I want to be emperor

Chapter 665 Ideal and Reality

Compared with the fight against Zhungeer in the past, it was more difficult. If you want to fight a battle, you have to prepare several years in advance. If you want to fight a battle, you need to mobilize as many as 10 people, and directly send troops ranging from 20 to [-] or more. of troops.

It is much easier to hit the Annan area.

Counting from the time when the Great Chu Empire decided to attack the Annan region in late October, until December when the war was launched, the preparation time for the war did not even take two months.

In the past two months, there was not much military preparation in the true sense, and most of the time was spent on various communications.

The Great Chu Empire Army did not even carry out large-scale mobilization for it, but directly used the border troops deployed in the Guangdong area (Guangning County belongs to Lianzhou Prefecture, Guangdong Province, and belongs to the mainland) and the Guangxi area, as well as the border troops stationed in the overseas territory of Jinlan Bay. , The garrison in the Jiulongjiang Prefecture area.

It is expected to use a total of about 2 troops, the main force is the second-class standing division, and there is not a single first-class combat readiness division.

The nearly [-] marines in the navy are considered a combat readiness force, but that is the navy's establishment. They don't distinguish between combat readiness, standing standby, and defense. All marines are troops that maintain combat readiness all year round.

With just such a force, they defeated the resistance of Annan's rebels head-on in just half a month!

In the frontal battle outside Thang Long City in late December, a second-class standing mixed regiment of the Chu Army, with more than 4000 troops, defeated more than 3 enemy troops head-on. More than [-] people were captured, and the rest fled. This battle directly led to the collapse of the rebel Northern Army.

With the cooperation of more than [-] remnants of the Zheng family, the [-]-strong Chu army began to sweep across the north on a large scale, and then quickly advanced to the south, that is, the central area of ​​Annan.

During the same period, that is, on December 29, more than 50 kilometers south of the city of Hue in the south, more than 6 soldiers were mobilized to try to ambush the Chu army.

It is true that because the Chu army was not familiar with the terrain, the indigenous guide they recruited was still a strong patriotism, and he abruptly led the Chu army into the middle of a canyon, and then was ambushed by the main force of Annan's rebel army.

The Annan rebels hoarded heavy troops right in front of the canyon for frontal interception, and at the same time used the familiar terrain to ambush heavy troops on both sides in advance.

After the Chu army entered the ambush circle, they had already completed the de facto strategic encirclement of the Chu army, leaving only one way behind.

From a normal point of view, this kind of deployment can be called seamless. In addition, the rebels have more than ten times the strength advantage, and the ambushed Chu army will have to peel off their skin even if they don't die.

But after the real fight, the generals of Annan's rebel army saw what ideals are beautiful and reality is very backbone!

Because of their impenetrable frontal defense line, they were directly turned into powder under the rapid and intensive artillery fire of the Chu army. The frontal defense line composed of a full 30 troops collapsed after failing to resist for half an hour... Then they It was also chased by more than 500 light cavalry from the No.[-] Second Division Cavalry Regiment of the Chu Army!
When these more than 500 light cavalry, wielding 15-year-style sabers and riding Hexi horses, rushed to the tens of thousands of enemy troops that had already collapsed, they were like wolves killing sheep and causing a large number of rebel casualties.

According to post-war statistics, most of the casualties of the rebels were actually caused by this dissatisfied second-class division cavalry regiment, with more than 5000 people before and after.

Most of the sabers of the cavalry were cut with curly blades!

When the Chu army forcibly attacked the frontal defense line of the rebels, they also directly dispatched infantry troops to fight against the rebel forces rushing up from both sides.

The strength of the two wings of the Chu army was no more than a thousand people each, and the extra artillery support they received was not too much, while the enemy troops charging from the opposite side had tens of thousands of people on each side.

The two sides fought on both sides, and the ratio of troops was more than ten to one.

This is also the comparison of forces on the entire battlefield!
But any superiority in strength, ambushes, etc., is nothing at all under the intensive infantry firepower of the Chu army's line infantry!

Especially on the right side, the Annan rebel general who led the army is probably courageous, and the courage of the rebels under his command is also very high.

They followed one after another, holding a few matchlock guns and spears and all kinds of messy cold weapons, and then formed a nondescript dense frontal formation, constantly attacking the Chu army infantry line in front!
Then, like being cut wheat, they fell down row by row!

The line of the Chu army they faced seemed thin, but it possessed dense firepower that far surpassed that of the arquebus era!

Under this kind of intensive firepower, the rebels still used a dense formation to attack, and the soldiers of the Chu army on the opposite side didn't even need to aim, they just continued to load and shoot at the dense phalanx on the opposite side.

When more and more people fell, and the rebels didn't even have a bunker they could rely on, such as parapets, they would inevitably be shaken.

