Whether it was the original military reform just in case, or Li Hongfei did have a heart for Mongolia, in short, the military materials stored in the northwest region were enough for the Ming National Defense Force to finish this battle. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The rest, perhaps, just needs an opportunity.

And now, this opportunity has finally arrived.

"I'm going to go to Suzhou in person, and as for Liaodong, I'll leave it to you." Li Hongfei said to Li Dingguo.

This time, the Ming National Defense Army can be said to be elite, not only in the northwest region of the deployment of 200,000 field troops, but also in the Liaodong region of the preparation of 70,000 field troops, the entire capital, now in addition to Qi Hongying's instructor, only Stilwei's third army is responsible for staying.

"You go to the northwest, what about the cabinet? Besides, Zhang Chao has just been promoted to the commander-in-chief of the Northwest Theater, don't you go over there to put pressure on him! Li Dingguo objected.

In order to better control the armed forces, after the reform of the military system, the Ministry of National Defense abolished the establishment of group armies, and in wartime, a major theater of operations would be temporarily formed between various armies, and the commander-in-chief of the theater was also called the commander-in-chief of the former enemy.

Therefore, nowadays, the senior generals of the Ministry of National Defense no longer have fixed military powers, and the commander-in-chief of the theater will have as much military power as there are troops in the theater to which they are assigned.

For example, Zhang Chao, commander-in-chief of the Northwest Theater, now has a full 250,000 troops under his command, including the local defenders, which can be said to have mastered nearly two-thirds of the strength of the Ming Dynasty.

And Stilwell in the Central Plains Theater, in terms of rank, is on the same level as Zhang Chao, but he, including his instructor, only has less than 50,000 troops.

Originally, Li Dingguo wanted to personally serve as the commander-in-chief of the Northwest Theater, but Li Hongfei finally did not agree, on the grounds that the Northwest Region needed a general who was familiar with the local environment.

Since the reform of the military system, Zhang Chao has been stationed in the northwest all the year round, and he is indeed the most suitable candidate.

However, Li Hongfei's words made Li Dingguo blow up.

He can't go to the northwest to win the merit of opening up the territory and expanding the territory, and in the blink of an eye, Li Hongfei is a prime minister, but he ran to the northwest border, what is this?

Moreover, Guo Sheng was supposed to be the commander-in-chief of the theater in the eastern Liaodong region, and the Ministry of National Defense was ready to transfer the first army to the northeast, but Li Hongfei arranged for Li Dingguo to go to the northeast.

"As for the cabinet, it is basically on the right track, and in general, a few cabinet ministers can discuss it, and as for the big things.......... At present, only the Mongol tribes can be regarded as a major matter. I went to the northwest this time, not to command the army, but to pacify the Mongolian tribes that entered the territory of the Ming Dynasty. Zhang Chao can fight as he should on the front line, and I promise that I will not get involved in your military's affairs. Li Hongfei pointed out.

In order to ensure the independence of the armed forces, Li Hongfei deliberately took the initiative to resign from the post of chief of staff, just to avoid suspicion.

Although Li Dingguo did not mention this matter now, Li Hongfei had to take the initiative to explain.

Since the rules are set, they must be followed, otherwise they will not be chaotic.

Therefore, Li Hongfei went to the northwest, but it was really not to regain military power.

"And I sent you to Liaodong, that's because Guo Sheng's Air First Army has other tasks, and at present, only you are suitable to be the commander-in-chief of this Liaodong Theater." Li Hongfei continued.

The task of the Liaodong Theater was not heavy, except for plotting against the army of the Later Ming regime and occupying Duoyan Sanwei, the rest was to attack westward from the Liaodong region and enter the Hulunbuir area, the old nest of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty now invaded Mongolia in an all-out way, and there was a Later Ming regime in the rear as a barrier, so the military force in the Hulunbuir area was not strong, and the defenders were only 20,000 or 30,000.

And these 20,000 or 30,000 people are guarding almost all the Aixin Jueluo clans, including Xiaozhuang and Shunzhi.

Once the Ming Dynasty attacked from Liaodong, the Manchus had two options, one was to take the initiative to abandon the Hulunbuir area, and send a large army south, using the advantage of cavalry mobility to launch an attack on Beijing.

Second, it also took advantage of the speed advantage of the cavalry to enter the Liaodong region in a roundabout way and attack Shenyang, Changchun and other places where the Ming army was weak.

So the other party's 20,000 or 30,000 Qing troops are actually just to confuse the Ming Dynasty.

The characteristic of the nomads is that they can move their nests at any time, which in the view of the Manchus, the Ming Dynasty can only attack Mongolia in the northwest..........

