"It's not scientific!"

Looking at the two red arrows on the huge map on the wall, Li Zhigao's brows furrowed.

There are two sources of these two red arrows, one from Nanjing and the other from Anqing, which represent two forces, and the place pointed by the pointed head is Taiping Mansion. It can be seen from this picture that these two forces of soldiers and horses are heading for the Taiping Mansion.

To tell the truth, being surrounded and suppressed by the Qing soldiers, Li Zhigao had expected it, and even felt that this encirclement and suppression came too late, but this encirclement and suppression was not only very late, but also very strange, which made him very strange.

Now it is the operational conference room specially convened by Li Zhigao, and in this conference room, there are all the real high-level leaders on Li Zhigao's side, including Liu Runsheng, Cheng Yonghe, Zheng Yun, Sun Shun, Zhou Daqiang, Zhou Zhengbin, Zhao Changtian, the American Scott, and Tao Chengzhang, who specially joined in, but there is no prefect Wang Yongni.

Among them, Liu Runsheng, Zheng Yun, Sun Shun, Zhou Daqiang, needless to say, these people have always been the hardcore that Li Zhigao followed when he started, and Zhao Changtian, who is only 23 years old, is the first place in the military staff section of the Taiping Military Academy.

As for the American Scott, he was originally Marven's subordinate, but Marvin went to the United States early in the morning to handle various things for Li Zhigao, such as applying for various patents, opening a trading company, buying warships, recruiting talents, etc., anyway, he is not here, and Scott is Marven's agent here, and his existence is to manage other American instructors for Marven, so that those people don't make trouble, and by the way, he is also guarding against some people

This certain person is mainly aimed not at the Chinese, but at the Englishman Li Huade and the "British forces" behind him.

Originally, Li Zhigao's first contact was Marven and the Americans brought by Marven, what Li Zhigao thinks about not to say, at least Marven thinks that Li Zhigao is the magical friend he has made in this magical country, and even Marven is full of fantasies, thinking that the two of them will be able to do a great career in the future! As for himself, he hopes to be a Chinese general, or even a higher status, like an American named Wall in the past!

In fact, Marvin has always had the support of Americans behind him, but these Americans are not American political axes, just some American business groups.

To be honest, the strength of these American businessmen is not very high, and they cannot be compared with the so-called American bankers, and most of them are just some businessmen who have trade dealings with China. At this time in China, American traders have always been in an embarrassing situation, so they are more grouped.

Before, they supported Li Zhigao through Marven, at first just to obtain Li Zhigao's rare goods, and also made a fortune because of these things, but later as Li Zhigao's strength became stronger and stronger, these American business groups began to be restless, because they also found new opportunities, just like Lü Buwei back then, they felt that Li Zhigao was a strange commodity to live in, and decided to support him as an agent, put a long line to catch big fish, protect the interests of the Americans, and at worst continue to obtain cheap trade goods.

But then an Englishman Li Huade suddenly appeared, and he began to have close contact with Li Zhigao, which had to arouse the vigilance of Marvin and others.

As a British, outsiders rarely know the real relationship between him and Li Zhigao, and only think that Li Huade is a lucky British businessman who has risen again because of hooking up with Li Zhigao, and his British identity is naturally considered by outsiders to represent the interests of the British.

In fact, after the British consul came into contact with Li Zhigao, he did go to Li Huade and asked him to closely monitor Li Zhigao and pass on Li Zhigao's news to him.

Because Li Huade knew very well that the British consul could not save his life, but Li Zhigao could, and as time went by, Li Zhigao's strength became bigger and bigger, he had money, soldiers and territory, and he already had the strength to win the highest throne in China, and there were many ways to make money, which made Li Huade's ambition bigger and bigger. In contrast, being China's future chancellor of the exchequer, a small British consul, a little bit of an illusory Britishman, and so-called British interests, will not impress him at all.

Li Huade is still in Shanghai and cannot come here in person, and Li Huade's daughter Li Li is his agent here.

Li Li's apparent identity is the general manager of the Taipingfu branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, but the actual identity is only Li Zhigao's personal secretary.

