Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1668 Rising Storm (Thirteen)

And when Lu Fang came to Yantai as a messenger to ask for reinforcements, Commander Liao in Shandong was also distressed because of the shortage of troops.

In Liaodong, Prince Kang Jieshu is still making the final effort.He no longer expects to completely drive the people from the east bank into the sea, because after the Liaohai thawed and a large amount of war materials were transported to Dandong, Jiulian City, and Kuandian, the yellow-clothed thieves who mainly defended the fortress were basically invincible place.Therefore, although the Qing army recently raided and defeated a group of more than [-] soldiers of the Korean imperial camp who were on the march (ordered to reinforce Kuandian from Dandong), beheaded and captured countless people, they still treated the large number of people on the east coast. The fortresses, large and small, felt hopeless. They lacked heavy weapons and were really powerless to attack.

Now, the main reason why the Qing army insisted on not retreating was to at least capture at least one strong castle, so that Prince Kang would look better.Therefore, recently they launched a continuous onslaught on Kuandian County, mobilized a lot of artillery, and then drove thousands of captured North Korean soldiers to sign the army, and carried out a life-threatening attack.

Under such circumstances, Major Liao Degong of Liaodong has repeatedly asked him to allocate more troops, but considering the defense of the base of Denglei, Liao Xiaoyao has never agreed to this request of his own family, but insisted on keeping the troops in the Laizhou capital to maintain the thickness of the so-called canal defense line.

Therefore, when Lu Fang came to Yantai with Ma Wenqiang's mission, one can imagine how embarrassed Liao Xiaoyao was!

"Soldiers from the Qing army gathered in Qingzhou Prefecture, and Jiaolaixinhe was under great pressure for defense. The collection of elite soldiers and strong generals was not enough. How could it be possible to draw more troops? Wait a minute, I will think about it " This was Liao Xiaoyao's reply to Lu Fang, the captain of the Denglai Pioneering Team at that time, and he was so choked that he couldn't speak.The tragedy is that he will not be able to return to Ningbo in the short term.Because Commander-in-Chief Liao has already said that he still needs to "consider" in light of the current situation, what else can he do?Continue to wait for the news in Yantai honestly.

While waiting for the news, Lu Fang did not stay idle, but visited some old friends he met many years ago.Nowadays, these friends have generally worked in various departments of Denglai for many years, so they have found a lot of news after walking around, and some of them made him sigh.

First of all, what excites him the most is the Jiaolai Canal, which is being dredged by the Denglai pioneering team government at a huge cost.The canal stretches from Haicangkou of Laizhou Bay in the north to Jiaozhou Bay in the south, and spans the entire Jiaodong Peninsula. It was dug using natural water systems, rivers, and lakes. It is not only a major transportation route, but also an important military defense line.

In this line of defense, it is planned to have four large-scale garrison fortresses in Haicangkou, Tingkou Town, Gaomi County and Tiezhenshan, each with a strength ranging from 3000 to 5000.Most of the fortresses are large bastions, built of bricks and stones, extremely strong, and the firepower is also very fierce. If the enemy wants to bite down hard, it will not work without a good bite.

The above is the first line of defense. Behind the first line of defense, there are Yiye County, Pingdu Prefecture, Guchengji, and Jiaoxian County (that is, the former Jiaozhou City of the Ming Dynasty. The old city was dilapidated in the war, and the new city was built in Jiaolai. River West Bank) four garrison points to take care of all parties at any time.

However, among the total of eight fortresses currently under construction or basically completed, only four nodes are Haicangkou, Tingkou Town, Guchengji, and Jiaoxian County.The reason is actually related to Yantai's hesitation about how to arrange the future defense line.One of them believes that the line of defense should be mainly based on Haicangkou, Tingkou Town, Gaomi County, and Tielongshan, with heavy troops stationed to keep the enemy out of the country; However, the river bed is not wide enough to form an obstacle to the enemy's actions, and the Qing army can also bypass the south of Tiejun Mountain. The defense is quite inconvenient and wastes a lot of troops. A long section of the Jiaolaixin River has been excavated and dredged near the county.

