Chapter 129: Planning the Northern Expedition Meeting the Prince

Yang Yulin didn't expect Princess Anping to also arrive, so she immediately greeted her. The three women chattered and laughed.

Zhang Zhimu took Xiaoqing and Xiaohu to the boat to play for a while, and Xiaohongyu came to look for them, because she also brought them a lot of gifts. The two little ones were captured by the little red jade and left.

At this time, Chen Yufeng also greeted Ouyang He and the others, saw Zhang Zhimu coming over, and said, "Commander Fan wants to arrange a meal at Lingshui Wharf, I'll just forget it." We'll be at the kiln in a short boat ride, so let's not trouble them here. On the way, we can also discuss things, and it just so happens that we are all here. ”

"Alright! Let's talk to Commander Fan and get on the boat. Zhang Zhimu said.

On the boat returning to Yaogang from Lingshui Wharf, Chen Yufeng gave a detailed account of the situation.

Not long after Zhang Zhimu and the others left Yaogang, Prince Tori sent a letter to Yaogang saying that they had fought a battle with the tribes supported by the Manchus. Although they were outnumbered by the other side, they won the battle with the advantage of muskets. However, his own casualties were not small, and he hoped to get further support from Yaogang. If they were defeated, they would have to surrender to the Manchus. Chen Yufeng thought about it, so let's support them. And he gave them five hundred muskets, each with a hundred shotguns and a hundred bullets. But a while ago, Prince Tori came to the kiln by himself with makeup. He said that they had too few men, and that they had fought a few battles with the other tribes that were attacking. Recently, there have been more and more cavalry from other tribes supported by the Manchu Qing to attack, and according to reconnaissance, there are tens of thousands of cavalry. Although Prince Torrey and his thousands of cavalry have the advantage of muskets, in the steppe, a few thousand cavalry cannot be defeated against tens of thousands of cavalry. Prince Tori had no choice but to retreat all his tribe into the mountains. However, it is impossible for a large number of cattle, sheep and horses to hide in the mountains forever, and then they will be trapped to death. So he asked Yaogang to send troops directly to help them defeat the unscrupulous descendants who had betrayed Genghis Khan. He also said that as long as the Yaogang people could send troops to help, Prince Tori would also mobilize other tribes to deal with those tribes who had surrendered to the Manchus.

Chen Yufeng said: "This kind of thing is too big, I have to wait for you to come back and decide." It's that Zhimu agrees that we will go out of the customs to fight, and we have to get the emperor to agree, otherwise we won't be able to get out of the Great Wall. This Prince Tori has to wait for you to come back, and he won't leave without seeing you. When you didn't come back, I remembered that we still had quite a few Mongol captives, so why don't we all give them to Prince Torrey. So I took Prince Tori to meet the captives. When the captives heard that Prince Tori could take them back to the steppe, they were willing to go with him. The captives said that the conditions here were good, but it was too hard to eat mutton here. They are not used to it. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Many of these Mongol captives can speak Chinese. Their return to the grassland will also serve as a propaganda for the people on the grassland. ”

"That's more than a thousand strong laborers, all for them?" Lu Chengxiang was a little distressed.

"Let them go back to war, fight for Prince Torrey. We don't have to send anyone to watch them. ”

After Zhang Zhimu's words were finished, everyone laughed, and Zhang Zhimu asked puzzledly: "What are you laughing at?" ”

Chen Yufeng said: "What? Don't you know? All the captives on the other side of our smelter don't have to look, they don't want to run. Because Li Dong thought of a way to pay them salaries. They left here without a word or a word, and they didn't earn any money, so they didn't run away. ”

"Yes! Li Dong is really a caring person. I came up with a trick, I really don't know. Zhang Zhimu said.

