Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1756 Rubber Smoke Line ([-])

A sudden heavy rain made the weather suddenly cool.Along the planned Jiaoyan Railway, Xu Xiangdong and his party continued to travel southward, and they had already arrived at the famous Taocun, a future railway hub node.

Of course, Taocun is not just a "village" now. Taocun, with a population of almost 6000, is now a serious town. The number of personnel, planners, and construction personnel is increasing day by day, which has caused earth-shaking changes in the appearance of this place.

In addition, Taocun's business has also developed relatively rapidly in recent years.As Xu Xiangdong and others have seen in Fushan County before, commodities traveling from south to north are generally collected and distributed in the Taocun area, and then distributed to various places, so the business here can't be prosperous!Of course, Xu Xiangdong is certainly concerned about the local business prosperity, because it means the future income of the railway, but compared with these future things, Vice President Xu is obviously more concerned about the construction of the railway.

"Emperor Yao once asked his courtiers who could be his successor, and they suggested that his eldest son succeed him, but Emperor Yao believed that his son's character would prevent him from becoming a wise king, so he bestowed this honor on one of his faithful but the minister declined, and recommended a young countryman whose fidelity and prudence he considered fit for the task, because he could love his wicked father, his stepmother, and his quarrelsome Brother, he also has enough willpower to lead the whole country..." Beside a railway construction site, it was lunch time, and the workers were sitting on the ground, eating while listening to the lectures arranged by the mission officials above. history class.

It is worth mentioning that these people are a battalion of the 200th Infantry Regiment of the 11th Division of the Denglai New Army. Because of dissatisfaction, there are currently only more than 10 people in the regiment, but the proportion of veterans is very high, unlike No.[-], which was formed at the same time. Regiment, [-]th Regiment, the so-called veterans who have war experience (in fact, some people have only fought once or twice, and have never even participated in a large-scale battle). The proportion is less than [-]%, and the rest are almost all recruits. Danzi, it's too horrible to look at -- such a situation, Liao Xiaoyao was very lamented at the beginning, lamenting that the source of high-quality soldiers is getting less and less, so that the newly formed Denglai New Army Third Division, Fourth Division and Zhejiang New Army Fifth Division They couldn't raise enough veterans, non-commissioned officers, and officers, which made it impossible to complete the formation of the troops.

The Tenth Regiment is the main regiment of the Fourth Division of the New Army, so Liao Xiaoyao specially ordered a lot of veterans to be deployed in order to form combat effectiveness as soon as possible.In order to achieve this goal, the division, regiment, and battalion chief officers at all levels of the department tried their best to continuously search for "talented people" with war experience (some veterans in their forties who had already retired from the army and returned to their hometowns were also persuaded to return to the army. , also speechless), they even singled out many Polish prisoners of war and Ukrainian Cossacks who were exiled here, pardoned their identities, and then incorporated them into the tenth regiment in order to increase the number of veterans and better pass on new recruits.

Of course, with the influx of so many Poles, Ukrainians, Portuguese (recruited in Macau) and the brave Shandan savages in the Tenth Regiment, this cohesion is naturally very problematic.And if this cohesion is not resolved, the running-in time will be greatly extended in the future. For senior officers who want to see the formation of combat effectiveness quickly, they will not have the patience to wait.Therefore, some missionaries were invited to teach them cultural lessons, and history was an important part of it, although these people from all over the world didn't feel anything at all when they heard it.

"Our soldiers work very hard, because not only do they have to train, they often have to work on the construction site like you have seen, and complete most of the work done by non-national laborers in the mainland. Just like the first one in Taocun The division headquarters of the Fourth Division, the barracks of the Tenth Regiment, the houses where the family members of the army live, and the roads leading to all places have to be completed by themselves." Jiang Yunfan, who accompanied Xu Xiangdong all the way, saw that he was watching carefully, and explained softly Said: "Take road construction as an example. When the first batch of technicians from your company arrived, if anyone went to work in the field, the staff of the Security Command would assign him a few soldiers and a mule to let him They accompanied the technicians on field exploration, guarded their safety, and helped them carry heavy luggage. Many people said that these people had a lot of habits and might not be able to bear the hardships, but it turned out that they were wrong, and they have not seen many of them so far. For example, the escaped sergeant, of course, this may also have something to do with their nowhere to escape."

