Chapter twenty-ninth
Ability is the sum of talent, learning, and practice. For example, Deng Ming and Zhou Peigong, if they are in terms of intellectual level, Zhou Peigong should not be inferior to Deng Ming. However, since one lived in the era of information explosion, the other was born in the 17th century when knowledge was spread slowly, it was difficult to confront Deng Ming no matter how hard it was. Deng Ming now gives Zhou Peigong a feeling of "being born to know", and he can easily learn from each other's age. Of course, Zhou Peigong would not think that the other party's ability comes from the accumulation of knowledge - experience, books and teachers' teachings cannot provide such a large amount of information, so he can only explain it with Tianshu.
During the peace period of the dynasty, local officials rarely saw wars, so even if they were promoted to a position of banishment, they might not know any military affairs. Just like Sun Chengzong, the Liaodong governor during the Tianqi period of the Ming Dynasty, had such good study, and had excellent intelligence, character and ethics, but the military facts were not his strengths. Now, even if the local officials in the Qing Dynasty had not experienced wars, they had at least heard of many military operations, so the average level was far above their peers twenty years ago.
The previous reports involving land war were checked by Zhang Changgeng, and Huguang's writings never had any major loopholes or obvious flaws. The good news of the canal ship's pass through Jiujiang was also the final checked by Zhang Changgen's shogunate. Before sending troops, the Wuchang shogunate knew that it would be able to pass the barrier successfully, so he wrote a draft of the victory document in advance, so he asked the Green Camp generals who led the canal fleet to use this manuscript as a blueprint and make some adjustments based on the specific situation. However, the problem is that for more than ten years, the Ming army has never been able to cut off the downstream channel of Wuchang, and has never dispatched the navy and Qing army to fight in Hubei and Jiangxi. Now the Wuchang shogunate needs to compile stories about the water war, but they are extremely lacking in relevant materials.
The situation in Jiangxi is not as good as the Wuchang shogunate. There is no Xuandong Army Group on the border of Nanchang that has been fighting fiercely for many years. The civil and military officials in Jiangxi, who are in the far-reaching rear of the 5,000-mile defense line, have not encountered war for many years. As for water war, there are not even enemies like Hao Yaoqi who use canoe and bamboo platoons. Dong Weiguo mentioned the battle in a good report of how to successfully pass the pass, and he never mentioned the specific details. The whole article was filled with the emperor's blessings, the governor's teachings, and the soldiers' lives.
"Water battles cannot be won by courage." Jiangxi's good news made Liang Huafeng shake his head. Less than a year ago, he was the admiral of the Susong Navy. The headquarters of Chongming is also an island on the sea. He is accompanied by sailors and ships every day. When he was on Chongming Island, all his daily training was about water warfare, and he had a considerable understanding of the combat capabilities of various ships and various precautions for water warfare. Moreover, Liang Huafeng also had practical experience. For many years, Zhang Huangyan had been harassing the Southeast and actively smuggling activities to the Qing army occupied areas.
In Liang Huafeng's eyes, Jiangxi's good news has no practical significance at all, and the overview of the details of the battle seems more suspicious and guilty.
"When the land battle, a few soldiers' courage may really be able to turn the situation around. Once an avalanche is formed, no matter how many people are, it is useless; but the water battle is completely different. If the ship is not as good as a person, no matter how brave he is, he will not win; and if there are many and strong ships, the very poor sailors can easily defeat the enemy who is ready to die." Then look down and there are still words such as "Hongfu", "fighting spirit", "fighting death", and "struggle". Liang Huafeng completely lost his interest in Jiangxi Jiebao, put it aside, pulled out the seal of Huguang and looked at it.
The battle content in Huguang is much more detailed than the one in Jiangxi. If it is in the eyes of ordinary people, there may be no major flaws. Even if it is sent to Beijing, no one will tell anything. But Susong Navy was the most powerful navy in the Qing Dynasty. Liang Huafeng, as the supreme commander of Susong Navy, felt something was wrong after just a few glances. After reading a few more sentences, Liang Huafeng felt absurdity in his heart became stronger and stronger. After reading the whole story, Liang Huafeng raised his head and muttered to himself for a few words, and suddenly showed a sudden enlightenment on his face.
