According to the previous land exchange agreement, Prussia exchanged its territory for Zhejiang, southern Zhili, and central and eastern Huguang. Therefore, as long as the Ming Empire was willing to hand over Suzhou Prefecture to Prussia, there would be no problem with the formal process.
Suzhou Prefecture is even richer than Songjiang Prefecture, and is one of the three richest prefectures under the jurisdiction of Southern Zhili. The other two are Yingtian Prefecture and Huai'an Prefecture.
After Haiyan defeated Huaiyan, Yangzhou Prefecture lost its former glory and was overtaken by Suzhou Prefecture, which relied on textiles and printing and dyeing, and Yingtian Prefecture, which annexed Taiping Prefecture where Ma'anshan is located.
Huai'an Prefecture has the largest coal mine in the entire southern Zhili and even the Jiangnan region. After the Ming Empire entered the industrial era, relying on water transportation and Ma'anshan iron mines, the economy took off rapidly.
If Frederick Jr.'s previous actions were not in the interests of the Ming Dynasty, and could also play a role in containing Louis XIV in the future, Zhu Cixiang would certainly not have given him such a wealthy place.
Because of this, Lieutenant General Ricken decided to give priority to attacking Cheung Chau, because if we attack along the river, the transportation is convenient and we can get assistance from sea transportation, which is very beneficial to our own side.
Although the first batch of Prussian troops to land only had three brigades with 15,000 troops, by July, three more brigades would arrive in the Jiangnan area.
Due to the end of the European War, a large number of weapons previously produced by the Ming Empire were idle. The Prussian officers and soldiers could come lightly packed and did not need to carry weapons and equipment at all.
After arriving at the destination, the Ming Empire was responsible for providing all the weapons needed by the Prussian army, including tanks, heavy artillery, trucks, speedboats, fighter planes, etc.
The cost of transporting this batch of weapons to the West was not much lower than the cost of light weapons. A certain emperor simply gave it to Frederick the Younger as a gift.
It could have transported more Prussian soldiers, but the Northern Railway also had to transport French troops, Dutch troops, and troops from the Principality of Hanover and the Principality of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
The current transportation capacity is very tight. Even if the Northern Railway has realized four lines of transportation at the same time, the number of trains traveling every day is enough to reach a terrifying level.
Louis XIV was of course very anxious when he saw little Frederick's positive attitude. He changed his previous procrastination and expressed his willingness to exchange the Kingdom of Naples for the Ming Empire's Liaodong.
The exchange of peninsulas for peninsulas seems fair and reasonable. Zhu Cixiang will certainly not embarrass his old friend. On the contrary, he also hopes to complete the land exchange as soon as possible.
Although the Liaodong Peninsula is almost at the same latitude as mainland France, the temperature is much colder than the latter. There is no warm current here, and the warm current in the Western Pacific has been blocked by Japan...
However, the climate in Port Arthur is still very good compared to areas outside the customs. It is a frost-free port and the local area has considerable shipbuilding capabilities. This is an aspect that Louis XIV attaches great importance to.
The Ming Dynasty's local shipbuilding base was divided into three parts by Zhu Cixiang.
The four northern shipbuilding bases of Tianjin, Lushun, Penglai and Qingdao were given to France, Nandu Shipyard was owned by Prussia, and Quanzhou and Xiamen in Fujian belonged to the Netherlands.
The Principality of Hannover and the Principality of Mecklenburg-Schwerin also have access to the sea in southern Zhejiang, but there is little local shipbuilding capability. If you want to buy a ship, you have to reach out to Prussia or the Netherlands.
This time, there has never been a change of land. The weaker the country, the more active its leader will be, because he is afraid that if he leaves late, the territory he deserves will be occupied by the powerful, and then it will not be so easy to claim it back.
Lieutenant General Ricken was acting in accordance with the order. Before leaving, Frederick Jr. specially told him that as long as the Ming Emperor allowed his troops to advance, he should take over the wealthy areas as quickly as possible.
Especially the big cities in the Yangtze River Delta region are the essence of the entire Ming Empire. They are very powerful in restoring Prussia's national power and must be given priority.
In short, as long as Emperor Haojing nods his consent, the Prussian army will first enter Huating, Changzhou (Suzhou), Qiantang (Hangzhou), Nandu, Wujin (Changzhou), Jiangdu (Yangzhou), and Dantu (Zhenjiang) Wait for the city.
Controlling these big cities is equivalent to controlling nearly half of the Jiangnan economy. Other places can take over one after another, and there is no need to be so urgent.
In the initial stage, Lieutenant General Ricken was still worried, worried that the Ming Empire would set up many obstacles from top to bottom, overtly and covertly causing trouble for itself in taking over the new territory.
