September 22, early morning.

Under the night sky, located in the east of Changsha Fucheng in Hunan, between the Laodao River and the Liuyang River, two camps as bright as a sea of stars gradually became noisy. Zhou Jun and Ming Jun both started to get up for breakfast one after another.

Although these two armies are hostile, they are similar in many places, for example, in terms of "republicanism", the two armies are quite close! Although Wu Sangui does not approve of the republic now and does not want to be the "original monarch", before he was added to the yellow robe, he also regarded "The World as a Public Comment", "Mingyi to be Interviewed" and "The Heavenly Dynasty Tianmu System" as his own theory of rebellion.

Otherwise, where is his reason for opposing the Qing Dynasty? Why did he stand up to the third prince of Zhu? How will he build his own grassroots governance?

In the original history, Wu Sangui was a person who only knew "the Son of Heaven would rather have a kind?" The soldiers are strong and the horses are strong", the traditional warlord anti-thief. belongs to the kind of junior anti-thieves who have not gotten rid of low-level interests, only know how to fight the world for one family and one surname, and will not and do not want to carry out extensive mobilization.

This time, however, someone directly exported to him the ready-made advanced theory of rebellion, which had been proven to be quite effective through extensive practice. And he chose what was good for him.

For example, his army is actually also a "national army"! Although Wu Zhou's "countrymen" are not as loud as the "countrymen" of the Ming Dynasty promote, the treatment of the two is actually about the same! The people of the Ming Dynasty have it, and the people of Wu Zhou also have it. For example, the division of fields. Wu Zhou didn't have anything else, Tian had it, and the entire country of Sichuan Tianfu was emptied!

Even if Wu Zhou's soldiers have no way to go to Sichuan to farm for the time being, the "Grange Deed" has already been given to them - when the world is a little more peaceful, they can take the Grange Deed, take the family, tools, ploughing cattle, seeds, weapons, and then form a reclamation group to go to Sichuan to reclaim the land according to the establishment of the Zhichong Mansion.

In addition, in recent years, there have been many Wu and Zhou soldiers who have been allocated to the grange on the territory of Huguang, Yungui, Shaanxi and Gansu. Although Wu Sangui himself was unwilling in principle to expropriate the landlord and gentry class of land, his regime was in fact composed of four warlord groups (himself, Wu Yingxiong and Wu Shifan, Wu Yingqi and Wu Shicong, and Wu Guogui and Wu Shijue).

Of course, the big leaders of the four major military groups have to give priority to the interests of the basic government soldiers under their own groups, so they will still try their best to deprive the landlord class of the land in their jurisdiction and grant it to the government soldiers and generals under them.

After the implementation of the military system of dividing the fields and the government, the grassroots governance of the Wu and Zhou regimes will inevitably have a trend of "national morale", because the division of fields and soldiers is not only as simple as dividing the fields among the government soldiers, but also involves the transformation of the grassroots political power.

The main transformation method on the Ming side was that the national soldiers were officials and the countrymen were officials, while the Wu Zhou side established a two-level military and political system of "Wei" and "Zhichong Mansion", and brought the government soldiers and households under its jurisdiction. The Zhichong Mansion located in the local area is a yamen at the same level as the county, and it is not under the jurisdiction of the state government, but is directly managed by the guards above.

The civilian officials and officials who served in the Weihe Zhichong Mansion were all scholars with military registration (government soldier registration), that is, government soldiers who could read and hyphenate.

These civil officials from the Wei and Zhechong Mansions can also serve as civil officials and officials in the court and local areas of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and their treatment in their careers is higher than that of civil officials from the imperial examination. After all, Wu Zhou's military leaders will regard these civilian officials with military status as their own people, and it will be easy to promote them with confidence.

Therefore, the difference between Wu Zhou's government soldiers and the Ming Dynasty's countrymen and soldiers can be said to be very small, basically one type of people - they are all "small shareholders" of the state. They are all Chinese!

Whether it is Daming or Wu Zhou, they all regard them as people, as their own people, and as the pillars of the country!

This can be seen from the "last breakfast" they are enjoying.

The current Ming People's Army and the soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty, when they served in the last service, were generally able to eat well or even eat well.