Ouyang He said: "On the way, I had a brief discussion with Mr. Zhang. We all felt that we should send troops this time, but we should send troops to fight until the immediate crisis is resolved, and we don't want to fight the Mongols in the north now. Because we don't have the strength yet, we won't stretch the front so long. However, I can't send troops unconditionally. Our condition is to take all the Hetao areas, and then send troops to garrison them, and a large number of immigrants. By gaining a foothold in the Loop, we will be able to solve the food problem. We also reached out to the outside of the Great Wall. Mr. Zhang also suggested that we should try to build the railway to the Hetao area as soon as possible. In this way, the northern Xinjiang issue will be solved for the time being. ”

"Good! That's great! Chen Yufeng slapped his face and said, "My idea is that we can't always hide behind the Great Wall and be beaten, we have to go out and build our reclamation point in their place." Even if there are more victims there, we can arrange for them. ”

"The rest is a matter of how to draw troops. We don't have a lot of troops to draw from all over the place. Because our previous idea was to shrink and build Shanxi, then the troops would be enough, and now Hongze Lake and Wuluo Island need troops. The Northern Expedition also needed troops, and the strength was tight. Zhang Zhimu said.

"Tell me what's going on with Hongze Lake?" Chen Yufeng asked.

Ouyang He told Zhang Zhimu about the attack on them, the kidnapping of Xiao Hongyu, and the annihilation of the bandits in Hongze Lake.

Chen Yufeng sighed and said, "Alas! I'm supposed to go with it this time. You may be able to see when the attackers are coming. I know that there is a kind of person in the rivers and lakes who specializes in killing and kidnapping people on behalf of others, and they will absolutely keep the secret for their employers, and commit suicide immediately if they find it bad. It's too dangerous this time. In the future, you can't easily go out. We were all a little careless, and we didn't even notice that we were already a hegemon. We will pose a threat to a lot of people, so there will be a lot of people who will not work against us. These assassination methods can be carried out with little effort, and there is not much loss if they are missed. ”

Ouyang He continued: "We decided to transfer two regiments from Tongguan to Wuluo Island in Hongze Lake, and the people there reorganized into a regiment, and then equipped with a water brigade, to form a division of three regiments and one water brigade, with Shi Xiu as the division commander. We made up the two regiments drawn from Tongguan from the recruit training camp and reorganized them into two full-strength divisions. ”

"Now, there are the first and sixth divisions on the Yaogang side. The Sixth Division left a regiment to guard the grain on the Jiaocheng side. I think that in this way, the Sixth Division will be reorganized into a regiment and let them be full of strength. Chen Yufeng said.

"Don't bother with that. If we fight, our combat effectiveness will not be good, but when there is nothing to do, it is okay to stand guard and watch the individual. Your troops can switch guards with our police force and bring them back. Sending them to guard the grain depot is overkill. Yan Boju said.

"That's great." Ouyang He said.

"Also, last time, Li Jing took a lot of people from Taiyue Mountain and Lishan and the second and third divisions to Wuzhi, and they probably had more than 3,000 people. I watched as the more than 3,000 people withdrew to the kiln gang, and Taiyue Mountain and Lishan did not need too many armed personnel, so they left the personnel engaged in production behind, and we went to check the purely armed personnel, and all those who were qualified were transferred back to the kiln gang. Form another division. All the cavalry in Tongguan were also transferred back. We used two integrated infantry divisions and one cavalry division. The Northern Expedition is enough. Chen Yufeng's mind was very clear, and he straightened things out at once.

Ouyang He said: "We are fighting on the grassland this time, and the pure infantry movement is too slow, and all the infantry must be equipped with horses. In this case, we will have a lot of logistical pressure, and we will try to carry out a quick assault and resolve the battle as soon as possible. To occupy the vicinity of the Hetao, the reclamation personnel should also immediately follow up and establish several settlements. The settlement can also serve as our logistical base. In this case, our logistics transport team must be equipped with a competent person, I think Yang Jing will put aside the matter here and follow the northern expedition. Also, if we want to gain a foothold in the Hetao area this time, the kiln gang and the passage there must be opened. There are several rivers in between, and we need to be ready to build bridges. I think this time let Li Wei organize the engineer troops to follow up! ”

Lu Bingyi said: "It just so happens that I have just prepared to set up a road and bridge construction committee, and this time I will follow up with the brigade synchronously. We will concentrate our efforts on developing northward. ”

Lu Chengxiang said: "Now we are not short of food and cloth. Just ship it over. The prisoners of the Dashun Army arranged this time can be drawn out to emigrate to Hetao together. We can also arrange for 100,000 people to go to the Hetao, and more than 200,000 people can form a force. Let them be the army in wartime and the people in peacetime. For a few years, it was solidified. ”

"Strive to get the railroad there within two years. In this way, we can have a stable food base in the Hetao area. Zhang Zhimu said.

