What Guo Faguang pointed out was the fact that it was impossible for the water battalion, composed of locals, to follow the Ming army eastward.

The reason is that these people are old and young, and even if they are poor, they have a place to live.

Not a "proletarian" through and through, the kind that is barefoot and not afraid to wear shoes.

There is property, there are concerns, there are concerns, and there are trade-offs.

The rebellion in Jingzhou was a suicide for most people, after all, the Qing court had already occupied all of China.

The so-called general trend has been decided.

Therefore, it can be concluded that as long as the order is given to the eastward advance, the water battalion composed of locals will have a large-scale planned escape from the camp, resulting in the disappearance of the only naval division combat unit of the Ming army overnight.

There are solutions.

It is to control the families of all the people in the water camp and take them as hostages.

Like the Taiping Army, the concept of the family was destroyed, and husbands and wives were separated, fathers and sons were separated, and sisters and brothers were separated

When the war is fought, the men are in front, and the old people and children are waving flags and shouting in the back.

Even women and children fought in separate battalions.

Husbands and wives are not allowed to see each other without permission, and fathers and sons are not allowed to reunite.

If you want to meet, you have to make military achievements.

This motivates soldiers to fight.

This method was done by the Taiping Army, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, and the effect was very good, and it could indeed improve the combat effectiveness and cohesion of the army at the beginning of the incident.

In the later period, when the military pressure was not so great, it was relaxed, the tradition was restored, and the landlord and gentry class were introduced, and a new dynasty could be born.

But this is obviously something that Wang Wu can't do.

Because eighty percent of the soldiers in the water camp were recruited from Wuchang, their families were in Wuchang and not in Jingzhou.

Jingzhou's rebellion, what does it have to do with their Wuchang people?

It must be how far you can hide.

If the people of the water camp were allowed to vote to stay, they might be the lazy ruffians who Wang Wu looked down on in the end.

These idle, troublemakers, and those who are looked down upon by their relatives are the staunch participants in the early stage of the rebellion.

Or rather, the rebel organizers like such people, because they have nothing, and drawing a pie and indulging military discipline can achieve a stimulating effect.

is willing to cut his whole body, and dares to pull the emperor off the horse.

No matter how bad the rabble is, it can also play a role in strengthening.

Only when you grow stronger, can you have excellent sons of good families join the army.

Good people, good people with stuttering, will never take the initiative to rebel.

Although the facts pointed out by Guo Faguang were harsh, and even fundamentally denied the value of the water camp built by Wang Wuhua with a lot of money, Wang Wu nodded and said that what Guo Zongbing said was reasonable.

"The rebellion in Jingzhou is not about the Wuchang people, we can use a knife to force the Wuchang people to work for us, but on the Yangtze River, people jump when they say they jump, they run when they say they run, what can we do with these landlubbers? It's none of my business, and there are a few people who are willing to tie their heads to their belts to stand out for others. ”

As for whether the water camp can be used, Wang Wu actually knows better than anyone else.

said a thousand words and ten thousand, at the moment, this water battalion was piled up by him with "high wages", and it was purely "emergency".

Therefore, the motivation of Shuiying to oppose the Qing Dynasty is inherently insufficient, and it also lacks sufficient faith and resilience.

Once engaged with the Qing army, there is a chance that it will be crushed at the first touch.

The reason why Zhang Huangyan's maritime volunteers were able to hold out at sea for 20 years and were repeatedly defeated was that Zhang Huangyan's subordinates did not come for "wages", but took the initiative to defect to Zhang's coastal areas to resist the Qing Dynasty.

The difference between the faith bonus and the money bonus is like heaven and earth.

Guo Faguang also said that the water battalion did not have enough time for training, the number of warships was insufficient, and the number of qualified sailors and gunners was extremely short

It's almost like this water camp is a "play house" thing at all.

Therefore, it is absolutely impossible for this unworthy water battalion to break through the blockade of the Qing army's naval divisions in Jiujiang and Anqing downstream.

