Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1811

On March 1680, 5, it rained moderately.

Dong Dalang, who was wearing a rubber raincoat, jumped off the deck and landed on the stone pier trestle in Dinghai Port.As the nominal "landlord", Ding Ji, the commander of the [-]th Division of the Servant Army, accompanied by Ma Bian, came forward to exchange a few words.

Ding Ji is in his thirties this year. He is not tall, but he is very stocky.His father was Ding Weiyue, who had voted for Marshal Mo in the canal area of ​​Shandong. After his father passed away in old age, he took over the post of commander of the [-]th Division of the Servant Army. San Francisco is the usual practice, and it is also common for Ding Ji to take over as the division commander.

But he is rather unlucky, or he has been a little unlucky since his father's generation.Ordinarily, it was a blessing to be stationed in Dinghai County, a prosperous place in the south of the Yangtze River, by the heavenly soldiers on the east bank.But the problem is that although the people on the east bank granted Dinghai County to their Tenth Division, they did not give them any governance or financial rights. A certain percentage of the annual fiscal revenue is returned to them as military allowances, which is a bit of a trap.

Although, the weapons and ammunition, military equipment, food and clothing and other subsidies received by the other servant army divisions every quarter, they also have them, and they are in full.However, compared with other "earth emperors" horizontally, the father and son of the Ding family always felt that they had too little financial power and no money to live on. It was impossible to make a fortune by collecting taxes from the local government.

Therefore, the father and son of the Ding family, who had nowhere to go to the enemy and had no guts to treason, could only accept the reality honestly in the end, put their minds right, and continue to work hard for the people on the east coast.In order to get rich, Ding's father and son had no choice but to find ways to invest in some industries in Dinghai County and Yin County, the prefectural city. Relying on their personal connections in Ningbo and the convenience of the military system, they started a business and earned a lot of money in a short time. A huge family business.

Up to now, although Ding Ji, the second-generation military leader of the Ding family, is still a small warlord and a small feudal town without land, his family has a lot of property, which may not be as good as the first one who owns Dengzhou City (that is, Penglai County) as a fief. Dong Dalang, the commander of the Fifth Division, is definitely no worse than Xie Zhenzhi, the commander of the Sixth Division (the fiefdom is Weihai County), let alone Hu Xingbang, the commander of the No.12 Division (Changguo County), whose fiefdom is even poorer. Among the nine remaining servants The division is basically at an average level, which is not bad.

With the situation of the Tenth Division, it is no wonder that there have been repeated rumors in Yinxian County recently that the designation of the Tenth Division will be abolished, and its troops will be selected to fill in the Fifth Division of the Zhejiang New Army, which still has not yet recruited enough soldiers.Although Ding Ji was not very willing about this matter, he should not have a strong sense of resistance, because the people on the east bank also promised to give them greater benefits in terms of business, let's call it an exchange of benefits.

Of course, even if Ding Ji is not happy, this matter is actually out of his hands. One is that the people on the east bank have a lot of prestige, and his arms can't twist his thighs. Second, isn't this matter to the officers and soldiers of the [-]th Division of the Servant Army? Is it a good thing?Are you willing to continue to be the chief soldier of a small local warlord with no name and no distinction under Ding Ji, with that pitiful salary, or are you willing to be reorganized by the Fifth Division of the New Army and become a serious East Coast reserve force? Woolen cloth?How to choose is actually very clear at a glance. This is the general trend, and it cannot be blocked by his Ding family.

Although Dong Dalang is far away in Shandong, he is actually not ignorant of these things that happened in the south.The current situation of the Ding family father and son, to be honest, he is both envious and worried. Although he was the first to express his support when Liao Xiaoyao wanted to eliminate the servants, but it was just a political speculation under the pressure of the situation, and it did not represent his real thoughts.What's more, people's ideas will change. After taking over the Fifth Division and Dengzhou City from his uncle Dong Xueli's position, he found it difficult to give up his current fame, power and wealth after he tasted it. , Therefore, after Liao Xiaoyao gave up the idea of ​​reorganizing servants, he stopped talking and continued to be the emperor in Dengzhou City.

"Mr. Ding is doing a very big business now. Brother, I am in Penglai, and I have heard the officers under my command talk about the silks and satins produced by Ding's workshop. They are really sold to various prefectures. I'm afraid I won't be able to make money in a year for this alone." Don't worry, I'm so envious of my brother, I want to imitate Dong Shi, but I don't know where to start, it's really frustrating." As soon as we met, Dong Dalang talked about business as if he was familiar with himself.

