There was an explosion and a large amount of soil flew into the sky. An earthen battery was blown up, revealing a gap several meters wide. The Ming Army on the battery fled like rats, and the organized resistance completely collapsed.
Zhou Qingfeng stood 500 meters away from the battery, holding a telescope and watching a company of combat engineers carry out a close range blasting operation. The target was a battery north of Dagu Kou, east of Beitang Town. There were a few antique cannons on the battery, and the Ming Army tried to use this to defend and wait for reinforcements. However, Beitang Town was only 30 miles away from Dagu Kou, and this was a nail that had to be removed.
The offensive blasting tactic was specially prepared to deal with solid fortifications such as earthen batteries. The Ming Army on the battery lacked training, and after the combat engineers approached, they began to fire randomly. However, their firing speed was slow, and the range was short, so there was no threat at all. The two blasting teams took turns to approach and covered each other. Soon, the Ming Army on the battery was unable to attend to one thing and lose sight of the other.
Zhou Qingfeng put down the telescope, and an officer of the Imperial Guard next to him said happily, "Grand Marshal, these Ming Army are too useless. The bandits we encountered in the past when we were fighting for public security were stronger than them. The Ming Army panicked when they saw us, and there was no effective way to deal with our attack. "
Since the Beijing-Tianjin Front Army landed, the title of "Grand Marshal" was suddenly confirmed. Everyone was generally optimistic, and they all felt that the Revolutionary Army had already reached the hinterland of the Daming capital region. Zhou Qingfeng was no longer a small character in a corner, and only the title of "Grand Marshal" could match his identity.
Zhou Qingfeng could not deny the change of the title, but he was extremely wary of the idea of underestimating the enemy that began to emerge in the troops. With a cold face, he said to the officer next to him, "The soldiers we encountered were all hungry and have no status. Laughing at them will not show how powerful we are. There are also people in the Ming Army who can fight, but we have not met them yet. If you underestimate the enemy, you will die sooner or later. "
There was a battery on the east and west of Beitang Town. The one in the east was captured, and the one in the west fled without fighting. The town that guarded the Haihe River fell into enemy hands. Two hours later, the rich merchants in the town came out to surrender. They expressed their willingness to provide rations and only asked the army to stop bombarding them with Heavenly Thunder.
"The war is going well, but we lack manpower to govern the place." Zhou Qingfeng wasn't a bandit, but he currently didn't have enough troops and cadres to control the territory he seized. For example, Bei Tang Town was a fat piece of meat, but he only asked the rich merchants in the town to provide some 'reasonable burden'. The merchants gave him money and provisions, and sent him a hundred young women and a theatrical troupe.
"Take the money and food, send the women back to Jinzhou on the boat." Zhou Qingfeng's goal was to destroy Daming's grassroots rule in the countryside of Tianjin. However, it was not enough to just destroy it. They also had to rebuild a set of ruling institutions that could be used by the Revolutionary Army. After all, Tianjin was too rich and populous. If it could be managed effectively, it could provide Zhou Qingfeng with an endless supply of manpower and material resources.
He was quite good at attracting hatred.
After leaving Bei Tang, Zhou Qingfeng returned to Da Gu Kou. Because Da Gu Kou was an extremely important foothold, it had been three days since he landed, and he was now trapped here. Limited by the shipping capacity, he had to wait for the arrival of the next five thousand militia before he could command the main force to attack the capital. However, the second fleet would not arrive for at least two days.
The headquarters at Da Gu Kou had already been hastily built, and Zhou Qingfeng's personal army was responsible for guarding the place. When he returned to his office, he saw Wen Ruolan behind his desk, writing at a fast speed. There were a lot of reports waiting to be approved on the desk, piled up like a mountain.
Seeing Zhou Qingfeng return, Wen Ruolan only smiled sweetly and continued to struggle with the various reports on the desk. There was a smaller desk next to her, and the equally intelligent Ye Erniang was also busy. Although Zhou Qingfeng had established the Imperial Guard's General Staff Department, the half-baked General Staff Department's ability was too poor, and he still had to rely on his own woman at the critical moment.
