Dominate the Country

Annam, Lang Son. There was fierce gunfire.

Lord Zheng's crusade army was in a fierce exchange of fire with the remnant Qing army in the mountains.

Since last year, Lord Zheng, who sold the Halong Bay and Hong Gai coal mines at a good price, has become increasingly tough on the old remnants of the Qing Dynasty in Lang Son. Beizheng's new army has also officially formed an army, and it has a large number of people, including musketeers and artillery, totaling 10,000 people. In order to buy more muskets from China, Zheng Sen wanted to pawn all the palace's belongings. In the end, he ceded a piece of land in the north of Hongji City in exchange for muskets and artillery, and his number one general Huang Wufu came Serve as a general.

This Beiyue County Duke, whose status in Beizheng was more noble than Tong Guan in the Northern Song Dynasty, was one of the most important generals in North Vietnam during the era of Zheng Sen's father Zheng Ying. With the death of the famous general Fan Tingzhong, Huang Wufu, a former eunuch, has become the most trusted general of Lord Zheng. His adopted sons, Huang Tingbao, were granted the title of Duke Hui, and Huang Tingti was granted the title of Duke of Ti. They also had Duke Shuo, Huang Fengji, Duke Lian, Ding Xiyan, and Duke Peng, Ruan Youzheng.

As a traditional general, Huang Wufu was naturally not very good at the use of private lines and artillery in modern armies, but wasn't there an instructor sent by the Fuhan Army? With the completion of the training of the new army, these people were transferred to Huang Wufu's staff, and Beizheng's encirclement and suppression of the "Three Confucian Masters" in Lang Son also entered the countdown.

At first Zheng Sen didn't want to really fight against the remnants of the Qing army led by Chen Jie, Wu Xiongguang, and Yang Zhengjie. Now the Guangnan Kingdom in the south was in a state of decline and was being defeated by the rebellious Xishan Army. In Zheng Sen's view, this was him A great opportunity to unify the 'world'. He absolutely did not want to put the elite new army in Lang Son.

Just like the people of Mingxiang, can those in the mountains migrate to the fertile soil of the plains and become "Qingxiang people"? Then the army was transferred to the front line, and the three heroes could all enjoy wealth and status, and even serve as officials in Beizheng. But Chen Jie and the others sternly rejected this, so Zheng Sen could only cheer up and attack them.

The remnants of the "Three Heroes" who fled from Guangxi to Lang Son have recovered a lot of their strength after recuperating in the past two years. Not to mention that the land and water trade between Beizheng and Fuhan armies has flourished, and the remnants of the Three Heroes have benefited from it. great benefit. The money in their hands can be used to sell food, cloth, salt, medicinal materials, and other necessary daily necessities. They can also sell various arms from unknown channels. The remnants of the three heroes who had recovered their strength could not and did not dare to turn around and go north. Their goal could only be to go south, at least to seize an area from Lord Zheng for their survival and development.

Zheng Sen also didn't want someone to stab him in the back while his army was attacking the city in the south. So the war between the two sides began again.

A team of Beizheng's New Army used the vegetation in the mountains as cover to quietly approach the forward position of the Residual Qing Army. However, they were violently bombarded by the artillery of the Residual Qing Army. A team of more than a hundred people did not even have a chance to fire a shot. If not, they were forced to retreat backwards. The captain and deputy leader of the team were killed and the other wounded.

Then the battalion officer personally led the army to launch a second charge. Under the cover of the superior artillery fire behind him, the Zheng army in the second attack successfully broke into the forward position. The remnant Qing army mobilized troops to counterattack, and the small position turned into a complete slaughterhouse of flesh and blood.

In the mountains, the position was too small and neither side could invest more troops. If the army is too dense, it will be easily destroyed by concentrated enemy artillery fire. So the two sides are just adding fuel to the fire. You as a team and I as a team continue to invest our troops.

But in general, the casualties of the Zheng army in an offensive posture were much greater than those of the remnant Qing army.

The frontline commander of the Beizheng New Army did not want to lose one or two battalions because of a small forward formation. In that case, he would be the world's number one idiot. Looking back, Huang Wufu had to skin him. Decisively, two battalions were deployed again, and they were divided into two parts to outflank the forward position.

It took three battalions of troops and two hours to capture the forward position of the Can Qing Army. Huang Wufu immediately felt the tenacious fighting spirit of the Can Qing Army. This remnant army was not at all demoralized by the change of hands in Beijing. Huang Wufu was not surprised by this. The latter had settled in Lang Son for more than a day or two. No matter how incompetent Beizheng was, he had many contacts with the remnants of the Three Heroes. Although this team still had pigtails, they regarded the Qing Emperor as their leader. Shuo, but their spiritual leader and backbone was not the Qing emperor in Beijing, but three young people, Chen Jie, Wu Xiongguang, and Yang Zhengjie.

