The small battle of Zhenjiang lasted more than half a month from the beginning to the end. But the real battle only lasted for half a day. For this half a day, the 'Revolutionary Army' mobilized a brigade of guards, and mobilized 20,000 militia and workers in the rear. The consumption of firearms was not much, but the cost of manpower was more than 100,000 silver dollars.
This was just the beginning … …
"War is really a competition of economy. I haven't done anything, but I've already spent money like water." Zhou Qingfeng stayed in Zhenjiang for a few days to summarize the experience of this battle, and also to collect information for the follow-up battle. Since the battle was fought, it must be fought to the end, and must not be given up halfway.
When the six cannons opened fire on the battlefield, the regular battle was declared over. The next step was to capture prisoners and reassure the people. Zhou Qingfeng completely lost trust in those North Korean scholars. He selected captives and Zhenjiang locals who could understand Chinese and North Korean, and re-formed the Guide Party to make use of the local human resources.
More than 2,000 of the 13,000 North Korean troops were killed or injured, and the rest were basically captured. Some of them had no food or clothing after escaping, so they could only come out of the forest and surrender to the Imperial Guard. The total number of captives was more than 9,000. In addition to the one or two thousand local people in Zhenjiang, Zhou Qingfeng had more than 10,000 mouths to eat and drink.
"Order the rear to send two more steamships to transport supplies for us. We need more food and clothing, and some tools to build roads. At least repair the roads here, I really hate the rotten roads here. "
"From Zhenjiang, we can cross the mountains and directly attack Hetuala. This geographical location is still very important. Send an engineering battalion here and use the local manpower to rebuild Zhenjiang City. Whether attacking or defending, occupying this place will be beneficial. "
"Send people to investigate in the direction of Hetuala and Pyongyang. Although Zhenjiang is too far from both places, and the road is extremely difficult to travel, we must provide intelligence support for the next step. "
On the day the battle ended, the local order was restored. There was no profit in Zhenjiang, and the people were very poor. Even the North Korean prisoners were the same. As long as they could eat, no one was unwilling to serve.
On the first day, Zhou Qingfeng gathered more than a thousand new guides who knew both Chinese and Korean. With these people, thousands of prisoners could be used to work. He stood under the broken city walls of Zhenjiang, planning and summarizing the battle.
"The power of the cannons used by the Cavalry Artillery Unit is too weak. There's something wrong with their tactics. We need to improve them."
"I don't want to take the mountain road to Pyongyang anymore. I'll take the ship next."
"I'll leave the rest of the battle to the staff officer. I won't give any more ideas."
Zhou Qingfeng stayed in Zhenjiang for half a month until the new Zhenjiang Castle was built. In the end, he basically became a big boss who didn't have to do anything and let the staff officers and officers of all levels think about what they should do. At first, the people under him were not used to it, but after the entire management system was put into operation, it was no worse than what Zhou Qingfeng had done himself.
While Zhou Qingfeng was leisurely and carefree, he continuously received battle reports from Shandong. Compared to his suffering in Korea, He Zhuo's invasion in Shandong could be said to be like a raging fire. After taking down Cangzhou and Baoding, He Zhuo took a little rest and led a large number of cavalry to march nearly 200 kilometers in one day, directly raiding Jinan from afar.
The defending army of Jinan didn't expect the opponent to be so mobile on the battlefield. Although Jinan was a strong city and the battle lasted for three days, they didn't get any reinforcements in those three days. The Ming Army of Dezhou and Binzhou were like frightened birds. They only knew how to defend the city and didn't dare to come out.
The performance of the Revolutionary Army's artillery on the battlefield was extremely dazzling. Short-barreled heavy cannons were used to deal with the enemy leaving the city, and large-caliber mortar cannons were used to destroy the enemy's defenses and walls. Tens of thousands of militia surrounded the entire Jinan city, forcing all the officials in the city to commit suicide in despair and even burn the city.