"Go to see the governor right away." Liang Huafeng put away the two good news and hurriedly ordered the guards around him.
After entering Nanjing, the group went straight to the Governor General of Liangjiang. Jiang Guozhu, who acted as Governor General of Liangjiang, had been waiting in the yamen. After meeting, the two exchanged a few words of greetings and asked outsiders to leave to discuss the issue of these two good news.
"These two good news reports are all problematic, right?" Jiang Guozhu asked with a sneer. It was because he felt that there was a fraud that when he heard that Liang Huafeng rushed back to Nanjing, he hurriedly sent an envoy to send the good news reports to Su Song's former admiral for his examination.
"The Governor clearly saw Wanli, and these two good news were inappropriate." Since Jiang Guozhu sent the good news to him specifically, Liang Huafeng certainly realized that the other party doubted its authenticity. Jiang Guozhu just wanted to think about it in advance, but this was obviously an underestimation of Liang Huafeng. He didn't need to think seriously at all, and he could see the problem at a glance.
"This is completely Dong Weiguo's words of Hu Chai! The most important equipment in water warfare, and the role of elite soldiers and generals is very large, but it is far less than that in land warfare. Only when the ships are about the same size and the number is basically the same, morale needs to be considered. In water warfare, the usefulness of more than a dozen veterans of hundreds of battles may be less than that of a cannon. No matter how elite sailors operated by broken ships, they will be overturned by a giant ship. Even if the morale among them is like a rainbow, they will be eaten by fish and turtles. The Jiangxi governor's victory, without mentioning the ships and the strength, obviously they don't know that the water war is
What's going on? How could he beat Deng Ming's Yangtze River Navy? And..." Liang Huafeng first exposed the memorial from Dong Weiguo. Deng Ming's Yangtze River Navy's officers and soldiers were mainly from Zhoushan. Liang Huafeng had many years of fighting with them: "Zhejiang soldiers are extremely tenacious. The last generals fought with them for many years, and there are many people who will not retreat. Although the last generals won more than defeated for many years, they mainly took advantage of the boat. If the two armies on both sides had exactly the same equipment and had to compete for fighting spirit and courage, the last generals might be at a disadvantage."
"Sure enough!" Jiang Guozhu shouted and cursed hatefully: "When I saw Dong Weiguo hesitating about the details of how to win, I felt that something was wrong. If it was a desperate battle, it would be useful, so what would it cost to spend a huge amount of money to build a big ship?"
Throwing Dong Weiguo's good news aside, Jiang Guozhu pointed at Huguang and shouted: "How is this true or false?"
Before Dong Weiguo's victory came, Jiang Guozhu had no big doubts about the Huguang grain ship passing through the barrier. After seeing the victory, he did not feel anything wrong. Seeing that the Ming Navy was unable to transport grain in stages, Jiang Guozhu was still very happy. He felt that Deng Ming was indeed at the end of his strength and believed that Nanjing would not be in danger this time. At one time, Jiang Guozhu was still wondering if there was any need to continue to mobilize troops from the East to return to Anqing.
But before Jiang Guozhu was happy for too long, he learned that the fleet in Jiangxi had successfully passed the pass in Jiujiang. When the 300,000 shi of grain was passed through Nanjing, Jiang Guozhu went to the dock to see the fleet in Jiangxi. The more he looked, the more he became suspicious. After returning, Jiang Guozhu dug out the report from Huguang again. Dong Weiguo's success made Jiang Guozhu doubt the truth about the pass of Huguang Navy. However, he studied the good news for a long time and did not see any problem.
"Since Governor Jiang can't see the problem, how did he know there was a fraud?" After hearing Jiang Guozhu's words, Liang Huafeng immediately had this question in his heart, but he did not ask him, but explained it seriously: "At first glance, there was no big problem with this good news. Although I felt something was wrong at the beginning, I was still vague. After reading it carefully, I felt that it was indescribable. After thinking about it carefully, I finally realized that this battle was not fought on the Yangtze River, nor was it fought by Deng Ming and the Chu army."
"Who fought against the Chu army?" Jiang Guozhu still didn't understand and asked hurriedly.
