Vézé's warning. The test that the motorized troops had to go through was far more difficult than imagined. Before the entire troops went into battle, they first had to go through a harsh test. Before putting the troops into the battlefield of blood and fire and accepting the test of life and death, the motorized troops also had to go through the test of suffering. Even Qi Rui, one of the founders of the motorized troops, felt a considerable amount of pain.

According to the rules, everyone had to get off and rest for a period of time every one and a half hours. Stepping on the solid ground, Qi Rui only felt that his feet were soft, but there was a sense of solidity in his heart instead. The motorized troops' marching ability was indeed far beyond that of the infantry. They could travel 33 kilometers in one and a half hours, and if they were on a wide plain, they could travel 50 kilometers. Thousands of troops could travel up to 100 kilometers in a day. The most important thing was to be able to maintain the minimum combat power after such a long-distance march.

Ordinary troops might be able to travel 100 kilometers a day, but after this distance, they would completely lose their combat power. Qi Rui didn't know that in the history of his father Vézé's time and space, the Red Fourth Regiment set a record of forced marching 120 kilometers in 25 hours under the conditions of heavy rain, mud, and a little resistance. Even in the current terrible situation, a regiment of the Liberation Army could achieve and even surpass the famous army by relying on a rather primitive motorized marching tool.

Even if he knew this, Lieutenant Colonel Qi Rui wouldn't feel any joy at this time. The members of the army all had weak footsteps and were beginning to do various stretching exercises in order to recover their physical condition in the shortest time.

Stroking his stomach, Major Hu Xingzhi walked up to Qi Rui and said with an expression as if he wanted to lie down, "I think it's more reliable for the troops to cross the mountains in North America on foot." Both he and Qi Rui had served in North America, so they were very familiar with the majesty of the Rocky Mountains.

"The motorized troops still have more room to perform in the Great Lakes." Qi Rui did not deny his old comrade's opinion. The motorized troops passing through the mountains gave him a terrible impression. Just from the comfort alone, Qi Rui suspected that walking might be more comfortable than the motorized troops.

The young people were in good health. After resting for ten minutes, the group of people felt full of vigor. Then they received an order from the command center. "Return on foot!"

They were not afraid of not knowing the goods, but they were afraid of comparing the goods with the goods. They walked 33 kilometers back. They carried their military backpacks, carried their weapons, and dragged the ammunition and equipment manually. After only walking 11 kilometers, the troops participating in the test began to miss the time when they swayed in the car. When they walked 22 kilometers, they didn't even have the feeling of nostalgia anymore. Their swollen and hot feet and heavy equipment had exhausted the physical strength of these young soldiers. They didn't know how they made it through the last 11 kilometers.

When it was dark, they walked back to the departure camp. Qi Rui barely mustered up the last bit of his energy and commanded the troops to put away the marching equipment according to the regulations. After all the preparations were done, Qi Rui staggered to his bunk and lay down to sleep. As for Hu Xingzhi, he was nowhere to be seen. He was already lying on the bunk like a dead dog and snoring loudly, let alone complaining.

The next day was the summary meeting, and all the participants had the same opinion. "No matter how many problems there are with the motorized march, it's better than walking!"

These were the thoughts of the participants. After the motorized march, at least everyone had the strength to complain, but after walking, they didn't have any strength at all. More importantly, the motorized army could carry a larger amount of weapons and ammunition. It was impossible to maintain such a large amount of ammunition on foot.

An infantryman carried 10 hand grenades and 200 rounds of ammunition. The weight was nothing when sitting on a truck, but when walking, the weight was fatal. Not to mention the 75 mm artillery towed by a truck. When a truck towed a 75 mm artillery and some ammunition, it was still within the motorized range. If it was towed by manpower, it would be a nightmare in the mountains.

"Motorized is good! That's good! " Hu Xingzhi hadn't fully recovered. Even though he was incoherent, Hu Xingzhi still strongly expressed his opinion.

The basic test was very cruel. All kinds of extreme tests were done one after another. The goal was to find the upper limit of the motorized march as soon as possible. Just like in the initial test, a squad of 10 soldiers sat in a truck. Considering the loss of equipment, it was also part of the test that one truck could pull two squads.

The soldiers were fine, but the mathematicians who participated in the test looked even worse. But their job was to collect data and finally perfect the relevant mathematical model. Under the double physical torture and mental exhaustion, many mathematicians turned pale.

As one of the initiators, Qi Rui had to consider more. The campaign goal of the motorized march was to implement an effective campaign breakthrough at a distance of 50 to 100 kilometers. The current facts proved that a 100-kilometer campaign breakthrough could be achieved. With the strength of the Liberation Army, a 50-kilometer campaign depth was the limit. Moreover, the motorized troops were in line with the strategic thinking of the Liberation Army, which was to concentrate superior forces to annihilate the enemy's inferior forces. Fight a big battle, fight a siege, and fight a battle of annihilation. From this point of view, the motorized troops were very successful at this stage.