Compared to North Korea, which was a place where even birds didn't shit, the cities in Shandong were all very rich. Xu Bing even personally led a team to Jinan to clean up after the war. In the battle report she gave to Zhou Qingfeng, she said that Shandong had a large population and was very prosperous. Many of the officials were from century-old families, and their seemingly unremarkable homes contained large amounts of wealth.
"Attacking Shandong was the right choice. This time we're going to make a lot of money."
"Just breaking through Jinan will increase our income this year by more than ten times."
"This is just one city in Shandong. There are still many places waiting for us to take down."
"Right, the people of the Kong family actually took the initiative to contact us. They hoped to get some kind of compromise or pardon. They said they were willing to pay money to avoid disaster, but I rejected them. The newspapers are currently guiding public opinion to liquidate the Kong family. Currently, public opinion is very turbulent, and there are many people who oppose it. "
No one cared about Zhou Qingfeng attacking North Korea. He Zhuo attacking Shandong, and everyone in the world stared with wide eyes. This strong contrast made the marshal feel very bitter in his heart. He was really depressed.
Xu Bing said that there were people who opposed to liquidating the Kong family. Zhou Qingfeng directly commented, "In the future, when Dorgon entered the pass, the Kong family didn't want to leave money behind and hoped to get preferential treatment. But when Dorgon announced that they would keep their hair but not their hair, they shaved their heads faster than anyone else. If you compete with them in shamelessness, you will lose. In order to prevent a counterattack from the corrupt literati, we must eradicate their roots. "
The land resources in Shandong were much larger than those in Liaodong and Tianjin. The 'Revolutionary Army' was like a prairie fire, burning down the local clans and officials, liberating the people at the bottom. The capture of Jinan also showed the hostile forces in Shandong that in the face of guns and cannons, any resistance was meaningless.
A large number of officials began to flee south, but a large number of people chose to stay and wait for the distribution of land. After Jinan was taken, the difficulty of the subsequent battles was greatly reduced. The soldiers had no will to defend, and the general had no will to fight. Many local officials felt that they had no misdeeds, so they simply opened the city and surrendered, at least saving their lives. As time passed, the local situation could be said to be settled.
And in Zhenjiang …
Half a month later, Zhou Qingfeng's adviser not only stabilized the situation for him, but also gave him a follow-up strategy after a few days of quarreling. They would use Zhenjiang as a base to organize and train a North Korean security army. The soldiers would be the currently captured North Korean soldiers, the guides would be the support, and the officers would be filled with the Imperial Guard.
This plan was quickly approved by Zhou Qingfeng. He ordered more food to be shipped from the direction of Lushun to fill the stomachs of more North Korean soldiers. After the establishment of the new troops, they did not do much training. With the help of dozens of large transport ships, he set off from Zhenjiang and sailed 200 kilometers across the sea to the Taedong River on the west bank of North Korea.
The fleet went up the river and appeared directly outside Pyongyang.
Pyongyang and Seoul were the only two major cities in North Korea. In the face of the sudden enemy, the North Korean garrison in the city was like facing a celestial army. The news of Jiang Hongli's death in Zhenjiang had already spread, and North Korea was also panicked. But they only cared about defending against the enemy from the north. They did not expect that Zhou Qingfeng thought the mountain roads in North Korea were too difficult to travel, so he simply came by sea.
There was no need for the Imperial Guard to attack Pyongyang. The newly formed North Korean security army showed an extremely strong desire to fight. These guys still used their original old matchlock guns, but they took over many of the cavalry cannons that Zhou Qingfeng did not like. They felt that the small cannons weighing only 80 kilograms were a great favor, and they felt that they were the real artifacts of the country.
After eating for half a month, with the help of the cavalry cannons, and the key was that the Imperial Guard placed their own sergeants and officers in command positions, these factors made the North Korean security army much more organized and disciplined. This greatly improved their combat effectiveness.
