Chapter 9

  The Yuezhou City siege campaign also began under the cover of night. Looking at the distant city walls of Yuezhou, which were not very high, and the moat, I furrowed my brow. Although the 1,400-strong Qing army garrison in Yuezhou was far outnumbered by our troops, these Eight Banner soldiers were not like those of the late Qing period - they were elite warriors born on horseback, who had marched into the Central Plains with their iron cavalry. They were indeed very brave. People say that besieging a city always requires several times more troops than defending it, but in reality, it's not just a matter of several times more. Think back to when General Yuan Chonghuan defended a small city with only a few thousand soldiers and was able to hold off Dolon's 130,000-strong army at the Lei Pond.

  I turned around and looked at Aaron, Zeng Qing, Lei Feng and several others: "Comrades, attacking is difficult and defending is easy. This time it will be a fierce battle."

  Zhou Lun also nodded in agreement, looked at them and said: "Yes. But you see they are all eager to try. I think it's better to let them go up first to test the enemy's strength."

  Zeng Qing and Lei Feng smiled and said: "Right, Captain, it's just over a thousand people. We guarantee to beat them back to Guanwai." Haha.

  I took a look at them, and with the intention of letting them suffer a bit in this battle, I said: "Alright, I'll give you two people one day's time. If you see my signal flare, you'll immediately retreat. Got it?"

  "Yes! Guaranteed to obey orders."

  The warriors' rounds of attacks were easily repelled by the Qing army, who occupied the terrain and took the initiative, amidst the enemy's laughter. From time to time, they would burst into fits of maniacal laughter and pointing fingers. Our warriors were so enraged that they stood under the city wall and exchanged curses with them.

  "Damn it, these bastards are really evil. If our battalion can't take down this small Yue State today, I'll be done for in our regiment." He then turned to the messenger behind him and said, "You, pass on my orders. All soldiers in the first battalion, follow me in the charge!"

  Zeng Qing glanced at Lei Feng and said, "Heh heh, kid, today we've got the city of Yue surrounded, so you'd better not interfere. I see that your first battalion is having trouble dealing with them, why don't you just go back and take care of your kids?" Then he turned to the soldiers of the second battalion and said, "Brothers, let's charge together!"

  I looked back and couldn't help but frown, telling the guard: "Pass down the order to bring Lei Ting and Zeng Qing to me. Temporarily stop the attack on the troops. Then dispatch three platoons to block all other city gates and exits. Under no circumstances can anyone be allowed to escape. Otherwise, I will hold them accountable."

  "Lei and Zeng, you push me, I push you. You two have come before me, I say to them: 'You two have quarreled enough, haven't you? You are the main officers of two battalions. One of you is even a deputy regiment commander, yet you have no sense of organization or discipline, only thinking about competing for merit. It's really too ridiculous. Now, you two immediately go down and cooperate with other troops to take down Yue State with me. Otherwise, you'll be waiting to write a self-criticism. Now, follow me in charging forward and sweep away those Qing troops with our guns.'"

  There's a saying that "arrogant soldiers will surely be defeated". Now the Qing army on the city wall is looking at us below, and there are several people who say: "Look, look, those four fools are still holding a firewood stick and rushing up. They really don't know life or death."

  I watched them with an unguarded expression, four people exchanged a look. The four submachine guns had already sounded. Under the cover of the four submachine guns, they were at a loss for the sudden strong firepower. Lei Feng made a gesture to Zeng Qing and took the lead in charging forward. Although the enemy wanted to shoot arrows at the soldiers attacking the city gate, they were forced by the powerful firepower of the four submachine guns and could not stick their heads out. From time to time, there were also a few fearless ones who poked their heads out and were beaten back by us.

  The city gate was quickly broken open in the fierce battle between the warriors. At this time, the Qing army inside the city had already rushed down to the city gate and engaged in close combat with our warriors. Due to their numerical superiority, although the Qing army was as brave as our warriors, they were outnumbered two or even three to one. The situation of the battle quickly turned into a onesided affair. Moreover, the sabers we designed and manufactured were extremely suitable for close combat, compared to long spears, although they carried some danger. But as the saying goes, "one inch short, one inch dangerous", the enemy could only lament their helplessness at this time.

  I said to the guard standing beside me, "Now take the guards and go capture the county government office for me. Remember to ensure that the soldiers' discipline is not disrupted and do not disturb the civilians nearby. Go quickly, don't let them escape in the chaos."

