The initial battle was a small victory, with the enemy's tentative attack repelled and more than a thousand people annihilated.
In the eyes of Shen Shuren and Zuo Zixiong, such a record is no longer worth showing off. What they value more is the effect of this battle on stabilizing morale.
I believe that the Ming army was encouraged by this and could wait for another ten days and a half, waiting for a turn of events. There should be no problem.
Returning to the camp's main tent, Shen Shuren immediately spread the map with Zuo Zixiong and planned the follow-up actions.
Even senior General Manager Qian such as Shen Fu and Lu Datou participated in this impromptu and informal military meeting. They listened attentively and provided some current military information from time to time for the reference of the army and the capital.
However, this kind of calmness can only be achieved by those old people who have been with Shen Shuren for more than a year.
On the other side, Zhang Mingzhen, Yang Jinjue and other newly recruited generals were overjoyed after withdrawing their troops. They found a few jars of good wine that they had collected with great difficulty and rushed to the Chinese army's tent under the command of Armed Forces Master.
Before Zhang Mingzhen could even lift the curtain, he walked with the wine jar in his arms and shouted: "Sir, Armed Forces! You are really well-strategized and commanding. Today, you are still so calm in the face of five or six times the enemy! In today's battle, can you be so calm?" Let the whole army not be in chaos from beginning to end, and defeat the enemy calmly! The general is really convinced!"
Yang Jinjue on the side was also excited and incoherent: "I'm ashamed. Now, I don't dare to lie to you. When I was first transferred, I was still a little dissatisfied. Now that I think about it, I'm really fooled by lard!"
Your Excellency is really strict in running the army! Especially those firearms soldiers, they can be smashed through the wooden wall by the enemy and still refuse to retreat, and they dare to use their guns and swords to stab and resist the enemy in an orderly manner. This is really unprecedented!
I have been fighting against pirates for seven or eight years. I have never seen my Ming Dynasty's firearms soldiers dare to fight in such close combat without retreating at all! The original blunderbuss and swords were just decorations! The Japanese pirates and pirates rushed in front of them and left them as deserters! The general actually doubted the usefulness of your sword training before, you are really ashamed of yourself!"
The two of them sighed with emotion, shook the wine bowls, and toasted in front of Shen Shuren. Shen Shuren had no choice but to drink first to save his face, and then ordered others to drink too.
Only then did Zhang Mingzhen and Yang Jinjue realize that Zuo Zixiong and the other old men were not excited at all after the battle, and were already thinking about the arrangements for the next battle very calmly.
Zhang Mingzhen and others were stunned for a long time, and finally realized the gap: It turned out that under Shen Shuren, more than a thousand enemies were wiped out with almost no losses, which was not worthy of a big celebration...
What a difference!
Zhang Mingzhen patted his head and said: "Your Excellency and your colleagues are really generous and heroic, but they are not making a fuss out of a molehill. In today's Ming Dynasty, annihilating more than a thousand enemies anywhere is not worthy of celebration. How magnanimous is this..."
Chen Shuren smiled and patted his shoulder: "It's okay, you will get used to it in the future. I was indeed negligent today. I should have taken care of the emotions of you newcomers. That's all. Then have a good drink." We'll discuss military aircraft tomorrow morning.
Give extra meals to the soldiers, one tilapia for every four people, and one chicken for every eight people. Then send fast horses back to the county seat to report the victory, and call for Magistrate Yan. Let's work together to figure out what to do next.
But remember! The firearms soldiers are not allowed to drink tonight! They have to stay on night duty to prevent the camp from being robbed! However, in the next two days, the firearms soldiers can be given two meals of wine to compensate for the celebration. It is the turn of other officers and soldiers to take turns to watch the night!"
Even when celebrating, Shen Shuren is still very careful, and he must not relax in basic operations such as staying on duty at the anti-robbery camp.
Then all the soldiers cheered and went to prepare supplies and call others without mentioning it.
