I really don't want to be emperor at the end of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 387 What an ideal war looks like
Chapter 387 Cheng Shijie knows very well that the current Spanish national power is declining and facing almost the same embarrassing situation as the Ming Dynasty. More than half of the countries in Europe are at war with Spain. Now the Spaniards simply do not have the ability to organize an army expedition. The Ming Dynasty is not a horn. A small country in the corner can be taken down by just sending a few hundred people.

Even if they cobble together a large expeditionary force, they cannot defeat the Ning Navy. The only way is to intervene in the war between the Ming Dynasty and the Manchu Qing Dynasty and support the Manchu Qing Dynasty in fighting a proxy war with the Ming Dynasty.

But the problem is, this is not the later generations. The transportation speed in the later generations is super fast. In an emergency, equipment, weapons and ammunition can be transported by air to the hands of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.You must know that Ning Haijun still controls the sea power of Nanyang and Manchuria. The Dutch and Spain secretly sent hundreds of muskets to Huang Taiji. This was a self-defense weapon for their armed sailors. It’s not that they couldn’t get it. There are too many muskets and ammunition, but they can't be transported in.

Faced with Cheng Shijie's threat, Pablo, the poor old man, did not dare to threaten Cheng Shijie with war, because even if the Ming Dynasty was in chaos, Ning Haijun would rather reorganize armed recruits from the guards than transfer elites from Southeast Asia. The army is guarding against this.

Now Cheng Shijie does not need to mobilize too much. With only the elite troops left in Nanyang, he can tie the Spaniards and the Dutch together and rub them on the ground.

If the threat fails, then only inducements are left.

Pablo said helplessly: "Your Majesty the King, we plan to exchange a piece of land for these prisoners of war. What do you think?"

Cheng Shijie narrowed his eyes: "Exchanging land for prisoners of war? You are really generous, but it's a pity that you are generous to others."

The second half of the sixteenth century to the beginning of the seventeenth century was the glorious period of the Spanish Empire.At its peak, the Spanish Empire even covered an area of ​​3150 million square kilometers, making it often known as the "Empire on which the Sun Never Sets."

Spain opened up trade routes on all major oceans, from Spain across the Atlantic to the Americas, from Mexico across the Pacific, and through the Philippines to East Asia.The Spanish conquistadors destroyed the Aztec-Inca empire and the Mayan civilization and claimed control of vast swaths of territory in North and South America.

At this time, Spain already controlled a quarter of the world's territory and established dozens of colonies in Europe, America, Asia, Africa and other places.At the same time, Spain also became a representative of Catholic countries, spreading Catholicism to all parts of the world.

For China, not even an inch of land is missing.But for Spain, land is actually the cheapest thing, and exchanging colonies for it is also a form of generosity.

In Cheng Shijie's understanding, it was absolutely impossible for the Spanish Empire to exchange the Spanish mainland.

However, the problem is that Pablo's expression became a little sinister: "If His Majesty the King is willing to return the prisoners of war to us and send a small fleet to Europe to help us deal with a group of pirates, you will get A fertile and vast plain, a plain most suitable for habitation..."

When he heard about Europe, Cheng Shijie's eyes suddenly brightened.

Cheng Shijie is interested in Spanish colonies in the Americas or Africa, but he will not trade with the Spanish because these colonies can be taken over through war. As long as the conflicts in the Ming Dynasty are resolved, Cheng Shijie will lead Ning Haijun into the great expansion. era, planting the battle flag in various parts of the world.

Cheng Shijie and Pablo talked for a long time, and at one point a heated argument broke out, which lasted until late at night.Pablo left Ning Haijun's camp with a satisfied smile. It can be said that his goal has been achieved. Cheng Shijie agreed to his conditions, released all captured Spanish soldiers, and promised not to touch Spain's military base in Asia. colony,
He even promised that after the domestic situation stabilized, he would do Spain a favor and teach those pirates who had repeatedly embarrassed Spain a lesson. The price Spain paid for this was just a piece of worthless land!

Yes, it is really a piece of land of little value.That land did not have much population for the Spaniards to enslave, and it did not have rich gold or silver mines. Although the land was very vast and fertile, it was not suitable for the Spaniards who were short of human resources and the entire country was showing a trend of decline. What's the point?

Not as useful as a silver mine in Africa!It's a good deal to exchange a piece of worthless land for thousands of soldiers and the tiger's promise not to infringe on Spain's interests in Asia!There's no better deal than this!
From the [-]th to the [-]th century, the central policy of European colonists was to plunder gold, silver, spices and slaves. As for developing the occupied lands, they never thought about it.

In fact, they currently do not have the ability to develop the vast lands of America, Asia, and Africa. The population in Europe is still too small, and the industrial strength is still too weak. Without a population and strong industrial strength to support it, how can we talk about development?
They would be very satisfied if they could grab some gold, silver, spices and some slaves to do hard labor.

