Dominate the Country

Zhang Youcai didn't know that his eldest son was no longer in the 15th Brigade, but had just transferred to the Second Brigade of the Hunan Army. This time, the letter inside the package mentioned this matter, but Zhang Youcai didn't open the package, so he naturally didn't know. Moreover, Zhang Dashan had just become a squad leader in the old unit, and was promoted to platoon leader in the new unit.

This is a happy event!

As for why the unit was suddenly adjusted, Zhang Dashan did not hide it from his family. The Second Brigade of the Hunan Army was deployed on the western front, dealing with Ben Jinzhong's troops who retreated to Xiangxi and part of the border troops transferred from Yunnan and Guizhou. The Qing army was not only large in number but also strong in soldiers. In addition, they also had geographical advantages. Moreover, there were no major rivers running through Lizhou, Changde, Baoqing and other places under the responsibility of the Second Brigade. It was inconvenient to transfer troops and supply military supplies. The combination of these aspects made the Second Brigade bear much more pressure than the First Brigade of the Army, and the casualties were naturally greater. To put it bluntly, such an adjustment was to mobilize some low-level officers to supplement the Second Brigade.

Ever since Chen Ming led the Fu Han army across Hukou and headed south of the Yangtze River, the Chen Han officers and soldiers in Hunan have been in dire straits.

There was no way around it. The Fu Han army's mobile forces went east, so the battlefield in the south was naturally empty.

First, Ben Jinzhong, who was hiding in western Hunan, immediately sent troops to attack Changde and Lizhou. He Erhu, the commander of the Second Brigade of the Hunan Army stationed in Changde, was overwhelmed. Troops from Guangxi and Yunnan and Guizhou also sent troops to attack Baoqing and Yongzhou. At one point, except for the prefectural city, which was still controlled by Chen Han, all other county towns had fallen.

Throughout March, the most common news heard in Changsha and Yueyang was that such and such county town had been broken again, and this time the county magistrate did not escape; all the officials in such and such county town were killed..., and so on.

The troops of Guangdong also joined the troops of Guangxi to attack southern Hunan. The First Brigade of the Hunan Army was guarding Chenzhou on one side and reinforcing Yongzhou on the other. That is, Guiyang was less attacked by the enemy, and the First Brigade could still handle it for the time being. The busy one was the Fifteenth Brigade stationed in Hengyang.

Zhao Yongji was not stupid, and he knew that he had to clench his fists to punch out. He never dispersed the forces of the Fifteenth Brigade. When the soldiers of Guangxi entered Yongzhou, he took the whole brigade to punch; when the soldiers of Yunnan and Guizhou entered Baoqing, he took the troops to Baoqing to fight out; then it was Ben Jinzhong. Zhao Yongji led the Fifteenth Brigade to knock directly on the gate of western Hunan-Chenzhou Yuanling.

After a month of hard work, the situation in Hunan persisted until the news came that Chen Ming led his troops to wrap up the main force of the Jiangnan Qing army led by Feng Sheng'e in Changzhou. The morale of the officers and soldiers of Hunan instantly soared, and the corresponding offensive of the Qing army in Guangdong, Guangxi and the southwest fell back. Even Ben Jinzhong is not wasteful!

But there are all kinds of birds in a big forest, and the Qing army is large in number, so there are always some individuals among them.

Liu Fei, who has already taken the position of garrison in Baojing, is a good hand at picking persimmons and picking soft persimmons. He said to others: "The Chen bandits are in full swing. Why don't we take advantage of their small number of soldiers and weak power to beat them well? Do we have to wait until Chen's large group of troops returns to fight?"

In early April, he broke through Baimaguan again and led his bandits to besiege Taoyuan County. Taoyuan County is the poorest and westernmost county among the counties under Changde. It has been broken through by the Qing army four times before, and one of the county magistrates died. The current county magistrate has just taken office for less than ten days.

The best places in Changde are all along the shore of Dongting Lake, but there are the navy of the Fu Han Army in Dongting Lake, and in March, the Grand Commandery set up a new navy camp in Yueyang. Liu Fei dared not pay attention to the east of Changde, unless Ben Jinzhong's troops followed behind, otherwise with his current small body, the garrison in Changde City would be able to eat him.

April 12.

A burst of hearty cheers suddenly rang out in Taoyuan County. At first, there were a few people, and then the number of people increased rapidly, just like a tsunami. Zhang Dashan, who had been on duty all night on the top of the city last night, woke up from his deep sleep.

"What's going on? So loud?"

If he hadn't heard the cheers, Zhang Dashan would have thought the city was broken.

"Platoon leader, platoon leader..., we won, your highness won, Changzhou won, and all the Qing soldiers inside were eliminated..."

