Chapter 395: Huguang Chishui (IV)
"Hunan militia raised the slogan that those who study hard are not afraid of death, but those who are afraid of death do not study..."
When the staff officer read the contents of the report to this point, Lei Hu was stunned for a moment, then sneered. The staff officer paused, waiting for Lei Commander to express his opinion.
Lei Hu looked at everyone's eyes and felt that he had gone too far. The reason why he sneered was because he was stimulated. Lei Hu actually cared about his identity as a scholar. Although the identity of a scholar was not necessarily a good thing in the Chinese court that advocated workers, peasants and soldiers, Lei Hu still cared about it.
There was no point in wasting time, so Lei Hu could only perfunctorily say, "These people speak better than they sing. I don't know if they are really not afraid of death."
This made the generals of the Western Expedition Army laugh out loud. In the past ten years, except for Ortai, the only people who could cause trouble to the Huaxia Army on the battlefield were soldiers, not some shitty scholars. Scholars, juren, and jinshi were all a bunch of trash. Although everyone would restrain themselves a little when Gao Pang, the genuine top scholar, was there, in the Huaxia Army's discrimination chain, the position of scholars in the Qing Dynasty was just above the landowners.
The staff officer then continued to read. The general meaning was that the Qing army had set up a battle array in the area between Hesheng Bridge and Dingsi Bridge, intending to rely on the geographical advantage to resist.
It was indeed a bit difficult to expect these Central Plains men to figure out the specific topography of Hubei. Although there were some maps, they were all very rough. Being able to clearly point out the names of Hesheng Bridge and Dingsi Bridge showed that Yu Qian had tried his best.
After reading the report, someone immediately suggested, "Commander, since the enemy army is so courageous, why don't we surround and annihilate them?"
"Both of these places are called bridges. They should be places where you can tie a bag."
"Is it possible that these people are just bluffing? They are just a bunch of militiamen, and I'm afraid they are not even fully equipped with muskets."
"Yes. That's why we have to surround and annihilate them. After all, before we met them, none of us could have imagined that Hunan could actually produce tens of thousands of field troops."
The audience burst into laughter. The three words "Field Army" greatly stimulated the nerves of the crowd, and it was hard not to laugh.
The Western Expedition Army was a field army, and there is a certain understanding and research on field armies. Two people fighting in the wild can be called a field battle. However, no matter how enthusiastically and earth-shakingly two people fight, it cannot be called a field army.
To enable tens of thousands of troops to fight in areas they have never been to, crossing plains, mountains, forests, rivers, lakes, and swamps, requires strong leadership, and the troops must undergo various studies and training.
Learning, training, and actual combat all require a lot of time and a lot of cost. It takes a long time to build a field army, not to mention weapons and equipment. The papers written by the Western Expedition Army alone have more than 100,000 words, not to mention those that were not adopted after they were written. Counting those, there must be millions of words.
Calling a group of guys who claim to be scholars a field army is really laughable in the eyes of the Chinese army.
Lei Hu did not mention the issue of the field army. He asked, "If we kill all these people, will Hunan be covered in mourning?"
The chief of staff shook his head. "No. We march fast. By the time the news gets to us, we will have conquered Hunan."
This time the laughter was not so intense, everyone just smiled bitterly. Shandong people are very loyal. When Huo Chong first rebelled in Shandong, so many people joined him because of his good reputation. Everyone thought that this man was a good person, and the government that wanted to kill Huo Chong must have bad intentions.
If Huo Chong had killed tens of thousands of Shandong people before the Shandong uprising, the local people of Shandong would have probably already formed an army to attack Huo Chong without the court having to kill him.
So whether they were really all killed is indeed a dilemma. Although this group of militiamen cannot be called a field army, they are indeed doing the work of a field army. The fact that they were able to pull nearly 20,000 people out of Hunan and come to Hubei to fight is enough to prove that these guys are not useless.
