Chapter 377: New Outlook of the Ministry of Rites (Thirteen)
Two hundred people died in one battle, and hundreds were injured. There were even many soldiers whose bodies could not be brought back, which was unprecedented for the Chinese army.
Commander Wu of the 15th Division was completely inattentive at the meeting. Any topic made him too sensitive, and he was immediately caught up in random thoughts and unable to extricate himself.
In contrast, the head of the Ministry of Rites was better. Although it was difficult to hide his painful expression, he still managed to concentrate and try to keep up with the pace of the meeting.
Army commander Ding Shuaimin was furious, and he looked around at the soldiers present at the meeting, ready to explode. But then he heard Li Hao cough loudly, and Ding Shuaimin was stunned for a moment, then he looked at Li Hao, the head of the military branch of the Ministry of Rites.
Li Hao's position in the army was the director of the military logistics department, but after becoming the branch chief, he actually handed over all the work to his deputy. Seeing that he had stopped Ding Shuaimin, Li Hao stood up and said, "It's been such a long meeting, take a break."
After everyone stood up, Li Hao pulled the 15th Division Commander Wu and the division branch chief Qian to the tent at the back.
The three of them sat down, and Li Hao asked, "Commander Wu, feel your hand, is it numb?"
Division Commander Wu was dumbfounded and didn't understand what this meant, so Li Hao told them how he felt when he learned during the exercise that the exercise headquarters had determined that the division headquarters had been destroyed. At that time, Li Hao felt like he was struck by lightning and was completely stunned. Such an absurd thing actually happened, and it was told by one of their own people. The young soldiers were furious and cursed at the personnel of the exercise headquarters on the spot.
Having said this, Li Hao sighed, "If it weren't for the discipline at the time, I really wanted to beat someone up. But now I think the exercise command was right. Anything can happen on the battlefield. If we have to plan everything, it's not a war, it's a show. We lost 200 people, and everyone is so upset. If the other side loses the battle, tens of thousands of people will die. Do you think the people on the other side are not human beings?"
When Branch Chief Qian heard this, he quickly followed Li Hao to persuade him. Commander Wu suddenly understood what was said, but he was unable to cheer up immediately. After swallowing a few times, his face suddenly twitched and he started crying. After crying for a few times, Commander Wu cried again: "I'm sorry for everyone. I know I'm sorry for everyone. But I didn't expect it to be like this. So many people died. I really want to die..."
Li Hao felt sympathy in his heart. He also had this feeling. Facing the seemingly unreasonable exercise staff, Li Hao's mood of fighting to the death was based on grief and anger. Since the other party wanted to judge the exercise troops as a failure, he must not let those people succeed!
Even after the exercise ended and until today when he learned that the Qing army had used the cave to hide soldiers to ambush the Chinese army, Li Hao still felt a little resentful.
But the incident of the soldier hiding cave suddenly made Li Hao lose his mind to do so. The enemy's changes were more than he had imagined. If he had not accumulated psychological experience in the exercise, Li Hao felt that he would be unable to continue because of an accident.
When Commander Wu stopped crying, Li Hao asked, "What do you think?"
"I...I want revenge!" Commander Wu expressed his strongest wish.
"It's all right to take revenge, but you can't do it in a daze! After so much training, the more you want to win, the less likely you are to win. At this time, you have to put yourself in a position to use tactics. Your Majesty has taught us so many times so that we won't be confused. Commander Wu, I see that you are a little confused now."
After Li Hao finished speaking, he looked at Master Wu. He decided in his heart that if this guy was still confused and couldn't get out of the shadow of failure...
"I can fight..." Commander Wu replied.
Hearing this, Li Hao directly ordered Chief Qian: "I now announce that Chief Wu's position is suspended and he can resume his work after he has figured it out. Chief Qian, as the chief of the branch, you have to help Chief Wu calm down. Only when he calms down can he return to work as soon as possible."
After saying that, Li Hao turned around and left to attend the meeting.
Branch Chief Qian quickly stepped forward and grabbed Li Hao, "Branch Chief Li, what should we do?"