It was precisely because he felt the threat of his status that Marven asked Scott to follow Li Zhigao closely, for fear that Li Zhigao would fall to the British and change his status.

This is not a joke, which side Li Zhigao falls to will directly determine the huge interests, so although Marven has already gone to the United States, he is always thinking about the situation here, and often communicates with Scott, so he also knows more about things here, especially after knowing that Li Zhigao actually got heavy artillery, he attaches more importance to his investment, which makes Scott follow Li Zhigao closely no matter what.

Li Zhigao doesn't care about this, it's a good thing to have competition under his hands, so he brought Scott in to the meeting, which can be regarded as a reassurance to Marvin and the people behind him, after all, he can't do without the Americans now, not to mention anything else, just those more and more American engineers are the most important talents that they can't lack, without them, ports, cities, and everything else have to stop!

Anyway, this meeting is only to discuss countermeasures, and the real battle has to be decided by yourself.

Cheng Yonghe was the first old man to come into contact with Li Zhigao, and his initial identity and power were still above Li Zhigao, but after all, this person was in charge of the army, and he was still the commander of the Yangtze River Commander, so unlike Wang Yongni, he was the most knowledgeable about current affairs and knew how to be flexible.

When he found out that Li Zhigao's strength was getting bigger and bigger, and his sailors were being infiltrated more and more by Li Zhigao's security bureau personnel, especially after discovering that even foreigners were afraid of Li Zhigao, he simply turned to Li Zhigao and became Li Zhigao's supporter.

Cheng Yonghe is not stupid, he knows that the Qing court is rotten, and there is no chaos for the time being, but he has not pierced the layer of window paper yet, but the chaos is sooner or later.

In other words, the troubled times are coming, and it is not certain who will be in the future of this world, and Li Zhigao has such a situation, and the future has a great chance of winning. For example, being forced to be helpless, infiltrating the enemy camp and the like, anyway, when it comes to his position, as long as it is not too much, he is generally more calm. Look at those high-ranking officials of the Qing Dynasty in history, not all of them became high-ranking officials or warlords of the revolutionary army, and then they became rich businessmen if they failed, and this situation abounds.

As for why there is no Wang Yongni, it is because this person has become more and more unruly recently, more and more alienated from his own family, and has long been controlled by the people of the Internal Investigation Bureau, so he is not allowed to participate in this kind of confidential meeting.

Not to mention, although Zhou Daqiang is now the construction director of the construction corps and the president of the Farm Federation, he is the best at sycophancy, seeing Li Zhigao talking to himself so much, and no one else speaks, he immediately joked: "Chairman, I don't know how to be unscientific?" ”

"The time is wrong, the action is wrong, and the number of people is even wrong!" Li Zhigao nodded two red arrows, "It's the end of December now, and it looks like it's going to snow soon. In addition, the so-called soldiers are fast, since they have sent troops, they should fight in one go, and I should be caught off guard, but the soldiers and horses on the Anqing side stopped in Tongling, and the Nanjing side set up camp in Mulong Town, which is clearly a steady advance, not a surprise attack at all. Well, that's it, it's just two large advance battalions, and it's not wrong to advance steadily, but the biggest problem is that since they are doing this, and the troops are divided into two ways, then they have to be completely sure, but the total number of them on the two sides is only more than 30,000 people, and half of them are patrol battalions, and the other half are new troops, and the weapons are outdated, and there are not even a few heavy artillery, at most there are a few 75-mm Krupp...... What's going on? Do you look down on me? Or do they not know our strength? Think this alone can deal with me? ”

Indeed, Li Zhigao's current strength, not to mention anything else, is the army alone, at least in the Jiangnan area, that is, a dominant family.

So far, Li Zhigao has a fully reorganized and well-trained main force division, which has a total of more than 14,000 people after continuous reorganization and expansion. More than 14,000 people have already completed the refitting of weapons on the original basis.

The main place to change the equipment is to change the medium officially into a 56 semi-automatic rifle, remove the 92 infantry gun, add 60 mm mortars and 82 mm mortars, in addition to the M1 75 mm howitzer at the battalion level, and also add an additional one equipped with 18 55 type 37 mm anti-aircraft guns, the anti-aircraft artillery battalion directly under the division headquarters, the fire density is unprecedentedly strong, which is already the standard of the World War II era.