Just this one, those "beggars and Ming army" in the late Ming Dynasty and the green battalion soldiers of the Qing Dynasty cannot be compared, probably only the Eight Banners soldiers who lived a prosperous life in the early years can compare with them.

Of course, the armies of the Great Zhou and Ming Dynasty did not achieve standardization, and there were certain differences in the food standards and military salary standards implemented by the troops in different regions.

As far as Da Zhou's side is concerned, the best food is, of course, the army in the Two Lakes region. It is already raised in the land of fish and rice, and the current China is generally less populous and more land, so the food supply in Huguang is naturally relatively loose.

Shaanxi and Gansu are bitter and barren land, even if the population density is not very high now, but it is still very bitter and dry, and there are no crops growing in the soil, so there is really nothing to do. Even if grain can be transported from Huguang, the cost is not ordinarily high, and it will not be much.

It's not that Wu Yingqi and Wu Shicong are reluctant to let the soldiers below eat well, but they really don't have that condition.

And this time, the Shaanxi and Gansu soldiers who followed Wu Yingqi also enjoyed the food treatment of Wu Guogui's Hunan soldiers. In Shaanxi and Gansu, they usually only have two meals a day, and only when they go out on a mission, they can have three meals a day. After arriving in Huguang, the food standard came up at once, three meals a day, and all of them were white rice, and a little meat could be seen every day.

This time I went to the front line, and I ate better. Twice a day, I saw meat, and I let go of the white rice!

And today's "last meal" is even higher, according to Wu Yingqi's order, all the soldiers, there is wine and meat, and the rice is enough to eat Wu Guogui's anyway, Wu Yingqi is not distressed at all!

Wu Yingqi and his son Wu Shicong walked around the camp in Langli City with his hands behind his back, inspecting the "last meal" of the big guy by the way.

The most basic establishment of Wu Zhou's army is the guard, battalion, and team, their guard is equivalent to the brigade of the Ming Dynasty, and the battalion and team levels are also similar to the Ming side, and a larger town has recently been set up above the guard, but it is not permanent, and it was only temporarily formed before the start of the war.

The food unit of Wu Zhou's soldiers was a team of its own, sitting around the field pot stove to eat there. The aroma of white rice, broth and rice wine permeated the camp, and Wu Zhou's soldiers ate very deliciously, and the morale of the troops looked quite high.

Wu Yingqi said to Wu Shicong, who had just returned from the front line of the Western Regions: "Bai Juyi is right, it's better to be in Jiangnan!" Rice, broth, and wine, eat and drink enough to go to the battlefield. It's much stronger than the Western Regions, right? ”

Wu Shicong said with a smile: "The Western Regions are also as good as the Western Regions, and the orchids eat and drink beautifully." Although the property is a little barren, the good thing is that the land is vast and sparsely populated. By the way, I heard that to the west of the Green Ridge and to the south of the snowy region, there is also a rich land that is no less than the Central Plains. Many of these places are still the homeland of the Han and Tang Dynasties! Father, when we will rule the world in the future, how about our eldest son's expedition to the west? ”

Wu Yingqi looked at his son and nodded with a smile: "Okay!" When the time comes, let you take Shifan and Shijue together to fight for one of them! After all, we are the Great Zhou, and the Great Zhou is engaged in feudal statehood. ”

"Hmm!"

At this time, Li Fuchen, like Wu Yingqi and Wu Shicong, conducted the last pre-war inspection in the camp of Yongan City - the purpose of his inspection was not only to ensure that the "last meal" of the Chinese soldiers could be well fed, but also to let the Chinese soldiers below deeply feel that he, the king of the south, cared about them. I have to let them know that the King of Ying, the King of the South, and other kings of the Ming Dynasty treat them as their own! And today's Republic of the Ming Dynasty is their own country!

Only by letting them know that Daming has their share, can they work the battlefield!

Like Wu Zhoujun opposite, the "last meal" of the Ming army was also relatively rich, the same was that there was enough rice, wine and meat, but the meat was marinated salted meat - it was all transported from thousands of miles, and the fresh meat had to stink. The liquor of the Ming army is distilled liquor, which is also for the convenience of transportation.

After eating this meal, the men of each team also distributed the prepared dry food to the soldiers. The dry food is prepared with a large steamed bun with salted meat, which is not only full but also replenishes salt, and it is quite thoughtful.

