Chapter 169 The Red Flag Turns Over 25

[169] The wind and the red flag turned over (25)

After a period of rest after the competition, the whole army's combat meeting was held. Marx did not attend this meeting. His specific deployment of operations is far less interested in books and research, and it is also very troublesome to listen to translators at the meeting.

The cadres surrounded a long conference table made of square tables, with a cup of strong tea and a pile of salt-fried soybeans in front of them. In winter mornings, everyone looked quiet and happy.

Yao Fan first said, "We now ask Comrade Bai Xiaoqi, director of the Communications and Intelligence Committee, to tell us about the information we have so far."

Bai Xiaoqi is now a probationary party member. After making the decision to merge the White Horse Association into the Shandong Commune under internal pressure, Bai Xiaoqi has gained respect for the Yao Fan system.

"Comrades, according to the latest information held by our Communications and Intelligence Committee, at present, due to Zuo Zongtang's military use of troops in northwest Xinjiang, he has no time to visit the east, which has contained half of the main force of the Qing army. We are mainly facing the Huai Army Group led by Li Hongzhang."

"Because the Manchu government uses troops in the east and west, the finances are constrained and the military food is unsustainable, so that they give up the autumn and winter season suitable for marching. But their knives are ready, but we don't know when they will cut us.

"At present, according to the intelligence personnel sent back, the third battalion of Mo Zushen's 'Gentry' under Shandong governor Ding Baozhen, Li Peirong's fourth battalion, and Ding Baozhen's Fubiao's foreign gun team, with a total strength of 3,000 people deployed in Weifang County, showing a defensive posture."

"The Ming army under Li Hongzhang, including a total of 22 Mabu camps stationed in Jining and Xuzhou, has now moved eastward, and the ants have moved to Zhucheng and Rizhao. This Ming army is strong, with a total strength of more than 11,000 people. In addition to 20 infantry battalions equipped with artillery, there are also two horse battalions with more than 500 people.

"Different from Ding Baozhen's 250-person horse camp, although Li Hongzhang's horse camp is only half of Yongding, that is, 250, his personnel are divided into horse bravery and Sanyong. The feeding and care of horses are relatively better and their combat ability is stronger. And in addition to the short javelin and machete in their hands, there are also two-buttered short foreign guns, which can shoot on horseback!"

Li Hainiu snorted when he heard this and said in a low voice, "That bird has a sharp head immediately. It will shoot immediately within 30 steps, and it will burn a high fragrance if it can hit a grinding disc."

Yao Fan stopped and said, "Don't interrupt, Hainiu. Listen to Comrade Bai Xiaoqi continue."

Li Hainiu immediately kept silent. He was a little unhappy with Bai Xiaoqi, which can be seen by everyone.

The reason is surprisingly simple, because the battalion commander of the cavalry battalion was determined by Yao Fan as the husband of the White Flag, Xi Dahu, who was born in the White Horse Club, while Kuang Ruyi, the former deputy battalion commander recommended by Li Hainiu to Yao Fan, was transferred to the cavalry battalion as the deputy battalion commander. You should know that if the tone is not smooth, Kuang Ruyi will naturally become the deputy leader of a group.

Li Hainiu has no problem with Hu Guangting, the new deputy leader of the group. This is his favorite general, but he is a little dissatisfied with Kuang Ruyi's transfer rather than promotion. As for the three company commanders under the cavalry battalion, Xie Jiaxiang, the commander of the first company, and Hou Dingshan, the commander of the third company, were all from the White Horse Club, which also made Li Hainiu very depressed.

Fortunately, Zhang Lusheng, the commander of the second company, is the Yao Jiazhuang system, and the three deputy company commanders are also Yao Fan's veteran soldiers. Yao Fan also told Li Hainiu not to worry, "The revolutionary army is not a private warlord, and our ideological and political education is not in vain." This made Li Hainiu feel a little relieved. Yao Fan can understand Li Hainiu's worries. After all, there have been a large number of traitors in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Nian Army.

Bai Xiaoqi's mood was very calm. She continued: "In addition, in addition to the main force of the Ming army led by Liu Shengzao, the 16 battalions of Tang Dingkui's department under Liu Shengzhao also moved north from Yangzhou. There are 13 infantry battalions and 3 cavalry battalions. According to intelligence, it was accompanied by a flowering artillery battalion of more than 600 people of the Qing army stationed in Yangzhou. However, the remaining 11 battalions of the Qing Army have not moved in Suzhou and Yangzhou, and should have been temporarily arranged to stay behind.

Yao Fan added to the cadres based on his historical knowledge: "This flowering artillery battalion is the largest deterrent force of the Huai Army in the Yangtze River area to guard against foreigners in Shanghai. This battalion has 30 12-pound flowering guns, and four 24 pounds and two 36-pound flowering guns! The flower cannon is a squatting mortar cannon. The Qing army called the field chicken cannon, that is to say, they have 36 field chicken cannons. There are also several foreign battalion officers in the battalion. I think the artillery strength of this battalion is completely different from the six artillery deployed in the general infantry battalion of the Huai Army. Under the guidance of foreign artillery officers, they should have long-range shelling capabilities. They have shelling capabilities at a distance of 1,000 to 1,200 meters, but I estimate that they It mainly depends on visual observation. I can't say it well, but the field chicken cannon is completely incomparable with our military mortars, and it will definitely not be very accurate.

After saying that, Yao Fan motioned Bai Xiaoqi to continue.

Bai Xiaoqi nodded and continued: "This is the threat in the south. Their total combat strength is expected to be more than 20,000. It's just that the news in the north is difficult to hear now. The Qing army set up cards on the upper layer of Jiaoji Road, and the investigation is very strict.

