If Xianfeng knew that Hermione had died, he would definitely not be able to sleep.
Now he realized that he felt safer when Hermione was around.
Without Hermione, Xianfeng didn't even dare to open the letter himself.
It was only after Andehai came back that he helped Xianfeng open the letter.
The content of the letter was very simple, but Xianfeng was so angry that he almost vomited blood after reading it.
Dong Shuheng is simply too deceptive!
The main idea of Dong Shuheng's letter is: "Xianfeng, as the emperor, do you only dare to play these little tricks? Your old dog named Hermione is very annoying, so I will help you cook it this time."
"In addition, this matter is not over yet. Banditry has been serious in Zhejiang and Fujian recently. Our Huaihai Navy has nothing to do, so it is our duty to restore peace to the local people."
Dong Shuheng's request is very simple. Because of the little trick you made this time, I want to punish Hermione, the person directly responsible, and at the same time transfer Zhejiang and Fujian to my Huaihai Navy.
This is a naked slap in the face.
"Bang!" Xianfeng slapped the letter on the table.
Even if my hand hurts, I don't feel it.
"Andehai, hurry up and send the Minister of Military and Aircraft to the imperial study to discuss matters!" Xianfeng said with heavy breaths, obviously very angry and had not calmed down yet.
As an emperor, Xianfeng's energy-raising skills were not enough.
Dong Shuheng naturally would not explain his strategic purpose to the Qing court in advance.
When Xianfeng saw this letter, Huai Haijun had already started to take action.
As for the Huai Navy's domestic battles, they always make decisions before taking action.
Dong Shuheng did not want to bring harm to the country in the unification war. Therefore, he would never attack by force if a battle could be avoided.
A city that can be opened with special forces cannot be opened with artillery.
Jiangning, the Presidential Palace, the west wing and the east wing of the original front hall of the Tianwang Palace are all allocated to the military department. For convenience of naming, the three headquarters of the army are usually collectively referred to as the military department to the outside world.
Since the military government has more departments, it has a separate headquarters, which is located in the former Beiwang Mansion.
The main hall where Hong Xiuquan used to go to court has now been transformed into a large conference room. The dragon seat has been replaced by a rostrum.
His Royal Highness has rows of seats and long tables. The side hall where the kings used to discuss politics was converted into a small conference room.
Normally, when Dong Shuheng has something to discuss with the heads of various departments, he usually comes here.
Today, Dong Shuheng is here to formally deploy the war effort to occupy Zhejiang and Fujian.
Why occupy these two provinces?
Naturally, Dong Shuheng did not do it on a whim. This was decided after unanimous discussion by the senior leaders of the Huaihai Navy.
First, these two provinces, like Liangjiang, are provinces with developed commerce and trade. Only after annexing the two provinces can Huaihai Navy control foreign trade.
Second, these two provinces are located in the south. If they take action, the Qing government should have the lightest reaction.
Third, the Huai Navy has already completed the penetration of these two places. By combining internal and external forces, the occupation can be easily completed.
Fourth, Huai Haijun has actually formulated a timetable for the elimination of the Qing Dynasty. This operation is to realize the first part of the timetable.
At present, only a few people within the Huaihai Navy know about the timetable for the destruction of the Qing Dynasty.
In other words, everything Huai Haijun is doing now is done according to that timetable.
This timetable fully considered the interests of the Huai Navy and also estimated the possible response of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
This time it is not only the Huai Navy that is being mobilized, but the strength of the Renaissance Association across the country must be mobilized. Not only is the Huai Navy preparing, but Hubei Zuo Zongtang's Hubei Army is also preparing.
"Everyone, Minister Ma Zongwu has just introduced the reorganization situation of the army. However, the combat effectiveness of the new army needs to be verified on the battlefield."
"Our goal this time is very simple, which is to capture the two provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian and connect the entire southeast together."
"Commander Yan, please tell us about the situation in Zhejiang and Fujian."
"He is the president. Zhejiang Province currently governs 11 prefectures in Hangzhou, Huzhou, Jiaxing, Yanzhou, Quzhou, Jinhua, Chuzhou, Wenzhou, Taizhou, Shaoxing, and Ningbo; Dinghai 1 Zhili Hall; Haining 1 Sanzhou; Yuhuan, Shi There are two separate halls in Fucheng; it governs a total of 75 counties. Governor He Guiqing has just been transferred to the post of governor of Zhejiang on September 21."
