Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 385: Civil strife in Jiaozhi
On the morning of the 22nd, the Red Army vanguard passed through Lukou.

Lukou is where the Lushui River flows into the Xiangjiang River. In the late Ming Dynasty, Lushui was just a commercial port, but the business was prosperous and the government set up a patrol inspection office here. After Lukou and going downstream of the Xiangjiang River, you will reach Xiangtan County of Changsha Prefecture, which is also the southern gateway of Changsha.

The Red Army captured Lukou yesterday and set up a military station there. The central army's large ships docked here to replenish supplies and hold front-line meetings.

Danchu stayed on the boat for two consecutive days. As soon as he landed, he stretched his muscles and felt much more comfortable. Gu Yanwu accompanied him and introduced the terrain here:
"Please look, my lord. The tributary of the Xiang River on the right is called Lushui. It originates from Qianla Ridge in Yangqi Mountain, Jiangxi Province. It flows from east to west, passing through Pingxiang County, Yuanzhou Prefecture, Jiangxi Province, and Liling County, Changsha Prefecture, Hunan Province, and merges into the Xiang River at Lukou. The Lushui River is more than 300 miles long and has abundant water, but..."

Danchu was suspicious and asked, "Sir, please speak."

Gu Yanwu sighed: "There are many water systems in the south, which are often blocked by mountains. Even if they are very close, it is difficult to connect them. For example, the Ganjiang River and Lijiang River in the north and south of Yanguan, the Nanliu River and Beiliu River in Yulinzhou, and the Ganjiang River and Beijiang River in the north and south of Meiling.

"The situation of Pingxiang County in Yuanzhou Prefecture, Jiangxi Province, and Xing'an County in Guilin Prefecture, Guangxi Province, is quite similar. There are Lushui River and Yuanshui River in the same county. Lushui River leads to Xiangjiang River, and Yuanshui River leads to Ganjiang River. They are very close to each other, but they do not communicate with each other. Therefore, Hunan and Jiangxi are not closely connected..."

The speaker may not mean it, but the listener may take it seriously. Danchu suddenly remembered that during the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty, engineers visited mines in the south and finally found two excellent mines: Pingxiang Coal Mine in Jiangxi and Daye Iron Mine in Hubei.

The coal produced by Pingxiang Coal Mine is shallowly buried and has high calorific value, making it suitable for making coke for steelmaking. Daye Iron Mine is a rare rich iron mine in China. It is shallowly buried, easy to mine, and close to the Yangtze River, which is convenient for shipping.

With the Pingxiang Coal Mine and Daye Iron Mine, Zhang Zhidong established an iron factory in Wuhan and founded the Hanyeping Company, which was the first coal and iron consortium in China.

Industrialization is never something that can be achieved overnight. To solve the problem of coke for ironmaking, Hanyeping Company developed the Anyuan Coal Mine in Pingxiang. To solve the problem of coal transportation, it built a Pingzhu Railway to transport the coal to Zhuzhou, and then to Hanyang via the Xiangjiang River. Thus, an industrialized city, Zhuzhou, emerged.

But now, there is only one commercial port called Lukou here, and Danchu can’t even find the shadow of Zhuzhou.

He asked, "Is there a place called Zhuzhou here?"

Gu Yanwu was not sure, so he said honestly: "I really don't know. I should ask a local before I can answer the king."

"No hurry," Danchu said, "There must be a place called Zhuzhou here. A hundred years later, a city will surely rise in Zhuzhou."

Gu Yanwu didn't dare to believe it, but he had to.

Danchu thought more. Today, South Vietnam has two steel mills, Xinning Steel Mill and Guangzhou Steel Mill. With the growth of the Red Army and the increase of the area ruled by South Vietnam, the demand for steel has remained high.

Steelmaking requires iron ore and coal. China is an iron-poor country, and rich iron ores like Daye Iron Mine are rare and the reserves are not high.

Where are the highest quality and largest iron ore in the world? Of course, Australia and Brazil. These two countries are too far away, but there is a country very close to South Vietnam. Not only is the iron ore of high quality, but it also has the best anthracite in the world, namely Jiaozhi. The most exaggerated thing is that many coal mines in the Red River Basin in the north of Jiaozhi are open-pit and can be mined directly.

At present, Jiaozhi has ended the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, but it is still in turmoil. The Le Emperor in the north has become a puppet, the Zheng family has monopolized power, and the former Mo family still occupies the Cao Bang area. The Nguyen family in the south is on the rise, but its strength is relatively weak, but it is like an indestructible cockroach, and it survives tenaciously under the military pressure of the Zheng family.

Historically, the Nguyen family of the Southern Ming Dynasty received great assistance from the Ming survivors and finally ended the chaos of the Southern and Northern Dynasties and reunified Jiaozhi. The Nguyen family accepted the canonization of the Qing Dynasty and officially deposed the Le family, becoming the last feudal dynasty in Jiaozhi - the Nguyen Dynasty.

Jiaozhi was originally the homeland of the Chinese nation and once became a province of the Ming Dynasty. The Red River Delta and the Mekong River Delta are extremely fertile. For the sake of steel, the Red Army should focus on Jiaozhi as soon as possible.

When he arrived at the Inspection Office, he received several latest military reports from various places on the front line, which required Danchu to make an immediate decision.

