In the combat command room, basically all officers above the regiment level are here.
The reason why officers from regiment level and above came here is because the Huai Navy's operations are based on regiments as the basic unit.
"Everyone, time is running out. After the ship sets sail, everyone will return to their own ships. I am here to announce the combat mission."
With a collective sound, all the officers participating in the meeting stood up and paid tribute to Dong Shuheng.
It is a great honor for these officers to be able to complete a mission under Dong Shuheng's personal command.
As the generals of the Huai Navy gradually mature, Dong Shuheng will have fewer and fewer opportunities to personally command battles in the future.
"The Second Regiment of the Instructor was the first to disembark and land in Ningbo. But before the Second Regiment landed, the Second Detachment and the Third Brigade of the Special Forces Team had to capture the fort first. This is the most difficult nail in Ningbo Prefecture." Dong Shuheng looked at Lou Zhigang as he spoke.
.
"Yes, President, please rest assured that the special operations team will complete the mission." Lou Zhigang stood up and said.
"After the special forces team lands ashore, contact the people from the local intelligence department's operations bureau before seizing the fort. They will cooperate with you. We can look down on the imperial court in terms of strategy, but we should not underestimate the Qing army in terms of tactics."
"The defenders of Ningbo Fort also dared to fight against the British army! They are worthy opponents."
"The main task of the second regiment is to take over the fort and cooperate with the special operations brigade to capture various cities in Ningbo Prefecture."
"The entire Sixth Division went south with me. After arriving in Fuzhou, Gu Keli led a partial division of a regiment to continue south by boat to occupy Zhangzhou and cut off the road communication between Fujian and Guangdong."
"The rest of us will follow me up the Min River and land directly in Fuzhou. We will not go down to Fuzhou without a single blow, but we will at least cut off Fuzhou's connection with the outside world."
…
The meeting was very brief. Dong Shuheng roughly assigned tasks and answered some questions from the generals. By the way, he also mentioned some precautions for this battle.
At this time, the boarding operation on the dock has come to an end.
Among the people boarding the ship was a middle-aged officer with a rather elegant temperament. He was shuttling between several queues, arranging his team to board the ship in an orderly manner.
This officer looks very different. He has a strong and soft bookish air. Even if he stands still, it is easy for people to notice him.
This person's name is Li Xiucheng. He is 31 years old this year. He was born in Xinwang Village, Gongli, No. 57, Ningfeng Township, Teng County, Wuzhou, Guangxi in the third year of Daoguang's reign in the Qing Dynasty. His father's name is Li Shigao, his mother's surname is Lu, and they have Li Xiucheng.
and younger brother Li Mingcheng.
They cultivated mountains for others, "foraged for food," and lived in poverty. Li Xiucheng's uncle was a village school teacher. When he was eight years old, he took him to study for two years. He liked to read "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
"Water Margin".
When he was ten years old, life at home was too hard and he could no longer study, so he was called back to help his parents work to support the family. Li Xiucheng had been very talented since he was a child. When he was a shepherd boy, he took a long whip and tied it to the tip.
Holding the stone, he made a large flock of sheep obedient.
Later, with the help of his uncle, Li Xiucheng got the opportunity to help in a village school, where he helped while studying on his own. It was this experience of "helping workers in separate schools" that honed Li Xiucheng's "soft on the outside and strong on the inside" character.
character.
However, the income from the village school was of limited help to the family. Soon Li Xiucheng returned home. When spring came, he went to the barren mountains to plant orchids. In autumn and winter, he went to the mountains to cut trees and burn charcoal. He "lived the hardship at home."
"I can't, it's hard to live a full month", and I suffered the torture of being "alone and cold without food".
In the 24th year of Emperor Daoguang's reign in the Qing Dynasty, Hong Xiuquan and Feng Yunshan, two famous private school teachers in Guangxi, entered Guangxi from Huaxian County in Guangdong Province to propagandize and organize a God-worshiping meeting. They took Zijing Mountain in Guiping County as their base and developed to the surrounding areas, recruiting a large number of poor farmers from Guangxi and Guangdong.
