Dominate the Country

Around the New Year, bad news came from Hunan and Guizhou. The Miao uprisings in the two provinces were suppressed by the Qing army. Only the Jinchuan in Sichuan became more and more ferocious, and to a certain extent, it has tied down a certain number of Sichuan Green Camp.

If Chen Ming did not win the battle of northern Jiangsu, and the news of the failure of the Miao uprisings in Hunan and Guizhou came out again, coupled with the death of Wang Tiansong in Guangdong, the world situation would definitely return to the hands of the Qing Dynasty. The anti-Qing wave in the world would fall into depression, even if Fujian's sea and land development was very strong.

And this is the "trend", this is the will of the people, the general trend. Just like Chen Ming after winning the crucial battle of northern Jiangsu, the mighty momentum completely suppressed the unfavorable news from Hunan and Guizhou. He clamored for a northern expedition, even though he still had the Qing army in Songjiang and southern Zhejiang to deal with, and the timing of the northern expedition was a bit hasty at this time, but the "trend" of the Fu Han Army had reached a peak. At this time, Chen Ming announced a large-scale northern expedition, and many people still chose to believe it easily. It was because many people believed that Chen Ming's army going north at this time could deal a heavy blow to the Qing government.

The Qing government and the people were talking about it, and they believed in the "Northern Expedition" of the Fu Han Army. It was not without reason.

Chen Ming saw off the second fleet heading west at Xiaguan Wharf, the twelve elite veteran battalions. In order to better hide their identities, Chen Ming let them board the ship at night. After dawn, the fleet left the wharf. The figures waving to the shore on hundreds of ships were all people without armor...

If there was no previous momentum, Chen Ming's skill might not be able to deceive people with discerning eyes, but as he expected, the Qing army's attention has been all focused on Huai'an, because every day there are a steady stream of grain ships loaded with military supplies sent to Huai'an, and those are real supplies, without any fraud. In order to confuse the Qing army, Chen Ming also spent a lot of money.

According to the report of the Public Security Department, there have been fewer signs of activities of the Sticking Rod Department in Nanjing City recently.

There are also reports from Shandong that the local tyrants have been very active recently, and every household is busy transferring property. A very direct phenomenon: Shandong's high land prices have fallen by more than 30% in the month after the New Year.

Moreover, after the local tyrants in Haizhou joined the Fu Han Army and were uncovered by the Sticking Rod Office and the local government, a huge blue brick in the foundation of the Qing Dynasty's rule inevitably cracked, and the local government will inevitably look at the local tyrants with an inexplicable meaning. It's like when the Rabbit and the Fruit Party are fighting happily, suddenly a series of cases of big landlords and big capitalists colluding with the Communists broke out in a certain place. How shocking it is. Especially in Shandong, which was the first to bear the brunt of the Fu Han Army's Northern Expedition.

The tyrants in Haizhou were able to sell out the Qing Dynasty at a critical moment, so how much stronger can the tyrants in Shandong be than those in Haizhou?

Of course, this kind of vigilance will not be directly put in front of everyone. After all, the Haizhou case is just one example, and the Qing Dynasty cannot say whether it is universal. And most importantly, the Qing Dynasty itself cannot do without the local tyrants and powerful families. Those gentry and landlords are not only the foundation of the Qing Dynasty's rule in rural areas, but also the main source of local militia.

Chen Ming was very satisfied after reading the report of the Shandong Dark Camp. How can such influence be compared with the power of a few tyrants and powerful families? Although it is just an undetectable crack, it is difficult to heal once there is a crack. When the pressure is heavy to a certain extent, this crack may be the "culprit" of the broken cornerstone of the Qing Dynasty's rule. This has caused certain troubles to the government at all levels throughout the Qing Dynasty.

…

Spring is here, the temperature in Henan is warming up rapidly, and when the ice and snow melt, a 10,000-scale Fu Han army rushes out of Nanyang and heads straight for Xiangyang.

On the fourth day of February, the Fu Han Army and the Qing Army fought a battle in Fancheng. On the fifth day, neither side opened fire. On the sixth day, the second Fancheng battle broke out again. This time, the Qing Army attacked and the Fu Han Army defended.

