Ancient wars often resulted in many accidents due to backward communication technology. The farther the geographical distance, the higher the probability of accidents. Although homing pigeon technology has been with mankind for thousands of years, this technology is not perfect. Pigeons occasionally It is normal to have an accident.
For example, the information that the imperial court sent Zhou Daoying and Er Mao to urgently negotiate with Xiao Letian did not reach Xiao Letian. God knows whether the pigeon had a seizure, got lost, or was shot down by the hunter. Anyway, Xiao Letian knew about Zeng Guofan. After hearing the news about going north, he decided to go all out and fight.
Outside Tianjin City, in the Eight Banners Camp, all the soldiers are ready to go out. Tomorrow morning, 10,000 selected Tiger Tigers will go eastward to surround Tanggu Port and bloodbath Lotte Matheson.
Since ancient times, wars have been a waste of money, and this was especially evident in the late Qing Dynasty. It is natural for soldiers to eat food. When raising soldiers on weekdays, you can get by with three simple meals a day, but in wartime it is not that simple. It's not okay to ask the military men to work hard without money to motivate them.
Chickens, ducks, fish, tofu and eggs, truckloads of rice and noodles, as well as various kinds of reward money, must be prepared in advance. Soldiers should be rewarded when they charge, rewards should be recorded even if they are defeated, and rewards should be recorded when soldiers are ordered to run back and forth for dozens or even hundreds of miles.
Remembering rewards is not enough. Sometimes when the battle is fierce, recording rewards is not enough. You have to personally carry the money to the soldiers and distribute it to the hands of the soldiers. Only then can morale be boosted. If you don't have money and want others to work hard, it's possible for them to disperse in a rush, or to defect on the battlefield and take advantage of the chaos to kill a few officers.
Maile, the commander-in-chief of the Eight Banners in Tianjin, has been very busy with money matters during this period. The official treasury of Tianjin Wei has almost been emptied by him. If he does not seize such a good opportunity to make a fortune, his job as an official will be in vain.
"Grandma, if you want the brothers to work hard, you can't do it without money. No one can mention how many thieves there are. Anyway, Tanggu Green Camp has been completely defeated. These are ruthless bandits who are not weaker than foreigners. There are not many. Can you do it with some troops? Can you do it without preparing a little money?" Mailer's eyes were blurred when he drank, and sitting around with him were several of his capable confidants.
"What you are saying is that there is no reason in the world to use troops without giving money. In recent years, I have seen Zeng shave his head and they have made a fortune, but we serious Manchus have stepped aside. This time, we have to make up for whatever we say..."
"That's right... let those civil servants quarrel with the Ministry of War, and those account financiers will make money with just a few strokes of their pens. This is a business with our heads up... If you do it, you will be rewarded..."
The people at the table all had short tongues, and their eyes were full of joy with the light of silver. In their minds, no matter how high Xiao Letian's combat power was, and no matter how powerful the foreign gun was, it would only be enough for 200 people. More than 10,000 Eight Banners athletes spread out their troops. If the formation is pushed forward like a mountain, there is no reason to lose.
Mailer was sweating profusely from drinking. He opened his arms to let out the heat and yelled, "So and so and so and so...send people to check inside the camp. Although I have improved the food for the brothers today, we still have to go to war tomorrow." , no one is allowed to drink too much..."
At this point, Mailer's eyes slipped to the wooden tray on the table next to him. It was full of foreign money, which was all foreign money withdrawn from the official treasury. Mailer reached out to grab one and blew on it gently, and the unique buzzing sound of silver coins suddenly sounded in his ears.
"What a fun thing. The foreign stuff is so good. The coins are all made into flowers. Look at how heavy and bulky our Qing Dynasty silver ingots are. Why don't you learn from the foreigners?"
"Hey...you still don't understand the thoughts of those dirty Han officials? If they all changed to this kind of foreign money, where would they go to earn fire expenses? This is all thanks to Master Yongzheng. If he hadn't made fire expenses and returned to the officialdom, These civil servants are even more desperate..."
"That's right, I heard my great-grandfather said that when Kowloon was seizing the throne, the Eighth Prince secretly organized a small court, and all the officials, young and old, were loyal to the Eighth Prince. At that time, the Eighth Prince's party wasted money and made more than 100 yuan a year. Wanliang..."
While chatting, Mailer suddenly had a thought in his mind, "Hey? How many brothers are there... Why are there so many foreign silver coins from the Tianjin official treasury this time? I estimate that it is at least 50%. Is it possible that everyone in Tianjin now pays taxes with foreign money?”
When several brothers thought about it, it was true. When they were seconded for military pay, they did see that more than half of the official treasury was filled with this kind of foreign money. There was so much in the official treasury, one can only imagine how much it was among the people.
"Sir, why do you care about this? This is a matter for civil servants to worry about. Let's drink, and then drink..."
The night was getting darker and darker, and calm gradually returned to the military camp. Except for Mailer and other senior officers, the rest of the officers and soldiers had fallen asleep. Just when the hour hand pointed to one o'clock in the morning, the withered grass outside the camp suddenly moved, and a figure wearing a straw camouflage clothing sneaked closer to the military camp.
