Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 73 Army Expansion
1865, end of February.

Zheng Guohui and his party boarded an English steamer from Tianjin, stopped in Weihai for a day, and then headed south along the coastline. The entire journey took only four days before they arrived in Shanghai.

They immediately changed to a sailboat and arrived at the old nest in Tongzhou City in just half a day. Uncle Li Hezhang received a grand and high-level welcome here, and the officials of Tongzhou Prefecture were very attentive.

Zheng Guohui issued orders here and recruited 5,000 elite soldiers from Tongzhou, Huai'an, Xuzhou, and northern Anhui in northern Jiangsu to rapidly expand the army.

The first requirement is that those who can read and write must be strong enough to lift an 80-jin stone lock. The military will send personnel to check and select the best ones, and prefectures and counties will assist in the recruitment. This is a major military matter and no mistakes can be made.

In addition, a fleet was immediately mobilized. The first batch was to mobilize 4,000 settlers from Chongming Island and send them to Jinling City to complete equipment replacement, organization, training, and then to be mixed with the recruited elite to form an army.

One month later
The second batch planned to mobilize more than 3,000 residents of Chongming Island and send them to Nanjing City to complete the above-mentioned reorganization and gradually incorporate them into the Green Camp troops.

Prince Gong Yixin gave Zheng Guohui six blank fourth-rank defense lieutenant officer badges, allowing him to place his confidants there, so naturally he would not be polite.

Among these six people, there was Zheng Shouzhong (note: the eleventh uncle), the former captain of the thousand-man rank, who was promoted to the fourth-rank Tongzhou City Defense Captain. He led 6 soldiers to garrison Tongzhou City.

Zheng Jiabao, the former captain of a thousand troops, was promoted to the rank of fourth-rank defense captain of Huai'an Prefecture and led 2000 soldiers to garrison Huai'an City.

He Ruolin, the former captain of a thousand troops, (note: deputy general) was promoted to the rank of fourth-rank Xuzhou Prefecture Defense Captain, leading 2500 soldiers and 500 elite cavalry to garrison the Xuzhou Prefecture city.

This is the front line against the Nian Army and the 500 cavalry that were finally gathered were all stationed in Xuzhou City.

The former commander-in-chief Zheng Shouye (note: fourth uncle) was promoted to the fourth rank of Jiangning Prefecture Defense Captain, leading 4500 soldiers and 300 elite cavalry to garrison the Jiangning Prefecture city.

The former commander-in-chief Hu Zuqing (note: captain of the personal guards) was promoted to the fourth rank of Weiyang Prefecture Defense Captain, leading 1500 soldiers to garrison the Weiyang Prefecture city.

The former commander-in-chief Dong Huanzhang (note: brother-in-law) was promoted to the fourth rank of Zhenjiang Prefecture Defense Captain, leading 1500 soldiers to garrison the Jiangning Prefecture City.

The above six defense captains commanded a total of more than 6 troops, and were responsible for strictly guarding the prefectures and counties in Jiangbei, and strictly preventing the Nian bandits from moving south to burn, kill, and loot the countryside.

Zheng Guohui also had more than 2000 troops stationed in various prefectures in Jiangnan, commanded by officers with the rank of Qianzong, and the auxiliary troops from Jiangning led by the deputy general of Jiangnan.

This included more than 800 soldiers sent to garrison Changzhou Prefecture after Wu Changqing's Huai Army troops were transferred from Changzhou Prefecture, and more than 1200 troops sent to Gusu Prefecture.

In addition, there are thousands of troops including the Officer Training Corps of the Jiangning Association (Note: the name of the Jinling Military Academy was cancelled and replaced by the Training Corps to avoid being too sensitive), the Mule and Horse Supply Corps, the Sailor Battalion, the City Defense Battalion, etc.

After reorganization, the number of troops under its jurisdiction has exceeded 2.

Zheng Guohui, in the name of Deputy General of Jiangnan and Recruiting Envoy of Jiangnan, was issued an order by the Ministry of War, which allowed him to expand the army and deploy his forces throughout the province, and his strength increased rapidly.

Since the officers and soldiers in the army were of relatively high rank, and more than 300 students from the first term of the Jinling Military Academy had graduated, they were all deployed to the expanded Green Camp Army in accordance with the general's orders.

He seemed to be able to handle this major expansion with ease.

The plan was to use the existing 8000-man army as the backbone, and to draw out more than 4000 men to break them up and incorporate them into the newly expanded army.

This group accounted for more than 4000% of the newly formed Green Camp Army, and another or so Chongming Island settlers accounted for more than %, forming the main body of the newly expanded army.