To be honest, shrinking the line of defense to the front line of Jiaolai Xinhe means that people on the east bank have to give up the two places of Jiao County and Lingshanwei, because this county has already become the front line and it is not suitable for further reclamation. , the people must be forced to move inward, which brings considerable resistance.If we include Changyi, which was about to be abandoned (this county is far away from the first and second lines of defense, and belongs to the salient part, it must be abandoned, and the relocation of local residents has already begun), Gaomi (this county and Jiao County Similarly, it is a city located on the west bank of Jiaozi, which is only suitable for military fortresses, and is no longer suitable for housing a large population) and two counties, which means that one-third of Laizhou Prefecture will be abandoned, and people on the east coast will only keep close to Dengzhou the other two-thirds of the government.To make such a determination, the courage required is not ordinary.

Lu Fang was actually also very curious about what Commander Liao Xiaoyao would think and which plan he would adopt, because it had a lot to do with it.However, judging from what we have seen and heard so far, I am afraid that Commander Liao is still inclined to the latter, that is, to shrink the defense line to the Jiaolai Xinhe line, which will save more troops and be easier to defend.Although this will lead to the abandonment of Jiaoxian County and Lingshanwei area, and the people will have to move inland, but then again, there is a lot of abandoned land in Denglai, which has not been developed. This will make Changyi, Gaomi, Jiaoxian It is also a good choice for more than [-] people in the four places of Lingshan and Wei to move to the east of the canal defense line to reclaim wasteland.

What's more, Lu Fang thought darkly that it would be a good choice to get all the people from these four county guards to Dengzhou as a future immigrant reserve, and then transport them to the east coast in batches!Moreover, this can also solve the immigration share for at least two years. The temptation to the senior officials of the Denglei government is not so great!

Compared with the news about the Jiaolai Canal, another news is more important, that is, after years of application, the Denglai Pioneering Team has obtained the authorization from the local Ministry of Communications to build a light rail from Yantai to Jiaozhoubao. The route should be close to [-] kilometers.

Once this light rail railway is built, the horse-drawn heavy-duty rail train can tow a large amount of goods, run freely on the land of Jiaodong, and transport all kinds of people and goods to various places, which has great economic and military significance. Very big.Even after the local technology blockade policy is loosened in the future, it may not be impossible for the local area to sell some low-horsepower steam locomotives to Denglai, so that they can upgrade the power from animal power to steam engines, making transportation efficiency to a higher level .

Lu Fang privately felt that this light rail is actually quite important.Once the construction is completed, Yantai and Jiaozhou, the two most important strongholds of the Dong'an people in Jiaodong, can be connected together, and can radiate the four counties of Fushan, Qixia, Laiyang, and Jimo along the way. These places are densely populated and rich in products, and the benefits should still be Very good.

In addition, Lu Fang also heard local officials in Denglei mention that after the construction of the Jiaoyan Line, they may continue to build a railway in the future, that is, the planned Taorong Line.The starting point of this light rail railway is Taocun Station in Qixia County (also the station of Jiaoyan Line), passing through Wendeng County, and ending in Rongcheng County (formerly known as Chengshanwei), with a total length of more than 170 kilometers. , but in recent years, as the east coast government has vigorously resettled immigrants, the reclamation areas on both sides of this planned line have become popular, and the output of grain, fruit, stone, livestock, and seafood has increased day by day, and it has become a road of great economic value. The railway, it really doesn't hurt much to repair it.

Moreover, this so-called Taorong Line and Jiaoyan Line intersect in Taocun, Qixia, and the inland areas radiated by the two railways have become integrated, and the logistics costs between a total of nine counties with a population of 10 have been greatly reduced—but Don’t underestimate the horse-drawn railcars pulled by animal power. Whether it’s cargo capacity, delivery speed, or anything else, it far exceeds ordinary horse-drawn carts or manpower, and the cost is quite low—the economy in inland areas will become increasingly active. The impact on society is extremely profound.

Compared with the big money of the Denglai Pioneering Team, the movements of the Qing Dynasty next door are quite lifeless.Although this country is also actively learning new things, their so-called reforms currently seem to only stay in the military field, and the pace is still a bit small, probably because of more constraints.After all, the nobles of the Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia dare not say all of them. At least a considerable part of them strongly opposed the establishment of a new army, because this would undoubtedly increase the status of Han generals in the Qing Dynasty, which would affect their interests, so they strongly opposed it. That's normal too.