What were the two battles of Fancheng for? Both for the Fu Han Army and the Qing Army, these two battles were meaningless. Even if the Fu Han Army captured Fancheng, it would not be possible to capture Xiangyang. The Qing Army in Xiangyang had to launch a counterattack against Fancheng across the Han River. Did their combat effectiveness double overnight?

The most direct result of these two battles for the Qing Army was to contain the Fu Han Army. It gave the Qing troops in the western part of Xiangyang Prefecture and Yunyang Prefecture time to defend Gucheng. But Yunyang Prefecture had already been visited by the Fu Han Army twice, so what if it was visited by the Fu Han Army again? However, the Qing Army in Xiangyang still launched a battle in Fancheng, and the Fu Han Army naturally responded.

The Qing Army in Jingzhou and Anlu were all rushing towards Xiangyang. The navy battalion of the Fu Han Army is sweeping the river surface of Hubei, but the navy battalion is the navy battalion. Their combat effectiveness on the Yangtze River is very strong, but their combat effectiveness is so-so without the warships.

The newly formed Hankou navy battalion was severely damaged, and the Qing army in Huguang believed that the Fu Han Army was relieving the pressure on Jiujiang. No one would have thought that the battle of the second battalion of the navy was to pave the way for the Fu Han Army's surprise attack on Hubei.

Chen Erbao still led the Fu Han Army to attack, and the current Huguang admiral Detai was in Xiangyang. After the death of the battle in Chengzi Town on the Aerya River, Detai, the deputy governor of the Eight Banners and the Bordered White Banner, was transferred to the post of admiral of Huguang, and then was transferred to Xiangyang by Aligun, who was transferred from the Henan battlefield to the governor of Huguang, replacing Shi Liang, the deputy governor of Jingzhou.

The re-attack of the Fu Han Army in Henan did not attract the attention of the Qing Army in Hubei. Agui, who replaced Aligun in Zhengzhou, did not realize anything. He was now fully withdrawing troops to Guide and Kaifeng. Fortunately, when the Fu Han Army in Jiangnan went north to Shandong, he could quickly advance to Shandong for rescue.

In the past year or so, the Qing army fought again and again with the Fu Han Army in the base area, and generally understood the combat effectiveness of the Fu Han Army in Henan. It cannot be said that their combat effectiveness is poor, but compared with the Fu Han Army led by Chen Ming, there is still some gap. At least the Fu Han Army in Henan does not have the sharpness and ferocity of that Fu Han Army. Perhaps this Fu Han Army in Henan has been fighting defensive battles, and it has extinguished its own sharpness. And Chen Ming's Fu Han Army, from Hubei to Jiangnan, was either attacking and overcoming dangers or fighting in the field. Of course, the team trained in this way is much better at fighting than the Fu Han Army in Henan, which is a turtle in the solid fortress. Even when that army left Xiangyang, there were many new recruits.

Agui fully estimated the combat effectiveness of the Fu Han Army in Henan, and under this premise, he deployed as many troops as possible. Just as he said in a letter to his friend in Beijing: "The key to this year's fighting is not in Henan, but in Shandong. Chen Ni's Northern Expedition and protecting the capital are the top priorities..." Is it because the Northern Expedition is so important that no one thought that Chen Ming was trying to trick them?

When Chen Ming received the news that the base was attacking Hubei, the second team heading west had just left Nanjing for one day. After Chen Erbao led tens of thousands of troops to fight two battles in Fancheng, he had already marched eastward to capture Zaoyang and made a gesture to attack De'an. The Qing army and militia in Anlu Prefecture hurriedly returned along the original route and then went north to reinforce De'an Prefecture.

Although the offensive of Chen Erbao's army and the second battalion of the Fu Han Army Navy that swept across the Hubei River were very cheerful, in the eyes of Aligun, the governor of Huguang, these were all scabies. No matter how violent the two bandit armies were, they could not shake the Qing army's rule in Hubei. The former Chen Erbao could not pass Xiangyang, and the latter was unable to fight on land, so neither of them could achieve great success. Huguang was the granary of the Qing Dynasty. Aligun, now sitting in the position of the governor of Huguang, was thinking not only to block the road of the Henan bandit army to the south, but also to organize a large army to sweep the Yangtze River from top to bottom. Aligun's plot and ambition were great!