The Chinese court is the court, and the bandit army is the bandit. Capable bandits should indeed die.
Sima Rong knew it was his time to speak, and he spoke out what he had prepared long ago, "If they surrender, we will release them. If they resist to the end, we will naturally annihilate them."
After hearing this, everyone felt relieved and immediately began to discuss the plan on how to wipe out the stubborn bandits.
If a newly promoted guerrilla fighter found out that he was called a bandit by a group of peasants, he would probably be very angry, and then he would mock and abuse them with the arrogance of a scholar.
Since they didn't know, the scholars were now concentrating on discussing how to defeat the enemy army in the Heshengqiao area.
Scholars are scholars after all, and this discussion quoted classics and mixed in a lot of local geographical knowledge. General Fu Qing, who came here with anger suppressed, listened to it unconsciously.
There are large bamboo forests and tea mountains near this area, with many strategic locations to defend. There are no roads for the army to pass through the tea mountains and bamboo forests. The tea mountains are slightly better, with some narrow paths. The bamboo forest is rarely visited by people. According to legend, there are many mountain spirits and wild monsters living in it, all of which are man-eating monsters. Once people enter, they will definitely not be able to get out.
"General, these are the places we need to guard." Chief Zeng gathered everyone's knowledge and told General Fu Qing about several key points.
At this time, Yu Qian finally waited for the troops who had gone to investigate to return. A platoon of troops went out, and when they came back, they were carrying four stretchers and some people. When Yu Qian saw the people on the stretchers, he knew that they had not survived.
Without asking any more questions, the reconnaissance platoon leader barely raised his head and said, "Branch leader, these four brothers died of water poisoning. It's my responsibility..."
Yu Qian heard that he was not nearby, and without waiting for the reconnaissance platoon leader to apologize, he immediately asked what happened. After the reconnaissance platoon leader introduced, Yu Qian realized that although he had traveled to at least seven provinces, his knowledge of geography was far from enough.
The reconnaissance troops hoped to find a main road, but they didn't. If there was no main road, a small road would do. But they still couldn't find a small road suitable for the troops to pass quickly.
Although the weather was not hot yet, the troops were already exhausted. There were many small pools of water and some springs in this area. There were no residents nearby, and the water was clear and pleasant to look at.
However, the soldiers who followed the platoon leader in the reconnaissance unit, which was divided into several teams, drank the clear water. At first, there was nothing wrong with it, but they just felt that the water did not taste good.
After walking for a while, the soldiers who had drunk water suddenly fell ill. The platoon leader fetched water from another pool, and although he also felt uncomfortable, the reaction was not as severe. The troops quickly gathered, but people in the three squads were poisoned.
"Branch chief, I'm sure that it is indeed living water! It's really living water! There are no animal carcasses in it. There is no sign of poisoning!" The reconnaissance platoon leader explained to himself vigorously.
Yu Qian saw that the reconnaissance platoon leader's eyes were red, so he could only pat the platoon leader who was a few years older than him. In his heart, he was very shocked. He had only heard of poisonous springs, but from Shandong to Fujian, as long as it was running water, clear and not polluted, it would be fine. At most, he would just boil it.
The reconnaissance platoon leader was even more professional in these areas, but he still got caught. This place is really evil!
General Fu Qing of the Qing Dynasty stroked his long-bearded chin and asked, "Is this water really poisonous?"
"The water is not always poisonous. Even the locals don't understand. If you drank water from one source yesterday, you might be poisoned, but if you drank it today, it would be non-toxic. The strangest thing is that if you drink water from two sources far apart separately, it might be fine. But if you drink it one after the other, you will be poisoned. It will keep changing, so the locals never dare to draw water here. As long as the government troops guard a few water sources that will never cause any trouble, the bandits who come from afar will die of thirst without water!"
Fu Qing had been in the army for a long time and had even been to Tibet, so he was well-informed. But this was the first time he had heard of such a thing. Looking carefully, it was indeed as the scholars said. The government army only needed a small number of troops to control the key points.
