The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 359: Revenge, Now

Mo Zibu was waiting for the outcome of the naval battle, and Agui was waiting for Mo Zibu to make a move so that he could respond accordingly.

War is sometimes so boring. It doesn't start right away. It has to go through a series of tests and games. Often, the final decisive battle will only come when one side can no longer afford to waste time or has no way to retreat.

And it was at this time that Agui realized the ruthlessness of Mo Zibu's strategy of clearing the countryside.

Within a radius of thirty kilometers from Tokyo, the Qing army could not find a place to collect food and force the Latin people to surrender.

If the area is more than 30 kilometers, it will be a tight collective defense circle from the village to the county. If dozens of Qing troops come, the local people will organize to respond. If there are more than 100 people, a comparable number of Xing Tang troops will appear.

This instantly put the Qing army's logistical pressure at its maximum.

At this time, the Qing army could only rely entirely on land transportation from Guangdong and Guangxi, but at this time, Guangdong and Guangxi could not be self-sufficient in food.

Guangdong relies on Hunan and Jiangxi for a quarter of its annual supply and Siam for 15 percent to meet its normal food supply.

Guangxi seems to be a little better, but this better situation is achieved at the cost of the vast majority of lower-class Zhuang, Yao, and Miao people having only a few full meals a year.

Transporting grain from Guangzhou is a distance of 850 kilometers by land, and the grain has to cross the Darong Mountain, Daming Mountain, Daqing Mountain and other mountain ranges. It is considered a good thing if only one stone out of ten stones can be left when it is transported to Beihe.

By the beginning of winter, when the navy was about to launch a decisive battle, Agui could no longer hold on.

On the one hand, he ordered Fu Kang'an, who stayed in Lang Son Prefecture, to return to Lang Son in person and forcibly seize the limited food from the Annan people who followed Nguyen Van Hue and transport it to Tokyo.

On the one hand, he ordered Hailancha to lead more than 10,000 infantry and cavalry to attack Haiyang Prefecture in the south.

However, Mo Zibu did not receive any naval battle reports and knew that he could not use the fleet to block the Fuliang River and encircle the Qing army, so he chose to retreat.

After a brief resistance, the Xingtang Army gave up Haiyang Prefecture and considerately left 40,000 shi of grain to the Qing Army to strengthen their determination to stay in Tokyo.

Agui's uneasiness grew stronger and stronger.

Because since the army set out, the Xing Tang army only held Liangjiang Prefecture for eleven days, which could barely be considered a real battle, and then they had been in a stage of retreat and avoidance.

The news that Hailancha easily broke through Haiyang Prefecture and obtained 40,000 dan of grain made Agui completely baffled.

Hailancha also found it very strange, "I can see that the enemy army did not use all their strength to resist, and it seems that Haiyang Prefecture City was actually surrendered.

Moreover, I am sure that they have enough time to burn down the entire city, let alone a mere 40,000 shi of grain.

Therefore, after I took away the food, I did not stay in Haiyang Prefecture, but hurried back."

"You're right to be cautious," Ah Gui agreed, nodding. "I've reconsidered Huang Tinghui's words these days and I find he has some truth. The Mo bandits seem genuinely afraid that we'll retreat."

Hailancha's eyes widened. "Mo thief really thinks he can defeat our Eight Banner warriors with real swords and guns. Then let him come and see who is the real man!"

Ah Gui was silent. "Since the first time the Han army left the banners and became civilians in the seventh year of Emperor Qianlong's reign, in the past few decades, only the Chen Han army remained, with only 200,000 to 300,000 people.

Over the years, His Majesty has fought wars in the south and the north, and the cost has been enormous. Over 4,000 men died in the Burmese invasion, over 3,000 in the Jinchuan region, and we still have to station troops in the Western Regions to guard against a resurgence of the Dzungars. We are running out of men in the Eight Banners!"

Speaking of this issue, Ah Gui became very sad, "Even if the Mo bandit's army is only at the level of the Burmese army, we can't afford to exchange five of them for one of me.

They are as worthless as grass. If one dies, there are still ten left. But for us, the nobles of the bannermen, if one dies, it will take eighteen years to make up for it. This is what worries me deeply."

Historically, starting from the end of Emperor Kangxi's reign, the Eight Banners had too high expenses, so the Han Eight Banners were constantly forced to leave the banners and become civilians, which reached its peak during the Qianlong period.

At this time, all those who could remain in the Eight Banners of Han were descendants of the former great traitors. The word Chen in the so-called Chen Han Army means old, so it can also be called the Old Han Army.

In other words, the current Eight Banners of Han are basically the Liaodong Army and Liao people who surrendered during the period of Lao Nu and Huang Taiji, such as Li Shiyao.