Zhou Qingfeng walked to the desk, pressed Wen Ruolan's vest, and infused her with light spiritual power. Since landing, Wen Ruolan did not sleep for three days and three nights. The reports from the Imperial Guard were relatively simple, but the reports from the Ministry of Security and the Department of Commerce and Trade were like snowflakes, and it was impossible to deal with them all.
Feeling her body warm, Wen Ruolan raised her head and said with a smile, "My husband, I'm not tired."
"You're not tired, but I'm tired just looking at you." Zhou Qingfeng insisted on giving Wen Ruolan some treatment, even if his wife's cultivation was much higher than his.
Ye Erniang, who was at the side, slightly pouted and said, "I'm tired. I haven't slept for the whole day, there are too many documents to deal with. The people below are all idiots, they have no idea what to do, and they send everything to us to ask for instructions. "
Wen Ruolan chuckled, and hinted with her eyes that Zhou Qingfeng should be considerate of the little girl. Zhou Qingfeng went over, picked up Ye Erniang, and put her on his lap. At the same time, he lowered his head to look at the various documents she was reading. He soon frowned at the various small things in the documents, and said, "It's Wang Kai, that slippery fellow, who needs to be taught a lesson again. He deliberately made some trivial things to annoy me, just to make me give up the power. "
Wen Ruolan immediately said, "There's no need to give up the power, we can handle it with some effort."
"There will only be more and more things, how many can you handle?" Zhou Qingfeng said with a cold face, "If I had known this earlier, I would have brought He Zhuo and Jia Gang. But they haven't received any special training, I'm afraid that their way of doing things is still the same. Now we can only wait for the second fleet to arrive, and Yin Hu from the Ministry of Education will bring a group of students to join you. "
Seeing that Zhou Qingfeng's face was not good, Wen Ruolan immediately changed the topic, and asked, "My husband, the military has just sent a letter asking where the farmers' workshop is to be built. I think in the expedition plan, this is for Yin Hu, but it didn't explain its purpose. "
"It's used to train the farmers' cadres. Right now we don't lack manpower, the captured villages and towns have no choice but to provide us with manpower. But the efficiency of the manpower without training is low, and the common people at the bottom have too many bad habits, if we don't use them well, they'll be more of a hindrance. I don't trust those so-called 'enlightened gentry' who defected, so I can only vigorously train the peasants to be the cadres. "
He would rather be slow, but he also wanted to be steady.
Summing up the cases of failed rebellions in the past dynasties, the main reason for the defeat was the wrong personnel. When the momentum was good, these hidden worries were often not seen. But once there was a setback, it was often like a landslide that could not be stopped — Li Zicheng was a typical example. Therefore, the personnel policy of the 'Revolutionary Army' and the technical policy were completely opposite.
In addition, Zhou Qingfeng actually had another meaning that he didn't say. If they only wanted cadres, they could transfer them from the Liaodong Peninsula. But the 'Revolutionary Army' could not be an organization of Liaodong people. Compared to other roving bandits who liked to use relatives and fellow countrymen, the travelers preferred to integrate people from all over the world.
Absorbing people from other regions into the management was something that the senior management of the 'Revolutionary Army' must do. At present, Li Shuwei was also recruiting Shandong people in Dengzhou for training, and the person in charge of screening people in Tianjin was Yin Hu. Zhou Qingfeng's goal was the whole world. He would rather slowly train himself than put those opportunistic gentry in an important position — using them was equivalent to drinking poison to quench thirst.
Wen Ruolan didn't understand Zhou Qingfeng's thoughts, but she also knew that Zhou Qingfeng was extremely wary of the Daming gentry, and would easily kill them. It was not that there were no people who were born in the 'Revolutionary Army', but most of the trusted managers were cultivated by the few travelers themselves — if their ability was low, they could still improve, but if there was a problem with their loyalty, then there was no hope.
