Chapter 998: Driving away the tiger and swallowing the wolf
Chapter 998: Driving the tiger and swallowing the wolf
After Zhangbei's victory, the soldiers of the Third Town quickly took sea ships to go south, and in Kaifeng Mansion, Henan, they joined forces with the Fourth Town who had gone south in advance to encircle and suppress Nian Gengyao's Shaanxi-Gansu Green Battalion.
Due to Yuzhu's deliberate arrangement, the highest peacetime establishment in the new army was the town.
In the event of a major war, several towns would be temporarily organized into armies to take charge of certain aspects of campaign command.
The so-called army is a temporary grouping of 2-3 towns together, and one of the most capable town commanders is designated as the army commander.
After the campaign objectives are achieved, the army's organization is naturally disbanded.
The benefits of doing this are great, mainly the birth of institutionalized prevention armies.
To be honest, although there are only more than 10,000 people in a town of the New Army, there are more than 9,000 guns and dozens of 6-8 pound cannons, which is quite powerful.
"Sir, why are you following the rebels all the time?"
"Yes, sir, the rebels are not far ahead. Let's catch up and kill them with one charge."
"Sir, as long as my troops are allowed to attack, I guarantee that we can defeat the rebels."
In the Pingnan Army Headquarters, Army Commander He Wenda was surrounded by several close officers, and everyone asked for a fight.
He Wenda is the commander of the Third Town and the admiral of Henan Green Camp, and he made outstanding achievements in the just-concluded Battle of Zhangbei, so it is very appropriate for him to temporarily serve as the army commander.
Before going south this time, Yuzhu had given him instructions in person, but He Wenda could only do it quietly but could not say it out loud.
"What do you know? Force the rebels into Hubei, a densely populated water network, and then gather them together and annihilate them!" What could He Wenda say? He could only show off his official power.
Chen Jun, the leader of the ninth bid, boasted that he was He Wenda's favorite general and said boldly: "Sir, as long as you allow me to attack, I will definitely capture Nian Gengyao for you."
"Presumptuous." He Wenda got angry and started shouting, "What do you look like? You dare not even listen to the command of the mountain leader, but you rebelled against me? Get out of here."
From a purely military perspective, He Wenda could not explain why he did not immediately defeat Nian Gengyao's Shaanxi-Gansu Green Battalion.
When he couldn't explain clearly, he could only use the jade pillar to suppress others.
However, given Yuzhu's high prestige in the military, no one dared to disturb Tai Sui's head, so everyone had to leave obediently.
After all the subordinates left, Li Run, the commander of the fourth town who knew the inside story, said with a wry smile: "The mountain chief insists on driving the tiger to devour the wolf, so we can only obey the order."
Three days ago, Nian Gengyao led 80,000 Green Battalion troops and fought a fierce battle with the Pingnan Army in Zhongmou County, west of Kaifeng.
Even though Nian Gengyao's men numbered 80,000, they were severely defeated and forced to turn south.
What is more strange is that the unscathed Pingnan Army, a force of 30,000 armed to the teeth, is actually far behind Nian Gengyao.
Nian Gengyao was in front and Pingnan's army was behind. The two armies were separated by about a hundred miles.
From Zhongmu to Xinzheng, and from Xuzhou to Yancheng, the Pingnan Army followed Nian Gengyao, only two days' journey away.
It’s no wonder that the subordinates don’t understand that with the mobility of the new army, even if the third and fourth towns are not as good as the first town, they can at least pursue a hundred miles a day, right?
However, He Wenda's daily work consists of nine words: follow closely, fight in vain and stay strong.
Before camping at night, trenches must be dug, parapets built, and multiple hidden sentries posted to guard against possible night attacks by the enemy.
"Lianggong, Yuzhu's people have been following behind us. When we walked, they walked, and when we stopped, they stopped. We stayed in one place for more than three days, and they rushed up to fight. Alas, it was obvious
Ah, they want us to help them become villains!" The fourth child sighed heavily and expressed his inner thoughts unbearably.
Today is different from the past. The fourth child is not an emperor, but a bereaved dog who took refuge with Nian Gengyao after failing to seize the throne.
Nian Gengyao's temper had always been headstrong and extremely arrogant, and he had no choice but to listen to the opinions of the art of war.
The fourth child, who is proficient in strategizing, even his own father, the emperor, was tricked to death. Think about it, how powerful is this?
However, after the fourth child escaped to Nian Gengyao's territory, even though he was treated like a distinguished guest, he did not dare to say anything casually.
The fourth child knew well that Nian Gengyao did not cut off his head and sent it to the capital to ask for merit, which was already very interesting to him.
It is said that the authorities are confused, but the bystanders are clear.
The fourth child, who had always dared not speak or act randomly, felt that it was necessary to remind Nian Gengyao.
Nian Gengyao glanced at Lao Si, his brother-in-law. Alas, he was still too loyal.
If someone were cruel and cruel, he would chop off the fourth child's head and ask for Yuzhu's surrender. Not to mention the high-ranking official and generous salary, he would at least be able to save the lives of the whole family, right?
The fourth child fully understood the profound connotation of Nian Gengyao's glance at him. Well, just pretend. If you don't resist now, once Yuzhu secures his throne and controls the situation in the country, he will have no chance at all.
In essence, Laosi and Nian Gengyao are the same kind, not only ambitious, but also superior in ability.
