I am rich in martial arts, but choose culture to win

Xing Jiuliu!

Seeing this name, an uncanny and handsome face appeared in Zhu Fugui's mind, and he almost vomited his overnight meal.

"This... this..." Zhu Fugui didn't know what to say for a while.

Zheng Baoguo hurriedly said: "Master Xing deserves to be a minister of the Ming Dynasty. Since it is easy to occupy a high position in the Puppet Qing Dynasty, I thought about it. Since Master Xing took the risk to write a letter, it must have a deep meaning, so I dare not make a claim and hand it over to Master Tang. Long Live Lord Yulan!"

Zhu Fugui nodded.

Before I heard that Xing Jiurou had made a fortune, I thought it was someone with the same name and surname, but now it seems that he should be the one I am familiar with.

There is no other reason, it is the handwriting that looks like a dog gnawing on it, so you know it is his own handwriting.

After all, Zhu Fugui himself learned calligraphy from this Uncle Xing, and he got the essence of it.

How should I put it, Xing Jiurou did have sores on his head, pus oozing from his feet, and bad morals bubbling, but he doesn't look like someone who can become a high official by doing bad things?

Zhu Fugui held his nose and opened the letter, only to see that it was still Xing Jiurou's personal letter inside.

"Mr. Donna O personally: I am Xing Jiuliu, thanks to your help last time I sat in O.

This time, Li X asked me to bring you a sentence: We in the Qing Dynasty are all nerds who can only do four books and five X, and we are not good at chemistry. We Master Li heard that Hua O country has a Jesus University, which is very awesome. , I hope to send some O army children to study in X. I don’t know if Mr. Tang has any connections. If this can be done, the benefits will be great.

In addition, Marshal Li misses Mr. Tang very much, and hopes that Mr. Tang will return to Shanghai as soon as possible. If there is any in the future, Mr. Li also wants to come to Huaguo to have a look..."

After reading the text message with hundreds of words, Zhu Fugui was stunned, and didn't notice that the letter fell to the ground.

Zheng Baoguo couldn't help but take a look, and quickly looked away.

"Sure enough! I said Mr. Xing is so talented, how could he write such stupid fonts? It turns out that this letter is really for the Lord Long Live, and it actually contains the password of OOXX!"

Zheng Baoguo swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and he admired Dr. Xing, who was lurking in the heart of the enemy and sent the news from the enemy's internal affairs to the Long Live Lord's court wittily.

On Zhu Fugui's side, it wasn't the OOXX who were surprised.

Although Xing Jiurou spent money to study as a child student in his early years, he was an ignorant guy, not only his handwriting was ugly, but also he didn't know a few words. Whenever he encountered a word he couldn't write, he had to use OOXX instead.

There are very few OOXXs in this letter, and it must have been written by Xing Jiurou with great effort.

I just don't know why he didn't find a master, could it be because he couldn't help himself?

Zhu Fugui didn't think about Xing Jiurou's situation, but he was very moved by Li Hongzhang's proposal in the letter.

As we all know, among the famous ministers of "Tongzhi Zhongxing", Zhang Zhidong is probably the most enthusiastic about foreign affairs, and Li Hongzhang is the second.

At the same time, he was also the first high-ranking Manchu Qing official to visit European and American countries. He visited Britain, the United States and Germany, saw the skyscrapers in Chicago, saw Krupp’s arsenal, and even loved ice cream and fresh milk.

All in all, time is fate, this is a very complicated modern celebrity.

It's just that Zhu Fugui didn't expect that as early as the 60s, Li Hongzhang had the idea of ​​going abroad to study.

It's just that he didn't know whether he casually had a few polite words with Donald out of politeness, or he really wanted to go to the stronghold of the great powers to find out.

After all, judging from the information in Zhu Fugui's hands combined with historical data, although today's Li Hongzhang is not the best Chinese prime minister in the eyes of foreigners in the future, he has actually begun to preside over the earliest Westernization Movement in Shanghai.

Not only did he hire Western-style instructors to train the Huai army, but he tried every means to buy foreign guns and samples for the Huai army, including buying "American equipment" from Ming Dynasty. Li Hongzhang really saw that the strength of Westerners was not only in guns, but also in industry. The above preliminary reasoning.

According to history, in the fourth year of Tongzhi in the puppet Qing Dynasty, that is, next year, Li Hongzhang will serve as the governor of Liangjiang with the full support of Zeng Guofan.

Once he was in power, he immediately acquired Shanghai Hongkou Meishang Qiji Iron Works, merged with Han Dianjia and Ding Richang's two bureaus, and expanded it into Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau.

At the same time, Li Hongzhang was still moving the Suzhou Machinery Bureau to Nanjing and established the Nanjing Machinery Bureau.

Later, he was transferred to the governor of Zhili, and he expanded the Tianjin Machinery Bureau.

It can be said that among the four major military enterprises in the late Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang single-handedly contributed to three, which is not much better than Zhang Zhidong who devoted himself to Wuhan.

It's just that, because of the hard work, Li Hongzhang's philosophy of "making weapons first in training" could not be maintained in the end, so it became better to buy than to make.

