"The Fubo Army is not inherited from a mature military system." He Ming seemed a little unsure of how to express it. "This is an army without tradition and history. It lacks..." He pondered for a moment, "
soul."
"I think Xiao Wei's political education is pretty good..."
"This has nothing to do with political education, that's not what I'm talking about." He Ming shook his head, "You have also been a soldier. You should understand what I mean. Fubo Army's organizational model and tactics - including Wei Aiwen's political education -
We all copied it. No matter how well-trained it is, it is just an 'armed force'. Only an army that has fought with blood and real swords and guns on the battlefield will have its own soul."
"You're worrying too much."
"Haha, all the capital that everyone has accumulated bit by bit over the past three years has been handed over to me at once. How can I not be afraid?" He Ming said.
Winning this battle is a matter of course - the technological advantage and the advantage of the times are so great. If there is a slight setback, the public opinion in the Senate will be very unfavorable to him. Wu De understands his thoughts.
"The question is, will the road be renovated when war really breaks out?"
"Of course it can't be completed. The road can be built as long as it can be built. Even if it is extended one meter further to Qiongshan County, it will reduce the logistical pressure for us. The ultimate purpose of building roads is to rule," He Ming said.
"If the enemy is really like what some people have speculated: the Ming army will not launch an offensive until October, this road may be able to be built to Qiongshan County."
"The Ming army may not arrive so late. We still have to overestimate the enemy as much as possible," He Ming said.
The Planning Institute evaluated the cross-border road construction plan. According to the estimates of the General Staff and the Foreign Intelligence Service, Chengmai itself did not have the strength to resist the cross-border road construction. It was only renovating the post road, and there was no harassment or conflict of interest for the local people.
Even on the contrary, the road construction team can expand its influence by hiring local laborers and purchasing supplies.
The officials in Chengmai County will not welcome such a thing, but they will not organize their own troops to attack - everyone knows that leading hundreds of township brave guards to attack the Australians is self-destruction.
Local officials in Mai will only ignore the road construction project except to ask for help - unless it is not true.
If some local tyrant and evil gentry wants to come to your door without opening your eyes, you can directly destroy Liwei.
The problem is the materials and manpower to build the road. Wu De thought to himself after doing calculations for a long time in the office. It is about one hundred kilometers from Lingao to Qiongshan. Even if the road is built according to the standards of building a simple road, if machines are not used and all manpower is used,
, it will take at least two years to repair it. If mechanical equipment is used, it will take more than six months. I'm afraid we can't wait for a war.
Of course, building roads is not just for fighting. Since we want to actually control the entire island, this road must be built. It is better to build it early than to build it late. Only when the road is built can we talk about local control. The effect of road building is
Lingao's performance is particularly obvious. Wherever the road passes through the political power, the issuance of government orders is particularly smooth.
Today is the Dragon Boat Festival in May, which is the day for dragon boat racing on the Pearl River. There is a lot of excitement in and outside the city. In Guangzhou during the Little Ice Age, you can still wear jackets during the Dragon Boat Festival.
The governor's office in the city was heavily guarded. Governor Li Fengjie's sedan chair first entered the governor's office through the side door, followed by many civil and military officials, including the commander-in-chief He Rubin, the patrol censor Gao Shunqin, the chief envoy of Guangdong, the Haibei branch and the Hainan branch.
Shoudao, the prefect of Guangzhou and others all arrived one after another.
Behind the lobby of the Governor's Yamen, and after entering the courtyard, is the second hall. In addition to the middle hall, there are pavilions on both sides of the second hall, which are places where meetings are held.
Wang Zunde secretly discussed the military affairs with the main civil and military officials of Guangdong in the Xinuang Pavilion of the Second Hall. It was already a consensus among everyone that it would take the entire province to suppress the gangsters in Bopu.
After the main officials arrived, Wang Zunde presided over the meeting. After he made the determination to use force, he had many private meetings with officials in the provincial capital and generally reached a consensus.
The chief envoy of Guangdong has promised to allocate 200,000 taels of silver in advance for the army to renovate weapons and ships and set off. Other funds will be found later.
"Today we are discussing the matter of suppressing the bandits. It is very urgent. The bandits have occupied the shops, privately opened commercial ports, built cities and forts, and recruited local traitorous people as soldiers. They have become powerful. I heard that the bandits have iron ships, fast cannons, and firearms.
He is also sharp. If this continues, it will definitely become a serious problem for our province of Guangdong. Please share your opinions on how to expel the Kun thieves from Qiongzhou?"