In addition to increasing the density of firepower, Li Zhigao also successively added a large number of trucks and pickup trucks to this division, although there were no tanks and armored vehicles, and they did not become mechanized, but they were motorized, that is, not only large artillery and other materials were transported by vehicles, but even ordinary soldiers could do long-distance marches without walking.

To put it bluntly, just this motorized main division, plus his own special forces that have been expanded to the battalion level, Li Zhigao dares to fight against all the main divisions in the world today, and he is even confident that this division can fight against all military-level units in the world today!

In addition to this main division, which is almost armed to the teeth, and the special battalion with fully modern equipment, Li Zhigao also has two non-permanent armed forces.

One of them is the reserve mobilization force, which can easily mobilize 40,000 first-class mobilization soldiers with the expansion of Li Zhigao's power, especially the expansion of the Farm Federation, and can form four mobilization divisions at any time. Although these four mobilization divisions are male and female, they are all young people, and each of them can be issued with at least one new Zhongzheng, and the battalion level can be equipped with the replaced 92 infantry guns, and the regimental level can be equipped with their own 90 mm mortars.

As for the other non-reserve armed force, it is the so-called Construction Corps.

As mentioned earlier, in order to engage in construction, Li Zhigao has hired 100,000 construction workers, and in addition to construction, these construction workers will also conduct military training in peacetime. These people, but 100,000 real young men, even if the level of military training and education is not high, they are not as good as the reserves, but the number is large, 100,000 people, even if there is no heavy firepower, it is enough to deter anyone, they can't do anything else, they can always be a supplementary soldier, or a logistics soldier, right?

The army alone has 150,000 people, and in addition to the army, Li Zhigao's air force has also developed well.

Li Zhigao is a modern man who has always paid attention to air superiority, so in the past six months or so, he has not only paid attention to his own research and development, but also paid attention to imports.

At present, he has developed and manufactured his own aircraft in Ma'anshan Industrial Zone, with a total of 18 New Fokker E aircraft. Two Muromets bombers. Although these planes are also equipped with certain weapons and can be used for actual combat, to be honest, the combat effectiveness is really not very acceptable, but the planes produced by Li Zhigao in order to accumulate technology and train technical personnel are also intended to be used for export.

Li Zhigao's real main force in the air force is still the aircraft imported by Li Zhigao from Hyundai, and so far, there are two main types of imported aircraft, one is the domestically produced Chujiao-6B aircraft, a total of 80 planes have been purchased, and the other is the Y-12F aircraft, a total of 56 aircraft have been purchased.

The reason why these two types of aircraft were bought was because they were cheap and abundant, and they could meet the needs of fighters and bombers.

Among them, the Chujiao-6B aircraft is a weapon modification on the basis of the Chujiao-6 training aircraft, each aircraft is equipped with two 7.62 mm machine guns, one camera gun, and two 25-kilogram high-explosive aerial bombs or a 50-kilogram high-explosive aerial bomb can also be attached during combat. Because of the addition of bomb sights, the aircraft's dive surname is also good, so it can not only be used as a fighter, but also as a small dive bomber after adding bombs, and in general, it can be used as a fighter, a reconnaissance plane, and a dive bomber.

The Y-12F aircraft was originally a short-distance transport aircraft, and the original maximum load reached 3 tons, but after Li Zhigao bought it, it was sent to South Africa for modification, mainly with four 12.7 mm heavy machine guns, plus equipped with some reconnaissance equipment, so that this Y-12F aircraft not only has more powerful firepower, but can also be used as a reconnaissance aircraft and bomber. When it comes to bombers, it has a maximum bomb load of an astonishing 2.5 tons and can be equipped with a variety of aerial bombs. For example, you can add a 25-kilogram small bomb to the belly, you can also equip 5 ordinary 500-kilogram aerial bombs, and you can even add a 2.5-ton heavy bomb outside.

