Cutting 1719

Chapter 354 Bite off a piece of meat

The news of the expansion of the Eight Banners by the Qing court and the destruction of Xi'an City reached Ning Yu's ears almost at the same time. The former did not surprise Ning Yu in general, but the latter shocked Ning Yu even more. .

"Could it be possible that Liu Ruhan really made things happen? He seems to have underestimated him."

Ning Yu stroked the short mustache on his chin, without any expression on his face, he just put down the memorial in his hand, and drew a big circle on it, which was blood red.

Cui Wancai, who was on the side, received the secret report from the Military Intelligence Department, and after reading it carefully, he couldn't help laughing: "The method Liu Ruhan used to attack Xi'an was learned from His Majesty. It seems that this person has studied it a lot. pass us."

"Hmph, it's been a long time since this happened, I never thought he would be so intentional. Hmph"

Ning Yu still felt a little uncomfortable, not because of this strategy, but because Liu Ruhan made Ning Yu feel threatened. In his heart, the Qing court was the No. [-] enemy, and the White Lotus Sect was the No. [-] enemy. This cult has always been on guard, so naturally it doesn't want it to get out of control.

Previously, Ning Yu coerced the other party to give up Henan and go to Guanzhong to fight the Qing court for life and death. It might be that he meant to kill with a knife, but Liu Ruhan forcibly used his life to pile up a road to Guanzhong, and his heart was really cruel. As usual, this person will definitely be Ning Chu's enemy in the future.

Seeing that Ning Yu was still unwilling, Cui Wancai said with relief: "Even though Liu Ruhan has gained some small profits, it is still blocking the lifeline of the Qing court's northwest army. Nian Gengyao will find him to fight for his life. We will target Sichuan It seems that the strategy can be stepped up a bit."

"Where is the Ninth Division? Is there any news from the Privy Council?"

"Your Majesty, according to the news received by the Privy Council yesterday, the Ninth Division has boarded a ship from Yichang and headed westward, and it may have reached the Wushan area. The Qing court does not have a navy in Sichuan now, so there is no need to worry. It is only the strength of one division. I am afraid At most, we can only hit Fengjie, otherwise we will inevitably lose our way.”

Cui Wancai introduced the latest situation to Ning Yu. Although he is the second assistant of the cabinet, he is still somewhat different from Ning Zhongjing. He hopes to quell the war as soon as possible, and then he can fully devote himself to internal affairs.

Ning Yu pondered for a while, "According to the secret report sent by King Changshan, it seems that the war between Guangdong and Guangxi may end early. As long as that plan is successful, perhaps before November, Guangdong and Guangxi will be in my hands, and by then Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan will also be in my hands." It became the next target of our army."

From Huguang to Jiangnan, and then to Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi, this is the offensive route set by Ningyu and the Privy Council, and basically it will not change. However, after achieving this goal, to continue to attack Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, or to organize a large army for the Northern Expedition , there have always been different opinions.

Most people's ideas are actually based on the Northern Expedition. As long as they occupy the Central Plains, Yunguichuan will naturally go down without a fight, but this idea is completely in conflict with Ning Yu, and the reason is very simple. It was far from the time for a decisive battle with the Qing army in the north, and the key factor here was the Ma army.

Speaking of it, although it is an era when firearms are popular in the world, the threat of the horse army has always existed. Therefore, for the current Fuhan army, the biggest weakness lies in the horse army. Compared with the Mongolian cavalry of the Qing court, it was not at the same level at all. If they rushed to the North China Plain, they would be easily defeated by the horse army.

Ning Yu is sometimes very courageous, but it is based on the fact that he has complete control over the situation. Taking risks in the eyes of others is actually a logical thing for Ning Yu, but for Ning Yu, the current Northern Expedition is a matter of course. A truly risky move can easily destroy the existing structure, and a little carelessness will be a big defeat enough to affect the future.

However, Ning Yu did not think of a way to deal with the lack of cavalry. On the one hand, he recruited horse riders from Huaibei to join the Fuhan Army. On the other hand, he bought horses through various channels, from overseas to Mongolia and Tibet. They have all become channels for buying horses, and the construction of related racecourses is also in progress.

Of course, what Ning Yu wants to build is not an ordinary cavalry team, but a modernized cavalry capable of wall charging, and this part of the training is not enough on his own, so Ning Yu's request to Ernst However, professional cavalry instructors like the West are very important, and they can be brought back to Dachu only if there is a chance.

