It is easier to attack a city than to defend it. The capture of the two Hejian Prefectures in Baoding is just the first step in a long march of thousands of miles. Soon, the Ming army's counterattack will arrive. The real test will come later. Wan Lei is not afraid of difficulties and has the courage to welcome them all.
Difficult preparations. Besides, sailing against the current will not advance until you retreat. You have to fight for a better future.
After annexing the two Hejian Prefectures in Baoding, the area under the jurisdiction of the Peking Army more than doubled. Fortunately, to the south of Hejian Prefecture is the Yellow Flood Area, so there is no need to garrison it with a large army for the time being. To the east is the vast sea, which is watched by the navy.
Don't worry about it for now, so the only locations that really need to be defended are the northeast and west.
To the northeast is Yongping Prefecture, where more than 100,000 border troops are stationed. However, these troops have to guard against the Liaodong and Duoyan Guards and will not move westward, so there is no need to worry for the time being. As long as 20,000 cavalry are enough to contain them.
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To the west is Shanxi, Datong Prefecture is bordered by Shuntian Prefecture, and Zhending Prefecture is bordered by the river in Baoding. The borders of Datong Prefecture are filled with steep mountains and ridges, making marching difficult, so as long as artillery and a small group of cavalry can be used to defend it,
What is really difficult to defend is the border of Zhending Mansion, which is a plain with no dangerous mountains and no big rivers. If the Ming army counterattacks, large forces will definitely come from this direction.
Fortunately, it was winter and the weather was freezing. The Ming army, which was mainly composed of infantry, could not go into battle. Moreover, the court also knew the fighting strength of the Peiping army. If the Ming army wanted to win, it would have to use at least several troops as many as the Peiping army.
Times, if an army of more than ten or two hundred thousand is to be dispatched, it will take a month or two to prepare just the food and grass. Therefore, Wan Lei predicts that the main force of the Ming army will not arrive until the beginning of next spring at the earliest.
Of course, it is difficult to predict the small vanguard force, which may attack at any time, so the defense cannot be relaxed at all.
Defense can be divided into active defense and passive defense. Active defense means taking the initiative and using offense as defense.
However, the Peiping Army's current strength is somewhat insufficient, and a hasty attack may result in the front being too long and the front and rear being neglected. Therefore, the Military Commission headed by Zhou Tianshou did not adopt a plan to seize the opportunity to attack Zhending Mansion, and instead adopted a passive defense strategy, which is to actively shrink.
The defense line dealt with the counterattacking Ming army in Baoding Prefecture.
While the army was passively defending, the navy was taking the initiative. Navy warships took the initiative to attack the coast of Shandong, creating the illusion of a large-scale invasion of Shandong. The Ming army was afraid of losses in Shandong, so it would definitely dispatch a large army to garrison, so it could not concentrate on attacking the Peiping army.
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While the Peiping Army was setting up its defense line, Wan Lei was not idle. He lived in Baoding Prefecture for more than ten days and was busy with government affairs almost every day. While he appeased the people, he also selected local personnel to go to Peking for further training, hoping to cultivate talents as soon as possible.
Qualified administrators can take over public security and administrative affairs, so that the Peking Army can do its best to fight against the coming Ming army.
Wan Lei will not discriminate in the selection of officials. Although the main leaders of the two Hejian Prefectures in Baoding are selected from Shuntian Prefecture, the officials at the following levels must use local people. This can be more effective.
Management, and more importantly, it can play a role in uniting people's hearts.
While building the administrative organization, Wan Lei also moved thousands of families from Shuntian Prefecture to exchange them with some "good" citizens from Hejian Prefecture in Baoding. These families were originally residents, but they had lived in Peiping for a long time.
They are also very cohesive. They are deployed in various villages like "nail households" to strengthen exchanges and speed up the integration of people in various prefectures.
"Brother Zhou, how many prisoners of war are there in our Peking Army?" That night, Wan Lei finally met Zhou Tianshou, who was also very busy.
