When Xiao Yungui got the battle report of the Zhaoqing Campaign, it was already the third day after the end of the battle, and the carrier pigeon of the Intelligence Department still did not meet Xiao Yungui's expectations, and the lag of the news was Xiao Yungui's biggest dissatisfaction with this era without mobile phones. Okay, the telegraph is there, but now the telegraph still needs to be transmitted by line, and the wireless telegraph has not yet been developed.

Xiao Yungui looked at the casualty figures and material consumption figures on the battle report of Chen Yucheng and others with some tears and laughter, 825 people were killed in the battle, 1,278 people were injured, and more than 2,000 casualties, these are all the elite soldiers of the newly formed First Army, when did the Xidian New Army suffer such a loss?

Xiao Yungui's expectations for the new First Army have always been very high, equipped with the most advanced guns and cannons in the world at this time, and the tactics and soldiers' will to fight are also second to none, but he didn't expect such a large casualty.

Xiao Yungui looked at Li Kaifang with a straight face and said, "How did Chen Yucheng do it?" How did they command? This campaign must be deeply reviewed after the war! After the start of the Battle of Guangzhou, the casualties of the Taiping Army have not been large, Xiao Yungui is also secretly taking several major battles fought by the Qing Army and the British and French Coalition Forces in history as a reference, the British and French Coalition Casualties in the Battle of Baliqiao are dozens, the casualties of the Zhangjiawan Campaign are dozens of casualties, and the casualties of the British and French Coalition in the entire Second Opium War are only a few hundred casualties, and the largest casualties come from the Second Battle of Dagukou, with more than 300 casualties.

These are not as big as the casualties in this Zhaoqing battle, Xiao Yungui's face is very ugly, can it be said that the Taiping New Army that he has worked hard and carefully trained is not as good as the expeditionary force of the British and French forces? Then if you really start a war with foreign devils in the future, how will this battle be fought?

Li Kaifang also saw that Xiao Yungui's face was not good. Cautiously worded: "Chen Yucheng's battle report described in detail the course of this battle, and the huge casualties were mainly due to the unfavorable street battles and night battles, and this Chu Yong of the Qing Demon River Zhongyuan Department was also a strong force that did not want to fight. They took advantage of the night and the complicated terrain of the streets and alleys to approach our army, launched a surprise attack with cold weapons, and frantically attacked at the expense of casualties during the war, so our army suffered such heavy casualties. Jiang Zhongyuan's use of street battles and night battles to offset our army's superiority in firepower is indeed worthy of our army's reflection on future combat methods. Chen Yucheng also mentioned it in their war reports, and the commanding generals and staff officers at all levels made post-war reviews. ”

Xiao Yungui snorted, and his face looked a little better. Indeed, in the history of warfare, the inferior equipment side was rarely able to defeat the superior equipment side except for the use of night and terrain, in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea in later generations. The inferior armed volunteers used the darkness of night to fight at night to offset the firepower superiority of US aircraft and artillery. In addition to fighting at night, a soldier's will to fight is also important, even if you can use the night to get close to the enemy. However, if a soldier does not have strong combat effectiveness and will to fight, he will also end up crushing at the touch of a button. Unfortunately, Jiang Zhongyuan's Chu Yong happens to be a difficult character.

After Jiang Zhongyuan withdrew from Nanchang and retreated to several prefectures and counties west of Jiangxi, he actively recruited and sold troops, and his training of Chu Yong was stricter, and Chu Yong's combat effectiveness even surpassed that of Zeng Guofan's Hunan army. Fortunately, this Chu Yong army did not have many troops, more than 15,000 people, and only less than 4,000 men and horses escaped after this battle, so it can be said that this Chu Yong was disabled.

"Night fighting, street fighting. Hmph, is Chen Yucheng not enough brains? The hundreds of cannons outside the city are not furnished? Won't he flatten Zhaoqing City? In the war report, it is said that there is a risk of injuring civilians by mistake. How can there be a reason for immortality in war? ”

Li Kaifang coughed and said in a low voice: "Your Highness, although Chen Yucheng wrote it like this, you can know the reason by looking at the material consumption." ”

Xiao Yungui glanced at the material consumption statistics table again, and snorted heavily: "What is logistics for?" How could shells not be supplied? Is human life precious or cannonballs expensive? ”

On the side, Xu Naizhao also wiped the sweat on his forehead and said: "The household department and the Ministry of Industry have done their best to allocate ammunition, but since the start of the Guangzhou Campaign, a lot of artillery shells have been consumed, the battle of Guangzhou, the battle of Huizhou, the battle of Shaozhou, the battle of Chaozhou, and the battle of Meizhou, everywhere is a huge consumption, and the transportation of materials and ammunition by sea ships to the south is affected by the weather at sea, so there will be problems with security at times." ”

Xiao Yungui sighed lightly, the hot weapons unit is very dependent on logistics supplies, just as the so-called cannon sounds, gold ten thousand taels, the most important part of the hot weapons combat test is the regime's military industry and logistics transportation capacity, Fujian and Jiangxi railways have just begun to build, the cost of land transportation of materials and ammunition is too high, although the cost of sea transportation is small, but the sea weather, wind and waves, and other factors will affect sea transportation.

In addition, since the start of the war in Guangdong, the New First Army has generally used the tactics of Xu Jin's barrage to test the tactics of the troops, and it is not such a simple numerical concept of ammunition consumption. Xiao Yungui touched his chin, it seems that imagining the US military to play saturation bombing like the US army in later generations is still an unattainable dream, Xu Jin's barrage tactics are indeed very useful, but this tactic requires strong logistics as a guarantee.