"Mr. Dong's donkey skin business is also very popular in Dinghai. Where in the ten counties of Ningbo Prefecture does not buy donkey-hide gelatin? The chairman is making a lot of money with this business. Admire, admire!" Ding Ji also laughed haha said.

The two of them flattered each other here, which made Xie Zhen, the commander of the Sixth Division who disembarked right behind Dong Dalang, feel a little bit annoyed.He was the son of Xie Qian, the leader of the rebel army who rebelled against the Qing Dynasty in Qingzhou, and he has been in charge of the sixth division commander for only a few years.Because the defense area is in Weihai County, northeast of the Jiaodong Peninsula, the population is sparse, the products are barren, and the number of subordinates is large (there are five thousand people), so life has always been tight, and it cannot be said that it is poor, but after nine servants The commander of the army must be in the lower reaches, so in his heart he has always had some dislike for Ding Ji, a businessman who is more handsome than a soldier.

However, although Weihai is poor, being poor also has its advantages, that is, the father and son of the Xie family always regard the army as their biggest capital, and regard military exploits as the main means for them to obtain bonuses and even official positions.Therefore, the army has been strictly governed over the years. The Sixth Division of Shengsheng General, which was originally among the top ten servant divisions (the first and second divisions with the most combat effectiveness 20 years ago, have not yet been abolished, and the No.11 and No.12 divisions have not yet been abolished. Established) the lowest-ranked rioters army gradually led to a first-class strong army that performed well in several parades, slightly better than Dong Dalang's army, and far better than Ding Ji's army, which can be seen from this.

Of course, the little dissatisfaction and contempt in his heart will naturally not be shown in the form, and Xie Zhen still has this.Therefore, he quickly joined the conversation between Dong Dalang and Ding Ji, and then ordered the adjutant to take people to organize the vanguard to land, and the three of them went to the city to eat and drink.

After they left, the last heavyweight to disembark was Niu Gui, commander of the Ninth Division of the Servant Army (the division's defense line was Huang County).Because of some embarrassment between the parents (during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Niu Chenghu, who was the general of Ningxia at the time, learned that the former Ming general Dong Xueli led his troops to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, so he killed his whole family who stayed in Ningxia) , has always had a bad relationship with Dong Xueli's uncle and nephew, and it can even be said to be bad, so he has always gone his own way with them.

The Ninth Division has a total of 6000 soldiers, which is the largest among the servant divisions.The reason is that the division has always been daring to fight, and has repeatedly made military exploits. Under the background of the servant army divisions either reducing the number of troops, or simply abolishing the designation, the division was allowed to increase the number of troops by [-], which is also an unusual number. up.

Although the division's fiefdom is in Huang County, due to the needs of the war, the Ninth Division has been fighting in Laizhou Prefecture and Qingzhou Prefecture for most of these years (for example, taking advantage of the earthquake in Tancheng, Shandong Province, and lightly attacking Changyi County It’s the Ministry), and they didn’t spend much time in the lair, so the combat power was maintained quite well, and it was faintly above the Sixth Division led by Xie Zhen. It is not an exaggeration to say that it ranked first among the nine servant divisions, so Niu Guiao also has proud capital.

The 6000th, 3000th, and [-]th Divisions of the Servant Army who came in from the north to the south add up to about [-] people, plus [-] people from the Ding Ji Department of the [-]th Division, which was stationed in the south. There are thousands of soldiers and horses.Counting the lead of the Seventh Mixed Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Junio's unit, this would be worth [-] yuan. Considering their long-term food and military supplies are sufficient, and their morale is good, then in this southern land, they can also be regarded as one. A strong army, once it is put into a certain battlefield, it will definitely cause a series of reactions, and even completely change the situation on the battlefield.

As the commander-in-chief of this military operation to collect immigrants, Lieutenant Colonel Junio, the commander of the Seventh Mixed Battalion, is still waiting for a ship in Jiaozhou Port—because the immigration transportation season has just ended, many ships are in urgent need of repairs and maintenance, otherwise they will not be able to sail. Therefore, the large troops going south this time are still stranded in Shandong, and only some of the pioneers have arrived in Ningbo. A mixed battalion will be stationed in the Far East), unexpectedly caught up with this operation, it is the last chance to gain honor and military exploits before returning to China, so he himself attaches great importance to it, and decided that this battle must be fought beautifully of.For this reason, even though this meeting is in Jiaozhou, Lieutenant Colonel Junio ​​has devoted himself to studying the situation in the south, and has recruited many subordinates to discuss and discuss it in order to prepare for the offensive that will be launched around June and July in summer. Prepare accordingly.