After everyone had eaten the "last meal" and received two days of dry rations, the rallying call of each battalion headquarters sounded, and the soldiers formed their teams one after another, and after the formation was completed, the team leaders and deputy members of each team began to inspect the soldiers' equipment and dry rations one by one in strict accordance with the combat regulations, and after each inspection, they would order the soldiers to wear helmets wrapped in red scarves.

After all the soldiers of the team put on their helmets, it means that the whole team is ready for battle and can set off at any time!

At present, the infantry team of the Ming army is still divided into two types: "pure flintlock pistol team" and "double gun team", the former is all flintlock pistols, including some rifled flintlock pistols. The latter is two flintlock pistol platoons plus two pike platoons, plus a straight platoon, and the total strength is about 200. A battalion is four such units plus one battalion direct unit, with a total strength of about 1,000 troops. A brigade is four such battalions plus one brigade battalion, with a number of about 5,000. A town is two brigades plus a 2,000-man town mark, for a total of 12,000 people.

Units at the military level are not permanent at present. Therefore, there is no definite number of towns under an army and how many troops directly under it should be under its jurisdiction.

Li Zhongshan and Li Fuchen originally each brought a military commander - including their own soldiers, two artillery standards, two baggage standards, and two military divisions. However, in order to allow Li Zhongzheng to take two divisions to carry out a roundabout mission, they allowed some people from the two military commands, and formed a small army and gave it to Li Zhongzheng.

When Li Fuchen finished inspecting the troops, returned to his Chinese army, prepared to eat his breakfast, and then led the team to set off, his second son and immediate boss Li Yat-sen also happened to return.

However, Li Zhongshan did not go to inspect the troops, but sent Li Zhongzheng to set off - the roundabout troops led by Li Zhongzheng went out quietly at night, and Li Zhongshan was worried that his brother might be unstable when he took on heavy responsibilities for the first time, so he got up early in the morning and personally sent him off.

"Second brother, how is your third brother? Can it be steady? When Li Fuchen saw Li Zhongshan coming in, he asked first, and then picked up a bun and took a bite.

"It's okay to watch!" Li Zhongshan said with a smile, "It's much stronger than the previous third child, but the matter of fighting depends on talent." ”

Hearing Li Yat-sen mention Sun Jiqing, Li Fuchen also sighed lightly. Originally, he should have been the one who took an army to carry out a roundabout mission today!

Li Zhongshan said again at this time: "With Zhou Chang following, it should be very different." ”

Li Fuchen nodded, and asked again: "Where is King Li Zhong's 30,000 troops?" ”

"Yesterday I crossed the Miluo River in Pingjiang County." Li Zhongshan said, "It's about dozens of miles away from us now, and we can get there this evening soon." ”

As soon as he said this, Yao Qisheng opened the curtain and came in, "General, King Nan, all the towns are ready!" ”

Li Zhongshan nodded and spit out two words: "Go!" ”

The sky was slightly bright, the sound of trumpets and drums came and went, and groups of Chinese soldiers in red scarves and red robes flowed out from the camp gates of the Yongxing City camp like red streams, and thousands of soldiers first formed a wide column of field marches under the guidance of their respective team flags, battalion flags, and brigade flags, and then marched to the forward position. Before they set out, the staff officers and overseers sent by the towns had already inserted a rough route of march in the wilderness with the flags peculiar to each brigade (according to Chinese tradition, usually the image of a beast).

The cavalry of the towns had already gone out earlier, and they would arrive at the forward battlefield of the formation first, to prevent the Ming army from harassing the marching cavalry of the Great Zhou.

Although these cavalry are only light cavalry configurations and do not have heavy armor, for today's task, they are all equipped with bamboo guns, plus two flintlock pistols per capita, and they can still fight when they meet the cavalry of the Great Zhou.

In addition, the snipers of Model First Town also came out of the camp early in the morning, and they would cooperate with their own light cavalry to snipe the cavalry of the Zhou army at the front!

Of course, Da Zhou also has the same configuration!

And the battle between the light cavalry and the snipers has now begun, and sporadic gunfire is constantly heard, and sometimes the neighing of dying horses can be heard.

