Chapter 381: New Outlook of the Ministry of Rites (XVII)
The sky in Hebei is a little bluer than that in Henan. The sun is high in the pure sky, scorching the earth mercilessly. In the Qing army's camp, there is a corner where the wounded are placed.
Within a few days, the number of wounded soldiers increased dramatically. The wailing of the wounded and the stench of festering wounds made no Qing army around willing to approach this corner.
General Basai called the generals together to discuss how to deal with them. The generals were very surprised. After all, the Qing army had already had a habit of dealing with them. Those with minor injuries would recover on their own. For those whose injuries could not recover on their own, it would depend on whether they died quickly or slowly. If they died quickly, they would be dragged out and buried. If they died slowly, they would be sent to leave in the middle of the night.
General Basai saw that his subordinates didn't understand what was going on, and he wanted to beat them up. Killing them was not a bad idea, but such a killing method would affect morale. So General Basai's idea came to him when he suddenly remembered the song of the Three Disciplines and Eight Points of Attention of the Chinese Army.
Among the eight points of attention, the eighth is not to abuse prisoners, not to beat or scold them, and not to search their pockets. Basai suffered a lot at the hands of the Huaxia army, and escaped by eating human flesh. Perhaps it was because of the Han tradition that "killing prisoners is unlucky", the Huaxia army was extremely cruel on the battlefield, but they treated prisoners well. So poor that the officials of the Ministry of Revenue, who looked miserable every day, dared to say after two glasses of wine, "If they killed those military households, the court would have a better life."
If the soldiers were killed, the court would not even have to provide them with pensions. However, if the captives were released, the court would still have to provide for them. General Basai knew very well that the reason why Emperor Hongzhou was so brave and led the army in person was largely because these soldiers had completely drained the treasury.
In this expedition, either Huo Chong died or all the soldiers died. Otherwise, Hong Zhou would be forced to death by the military pay.
After listening to his subordinates' nonsense for a while, Basai remained silent. Soon, all his subordinates stopped talking and looked at Basai, waiting for the general to give orders.
Basai really didn't want to talk to these useless people. Originally, Basai wanted to let these bastards below bring it up. None of the bastards actually proposed to "give" the wounded soldiers to the Chinese army. Basai couldn't say anything. He couldn't help but regret that he should have listened to his master and asked a general to raise such a point of view.
At this moment, Li Feng, the leader of the Bordered White Banner among the Eight Banners of Han, spoke up, "General, please forgive me."
Basai snorted but did not answer. Li Feng continued, "General, why not send the wounded out of the camp and let them go to the enemy army first. Many wounded soldiers are infected with diseases, and if they go to the enemy army, they will also make the enemy army sick. But doing so will hurt the general's benevolence and righteousness."
The Manchus have no sense of justice! Basai cursed inwardly. Since entering the Pass, they have eaten when there is food, and eaten people when there is no food. This is the traditional skill of the Manchus. When talking about justice at this time, the Han people are so pretentious!
Although he cursed in his heart, Basai glanced at his subordinates. He wanted to read their thoughts from their faces. After all, these wounded soldiers were not Basai's direct subordinates, but subordinates of various generals.
The generals were stunned at first, then excited, even happy. Someone immediately said, "General, this is a good idea."
"It's good for us to make the enemy soldiers sick!"
"General, I think this is a good idea. But I don't know if the enemy army will accept it."
Hearing that his subordinates all agreed with this method, Basai felt that this was really the Eight Banners that inherited the tradition of Manchu men. It had to be so decisive.
The Qing army's actions greatly surprised the Chinese army, who immediately guessed that this was the Qing's attempt to spread the disease.
But the Huaxia Army was the Huaxia Army after all, and they had never massacred soldiers on a large scale. Although everyone was cursing, they could do nothing about it. In the end, they could only blame Hu Yue in the capital.
At this time, the Qing army in the capital had already withdrawn. Facing the fierce attack of the Huaxia army, Basai issued a strict order to transfer these elite troops back to the camp to participate in the defense. When Hu Yue got the news, he was comforting the people in the capital.
If Hu Yue were to say how much the people of Beijing loved the Huaxia Army, he would not dare to say such nonsense. However, the Huaxia Army discovered that the people in Beijing had indeed changed their attitude towards the Huaxia Army.
