1890 King of Southeast Asia

"This damned group of overseas survivors! Why dare he?! Why dare he accuse the court!"

"Does he know what the court is facing? If the Japanese army is not used and the rebels are allowed to toss, the court will be gone!"

"It's just a few people who died? They are all untouchables. China has a vast country and a people. There are as many scattered states as Taizhou. How can a few people, even if they are all bannermen, compare with the country?!"

"You dare to recognize the rebels' pseudo-government, you don't know what you are talking about. Wait until the army crushes the south and see if Nanhua will regret it!"

"Just overseas survivors, occupying a few broken islands, dare to call themselves a country, and dare to insult the court! You dare to send troops to the Celestial Empire! Arrogant!"

"After the rebels are destroyed, this king must lead the army to the south to fight against these untouchables!"

Nanhua did not notify the Qing Empire when it published the news, and the Qing Empire did not know about it.

It was not until Nanhua withdrew all the diplomats that the Qing Empire realized something was wrong, and then got the news from the newspaper.

Then he was furious, or in a rage of impotence.

Zaifeng and a group of people gathered together and cursed Nanhua for a long time before they dispersed.

…………

“The situation on the other side is almost clear. They are the Beiyang Third Town, the Japanese Third Division, and the Eighth Division.”

“Their distribution is very interesting. The third brigade is deployed in Tongzhou, with artillery pointing at the river, and the remaining brigade is distributed in a ten-kilometer radius around it, making a defensive posture.”

“The Qing Empire Second Army Headquarters is also here.”

“The Japanese Seventh Division under the command of the Second Army is stationed in Jinling, and the Third Division and the Eighth Division are in front of us.”

“The Third Division is moving towards the sea and is currently staying on the north bank. The Eighth Division has just arrived in Haimen. They carry a lot of supplies, but they did not camp in Haimen. They may want to boast about Chongming Island on the river.”

“There is a gap of 30 to 40 kilometers between the Third Town and the Eighth Division. It can be said that there is no connection between the two sides.”

“The Eighth Division is too radical. The only way to get to Chongming Island is by boat. Once on the island, they will be separated from the Third Division. Before the Eighth Division settles down, it is considered an isolated army.”

In Shanghai, in the First Army Headquarters, Huang Zhengfang summarized the recent intelligence.

"If I'm not mistaken, the so-called large amount of baggage of the Japanese army is the property robbed in Taizhou." As soon as Huang Zhengfang finished speaking, Li Songqing said.

"Property? How inconvenient would it be to march with property? It would slow down the marching speed of the entire army, and the gain would not outweigh the loss." Zheng Lei frowned.

"The commander doesn't understand the Japanese. I have been to Japan. The Japanese are polite on the surface, but they are unwilling to trust anyone in their bones. They are short-sighted and only see the immediate benefits."

"They always maintain an arrogant and inferiority mentality towards the Chinese. This time they have done something that angered the heavens and the people, and they will not give the looted property to the Chinese to transport away."

"I think they will choose to take the property on the road, and then ship it to your country by sea through Japanese ships."

"This can also explain why they don't join the Third Division. The commander of the Third Division is still there, and his rank is higher than the two acting brigade commanders of the Eighth Division. According to the character of the Japanese, they can definitely force a share." Li Songqing explained.

"No matter what the Eighth Division is here for, since it has come to our door, we can't hesitate. If a few of them run away with the ship, our mission will not be completed." Zheng Lei thought about it and nodded.

He didn't know the Japanese, had little contact with Japan, and only had a certain understanding of Japanese tactics, nothing more.

After all, the main directions of his service have always been Southeast Asia and Arabia, and other people are responsible for the Japanese direction.

In this case, just treat the Eighth Division as carrying property, anyway, their fate will not change.

"The General Staff has formulated a combat plan. Because it is not certain whether the Eighth Division will land on Chongming Island, the General Staff has mainly formulated two sets of plans." Huang Zhengfang heard this and led the two to the sand table.

"The purpose of this battle is to completely annihilate the Eighth Division."

"The premise of the first set is that the Eighth Division did not land on Chongming Island, but set up defenses in Haimen and prepared to cross the river at an appropriate time."

"For the Beiyang Third Town, we will focus on defense and cut off traffic. In the direction of the Third Division, we will implement a blocking plan in the early stage to prevent the Third Division from supporting the Eighth Division. In the later stage, we will decide the task based on the combat situation."

"To achieve this goal, we will concentrate all gunboats and large-caliber cannons on the front to bombard the Eighth Division in the direction of Haimen, and concentrate a light-armed division to prepare for crossing the river and landing."

"On the side, on the front While attracting enemy firepower, concentrate troops to land at the midpoint of the connection between the Beiyang Third Town and the Eighth Division, and immediately cut off the connection between the two armies. "

"After the landing is completed, some troops should be concentrated to bypass Changle Town to form an encirclement of the Eighth Division."

"The flank requires strong mobility and considerable firepower, so I suggest that all light field artillery be assigned to the flank army."

