Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 10 Kill three birds with one stone

Tongzhou has always been a place of flourishing literary style. Its geographical location is across the river from Shanghai. It has been influenced by the open Western culture of other places, and its thoughts are far different from the rigid and conservative ones in the mainland.

Among the Tongzhou militiamen under Zheng Guohui, seven or eight out of ten could read and write.

After being rebuilt into the Jinling Dubiao Camp and incorporating a large number of new recruits, the literacy rate plummeted.

Therefore, when Zheng Guohui was integrating the army, he opened literacy classes in the barracks, using his spare time to teach soldiers to read and write, and to promote further integration between officers and soldiers.

He specifically stipulated

Those who cannot read and write will not be promoted to official positions and will only be soldiers for their entire lives.

Through this arrangement, a large number of promoted grassroots officers from Tongzhou took complete control of the Dubiao Battalion and ignited the enthusiasm of the new recruits to learn.

Drum Tower Square
Today, this is the camp of the Du Biao Camp. On the high drum tower, there are sentries on duty day and night. Standing high and looking far away, they can see the entire city within a radius of dozens of miles.

Accompanying Jiangnan Admiral Fu Zhuhong'a, Zheng Guohui and his officers and staff stood under the eaves of the city wall to supervise the soldiers' training.

on the square

Thousands of soldiers were training in formation, advancing and turning to the sound of drums and music. The formations were neat and orderly, and the military discipline was strict. It looked like they were fighting in the same way as Western armies.

The training was conducted by a dozen British officers specially recruited from the British military stationed in Shanghai. They were responsible for the military training of the Dubiao Battalion, using the original British military training methods and equipped with British rifles.

Zheng Guohui's Du Biao Battalion was equipped with Enfield 1853 rifles, and the number of equipment had increased to , making it a relatively strong firearms unit.

Although this British rifle is muzzle-loading, after substantial technical improvements, the Enfield 1853 rifle uses a rifled barrel, can fire Minié bullets, and is percussion-cap fired, representing the most advanced level of infantry weapons in the world today.

The Enfield 1853 rifle was quite accurate and lethal at a range of 500 yards, and the Minié bullet still had some penetration even at a range of 900 yards.

Compared with the old smoothbore flintlock rifle, it has made a qualitative leap.

The Dubiao Battalion was also equipped with 16 relatively advanced 12-pound Armstrong field guns, forming an artillery team to attack the enemy's strong fortresses.

This gun is an advanced breech-loading rifled gun. It not only has excellent accuracy and short loading time, but can also fire powerful shrapnel (grenades) at an effective range of 2000 meters.

The maximum range of the artillery is 3500 meters, making it a powerful weapon in land warfare.

On the training ground
The soldiers' shouts were deafening, their ranks were neat and orderly, and a fierce murderous aura was overwhelming.

Seeing such elite soldiers, Fuzhu Hong'a was overjoyed. He nodded and said with a smile, "Sir Zheng, your soldiers are really well trained. With such elite troops at hand, you can rest assured."

"Your Excellency the Governor is too kind to praise me. I am deeply ashamed to be your disciple. I shall be loyal to the state and share your worries." Zheng Guohui was also good at speaking. He kept calling "Your Excellency the Governor", which meant "I am your disciple."

Fuzhu Hong'e obviously understood, and taking advantage of his cheerful mood, he asked, "You are so clever, you know how to talk. Tell me, what's the matter?"

"The foreign instructor, Smith, has a methodical approach to drill, following the British Army Drill Manual in every detail. The main problem is that they're lacking in equipment. They only have 25% of their guns and cannons, which is far from enough."

"This... we need to think about it carefully." When Fuzhu Hong'a heard about the request for guns and ammunition, he felt a little troubled.

After years of war, the imperial court's expenses were unprecedentedly tight. Taxes from Sichuan, Hunan and other provinces had not been collected for seven or eight years, and money was needed everywhere.

Li Hongzhang's Huai Army had just cleared out the Taiping Army's last important stronghold in Jiangnan Province, "Changzhou City", but the court's reward had not yet arrived. Even a rat in the Ministry of Revenue's treasury would cry if they went there.

You have to know that one foreign rifle costs twenty or thirty taels of silver. How much silver would 1000 rifles cost?

The Du Biao Battalion was short of quite a few foreign rifles, and together with the ammunition and training, it cost more than 100,000 taels of silver.

at this time

There is basically no hope of getting money, but the Fuzhu family is already very generous if they can pay the salaries of the Dubiao Battalion almost without delay.

Look at the Eight Banners and Green Camp soldiers in the north of the country. Those who can get 70% of their salaries have their own reasons. Those who have been in arrears for three to five years, or even seven to eight years are everywhere.

Zheng Guohui took a step forward, leaned over and said with a smile;

"Sir, I know the court is unable to provide money right now, but we can find a way to raise money ourselves.

The Taiping rebels in Gusu City and Changzhou were wiped out one after another, and only a few remnants of the bandits remained in the prosperous areas of Jiangnan, and they could be wiped out with a wave of the hand.