When the Qing court fled, they did not rob the people in the city. However, when the people from Shengjing came, they ignored the books and materials because they were uneducated, and they just acted arrogantly. After all, in the eyes of the princes outside the Great Wall, the capital is a place of debauchery. If you don't plunder after arriving here, you will be sorry for yourself.
After the Qing army in Shengjing was driven away by the Huaxia army, the population in the capital city plummeted and there were almost no merchants left.
At this time, the Qing army of the Xi'an court entered the city again. Seeing that they could not capture the tightly defended inner city, they began to plunder the capital.
At this time, the city was already desolate, and the people were wearing tattered clothes, and they asked the Chinese army to "give them some food."
Begging for a living requires money, while the poor ask for food. At this time, the Chinese army did not have any special food, so they could only provide part of the military supplies, many of which were strong liquor.
Many years later, many drunkards in Beijing who survived that era would explain their addiction by saying, "It was because the Chinese soldiers gave us wine that we were greedy for alcohol."
After hearing the news, Hu Yue was very unhappy. How could such a bad thing happen to him?
If possible, Hu Yue did not want to accept any prisoners. The medical care on the front line had reached its limit, and it was crazy to treat the wounded of the Qing army!
But Hu Yue also knew why those people were shirking responsibility. The discipline of the Huaxia Army was too deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. In addition, the Huaxia Army was originally a unit of good families. They hated the army for harming people. They boasted about killing people everywhere, but that was just bragging. They were extremely disgusted by being asked to harm people and kill prisoners.
Finally, Hu Yue had no choice but to send a fast horse to report to Huo Chong. The 800-mile fast horse delivered the news to Xuzhou in one day. After Huo Chong in Xuzhou read the news, he wrote: "Use maggot treatment. If it doesn't work, then they are unlucky."
Another day passed before the news came back. It took only two and a half days for the order to be sent to the front line, but by then, the wounded soldiers of the Qing army had already obediently accepted the maggot treatment for two days.
The seriously injured soldiers all had damaged internal organs and ruptured blood vessels. They would have died by now. Most of those who survived had large wounds that were not fatal, but only festering. Maggot therapy is a good way to treat such injuries.
The army of good families is like this. When the concept of "enemy" is mentioned, the people in the army will shout and kill, as if they want to eat their flesh alive. When the wounded enemy soldiers kneel on the ground and beg for their lives, they can't do it at all.
Anyway, there are plenty of these sterile maggots, so we can use them on a few wounds that are festering. The other wounded soldiers saw that their brothers who were doomed to die actually survived, so why would they complain so much?
After all, it is a fairy tale that the villagers who are servile under the devil stab the hero who kills the devil, or even attack the hero who can kill the devil.
Those people going to the battlefield are not children. They know much more clearly than children how cruel the world is.
What's more, these people all barely survived the battlefield, which was like a Shura. Compared with the battlefield, the cruel world can already be regarded as a place of birdsong and flowers.
Therefore, after nearly 10,000 injured people received the porridge given by the Chinese army, they became completely obedient. They even had a mentality of "come whatever you want, as long as you can survive, you will honestly accept whatever the Chinese army treats you."
However, in the past two days, all the strength of the Chinese army was used to treat their wounded. After three major battles and several small battles, the Chinese army's 40,000 troops suffered an astonishing 8,000 casualties. How tragic is this ratio?
Generally speaking, the Chinese army has completed the organizational reform. That is, one army has three divisions, one division has four regiments, but three regiments are infantry regiments, and the other regiment is a mixture of artillery battalions and logistics units. One regiment has four battalions, three battalions are infantry battalions, and one battalion is a mixture of engineers, artillery, and logistics. One battalion has three companies, without logistics and artillery units. And so on.
Such a huge loss is equivalent to each division losing an infantry regiment.
The troops were seriously damaged, and the Chinese army's soldiers were very valuable, so there was no such thing as waiting to die. In addition, the raw materials for making anesthetics were obtained from the Indian colonies in Europe, and anesthetics could be produced in large quantities, making various operations possible.
Therefore, even though hundreds of medical school students and recent nursing school students rushed to the front line, they were only able to maintain a relatively low death rate.