"If we concentrate our efforts, we will soon build the railway to Niutou Mountain this year. Next year, we can accelerate the revision. We can even start organizing manpower right now and start building the roadbed between Kill Hukou and Niutou Mountain. Lu Bingyi also looked excited.

"The immigrants we are preparing cannot all pass all at once. We can't arrange it in the past, so we will go over 10,000 or 20,000 people to build houses and build a few brick kilns to burn bricks. Everyone else can be paved on roads and railways. I think we can organize 100,000 people in a short period of time and draw them from various reclamation sites. Then go to the banks of the Yellow River to mobilize those slender people and give them a chance. The men came to build the roads first, and the women came to wash and cook. The children are assigned to school for them. First get 300,000 or 400,000 people, and go to the railway and highway to carry out construction at the same time. I think in a year or two, the railroad will be built. After the road is completed, it will not only cost money, but you will be able to earn money very quickly. The Hetao area can not only grow grain, but also produce a large number of cattle, sheep and horses. It's a good deal. Lu Chengxiang's eyes lit up as he spoke, as if he had seen silver with white flowers.

Yan Boju's view is even more unique: "If you want to stabilize there, you must not only have men, but also women." Otherwise, men can't be stable. ”

Zhang Zhimu knew that what Yan Boju said was the truth, "We can adopt an encouraging policy, and go there and give a man five taels of silver." Go to a woman and give ten taels of silver. I don't think we need to figure it out, the men who emigrated will figure it out themselves. ”

"Good idea, now in the year of the great calamity, a woman will not be able to sell it for ten taels of silver. I will give them money, and they will settle their homes with it. Chen Yufeng said.

"Mr. Lu, you have to design a blueprint for a new type of village. Our new immigrant villages need to be both habitable and defensive. For the first few years, we would have a few years of conflict with the locals there. After all, we have taken their place. Zhang Zhimu said.

Chen Yufeng is very familiar with it, "Don't worry, you can use the soil to ram into an earth fence." The locals do it. Li Yunhe also wants to see the power plant there. ”

Lu Bingyi said: "I should take people over to see and choose a good place to build a new type of city, and we have a lot of experience to use there through the construction of kiln gangs." It is better to choose a place near the mountains and rivers and build a city. Through the city, it radiates the surrounding reclamation areas. The city had not only power plants, but also telegraphs, telephones, schools, hospitals, and shopping malls. If such a city is connected to our Yaogang railway, telegraph, and telephone, you can say that the surrounding area can be radiated? ”

The people of Yaogang have begun to boldly plan the future resettlement area, and they can have such a confident idea, relying on military strength and economic strength.

"Good! After everyone discussed it together, our general direction was clear. The rest still needs Mr. Ouyang and the staff department to make a detailed plan, and if you need to cooperate with any department, you can directly find which department. With the silver, you will find the butler of Lu. Zhang Zhimu summed it up and said.

The boat soon arrived at the Yaogang Wharf.

Huang Yukun, Yan Xing, Li Yan, and Red Lady all came to the dock.

Zhang Zhimu boarded the dock, Yan Xing greeted him, Zhang Zhimu said, "Second uncle is good!" And let you pick me up! ”

"Oops! You go to Jiangnan to see beautiful women, and I can't stay at home. I couldn't stand still when I heard you guys come back. Yan Xing joked.

Li Yan also came over and said: "I'm the same, I also want to go to Jiangnan to see beautiful women." I can't see it, so I can come and listen to you. ”

These people on the dock were joking happily, and Zhang Zhimu went over and said to Huang Yukun: "What, you miss me after walking for so many days?" ”

The red lady said beside her: "Sister-in-law doesn't miss you anymore." It's because I'm afraid that you won't be able to come back if you are kept by the beauties of Jiangnan. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "I am like a kite, no matter how high I fly, the string is also in your sister-in-law's hand." ”

"Oops! I was moved to tears when I heard this. The red lady said.

