Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 763 A Cruel Slogan

The three armies of the Heluo New Army attacked together, and the coastal areas were covered with war clouds. The war was about to break out. As the Minister of War, Fu Zonglong was worried about this.He had no doubt that the Heluo New Army would easily capture Xiamen and drive Zheng's forces out of Fujian, but he was not at all optimistic about the prospect of a naval battle.The Zheng family has dominated the sea for nearly ten years and has developed into a behemoth with nearly 30 troops and [-] warships. The Guangdong and Fujian navies defeated Zheng Zhilong in many encirclement and suppression campaigns. In the end, he had no choice but to recruit troops and pinch them. He made Zheng Zhilong the admiral of Fujian and used him to fight against the Dutch.And Zheng Zhilong did it, defeating the Dutch many times at sea, making the Dutch have no temper at all in front of him.How could it be easy to deal with such a giant sea beast?Yang Menglong took the initiative to provoke this behemoth, but he was afraid that he would not get a good deal!
The worried Minister of the Ministry of War went to the cabinet and put forward his opinion tactfully: "The Champion Marquis and Zheng Zhilong are two fierce tigers. Once they meet, they will fight to the death. The Champion Marquis is good at land warfare, and Zheng Zhilong dominates the sea. Once a war starts, there will be a war." Continuously, for several years, I am afraid that the people along the coast will suffer a lot! In my opinion, the imperial court should still mediate to avoid this military disaster!"

Wang Yingxiong shook his head again and again: "No, no, Mr. Fu's words are wrong! The Zheng family is entrenched in the sea, and the merchants and fishermen in Guangdong, Fujian, and even Jiangnan have been exploited by it. It was a helpless move... Now that the world is in peace, and the Champion Hou has such intentions, why not let the Champion solve the Zheng family and get rid of this serious trouble for the court?"

Fu Zonglong said: "I also hope that the champion can solve a serious problem for the court. The problem is that the Denglai navy only has dozens of warships, while the Zheng family has three thousand warships. There is a huge disparity in strength!"

Wu Zongda said: "Champion Hou is a heavenly genius, invincible, and it is not difficult for him to defeat the strong with the weak... Fu Shangshu, don't worry too much, just wait and see the good show!"

In short, those in the cabinet didn't have the slightest intention to take care of it. On the contrary, they were eager for Yang Menglong and Zheng Zhilong to fight to the death so that they could reap the benefits.Fu Zonglong talked until his mouth was dry, but these people still talked about him, which made him angry and helpless, so he could only give up in anger.He knew that it was because Yang Menglong had offended the Wenchen Group and even the entire scholar-bureaucrat class some time ago. Everyone wanted him to die. Yang Menglong took the initiative to provoke Zheng Zhilong. Everyone was too happy, so how could he try to persuade him?He had no choice but to let out a long sigh: "Haijiang will be troubled from now on!"

Frustrated, he went to Sun Chengzong, who had been staying in the capital for the elderly after retiring from the position of Minister of the Ministry of War, and complained to his old boss.After Sun Chengzong listened, he said in silence for a long time: "Although the champion is versatile in both civil and military affairs, he shows his sharpness and does not consider the consequences at all. He has offended many people without knowing it. It is not a bad thing to let him touch Zheng Zhilong. It is not a bad thing to be frustrated. .”

In other words, even Sun Chengzong is not optimistic about the prospect of Yang Menglong and Zheng Zhilong competing at sea.

Yang Menglong didn't care what others thought, he was going all out to prepare for the war.The Denglai Navy was training every day, causing artillery fire and gunpowder smoke to fill the sea. The Yangtze River waterway was also extremely busy. Every day, a large number of ships carrying supplies and ammunition departed from Wuhan and went down the river to Wusongkou.Looking at the shadows of sails going back and forth on the river, those guys who originally made a fortune by setting up cards and charging fees wanted to cry from the bottom of their hearts - these are not ships running around on the river, but white money!Just collect a little from each ship, and they will all make a fortune!But no one dares to charge anymore. Those Yankees are very arrogant. They will bombard them if they disagree with them. They will kill them but not bury them. Asking them for money is just like a rat working as an escort for a cat - asking for money means risking one's life!
At Wusongkou, a large number of civilian husbands and guard soldiers are wielding hoes and shovels, building warehouses and trestles in full swing.Wusongkou is called a fortress, but it is actually a mess. Many fortifications can be kicked down, and there is not even a shadow of a cannon on the fort. I only found out after asking. It turns out that those cannons have been secretly set up by successive commanders. Going to melt copper coins... Such an answer gave Xue Siming the urge to vomit blood, and he finally knew why a few hundred Japanese pirates could easily capture Wusongkou. Can a fortress without a single gun be called a fortress?There was no other way, so he had to command the civilian husband and the guards to rebuild the fort, and put the 85mm howitzer originally assigned to his regiment on it.

What convinced him the most was that the officials in charge of building the fort, wharf and trestle actually tried to cut corners under his nose!For example, let them dig the foundation. If the foundation is only dug less than one meter, it will be finished. The wood for the construction of the trestle bridge should be shoddy as much as possible. What about good things like canned meat and salted eggs?