The voice of the second squad leader rang out outside the house, and Zhang Dashan's originally confused head suddenly woke up. He jumped up from the bed without even putting on his shoes. "Really? They were all eaten?" The second squad leader was standing at his door.

"How could I lie to you? All the Qing troops of less than 100,000 were eaten! Feng Sheng'e and Yin Jishan committed suicide by taking poison, and none of the Tartar officials under them escaped. A commander-in-chief surrendered, and it was he who opened the city gate." The second squad leader's mouth was almost open to his ears.

Zhang Dashan was so happy that his gums were exposed, "The commander-in-chief surrendered? Ben Jinzhong is an commander-in-chief. He is a very important official." Only with comparison can one have a clearer understanding. Ben Jinzhong's influence on Hunan is crucial, so naturally, Zhang Dashan attaches great importance to Duan Xiulin.

The second squad leader's gums also showed, "That's right. Such a senior official has surrendered, which means that the King of Han and Duke Lu have already won the battle. And along with this news came the King of Han's reward, not just for the army in the east, but also for us, a reward for the entire army. Each person will receive an extra month's salary, and the military families will also receive a large package. It's all cloth, and there are four new tin cans." The second squad leader's eyes were shining when he talked about this. Zhang Dashan didn't know whether he was more excited about the victory in Changzhou? Or was he more happy about the King of Han's reward to the entire army? Zhang Dashan himself was also uncontrollably excited when he heard it.

Cloth is something every family needs. This year, the military cooperative will mainly grow cotton after the spring. Zhang Dashan hopes that after serving for two years, he can exchange points for land, and then he will also join the military cooperative. That guy has the face of Duke Lu, and the grain, cotton, and soybeans he produces will not lack sales. Canned food is another new invention of Chen Ming. This thing is not difficult at all for Chen Ming, a time traveler. Prepare the food, put it into a wide-mouth bottle, put it in a boiling water pot and heat it for an hour, plug it with a cork while it is hot, reinforce it with thread, and seal it with wax. Chen Ming had already "invented" canned food, and asked people to make stronger tin cans. This sealing technology was later used to preserve military dry food.

It's just that the conditions did not allow it at the beginning, so there was no big fanfare for canning.

Now that the foundation of the Fu Han Army has been consolidated, canned food has become one of the military supplies of the Fu Han Army. Whether it is canned fruit, canned vegetables, or the most rare canned meat and fish, Zhang Dashan has seen and tasted them. It can't be said that they are delicious, but they are convenient.

After serving in the army for so long, Zhang Dashan's influence on his family has not changed much. Even though Zhang Youli had sent him several letters in the army, saying that life at home was getting better and better and that they were preparing to build a house, Zhang Dashan never went back to see it with his own eyes, and he always didn't believe it. He subconsciously felt that his family was in a difficult situation, and the daily food was not comparable to that in the army, so he wanted his family to eat better, and he wanted to send a few cans of canned food back. He didn't know when it had been pierced into his heart. Even if it was just to let his family have one or two meals.

He had always wanted to exchange a few cans of canned food to send back home, which was quite rare. He wanted to exchange a few cans of Jiangnan flavors so that his parents and brothers could also taste it.

But canned food was also a rare thing in the army, and you couldn't get it even if you had money. When he was in the 15th Brigade, he was just a small shrimp, and the people in the logistics department didn't show him off. When he came to the Second Brigade of the Army, it was a new unit and he was unfamiliar with the place, so this wish was never fulfilled.

Now the King of Han's commendation has invisibly fulfilled Zhang Dashan's wish. The second squad leader looked at his platoon leader, his eyes were as bright as two small torches!

Liu Fei could hear the cheers that suddenly sounded in the city outside Taoyuan County, and the cheers became louder and louder. He was shocked and immediately ordered the troops to be on guard. He thought that the reinforcements of the Fu Han Army had arrived.

As a bandit leader in the mountains of western Hunan, Liu Fei, now 35 years old, was originally a chess piece sown by the dark camp.

The dark camp funded him with 3,000 taels of silver before and after, allowing him to take this opportunity to change his appearance. As a result, Liu Fei only handed over 500 taels and sought a small title of a general. But don't look at Liu Fei's low official hat. He has a lot of soldiers under his command. He has 300 to 400 old bandits under his command. Otherwise, how could the dark camp choose him among so many bandit leaders in western Hunan. Now it is getting stronger and stronger. Although it is only a battalion garrison, the number of soldiers under his command has expanded to 1,450.

Now only half of Liu Fei's men have come to Taoyuan County, and the other half stays in Baima Pass. Of course, half of the six or seven hundred people outside Taoyuan County were sent out by him to rob the people.

"My Lord, my Lord..."

"The Chen traitor is shouting in the city, and their troops in the east have taken Changzhou. General Feng Sheng'e and Governor Yin Jishan both committed suicide by taking poison, and the 100,000 troops in the city either died or surrendered, and none of them escaped."