After the attack troops landed, Zhou Qingfeng basically watched the battle, with the Guards Brigade holding the line. He did not even bring the militia on this trip. After all, not only did he have to pay for the militia, but it also delayed the farming season. There were still heavy agricultural tasks in the Liaonan Peninsula in the second half of the year, and transferring the able-bodied people would cause serious consequences.
After the battle began, the security army, as the lackeys, performed very bravely. They pushed the cavalry cannons directly to a distance of only 200 meters from the city wall of Pyongyang, aimed at the city gate, and fired. The artillery was a technical unit, and the North Koreans could only do the work of restoring the cannons for the time being. Most of the shooting was done by the cannoneers of the Imperial Guard.
The garrison in Pyongyang was in a daze the whole time, and did not interfere with the artillery at all. The high rate of fire of the cavalry cannons also showed shocking power. A battery of cannons fired dozens of shells in three minutes, successfully breaking through the defense of Pyongyang and destroying the city gate. Next, the cavalry cannons raised the barrels and hit the battlements, covering the soldiers of the security army to attack and occupy the city gate.
From Zhou Qingfeng's point of view, these newly recruited lackeys seemed to be quite valuable. Compared to the Imperial Guard, the security army did not have salaries, but they could eat their fill. The only opportunity to earn money was in battle. Whether it was soldiers or officers, only when they won the battle would they be rewarded, and only when they made contributions could they get a share of the land.
Under such management, these lackeys revealed their sharp fangs in the blink of an eye, looking for and biting their prey like hyenas. The attack on Pyongyang lasted for two days, and the street fighting caused a lot of civilian casualties. The patrol troops killed hundreds of North Korean soldiers who had committed crimes such as looting. The situation in the city soon calmed down.
"It's really not difficult to fight this kind of opponent. I really don't understand how the Ming Army fought in North Korea for so many years. Are the Japanese particularly difficult to fight? "After Zhou Qingfeng settled in Pyongyang, what he saw was a poor and weak country and a poor people. He really did see a very North Korean style of bare-breasted clothing, and the women's shriveled breasts were really not good-looking at all.
"Pyongyang is surrounded by abundant water sources, the terrain is relatively flat, and there is plenty of arable land. It has the foundation to develop agriculture. In addition, there is a large population here, and most of the officials know Chinese, so daily communication is not a problem. "
"However, there is not much gold and silver in Pyongyang, and the treasury is extremely poor. In the city, people who can eat meat once every half a month are rich. But even with this standard, most people may not be able to eat meat in their lifetime. "
"Although the quality is poor, there is a large population here, but the food supply is tight. We don't need to use too many military means, we can only use economic means to control the country. I plan to stay for another month to prepare for the next attack on Seoul. "
In the middle of the night, Zhou Qingfeng wrote a letter to the people in other places. He had a doppelganger of Jia Gang beside him, which could carry out long-distance communication. It was more convenient to send messages.
After writing about the situation in Pyongyang, Zhou Qingfeng pondered for a moment and continued to write, "This attack on North Korea exposed the important shortcomings of our 'revolutionary army' in the domestication of horses. I plan to let Ye Na take the triplane back to Tianjin, recall Xu Xiake, and let him set up a 'Ministry of Land and Resources' to collect animal and plant breeds in the country and even the world, and the Ministry of Agriculture will select and breed them.
Using the long-distance transportation ability of the triplane, I hope to complete the selection of the horse breeds in the country as soon as possible. For example, the Gansu area has suitable Hequ horses, and Yunnan has suitable mountain transportation Yunnan horses. If conditions permit, we can even go deep into Central Asia to obtain Kazakh horses, to the Middle East to obtain Arabian horses, and even to Europe ….
It is too wasteful to use the triplane only on the battlefield. It can carry 100 kilograms of goods, ignore obstacles, and cross dangerous obstacles for long-distance flight. This ability should be put to better use. It could be used to get us some young horses. As for the threat of the enemy on the battlefield, I will think of a way to deal with it.
Our exploration of the world cannot be limited to the Central Plains, we must let our people have a global vision. This is the bearing and mind of a big country. "
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
