Chapter 1984
He Xi's speculation is more radical and bold than Yan Chujie's conclusion. He believes that regardless of whether the mastermind behind the scenes is Spanish or not, there must be other forces involved, so that the opponent can distribute these special weapons over such a large geographical area.
If it were just Spain, then Haihan wouldn't need to worry too much. After all, judging from the records of many battles in the past few years, he has always been firmly suppressing the other side and has no fear of the Spaniards causing trouble in the South China Sea. But if the Spaniards get some kind of help that allows them to expand their influence from the South China Sea to Northeast Asia, it will not be a small problem for Haihan to ignore.
"Other forces? Lao He, can you be more specific?" Ning Qi asked curiously.
He Xi said: "We have not obtained actual evidence yet, but the holders of these weapons are obviously the most suspected people. The Qing army, salt merchants, and the masterminds behind the plan to attack the crown prince of Joseon. There is no doubt that these forces are closely related to Weapons providers are all directly connected, and some are even providing them with tactical training. You can think about what kind of stakes bring them together.”
"It's a position." Tao Donglai responded: "A position that is hostile to us! The forces that can obtain these weapons from overseas are either enemies on the battlefield or have direct conflicts of interest with us. With these weapons After that, people who didn’t dare to challenge us now have more confidence to express their position.”
Tao Donglai's words illustrate another commonality among the current events, which is the position of the parties holding special weapons. Although the reasons for these forces' involvement must be different, their common enemy is Haihan. , and may even include important allies of Haihan. The fact that the crown prince of Joseon was targeted may be one of the concrete manifestations of this stance.
"What you say makes sense, but there is still a lack of evidence."
After listening to it for a while, Gu Kai expressed his opinion on the discussion: "I'm not saying that Lao He is making a fuss out of a molehill, but the Ministry of Security was investigating a case in Danzhou before, and I heard that it used the entire resources of Danzhou to pretend to be the crown prince of North Korea. The atmosphere of the visit was used to lure the snake out of its hole. Of course, the final result was satisfactory, the bad guys were all caught, and the crown prince of Joseon was safe after changing his schedule. But after all this effort, it is said that the real behind-the-scenes has not been found out so far. Black hands. Should we consider investigating the case in Danzhou first and then infer any potential connections with what happened in other places?"
In fact, the Executive Committee also has different opinions on the Ministry of Security's operations in Danzhou. It is important to solve the case and arrest people, but the Ministry of Security's approach of requiring all public and private institutions in Danzhou to cooperate in order to solve the case will make people feel that it is overstepping the rules. Dislike. In other words, there are no clear legal provisions on which level of local government the Ministry of Security can command. In special circumstances like the arrest of Xue Zheng and his gang this time, some controversy will inevitably arise.
Although Danzhou Mayor Zhang Xin has no objection to this and has given the Ministry of Security the greatest support for its investigation within the scope of his authority, after this matter is reported to the Executive Committee, senior officials like Gu Kai will still Question the rationality of the case-handling procedures.
This is not that Gu Kai intends to cause trouble for the Ministry of Security. His worries are justified. After all, the Ministry of Security itself is a privileged organization that is only responsible to the Executive Committee. It receives too little supervision on its external operations and relies almost entirely on the executors. own professional qualities and loyalty. However, if there is someone with ulterior motives or impulsiveness in the Ministry of Security who intends to create chaos, it will be easy for the local government to be at a loss as to what to do due to lack of supervision.
He Xi responded: "The investigation of the case in Danzhou is indeed not over yet, but since some of the evidence can be linked to what happened in other places, we should consider merging the investigation. As for the case you mentioned in Danzhou Too many resources have been used in the arrest work. This situation does exist. We are also sorting out relevant information and will submit an explanatory report to the Executive Committee later.”
He Xi would not debate with Gu Kai whether it was necessary for Zhang Qianzhi to take those unconventional measures in Danzhou. He understood what the other party meant, but he did not want to affect the existing operational privileges of the Ministry of Security. So he officially dismissed the issue first. As for the subsequent report submitted to the Executive Committee, he could try to polish it slowly at that time. And maybe the case would be clearer by then. If the evidence obtained later can confirm He Xi speculation, then the executive committee’s focus will no longer be on the case handling procedures.