As for the larger motorized troops in the future, that was another matter. After the scale was expanded, the logistical pressure would increase exponentially. Qi Rui now admired his father from the bottom of his heart. It didn't take long for Vézé to guide the Liberation Army to develop at an unprecedented speed. Optimistically, it would take at least three to five years for the Liberation Army to establish motorized infantry and let the scale of the motorized troops reach the level of 100,000 people.

Moreover, it would take another year or two to deploy such a scale of equipment in North America. It would take at least five years to implement motorized combat in North America. As for the three-wheeled motorcycle proposed by Vézé, even a prototype had not been built yet. It was still unknown when this combat equipment that could replace horses could be put into service. Thinking of this, Qi Rui found that he still had to participate in the exercise of horses and motorized troops. This was another difficult experiment.

The summary meeting didn't produce any results. Everyone had a lot of expectations for this new combat model, but reality proved that most of these expectations were unreliable. In addition to the most intuitive feeling, such as Hu Xingzhi's insistence on "motorized is good! It's good! ", other than that, ideas had almost dried up to the point where there was almost nothing.

As the deputy secretary of the party committee of the test unit, Qi Rui smiled and said, "Comrades, I have some data. Guess what is the average age of the participants in the test project? "

At the mention of data, a considerable number of participants grimaced. These comrades dealt with data every day, and their first reaction when they heard data was fear. The fuel consumption data, the basic combat data of the army, every piece of data had to be done by this group of people. The sun, the moon, the wind, the rain, these were all data. It also included the capacity allocation of small trucks with a load of 1.5 tons. Everything was data, as well as sweat that was dozens of times the weight of the paper that recorded the data.

"The average age of the participants in the test is about the same as the age of the Guangdong reorganization and popularized liberation shoes." Qi Rui was still full of energy when he spoke.

The comrades in the actual test didn't understand what this data meant. Qi Rui didn't want to play dumb, so he said confidently, "This data tells us that when we had our first big breakthrough in marching ability, it was about the same age as the current participants in the establishment of the motorized unit. After the popularization of liberation shoes and standard military backpacks, the Liberation Army's marching ability had a big breakthrough. Now, we can definitely have a big breakthrough. "

In response to such a statement, the comrades in the meeting expressed their reaction by laughing. It wasn't a laugh of agreement, it was just because the data was too unexpected, and the internal logic seemed too far-fetched.

Although Qi Rui felt disappointed, he didn't back down because of this blow. He shouted heartily, "When our fathers led the last big breakthrough, they were also at our age. Now, it's our turn to lead the Liberation Army to a new breakthrough. Although this looks ridiculous, if you really think about it, isn't this the case? Don't we hope to create achievements that are no less than our fathers'? "

"Well said!" Li Shaokang replied loudly in the silence. "We don't say that each generation is stronger than the previous one, but we can't say that each generation is worse than the previous one, right? The Liberation Army was built up in the hands of our fathers. Don't tell me that we're going to destroy our reputation in this generation? "

As long as it was reasonable, ideological encouragement would always have some effect, not to mention that this team with an average age of 21.7 was full of youthful vigor. The reason why they couldn't immediately respond to Qi Rui's statement was that the older generation had too much pressure in the hearts of the younger generation. With two people jumping out and shouting, the younger generation also felt that it was not unreasonable.

"No matter how great our fathers were, they could only walk on two legs. Now, we have four wheels, and the number has doubled. "Hu Xingzhi was encouraged, and he was also willing to support Qi Rui. He followed suit and shouted.

"You can't say that, there are four-legged horses," Ma Xiaoming, who had been to Japan with Qi Rui, joked in a mischievous tone. Everyone knew that he was trying to lighten the mood, so they didn't care about Ma Xiaoming's frivolous remarks.

Qian Duoduo, who had been to Japan with Ma Xiaoming as a top student, had a sympathetic expression on his face. He patted Ma Xiaoming's shoulder and said in a heavy tone, "Old Ma! Running on four legs, you … it's been hard on you! "

"Go to hell!" Ma Xiaoming didn't expect Qian Duoduo to suddenly jump out. He laughed and punched Qian Duoduo twice. The members of the party committee were amused and laughed out loud. The gloomy atmosphere in the meeting was swept away.

When everyone stopped laughing, Qi Rui also took the opportunity to discuss the next stage of the training. Ma Xiaoming put forward his idea. "We can try to alternate the implementation of walking and motorized transportation. What do you think?"

