Chapter 385: Changes in Xi'an (Part 3)
Although refusing and declining three times is a bit silly, it is a tradition. Huo Chong finally completed the process and officially ascended the throne. Gao Pang, who was in charge of this matter, did a very good job. All the celebration activities in various places were cancelled and replaced by propaganda activities of the Ministry of Rites.
Originally, the Ministry of Rites was considered a high-end institution by ordinary Chinese court officials, that is, workers, peasants and soldiers. This time, we learned that Huo Chong was also a member of the Ministry of Rites, and we also learned that there was no limit on the number of people in the Ministry of Rites, but there was a selection process for joining the Ministry of Rites. And the members that the Ministry of Rites wanted to absorb were workers, peasants and soldiers.
He was able to be in the same organization as the emperor, and it was an organization where everyone was equal. The Huaxia Dynasty had aroused great interest in the Ministry of Rites.
The news naturally reached Xi'an. Hong Zhou just mocked him, saying, "He is indeed a thief, and he never changes his bad habits." He did not make any excessive comments on the matter . Instead, the civil servants of the Qing Dynasty began to criticize Huo Chong.
Betraying the emperor's grace, raising the flag of rebellion as an official. These have been said countless times. Even officials don't find it new. However, seeing the Ministry of Rites established by Huo Chong, the Manchu officials' masterpieces spurted out one after another around the axis of "no punishment for officials, no rituals for common people".
However, this statement could only be circulated among them. After all, the common people, whom the masters looked down upon, were illiterate.
Finally, the officials found inspiration from their emperor Hong Zhou. They discovered that the term "thief craftsman" was understandable to ordinary people.
Since the Chinese court called the Qing Dynasty "thief Qing", it is reasonable for the Qing Dynasty to call the Chinese court's emperor Huo Chong a thief craftsman.
Lei Hu, the commander of the Jiangning War Zone, did not know what the Qing Dynasty would do, and even if he knew, he would not care. Since Huo Chong did not make any pomp and circumstance, and there was no grand celebration by the ministers, Lei Hu returned directly to Jiangning to escape from Xuzhou, the sad place.
On September 10, Lei Hu returned to Jiangning. Facing the excited and happy Chinese soldiers in Jiangning City, Lei Hu did not indulge in joy with everyone. As a commander, there are too many things to do. In other words, there are too many things that Lei Hu can do to escape from his inner sadness.
The enemy in Wuhu was the best place to escape, and Lei Hu began to plan how to kill these guys. At this time, Yu Qian and many members of the Ministry of Rites in the army went to Jiangning to strengthen the organizational strength of the Jiangning war zone.
Lei Hu felt uncomfortable when he saw Huo Chong's youngest disciple. However, Lei Hu admired Qian Qing, but that didn't mean he had any hatred towards Huo Chong. Although he felt very uncomfortable, Lei Hu also knew that Huo Chong was not targeting Lei Hu personally.
I have studied the introduction to logic from Huo Chong for so long, and even the simplest logical form can prove this point.
So the unhappiness in his heart was just a reminder of the past. Lei Hu did not make things difficult for Qian except for his work. On the contrary, Lei Hu wanted to use everyone's wisdom and strength to annihilate the Wuhu Qing army as soon as possible, and then march west. At least Lei Hu felt that if he could stay away from Qian Qing, he would feel less sad.
Yu Qian was also fully committed to the war at this time. For the sake of his beloved teacher and senior sister... his master's wife, it was necessary to defeat the Qing army in Wuhu as soon as possible. However, the Qing army's chief general Fu Qing was very cunning. The scouts reported that since the news of Huo Chong's claim to the throne reached Fu Cha Fu Qing, Fu Qing began to cautiously shrink his troops. It seemed that he also knew that the Huaxia army would surely set off a furious tide of attack.
Fu Qing should have been fully prepared for the defense from Wuhu to Liangshan.
The chief of staff proposed an idea, "What if we send a group of troops to go around Wuhu? This way, we can attack Fu Qing from both sides."
Yu Qian did not engage with this idea, but raised the fundamental question, "Are we going to defeat Fu Qing, or annihilate Fu Qing?"
The Chinese Army has been engaged in a war of annihilation recently, and the Chief of Staff immediately said, "We must annihilate them!"
