Episode 36 Currency Wars

At 6:00 p.m. on the evening of the 24th, with the last afterglow of the setting sun, at the same time, three mechanized divisions and six motorized infantry divisions of the People's Guard launched a fierce attack on Zhengzhou from the east and south.

Visibility at dusk was very limited, and the damage caused by air strikes to Qing positions was very limited. At 6:30, the bombing had to be carried out with the help of flares. Due to the large number of villages near Zhengzhou, in the case of poor visibility, the Ming army did not dare to use "hail bombs" to make carpet bombing. Once the village is accidentally damaged, the effect is equivalent to slaughtering the village.

At 6:50, after only two rounds of dive bombing, it was completely dark, and the Ming army entered a night battle.

The high command was right in its estimate, on the plains, night battles were very disadvantageous to the Ming army. There is only starlight in the wild, and it can be said that it is pitch black. If the mechanized corps of the Ming army wanted to attack quickly, it had to turn on the lights. And once you turn on the headlights, you are in a very disadvantageous situation. The Qing army's anti-tank guns and anti-tank guns could easily fire at it, but with only a flash of fire for a moment, it was difficult for the Ming army to determine the enemy's position and effectively return fire.

Chen Wangwu is now making empty promises to the following:

Regardless of whether the artillery group or the anti-tank gun group, for each Ming tank or armored vehicle destroyed, each person will be rewarded with ten taels of gold; For each destroyed Ming self-propelled artillery, each person was rewarded with ten taels of gold; destroyed a Ming army car, and rewarded one or two gold; Regardless of officers and soldiers, if one Ming soldier is killed, ten pieces of the ocean will be rewarded; After the 13th Group Army withdrew to Guanzhong, all the brothers in the army, regardless of officers and soldiers, were rewarded with an additional tael of gold each.

In addition, there is also the most important reward: officers at all levels who can control the troops under their command, and finally can successfully withdraw into Guanzhong in an organized and orderly manner, will receive double the price of the "Uprising Bonus Order" of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

The above rewards will be cashed out after retreating into Guanzhong.

……

Such a super generous reward, don't say that the Northern Qing Dynasty can't afford it, even the Southern Ming Dynasty can't afford it. However, in the 13th Group Army of the Qing Army, that is, the Zhengzhou Corps, the officers and soldiers below believed that the bounty could be cashed out. First, the reward was officially issued by the commander in the form of a military order, and no one dared to rely on this kind of thing, and the whole army would mutiny. Second, there were rumors in the army that Commander Chen had emptied all the banks and money houses in Zhengzhou and Luoyang, and that the gold bricks, silver dollars, jewelry, and foreign exchange in the underground vaults had all been transported into the customs first, and some of them were money. Commander Chen wants to be the king of Guanzhong, and all the brothers who support him into Guanzhong have the merit of being a dragon, and they will be indispensable for glory and wealth in the future. A few taels of gold per person is just a trivial matter.

The best ideal of those Qing soldiers was to surrender to Nanming and become citizens of the Ming Dynasty, but now their minds are entangled. The "constitutional monarchy", "civil society", "rule of law", "checks and balances of power", "open media" and so on in the Ming Dynasty are still very illusory and "have nothing to do with our ordinary people" for these soldiers. For these Qing soldiers, being a Ming man means three things: first, they can eat enough food and can afford meat; second, not to be bullied by officials, straighten your waist and behave as a man; Third, it is easier to marry a beautiful wife than in the Qing Dynasty. Outside of these three, they can't understand it.

Just when many Qing soldiers were very entangled - whether to follow Commander Chen into the customs to get those few taels of gold, or surrender to Nanming and get the Ming "green card", at the same time, another rumor quickly spread that Lord Chen did not want to be the king of Guanzhong, but lived in Hangu Pass and forced Nanming to make him the king of Guanzhong. The king of Guanzhong of Nanming Feng, the brothers under his command are naturally all Nanming people.

Now the Qing soldiers are no longer entangled, and they feel that they have the best of both worlds. Everyone understands this truth, if you want people to lure you down at a high price, you must first beat people to no way, and it is best to beat them all over the ground to find teeth. Why else do people pay a high price? …… Of course, for the Qing soldiers, before becoming a Ming person, the family business that earned ten taels of gold was naturally the best choice. They are very vague about the income level of Nanming, but gold is very valuable in the Qing Dynasty, and the land bought by gold in northern Shaanxi can be a big landlord and call himself a "foreigner", and if you buy land in the Guanzhong Plain, you can also be a small landlord and call yourself "master".