"The generals don't know who fought the Chu army in this battle." Liang Huafeng shook his head and continued to explain: "Deng Ming has many large ships in his hands, all of which were seized from Anqing and Nanjing before. There are several warships that were once the Mo General Susong Navy. If the Chu army and Deng Ming fought in Jiujiang, to deal with these canal ships, Deng Ming would definitely dispatch large ships to approach, coerce the canal ships to surrender and stop sailing. If the canal ship does not listen, the canal ship will shoot arrows from a high position to draw water.
The hand, the helmsman shot to death, or destroyed the sails - it was full of food. I think Deng Ming was reluctant to sank the canal ship. If the Chu army wanted to protect the canal ship, they could not let Deng Ming's big ship approach these precious food ships. They must bravely face it, set fire, jump to the gang and seize the boat, and sacrifice some escort ships and sailors to protect the canal ships. And the battle on this victory was completely reversed. It was the Ming army who came to attack and jump to the gang and seize the boats..."
Liang Huafeng said, shook his head repeatedly: "This good news gives me the feeling that, well, the thieves I saw in front of me were not taking large ships to attack slow and self-defense grain ships, but were riding a bunch of canoes and rafts. Facing our army's magnificent warships, they rushed up to set fire regardless of the situation, and wanted to jump to seize our warships."
"The Yangtze River is wide and you can't be as hard as a canoe." After pointing to the good news from Huguang, Liang Huafeng finally concluded: "According to the last general, the battle above is mostly in a small puddle in Hubei. Only the genius knew what small water bandits were fighting. The governor of Huguang Tu Tu Gaijie said it was the passing of Jiujiang's pass."
Liang Huafeng guessed correctly. In order to prepare this report, the Wuchang shogunate found several naval generals who had fought with Hao Yaoqi many times in the upper reaches of the Han River, and asked them to design a rough framework. After some processing, it turned into a battle on this good news.
"So that's the case, it's really hateful." Jiang Guozhu laughed in anger: "I always thought that Zhang Changgeng had real skills, but I didn't expect that he would have an affair with the thief!"
"The Governor said it well." Since the good news is false, it is obvious that the Chu army and the Ming army are playing a double act in Jiujiang pass. However, Liang Huafeng still has a question in his mind that has never been explained: "But before the end of the day, how did the Governor see through these?"
"Haha, this is too easy." Jiang Guozhu twisted his beard and laughed, and he whispered to the Jiangxi victory with contempt: "This victory was given to us five times in one breath. The implication is that the thief is incompetent and vulnerable. He told the officials in Jiangnan that they didn't have to be polite if they saw Deng Ming, so they rushed forward and gave him a good fight. The credit was easily obtained. Hum! Will this Dong be so kind? I don't need to see it, and I can hear there is conspiracy in it."
"Oh." Liang Huafeng nodded slightly. When he evaluated the good news in Huguang just now, he did not say it very clearly at the beginning, but just pointed out that "this battle was not fought on the Yangtze River, nor was it fought by Deng Ming and the Chu army." As a result, Jiang Guozhu couldn't understand at all. This time, Jiang Guozhu made the same mistake as Liang Huafeng just now. He thought he had made it very clear, but Liang Huafeng was still unclear.
Jiang Guozhu observed his expression and knew that his alliance was still confused, so he further explained: "Will Deng Ming be so easy to fight? First, if it was really easy to fight, Dong Weiguo would not lose Jiujiang. Second, even if Deng Ming was like Zheng Chenggong, the army had no fighting spirit due to some mistake and was seen through the truth by Dong Weiguo - Admiral Liang, please think about it. If Deng Ming suddenly became better at fighting, would Zhang Chao and Dong Weiguo tell us? Of course not! If he told us, I might send troops to Jiangxi to participate in the war in the name of acting governor of Liangjiang and divide their contributions. So they would definitely say that Deng Ming was extremely fierce, which scared me to fear of fighting with them. Also, even if I was not afraid of me to fight, they would never say that Deng Ming was not capable of fighting. If Deng Ming's subordinates were really as heartless as the generals were greedy for money and bribes, what would their contributions to defeat Deng Ming?"