So far, Li Zhigao has formed a flying group, which consists of four flying squadrons, including two pure fighter squadrons and two bomber squadrons.

Two squadrons of pure fighters, equipped with a total of 48 Chakyo-6B converted fighters, each squadron with 24 Chakyo-6B aircraft.

As for the two bomber squadrons, they are a mixture of the Chujiao-6B and the Y-12F, and each bomber squadron is equipped with 12 Chujiao-6B and 12 Y-12F.

With this flying group, I believe that there will be no opponent in the skies here in China, and it is precisely because of their confidence in their own planes that the usual training of these planes is mainly to practice how to assist in ground attacks, and there are relatively few drills in real air combat.

In other words, Li Zhigao currently has only a small Taiping Mansion, but because he can travel back and forth, it can be said that there is no shortage of money and no shortage of food, and the local industry and agriculture are developing at a super high speed, so there is only one Taiping Mansion, there are more than 150,000 soldiers and horses available, and there is no financial pressure.

150,000 soldiers and horses, basically one gun per person, not to mention the main division, not to mention those air force units, this number alone can intimidate all the ill-intentioned people, even if the Qing Dynasty, it is difficult to get this large army.

You must know that the current main force of the Qing Dynasty New Army is all combined, and by the time of the Xinhai Revolution, it was only more than 160,000 people, and there are not so many people at present, and the total number of all the new troops is more than 140,000, but they are scattered all over the place, and they cannot be gathered so quickly.

Normally speaking, Li Zhigao now has such a strong military force, and he has not rebelled openly, everyone should continue to be peaceful, but it is so strange that the Qing Dynasty does not know what is crazy, and he actually came to provoke himself first.

It's just a matter of provoking himself, and only 30,000 people have been sent, and these 30,000 people have not yet been used in a centralized manner, but are divided into two directions, one is 20,000 people in the direction of Nanjing, and the other is 10,000 people in the direction of Anqing, most of them are patrol battalions, and less than half of them are new troops.

Although these two troops are quietly marching at the same time, the security bureau is already all around, and even if they can't get confidential information, they still can't hide such a big thing as the transfer of troops and horses. And those agents of the Security Bureau who were sent out had wireless telegraphs in the form of relay stations given by Li Zhigao.

These wireless telegraphs are not only powerful and have a long talking distance, but they are also specially modified, and plastic explosives and radio controllers are installed in them, so that once something is found to be inappropriate, Li Zhigao can remotely detonate them and blow up these wireless telephones to ensure that these things will not fall into the hands of the enemy.

In short, because of the advance arrangement, the movement of these troops could not be concealed from Li Zhigao at all, even if there was no advanced equipment, it could not be concealed, at most the transmission of information would be a little slower, but it could not prevent himself from making mobilization preparations in the slightest.

"That's it!" Zhou Daqiang immediately accosted, "Chairman, I think these people are stupid, but they want to come over and die early, if you want me to see it, it is better to take the opportunity to make a ...... Let's do it! ”

"Go, go, stay and go." Li Zhigao waved his hand, "Say something about the construction surname." ”

"Jianjian surname, this, that ......" Zhou Daqiang began to hesitate, because you let him pat him on the back, he can, but if you want him to say any strategy, it is really difficult for him, although he can also read and write, but he is better than illiterate.

"Sneak attack!" Zhou Daqiang suddenly had a flash of inspiration, "That's right, they must be trying to sneak attack us!" ”

"Sneak up on you!" Li Zhigao said angrily, "Didn't I say it all, if it is a sneak attack, then you have to fight in one go, how can you stop halfway?" Looking at their appearance, it is obvious that they stopped the troops and horses outside the scope of the Taiping Mansion, making it clear that they were only putting pressure on us, and also showing the time for us to prepare. ”

"That's right, it's not a sneak attack, it's a temptation!" It was Tao Chengzhang who spoke, he didn't look at Zhou Daqiang, but just nodded at the two pointed heads on the map, "Brother Wenqing, look carefully, the soldiers and horses in these two directions, one is the soldiers and horses of the Ninth Town and the Jiangfang Battalion of the New Army on the Nanjing side, there are more than 20,000 people, and it can be said that they are the main force of this attack; On the other hand, the Anqing side is dominated by the new army of the 31st Mixed Association, and there are also some patrol battalions and horses, but the total number is less than 10,000, which is obviously a secondary army. They attacked at the same time, it should have been planned not for a day or two, it was premeditated. ”