"Mr. Hong" is known in every village and everywhere.
In the 29th year of Daoguang reign in the Qing Dynasty, Li Xiucheng's family joined the God Worshiping Society. Later, Hong Xiuquan and others revolted against the Qing Dynasty, and Li Xiucheng naturally joined the Taiping Army and became a holy soldier.
In May of the second year of Renzi of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Taiping Army left Hunan, attacked Wuchang, and went to the south of the Yangtze River. On February 14th of the third year of Guihao of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Nanjing was established as the capital and renamed Tianjing. At this time, Li Xiucheng was serving as Prime Minister Hu
Yihuang serves as the director.
In July, Li Xiucheng was personally promoted by the Eastern King Yang Xiuqing to become the commander of the four armies at the rear right, guarding the new camp outside Taipingmen.
In August, he was promoted to the last four supervisors and was stationed at Gaoqiao outside Yifeng Gate of Tianjing. Li Xiucheng was "hard-working in training, upright by nature, and worked tirelessly", and he devoted himself to "building camps and strongholds"
.Therefore, bosses at all levels appreciate him.
When the Huai Navy made a surprise attack on Jiangning, Li Xiucheng was stationed outside Jiangning City. Later, together with other Dongwang Palace guards, he surrendered to the Huai Navy under the persuasion of the Dongwang Palace staff.
At that time, Li Xiucheng was very confused. He didn't know what happened to Tianjing City and why the kings of Tianjing City killed themselves. He also didn't know why the Huaihai Navy suddenly occupied Tianjing City.
Without the order of King Dong, the garrison outside the city could only stay in place.
Later, Dongwangmei brought Dongwang's staff to the station and announced that everyone would surrender to the Huaihai Navy. She also told everyone about the situation in the city.
Li Xiucheng couldn't believe his ears when he heard about the civil strife in Tianjing City and the murder of King Dong by King Bei and King Yan.
How come they started killing each other just fine, and the clear demons were all fine, so why did they commit suicide among themselves?
If it were an ordinary low-level general, he would definitely not be able to figure it out. But Li Xiucheng had read the book, and the fights between these high-level officials in the book were normal.
Just like Songjiang in Water Margin, didn't he accept the imperial court's surrender in the end and sell out all the Liangshan heroes?
He just had hatred in his heart. So many old brothers from Guangdong and Guangxi followed the kings northward, and most of them died on the way forward.
However, these high-ranking princes did not want to make progress. With the ideal of completing the great cause and completing the efforts of their brothers, they only thought about fighting for power and profit.
If someone else came to talk to him, Li Xiucheng might just run away with his men and go it alone.
But Yang Ximei did a lot for Dong Wang's men. The soldiers were very convinced of her, even more than Dong Wang himself. Because she was kind to these Dong Wang's troops.
So Li Xiucheng chose to believe her. Since she said that joining Huai Haijun would do no harm to everyone, then there would be no harm.
Of course, Li Xiucheng was not just because of Yang Ximei's words. Li Xiucheng also knew some information about Huai Haijun.
After all, the two sides are bordering each other and have had several confrontations.
He even knew that the Huai Navy secretly supported the Taiping Army in the Northern Expedition, and that the Huai Navy destroyed more than 10,000 Shengbao cavalry in the battle at Langfang, Zhili.
He was sure that the Huaihai Navy was against the Qing Dynasty, but why did Dong Shuheng still hold the official position of the Manchu Qing Dynasty? Why did he directly destroy the Manchu Qing Dynasty when he was clearly powerful but could not afford the troops?
Li Xiucheng really couldn't understand this.
Later, Huai Haijun's actions in Jiangning made Li Xiucheng put aside his worries. They indeed did not kill anyone, including the family members and close men of the original King of Heaven and King of Bei. Not only did they not kill, but they also arranged a life for them.
