Episode 49 The Dream of Unification

After worshipping his protégé and formally forming a "one party" with the army and the high command, Xiang Xiaoqiang asked with a grin:

"Ming Gong, dare to ask the student's force ratio, what does Ming Gong think is 'mysterious'?"

Zhang Zhao first pinched the paper of the troop allocation, stared at Xiang Xiaoqiang's eyes, and said with a smile:

"Xiao Xiang, to be honest, is this kind of troop configuration assuming that our army crosses the Yangtze River and takes the initiative to attack the Qing army?"

Xiang Xiaoqiang didn't sell it either, and smiled honestly:

"This careful thinking of the students, yes, this ratio of troops is exactly the situation in which the students assume that our army will go north to regain the lost territory and take the initiative to attack the Qing army. Ming Gong felt ......"

Zhang Zhaoxian smiled:

"Can Xiao Xiang have a table word? The old man will call you by the word and look closer. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang was happy, and quickly said:

"Students have a table of words: upright, upright, and upright. It was given by His Majesty. ”

"Oh? Given by His Majesty? ”

Zhang Zhaoxian and Tang Yunsheng both glanced at each other, and immediately smiled:

"Good words, good words, and the word 'Xiaoqiang' echo each other, which is very suitable."

Tang Yunsheng also smiled:

"Your Majesty's knowledge is worthy of its name."

After the two flattered Zhu Yourong in front of Xiang Xiaoqiang, Zhang Zhao looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang first and said solemnly:

"Quite right, the hypothetical exercise of going north to attack the Qing army, is it a whim and a novelty, or do you really have this idea?"

Xiang Xiaoqiang also said solemnly:

"The students really have this idea."

Zhang Zhao stared at his eyes for a while, and said slowly:

"This ...... How long has this idea been around? ”

"Students have this ambition from a very young age."

“……”

Zhang Zhaoxian slowly pulled his face down and leaned back on the sofa. He was clearly not satisfied with this kind of official statement.

Xiang Xiaoqiang sweated, knowing that he was a little flamboyant, and Old Man Zhang obviously didn't like flamboyance. He quickly re-said:

"Ming Gong, that's it...... Although the students were determined to drive out the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty from a very young age, they ...... It was only after the students became the commanders of the People's Guards and became the generals who led the troops. ”

Zhang Zhao nodded first, his face softened a little. This statement is still credible in his opinion.

Xiang Xiaoqiang said again:

"When the Battle of Pukou a few months ago, the students led the army to attack Pukou, and witnessed the scene of more than 100,000 Qing troops rushing to surrender to our army...... There are also people who saw that the local ** government of the Manchu Qing Dynasty turned into kidnappers as officials in order to collect money, and the townspeople who did not give them bribes could not escape, but could only be blown up alive...... At that time, the students really saw the feasibility of defeating the Qing captives and recovering the north.

"Ming Gong, at that time, you were sitting in the headquarters, strategizing, and controlling the overall situation, and you were not at the scene. But if you had been there at the time, you would have been as blown away as I was...... The Qing army poured out of the town like a tidal wave and rushed towards our army...... We had only crossed a small part of the river, and the brothers were terrified and machine-gunned with desperate fire...... But those Qing troops still rushed over desperately...... In the end, they were surrounded by dozens of times the Qing army, only to know that these Qing troops rushed up and surrendered......

"When we continued to attack in Pukou Town, we often encountered thousands or thousands of Qing troops running towards us and surrendering to one of our companies and platoons...... Ming Gong, you can't imagine how far they have come...... They carried everything white: white sheets, white bandages, white shirts, white cotton in the quilt, white paper...... The white things were all robbed, and there was even a group of Qing troops, who carried half of the floor with all their strength, and moved towards us step by step...... Because one side of the floor is white-lime......

"Ming Gong, you also know that the opposite side of Pukou is Nanjing, and the Qing Emperor Guangwu is determined to capture Nanjing in the New Year. The Qing army he deployed in Pukou must be elite. Except for the Eight Banners Division, most of them are the elite of the Han army-the New Han Army, and even those used as cannon fodder are the more capable parts of the old Han Army...... However, it was these elites of the Qing army who rushed to surrender to us......

"When the hundreds of thousands of captives sat on the riverside in the dark, our brothers who remained on the riverside were very afraid. At that time, our large forces were either on the other side of Pukou or had already attacked inside, and there were only a few thousand prisoners guarding the river. Even if the more than 100,000 people of the Qing army have already surrendered their guns, if they regret it and plan to resist, our thousands of people will die without a place to be buried. But not only did they not see that they wanted to resist, but they sat together and laughed, talking and laughing, and seemed very happy. Later we learned that their only fear at that time was that we would not take them back to Daming and abandon them on the north shore......"

Zhang Zhaoxian and Tang Yunsheng listened carefully and fell into deep thought. They were all in command of the overall situation in the Purple Mountain Fortress at that time, and later listened to the battle report, but they only knew the process and result, and did not know so many details.

Xiang Xiaoqiang took a deep breath and said seriously:

"Duke Ming, Duke Tang, if we are facing such an enemy who has no intention of fighting, if it is such an incorrigible government that occupies our homeland, then what reason do we have not to fight back? How can we fail? ”

……

Zhang Zhao leaned back on the sofa and pondered, and said for a while:

"Yes, have you told Your Majesty about this idea?"

"Yes."

"What's Your Majesty's reaction?"

"Your Majesty...... Ahem," Xiang Xiaoqiang thought about it for a few seconds, and decided to sell Zhu Yourong, "Your Majesty...... Uh, crying. ”

Zhang Zhaoxian and Tang Yunsheng looked at each other.

“…… Your Majesty cried? …… It's because ......"

