1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2363
Whether it is the cultivation of skilled craftsmen or the iterative upgrading of processing technology, it will inevitably be an extremely slow process for the military manufacturing industry in this era.And Haihan's sudden emergence and rapid evolution in the field of military manufacturing is naturally due to the many black technologies brought to this time and space by the people who traveled through.

It took only ten years for the arsenal located in the Tiandu Industrial Zone to upgrade the manufacturing capacity of individual weapons from flintlock guns to breech-loading fixed-load rifles, completing the technological upgrade route that would have taken centuries. How to overcome all kinds of difficulties is not something that other countries of the same period can simply imitate.

After the capture of Hirado Port last year, both Qian Tiandun and Wang Tom conducted on-the-spot inspections of the military workshops found there, and concluded that the military technology mastered by the Hirado Clan still remained at the level of handicraft workshops, even if they It has the ability to manufacture Western-style flintlock guns and small-caliber artillery, and its production capacity is difficult to meet the needs of large-scale installation, let alone a large number of exported weapons like Haihan.

Since the Qing Dynasty was able to equip the army with muskets and cannons on an organized scale, it can basically show that they have obtained the military technology of the Hirado clan. However, Qian Tiandun believes that its production capacity will not be better than that of the Hirado clan. How many.This part of the weapons currently equipped by the Qing army may have already reached the full production capacity of its military industry organization since it was put into production.

Wang Tom said: "What you said is reasonable, but even if it's just like this, I guess the Ming army can't hold back the Qing army who has changed into new weapons."

"They didn't intend to carry it at all." Qian Tiandun said sarcastically: "Just like in previous years, when the Ming army discovered the momentum of the Qing army going south, they took the initiative to retreat to the city to avoid confronting the Qing army. Showdown on the battlefield."

"Da Ming can't afford to lose!" Wang Tom said clearly: "They have no choice but to preserve their strength. The Qing army will naturally retreat after looting the place. If you fight the Qing army to the death, wait until the enemy retreats. The peasants in the Central Plains If the army comes out to make trouble again, the government will have no way to suppress it."

Internal and external troubles, which one should be solved first is a difficult problem facing Daming at present.These two wounds were too big and deep, and Da Ming might not be able to completely solve one of them with the power of the whole country. He could only choose the lesser of two evils, and deal with the one he could chew and beat first.

The Qing army, which had begun to organize and equip firearms, was more effective than before. If the Ming army faced a direct battle, it would probably lose even worse.Therefore, in the face of the menacing Qing army, Daming could only choose to avoid and not fight, and to preserve its strength to cope with the domestic crisis.

From the perspective of a bystander, such a coping strategy is of course inappropriate, but in the past few years, Daming has been exhausted and no longer has much room for trial and error. You can only press and hold one of them first.

Haihan formed a military confrontation with the Manchu Qing on the Liaodong Peninsula, and in the end it could only hold back a part of the Manchu Qing troops, and there was no way to completely prevent the Qing army from going south to knock down the pass.Under such circumstances, if Daming still couldn't stand it, he could only sigh in disappointment.

Of course, even if the situation is passive, Da Ming is not completely hopeless. As long as Chongzhen is willing to lower his figure a little and take the initiative to ask Haihan for more military assistance, the Haihan executive committee will probably still think of it for the sake of the same clan Give help.It's just that whether this situation will appear in the future, no one can make an accurate prediction at the moment.

The size of the Qing army's firearms troops, combat methods, generals leading troops, and garrison locations are not mentioned in more details in the information obtained so far, so Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun have no way of judging its real situation.But one thing should be confirmed. The Qing army obviously did not intend to deploy limited elite troops to the Daheishan defense line to compete with the Haihan army.

"This information... has limited reference value. If we want to force out the Qing army's musketeers, we must make more noise."

The "bigger movement" that Wang Tom mentioned, of course, refers to the looting of the coast of Liaodong in the early winter of last year. The Qing army did not respond or counterattack to this. The strongest elite troops.

Qian Tiandun said: "An even bigger movement? Then we can only go around to Liaodong Bay on the Bohai Sea side, land directly at Yingkou, and cut off the road passage between Shenyang and Daheishan. The Qing army should not be able to bear it."