Yu Qian shook his head. "If we defeat Fu Qing, and Fu Qing's troops flee all the way back to Hankou, wouldn't that be good publicity for us?"
"It is better to cut off one finger than to injure ten fingers." The chief of staff used the common combat concept of the Chinese Army.
Yu Qian had also asked Qian Qing and Huo Chong about this issue. Huo Chong's answer was "analyze specific issues specifically." Yu Qian followed Huo Chong's advice and insisted on his own opinion. "From Wuhu to the west, both sides of the Yangtze River are sandwiched between the mountains on both sides. If the Qing Dynasty escaped, it would be impossible for them to flee everywhere, nor would they be able to regroup in other places. They can only flee all the way to the west, or they will be completely scattered. In this case, we chase the Qing army and retreat, so we don't have to worry about the Qing army doing anything. Unless they escape through such a long passage and retreat into Jiangxi, it is possible for them to retreat south along Poyang Lake to Nanchang District."
This is the situation on the map. The Yangtze River flows up from Wuhu to Jiujiangkou, and then there are some plains on the south bank. As for the north bank, there are various mountains all the way. The Qing army had to flee to Huangshi before there was the Ezhou plain area.
In the mountainous area, the Qing army really couldn't do anything. They either died in a desperate battle or retreated upstream.
"But our army never considers this way." The chief of staff replied with some embarrassment.
Yu Qian stopped talking to the chief of staff and turned to Lei Hu, "Commander Lei, Commander Lei needs to make a decision at this time."
Lei Hu hesitated for a moment. He felt that although he wanted to escape into the war, he still couldn't concentrate as much as before. After thinking for a while, Lei Hu realized the difficulty of everyone. The Chinese army had never had any experience in chasing the enemy.
The longest pursuit was when we chased the defeated army of Basai from northern Shandong all the way south, through Shandong territory, and into northern Jiangsu.
After figuring out the key points, Lei Hu asked, "Yu Qian, isn't it too arrogant to do this? Besides, what's wrong with annihilating these Qing troops?"
Yu Qian hardened his heart and said, "The Qing Dynasty will only bring harm to the people. If we continue to chase them like this, they will definitely do bad things. If they do bad things, the true face of our army will be known to the people."
Lei Hu was shocked by Yu Qian's words and his mind was focused. The chief of staff and many people participating in the meeting were also frightened and stared at Yu Qian.
Yu Qian hardened his heart and asked, "Comrades, if it was our Chinese army, would we harm the people when we were in trouble? If you can't figure it out, I will ask you a question. If the Qing army in front of us captured hundreds of thousands of people and told us that if we didn't surrender, they would kill these people. Would we surrender?"
Everyone was stunned by this question. Although they were stunned, everyone knew their answer. If they wanted to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of captured civilians, they could temporarily withdraw their troops and then find another way to eliminate the enemy. However, the Chinese Army would never do such a thing as cutting meat to feed the eagle and feeding the tiger with their own body.
"The Manchus are tyrannical to the people. Logically, their nature determines what they will do, and when they will do it is just a matter of whether the triggering conditions are triggered. Yes, our army is indeed for the liberation of the people. However, it does not mean that we have such an idea and become omnipotent. It is not the case that everyone in the world will immediately understand our idea just because we have such an idea. Only by destroying this cannibalistic world and completely eliminating the Manchus, this bandit party that leads beasts to eat people, can we liberate the people. It is only a matter of time before the Manchus do evil. They will not stop doing evil. We must not be so arrogant as to put the responsibility of the enemy on ourselves just because we insist on justice!"
Yu Qian spoke freely. This question was not first raised by a soldier in the Jiangning war zone, but was raised by some literati when Yu Qian was in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. At first, it also troubled Yu Qian. When he went to participate in the enthronement ceremony this time, Yu Qian mentioned it to his comrades in the Ministry of Rites, and Gong Yu analyzed it for him. This woke Yu Qian up from his dream.
Although Lei Hu was greatly shocked, he quickly agreed with Yu Qian's statement. Indeed, the evil of the Qing Dynasty was the essence of the Qing Dynasty. Just as Lei Hu's pain was also Lei Hu's own feeling. For example, Yu Qian was probably only happy about Qian Qing marrying Huo Chong.