"In order to ensure the complete encirclement of the Eighth Division, the overall time from the first gunshot to the establishment of fortifications in Changle should not exceed 48 hours."

After Huang Zhengfang finished speaking, he looked at the two.

"Although the straight line from the landing point to Changle is only about 20 kilometers, there is no straight road. It takes at least 50 to 60 kilometers to take the main road, and the landing time must be counted. Is it in time?" Li Songqing couldn't help but say.

"Concentrate all the cars and motorcycles of each division to transport an infantry regiment and all its weapons and equipment, and also build an artillery company. "

"For short-distance maneuvers, there is no need to consider fuel replenishment. You only need to consider the speed of landing. Without a dock, it is very troublesome to land by car." Zheng Lei explained.

In January, Shanghai was still rainy and the road conditions could not be said to be extremely poor, but only to be non-existent.

Even specially designed military vehicles can only carry light loads. The First Army, which did not bring many vehicles ashore, did not have much carrying capacity even if it concentrated all the vehicles.

One regiment plus an artillery company sounds like a lot, but the First Army has eight infantry regiments, four artillery regiments, and other miscellaneous arms.

"What if the Eighth Division lands on Chongming Island? Encirclement will not work. How to deal with it?" Zheng Lei asked.

As an island, Chongming Island is surrounded by water, but the west and north are very close to Jiangbei, and people with good water skills can even swim over.

If the Eighth Division lands on the island, it will be unrealistic to annihilate it completely.

Zheng Lei is a practical man. If he says annihilate it completely, he will annihilate it completely, not one less.

Of course, he already has a feasible plan in mind, and this is just to temper the younger generation.

"Then we have to use a more radical approach. First, we need to ensure the blockade of the sea. The Beiyang Fleet has already been dispatched, and the navy will not be idle. Intelligence shows that the main force of the Beiyang Fleet is undergoing maintenance."

"We have no coastal defense fortifications in Jiangbei, and the maximum tonnage of the Yangtze River Fleet is only 600. There are only two of the only four-lake torpedo boats that can be used."

"If the Eighth Division has a landing action, then we must launch an attack as soon as possible. Regardless of whether we are ready or not, send a force to attack the island and a force to attack Haimen to interrupt their landing action."

Speaking of this, Huang Zhengfang paused.

"The first bomber brigade from the mainland will land in six days, so if the Eighth Division lands secretly successfully, I suggest waiting for the bomber brigade to arrive before launching an attack."

"Use the first bomber brigade to cooperate with gunboats to block the island traffic, the cannon group to block the river surface, and the infantry to rush to the island. But in this way, there will be a lot of casualties."

"Very good, you have considered everything that should be considered. You are worthy of being an outstanding graduate of the Imperial Army University." Zheng Lei praised.

"But there is no need to go through so much trouble. The First Bomber Squadron and the Second Guards Division are all local regular troops. Since they have been deployed, it is normal to deploy the navy."

"Navy? Mercenary navy?" Huang Zhengfang opened his mouth.

"It is the Imperial Navy, not the mercenary navy." Zheng Lei shook his head.

Li Songqing shrank aside, kept silent, and minimized his presence.

"Is this something I can listen to?" Li Songqing felt bitter. He just wanted to go back and be a rich man...

"The Imperial Navy intervened directly?" Huang Zhengfang asked.

Direct intervention would be an act of war. Isn't this what they have been avoiding?

If so, what have they been busy for so many years?

"The Imperial Navy will not intervene in the battle on land. To be precise, the Navy will not take the initiative to fire at anyone before being attacked, so don't think about asking the Navy to support the battle."

"The Beiyang Fleet will not go south, and the Japanese Fleet will not come to support. Give orders to designate the estuary as a war zone."

"Send people to find a suitable landing point and prepare materials for building a temporary dock. If the Eighth Division does not land on the island, the planned time will be set in five days."

"Governor Li." Zheng Lei turned his head and looked at Li Songqing.

"Commander Zheng, is there anything I can do for you?" Li Songqing said flattered.

So they knew that he, Li Songqing, was here!

Is it really okay for him to listen to such an important military secret?

"Governor Li, the First Bomber Group will arrive in six days, and I hope to build an airport." Zheng Lei said.

"Airport?" Li Songqing frowned.

He knew about airplanes, and he had seen them. The South China Flying Team had performed flight shows, but he didn't understand more.

Like most people at this time, Li Songqing did not realize the role of the plane. He thought it was novel, but he did not take it seriously.

After all, in his impression, the plane was just a wooden frame flying slowly.

"Are there any difficulties?" Zheng Lei asked when he saw this.

"Commander Zheng, Li has never seen an airport, and I don't know how to build this airport." Li Songqing smiled bitterly.

He didn't even know what a bomber was. He just judged from the name that it should be a military weapon.

"I will send someone to assist you. The location is preferably in the suburbs, a place with strong confidentiality and can be passed by cars."

"You pick a piece of land, and then hire some civilians to help purchase materials. The engineers will supervise the specific construction."

"That's good, a small matter, a small matter, don't worry, we will start work this afternoon!"

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