  When the first ray of sunlight came down in the morning, the battle in Yuezhou City had already ended perfectly. There were still signs of fighting left inside the city, and some houses were also destroyed. The city gate was still lying there. There were bloodstains all over the streets. The bodies had been cleaned up. Only the remaining bloodstains and damaged houses proved yesterday's battle. After counting, more than 500 of our soldiers died, and only a little over 200 were injured. Generally speaking, this battle was not bad. I thought for a moment and said to **: "Go and pass on my order, calling all military officers above the rank of squad leader to hold a meeting at the county government's main hall."

  He responded and went to pass on the order. As I watched, a steady stream of officers arrived at the county government office. I took a look and said, "It's time to prepare for the meeting." In the main hall of the county government office, we held our first enlarged conference. All military commanders above regimental level attended.

  "This time in Yue State campaign is our biggest battle since the establishment of the army. In this battle, some new situations have emerged."

  After saying this, I paused for a moment and looked at Lei Feng and Zeng Qing. My tone also became more severe as I said: "Because the commanders of our two main camps were competing for unnecessary merits during the battle, it led to mistakes in command, which directly resulted in the deaths of 517 soldiers and injuries to over 300 soldiers."

  I glanced at Lei Ting and Zeng Qing, who were looking at each other with guilt. Ignoring their guilty gaze, I continued: "Although these warriors have sacrificed themselves, we will not forget them! In the future, when we are victorious, we will build a grand martyrs' cemetery for them, so that our descendants can forever remember them."

  "Thunder, Zeng Qing, rise!"

  The two people quickly stood up.

  I looked at them with a hint of regret, nodded in satisfaction and said in a deep voice: "Lieutenant Colonels Lei Feng and Zeng Qing have violated military regulations, made wrong decisions in battle without regard for the lives of soldiers, resulting in innocent casualties. This time, they will be reprimanded once, demoted to deputy regimental commanders, and punished according to military law. They will write two self-criticism reports, which will be posted throughout the army as a warning."

  I watched them sit down obediently. I continued, "In addition, all levels of military commanders must follow the Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points of Attention. They are not allowed to harass the civilians in Yueyang City. Tomorrow, leave one team stationed inside Yueyang City, and the other teams will exit the city according to the original plan to carry out propaganda activities. It's easy to conquer the world but hard to defend it. Only by winning over the hearts of the people can we preserve the fruits of our victory. Now, please let Comrade Zhou explain the specific arrangements."

  I led the applause, Zhou Lun stood up and bowed: "Comrades, after discussion with Captain Zhu, it was decided that Wang Hu from the third battalion and I will go to the headquarters in Hubei, where Yan Wang is located, to receive some of our weapons. These are the same weapons that Captain Zhu and others used today, and I will strive to get one for each soldier."

  This sentence made the eyes of these military officers who saw the power of these weapons light up.

  "However, after the other troops are stationed here, there are four aspects of requirements. First, we must quickly mobilize the people of Yuezhou County to rise up and overthrow the local tyrants and distribute land. We must strive to win over more popular support. Second, we must speed up the development of our troops. In terms of personnel recruitment, I hope that all military commanders will be strict in their selection. In terms of deployment, try to pair old soldiers with new recruits. Don't worry that the troops don't have combat effectiveness. We must quickly boost the morale of the troops within a short period. Comrade Wu Shuang will take over my work in ideological education. Additionally, Comrade Zhu is preparing to establish a military training class to improve the ability of our commanders at all levels to command independently. Third, while striking down the local tyrants and evil gentry, we must also pay attention to protecting those enlightened landlords and not harass them in any way. Otherwise, they will be dealt with according to military law. After all, the landlord class is still a powerful force. We must strive to win over those who are wavering between two sides. Finally, regarding economic construction, I won't repeat myself here. Tomorrow, we will post an announcement to stabilize the people of Yuezhou City. I hope that when I return, I will see not just the three thousand troops we have now, but a military force of more than ten thousand. That's all I have to say. Tomorrow, each unit will carry out its plans according to today's arrangements."

  Just as Zhou Lun was about to sit down, he seemed to suddenly remember something and said: "First of all, let's make one thing clear. If I come back and find out that anyone from that platoon has violated any of the four points I just mentioned, then the entire platoon will not get new weapons. You'll still be using your shovels."

  The officers present all burst out laughing and fawned on Zhou Lun, saying: "Commissar, how dare we disobey your orders? We guarantee that whoever disobeys will be made to forget their own surname."

  Outside Yuezhou City. Looking at the three camps that are about to set off, I held Zhou Lun's hand and said: "After you return and report the situation here to Grandfather, you must hurry over here immediately."

  After finishing, I looked at the soldiers of the third battalion and said: "This time you will be the first batch to get advanced weapons, one or two months earlier than the soldiers of the first and second battalions. You must protect the political commissar well. Do you understand?"