However, there are exceptions, if the Later Ming regime, without knowing it, quietly defected to the Ming Dynasty, then the Ming army could quietly transfer the army to the Heilongjiang region, and then launch a lightning raid without giving the Manchus time to adjust their strategy, then the Manchus would be the second force to withdraw from this war after the Mongol tribes.

And to complete the rebellion against the Later Ming regime, at least the army of the Later Ming Dynasty, a general of Guo Sheng's level is really not suitable, after all, the influence of a theater commander (as for the commander-in-chief of the air force, even Ming officials do not know how much power this official rank has) is far less than that of the Minister of Defense.

As long as Li Dingguo went to Liaodong and promised a few official positions to the generals of the Later Ming regime, those Han generals who were already interested in the Ming Dynasty would definitely take advantage of the situation to defect.

Zhu Youzhen is in power, they may hesitate, but now that Li Hongfei is in power, there is nothing wrong with the two sides, and Li Hongfei's policy is quite gentle, if the other party is no longer interested, it will be really stupid.

"As for those under Guo Sheng, who only know how to tinker with all kinds of strange things all day long, what tasks can they accomplish? If you want me to say, it's okay to send me to Liaodong, transfer Guo Sheng's kid's special forces to me, although Zhu Yousong is dead, but his wife is not a fuel-efficient lamp, if you want to win over Hou Ming, it is best to send special forces and give him a pot. Li Dingguo took the opportunity to make a request.

Since the last successful assassination of special forces, the Ministry of Defense has begun to pay attention to this special force.

Even now, in various armies, special forces of about 50 to 100 people have been spontaneously formed.

But the most prominent of them is Guo Sheng's team, after all, they were established the earliest, and they have great military exploits in hand, and other special forces, for this veteran special forces, can only be regarded as student soldiers who have just been enlightened.

Now the main obstacle to the surrender of the Later Ming regime is Zhu Yousong's Manchurian wife.

Li Dingguo wanted to use Guo Sheng's special forces to enter Duoyan Sanwei and behead him like he did back then, which was the most effective and easiest way for the Ming Dynasty to take over the Later Ming regime.

"If at this time, that woman died, do you think the Manchus would not be vigilant?" Li Hongfei asked rhetorically.

Once Zhu Yousong's wife also died, the Later Ming regime did collapse, but the Manchus could also take the opportunity to meddle in Later Ming affairs, which would be self-defeating.

The purpose of the Ming army was to attack Hulunbuir by surprise, not to take Hou Ming's territory by surprise.

"Uh........." Li Dingguo was powerless to refute at all.

It seems that the road of assassination will not work in the eastern Liaodong region.

"Also, don't underestimate Guo Sheng's air force, in two years, a lot of silver has been smashed into it, do you think that only the special forces of about 200 people are powerful? To put it bluntly, with the combat effectiveness of the current air force, it will only take half a month at most to destroy any country in the Western Regions! Li Hongfei's words were astonishing.

Guo Sheng's air force has 30,000 troops, and the countries in the Western Regions should not exceed 30,000 troops.

Even any army of the Ministry of Defense has the ability to destroy these countries.

But in terms of time, no one dares to destroy a country's Haikou in half a month.

The reason for this is because of traffic factors.

It takes half a month just to march, and it is impossible for you to destroy the other party's country, and the other party will still open the door to welcome guests.

Once the war starts, it will not take a day or two.

But the Air Force is different, their biggest advantage is speed, walking in a straight line in the sky, far faster than turning around on the ground.

Especially after airships began to massively equip the Air Force.

At the beginning, Li Hongfei ordered to stop the research of hot air balloons and develop airships instead, which, to a certain extent, really accelerated the formation of the air force's combat effectiveness.

However, the research of this airship can indeed be called a twist and turn..........

Just two months after the hot air balloon project was halted, the first airship was built by Song Yingxing's team.

The airship, which is 15.6 meters long and has a maximum diameter of 9.6 meters, can generate more than 1,000 kilograms of lift when filled with hydrogen, was made into the shape of a fish.

It's not to reduce air resistance, but the researchers felt that flying in the sky was not much different from fish swimming in a large number of people, so they designed it to be streamlined to reduce air resistance.

On this airship, they installed oars, which were made of silk stretched over a frame with a diameter of 2 meters.

However, just as the researchers were testing the flight, an accident occurred.

When they filled the airbag with hydrogen, the airship rose, but with the increase of altitude, the atmospheric pressure gradually decreased, the hydrogen in the capsule expanded, and the airbag expanded more and more, and it was about to burst, which frightened several test pilots.