"He Guiqing has been serving as a Beijing official and has no experience in running the army. He likes to talk a lot and likes the clean style. After He Guiqing took office, he did nothing in Zhejiang. He only collected taxes and money and prepared to be escorted to Beijing to please Xianfeng, because no matter how wealthy the people in Zhejiang were, Ordinary people don’t like this person.”
"Zhejiang currently has eight banners and a total of more than 34,000 green troops. Admiral Deng Shaoliang, a native of Qianzhou, Hunan, has a military background. He had been fighting with the Taiping Army with Xiang Rong before. This man was quite brave in fighting, but he was not good at running the army. .Most of his soldiers are causing trouble to the countryside."
"Zhejiang has not organized or trained a new army, and He Guiqing did not focus on the army after arriving in Zhejiang."
"Most of the troops stationed in Zhejiang are stationed in the coastal areas of Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Taizhou. These are rich and prosperous places, and the troops are stationed here for the convenience of getting food."
…
Yan Shikun briefly introduced the situation in Zhejiang controlled by the Huai Navy. The specific local defense situation was naturally sent directly to the commander of the main offensive force.
"Just now, Chief of Staff Yan introduced the situation in Zhejiang. Now let me tell you the bottom line." Dong Shuheng then added.
"Our power in Zhejiang is mainly concentrated in Huzhou. Huzhou Magistrate Li Cunwen has already joined us, and now he has 5,000 regiments under his command, commanded by Niu Jie. The actual organization of this regiment is the Zhejiang Garrison Brigade. It can be considered that we have been deploying A nail in Zhejiang.”
"In addition, our Taihu navy can go down the river at any time and lead the Zhejiang garrison brigade directly to Hangzhou."
When Dong Shuheng said this, everyone suddenly realized that Dong Shuheng's security company commander was not an ordinary company commander. Everyone basically knew him. Only now did everyone know where Niu Jie was. No wonder he disappeared after leaving the security company.
"This time we attack Zhejiang, we will use Niu Jie's Zhejiang garrison as the vanguard. With their status, they can catch the enemy by surprise. The first city we occupy is Hangzhou. After controlling Hangzhou, we can paralyze the Qing government's command in Zhejiang. .At that time, it will only be a matter of time before we can capture other prefectures.”
"In addition, Peng Yulin led the instructors to follow the garrison brigade into Zhejiang and took full command of the war in Zhejiang."
"Next, Lao Yan will introduce the situation in Fujian."
"Everyone, Fujian has eight mountains, one water and one farmland. The whole province is mostly mountainous. Only the eastern coast is slightly flatter. Maritime transportation is developed, but there are very few roads in the interior."
"Fujian has jurisdiction over 9 prefectures: Fuzhou, Funing, Jianning, Shaowu, Yanping, Tingzhou, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, and Xinghua; Longyan, Yongchun, 2 Zhili prefectures; Xiamen City, Yunxiao 2 Santing; and 58 counties in total. .In addition, there is the Taiwan government, because Keelung has set up a military port for the Nanyang Navy, which is now basically in our hands."
"The governor of Fujian is now Lu Quansun, who is from Changshu, Jiangsu. He previously cooperated with Wang Yide, the governor of Min and Zhejiang, to suppress the Xiaodaohui uprising, and his performance was quite brilliant."
"However, Lu Quan and Sun's clans are all in Changshu, so there is a chance to fight for it." After saying this, Yan Shikun paused for a moment.
Dong Shuheng looked at Zeng Xianzhang: "Can the Prime Minister find a suitable person to be a lobbyist?"
Dong Shuheng took over the conversation, looked to Zeng Xianzhang aside and asked.
"Lao Yan told me about this before, and I sent someone to inquire about it. Now the director of the Suzhou Military Government's Agricultural Bureau is Lu Yijian, who is Lu Quansun's cousin. Maybe we can ask him to go there. Of course we are here
We still need to send someone to cooperate.”
"Okay, this is the best. The Intelligence Department will send someone to cooperate." Dong Shuheng ordered Zheng Jian who was sitting there and had not said a word.
"As for Wang Yide, he is an official from Shandong. He has a good reputation in Fujian. He also has a good way of managing the army."
"Fujian has mountains and sea at its back. The land is barren, and the people are brave and fierce. There are many armed fights in the place, and the people are tough. Wang Yide recruited all the tough people among them into the army and paid them enough military pay. These people were grateful to Wang Yide, and their fighting power was outstanding.