"There's no way to alternate the cannons. Do we have to rely on people to transport the cannons? "Qian Duoduo wasn't targeting Ma Xiaoming. He had always been a supporter of pure motorized transportation. Even if he vomited the first week, Qian Duoduo firmly believed that motorized transportation was a huge advantage. This might be related to Qian Duoduo's artillery background.

Ma Xiaoming, who was a cavalry soldier, replied, "I always feel that alternating a section of walking and a section of motorized transportation can restore the physical strength of the troops. Let's try it. "

With Ma Xiaoming's proposal, the party committee finally entered the state of work. Seeing that everyone was about to argue about this plan, Qi Rui interjected, "Let's make a proposal first and then discuss each proposal. But I don't think discussion is the same as rejection. Discussion is to clarify the purpose of the proposal. We still have to test it. Our fathers and grandfathers did it, not just talk about it. "

This view was agreed by the members of the party committee. After the proposal and discussion, five test plans were selected. In fact, it included Ma Xiaoming's alternating plan and Li Shaokang's light march accompanied by vehicles.

However, Qi Rui only participated in Ma Xiaoming's plan test before he received an order to return to the headquarters of Nanjing Military Academy. He didn't go to the headquarters. As soon as he arrived in Nanjing, Qi Rui received a secret order to go home. After being a soldier for so long, this was the first time he was ordered to go home. Qi Rui did not know what had happened at home. With a belly full of doubts, Qi Rui returned home by car.

Vézé waited for his son in the study and asked Qi Rui to sit down. Wei Ze went straight to the point and said, "There's been a commotion recently. Although I've suppressed this matter, it's not a big deal. Although I suppressed this matter, I still want to discuss it with you. "

"Father, what's the matter?" Qi Rui was puzzled. His father had never discussed things with him in such a formal manner, and it seemed to be a matter of business.

"Someone is now shouting for a crown prince. I felt that even if this matter was suppressed, there would still be people mentioning it. So instead of others talking to him about this, it is better for me to talk to you. "Vézé bluntly told the focus of the matter to Qi Rui.

"Crown prince?" Qi Rui's first reaction was that he didn't quite understand. It would be nonsense to say that Qi Rui had never thought about this problem. However, Qi Rui didn't care about this recently. It was not because he didn't want to be a crown prince, but because Qi Rui felt that even if he wanted to inherit his father's mantle, he had to at least have his father's ability. Qi Rui couldn't accept being a crown prince for no reason.

"I want to hear your opinion on this matter." Vézé looked at his son's puzzled expression, but he was quite happy in his heart. Wei Ze had been with that group of people for a long time and watched his son grow up. Whether his son was overjoyed or not, Wei Ze believed that he could still judge. His son could face the issue of crown prince very seriously, which was enough to show that his son had grown up. At least he wasn't the kind of rookie who could be easily incited.

After thinking for a moment, Qi Rui found that his heart seemed to be quite divided. He was naturally excited, and this kind of excitement even occupied a considerable proportion of his heart. But a part of his heart, at least the proportion was no less than excitement, but it was a kind of self-warning. After thinking for a while, Qi Rui said, "Father, this time when I came to the intermediate class, I realized that there was something that you said before that was very true. There are too many heroes in the world, and if you want to stand above them, you must at least have the ability to provide service to them. I feel that I'm still very weak in this area … Yes, I'm still learning. "

"Hmph!" Vézé looked at his son and couldn't help but laugh, "It seems that you still want to take over my position!"

Qi Rui's heart couldn't help but waver when his father saw through his thoughts, but he didn't back down. Instead, he stared into his father's eyes and answered seriously, "If I can reach father's level, of course I want to take over your position."

'What will come will come.' Vézé sighed in his heart. Young people always have to grow up, and Vézé had to hand over everything that he currently controlled. Even if Vézé resisted to the end, the Grim Reaper would unstoppably complete this step of the process.

"If you have the ability, I don't personally object to you taking over my position. But I can tell you clearly that if you want to take over my position, compared to others, you still have a huge advantage. I want to discuss this issue with you, but try not to interrupt, okay? "Vézé said to his son seriously.

"Yes!" Qi Rui answered.

"I've never supported bloodline inheritance. Although I've never said this to you, I'm speaking from the bottom of my heart." Vézé immediately threw out a general idea. Qi Rui was surprised, but he was only surprised for a moment and didn't raise any questions.

"I've personally destroyed Manchu Qing. From old men in their eighties to infants in their swaddling clothes, I've killed tens of thousands of Manchu Qing princes, dukes, and ministers. Physical bloodlines don't represent anything. If there's anything that can truly be considered as inheritance, it must be spiritual. " Speaking until here, Vézé lightly knocked on his head, "The true inheritor must inherit this place."