"I also believe that they planned it not for a day or two, and I know that it was premeditated." Li Zhigao nodded, "But this kind of thing, it is impossible that there is no rumor at all, why doesn't the intelligence department have any information at all?" Zhou Zhengbin, Sun Shun, what are you two eating? Can't listen to telegrams? ”

"Yes, sir!" Sun Shun, who was in charge of the Internal Investigation Bureau, immediately bowed his head and bent over, "It's all the slave's fault, please punish the master!" But please give the minions a chance, I promise there will be no next time! ”

"Chairman!" Zhou Zhengbin, who was in charge of the Security Bureau, immediately stood upright, and then bowed his head and said, "Chairman, this time it is a dereliction of duty, and I am willing to be punished!" ”

"Forget it, Wen Qing, don't blame them." Tao Chengzhang sighed, "Don't underestimate the Qing court, if they want to act secretly, there is still a way, and they may not have to use telegraphy, because everyone knows that telegraphs are unreliable, and they are likely to use the most primitive way to send letters." ”

"Hmm." Li Zhigao nodded, "So according to you, what is going on with them?" You don't think I'm scared if both sides enter the army at the same time, right? No matter how many sides you attack, it's useless to have a small number of people? Even if you don't know my weapon configuration, don't you know how many soldiers I have? 30,000? Obviously, the difference in strength is too far! ”

"Well, I'm afraid they really don't know." Tao Chengzhang smiled.

"Don't know? No way? Li Zhigao was stunned, "I have raised soldiers here for more than half a year, and I have trained many times during this period, and I have suppressed bandits a few times, so they didn't send some secret agents over?" I don't know how many soldiers I have? ”

"Wen Qing, you underestimate yourself too much." Tao Chengzhang shook his head, "To be honest, if you didn't say it yourself, I wouldn't know how many soldiers and horses you have on your side, let alone outsiders." Hehe, I have to say, your counterintelligence capabilities are very good, you were not there before, when I came to your side to investigate, every time I asked someone to ask, those people would first ask me who I was and what I was doing, in short, I was very vigilant.

In addition, you have a big ID card system here, where locals have ID cards, and outsiders have to register, get temporary residence permits, and report where they live, and the police will conduct regular inspections, and your SS, oh, the Guards, and the plainclothes of the Internal Investigation Bureau will also conduct regular inspections, and many people can report suspicious people at any time, not to mention that your barracks are a military restricted area, and outsiders are not allowed to enter. With so many protective measures you have, how can outsiders easily know the truth of your soldiers and horses? Even if there are a few secret agents, they have already been found out by your spy police and the vigilant people. ”

"This, to be honest, did catch a lot of spies some time ago, and they were all sent to mining without asking carefully." Li Zhigao nodded, "But I once showed military might to the consuls of the four countries, they haven't heard of this, right?" ”

"It's very simple, you just show it to the consuls of the four countries, and you don't show it to the people sent by the Qing court, they are just hearsay, so naturally it is not easy to confirm." Tao Chengzhang shook his head.

"Then why didn't you come to trouble me before, but only now?"

"I don't know much about this, but according to my estimate, I should be short of money." Tao Chengzhang said.

"Lack of money? Why do I get more confused the more I listen? ”

"Wen Qing, you are a fan of the authorities." Tao Chengzhang said with a smile, "After more than half a year of development, you are already a rich place, and everyone near and far knows that you have developed well here, there are many factories, and you are very rich." In the past, you were quite obedient, at least you paid money on time, and others couldn't find any reason to deal with you, but you just stopped paying money and grain to the imperial court, which is naturally a reason. I'm afraid, they're here for the prosperity of you. ”

