The Great Bandit in Kangxi Year

Chapter 173 Let the enemy get nervous first
The sun and the moon flew like a shuttle, and it came to the twelfth lunar month of 1673. During this period, Wei Donglai, supported by hundreds of new tiger squat guns, captured the entire Fujian, and completely expelled the forces of Geng Jingzhong and Zheng Jing, but they became stronger and stronger. The number of soldiers and horses has increased to 15, but Shang Zhixin in Guangdong still has [-] soldiers and horses to recharge their batteries. Wei Donglai can only stop, after all, Fujian still needs to be consolidated.

Geng Jingzhong defected to Wu Sangui with more than [-] remnants of the defeated army, and Zheng Jing's troops also suffered heavy losses. Although he had warships, he was unable to fight against the Ming army, so he could only harass everywhere. The warships of the Zheng Group fought against the Far East Fleet of the Netherlands many times, but they failed to take advantage of it. Instead, they lost dozens of warships. Zheng Jing returned to Taiwan in disappointment, indulged in wine and sex, and stopped meddling in government affairs.

Jiang Tao is very innocent and can only maintain sympathy for Zheng Jing, but he has been lucky recently, Huang Shuya, Fang Tong'er, and Xian'er are all pregnant, and the stone in his heart has just fallen, and he has also worried.

Fortunately, all parties were restrained, and there was no battle with the Manchus. The Qing army was repelled several times, and they became more honest. Wu Sangui even looked stubborn.

After three months of development in the Ming Dynasty, the strength has grown further. With a large amount of food and silver, Hubei has also compiled and trained 20 regular troops, based on the original 2 people, with Jiang Shi as the main general and Qi Datou as the deputy. .

Almost all the people in Hubei are soldiers, but they used to be militias and did not receive military pay, but now they have become a regular army, which not only pays military pay, but also has strict military orders.

Adding the 20, the number of soldiers and horses in the Ming Dynasty expanded to more than 800, but the gold and silver in Jiang Tao's internal treasury did not decrease, but instead increased to [-] million, not adding tens of millions of taels of pearls. Shi Baoyu, this is all the result of direct trade with the Dutch, tantamount to stealing Zheng Jing's job.

Among them, the gun guards have expanded to 5000 people, and everyone has guns and is well-trained. Among them, 5000 people use Dutch muskets, which are bought for 20 taels of silver. The average cost of muskets made by Jiang Tao is 15 taels However, the manufacturing speed of the Ordnance Institute is basically the speed of the expansion of the army, and military purchases are still necessary.

However, the flintlock gun is not as powerful as the Mielu gun. It weighs 7.4 catties, has an effective range of only 100 meters, and has no rifling, and does not use paper shell bullets and bayonets.

However, the gun has been refitted with a Mitsubishi bayonet and a special paper shell bullet. It is also powerful. It was named by Jiang Tao as a Dutch rifle. In fact, the musket refers to the matchlock musket, and the flintlock is close to modern guns. , can also be called a rifle.

The artillery battalion has also expanded to 5000 people, with more than 24 large and small artillery pieces. Except for a part transferred to Wei Donglai, the rest are stationed in the Xuzhou area. The previous [-] pieces of artillery above [-] pounds were sent to Jiangxi to guard against Wu Sangui. .

During this period, Jiang Tao also ordered craftsmen to build 2 armored vehicles. The armored vehicles had four wheels, 1.2 meters long, 0.7 meters wide, and 1 meters high. With the wheels touching the ground, the total height was 7 meter. The iron body is 300 mm thick, and the whole car body is a rectangular parallelepiped, but it is not sealed on the front. Can be used in combat.

Seeing that the new year was approaching, Jiang Tao saw that the army was strong and horses were strong, and it was the time of the Northern Expedition. He thought about it for a long time, and decided that he should fight the Tartars first, and then deal with Wu Sangui. , if he takes the opportunity to attack Daming, then he will be unnamed, and then according to the battle situation, he will plan other things.

So he recalled Wei Donglai, the general of the military division, and made Jiang Dazhuang the chief general to command the army in Fujian, and transferred Jiang Bao to be the governor of Fujian to be responsible for stabilizing the situation in Fujian.

As for the governor of Anhui, Huang Zongyan served as the governor, Dai Jiao served as the governor of Zhejiang, and Huang Zongxi was also transferred back to Jiangning.

