But this time Wu Shigong planned to send a hundred soldiers to the Zheng family, not as mercenaries, but to protect his own ships.
Wu Shigong has been here for so long, and now he can see clearly what kind of place Henan is. To put it nicely, Henan is the hinterland of the Central Plains; to put it worse, Henan is the place where the Fourth World War was.
Runing Prefecture and Guide Prefecture where Wu Shigong was located, let alone the peasant rebel army to the west; as soon as the Hou Jin Army entered the pass in the north, the Ming Army in Henan would bear the brunt of attacking King Qin; and in Shandong to the east, Wu Shigong
We have also encountered Kong Youde's Denglai Rebellion; in Huguang in the south, a part of the peasant rebel army is already active there, and it may turn into a prairie fire at some point.
For this reason, Wu Shigong was indeed a little timid, especially after he was blackmailed by his father Wu Weizhong in Beijing and despised by nobles such as Xu Wenjue in Nanjing. Wu Shigong completely gave up on foreign aid.
Although Wu Shigong also believes that his Runing Army has gained some momentum, he is definitely not arrogant enough to think that with his current strength, he can wipe out the two major military groups, the Peasant Rebel Army and the Post-Jin Army. Therefore, in essence,
Wu Shigong, who is said to be very timid, must be looking for a way out for himself.
What is the retreat? That is, the Jiangnan area. Over the years, Wu Shigong has read a lot of history books and knows that there are also Northern and Southern Song Dynasties in history. Therefore, in the event of drastic changes in China, and preferring to settle on one side, dividing the river and governing it is also the last option.
During the previous discussion, Wu Shigong proposed opening up the Runing Army's passage to the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River, also based on the consideration of finding a retreat.
However, in order to control the Yangtze River by rowing the river, there must be a strong navy on the Yangtze River. After hearing that Zheng Jiaoxiang was sending ships to the sea today, Wu Shigong immediately realized that he could start to train his own navy.
Due to their considerable complementary interests, the two major forces Wu Shigong and Zheng Zhilong quickly entered the honeymoon period of cooperation. But it is undeniable that at this stage, no matter from which aspect, Zheng Zhilong's side is always the stronger one.
, the reason why the cooperation between the two parties is relatively equal is because the halo of honor behind Wu Shigong played a certain role.
After seeing off Zheng Jiao and Shopkeeper Zheng, Chang Meng returned to Wu Shigong. Seeing that Chang Meng still had a sad face, Wu Shigong asked with a smile: "What? You don't want to go out to do things this time?"
Chang Meng quickly replied: "It is true that I am reluctant to leave the master. But I also know that this time it is the master who promotes me. I have to work hard to do what the master told me. I am just afraid that I will be stupid and make mistakes.
If something happens to interfere with the master's important event, the little one will die."
Wu Shigong smiled and comforted: "No one can do something just by running up. You have followed me for such a long time, and you have also seen how many people in our Runing Army who had nothing to do before have gradually grown up.
As officials, they are now able to act independently. I don’t believe that you haven’t learned anything after studying with me for so long?”
"Look at the calligraphy and ink. It's done well now! You can't spend your whole life huddled in my house, master. It's time to go out and share my worries!"
"You only need to remember two points. The grain and grass harvested in this reclamation business will belong to our Runing Army, and the armed forces established will belong to our Runing Army. You can control other things flexibly. Got it.
With these two points, you can't miss important events. You also need to know how to use people. We have officers sent by our Runing Army to fight, and we have officials sent by our Runing Army to farm. You just need to grasp the general direction. Don't
Don’t know how to pretend to know how to command blindly, but you must know how to give credit. In fact, isn’t the credit of your subordinates all yours?”
"If you have any questions, come to me. You can also ask Mr. Deng and Uncle Wynn. They will help you to some extent. Be careful! Nothing is important. Your own safety is the most important! If you really don't go well, just kill everyone.
Bring it back. No matter what, Master, I will always have something for you to eat here!"
"Master!" Chang Meng also showed his true feelings. He knelt down and kowtowed to Wu Shigong a few times, wiped the corners of his eyes and said, "If I can't behave like a good person after I go out this time, I will die outside."