"Who's going to shed tears?" Yang Yulin, Princess Anping, and Xiao Hongyu came over.

The women talked together again and burst into laughter. Zhang Zhimu knew that there was nothing wrong with him here.

walked up to Yan Xing and said, "We are not here, Second Uncle must be worried about it." ”

"I don't bother." Yan Xing said: "It's just that there are too many chores in various places. But I've never felt like I'm still a useful person, and every day my heart is beautiful. I've never slept so well. ”

Chen Yufeng came over and said, "Zhimu, you better go and meet our guest first!" Tell him everything he needs to say and reassure him. ”

Zhang Zhimu knew that the guest Chen Yufeng was talking about was Prince Tori, and because Prince Tori came to Yaogang secretly, it was inconvenient to say his name here. Zhang Zhimu said: "Okay! Let's go meet him first. ”

Prince Tori's children and the Mongolian teachers he sent had a special yard. This time, Prince Tori went to the kiln gang, and considering his living habits, he also arranged for him to live here. It's just that there are some more sentry posts outside the hospital.

When Prince Tori heard that Zhang Zhimu was visiting, he hurriedly greeted him outside the door and said, "Hello distinguished Zhang Dongjia! It's really disturbing. Come in! ”

"Hello, Your Royal Highness! It's all old friends, where is there any disturbance! Zhang Zhimu replied.

After everyone came to the living room and sat down, Zhang Zhimu said, "Your Royal Highness, I have already heard what Mr. Chen said about you. Rest assured, our friends' business is our business. We've made a decision. One is to give you all the Mongol soldiers we captured last time, and to help you train them in the use of muskets; Second, we will organize the army as soon as possible, and strive to fight back to the grassland with you as soon as possible; Third, we will support you with some weapons, ammunition and food. ”

Prince Tori stood up and saluted and said, "I thank Zhang Dongjia for the Mongols on the steppe. All of our tribe will be at your disposal. ”

"Hey! Get up. Your Royal Highness, you are serious. Zhang Zhimu helped Prince Tory up and said, "Your Royal Highness, you know that we have just gone through a big battle, to be honest, we should recuperate now, not the time to fight." With our current strength, we can only help you repel the attacking enemy, and we don't have the strength to annihilate all the enemies. We discussed it, and if we withdrew, they would soon come back. You will not live in peace. Do you say?"

"Yes! Zhang Dongjia, our people on the grassland, all grew up on horseback. They come and go easily. If they can't beat you, they'll run away. When you come back, they'll call again. Prince Tori thought for a moment and said.

"We thought so, leaving part of the army stationed outside the Wall. However, the army has been stationed for a long time and needs a large supply of supplies. Relying entirely on you and transportation is not a long-term solution, we want to establish a military reclamation point in the Hetao area, where soldiers can cultivate land in peacetime and fight in wartime. This will be able to support you in the rear. What do you think of this approach? Zhang Zhimu said.

Prince Tori knew very well what Zhang Zhimu meant by what he said. For thousands of years, it was the Mongols who encroached on the land of the Han people, and this time the Han people wanted to ask them for land. However, there was no Han attack, they only had the fate of surrendering or being destroyed, besides, what Zhang Zhimu said was also the truth, there was no self-sufficiency, and relying entirely on inland transportation could not ensure that the army stayed on the grassland for a long time.

Seeing that Prince Tori didn't speak, Zhang Zhimu and Chen Yufeng didn't speak either. After thinking for a while, Prince Tori said, "What Zhang Dongjia said is the truth. Without a base of your own, your army cannot be stationed for long. However, only a small part of the Hetao area is owned by our tribe. Most of the area is not part of our tribe. ”

"We know that most of the region is still borderland, and the only thing we are worried about is that there is a conflict with your place, but when we have a conflict with their tribes, you can just not interfere." Chen Yufeng said.