At this time, Fu Qing only had 30,000 people under his command. He also knew that if he dispersed his people, it would be like throwing salt into a water tank. It would be basically useless, and he had to focus on defense. Such a unique water source could indeed be of great help.
Listening to the new guerrillas talking passionately about the defense here, all kinds of wonderful ideas came to their mind, while Fu Qing coldly calculated how long he could hold out here.
Hiding in the city for defense was useful for the Qing army, but not for the Huaxia army. If it was useful, Fu Qing should have been sitting in Hankou to command the defense. The Huaxia army's artillery was powerful and their tactics were extremely flexible. Somehow they broke through the city defense, and most of the 50,000 Qing troops who had fled back to Hanyang were killed.
Even if this peculiar terrain can help, how long can it hold out? Ten days or half a month. Even if it can hold out for a year or two, what will happen? As long as the court cannot send troops to help, when it can no longer hold out, Fu Qing will have to abandon this place and continue to flee.
Rather than waiting for the old soldiers in the division to be too tired to even escape, it would be better to take a chance now and see if we can defeat the Chinese army.
But Fu Qing had no confidence in this. Even the 100,000 Qing troops were defeated, so how could this little militia be useful?
But the militiamen were so enthusiastic that Fu Qing couldn't pour cold water on them. He could only leave quickly while the soldiers asked Fu Qing to go back to handle military affairs, leaving a group of guerrillas behind to continue the discussion.
A few days later, the Western Expedition Army Headquarters and the main force arrived at the north of Hesheng Bridge. Yu Qian had prepared a map and told Lei Hu about the unique water source here.
The terrain of Heshengqiao cannot be said to be particularly dangerous, but the problem is that if you want to outflank it, you have to go too far. The mountainous areas in the south that are easy to pass through are also rich in water. It is impossible to launch a formation attack, especially it is not convenient to use artillery in the battle.
The advantage of the Chinese army was greatly weakened. On the contrary, the defenders could fully play the advantages of the defense. If their equipment could be comparable to that of the Chinese army, Lei Hu would not be willing to launch an attack.
After looking at the map, Lei Hu arrived at the front line again. He saw green mountains and a river at the foot of the mountains. There was a lonely bridge over the river. It was a wooden bridge. Lei Hu even doubted whether the tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers would damage the bridge after trampling on it for a long time.
The mountains on both sides were covered with clouds and mist, and there were a lot of plants that could not be seen in the north. Just looking at it, it seemed that a large number of troops could be easily hidden inside to launch various assaults on the attacking Chinese army.
"Yu Qian, have you come up with a solution?" Lei Hu asked.
Yu Qian replied: "If we attack by force, our army will certainly suffer heavy losses. Since a forceful attack is not feasible, we can only infiltrate."
Lei Hu frowned slightly, "Didn't you say that there is insufficient water and the road is blocked?"
"Insufficient water resources and impassable roads will depend on how many troops are going to pass through. If the number is small, it is not impossible. We can first send troops to use bamboo tubes to carry safe drinking water and set up drinking water points on the road. If this is the case, when the battle starts, there will be at most two battalions, less than a regiment of troops."
"Can this number of people defeat 30,000 people?" The chief of staff objected immediately. The two battalions only had a few hundred people. What good could a few hundred people do against 30,000 people?
To attack? To cut in? To cut off the enemy's retreat? This is not to send a troop to attack from the flank, but to attack deep behind the enemy.
The chief of staff totally disagreed with such a risky approach. "I've also looked at the terrain. If we fight slowly, we can get in. Why take the risk?"
Yu Qian replied calmly, "That means dispersing the enemy. Our goal is to annihilate these enemy troops and prevent them from fleeing south. Are we really going to chase the Qing army to Guangxi? And there are these Hunan landlords and gentry. If we let them flee back, the local Hunan landlords and gentry will be even more troublesome. It is better to annihilate them here in one fell swoop."