Objectively speaking, there is no difference between the Jingzhou water battalion and the cavalry infantry at the moment.

All of them used boats (horses) as a means of transportation, not as weapons of battle.

To become a real water combat force, the Jingzhou Water Battalion has a long way to go.

The extreme lack of talent is also one of the reasons why Wang Wu was forced to find Zhang Huangyan.

Without the help of professional talents, it is maintained by high salaries, and in the end, it is still an empty shelf.

Fortunately, he gained a lot from going to Jiangnan this time.

The "joining" of more than 100 naval professionals is undoubtedly a great help.

It is said that they are thirsty for talent, which is really not false at all.

Unfortunately, an accident interrupted Wang Wu's pace of "regularization" of military development.

"Is the water camp really so unbearable?"

Ma Changyuan and others did not know the current situation of the water camp, but they were definitely not convinced when they heard outsiders say that their water camp was similar to not.

The boats on the river can still be fake.

Wang Shengming, who was in charge of the water camp, served in the small court of Yongli in Xiying in the past, and also went to Macao with the eunuch Pang Tianshou.

He nodded helplessly, not wanting to slap his swollen face and become fat, and said frankly that the current situation of Shuiying is indeed difficult to make a big difference.

At most, a part of the troops can be transported to Wuchang City, and a short-term blockade of Wuchang City can be carried out.

Others, it's hard to do.

Without a sailor, if you want to break through all the way from land to Jiangnan, you almost don't have to think about it.

This also means that Ma Changyuan's eastward expansion strategy cannot be implemented.

Zhao Jinzhong, the commander of the right battalion, said: "You can't go east, and you can't go north, so what are you doing in Wuchang?" ”

"Wuchang always has to be fought, if we don't take Wuchang, won't we be crushed to death by the Qing army in Jingzhou."

Ma Changyuan insisted on attacking Wuchang.

The heavy troops of the Qing army in Huguang gathered in the west and north of Jingzhou, and the green battalion soldiers in the south were the green battalions of Biyuan (Hunan), and there were Dongting Lake water divisions, only the Wuchang direction in the east did not have the heavy troops of the Qing army, so if the provincial capital of Wuchang could be captured, it would be able to shake Huguang and trigger a chain reaction;

Second, it can also obtain a piece of territory that can be vacated for the Ming army.

To put it bluntly, Wuchang was lost, as well as Jingzhou.

The meaning of strategic space.

There is only one Jingzhou, and if you lose it, it will be all over.

Take Wuchang, no matter what happens later, everyone can have a bottom in their hearts.

Tian Wen, the commander of the left battalion, asked: "Since Wuchang must be taken, then let's talk about how to take Wuchang." As far as I know, there are nearly 10,000 Qing soldiers in Wuchang City, how many of us are there?

Should the whole army go to Wuchang, or should some people be left to guard Jingzhou?

There are fewer troops to go to Wuchang, we can't fight down, go more, Jingzhou is an empty city, in case Jingzhou calls the Qing soldiers to take it, we have Wuchang Jiancheng in front of us, and there are heavy troops in the Qing army, can we not jump the Yangtze River? ”

Tian Wen actually did not agree to attack Wuchang.

The reason is very sufficient, the Ming army can now use 12,000 troops, and the number of soldiers capable of fighting is less than 5,000, and even if the whole army is dispatched, it will not be able to capture Wuchang City, which is guarded by nearly 10,000 people.

The young men in the city can be grouped up and given weapons, but what is the difference between letting these civilians who have never been to the battlefield to attack the city and asking them to be cannon fodder.

Therefore, Tian Wen put forward his own opinion, which is to stick to Jingzhou.

Wang Wu didn't expect Tian Wen to have the same opinion as himself, in fact, he had already decided to stick to Jingzhou, and the reason why he convened the generals to discuss was just to "unify thinking" and avoid internal strategic differences, which would lead to hidden dangers.