In late May, after months of preparation, Yang Xuan swore in Wuchang again.

Before the Eastern Crusade, the most important thing was to build the Xiangfan defense line. If the Qing army broke through the Xiangfan defense line and drove straight in, then it would inevitably be attacked by the enemy on its back and face the danger of being cut off by the enemy in the back.

After thinking about it, it was decided to appoint He Zhen as the governor of He(Nan), leading Yang Bingyi's 5th town, Liu Tichun's 8th town, Ma Chao's 1st cavalry association, and He Dou's sailor detachment to garrison Xiangfan to ensure frontal safety.

On its left flank, Chen Yingzong, the commander of the 2nd Town, was left to lead the headquarters to garrison Hanzhong, Longdong, Yunyang and other areas, and Yang Yongtai, the deputy general of the 1st Town, led the headquarters to garrison northern Sichuan to ensure safety.

On its right flank, the 7th town led by Jin Tongwu was left, and when pursuing the remnants of the Qing army, Liu Weiming's 6th town and Jin Tongwu's 7th town had recovered Wushengguan and more than 20 surrounding counties, completely controlling the Tongbai area, so as to establish a peripheral defensive barrier in the north of Wuchang, and also support the battle in Xiangfan from the flank.

After completing the construction of the defense line in the direction of Xiangfan, Yang Xuan decided to go east again.

Left Prime Minister Wu Zhaoyuan, Right Prime Minister Yin Chengzhuo, and Zhao Ronggui, the secretary of the Ministry of War, assisted Empress Zhu Shuying to garrison Wuchang and help all parties.

Cao Zhang, the commander of the 15th town, was left to garrison Wuchang to ensure the safety of the rear, and Chen Huaixi led the navy to ensure the smooth water transportation of the Yangtze River to transport grain and grass.

Among them, 15 towns were newly formed military towns when Wuchang was captured, and Cao Zhang, the chief soldier of the department, was originally the chief soldier of the guard town, and the important generals of the department also came from the guard town, so Yang Xuanfang was relieved to let him stay in the capital.

Yang Xuan led the Janissary Town, Guo Chonglie's 3rd Town, Feng Youqing's 10th Town, and the 2nd Brigade of the Gui Cavalry down the Yangtze River waterway, and the troops under the command of Liu Wenxiu rounded.

After several months of training and reorganization, the guard town has been expanded into a type A town, and it is also the only type A town in the whole army at present, and its personnel, equipment, and training are no longer the same.

As personal guards, all officers and soldiers are strong and strong, with one or two more stunts, and officers above the squadron leader and brigade leader in the army participate in the Zhongyongtang training.

The equipment of the Janissaries has always been the best in the army, and after returning to Wuhan this time, all the combat units were replaced with flintlock pistols, and the bullets used for firing were also improved.

In the past few months, military confrontation exercises with Portuguese mercenaries have been conducted every day, and the whole town has made great progress in terms of ranking, discipline, and tactical tactics.

In the past tense, it was very troublesome to load the propellant first and then the projectile, and it was necessary to be solid twice.

After several years of fighting, it has now been invented at its own expense, and the projectile and gunpowder are usually packed with a paper tube, and when firing, you only need to bite the paper tube with your teeth, and then load the gunpowder, which greatly saves the launch time.

In addition, based on the experience of tying spears to the head of the spear in the past, the three-edged knife has now been invented, and the three-edged knife can be directly pressed on during hand-to-hand combat.

In hand-to-hand combat, in addition to using bayonets, some soldiers also use broadswords, and they also have broadswords on their boards.

The clothes of the soldiers were completely changed, of course, everyone still wore helmets, some of them wore a steel helmet to protect against bullets on their chests, and they were dressed in cotton shorts and shorts in summer, cotton trousers and cotton shirts in winter, and boots on their feet.

In addition, each battalion of the Janissary Town has a Tiger Squat Artillery Squadron, each regiment has a Franc Machine Gun Brigade, and the whole town has an artillery battalion, equipped with 10 2-pound red-coated cannons and 5 mortar cannons.

After Gonzalez and other mercenaries joined, the training of the Praetorian Guard Town was greatly improved, and sports and queue training were continuously carried out every day, and they were even pulled out every once in a while to practice with the Portuguese mercenary squadron to improve the actual combat level.

