"Uncle Zhang, please rest assured. Now in Shangqiu, there are Uncle Zhang's men and horses, and there are also men and horses of the 14th Division, plus my men and horses. The three parties are surrounded. The momentum is enough to frighten the civilian army. Not to mention my nephew.
We have a detailed battle plan, and we are confident about recovering Shangqiu. I also ask Uncle Zhang to make it happen." Yuan Su said firmly.
"What advice does Ke Li have? You might as well tell him. If you are really sure of it, I will definitely give Ke Li a helping hand no matter how much pressure I bear." Zhang Zhenfang said.
"Our staff officers haven't arrived yet. How about we wait until they arrive tomorrow and discuss it in detail with Uncle Zhang?" Yuan Su said calmly, looking very confident. In fact
First, he currently does not have a complete battle plan, at least it is not comprehensive. The reason why he vowed to say that he has a way is simply to obtain Zhang Zhenfang's consent to support him in sending troops to Shangqiu.
It is not that he has no concern for the militiamen of the Bailang Uprising. Whether it is because the Beiyang Army is too corrupt or the Henan local army is too incompetent, the Bailang Uprising can develop from a few hundred people in just one year.
To tens of thousands of people, it spread from Henan Province to many surrounding towns. It is undeniable that Bai Lang has certain military talents, and the civilian army also has quite impressive combat effectiveness.
As a fledgling newcomer, he naturally would not become very underestimating the enemy and become arrogant because he faced a peasant uprising. One of the reasons why he was confident in fighting this battle was because he knew that Bai Lang was currently going to Shaanxi.
The second reason for the transfer is that Shangqiu does have the advantage of the right time, place and people. Thirdly, even though the third brigade is all new recruits, the weapons, equipment and training are superior to those of other Beiyang troops, so they will not be unable to use them.
.
"In that case, that's fine. In short, we must be more cautious about this matter. Leading troops to fight is not a piece of cake. What's more, it is such a sensitive time now and there is no room for any mistakes." Zhang Zhenfang said seriously.
"Keli will remember Uncle Zhang's teachings and will not take it lightly." Yuan Su replied solemnly.
That evening, Zhang Zhenfang hosted a banquet for Yuan Su at his residence.
I have to admit that Zhang Zhenfang's life is very luxurious. Yuan Su is very clear that the civil unrest in Henan is also affected by another natural environmental factor, that is, Henan's two consecutive years of drought and locust plague have severely affected agriculture.
As a result, farmers went bankrupt. Hungry people and refugees appeared in various places, and many remote mountainous areas were starved to death. It was precisely because of the poor harvest and the excessive taxation by the government that many farmers with no way out revolted.
At the beginning, Bai Lang only had a few hundred people and dozens of guns, but it instantly expanded to tens of thousands, and even several vassal forces appeared. This was all because many ordinary people had no choice but to join the resistance in order to have a bite to eat.
.Except for a small number of militiamen under Bai Lang's command who were regular military officers, most of them were ordinary bankrupt farmers.
There were only seven or eight people in total at this dinner tonight, but there were a total of forty dishes, and the huge table was filled to the brim. The key to the forty dishes is not the quantity, but the existing quantity.
It also has high quality, not only a wide range of delicacies from mountains and seas, but also some exotic game.
Zhang Zhenfang proudly introduced to Yuan Su that there were seven cooks in his house, and two of them were the royal chefs of the Imperial Kitchen in the Forbidden City. Twelve of the forty dishes today were made according to the recipes of the Manchu-Han Banquet Wanshou Banquet.
, they are five-spice sauce chicken tenderloin in brine, red oil duck, spicy noodles, osmanthus sauce chicken, tomato water chestnuts, oil-braised straw mushrooms, pepper-oil white fungus, Changchun deer penis soup, and skillfully roasted wild goose kites.
Yuan Su was not very familiar with the Manchu-Han Banquet. He only knew that there were 108 dishes in total. As for the Wanshou Banquet, he had no idea at all. After listening to Zhang Zhenfang’s introduction, he learned that the Manchu-Hanban Banquet is divided into six major recipes, and each recipe is used for
Different banquet environments, what ordinary people call the Manchu-Han banquet should be the second set of recipes for the courtiers' banquet, and this set of longevity banquets is said to be a recipe carefully prepared by Qianlong to celebrate the birthday of his mother. Later, certain improvements were made during the reign of Cixi.
The six sets of recipes add up to a total of 108 dishes, some of which have long been lost, and some of which have ingredients that are no longer available today.
Yuan Su had gained knowledge, but he sighed in his heart. Outside the wealthy families, there were people dying of hunger, while inside the wealthy families, the old bureaucratic society was really heartbreaking. However, he also understood something from it. Since famine and hunger caused many farmers to
If they rise up, they can definitely prescribe the right medicine and use relief methods to divide the militia. After all, most of the people in China these days are honest people. If the government doesn't force the people to rebel, it won't be like this. Since you can have food to eat, why bother?
Living with your head tucked into your waist all day long?
It was just a dinner party. Zhang Zhenfang arranged a residence for Yuan Su. Yuan Su went back to his residence and took a hot bath first.
He had to lament that in this era of war and chaos, only those in power could take a hot bath every few days.
Around eight o'clock in the evening, it was almost time to turn off the lights in the entire Governor's Mansion. There was no entertainment program at night. Either we took time to deal with official or military affairs, or we could only smoke a pot of cigarettes, or find something to do.
Several aunts and wives got together to play mahjong.
Yuan Su changed into casual clothes, and after thinking for a while, he decided to go out to find Zhang Hanling. As a masculine man, he has been running around for his career in the past two years. Now that his career has been somewhat successful, he should also develop his relationship.
As far as Zhu Xin is concerned, he has feelings for Zhang Hanling. Not only that, as Zhang Hanling is Zhang Zhenfang's daughter, if they can talk about it, it will also be helpful to his career.
Before going south, he had some ideas in his spare time. Historically, Zhang Zhenfang was dismissed and investigated for failing to suppress Bai Lang's uprising, and therefore lost his position as governor of Henan. If he could help Uncle Zhang solve the civil unrest in the province
, retaining Zhang Zhenfang's position as the governor of Henan, and taking the opportunity to form a good relationship with Zhang Hanling, it will be more conducive to his involvement in the development of Henan's territory.
When he came to the backyard porch, Yuan Su did not go in rashly, but entrusted a servant of the Governor's Mansion to make a announcement. The backyard of any mansion is where the female family members live. Unless they are very close relatives, they cannot enter easily.
After some reporting, the servant did not come out again, but Zhang Hanling trotted to the porch alone. When she saw Yuan Su from a distance, she couldn't help but slow down and walked over with her little hands in a reserved manner.
"Brother Keli, why did you come to see me so late?" When she came to Yuan Su, Zhang Hanling asked a little shyly without looking directly into Yuan Su's eyes.
"We haven't seen each other for a long time. I took advantage of my free time tonight, so I came here to talk to you. Why, you don't want to meet me?" Yuan Su said with a slight smile.
"It's nothing. It's just...just...Oh, let's not talk about it anymore. Since you finally have some free time, let's go for a walk in the garden and I'll chat with you for a while." After Zhang Hanling finished speaking,
Pursing his lips and eyes slightly downward.
"Okay, but you have to tell me first, what did you just say?" Yuan Su asked.
"Oh, it's okay, let's go for a walk first." Zhang Hanling said a little embarrassed.
"If you didn't tell me, I would feel aggrieved and panicked. If you have any prejudice against me, I wouldn't dare to make you unhappy." Yuan Su said deliberately.dd