Now that the essence of the matter has been clearly identified, Lei Hu decisively supports Yu Qian's view. Although others are still a little uncomfortable, Yu Qian's analogy still moved everyone. If the Qing Dynasty captured hundreds of thousands of civilians and said that if the Huaxia Army did not surrender and did not exchange their lives for theirs, the death of these hundreds of thousands of civilians would be the sin of the Huaxia Army. This would certainly not be recognized by the Huaxia Army.
It was the Qing army, not the Huaxia army, that killed people. Why should the Huaxia army, which did not kill anyone, bear the sins committed by the Qing army?
As for regarding the war between the Qing army and the Huaxia army as the reason why the people were killed, it is also nonsense. Wherever the Huaxia army went, the people would only be liberated and gain security. There is no reason for the liberators who eliminated the murderers to be regarded as being in the same group as the murderers.
With this kind of ideological construction, the Jiangning Theater Command of the Huaxia Army quickly adjusted its strategy from annihilation to crushing.
At the same time, the ship captains on the Yangtze River, who had been cooperating with the Huaxia Army for more than a year, were also given responsibilities.
Lei Hu called all the captains on the list to come to him and said, "You said before that if we need you for something, you will do your best, right?"
None of the captains dared to answer. Just this scene alone made the captains feel a huge pressure. In the past, in order to make a living and find a shipping job, they had to say polite words that would benefit them without spending any money, and they had to pat their chests to say it. When it came to taking real risks, who would dare to pat their chests! There was no time to hide.
Lei Hu could certainly understand this idea. Huo Chong had taught this psychology course during the training. It was Qian Qing who explained many of Lei Hu's questions that time...
Suppressing the dull pain in his heart, Lei Hu said to the captains of the boats according to what he had learned: "Most of your families are upstream. My Chinese army is following the order of His Majesty to march westward to attack the Qing army. The Qing army will definitely be defeated. After they are defeated, they will flee. At that time, the cities upstream of the Yangtze River will be scourged by the Qing army. I called you here to quickly go to the cities upstream and tell them to be careful. Hurry up and prepare to avoid disaster."
The captains were all shocked. Someone immediately asked when the Chinese army would send troops. Lei Hu did not hide it and told the captains about the plan to send troops on October 1st.
As Lei Hu knew, the families of the captains were basically upstream. If a person's family was not upstream, Lei Hu would not allow him to be included in the list.
As the saying goes, "live by the mountain, eat by the mountain; live by the water, eat by the water." The areas near the mountains on both sides of the Yangtze River are very poor, and everyone can only make a living by shipping on the Yangtze River. Those who can sail by water are considered rich. There are many trackers along the Yangtze River. Their daily livelihood is to make a living by pulling boats upstream, which is an extremely hard way to make a living.
Without Lei Hu's emphasis, the captains immediately said they would rush back upstream. Of course, someone would tip off the Qing Dynasty, and the intelligence department had even compiled a rough list of who tipped off the Qing Dynasty. But Lei Hu didn't care at all, because alerting the enemy was always a good strategy. Besides, with the Qing army's reconnaissance arrangements, the Chinese army's deployment could not be concealed.
Sure enough, the captain left Jiangning and went straight to the Qing army camp to inform the news to the Qing Jiangning General Fu Qing. Fu Qing didn't feel surprised when he heard it.
The failure of the other three Qing armies had already reached Wuhu. Of the four armies, only Wuhu was left, so it would be strange if the Chinese army did not attack.
However, Fu Qing was particularly annoyed. The Huaxia Army's arrangement was really vicious. It was not that Fu Qing felt that the Huaxia Army was maliciously spreading rumors, but that what the Huaxia Army said was true. Once the Qing army was defeated and fled upstream, they would inevitably .
If it was just to grab some food, it would be fine. Fu Qing knew the nature of the Qing army very well. In the past year, nearly half of the ordinary families near Wuhu and Liangshan had fled. When the Qing army got bored in the camp, they had to go out for a walk. Even if they were not bored, they had to go out for training and attack and defense.
Every time he went out, something happened. Looting was a small matter, but raping women and killing civilians was commonplace.
Fu Qing could only curse the generals every time, but he couldn't really do anything. Relying on killing to establish authority can only be done occasionally. If his subordinates raped women and harmed the people, they would be beheaded. Then Fu Qing would have to kill Qing soldiers every day. Doing so would only lead to deep hatred between Fu Qing and his subordinates. It is okay to use the rectification of military discipline to eliminate dissidents, but killing Qing soldiers for the sake of the people is absolutely not feasible.