After having a western cavalry instructor, Ning Yu will be able to establish a real modern cavalry school in Nanjing or other places, and implement the western cavalry system and training methods in an all-round way. In terms of cavalry construction, the West today is surpassing Mongolia.

In the history that Ning Yu knew, more than 100 years later, the battle between the British and French forces at Baliqiao was almost a typical case of the confrontation between Chinese and Western cavalry.Unfortunately, in this battle, several encounters between the Qing cavalry and the coalition cavalry were all defeated, and on a larger scale, a group of hundreds of British and Indian cavalry charged and defeated thousands of Mongolian cavalry. .

At that time, the Mongolian cavalry was called the strongest cavalry in East Asia, but it was almost destroyed in front of the cavalry of the British and French allied forces. The traditional cavalry has fought against the Mongolian cavalry, and the performance of the Mongolian cavalry is even better than most of the traditional cavalry.

But the problem is that in front of the European modernized cuirassiers, whether it is the Mongolian cavalry or the Mamluk cavalry, it is difficult to resist the intensive charge of the cuirassiers, especially when there are more numbers, the European-style cuirassiers The power is also more outstanding. It is worth mentioning that the cuirassiers do not rely on firearms, but in fact they are still traditional swords.

The mystery of this is that the combat actions of European-style cuirassiers are more scientific and efficient than other traditional cavalry, mainly through the combination of actual combat experience and calculations, continuous rationalization and standardization, and the elimination of all redundant actions. The killing efficiency of the army is almost outrageous in terms of discipline, and it is difficult to compare with the undisciplined Mongolian cavalry.

Therefore, in Ningyu's vision of the future Northern Expedition army, at least 5000 European-style cuirassiers are needed to defeat tens of thousands of Mongolian cavalry. In the future military map, the number of cuirassiers must reach at least 3. scale, so as to meet the needs of future wars.

Of course, these are all things to say later, and what Ning Yu is most concerned about now is still the battle that took place in Guangdong and Guangxi. He looked at the cliff sea on the map, and he was somewhat worried, but he didn't know that the sea breeze in this season, Will it affect the plan this time?
On August 22, the Second Brigade of the Imperial Guards of the Fuhan Army officially boarded the ship, and will be escorted by the Fujian Navy all the way to Yahai to prepare for landing.This time, nearly [-] civilian ships were transported. Although they were all small and medium-sized sand ships, they were enough to meet the needs of the Fuhan Army.

Of course, there is no such thing as a so-called landing operation these days. In fact, the Qing army in Guangdong and Guangxi is still concentrated in the area east of Guangzhou Mansion, facing the threat of the [-]rd Division and the [-]th Division.However, even in the face of interception by the navy of the Qing army, the Fujian navy of Dachu will have enough confidence to face it.

At the end of August, Nanyang was relatively calm, and the monsoon did not have a serious impact on the southbound fleet. This made Fujian Navy Admiral Qiu Ze heave a sigh of relief, but when he thought of the enemies he might encounter during this trip, he His face became a little more gloomy. As the saying goes, the road to Yuanjia is narrow, and he has to settle the accounts with some people.

Speaking of today's Great Chu Navy, it is actually the Fujian Navy that was born out of the Qing Army. Qiu Ze himself was a fierce general under Shi Shibiao's command back then, and he was also valued by the Shi family, but he didn't realize it later. Ze is also from Fujian. When he was visiting relatives in his hometown, he unintentionally offended his colleagues in the army for some reasons. At that time, Shi Shibiao made up his mind and completely left him idle, making Qiu Ze's fighting spirit melt into bubbles.

After Shi Shibiao passed away due to illness, the newly appointed naval admiral Yao Tang was not interested in Shi Shibiao's original subordinates. He personally brought a group of confidantes, but he also replaced Qiu Ze's position. There was a battle between the Fujian navy and Zhu Yigui, the Fujian navy suffered heavy losses, and Yao Tang also died, so Qiu Ze took some people and sailed directly to join the Fuhan army.

Therefore, Qiu Ze was suffocating in his heart. He was full of hatred for those so-called colleagues back then, so this fight might be a good opportunity for him to take revenge.Of course, for Qiu Ze, the reason why he has such details is actually because he has prepared a secret weapon long ago.