Xiang Xiaoqiang sighed and said in a low voice:

"Because of the excitement. Her Majesty also wants to see the reconquista in her reign. …… That's why His Majesty came to observe the exercise. ”

Zhang Zhaoxian pondered and nodded.

Tang Yunsheng saw that Zhang Zhaoxian didn't speak, so he asked:

"Well, let's make a hypothesis...... Don't you have that idea? So what do you think you think of this idea...... How long will it take to put it into practice? ”

"Do you want to fight against Qing?"

"Yes."

Xiang Xiaoqiang thought about it. In fact, he didn't need to think about it, because he had thought about it countless times. Now to be contemplative, it is completely solemn, not to say it casually.

"An offensive in one to two years," he said, "and an end to the war in three to five years." ”

Zhang Zhaoxian and Tang Yunsheng looked at each other again, without any expression. Tang Yunsheng asked again:

"By 'ending the war,' do you mean ......?"

Xiang Xiaoqiang gestured with his hand on the coffee table:

The students dared to imagine that there could be two great possibilities for ending the war...... One of them is: one part of our army attacked north from the Yangtze River defense line, and the other army landed from Shandong, and from there it moved south, and the two forces formed a pincer offensive, forming a strategic encirclement of the Qing army in between, and then quickly dividing, defeating, and destroying it. Then the offensive continued to the north. In this way, the ideal result is that the final battle line will be stabilized on the Yellow River-Qinling Mountains. In this way, it is equivalent to recovering half of the lost territory in our generation.

"In the past, in the east, we relied on the Yangtze River, but now it has become the Yellow River. In the past, in the west, we relied on Daba Mountain, but now it has become Qinling. To the east, we occupy the richest and most productive part of the north; To the west, we occupy a higher and more dangerous natural hazard - the Qinling Mountains. Before, our Sichuan Basin could not be used as a strategic rear, but now the border has moved north to the Qinling Mountains, and the Sichuan Basin, the country of abundance, has officially become a rich strategic rear. Moreover, the land of Guanzhong north of the Qinling Mountains, Shaanxi and Shaanxi, officially opened their doors to us. If our generation is destined to not be able to reclaim the whole territory, then we can create an ideal strategic posture for the next generation.

"Of course, another possibility is to destroy the Qing captives in this war and recover the whole territory. This possibility is relatively optimistic, and students are not too afraid to think about it. ”

……

Zhang Zhaoxian and Tang Yunsheng listened quietly and pondered. The two of them glanced at each other from time to time, and then at Xiao Qiang.

From Xiang Xiaoqiang's words, the two marshals heard that the young man in front of him was very realistic, and he was not the kind of person who was arrogant and had low eyes. Zhang Zhaoxian originally heard from Xiaoqiang about recovering the lost territory in Jiangbei, and thought that he planned to recover the whole territory. Now it seems that his plan is to lay down a few hundred kilometers to the north and then stop. If the Qing army is really as vulnerable to a war as he said, and the air superiority is really so all-encompassing, then ...... It's not unrealistic.

Zhang Zhaoxian asked in person this time:

"Well, why do you think it's better to start a war in one to two years?"

Xiang Xiaoqiang says:

"Ming Gong, the students think like this, at present, we have just finished a war of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there are a large number of troops who have been on the front line, have seen blood, and the whole country has not yet lifted the wartime economic system, and we and the Qing prisoners are still in a certain arms race. At this time, we are stepping up our preparations for war, and the Qing prisoners will not easily think that we are going to attack. But it is conceivable that in a few years' time, we will have to restore a peaceful economic system.

"If we remobilize at some point in the future, let's say ten years from now, the Qing Lu will definitely know exactly what we want to do. Besides, at that time, the Ming army will not be our group of people, but a group of recruits who have not seen blood and have no actual combat experience. At that time, I'm afraid it will be another song and dance, and no one wants to fight.

"There is another important reason, Ming Gong, we can only maintain air superiority in the Qing for a few years at most. Emperor Guangwu of the Qing Dynasty was ambitious, had already seen the gap between the aviation industry and ours, and was now working to achieve full localization of aircraft. Ming Gong, this won't take a few years. We are now in an era of technological change. Many new weapons and new methods of warfare have just appeared, and some countries still have them, while others do not. Some countries will, some countries won't; Some countries attach importance to it, while others do not......

"If it comes to five or ten years from now, then everyone has it, it will be, and everyone will pay attention to it. That's it. The advantages given to us by the times have been filled in. Isn't this true for every technological innovation in history? If one country has it first, but other countries do not, this country that has it will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to rise and become strong for a while...... But after a few years, decades, everybody has it. As a result, the strength of various countries was reshuffled, and everyone was on the same starting line again.

"Ming Gong, Tang Gong, the current situation happens to be what we have, but Qing Yu does not; We will, we won't; We attach importance to it, but we don't pay attention to it...... This is a great opportunity that has not been seen in more than 200 years...... If we don't seize this opportunity to attack north and regain lost ground, then we may really have to wait a few more generations. Now the north and the south have been divided for more than 200 years, and if they are divided for another 100 years, they will really become two countries. ”

……

Zhang Zhaoxian and Tang Yunsheng listened to Xiang Xiaoqiang's words and pondered.

After a while, Zhang Zhao leaned over first, patted Xiang Xiaoqiang's shoulder, and said:

"Well, that's it, let's not talk about it for now. Go back and prepare well for the drill. We'll talk about it after the exercise. …… We will take your words into account, and we will take the results of this exercise as an important reference. Got it? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang felt a burst of collapse, leaned back on the sofa, smiled, and muttered:

"Thank you, Gong Ming...... Tang Gong...... Student...... Understand ......"