It was not until the First Industrial Revolution that Europe's population and industrial strength grew rapidly, and the precious metals in the colonies were basically plundered, that Europe began to seriously develop colonies, mainly in the Americas and Asia.A large number of African slaves were transported across the ocean to the colonies to do hard work such as logging, farming, road construction, and textiles.

With their efforts, large areas of sugar cane plantations, cotton fields, wheat fields, and corn fields were spread out like magic carpets on the once uninhabited wasteland. A large number of hidden resources were unearthed, and Europe's strength seemed to be a cheat. It grew in a geometric state, completely overwhelming Asia for the first time in thousands of years, becoming the world's dominator, and achieving Europa's two-century-long immortal glory.

It wasn't until 1914, when there was internal strife, that the dazzling halo over Europe fell.However, it is still very early before the first industrial revolution, and land is still useless to Europeans, so the Spanish gave it away very readily.

Pablo would never have dreamed that although his move brought a lot of benefits to the Spaniards, it ruined Europe's only chance to become the world's dominator in thousands of years. In the following hundreds of years, the entire Europe Angrily cursing this seemingly shrewd fool and cursing the King of Spain for agreeing to this extremely confused plan.

Cheng Shijie was already a little tired after seeing Pablo off, but after putting away the agreement he signed with Pablo, he washed his face with hot water and fell asleep.

Sometimes, caution is not necessarily a good thing.Just like now, the three brigades of the Ning Navy are all formed from soldiers of the garrison and soldiers of the Tianjin Guard and Funing Wei Ming Army. Some of them were adapted from the surrender of the Guanning Army in western Liaoning. This batch of recruits exceeds Thirty-five thousand troops accounted for nearly half of Ning Haijun's three new brigades.

But the problem was that Jierharang's actions were much slower, he was moving step by step, and he sent out so many scouts that they were crazy.

It is not difficult to understand that he is facing the Qing Dynasty's most terrifying opponent, Ning Haijun, and no matter how cautious he is, he cannot be too cautious.

The strange thing is that he encountered almost no resistance as he marched eastward, and even had time to hunt down the queen who had disappeared after escaping from the Forbidden City. Of course, this effort was in vain.

Because Jierharang pursued in the wrong direction, Queen Zhou and her party had successfully arrived in Tianjin. If they were frightened, they felt unsafe in Tianjin, so they left Tianjin by boat and went directly to Jinzhou.

In Jierharang's heart, caution is right. In his opinion, Ning Haijun is like a drizzle. Unless you don't go out, you will inevitably get wet no matter what you do, ranging from a cold to a high fever!

As for Cheng Shijie...

Jilharang said that this guy is just an aggressive bull. If you fight with him, you will fall into the pit unknowingly. And one pit after another, the deeper you hit, the deeper the pit is. Do you still want to climb out?Dream on!He must be more careful, more cautious, more cautious!

The real reason why Cheng Shijie didn't rush to the capital immediately was that he really didn't want the capital to fall into the flames of war. If the Qing army was still as determined as defending Shenyang City, the only way would be to blow the capital into ruins.Therefore, Nanlu Ning's navy stopped in Dong'an County, now in Langfang, which is still sixty or seventy miles away from Fengtai.

Therefore, Cheng Shijie led Ning Haijun to stop at Sanhe, Tongzhou, which was called Lu County in ancient times and was sixty miles away from the capital.Sanhe is located in the Yanshan piedmont plain area, which is very suitable for plain warfare.

The reason why Jierhalang was cautious was that it took time to become familiar with the firearms and artillery in the capital. After three days of preparation, Jierhalang led more than [-] elite Qing troops to prepare for the largest battle since the Ming army entered the customs. Field battle.

Ning Haijun responded enthusiastically. The Ning Haijun led by Cheng Shijie and the Eighth Brigade Wu Sheng formed a huge phalanx with a total of 8000 people and pressed forward mightily.

The first to enter the battlefield was naturally the Qing army. They had the advantage of the home field, set up their formations early, occupied several villages, and established a complete defense system with Caogou Temple as the center.

Driven by leather whips, countless captured civilians wielded hoes to dig trenches and traps for horses, and transported a large amount of wood to nail fences to resist horses. These were all prepared for the Ning navy cavalry. The Qing army had already He was frightened by Ning Haijun's cavalry.Each artillery was counted one by one, and all the gun positions were dug and deployed. Jierharang did not expect these artillery to suppress the artillery fire of the Ning Navy. He would be satisfied if they could cause effective damage to the infantry and cavalry of the Ning Navy!