The departure of the Han army from the Eight Banners greatly eased the financial pressure on the Qing Dynasty, but it also brought about serious consequences, that is, the population of the Eight Banners decreased instead of increased.

Based on the impressions of later generations, I, King Mo, believed that there were still 1.4 to 5 million Manchus at that time, but in fact, there were less than 800,000.

Among these 800,000 people, there were only about 250,000 adult males. Excluding those who served the emperor, held official positions, those who were too weak or disabled to hold official positions, and those who cheated and evaded military service, the remaining soldiers totaled only about 150,000.

In reality, the number is far less than this, and is estimated to be only around 70,000.

These 70,000 people are completely unfit to be stationed throughout China, from Ili to Resa and then to Guangzhou.

The only ones who can be mobilized now are the 10,000 to 20,000 Eight Banners stationed in Beijing and the several thousand Eight Banners stationed near the battlefield.

This is also the reason why Emperor Qianlong kept going outside the Great Wall to "hunt in the wild", forcing the Solon and Barhu people to be more anti-Qing than the Han people in the late Qing Dynasty. Because the Eight Banners did not have many mobile troops, they could only capture these poor indigenous people of Outer Northeast China.

Hailancha also fell silent. Yes, even if Mo Zibu exchanged five people for one of them, it would only require three or four hundred thousand casualties to wipe out the Eight Banners.

The important reason that made these two people start to feel uneasy and consider the exchange ratio was the ability of me, King Mo.

If they were fighting the Burmese and the Jinchuan tribes at this time, Agui and Hailancha would not be so worried, because neither of these two families could pose a fundamental threat to the Qing Dynasty, regardless of their ability or background.

Only Mo Zibu, not to mention his background, just talking about his ability, since the Qing army entered Beihe, it seems to have taken the initiative, but Mo Zibu is like a poisonous snake hidden in the dark grass.

The Qing Dynasty could not catch his figure at all, but they could always feel that he was spies around them. This is ability. Building a strong defense and clearing the countryside is not something that anyone can do or do well.

"If Huang Tinghui had not exaggerated, then what the Mo thieves were waiting for was nothing else but a decisive battle with the navy.

Only by defeating our navy can he cut off the supply from the sea and achieve the effect of clearing the countryside.

By then, he won't give up the city easily, and we'll be out of food, so we'll have no choice but to withdraw. He'll pursue us, and if we win this battle, Annan will be his."

Hailancha analyzed slowly. He was half right and the other half was completely wrong. The main reason for Hailancha's wrong estimate was that he did not believe that Mo Zibu would have a fleet consisting of third, fourth, and fifth-level sailing warships.

A navy is a very expensive undertaking. By Qing standards, maintaining a fleet like Mo Zibu's would cost millions of taels to purchase ships, and millions more to maintain, maintain, maintain supplies, and pay officers and soldiers. For example, over a five-year period, this would require at least 20 to 30 million taels of grain. In the entire East, only the Qing could afford such a sum; Mo Zibu simply couldn't afford it.

More importantly, a soft sailboat is not a hard sailboat and is very complicated to operate. It would take several years to train qualified officers and sailors.

But they never dreamed that the ships were given by France and most of the naval officers and soldiers were from France.

In terms of funding, Mo Zibu robbed more than one million taels from the White Elephant King, "borrowed" one and a half million taels from the Dutch, France gave two loans of 2.6 million taels, and Clam Castle gave two million taels.

These seven or eight million taels of silver can't do anything in my Qing Dynasty because of the high-ranking officials' corruption and the low-ranking officials' corruption. But with Mo Zibu, it can accomplish great things.

Therefore, most of Mo Zibu's money was indeed burned on the navy, but it can still barely hold on for now.

The two of them discussed it for a long time and felt that they had basically figured out Mo Zibu's routine. Hailancha couldn't help but say something.

"The most reliable plan at this time is to have Li Weiyu return to the Eastern Capital (Jing), have him summon his old ministers, appease the people, and provide food and labor for our army.

Huang Tinghui's mind is unpredictable, with the look of an eagle watching a wolf. Moreover, like Mo Wu, he is from Guangnan. He is completely unable to win the support of the people in Beihe. He is really useless."

Agui waved his hand, signaling Hailancha to stop talking, because I, Qianlong, thought that dealing with Mo Zibu was just a piece of cake. He felt that he did not want to kill Mo Zibu, but just wanted to drive Mo Zibu back to Guangnan, which did not seem to be difficult.

Therefore, Qianlong summoned Li Weiyu, who had fled to Guangxi, to Beijing to see what the situation would be.