The chief of staff wanted to persuade him again, but was interrupted by Lei Hu, "Minister Yu is right, it is best to wipe them out here in one fell swoop. I see that if we really chase them into Hunan, we don't know what kind of situation we will encounter. The unexpected casualties in the troops alone will be huge. Besides, this kind of combat is what the field army should bear. But how do we choose the people? Does Minister Yu have any suggestions?"
"Select members from the Ministry of Rites to form a commando team." Yu Qian answered decisively.
The headquarters had a plan, so it had to be executed. But when it came to selecting people, there was an unexpected result. The heads of each regiment firmly stated that their regiment could take on this important task. The ritual departments of each regiment even sent in a large number of applications.
Yu Qian knew that the officers and soldiers of the army were very enthusiastic about joining the Ministry of Rites since they were sure that it was truly open to workers, peasants and soldiers. Before every fierce battle, someone would apply to join.
Not only were the various regiments competing for this dangerous mission, but the ritual departments of each regiment were also competing for it. They all said that the ritual departments within their regiments were strong enough to take on the most difficult battles.
In desperation, Yu Qian could only count the number of people instead of the relationship. As a result, the fourth group had the largest number of members from the Ministry of Rites and the largest proportion, and they were given this dangerous mission.
When Lei Hu learned about this, his heart was also churning. Perhaps because he was born a scholar, Lei Hu realized that the times had really changed. In the past, the army had to have a backer, and it was actually the same now. However, this backer was no longer the simple one of closeness and distance. Because of the emergence of the Ministry of Rites, many people had other choices.
Compared with the degree of closeness, the rules of the Ministry of Rites are very clear, which is to look at daily performance, learning attitude, learning results, and especially the degree of closeness to the Ministry of Rites system.
Because of the existence of the Ministry of Rites, the Chinese Army, although strong, is not an army that relies on individuals like the ancient strong army. Instead, it is an army organized by constantly instilling ideas.
New people who can take on important tasks keep emerging, and the Ministry of Rites’ system of rewarding according to merit makes it difficult for commanders to even deliberately suppress them.
It has always been said that Huo Chong did not build his own team and was not very polite to his old brothers. However, the leader of the Ministry of Rites was not the Minister of Rites, but the emperor Huo Chong. The army directly controlled by the Ministry of Rites was much more loyal to Huo Chong than the old brothers.
However, the old brothers seemed to have only sensed some changes, but were completely unable to understand what the changes were.
Thinking of this, Lei Hu put away his thoughts. He was willing to be loyal to Huo Chong, if Huo Chong was not tolerant and treated everyone equally, it would be impossible for Lei Hu, a Zhili native, to stand out in the early days when Shandong people accounted for the majority.
Moreover, Huo Chong will definitely die before Qian Qing, even for Qian Qing, Lei Hu must ensure that the Ministry of Rites can operate smoothly. This is what Qian Qing relies on to hold on to the throne of power after Huo Chong's death.
What Lei Hu had to do was to bring out the strength of the field army. Now that he had the sharp knife in his hand, the next step was to use it to completely cut off the retreat of the Qing Dynasty's last experienced field army and the Qing Dynasty's loyal scholars.
The ticking sound of the telegraph was heard in the newly established telegraph office in Xuzhou. The electric signal was transmitted at the speed of light to the next telegraph station through the rubber-wrapped enameled wire.
After the battle reports of the Western Expedition reached Jiangning, they were no longer transported by ship or fast horse, but were sent to Xuzhou through the newly established telegraph room.
This did save a lot of time, but the time and manpower costs saved were negligible compared to the investment in building the telegraph system.
Many people, including those in the imperial court, opposed it, but Huo Chong rejected all the objections without hesitation.
