"Is the little emperor ready to drag the Mongols to the Central Plains?" Duduo asked the people around him in a low voice, and everyone nodded silently. Although no one laughed out loud, everyone's face was filled with joy.
Duduo turned his attention to Choerji. He was a Mongolian, Borzijit, and his father was Beilemingan of the Horqin Ulut tribe in Mongolia. In the battle of the Nine Tribes Allied Forces in the 21st year of Wanli, Chuoerji's father Ming'an was involved. Ming'an was one of the Nine Tribes at that time. He was defeated miserably in the Battle of the Nine Tribes Allied Forces. Later, he turned to Nurhachi and even The daughter was dedicated to Nurhachi as a side blessing. This Ming'an died in the early years of Shunzhi, leaving behind several sons who were all important figures in the Eight Banners Mongolia.
In the battle at Jieshi Mountain, Ming'an's sons bet on both sides. Chuoerji voted for Duduo, while Chuoerji's younger brother Namusenge followed Azig to play soy sauce.
Because of his first-class ability in waiting and speculating, Namusenge did not receive any punishment after the war. Instead, he was reused by Shunzhi and became the internal minister and commander of Qixue camp.
Choerji followed Duduo and also held an important position. He was in charge of the Mongolian cavalry recruited from the three Eastern Mongolian alliances such as the Zhelimu League, the Zhaowuda League and the Xilin Gol League. After the battle at Jieshi Mountain, Duduo had already discovered The Lancers were easy to use, so they began to expand the number of Lancers. The easiest way is to recruit warriors from the Three Eastern Mongolian Alliances for training.
Because he maintained certain contact with Namushenge and the Horqin tribe, Choerji knew the situation on the battlefield in Hetao very well.
Now seeing Duduo's eyes, he smiled and said: "As expected by the Emperor Taishu, the Emperor saw the Mongolian cavalry gathered in Hetao and had the idea of using them in the Central Plains. In addition, the battle in Hetao did not go well. , so everyone at the top and bottom is thinking of diverting their troops to the Central Plains."
"Has the Battle of Hetao been fought?" Duduo was stunned.
He was also well-informed, but he had no idea that there was a war in Hetao.
"There is no big fight, just a small fight." Chuoerji said, "The Ming army cavalry in Shuofang Town learned the method of our forward battalion, putting muskets and cavalry together, and they also knew how to ambush and shoot with guns, and they fought brilliantly. The warriors of the Sotu League, Zhaowuda League, Xilingol League, Ulanqab League and the Three Khans of Khalkha suffered heavy losses.”
"Ambush? Shoot with a black gun?" Duduo frowned. A military strategist of his level, and having played musketry cavalry for so long, of course he has realized that there are many ways to play with muskets and cavalry!
Moreover, he also deduced the gameplay of muskets and cavalry, which was extremely detrimental to the Qing Dynasty and Manchuria!
Because the Manchu cavalry's little ability, such as mounted archery, dismounted archery, and dismounted hand-to-hand combat, were of little use in the face of "a musket that can move at high speed."
Of course, the Qing's forward battalion cavalry could still defeat the Ming army's musketeers in a majestic formation... But the problem is that in addition to the two armies fighting against each other, the cavalry scattered on the vast battlefield It is rare for them to face off in an upright manner. A guerrilla, of course, is a guerrilla!
Although the cavalry in the forward battalion of the Qing army also had muskets and could use ambush, surprise attack, and guerrilla tactics, the problem was that they were no better than the Han people in these underhanded tactics.
If a Manchu warrior, who is as precious as a rare animal, has no real ability that can overwhelm the tens of millions of Han warriors, he will have to rely on musket shooting and underhanded tricks that everyone can use... The consequences will be disastrous. !
He knew everything in his heart, but Duduo still looked like he was sitting firmly on the Diaoyutai.
"Okay! Everything is expected and under control!" Duduo smiled, "In the battle of Zhongzhou, we are in favor of speed, but the Ming Dynasty is in favor of longevity... If there is no such thing as the Henan and Hebei camps... During the crisis of digging the river, Zhu Cihong will definitely fight a protracted war with us. As long as we delay for a few years, our soldiers will gain nothing on the front line, and the land at home will be uncultivated. They will inevitably run out of assets and have nothing. Naturally, they will not be able to afford military service. By then, It's time to lose without defeat!