If the airship explodes in the sky, it will definitely end up in pieces.

So they quickly pierced a small hole in the airbag with a knife, so that the airship was safely lowered to the ground.

The experiment gave the researchers a hint that a deflation valve should be left on the airbag.

A month later, the researchers modified the airship for a second flight.

The flight, powered by 7 people paddling, flew for 7 hours, but only flew a few kilometers.

Although the flight speed is very slow, it is flying in a predetermined direction after all, and it is not like a hot air balloon, where it flies is all up to God's pleasure.

Two months later, Huang Minggang, a master of mechanical arts, specially designed a power system for the airship and made a human-powered airship that used propellers instead of oars.

The airship is 26 meters long, with a maximum diameter of 12 meters, and with the addition of pods, it is 29 meters high and can carry 14 people.

The diameter of the propeller is 9 meters, and several people take turns to rotate the propeller to produce a pull force and pull the airship forward, reaching a speed of 10 kilometers per hour, which is much better than the oared airship.

However, even so, it still failed to meet the requirements of the military, and such a speed was a little faster than a normal march, how could it be worthy of the Air Force, a branch of the armed forces known for its mobility ability.

Soon after, Huang Minggang's disciple He Zixu was inspired by the bicycles produced by the Ming Dynasty to design a pedal propeller airship.

Changing the propeller of the airship from hand-cranked to foot-pedal not only makes it much easier for the operator, but also can reach a speed of 26 kilometers per hour when there is no wind, which is much faster than that of a hand-rotated propeller airship.

Twenty-six kilometers per hour, such a speed is already equivalent to a steam warship with a speed of 14 knots, and even the air force, which pursues maneuverability, is very satisfied with this.

However, at this time, there is still a problem that the airship has not solved in flight, that is, when the airship rises to a certain height, it must be deflated through the valve to prevent the airbag from expanding and bursting.

But after the gas is released, the airship naturally cannot be raised any further.

In other words, the altitude at which the airship can fly depends entirely on the atmospheric pressure, and in the low-altitude plains, it may be able to fly one or two thousand meters, but at high altitudes, it may not even be able to lift off.

In order to solve this problem, the researchers first tried to make an airbag that is difficult to break by improving the canvas material, but unfortunately failed repeatedly.

It wasn't until he realized that this path didn't work, and he began to find another way, and finally made a balloon with an air chamber.

It is shaped like a spindle and resembles the airships of later generations.

This kind of balloon has a large silk capsule on the outside and a small air bag on the inside, and the small air bag has a gas valve on it.

The outer capsule is filled with hydrogen to make the balloon buoyant and lifted into the air, and the inner capsule is used to fill the air.

This small airbag is called the "air room".

Before the balloon is lifted into the air, the "air chamber" is filled with air, and when the balloon rises to a certain height, the "air chamber" is opened and a part of the air is released, so that after the outer capsule is expanded, the "air chamber" is reduced due to squeezing, so that the pressure of the outer capsule expansion is reduced, so as to ensure that the air sac does not burst.

It took nearly half a year to make many improvements, and Li Hongfei's airship plan was finally successfully completed.

Of course, it is very unrealistic to install a steam engine on an airship, at least at this stage, the airship is close to the peak of this period.

The improved airship, with a load capacity of 2,000 kilograms, can carry 20 heavily armed soldiers at a time, which is no problem at all.

After seeing such equipment with long stay in the air, fast flight speed, and strong load capacity, Guo Sheng regarded it as a treasure, and immediately asked the Weapons Research Institute to set up a production line, and placed an order for 50 ships at one time.

The airship is mainly composed of airbags and gondolas, and the power system can be completely completed by bicycle manufacturers with manufacturing experience.

Therefore, its manufacturing is much weaker than that of ironclad ships, and under full operation, it can deliver four to six Air Force ships a month.

Now that it has been half a year since the airship was put into production, Guo Sheng's air force has formed an airship brigade (thirty airships).

According to the load capacity of an airship that can carry 20 fully armed soldiers, 600 soldiers descend from the sky and sneak attack the capital of a country from a long distance to carry out a decapitation operation, which is almost a breeze.

That's why Li Hongfei dared to boast about Haikou, saying that the Ming Air Force now has the strength to destroy any country in the Western Regions in half a month.

The appearance of the airship marks that the Ming Air Force officially has a set of its own combat system, Guo Sheng only needs to fight a beautiful victory in the future battle, then they no longer need to use the artillery unit as a cover to apply to the Congress for military spending...............