If the US advisory group said that the 10 74th Army could fight all over China, then as the first hot weapon division, it could completely rank among the strongest armies in the world.

On this day, the army passed through Ezhou, and Meng Zhengfa, the deputy envoy of the Privy Council, came to meet Shi Lang, and Yang Xuan sat on the deck of the Jinghai-class gunboat to meet him.

After talking about this mission, Meng Zhengfa shook his head and sighed: "Your Majesty, I hope the emperor will punish Weichen for insulting his mission this time." ”

After he finished speaking, Yang Xuan sighed and said: "Although Zheng Sen has a statement in the southeast, he was born in the Wa Kingdom, and he is the eldest son of the great traitor Zheng Zhilong, and he thinks that the Zheng family's naval army is invincible in the world, so he is so arrogant. ”

Hearing this, Meng spontaneously sighed and said: "Your Majesty, the minister observed that Zheng Sen was arrogant and domineering, and it was expected that he would not be a man for a long time, and His Majesty still needs to think about many things in the long run." ”

After pondering for a moment, Yang Xuan smiled and said: "Meng Qing's family, many things are man-made, if you regard Zheng Sen as a heinous person, it is expected that he will be heinous in the future."

If we can see Zheng Sen as an ally, we can help him when necessary, or we can also assist us in resisting the Qing.

In a word, prepare for the worst and prepare for the worst. ”

Meng nodded spontaneously, pointed to a dark-skinned man next to him, and said: "Your Majesty asked the minister to find one or two experts in water warfare, and the minister was fortunate to live up to his mission and found this General Shi Lang, and brought it to His Majesty's seat, hoping that His Majesty can act meritocracy, and entrust him to an official position." ”

Yang Xuan was overjoyed in his heart, and asked Shi Lang to step forward to reply, listening to the talk of Zheng Sen's army and Zheng Sen's person, he nodded his head from time to time.

Looking at the indignant Shi Lang, Yang Xuan smiled and said: "General Shi, as the saying goes, the general will not be subject to the orders of the king outside, you dispose of your own soldiers, so you turn against Zheng Sen, and in the end, Zheng Sen killed your whole family, such a tragic thing, is the general unhappy?" ”

Shi Lang kowtowed and said: "Your Majesty, the minister's family, young and old, worked tirelessly for the Zheng family, not afraid of their lives, I expected that Zheng Sen's traitor would be so cruel, because the minister punished his own soldiers, so he wanted to kill Weichen."

Zheng Sen couldn't kill Weichen, but he actually killed the minister's entire family.

Such a gracious person, such a cruel person, Weichen can't wait to eat his flesh and drink his blood. ”

Yang Xuan nodded and looked at the people around him: "Zheng Sen is brutal, Zheng Sen is ignorant, and it is really common to the old army.

As the saying goes, there is no doubt about employing people, and there is no need for suspicious people, as the saying goes, there will be no need for the king's life outside, since the establishment of the army, how many people in the world have done it?

Like Zheng Sen, jealousy and jealousy, since history, there are so many records. ”

Everyone was silent for a while, and Chen Jichang, the commander of the capital for a long time, arched his hand and said: "Zheng Sen is brutal, it is really outrageous. Since the establishment of the army, Your Majesty has swept away the maladministration of the old army, reduced the suspicion of generals and ministers, and is really a blessing to everyone.

Since the establishment of the Loyal and Righteous Army, the Loyal and Righteous Hall has been established and the generals of infantry and water warfare have been cultivated, so that the generals in the army have a conscience, and will not be deceived by a few widowed generals and do great rebellion.

The various departments of the Loyal and Righteous Army have established two systems in the army, that is, the ordnance is under the responsibility of the capital supervising the army and the supervising army, and the military orders are respected by the commander in the army, and there are many restrictions on many behaviors of the commander in military and political affairs.

This not only reduces the burden of operational command on the commander-in-chief of the army, but also allows him to concentrate on training in the army, and the combat aspect of the army is really a blessing to everyone. ”

Yang Xuan smiled, looked at the ministers on both sides and said: "Since I led the army, there have been many people who have returned to obedience, and since I received the order, I have not treated anyone equally, and I have not dressed anyone with small feet, let alone have any suspicions about anyone?"

In life, what are the generals? It is loyalty through the ages, and future generations will give a thumbs up when they mention themselves.

