Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 262 Tao Ranwo Xihuang (1)

"General Wang, the attack on Kaizhou is just a bluff. For us, the Japanese are a serious concern." Zhao Xingde persuaded patiently, "The Japanese occupied Baozhou and have not moved. Now suddenly intercept the raft cargo ship on the river , What kind of taxes are we going to collect? It is clearly testing our strength. Although Xingzhi has been in the Central Plains for a long time, he has also heard that Mr. If we ignore it, there may not be no attempt to go up the Yalu River and take all of Taibai Mountain."

The generals of the surrounding Han army showed nervous expressions, but Wang Hengzhi still frowned and did not answer.Han Ningshuang made the decision to manage Suzhou Guannan, and he had to send troops to cooperate, but the foundation of Taibai Mountain could not be lost.After pondering for a long time, Wang Heng raised his head, looked at Zhao Xingde and said, "As General Zhao expected, how long will it take to attack Baozhou?"

Zhao Xingde was secretly happy, but it didn't show on his face. "Baozhou is not far from here. If it's [-] days soon, if it's [-] days later, there will be a result."

Wang Hengzhi's eyes showed doubts, and he asked: "After twenty days, there is no result?"

"Then I will retreat immediately and attack Kaizhou with General Wang." Zhao Xingde said with a half-smile. On the map, Baozhou is only tens of miles away from the mouth of the Yalu River, and the city is very close to the river bank.As long as Li Sihai's gun boats arrive, Xia Guo cannons can bombard Baozhou City directly on the river. The Japanese had no weapons to do anything against him.

Wang Hengzhi couldn't believe it, and he didn't want to waste food and grass for this, so he made a condition: "General Zhao also knows that our army is short of food. If we want to send troops, each soldier will have five liters of food per day. If there is no food and grass, we will Then we won’t be able to send troops.” A smile appeared in Zhao Xingde’s eyes, he nodded and said: “Then it’s a deal.” He promised readily, Wang Heng was afraid that he would go back on his word, and said: “My village has recently recruited more than [-] people , Ding Zhuang has all been conscripted as soldiers, plus the brothers from the village in the north who have come to join us, there are now more than [-] soldiers, how many troops does General Zhao want us to send?"

For ordinary soldiers, three liters of grain for a solar eclipse is equivalent to more than a catty of food.The ration of five liters per person per day implied by Wang Hengzhi implied water content, and if Xia Guo not only wanted to provide food and grass for sending troops, but also had surplus as a reward for sending troops.

Zhao Xingde secretly scolded the old fox, this head is actually used to calculate the food and grass rewards, Wang Hengzhi's real veterans are no more than 2000 people at most, but if the rewards are less, he will send all the worthless refugees to collect the food and grass, even more Not helpful at all.Zhao Xingde and Jin Changtai exchanged glances, and then murmured: "Naturally, the more the better, it's just that General Wang still has some soldiers and horses to guard the camp, and the Japanese Army has 3000 people, so General Wang also Send three thousand soldiers and horses to attack Baozhou with us." For the Han army, three thousand strong men are not something that can be discarded at will, and an old army must be sent as the backbone. fighting power.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Xingde didn't bargain at all, Wang Heng was secretly delighted, this scholar captain didn't know that Jun Liang was a prostitute, he was so stupid and easy to deceive.Unlike Xia Guoying, the Han army has so many methods of breeding, and they are worrying about food and grass for the winter.Wang Hengzhi was about to nod his head in agreement, but Zhao Xingde frowned and said again: "Oh, General Wang, there is still a little difficulty."

"What's the matter?" Wang Hengzhi was a little nervous. The 3000-day military rations for these 20 people were as much as [-] shi.He is only going to send out five hundred veterans, and the solar eclipse is three liters.Ordinary adults only have one liter and five hectares of food per day, and adding some leaves and weeds can also satisfy their hunger.Sending troops for [-] days can save nearly two thousand shi of military rations.Now he is afraid that Zhao Xingde will not attack Baozhou.

"The reason for sending troops to deter the Japanese is for the benefit of you and me. Now that our battalion is required to pay for the military rations, I'm afraid Zhao will not be able to explain to the Huguo Mansion or the General's Mansion."

Looking at Zhao Xingde's hesitant face, Wang Heng was so angry that he didn't say anything, he felt joyful in vain, and said in a low voice: "General Zhao, the emperor does not send hungry soldiers. If there is no food and grass, I'm afraid, please forgive me if we love someone." Help." His words went too far, and Jin Changtai replied angrily: "Since we are so ruthless, there is nothing we can do about the battle of Kaizhou. Do you want my battalion's cannons to help you attack the city? No!"

Being robbed by the merchant Jin Changtai, all the generals of the Han army behind Wang Hengzhi couldn't help but turned into anger. They all glared at him, pointed at him and said, "You, you, you." But they didn't say why.

"Jin Sima, don't be rude." Zhao Xingde arched his hands to Wang Hengzhi, and said apologetically, "Please forgive me for not thinking carefully." A look of disappointment flashed in Wang Hengzhi's eyes, and Zhao Xingde said again: "General Wang, I think about it, There is also a remedy. Since my battalion has more military rations, no matter whether Baozhou City can be defeated or not, the taxes collected from passing ships on the river in Baozhou in the future will belong to our battalion," he was a little displeased. She smiled sheepishly, "Although Baozhou is not as good as Zhenhai Mansion, and there are no merchant ships, but the general will get the tax from this place, so it is better to turn over to the Huguo Mansion."