"Qiu Junmen, will we meet the navy of the Qing army along the way?"

Guo Ding'an, the brigade commander of the Guards Brigade, talked politely, saying that they did not belong to the same system as Qiu Ze's navy, so he was somewhat curious.

On land, the imperial guards have never been afraid of anyone. Even if this trip is likely to face the siege of [-] troops of the Qing army, Guo Ding'an is not too flustered. After all, the enemy who can defeat them on land has not yet appeared. .But when they reached the surface of the sea, they quickly felt panic, because all this was no longer under their control.

Qiu Ze's mentality still hasn't recovered. He didn't dare to be careless about the Imperial Guards, and immediately said: "Reporting to General Guo, it is unlikely that my navy will meet the Qing navy during this trip. After all, they don't I know our whereabouts, but when we return, I am afraid that we will be intercepted by the navy of the Qing army."

Hearing what Qiu Ze said, Guo Ding'an was slightly relieved. He was not afraid of death, but he was afraid of such a wimpy death, and said with a smile: "Qiu Junmen is polite, I have heard of your name a long time ago, But it's not that simple!"

Hearing what Guo Dingan said, Qiu Ze thought that his surrender was disgusting. He blushed and sighed, "The general really made fun of the lowly job. The reputation of the lowly job has long since rotted into the ditch."

"What is the reason for Qiu Junmen's words?" Guo Ding'an said sincerely with a smile on his face: "The last general is telling the truth, Qiu Junmen's name was heard from His Majesty. It will become very big, and the emperor appreciates Qiu Junmen's talent, as long as Qiu Junmen works hard, the future will be limitless!"

When Qiu Ze heard that the emperor paid so much attention to him, he was a little flattered at the moment. He knelt on the deck and kowtowed a few times in the direction of Nanjing, and said loudly, "Long live the emperor, a humble position will never disappoint the emperor's kindness!"

It has to be said that Qiu Ze has never been so happy since he came over from the navy of the Qing court, especially after being affirmed by the privy envoy Ning Zhongyi and the emperor one after another, which made him completely let go of his inner worries. Instead, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to the upcoming possible war.

The navy went all the way for several days, but they arrived at Yahai without any hindrance. The journey went smoothly, and they didn't meet the navy of the Qing army. This made Qiu Ze feel quite lucky, not because of other things, but There are so many civilian ships, if they are targeted by the Qing army, they will easily take a big bite, and the loss will be extremely heavy at that time.

"Yahai is where the Song and Yuan Dynasties fought. After the battle, Prime Minister Lu Xiufu and the young emperor jumped into the sea to commit suicide, and more than [-] soldiers and civilians who accompanied him also jumped into the sea to commit suicide. It is really emotional."

Guo Ding'an has read books, of course he knows the allusions that happened here, looking at the sea area, he said firmly: "It's just that the last general thinks that the only thing to die is when things come to an end, but death can't just jump into the sea and die like this. Instead, you should fight them desperately, even if you hit them with your fists or bite with your teeth, you must bite off a piece of meat!"

Qiu Ze looked at Guo Ding'an's firm face, and couldn't help but sighed slightly in his heart. Such a character was rarely seen in the Qing army, but it seemed to be seen everywhere in Ningchu. Since everyone has a generous heart to die, How can you worry about the big things?

Perhaps after a long time, he, Qiu Ze, will become the second Guo Ding'an, just like biting off the flesh of the navy of the Qing army in this upcoming naval battle.

Soon, the civilian ships gradually approached the pier. There was only one Tang Xun stationed here by the Qing army, and there were no more than a dozen Qing soldiers stationed here. When they saw these ships appear, they had already run in the opposite direction, perhaps The Xinhui closest to here might be Guangzhou, but these are irrelevant.

Before getting off the boat, Guo Ding'an looked at Qiu Ze and said in a low voice, "This trip is difficult and dangerous, please take care, Brother Qiu."

Qiu Ze also returned a salute, and said with a smile: "Speaking of hardships and dangers, you don't give up too much. I hope that after this battle, we can drink the celebration wine!"

As more and more soldiers of the Fuhan Army and all the supplies landed on the shore, the naval fleet led by Qiu Ze also embarked on the return journey. For Qiu Ze, the real test had just begun.

(End of this chapter)