Lin Gao Qiming

One of the hole cards
"...If the last trick doesn't succeed, the shortage of food in the city will soon make our army short of supplies, and finally we will be forced to withdraw. In my opinion, the trick of transporting food abroad is probably the spy who told Xiong Wencan that we rely heavily on logistics. , and then one of Xiong Wencan's vicious staff masters came up with it."

Zhu Mingxia nodded to Xu Xu, Xu Xu finished his speech, bowed his head and took a few more sips of tea.The next step is the second agenda item of the meeting, which is to discuss the future campaign countermeasures based on the intelligence analysis results.

The second item on the agenda was undoubtedly to make Zhu Mingxia himself the protagonist.As the de facto commander of the Wuzhou campaign, Zhu Mingxia had discretion over how, when, and to what extent.

At this moment, he is a little uncomfortable. He is obviously a dictator with one word and one word, but he has to take care of the democratic sentiments of the elders here.Of course, no matter what decision I make, no one will object, but formal democracy still needs to be done.

The battle plan has already been decided, and since the scouting report was sent to him a few hours ago, he has confirmed that the original battle plan will not change.Even if the latest pieces of information pop up now, it will have no effect on his battle plan.How to fight, and how to fight, no general will change his battle plan based on just a few pieces of information. It is the commander's decision that determines the outcome on the battlefield, and intelligence is only one basis for the commander's decision.

There was another silence. Obviously, everyone wanted Zhu Mingxia, the chief military officer, to speak first.

Zhu Mingxia naturally knew this, but he didn't intend to tell the truth about his battle plan, so he ordered Zhang Dapao: "Xiao Zhang, go and get the map."

Although Zhang Dapao is about the same age as Ruan Xiaowu, his qualifications are much worse than Ruan Xiaowu's after all. It is really difficult for Zhu Mingxia to invite him to participate in the meeting, but in order to maintain the comparison between the navy and army personnel of the participants One, after much deliberation, let's call him over!
A large-scale military map of Wuzhou and its surrounding areas was spread out on the table. Zhu Mingxia drank tea and rinsed his mouth, then gestured with his hands and said: "In order to find out the deployment of the Ming army, I sent a A reconnaissance team conducted reconnaissance around Wuzhou City. These young men just returned to the team a few hours ago, and a few were injured, so I will inform everyone of the reconnaissance situation first."

"First of all, the situation in the south of the city. The three gates of Dezheng, Nanxun, and Yangming have been closed, and the bridges on the moat have also been demolished. The shantytowns in the south of the city have not been found haunted by the Ming army, nor have Xiangyong and Shuiyong; There are a small number of Ming troops stationed in Beishan, with few firearms, and the weapons are mainly cold weapons; a large number of fortifications were built around Dayunmen in the north of the city, mainly ring-shaped trenches. Small artillery such as Langji, the number of Ming troops stationed is unknown, visually estimated to be about 600 to [-] people, and the weapons used are mainly long-range weapons such as bows and arrows, shotguns, etc. There are Ming troops patrolling in the west of the city, and Xijiangmen is the only city that remains open. According to observations, there are grain ships from the upper reaches of the Guijiang River unloading grain outside the Xijiang Gate."

"Didn't Lone Wolf say that most of the food in the city was shipped out?" Xu Xu asked.

"This is not contradictory. The reconnaissance report shows that the number of food ships is not large. Visual inspection can barely maintain the supply of the defenders in the city. It is obvious that the Ming army did not interrupt the long-term defense. Xiong Wencan's ultimate goal may still want us to eat Suffer and then give up Wuzhou City. Then, as the information shows, burn Wuzhou City, or conversely trap us in Wuzhou City and starve.”

"Trapping us in Wuzhou City? Is this useful?" Mond asked back.

Zhu Mingxia smiled and said, "I think Xiong Wencan's final thought is to appease, but he knows that he doesn't have the ability and confidence now. He Xiong Wencan will lose, but if the undefeated is so ugly, he has confidence in Xiong Wencan."

"Then let's hit Xiong Wencan's self-confidence again first. Since there are grain ships entering the city, there must be a grain storage point upstream. I suggest dividing part of the troops to search upstream and pull out this grain storage point." Zhu Quanxing suggested.

"It's not necessary, let alone whether this food storage point really exists, what if the food is shipped directly from Guilin? Is it really necessary to divide the troops and fight all the way to Guilin? And maybe it was given to us by the Ming army. The ecstasy array set up lures us to divide our troops and weaken our siege power. Is it possible that the upper reaches of the Guijiang River have already ambushed a Ming army, maybe it is the elite Xiong Wencan has at hand. It cannot be taken lightly."

At this time, Yang Zeng, the commander of the 8th Battalion who had been silent all this time, spoke. He pointed to a hill on the other side of the Guijiang River in Wuzhou City and said: "Then we will occupy this hill, set up artillery positions, and directly cut off the food supply of Wuzhou City. "

"This mountain is called Bangshan. The scouts reported that a Ming army has been stationed on it and has dug trenches on the mountain. The number of this Ming army is unknown, but the firepower is very fierce, and many of them are obviously made by us. Nanyang-style rifles, our scouts were found there, and there were casualties. Fortunately, the range and power of Nanyang-style rifles are limited, otherwise I am afraid that several of them will be left there."

