1890 King of Southeast Asia

On January 16, 1911, the Qing Empire army and mercenaries arrived in Nantong and set up camp 20 kilometers away from the Yangtze River to prevent the bombardment of the Yangtze River gunboats.

After the compromise of the upper level, the Qing Empire organized the heavy troops in the direction of Nanjing into the First Army, with Feng Huafu as the commander-in-chief, and the direction of the three towns into the Second Army, with Duan Fang as the commander-in-chief.

Originally, Zaifeng wanted to focus on the direction of the three towns so that most of the troops could be controlled in his own hands.

However, the Qing Empire was heavily in debt, and the unbearable financial burden forced him to bear it, first open up the north-south traffic, pacify the south of the Yangtze River, and replenish the crumbling empire.

So, Zaifeng replaced the eight newly built towns in the direction of Nanjing with a Japanese division originally assigned to Duan Fang's Second Army.

In the direction of Nanjing, there are only three Beiyang towns and three Japanese divisions - none of them are fully in place and are on the march.

"Report to the commander-in-chief, our troops encountered the revolutionary army on the bank of the Yangtze River. After a short battle, we repelled them!" The messenger said timidly to Feng Huafu who was looking at the map.

"Repelled on the bank? The Yangtze River Navy was completely wiped out. Didn't the rebels' gunboats come?" Feng Huafu stared at the messenger.

"Here they come..." The messenger lowered his head.

"What was the result of the battle? How many people were lost?" Feng Huafu asked with a gloomy face.

Since there were gunboats, wouldn't his soldiers suffer heavy losses?

"The vanguard camp killed 82 enemy soldiers, but the enemy's artillery was sharp, so they were able to take away the bodies calmly, and only got three heads. The vanguard camp killed 64 people and seriously injured 49 people."

"The rebel gunboats came suddenly, and our soldiers were caught off guard. Most of our casualties came from the enemy gunboats."

The messenger gritted his teeth and said it.

Feng Huafu waved his hand at him with a dark face and told him to get out.

The messenger heaved a sigh of relief, and felt his feet were light. Just as he was about to go out, a short man in a suit stopped him.

"Feng Sang, your soldiers deceived you," the short man in a suit raised his head and said to Feng Huafu proudly.

"Don't worry about this matter, Staff Officer Matsumoto, I will handle it myself." Feng Huafu's face darkened even more, and even Lao Hei would have to admit defeat.

"No, no, no! Feng Sang, I am your staff officer, I must be responsible for you and your army. Your soldiers deceived you, which is a sign that your army is out of control." Matsumoto shook his head and said like a Confucian general.

Unfortunately, a pig's nose cannot become an elephant even if a scallion is inserted into it. Matsumoto, who is short and sturdy and wearing a tight suit, imitates the appearance of a Confucian general, which only makes people feel funny.

However, it was precisely this appearance that stimulated Feng Huafu.

"Staff Officer Matsumoto should pay attention to the Eighth Division. According to the normal marching time, they should have arrived long ago, but there is no news now." Feng Huafu said indifferently.

After speaking, Feng Huafu turned around and left the headquarters and went to the wounded camp.

First, his subordinates' chaos made him lose face. He was competing with Matsumoto for the command of the coalition forces. If his subordinates were disobedient, wouldn't it mean that he was incompetent?

Second, this time his subordinates must have lied about military intelligence. It was obvious that they suffered a loss and wanted to escape punishment. Normally, he would punish them, but not now - if they were not strong in combat effectiveness, why would they fight for command?

The Qing Empire was very cunning (short-sighted) and was always on guard against the Han people. This time, borrowing troops from Japan was not without the idea of ​​using barbarians to control barbarians and let the Japanese balance the expanding Beiyang forces.

Therefore, although the Seventh Division, the Eighth Division, and the Third Division were transferred to the First Army of the Qing Empire Army, Feng Huafu, as the commander-in-chief of the First Army, did not have the right to fully control them.

In general, the Japanese mercenaries accepted the leadership of the First Army Headquarters, but the Qing Empire set up a position of consultant and staff in the First Army Headquarters.

This position was "specially set up to avoid misunderstandings caused by different customs and languages, considering the differences in language and customs between the two sides."

Although he was nominally an advisor, he held great power.

His function was to participate in the daily tasks of the headquarters and serve as a bridge between the headquarters and the Japanese mercenaries.

To put it bluntly, Feng Huafu had to go through this consultant and staff to give orders to the three Japanese divisions under his command.

As a result, the First Army had six divisions, three of which obeyed the Beiyang and three obeyed the Japanese. There was a blood feud between the two, and they all partially obeyed the orders of the Qing Empire court.

Such a strange situation could only occur in such a special period.

It was this special situation that caused Feng Huafu and Matsumoto to compete for command.

Every time Feng Huafu called Matsumoto "staff", he meant that he was the commander and the highest commander of the First Army.

Matsumoto never addressed the commander as "Sir", but regarded himself as an advisor, calling Feng Huafu "Feng Sang".

Matsumoto, who was a rebel in his bones, and Feng Huafu, who was a feudal patriarch in his bones, confronted each other.