"If it were the Qing Dynasty, building telegraph lines might have been a loss-making process because these telegraphs only served a small number of people. But in the Chinese Dynasty, it would certainly not be a loss-making process. There are hundreds of millions of people in the world, and they all have the right to enjoy fast information services. As long as we don't do those stupid things that are purely free and charge a reasonable fee, there will be hundreds of millions of users, so how can we lose money? Serving the people cannot be just a slogan, but must be implemented in concrete social progress and social services."
Of course, no one dared to challenge Huo Chong at this time. Everyone could only express their agreement with some dissatisfaction after listening, and at the same time, they also had their own imaginations about this wonderful machine.
When Lei Hu's battle report arrived, several thousand words of it arrived in Xuzhou from Jiangning in one day, which really impressed everyone.
The Chinese army attacked Heshengqiao head-on. During their cautious advance, they were attacked in various ways by the Qing army and militia. Many of the attacks were indeed unexpected. If they had not been extremely careful, they would have been caught.
While slowly advancing, the Fourth Regiment, with strong logistical support, passed through the mountains that even the locals thought were impassable, and appeared behind the stubborn enemy. The Qing army began to retreat like a frightened bird, but was blocked by the Fourth Regiment.
After two days of hard fighting, the 30,000 stubborn enemies were finally wiped out.
The most surprising thing is that that group of Hunan scholars had extraordinary backbone. They had no battle line, and before the local militia completely collapsed, the Hunan scholars really showed a fighting will in line with the slogan "Study hard and you will not be afraid of death; be afraid of death and don't study."
Even after the collapse of other militias, a group of scholars led by Yuelu Academy launched a charge and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Huaxia Army.
After the final count, all the famous 18 academies in Hunan sent militias to the battlefield. All the scholars from the four academies, Yuelu Academy, Shigu Academy, Santan Academy, and Gongcheng Academy, died in the battle. Seven of them committed suicide after being defeated, and 18 died after being seriously injured and unable to be treated.
His spirit of serving the Qing Dynasty to the death even surprised the Chinese army.
The captured leader Zeng (who committed suicide due to poor supervision) was angrily questioned after being captured: "You are working so hard for the Qing thieves, aren't you afraid of having your entire clan executed?"
Zeng cursed: "Even if I kill ten of my clans, I'm not afraid. What about killing nine of my clans?"
Although the officials in the Chinese court knew that according to the Chinese court system, killing ten clans, even killing the entire family, was not allowed, they were really angry after seeing this content, and many people immediately asked Huo Chong to kill ten clans of Zeng.
Even Gao Pang was so angry that he cursed: "This guy is so arrogant because he knows that the imperial court will not kill people. If he really wants to be Fang Xiaoru for the Qing Dynasty, then why not fulfill his wish!"
Only Zeng Jing from Hunan was embarrassed when she saw the crowd's indignation. She wanted to persuade them but didn't know how to say it.
After all, if such a guy did this because of anti-Qing, he would have been executed long ago. Since he is still alive, it means that his family certainly did not oppose the Qing. Instead, he showed such astonishing loyalty when he opposed Huaxia.
"Haha, haha. It's very good!" Huo Chong couldn't help laughing out loud.
Everyone looked at Huo Chong in astonishment, and many hardliners were secretly delighted. If Huo Chong ordered the execution of all nine or even ten clans of the Zeng family, no one would be able to say anything. Everyone would be relieved!
Huo Chong did not want to play a farce of killing nine clans. These people really aroused Huo Chong's interest. What a good example. In the new era, they were a group of people that had never been heard of or seen before. Huo Chong ordered loudly: "Let Lei Hu and the Ministry of Rites in the army interrogate these scholars. We will send some members of the Ministry of Rites who are capable of making these people tell the truth to help. Why did these scholars go to such lengths? Tell these scholars that if they can explain the truth, we will grant their wishes. If the captured scholars who can tell the truth want to live, we will release them immediately. If they want to die, we will shoot them and save their reputations."