The location of Yingkou is exactly at the midpoint between the Daheishan defense line and Shenyang, and the mountainous terrain of the Liaodong Peninsula makes this transportation line only along the coast. If the supply line of the tens of thousands of Qing troops on the defense line is not cut off, heavy troops will inevitably be sent to regain control of this transportation line.At that time, the elite troops of the Qing army may also appear on this battlefield.

Of course, this kind of landing battle is not as easy as it is said in words. The local area is three or four hundred miles away from Jinzhou, and the mission is not completed even if the landing is successful. It is necessary to build a position in the area for a long time to completely cut off The transportation line of the Qing army will do.The amount of troops and combat supplies needed to be put into the front line is not a small amount, and it will not be as simple as sweeping the almost undefended coast of Liaodong before.

Tom Wang subconsciously shook his head and said, "It's impossible to make such a big move now, and the executive committee probably won't agree to such a plan."

To launch such a large-scale campaign, the military expenditure required must be astronomical. In the past few months, the two major missions of sweeping the coast of Liaodong and sailing around the Sea of ​​Japan have just spent a lot of military expenditure. Will they agree to launch a third operation in such an intensive time in the northern theater?

"Don't be in a hurry, let's observe the trend of this year's situation. Besides, we shouldn't be the ones who are really anxious, right?" Tom Wang patted Qian Tiandun on the shoulder, got up and walked to the office door: "I'll go soak first A hot bath makes everyone feel bad on the boat, so let’s talk about it later.”

Qian Tiandun waved his hand with a smile, motioning him to make arrangements by himself.In fact, during the conversation just now, he had already smelled Tom Wang's body, but everyone is a veteran, so of course he is used to this kind of thing, so he didn't point it out.

After Tom Wang left, Qian Tiandun was still thinking about what he said before leaving—who should really worry about the current situation?

Daming, who was suffering from internal and external troubles, and Man Qing, who had difficulty taking care of both ends, should be more anxious than Haihan, who was sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight.Daming could not just sit back and watch the Manchus grow stronger and stronger, from resisting rituals to encroaching on their own land and threatening the rule of the Zhu family.And Man Qing is also aware of Daming's current predicament, and will definitely not give Daming enough time to deal with internal conflicts.

For these two parties, the existence of Haihan is also a threat that cannot be ignored.Even Da Ming, who currently maintains a superficial ally with Hai Han, has always had a very complicated attitude towards Hai Han.Daming has already been seized by Haihan and occupied a lot of coastal territory. Even Jinzhou, which Haihan claimed that Chen Bing Liaodong was attracting firepower for Daming, did not speak to Daming's prophet before taking over.

However, after Haihan occupied Jinzhou, he fought back and forth with the Qing army in the first year, and then fell into a long-term confrontation. He did not fight to the death as Daming hoped. A certain degree of tacit agreement has been achieved.From the standpoint of Ming Dynasty, he must be worried that if the Manchus made a breakthrough in the north and the world was in chaos, Haihan would suddenly stab him in the back, echoing the Manchus north and south, and carve up the Zhu family.

But the feelings of those involved must be different from those of Daming. The Manchu Qing suffered a lot from Haihan intermittently in the past few years, and they must have clearly understood that their own military strength was not as good as Haihan, so they had to deploy heavy troops in Liaodong to prevent Haihan from continuing to attack. North expansion site.In this way, it is inevitable that Haihan will catch the loopholes and enter the Manchu-controlled area from time to time to carry out looting.

If the Manchu Qing wanted to compete with Haihan, they had to quickly improve their own strength by continuously plundering Ming Dynasty, but Haihan had already made an open alliance with Ming Dynasty, and the Qing court inevitably worried whether it would On the battlefield of going south to attack Ming, I ran into the troops of the Haihan Army.

However, Haihan is limited by the fact that Liaodong is too far away from the mainland to invest more troops and other resources in the north, so it does not have much obsession with expanding its territory in the north. Keeping the bridgehead of Jinzhou is the basic strategy in the near future.As for going to war with the Qing army, the few Haihan generals stationed in the north did not have too radical ideas. Eliminating more Qing troops would actually have very limited actual benefits to Haihan, and it would just be a waste of money for Daming.