As soon as they came back, Jiang Tao said directly: "This king is preparing for the Northern Expedition, do you have any questions?"

Wei Donglai, Huang Zongxi, Gu Yanwu and others applauded again and again, but Cheng Zhang expressed his worries: "It's good, but there are strong enemies such as Wu Sangui, Shang Zhixin, Zheng Jing in the south, and I'm afraid they will make trouble."

"Well, it's very possible, but we can't be so exhausted. In this Northern Expedition, the king will personally conquer, lead 20 troops, use Shandong as a breakthrough, and go straight to the Forbidden City!" Jiang Tao expressed his thoughts confidently.

Everyone shook their heads again and again, Gu Yanwu hurriedly said: "No, the prince is going to fight, who can live in the four directions, the prince only needs to plan a strategy, and it is better to choose a good general."

"Don't worry, everyone, listen to what I said, this is the reason why I called you here. I want to restore the Ming Dynasty's cabinet drafting system, and the four present are all important ministers of the empire. They will be the heads of the cabinet. Assistant and second assistant, who would like to be the first assistant?"

After Jiang Tao finished speaking in a serious manner, everyone was stunned. What does King Huaxing mean by this? Is he going to hand over power?The power of the first assistant is under the emperor and above ten thousand people. Everyone has mixed feelings and is grateful for Jiang Tao's trust.

After a long time, no one answered, Jiang Tao patted his forehead, laughed and said: "Okay, let's draw lots, whoever is drawn, anyway, everyone present is an important minister of the empire, no matter in terms of ability, or In terms of reputation, even this king can trust me."

Everyone also laughed.

Gu Yanwu and Huang Zongxi looked at each other, and said in unison: "When I get old and weak, I would like to be your assistant."

Wei Donglai continued: "This subordinate is dull, and I would like to be the second assistant!"

Cheng Zhang smiled wryly, only blaming himself for taking a step too late, so he simply stopped talking.

Jiang Tao knew the scruples of Huang Zongxi and others in his heart. If he ascended the throne in the future, the Huang family would become relatives of the emperor. They were afraid that their strength would cause Jiang Tao's suspicion. He has the military power in the whole country, and he doesn't care who is the first assistant, so he has no choice but to say firmly: "In this case, Cheng Zhang will be the first assistant, and Huang Zongxi, Gu Yanwu, and Wei Donglai will be the second assistants, but if there is any unresolved matter, I will ask the widow. Wait until after the New Year , this king will personally conquer the Qing dynasty."

Seeing that the matter had come to this point, everyone understood King Huaxing's plan, so they stopped refuting and took orders to leave.

The reason why Jiang Tao wants to personally conquer is that he is worried that the generals will not understand the new tactics, and that the generals will be reckless and lose the lives of hot-blooded men in vain. Understand the power of muskets and cannons.

A few days later, [-] soldiers with Dutch rifles were transferred to Jiangxi, and [-] troops were dispatched from Hubei to Jiujiang in Jiangxi.

Jiang Dazhuang led 30 troops to station on the border of Jiangxi, Jiang Shi led [-] troops to station in Jingzhou, the remaining [-] were guarded against the Qing Dynasty, and [-] militiamen were ready to go to the battlefield at any time.

The remaining [-] sharpshooters first drove to Xuzhou.

There are also a large amount of food, weapons and ammunition that go with them.

Han Yong, Yao Jun, Jiang Feng, Jiang Wushang, Chen Dajiang and other generals of the navy were also transferred back to Jiangning.

The wind is turbulent, the war is about to break out, Jiang Tao is fanfare, a series of mobilizations frighten Wu Sangui, and more than [-] troops are oppressing from three sides, how can he not be surprised, he hastily dispatched troops and generals, and sent special envoys to blame Jiang Tao Not keeping promises.

But Tu Hai, who was stationed in Shandong, sneered. He now has an army of 20, including [-] Mongolian cavalry, [-] Banner cavalry, [-] Banner-coated athletes, and [-] Manchu warriors with new firearms. There are more than a hundred red cannons, hundreds of other artillery pieces, and countless fortresses have been built on the Jiangsu border. When the rebel army breaks through the fortresses, they will face the most elite troops of the Qing Dynasty. No one can stop him, but cautiously, he still submitted a memorial to Kangxi.

(End of this chapter)