Everyone looked at each other. They knew more or less about the Kun bandits or the Australians in Lingao. As for the reputation of the Australians' firearms and iron ships, everyone had also heard about it. Generally speaking, except for the high patrol officer
Except for Mr. He, no one was keen on meeting the Australians with swords.
The Australians have never done anything that would give anyone a headache on the coast of Guangdong. They don’t kill, rob or set fire, and they do business in a disciplined manner. Several shops in Guangzhou also know the rules, and there is never a shortage of money according to the three festivals and two respects.
, from time to time, they also offer some new Australian gadgets. As for Ziming Tower, it is a good place where many people have gone to enjoy the "Australian Secret Show".
Now that they have to be expelled and exterminated, some people still feel a little reluctant to give up. Some people think that Governor Wang is just provoking rashly - the officers and soldiers are not necessarily the opponents of the Australians. If they cannot win the battle, they will destroy the Australians.
The people were angered and caused trouble along the coast.
But now that Governor Wang has made up his mind, it is natural that no one can refute it. Some people are already thinking about other calculations - once the Australians are expelled, how to divide the profits from the industries they left behind.
You must know that Australians not only have three industries in Guangzhou, but also heard that many Australian goods are manufactured in Lingao, and they have also opened a private commercial port in Bopu. In this way, there is no telling how much Australian goods there are in Lingao!
After a war is won, when the Australians escape, they cannot take away every family. Everyone benefits.
Gao Shunqin was the most in favor of the governor's decision. He originally hated these overseas visitors very much. He originally wanted to expel the Portuguese, not to mention this group of Australians of unknown origin.
I heard him cough and say: "The so-called Australians do not pay tribute in the past, nor are they foreigners from the West or the East. Even the red-haired and Franconian do not know their origins. What they sell are all strange and obscene things.
Corrupting the hearts of scholars and common people. Such ugliness is clearly a disease of the heart of Guangdong!"
Everyone agreed. But everyone had no idea how to expel the Australians.
As for the specific situation of the Australians in Lingao, apart from a few Tang Yunwen letters sent by Qiong Ya Shen, everyone knows some scattered rumors: for example, they claim to be descendants of the Song people in Yashan; Australian artificial skills are good
And so on. Even Tang Shenjun's newspaper only said: The Australians built forts and huge cannons in Bopu; they also had iron clippers that could fly without sails or oars. There were also many "Fujian and Guangdong traitors"
Cast as "fake Kun" as its precursor.
In addition, no one knows how many people the Kun thieves have in Lingao, how many cannons they have, how the big iron ship moves, etc. No one even knows how many people the fake Kun thieves have.
However, Wang Zunde has a report from the coast of Guangdong, Fujian. He knows that after Zhu Cai Lao was defeated, a group of people and ships surrendered to Lingao, and then a group of broken-up ships and ships of pirates from various pirates surrendered to Lingao. It should be said that this is the case.
There are tens of thousands of people.
"The total number of real and fake Kuns in Lingao is tens of thousands." He Rubin said, "There are also artillery and iron ships, so it is not easy to suppress them."
He Rubin is a military commander, and he can only make suggestions and not decide on the combat strategy. But after all, he is the one who implements the actual combat operations, and his ideas are also important.
Lu Yizhong hurriedly said: "The fake Kun is only seeking small profits for the thief. Master Futai only needs to issue an edict to inform him of the benefits of using his body to serve as a thief. If the imperial soldiers move again, the fake Kun will naturally disperse. There is no need to cause any trouble."
"Humph, this may not be easy to say." He Rubin said, "The fake Kuns are mostly Zhu Yang and other pirate remnants. They were originally people who fled the sea, and now they have joined forces with the Kuns, who can drive iron ships.
Breaking through the thousands of miles of waves, they must be the generation of Chang and Zhouji. The two are working together, if they cannot be wiped out in one blow and dispersed, our Guangdong ocean will never have peace from now on!"
"Kun thieves are different from ordinary pirates, and ordinary pirates are not interested in money. The Australians call themselves Chinese Miao people. When they came to the Ming Dynasty, they neither sent envoys to the court nor attached a letter. They built a city privately in a corner of Lingao and recruited people.
Going into exile is really disloyal!" He said in a stern voice, and immediately put a big hat on the Australian people.
"General Yin."
He Rubin quickly stood up, crossed his hands and said, "I don't dare, sir."
"You are not only the official commander of the imperial court, but also a high-ranking official in Taiwan. The governor has always relied on you as the Great Wall of Guangdong to suppress the traitors. What are your best strategies?"
He Rubin bowed respectfully and replied: "In my humble opinion, there are three difficulties in suppressing Kun.