"Lord, the Tartars have set up defenses at Tiaomajian and built a fortress with strict defenses. The Cavalry Assistant Commander Zhou Yiming sent an urgent letter saying that the Tartars guarding the fortress have very fierce artillery fire. Please transfer 100% of the artillery to Tiaomajian to help."

A combat staff officer marked the location of Tiaomajian on a simple map. The reconnaissance staff officer introduced: "Tiaomajian is located 50 miles southeast of Changsha. It is sandwiched between two mountains with only one road in the middle. The situation is very dangerous. It is the first line of defense on the southern wing of Changsha."

This terrain is quite similar to the Red Army's battle to recover Guilin. There is a long and narrow valley from Liuzhou to Guilin. The Red Army was blocked at Hongshaao and suffered heavy casualties and could not move forward. Finally, Cen Danchu sent Zhou Yiming to lead elite troops to bypass the Qing army and finally broke through Hongshaao.

Danchu hesitated for a moment and asked, "Did Zhou Yiming send a surprise attack on the Tartars from behind Tiaomajian?"

"They have been sent." He Zhaoji said, "but it has not been effective yet. Zhou Yiming wants to transfer 100% of the artillery to that place. This will be safer."

Changsha is located on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River, so the main force of the Red Army's land division went along the east bank of the Xiangjiang River. The cavalry detachment led the way, advancing quickly on light cavalry and separating from the main force.

Speed ​​is of the essence in war. Each of the 10-piece artillery pieces is divided into nine sections, each section weighing more than 200 kilograms, which is also inconvenient to transport.

Danchu hesitated for a moment and said, "The 100-year-old cannon and the Red Barbarian cannon will continue to follow the navy and there is no need to transfer them to Tiaomajian. Once the navy breaks through Xiangtan, our army can threaten the Tartars in Tiaomajian. Zhou Yiming will lead the army to attack urgently and break through Tiaomajian in one fell swoop."

The operations staff hurriedly took notes with a brush, preparing to draft a military order after the meeting.

The reconnaissance staff reported: "The reconnaissance officer reported that the Tartars have deployed heavy troops in Xiangtan, using fences and sunken ships to block the Xiang River, and placing artillery on both sides of the river to stop our fleet."

"Is there any problem in breaking through the river defense?" Dan Chu asked.

"There shouldn't be any problem," said the military assistant Mo Guangshu. "What we are worried about is the fences and sunken ships. If they are not cleared in time, they will block the waterway, which will not only delay military operations, but also make it difficult to transport food and fodder to the front line."

"Mobilize the auxiliary troops and the fishermen, boatmen and tenants along the Xiangjiang River, and we will be able to clear the waterway in time." Danchu looked at Mo Guangshu and emphasized, "Three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang. There is a wealth of wisdom hidden among the military and civilians. We must trust them."

"Yes." Mo Guangshu then said, "The chieftain of western Hunan has responded with a letter, saying he is willing to send troops to counterattack Changde."

Changde is located in the northwest of Changsha, protecting Changsha from the west and Sichuan and Guizhou from the east. Throughout history, Changde has been an important battlefield in the Southwest War, where many major battles have taken place.

"Use Ma Jinzhong to lead the 11th Association to attack Changde, and order Ma Jinzhong to control the chieftains of western Hunan."

Danchu had been through many battles and made decisions quickly, never wasting too much time on details. Ma Jinzhong had persisted in the war of resistance in Xiangxi for a long time and lived in peace with the Xiangxi Tusi, so he must have his own strengths. It was most appropriate to let him control the Xiangxi Tusi and lead the army to counterattack Changde.

Intelligence chief Feng Jiali said: "I have two things here. According to the secret report from the scout, Hong Chengchou and Tunqi both agreed that Changsha was difficult to defend. Neither of them had the intention to fight to the death, but they had a dispute over the direction of retreat. Hong Chengchou advocated retreating to Jingzhou and joining forces with Wu Sangui. Tunqi advocated retreating to Jiujiang and joining forces with Oboi."

"Hong Chengchou and Tunqi still want to run away? This time, we must be cautious in attacking the city and not rush to attack the city, so as not to scare the two guys away."

Everyone understood, but Feng Jiali continued, "Since the second year of the Yongli reign, Jiaozhi has paid tribute to Sun Kewang every year. The king is so famous that Jiaozhi has changed to paying tribute to Guangzhou and Kunming since last year.

"Sun Kewang was defeated in Qingyuan, and the news reached Jiaozhi. This year, Jiaozhi stopped paying tribute to Kunming. Sun Kewang was furious and sent troops to attack Jiaozhi Laojie. Jiaozhi was terrified and started paying tribute to Sun Kewang again, and asked the king for help."

I was just thinking about Jiaozhi, and now I am talking about Jiaozhi. The war is still going on, and the Red Army has no time to care about Jiaozhi.

Danchu thought for a moment and said, "Send envoys to Jiaozhi to appease them with kind words, provide them with weapons, and send officers to help Jiaozhi train its army. The Intelligence Bureau will first send scouts to Thang Long and Thanh Hoa, and set up intelligence stations in the old nests of the Zheng and Nguyen families. As for Sun Kewang, ignore him for the time being. We will make plans after the Red Army has dealt with Huguang and Jiangxi."

(End of this chapter)