"That's fine. Rest assured. Prince Tori said.

"Actually, it's good for all of us that we're there. I heard that His Royal Highness the Prince also took the train to go around. In the future, if possible, we will build the railway from Yaogang to the Hetao area. In that case, your cattle and sheep will be easily transported. Food, cloth and other supplies from our mainland were also easily transported. The lives of your people there will be greatly improved. Zhang Zhimu said.

"Eternal Heaven bless! It would be nice if the railroad could get there. I've already taken your train twice, and I want to take it again. The train was simply amazing. "Prince Tori seems to be interested in repairing the train.

Chen Yufeng deliberately said to Zhang Zhimu: "Since Prince Tory is also interested in trains, I think we should make up our minds to build a railway!" ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "These are easy to say! Now our biggest problem is how to convince the emperor to agree to our troops. If he doesn't agree with us, we're going to go out of the Wall, and that's going to be trouble. Not to mention building the railway, even if we rush out, we won't be able to come back. ”

Prince Tori didn't expect to be so troublesome, and asked anxiously, "What can I do?" ”

"Don't worry, let's work with the emperor slowly. First of all, tell him that your Mongolian steppe is very dangerous, and it will soon be occupied by the Mongol tribes who surrendered to the Manchus. Let's not talk about our troops. Otherwise, the ministers of the court, thinking that we have any attempt, will resolutely stop it. When the emperor realizes the danger, he will react. But now that they can't afford to send troops, they will think of us. That's when we're going to send troops. This matter cannot be achieved quickly. Ouyang He said.

"How much time will it take?" Prince Tori was in a hurry.

Zhang Zhimu said: "Your Royal Highness, it's useless for you to be in a hurry. We can send some supplies to your tribe first. For example, grain, salt, cloth, and weapons and ammunition, let them hold on in the mountains for a while. ”

Ouyang He said: "It takes time for us to organize the army. The reason why our army was able to win the battle was because it was well prepared. ”

"Then thank you Zhang Dong and all of you." Prince Tori also knew that this dispatch of troops was not easy.

Bidding farewell to Prince Torrey, Zhang Zhimu, Chen Yufeng, and Ouyang He returned to the command center.

Ouyang He said: "We didn't want to develop outward, but there are some things that we can't help ourselves. However, if we send troops this time, we feel that the army is a little insufficient. I think we're going to expand three more divisions. Our soldiers are not a problem. Fortunately, through the battle with Li Zicheng, we also trained the team. Through the expansion of the number, it is also possible to give those officers and men who have performed well the opportunity to be promoted. ”

Chen Yufeng said: "Our first division is a fully strengthened division, and if the sixth division is all returned, it will also be a full division, plus more than 3,000 people transferred back from Wuzhi, as well as people who have been withdrawn from Taiyue, Lishan, and Niutoushan, plus new recruits from the recruit training camp. We could expand two divisions into five. ”

"I took out two infantry divisions and a cavalry regiment. The kiln gang strengthened the division and did not move. There are still two divisions to maneuver, and we can deal with ordinary things. Ouyang He said.

"I think it's better for recruits to be recruited from the captives of the Dashun army, they are easier to train." Chen Yufeng said; "But there's a problem, we're starting to prepare now, and it's going to take at least two months. By then it will be cold. It's too bad for us to strike. ”

"We need to wait until the beginning of next spring to attack. Otherwise we will be frozen on the grassland. Ouyang He said: "We can tell Prince Tori that we are waiting for the emperor's news." But now is the time to start providing material assistance to his tribe. ”

"These things will be easy to handle once they are decided, and we also have one of the biggest problems, who to send troops." Zhang Zhimu said: "When I was in Tongguan, I had already arranged for Liu Yun to arrange the work in hand to return to the kiln as soon as possible. I think it's okay to let Liu Yun out. ”

Zhang Zhimu didn't want Chen Yufeng to go on an expedition again, because the environment on the prairie was too harsh.

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Five-line scores, oscillating circuits, caesarean sections. Guo Shoujing made alloy cannons, and Guan Hanqing created "Journey to the West". --Progress of "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty".