Chapter 422: Gorgeous

"No way!" Xina blurted out: "His Royal Highness King Yan, this is not good, the first division should return to the division immediately!" ”

Next to Nanbo Hang, the most well-known combat staff officer of the Hong Army, also suggested: "One week is too long, it is recommended to shorten it by a few days!" ”

Wash Na added: "Jiangsu and Zhejiang are the foundation of the Hongjun, where the source of wealth is, once there is a loss, it is unimaginable, and Jiangxi's gains and losses have nothing to do with the overall situation, the first division should return to the division as soon as possible!" ”

He stood up: "King Yan, for the sake of the country, take back this order!" ”

Liu Chang said: "I don't know that Jiangsu and Zhejiang are the foundation of the country, and now Jiangxi is a corner of the country, although it is a matter of the overall situation, it is already a corner of the place, and it cannot be fought for, but I am in Hangzhou, which is thousands of miles away from Jiangxi Province, and I can't help it." ”

"The reason why a one-week period was set is to let Qu Jie and them have full mobility and freedom, if there is a fighter, they must not escape, and if there is no fighter, they can return to the division as soon as possible."

In this era, in the Jiangxi battlefield where there is a lack of telegraph lines, the request and reply go through a process, and it may take a week to reach Qu Jie's hands, so Liu Chang repeated: "But one week is to give him the final limit, if he has not returned to the division for more than a week, he will be severely punished!" ”

For Liu Chang's thoughts, Xi Na can understand, but he still suggests: "Check, the soldiers are fast, now Jiangsu and Zhejiang can't do without the first division!" ”

"I don't believe it, although there are large soldiers landing in France and Russia, but in a hurry, they came from thousands of miles away, and they didn't even give me a week!" Liu Chang immediately replied: "This is the final decision, which can be questioned, but it must be resolutely implemented!" ”

"You can't use Britain and Russia at the same time!" This is the last insistence of Zenah: "I carry out the command!" ”

In fact, the whole headquarters believes that it is the most suitable choice for the first division to return to the division as soon as possible, and the first division has been in Nanchang City, but the gains and losses of Nanchang are irrelevant, and Zhejiang is the fundamental place of the Hong Army.

In fact, there is another confidant of Zina, that is, His Excellency Major General Montoban, His Excellency the Commander of the French Chinese Expeditionary Force.

Now Montoban is finally able to bask in the sun comfortably on the pier. Although the sun is as poisonous as the Algerian sun, it is better than not being able to move for months at sea.

Now he is dressed in a general's uniform, shining with gold, and he wears a medal and a strap. Walking in front of the battle allows the enemy to recognize in a few miles that this is a big man, a real big man, but according to the idea of Major General Mentoban, even if this is a barbarian from the East, he will abide by the most basic battlefield morality and will never fire at a distinguished army commander, a future marshal.

That's right. A future marshal of the French Empire, he must maintain a truly aristocratic demeanor, but Montoban was still shocked by the rapid change in the situation in China: "What, the Rainbow army has already captured half of Jiangsu Province? ”

When he boarded the ship in Marseille, the intelligence was that the Rainbow Army had just marched on Jiangsu Province, and now the French consul told him that the situation was changing very quickly, and that the Red Turban rebels had successfully defeated the government forces south of the Yangtze River in Jiangsu. It even dealt a fatal blow to the proudest cavalry of the Israeli army, who occupied the Changzhou and Suzhou capitals.

And it is inconsistent with the information he obtained in France, according to the description of the French consul. These rebels were not primitive people armed with only long and short swords, but a group of powerful enemies armed to the teeth, and they had all the equipment of Europeanization, cannons, rifled guns, field guns, mini rifles, cavalry battalions, all procured from Shanghai, at least to the level of the French army at Waterloo. …,

The news took him by surprise, and the change in the situation necessitated a more sensible judgment on the part of Major General Mentoban, who asked about the strength of the rebels, which surprised him even more.

According to the French consul and other sources, the total strength of the rebels is unknown. But in Suzhou and Jiaxing, which were under the command of Shanghai, there were four infantry battalions each, while the rebels in Changzhou had nine infantry battalions, or rather, he had to defeat the rebels with seventeen infantry battalions with eight French infantry battalions.

What is even more striking is the war potential of the rebels in Zhejiang and Jiangxi, and the specific strength of the rebels in Zhejiang is unknown. But they had already occupied the whole of Zhejiang Province, and according to the most conservative estimates, the rebels also had thirty infantry battalions in Zhejiang, and if one was pessimistic, the rebels might even have the strength of fifty infantry battalions, while further afield in the territory of Jiangxi Province, the rebels had about twenty infantry battalions.

This series of figures calmed down the hot-blooded Major General Mentoban, and he could not help but calm down, and he had to reassess the chances of winning this war.

The French ** brigade, which is now concentrated in Shanghai, has a total of eight infantry battalions, and His Majesty the Emperor also promised him to transfer two more battalions from the Algerian Military Region, but this is all the strength that Major General Mentoban has received in a short period of time.

Of course, there were the Russians, but Mentoban had to privately scold these Russian liars, they were a bunch of big liars through and through, and their foreign minister made a pledge in His Majesty the Emperor that he would send 20,000 people to China, but how many were actually there?

Now Montoban can pronounce the number, only 1,400 people! True, there were only 1,400 people, and he knew in advance that 20,000 people were unreliable, and according to the intelligence of the War Office, before the Crimean War, the Russians had only a total strength of 14,000 in Siberia.

But 1,400 men was too little, and these damned Russian crooks had sent only a tenth of the Siberian garrison to Shanghai, and had told Mentoban that this was almost their limit, and that their Siberian governor had been authorized only to deploy 2,000 Russian troops to Shanghai.

Two thousand Russians, plus eight thousand French troops, have a total strength of only 10,000, and their opponents are rebels with at least 60 infantry battalions and a total strength of no more than 50,000, and if the rebels are fully mobilized, they can mobilize at least twice the number of troops.

Major General Mentoban wanted to suspend the war for the time being as soon as he received the exact information, but after a minute, he decided to continue the war and expand the scale of the war.

"Even if it fails, it should be a failure like Waterloo!"

Major General Montoban explained his idea with the thinking of the French, yes, the rebels had at least 50,000 men, maybe more, 780,000 or even 100,000 troops, but so what, they were equipped with some Europeanized weapons.

He had 10,000 European troops at his disposal, and although there were still three infantry battalions that had not yet reached Shanghai, Pizarro conquered the entire Inca Empire with only 165 soldiers, and he was able to perform miracles in the Far East.

In fact, Major General Mentoban sat on the cold bench for too long before, and the French ** people after Napoleon the Great can be described as a tragedy, they can only repeat the glory of the old emperor in the story, and in reality, they have no battle to fight at all, and they can't find the glory that belongs to the empire.

Major General Montoban was such a tragic French soldier, he was born in 1796, did not catch up with the last glory of the Old Guard, and then came the restored Bourbon dynasty and the July dynasty, which did not belong to the glorious years of the army, and he could only spend the most glorious years of his life in Algeria. …,

If it weren't for the coup d'état of Napoleon III, maybe the old officer of Montoban would not even be a major general, and everyone would not remember that there was a colonel in France, but even so, Major General Montoban was still just a tragic major general.

His Majesty III chose Montoban as commander of the French expeditionary force for the simple reason that Montoban was willing to go to China, and few high-ranking officers in this era were willing to leave the comfort of Europe to go on an expedition to the Far East, which belonged to the wilderness.

According to the experience of the Crimea, the plague would have taken everything they had before they had established their deeds, and it was also true that after a long journey on the ship, the four elite battalions that Mentoban had brought with him from Marseille were now only half of them immediately ready to fight, and most of the sick had to rest in their beds for a week or more before they could fight.

But Montoban was the standard French officer, whose dream was often "to die in battle or to become a general before the age of thirty", and his blood was destined for battle, sacrifice and glory.

Therefore he decided to turn this war into an expeditionary war in Montoban, even if it turned into a second expedition to Haiti, and he decided to write to His Majesty the Emperor: "Your Majesty, your most credible army has landed in Shanghai, and the situation is very good, the rebels are alarmed when they hear the news of our landing, and the Chinese dignitaries in Shanghai have said that they want to cooperate with us, and Russia has sent 1,400 men, and 600 men are at sea, and I have asked them to send more infantry and artillery, They have a whole twenty thousand people in Siberia......"

Major General Montoban cleverly did not mention the new problems after his landing in Shanghai, and then he changed his pen: "But China is an empire the size of the whole of Europe, and I deeply feel the lack of troops here, and although the Russians are willing to send more infantry and artillery, I think that the French Empire must take the initiative here, so I sincerely ask you to send reinforcements of four infantry battalions as soon as possible, and as long as we have this support, we will easily occupy the whole of China." ”

"Without the reinforcements of these four infantry battalions, we would have encountered many difficulties in the cause of conquering China!"

As an officer who sat on the cold bench, Montoban was well aware of the bureaucratic mentality of the senior officers, and since they were willing to commit ten infantry battalions, in that case they would not risk ten more infantry battalions, but it was quite appropriate to add four more infantry battalions, and after fourteen infantry battalions, they were willing to add six more infantry battalions to protect their original investment, although this was no different from ten additional infantry battalions at once.

Signing the letter, Montoban repeated his belief in his heart: "Even if it fails, it will be a magnificent failure like Waterloo!" My name will remain in the history of France! ”。 Bring the cute girl

The King of Materia Medica

Introduction: In my heart, it is difficult to understand under my fingers, a nerd of traditional Chinese medicine, a small waste of the family, a wonderful hand to bring the dead back to life, and the king of medicine and herbs.

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