The construction of the position was carried out quite smoothly. Under the threat of whips and knives and axes, the peasants gave all their strength.But the eyes of these peasants with endless hatred made the Qing army feel like a thorn in their backs. Even if they could not understand the language, they could still understand the thoughts of these peasants through their gazes: Don't be complacent, you will have a few days to jump! !

Ning Haijun was still some distance away, so most of the Qing cavalrymen dismounted so that the horses could conserve their strength for the upcoming bloody battle. Those who still had stocks on hand seized the last moment to take out spirits and fine materials and feed them to the horses with both hands. eat.

This scene made Hauge frown. Ever since Taizu started his career with thirteen pairs of armors, the Qing army had never tried to dismount before a battle to conserve power!
not good...

The arrogant and irritable Hauge also deeply felt that the situation was not good.After the Ning Navy stabilized western Liaoning, except for the Guards Brigade, which bypassed Shanhaiguan and arrived directly at Yongning Prefecture, the Third Brigade and the Fourth Brigade swept across the Horqin Grassland. Horqin Mongolia had little resistance and withdrew from Horqin.

The third brigade and the fourth brigade began to move westward along the Horqin Grassland, sweeping the entire Monan Grassland. In fact, they had completed the encirclement of the Qing army. Huang Taiji and Dorgon Daishan were They all lost contact and became a lonely army.

The most terrible thing is that Shanxi has never been a land of abundant products. Especially in the cold winter, food, fodder, cloth, etc. are very scarce. They hurried south without much food, livestock, mules, and horses, and were trapped in Taiyuan. , supplies immediately became extremely difficult.

Food is easy to get, and we can still support it for a while by looting from towns around Taiyuan, but there is really nothing we can do about war horses. The places where war horses are produced in Shanxi are the grasslands in Lingqiu and Yu County, which are the territory of the Tianxiong Army. .

So now the Qing cavalry can only maintain the configuration of one person and two horses, which is really shabby.If there is not enough horse food, the war horse will not have enough food to fill its stomach, and its physical strength will be insufficient.

Jierharang walked quickly to Hauge and whispered to him: "Prince Su, the morale of the soldiers is a bit low. Even the condition of the horses is not very good, and they are not excited at all..."

What we fight for in war is morale. Not only do people need morale, but horses also need it.If the horses are excited, the impact will be stronger. If they are listless, the battle will be difficult to fight.

The morale of the Qing army seems to be quite low now, and the morale of the war horses is naturally not much stronger.

Hauge sighed: "I know this, but I can't help it. I can't even eat enough, and my morale will naturally be affected... It doesn't matter, just see some blood!"

Huang Taiji also miscalculated. He thought that by occupying Beijing, he would be able to obtain a large amount of mountains of grain and grass, as well as countless gold and silver treasures. However, the problem was that after occupying Beijing, he discovered that there were more than 360 million shi of grain in the Beijing camp granary, but The food has long since disappeared.

What's even more ridiculous is that the Beijing camp has not received military pay for three months and is desperately waiting for food.Ordinary people do not have overnight food. As for the gentry and officials who have food, if they surrender, if they are attacked, they will lose their hearts. Now that they have not fully conquered the world, Huang Taiji still needs them.

In desperation, the soldiers in the Beijing camp had no choice but to go to the battlefield hungry. Jierharang was not so optimistic: "I hope... How much do you think we can win in this battle?"

Jirharang's lips moved, but he hesitated to speak. Finally, he shook his head without saying anything, and raised his telescope to look into the distance.

In the distance, behind the horizon, a vast expanse of dark clouds slowly rolled in, covered in bone-chilling chills. The muffled thunderous roars grew closer and closer, becoming clearer and clearer, indicating that a thunderstorm was coming.Dorgon whispered: "They are coming!"

At the front of the team were more than 300 rocket launcher vehicles. After more than five years of development, Ning Haijun finally managed to satisfy Cheng Shijie's little hobby.

It has hundreds of artillery pieces, tens of thousands of rifles, and a large number of rocket launchers.

Cheng Shijie started his career in the Ning Navy, and those who fought against him were deeply impressed and even shuddered by the dense array of crossbows, the forest of spears like hedgehogs, the heavy infantry phalanx like copper walls, and the sharp cavalry like blades.

However, in Cheng Shijie's conception, the most ideal war model should be that hundreds of cannons would endlessly bombard the enemy's infantry and cavalry formations; tens of thousands of musketeers divided into several rows and using breech-loading rifled guns to attack The enemy's infantry and cavalry fired endlessly; tens of thousands of cavalry charged endlessly; dozens of hand-operated heavy machine guns were placed at the front of the position and fired endlessly...

All in all, no matter what strategy, strategy or tactics, or conspiracies, they are all rubbish. Firepower is the only way to suppress them completely.

Now, in Cheng Shijie's view, Ning Haijun finally looks like an ideal war.

(End of this chapter)