The glory and wealth of the figure, relying on himself to fight on the front line, earn a solid family business for himself and future generations.

A general like Zheng Sen who is suspicious of his subordinates probably won't be able to achieve much climate. ”

When everyone heard this, Gao claimed yes.

Talking about the method of naval warfare, Shi Lang talked eloquently, but the Zheng army's naval warfare was mostly a connecting battle, and it was rare to use artillery battles to sink the opponent like the loyal army.

When I heard the combat ideas of the Loyal and Righteous Army, what was surprising was that Shi Lang talked eloquently, saying that the Dutch were also keen on artillery warfare.

Shi Lang, who was sitting at the bottom and was stunned, was taken aback and sighed: "Long live, this gunboat has the essence of Westerners, it's gratifying." But long live the Lord, the Westerner gunboats can sail against the wind, and although they are very stable on the Yangtze River, they don't know how they are at sea. ”

Yang Xuan smiled: "What about Zheng Chenggong's fleet?" ”

Shi Lang shook his head and said: "Long live, Weichen can only say that each has its own merits."

The Zheng army ships are small and act quickly, and the Zheng soldiers are brave and good at fighting, and this Jingjiang-class gunboat really relies on firearms.

Just now Wei Chen went on the boat to see that some soldiers were not very smooth in operating the sails, so it seems that the prince's sailors are not as good as Yi in terms of maneuvering. ”

Yuan Zongdi next to him scolded: "Where is the arrogant man who is twisting his tongue here, how can such a big ship quickly raise its sails and turn the sails?"

This Jinghai-class gunboat can go 30 miles in half an hour, and it is 20 miles under normal circumstances. ”

Shi Lang shook his head and said: "My lord, I heard that the Westerners' Galen ships can go to 36 miles in half an hour at the earliest, so it seems that our Jingjiang-class gunboats are still a little less than the Westerners." ”

Yang Xuan said with a smile: "In that case, then you will be the first mate of this gunboat, responsible for the navigation of the ship, do you think it's okay?" ”

Shi Lang shook his head and said: "Long live, if you trust Weichen, please appoint Weichen as the captain to be responsible for fighting." ”

Yuan Zongdi, the chief of staff next to him, scolded: "You Shi Lang is too arrogant, a Jinghai-class gunboat costs nearly 10,000 yuan of silver, how can you be able to serve if you want to?"

In order to select a qualified captain, Shengshang asked the two best Jingjiang-class captains to come to act as agents, and after two months, he still didn't figure out the clue. ”

Yuan Zongdi was so angry, in addition to rejecting the new generals, it was really because this Jinghai-class gunboat was too important.

Although the navy is nominally under the command of Chen Huaixi, the chief soldier of the navy, it is actually divided into four detachments, led by Chen Huaixi, Wang Fuchen, He Dou, Tan Wen and others.

Each detachment consisted of 6 Jingjiang-class gunboats, 20 vehicles and ships, 50 sampan boats, and 100 transport ships, with a total of 3,000 men.

Since the beginning of the army, the navy has not only been responsible for surface operations, but more importantly, it has become the grain route of the three armies.

In this Eastern Expedition, although Yang Xuan led Chen Huaixi, Tan Wen, and Wang Fuchen, there were often only two naval armies around him, and the other one protected the grain route and transported grain and grass.

Shi Lang has been arrogant since he wanted to become the captain of the Jinghai-class gunboat, which is really an exceptional promotion.

Seeing that Yuan Zongdi was angry, Shi Lang also put away his squeamishness and knelt down and said: "Holy Lord, please forgive Weichen for being arrogant, but Weichen lives in the sea all the year round and has a lot of contact with foreigners, and Weichen is confident that he can skillfully drive this kind of big ship." ”

Yang Xuan smiled and said, "Shi Lang, you said that you can drive skillfully, very good, very good."

This Jinghai-class gunboat has a crew of 350 people, you start with the helm, when you have mastered all these things, when you have the approval of the vast majority of the brothers on board, I can appoint you as the captain. ”

Shi Lang was overjoyed, and turned to leave after kowtowing three times in a row regardless of the obstruction.

Later, when asked about the method of unifying the navy, Shi Lang talked eloquently, but his central idea was mostly to connect the hard battles, and he did not have much knowledge of artillery warfare.

Yang Xuan deliberately mentioned it, but the other party was just submissive.