"General Zuo, don't fire any more cannons. The thieves have already escaped. Please pursue them quickly."
Seeing the smoke billowing from the place where his ancestors were buried, Kong Yin's eyes were about to burst, but he had no choice but to beg.
Chongzhen's pressure came down, and the Kong family had no choice but to pinch their noses and let the new army attack the mountain.
Zuo Mengeng was even more rude and directly ordered the firing.
In fact, the thieves in the mountains had already escaped, and everyone saw them.
Zuo Mengeng was secretly happy in his heart but serious on the outside.
"Soldiers never tire of deceit, how could they know that the thieves didn't have an ambush? If we fight another round, we must have good artillery coverage."
The artillerymen were working particularly hard today, and some of them even took off their shirts, shouting slogans while loading artillery shells.
Boom...boom...boom...
There is so much dust on Mount Ni that I don’t know what else is flying.
Kong Yinzhu covered his heart, heartbroken, wishing he could swallow the poison in one gulp, and fearing that he would not be able to face his ancestors after swallowing it.
Fortunately, Zuo Mengeng didn't go too far. After this round of artillery fire, he finally ordered the infantry to attack.
The two regiments spread out, formed a military line, and searched all the way up the mountain.
What can I find?
Nothing.
"Mr. Kong, thank you very much for the Kong family's strong support in suppressing the bandits. I will definitely explain the contribution of the Kong family in the memorial to Your Majesty."
Kong Yinzhu didn’t want to talk.
Zuo Mengeng didn't care and happily ordered the entire army to move forward. On that day, after making sure that there were no bandits on Nishan Mountain, the new army began to search and attack along the way.
After leaving a company to guard Xiaoguan Village and ensuring the safety of Qufu, they went all the way to the southeast to capture Fenghuang Mountain, Bailian Mountain, Jinjiading and other places, and established an airtight defense line in the southwest of Yimeng Mountain.
The advance of the new army did not stop until it reached Yizhou.
As a result, it was shockingly discovered that all the local officials in Pingyi, Fei County, and Yizhou had fled.
All the cities have been severely damaged. Looking at the past, there are only a few people living there. There is not even a single intact house to be found in Feixian County.
These places are inherently remote and poor, and being an official here is no different than being exiled. Under such circumstances, one cannot expect officials to have the determination to live or die with the city.
Even if officials in these places ran away, the court would not know.
Zuo Mengeng was so happy about this situation that he took over all three cities of Pingyi, Feixian and Yizhou without saying a word.
The Administrative Committee received the news, and Li Banghua personally came with a large number of administrative staff to take over the local power.
Zuo Menggeng did not care about the subsequent establishment of the political power. After leaving the army to blockade the west and south directions of Yimeng Mountain, he went to the eastern front alone.
Here, the Third Regiment of the First Division and the Second Regiment of the Second Division are already in place.
Mao Yuanyi and other generals were eager to wait.
Zuo Mengeng stood in front of the map and made action plans.
"Three regiments..."
The commander of the third regiment, Huang Sanhu, and the political commissar Jian Zongan hurriedly stepped forward, waiting for the order with joy.
Zuo Mengeng drew a circle in the northern part of Shandong with his hand and said: "The mission of your regiment is to start from the north of Lijin and sweep the northern part of Qingzhou, Boxing, Le'an, Changle, all the way to Anqiu.
The enemies are all yours to deal with."
Huang Sanhu was really happy when he saw on the map that the distance between his regiment's operations was hundreds of miles away.
However, he also had concerns and quickly raised them.
"Young Master, what if King Heng doesn't let us step on his property?"
Zuo Mengeng pointedly said: "You are all big and rough, you don't know a single Chinese character, and you don't know anyone. Do you understand? Anyone who stands in your way is an enemy."
It is said that the king of hell is easy to meet, but the little devil is difficult to deal with. To Heng Fan, Huang Sanhu and others are not little devils.
Facing Zuo Mengeng, Heng Fan could still impeach and cry. But when facing the big soldiers below, who should he turn to?
Huang Sanhu and Jian Zongan received Shang Fang's sword and executed it happily without any doubts.
The remaining two divisions and two regiments were personally led by Zuo Mengeng and Mao Yuanyi.
Their operational direction was to advance eastward from Zichuan, attack Linqu, eliminate the threat of Yidu, then join the First Division and Three Regiments before heading south to build the eastern defense line of Yimeng Mountain.
The reason for this arrangement is that the Second Division and Second Regiment were newly formed.
Although there are some veterans from the former First Division, the vast majority are new recruits.
Even the regiment commander Ai Wenkun and the political commissar Zha Shubing were only the deputy battalion commander and deputy company commander of the 1st Division.
There is no way. This problem will arise when the army is greatly expanded. Officers are promoted too quickly and have a serious lack of experience.