This is another characteristic of the Liangjiazi Army. Everyone feels that they are individuals, and as long as conditions permit, no one wants to abandon their comrades. If you can accept the system of abandoning your comrades, then the next time you are abandoned, you may be the one.
The grassroots thought this way, completely out of instinct. However, for the top leaders, things were very different. On the battlefield, there was probably nothing more luxurious than saving lives. Even after the battle, treating one's own people was a very thing.
Three major battles and several minor ones have proven how tenacious the Qing army is. Moreover, the Qing army's attitude of treating human lives as worthless really frightened the Chinese army.
The Hebei War Zone Command discussed several times and found that there was no other way except to fight to the death. Fortunately, Huo Chong issued more than one order this time. The Military Commission notified the Hebei War Zone that the Henan War Zone would soon send troops to reinforce.
If it was before the battle broke out, the Hebei War Zone would have refused without hesitation. At this time, the old brothers in the Hebei War Zone were also wilted. If you want to exchange merit for status, you have to make great achievements. With nearly 8,000 casualties, it’s good enough not to be scolded to death. It’s better to surrender than to resist.
Moreover, the old brothers in the Hebei war zone could not help but doubt the strength of the young people in Henan. How could they win so easily? The old brothers just didn't believe it.
The confrontation lasted for five days, and the Qing army held their ground. The Chinese army was busy saving lives. Many soldiers began to donate blood. Even though they knew it would affect the battle, they just didn't want to see their comrades die.
Even the headquarters donated blood collectively. As long as they don't attack, relying on the current training and equipment of the Chinese Army, they will have no pressure to defend themselves. Donating blood reduces physical strength, but it saves lives. With so many people dead, the conscience of everyone in the headquarters is also under tremendous pressure.
On the second day of July, the troops from the Henan War Zone finally arrived. They had to build a floating bridge on the Yellow River first, and then walk all the way here. It was a long journey, and the troops' marching ability varied. Two regiments arrived first.
Fortunately, the commander of the two regiments was Wu, the commander of the 15th Division. This rank made the commander of the Hebei War Zone feel much better. The commander of the war zone should be half a level higher than the army commander. If he had to bow to a regimental commander, he would not be able to bear the loss.
Wu, the division commander, had no other ideas. After exchanging intelligence with the Hebei War Zone Command, he learned that there were about 60,000 Qing troops left. Wu, the division commander, sighed and said, "Thank you for your hard work. It's up to us now."
The commander of the theater was very angry, but it was not his turn to say anything at this time. However, the chief of staff of the Hebei Theater expressed the thoughts of everyone in the Hebei Theater Command unhappily, "Is Commander Wu going to take the lead?"
"The headquarters doesn't allow us to take the lead?" Commander Wu asked in confusion.
The headquarters fell into an awkward silence. After a while, the commander of the Hebei War Zone laughed dryly and said, "Commander Wu, you are a real hero. Do you want to rest for two more days?"
Commander Wu didn't have any other feelings. Since completing the Henan Campaign, Commander Wu felt that he no longer cared about many things. He just wanted to finish the war quickly and then retire. As for what to do after retirement, Commander Wu didn't care. After experiencing the Henan Campaign, Commander Wu felt that as long as there was no war and he could live a peaceful life, it would be fine.
Therefore, Commander Wu did not care what the other party meant. He just said what he could do. "Including today, we will rest for two days. We will attack early on the third day. Let's discuss more during these two days."
Early in the morning on the fourth day of July, General Base received news that the Chinese army had taken action.
Since the wounded were driven to the Chinese army, General Basai has been relieved. Since there are no wounded soldiers in the camp, the army is more confident. But they are also a little tired. If they can give the Chinese army a fourth head-on blow, perhaps the Chinese army will not be able to bear it and withdraw. At that time, General Basai can be the first Qing army commander to repel the Chinese army. More importantly, the general can also consider withdrawing to Shanhaiguan.
After several battles, General Basai knew very well that with the current strength of the Qing army, there was no need to consider retaking the capital. Even if they did, they would probably not be able to withstand it.
The Qing army's deployment was similar to the previous one, and the four trenches were already very complete. There was no shortage of water, and because there were so many fewer soldiers and horses, there was plenty of food. The only thing left was to be cautious in the battle.
