"Moreover, as long as water and land transportation is developed, especially railways and steam ships, as long as they are built quickly, the Holy Kingdom can completely reduce the number of troops. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoEven if there is a rebellion or other enemy invasion, you can quickly dispatch troops from all over the world to rush to your destination. The use of soldiers is like the use of money, and it must be made to flow. I remember that a big businessman surnamed Hu once said: 'Eight jars and seven covers, cover and cover, that is, you can do business.' We should do the same with our troops, as long as it is convenient to move within a certain range, even if there are no troops, it doesn't matter, as soon as there is a situation, we can arrive immediately. Feng Yunshan talked about his theory from later generations.

In later generations, only prefecture-level cities, that is, above the state capital, had military sub-divisions, and all county-level troops generally did not have permanent troops, but only selective garrisons, and only set up armed forces departments to organize and coordinate troop matters in a timely manner. Feng Yunshan felt that he could also follow suit in the Holy Kingdom.

Zuo Zongtang thought for a while and sighed: "The Holy King is really insightful, this idea has opened the eyes of his subordinates!" According to the subordinates, this move is feasible, and the key lies in the improvement of transportation. In addition, by reducing the deployment of troops in this way, it is possible not only to reduce the salaries of soldiers, but also to reduce the consumption of military rations. In this way, the burden of logistical baggage on the march and fighting was greatly reduced, and with developed transportation, it was faster and easier to transport baggage. When the Holy King said this, his subordinates were looking forward to the completion of the railroad and the steamship as soon as possible. ”

Wang Minyun and Fan Ruzeng on the side also nodded, feeling the same way.

Feng Yunshan looked at Wang Minyun and said, "Minyun, how is the construction of the second railway of the Holy Country, the Jiangxi-Fujian Railway?" ”

Feng Yunshan remembered that the railway departed from Jingdezhen and Dexing Copper Mine, passed through the county seat of Leping, the capital of Raozhou, and merged into one railway, leading to Fujian, and finally arriving at Nanping, the city of Yanping. After the captives captured Fuzhou City and the Holy Kingdom occupied Fujian, Feng Yunshan asked Cheng Hengsheng, who had been promoted to director of the Engineering Department of the Ministry of Public Works, to change the original plan and directly extend the railway to Fuzhou City.

"Yu Shengwang, the construction of the Jiangxi-Fujian railway has been started for more than half a year, according to the understanding of the post, at the end of last month, about forty percent of the original plan has been completed. From Jingdezhen and Dexing, both places have been paved to Yingtan Town, Guixi County, Guangxin Prefecture, and the railroad tracks have been paved, as long as the locomotive arrives, it can be opened to traffic within this distance in the territory of Chixi. According to the progress, it should have been built to the border area of Chixi and Fujian, however, after entering Fujian, it is mostly mountainous, although according to the plan, most of the railway routes are built along the Minjiang River and the Shaowuxi River valley in the upper reaches, but the river valley is rugged, the road is uneven, and it has to pass through several mountain passes, to dig tunnels and split mountains, the amount of work is very huge, it is estimated that it will take one or two years to arrive in Fuzhou. Wang Minyun was well-informed and remembered the construction of the Jiangxi-Fujian Railway one by one.

Feng Yunshan frowned, maybe he shouldn't have built the second railway to Fujian. In later generations, the railway of Fujian was built in the coastal provinces, the latest was built, and it was also the least developed province of the railway, which is not without reason.

But now that construction has begun, there is no turning back, otherwise the section that has been built will be in vain. Fortunately, in this era, there is a lot of labor that can be mobilized, and the lack of equipment and technology can be made up for by manpower.