"Which three points?"
"There is no difference between fake and real Japanese. During the Japanese pirate rebellion during the Jiajing period, there were also real Japanese and fake Japanese. The real Japanese were only one or two out of ten, but they still roamed the coast for decades and were a serious problem for the court. This is one of them."
"Yeah." Wang Zunde nodded.
"Secondly, in the Guangdong area, the bandits recruited exiles, bought and sold them equally, and did not plunder merchants or ships. This was quite a way to win over people's hearts. As soon as our troops moved, the common people would tell the thieves and traitors. It is difficult for military aircraft to keep secrets.
.”
"rational."
"Thirdly, the Kun pirate ship has strong cannons and sharp firearms, which are difficult for our army to match. In my humble opinion, I may still be superior to the red-haired and blue people and the Franconians."
Wang Zunde twitched his beard and smiled, asking: "General, what is your strategy?"
"I don't dare, sir." He said more respectfully, "Your Majesty is so clever and resourceful that he naturally has a plan to level up Kun. Please explain the strategy clearly."
"In today's meeting, I will tell you everything I know."
"yes."
He Rubin's strategy was no different from what Lu Yizhong envisioned. The Australians had the advantage of ships and cannons, so just sending thousands of people or hundreds of ships to demonstrate was not enough to force the other side to withdraw. To do this, they must use heavy troops.
An army of 20,000 people on land and water was dispatched, including at least 6,000 combat soldiers. They also needed to bring more firearms, especially Hongyi cannons.
"The enemy is always on the boat, and he has collected the remnants of pirates from all walks of life. Our soldiers must not engage in sea battles with them." He Rubin was not a naval officer, but he was very clear about the naval capabilities of his province, let alone the big one.
Iron ships and iron clippers are no match against the big red-haired plywood boats and speedboats. If we don't use arson ships, we can't fight against the enemy at all.
In his strategy, the Guangdong Navy was only responsible for transportation tasks, transporting the participating troops to Qianhu Station in Haikou in batches, and the entire army was assembled in Qiongshan County.
"Although the Australians are powerful, they have not been able to capture a single county so far. This shows that they are not good at land warfare. I will attack them with heavy troops from the land division, which will have twice the effect."
According to He Rubin's estimation: the fake Kuns are mostly the remnants of the sea pirates such as Zhu Cai Lao. The imperial army may not be their opponents at sea, but when fighting on land, they set up a grand formation. The opponent simply does not dare to fight head-on. They must retreat.
He personally led the army to Bopu by land. The common people in Lingao no longer dared to feed the thieves in Bopu with vegetables and meat. The army only needed to besieged for a few months to half a year to force them to demolish the fortress.
go.
Wang Zunde was quite satisfied with his plan. However, according to the traditional rules, the formulation of strategies was not the responsibility of military commanders. He could not say whether it was good or bad, he just smiled and smiled.
"Conquer the army!" Li Fengjie said, "Only land troops are sent to suppress the army. The thieves still come and go as they please on the sea. Although the local traitors in Lingao cannot provide vegetables and meat, there are many traitors in Fujian and Guangdong who are greedy for huge profits. I'm afraid it may not be possible.
How can you achieve your wishes?”
"Brother, do you have any good ideas?"
"Liu Laoxiang is a problem for me in Guangdong. If he can follow Cao Lutai's strategy, he can recruit peace and use thieves to attack thieves. Wouldn't it be a great thing?"
The words are good, but who is going to contact this "giant bandit"? Liu Laoxiang has been harassing the Pearl River Estuary. The official army and local Xiangyong have fought many times with the small grain harvesting team he landed, but they still don't know who he is.
Where is the main force? The Portuguese tried to eliminate Liu Xiang many times but failed - they also wanted to join forces with the Ming Dynasty to suppress Liu Xiang.
To appease such a giant sea pirate, it is impossible to do it without a year or two of constant contact. The so-called thief against thief is just empty talk.
Although Wang Zunde was smiling broadly, he actually didn't take it seriously.
"This matter needs to be considered in the long run. If we can recruit him, it will be a great thing." He said, "I wonder who is Cao Lvtai of Guangdong Province?"
Yuegang Coast Guard Commissioner Cao Lutai was the main person in charge of Xiong Wencan's recruitment of Zheng Zhilong. He also handled all the affairs after Zheng Zhilong's appointment. The strategy of using thieves to attack thieves was first proposed by Cao Lutai. Wang Zunde felt that this was not the case in this province.
A bold and capable official who understands "bandit sentiment" very well.