"Nanyang style rifle!" Everyone was surprised.

"It's not surprising. Nanyang-style rifles are originally exported products. Although they are designated to be sold to only a few customers, they will lose their weapons if they can't keep them. It's not surprising that some of them have flowed into the hands of Wuzhou defenders. Xiong Wencan I made a lot of money when I was the governor of Fujian, and I have been the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi for the past few years. Isn’t it normal to buy dozens of Nanyang-style rifles and enough caps and bullets for a battle to equip his servants to deal with us? ? Don’t forget, there is a traitor who is giving him advice.”

"Grandma's bear, the enemy is so difficult to deal with this time!" Schneider exclaimed.

"Dozens of Nanyang rifles won't do much. But it also shows that Governor Xiong is on his feet." Zhu Quanxing said, "This is one of his cards, and there should be other cards. We have to guard against it. .”

"No matter how strong the enemy is, it will be defeated by the might of the Fubo Army! I have decided: the whole army will start attacking tomorrow afternoon! Yang Zeng, you lead the 8th Battalion to capture Bangshan, where the enemy has about 1000 troops. They must also know the importance of the Guijiang river, and they will not give up so easily. Bangshan is not easy to eat, so think of ideas, don’t fight hard. Also, they built a pontoon bridge at the foot of Chashan. If possible, don’t Let an enemy retreat from there." Zhu Mingxia began to talk about his battle plan.

"Yes!" Yang Zeng stood up and saluted, and accepted the order.

"Xiao Zhang, take the siege artillery company and land in the south of the city, clear the field of fire, and establish the artillery position."

"Yes!"

"Old Zhu, three companies of your camp are in the south of the city, and the remaining one is detoured to the east of the city, and the other is detoured to the north of the city. Set up a position outside the range of the enemy's artillery fire to confront the Ming army. Only confront, do not fight. "

"Am I acting as a suspicious soldier to attract the attention of the enemy? The defense of Nancheng is obviously weak. Are you planning to attack Nancheng?" Zhu Quanxing asked.

"No, the north city is the main direction of attack. The weak defense of the south city was obviously shown to us by the Ming army. The information we received also verified this. The enemy obviously wanted us to be fooled by tricking us into attacking the south city and then breaking the city. Afterwards, they will be burned. The Ming army will not accompany us to roast pigs in the city, we must first seal their escape route, and then compress them in Wuzhou City, and letting them set fire will only burn us.”

"understood."

"I will order a field artillery company to be deployed in the east and north of the city to support you. But cannons are still cannons. It is not an easy task for the artillerymen to climb the mountain with cannons. I expect to arrive at least one day after your troops are in place. .”

"Then what is our navy doing?" Mond asked.

"Smash cannonballs on the south wall of Wuzhou so hard that they think we are really going to attack from the south city! The siege artillery company will cooperate with you."

Schneider and Ruan Xiaowu didn't say anything, but they couldn't raise any objections to this plan. Apart from supporting the Second Mixed Brigade to attack the city, their Pearl River Task Force West Detachment has nothing to do.

So Zhu Mingxia announced the adjournment of the meeting and asked the officers of the Guihua people to go back and rest for a few hours, but the elders stayed and had other important matters to discuss.

The battle plan has been finalized, trap the Ming army in Wuzhou City, and let them burn themselves to death, but if the fire is really going to burn, how the people of Wuzhou City will deal with it is not up to Zhu Mingxia alone .

Although there is no concept of humanitarian disasters in this time and space, Wuzhou is also a large city with tens of thousands of people. Once the city is destroyed, these citizens will lose their livelihoods completely, and the Senate will have to bear the burden of the people's livelihood.

Theoretically destroy the outer positions of the Ming army, besiege them in Wuzhou City, and directly consume the Ming army until they run out of ammunition and food, so that the fire will not burn, and the people of Wuzhou will not die under the flames.But the long-term siege, the length of time to capture Wuzhou City depends on the speed of the defenders' surrender. By the time the defenders surrender, the people in Wuzhou City will almost starve to death.

It is impossible for Zhu Mingxia to delay the battle of Wuzhou for too long, and the long-term siege is not in Zhu Mingxia's choice.The supply system of the Fubo Army has always had the taste of supporting war with war, and the logistics problem has not been properly resolved.The supplies gathered in the rear were limited, and if it took too long, the mixed brigade would not be able to eat until the Ming army ran out of food.The veterans present here are all military officers, so they are naturally quite familiar with this.Xiong Wencan's daring to defend the city must have been reminded by the traitor, and he caught the sore foot of the Fubo Army's logistics supply system.

Volume 302. Chapter [-] of Guangzhou Governance will be updated tomorrow

(End of this chapter)