"More than 10,000, why did my dear brother ask about this?" Zhou Tianshou and Wan Lei have a very good relationship. They almost wear the same pants. Zhou Tianshou has the highest status in the Peiping army and has the highest military exploits.
He is popular among people, and officials at all levels are very interested in his face.
"More than 10,000 yuan is enough. I plan to build a road to connect the three prefectures in Shuntian, Baoding, and Hejian."
"Building roads? Isn't there already a post road between the three prefectures?" Zhou Tianshou was a little puzzled. It is true that the Ming Dynasty was very careful in building post roads. After more than 30 years of founding the country, post roads extended in all directions and were built in almost every state.
The Peiping area is an important border defense area. In order to facilitate the transportation of military supplies, straight and wide post roads were built.
"The road I want to build is different from the post road. This road should be called a railway. It is based on gravel and wooden slats, with auxiliary rails. The vehicles run on the straight rails. It can not only reduce bumps, but also increase power, and
It can also reduce maintenance costs." Wan Lei said with a yearning look on his face.
"Railway? How much iron should be used to auxiliary rails on the road?" Zhou Tianshou looked at Wan Lei with some shock. He said that good steel is used on the blade, but Wan Xiandi actually planned to use iron to auxiliary roads. This, this is too much
You must be a loser.
"I have already considered this. Since this is the first railway and the transport capacity is not too high, it will only be one-way. That is, only two rails are used, and each rail is ten meters long and weighs about 500 kilograms.
To build this railway, it is estimated that 600 kilometers of rails will be used, and the steel used will
There are about 30,000 tons of iron. This seems like a lot, but I have sent people to explore Baoding and Hejian Prefecture. Mineral resources are rich, and the reserves of iron ore and coal are even more amazing. As long as they are mined and transported to steel plants to expand production,
It is not a problem to produce tens of thousands of tons of steel a year."
"Well, brother Xian can just do whatever he wants. I'm a rough guy. I'm fine with charging in battles, but I'm confused about engineering construction." Zhou Tianshou scratched his head in embarrassment and stopped insisting. Anyway, Brother Wan Xian
Everything you do must be carefully planned and thought through clearly before you do it, and you won't be hot-headed.
Of course Wan Lei is not hot-headed. In addition to facilitating the transportation of resources, Wan Lei is also preparing to build steam locomotives. Maybe once this more than 200 kilometers of railway is repaired, steam engines will be built. By then
Changing the steam engine into a locomotive will usher in the era of trains. This is tantamount to giving a dragon wings to soar.
Of course, before trains were built, the rails were not useless. Although there was no powerful locomotive to drive them, they could be pulled by horses. All they had to do was make the carriages smaller, hold less stuff, and move slower. Overall,
In other words, on a straight railway, the carriage's transport capacity is much higher than on a dirt track.
In addition, the railway is not like a dirt road, which becomes full of potholes when it rains, making it impossible to pass without sending people to repair it. The carriage travels on the straight railway without many bumps, and the passengers are much more comfortable to sit on.
Railways and governments can even provide passenger and freight services to speed up the exchange of people and materials, thereby accelerating socio-economic and cultural development.
Therefore, even if tens of thousands of tons of steel are used, and even if a lot of manpower and material resources are spent, the railway Wanlei can still be repaired. After all, this is a major practical matter that will benefit the present generation and benefit the future. Unless a more convenient one is invented in the future
As a means of transportation, railways still have the largest volume of land transportation and are also the most economical mode of transportation.
Moreover, Shuntian and Baoding Hejian Sanfu are located in plains with gentle terrain. Building railways only uses more rails and wooden sleepers than building roads. There is no need to dig into mountains and dig holes like in mountainous and hilly areas. The cost is not too high, and there are no big rivers in the territory, so there is no need
It is relatively easy to build another bridge and build a road. We can also accumulate experience and talents by building the railway this time. In the long run, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.