Humans are afraid of death!
Especially this kind of tactic where everyone is stupidly lining up to shoot or shoot arrows face to face, and then gradually approach to play hand-to-hand combat...it still requires courage, because you can't hide...and there is nowhere to hide.

It's not like after entering the era of skirmishers, soldiers can use the terrain to avoid artillery fire and lie on the ground when fighting. It seems that the firepower is more intense, but in fact, the impact on the soldiers' hearts is far less than that of the formation era.

After all, in the era of cold weapons or muskets, everyone is fighting in formation. Do you want to lie on the ground to hide bullets?That's right, fear of war, desertion, and being caught by the officer, he was chopped down with a knife.

In this case, when the casualties of one's own side reach a certain level, especially when the comrades around him are found lying down one after another, the collapse of the soldiers is inevitable.

This is the survival instinct of animals!
If one person collapses, it will cause a chain reaction, and then the entire formation, the entire army will collapse.

The [-] rebels on the right were almost in this situation. Tens of thousands of people were confidently killed at the beginning, but they were harvested by the Chu army with artillery fire a few hundred meters away. He was killed and wounded by continuous fire with platoon guns by the Chu army.

At the beginning, the opponent wanted to counterattack with matchlock guns, but found that their own firepower was too weak, and the effect was not good. The most important thing is that the artillery threat of the Chu army is too great. If they continue to shoot at a hundred meters away, it is equivalent to Make a living target for the artillery of the Chu army on the opposite side!
At this distance, all the artillery of the Chu army, whether it is a 65mm regiment field gun or a 115mm howitzer, or a 90mm field gun, a 130mm light howitzer, or a 150mm light howitzer.

They all fire the same ammunition: shotgun!

Well, that is the big troll!

The shotgun shells of the Chu army are very lethal at a distance of 80 meters to [-] meters, and the distribution of shrapnel, killing kinetic energy and other data are in the best condition.

The killing power is much stronger than any solid shell or grenade!
If they dare to stand still and play cross-shooting with the Chu army... In fact, it is not necessary for the infantry's fusiliers to work hard in platooning their guns. The artillery unit will let them know what is called the "God of War" in minutes.

Therefore, the rebel general on the opposite side chose to continue advancing, and the further he advanced, the more casualties he suffered.

Walking and walking, before they entered the 50-meter range, they couldn't go down and collapsed on their own.

Then there were more than a thousand infantrymen of the Chu army, marching steadily, lined up, and came forward with the 14-year-old tropical version of the flintlock gun with a bayonet attached.

In this kind of bayonet attack that seemed to be walking, the rout soldiers on the opposite side had no courage or determination to resist at all, and could only turn around and run away.

The same happens on the left!
The southern army of Annan's rebel army managed to gather an army of [-], and wanted to ambush with ten times the strength and come to a three-sided siege.

They also used spies as guides and successfully brought the Chu army into the ambush circle.

But in the real ambush battle, it was powerless. More than 6 rebel troops who were supposed to ambush and besiege the Chu army were chased and beaten by thousands of Chu troops...

The most ruthless chaser was the No.30 Second Division Cavalry Regiment. They chased the routs all the way, killing one after another. From the morning to the afternoon, the sabers were chopped off, and many horses ran away. Foaming, the cavalry regiment finally created a huge battle result of killing more than 5000 enemies.

In this battle, the Chu army directly killed more than 1 rebels and captured more than [-].

If it weren't for the lack of troops on our side, we would not be familiar with the surrounding terrain.

At the same time, the opponent collapsed too quickly and was very scattered, making it too troublesome to chase.

Otherwise, the Chu army could have achieved more battle results, at least there are estimated to be tens of thousands more prisoners.

This battle took place more than 50 kilometers south of Hue City, because both sides in this battle were actually fighting around the city of Hue, so the Chu army called it the Battle of Hue.

The big victory in the Battle of Hue, coupled with the big victory in the Battle of Thang Long in the north.

Through two decisive battles, the Chu army has actually defeated the main forces of the Annan rebels, the Northern Army and the Southern Army, and especially dealt a severe blow to their morale.

Although there are still many rebels in various places, and the total number may exceed 15, it is actually impossible for them to pose any actual threat to the Chu army.

The rest of the Annan War is just the end of the suppression.

After Luo Zhixue received the reports of the two battles from the south, he did not pay too much attention to the situation in Annan.

In response to the situation in Annan, he had already made all the arrangements in December last year, including setting up provinces, appointing major military and political officials, ordering to start a war, and so on.

The next thing is already a matter for local local officials and local garrisons. It is nothing more than various suppressions and suppressions. This kind of thing is very familiar to the Chu Empire. It is in the southwest, Kangzang and Turpan areas, as well as the former Korean Peninsula. Regions, etc., the Great Chu Empire has done it countless times.

