Chapter 756 Trouble continues

The change of guard was smooth, but new troubles soon followed. Masayuki Baoshina took Kondo to find Liu Qingshan, and when he reported, he used a reporting tone: "Your Excellency, we don't have much food in stock, and we have at most three days' rations left." ”

Liu Qingshan got up early in the morning and climbed a hill on the edge of Tucheng, which was the commanding height nearby, and there was a small fortification on it, and more than a hundred people were arranged to defend here. When he came to Shanbao and looked at the defense situation here, Liu Qingshan was very dissatisfied, in such an important place, there was not a single cannon. I really don't know how these Dongying people fight? Is the thinking still stuck in the era of cold weapons?

Without waiting for Liu Qingshan to ask, Baoke Masayuki had already told the bad news, which made Liu Qingshan annoyed and said angrily: "Why didn't you say it earlier?" The soldiers and horses go first before the grain and grass are moved, such a simple truth, do you still want me to sue you? ”

The two had to keep their heads down when they were scolded, and they had no intention of explaining or defending at all. Liu Qingshan shook his head helplessly and asked, "Is there no food on the Edo side?" Masayuki Hoshina bowed deeply: "Hey, that's why I just found out how much food there is in Edo." At present, the front-line combat troops eat coarse grain bought from the DPRK. In last year's fighting, we lost a large part of our territory, and there were some problems with food. ”

What do you know, it's nonsense when you hear it, Liu Qingshan doesn't bother to investigate, since the above means to interfere with Dongying, as a soldier to carry out the order. "Okay, you don't have to worry about our food, I'll have someone go to the concession and notify the grain to be shipped over there. The dry rations carried by the troops were enough to last for three days. ”

With a wave of his hand, Liu Qingshan signaled that the two could go, but Baoke Masashi still refused to go. Instead, he stepped forward and bowed again: "Your Excellency, please also help to intercede with His Excellency Guogong, now that the shogunate is under control, there is a food crisis." ”

Liu Qingshan was so surprised that he was also angry, and his eyes widened and said, "For this matter, you should go to the consul of the concession." Let him inform you, what's the use of looking for me? Kondo saw that something was wrong, and hurriedly stepped forward and bowed deeply, the range of his waist was less than ninety, and he said earnestly: "Your Excellency, Consul Su's side, it's really hard to speak." Three months ago, we made a request for food aid, and so far there has been no clear answer. ”

Well? What do you mean? I asked to see the consul three months ago. Asking for food aid, how can such an important news be worth no money at all, could it be that the consul did not report it at all? After thinking about it carefully, Liu Qingshan reacted, this consul was a civil official sent by the Ming Dynasty, and Lieutenant General Wang Ben was stationed in Korea and rarely came to Japan. Japanese Civil War. All industries are withering, but there is one industry that is thriving. That's human trafficking. Liu Qingshan often heard in the barracks that where and where he bought how many Japanese came back, most of the women went to the big families to work as maids, and most of the men worked as coolies. In that place in Liaodong, slaves are not allowed, even if it is the clan of the Ming Dynasty. They don't dare to violate this article. In this case, the foreign population has become very popular, and it is used as domestic slaves, and neither the military nor the government will take care of it. It's not nice to say, everyone asks when they die.

Liaodong is vast and sparsely populated. The members of the clan did get some land, but there was no one to cultivate it by hand, and foreign slavery was undoubtedly the best option. There are also some capitalists, they are even more ruthless, they are tired in the mines, and they just find a ravine and throw them in.

Liu Qingshan, who has lived in Liaodong for a long time, naturally knows about this matter, but this Consul Su actually suppressed such an important matter, so he can't ignore it. This will definitely affect the grandfather's Dongying strategy, and the grandfather will be the king of Japan in the future.

"Okay, I'll send someone back to deliver the letter, don't make a noise about this matter for now." Liu Qingshan had no choice but to say this, and according to his judgment, Consul Su was worried that a large amount of food aid would affect his human trafficking, so he did something. This is a family ugliness and should not be publicized. Besides, this Soviet consul is an official sent by the diplomatic department of the Ming Dynasty, which is a problem left over from history. Then Zhu Youzhen is still alive and well, Chen Xie has no intention of seizing Japan.

Liu Qingshan's judgment was right, Consul Su was indeed worried about affecting his business. Because of the lack of food, a large number of Japanese people poured into the area of the lease, and he did not have to spend capital every month, as long as he paid a little food, he could get rid of a large number of Japanese. Young and good-looking, selected for simple training, the price can be much higher than the general population, buy a large family as a female slave, in the Ming Dynasty is very marketable. This matter is not as simple as Liu Qingshan thought, it is obvious that the garrison and other forces are also involved. Otherwise, it is not a business that a Ming civil official can do at all.

Liu Qingshan wrote a report, and with his own judgment, sent people to rush to Yokosuka, which was a naval base, and there were three or five warships stationed all year round, and the task was naturally to patrol the nearby sea and ensure the safety of Edo Bay.

