Cutting 1719

Chapter 392 Southwest Eagle Project

The national debt of 1000 million taels of silver can basically meet the current needs of the cabinet and the military. As for more national debts, it is not that they cannot be issued, but that they cannot be digested. After all, it is not impossible to spend 4000 million taels of silver a year. An easy thing to do.

Especially for Ning Chu at the moment, the big guy wants to seek the title of a founding hero in his heart, especially in the future Northern Expedition, there will be countless meritorious deeds waiting to be won, so the big guy is still quite high-spirited Yes, I don't want to corrupt for such a small amount of money, and ruin my future for nothing.

In addition, a large number of officials at the grassroots level are all young people selected by Ning Chu from the imperial examination, plus heroes in the army. Therefore, the 4000 million taels of silver from the cabinet and the military can still be spent after all. There may be some corruption, but it will never be greatly discounted.

On the other hand, the Qing government currently only has an annual income of less than 500 million taels, and I am afraid that half of it can be used in practice. Emperor Yongzheng spent [-] new troops trying to toss, and only trained [-] this year. No, not because he didn't want to, but because he had no money.

Just focus on this question of money, who will win if Ning Chu doesn't win?The Qing court can also be smashed to death by smashing it with silver.

After undergoing a series of monetary and financial reforms, Ningchu's potential is being tapped. The central bank soon received silver reserves from eight newly established banks, more than 800 million taels, and sent them to the mint , which will be recast into silver dollars and become the first property of the central bank.

In addition, the gold, silver, and copper coins held by the Ministry of Finance will gradually be remelted into new coins. In this process, not only will there be no loss, but a lot of money will be made. According to Erns According to special estimates, if the money can be minted and circulated, it will probably earn several million silver dollars.

On the one hand, Ningyu asked Ernst, the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank to promptly mint and issue new coins, and on the other hand, started this year's strategic plan-cutting off the last forces of the Qing court in the southwest, namely, Yun, Gui, Sichuan, Four provinces of Gansu.

As for the cabinet, with Ning Zhongjing, Cui Wancai and a group of ministers watching, Ning Yu can naturally relax and don't need to pay too much attention.

At the current stage, Ning Yu knew that even though the Northern Expedition still needs a year of accumulation, the southwest direction needs to be moved first, and the Qing court should not be allowed to move other thoughts on the southwest, otherwise it will be tidied up when the time comes. It has become more difficult, so the battle in the Southwest should not be slowed down.

The General Staff Headquarters of the Nanjing Privy Council is located in the imperial city. It is a large courtyard with several entrances. There are signs of the Privy Council and the General Staff Headquarters at the door, and many guards are patrolling the door.

After the establishment of Ningchu, the Privy Council was on the same level as the Executive Yuan in terms of rank, so the original General Staff Office, General Armament Office, General Logistics Office, and General Training Office and other institutions under its subordinates were also upgraded and became Zhengerba. The Ministry of the Department of the Yamen.

As the original Chief of the General Staff Department, Dong Ce's rank has naturally risen accordingly, becoming the Deputy Chief of the General Staff Department, and the key position of Chief Minister is held by Deputy Privy Envoy Cheng Ming.

For Dong Ce, who is in his early twenties this year, his rate of ascension is surprising enough, because in the military system of the Fuhan Army, there will be an organization at the level of the Group Army in the future. Wait, so he is now the deputy chief of the general staff, and he will be the chief of staff of the group army when he is released in the future. Compared with the others in the Young Eagle Battalion, Dong Ce is still in the lead.

In addition to Dong Ce, Xu Chengliang, Ning Tieshan, Li Shihu and Chang Youcai have also stepped up to the level of division commander or deputy division commander, and their positions are not low in general, basically occupying the main positions in the current army. .

In the eyes of later generations, the current leadership of the Fuhan Army is almost frighteningly young. The average age of all division commanders combined is no more than 26 years old, which can be called a group of extremely young generals.

Of course, this kind of situation will only appear in this special age, and even if these division heads are in their early 20s, they have all been fighting on the battlefield for several years, and the life and death they have experienced is not counted. Less, the accumulated experience is also extremely rich.