It is nothing more than to find out and kill the remnants of the enemy army and various recalcitrant elements through repeated purge operations, and then cooperate with large-scale enlightenment policies and immigration marriages.

This process will take at least two or three years, and how long it will last depends on whether the education policy is implemented smoothly.

If the indoctrination policy goes well, then it will be shorter. For example, the previous indoctrination policy on the Korean peninsula was implemented very smoothly, and the local purge operation was basically over in just over a year.

However, in Chuankang and Kangxi, as well as in the newly occupied areas in the southwest, it is more difficult to implement the indoctrination policy in some places, because the local language, religion, cultural customs, etc. are all obstacles.

And the campaigns against these areas will basically last for many years.

The battle to clear these areas will not really end until a large number of settlers and immigrants gain a firm foothold in the local area, intermarry and integrate with the local benevolent natives on a large scale, completely change the customs, and ensure that there is no pure alien in the local area. .

The Great Chu Empire was familiar with these matters, and had its own set of established procedures, and the military and political parties below would handle them on their own, without the need for Luo Zhixue to pay attention to them personally.

The Great Chu Empire is too big, and there are too many things that need to be handled by Luo Zhixue himself. If Luo Zhixue needs to handle all these trivial matters, then Luo Zhixue will not have to live.

So after 21 years in Chengshun, Luo Zhixue turned his attention away from the Annan provinces and reinvested in the country.

The expansion of some peripheral territories may be very important to the military and other soldiers, but to the entire Great Chu Empire, it is actually a trivial matter.

It is the development of a series of domestic industries such as domestic industry, commerce, agriculture and livestock that can really affect the strength of the empire and the rise and fall of the empire.

The first among them is agriculture, livestock, fishery and animal husbandry!

This industry is directly related to the issue of whether the people of the country can have enough to eat. The issue that the Great Chu Empire has paid the most attention to in the past 20 years has always been the issue of agriculture.

Well, animal husbandry and fishery are actually counted, and they are all under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

What kind of machinery and equipment, guns and cannons, they don’t count as farts when they are full.

Therefore, the Great Chu Empire has invested huge sums of money in the past ten years, spent countless manpower and material resources to build countless water conservancy facilities, and even made an artificial diversion of the Yellow River.

All this is to increase food production.

And it all paid off!

Thanks to the smooth diversion of the Yellow River, the Huaihe River Basin has finally returned to its original appearance. Although the lower reaches of the Huaihe River, due to the continuous alluvial of the Yellow River over the past few hundred years, have caused a large amount of sedimentation, the flood control situation is still severe, but in the end It's not like before, there will be a breach of the embankment at every turn.

In addition, the flood control facilities in the lower reaches of the Huaihe River, especially in the Hongze Lake area, have been built for more than ten years, and the empire spent tens of millions of Chu Yuan in funds for this. These flood control facilities were used to prevent the Yellow River and the The confluence of the Huaihe River.

Now that the water from the Yellow River is gone, the pressure has been relieved a lot.

In the follow-up, we dare not say that the weather is going well in this area, but the agricultural production situation will be greatly improved.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry estimates very optimistically that the grain output of Anlu, Jiangbei, and Henan provinces will increase by more than 21% in the [-]st year of Chengshun, and this increase in output will continue in the following years .

Even in Shandong and Hebei, due to the inflow of water resources from the Yellow River and the rational use of water resources by a large number of canals built in advance, grain production will increase in normal years.

The grain production of these provinces north of the Yangtze River in the Great Chu Empire will increase to a certain extent in the next few years.

After receiving the forecast report from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Luo Zhixue was much happier when he heard about Lien Chan and Lian Jie on Annan's side.

Compared with the smooth development of domestic agriculture, Annan's suppression of the rebellion is nothing more than a trivial matter!

Luo Zhixue didn't have much interest in countering the rebellion, but he was very interested in developing the plains around Thang Long.

This place is a rare and good place. Although the flood disaster of the Red River is relatively serious, as long as the flood control facilities are done well, it is entirely possible to develop the local area into a new granary for the empire.

However, the investment in flood control facilities is relatively large, and it will take time for the follow-up new immigrants to pass, so this matter can be delayed for a few years.

If you want to build a new granary now, you still have to go to the Northeast Plain. The black land there is very fertile, and the land is sparsely populated and there is nothing that the local aborigines need to deal with. It is best for resettling immigrants and cultivating grain. .

Luo Zhixue plans to start this year and once again intensify the development of the Northeast region!

The Northeast is not a place of bitter cold, but a heavy industry base and a large granary for the empire!

(End of this chapter)