But after the actual contact, it was discovered that the previous thoughts were just asking for trouble. It seemed that the Ming Empire had already made preparations to retreat and wanted to get rid of this troublesome problem.
Not only was the handover very smooth, but the provision of weapons was also very smooth, ranging from light weapons to heavy weapons, which provided great convenience to the Prussian army.
Therefore, after the Prussian army arrived at the outskirts of Cheung Chau, they launched a large-scale bombing and artillery bombardment on June 11.
The rebels in Cheung Chau were similar to those in Huating. They did not expect that the enemy would launch such a fierce attack.
This was very different from what they had imagined before, and all their extravagant hopes were shattered by gunfire.
Due to low organizational skills and poor command skills, more than 2,000 casualties occurred on the second day of the war.
For the rebel army with a total strength of 100,000, casualties on this scale are not a big deal.
However, everyone in the rebel army was frightened by such sharp artillery fire. After all, it was their own servants who died.
Previously, no matter whether the imperial court used troops externally or carried out internal suppression, tens of thousands of people were killed or injured, and the wealthy gentry did not feel distressed.
But now, when there is a loss of more than a hundred people in that family, the rich gentleman has to beat his chest in distress. This is cutting off flesh from his own body, and the feeling is completely different.
The battle situation in the following days gradually fulfilled the previous reports of colleagues from Huating. The strength of the two warring parties was not at the same level at all.
Although the rebel army is outnumbered, it is actually just a pile of loose sand. If you pour some water on it by dividing the interests after the war, it can be kneaded together.
But when it comes to tough situations, this is like a sand shield that can be defeated in one blow. No matter how beautiful it is, it is useless in actual combat without a fight.
Fortunately, Changzhou city area is large enough, and the rebel army has more troops than Huating. If the Prussian army does not increase its troops, no matter how fierce the firepower is, it will not be able to chew this hard nut in a short time.
"Brother Liu, in your opinion, how long can the rebel army last?"
Xu Guogui, the deputy speaker of Changzhou City, has begun to regret not following Huating's colleagues, and now he has lost nearly a hundred people for no reason.
"Brother Xu, the battle has only been less than a week, we must not make any plans to retreat!"
Speaker Liu Changyou thought about running away, but he really couldn't bear to part with so many possessions. If he wanted to run away, he would have to give up a lot of things, which were all earned by his family's hard work!
"You two, if we can get reinforcements from other places, such as Wujin, Wuxi, Changshu, Jiangyin and other places, our city can turn the crisis around!"
Another deputy speaker, Le Ankang, also feels that the situation is critical. Today's Cheung Chau is no worse than Huating before, but he just doesn't know how long he can hold on.
"Are there really reinforcements coming?"
This is something Xu Baoshi has been thinking about day and night, even if every family spends some money to reward the army, it is still worthwhile.
"...I have already sent a telegram, but other rebels say that the situation is critical and it is difficult to rush to our city!"
Only now did Le Ankang realize that the people he had made before were all fair-weather friends. After he used them, he realized that they were just a bunch of white-eyed wolves.
"What should we do?"
Xu Guogui only knows how to run and make money. He is a veritable layman when it comes to commanding operations. The other two have similar abilities to him.
In this current situation, I am not like Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, who climbed up and shouted.
The senior management has no charisma and command ability...
This kind of improvised men and horses can only be said to be capable of fighting, nothing more. They are still a hundred and eighty thousand miles away from winning the war!
Since we have escaped from the Ming Dynasty, we can no longer talk about "defending the family and the country". We can only think of "protecting the family and the land."
However, "protecting the home and the land" also requires combat power. If the combat power is not achieved, the home and the land cannot be defended.
This is the situation now. The rebels want to continue to hold on, but in their hearts they are greedy for life and afraid of death.
All of them thought that it would be better for others to die. After repelling the invading enemies, they would be able to reap the benefits.
If everyone thinks this way, there is no need to fight this battle, and fighting will be a loss.
If the other side doesn't take the initiative to retreat, the rebels won't even have a chance of winning.
If you want to use epidemic disease to defeat the enemy, you are really crazy!
The fighting happened to be the hottest time in the Jiangnan area. Bombing and artillery shelling caused heavy losses to the defenders.
If corpses are not handled properly, diseases can easily breed. Once it spreads, the entire army will lose more than half of its combat effectiveness.
This is a tactic that kills a hundred enemies and damages eight thousand. No one dares to take the risk.
If you have never been in the military, you will rarely see air raids.
Ordinary people watching the excitement, and veterans all know that the bomber formation is the incarnation of death.
The Ming Empire was flourishing, so how could the mainland be bombed by the empire?