…

Yangzhou, Boy Scout Camp.

"Quickly move forward, disperse--" Liu Chengshan, the officer of the first team of the first battalion of the Boy Scouts, shouted, and 100 boy soldiers in khaki uniforms and cloth caps in a column formation quickly stepped forward with guns. Within 20 steps, the three rows of horizontal teams became a straight line, and the distance between people was only about half a meter.

Liu Chengshan looked at the fairly neat formation and didn't feel satisfied at all. They had been training for many days. If they couldn't do this, they couldn't stay in the first battalion of the Boy Scouts.

"First row, attack quickly! Ready, start!" Following Liu Chengshan's order, the 30 soldiers in the first row on the far left moved forward quickly in small steps under the leadership of the platoon leader. After entering the range of the muskets, under the command of the platoon leader, the whole platoon of boy soldiers began to load the bullets nervously. After loading the bullets, the platoon leader shouted "Ready...fire!" 30 muskets fired a round of volleys at the target about 100 meters away.

Liu Chengshan has been looking at the pocket watch, which is the honor of the first battalion. The three officers each have one. Such a delicate gadget makes everyone look at it strangely. The first row took a total of 1 minute and 25 seconds from the beginning to the end. They used a matchlock gun.

"Report to the officer, the shooting results of the first row: 17 out of 30, 11 shots hit the chest and abdomen."

Liu Chengshan did not comment on this relatively good result. In the Fu Han Army musket battalion, this result can only be said to be passing. Thirty feet apart, the target is so big, and the array is quite dense. What is there to be happy about with a hit rate of less than 60%?

"Second row, step forward quickly, turn right and fire in unison! Ready, start!"

"Third row, step forward quickly, turn back and fire in unison..."

The training ground of the first team is very large. This is a separate training ground, so the boy soldiers don't have to worry about accidentally shooting others when shooting. It's just that the matchlock gun has a strong recoil when firing, which makes it difficult for the boy soldiers who are still young and have not grown up to bear it, which affects the accuracy of shooting to a certain extent.

However, such boy scouts, after years of training, when they grow up to adulthood and join the army, their excellent combat qualities are absolutely outstanding, which is not comparable to ordinary recruits.

Zeng Ming, who had just been transferred to the Boy Scouts, stood by and watched the normal exercises of one of the best teams in the Boy Scouts, and couldn't help but open his mouth. Such combat qualities are better than the combat soldiers of the team he led before.

In the battle of Wangzhuang by Sheyang Lake, Zeng Ming's team was almost swallowed up by the Qing soldiers. Although they escaped from Sheyang Lake with the help of friendly forces, only half of the 100-man team was left alive. Zeng Ming himself was wounded in many places and went directly to the hospital for wounded and injured. He did not encounter the later battles in northern Jiangsu and Suzhou and Hangzhou.

Now he has been transferred to the Boy Scouts and finally promoted to battalion officer, but he is a battalion officer of the Boy Scouts.

"Old Zeng, you can do well in the Boy Scouts. The future of our team is bright. Don't just look at others' glory in the future. You have to stand up yourself..." Duan Guorui looked at Zeng Ming's still ruffian look and said sincerely for his own good.

Now the entire Fu Han army is in motion, who doesn't know about the call for the Northern Expedition? It is obvious that another war is about to start. Chen Ming's true purpose is hidden even from the middle-level officers and cadres in the army who are not involved. Zeng Ming was transferred to the Boy Camp at this time, which is obviously not conducive to his achievements, but the transfer order has been issued, and no one can change it, right? Since Zeng Ming has arrived at the Boy Camp, he should work hard in the Boy Camp. It is said that the oldest group of boy soldiers in this Boy Camp are about to enter the regular barracks. In the first half of this year, if Zeng Ming does a good job, he may be able to take advantage of the east wind to send himself on his way...