He won’t come back either.”
When Zheng Jiao left, he not only took away the deeds of the Jimin Reclamation Trading Company, but also took away a hundred fully armed soldiers carefully selected by the Runing Army.
The leader of the team this time is Zhang Rubao, the former captain of the Shanchuan Division Action Team. Wu Shigong has promoted him to the position of regimental commander. The 100 people who went to Fujian were all high-ranking and low-ranking soldiers, and the youngest soldier also had the position of squad leader. Wu Shigong
Treat those 100 people as the seeds of your navy to cultivate.
Wu Shigong also told Zhang Rubao that they would only go to Fujian for one year and that they, the soldiers, should learn more from the experience of the Zheng family navy. After one year, Wu Shigong would send new soldiers to replace them. Zhang Rubao and the others would come back.
Prepare to build the Runing Army's own navy.
However, the selection of these 100 people was not easy. After repeated screening among the entire Runing Army, these 100 veterans who could swim were barely selected. Wu Shigong could only shake his head.
It’s really difficult for some people with shipboard experience!
Among the newly adopted orphans by Wu Shigong, all healthy male orphans aged above seven and below fourteen years old will be selected. There are more than 3,000 such orphans in total, and Wu Shigong formed the Runing Army with them.
The new children's camp. Let Chi Ming serve as the new leader of the children's camp.
In the children's camp, more than 600 orphans over the age of twelve will also be trained as preparatory navy soldiers. And one-third of those under the age of 12 will also be trained as preparatory navy soldiers. Wu Shigong wants to do it as soon as possible
We should build our own naval echelon well. We would rather people wait for the ship when the time comes than the ship wait for the people.
And Xue Qiang's action to annihilate Bao Zitou really created a river of blood. In just one month, more than 10,000 heads were slaughtered. Along the road where the Runing Army wiped out, many people were erected.
Jingguan built with heads.
Among those who were massacred, many were just local townsfolk who were forced to provide them with some supplies because of the powerful Leopard Head bandits. The Runing Army carried out Wu Shigong's order and killed all the people in those towns.
No chickens or dogs left.
This brutal act immediately aroused strong indignation from the local government and people. Accusations against the Runing army and the impeachment of Wu Shigong flew to Runing and the capital like snowflakes. But Wu Shigong no longer cared about it. What else could the court do?
Runing Army? Do you dare to disband? As for Wu Shigong himself, he really has no official position and is light-hearted.
However, after such behavior spread to Runing, there were also dissensions within the Runing Army. Zhizhi wrote a strongly worded letter to break off relations with Wu Shigong. When Wu Shigong personally wanted to explain something, he also ate one
Closed door.
Even Father Carrera, who had just started building a small church, tactfully advised Wu Shigong through Carrelli. Even civil servants such as Deng Qifan also secretly advised Wu Shigong to stop.
But at this time, Wu Shigong was already riding a tiger. Fortunately, under such a terrifying threat from the Runing Army, all the towns that encountered the Leopard Head Bandit tried their best to resist, causing the Leopard Head Bandit to completely lose their supply of supplies. In addition, in
Under Xue Qiang's relentless pursuit, the Leopard Head gang quickly collapsed. Leopard Head himself was beheaded by his mutinous men and surrendered to the Runing Army.
This revenge finally had a relatively satisfactory result. This also made Wu Shigong breathe a big sigh of relief. However, in this way, the evil reputation of the Runing Army was completely spread in Henan.
The arms trade of the Shanchuan Division has also begun to bear fruit. In fact, among the bandits in Henan, some are complete bandits like Leopard Head, and some are actually gangs formed by local wealthy families to protect themselves. They are both bandits and farmers.
The main purpose is to keep one's own safety.
Most of the arms trade of the Runing Army was faced with these gangs, because many of these gangs were controlled by local gentry. The Shanchuan Division also inquired about it. Under the original situation, the weapons in the hands of the bandits were not only made by themselves, but
Except for some, they mainly purchased from Shanxi merchants. (To be continued.)