On May 1680, 5, Lieutenant Colonel Junio ​​arrived in Dinghai County with the 22th Mixed Battalion and the large troops going down to the south of the Yangtze River.At this time, the entire Ningbo Prefecture has also been mobilized, and the counties have begun to collect food, supplies, and draft animals. At the same time, a large number of civilian husbands have also been mobilized to provide logistics services for the army.

On May 5, Ma Wenqiang, the leader of the Southern Exploration Team and Southern Security Commander, convened a meeting in the Yin County Government Office with Junio, the commanders of the servant divisions, and the heads of the logistics and intelligence departments to discuss the next move.At this meeting, Ma Wenqiang proposed to send troops to the neighboring Shaoxing Prefecture to reverse the current situation where people on the east bank are extremely passive here, and to quickly advance northward, striving to wipe out as many of the Qing court's vital forces as possible, occupying areas including Shangyu, Yuyao, The affluent areas in the west of the Ningshao Plain, including Shanyin, plundered a lot of people, materials, gold and silver, and various treasures, damaging the morale of the Qing army and shaking its will to resist.

This suggestion, to be honest, is far from the proposal discussed at the beginning to choose an opportunity to land in southern Anhui and cooperate with the Shunjun Jiangxi Group to fight several victories, and the result unsurprisingly caused great controversy.However, Ma Wenqiang's reason is also ready-made, that is, the Hangzhou camp of the Qing army has frequently used troops in Shaoxing Prefecture in the past few years, and the people on the east coast are under great pressure. Not only Shengxian County was lost but also Xinchang was defended very dangerously. At that time, the rangers of the Qing army repeatedly appeared within the sight of the city wall, showing the situation.

The reason why the situation in Shaoxing Prefecture is like this has a lot to do with the sluggish regime of King Lu in southern Zhejiang.This local separatist regime closely related to the east coast has suffered several consecutive defeats in the southern part of Shaoxing Prefecture in recent years, with nearly 2 casualties. The mansion was also lost under the attack of the Qing army in southern Anhui (belonging to the command of Nanjing Daying) and the Qing army in Hangzhou. Even Pujiang County in Jinhua Mansion was taken away by the Qing army again. He was so stunned that he had to adjust his center of gravity and tried every means to help King Lu stabilize the situation.

As a result, the Qing army in Shaoxing Prefecture once again gained the upper hand, so that the people on the east bank had to abandon their plan to go northward along the eastern edge of Kuaiji and the valley of Cao'e River, and instead defend Xinchang County, an important military town and a transportation node, to maintain the same relationship with King Lu. Ministry contact.That is to say, limited by the dilemma of insufficient troops—Ningbo Mansion counted the servants, and the people on the east bank only had a strength of more than 10. Mario, with [-] people in the camp, was a little bit powerless-the people on the east bank were keenly aware of the danger, gave up their plan to go north, and turned to defensive positions to keep their existing territory.

However, after the more than 7000 people who came from the north to the south arrived in Ningbo, Ma Wenqiang, the captain of the southern pioneer team, insisted that the balance of forces between the enemy and ourselves had changed. , the number of guns, the number of armor, etc. have not fallen behind, and even have an advantage, so the time to restart the plan to go north along the Cao'e River is completely ripe.Especially now that they can contact the King of Lu again, encourage him not to be discouraged, pack up his soldiers and horses and continue to go north, contain some of the soldiers and horses in the Hangzhou camp, and create conditions for the people on the east bank to go north and break through.

To be honest, Junio ​​doesn't think this plan is very bad, and it can even be said that it is completely worth a try.He always felt that, compared to the unpredictable risk of Laoshi's expedition to land in southern Anhui-the people on the east bank vaguely detected that the Qing Dynasty took advantage of the people on the east bank to drive a lot of wooden stakes under the surface of the Yangtze River. Naturally, there is no problem with the navigation of the steamer, but it will be troublesome for a large ship with a deep draft, and the bottom of the ship will be damaged if you are not careful.Although this news has not been confirmed so far, it is better to believe it or not. Compared with risking the loss of many large ships and countless supplies to fight in southern Anhui, is it more feasible to attack Shaoxing Mansion at close range?Lieutenant Colonel Junio ​​felt that this was right, so he finally supported Ma Wenqiang's proposal at the meeting.

And the commander-in-chief of this battle, Junio, has expressed his position in this way, and the commanders of the servants are naturally irrelevant, so the plan was decided like this: the army on the east bank will not go to southern Anhui, and improve to attack Shaoxing Mansion!For this reason, various ministries immediately began to gather in Fenghua and Xinchang through the national road system built over the years to prepare for the war.

(End of this chapter)