Chapter 5

What are the things that穿越者 (time travelers) like to do the most? Making money, showing off, harem-building, bullying the weak? Perhaps all of these are true, but for our protagonist, what he likes the most is overwhelming others with his intelligence and technology! How could he waste the knowledge he has accumulated over a hundred extra years? Although at the beginning, when talking with his uncle's representative, he said that a friendly match would be used to test the power of the new weapons, he inadvertently set some traps! For example, zigzag trenches, barbed wire, gun nests, and machine gun nests, as well as side and rear firing positions... If the terrain allowed, he would even have set up a reverse slope position.

According to the time traveler's thinking, the best scenario would be for his uncle to lead the cavalry to charge, only to be defeated and annihilated by the four quick-firing guns and six machine guns! Then he could introduce the new toys he had just developed, promote his own things, and educate his uncle, teaching him a new way of fighting! What a win-win situation! (Although the term "win-win" might not be quite appropriate here? Never mind!)

However, what he didn't expect was that his uncle would take it seriously, and all these things were actually used! But the prince still showed some mercy. After the signal flags on the mountain conveyed the message to wait a moment, the prince let the troops rest on the spot. In his view, it was just a 20-year-old kid playing around. What new weapons? He would just play along if he was in a good mood. Besides, using superior forces to defeat a junior would make him look bad! After a lot of random thoughts, the prince suddenly realized that no matter the outcome of this exercise, it seemed he would be the one to lose...

"I'm a bit regretful now." The prince, who had come to his senses, looked at Earl Schelling beside him with some dissatisfaction, and in the face of the prince's pressure, the earl decided to play the ostrich...

Although to fully utilize the power of his weapons, Prince Rupprecht chose an open area as the battlefield, this was a royal hunting ground, and there wasn't much flat land! Even after searching the entire hunting ground, the battlefield he found was still imperfect, such as the woods scattered around the battlefield. These woods provided cover for the cavalry. If the opponent also brought artillery, he would clearly be at a disadvantage! This was called "hoist with his own petard"! Thinking of this, the prince gloomily picked up his telescope and looked at the distant woods.

"Huh?!" What the time traveler didn't expect was that at the same moment, his uncle was doing the same thing. When he saw the soldiers digging furiously and the moving artillery positions through the telescope, the prince instantly lost his composure. This was against common sense! This battle formation was different from anything he had seen before! This was unscientific!

"Didn't Viscount Schmidt also participate in the Franco-Prussian War?" the prince said expressionlessly.

"Yes, he was a battalion commander at the time. He was selected to join the Guard due to his outstanding performance," the earl immediately responded with great respect.

"So he's not a rookie." The prince put down the telescope with a dark face. There was something fishy! The current situation immediately made the prince take it seriously. If there wasn't a special reason, a battalion commander who had participated in the Franco-Prussian War wouldn't set up the positions like this, right? The few artillery pieces were scattered. This first violated the principle of concentrating artillery.

Secondly, the firing angles of the artillery seemed to be problematic, with huge gaps in firepower between the gun nests. Thirdly, the infantry was too scattered, and such a low density of troops couldn't ensure rifle fire! It looked like they had built a circle of defensive works, but there were problems everywhere! Even a recent military academy graduate wouldn't make such a poor arrangement! The only thing that might have some impact would be the barbed wire, but in a real war, these things would be easily destroyed by artillery!

"Seems like the kid's men have been working on some fast-firing weapons recently? Like machine guns?" the prince said seemingly casually. That made sense! He and the French had the same idea, hoping to use dense bullets to block the infantry's advance! The prince remembered an incident during the Battle of Sedan, where the French used a volley gun that could fire 25 rounds in a few seconds, causing some trouble for the German infantry, but it didn't change the overall situation, as they were quickly taken out by Krupp's artillery from a distance!

After the war, he began to pay attention to various rapid-fire weapons, such as the early Gatling gun and the Maxim machine gun, which was being demonstrated in various European countries. The latter was a perfect infantry weapon, with one machine gun equivalent to a company's firepower, but it still had the problem of being too large. If this kid had set up these things in the defense line, such an arrangement would make sense!

"Cunning little guy!" The prince, who had guessed half of it, said with some dissatisfaction. No wonder he wanted me to use cavalry in the exercise, it was for this reason! "At least he's smarter than the French, knowing to use cover to protect his machine gun positions!" At this point, the prince had put aside his playful attitude and began to seriously consider how to break through his nephew's defense. The more he studied, the more he realized how formidable this crab formation was!

"These points should be where the machine guns are deployed! They can easily lock down all our charging routes. Secondly, their artillery is scattered, and I can't understand the reason for this arrangement. Perhaps in a hurry, they couldn't dig large enough shelters. Lieutenant, do you have a way to take out these artillery pieces?" he asked the artillery company commander beside him.

"Very difficult. The enemy's positions are quite tricky, and our artillery's trajectory is too flat to hit the targets behind the obstacles directly! However, if we make some adjustments, there will be no problem!" the artillery lieutenant replied.

The time traveler had underestimated the wisdom of the ancients, especially those who left their names in history! Did he really think Prince Leopold wouldn't think of these new weapons? Even the half-baked military strategist Wilhelm II could see the role of machine guns, so how could the future commander of the Eastern Front not think of it? Although at the time, everyone liked dense formations, the artillery trajectory was relatively flat, and indirect fire wasn't widespread, there were always situations on the battlefield that required indirect fire, and the capable German artillery would naturally handle these issues.

The prince's men began to deploy their artillery. First, they dug a pit in the ground and built a sloping surface behind it. Some artillery pieces were fixed on specific stands to increase the elevation angle. After some planning, the prince believed he had a foolproof plan. Half a company of artillery should be able to suppress the enemy's front artillery, and the other half would suppress the machine guns and another artillery piece on the flank. The remaining artillery would destroy the other two artillery pieces and cover the cavalry's flank charge.

Thank you to book friends KGV Duke of York and Bored Ghost for your support~~~ New book, not signed, seeking collections~~~ Seeking recommendations~~~

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