Chapter 250 Everything is ready
Chapter 250 Everything is ready
On October 25, the fifth year of the Tongzhi reign, the temperature in Kashgar was zero degrees.
Nearly three months had passed, and in Kashgar, the Solon Camp, Xibe Camp, Tubo Camp, and Torghut Division had basically been formed.
They were already traditional troops with combat experience, and were not starting from scratch, so training was relatively easy.
The road through the Tiemenguan Gorge had been built, and food from the rear was continuously transported to Kashgar for storage. However, the army's stationing location did not change, with Lin Bozai's troops still in Aksu, and Shao Hengzhong and Nie Shicheng's troops still in Korla.
Eating locally saves transportation resources. The food that is finally transported to the front line needs to be saved.
Shao Quanzhong, wearing a domestic woolen coat produced by the Lanzhou Woolen Weaving Bureau, is inspecting the newly arrived modified steam tractor.
All new steam tractors were equipped with patterned carbon black rubber double tires with embedded iron wires, which greatly increased their service life and no longer required repairs after every fifty miles.
This is good. The new steam tractor over there is not for delivery. It is classified as munitions. Shao Quanzhong's eyes lit up - what is this? Is this a tractor?
That’s right, it’s still a steam tractor, but it’s covered with an iron shell and equipped with a Gatling machine gun.
This thing is obviously an armored vehicle, why is it coming out now?
Shao Quanzhong scratched his head and remembered.
When attacking the ancient pasture at the north gate of Dihua, he seemed to have casually ordered that machine guns be mounted on the steam tractor to prevent harassment by Bai Yanhu's cavalry.
As a result, the Hailing Arsenal in the rear added an iron shell to it, so that this thing could no longer be used to transport goods and became a combat weapon.
The report from the rear said that it was proven to be uneconomical to carry a machine gun on each steam tractor, and it would be better to use the tractors just for transportation. A tractor transport team equipped with two of these steam armored vehicles was enough to defend against small cavalry attacks, which was more cost-effective overall.
Hey, this is not how armored vehicles are used.
"Sixth Lady, record my order. From now on, the tractor transport troops will still be escorted by cavalry. All steam armored vehicles will be gathered together to form an armored brigade. Major General Song Qingsheng, the commander of the 1st Regiment of Shao Hengzhong's division, will serve as the commander of the armored brigade. The armored brigade will be assembled in Kashgar to form the army."
At Shao Quanzhong's order, two thousand people were drawn to form an armored brigade, and the three main mixed divisions were further reduced in size.
Now, Shao Quanzhong has two more special forces reinforced battalions, Solon and Xibe, the Torghut Cavalry Reinforced Division and the Tibetan Cavalry Independent Brigade reorganized into four battalions. These are all new subordinates recruited in Yili Province, totaling 16,000 people.
Among the original regular troops, Dong Fuxiang's Gansu Army Independent Division had always been the vanguard. After absorbing Karis's Uyghur subordinates, it reached 18,500 people, which was far overstaffed.
Ma Yukun's cavalry brigade was constantly replenished after losses, maintaining a structure of four battalions with 3,000 people.
Due to the continuous seizure of artillery from Yakub Beg's forces, the artillery division has expanded to 5,000 people.
The logistics and engineering troops were broken up and assigned to three mixed divisions, the Guards Brigade, the Cavalry Brigade and the Gansu Army Independent Division, and no longer had a separate organization.
Shao Quanzhong's Guards Brigade maintained a full staffing of four battalions with 6,000 men, which was achieved by continuously drawing talents from the three mixed divisions.
The headquarters led by Grant had 2,000 people, plus the newly formed armored brigade, a total of 52,500 people.
The three main mixed divisions, which originally had 16,500 people each, had been continuously cut down, leaving only less than 12,000 people each.
Shao Hengzhong and Nie Shicheng were not dissatisfied at all. Lin Bozi sent a protest report from Aksu, "Brother Shao, you don't need me to lead the vanguard anymore, and you took away all my soldiers. This is really not nice."
Ahem, it's your fault that you didn't perform well when you were fighting against Ma Zhan'ao in Taizi Temple. The Gansu Army's ability to fight in the Western Regions has been demonstrated.
Dong Fuxiang performed brilliantly throughout the Western Expedition, and Lin Bozai was already very angry.
Shao Quanzhong wrote back, "Stay honestly in Aksu. Your mixed division does not meet the standards of a reinforced division now, but it is still enough for a standard division. If you keep on asking, I will reduce your division to a reinforced brigade." Shao Quanzhong would never speak like this to Shao Hengzhong and Nie Shicheng. He was not polite at all when dealing with his old brothers from his hometown.
