Chapter 245: The Capital's Counterattack (Part 4)
"Congratulations, sir, on becoming the Governor-General of Henan." Yue Zhongqi congratulated Ortai.
After hearing this, Ortai, who is 52 years old this year, smiled bitterly and said, "Mr. Yue, Henan is located in the center of the world. If even Henan is in chaos, the world will surely be in chaos. Do you think appointing the governor of Henan is a good thing?"
Yue Zhongqi did not think there was any malicious intent in this remark. Now he and Ortai were in the same boat. Either he would annihilate Huo Chong and both of them would be promoted and given titles. Or he would be annihilated by Huo Chong and both of them would die.
Even if he didn't have to be annihilated by Huo Chong, as long as he was defeated by Huo Chong again, he would die in the army or by the law of the country.
Since Ortai was so clear-headed, Yue Zhongqi told the truth, "The people sent by Prince Yi are about to arrive. What should we say?"
Ortai looked resolute, "I have been blessed by the emperor for generations, so I should tell the truth. Let's go and get the person."
The person who came from the court was Fu Erdan, an old acquaintance of the two. Fu Erdan was Yongzheng's guard and a person he trusted very much. Ortai was promoted by Yongzheng and had always been familiar with Fu Erdan. After Yue Zhongqi was defeated outside the city of Jinan, Fu Erdan took over the command of the troops, and then was defeated by Huo Chong in the counterattack.
Faced with such a delicate fate, Ortai was the first to break the awkward silence, "I saw a lot of things when I was in Yunnan and Guizhou, where the chieftains were reformed. I felt that Huo Chong, the bandit, was very different from those chieftains..."
Fu Erdan became interested when he heard this, and said quickly: "The court sent me here this time. Before leaving Beijing, Prince Yi repeatedly told the two zhiqing adults to tell the truth. Huo Chong is so vicious that we must all work together."
The three high officials knew that they could not allow Huo Chong to become more powerful. In particular, Ortai and Yue Zhongqi had fought many battles and knew that the reason Huo Chong did not roam around was not because Huo Chong was enjoying these victories in Shandong. According to intelligence from all sides, Huo Chong was gradually taking over various parts of Shandong and establishing a stable regime.
Before Fuerdan came, he chatted with Old Thirteen for more than an hour. He was quite happy to hear that what the two said was similar to what Old Thirteen said.
Yue Zhongqi and Ortai both believed that they had to fight Huo Chong to the death. However, the chances of winning with 200,000 troops were slim. Even if they won, it would only be a miserable victory. They might not even be able to clean up the mess. If they wanted to win, they would need at least 300,000 troops. If they had 400,000, they would probably have a very high chance of winning.
Fu Erdan shook his head. "I have fought against Huo Chong before, and I know that this bandit is vicious. Four hundred thousand men can indeed win a great victory. But mobilizing four hundred thousand troops would cost one hundred million taels of silver in a year. The imperial court really doesn't have that much money. My Lords, can't we take it slow and steady?"
Ortai and Yue Zhongqi looked at each other, Yue Zhongqi lowered his head, and Ortai replied: "The use of troops is elegant and the combat is solid." After saying these eight words, Ortai closed his mouth and said nothing.
Fu Erdan bit his lip hard. This eight-character comment was Nian Gengyao's evaluation of Huo Chong before his death. It was initially regarded as a trick by Cheng Gengyao to survive by nurturing the enemy before his death.
However, with the rise of Huo Chong, this evaluation was increasingly recognized. When Yongzheng was alive, he even began to regret killing Nian Gengyao.
"The court has already made a decision. We really cannot send more troops. Besides, we have already sent you two over a thousand artillery pieces and tens of thousands of muskets. Don't you think you still have no confidence?"
Fuerdan was telling the truth. All these new muskets and artillery were sent to the army, and now the 200,000 Qing troops were fully equipped with firearms. With such firearms, they should have a chance of winning even against the Dzungars. However, Ortai and Yue Zhongqi did not feel such confidence.
But it seems that this is all that is said. As the governor of Henan and the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary army, Ortai made up his mind and said, "Please go back and report to the court. We will fight Huo Chong one by one until we are all gone!"
Seeing that the two men understood the current situation, Fuerdan advised: "My Lords, Huo Chong is a bandit. The bandits only rely on their temporary bravery. Once they encounter setbacks and lose their bravery, this battle will not be able to continue..."
On March 15, the 30,000 Qing troops stationed near Jinan City began to move their camps and set up camps along the Xiaoqing River. Whether it was the Cao Gang on the Xiaoqing River or the shops along the way, many of them were from Huo Chong's side. They watched the excitement like everyone else, and did some reliable small business to make a little money. At the same time, all the collected intelligence was sent to Linzi.
Huo Chong received not only news from the north, but also signs of the Qing army's movement in the canal area in the west and the southern Shandong region in the south . It seemed that the Qing army had a strategy of attacking Qi from five directions.
"Open the road and let them in." Lei Hu, the chief of staff of the Han military department, explained the strategic plan of the headquarters.
The Han army originally had 20,000 men, with each battalion having about 500 men, and the public had 40 battalions. At this time, the army was expanded to 50,000, with 81 infantry battalions, a total of 40,000 infantry. Artillery, engineers, and the navy were all directly commanded by the Ministry of War.
The meeting was attended by 27 regimental commanders and commanders of various arms. Due to the expansion of the force, the organizational structure of the troops has become regimental. A regiment has three battalions, with an engineering company, an artillery company, and a logistics company. There is also a reconnaissance platoon directly under the regiment.
Most of the group leaders understood what was going on just by hearing "open the road and let them in."
If you can’t even understand these, you can’t be the team leader.
Lei Hu continued, "We'll pick the softest persimmons and eat them one by one. This is our strategy this time."
"Report to the Chief of Staff ! I have a problem!"
"Captain Hu, you may ask questions."
"Chief of Staff, what if the Qing army is scared away?" Hu Yue, commander of the Sixth Regiment, asked confidently.
"I don't think the Qing army is that cowardly. If they attack the strong first, they will scare the weak away. If they attack the weak first, the strong will probably not flee."
"Chief of Staff. I have interrogated many Qing soldiers. The soldiers of the Qing army know nothing. They just do whatever their superiors tell them to do. The officers of the Qing army only listen to their superiors. Only the real high-ranking officials can make a judgment. I have questioned all the captured high-ranking officials. They said that they were the strongest before they fought. When they heard that others had lost the battle, they felt that they were not as strong as the annihilated troops. When those troops were annihilated, they thought we had to withdraw troops to deal with them. They were afraid and wanted to run away."
After listening to Hu Yue's long speech, Lei Hu became very unhappy. "Nonsense, what you said is different from the report submitted by the interrogators."
"Chief of Staff, I went there recently with some wine. Those guys have been locked up for so long, they are all tired. As long as they can feel comfortable, they will tell you whatever you ask. What they said before was intentional because they didn't want to die."
Lei Hu rolled his eyes and wanted to explode, but he didn't know whether to explode at Hu Shuo or at the person in charge of interrogating the intelligence.
As a result, before Lei Hu could say anything, the person in charge of the interrogation stood up and shouted angrily: "What nonsense are you talking about?"
Before the quarrel started, Huo Chong stood up and said, "Without investigation, you have no right to speak. Don't be impatient. We will know after another investigation and interrogation."
