Chapter 171: Killing people in the rain without hearing a sound
No one can answer Ye Chen's question.
Fu Youde actually just judged that the probability of rain during this period was high. But he didn't know exactly when it would rain.
As soon as it rained, Qinzhuang's defense was ruined.
It was really ruined.
Many trenches have turned into drainage ditches, which are completely unsuitable for people to stand on. In this case, fight in the rain. The situation was very unfavorable to the Northern Army, and all the advantages of the Northern Army could not be used.
But Ye Chen didn't panic too much.
There is even a sense of dullness.
Ye Chen thought to himself: "That's it for Fu Youde."
Ye Chen also admitted that Fu Youde has done very well so far. Whether it is the deployment of troops in the early stage or the decisive and desperate move in the later stage. It almost hit him, but so what?
Fu Youde missed some people.
That is the civilian husbands who are responsible for the logistics work.
To the Confederate Army, a civilian husband was just a civilian husband. But for the Northern Army, this is not the case.
Without him, the Beijing court abolished corvee service.
In other words, the imperial court cannot use people's power for free. If the people are to work, they must pay money.
Generally speaking, when the court has to do things, it is handed over to public units, or it is handled by private bidders.
But no matter how hard we try to lower prices, and even say that government and businessmen collude to take advantage of it, directly ordering people to work without supervision by officials will not work. Naturally, someone has to take care of things like military logistics and transportation.
Who will bear the responsibility is naturally the local militia. In terms of railways, there are also some private units. Of course, in this case, private units are the least. Generally there are more militia groups.
After all, the situation is different.
Before the Battle of Hejian, the Confederate army was heading directly towards Hebei. Some prefectures and counties in Hebei were directly threatened by the Confederate army. If the imperial court garrisoned troops, the army would not be enough. If there is no garrison, the court will be caught off guard if someone takes advantage of it.
So local vigilante groups came into being.
But after the Battle of the River, the Northern Army retreated the front south, and many local militia groups were of little use. For the imperial court, abolition was the simplest and most convenient thing. After all, raising a militia costs money.
But He Xi finally decided to keep it.
On the one hand, it is to replenish troops on the front line, and on the other hand, it is also needed for useful people everywhere in the court. Moreover, labor costs in Beijing are getting higher and higher. Indeed, there are only over 10 million people in Beijing. Even after absorbing blood from Goryeo and occupying the northwest region, the population has not increased much.
Employment costs have been increasing.
The Hebei region has the largest population in Beijing, and the militia was recruited directly from the countryside by the imperial court. That is to say, the employment costs can be reduced, and the wages paid to these people are the easiest to convert into consumption power.
After all, rural people are not unaware of many good things produced in Beijing. But there is no money. After all, for these people at the bottom, many times they have no chance to touch money at all.
And if he is recruited and given money, most of the time they will not bring the money back to the village, because what money does the village need? They all use the money to buy things and take them home.
This has driven a lot of consumption.
The court almost did not lose money by distributing money to the militia.
This is actually the reason why Beijing's economy has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. No matter how much money has been spent on the military, most of the money has been used to stimulate economic development through various channels.
There is another reason, that is, the imperial court cannot refrain from using firepower.
And these people have received professional training in the military, and they are fighting at this time. These people were laid off. If they are dissatisfied among the people and cause trouble, what should we do?
In short, for many reasons. It was natural for the militia to transport food and supplies to the army on behalf of the civilian men. After all, they serve as soldiers and eat food, so there is no need for additional expenses. It saves costs, and they also have a certain combat effectiveness, which can be used when encountering them.
Ye Chen knows Fu Youde
There must be something on his mind.
As for what kind of thoughts, I don’t know.
So he was also on guard.
Now that the Yellow River has swollen, the connection between the north and the south has been cut off, but before that, Ye Chen carefully selected all the soldiers and civilians who would be able to fight. At this moment, they were in Guangwu Town not far away. Ye Chen didn't know how many people there were.