As long as the thoughts of these three people remain unchanged for one day, the remnant Manchu army fighting in the south of Guangxi will not fall apart.

Huang Wufu looked at the Lang Son map in front of him coldly.

The development of the Xishan Army in the past two years has been extremely rapid, and the Guangnan Kingdom was in a state of embarrassment. It was simply a piece of fat meat placed in front of Zheng Sen, but Zheng Sen was restrained by the remnant Qing army in Lang Son. Hands, he could only look at the fat meat without being able to eat it. Is there anything more cruel in the world than this?

As the Zheng army attacked the main position of the Qing army, thirty or forty artillery pieces on both sides launched an artillery battle that was like a storm for Annan. The Qing Army's artillery was at a disadvantage in terms of quantity. However, due to the favorable terrain and the quality of the gunners who were a head above those of the Zheng Army, although the number of artillery was only 60-70% of that of the Zheng Army, it was hit by the Zheng Army's "violent" artillery fire. There has never been any weakening. On the contrary, a forward artillery position of the Zheng Army, which had a numerical advantage, was caught by the artillery of the Qing Army, and half of its four artillery pieces were knocked off!

Gunsmoke almost completely enveloped the nameless hilltop. Hand-to-hand combat, every fight between the two sides ends in hand-to-hand combat.

The blood of the remnant Qing army and the blood of Zheng Jun dyed the earth red.

From day to night, from night to dawn, the battle ends and starts again and again. A large number of soldiers squirmed on the battlefield, sometimes neat columns could be seen, and soon they turned into scattered skirmishers; sometimes a group of disorganized soldiers could be seen retreating in embarrassment, and the dead and wounded fell to the ground one by one. The injured soldier lay helpless on the ground and whined.

Every once in a while, new columns and teams enter the battlefield. They are not real new forces, but mostly regrouped after retreating from the battlefield.

The flow of people is like a tide, rising and falling, going back and forth. The defeated team retreated backwards, and new teams were added, firing volleys, shelling, hand-to-hand combat, and then they were routed or suffered heavy losses and had to retreat, and then there was another fierce and fierce artillery battle.

Lord Zheng, who has been at war with the Guangnan Kingdom for more than a hundred years, still has an elite force under his command, and the remnant Qing army that followed the three heroes and fled half of China should not be underestimated. The fighting will of the armies on both sides is quite firm.

The roar of the cannon spread to a radius of more than ten miles, and the air trembled slightly. Huge echoes echoed throughout the valley.

The Dai Yi [Zhuang], Nong [Zhuang], Dai, Hmong [Miao], etc. who were recruited by Zheng Jun to do coolies were all restlessly listening to the faint sound of cannons in the distance. They knew that this The outcome of the battle will determine the fate of their nation.

If the Zheng army wins, the power of Beizheng will naturally rule Lang Son again, and this rule will probably become stronger because of this war. They, the ethnic minorities in Beizheng, will not necessarily have an easy life.

But if the Qing army wins, unless Beizheng is willing to let go of Guangnan and concentrate on another battle with the Qing army, otherwise they will have to compromise with each other. This situation is not suitable for those living in Lang Son. What the ethnic minorities would like to see. If the two sides fight without defeat, then both sides must compromise, and the forces will restrain each other, and the suppression of these young people will be much easier.

They are not Annan Chinese, nor are they Mingxiang people. Whether they are in the north or the south, they are suppressed minority people living in the mountainous areas.

Huang Wufu was sitting in the big tent looking calm and silent, but in fact he was very unhappy inside. It’s hard to believe that the war could become as tense as it is now. Compared with his imagination, the resilience of the Qing Army was much greater. It must be clear that the Residual Qing Army they dealt with was only a part of the entire Residual Qing Army. It was just a partial division blocking the way. The main force of the Residual Qing Army was at the Raider Pavilion.

Before, he had imagined that the Can Qing Army was strong enough. But the current facts have proved that the resilience and bravery of the Qing Army completely exceeded his imagination. Now he can only pray that this brave state of the Qing army will not last long. Although it is often Zheng Jun who is on the offensive who retreats in fierce battles.

On the other side of the battlefield, Chen Jie sat calmly on the big chair in the cave, looking at the map on the table with a calm and collected expression. Although the two armies on the battlefield were engaged in a fierce contest, and although everyone around him understood that Chen Jie was only calm and collected on the surface, it still calmed many people down.