"Take your time. Just like our rubber-smoke line railway, everything has to be done slowly. Anyway, the Qing Dynasty is in trouble now, and it will not send a large army to attack our Denglai, so there is still time." Xu Xiangdongkuan and He said: "When the railway is completed, the army construction is almost completed. Although they can't compare with the local regular army or even the reserve army, they are still above the level of the army. They are not inferior to the elite green camps of the Qing Dynasty. It needs to be more advanced. Therefore, if it is just defense, it is enough, don’t forget that we will have trains that can maneuver in the future, and we can easily form a force advantage locally, which the Qing army does not have.”

In fact, to a certain extent, what Xu Xiangdong said just now is correct. The East Bank has time, because the Qing Dynasty is really "in trouble".The first is the much-anticipated scuffle in Sichuan. Today, the Qing army, Wu army, and Shun army are still seeing each other. In the battle to aid the Qing army, such as the battle in which the veteran Zhang Neng defeated the elite Wu army in Chongqing, the loss of his own troops was not small, and the loss of equipment and military resources was even more astonishing.Now, the soldiers of Dashun Zuoying have blunted, and the battle line with the Wu army and Qing army is basically stable in the area of ​​Bazhou-Nanchong-Fotuguan. The newly acquired half of Kuizhou Prefecture, most of Chongqing Prefecture, most of Shunqing Prefecture and a small half of Baoning Prefecture.Perhaps, the only place where the Shun Army is still maintaining an active military offensive is probably Zhang Neng who has moved his headquarters to Ba County, but he is Li Laiheng's direct descendant, and the Zuoying may not be willing to see him advance all the way. up.

In addition, some chieftains in southern Sichuan raised more and more troops, and the rule of Wu Sangui's military and political clique in Bozhou Xuanweisi, Wusafu and other places almost collapsed.In addition, Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo and others in the Southern Ming Dynasty secretly contacted and sent troops to the north to respond. The Wu army stationed here lost several battles in a row and suffered heavy losses. At present, they have shrunk in several fortified cities, waiting for changes. I don't know how long it can be delayed.According to the gossip circulating in Nanming, Wu Sangui has been bedridden in CD for many days at this time, so he might not be able to take things seriously.And if Wu Sangui can't take things seriously, then although his subordinates still have a certain amount of combat power, it is a problem how much they can play under the chaos of people's hearts. Therefore, the Ming army is not only fighting military battles, but also Fighting political battles, he intends to take advantage of Nanming's golden signboard to instigate rebellion against some military and political officials of the Wu family. While strengthening his own strength, he can also quickly expand his territory.They always feel that this is much more efficient than the "stupid" Shunjun group who robbed the territory with a knife and a gun.

The Qing government is naturally very nervous about the current situation in Sichuan, and they have been trying to break the siege for Sichuan, constantly sending troops from Shaanxi and Gansu to the south to help. , can't let him take the entire Land of Abundance for his own use?

However, after dispatching a few batches of more combat-friendly Shaanxi-Gansu Green Battalions to go south to Sichuan, the Qing Dynasty suddenly stopped recently. This not only puzzled the Shun army, but also made people on the east coast somewhat puzzled.The staff officers of the Denglei Security Command held several meetings to discuss and deduce this. However, due to insufficient information, they were still unable to come up with a statement that would convince most people.However, one of the more acceptable statements is that there are changes in the Northwest!

To be more precise, it was Gazan (that is, Galdan) who tossed some things in the Western Regions and Mongolian grasslands, such as controlling the entire Oirat Mongolia, etc., so that he was always extremely vigilant against the Mongolian tribes and died for decades The Tartar court was a little scared, so they did not dare to weaken the garrison in Shaanxi and Gansu, especially in Gansu. They were afraid that if Junggar couldn't think about leading an army to raid Ganzhou, then the Qing court, which had no soldiers to defend, would be destroyed. Wax up.