There were more and more figures, approaching the camp from all directions like ghosts in the dark night. The wooden fence could not stop their footsteps at all, and they tumbled into the military camp as lightly as kites.
The soldier guarding the camp gate shrank his hands and stared boredly into the night. Suddenly, a black hand came from behind and covered his mouth. A sharp dagger penetrated his ribs and stirred violently. The unlucky soldier's legs twitched immediately. The soul returns to the underworld.
The four soldiers guarding the camp gate were stabbed to death almost at the same time. The camp gates in the southeast, northwest, and southeast were all occupied without even a sound of alarm. Teams of ten people quickly entered the camp on tiptoe, as quietly as teams of civet cats. .
This is Xiao Letian's new army. This is an iron army trained completely according to the requirements of special forces. Penetration and lurking are skills they must master, and night fighting is not a problem.
Tents, wooden houses, stables, warehouses... all important targets in the camp have long been marked on the map. All squad leaders have a detailed topographic map in their hands. Xiao Letian even asked craftsmen to make a large map before taking action. A sand table was used to reconstruct the terrain in three dimensions.
Xiao Letian's plan for this night attack was very clear, which was to burn all the enemy's supplies and conduct a beheading operation. No one from Mailer or his iron men could escape, and they would be killed immediately if they could not be captured alive.
Wang Huaiyuan's execution hall had already figured out the route and frequency of night patrols. Less than half an hour after the new army entered the camp, all ten night patrol teams of the Eight Banners were annihilated. Due to nutritional problems in that era, soldiers were somewhat night blind. Often the new soldiers wearing black camouflage clothes would crawl next to him, and they would not be able to notice them.
"What is it? Ah... there is a ghost!" A soldier who got up at night finally found the ghost shadow shaking in the night wind, but what was waiting for him was a cold crossbow arrow that shot through his throat.
"Do it, take action immediately..." An orange-red firework exploded in the night sky, and then countless fires shot into the sky in the camp. There were dozens of fire points in warehouses, stables, armories, and tents and wooden houses where soldiers lived. It spread rapidly, and in a short time the entire night sky was illuminated.
"One company, two platoons, and five squads, move northeast to capture Mailer alive... Two companies, one platoon, and one squad, the gunpowder magazine in the south must be blown up... The remaining squads fight separately, mainly driving them away, don't be reluctant to fight..."
Military orders rang out one after another, and Xiao Letian raised the butcher knife again in the firelight. The more than 20,000 Eight Banners soldiers were unlucky.
"There is an enemy attack... there is an enemy attack, rush out and fight with them... Oh my god, where are my pants? Who the hell took my pants away..."
"Where is my knife? I hung it on the wall, but who took it off?"
"Blessed by the emperor and ancestors, where did the enemy come from? Where did the enemy come from..."
The soldiers on the bunk in the wooden house were in a mess. Just as they were struggling to find the knife in their trousers, the wooden door was kicked open with a bang, and three Spencer sticks were stretched in, and there was a burst of concentrated fire.
"My mother, it's really a dark soldier... It's really a ghost soldier..." Before he could finish his words, he was already beaten to pieces by bullets. The soldier covered the bullet holes in his body and tried to block the blood, but his strength was strong. Little by little disappears. The pain did not last long, and the last bullet was shot into his eyebrow, ending his life.
The same killings continued in the camp, and the crisp sound of Molotov cocktails was endless. These homemade Molotov cocktails were so easy to use that many soldiers were sealed in the house by the flames without even leaving the door.
At this time, on the mound not far outside the camp, Xiao Letian was looking intently at the sea of fire, "Speed, speed, speed... Damn it, if you go faster, two hundred to twenty thousand depends on surprise, and speed... …”
"Advance to the core of the camp, advance quickly, I want to capture Mailer alive, don't worry about those little miscellaneous fish..."
Xiao Letian jumped and scolded, his mood was extremely excited, this was a huge gamble, and everyone was stunned as soon as the plan of two million to twenty thousand was revealed. Those veterans who had participated in the Taiping Rebellion did not expect that Xiao Letian would be so crazy even if they had experienced many battles.
Take the lead before Mailer takes action, use the protection of the night to carry out a fire attack, use the super penetration ability of the new army to penetrate into the heart of the enemy, and kill all the officers in one fell swoop. Apart from Xiao Letian, Xiao Letian has such a crazy and bold plan. No one dares to use it.
"I have confidence in my new army, and I have even more confidence in the decadence and decline of the Eight Banners men. Even though we have a small number, our advantages are obvious. The gap between the times can make up for the lack of numbers. If you are afraid , I, Xiao Letian, will lead the troops myself..."
Now that we have talked about it, let’s get started. In just three days, the intelligence officers of the Prison Hall have found out everything. When will Mailer and the others receive their pay, when will they have a banquet, and when will they go on an expedition... ...Find out all the details.
At this time, we can see the benefits of the elite military policy. There is no need for any battle preparation at all, not even a pre-war mobilization. As long as the 200 new troops are given an order, they can fight at any time.
High efficiency versus low efficiency, high quality versus low quality, high technology versus low technology, coupled with preparedness and unpreparedness, such a large generation gap cannot be made up by the number of people, "Look! Master Long, look... the inner camp is also on fire, Mailer's station is also on fire, I said we can win, we will definitely win!"