  Everyone shouted solemnly: "Yes, Captain. I guarantee that Commissar will not lose a single hair."

  Aaron smiled and nodded, "Don't worry, I'll bring Grandpa's instructions over. And I won't lose a single hair." After smiling for a few seconds, he turned to the third camp and said, "Departure, comrades."

  I watched them leave, shaking my head with a sense of loss and worry. The Qing soldiers who appeared in Yuezhou made me involuntarily compare and worry about Zhou Lun's return. I took a deep breath and said to Lei Ting and Zeng Qing: "Lei Ting, your troops will still be stationed outside the city according to plan. Make up for the lost soldiers as soon as possible. Intensify training. Zeng Qing, you are now the commander of the Yuezhou City Garrison Command. You must maintain law and order in Yuezhou. Did you hear?"

  The two people's feelings have become even deeper after being criticized yesterday, and they said together: "Yes."

  The people inside the city woke up to find that the city had changed hands again. The flag on the city wall was no longer the Qing army's dragon flag, but a red flag with no pattern on it. However, the adaptability of the people living in this era was very strong because they were already used to changing positions at any moment. Many people had prepared some fake queues at home. So our entry into the city did not bring them too much panic and pressure. It wasn't until after seeing the difference between our troops and other troops that someone came to ask what kind of troops we were. Our soldiers, when answering their questions, all smiled and looked harmonious and peaceful, leaving a deep impression on the people of Yueyang City.

  The new economic policy brought the most smiles to the merchants in Yueyang City. Here, being a merchant is no longer an inferior profession, it has become as equal as reading books. The equality of various professions still makes some people happy and others worried. Some scholars in Yueyang City cried and made a fuss, wanting to hang themselves, and from time to time gathered at the door of Zeng Qing's office to make trouble. Zeng Qing came out and said: "After the Qing army entered the city, I didn't see them being so diligent. How did they become like this after our Han army arrived?" He scolded a few traitors on the spot, causing several old men to faint. Under the circumstances that no one cared about their situation, they could only leave in dejection.

  Yueyang is a port in Hunan near the Yangtze River. In ancient times, many merchants gathered here. After meeting with several elected merchant representatives, they all expressed that they would attract merchants from all over the country to come here. You may ask why this place has such great appeal? In fact, at that time, the status of merchants was very low, even lower than that of farmers. So, many merchants who became rich later bought official titles or something like that. Although they had money and many servants at their beck and call, in the eyes of scholars, they were nothing. Therefore, merchants have been holding back their breath since ancient times. Now with such a good opportunity, they can hold their heads higher when walking in the city. These merchants are even more dedicated to doing things for us.

  After our warriors' efforts to strike down the local tyrants, the city of Yuezhou has basically achieved the goal of "those who till the land own it". At the same time, many refugees have rushed to Yuezhou after hearing this news, which suddenly increased our pressure. Food is in short supply, and the refugees, having nothing to do, have also made the security situation in Yuezhou chaotic. I couldn't help but furrow my brow.

  Zeng Qing looked at me and said with a bitter face: "Chief, I think these refugees can't be driven away. Can we arrange for them to do some work? Give them some funds and let them return to their respective places to provide intelligence for us."

  I shook my head and denied his suggestion, saying: "Your suggestion has its merits, but now such a rash move is absolutely not feasible. We don't know the details of these refugees. If we rashly give them funding, they might take the money and leave. We won't be able to find them either. They'll use up all their resources and run back to us again, creating a vicious cycle. I think the only solution is to let them develop new wasteland. A few days ago, I went out to Yuezhou and found that there's still plenty of wasteland outside. Since this land is poorer than usual, we can provide seeds and food for them to open up the wasteland. This way, our future grain base will be established. And those who are unwilling to go, I think they're just people who want to eat a free meal. So, you can catch those people."

  The next day, a notice was posted outside the county government office with a solution for the refugees. Many of the originally diligent people went to the county government office to register.

  As our influence in Yuezhou grew, the common people who wanted to join the army flocked to the county government and the barracks every day. On this basis, we recruited nearly 9,000 more people and formed a full-fledged division. The ratio of new to old soldiers was allocated at 1:4. Except for deploying one of Zeng Qing's regiments outside the city, there were only the original guard troops left in the city. However, after this month of reorganization and governance, Yuezhou City no longer had any public security problems.

  During this period, I also gave three lectures to these new and old military leaders. Later on, those who had heard these lectures referred to themselves as the first batch of short-term students at the People's Liberation Army Military Academy. When facing newer students at the academy, they would say: "Back when I was at the academy, you were still drinking milk."

