Chapter 172 Ding Xiaochen’s bloody battle
He Xi is paving the way for the war.
A lot is in the wind.
Compare reforms in local prefectures and counties. Beijing has completed its reforms. There are no more traditional government officials. All are officials. Moreover, officials can also serve as officials. But it's a little difficult. Nanjing conducts imperial examinations, while Beijing conducts civil service examinations. All high-ranking officials must step up from the ranks of petty officials.
Under Beijing's military power, many local government officials also recognized the reality.
Ordinary people are also thinking about what they will do after the war.
Ordinary people are ready to go home and farm. After all, after a large number of new agricultural tools have entered the countryside in recent years, the cost of reclaiming land has been declining. All the land that can be reclaimed in Hebei is valued. If it weren't for the siphon of war, it would attract a large number of young and strong laborers away.
The past few years will be a climax for the development of cultivated land in Hebei.
Naturally, Ding Xiaochen was also thinking about his future. He felt that it would be good for him to become the commander of the Army and Horse Department of Jinghai in the future. He would also be a prominent figure in the county, and the Ding family would have a firm foothold in Jinghai.
He no longer thought much about the war.
He also had his own friendships in the military. He also knew a lot of various news. He knew one thing very well: the imperial court was sure to win. It's just a matter of sooner or later.
But he never expected that just when he was envisioning his bright future, they got strict orders and went out in the rain to support Qinzhuang a few miles away.
And in order to prevent them from disobeying orders, a group of officers were airborne. These are all from the General Zhengnan Mansion, in order to supervise the war.
The person who came to Jinghai Militia was none other than Deng Yuan.
Deng Yuan went on a mission before, which can be regarded as a meritorious service. He begged Ye Chen to let him go out to lead troops. Ye Chen agreed verbally and let the people around him make arrangements. After all, he was just a staff officer, so Ye Chen didn't need to worry about him.
But the arrangement is not very easy.
If you want people to leave, you must first have a vacancy.
If there are no vacancies, how to arrange it?
We can only wait. Now that militia groups are being sent to the front line, the staff is worried about poor command, because these militia groups have never cooperated with the army at all. Therefore, he sent all the personnel from his staff there, on the one hand to supervise the battle, and on the other hand to contact the superiors.
That's how Deng Yuan came out.
Although Deng Yuan had the arrogance of a prince, he was accompanied by more than a dozen guards. These guards are not members of the military, but generals of the Duke of Shen's mansion. This shows that a skinny camel is bigger than a horse.
Maybe Shen Guogong's government doesn't have many connections now. But there are still many good players. It is simply impossible for an ordinary army to arrange so many guards. But with the dignity of Shen Guogong and Deng Zhen, the people below arranged to accompany the army.
Of course, ordinary things will not happen. The last time I went on an envoy and this time I went to war, these people would show up.
Ding Xiaochen could tell at a glance that Deng Yuan was unusual. Don't dare to offend. After gathering, Deng Yuan wanted to make meritorious service. Supervise and set off immediately.
The Jinghai Militia could only follow Ding Xiaochen with dry food and weapons.
The journey has not been easy.
The heavy rain affects the visibility very much, not to mention that the roads that are easy to walk on have become very muddy due to the heavy rain. If you are not careful, you will slip and become drowned.
Fortunately, you won't hit the wrong target.
Because even in heavy rain, the rain can't stand up to the sound of artillery and firecrackers in front. It's just become more sparse.
After Deng Yuan arrived at Qinzhuang, he immediately received an order to take back three rooms.
The place name Sanjianfang is very strange.
Just to the east of Qinzhuang, there is a family home with a large yard and only three adobe houses. This area is all open space. These three rooms are the core landmarks and are named after them.
Immediately, Ding Xiaochen led people over.
A fierce battle ensued and three rooms were taken back.
It was not easy, but everything in front of him made Ding Xiaochen even more uncomfortable.
Without him, he discovered that the reason why he could
He easily captured three rooms, not because of his power, but because the Confederate army who captured three rooms was at the end of its tether. There are hundreds or even more corpses in this area of just three rooms.