"What should I do? I don't know. Well... according to what His Majesty said, if you get confused, go back to the starting point. Take the division commander, regiment commander, and battalion commander to practice basic drills such as lining up and counting. His Majesty said that the so-called command is to master the countless basic training contents and use them effectively. If you only think about commanding others and don't know how everyone fights, it's just empty talk. Go."
After saying that, Li Hao walked out, walked a distance and then turned back, "Calm down. Don't think about whether you are embarrassed or not. There are already 200 lives left. If you faint again, you may lose 200 lives in another battle! People will die in a war. Calm down and think about the fact that you are just one person in the division, not the entire division!"
After Li Hao finished speaking, he felt that language was too poor a tool. If he could get his true thoughts into Master Wu's mind, Li Hao would be willing to pay a huge price. However, no matter how much Li Hao wanted to do this, he couldn't do it. These things had to be understood by Master Wu himself.
Back in the conference tent, the meeting started again. Perhaps because Master Wu was not there, the mood of the crowd was obviously much higher.
Based on the losses suffered by the 15th Division, the troops' judgment of the Qing army also changed. First, everyone believed that the Qing army could no longer be regarded as an army that would never change.
No one objected to this statement, but the expressions of the people present were somewhat touched. Li Hao felt that everyone should have remembered the old brothers in the Huaxia Army, at least that's what Li Hao thought. If the old brothers encountered such a situation, their response would probably be to ask the entire Huaxia Army to attack. It is very likely that Ding Shuaimin would not see things as wrong and retreat immediately.
But no one mentioned this, and everyone started to think about how to deal with the Qing army's position.
Since it is a discussion, it is not out of stupidity but it is common to say stupid things. For example, someone asked whether the Qing army's positions were covered with soldier caves.
This concern even attracted the approval of many people. After listening to this, Ding Shuaimin asked with a dark face: "We have engineers here. How long will it take for our engineers to dig so many holes? The Qing army has been here for less than three days. How many holes can we dig in three days?"
Several members of the Ministry of Rites who were engineers thought about it seriously and whispered to each other, "Report, if it were us, we could dig some in three days. But the terrain doesn't allow this. If we dig the entire front line like this, we'll be exhausted. The Qing army doesn't have engineer shovels, and the blades of these things are all made of steel. Iron tools can't dig."
Another engineer quickly added, "Yes, iron ones won't work. If our troops can dig it in three days, the Qing army will need at least ten. Besides, we have engineers, but the Qing army doesn't. If we rush in, their efficiency won't keep up."
After the engineer finished speaking, the chief of staff of the 17th Division asked, "Does that mean that we should take advantage of the Qing army's physical exhaustion to rush in and defeat them?"
This statement is not stupid, but it is inevitably a little confusing. However, after hearing this, Ding Shuaimin slapped the table and said, "Well said! It is true! I really didn't expect it!"
The officers of the Henan Theater of the Chinese Army were all dumbfounded by this eccentric chorus.
At this time in the capital, the soldiers in front of Hu Yue did not have any jumpy expressions. This was not to say that no one dared to compete with Hu Yue in terms of jumpy temperament. Instead, the wild military intelligence sent by Zhili made everyone at a loss as to what to say.
The field troops in the Zhili war zone rushed into the Qing army's formation. Initially, the progress was very smooth. The ranks rushed forward and were about to return to the rhythm that the Chinese army had used to defeat the Qing army in close combat.
However, the Qing army not only did not collapse, but took advantage of the opportunity of close combat. A large number of Qing soldiers armed with spears jumped out of the trenches and engaged in close combat with the Huaxia army.
Even though the Chinese army practiced bayonet combat hard, especially intensive training in bayonet versus spear combat, they still suffered huge casualties while inflicting huge damage to the Qing army.
The commander of the Zhili War Zone saw the situation and thought that they had run into an ambush set by the Qing army, so he ordered other troops to press forward. Unexpectedly, the same thing happened in other positions, and the troops at several breakthrough points were attacked by a large number of Qing troops in close combat.
All these troops could only go forward to provide support, and both sides were engaged in a brutal and bloody battle.