Speaking of this, Tao Chengzhang continued to point to the map and said: "You see, if the Qing court really wants to tear your face with you, it will not be so shy to answer and hesitate, because then it will lose one of their biggest supports, that is, righteousness." In any case, the Qing court still represents this country, and if it really wants to deal with you, it will generally give you a hat of an anti-thief first, and then send troops to exterminate it in a serious manner. But now that they're so sneaky, slow to act, and not to mention the numbers, I think they're trying to test your reality. If you can't stand it, then they can take advantage of the situation to seize your Taiping Mansion and arrest you for punishment, if you resist, they will find an excuse to get yourself down the stairs, and everyone will continue to be safe. Of course, there is another possibility, that is, blackmail, they send troops to scare you for a few days, and when you are nervous, they will send someone to contact you, the content is nothing more than asking for money and goods, and then according to your reaction, formulate corresponding countermeasures. ”

"That's right." Li Zhigao nodded, "In this way, it really looks like their style." ”

"Therefore, you are now on the cusp of the storm, you can no longer hide, if you want to continue to develop steadily, you must win this battle, and it must be a quick victory, preferably a hearty victory!" Tao Chengzhang smiled slightly, "If you win this battle, you can continue to be stable for a while, if you lose, then everything will be suspended." But if there is a stalemate, I am afraid that it will give the Qing court hope, and when the time comes, they will mobilize troops from other places to surround you. In short, this time is the real test. ”

"Cut, what kind of test, the difference in strength is not much of a test, and this point is also a test?" Li Zhigao shook his head.

"You're right." Tao Chengzhang's eyes narrowed, suppressed his pounding heart, and pretended to be indifferent, "To be honest, with your strength, you can rebel now, not to mention smashing Huanglong, at least it's no problem to defeat Jiangnan, but I don't understand, why do you have to stay here?" Don't you know that only by continuing to expand your territory can you have more manpower and financial resources? In my opinion, you might as well take this opportunity to simply turn around, first break the road of Anqing, and then turn around and defeat the road of Nanjing, and then take advantage of the situation to capture Nanjing. When the time comes, you will not lack money, you will not lack weapons, after conquering these places, as long as you mobilize a little, you can immediately pull up 100,000 troops, you have so many soldiers and horses, relying on the fortified city of Nanjing, you can attack, retreat and defend, and great things can be accomplished! ”

"That's what you want me to rebel against." Li Zhigao smiled playfully, "It's all said, it's not time yet." ”

"It's not that I want you to rebel, it's that you won't be able to escape this time, whether you win or lose." Tao Chengzhang smiled, "If you lose, needless to say, if you win, you will also become a big trouble for the imperial court, and you will definitely continue to deploy troops to encircle and suppress you." Instead of waiting for the other party to hit you, you should change from passive to active and strike first. In this way, at least you can grasp the initiative and expand your territory in the early stage. At the very least, you can also put the battlefield elsewhere, otherwise, many of the achievements you have worked so hard to build here will suffer heavy losses once you experience the war! ”

"Your words have reminded me that the flames of war cannot burn in my own house." Li Zhigao nodded solemnly.

Indeed, not to mention anything else, at least many schools and industrial bases here were built by him with hard work, and I don't know how much effort and effort he spent during the period, and he couldn't allow it to be lost in the war, even if it was only a little loss.

"The day after tomorrow is 1911!" Tao Chengzhang followed closely, "You have always said that you will not do anything until the Xinhai year, although according to the Ganzhi calendar, there are still a lot of words in the Xinhai year, but in 1911, in fact, it can be regarded as entering the Xinhai year. You just have to revolt first, and then ......"

"Don't say it, I know what you mean." Li Zhigao waved his hand, "Anti-Qing is certain, but whether it will be an uprising first has to be said separately." Since ancient times, few of the first to revolt have ended well, and I don't want to challenge this strange circle. Anyway, since the court didn't say that I was a thief, so I came with my head stuffy, so let's keep my head down. ”

Speaking of this, Li Zhigao stood up straight, glanced at the people in the room, and then said solemnly: "Now that the situation is clear, the enemy is rushing to the door, and if you don't eat the meat to your mouth, you will be punished by God." So, I decided to take the initiative and defeat each of them first! (To be continued.) )