"My humble opinion is to send troops out of the city to fight. While we are clearing out the remaining bandits, we can expand our illegal salt business to the Jiangnan region and use the profits to purchase military equipment. At the same time, we can also train the troops and test the results of the training. Isn't it killing three birds with one stone?"

"Well, that makes sense. Let's do it." When Fuzhu Hong'a heard that he didn't have to pay for it himself, he immediately agreed.

The Jiangnan region was also under the jurisdiction of the Jiangnan Governor-General, but the Taiping rebels had occupied it with heavy troops some time ago, so Fuzhu Hong'a could not reach out.

Now that the enemy has been defeated and the Huai Army has won the military merits it deserves, there is no question of whether the remaining remnants of the bandits should compete for merits or not.

The Jiangnan Governor sent troops to wipe out the remaining bandits, which was exactly what the title meant.

Since Zheng Guohui volunteered to fight and wanted to make a contribution, and it would kill three birds with one stone, why not do it?

Zheng Guohui became a disciple of Fuzhu Hong'a, and his situation was similar to that of a civil servant's disciple. In that era, this was a very important relationship and the person had the responsibility to help.

If such elite troops are not brought out for display and flaunt, it would be like walking in fine clothes at night.

Fuzhu Hong'a looked at it happily for a while, then returned to the city wall and sat down to drink tea.

Zheng Guohui achieved his goal, so he stood aside and talked with her, serving her carefully, which made Fuzhu Hong'a feel very proud.

After sitting for a while, he stood up and said goodbye.

It was a rare opportunity for a royal family member like Fuzhu Hong'a, who came from a wealthy family, to come to the Drum Tower to watch the military exercises.

This is the first time so far, and probably the last time.

Zheng Guohui led a group of officers to respectfully escort the Governor of Jiangnan to the camp gate. After watching his carriage go away, he returned with a happy face.

The pampered Fuzhu Hong'a did not know that if he bought a large number of foreign guns from the British army in Shanghai, each gun with thirty bullets would only cost between seven and eight taels of silver, and second-hand foreign guns would be even cheaper.

Now that the wars are gradually coming to an end, the contracts of the foreign rifle teams hired by Li Hongzhang have not been renewed, which has resulted in a large amount of extra weapons and equipment.

By reselling it, the British troops stationed in Shanghai would get a lot of money for free.

The worst that can happen with these used second-hand firearms is that the loss can be written off. This is something that foreign armies often do, and it is also a good way to make extra money.

As for the quoted price of twenty or thirty taels of silver per foreign rifle, it was not false.

Everyone knows that when the Qing army purchased firearms, they had to pay a lot of money, and this was a common occurrence.

It is not uncommon for a foreign rifle to be priced at 60 taels of silver, but what you buy may be an obsolete old-fashioned smoothbore flintlock rifle.

Zheng Guohui was not planning to do so. He planned to buy a batch of British Enfield 1853 rifles, the more the better, and if there were any second-hand artillery, he would also buy some.

But he would only take out one-third of the equipment to the Du Biao Battalion, and the rest would be transported to his hometown in Tongzhou.

When reporting the expenses, it was still more than 20 taels of silver for a foreign gun. In this way, the profits from private salt were converted into real military strength, and a fortune was made quietly.

Zheng Guohui is not the kind of rich man who buries his money in the cellar. The best destination for the money he earns is to spend it and turn it into real power.

After obtaining approval, with the assistance of Fang Weishan, the advisor of the Jiangnan Governor's Office, a notice to suppress bandits was quickly issued and delivered by express horse to all prefectures and counties under the jurisdiction of Jiangnan Province.

in a few days

Zheng Guohui personally led an army of more than 3,700 people, as well as more than a thousand militiamen, and left Jinling City in a mighty force, and began to march south to wipe out the remaining bandits and enemies.

Also accompanying them were more than 70 requisitioned large ships, loaded with supplies, artillery, and an advance team of more than a thousand soldiers, who sailed up the river.

The entire army had more than 7,800 people, but only more than 3,000 were left to defend the city. It can be said that they came out in full force.

The purpose of this trip was, firstly, to wipe out the remaining bandits in Jiangnan Province, secondly, to open up the channels for the transportation and sale of illegal salt, expand the territory and influence of the Dubiao Camp, and thirdly, to gain merit.

Today, there are still seven or eight remnant bandit gangs around Taihu Lake, with a minimum of three or four hundred people and a maximum of two or three thousand. They are the remnants of the Taiping rebels who escaped after the Huai Army broke through the cities of Gusu and Changzhou, and they are in constant fear.

As long as they don't encounter tens of thousands of rebels, Zheng Guohui's Du Biao Battalion can easily run rampant and have almost no rivals.

After leaving the city, they traveled light, with most of the baggage following the team up the river. The main force of the Du Biao Camp led by Zheng Guohui arrived at Zhenjiang Prefecture in just two days and stopped outside the city to rest.

(End of this chapter)