If Agui and his men fought well, Beihe would be taken over by the Qing Dynasty, and Li Weiyu would be given the status of a bannerman and kept in Beijing.

If the battle becomes difficult, then choose a younger son of Li Weiyu and send him back to Beihe, and let him become a puppet king with the support of the Qing army.

"Build more pontoon bridges on the Fuliang River to prepare for the defeat of Huang Shijian's navy. If the navy cannot transport food and supplies through the Fuliang River, I will be in a desperate situation. At least we must ensure that the army can quickly retreat to Lang Son.

While striking Mo Wu is certainly important, it is definitely not as important as these tens of thousands of Eight Banner warriors. If the Emperor blames me, I will bear the full responsibility."

As a veteran with thirty years of military service, Agui made the most correct arrangements possible on a map that was completely foggy.

However, this was no longer the era where a small elite force like the Manchus could support the world.

. . . .

Mo Zibu was in Shannan Prefecture, which was very close to Tokyo and Haiyang Prefecture. He was very worried about the complicated operation of relocating 300,000 to 400,000 people without being there to take charge.

In addition to paying attention to military affairs every day, Mo Zibu also insisted on visiting at least one settlement every two days to accommodate people who had lost their homes and land.

He was under a lot of pressure. Three hundred thousand or four hundred thousand people lost everything, and it was done by the Xing Tang Army. This was equivalent to him destroying everything these people had in disguise.

If he is not properly appeased and guided, this anger might turn against himself, so Mo Zibu pays special attention to this.

The current trend of public opinion is still correct. These people who were forced to retreat had basically just received land, had harvested crops once or twice, and had just built houses, and now everything is gone.

They hated the Qing army very much and believed that if the Qing army had not insisted on supporting the Li family to return, they would not have lost their houses and land, and the family would have been living happily.

But there are still risks. These people are eager for the Xing Tang Army to drive out the Qing army, and if the Xing Tang Army continues to retreat, public opinion may change.

At the same time, Mo Zibu was responsible for providing these people with three meals a day.

The army also had to pay attention to concealing the battlefield and preventing the Qing army from finding the location of its main force, which was by no means an easy task.

"Cousin, the troops are all complaining, thinking we shouldn't just retreat and abandon the prefectures and counties. Furthermore, we have to be responsible for feeding hundreds of thousands of people at once, and the logistical pressure is enormous.

The Longxiang Cavalry Battalion has suffered heavy losses in the past two weeks. The Qing cavalry outnumbers us ten to one, and they have had a very hard time covering the battlefield."

Chen Guangyao didn't call Mo Zibu "king", but called him "cousin", which revealed that he had almost reached the critical point.

"Wait another ten days. If the naval battle report doesn't come in, we will take the initiative to attack." Mo Zibu made a decision. He really couldn't wait any longer.

"Go tell Pierre Ney and Zhu Wenjie that I believe in their abilities. I believe the Longchamp Guards Cavalry Battalion will be able to get through this difficult period.

In addition, Rakoczi Gezo's Hun cavalry has almost finished repairing and will be able to return to the battlefield soon."

Well, the Xing Tang army called the 800 Hungarian cavalrymen who came to support the Xiongnu cavalry, and these Hungarians were very happy to be recognized by people from their hometown.

Rakochi Gezo also told Mozibu that he hoped that after Mozibu restored Seris in the future, he could go to the northwest of Seris to look for traces of his ancestors' lives.

Uh, why are these Hungarians so obsessed with being Huns?

Six days later, on the tenth day of the winter month, Mo Zibu was sleeping when he heard Zheng Jinshui's voice outside.

"Your Majesty, an urgent report from Admiral Louis Gillouet de Olivier!"

Mo Zibu, shirtless, jumped up from the bed and said, "Read it quickly, read it quickly!"

"Thanks to the great blessing of Your Majesty and the protection of God, eight thousand officers and soldiers fought bravely. Fifteen miles off Sishui Island, our navy defeated the Tatar fleet.

A total of ninety-seven ships were sunk, thirty-one were captured, and the enemy fleet was completely annihilated. Our ships will reach the mouth of the Bach Dang River in three days and will reach the Fuliang River on the fourteenth day of the lunar calendar to cut off the Qing army's retreat.

Your loyal General Olivier and all the naval officers and soldiers present this, and I bow my head in respect.

The ninth day of the winter month in the lunar calendar, at the hour of Mao."

"Great!" Mo Zibu pushed the door open and looked in the direction of the Arctic Purple Star.

"May the spirits of our ancestors bless you, and may the unyielding heroes of the Jiashen era be above you. After ten years of sleeping on straw and enduring hardships, you have finally waited until this day. Let me avenge you!"

(End of this chapter)