After dealing with this matter, Liu Qingshan still had to send someone to the concession to ask for food, and he had to pretend that he didn't notice anything. After receiving the news, Consul Su acted very quickly, and immediately sent a company of garrisons to escort fifty carts of rice. At the same time, I also made a lot of fresh meat and pickled vegetables and loaded five truckloads, and I couldn't find fresh vegetables in Japan this season.

This shows the sincerity of Consul Su, but he didn't know that Liu Qingshan did not have any gratitude for this, but hated it. As a leased consul, it's not really a big deal to do some human trafficking, but if you buy and sell without regard to your grandfather's plan, that's the damn end.

The food problem has not been completely solved, and a new one has come. That's the question of the source of intelligence. Japan's mode of war is not at all comparable to the big scene at home, and as a temporary guest army, the first regiment is faced with the status quo of completely ignorance of the enemy's situation. When I asked Masayuki Hoshina, I learned that the Japanese themselves did not have an intelligence system, and they relied on ninjas to find out the news. In recent times, their ninjas have not brought back valuable news at all. The army of the Nagasu Domain was ten kilometers away, but the ninjas couldn't get close to it at all. There were also ninjas on the other side, and there were several skirmishes between each other, and the shogunate side was defeated badly, and the source of information was basically cut off.

This result made Liu Qingshan speechless, no wonder the shogunate lost so badly, how to fight the same battle between the deaf and the blind. can only be passively defended, from this point of view it is not difficult to see the predicament of the shogunate, no wonder he did not hesitate to ask Chen Xie to be the king of Japan.

Liu Qingshan looked at Masayuki Hoshina and Yuzo Kondo speechlessly, and in connection with the low morale of the shogunate army he saw, he felt that if he wanted to hold on for a long time, he had to change the status quo. Otherwise, if you keep it for a month, you may not be able to complete the task smoothly.

"Fifty cartloads of grain were sent from the concession, and I decided to give half of them to friendly troops. Don't be in a hurry to thank me, I hope that the two of you will go back and tell you that in a month at most, the main force of our reinforcements will be reached, and victory will definitely belong to us. Liu Qingshan still has to be patient and cheer up these Japanese.

Masayuki Hoshina was a little better, and Kondo Yuzo knelt down directly, and said with his body on the ground: "Your Excellency, I am so grateful." ”

Liu Qingshan still didn't have a good face, and looked at Gu Bei, the chief of staff beside him, with a gloomy face: "Old Gu, you have to work hard to go to Yokosuka, and go directly to the navy for help." On their side, they should have saved a lot of field rations. ”

Chief of Staff Gu Beiwang and Liu Qingshan are old partners, of course they know what he thinks in their hearts, nod, and look at these two Japanese: "I have investigated the friendly troops in the past two days, and the morale is low, and the situation is very bad." We have too few people to give our allies less confidence. It's better to take the initiative to launch a small attack to boost the morale of your allies. ”

Speaking of each, Liu Qingshan deeply agreed, it has been five days since he was stationed in Tucheng, and fortunately, the Changzhou Domain on the opposite side did not attack. After Liu Qingshan quickly understood the situation, he found that the people in Tucheng had almost run away, and the rest were some old and weak, and there were women captured by the shogunate army. Speaking of which, these Japanese women are miserable enough, while comforting the Japanese soldiers, they also have to take care of the wounded or something, do the same work as cows and horses, and eat food like pigs and dogs.

That is, after the first regiment was stationed, these women could be counted as having a few full meals, and this was still the combination of field rations and canned food + compressed biscuits that the soldiers had long been tired of eating before.

"Okay, send out the reconnaissance platoon, find a suitable battlefield, and fight with the so-called Dongying No. 1 strong soldier on the opposite side." Liu Qingshan recognized this Jianyi, the title of the first strong soldier in Dongying was blown by the Japanese themselves, and unexpectedly, the shogunate also recognized it. Masanukto Hoshina said that the samurai of the Nagasu domain were the strongest in Japan, followed by the Satsuma domain.

The Japanese said, Liu Qingshan dismisses it, but it does not mean that he can fight hastily. Underestimating the enemy has always been a taboo in soldiers, not to mention that the opponent has an absolute advantage in strength, and is also equipped with a smoothbore gun. The safest way to do this was to defend and counterattack with the fortifications of Tsuchijo and the nearby high ground, but now it seems that this is a bit slow, and the morale of the shogunate army is low, so continue to win a victory to boost morale. Otherwise, even if the earth city can be defended, the fortresses on both sides are lost, and this defense system will not be able to survive.

"That's it, you set the task, I'll take a trip to Yokosuka." When the two of them discussed the map, it was as if the two Japanese did not exist. Gu Beiwang also pointed to the map and said: "On this nameless height, no less than two cannons should be equipped, which can effectively protect the side of Tucheng. In this way, the rebels must first take the high ground before they can safely use their forces in the front. However, the shogunate's army didn't seem to notice this before, and we can use the intelligence asymmetry to make a fuss. (To be continued......)