Thinking of this, Feng Yunshan ordered: "Zong Tang, your staff department has arranged to escort all the prisoners of war of the Qing Demon to build this Jiangxi-Fujian railway, so as to reduce the burden on the original local craftsmen of the Holy Country." Explain to those Manchu prisoners of war that as long as they honestly help the Holy Kingdom build a railway for five years, and when the five years expire, they are willing to return to their hometowns or stay in the Holy Kingdom to settle down, listen to their convenience, give them some wages at the price of one tael of silver a year, let them eat enough every day, and do not abuse them too much. ”

Feng Yunshan thought about it and felt that there might still be not enough manpower, he knew how difficult it was to build a railway in the deep mountains and old forests of the poor mountains and bad waters, and how difficult it was to carry the rails. So, someone added: "Isn't Commander Luo of the Fifth Division of the First Division about to return from Ryukyu?" They had already laid some foundations, so they asked the 5th Division of the First Division to organize a sailor division as soon as possible to go to those islands in Yueben, whether it was to recruit them with money, or to forcibly take prisoners, in short, to send some locals to Fujian to build a railway. The king wants to finish the construction of this railway as soon as possible. ”

Feng Yunshan did all this, in fact, he was still worried that history would be the same as in later generations, and he would destroy the interests of Britain and France, and they must have regarded themselves as the object of eradication, but at present, because of the Crimean War, the troops are insufficient, and they are reluctant to cut off trade with the Holy Country, so they can't bear it and don't directly tear their faces and start a full-scale war with themselves.

Once the Crimean War in Eastern Europe ended, it would take advantage of the victory and have to prepare in advance. The coastal areas of Guangdong and Fujian must have been the initial battlefields, and this Jiangxi-Fujian railway could transport troops and weapons and materials to Fujian in time to prevent the other side from continuing to move north and destroying the rich areas along the coasts of Zhejiang and Suzhou.

Feng Yunshan said so much, but he still didn't say how to deal with the 12,000 Taiping soldiers in the Wuxi area of Changzhou and the more than 10,000 tenant rebels in the Ningbo Mansion and Shaoxing Mansion. ”

As for the more than 10,000 Taiping soldiers, most of them were ordinary people in the area of Mubei and Anman, so they were retrained and formed into two local brigades, which would serve as local garrisons when they occupied Mubei and Anman in the future. The tenant rebels of Ningbo Prefecture selected some soldiers from the Ningbo area of Shaoxing, formed them into sailors, and sent them to Ryukyu for training, and when the warships in the Changzhou shipyard were made a little more, they could form a regular sailor. By the way, Min Yun, didn't the Changzhou Shipyard already build several frigates and fast sailing ships a while ago, and now I don't know how? ”

Wang Minyun replied: "The Changzhou Shipyard has made two frigates, two fast sailing ships, and a cruiser equivalent to a fifth-class ordinary warship. However, only the fast sailing ship and one cruiser were propelled by a steam engine and sails, and the rest were sails. The fast sailing sail adopts the flying scissor sailing structure, speed tested, more than 12 knots. ”

"The tonnage of these seven warships is not large, the frigate has a full load displacement of five hundred tons, the fast sailing ship has a full load displacement of eight hundred tons, and the cruiser is a thousand tons. However, Holy King, don't look at the tonnage of these seven warships, their firepower is much more fierce than the Western warships we captured. ”

Feng Yunshan heard last time that the warships of the Changzhou Shipyard all used the guns produced by the Holy Krupp Iron and Steel Company as boat guns, but they were still just beginning to be produced at that time. Calculating the time, the artillery should have been transported to Cheung Chau Island and installed on the warship.

He asked with interest, "Oh, what kind of artillery?" ”

Wang Minyun's face was embarrassed, and finally he was not very clear: "Holy King, the position is not very clear. I just heard Li Jianwei, deputy general manager of the Shengguo Krupp Iron and Steel Company, who passed through Guangzhou last time, say that there are four kinds of conventional artillery installed on these warships, which seem to be 64-pound receded breech smoothbore guns, 8-inch and 6-inch Krupp rear-loading rifled guns, and 8-inch caliber mortar guns. The specific power is indeed unknown, but Deputy General Manager Li said that these are the most powerful artillery pieces in the Holy Kingdom today. ”

When Feng Yunshan heard this, his eyes began to glow: he didn't expect that he would have such a big harvest by taking this Krupp captive from Prussia! Breech-loading rifled guns have now been produced.