A group of men dressed in neat Fuhan army uniforms hurried towards the yard. Apart from being checked at the door, they were hardly obstructed and entered the most critical place of the Privy Council.

"Report! Deputy Minister, I have urgent military affairs to see."

"Please come in."

I saw a large amount of documents and materials piled up on a large desk, and Dong Ce buried his head in it, writing vigorously.And behind him, hung a large map of the provinces in the Southwest, on which many curved lines were drawn with pencils.

Among the officers who came in, the leader gave a military salute to Dong Ce with a look of excitement on his face.

"Deputy Minister, report from Major Lin Yun! The Southwest Eagle Project has been officially launched, and here are all the operational materials." Then, a thick file bag was placed on Dong Ce's desk.

Dong Ce glanced at the crowd, with a smile on his face, and said softly: "Major Lin has worked hard. The Southwest Eagle Project this time is really not easy. It is really not easy for you to achieve this step. I will reward you."

Lin Yun had some hesitation on his face, "Deputy Minister, I have something I want to ask the Minister, is our army going to enter the Southwest?"

Hearing Lin Yun's question, Dong Ce's expression became a little serious, "You are an old man from the General Staff Office, you should know what to ask and what not to ask, this is not something you should know, understand? "

"Yes, I know my mistake in my humble position, so I will resign."

After the group left, Dong Ce opened the file bag and looked at the piles of documents inside, with a hint of excitement in his eyes.

With this thing, the odds of winning the battle in the southwest must be increased by at least [-]%!

The Southwest Eagle Project is a plan formulated by the General Staff Office and the Military Intelligence Department. The plan has been launched since the first year of the revolution. The General Staff Office and the Military Intelligence Department selected soldiers from Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and other native places in the army and received special training. After that, they were secretly dispatched to Yunguichuan and other places, and used various means to find out all the defense positions of the Qing army in Yunguichuan, as well as relevant geographical, humanistic, meteorological and other information, and summarized them.

The confidentiality level of the plan is Class A, which means that the identities of all spies are top secret, and all the information and materials investigated are also top secret, and will be directly submitted to the General Staff, and will not be transferred to anyone in the middle. The details of the plan were presented directly to His Majesty by the General Staff, along with the formulation of the operational plan.

Although this project has only been carried out for one year, and many confidential things have not been obtained, in this day and age, intelligence collection on such a large scale is itself very rare, so it is enough for the General Staff In terms of the plan, increase the chance of winning by three points.

All is ready except for the opportunity.

Dong Ce took the document and went directly to the palace to meet Ning Yu.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the Southwest Eagle Project has been successfully completed, and there is no obstacle for our army to attack the Southwest."

Ning Yu was originally an advocate of the Southwest Eagle Project, so he had a deep control over this matter, so he took the bag of documents casually, and said in a low voice: "For this plan, the spies sent by the military suffered a lot of casualties. At least, I will give an explanation to their families, but the General Staff should take good care of these materials and never let the blood of the heroes be shed in vain."

Dong Ce nodded naturally. He is very familiar with Ning Yu's style of asking people first and then asking questions, so he is ready, "All the family members of the spies sent earlier have been settled. The family members are all first-class martyrs, and their children will become the children of the young eagles in the future."

"As for the information itself, the General Staff will add it when formulating plans and distribute it to the newly formed Southwest Army headquarters."

The so-called Southwest Group Army was also temporarily formed for this time to attack the Southwest. Although the commander and deputy commander have not yet been determined, the relevant troops have already begun to be mobilized, and the rest of the logistics materials are already in preparation.

Ning Yu nodded lightly, "I have to tell you a piece of news first, the shadow of the capital sent a message temporarily, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou has changed, from Yang Mingshi to Ertai, this person is not an easy guy to deal with , the staff department needs to make relevant responses.”

"E Ertai? This person is much more difficult to deal with than Yang Mingshi."

In the shadow and military intelligence department, there are relevant intelligence files for all officials above the prefect of the Qing court, especially for these important figures, we have redoubled our efforts to collect their information and analyze their character and behavior. To know ourselves and the enemy, Ertai, as a character in Yongzheng's pocket, is also very rich in information.

