Tao Te Ching was a philosophical book, but it also had war content. "When there is no Tao in the world, war horses are born in the suburbs." It meant that when the world was in chaos, war horses would give birth next to the battlefield.
A horse's pregnancy period was 11 months, and six months after giving birth was the lactation period, which meant that after 18 months, the mare could continue to be pregnant. Generally speaking, the mares on the horse farm would give birth and milk their whole life. Milk and give birth. The Liberation Army adopted the modern method of artificial insemination. Because there was a lack of low-temperature sperm storage technology, they could only carry out insemination with stricter time control to improve the reproduction efficiency of fine breeds.
After the Nian Army surrendered, they brought a large number of war horses, and there were as many as 3,000 larger mares. Hebei seized a large number of imperial plantations, part of which was used to grow alfalfa, which was good fodder, so these horses were all in the horse farm in Hebei.
The Liberation Army used 50,000 troops to besiege Shenyang and needed a large number of means of transport. The stallions were used as war horses, and the mares could not run very fiercely, so they were used as pack horses.
After the logistics department unloaded the artillery, they immediately asked the horse team to return to the horse farm. Many of the mares in this batch were nine months pregnant. In view of the current situation, the logistics department felt sorry for the horses. If something happened, it would be one corpse and two lives. From an efficiency point of view, the loss of a foal would be at most 18 months, and the loss of mares would mean the loss of three or four or more foals. From the perspective of "endless children and grandchildren", this number of generations would be multiplied. In 20 years, it would not only be a problem of two horses, but it might expand to the extent of 30 or 50 horses.
The army knew the worries of the horse farm comrades, and the weather outside the pass was indeed much colder than inside. The southern comrades had spent a winter in the north, and many of the southern comrades who had not been in the army for a long time saw the legendary snow for the first time. At the end of October, near Shenyang, there was the chill of Beijing before it snowed. Therefore, the army agreed to urgently transfer the horses back to the horse farm. Finally, they avoided the incident of "military horses born in the suburbs".
For the army's horses, the comrades in the army naturally had enough love and love. But for the enemy, this kind of feeling did not exist. Although the previous intelligence work was not very good, they had at least heard some news through the sale of wood. Now the total number of people in Shenyang was about 250,000 to 300,000. When the 50,000 Liberation Army attacked such a city, everyone was still full of energy.
They would fight a clean and thorough battle of annihilation, present a gift to the commander-in-chief, and report the good news to the central government. This was the slogan of this battle. The commanders heaved a sigh of relief when they realized that they did not encounter any tiered defenses outside of Shengjing City. The Manchurian Qing's tactics were still so backward. If the Liberation Army were to defend such a city, there would be more than a hundred thousand soldiers in the city. With the city as the center, a defensive system would certainly extend to a radius of at least 20 kilometers outside the city. Not to mention that the Manchu Qing had been in Shengjing for more than a year. No matter how slow they were, they should be able to complete the defensive position. However, the Manchu Qing still adopted the tactic of defending the city. Although it was extremely stupid from the perspective of war, from the perspective of the Liberation Army, it really saved a lot of effort.
The 50,000 soldiers easily surrounded Shenyang, and the first to go into battle was naturally the artillery. Even before the hot air balloon was fully inflated, the artillerymen had already started firing in an orderly manner. The artillery shells were fired unhurriedly, and the artillerymen fired at them one by one. By the time the balloon troops rose, the sky had already darkened. Night seemed to come earlier in the north than in the south. Through the binoculars, the observers saw the stones and other defensive materials piled up on top of the city wall. They shivered a few times in the cold wind, but everyone laughed and said, "Why don't they boil hot water or something like that?"
Everyone's joke actually came from when the Liberation Army went south to Guangdong. During the battle of Ganzhou, the garrison of Ganzhou had prepared hot water and hot oil, these traditional defensive tools. However, they were swept away by the artillery in one fell swoop. Some unlucky people were splashed with a lot of hot oil and were burned into people on fire. Although the observers had only heard about this incident, it was too easy to imagine people on fire in everyone's minds. This joke had been passed on until now.
After the sky darkened, the Liberation Army set up barbed wire and minefields to cut off the escape routes inside Shenyang City. The Northern Command Headquarters passed down a strict order, "This time, they must be completely annihilated. Those who resist will be killed without mercy." No one wanted the Emperor and Princes to surrender, but they definitely could not let them escape. Wipe them all out. This was an order that all the cadres and soldiers knew.
After the sky darkened, a eunuch came to Prince Gong Yixin's residence. In the afternoon, the cannons rumbled, and Prince Gong Yixin was alarmed. It was a long time after the cannons had stopped that he returned home to eat. He simply didn't care about any decorum and received the eunuch as he ate. The curtain at the door was raised, and in came Cixi's trusted eunuch, Xiaode Zhang. Prince Gong Yixin immediately knew that it was the Western Empress Dowager. Cixi had something to say. Xiaode Zhang's words were to invite Prince Gong Yixin to the palace to discuss business, and Prince Gong Yixin could only agree.
After entering the palace, Ci An was not present. Cixi invited Prince Gong Yixin to her study, and the palace maids and eunuchs withdrew at Cixi's signal. Prince Gong Yixin slightly creased his brow. In truth, Cixi had recently had the intention of seducing Prince Gong Yixin. However, Prince Gong Yixin had never liked Cixi. The person he respected, and even had some lingering thoughts about, was the dignified and calm Ci An. Although Cixi's appearance was not bad, Prince Gong Yixin did not like her.
Just as Prince Gong Yixin thought that Cixi wanted to do something, he saw Cixi suddenly kneel to Prince Gong Yixin. Although he did not like Cixi, Cixi was still the Western Empress Dowager. To have the Empress Dowager kneel to him was a major event! Prince Gong Yixin hurriedly tried to help Cixi up, and Cixi seized the opportunity to grab Prince Gong Yixin's arm. By now, tears were in her eyes. "Sixth Uncle, I beg of you! Take His Majesty and escape from Shengjing! "
"Ah?" Prince Gong Yixin froze. He had originally thought that Cixi was preparing to play some trick, but the Cixi in front of him did not have the sinister ruthlessness of the past. Her face was pale from despair, and the hot tears in her eyes, were now sincere. Seeing Cixi like this, Prince Gong Yixin suddenly felt that Cixi was more pleasing to the eye.
If it was the Cixi of the past, with her shrewd personality, she would certainly be able to see that Prince Gong Yixin was different. At this time, Cixi had not considered all this. She choked with sobs and said, "Sixth Uncle, we all know that the Liberation Army will not lightly act. This time, they have come in large numbers. I'm afraid they will not be kind. The Emperor is only a child. What is the use of keeping him in the city? It would be better to send the Emperor away from Shengjing first. It is enough for us Daren to defend the city. If we can defend the city, we will naturally ask the Emperor to return to the capital. But if something unexpected happens, the Great Qing will really be finished! "
These words actually did not make sense. If the Emperor was not in the capital, it would only cause people's hearts to waver. However, at this time, Cixi was not pleading with Prince Gong Yixin as the Empress Dowager. She was pleading with Prince Gong Yixin as a mother facing a desperate situation. What she said was what the Empress Dowager had to say, but Prince Gong Yixin could clearly feel Cixi's despair.
Although he was moved by Cixi's attitude, Prince Gong Yixin could only say the words of a prince and an important official of the court. "Empress Dowager Xi, this matter must be decided by Empress Dowager Ci An!"
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