"The governor is so incisive that it makes the last general suddenly enlightened." Liang Huafeng praised with conscience and thought about it carefully. If he was defeated by the enemy, he would not be able to say that the enemy was powerful, because it was called increasing the enemy's ambition and destroying his own might, which would be a shame to the court, and would also make Beijing think that you are already scared and have no value in use. And if you defeat the enemy, you must praise the enemy's strength desperately. The more arrogant the enemy is, the greater the credit you will be. Liang Huafeng has done this before, and last time he and
After Guan Qizhong defeated Zheng Chenggong under the city of Nanjing, he sang Zheng Chenggong's hymns: Guan Qizhong said that inside and outside the pass, he had never seen such a powerful Ming army as the Guanning army. Compared with the Zheng army, the Western Army can only be considered a bandit gangster; Liang Huafeng also said that the Zheng army was orderly, advanced and retreated in an orderly manner, and even when the army was defeated, the soldiers were all walking on the drum beats when they fled. Such a powerful army that shocked the past and present was actually defeated by Liang Huafeng's three thousand sailors. Liang Huafeng's bravery can be imagined.
Of course, whether it is believed or not, the Shunzhi emperor was very happy after reading Liang Huafeng's memorial, and immediately decided to be promoted to Jiangnan Admiral and also gave Liang Huafeng a portrait to Beijing. After Dasu arrived in Nanjing and saw Liang Huafeng's sailors with his own eyes, he was determined to go to Fujian to wipe out Zheng Chenggong. Although Jiang Guozhu and Liang Huafeng had been flattering him in order to prevent Dasu from staying in Jiangnan, they advised him to set out early and leave Nanjing to fight Zhang Huangyan and Zheng Chenggong. However, Dasu also had a strong desire for this. He estimated the combat effectiveness gap between the Songjiang Navy and his troops. Even if he needed to cross the sea, Dasu was fearless and had to share the worries of the court and go to Xiamen to wipe out Zheng Chenggong.
"I know from this that Dong Weiguo is not at ease. He hoped that I would believe his lies and went to Deng Ming to find Deng Ming's unhappiness with the idea of beating Deng Ming, but he was beaten by Deng Ming and found himself a lot of unhappiness. Humph, if this is true, it would be like Dong Weiguo's wishes." When facing Deng Ming, a person from the 21st century, Jiang Guozhu often felt restrained and planned in vain, but when the opponent was a disciple of Dong Weiguo, he could be called a god, and he told the other party's hearts one by one, just like being proficient in mind reading.
"It would be fine if it was Jiangxi, but here in Huguang..." Liang Huafeng felt his heart suddenly and said nervously: "Even Governor Zhang has colluded with Deng Ming, so Deng Ming must be strong."
"It's very powerful, so everything must follow Deng Ming's intention." Jiang Guozhu sneered again. He carefully read the good news in Huguang and Jiangxi, and they all tried hard to find an objective reason for Deng Ming's failure to win: "You have a good look at their articles. You never dare to say how miserable it was to beat Deng Ming. Hanyang was Deng Ming's strong attack and failed. The Chu army and Gan army passed through the pass and only repelled the Ming army's pursuit. All of them were successful in defense. None of them took the initiative to attack. Obviously, they were afraid of bragging too much, so that Deng Ming was unhappy to beat them. Do you still remember what we said in Nanjing?"
Liang Huafeng of course remembered that when Deng Ming retreated from the city of Nanjing, they were very restrained when describing victory in the memorial, and only focused on the fact that Ming army withdrew, but they were beheaded and seized. It was because they had a ghost in their hearts. Since Deng Ming had hinted in previous negotiations and expressed that he did not want his reputation to be damaged too much, the guilty Jiang Guozhu and Liang Huafeng had to do so.
Liang Huafeng picked up the two good news and looked at them carefully. He found that as Jiang Guozhu said: these two good news from Huguang and Jiangxi are similar to their good news at the beginning. They can avoid the outcome of the battle, and they dare not sarcastically and mock the enemy.
"It's fine for Governor Zhang to protect himself. Just like ours, we can be regarded as having the same sympathy, but Dong Weiguo is the guy!" Jiang Guozhu's face suddenly became ferocious, and his eyes were full of fierce light: "He is trying to cheat us, and this grandson wants to cheat his grandfather."
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Chapter completed!