It was getting dark when the camp suddenly became chaotic. Before Xiang Rong could react, a surrendered general opened the camp door and let the Taiping troops into the camp.
When Xiang Rong saw that the situation was uncontrollable, he decisively led his soldiers to fight out from another camp gate and got into the Purple Mountain on the side.
According to his previous breakout plan, he also wanted to escape from the trail on Purple Mountain, turn to Lishui, and go east to Su Chang in order to make a comeback.
The plan is good, but unexpected things always happen when the plan is implemented.
Xiang Rong crawled around in the mountains and forests, but finally fell into the hands of a person. This person was Huang Hao.
The reason Huang Hao knew about this trail on the mountain was thanks to the "guide" sent by Zhang Dongxu.
Unexpectedly, I actually caught a big fish.
Xiang Rong still had some integrity. He didn't want to fall into the hands of the Taiping Army, so he shot himself with the Huaihai Navy pistol he bought with a lot of money.
Even so, Huang Hao was happy enough. Xiang Rong was the chief of Jiangnan Camp. Even if he died, it was still a great achievement.
This time Huang Hao has another highlight in his list of achievements.
Now Huang Hao wants to laugh when he drinks water. When he was unlucky in the past, everything went wrong. Now things are turning around and everything goes as planned.
Huang Hao was thinking in his mind that he would have to find a prime minister no matter what if he returned to Tianjing this time.
The Jiangnan Camp completely withdrew from history, and the Qing court lost another field force.
Currently, the only field forces under the direct control of the Qing government are the Jiangbei camp, which is an empty shell, and the army in the hands of Shengbao Monk Gelinqin to encircle and suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Northern Expedition.
After the Cavalry Regiment of the Second Division of the Huaihai Navy and the Second Regiment wiped out the Taiping Army from Zhenjiang, they took advantage of the victorious troops to split into two groups and took Lishui all the way, which was the only place the Taiping Army from Tianjing must pass to go south and east.
The strategic location is very important.
Along the way, they recaptured Jurong, Jintan, and approached Zhenjiang. At this time, Luo Gang had successfully returned to the army, so the Huai Navy had no choice but to stop and consolidate the newly occupied territory first.
At this time, Dong Shuheng was in Yangzhou City. Yangzhou is now regarded as the administrative center of the Huaihai Navy. The military and political headquarters of the Huaihai Navy are all here.
Now the entire Huai Navy Headquarters is also extremely busy.
The original government in Changzhou has basically been paralyzed, so the military government must be dispatched to take over as soon as possible. This involves the mobilization of a large number of personnel and materials.
Fortunately, Dong Shuheng does not need to worry about these. Only some important personnel appointments and removals require his signature.
In terms of the army, there was only one Second Division facing the Taiping Army, which was a bit stretched in terms of strength.
So Dong Shuheng transferred two more marine regiments and two newly formed local garrison regiments.
In order to integrate the Jiangnan war against the Taiping Army, Dong Shuheng decided to establish the Jiangnan Military Region to take charge of the blockade operations against the Taiping Army in the east and south of Tianjing.
The commander of the theater is Peng Yulin, deputy chief of staff and commander of the Yangtze Navy Division, and Yang Bingchun, commander of the Second Division, as deputy commander. The theater oversees the Yangtze Navy, the second division, two marine regiments, and two garrison regiments. The total strength reaches more than 20,000 people.
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This arrangement was something Dong Shuheng had thought of a long time ago. When Dong Shuheng and Peng Yulin discussed the strategy for the Taiping Army, he had planned to arrange for Peng Yulin to be the commander-in-chief.
Under Dong Shuheng, it was easy to find generals to lead troops in battles, but there were not many who could lead an army on their own.
Soon Peng Yulin took office, which greatly relieved Dong Shuheng's pressure.
Originally, Dong Shuheng thought he could take some time off, but the report from the Nanyang Navy arrived.
Sigh...it really doesn't make people worry. The navy has helped itself to get into trouble this time.
Dong Shuheng's original plan was to develop in the Northeast in a low-key manner for a few years, build more farms, and move more people there.
But the navy actually killed Mao Zi this time, and even killed his entire navy. You must know that Mao Zi's navy is their precious pimple!
This is the rhythm of fighting Mao Zi. With Mao Zi’s militant spirit, I am afraid that Mao Zi will come to your door soon. There will not be much counterattack this year. But next year, when the weather warms up, we must be prepared to welcome it.
Maozi launched a massive counterattack.
Although Maozi is currently at war with Turkey in Crimea, Britain and France will also join the war soon and fight against Maozi.
But with Maozi's army size of more than one million, he can easily recruit 100,000 to 80,000 troops in the Far East.
At that time, how can the 1,800 people from the Far East defend Temple Street?
Therefore, Dong Shuheng must urgently give Far East a blood transfusion.
Dong Shuheng quickly asked Li Cunxun to find Wang Qianli, Minister of Transportation.
"Minister Wang, I need you to urgently dispatch a fleet that can transport 5,000 people at once, as well as their winter supplies."
"President, this matter is difficult to handle. The shipping capacity we can allocate in a short period of time can only meet one-third of your requirements. I wonder if we can lease foreign ships?"
"Yes, but you can only rent ships without official background."
"Then there's basically no problem."
"Okay, after the fleet is assembled, we will gather at Haizhou Port as soon as possible."
After sending Wang Qianli away, Dong Shuheng called the people from the General Staff.