He found that there were only a dozen officers, and he even saw three battalion officers of the Northern Army.
That's the battalion officer.
He knew several battalion officers, and they usually ignored him.
They were all the people he needed to curry favor with, and now they were all lying here like dead pigs.
Ding Xiaochen knew immediately that it was dangerous, very dangerous.
But what can be done at this moment?
He looked back at the very excited Deng Yuan, who seemed not to know what kind of situation they were going to face.
He soon found out.
The heavy rain won't last long.
In the evening, when the sunset filled the sky, the heavy rain stopped, and there was a very refreshing feeling in the air. But Ding Xiaochen was not relaxed at all. He was sitting back-to-back with Deng Yuan at the moment, and he didn't even have the strength to stand up.
Within a few hours in the afternoon, they fought countless times.
Fireguns are of little use in heavy rain.
It's all hand-to-hand combat.
There were more than a thousand militia groups, but now there are only a few hundred people.
Others turned into corpses.
Among the three rooms, one room was full of corpses, and they were the corpses of generals. This was not the case at first. Ding Xiaochen originally wanted to arrange to stop sending corpses here. I never thought about just stopping the officer's body. But too many people died.
There is no other way.
Deng Yuan never knew that the battlefield was so terrifying. He just felt that this day was the longest day he had ever lived. Almost all the guards around him died in the battle. Few could survive.
Life and death happen in the blink of an eye.
For a moment, Deng Yuan no longer wanted to restore the title of Shen Guogong. After all, life was the most important thing compared to these. Soon he stopped thinking about these things because he had no time or effort.
Deng Yuan said: "The sun is going down and we have time to rest for a while."
On the battlefield, it is a matter of life and death, and everyone's relationship develops very quickly. The relationship between Deng Yuan and Ding Xiaochen was not good at first. After all, there were too many differences in life between the two parties, and they could not understand each other on many things.
But between life and death, these are not problems.
When Ding Xiaochen heard what he said, he immediately said, "Can you please stop talking nonsense? I beg you."
Deng Yuan seemed to have a crow's mouth on the battlefield. What can I say without winning? Everything he says will develop in a bad direction.
Deng Yuan was stunned and said loudly: "No way, no way, we have been fighting for a whole day and so many people have died. How could he still want to attack at night and leave no one alive?"
Ding Xiaochen said: "I think maybe he doesn't want to live anymore."
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Ding Xiaochen's idea is right.
Fu Youde felt great pressure.
The Confederate army was on the verge of collapse.
In today's battle, the Confederate Army has advanced for more than ten miles, but tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed. As the attacking side, many wounded cannot be evacuated from the battlefield, not to mention that in the heavy rain, many of the wounded were not killed in the first place. The wounded will also lose body temperature quickly, and death is only a matter of time.
No matter how powerful Fu Youde is, faced with such a situation, there will be opposition in the military.
Many people tried to persuade Fu Youde. It wasn't that they didn't want to fight, but that they really couldn't go on fighting. If this continued, the army was likely to mutiny.
But Fu Youde was unmoved.
Fu Youde already knew that Ye Chen sent more than a dozen militia groups for support.
Many of these people were captured during the battle. Fu Youde personally interrogated them and proved what he had overlooked. The militia groups in Beijing are different from the militiamen in Nanjing.
Civil servants were recruited for free and even had to bring their own dry food. The vigilantes were militarily trained and even paid.
So it is feasible to send militiamen to the battlefield, although these people will also desert. But it is impossible to let civilian husbands go to the battlefield. How shameless the imperial court is, letting civilian husbands take the initiative to fight for the imperial court without even thinking about it.
Moreover, these thirteen militia groups were almost all exhausted in today's battle. They were either defeated or disabled and ceased to exist.
And Fu Youde is also judging, what does it mean for Ye Chen to send a militia?
Either, Ye Chen's troops were depleted and he had to send out these militia groups, otherwise the front line would not be able to support it.