…………

"The enemy has arrived at the north bank and had a small-scale exchange of fire with our reconnaissance troops stationed in the north of the river, and both sides suffered losses." Huang Zhengfang handed the battle report to Zheng Lei.

Yes, it was Zheng Lei.

Two light infantry divisions, one field artillery division, and one rocket artillery brigade, totaling more than 36,000 people, are already army-level units.

In terms of firepower, with an artillery division and a rocket artillery brigade, this army has exceeded the configuration of an ordinary army.

However, the two infantry divisions are light infantry, without armored vehicles, and only the logistics troops have a small number of trucks, and their combat effectiveness is not as strong as that of an ordinary army.

The military operations of the first military level or even larger scale, the shelf sent by South China has not been used, so it deliberately built a new command agency and sent Zheng Lei to take the overall situation.

However, on the bright side, Zheng Lei was just a military adviser to supervise, not the commander.

"At that position?" Zheng Lei took the war report at hand, his eyes concentrated on the topographic sandbox.

"Just at the sea gate, from our defense work, but the river is separated." Huang Zhengfang inserted a white flag with no mark on the sand table.

When it is not clear who the enemy is, replace it with a blank flag.

"Is there an intelligence of an enemy?" Zheng Lei nodded, praised the Jiang battle, and was not good for them.

"Report on the scouts, there is a Beiyang one in the northwest of our northwest, and the Japanese army. Among them, Feng Huafu's handsome flag should be found. It should be the first army command."

"We guess that those who act with the First Army Command should be part of the second or third town."

"On the Japanese army, it can only be confirmed that there is one of the third division. The seventh division is there, and there is no clear news."

Huang Zhengfang said.

"The eighth division, and the fifth town, where is it?" Zheng Lei asked.

"The fifth town was exposed in Xuzhou the day before yesterday. The Eighth Division was rushing to the direction of Jinling. The last appearance was three days ago, appearing in Taizhou, and there was no news." Huang Zhengfang was helpless, and the information update was very slow. Essence

This is the fog of war, and the behavior of people is extremely complicated. The commander is also human. What kind of tactics are adopted, it is uncontrollable.

Different tactics will produce different effects, such as the mobilization and distribution of troops when attacking or defensive counterattacks or detoured attacks.

The battle of tens of thousands of people or even hundreds of thousands of people can be mobilized back and forth within a certain range, and the news of various true and false news will lead to the fog of war.

"I don't understand, what does the enemy grind?" What does it mean? "Zheng Lei didn't feel much problem, but just calculated it silently.

In the direction of the Qing Empire, at least two divisions have been completed in the front, but they did not launch any offensive operation worth mentioning.

There are two other divisions where the whereabouts are unknown, and may be lurked down somewhere in march.

"The more favorable it is to us, the more it stands on our side anyway. The court of the Qing Empire has begun to catch the rich households to withdraw money. For a few months, the enemy is likely to not fight." Huang Zhengfang said joking. Quotation -also a big truth.

"Report, the joint headquarters encrypts the emergency electricity."

Huang Zhengfang took the telegram and sat down and started to translate.

There are only a few people in the joint headquarters.

First exclude meaningless interference information, and then translate word by sentence.

Translated by translation, Huang Zhengfang looked up and looked at Zheng Lei in shock.

"What's wrong?" Zheng Lei sank.

"The eighth division ... found! In Taizhou!"

Huang Zhengfang swallowed.

"On the evening of the 13th, the Eighth Division crossed Taizhou. On the 14th, the eighth division that should have left Taizhou blocked Taizhou, cut off the internal and external contact, and robbed the city."

"After that, the Eighth Division put a fire in the city, casualties ... unknown."

"Why? No reason!" Zheng Lei took the telegram and translated half of the telegram.

"What does it stop there? Is that the city controlled by the Qing Empire, isn't he afraid of the ally?" Zheng Lei couldn't figure it out.

"Joint Command Command!" Huang Zhengfang breathed a sigh of relief and said in a sigh.

"The headquarters ordered our department to wipe out the Eighth Division and send all the Japanese captives to Thailand.

"All the weapons of our army are lifted, and it is necessary to end the battle in the shortest time, and give the Japanese maximum killing. Do not run one."

"January 16, 1911."

Huang Zhengfang said while translating the text.

"Report!"

Zheng Lei hadn't returned to God yet, and there was a report from outside the door.

"Come in!" Zheng Lei said the telegram.

"The General Staff calls, our department is renamed the first army of the Army, and the second division of the guards.

"In addition, the chief of staff calls, let's use weapons as appropriate, weapons with higher confidential prices, and ensure that the possibility of leakness should be eliminated when used."

"I know." Zheng Lei waved his hand.

After Zheng Lei and Huang Zhengfang were left in the room, they fell into a short silence.

The South China army, which was originally no name, was only named the first army of the Army with the mercenaries.

This renamed was changed by South China, not revolutionary military reform.

"Don't be so dignified, smile, you will become the chief of staff of the military at once. I don't know how big you have dumped you during the same period. It is a good thing to promote it." Zheng Lei suddenly laughed.

"Commander, have you eye -catching?" Huang Zhengfang wondered how to wipe out the Eighth Division, and he couldn't think of the way so dignified.

After all, there are more than 10,000 people on the eighth division. Can't people run?

Then, then