Chapter 1492 Huge difference
"I can't understand...I can't understand!" Many people in the two southern business groups watching the battle in the safe zone in the distance kept saying that they couldn't understand. The object of their surprise was not Haihan, but the self-starting war. The Han military flag has been in a passive state since then.
According to the explanations of fellow officers, they also knew that the troops on the opposite side were probably the former Ming army from Shandong and Liaodong who were waiting to defect and surrender to Hou Jin Dynasty. However, the combined infantry and cavalry tactics they used had no results in front of the Haihan army. , and even acted a little timid. In their opinion, this was not as good as the rear group of golden cavalry just now. They at least charged for this round despite the gunfire, and they were not as wretched as this Han army flag.
If Geng Zhongming knew these layman's opinions, he would probably be furious. His cautious and prudent tactics are combat routines recorded in serious military books. They are much better than those barbarian tactics that only involve rushing and striking. However, he encountered a formidable opponent like the Haihan Army, which made it difficult for him to prepare all the tactics he had prepared in advance, so that he was always passive on the battlefield. But this does not mean that his troops are afraid of fighting or have poor command. However, the opponent is too strong and it is not a crime of war.
But businessmen will not consider such in-depth and professional issues. As the saying goes, hearing is false and seeing is believing. They only believe in what they see intuitively with their own eyes. The performance of the Han Army Flag is really not outstanding. I don’t know how such a weak army could create such a serious war in Shandong in the first place, and it actually took the court two or three years to calm down. Is this because the rebels are too powerful or the court is too incompetent?
This kind of rebellious issue cannot be considered in detail. Even if you just think about it in your mind, it is a treasonous act for these Ming businessmen. But they have at least realized one thing, that is, whether the Ming army that defected to Liaodong or the Ming army that was responsible for counterinsurgency in Shandong was obviously far from the Haihan army in strength. It's no wonder that Dongjiang Town, which was originally affiliated with the Ming Dynasty, now surrendered to the Haihan Army without hesitation and became a vanguard.
Of course, Liu Shang saw deeper than these businessmen. He knew that the advantage of the Haihan army on the battlefield was not that the enemy's combat power was low. Otherwise, how could Hou Jin go south to knock the pass year after year and defeat the Ming Dynasty? Behind this gap in combat effectiveness lies a huge gap in weapons design and manufacturing capabilities, logistics systems, military command systems, and even social productivity. And these disparities in many aspects are reflected on the battlefield, and cannot be restored by the opponent solely by relying on military superiority.
However, Liu Shang was too lazy to waste time explaining this kind of issue to the businessmen in detail. Besides, there were many confidential aspects in it. If he accidentally mentioned something that shouldn't be mentioned, then he, a political cadre, would be in trouble. This is a serious dereliction of duty.
Haihan's artillery fire undoubtedly destroyed several enemy artillery positions in a short period of time, as well as the fighting courage they had finally mustered up. After the enemy troops began to withdraw their troops, the cavalry troops of the Haihan Army attacked again and pursued the enemy troops one after another, causing a lot of casualties. This pursuit continued for nearly five miles, and it was not until the opponent's backup cavalry troops came up to meet them that the Haihan cavalry returned victorious.
After the battle, the sword team from Dongjiang Town quickly appeared on the battlefield again. These people were responsible for cutting off and collecting the heads of opponents after the war. The scene was indeed bloody. Liu Shang was afraid of scaring these southern businessmen, so he quickly organized a convoy to leave the front line. Although the merchants were a little reluctant to give up, they heard that the next step to clean up the battlefield was to behead the heads and display them in Beijing, so they didn't have the guts to read any more. Although there were a few brave guys among them who wanted to stay and watch the strange things, this was a battlefield, and they could not tolerate disobeying military orders, so they had no choice but to evacuate with the convoy.
According to the report of the swordsman team cleaning the battlefield, the enemy's casualties in this battle were approximately 600. If you look at this record in the history of the war between the two armies in the past six months, it is actually not a big number. However, recently both sides have used small-scale conflicts as the main fighting method. Like this, they can kill hundreds of enemy troops at a time. The achievement is already quite rare.