"Old Yan, have you read the battle report in the Far East? I am planning to dispatch 5,000 troops to the Far East. What do you think?"
"The president is preparing for a rainy day. Recently, Old Hans and I have often talked about Russia. Russia is known as the military police of Europe. Its army is the largest in Europe, and probably the largest in the world. This is a difficult enemy to mess with.
"
"But the president doesn't have to worry. After all, Russia's center of gravity is in Europe. There is a distance of nearly 10,000 kilometers from its capital to the Far East. And there is no complete road network. Therefore, considering the limitations of logistical supplies, they will not send more than five troops at most.
Ten thousand. And the most likely possibility is to go down the river from the waters of Heilongjiang, because north of Heilongjiang are steep mountains and the roads are difficult to travel. It is difficult for large troops to march." Yan Shikun analyzed.
"What you said makes sense. But even so, we have to build the fortifications on Temple Street before winter. By then, as long as we can use the fortifications to drag the opponent in the Far East, their logistics will be able to pull them away over time.
We are overwhelmed. So we still need to send manpower and materials there. Lao Yan, where do you think we will send the troops?" Dong Shuheng asked.
Yan Shikun: "The Jiangnan area must not be touched. In the past, we had the Jiangnan Camp to help us attract the attention of the Taiping Army. Now that we are directly facing the Taiping Army, war will inevitably break out later."
Yan Shikun pondered hard, and suddenly his eyes lit up: "President, have you forgotten the Third Division? Now that the suppression of bandits in Shandong is basically over, the Third Division does not need so many people at all, and the Third Division has enough troops in Shandong
, even if manpower is transferred, they can be quickly replenished. Moreover, the winter in Shandong is also very cold, and Shandong soldiers will be more adaptable to the cold climate in the north."
Dong Shuheng: "Well, yes, how could I forget Cai Shusen and the others! In this way, your general staff will immediately draft an order to Cai Shusen and Lin Wei to transfer two regiments of infantry from the third division and add another
The cavalry battalion, with a total of 5,000 people, formed a Far East garrison brigade, with Lin Wei as the brigade commander. It headed for Haizhou and was ready to board a ship to the Far East at any time."
Yan Shikun: "Yes, President. I will make arrangements right away."
After sending Yan Shikun away, Dong Shuheng called in the Logistics Minister Han Yun.
Dong Shuheng asked Han Yun to sit down. Since Han Yun became the logistics minister, just in time for the expansion of the army, he was obviously much older than when he was in the company.
"Minister Han, there is a very difficult matter right now. Our logistics department needs to prepare winter supplies for five thousand people in the Far East in a short period of time. This includes food, down jackets, gloves, dog-skin hats and other warm clothing, as well as a large amount of cement.
Steel bars and other building materials. Moreover, the time is urgent and must be dispatched within a week."
"President, the other things you mentioned are fine. We have been producing them and have reserves, but we have no reserves for the dog-skin hats."
"Then mobilize all the villages and farms in Jiangbei to do it, saying it is to support the soldiers on the front line."
Dong Shuheng is also anxious. In the Far East, the cold winter is the biggest enemy. It is already the end of October, and winter will come earlier in the Far East than in the south. By then it will be completely frozen, ships will not be able to pass, and construction will not be carried out.
Therefore, he must transport supplies to Temple Street before winter comes. Compared to Sakhalin Island, Temple Street will be a priority area for construction. There are many Russian strongholds to the north of Temple Street, and they may even arrive in winter.
when attacking Temple Street.
In addition, Dong Shuheng also planned to build a small port in Vladivostok this time, because he knew that this was the closest ice-free port to the Far East and could be used as a temporary docking point for ships in winter. However, Vladivostok was still under the jurisdiction of General Jilin at this time.
This is not a problem for Dong Shuheng. There is a commander in charge of General Jilin in Jiangbei Camp. He has been doing business with Huaihai Company on mountain products from Northeast China.
After Dong Shuheng promised to give him one more shop in the Yangzhou Market, this person patted his chest and promised to help Dong Shuheng rent the port. It was so weird to change a shop to a port! No wonder the Qing government made Northeast China so popular a few years later.
A lot of land was given to Maozi. In their eyes, these were barbaric lands.
The Manchus rose up among the white mountains and black waters, but they had no feelings for that place at all. On the contrary, they hated the land with its harsh environment.
But Dong Shuheng was different. He knew that it was a treasure land. It was rich in agricultural, forestry and mineral resources. When society developed in the future, there would be tourism resources. Moreover, it had important strategic significance for China to control the Pacific Ocean.
In fact, Vladivostok at this time was just a small fishing village, and General Jilin himself might not even know that there was such a place under his command.
The Huai Navy was very efficient. Soon materials and manpower were assembled at Haizhou Port, and the fleet was in place.
Compared with Russia, the Huaihai Navy has a geographical advantage in reaching the Far East. Russia has to go from the Black Sea through the Indian Ocean and the entire coast of China to reach the Far East. But the Huaihai Navy's ships can arrive in just one week.
Of course, Russia can also take the Arctic Ocean route in the summer, but there are no professional icebreakers yet. Navigating the Arctic Ocean with a sailboat is called adventure, and only explorers will do it.
The advantage of the Russians is that they already have a certain strength in the Far East and have been operating and developing it for a long time. They are more familiar with the area than the Huai Navy, and the Huai Navy started from scratch.