Throughout the afternoon, especially in the evening, the Qing army resisted more and more fiercely, and had the momentum of defending the country and spilling blood on the battlefield. In the Qing army, it turned out that weapons such as artillery, anti-tank guns, and machine guns were the easiest to discard. Because the firepower advantage was on the side of the Ming army, as soon as the Qing army's firearms fired, they were easy to be suppressed, and the operators were easy to die. But now they're all in high demand. After all, with a rifle, one shot at a time, it was only ten oceans with one shot. And if you hit it with artillery, one shot is ten taels of gold, and you don't have to fight for the rest of your life.

Machine guns are also a good thing, killing a Ming soldier with a rifle for a long time has to be based on good marksmanship. But a single shuttle of machine guns can often knock down three or five. One more shuttle, and hundreds of oceans will be in hand.

The most important thing is the last reward: the officers who can finally withdraw the troops under their command into a formation into Guanzhong will receive a double reward according to the price of the Ming Army's "Uprising Bonus Order". This article is too powerful, which completely cancels out the effect of the Ming Army's "Uprising Bonus Order". At least it ensured that the officers below would not take their brothers to join the Ming army for money. Instead, they will strictly control their troops for a bounty that is twice as high, fight hard, and finally withdraw to the pass in its entirety.

……

On the day of the 24th of the Ming army, especially from the afternoon to the evening, the battle was extremely depressing, and both in the direction of Luoyang and Zhengzhou encountered fierce resistance. Since the beginning of the war, the Qing army has not resisted so fiercely. In the direction of Zhengzhou, after all, the firepower advantage is on the side of the Ming army, although the resistance is fierce, but the advance is finally fast. However, on the Luoyang side, the battle in the valley was even harder. The Ming army had to use smoke bombs, incendiary bombs, and 210-mm self-propelled heavy mortars to open the way, so that they could just reach Ruzhou, and there was still half of the valley leading to Luoyang.

Since the start of the war, the Ming army has never fought such a hard battle. If you continue to fight like this, you may not be able to enter Luoyang tomorrow morning.

In the Nanjing Command, the top level of the Ming army was in a state of anxiety.

"My lord," the stomach hurt and carefully handed Xiang Xiaoqiang a copy of the interception, "The telegram just intercepted, the puppet Qing Emperor Guangwu sent a telegram to commend Chen Wangwu, the acting commander of the Zhengzhou Army, and officially promoted Chen Wangwu to the commander of the 13th Group Army, promoted to the rank of general, gave him a yellow coat, raised the yellow flag, sealed a first-class viscount, and rewarded 500,000 yuan of silver. At the same time, he encouraged the Zhengzhou Corps to make persistent efforts, and called on the whole army of the Qing Dynasty to learn from them, fight bravely, display the prestige of the Qing army, and ...... the Ming army as soon as possible Beat...... Fight across the Yangtze River and ...... Unify the whole of China. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang took it and glanced at it twice, slammed it on the table irritably, and let Xiuxiu take it to Zhang Zhaoxian and them.

After Xiuxiu came back, he said to Xiuxiu angrily:

"Look, this battle was fought, and even the emperor of the other people was rewarded with electricity! It can be seen what we have made the family look like! …… Promoted to Admiral! Be the commander! Yellow jacket! Raise the flag! First Rank Viscount! 500,000 oceans! ”

He lowered his voice and laughed at himself:

"Lao Tzu has made so many great achievements before and after, and he has only been awarded an earl, this kid has only fought for half a day, and he has been awarded a first-class viscount, which is only half a level worse than Lao Tzu, hum! Guangwu, that kid is really generous! I'm afraid of his generosity, and there will be more and more such tough battles on the Northern Expedition in the future. ”

Xiuxiu also sighed softly:

"Guangwu is setting a benchmark and arousing the enthusiasm of the generals below to resist. This is useful. …… He's also a talent. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang sneered:

"Talent, of course! It's a pity that he is the only talent in the entire Northern Qing Dynasty, and the following are all pigs. Not to mention talent, he is a genius and it is useless. ”

Xiuxiu frowned and said:

"My lord, there must be a reason why the Zhengzhou Army is suddenly so capable of fighting. …… So, what is the reason? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang looked into her eyes, and the two looked at each other. Suddenly, Xiang Xiaoqiang came to his senses, snapped his fingers, and immediately ordered:

"Xiuxiu, give me the phone number of the People's Guard Headquarters on the left road."