Therefore, Fu Qing hated the propaganda methods of the Huaxia Army, but he had no way to deal with it. Fu Qing even didn't understand why the Huaxia Army could severely punish those who violated military discipline for many years. Such severe punishment not only did not make the Huaxia Army soldiers lose their loyalty, but made the Huaxia Army more and more capable of fighting. Could it be that the Huaxia Army mastered some evil magic that could control the minds of soldiers?
With both sides knowing the situation clearly, the Qing army and the Chinese army entered the war preparation stage. On the first day of October, three ships slowly sailed upstream towards the Wuhu area.
The Qing army also had naval forces. When the wooden boats saw the large ship going upstream, they knew it was a ship of the Chinese army. There was a chimney on the ship spewing thick smoke, which was the symbol of the Chinese army's warships. Not to mention that the upstream ship that could beat up huge water splashes was only available to the Chinese army.
Fu Qing had already made preparations, and immediately ordered the red cannons on the shore to start firing when the ship approached.
The Qing army gunners were also full of confidence. No matter how skilled the craftsmen were in the Chinese army's ships, ships were just ships. Once they were hit by the red cannons, not to mention the wooden planks, even the rocks would be broken into pieces. The ships were still unstoppable.
Although the Chinese army's large ships were moving slowly, they did not stop in the river. The paddle wheels splashed a lot of water and they tried hard to move upstream.
The Qing army opened fire when the three ships were within range. The shells made a lot of splashes in the river, some of which even splashed onto the ships. Many small black holes appeared on the Chinese army's ships, and then thick gun barrels were pushed out of the holes.
At this time, the Qing army was somewhat surprised. According to the Qing army's experience, a few cannons on a ship were scary enough. There were at least a dozen cannon barrels that were vaguely visible.
The Qing army artillery commander was puzzled. If they fired the cannons like this, weren't they afraid that the force of the cannons would overturn the boats?
Just as the commander was puzzled, the cannons began to emit flames and thick smoke from the first cannon. These were undoubtedly not blanks, and the shells landed on the river bank. Some of the shells were very close to the Qing army's artillery positions, scaring the artillerymen to scream loudly.
"The lazy ones will be beheaded!" The Qing army artillery commander immediately issued a strict order, and also issued an order of encouragement, "Whoever hits the enemy's ship with a cannon will be rewarded with fifty taels of silver!"
The commander knew that building such a large ship would cost tens of thousands of dollars, and the fifty taels of silver reward was nothing compared to the cost of building the ship. However, a single cannonball could cause serious damage to the ship.
But the gunners didn't think so much. Hearing about the reward, the gunners were all excited by the money and shouted loudly, and at the same time, they started to fire at the Chinese warships.
The sound of cannons roared, and the two sides fired back and forth, and neither side showed any intention of backing down.
The Qing army had been prepared and had deployed artillery long ago. In the fierce exchange of fire, a shell really hit the warship in the middle of the Chinese army. However, the shell hit the top and did not penetrate, but bounced off.
The commander thought he had clearly seen the shells hit, and he rubbed his eyes quickly, then raised the telescope to look over. He saw that there was no hole on the dark-colored Chinese military ship. It seemed that no shells had hit the ship just now.
At this moment, a huge explosion was heard from the Qing army's artillery position. The commander could feel the vibration under his feet. He put down the telescope and looked over. It turned out that a Qing army artillery position was hit by the artillery on the Chinese warship and blew up into the sky. The artillery position was in a mess and no living people could be seen. It seemed that the gunner was also blown away by the artillery explosion.
Fortunately, the Qing army was in the lead and engaged in a fierce battle with the Huaxia army. After that, several more shells hit the Huaxia warships. This time the commander saw it clearly. The shells were actually bounced off and bounced off the hull of the Huaxia warship. Such a scene was really unheard of, and the commander was dumbfounded.
The Chinese army did not stop at all. Their artillery had already blown away eight Qing army gun positions. In addition, the Qing army's artillery was overheated at this time and could not fire at all. The Qing army had fallen into a situation of being beaten unilaterally.
At this time, the Chinese Army infantry in the south also began to move towards the Qing Army. The battle was about to enter the fierce battle stage.