But in the final analysis, the above are just speculations by people on the east coast, and they have never found conclusive evidence or conclusive news.However, the Qing army's move to suspend the northern army's southward movement is also a fact. It seems that its northwest border has indeed been under certain pressure, otherwise it would not be so.Of course, most of the staff of the Security Command also believed that Galdan’s influence at this time may not have reached the Gansu area, but it may have deeply affected the Mongol tribes in Turpan, Hami and other places. These tribes were originally subject to the Qing court. But after the rise of Junggar Mongolia, it may not be so. Perhaps this is the main reason for the Qing court’s incomparable tension. I can't sit still, especially when the new army is being established in the Qing Dynasty, and the status of the Han generals has risen in a straight line. Doesn't Emperor Kangxi have a little bit of compulsion?How can it be!

However, in any case, the Qing government's suspension of the mobilization of the Shaanxi-Gansu army to the south objectively relieved the pressure on the Shun army, allowing them to digest the territory and attack the enemy more calmly.I believe that when Wu Sangui drives to the west of Hehe, the dispirited Wu Jun will inevitably collapse, and then the situation will change drastically. Maybe the opportunity to occupy Sichuan will come completely. Of course, the premise is that they can win every battle. Expel all armed forces coveting Sichuan, including the Ming and Qing armies.

Since the way to rescue Sichuan from Shaanxi, Gansu and Sichuan was impracticable, the Qing army did not give up. Instead, it concentrated its forces and supplies and launched several large-scale offensives in Hubei and Jiangnan.Among them, the front line in Hubei was full of fortresses and rivers and streams. The Qing army did not make large-scale progress, and only gnawed down more than a dozen Shunjun fortresses.Later, Li Laiheng, the emperor of Shun Kingdom, went to the front line to supervise the battle. The morale of the Shun army was greatly boosted, and some fortresses were regained, and then they played the main confrontation with the Qing army. Although the Qing army seemed to have taken the initiative, it was still unable to achieve a breakthrough The progress can only be called in vain.

On the Jiangxi battlefield in the east, the tens of thousands of Qing troops under the command of Nanjing won consecutive battles and penetrated into many counties in the eastern part of Jiangxi. The situation seemed to be good.However, when Guo Shian, who was defeated and retreated, received the aid of weapons from the east coast and assembled some old troops to advance eastward again, the Qing army suffered several defeats in a row, and the battle line retreated to the original place again-the two armies fought several times here. For months, thousands of people were killed and wounded each, but in the end they didn't make any tricks, and they were also drunk.

To sum up, generally speaking, the Shun army has made some progress in Sichuan in the past six months, and is currently accumulating strength and preparing to launch a new round of large-scale offensive.Compared with Sichuan, although the battles in other places were also very lively, there was not much change in the battle front, and no one side won a decisive victory. This does not seem to be good news for the Qing Dynasty, especially in Geer. When the signs of Dan's strong rise became more and more obvious.

Under such circumstances, no one would believe that the Qing army would be so stupid as to start wars in Denglai, the northeast, Jiangnan and the east bank. It would have been good if they did not deploy troops from the Qingzhou camp and Hangzhou camp to aid other battlefields. Isn't it crazy to beat the people on the east coast?Therefore, this is the main reason why Xu Xiangdong just mentioned "there is still time to build troops". Now the San Francisco in the Far East is probably the time when the external threat is the least in ten years.

On September 1677, 9, after visiting the Taocun Railway Station under construction, Xu Xiangdong and others did not delay too long, but continued to move forward, walked out of the narrow mountain valley, and entered the endless plain.Here is the territory of Laiyang County, a large agricultural county and a major granary.

In Laiyang County, Xu Xiangdong did not look at the railway line too much, but went deep into the local villages and markets. He spent more than half a month carefully inspecting the price and output of each commodity, and at the same time evaluated the local market. The cost of farmland water conservancy facilities and transportation and logistics, and its professionalism even made Jiang Yunfan and others feel ashamed.You know, a lot of this work is what they should do normally.

Xu Xiangdong asked his subordinates to carefully record the information obtained from the investigation, and planned to take it home for research and discussion.Later, accompanied by Jiang Yunfan, he continued south without stopping, and arrived at the Jiaozhou Fortress, the end of the Jiaoyan Railway, in late September 1677.

(End of this chapter)