Let them take it and sell it.

Xue Siming is completely convinced by this, who said that southerners are timid?He can't help but be ashamed of his courage, but if it were him, he wouldn't dare to play these tricks in front of Yang Menglong even if he was given a mouthful of guts!
Xue Siming's way to deal with these bastards is to speak with bullets, and kill one if he finds it!The old man went to the construction site a few times every day, and then had dinner with the workers, and killed every one he found.Soon, the engineering quality of the Wusongkou Fortress was improved tenfold. When digging the foundation, I wanted to dig out all the magma. The food quality of the workers was also greatly improved, even better than that of some officials. !The workers were extremely happy, but those officials greeted Xue Siming's family every day with his mother as the center and the eighteen generations of ancestors as the radius.With such a big project and so much money invested, just picking and pinching a little bit is enough for them to eat their mouths full of fat, but with Xue Siming here, whoever dares to reach out to it will be dead!You turn a blind eye and close your eyes so that everyone can make a small fortune and die?We are rich, how can we lose your share! ?

Under the "education" of Xue Siming's leather whip, the Wusongkou Fortress project progressed rapidly. The warehouses that were leaking everywhere were quickly repaired, the weeds on the fort were cleaned up, and then heightened and reinforced. Each door 85 Millimeter howitzers are condescending, blocking the river, and the trestle bridge was built in just a few days. Driving and leaving is no problem at all. The efficiency of the Heluo new army is really staggering.Soon after, the second fleet arrived, and a large amount of materials were unloaded and sent to the warehouse for storage——until now everyone understood why the Heluo New Army worked so hard to repair the earth at Wusongkou. They planned to build Wusongkou It has become a forward base!
The Han Peng Corps is still advancing rapidly at a speed of [-] to [-] miles per day, and now they have crossed the border between Fujian and Guangdong and entered Fujian.Peasants and guard soldiers in the Fujian area held hoes and stared blankly at the Heluo new army roaring past the post road like a long black dragon. With their limited imagination, it was really impossible to imagine an army mainly composed of infantry Why do you run so fast!It is not uncommon for ancient armies to march so fast, but they all moved forward without their heavy luggage and relied on looting along the way to maintain it. However, the Hanpeng Army, with a large amount of luggage, never disturbed the people, and was able to maintain such an amazing marching speed. no more.The farmers and fishermen in Fujian welcomed the arrival of this army very much. Every noon and night, when the cooking soldiers of the Heluo New Army rushed to the front of the army to light a fire and cook, there would always be hundreds of farmers and fishermen from the surrounding areas. Baxiang rushed to sell their own vegetables and seafood to them, and the cooking soldiers of the Heluo New Army always came to buy a large amount of vegetables and seafood at a price [-]% higher than the market price, and handed them over The money is delivered in one hand, the transaction is fair, and there will be no default. After the end, I will thank them repeatedly, which makes those simple and honest farmers and fishermen feel a little embarrassed.Some old people stuck out their tongues: "My darling, these Yankees are full of fish and meat, so rich! They are not serving as soldiers or fighting, they are clearly traveling!"

Han Peng was very satisfied with this. In order to get to Xiamen as soon as possible this time, he ordered to bring more ammunition and less food. Each soldier only brought ten biscuits, two boxes of canned beef and a bag of milk wine, as light as possible.This greatly reduced the burden on the army, and it was not necessary to bring a large amount of food, so the speed would naturally be faster, but it was also very risky, because the little things the soldiers carried were simply not enough to eat.His solution to this problem was to bring more money. It was easier to bring money than food. If you were short of food, you could just buy it along the way.Now it seems that his method is working. So far, the soldiers have only eaten half of the biscuits.

"When Xiamen is taken down, I don't have to worry about the supply of food and grass anymore!" He thought to himself, "No, even now, I don't have to worry about the supply of food and grass at all. people."

If speeding up the march would really offend people, so many people along the way were looking forward to selling vegetables, grain, and meat to them. If they speeded up, it would be tantamount to cutting off people's money.Forget it, let's maintain the speed of seventy miles per day, in fact, this speed is already scary!

"Hit to Xiamen and deal with Zheng Zhilong!" After eating and drinking enough, they were about to set off again, and the officers shouted slogans to boost morale.

The soldiers shouted in unison: "Call to Xiamen and deal with Zheng Zhilong!"

What a simple and crude slogan!

The common people who had just finished their business and even had a meal in the barracks of the Heluo New Army smiled and watched the Heluo New Army marching forward while shouting slogans. They only thought it was fun. Only some people with more knowledge felt that A hint of worry:
Seeing the momentum of the Heluo new army, Fujian may have to change masters!Is this a blessing or a curse?
The Heluo new army didn't care about the strange eyes of passers-by, shouting slogans all the way, striding forward, going forward indomitable.They didn't hide their motives at all—yes, I worked so hard to come to Fujian just to get rid of Zheng Zhilong. Irrelevant people had better stay away. Who dares to intervene? Can't cut him to death!
(End of this chapter)