Although He Xi dislikes these power struggles in the officialdom, he also knows that as long as he continues to be in charge of the privileged department of the Ministry of Security, he will continue to face these annoying "trivial matters." He is not a master of intrigues, but understanding people's hearts is his specialty, so he can generally deal with the occasional "picks" from other officials and departments calmly.
Tao Donglai raised his hand and tapped the table lightly and said: "As for whether the Ministry of Security's investigation work in Danzhou is in compliance with the procedures, I think this issue can be discussed later. The focus now is still what Lao Yan and Lao He just discussed. I think that out of prudent consideration, we need to consider some worse situations in advance, such as the possibilities just listed by Lao He, so that we can calmly deal with them in the subsequent investigation. An unexpected situation.”
Tao Donglai's statement was obviously on the side of the Military Intelligence Bureau and the Ministry of Security. Generally speaking, his statement would have the final word, and today was no exception. The meeting immediately set the tone. Gun-related cases occurring in the three places must be quickly followed up and investigated, and more manpower and resources must be invested to ensure that the situation does not deteriorate further.
Tao Donglai's worries about the situation are not unfounded. Although the use of firearms found in these places is not large-scale, the group captured in Danzhou even only had one handgun, but Haihan himself Having started out by relying on arms, I naturally know that as long as the firearms and ammunition are in place, it is not that difficult to train musketeers. If professional officers can be trained, it will only be a matter of time before an organized musketeer unit appears.
Of course, to cultivate truly combat-effective troops, training alone is definitely not enough. After all, it still has to be polished by actual combat. The small groups of musketeers that appeared in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Liaodong were believed by the Military Intelligence Bureau to be conducting actual combat attempts to verify the feasibility of this combat method. But once this tactic achieves good results, there may be a situation that Haihan doesn't want to see in the future.
However, this is only a relatively extreme situation. In fact, to establish an organized unit using firearms, the firearms and ammunition required are not a small amount. And if the scale of the armed forces is too small, it will be difficult for Haihan to pose a real threat. I think at the beginning, the colonial armed forces of Portugal, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom, which had fought with Haihan, all equipped with muskets and artillery. However, because their forces were limited and they could not rely on their superiority in strength to close the gap in weapon performance, they all became Haihan. The army's men were defeated. Although these Western countries' colonies in East Asia also have some small arsenals, their production capacity cannot support the combat needs of large armies. In fact, a considerable part of the weapons used by local armed forces come from distant Europe and are not produced locally. If we want to arm an army of another country outside the colonies, the difficulty will naturally increase exponentially.
However, this cannot completely eliminate the possibility of transferring weapons manufacturing technology. Especially if a big financier like the Jiangsu and Zhejiang salt merchants who is not short of money wants to buy the musket manufacturing technology at a sky-high price, and supplemented by some other cooperation conditions, then It might also tempt Western colonists who have mastered technology. As for the Qing Dynasty, although it was far away in a bitter cold land, it could only provide more resources than the salt merchants, and its position was to fight to the death with Haihan. For Haihan's Western competitors, this was of course an extremely serious problem. The best support object.
If the Qing Dynasty had mastered the manufacturing technology of flintlock muskets, even if its performance was average and its lethality was average, it was just a usable musket. If it used resources to manufacture and equip its troops in large quantities, it would be a real problem for Haihan, who had a limited garrison in Liaodong. It will be a great threat. Even if the Qing army retreats ten thousand steps and places the main attack direction of its firearms troops on the Ming Dynasty instead of the Liaodong Peninsula, it will be an extremely bad situation. If we master Western artillery manufacturing technology, it will be even worse.
After the meeting, several urgent telegrams were quickly sent from Fort Victory, asking Haihan to pay attention to the movements of civilian armed forces in nearby areas in various occupied areas along the Daming Coast, especially private armed forces in the form of various militia groups. If If it is found that they are equipped with standard muskets in batches, the Ministry of Security and the Military Intelligence Bureau must be notified immediately to follow up the investigation.