Ning Yu nodded, "In the process of Yongzheng's rise to power, this person played a very important role. Now he is transferred from Shandong to Yunnan Guizhou, but he has pinned on Yongzheng's high hopes and wants to use this person to hold us back. "

"Don't worry, Your Majesty, the overall situation in the Southwest has been decided, and the Qing court's change of general will not help. According to the plan of the General Staff, by the end of this year, the three provinces in the Southwest will be completely taken down!"

Dong Ce gritted his teeth. In any large-scale battle of this kind, the role of individuals is extremely limited. It will become an elite, but it is more difficult to deal with than Yang Mingshi, and it is just a little bit.

Ning Yu laughed loudly, "It's enough if you have this confidence. I won't hide it from you. Chang Shanwang will be the commander in chief of the Southwest Army, and Cheng Shumi will be the deputy commander. This battle will be the last before the Northern Expedition. !"

The last battle before the Northern Expedition, Dong Ce certainly understood the significance of it. To put it bluntly, it was a final large-scale integration. The new recruits recruited this year were integrated into the Fuhan Army by means of war. This process will be very difficult. Cruel, but once this battle is over, then the Northern Expedition will really be divided between life and death with the Qing court
Ning Yu looked at the north with his hands behind his back, and said quietly: "Once the southwest is over, next year's Northern Expedition will be led by me. You must understand my intentions."

Upon hearing Ning Yu's words, Dong Ce cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I am willing to go to the Southwest Army!"

"Haha. Dong Ce, you are a knife that I have been sharpening all the time. You know, it is not a good thing to be famous at a young age. You have been in the center for a long time now. I also know your inner impulse. It's your destination. The newly established No.15 division, how about taking it for you?"

In terms of rank, Dong Ce's current position should be positioned at the level of the chief of staff of the group army. Asking him to lead a new division is demeaning in itself, so what Ning Yu said is also an insult to Dong Ce. test.

For others, this level of position is naturally an insurmountable threshold, but it is not for Dong Ce. He knows in his heart who owns his future, so he has no embarrassment and kneels down. on the ground.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

From the division commander to the group army, Dong Ce has the confidence to overcome this mountain, and when he returns again, he will fully show his edge.

In May of the second year of innovation, Dong Ce went to Yichang Mansion alone to take office as the commander of the new No.15 division.

At this time, Yichang Mansion has gathered the second, sixth, and seventh divisions, and the newly formed No.15 and No.16 divisions are also undergoing intense recruitment. The source of troops will be local mountain people. Lord, and carry out related mountain training.

Due to various factors such as terrain and logistics, it is doomed to not be able to transport too many artillery pieces in the Battle of the Southwest, and even the use of muskets will have a certain impact, so melee combat is also the main subject of training.

For this battle, the General Staff finally gave the final battle plan. Changshan Wang commanded the newly formed Southwest Army's Second Division, Sixth Division, No.14 Division and No.15 Division with 4 people. The Yangtze River waterway went west all the way to attack Sichuan.With Cheng Ming as deputy commander in charge of the Third Division, Fifth Division and the newly established No.12 Division, they attacked Guizhou from the north via Guangxi, while the First Division under the command of Ning Tieshan attacked Guizhou from Hunan.

Speaking of which, there are a total of 8 people, accounting for about half of the current total strength of the Fuhan Army. They almost use the absolute main force to attack the southwest. The purpose is naturally to wipe out the three southwestern provinces in the shortest possible time.

As for the current strength of the Qing army in the southwest, it is mainly Yue Zhongqi. The part of the Northwest army he originally commanded followed him to Sichuan, and after taking over the green camp in Sichuan, the total strength is about 8. Among the 8 people, only the 3 people who belonged to the Northwest Army have combat power, and the remaining 5 people have relatively weak combat power.

Compared with the army in Sichuan, there were only less than 1 green battalions in Yunnan and Guizhou at this time, plus 4 chieftain soldiers, [-] people were divided into two provinces, which seemed a bit inconspicuous, only the two provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou The folk customs are tough, and the terrain is complicated, so it's not that there is no chance to maneuver.

Of course, for Ertai, the newly appointed governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, all this is almost a nightmare start.

(End of this chapter)