From a comprehensive point of view, the prevailing feudal three cardinal guides and five constant principles and Confucianism since ancient times in the vast Qing state are still the same. Although the rural population has increased, there has been no innovation in thought and system, farmers still have no personal freedom, and rural power is still controlled by In the hands of the gentry; and in the cities, although there are some handicrafts and commerce, they are generally not much different from the Ming Dynasty, and the progress of productivity is limited, because the little new knowledge brought by the Dutch and English businessmen and missionaries is often taken away. The monopoly is in the hands of a few scholars, and the pace of diffusion is painfully slow.And the most important thing is that the illiteracy rate has not been reduced at all, which is comparable to the efforts to run schools in major cities such as Yantai, Jiaozhou, Ninghai Prefecture, Wendeng, Fushan, Ye County, Huang County, Zhaoyuan, and Qixia (although one county can barely maintain a The appearance of the two elementary schools), the Denglai aspect of universal education is simply incomparable, the difference between a modern country and an ancient country.

In short, after Lu Fang stayed in Yantai for so long, the news he received really opened his eyes.Originally, he always thought that the Ningbo area, where entertainment projects such as circuses and sliding mountains appeared, should be the first to become popular.But who would have thought that in the Denglai area in the north, although there are not as many tricks in terms of life enjoyment as in the south, it is also quite bold, with the kind of open and closed railways, ports all over the peninsula, and big cities set up like staking lands. The farm is really dazzling and refreshing!Not bad, really not bad!

Of course, in order to defend the above-mentioned construction achievements, the Denglai area naturally needs enough force!This does not only refer to the navy, land force is equally important!Take the extremely important Laizhou River Defense Command as an example. In order to defend the defense line of the Jiaolai Canal, they need more than 2 troops to seal off several places that are easy to cross the river and deploy troops nearby.In addition, on the second line, almost the same number of reserve teams had to be stationed at various key points, using relatively convenient traffic conditions to quickly maneuver, check for omissions at any time, and rush to help everywhere to ensure that the canal defense line is foolproof.

The 4 troops are almost the total number of soldiers in Denglai today!The Fourth Division of the Servant Army, Chen Quanzhong, the Fifth Division Dong Dalang, the Sixth Xie Qian, the Seventh Division Ding Daxing, the Eighth Division Du Chong, the Ninth Division Niu Gui, as well as the Cavalry Wing, Standing Team, The garrison and other scattered troops add up to only 1000 people.Even with the addition of the Third Division of the Denglai New Army, the Seventh Mixed Battalion of the Army, and some units directly under the headquarters, the total number is only 9000, which is still far from the number of 4. distance.

Therefore, when the main force of the Qing army in Qingzhou prefecture gathered and the troops were frequently mobilized—although everyone knew that the other party was probably bluffing, but no one dared to bet, and they couldn’t afford to bet—Lu Fang came to Liao Xiaoyao to borrow troops, and It is still the seventh mixed battalion, the most elite, the most capable, and the highest morale, what a shame!You know, once the Seventh Mixed Battalion is really transferred south to Ningbo, Yantai County, which is the core of Denglai's central core, will be completely empty, except for two guard platoons at the headquarters, a gendarmerie squad, and a few health, logistics, engineering, Except for the staff and other miscellaneous personnel, there is no more soldier!At that time, even the order in Yantai City will have to be maintained by the County Public Security Bureau, and there will be no garrison on the city wall, unless all the militiamen are called from the countryside (but the militiamen are also very weak), so Liao Xiaoyao will hesitate It is also normal, especially now that Liaodong is also sending letters one after another to ask for reinforcements.

On September 1673, 9, just when Lu Fang felt that the matter of borrowing troops was probably a bit difficult, and wondered whether he should go back home—it just so happened that there would be a ship from Ningbo that was transporting grain, and it was almost time to stop. Jeju Island, which has become the base of animal husbandry, returns to Dinghai County. If you miss this boat, you will not be able to leave next time. Liao Xiaoyao, the captain of the Denglai Development Team and Denglai Security Commander, finally gave Lu Fang the final answer: The Seventh Mixed Battalion All more than 6 people boarded a ship and went south to Ningbo at the end of this month, temporarily joining the battle order of the Southern Theater Command, under the command of Ma Wenqiang.

This news really flattered Lu Fang. Commander Liao handed over his amulet and the Imperial Forest Army. If the Ningbo side fails to collect immigrants, it will really fail!No way, I have to work harder in the future!Lu Fang thought about it.

Well, today this chapter is still typed out by Two-finger Zen. I got off work early in the afternoon and went to the hospital to make an appointment. The initial diagnosis was a ganglion cyst. I will take a B-ultrasound reexamination tomorrow and then treat it.It is estimated that by then, I will only be able to type with one finger...

(End of this chapter)