In addition to the 5000 newly recruited young and strong men, accounting for more than %, the cadets of the Jinling Military Academy served as grassroots officers, and the garrison troops in various places were thus mixed.

The stationed troops consisted of 4 to 500 men in a battalion, among which;
Xuzhou Prefecture deployed six battalions of troops, five infantry battalions and one cavalry battalion, totaling 5 people.

The army was commanded by He Ruolin, the defense captain of Xuzhou Prefecture. He was Zheng Guohui's old acquaintance. He was brave and smart in battle, and also loyal, making him the best candidate to be put on the front line.

Huai'an Prefecture deployed five battalions of troops, with 400 men in each battalion, for a total of 2000 men.

Zheng Jiabao, the defense captain of Huai'an Prefecture, is also an old man who has followed for many years. He is a distant relative of the Zheng family. He has experienced more than a hundred battles, big and small, and is an extremely clever general.

With these two battle-hardened generals in the north, and Zheng Guohui personally stationed in Nanjing City, he can lead mobile forces to the north by boat to provide assistance at any time, thus ensuring that Jiangnan Province is as stable as Mount Tai.

Therefore, among the other prefecture defense lieutenants, Zheng Guohui promoted many of his clansmen and trusted members. The key was not their outstanding abilities, but their loyalty and reliability, and their ability to carry out orders without any sloppiness. After the order was issued, people from south to north took action.

Chongming Island
After completing the deployment of relevant matters, a few days later, Zheng Guohui personally accompanied Li Hezhang to Chongming Island when the ship docked at the Guangming Town Pier.

The sight of the sails like clouds in front of him made Li Hezhang open his eyes wide in disbelief.

never expected

When the boat turns from the Yangtze River waterway into the inland waterway, there are endless green reed marshes along the way.

When we reached the fork in the river, the view suddenly opened up.

It is not uncommon to see large buildings in Guangming Town. Dozens of large ships are moored at the river pier, including four large Western sailing ships, which are much taller than other thousand-stone ships.

The riverside dock was crowded with people, and many strong villagers were queuing up to board the boat with packages of various sizes.

They were about to follow the fleet to Nanjing for reorganization, where they would have the opportunity to live a respectable life and be paid as soldiers. So what was there to be unwilling about?
Step onto the pier
The personal soldier shouted "The general is here...", attracting everyone's attention.

The villagers who were waiting to board the ship knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly, their eyes looking at him full of heat.

The general's grace is like a rebirth, and has been deeply engraved in the hearts of every resident.

Everyone thinks it is natural to be loyal to whoever you eat food from and receive salary from.

"No need for formalities, let's continue loading the ship." Zheng Guohui waved his hand kindly and took Li Hezhang along the pier.

The villagers they met on the road parted to both sides like paddling water, cheering continuously and kneeling on the spot.

Unconsciously

Li Hezhang is already one step behind Zheng Guohui, highlighting the latter's dominant position.

He waved frequently along the way and only stopped after entering the earthen city. He went into the meeting hall to serve tea and rest for a while.

Li Hezhang was an extremely experienced official who was good at seeing the big picture from small details. Everything he saw made him feel fresh and excited, and there was a surge of vitality everywhere.

In particular, the residents have rosy complexions, strong bodies, and their eyes radiate a desire for a new life in the future, which is in sharp contrast to the dull and numb eyes of the refugees from the disaster area.

After taking two sips of tea, Li Hezhang asked, "Jinghai, this place is indeed as you described. It really opened my eyes. The morale of the people is so high. How did you achieve that?"

"All the settlements on the island are under military management. Besides daily farming, they must also practice military training and learn to read and write. We must ensure that they have no time to spare to avoid trouble."

"Confucius said: 'The people can be made to follow, but they cannot be made to understand.' To teach so many people to read and write is not a great luxury."

"Haha, not much. I just give the villagers who teach me an extra bushel of millet every month. We make do with a simple threshing ground under a big tree. We mainly teach the Thousand Character Classic. Just enough for them to recognize and write it."

"Tsk tsk tsk... This teaching method is indeed novel."

"What are the specific effects? Mr. Xianqie can find the answer himself." Zheng Guohui stood up with a smile and made a "please" gesture, which was very respectful.

Li Hezhang put down the teacup in his hand, clasped his fists in return, and the two of them left the conference room one after the other.

Outside the meeting room

More than 50 cavalrymen armed with live ammunition were ready. Their men brought a few horses over. Zheng Guohui, Li Hezhang and their entourage all mounted their horses and rushed out with the cavalry team.

(End of this chapter)