Of course, Haihan's victory was not without cost. Apart from a small number of casualties, the biggest consumption was the guns, shells and gunpowder used during the battle. This battle lasted less than two hours, but consumed so much ammunition that it made Bai Kesi, who came specially to Liaodong to supervise the battle, feel a little painful.
"Your ammunition consumption rate... If you put it in the south, you could capture a state capital, right?" Bai Kesi looked at the ammunition consumption statistics submitted and couldn't help complaining to Qian Tiandun: "If we continue to attack like this, Hou Jin Before it’s destroyed, we have to run out of ammunition and food first!”
Qian Tiandun said sternly: "Old Bai, you can't just look at one aspect of the problem. Although the ammunition consumption is relatively large, you have to consider the composition of the enemy and our troops. The enemy has so many cavalry and they will not stand still. Let us aim and shoot where we are. You also understand military affairs. If you want to cause a lot of damage to the cavalry, you can only consume more ammunition to make up for the lack of firepower. Besides, the most important thing is that our army can always maintain a suppressive posture on the battlefield. This is worth it even if it consumes more ammunition.”
Bai Kesi sighed and said: "I don't know what you are saying, but Liaodong has always been in a situation where you can only get in but not get out. You should also know how much money the executive committee has spent in Liaodong. When can we see the output? , I still don’t know, but for the country, this place is more like a bottomless financial pit. Do you understand? Your consumption in one battle is equivalent to the fiscal revenue of an agricultural county on Hainan Island for more than half a year. The country No matter how rich you are, you can't resist going out so quickly! Moreover, you also proposed to continue to expand the war to the north and conduct amphibious operations in the coastal areas of Liaodong all year round. Have you carefully calculated how much military expenditure will be needed to maintain it? ?”
Qian Tiandun coughed calmly, and Tom Wang next to him immediately took over the conversation: "Old Bai, what Commander Qian said to you makes sense, but some things cannot be measured simply by the amount of money spent. Liaodong Whether the strategic position of the region is worthy of war or not, this was only started after the Executive Committee unanimously agreed. To maintain this colony, we can only introduce more Han labor from the north through war. Isn't this also to promote it? Can the Liaodong colony be developed so that this place can become self-sufficient in survival materials earlier? ”
Bai Kesi said: "You two don't need to form a team to convince me. What you need to convince is the Executive Committee. I must say that it is still a bit difficult to get the approval of the Executive Committee for your current situation. The so-called development plan Everything is on paper, but if you want to continue fighting, you have to spend money immediately. I think you'd better think clearly about what to do." Qian Tiandun frowned and said, "We can only do a good job. What the military should do, as for how to develop the Liaodong Peninsula, is Sha Xi's job. The best we can do is to let the troops cooperate as much as possible. The war with Hou Jin will definitely last for a long time, since the battle is unavoidable. In the past, we should increase investment and make the enemy lose the ability to continue fighting as soon as possible.”
If divided according to interest camps, Bai Kesi, who is in charge of Haihan Military Industry, should of course be on the side of the military, but he is also a member of the executive committee. For him, this position cannot be too biased. Otherwise, you will also be questioned by other members of the executive committee after you return. Moreover, the issues he mentioned to Qian Tiandun and Wang Tom do exist objectively. The executive committee far away in Sanya cannot know the exact situation here from the telegram, and can only infer the investment in Liaodong based on common sense. Whether the expected returns can be obtained, and whether unplanned military expenditures will be considered reasonable, largely depends on the development process of Liaodong.
But this creates a paradox. The Haihan Army needs more military expenditures to grab people in the north. Only after it has a population can it develop Liaodong faster. But what the Executive Committee hopes is to consider allocating more military spending to enrich Liaodong's armed forces after seeing the actual progress in Liaodong's development.
Both the military and the executive committee have their own interests to consider. It is difficult to say who is right and who is wrong. Such conflicts are inevitable under a political system like Haihan. Fortunately, in the past few years, the military and the government have reached a certain tacit understanding on how to deal with differences of opinion. Debates are debates, but it will generally not affect the combat capabilities of overseas troops. This is the decision between the Executive Committee and the military. Everyone agrees to the bottom line. As for whether to take additional military operations in Liaodong, I am afraid that this will require the heads of the Ministry of National Defense to put more effort in Sanya.