Because the report did not say how long the two sides had been fighting. The final report only said that the Chinese army suffered more than 4,000 casualties. Although the enemy was severely damaged, it failed to break through the enemy's position.
At this time, everyone in the Huaxia Army headquarters who stayed in the capital had finished reading the report, but no one dared to speak. Hu Yue saw that everyone was just like that, so he ordered: "Send a letter to Xuzhou immediately, asking His Majesty to send troops to reinforce."
As soon as this was said, an officer immediately expressed his objection, "No way!"
Hu Yue had no intention of saying "nonsense" at this time, and asked coldly: "Why?"
The officer was stunned for a moment, then hesitantly replied, "Your Majesty...Your Majesty will blame us."
Hu Yue slapped the table with a sullen face, "When we act foolishly, His Majesty is of course unhappy . But have you ever seen His Majesty get angry because we fight to the death? Tell me, when did His Majesty get angry because everyone was injured or killed!"
No one dared to answer this question. Whether Huo Chong would be angry was no longer the reason why everyone was afraid to speak. Seeing Hu Yue getting angry, everyone was scared and dared not say a word.
"At a time like this, of course we have to ask His Majesty to send reinforcements. Even if no troops come, please send doctors and medical supplies first. Four thousand people! Four thousand people! Are there enough doctors for the front line?" Hu Yue shouted, and then he suddenly remembered something, "Immediately organize the military doctors we left behind and send troops to escort them to the front line. At a time like this, one less death is one less!"
Hearing Hu Yue's loud shout, the officers not only did not refute, but many of them suddenly had tears in their eyes.
Even if it's just a life, it's still a life!
Hu Yue was not so moved. After making the decision, he immediately began to command his troops to take action. Although there were three elite Qing troops stationed in the outer city, besieging the inner city, Hu Yue did not take it to heart.
If it wasn't for attracting the Qing army to station in the outer city to reduce the number of Qing army field troops, Hu Yue felt that killing the nearly 10,000 Qing troops in Wanmian would not be a problem.
The intelligence was transmitted urgently by a fast horse at a speed of 800 miles, and the Chinese Army's transportation line in Zhili delivered the news to Xuzhou within three days.
After reading the report, Huo Chong immediately ordered 10,000 troops to go north and escort almost all the doctors to the frontline in Hebei. Medical students from the four grades except the first grade in the five grades of the military hospital were also to go to the frontline.
The old brothers in the military academy had just filled out their applications to join the Ministry of Rites and were currently reviewing them. When they heard the news, they became anxious.
Qian Qing touched his slightly bulging belly and loosened his military belt. He didn't dare to ride a horse, so he took a donkey cart to the military academy to meet his old brothers and hear what they meant.
The old brothers here were furious, and when they saw Qian Qing, they started to scold the commander of the Zhili War Zone. Although they were all old brothers, they were really anxious at this time.
Four thousand casualties were truly unprecedented in the experience of the old brothers. When the total number of the old brothers was only a few thousand, they followed Huo Chong to ambush tens of thousands of Qing troops. When the number of the old brothers was tens of thousands, they launched a head-on attack on 100,000 Qing troops.
Although there are not many female officers in the military academy, there are some. However, most of them are female soldiers who have given birth to children and left their children at home to take care of them and then returned to the military academy for further studies.
The female soldiers were also furious. "Sister, when you led us to fight the Qing army, we also had people die, but we have never seen such a way of death!"
Men and women were extremely angry. Qian Qing felt a little irritated and couldn't help but raise the back of her hand to cover her mouth. She originally thought that she would stop vomiting after a certain period of pregnancy, but she still felt very uncomfortable after being so excited.
When the uncomfortable feeling subsided, Qian Qing shouted, "No one is allowed to talk now!"
Although the voices were not as intense as before, after Qian Qing's words, the old brothers temporarily fell silent.
Just as Qian Qing was about to speak, someone jumped up and raised his hand, "Sister, I have something to ask!"
"Shut up first!" Qian Qing directly rejected this guy's request, "The report sent from the front line about this battle is like this..."
Qian Qing told everyone the battle report. When they heard that his troops had approached the Qing army and were fiercely counterattacked by the Qing army, someone immediately shouted, "You cowards, press on immediately. Once you press on, the Qing army will collapse!"