Fortunately, the little emperor was still willing to listen to others' advice and established camps north and south of the Yellow River to force Zhu Cixiang to fight a quick battle. Now they have deceived tens of thousands of Mongolian warriors to raid the Central Plains... This will definitely make it difficult for the Ming army to advance or retreat, and they have to take risks and march forward for a quick decision. This is the situation of the Songjin War! "
"Uncle Emperor," Nikan, the number one general under Duduo, asked, "Are we preparing to send troops?"
"Of course!" Duduo said with a smile, "After the autumn, we gathered an army of 80,000 people and prepared to build the tripod of Zhongzhou again!"
...
Xuzhou City is now a city full of soldiers. As early as five years ago when Zhu Cixi and the Qing Dynasty signed an armistice agreement, this place was scheduled to be the base city for the future Northern Expedition.
Xuzhou was chosen as the base, of course, to facilitate the westward expansion along the Yellow River. To be honest, the current Yellow River is not suitable for navigation. In spring and summer, the water is strong and prone to flooding (the river sections in the Ming Dynasty rarely flood, but the river channels in the Qing Dynasty are very bad). In autumn, the water is shallow and large ships cannot navigate. Moreover, there are many dangerous shoals and shoals, and the boat will capsize if you are not careful.
But in the case of inland warfare, it is better to have a waterway to transport grain, grass and baggage than to rely entirely on mules and horses to drag without a river!
Now that the Huaibei section of the canal is no longer navigable (the Huainan and Jiangnan sections of the canal are extremely well maintained and earn a lot of tolls every year), so Emperor Zhu could only use the Yellow River as much as possible.
If you want to use the Yellow River to carry out water transportation, of course you must make good use of Xuzhou as a transportation hub. Although there is no direct canal connection between Xuzhou and the Huaihe River, the section that really requires land transportation is the less than 100 miles between Hongze Lake and Suqian Luoma Lake. In order to enhance the efficiency of transportation, Emperor Zhu ordered people to expand the roads and pave them with stones. He also purchased many four-wheeled carriages from Shanghai Sunche that could be dragged by four donkeys and mules, and also built a large number of warehouses in Xuzhou. To store supplies arriving one after another during peacetime.
In addition to the construction of roads and warehouses in Xuzhou, a large number of military camps, docks, shipyards and an arsenal capable of casting and repairing cannons have also been built in the past few years.
In order to allow Xuzhou to shoulder the heavy responsibility and protect himself from the threat of the Yellow River, Zhu Cixiang also spent a lot of money on the Xuzhou city and the Yellow River dam.
In addition, Zhu Cixiang also ordered the Navy Department and Shipbuilding Department to establish a Yellow River Shipyard in Xuzhou, design and build a number of small sand ships that could sail on the Yellow River, and form a Yellow River Navy!
After five years of preparations and countless investments, it was finally time to send out troops and everything was ready.
Beginning in the summer of the sixth year of Hongxing, the Ming Army's field force, the Model New Army, began to march towards Xuzhou from all directions in regiment units.
The infantry organization of the Model New Army has not changed much in the past five years. Most of the infantry regiments still use the Morris square tactics. The weapons they are equipped with are still long guns and Hongxing three-year-old matchlocks. Only a few The troops received the newly finalized and mass-produced Hongxing Six-year-old fusiliers. There was only one regiment equipped with the Hongxing Six-year-old fusiliers. This regiment canceled the pikemen's establishment and adopted an all-musketeer system. Configure!
Without major changes in the organization, the number of infantry regiments of the Model New Army has been greatly increased, reaching as many as 150. At full strength (2,500 people), the number of field infantry regiments of the Model New Army can reach 37.5 Thousands of them!
The number of cavalrymen in the New Army has also increased greatly in the past five years. Under peaceful conditions, the cavalry of the new Ming Army was organized on the basis of battalions (there were also cavalry regiments, but the number was small). Due to the large introduction of northwest war horses and the emergence of musket cavalry, the size of the Ming Army's cavalry was finally able to expand significantly. , now it has finally reached 50 battalions (including mounted infantry), with a total strength of 20,000, and a total of more than 50,000 horses and mules!
Although the cavalry (mounted infantry) of this size cannot be compared with the Qing army's cavalry, how could the Eight Banners Old Manchuria dare to outnumber the Ming army?