In Li Xiucheng's view, Huai Haijun's labor reform was to arrange a new life for them.
In addition to being unable to leave the farm where they work and receiving education, those people can at least eat.
On the contrary, some of the gangsters who took advantage of the chaos in Jiangning City were arrested, and some of them who committed serious crimes were publicly executed.
Li Xiucheng and the brothers around him waited not long before they were all accommodated.
Some old and weak men in the army, as well as brothers who did not want to continue serving as soldiers, were arranged to work in Huai Haijun's farms or factories.
Isn't it the goal that they pursued in the original uprising to be able to farm the land safely and support their families?
Under the rule of Huai Haijun, as long as you are willing to work, you can have enough food and clothing. This kind of life is just like the paradise life they longed for before.
In the end, most people chose to retire. Only a few people liked Huai Haijun's treatment and wanted to stay in the army. All of them were arranged to attend the recruit training base to participate in training. They were then uniformly placed in the army.
Officers like Li Xiucheng were also asked for their opinions.
People like them who have been in the war for a long time and have no other skills are not willing to become ordinary farmers and workers. Naturally, they want to stay in the army.
Fortunately, Huai Haijun did not let them start as big-head soldiers directly, but sent them to the military academy.
I have long heard that there is a military school in Huaihai Navy. Before this, no one had ever opened a school specifically for soldiers.
However, Li Xiucheng usually likes to read, and he has even read some books by foreigners.
Therefore, he knew that there are usually military academies in foreign countries. Soldiers must undergo training in military academies before they can serve as officers.
Therefore, Li Xiucheng was full of curiosity about the military academy in Huaihai Navy. He was full of expectations for entering the military academy.
They took a steamer to Gaoyou.
Li Xiucheng knew that this kind of iron thing that emitted smoke from the chimney was called a steamship, and it was driven by the steam engine inside.
When foreigners came to Tianjing City, they took this kind of boat, but Li Xiucheng felt that their Taiping Army should also have such a boat.
The Taiping Army's forces were basically on both sides of the Yangtze River, and most of them were built along the water.
If there were such steamers, the Taiping Army would have occupied both sides of the Yangtze River long ago.
But the senior leaders of the Taiping Army did not notice this. They would rather hide the money in their mansions and in the holy treasury than use it to buy ships from foreigners.
On the contrary, when the Huai Navy was not strong at the beginning, it gave priority to developing a navy that could cross the river.
From then on, the Taiping Army relied on the Huaihai Navy for operations on the river.
If the East Palace had not negotiated a deal with Huai Haijun, the Taiping Army would have been blocked south of the Yangtze River.
This is Li Xiucheng's second doubt. Why didn't Dong Shuheng's navy directly attack the Taiping Army when he was so powerful?
However, some clues about this problem can be seen from the territory taken over by the Huaihai Navy from the Taiping Army.
The Huaihai Navy basically took over the Taiping Army's territory in Jiangxi and Anhui without any fighting. There was no Qing army in the area.
Therefore, the territory Huai Haijun took over was a completely blank piece of paper.
But in this case, another question arises. Could Dong Shuheng have foreseen the changes in Tianjing City?
It’s scary to think about it!
After entering the military academy, Li Xiucheng had a deeper understanding of the Huai Navy.
It can be seen from the education in the military academy that the Huai Navy attaches great importance to discipline.
The first thing every new student who enters a military academy has to do is to recite various regulations, including the "Health Regulations", "Work and Rest Regulations", "Weapons and Equipment Management Regulations" and so on.
Some generals with low levels of education were troubled. But this did not trouble Li Xiucheng.
The training and courses at the military academy are very intensive, especially for people like Li Xiucheng.
The military academy also has some full-time cadets, and those classes are less stressful.
In addition to participating in military training every day, Li Xiucheng and others learned and mastered various military drills of the Huai Navy.
You also need to understand the use and performance characteristics of various equipment.
All this made Li Xiucheng feel fresh. He was already eager to learn, so he really fell in love with it here.