Now that there are uprisings all over the south of the Yangtze River, I finally got the super treatment of witnessing the bombing through my own efforts!
Hearing the sound of the bomber's engines, the veterans instinctively hid in the air-raid shelters they had found in advance.
Only fools who don't understand anything would stick their necks up to watch the excitement after an air raid. If they open their mouths, the opponent's aerial bombs might fall directly into their mouths...
This is no exaggeration at all, many unlucky people go to see the King of Hell in this way!
Today, with the support of a certain emperor, the Prussian Air Force can dispatch thirty "Hercules" bombers at a time to carry out air raids.
With so many bombers lined up and dropping bombs at the same time, they could destroy a defense line three to four kilometers wide in an instant.
This is equivalent to opening a gap for the ground forces, and the Prussian armored forces can file in from here.
On June 16, after five days of hard support, the southern defense line of the Cheung Chau Rebels could no longer hold up.
First there was a large-scale bombing, then an hour of artillery bombardment, and finally the Prussian army dispatched hundreds of tanks to launch a general attack.
The more than 20,000 rebels on the southern defense line instantly collapsed under the heavy pressure and began to run north in panic.
Those who have a boat can board the boat as soon as possible, cross Taihu Lake, and first stop at Xianglan Mountain.
Those without boats or cars can only go north around Taihu Lake, then turn west to Liyang and Yixing.
Ordinary servants who had nothing had no choice but to follow the crowd and follow the canal wherever they went, as long as they kept the dog alive.
In Cheung Chau that night, the panic scene of Huating's previous retreat almost reproduced.
People were shouting, horses were neighing, cars were honking, and people were looting under the cover of darkness.
"Ouch! My money! Robbery!"
"Fuck you! This is my money now!"
Some servants who voluntarily broke away from the control of their masters also started to engage in "side jobs" that made them earn a lot of money every day. It was better to make money by doing it themselves!
Unless someone is protecting the person who is robbed, he can only admit that he is unlucky. If he resists even a little bit, his life may be involved.
In this situation, whoever has a gun in his hand and who is not afraid of death is the real boss.
The entire Cheung Chau has turned into a huge fat mass. As long as you are determined enough and your hands are ruthless enough, you will definitely be able to eat and drink enough...
"Be brave, I will betroth my youngest daughter to you. As long as you let the brothers protect my family to Tianmu Mountain, I will let my youngest daughter marry you on the way and give you a red envelope of one hundred gold coins!"
When the wealthy gentleman Xie Xuming saw this situation, he was terribly frightened. He had married twelve wives and had fifteen daughters.
This guy named "Bold" is a veteran who is over 30 years old and has not yet married. Xie Xuming just suits him and allows him to have both wealth and wealth.
"Master, it's not that I don't want to, it's just that you have too many possessions. Even if you fill up the truck, it won't be enough, right?"
Liu Dadan's original name was Liu Laoda. After joining the army, he changed his name to Liu Dadan because the name was easy to write and the homophone was bold, which also fit his personality.
After retiring from the army, he returned to his hometown in the countryside of Cheung Chau. Xie Xuming's factory happened to be recruiting security guards, so he applied for the job. With his own ability, he soon took the position of security captain.
He can earn fifty silver coins a month, and the factory also provides food and accommodation, and the captain can also eat a small stove. The treatment in all aspects is no worse than when he was a soldier, which makes Liu DaBang very satisfied.
Frankly speaking, Boss Xie was pretty good to him, but for anything as critical as this, he would never agree to the dismissal unless the other party had good enough conditions.
His parents and siblings from the countryside have all been taken over. The reason why Liu DaDa was able to work for Boss Xie was mainly because he valued the Xie family's team.
His family also has a pickup truck, but it is a light truck and cannot hold a few people, let alone their belongings.
If you can get a heavy-duty truck from Boss Xie, plus your own pickup truck, it will basically be enough.
"Throw away everything that needs to be thrown away, except for the belongings. Just bring a change of clothes and calligraphy and painting."
Xie Xuming also knew that this was a run away and not a move, so he didn't even plan to ask for antiques, only necessities and easy-to-carry items.
Wives and concubines who are willing to go with their parents' family can be given some money to send them away. Only children are the foundation of one's life. When one gets old, one still needs them to take care of one's own.
The Xie family's fleet has more than thirty trucks. They used to transport textiles, but now they are a lifeline for the family. Otherwise, they would have to walk out of the city.
"Since you said so, I would rather obey your orders than be respectful!"
Boss Xie’s youngest daughter is only twenty, so she is at her tender age. After this trip, she has become his son-in-law.
To take a step back, people can take it away, but they can't take it away. It can still be used as a means of transportation for one's family.