There were only more than 2,000 residual Qing troops on the battlefield, and Chen Jie still held almost the same number of reserve troops. These numbers were almost one-third of the total strength of the residual Qing troops. They fled from Guangxi to Lang Son. In the past two years, some people could not bear the poverty and hardship here and left. Regardless of whether they went to Hongji City or returned to the north; some people are dying because they are not acclimatized to the climate and there is a shortage of medicinal materials, so death is inevitable. Facing Beizheng's arrogant new army, Chen Jie was a little uneasy in his heart, but the battle on the battlefield fully proved the quality of Beizheng's new army.

Compared with the Fuhan Army, Beizheng's New Army was far behind.

They invested at least twice as many troops as the Residual Qing Army, but the battle between the two sides was evenly matched. Although the Residual Qing Army could not defeat the Beizheng New Army with its current strength, don't forget the reserve force he held in his hands. .

Unexpectedly, Chen Jie is looking for an opportunity, an opportunity to defeat Beizheng's new army in one fell swoop!

In May of the 145th year of Chongzhen's reign, hundreds of millions of people all over the world had just been talking passionately about the 128 heads of the Fuhan army entering Beijing. The tall Beijing view in the north of Jizhou City turned to Mongolia. People's "surrender", the conquest of Chengde, and the complete cleanup of Shanxi and Zhili are on everyone's lips again.

From north to south, guests in countless teahouses and restaurants are talking loudly every day. The heads of people, the views of the capital, and the convinced Mongolians. The sweeping sweep of Zhili and Shanxi really makes people's blood boil. The more aggressive the Fuhan Army behaved, the more buyers of land bonds became, and even foreigners got involved.

Of course, they are not qualified to buy directly. But they can lend money to Chinese employees, and then the employees come forward to purchase, although there is a contract signed by both parties. But this matter made Chen Ming feel that there was really no way to put an end to the 'comprador' thing.

In fact, it was Chen Ming's previous life. How could the comprador really disappear? It's just a new packaging.

But at this time, two new pieces of news, one from the south and one from the north, once again swept through everyone's ears like a hurricane. First, the "three heroes" in the south, who had been silent for a long time, defeated the expeditionary army of the Northern Zheng very beautifully, not only occupying half of the rolling and jungle-covered Yuebei Mountains, but also stepping into the rich northern plains of Annan.

Another piece of news is that Zhangjia III, one of the four great Hutuktus of Tantric Buddhism, has entered Zhangjiakou! He will arrive in Beijing soon, and then after a conversation with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he will set off south to Nanjing.

There is news that His Royal Highness the King of Han is ready to build a Tantric Buddhist temple in Nanjing.

The news from the south made the Han people all over the world very proud. A remnant army that was driven out of the country could make the dignified Zheng Lord of Annan frown and lose cities and land. China is very powerful!

The news from the north made countless people cheer. The arrival of Zhangjia III almost represented the surrender of the Mongolian tribes, at least the surrender of most Mongolian tribes in Inner Mongolia, which had a very strong representative significance.

Although the "heavenly destiny" of the Fu Han Army was just icing on the cake, this flower was also a very, very beautiful peony.

Many people know that on the tenth day of May, there was a small box on the second page of the "Zhongyuan Daily", which wrote a message that the Fu Han Army Cavalry Brigade would be expanded into a Cavalry Division. The former brigade commander Chen Kaishan served as the first division commander!

This was a small piece of news, but the same day's "Military Daily" used half a page of a long article to talk about the cavalry division and the source of horses, as well as the establishment of the horse farm and the breeding of horse breeds. It clearly stated a truth that the war horses of the Fu Han Army's expanded cavalry unit came from Mongolia and Zhangjiakou.

With this news, the price of livestock in Nanjing fell by 10%, and the price of horses fell by more than 10% and two cents.

Everyone knows that as time goes by, the price of large livestock such as mules, horses and cattle will become lower and lower. This is the influence.

…

In a Hou family courtyard in Taiyuan City.

Hou Xingyu, who returned home with a tired face, drank the tea brought by the maid, and then slumped in the chair.

Hou Xingyu was really tired, but he was very excited because today he finally delivered the first batch of 200,000 taels of silver to the newly established Shanxi Branch of the Bank of China in Taiyuan City.

200,000 taels of silver, a full 100 boxes, 25 large carriages, what did he get in return? Thirty silver yuan rolls with a face value of "10,000 yuan".

"Dad." Hou Tailai walked in, with beads of sweat on his face, and a layer of black stubble on his shaved head.

"Big brother. Go and get the brazier."

"Dad, Dad..." The second son Hou Enlai led the four younger brothers to come over.

Hou Xingyu cheered up and took out the thirty bonds. The flames lit up in the brazier, illuminating the seven faces of the Hou family father and son, three parts reluctant and seven parts relieved.

"Burn it, burn it. Burn everything in the past, clean it up, really clean it up!"

This is only the first batch of silver from the Hou family. This year he will get another 300,000 taels of silver, and by next year, he will have completely cleared out the 1 million taels of silver...