After glaring at this guy, Qian Qing continued to describe the battle situation. Hearing that the troops were not retreating, nor were they slow to move, but that the troops were decisively pressing forward, everyone became even more excited and began to criticize the Zhili commander for being useless and losing a battle that could have been won. After Qian Qing finished his general description, he frowned and asked these guys, "Don't be so arrogant. Tell me, how do you think the battle turned out like this!"
The old brothers immediately began to talk about their own experiences. However, everyone's experience was so consistent that when someone said the previous sentence, someone else immediately followed up with the next sentence. In short, the queues for the execution were not neat and the pressure was not strong enough. Or the queues were not connected, or the attack direction was not configured properly.
After all, even though I'm getting very emotional, there's still so much to say.
Qian Qing heard that no one could come up with something new, so he called these people in. The exercise troops were already prepared outside, Qian Qing was in charge of the Qing army, and the old brothers were in charge of the Huaxia army.
When the old brothers saw Qian Qing personally imitating the Qing army, they did not care about their status. Some of them became regiment leaders, some became battalion commanders, company commanders, and platoon leaders.
This tactic has been in use for several years and everyone has become very familiar with it. The team moved in an orderly and efficient manner, and after a simple simulated shooting, they advanced to the position.
Since the Qing army simulated by Qian Qing had firepower judgment, the Chinese army approached very quickly. When they saw them near the trenches, the old brothers had worked hard on their physical fitness during this period and had lost weight. They stretched out their hands nimbly over the edge of the trenches and pounced on them.
However, just when the old brothers were about to launch a fatal attack, a large number of "Qing troops" poured out of the soldier hiding cave whose exit was facing the direction of the Qing army and began to attack fiercely with melee weapons.
For a moment, the troops commanded by the old brothers were caught in a pincer attack, and the time was so tight that their command was disrupted in a blink of an eye, and they were caught in a battle of bayonets against spears.
When the simulated battle was over, the troops commanded by the old brothers were not only not judged to have won, but several groups were judged to have been completely wiped out.
The facts were right in front of them, and the old brothers were scratching their heads, not knowing what to say.
Qian Qing, like before, used real facts to educate his old brothers, and then asked coldly: "Do you know where the problem is?"
Some of the older brothers fought too hard and were counterattacked, leaving some scars on their faces. Rubbing the sore spots, they shouted, "Only the eldest sister can do this!"
"No, the Qing army has already done so. News came from Henan, and the changes in the Qing army were brought to you, sir."
Hearing that Huo Chong also knew about it, the old brothers were a little afraid to act rashly and could only ask: "What does your majesty say?"
"Sir, this is definitely not a good thing. But it's a good thing that everyone knows that the Qing army is not a bunch of fools. All the training before was to let the brothers know that one trick can conquer the world, but that's just talk. When it comes to the battlefield where lives are at stake, those who remain stupid will die, and those who survive will definitely learn to be smart."
Seeing that the brothers had become more obedient, he advised them more kindly: "Brothers, the master asked you to learn how to fight, not because he thinks you are useless. It's because the Qing army has to change desperately for their own sake. But you brothers want to eat a fat man in one bite, that won't work!"
After saying this, Qian Qing was about to lead everyone to review the situation, but unexpectedly someone asked indignantly: "Why didn't Ding Shuaimin from Henan fall for it?"
Hearing the hostile tone, Qian Qing's face darkened, "Because no matter who they are dealing with, they don't think they can do it in one go. So they sent troops to test the waters first. When they encountered an accident like this, they took the troops back first. That's why a seriously injured platoon leader told me about the cave where he had hidden his soldiers."
These words made the old brothers stunned. Qian Qing suddenly felt that these guys were really annoying. They were not cute when they were young, and they were even more annoying now.
So he said it more seriously, "It's a good thing for a person to have backbone! But you can't think that I am the best in the world. If you think that I am the best in the world, I will do a one-time deal! I will make it clear to you, whoever thinks so again has learned in the military academy that you can't think like this, and then go out and continue to fight!"