In fact, Zuo Mengeng could just let go and let these young officers practice hard and make waves.
But after all, they were the soldiers he brought out, and Zuo Mengeng was really reluctant to let them go to waste and sacrifice.
Ai Wenkun and Zha Shubing also knew Zuo Mengeng's good intentions, and they became more careful in their combat arrangements.
They were born into pure poverty. They used to sell cooking cakes on the streets of Linqing. They didn't make much money, and they were always bullied.
Later, when the new army recruited soldiers, they were among the few local people who signed up on their own initiative.
The initial idea was to look like an individual and then go back to seek revenge on the gangsters.
But when they entered the army, they realized that this place was completely different from the officers and soldiers they knew in the past.
Here, the superiors not only did not deduct the soldiers' pay, but also did not enslave them. They were fed and clothed, and they were taught to read and write.
Although the training here is really hard and the fighting is life-threatening, people in this era are cheap. As long as they have enough to eat, it's no big deal to work hard.
The two worked hard enough and were the first in the army to be literate over 1,000 characters.
During the battle at Qingshui Pass, they were the squad leaders of the Third Battalion and originally had no chance of fighting. But after the Third Battalion crossed the river to support them, they found an opportunity and led their own squad to outflank Shuotuo's headquarters and killed Shuotuo.
Trust.
With this military exploit, the two were promoted to officers.
Later, in several battles to suppress bandits, both of them performed well, so they were sent to the Second Division and served as the commander and political commissar of the Second Regiment.
When it comes to the appointment and promotion of generals, Zuo Mengeng has never been superstitious about historical celebrities.
He only looks at the records and performance of his subordinates. Whether this person was great or not in the original history is not within the scope of his consideration.
After all, the new army is different from the traditional Ming army. Its combat methods and organizational construction are very different.
It turns out that the so-called famous generals in history may not necessarily be able to stand out in the new army.
How many famous generals in our army were transformed from mud-legged men?
This is enough to show that an excellent general requires excellent talent, but he also needs enough practical training.
The most important thing is to give them a chance.
Furthermore, Zuo Mengeng always remembers that his ultimate goal is to change the unequal status quo of the world. In this case, of course, he must give more opportunities to ordinary people.
Otherwise, in history, anyone who is famous will be appointed. How is that different from the Ming Dynasty?
In the end, even if a new country was established, it would be just another Ming Dynasty with different classes and solidified classes.
This was his purpose in inserting Chen Zhi, Jiang Wei, and Wang Yun into the administrative committee, and this was also his purpose in doing so in the army.
At least for now, the performance of the regiment-level generals of the New Army, who are ordinary people, is not bad.
"We need to leave a company here in Zichuan to guard against the White Lotus Sect coming out. Your troops will be insufficient. Do you have confidence?"
The New Army has already been here in Zichuan. Yanshen Town over there is actually the northern entrance to the Yimeng Mountain Area.
Therefore, troops must be left here to prevent the White Lotus Sect from escaping from the mountains again.
After Ai Wenkun and Zha Shubing studied the march route, they said with confidence: "There is only one official road from Zichuan to Linqu. Our troops will attack steadily and clear the mountains on both sides of the official road first. Once the sweep is completed, we will not be afraid of leaving behind chaos.
The remnants of thieves.”
The White Lotus Sect's combat effectiveness is not strong. The trouble is that the various branches are very scattered.
Many times, three or fifty people form a group and occupy the mountains. You may call them bandits, but in fact they are no different from mountain kings.
But it's impossible not to exterminate them. There's no telling when they will come down the mountain.
Naturally, big cities in prefectures and counties are not afraid of such rogue bandits, but ordinary villages and towns will suffer disaster if they don't do it right.
This is also the reason why Zuo Menggeng took a long time to prepare before starting the campaign.
Seeing how steady they were, Zuo Mengeng naturally had nothing to say and let them act.
Ai Wenkun and Zha Shubing were both prudent and bold. In order to clear out the thieves in the nearby mountains, they actually divided the entire regiment into ten companies. Each group was separated by a few miles and drove into the mountain in a row.
Search and suppress.
This is obviously bullying. Each bandit group in the mountain has a small number of people. Even if each company fights alone, the bandits are no match.
Ai Wenkun and Zha Shubing also led troops respectively, and also arranged a very large number of communication troops.
In this way, even if you encounter a place that is difficult to attack, you only need to call nearby troops over, and you will immediately have a strength advantage.
In just one day, the eastern peaks near Zichuan were occupied by the Second Regiment. The most dangerous Dazhaiding, Yuhuangding and Panding Mountains were already exposed to the firepower of the Second Regiment.
Unlike other places, the thieves in these three places did not escape, but chose to defend.
Ai Wenkun and Zha Shubing were not polite, and immediately mobilized their troops to surround these three areas. They also pulled artillery up the mountain and prepared to attack by force.