Since there was nothing to do, Zhou Qingfeng simply settled down and fulfilled his responsibility as the core leadership of the 'Revolutionary Army'. He often made a judgment after a glance at the official documents, and then he would verbally reply, and Ye Erniang would quickly record it down. After tossing and turning until the night, the various official documents that were piled up like a mountain were mostly cleared. When he was about to order someone to send a midnight snack, he suddenly raised his head and looked outside the office door.
The guard outside the door was still standing straight, but under the guard's feet, a bird head with a sharp beak silently popped out. The eyes of this bird were filled with anxiety and curiosity. It blinked and glanced around the office. After recognizing Zhou Qingfeng, it didn't dare to speak, or perhaps, it didn't know how to speak.
Wen Ruolan also saw this bird alertly, and with a delicate shout, she was about to cast a spell to respond. However, Zhou Qingfeng stopped her and said, "Ruolan, don't do it." He then said to the bird, "You're so sneaky, what are you afraid of? Come in! "
Only then did the guard at the door discovered this bird that appeared sneakily, but he was also stopped by Zhou Qingfeng. This bird walked in cautiously and said in a noisy voice, "Uh … Um … Grand Marshal Zhou?"
"Come on, Flat Hair. You weren't so careful when you spoke to me before. "Zhou Qingfeng curled his lips.
The one who came in was Flat Hair, whom he hadn't seen for a long time. The puppet bird let out a loud gasp and said weakly, "That was before, you still had to ask me for help. Now, you've brought thousands of soldiers to Tianjin. The high-ranking officials and nobles in the capital are in a mess because of you, and the rumors and slanders in the marketplace are not the same. My Eldest Miss is shocked, and even my master … "
Flat Hair spoke faster and faster, but at the end, he suddenly stopped and stammered.
Zhou Qingfeng laughed and asked, "How is Senior Guo now?"
"My master has been … very busy these two days." Flat Hair wasn't good at lying, and it took him a long time to think of such an adjective.
But Zhou Qingfeng's heart was as clear as a blazing fire. He smiled and said, "Senior Guo still wants to wait and see, right?"
Flat Hair raised his claws and scratched the top of his head. He asked in confusion and shyness, "Zhou … Grand Marshal, what do you want?"
"Of course it's to conquer the world."
"You didn't come for my Eldest Miss?"
Flat Hair's voice suddenly rose an octave, and he shouted in surprise. His tone was full of disappointment.
This time, it was Zhou Qingfeng's turn to be stunned. Then, he laughed and said, "How could such an important military matter be for your Missy …" He stopped mid-sentence. "Alright, you can take it as if it's for your Missy. Anyway, I'm here to keep the appointment. It's just a little bigger. "
Flat Hair, who was the most loyal to Eldest Miss, was immediately unhappy. He said angrily, "My Eldest Miss has been worried about you for the past two days, and even in her dreams, she scolded you for being so daring. I didn't expect you to not come for her at all. If Eldest Miss knew, she would be sad again. "
At this time, Flat Hair seemed to see that there were two other women in the room, one big and one small. Seeing that the two women were beautiful and dressed luxuriously, he was even more depressed and said, "It's only been more than half a year, and you've actually gotten two wives and concubines. You really forget the old when you have the new. Eldest Miss was wrong about you. "After saying that, Flat Hair flapped his wings and flew out, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Zhou Qingfeng hurriedly chased after him and shouted to the night sky, "Hey, Flat Hair, come back. Why did you suddenly become so stubborn? "
Suddenly, a big shadow fell from the night sky, wrapped in a gust of strong wind, and fell in the yard outside Zhou Qingfeng's office. With the help of the torch in the yard, it was the triplane that Zhou Qingfeng and Guo Jiao had cooperated to build. Flat Hair's angry voice came from the sky, "My master said that this thing might be useful to you, so he temporarily lent it to you, ungrateful guy."
Zhou Qingfeng was also angry on the ground, and shouted to the sky, "How am I ungrateful?"
"Eldest Miss has helped you so much, but you didn't come for her. That's ungrateful," Flat Hair said confidently, and flew away.
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