Steel Dynasty - Chapter 878

[Chapter 876 Double Act Strategy]

“Lu Fei, Commander of Huben’s First Army, is here to see the Emperor!”

Lu Fei paid a military salute to Xiao Ming in the camp of Jinling City. After capturing Jianzhou, Lu Fei handed over Jianzhou City to Lei Ming. He and Luo Xin Lead their own troops and return to their respective bases.

According to the original intention of military reform, each army has its own scope of responsibilities, just like contemporary military regions, each with its own combat targets.

During the Northern Expedition, Lei Ming could not deal with the barbarians on his own, so Lu Fei and Luo Xin went north. After the war, Lei Ming’s army was able to defend the six cities, so Lu Fei and Luo Xin led the troops back, and everyone performed their duties. .

Now that the war in the south was about to begin, Lu Fei naturally had to take on the main offensive task. At the same time, he also transferred Luo Xin’s three divisions, so that there were a total of 60,000 troops in Jinling City. .

“Pingsheng!” Xiao Ming looked at Lu Fei, and at the same time stopped Luo Xin’s false courtesy, he said: “How are you prepared now?”

“Back to the emperor, everything is ready, we can cross south at any time.” Luo Xin said very confidently said.

Xiao Ming nodded, and he looked at the soldiers who were lined up in two rows to greet him. At this time, these soldiers were holding Falcon breech rifles at an angle, and there were ring-shaped bags hanging on their bodies. Each bag had a Small holes, filled with paper bullets.

Such a bullet belt holds a full 120 rounds of bullets. During a battle, soldiers can take out bullets from their pockets at any time and shoot in any posture.

In addition, the cloth shoes under the feet of the soldiers turned into black leather shoes. Steel helmets were buckled on their heads. Together with their dark green gowns, their military appearance was very majestic.

His eyes swept over the soldiers, and the smile on Xiao Ming’s face became stronger and stronger. He had actually proposed the idea of a steel helmet a long time ago, and the military workshop had been designing the helmet.

It’s just that the Northern Expedition couldn’t use steel helmets when facing barbarian armies that basically had no firearms, but this was different for the southern army. What he would face this time going south would probably be a large-scale firearms battle.

Therefore, while producing Falcon muskets, he requested the production of steel helmets. This kind of helmet is a curved surface. If the opponent’s bullet does not hit the center of the helmet, since the helmet is a curved surface, most of the helmets will slip away. This is his equipment. The reason for wearing a steel helmet is that it can reduce casualties among soldiers.

Coupled with the advancement of medical science in Qingzhou, if they were not hit in the head, the current level of firearms would have caused more wounded soldiers than died.

After inspecting the Jinling camp, Xiao Ming calmed down and everyone went to the staff headquarters in the camp, where a sand table from the Jiangnan region had been created.

Through the sand table, you can clearly see the current situation of Li Chuyuan and the Merchant Council.

“Your Majesty, after four months of fierce fighting, Li Chuyuan conquered Wu County. However, although the merchant council lost Wu County, it consumed a large amount of Li Chuyuan’s troops. Chu State lost 40,000 troops here, almost half of them. , and now Li Chuyuan is planning a direct attack on Suzhou. “

Lu Fei pointed to the battlefield area near Suzhou and explained the current situation to Xiao Ming.

After a pause, Lu Fei continued: “In addition to Wu County, Jiaxing and Songjiang were also attacked by Li Chuyuan, but Li Chuyuan was defeated here.”

Luo Quan frowned, “Look at it this way Come on, these two families are indeed evenly matched, but what does this mean? “

As he spoke, Luo Quan pointed to Jianning and Guangzhou.

Luo Xin said: “This is the news just sent by the secret guard. Businessmen in these places have responded to the merchant council, and now they are organizing civilian groups to fight against the local wealthy families.”

“This Cao family is really quite capable, but Jianning and Guangzhou has a prosperous business and many wealthy merchants. It is not surprising that they support the Merchant Council,” Xiao Ming said lightly, “But in this case, we must first eliminate the Merchant Council. After all, the establishment of the Merchant Council has a lot to do with Western influence. Inextricably linked.”

After pondering for a while, he said: “Li Chuyuan and I have already discussed in private. According to the time, he will invite me to help him suppress the rebellion tomorrow. In my opinion, we and Li Chuyuan will eliminate the merchants first. The power of the parliament, and then we will take advantage of the situation to deal with the wealthy families in Jiangnan.”

Niu Ben and others nodded, this is their strategy for going south this time, to pull one by one and eventually eat those who are still alive.

After deciding on this matter, everyone went back to prepare.

Xiao Ming took his concubines and moved into the palace of Jinling City. Suddenly, five thousand forbidden troops from Qingzhou strictly protected his residence.

The next day, Li Chuyuan arrived at Jinling City with Sima Hao as promised.

Different from the arrogant and domineering look in the past, Li Chuyuan now looked embarrassed. Although Sima Hao was neatly dressed, anyone could see the haggardness on his face.

For them, life is becoming more and more difficult. The Chu State is now full of wars. The wealthy families and businessmen are fighting each other, and the common people have joined the two camps to attack each other.

Now he is very lucky to have purchased many firearms from Xiao Ming, otherwise their property would have been robbed by the mob instigated by the Merchant Council.

And as the war progressed, although they were equally matched on the surface, they gradually lost their foundation among the people.

Many people who have been oppressed and bullied by the wealthy families for hundreds of years have turned to the Merchant Council. If this continues, they will only fail.

Therefore, Sima Hao had to give up his persistence and agreed with Li Chuyuan to ask Xiao Ming for help. For him, as long as he could completely eliminate the Merchant Council, he would worry about the rest.

“Your Majesty…”

In the main hall of the palace, Li Chuyuan saw Xiao Ming kneeling down with a “pop”, then crawled in front of Xiao Ming and hugged Xiao Ming’s legs, “The Chu Kingdom is in such a great crisis, but I still hope that the Emperor will Being able to save Xiao Wang is not in vain for Xiao Wang’s loyalty to the emperor. “

Xiao Ming had a look of pity on his face, but his heart was already filled with joy. He cooperated with Li Chuyuan and said: “The Kingdom of Chu belongs to the Kingdom of Chongqing. The vassal country is in trouble now, and the imperial court cannot stand idly by. After all, the Chu country is also the territory of the Chongqing country!”

Although Sima Hao was unwilling to accept it, he had no choice but to nod in surrender when he asked Xiao Ming.

“Thank you, Your Majesty. If Your Majesty doesn’t take action, Xiao Wang may be in danger of his life.” Li Chuyuan said.

Xiao Ming nodded and took the opportunity to say: “In that case, you can stay in Jinling City. Although the Merchant Council is powerful, it is not my opponent. You can be safe here.”

Li Chuyuan He breathed a sigh of relief. This was what he came for this time. This was also the plan they agreed on. As long as he was in Jinling City, he could save his life.

And Xiao Ming can use him to issue orders to Chu State, killing two birds with one stone.

Sima Hao opened his mouth in astonishment. He didn’t expect such a thing to happen. He just felt as if the sky was falling.

PS: There is another chapter, which will be at twelve o’clock. You can read it the next day to avoid staying up late.

(End of chapter)