."
"So if this person cannot be won over, he will be our biggest enemy."
"Fujian currently has more than 10,000 Green Camp soldiers and more than 10,000 New Army soldiers, less than two towns. They were all selected from previous regiment training. Most of the foreign guns used by the New Army were purchased from foreign merchants in Xiamen."
Yan Shikun continued.
After listening to what Yan Shikun said, everyone understood that Fujian was much more difficult to fight than Zhejiang.
"No need to worry about Fujian. I will personally lead the troops and board the warships of the Nanyang Navy to attack the coastal areas of Fujian."
"Yang Bingchun!" Dong Shuheng ordered to Yang Bingchun, commander of the Jiangxi Military Region on the left.
"exist!"
"Your Second Division of the Jiangxi Military Region is responsible for the three prefectures of Shaowu, Yanping, and Tingzhou in the west. Remember, your biggest enemy is the steep Wuyi Mountains. There are no major roads between Fujian and Jiangxi. You can only march through the small roads between the Wuyi Mountains.
But you have to wait for the Nanyang Navy to arrive and launch together, so you have enough time to march."
"In addition, you must also arrange the defense tasks in Jiangxi. Hunan to the west and Guangdong to the south are very likely to follow the orders of the Qing army and launch an attack on Jiangxi."
"So this time I am not deploying troops from Jiangxi. Your local garrison in Jiangxi is also the strongest among all provinces. Therefore, you must arrange defensive tasks before departure." Dong Shuheng continued to arrange.
Fujian is actually a very isolated province. This province is surrounded on three sides by the Wuyi Mountains, Yandang Mountains, and Daiyun Mountains. However, its coasts are mostly natural harbors. Therefore, the army attacking from the sea led by Dong Shuheng will be the main force.
"Commander Peng, you also need to send a regiment to follow the fleet." I will put it down in Ningbo and attack and occupy the Ningbo area from the sea." Dong Shuheng said to Peng Yulin again.
The Nanyang Navy has a base in Zhoushan, which is very close to Ningbo Port.
The Qing army had a fort in Ningbo. If it launched a frontal attack, it would definitely cause damage. In addition, the Huai Navy did not want to destroy this fort.
This fort is a heroic fort that once fought against the British navy in the First Opium War.
Dong Shuheng also hoped to rely on this original Zhenhai Fort to improve Zhejiang's coastal defense construction.
Fortunately, the Nanyang Navy was usually stationed in Zhoushan, and the Qing army had already relaxed its vigilance. As long as it could deceive the Ningbo Fort, it would not be difficult to capture Ningbo.
Dong Shuheng was so eager to capture Min and Zhejiang because he was actually worried that the great powers would interfere in Dong Shuheng's unification war through the coastal areas in the future.
With the establishment of the Huai Ke Group's arsenal in Jiangning, the Huai Navy now has the ability to produce large-caliber coastal defense artillery.
Even though the new factory has not yet been put into production, the old factory in Dafeng has already produced 280mm caliber artillery with the technical support of Krupp.
The single weight of this kind of artillery reaches nearly 20 tons. At present, it is enough for the Huaihai Navy's coastal defense needs.
The 305mm naval gun that the British Royal Navy is proud of has not yet come out. So with these 280mm coastal defense guns, Dong Shuheng has the confidence to fight against the British battleships.
Moreover, Huaihai Navy's coastal defense artillery also has the advantage of range.
The interrupted threaded cross-wedge gun bolt developed by Krupp solved various problems of breech-loading guns. Breech-loading allowed the gun's caliber to be increased.
In other words, the artillery can be made longer, so that the shells can shoot farther. However, the previous muzzle-loading guns had to be loaded from the muzzle, so the length of the barrel was limited.
Of course, the larger the diameter of the gunpowder, the higher the requirements for the strength of the gun barrel. The advancement of steelmaking technology is also one of the secrets of Krupp's future dominance in the military industry.
You can still see large 280mm coastal defense guns like this in many scenic spots in later generations. Many of them were used until the middle of the 20th century, and they can be said to have made outstanding contributions to China's coastal defense.
This is a cannon of great significance to the times. Dong Shuheng feels that they should have a place in China's maritime borders today.
In the future, the Huai Navy will have larger ironclad ships, and they can also use this type of artillery.