Xiuxiu went to do it immediately. After a while, she took the microphone and said to Xiaoqiang:

"Your Excellency."

Xiang Xiaoqiang grabbed the microphone:

"Hey, who's that? …… Lofty and righteous? Very good! …… Dayi, how many Qing prisoners have been captured after the war has been fought so far? Well, well, have you ever interrogated why they are so able to fight? …… No? Go and bring a few for interrogation at once! Let me tell you, it is not normal for such a high-morale unit to suddenly appear in the Qing army and the Han army! …… Absolutely not normal! This is obviously a level that can only be achieved by the Eight Banners Division! …… I need answers! …… Okay, go for it. ”

Half an hour later, at eight o'clock in the evening, the phone came from the front.

Xiang Xiaoqiang held the telephone and listened to Chen Wangwu's "bounty order" in shock, as well as the rumors that Chen Wangwu was going to be the "king of Guanzhong" in the Qing army.

His breathing grew quicker and shorter, and his eyes widened.

"Righteousness...... You ask these Qing soldiers, do they have no brains? ”

"Your Excellency?"

"You ask them, how much does it cost to knock out a tank and how much does it cost to kill a Ming army...... How do you count back? Speaking with their own mouths? You ask him, when he turns around and says that he killed a hundred Ming soldiers, can he get any evidence? Can they be recognized as officials? ”

Gao Dayi put down the microphone and asked the captive on the other end of the phone.

After a while, Gao Dayi picked up the microphone and replied:

"My lord, these soldiers all said that the superiors would definitely not dare to rely on Lai, and Lai's words would mutiny."

Xiang Xiaoqiang said patiently:

"I didn't ask them if they mutinied, I asked them, have they ever thought about how to record the results? If everyone said that they had killed a hundred Ming soldiers, could Chen Wangwu really give everyone 1,000 pieces of ocean? One person has 1,000 oceans, which is five or six taels of gold, and more than 100,000 people, can he Chen Wangwu afford it? Have those soldiers ever thought about this? ”

Gao Dayi asked the captive a few more words, picked up the microphone and replied with a smile:

"My lord, they probably don't understand the relationship here, and they all insist that the commander doesn't dare to repay the debt, and the commander is afraid of mutiny. My lord, I don't think these captives have even gone to school, and probably don't have the ability to think logically. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang was also angry and said:

"Ask them again, does their commander usually withhold their salaries? Did they mutiny? ”

Gao Dayi asked a few more words, and then replied with a smile:

"My lord, they all said that they were deducted, but none of them mutinied."

"Hah! Righteousness, you're right! They don't have the ability to think logically. This kind of pig can only be caught in the Northern Qing Dynasty. I can understand why the high-tech industries in the Beiqing Dynasty are not working, such as the aircraft industry. Because that's what requires IQ. ”

Gao Dayi tried to ask:

"My lord, do you want the political work team to rush to print leaflets, write down the relationship clearly, and then scatter them overnight?"

"No......" Xiang Xiaoqiang hesitated for a moment and said, "I'll think about it again." The leaflet is written like this, I am afraid that it will not have much effect. At least there is a fixed bounty for other officers. That's death by rank. …… I'll talk to someone. ”

He hung up the phone and immediately announced the explosive news in the high command.

……

In the high headquarters, the surprise of the generals was like eating a bombshell. They didn't expect that the Qing army would be able to offer such a rich reward. This really fulfills the saying - there must be a brave man under the reward.

For a while, there was a lot of discussion in the hall.

"With so many rewards, how much does he Chen Wangwu have to pay? Did he cash it in? ”

"Didn't he empty the banks in Luoyang and Zhengzhou?"

"Even if that's not enough. The gold reserves of the Northern Qing Dynasty are not as good as ours, and the two cities do not have a few tons of gold. ”

"Yes, he made such a big offer, and in the end, even if the officers and soldiers were even, even if each person averaged 2 taels of gold. Even if he has 100,000 people, how much will it get? ”

“…… Ten tons. ”

"Ten tons of gold, that's more than 16 million Ming Yang. If he really guards Hangu Pass and makes an offer with our Daming, the asking price will definitely not be less than 20 million! He wants millions of dollars just for Ben! ”