Even in areas like Fuguang area that have been penetrated by Haihan, the executive committee still dare not be careless. After all, in addition to the many vested interests in these areas who have become rich and promoted by Haihan, there are also many The unlucky guy whose family declined or lost his job because of Haihan's appearance. There are many people who admire Haihan and want to hug him, but there are also many people who hate Haihan. If these people were given the opportunity to fight against Haihan with force, it is impossible to say that many people would jump out and take risks.
In addition, Shandong is also an area with great hidden dangers. Although Fushan County, which is actually controlled by Haihan, is relatively peaceful, the chaos caused by the Denglai Rebellion in Shandong is still continuing, and there are still some armed bandits operating on the Shandong Peninsula. During the period when Haihan occupied Fushan County, he had several battles with the Dengzhou garrison, and also dealt with a group of disobedient landowners and squires. His hatred in the local area cannot be ignored.
After such statistics, everyone in the executive committee couldn't help but feel a sense of crisis. In recent years, Haihan's development has been smooth, and they haven't felt like this for a long time.
"Look, the people at Fort Victory are starting to get impatient!" Qian Tiandun came to Wang Tom with the telegram he had just received and informed him of Fort Victory's latest decision.
Wang Tom took the telegram and read it carefully, then smiled and said: "Fort Victory is worried that the Qing army will install firearms on a large scale. This is not so easy to do. Even if they have the technology to make weapons, they don't have the production level! ”
"But with this telegram, it is indeed easier for us to operate here." Qian Tiandun responded: "The Executive Committee has authorized us to take military actions based on the situation, so we don't have to stick to small-scale reconnaissance. , you can dispatch troops to attract the opponent’s attention when necessary.”
"After all, you still can't stop wanting to fight!" Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun have worked together for many years, and they know each other's true thoughts when they hear it. The reconnaissance operations of the past few days were won over by the navy. Qian Tiandun must not be reconciled to this. After all, how could such an interesting thing as defeating the Qing army be allowed to be exclusive to the navy?
Qian Tiandun said seriously: "There is only such an opponent in Northeast Asia. We can only use them to train troops, which is no choice. The troops have been resting here for a long time. It is time to move and stretch their muscles."
Qian Tiandun was not particularly concerned about how many new muskets the Qing army was equipped with, and whether there were heavy weapons such as artillery. He also knew that the Qing army would not be able to install these advanced weapons and equipment on a large scale in a short period of time. The purpose of the operation was mainly to confirm the specific situation of the Qing army's weapons, and there was no need to specifically seek instructions from Victory Fort for this operation. But if it is a large-scale attack, they must first submit a combat plan and obtain approval before it can be implemented. But now that the Executive Committee has authorized them to decide on their own whether to take military action, things will be much easier to handle.
Both the Datongjiang base and Jinzhou have large amounts of ammunition and weapons storage, which is enough to support large-scale operations. North Korea and Shandong can both provide food, medicinal materials and other military supplies to the front line, and can complete war preparations in a very short time. Whether launching the offensive from the direction of Jinzhou or North Korea, it is not too difficult for Haihan.
If it is just for military training, it is not enough to be a reason to start such a large-scale war. Therefore, whether or not evidence can be found that the Qing army used new weapons will become the decisive factor in whether Haihan adopts military strikes. It's called eliminating hidden dangers.
Of course, in the eyes of senior generals like Qian Tiandun and Wang Tom, whether the Qing army's use of new weapons can be truly confirmed is not a necessary condition for whether to start a war. The main consideration is how to maximize the combat effect. If there are no actual benefits, but you have to bear the risk of losing troops and generals, then there is no need to go to war.
"Wait for a while. News of the Marine Corps' reconnaissance operation has come back, and then we will consider the next step." Wang Tom was not opposed to choosing an opportunity to teach the Qing army again, but he had more factors to consider. At this time, the Liaodong region Winter has already entered, which is not a good time to launch large-scale combat operations.
(End of chapter)