  I can only smile wryly at their words. Every day's training is focused on combat in various terrains and the physical strength of the soldiers. Of course, I am still personally involved in ideological education with Wu Shuang. But unexpectedly, these new soldiers after undergoing a change in thinking are even more ruthless than our original old soldiers, to the point where some enlightened landlords around Yuezhou were also caught and struggled against. In the end, when these kind-hearted landlords came to me to complain, I was at a loss for how to comfort these 'suffering' landlords. In the end, it was only through my intervention that they were released.

  I am inspecting the troops at a base three miles from Yuezhou City. The neat barracks are the result of the hard work of more than 9,000 soldiers over the past month. They trained during the day and used their spare time to build at night. The uniform brick houses were donated by merchants who wanted to ensure their own interests. After I occasionally reminded them, they generously donated tens of thousands of taels of silver.

  At this time, a scout from the division rushed over and said: "Commander, the troops of the political commissar have appeared in a place 20 miles away from Yueyang."

  I looked at the little warrior and couldn't help but feel joyful, saying "Really, really." Upon hearing the little warrior's affirmative response. I turned to the guard beside me and said: "You immediately notify Captain Lei and Captain Zeng. Tell them to follow me to meet with Commissioner Zheng."

  Lei Feng and Zeng Qing rushed over excitedly while running, shouting "Where is the political commissar? Where is the political commissar?"

  I looked at them, gave them a glance, and said: "You're all team leaders now, but you still don't have any discipline."

  I also burst out laughing and said: "Come with me to pick up Comrade Zheng."

  I saw the team coming from afar, and my heart couldn't help but feel another wave of excitement. Aron seemed to have seen me too, waving at me. From a distance, their team seemed to be more than just one battalion as it was when we left.

  "Captain, I'm back!" Aron's voice had already echoed far away. In front of everyone, we still called each other "Captain" and "Political Commissar", after all, we had to set an example for everyone. At this moment, I was also excited and ran up.

  Everyone in the camp was happily sitting by the bonfire, chatting. Ah Lun smiled and said: "This time I went back and learned about some situations of Lv Jun and Xiao Ying. They are now developing quite well, unlike us, they thoroughly implemented the guerrilla warfare ideology. Now they have a force equivalent to an army. Xiao Ying has even occupied a mountain head and become a 'mountain king'." After finishing speaking, he looked at me with a questioning expression about the base: "The base is doing great, Zhao Zhe and Zhang Zhitao are managing the surrounding area within 100 miles perfectly. The base has developed into a new type of city. The match factory and military factory have already started production. Additionally, the artillery factory was created by Zhao Zhe after capturing several Qing army cannons, which were then dissected by Han Zhi and modified to increase accuracy and range. Now it can use Qing army cannonballs."

  Zhou Lun took a sip of wine and continued: "In addition, we have also manufactured five new-style large cannons designed by ourselves, and I managed to get two of them. The new-style rifle factory is also in mass production, and this time I only brought more than 7,000 guns, but I brought the machinery that can produce them. The prince's intention is for us to be responsible for producing our own weapons."

  "Grandpa wants me to say hello to you on his behalf."

  After finishing, he stood up and smiled: "You see, we haven't been idle on the way here, so when we came, our troops had already expanded to a division. I think it's better to divide this division into regiments, and then select some clever soldiers who have read books from the entire division to form a new teaching regiment as a reserve for our troops' command talents."

  I nodded and said, "Well, this is for the best."

  A Lang seemed delighted and took a sip of wine, saying: "Shifu, how is your personnel allocation?"

  "I took over Ah Lun's question and said: 'Don't mention the battalion commander and political commissar for now. The current battalion commander is Lei Feng, who also serves as deputy regimental commander. The second battalion commander is Zeng Qing. Their political commissars don't need to change. As for the third battalion commander, I think Yi Tianhang can take over, but the political commissar will be Jian, who was originally under Lei Feng's command in the first battalion. Wu Shuang will be transferred to the newly established instructional brigade as political commissar, and the new instructional brigade commander will be Wang Hu. As for the other battalions, they are just one level up from their original ranks, no major adjustments were made. Moreover, after teaching them three military command courses, their thinking and military command abilities can still cope. That's all for personnel matters. You'd better tell me in detail what kind of weapons you've brought."

  Zhou Lun sold a pass and said: "I'm tired. I drank too much today, haha, let's talk about it tomorrow."

  "Alright, alright. Let's call it a day and get some rest. Today's surprise will keep you up all night anyway. We'll continue tomorrow."