Xiao Yungui snorted lightly and said: "These are not reasons, you can find a hundred reasons to find difficulties, but things still have to be done!" Since they have suffered losses in street battles and night battles this time, the military headquarters should sum up the experience of street battles and night battles, so that the troops can increase their training in tactics in this area and reduce casualties! Oh, by the way, in the future, when the troops are consolidating their positions or stationing in one place, they must have barbed wire and trenches in front of the positions. Qing Demon is not stupid, they have died so many people, defeated so many times, they will always find a way to fight us, this time it is also a reminder to us, don't think that you have a firepower advantage to underestimate the enemy! ”

Li Kaifang naturally nodded yes, and he also noticed this. Li Kaifang is a very good secretary of the military department, he has visited many troops, and also talked with the grassroots soldiers about the changes in the Qing army, recently he just talked with the wounded soldiers transported back from the Guangzhou front, he found that the Qing army has at least begun to know how to defend against artillery. In the past, after the Taiping army shelled it, I went up to see that the dead Qing soldiers were lying on the ground, without any injuries on their bodies, but their internal organs were shattered to death by the shell explosion because their chests and abdomen were attached to the ground. But in the back, the Qing army began to reduce the number of Qing troops who died in this way, and some trenches dug by the Qing army also found recessed anti-artillery holes, which shows that the Qing army also learned how to save their lives in the war.

The Taiping Army's hot weapons troops were indeed majestic when they appeared, but as the war continued, people were also learning and improving, and it seemed that the Taiping Army could not blindly rely on equipment, and flexible tactics and tactics were the main factors in reducing casualties.

Li Kaifang then reported to Chen Yucheng and others the reformulated battle plan, and although the plan drawn up by the General Staff Department was issued by the military department, as a campaign commander, he had the right to revise the battle plan, and he could do it first and then report it.

After listening to the deployment of Chen Yucheng and others, Xiao Yungui came to the map and looked at it for a long time and said: "Since Jiang Zhongyuan can build cities in Luoding Prefecture and Deqing Prefecture and use the pass as a defense line, Wuzhou will definitely do defense near Guangdong, Chen Yucheng can't defeat Wuzhou, so he can only quickly detour westward, disrupt the deployment of the Qing army, and attack the logistics supply line of the Qing army, this strategy is indeed very good." There is no need to report too much hope for contacting Zhu Hongying, He Goubei and other rebels, you still have to rely on yourself in everything, it would be good if those rebels could protect themselves, don't expect them to provide any help! ”

Qian Jiang of the Intelligence Department stepped forward and said: "Your Royal Highness the King of the West, Guangxi was plagued by Jiang Zhongyuan's dog thieves using the armor protection system this time, and the intelligence personnel of the Intelligence Department and Bai Zetang suffered a lot of losses, and the news transmission over there was not smooth, and this problem also needs to be faced." ”

Xiao Yungui shrugged and said: "Chen Yucheng is going here to muddy the water behind the Manchu Qing, as long as they make a fuss in the hinterland of Guangxi, this powder keg buried by Jiang Zhongyuan will detonate sooner or later." Jiang Zhongyuan killed so many people in Guangxi, do you think he can suppress it for a long time? Chen Yucheng's battle plan was approved, and the general staff immediately alerted the enemy's former generals to see what needed to be improved. As for the problem of ammunition, we should increase the shipping capacity by sea, and at the same time let the Guangzhou Military and Political Department purchase a batch of ammunition from foreigners on the spot as a supplement, so as to cope with it for a while. ”

Xu Naizhao continued Xiao Yungui's words and said: "Lu Xianba, director of the Guangzhou Military and Political Department, said today that a batch of gun and ammunition making machine equipment ordered by the Qing demon from the foreigners has arrived in Guangzhou, and the Guangdong Customs has seized it. ”

Xiao Yungui sighed and asked, "Which country's equipment is it?" Isn't the Qing Demon declaring war on Britain and France? Does anyone dare to buy something for the Qing Demon? ”

Xu Naizhao said: "This batch of equipment was ordered from Prussia by Qing Demon Ye Mingchen at the beginning of the year, and it was the Americans who matched the match, and the Qing Demon spent almost twice as much money to buy, but this batch of equipment came to Guangzhou by sea after a few months, and the foreigners did not expect that Guangzhou had changed hands, so they still came to Guangzhou according to the contract for delivery." ”

Xiao Yungui smiled and said, "Does Prussia have a consulate in Tianjing?" What kind of note did they send in protest? Don't pay attention to them, this batch of equipment will be detained, and Lu Xianba will be allowed to build an ordnance bureau in Guangzhou, and after Guangzhou also has an ordnance bureau, the logistical pressure will be much less. ”

Xu Naizhao sighed and said: "It was an American firm that signed the contract with the Manchu Dynasty, and it was the American firm that came forward to order Prussian machinery and equipment on its behalf, and it was the Americans who might send a note of protest." ”

Xiao Yungui said angrily: "These damn Americans, their own country is poor and crazy, and they also help others buy machinery as agents!" The US minister Lie Weilian also went north to Dagukou, which made it clear that he wanted to negotiate with the Manchus. ”

Zuo Zongtang, who had not spoken on the side, suddenly said: "We can preemptively note the British and French on this matter, the British and the French will definitely not be happy to see the Americans go behind their backs to trade arms with the Manchus, after all, they and the Manchus are still at war." ”

Xiao Yungui smiled bitterly and sighed lightly: "The note can be sent to the British and French ministers, but I am very worried, maybe this war between Britain and France and the Manchu Qing will not be able to continue......" (to be continued......