Chen Shuren watched the generals disperse, still feeling a little uneasy. After thinking for a long time, he wrote a note and asked Shen Fu to handle it, so that the artillery team that was still on the road could speed up and strive to be in place tomorrow——
The Shen family's army has just arrived for a day. The cannons they requested from the Zheng family are heavier and must move much slower than the infantry. Therefore, they are still changing ships at the mouth of the Han River. There is no chance for today's battle. I'm out of town, but I should be able to arrive tomorrow.
…
Haste makes waste. After the battle, you really need to rest for a night and then relax with some food and wine.
The next day they rested until Chen time. When the generals came to the Chinese army's tent again and asked for instructions from Chen Shuren, they found that Chen Shuren had gotten up earlier than them. Only a civil servant, Yan Yingyuan, was already waiting beside him, and all the generals were waiting for him. It came later.
It's not that Chen Shuren is not lethargic, it's just that he is more restrained when drinking, unlike those generals who drink freely when they are happy.
The generals hurriedly secretly expressed their shame and said some cliche words, praising the military commander for his diligence.
Chen Shuren just smiled slightly, took a document from Yan Yingyuan, and motioned for the generals to circulate it. When the generals saw it, they found that it was copied to Mr. Yang Ge and Fang Kongzhen, the governor of Huguang, and the content was nothing more than a report of victory.
Yesterday's gains and battle exploits were written down in detail and distributed to each guard and battalion. The merit calculation was very fair and was consistent with the final head count of each battalion yesterday.
Those heads harvested by Zuo Zixiong's cavalry who subsequently cleaned up the battlefield, and those who were found to have bullet holes and were already dead at the time, were also counted at the corresponding battalion head of the Fire Gun Team.
Zhang Mingzhen and Yang Jinjue couldn't help but admire this new boss who had just been with him for more than a month. They secretly said that they must work hard with Master Bingbei to find a wife and son.
It was common for civil servants in the Ming Dynasty to deduct the merits of generals and accept benefits, resulting in uneven distribution. It is extremely rare for Shen Shuren to not be greedy for merit, but to give it all to his subordinates without taking any money.
"Where can I find such a superior officer? We are really lucky. If Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong's superiors could be so clear-minded and even a bowl of water, they probably wouldn't have become warlords. Alas." I thought about it. , Zhang Mingzhen’s eyes were a little wet.
After they quickly wiped their eyes secretly, they remembered something and asked for instructions while returning the documents:
"Sir, I see that at the end of the document you sent to Mr. Yang Ge and Governor Fang, you also reported on the results of the levy of gold in Guanzhong, Jiangkou, and said that the first batch of silver would be sent. The general thought about it and found out that he wanted to Did Mr. Yang Ge or Governor Fang request reinforcements?"
It turned out that Chen Shuren's letter contained quite a lot of content. When he came here for reinforcements, Zheng Chenggong had just collected three to five days of gold.
However, including Chen Shuren's marching arrangements, the stalemate has lasted for another six or seven days, which adds up to more than ten days. And Chen Shuren also included the time his messenger was in transit, and directly made some false accounts. The income earned in the first half of the month after the Lijinn fee is levied will be sent together.
According to the fact that five or six fleets sailed south to Jiangxi and south to Zhili every day, and the same number of fleets sailed northward against the current, Zheng Chenggong could collect from dozens of taels to more than a hundred lijin for each fleet.
The total income from the provincial boundary waterway between Huangzhou and Jiangxi, and South Zhili, is estimated to be only more than 10,000 taels in half a month, and more than 200,000 taels in a year——
This number is also in line with expectations, because Shen Tingyang originally calculated the accounts for Chongzhen and believed that the three provinces in the south could receive about two to three million taels a year through the staggered pilot projects. When divided equally, Huguang, Nanzhili, and Fujian , a province with a small amount can collect 500,000, and a province with a large amount can collect nearly a million.