Yao Fan said, "Then let me tell you that the only troops in the north of the Huai Army can move according to me are Shengjun and Shujun. This tree army was newly recruited in 1870 after the dissolution in 1868 to guard six infantry battalions in Shanxi.

"As for Sheng Jun, I know that they have 21 battalions, 15 infantry battalions and 6 cavalry battalions. They are Li Hongzhang's main force in Tianjin, guarding the front line from Beijing to Tianjin to prevent foreigners from attacking Beijing from the sea."

"I don't think Lao Li is likely to pull all the troops of Shengjun. Let's see that the colonial port of Shanghai is so far away from Beijing, and he also left 11 battalions of the Qing army to guard. Where is Tianjin? Behind it is Beijing, and Li Hongzhang will never make any mistakes.

"So it's good that the 21 battalions of the Sheng army in Tianjin can come. I estimate that all his horse troops will come here. It's amazing to add four infantry battalions, that is, 10 battalions. If all the trees in Shanxi come here, it will be the total strength of 16 battalions, more than 8,000. There are also three pro-army artillery battalions of Li Hongzhang in Tianjin, about 1,800 people, all of which are foreign cannons, and there is no domestic product. I guess he is willing to send two at most.

"So, we count more than 3,000 people in Ding Baozhen, and the Qing army on the North Road will probably gather about 12,000 people at most."

"As for the 7,000 or 8,000 disabled troops in Shaanxi and Wu Yi's army, I don't need to worry. Xinjiang is fighting hot, and Shaanxi will never be able to pull out troops to support the Shandong battlefield."

"In terms of time, I estimate that at the end of March and the beginning of April, the Qing army will officially march into the encirclement and suppression."

Li Jun applauded excitedly: "Chairman has insight into autumn! We will win!" For a moment, there was a warm applause in the conference room.

Yao Fan stood up and pointed to the map and said, "We must not commit the problem of losing proud soldiers. Strategically, we despise the feudal army of the Qing government, but tactically, we must pay attention to our opponents."

"Considering that the Qing army is gathering, and there are no enemies to threaten our enemies on the Jiaodong Peninsula in the east of Qingdao, our army will face northwest and southwest."

"In addition to the newly established 82 recoilless artillery battalion left in Qingdao, the 4th Regiment and 3rd Battalion also assisted in Qingdao and Jimo."

"The rest of the main forces are dispatched in two ways. The westward troops should take Jiao County, Gaomi and Anqiu, and then attack Wei County."

"After the northward troops captured Pingdu, they attacked Changyi, and then met with the westward troops in Wei County."

"In this way, the actual control area of our army will reach 5,000 to 6,000 square kilometers, and the circular control area can facilitate us to effectively mobilize troops in this area."

"The political and industrial cadres and troops of our Shandong commune will next take this core control area as the core base to carry out a large-scale crackdown on the local tyrants and evil gentry, and divide fields, agricultural tools and floating wealth to the poor and middle peasants."

Li Jun nodded heavily and said, "Wei County is a frontier town strictly guarded by more than 3,000 people. As long as we take Wei County and surround the four counties of Shouguang, Changle, Qingzhou and Linqu, we can fight whichever we want. Ding Baozhen is alone and will definitely retreat to Jinan."

Yao Fan circled on the map: "This battle is mainly based on the siege of the city, and by the way, Ding Baozhen is turned into a light pole commander."

"Then we adopted the strategy of blocking the south and going north. The south road relies on the front lines of Jiao County, Gaomi and Anqiu to stop the troops gradually gathered by the Huai army in Rizhao and Zhucheng."

"North Road takes Weifang as the center and eats the surrounding four counties of Shouguang, Changle, Qingzhou and Linqu one by one, so as to ensure a fan-shaped strategic buffer to the west of Wei County."

Li Hainiu said, "Next, the Huai army must attack from north to south. We want to fight on the north and south, but with the strength of our army, we can win even if we fight on two fronts."

Yao Fan laughed and said, "With this occupied area, we can completely concentrate our forces to quickly attack one direction and let the enemy in the other direction go to occupy the city to report victory. When we eat all the way, we can go back and eat the second meal."

The whole army cadres laughed. They were obviously full of confidence in Yao Fan's plan and agreed with the strategy of expanding the strategic buffer zone.

Yao Fan confidently looked at all the cadres in the conference room and said, "After this period of training and training, every cadre and soldier in our army has mastered the skills of fighting local tycoons, but if they play less, they have no experience, but it doesn't matter if they are not proficient. This opportunity has come."

"I demand that once this area is taken, in addition to actively preparing for war, the whole army will immediately start to fight local tycoons and divide their fields on a large scale. The villages under each county should be screened one by one, and the land reform villages should account for half of the villages under the county! For local tyrants and evil gentry, in addition to shooting, we will send their families to reform to relieve the current employment pressure.

"All women are sent to the quilt factory in Jimo County to sew cotton clothes. Except for the death penalty, all men participate in road construction. They must quickly repair the cement road from Jimo to Weifang. The above detention and supervision of reform-through-through-labour work are the responsibility of the militia forces, and all those who are lazy and resist are executed."

In the face of the encirclement and suppression of the Huai army, Yao Fan made a heavy move. He has always pursued a pragmatic policy that varies from time to time, and the moderate policy previously shown in Qingdao and Jimo has begun to change.

"All troops, once there is a war damage, they should immediately draw soldiers from the militia and transport regiment to supplement them, and be sure to keep them full!"