Wu and Li Hong convened a meeting of the Li Branch. The Li Branch is a very flexible organization. Although each branch is relatively independent, the branch structure is extremely flat. There are only a few different levels. The only difference between the levels is the work, not the level. Because the Li Branch Charter clearly states that all Li Branch members are equal. Positions are just positions, not levels.
So the meeting is very simple, it is for people of the same level. Everyone has already voted to decide what to do, and then everyone takes on their own responsibilities instead of ordering others.
Li Hong and Commander Wu argued for a moment about who should command the assault team, but finally agreed that Commander Li Hong should take the responsibility.
As for the others, most of them were discussing their assigned tasks. After the last battle in Henan, the Ministry of Rites discussed the gains and losses of that battle all the way. In addition, they received instructions from Huo Chong on the way. Everyone felt that the problem with the last battle was that the battle arrangement did not implement the new combat methods enough. Once the breakthrough was made, the large force would directly break into the Qing army. Even if the Qing army did not have a command center in the center, as long as the number of troops was large, they could immediately complete the front and back attack. The Qing army had no chance to hold out for another hour.
Although they had never made such a plan before, the staff led by the members of the Ministry of Rites also began to make larger-scale campaign plans. There were so many things to do and they all had to be revised. It was really tiring.
At this time, the trumpet sounded outside, and all the troops entered the combat position. Li Hong shook hands with Division Commander Wu. But they both took a step back and raised their hands to pass. Division Commander Wu lowered his arms and shouted: "Everyone, turn to me."
When everyone turned around, Commander Wu raised his hand and saluted everyone. All members of the etiquette department returned the salute.
Before the Henan Campaign, everyone might have looked down on it or disliked it. Even now, although some people may not like it, as soldiers, everyone knows that everyone here is fearless in life and death on the battlefield.
Under the military salute, as a soldier, besides fighting bravely, all that is left is the trust in his comrades.
As long as your comrades are still there, no matter what kind of danger you are in, there will always be someone you can trust by your side.
General Basai looked at the Chinese army's position with his clairvoyance and felt that something was wrong. The Chinese army's position was too quiet. It was so quiet that it made people feel creepy. It was like the calm before the storm, but when the wind blew, it would be a ruthless storm.
Just as he was wondering, the Chinese army's artillery bombardment began.
The general pulled himself together and ordered his men, "Be careful not to get hurt by the shells."
The generals could even laugh out loud: "Haha, please rest assured, General. I have survived before, and I will survive again in the future and continue to follow you."
Li Hong no longer needed to go to the front line. During the Henan Campaign, many outstanding personnel emerged in the army, and at this time, under the development of the Ministry of Rites, they all submitted applications to join the Ministry of Rites. These outstanding soldiers were capable of taking on the work.
For example, the engineering corps had quickly dug a passage through the land of Hebei. Unlike the previous Henan campaign, this passage made full use of the terrain, especially the concave land. This was not only safer, but also saved a lot of time.
The engineering corps had already started working in the previous two days, and now they were rapidly approaching the trenches of the Qing army.
The artillerymen also temporarily accepted the command of Division Commander Wu, firing slowly and steadily, fully attracting the attention of the Qing army.
Just when the Qing army was somewhat stunned, dozens of Chinese and threw grenades at them. The grenades exploded in the Qing army trenches, causing chaos in an instant.
However, the Chinese army did not take advantage of the situation to attack, and two consecutive rounds of attacks made the already chaotic Qing army even more chaotic.
Just before the chaos reached its climax, the Chinese Army commandos rushed into the Qing Army trenches, shooting and stabbing with bayonets, pushing the chaos directly to its climax.
As the first trench was captured, more Chinese soldiers swarmed in, some clearing the trench, some extending along the trench to both sides, and some crossing the trench to penetrate deep into the Qing army.
The artillery was not idle either. They took advantage of the chaos of the Qing army and began to move forward. In the last battle, the artillery played an amazing role when the Qing army counterattacked. However, at the battle reflection meeting, everyone believed that if the artillery had moved earlier, the results would have been greater.
Having accumulated experience, and applying it to this battle, the artillerymen dragged their artillery vehicles to the front line, trying their best to participate in the next battle at the closest distance.
