4332 (the eighth year of Chongzhen), December 10th.
Fengjie City, Southwest Governor's Mansion.
Su Shan was training while listening to the soldiers shouting slogans outside.
He couldn't muster any energy and felt a little drowsy now.
Training here in Fengjie would be better than going to Tengchong, Yunnan, to annihilate the rebellious chieftain soldiers.
A new soldier becomes a veteran after fighting a few battles.
After training here for two or three years, a new recruit is still a new recruit.
No matter how proficient you are in the training field, you will still be nervous when you come to the real battlefield.
It's so boring now, and they can only stay in Fengjie and can't go anywhere else.
King Qin's military orders may arrive at any time, and if he leaves and delays the battle, it will be a serious crime.
The new Chief of Staff Zhu Qiansheng is too showy and competes for the job of training troops.
He missed his former chief of staff Niu Siyuan so much. He didn't understand anything and basically only followed his instructions.
My former old friend, Monk Wang, completely turned his back on the world of mortals and actually became an abbot in a temple.
Niu Siyuan was too old and his thinking could not keep up with the development of the army.
He was transferred to the head of the Military Security Bureau under the Ministry of Military Affairs.
Specially responsible for ensuring the treatment of martyrs' families, work arrangements and living security for retired soldiers.
Now that he is doing well at work and is very popular among the soldiers, this kind of thing is more suitable for him.
Su Shan looked at the Yangtze River outside the window and felt extremely emotional.
There are fewer and fewer old guys in Sujiacun, and there are only a handful of old guys like him who are active on the front line.
The waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves ahead. If the waves ahead cannot keep up with the times, they will have to make room for the waves behind.
Not only the ability must keep up with the times, but also the moral character must keep up with the times.
The old friend Su Shi was beaten to death just for performing fake military exploits for his good-for-nothing brother-in-law, and was exiled to the Wusizang area to graze cattle.
I am relatively peaceful and usually don't fight or fight.
The more ability you have, the more things you can do.
If you really need ability and can't keep up with the development of the army, you will choose to quit the front line and go to work in the Governor's Mansion.
At the very least, you can be a teacher in a military academy and give lectures to freshmen.
Su Zhuang approached the Southwest Governor's Mansion and found Su Shan looking out the window in a daze.
"The Second Army and the Sixth Army are training. Why don't you watch the Sixth Army training?"
"These chiefs of staff who graduated from military academies are more capable than me.
They understand the new army drills much more deeply than I do.
I want to show off, not to embarrass myself."
Su Zhuang looked at Su Shan's approach and shook his head.
Everyone has their own way of living, and Su Shan has a very stable character that neither fights nor grabs.
He can get along with anyone, even if he meets a junior, he will never put on the airs of a senior.
Su Zhuang directly took out a military order and said happily: "You don't have to wait here, we can send troops.
I am here to inform you that we can march eastward to Huguang.
We have been preparing for more than half a year. We have already prepared everything and have rehearsed many times during the dispatch of troops.
Emergency drills were conducted many times to dispatch troops under unexpected circumstances.
The army no longer needs to prepare, and they are directly ordered to send troops."
Su Shan picked up the military order and read it carefully to make sure it was correct.
He said excitedly: "We have waited for such a long time and finally received the order to send troops.
King Qin signed this order on November 13th, and it took a month to deliver it to us.
The efficiency of the messenger is also too slow. If he can be faster, we can send troops many days earlier."
Su Zhuang said: "The Jialing River flooded and the waterway was blocked.
From Tongguan to Fengjie, you have to transfer through Rongcheng. It takes a month to travel by land, which is already very fast.
This is not like Hanzhong. Su Li and the others are uniquely blessed, and it only takes a day or two for the military orders to be delivered to them."
Su Shan also sighed and said: "There wasn't that kind of communication tower before, but now the communication function of the communication tower is basically abandoned.
It only serves as a beacon to convey some urgent military information and dangerous situations."
"There is no way around it. After the communication tower was implemented and tested, its greatest use was discovered.
That is, it has the same function as a beacon tower, conveying some urgent and simple information.
If the King of Qin transmits military orders through communication towers, who can guarantee the authenticity and accuracy of the orders after going through so many procedures.
The transmission of paper documents and secret orders requires verification of King Qin's handwriting and seal.
There is no way for a communication tower to keep secrets secret, and it cannot be used as a channel for transmitting the highest-level military orders.
The same goes for flying pigeons to deliver messages. They can convey some information.
It is simply not suitable for conveying military orders because it is too easy to be forged and letters lost.
The convenience of military orders must give way to authenticity and accuracy."
Su Zhuang and Su Shan slowly walked to the front of the camp while talking.
Su Shan looked at the large troop transport ship parked on the Yangtze River.
He sighed: "If only the King of Qin gave us a certain degree of autonomy, we could take the initiative to attack Huguang.