Li Fengjie had already made a small calculation. Someone behind his back had contacted Liu Laoxiang and was trying to persuade him to give up. From the mouth of his aide, he learned that although Liu Xiang's power expanded rapidly for a while, he was extremely interested in Zheng Zhilong's expansion.
Worry - once Zheng Zhilong eliminates Zhong Bin, he will definitely go east to Guangdong to eliminate him.
Li Fengjie believes that since Liu Xiang has such an idea, there is a high possibility of recruiting him, so he is stepping up efforts to handle the matter recently. In order to avoid Wang Zunde's intervention, he has kept this secret.
At this time, he brought it up, not because he really wanted to send Liu Xiang, but because he wanted Wang Zunde to express his stance on recruiting Liu Xiang. Now that his goal was achieved, he said no more and simply said: "I will do my best to handle this humble position.
"
The campaign strategy formulated by Wang Zunde is:
He Rubin led the entire army and set out to sea from Guangzhou Jiqi. They crossed the sea in batches to Qiongzhou Prefecture and assembled at Qianhu Station in Haikou. They dispatched 300 naval vessels. The navy did not have such a large number of large ships, and it was too late to build them immediately.
Therefore, all the deficiencies are made up by sealing ships along the coast.
A total of 15,000 troops were mobilized. The main force was He Rubin's Zhenbiao Zhongying and his servants, supplemented by one each from Fubiao and Supervisor - a total of 6,000 soldiers. Qiongya Counselor Tang Yunwen's troops were also under his command.
In this way, the Ming army marched to suppress 20,000 people by land and water. Wang Zunde also prepared to order the Hainan branch patrol: asking him to mobilize the Xiangyong from Qiongshan, Chengmai and Lingao and the local guardsmen to coordinate the operation. This is
The food and salary of some troops and horses are taken care of by Qiongzhou Prefecture.
After the concentration of troops was completed, the land division marched along the post road to Lingao. When the land division surrounded Bopu, the navy then acted according to the situation. Wang Zunde had no hope in the combat effectiveness of the province's navy, so he did not clarify their mission.
Gao Shunqin strongly opposed the use of Franco's warships and cannons to assist in the suppression. He was originally going to file a petition to cut off trade with the Portuguese, but now if he succeeded in borrowing troops to drive away Kun, the court would regard the Franco's as useful.
How can his allies approve his memorial?
Therefore, he knew clearly that the Francois' large ships and heavy artillery were beneficial to suppressing the bandits, but he still firmly opposed it. Wang Zunde did not want to argue with him and did not mention the matter again.
Since the army and navy could not compete with them, Wang Zunde used the magic weapon of banning the sea. He immediately ordered Qiongya Counselor Tang Yunwen to lead the navy to cruise near Haikou and prohibit all civilian ships from entering the Qiongzhou Strait.
"Sir, why don't you mobilize troops from Guangxi?" After the meeting, Lu Yizhong was surprised that his employer did not summon officials from Guangxi. Guangxi has quite a few chieftain soldiers who are brave and good at fighting. In the past several Li rebellions in Hainan, the imperial court mobilized troops from Guangxi.
Miao, Yao, Dong and other native soldiers crossed the sea to fight.
"This is a Guangdong matter, and Guangdong's army is more useful." Wang Zunde said nonchalantly, "Guangxi's land is barren and the people are poor, so it would be better to recruit less troops."
After a moment's thought, Lu Yizhong understood what he meant - "Guangdong matters to Guangdong."
"Best regards, my lord."
"Where." Wang Zunde nodded gracefully. Then he asked Lu Yizhong for the details of the bandits in Lingao. Lu Yizhong was equivalent to the "chief assistant" in the governor's office. Various news, newspapers, and documents were summarized.
Put it into his hands first.
However, the Hainan Tang newspaper received by Guangzhou only contained a few vague statements - very little was known about the situation of the Kun thieves in Lingao. Wang Zunde immediately ordered people to go to Qiongzhou Prefecture to recruit talents, and recruited people who knew the situation and the situation of the Lingao thieves.
People who are familiar with the local hydrology and geography also ordered He Rubin to send a detailed investigation to Lingao to investigate.
"There is a person who, in his humble position, thought he could ask."
"Oh? Who is it?"
"Lingao County Main Hall - Wu Mingjin."
Lu Yizhong reminded him that Lingao County had not yet been captured. Every official in the county was alive and well. The county magistrate should know the situation of the thief Kun best, so it would be better to send someone to summon him to Guangzhou in the name of reporting on his duties.
situation, the inside story of the thief Kun will be known as soon as he asks.