Huguang is considered moderate, with 700,000 to 800,000 yuan a year for sure. What Chen Shuren only controls is the tax customs adjacent to Huguang, Jiangxi, and South Zhili, as well as other tax customs with Henan, Sichuan, Guangdong, and other places. It is controlled by people from the government and Yanfa Road, so the silver handled by Shenshu people is equivalent to slightly more than one-third of the Lijin in Huguang Province.
Zhang Mingzhen and others were not inexperienced in officialdom. They knew that Master Bingbei was eager to report the results as soon as he received the money, and even sent the money in full, so he must be asking for reinforcements.
Chen Shuren did not hide anything from his own people, and directly stated the plan he had thought of last night: "You guessed right, I thought that after retreating from the initial defeat yesterday, Erhe would not immediately launch another offensive.
The enemy we saw yesterday indeed only had 20,000 to 30,000 people. This is inconsistent with the strength of Erhe that we learned from previous military intelligence. If both of them were to dispatch all of them, the total force would be 50,000 to 60,000, even if they did not all come. , there will definitely be reinforcements from the rear army in the follow-up.
They know that our weapons are sharp and cannot be defeated by attacking the enemy, so they will slowly wait for the rear troops and build equipment for attacking the camp. They will even prepare more battle houses, thick wooden shields, shield carts, etc. It is possible to prepare for three to five days.
Our army will be able to transport a batch of Hongyi cannons today. I asked Zheng Xiandi's family to get them by blackmail. I got ten of them in total. Two of them were left with Zheng Xiandi to guard the Jiang Defense Checkpoint. I will take away the two and leave six. The door will remain in your camp.
Zuo Zixiong, after I leave, you will coordinate the entire army. Zhang Mingzhen and Yang Jinjue are each responsible for the defense of the left and right camps. Each of them has three red cannons to guard the left and right sides of the camp gate.
If the subsequent enemy offensive is very fierce and it is necessary to return to the county town and set up defenses step by step, be sure to transport all the Hongyi cannons back to the ship in advance and take the Sheshui waterway back to Xiaogan County. The bandits come from the upper reaches of the river, so there are no big ships , it is absolutely impossible for our army’s large ships to be intercepted on the water.”
The generals were encouraged by yesterday's small victory and are now very confident. After listening to Shen Shuren's arrangements, they all took blood shots to show that they would hold on for a while, and first completely drain the rogue's energy!
Among the people, only Yan Yingyuan was a civil servant and relatively attentive. He heard Shen Shuren say "I want to take away two cannons" and quickly asked for confirmation:
"Sir, do you want to go to Jiangling in person to find Governor Fang for help? To get to Jiangling, even if you take the Han River and the Xia River, it will take more than 500 miles. I'm afraid it will take four days to get there by boat both day and night.
If you take the Yangtze River, it will be further. You have to go south through Wuchang and Yueyang, which is more than 800 miles. Calculating this, sir, do you need us to hold on alone for at least half a month?"
Chen Shuren nodded: "I believe you. I am a civil servant after all. I have explained the points that should be paid attention to in these tough battles. The first battle was also won. Now the morale is available. You can take care of the daily military affairs yourself. .
Although I don't know if Governor Fang and Mr. Yang Ge are in trouble, this time Erhe is able to use all his strength to deal with Huangzhou, and he is not worried at all about other officers and soldiers "surrounding Wei and rescuing Zhao". I always have a bad feeling in my heart, fearing that it is someone else.
What enemy has risen in this direction to contain our friendly forces?
In this case, if I casually send a minion to deliver a message to ask for help, others may not be willing to do it. I have to take action personally, and my face may be enough."
The generals heard that his analysis was very reasonable, and they immediately expressed their support. It is the duty of warriors like them to guard the camp and the city on a daily basis.
"Master Bingbei, don't worry and go ask for help. We will definitely defend this place. With the Hongyi cannon, we are not afraid even if Erhe's troops are doubled!" Zuo Zixiong was the leader, and everyone expressed their determination.