The Executive Committee and the Ministry of National Defense also had a relatively clear position on the role they should play in the situation in the north, that is, to use the momentum of the Manchu Qing's external expansion to maintain the balance of power in the region.The momentum of the Qing Dynasty was too strong, and when Da Ming couldn't stand it, he tightened the dog chain of the Jinzhou defense line, so that Da Ming could have a breathing space.If Da Ming had the illusion that I could do it again after the weather cleared and the rain stopped, then Hai Han would relax at the right time, let Man Qing bite Da Ming a few bites, and let Da Ming calm down and find his position.

Therefore, regarding the idea of ​​"making a big noise and forcing the elite troops of the Qing Dynasty to show up", Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun basically stayed in verbal discussions, and would not easily put it into practice.Even if a battle plan like landing at Yingkou was feasible, they would not take the initiative without Da Ming showing nothing.

At the same time, in Jinzhou, six hundred miles west of Datongjiang Base, Chen Yixin was watching his son running around in the yard in his manor, holding a small wooden knife in his hand, fighting back and forth with virtual opponents, From time to time, he would fall to the ground because of too much action.Chen Yixin didn't help him either, but just told him to get up by himself.

Chen Yixin's son is already three years old. Because of good nutrition, he is bigger than other children of the same age.Chen Yixin wanted him to inherit his father's career when he grew up, so he consciously cultivated his son's combat skills since he was a child.

Of course, this approach was not approved by his wife Ma Yuling. The child's mother still hopes to let her son study and practice calligraphy well. When he grows up, he will go back to Sanya to take the exam and become a civil servant in the government office. It's not like his old man who spends every day on the dusty school field.

"What time is it, don't you go to study?" Ma Yuling's voice sounded in the yard, and the little guy immediately fell silent, dropped the wooden knife in his hand, and trotted back to the house.

After scolding the younger ones, Ma Yuling began to scold the older ones again: "My husband teaches him how to fight and kill all day long. No matter how old he is, won't he become the devil of the world?"

Chen Yixin smiled and said: "Ma'am, my son has just turned three years old, why is it necessary to force him to read and read so early? He likes to dance knives and sticks by nature, which shows that he has a talent in this area. We should guide and train him well. Don't kill children's interest."

Ma Yuling glared and said, "It's not enough for you to serve in the army alone, and you have to drag the children in, that's not okay."

Chen Yixin said: "From now on, it will be our family's family inheritance. Besides, haven't many younger generations of your Ma family volunteered to join the army in recent years?"

"The Ma family is the Ma family, and my son is my son. They are two different things!" Ma Yuling was not so easy to persuade: "I heard that General Qian arranged for his son to study in Sanya. If I remember correctly, he is older than my boy. One or two years old? Husband can't learn from others?"

Chen Yixin thought that Qian Tiandun's wife, Luo Wudan, was an educated journalist who naturally had more obsession with cultural education, and she also had some contacts in Sanya, so she could pave the way for her son in advance. It's me who has been stationed abroad for many years, and I can compare with people in Sanya who have almost only official documents.

But of course this kind of thing cannot be said in front of his wife. Chen Yixin persuaded: "Didn't we discuss it before? If we want to go back to Sanya, it must be approved by the Executive Committee. Now I am arranged to be an official in Jinzhou. I just resigned and returned to China? Besides, even if I bring my son back to Sanya, how he will grow up in the future may not be able to develop according to your ideas."

Ma Yuling couldn't say no to him, so she finally gave up the debate and went into the house to watch her son study.Chen Yixin shook his head helplessly, thinking that this woman is really good, and she also knew that her son should not lose at the starting line.It's just limited by the conditions. If you really want to send your son to Sanya all the way, who will take care of such a small child?Although Ma Yuling is smart, it is a completely different social environment in Sanya, and she may not be able to adapt to it.

While Chen Yixin was deep in thought, an orderly came in and delivered a telegram that he had just received.Chen Yixin opened the folded telegram and saw that it was a message from the Datongjiang Base, saying that Tom Wang had returned to the base with his winter voyage fleet.

Chen Yixin slowly refolded the telegram, thinking that it is good to be as free as Tom Wang, without family burdens, and he can do what he wants to do at any time.If I hadn't started a family in Fushan County, maybe I would have switched defenses to other places by this time.But this idea just flashed through his mind, and then was forgotten.

(End of this chapter)