The person who came was the scout sent out by Liu Fei. His men knew that Liu Fei had colluded with the Fu Han Army. But everyone who knew was Liu Fei's confidant. The man in front of him was just a spy sent out by Liu Fei. After hearing the news of the "fall of the sky", he hurried back to report the news, and his face was still panicked.

It was not just this soldier who was panicked. When Liu Fei suddenly heard that Changzhou had fallen, Feng Sheng'e and Yin Jishan had committed suicide, and the 100,000 troops in Jiangnan had either died or surrendered, his mind was empty, and his heart was beating like a drum.

It took a long time to calm down. But before Liu Fei had time to consider the impact of this matter, and whether he should really be humble in dealing with the Fu Han Army in the future, an urgent report suddenly came from outside.

"Sir, the Chen thieves in Taoyuan City have sent out troops..." At this critical moment.

Liu Fei's frown could kill a mosquito, and he really wanted to kick the civil and military officials of Taoyuan County to death. They are just causing trouble!

If it was a quarter of an hour in the morning, Liu Fei would immediately call the troops out of the camp to show off to the Fu Han Army, the police, and some militiamen from Taoyuan. But how could he have such thoughts now? Yes, he was very angry about Taoyuan County's "taking advantage of the fire to rob", and he wanted to take people to beat them directly. But this confidence was not enough. Countless thoughts turned in Liu Fei's mind, like a ball of tangled wool that could not find the end. He now needed to calm down, cool his head, and think about the future carefully. Instead of "hard" hitting the Taoyuan County troops back.

Holding back his anger, Liu Fei chose to "close the door" in the face of Taoyuan County's "provocation". "Send someone to greet Lao Wu and Lao Qi, and ask them to come back at noon, and we will withdraw to Baima Pass in the afternoon." Liu Fei waved his hand, asked several of his soldiers to lead the guard, and then greeted his personal followers and gave instructions.

The Fu Han Army outside the camp did not take advantage of others and bully them too much. They just shouted and howled outside the Qing army's camp for a while, fired a few rounds of gunfire, and then went back happily.

The reason why the officers stationed in Taoyuan and the new county magistrate of Taoyuan dared to send troops boldly was entirely because the county was stimulated by the sudden good news and became a little crazy. Cheerful cheers could not express the joy in the hearts of the officers and soldiers. Once the mood came up, they went out to fight.

Zhang Dashan stood in front of the queue, looking at Liu Fei who was closed in front of him, and the resounding spirit in his chest became more intense. Liu Fei's retreat this time was really appropriate and too aggressive.

"We are tough, and the Tartars are soft!" Zhang Dashan shouted with his fists clenched.

He came to the Second Brigade of the Hunan Army at the right time. Just at the critical moment when the situation changed drastically, Ben Jinzhong retreated, and Liu Fei's attack on Changde was mainly looting, rather than storming the city. Before arriving at the Second Brigade, Zhang Dashan thought that he would have to go to the battlefield with a bayonet as soon as he arrived in Changde. After arriving in Changde, his team did leave the city quickly and exchanged positions with the troops stationed in Taoyuan. But he didn't know that all he had to do was to defend Taoyuan City against a bandit leader. Instead of completely annihilating the bandit leader!

……

In the backyard of Changde Prefecture.

Xu Yongmin didn't let the servants serve him, and there were no three bowls and four cups of meat and vegetables on the small round table. There were just a few simple home-cooked dishes. Xu Yongmin's wife and their two children who were not yet ten years old, just a simple family of four sat around.

Xu Yongmin lost his dignity when he was outside. He drank and sang at the dinner table, as if he was crazy. To put it politely, he was "unruly". But Mrs. Xu, who came from a scholar's family, didn't persuade him, because she knew how much pressure her husband had been under since he took office.

The Qing army outside and the local gentry and merchants in Changde, the pressure from both inside and outside is like the waves of Dongting Lake, one wave after another, never stopping.

Xu Yongmin stood up and survived. Until today, the victory report came, and he finally waited for the good news he had dreamed of - Changzhou reported victory. The main force of the Qing army in Jiangnan was completely wiped out by Duke Lu! Even though Mrs. Xu was a woman, she understood what this meant, and her husband's heavy burden was lifted by more than half.

"Hahaha, who said Chen Han can't be a great man? Short-sighted, short-sighted."

"Your Highness has already gone to Changzhou, Suzhou and Hangzhou are in his hands, let's see who else can be a rival in the South? Who else?"

The crisis of confiscating the family and exterminating the clan completely disappeared in Xu Yongmin's heart. At this moment, he believed more than anyone else that the future of the Fu Han Army must be bright and brilliant, and he was extremely proud of his original gamble. In that life gamble, he, Xu Yongmin, won the bet!