Hearing Zhao Xingde propose such a method, Wang Heng looked at him suspiciously for a long time.If it wasn't for the fact that the Han army had been entrenched in this area for decades and clearly knew that both sides of the Yalu River were either desolate or Jurchen tribes, and there was no taxation on the river, Wang Hengzhi almost thought that Zhao Xingde had set up a trap.He thought about it several times, but he really couldn't figure out why Xia Guoying wanted the right to collect taxes. The final conclusion was that it was indeed to hand over business to the Huguofu.Wang Heng faced his face with embarrassment and said: "General Zhao, although there are indeed no merchant ships on this river, it's hard to say what will happen in the future. Either way, you give me two thousand shi for military rations, and I will sign for you." I thought to myself, at worst, the cargo ships of the Han army will not pass through Baozhou, and they will not pay you taxes in vain.I really want to be 'forced' urgently, when the time comes, it's not the big fist that makes sense.

Zhao Xingde was a bit confused: "General Wang, the two thousand shi rations are a bit difficult, let's add another [-] shi." He said with some apprehension, "Otherwise, let's forget about borrowing troops."

"Forget it!" Wang Hengzhi hurriedly stopped him from retreating, patted his chest and said: "How can General Zhao watch the Japanese invade Liaodong? We are ready for this soldier!"

"Okay!" The two families agreed that three days later, they would join forces to meet at Baozhou City, and Wang Hengzhi said goodbye and left.He wanted to go back and gather his men and horses, conscript all those who dug grass roots, peeled bark, hunted wild rabbits, and dug wild ginseng, and rushed them to the city of Baozhou to eat army rations.The generals of the Han army didn't care to stay for dinner, but Zhao Xingde kindly hung a dozen marinated hare golden pheasants on the horses of Wang Hengzhi and others.There were only a dozen or so cavalry who went straight back with Wang Heng, while more than a hundred soldiers of the Han army, including Tong Yunjie, the Sidangjia, stayed in Xia Guoying to train artillery skills.

It wasn't until Tong Yunjie and others were settled properly and returned to the tent of the Chinese army that Jin Changtai couldn't help laughing and said, "It's too unkind, Wang Hengzhi has suffered a great loss."

Zhao Xingde had had enough of laughing at him, and said with a stern face: "He only needs food." After speaking, he also smiled slightly.According to his and Jin Changtai's plan, Xia Guo's navy and artillery are sharp, so the camps arranged for reclamation and housing the people will be distributed along the river in the future.Although real sea ships are difficult to manufacture, gun boats patrolling the Yalu River do not have to be built as strong as sea ships. As long as there are dozens of shallow water gun boats, add up to hundreds of guns and run on the river to bombard the enemy. , enough to get twice the result with half the effort.In this way, there will be more merchant ships passing by on the Yalu River in the future, and Baozhou, the mouth of the Yalu River, will definitely be won by Zhao Xingde.For some reason, Wang Hengzhi let Baozhou out without hesitation.

"Don't he know that the power to levy taxes is the most important power of the imperial court? By promising us to collect taxes on the Baozhou River, it is acknowledging that Baozhou belongs to us. And there is no boundary on the river, which means that the river and the coast are hundreds of miles away. It's ours." Jin Changtai looked greedily at the place one or two hundred miles up from the mouth of the Yalu River.

Zhao Xingde interrupted him unceremoniously: "Then we have to drive away the uninvited guests first." He said in a deep voice: "It is said that *** only has 30 troops on the northern border, known as the Guangjun, and they are sharpening their swords. Getting ready to get involved in Liaodong." His eyes fell on the map of ***, carefully checking which cities are close to the coastal rivers. Fortunately, *** seems to have the habit of taking rivers as dangers. Important cities, not It is close to the coast, beside the Datong River, Yongxing River, and Qingchuan River. "No wonder you have to suffer from Japanese pirates." Zhao Xingde secretly said.He didn't mean to defeat Mao Zedong in one fell swoop, but if King Qin insisted on intervening in the battle in Liaodong and embarrassing Xia Guoying.Shallow water gunboats went up the river to bombard the city, which was a way to seek peace.

"Notify Ma Rui first, the cavalry can roam around Baozhou to monitor, don't act rashly." Zhao Xingde gave instructions while meditating, and Jin Changtai wrote down his military order, and said with a smile: "The Japanese captured and released him." Ma Rui is definitely not willing to suffer from the raft’s strong men, and will arrest them who leave the city.” Zhao Xingde nodded and said: “As long as he is not stupid, he will use a cavalry centurion to attack Baozhou City, which is defended by 3000 people, and act arrogantly outside the city. It's quite possible." Jin Changtai smiled slightly, and according to the situation collected by the Military Intelligence Department, the Japanese army was stationed in narrow terrain for a long time, and was good at defending the city and fighting in water. A sergeant is not as good as a sergeant. As long as Ma Rui doesn't fall into an ambush by the Japanese, he should have no problem protecting himself.

"This time, Liu Zheng will lead a hundred crossbowmen to stay in the main camp, plus a garrison battalion. The other [-] soldiers will follow me to attack Baozhou. Jian Cheng will lead a hundred cavalry troops, and a garrison battalion will transport supplies back and forth. Food and grass." Zhao Xingde smiled lightly, "Driving to the city of Baozhou, let's see if the Japanese have the courage to go out to fight in the field. If they don't even have the courage, they will only be bombarded by artillery from two sides."