At the very least, capture the entire Wu Gorge area and Xiling Gorge.
In this way, we can take our time and clean up the rocks in the Three Gorges Channel.
Because of these dense rocks, the Three Gorges Channel can only be traveled by small boats, not large ships at all.
The gap between the Three Gorges and the Yangtze River is very turbulent, which causes ships to travel very fast.
With a small boat and an experienced helmsman, there is hope that you can avoid the rocks in time.
These people are also familiar with the waterways of the Three Gorges and know how to avoid rocks.
Even for such experienced people, every time they take a trip to the Three Gorges Channel, one or two people out of 100 will be destroyed and their boat will be destroyed.
Using a large transport ship, there is no way to avoid the rocks in time, which will result in at least a 50% casualty rate.
All the rocks on the Qutang Gorge route have been cleared by us.
It can completely walk a large ship, you just need to control the speed of the ship and don't let the ship hit the mountains on the shore."
Su Zhuang looked at these large ships parked on the Fengjie River and sighed:
"If we want to move eastward to Huguang, we must clean up the Three Gorges Channel, blow up all the rocks with yellow explosives, and completely dredge the Three Gorges Channel.
In this way, there will be no obstacles from Chongqing all the way east to Wuhan.
At the end of Xiling Gorge is Jingzhou Fucheng. If we really occupy Xiling Gorge, we will start a war with the Huguang Ming Army.
How could they calmly let us clear the channel?
To clear the waterway, we can only issue a formal combat order. We defeated all the Ming troops along the Three Gorges and sent a large army to stop the Ming troops."
They quickly summoned all the mid-level and senior officers of the two armies.
As the governor of the Southwest Dudufu, Su Zhuang read the military order on behalf of King Su He of Qin. The Second Army and the Sixth Army under the Southwest Dudufu officially launched their troops eastward to Huguang.
He also arranged a combat plan. The first stage was to clean up the rocks in the Yangtze River section of the Three Gorges and completely dredge the channel.
Allow troop transports and cargo ships to pass through the Three Gorges and transport to various places along the Yangtze River waterway.
Liang Feng, the commander of the Second Army, stood up directly and said: "I led the engineering troops to dredge the rocks in the Yangtze River in the Qutang Gorge section.
I have accumulated a lot of experience and have my own mature methods.
The task of dredging the rivers in Wu Gorge and Xiling Gorge was also entrusted to me.
I will lead the operation with the third division, and Ma Xianglin will be the vanguard. He is a good choice."
Su Zhuang's preferred pioneer candidates are Tao Guifan and Ma Xianglin.
Wu Ming had some cooperation with Liang Feng before, and they were very unhappy. He was locked up in the dark room many times.
Liang Feng has a somewhat soft personality, and most people cannot control someone like Wu Ming unless he is subdued.
Since Liang Feng chose Ma Xianglin, Xiong Zhen of the Third Division was also a qualified engineer, so there would be no problem in dredging the channel.
Su Zhuang immediately issued an order for the third division to cooperate with Liang Feng.
…………………………
A big man as big as an iron tower stood next to the weaker Liang Feng.
"Master Liang Zhu, the engineering corps of our Second Army is the most powerful in the entire army.
The engineering corps of the Second Army and our engineering group of the Third Division are the most outstanding.
Back then, I followed the army commander and Chief Su Xiong on Lianshan Road, building the plank road together with a hammer.
At that time, the foundation of our Second Army's engineering corps will be laid.
Leave the task of cleaning the reef to us, and we can definitely complete it more accurately.
I will clean up any reef that Master Liang Zhu tells me to clean up."
Xiong Zhen, the chief of staff of the Third Division, knew his strengths and weaknesses.
The engineers under his command are powerful and it is easy to blow up the rocks.
But cleaning up the Three Gorges is a technical job.
Instead of seeing a rock and blowing it up with gunpowder, the channel will be clear.
The rocks must be blown to pieces, and large rocks must be blocked with barbed wire to pull them ashore.
If the reefs are really not blown up properly and the reefs block the waterway of the Yangtze River and form a barrier lake, then we will be in big trouble.
There are many technical points to dredge the channel. Liang Feng is experienced, so of course we must follow his command.
Liang Feng looked at Xiong Zhen's performance and was very satisfied.
The person who cooperated with him last time was Wu Ming. This person was really a thorn in the side. If he hadn't been able to lead troops well, he wouldn't have been able to get ahead at all.
He taught Wu Ming many times and locked him up in a small dark room several times, but the man refused to change despite repeated admonitions.
"I have dredged the first half of Wu Gorge before.
The second half is now under the control of the Ming army. We must first clean up the Ming army that occupied this area before we can dredge the Three Gorges Channel."
When Xiong Zhen heard Liang Feng's words, he immediately became excited.