After all, the organization of the militia is different from the organization of the military.
There is a quota for the establishment of the army and the number of people in an army. Once there is a shortage, it must be replaced immediately. It is required to be full at all times. After all, during a war, the personnel are not satisfied. Not only will it make many tactics difficult to execute, it will also affect the judgment of superior generals.
After all, when a group was sent, it was assumed that there would be more than 5,000 people, but when they actually started fighting, they realized that there were only about half of them, and that was going to cause problems.
Of course, it’s impossible to fill it all at all times. But you can’t miss too much. But it is certain.
But the vigilante group is different.
That is determined based on the population size and structure of each county. And not all the militiamen accompanying the army, after all, each county also has to leave some people to guard the gates and so on. Therefore, the number of militia groups in each county is different.
Ye Chen didn't do statistics, but he knew that there were at least thirteen militia groups in Guangwu Town at the moment. These militia groups had all fought in Hebei Province, and at least they had followed the regular army. Even many officers are generals who have retired from the army.
It’s just that he is not proficient in many firearms tactics.
After all, the militia does not require them to be skilled, they only need to be able to defend.
But they are very skilled in hand-to-hand combat. Otherwise, they are from Hebei. The war in Hebei has been going on for many years, and not all the old people at that time have died, especially the Hejian area, which is the hometown of martial arts even in later generations.
Therefore, these thirteen militia groups number about 20,000 people. Under such circumstances, they are enough to withstand the same number of enemies from the Southern Army.
Not to mention, Ye Chen had already laid an ambush on the army establishment.
Ye Chen's thinking after crossing the Yellow River has always been to establish an invincible position first and wait for the enemy to be defeated. What is an invincible position? It's the solid defense line outside Guangwu Town, and the general reserve team that was secretly detained.
He admitted that Fu Youde did a good job. Very exciting.
But the problem is that Ye Chen has too many cards in his hand, so many that he doesn't know which one to play.
No matter how wonderful Fu Youde did, Ye Chen didn't think he would lose.
However, Ye Chen was a little more cautious. He did not use the reserves he had deducted. After thinking for a moment, he sent an order to the thirteen militia groups to immediately support Qinzhuang. Didn't Fu Youde want to have a fierce battle in the rain?
Ye Chen is done.
Following Ye Chen's order, Guangwu Town immediately erupted.
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The Jinghai militia also received orders. The leader was none other than Ding Xiaochen.
At this moment, Ding Xiaochen is still the leader of the militia. The Jinghai Militia only has more than 1,500 people. They are all from the countryside. Because Ding Xiaochen was the first to join the army, he followed the regular army and participated in many wars. More importantly, he was once selected by the Forbidden Army to serve in the army.
But Ding Xiaochen didn't know what he was thinking at the time. Finally refused.
From then on, everyone knew that Ding Xiaochen did not want to join the army. As a result, many people who were not as good as him were recruited into the army, and he could only become a militia leader.
Now his intestines are filled with regret.
But it was hard for him to say anything. I actually really wanted to go. Moreover, he is now the leader of a regiment in the militia, but if he goes to the army, he will probably start as a top soldier. After all, the military and the militia are completely different.
Ding Xiaochen himself felt that it would be impossible to go directly to the army as an officer.
As time passed, he also gave up. Waiting for no more wars in the future. Become a member of the Military and Horse Division.
As for the Military and Horse Division, which is the police system, the capital has five-city Military and Horse Division to be responsible for the security of the capital. The same is true for the imperial court's placement of militia groups. Each county has to set up a military division, which is headed by people from the militia groups or those who have retired from the army.
The militia will naturally shrink, but there will always be one or two hundred left to run errands in the county.
After all, although it has not been done yet, most people know that the imperial court will not want government officials in the future. All should be changed into officials. The officials are all numbered and must take exams. He is an official in the county, and he also has to do some errands.
The militia or the military division are most suitable.