Li Zhongshan and Li Fuchen's army direct column also left the camp in Yongxing City. Their military direct columns each include an ironclad cavalry standard and an artillery standard equipped with 24 6-kilogram bronze cannons and 12 large-caliber mortar guns, but today's battle is a field battle, and there is no need for large-caliber mortar guns, so the mortar battalion to which these two artillery standards belong will stay in the core fortress of the Yongxing City battalion together with some other units such as baggage and engineers.

In addition to the 48 6-pound bronze cannons belonging to the two military directs, the seven towns participating in today's frontal battle also each have an artillery battalion, all of which are configured with 12 6-kilogram guns and 6 mortar guns, and the mortar cannons are also not dispatched.

In other words, the artillery of the Ming army that was about to be put into operation was only 132 pieces. In this regard, the Ming army had no advantage at all.

The camp of Yongxing City and the camp of Langli City gathered for about twenty miles, because there was still a certain amount of space between the front lines of the two armies, so it was almost the same to walk six or seven miles each.

For the Ming army, which listed the field columns, it would not take half an hour to almost be in place.

However, Marat's artillery did not come up so quickly, so the 6th Brigade and 24th Battalion of the 3rd Division of the Ming Army, which were arranged in the front line, began to line up, as if the red was the ocean, and the dense bayonets and spears were pointed at the sky, reflecting a dazzling light!

According to Li Yat-sen's deployment, today's large array will be divided into two wings, the left wing, of which the left wing is the focus, so there are two towns on the second line of the left flank and only one town on the second line of the right flank.

According to the plan, Li Zhongshan would storm the left flank of Wu Zhou's army later, forcing Wu to throw reserves into the left flank, and creating conditions for the two towns led by Li Zhongzheng to attack the right flank of Wu's army.

As for the third line, it is the general reserve of the Ming army, and there is only one town, which is the famous model first town!

In addition, the cavalry belonging to each town, a total of more than 2,000 people, was formed into two temporary marks, distributed around the large array, responsible for covering the flanks of the Ming army's front. The two cavalry targets directly under Li Zhongshan and Li Fuchen, about 3,000 guards iron cavalry, were concentrated in the rear of the large array, and like the model town, they were all reserves, which were personally controlled by Li Fuchen.

Li Yat-sen's own Chinese army was placed in a rather high position, just between the first and second lines, occupying a high ground called Caijiapo.

At dawn, Wu Yingqi and Wu Shicong, father and son, also arrived at Huangjiachong, where their forward headquarters were located, which was a large village with a wall built around it, like a small castle. There is also a high slope next to Huangjiachong, and the view is quite good.

The father and son of the Wu family also divided their troops into two wings, left and right, and also organized the front, middle, and rear lines, and also used cavalry to cover the flanks - the deployment of the two sides was almost identical, and at a glance they knew that they were the same door!

However, the advantage of the Wu army lies in artillery and cavalry, and the number of 6-pound bronze cannons placed in the front of the Wu army's front is very large, with a total of 228 guns, which is almost double that of the Ming army.

In addition, the size of the cavalry of the Wu army is also very large! Each guard had one or two battalions of cavalry—that one battalion was 1,000 cavalry!

Today, the Wu army on the battlefield has a total of ten towns and 20 guards, of which there are as many as 28 battalions of cavalry, with a total of 28,000, some of which are placed on the two wings, and most of them are pinched by Wu Yingqi as reserves.

Although the Wu army had a great advantage in cavalry and artillery, they had too few flintlock guns, and an average guard could not necessarily make up a battalion, and the number of rifled guns was even rarer, and they could make up one or two hundred in total. If you really want to line up and shoot, Wu Zhou's side still has no chance of winning.

Wu Yingqi and Wu Guogui's plan was to hold on to the front first, and then rely on the 50,000 roundabout troops led by Wu Guogui to give Li Fuchen and Li Zhongshan a big bag, cut off their back roads in one fell swoop, beat them in the back, and let them suffer the enemy on their backs.

Thinking of this, Wu Yingqi looked up at the east covered by the morning glow, and silently muttered in his heart: "Third child, where are you now?" ”

At this moment, there was a sudden thunderous roar from the front line!

The bronze cannons of the Ming army fired first!

(End of chapter)