As Haihan's opponent, Geng Zhongming, the commander of this failed battle, his situation was even more difficult. Azig immediately sent someone to ask what was the reason that made him choose to retreat quickly shortly after arriving on the battlefield, and whether there was any situation where the troops were afraid of fighting.
Geng Zhongming looked at the arrogant messenger and really wanted to scold him. It now seems that Azig must have discounted the information related to the Haihan Army that was given to him before the war, and concealed Haihan's tactics to a certain extent. Otherwise, how could today's battle be suppressed at every turn? Gotta be so cowardly. If Azig could tell the truth about his defeat experience and everyone could plan together, it might be possible to cause trouble for the Haihan people. But by making a stumbling block like this, he obviously wanted to embarrass himself or even commit a crime. Wrong intentions.
Geng Zhongming also knew the root cause of Azig's behavior. After all, he was a foreign Han, but now he had become a highly favored general around Huang Taiji. This would definitely make some Manchu generals feel jealous and dissatisfied. If they could seize the opportunity to make themselves suffer, these people would probably be happy to let Huang Taiji see this scene, in order to reduce Huang Taiji's favor for them.
No matter how much Geng Zhongming's status in Houjin was improved, it was still the title granted to him by Huang Taiji. Even if he was granted the title of king, his status could not be compared with that of Nurhaci's biological son. Therefore, the underhanded trick he used against Azig was Geng Zhongming has no choice but to endure. He knew that even if he went to complain to Huang Taiji, saying that Azige had tricked him, Huang Taiji would never be able to protect him openly. After all, he and Azige were both from the same father, and both had the same surname: Aixinjue. Luo, no matter how reasonable he is, he is just an outsider.
Regarding Azig's accusation, Geng Zhongming could only make peace with Xini first, saying that he was not familiar enough with the battlefield environment. In addition, it was his first time fighting the Haihan Army and he still needed to get used to it. Then he paid a sum of money to the envoy. , and asked him to explain it to Azig well after he went back.
After enduring the physical pain and seeing off the envoy, Geng Zhongming returned to the Chinese army tent and was so angry that he grabbed the porcelain pen holder on the table and smashed it to pieces. A bribe of several hundred taels of silver was a trivial matter, but because of such a thing, he had to bribe a junior officer who was five or six ranks lower than himself. This was really a very aggrieved feeling. For a moment, he even had the urge to chase after the messenger and deliver the order, capture the messenger, and behead him.
Of course, if he really does this, it may be difficult for him to stay in Houjin any longer. At that time, Azig will definitely accuse him of "disobeying military orders and killing messengers without authorization", and then persuade Huang Taiji to Punishing him might lead to him being dismissed from office. A few years ago, he chose to join the rebellion in Dengzhou because of the tense relationship with his superiors. But if he wants to rebel again now, he has no where to go next. He can't defect back to the Ming Dynasty. They will treat him there. The bounty on his head will last at least until Emperor Chongzhen steps down. It would be a stupid move to automatically offer his head when he returns.
And Haihan is obviously not someone he can rely on. The other party has recently distributed a lot of leaflets near Jinzhou City, which list high rewards for Geng Zhongming, Kong Youde, Shang Kexi and other Ming rebel generals. Geng Zhongming's worth is 30,000 taels of silver if he is alive, and 10,000 taels of silver if he is dead, which is much higher than Daming's reward. To be honest, at this price, he really wants to find someone who looks like him. The head was chopped off and sent to collect the reward. After all, the price of a head of ten thousand taels of silver is not available everywhere. Of course, if the other party offers such a high price to buy his life, then naturally they have no intention of taking him in. Even if he surrenders voluntarily, the other party may not spare his life.
However, Haihan's reward also had an objective benefit for Geng Zhongming, that is, it completely eliminated his intention to betray Hou Jin and made Huang Taiji trust him more. But in this way, Geng Zhongming had to strengthen the security measures around him, and all of them had to use the kind of cronies who knew the ins and outs of the same race. Otherwise, if some bastard who wanted to make money was confused for a moment, he chopped off his good head. It would be troublesome to find the Haihan people to collect the reward.
(End of chapter)