In short, Zhu Fugui is not a roundworm in Li Hongzhang's stomach. I don't know what Li Hongzhang, who is now in his prime, thinks.

With a heavy soldier in his hand, would he look at the batch of wine bags and rice bags in the north in the dead of night when no one was around, and feel so hot in his heart.

But at least one thing is certain. Compared with Zeng Guofan, who voluntarily disbanded the army and wanted to be a "sage", Li Hongzhang was much more sensitive. At least on the issue of dismissing Xiangyong, Li Hongzhang was not as honest as Zeng Shengren, and In his later years, he also yelled the rebellious words of "this disorderly fate, Guangdong will not obey the edict".

Combining the above performances, Zhu Fugui temporarily placed Lao Li in the category of "contactable" people, and set about replying to him.

Of course, if you replied to Li Hongzhang, you had to reply in foreign language, so as to convince him.

Presumably Li Hongzhang must have someone who is proficient in foreign languages ​​to translate for him.

You can't let a guy like Xing Jiurou act as an interpreter, right?

Zhu Fugui believed that Comrade Li would never do such a stupid thing.

Chapter 185 Marching Speed

After writing a reply letter to Li Hongzhang, the Daming transport team set foot on the road across the Pacific Ocean after a three-day rest.

It can be said that among the armies of the Ming Dynasty, the soldiers of the naval transport team are the most miserable.

But no way, Daming urgently needs population, and the Navy still needs to work hard.

Fortunately, according to the original plan, the "Fuqiang" did not set sail with the team this time, but entered the dock for maintenance and updated its power system.

The officers and soldiers on the "Fuqiang" also had a good rest for a month.

The officers and soldiers of the "Fuqiang" began to take vacations, but the Royal Army and the two gunboats Yang and Jia of the Royal Navy were mobilized.

On June 6th, a very auspicious day, Zhu Fugui, dressed in military uniform, mobilized the armed forces at the school ground 6 kilometers southwest of Fengdu.

This time the attack on Portland, which is Xinqing, is the main force of the [-]st Armored Infantry Brigade and the [-]rd Mixed Brigade of the [-]st Division of the Royal Army of the Ming Dynasty. The supporting combat units are the two gunboats "Yangzhou" and "Jiading" of the Royal Navy. .

(Thinking again and again, the military system should still be based on division, brigade, regiment, battalion, company, platoon, squad... town, association, standard, battalion, team, platoon, flag, these words plus armor, I always feel very Strange.)

After more than a year of development, the Army First Division, which has always been in name only, has finally perfected its establishment.

It has an armored infantry brigade, two mixed brigades, and an independent cavalry regiment, with a total of 1 people.

The reason why it is a mixed brigade rather than an infantry brigade is because Daming is located in a temperate marine climate, and there are a lot of high-quality pastures in the territory, which is very rich in animal power and a lot of horses. Each brigade has a motorized cavalry.

The second division of the army has also begun to be formed, currently only 5 people, and mainly recruits, has not yet formed combat effectiveness.

Considering that the internal guards, frontier guards, and guards in Jinyiwei also have certain combat effectiveness, about half of the military force was dispatched by the Ming Dynasty to conquer Portland.

This is not because Zhu Fugui doesn't understand the reason why a lion fights a rabbit and does his best, but that with the rapid expansion of the Ming Army in recent months, many recruits have not received sufficient training, and their defense is insufficient, and long-distance attack is prone to problems.

In addition, Charles I from the outside seems to be secretly connecting the rednecks in the Northwest Territories, trying to make some small moves, but it seems to have little effect.

However, there are still many Hunan Army children in the Ming Dynasty. Stubborn donkeys generally refuse to cut their braids, and they need sufficient military strength to maintain internal stability.

Back then, the Japanese said that people from Hunan were stubborn and uncivilized, and refused to be emperors obediently. Unexpectedly, this time, Zhu Fugui also encountered such troubles.

In addition to headaches, Zhu Fugui also admires the Hunan people very much.

This group of Hunan soldiers who fought against the Cantonese bandits for ten years in order to keep the braids was not so easy to do ideological work. Zhu Fugui could only slowly influence them through persistent ideological education and high braid taxes.

Fortunately, Daming was not a small Japan after all, and the Emperor of Ming was not an emperor pretending to be a ghost on a small island. When Zhu Fugui set off for the expedition, about half of the first batch of Hunan troops brought in a month ago had already chosen to cut their braids.

All in all, Ming Dynasty had internal and external troubles, so it was necessary to leave more than ten thousand troops to consolidate the rear.

However, 1 people were dispatched, and this was still the strongest blow in the history of Ming Dynasty.

In film and television dramas, 1 people seem to be a small army.

But when you are on the scene, you can feel what a grand scene it is.

Zhu Fugui was dressed in the uniform of the Generalissimo, with the vermilion windbreaker rattling behind him, looking at the dark and majestic masters under the stage, he couldn't help but feel a surge of pride.

"Let's go!"

As Marshal Zhu raised his arms and shouted, the tens of thousands of soldiers shouted "Wan Sheng!"