Emery circled the steam armored vehicle more than a hundred times and disappeared without saying a word.
Shao Quanzhong knew about this, so he went to revise the training regulations and also supplemented his "Infantry Tactics".
During these three months, the Huai Army Headquarters Military Academy continued to offer classes in Kashgar, with Emery as the lecturer and Shao Quanxiao as the assistant. Shao Quanzhong was only responsible for giving spiritual encouragement to the officer cadets and had already withdrawn from the teaching team - the little he knew was really not enough.
"Report, the latest news from Hami."
The telegraph line was extended to Hami and was being laid from Hami to Turpan. Major General Shao Yuan's logistics base finally entered Yili Province.
Hu Liuniang stood at attention and reported with a pile of telegrams in her hand.
"Li Hongzhang's Shanghai Army and Zhang Zhidong's Self-Strengthening Army jointly wiped out the last of the Nian Army, and there were no major rebel forces left in the Qing Empire.
Li Hongzhang was promoted to Governor-General of Huguang and concurrently the Governor of Hubei. He wrote a memorial criticizing the waste of food and money in the Western Expedition, implying that the Huai Army had to spend all the rich funds for the Western Expedition before returning, which was not the way of a minister. He suggested that the court reduce the frontier defense and increase the coastal defense force, and the remaining military funds from the Western Expedition should be used to form the Beiyang Navy to protect the capital.
Ahem, Li Hongzhang has now been promoted to governor-general, a higher position than Shao Quanzhong. He has begun to compete with Shao Quanzhong for the budget and is preparing to establish his own navy.
"The court still had fresh memories of the invasion of the British and French allied forces from Dagukou, and was quite interested in establishing the Beiyang Fleet. Wen Xiang, the head of the Military Affairs Council, was particularly supportive of Li Hongzhang, and he reported to the court that the Nanyang Fleet was the dominant force, and the court should establish the Beiyang Fleet to balance it."
Shao Quanzhong was furious. "Did the Nanyang Navy spend even a tael of silver from the imperial court? I had to rob them from Nanjing and hide them. Li Hongzhang, come to the northwest and try to fight. See if you can end the battle so quickly? Damn it, it's easy to talk without any pain in your waist..."
"Zeng Guofan submitted a memorial in support of his disciple Li Hongzhang.
Lord Qiao submitted a memorial to refute Li Hongzhang's fallacy that coastal defense was more important than frontier defense. He cited historical records and believed that his adopted son's martial arts surpassed those of Yang Yuchun, Marquis of Zhaoyong, who had put down Zhang Geer's rebellion, and that the court should strongly support him.
Zhang Zhiwan submitted a memorial to the emperor, implying that Wenxiang was narrow-minded and was holding on to the past incident in which the bandit-hunting corps under the Nine-Gates Admiral were killed in the Hunan-Huaihe conflict. He believed that Wenxiang did not have the magnanimity of a leader of the Grand Council and was not suitable to be in charge of the Council.
Zuo Zongtang of the Hunan Army unexpectedly defected and submitted a memorial to strongly support Shao Quanzhong's efforts to recover Ili Province and expand territory in Kokand.
Guangxi Governor Feng Zicai submitted a memorial in support of Shao Quanzhong, but his rank was too low and he was ignored in the debate between the bigwigs, so his memorial was kept in the middle..."
Shao Quanzhong touched the back of his head. He was just a governor and the commander-in-chief of the front line, so he couldn't get a word in on the debate between the governors. Fortunately, there were many bigwigs behind him. After the debate, Zuo Zongtang unexpectedly changed sides.
"The two Empress Dowagers made their final ruling, fully supporting Shao Quanzhong to stabilize the northwest before returning. The funds for the Western Expedition will be used for their intended purpose, so it doesn't matter if they are all spent."
Shao Quanzhong's opinion on the issue of "old ladies in charge" suddenly changed. Well, these two old ladies left behind by Xianfeng still have some knowledge.
After finishing the report, Hu Liuniang still had a telegram left in her hand. "This is a telegram from Sister Xiu'er. She has also arrived in London."
What? My other wife also went to London without my consent?
Shao Quanzhong was furious. He took the telegram and wanted to take a closer look to see what Wenxiu had done again.
"Report! Urgent military information from Dong Fuxiang at the Kokand front."
(End of this chapter)