Unfortunately, there is a gap between the weapons and equipment of the new army and the green battalion soldiers without artillery. This kind of battle cannot be fought!
Nian Gengyao remembered clearly that in the Battle of Zhongmou, when the two armies had just set up their battle formations, dozens of artillery pieces from the New Army opened fire at the same time.
Alas, the soldiers of the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Battalion were caught off guard and were blown away, their heads were turned around, their souls were scattered, and their positions were in chaos.
Nian Gengyao saw that the situation was not good and quickly ordered a general offensive.
As a result, facing the dense line of guns of the New Army, the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Battalion soldiers could only parry, but had no power to fight back, and they could only be defeated.
Originally, Nian Gengyao thought he was finished.
Who would have thought that when the new army saw the main force of the defeated Shaanxi-Gansu Green Camp running south, they actually stopped pursuing them.
Not to mention that Lao Si, who didn't understand military affairs, saw it, and Nian Gengyao didn't know that Yuzhu was obviously a plan to drive away tigers and swallow wolves.
If the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Camp soldiers are tigers, then the big landowners, big country gentry, big Jin gentry, and big bureaucrats in the four provinces of Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui, and Jiangsu are the wolves to be devoured.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The new army is just two days away. With such a short distance, Nian Gengyao will definitely not have time to gather his troops to attack the city.
But the more than 50,000 defeated troops in Shaanxi and Gansu have to eat, right?
Nian Gengyao, he was a noble Jinshi and had a very clear mind.
Stealing people's food along the way is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, but can also easily destroy the foundation for revival.
It is clearly recorded in the history books that the bandits who try to rob everyone will inevitably fail and no one will be spared.
To be honest, even though he failed in the decisive battle, Nian Gengyao was still very clear-headed and could never imitate the tactics of the rogue bandits.
Therefore, along the way, the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Battalion soldiers only robbed large families.
In a wealthy family, even if the owner is afraid of death and runs away early, the granary cannot be taken away.
Just robbing one big store would be enough to feed the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Battalion soldiers for several days.
What about robbing two families? What about robbing three families?
Nian Gengyao was very good at buying people's hearts and robbed 90% of the food from wealthy families, and distributed the remaining food to the poor people around him.
Under the temptation of small favors, Nian Gengyao's men once again gathered more than 80,000 people.
However, at least half of these 80,000 people are untrained rabble.
Nian Gengyao gathered these people for one purpose, to use them to attract the attention of the pursuers, so that the real main force of the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Battalion could get rid of the pursuers.
The fourth child thought about it for a while and was about to continue to persuade Nian Gengyao to go back to Shaanxi-Gansu or Sichuan.
Sichuan is Nian Gengyao's old territory and where he started.
However, at this moment, the sentry came to report, "Commander Nian, the pursuers are suddenly approaching!"
Alas, there is no other choice but to transfer!
The fourth child's words were already on his lips, so he could only swallow them back with great helplessness.
Almost at the same time, Yuzhu, who returned to Tianjin from Luanzhou, happened to encounter gun-making equipment shipped from Britain.
Gun making in this era did not have steam power and was all done by hand.
The specific process is roughly as follows: 1. First, burn the iron plate red and beat it into a solid cylindrical shape. 2. After the cylinder is cooled, place it on the boring machine for boring. 3. Use a boring tool made of a thick steel bar with a quenched head for rough boring.
hole, 4. One person shakes the boring tool, and another person pushes the barrel forward. Repeat several times to complete the rough boring of the inside of the barrel. 5. Then use a reamer made of a steel bar with a head cut into a triangular prism shape to ream the bore.
The internal smooth smoothbore tube is out. 6. The caliber size of the barrel can be controlled by using a paper strip to pad the reamer. Instead of all three edges of the reamer participating in scraping the chamber, only one edge is used for scraping, and the flat part is made of wood.
Use paper as a backing. If the diameter is too small, add a piece of paper between the wood and the reamer. After reaming once, if the diameter is still too small, add another piece of paper.
After the barrel is reamed, it needs to be straightened and the outer wall polished.
The whole process seems very simple, but in fact, the technical content is quite high!
With the economic and handicraft strength of the British Empire that colonized the world, it could only produce 120,000 to 30,000 guns a year at most.
Yuzhu ignored the grease on his hands and stroked the gun-making equipment affectionately, over and over again, and kept touching it.
Hehe, this is the ultimate treasure for protecting your home and country.
The national defense industry must be held in the palm of your hand, so that you can be at ease when you sleep at night!
"Darling, Darling..." Alice, who was accompanying her, shouted several times, but Yuzhu didn't hear it. She gently caressed the precious boring machine like a beloved woman.
To be honest, this boring machine was only exported by the British after China and Britain formed a quasi-alliance.
When leaving the dock, Yuzhu specifically ordered, "to meet all the requirements of the British gunsmiths as much as possible."
These days, it is said that there are 360 industries, but in fact, each industry has technical barriers.
If a master wants to accept an apprentice, he must first become an apprentice who only cares about food.
After a few years of apprenticeship, if the master feels that you have worked hard and is willing to teach you, that is a great blessing.
During the apprenticeship period, the master can beat and scold the apprentice at will.
The apprentice has no choice. He can't study and be a scholar, and his family is poor. It would be good enough if he can learn a trade and support his family in the future.
There has always been a rumor among the people that no matter how difficult the world is, craftsmen cannot starve to death!