Then, under the command of the sound of bugles and the sound of drums, the troops set off towards the south in an orderly manner.

And Zhu Fugui also stepped off the stage, and got into the "Sun Moon No. 1" pickup truck with bulletproof glass under the escort of the guards.

Portland is about 220 kilometers away from Xinfeng, and the road is dominated by plains. Except for Mount St. Helens in the west, there is basically no rugged terrain.

Such terrain is very suitable for the rapid advancement of armored forces.

But now Daming did not choose to ride in vehicles like the last battle of Xinjin this time, regardless of the battle damage.

At that time, it was to block the news, so it was worth scrapping more vehicles, but it is not necessary now.

Moreover, the 1st and 2nd brigades of the first division have a total of 115 tracked chariots, 351 wheeled chariots, and more than 1000 tricycles, transporting more than 1 people at one time, as well as [Eagle 001 howitzers], [improved Red Clothes Cannon] and other equipment and supplies are also somewhat reluctant.

Regardless of the era, the rapid marching speed is also an important symbol to measure the combat effectiveness of the army. Therefore, this time, the Ming army mainly marched on foot.

Of course, one bite does not make you fat.

Many of the fighters have only been in Daming for two or three months, and their physical functions are far from recovering.

Therefore, if you march with a full load, including helmets, body armor, guns, marching bags, etc. (the US imperial standard is 45 kg, and the PLA in the early years was 30 kg), then basically more than half of the soldiers will be left behind.

Therefore, in the actual march, soldiers only wear:

【FAST Tactical Jungle Camouflage Bulletproof Helmet】1.55kg

【FDF-15 Armed Police Tactical Body Armor】5.05kg

[NIJ III hyperboloid single anti-insert plate] 1.70kg

[Dewu 02-style rifle (including bayonet)] 4.05kg

A total of 12.35 kilograms of combat load, and other rations and supplies are all transported by mechanical vehicles.

In the history of ancient Chinese warfare, there is no shortage of strong armies capable of long-distance and fast marching.

Even the widely criticized Qing army had excellent long-distance marches during the Hundred Years' War, and even had a classic case of a surprise attack on Lhasa across snow-capped mountains.

However, by the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Eight Banners and the Green Camp were basically a pile of rubbish, and the Taiping Army and the Hunan Army were not considered high-level chess players, but just a pair of stinky chess baskets.

Except for a small number of elite Taiping Army who had destroyed the foreign gun team and killed the foreign coach, most of the non-directed troops were just a gang of mobs.

The Hunan army, under the banner of fighting a stable battle, is actually quite weak in marching ability, and neither side has the ability to run long-distance raids and fight interspersedly.

Therefore, even though Zhang Changgui deliberately reduced the load of individual soldiers in this marching plan, the Ming Army still could not achieve the Red Army's ability to march more than 60 kilometers per day, and only advanced steadily at a speed of [-] kilometers per day.

This is the limit that soldiers can accomplish without fatigue affecting combat.

In addition, the colonists who appeared along the way were scattered in the settlements and needed to be dealt with. Therefore, it was not until four days later that Daming arrived at the north bank of the [Columbia River River].

The enemy finally responded before the engineering units could finish laying the pontoon bridge.

Chapter 186 Huagong, crossing the river

The Columbia River, also known as the Columbia River.

It is one of the largest rivers in western North America. It originates from the Rocky Mountains in southern Canada, flows through the United States in the southwest, and flows into the Pacific Ocean. It has a total length of 2044 kilometers and a drainage area of ​​41.5 square kilometers.

The river has plenty of water and low sediment content, but Zhu Fugui ruthlessly renamed it the New Yellow River.

It is reasonable to cross the Yellow River and attack Xinlu.

Since ancient times, fighting across rivers has been difficult, especially for cavalry back then and mechanized combat troops today.

But rivers are also different.

As a natural moat, the Yellow River can only be regarded as a younger brother compared with the Yangtze River.

The Columbia River is likewise weak compared with a truly great river like the Mississippi.

In fact, the Columbia River is more like the Qiantang River and the Amazon River. It has a relatively wide bell mouth at the mouth of the sea, which is suitable for navigation.

The widest point reaches ten kilometers.

Not at all north of Portland (see this paragraph for a map).

Because the Olamite River, which has a lot of runoff, has not yet been injected, this section of the Colombian River is almost only half of the downstream, and the width is more than 1.3 kilometers.

Coincidentally, in the river just north of Portland, there is another impact island similar to Chongming Island, called "Landing Island".

Due to the existence of this landing island, the main channel of the Columbia River is divided into two parts, which are only 640 meters and 279 meters respectively.

In other words, crossing the river from this position is a very simple matter.

In fact, when Daming’s leading cavalry scouts (in unfamiliar terrain, cavalry is more reliable than agricultural vehicles) arrived, they met the workers who built the bridge here.

And it's still a Chinese worker.

The two groups of Chinese stared at each other for about half a minute, and the latter dropped the tool in his hand with a wow, and ran away.

One of the bearded guys took out a signal flare from his pocket, and jumped into the sky with a "whoosh".