"For fighting near Wu Gorge, leave it to our third division."
He looked at the one-eyed man standing next to him and said: "Division Commander, I am leading the engineering corps to follow Division Liang Zhu to clean up the Three Gorges river channel.
The Ming army here is left to the division commander to lead the troops to deal with it."
Ma Xianglin nodded, and he immediately led the soldiers of the Third Division into action.
Most of the troops in the third division were former chieftain soldiers, half of whom were white-pole soldiers.
The white-armed soldiers put down their spears and picked up their rifles, but their old skills in mountain warfare were not lost.
Ma Xianglin carried a pistol and followed the team on rock climbing.
There is no road at all in Wu Gorge, but under their feet, the cliffs are also roads.
Where there was no road, they swung the hook and hooked a tree in the distance. By following this hook, everyone could easily climb to the opposite mountain wall.
At night, the soldiers of the Qin army found a tree and slept directly on the tree.
In order to avoid losing body temperature at night, everyone also wears cotton-padded clothes.
They sprinkle some insect repellent powder produced by pharmaceutical factories around so that they will not be attacked by mosquitoes when they sleep at night.
Early the next morning, everyone was ready to eat.
There was no way to make a fire in the mountains, so they came to the Yangtze River.
Huotoujun took the big pot he was carrying and washed it clean with river water.
They dug a small hole by the water and put some quicklime in it.
When lime meets water, it immediately releases a lot of heat.
Huotoujun filled the pot with half a pot of water and placed it in the bubbling hot water.
Ma Xianglin saw the water in the pot boiling and opened the yellow flour cake wrapped in paper.
This is a new thing purchased by the logistics department, a kind of fried noodles, called instant noodles.
It can be eaten raw and tastes similar to biscuits.
The best way to eat it is to soak it in hot water. It tastes almost like noodles made at home.
The soldiers ate noodles, drank noodle soup, and had plenty of food and hot water to supplement their physical strength.
Ma Xianglin led people from the mountainous area that ordinary people thought was impossible to pass through to the Ming army's camp.
"Grenade preparation, throw a wave of grenades first, and then rush in.
The muskets and bows and arrows of the Ming army are not vegetarian."
Ma Xianglin's favorite grenade is the cantaloupe grenade currently used by the Qin Army.
It only weighs a few taels, but is more powerful than the previous grenades of two or three kilograms.
The soldiers took out the grenades, immediately pulled the tabs of the grenades, and threw the smoking grenades directly towards the Ming army's camp.
Boom-boom explosions continued to sound.
The Qin army immediately rolled out from the side of the mountain and charged with rifles in hand.
The Ming army camp was built on a small platform on the mountainside of Wushan Mountain. There was only one way to reach the platform.
They didn't see the enemy coming at all, and were directly stunned by the Qin army.
When they saw the Qin army rushing into the camp and throwing grenades at them, they immediately chose to kneel down and surrender.
Ma Xianglin fought a hearty battle.
When the Qin army fights, this is the real war.
You can use your abilities as you wish.
There are no civilian officials who do not understand military affairs to give blind orders, and there is no need to worry about friendly forces stabbing you in the back.
The Ming army captured by Ma Xianglin returned to the Qin army's camp from the main road on the mountain, clearing all Ming army outposts along the way.
Liang Feng watched Ma Xianglin neatly capture the Ming army's camp on Wushan Mountain.
He was very happy, this was the strength of their second army.
They are extremely good at mountain and jungle warfare.
The Qin army has captured the control area of Wuxia.
Liang Feng immediately ordered the engineering troops to drill holes in the rocks and fill them with yellow explosives.
As the yellow explosives detonated, the rocks blocking the route turned into small pieces of rubble.
They used boats to build nets downstream and fished large gravel blocks to the shore.
Small pieces of gravel were washed away directly by the rapid currents of the Yangtze River.
It took Liang Feng a month to finally dredge the Three Gorges waterway.
He just blew up the huge rocks in the channel, in the middle of the channel.
These rocks will not affect the transportation of troops and supplies by the Southwest Governor's Office through the Yangtze River.
It only takes one month to clean up all the rocks in the Three Gorges Channel, which is simply not possible.
When the Huguang area is captured, the entire Three Gorges area will be occupied by the Qin Palace.
When the time comes, the Qin Palace will naturally organize professionals to completely dredge the Three Gorges waterway.
Liang Feng looked at the Three Gorges Channel that had been basically cleared.
He happily said: "Li Bai, the poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote that the apes on both sides of the strait could not stop crying, and the boat had already passed the Ten Thousand Mountains.
He was riding a light boat that could pass through the Three Gorges area.
In the future, heavily loaded ships can also pass through the Three Gorges area, and there will no longer be casualties caused by the ship running aground on rocks.
We have the Yangtze River, a waterway with a huge flow rate, which provides a steady stream of supplies to the army.