If the large-scale battle on the first day of the Lunar New Year was an "accident", the army's subsequent battle would be quite concise. Unlike the competition for the prominence on the first day of the Lunar New Year, the battle from the fourth day of the Lunar New Year was a very fierce offensive and defensive battle, which was the army taking the initiative to attack and seize the Qingzhou camp position inch by inch.

The army can be said to have used all means. Before the first attack, it used two thousand rockets to bomb, followed by the ten-inch mortar cannon, thirteen-inch siege cannon and sixteen-inch heavy artillery, as well as the firepower preparations of light and heavy howitzers directly under the army, division, and brigade. The shells and rockets were launched for two hours before the attack was launched, cleaning up the army's main position inch by inch.

The Qing army obviously did not have such powerful technical weapons, especially various heavy artillery, but the Qing army was beaten by such weapons, so the layout of fortifications and positions was very well organized. Grenades, sky-shaking thunder, caltrops, various light artillery that could spray lead bombs, as well as thunders and mines were all means of resistance by the Qing army. Twenty years ago, the Qing bow and arrow that was enough to scatter the world became a joke in the offense and defense of such positions.

The Army launched three fierce attacks on the fourth, ninth and thirteenth day of the lunar calendar. The battle came to an end before the Lantern Festival. Although it occupied at least one-quarter of the Qingzhou camp, the attack was difficult to continue. It was very simple to be willing. The ammunition was consumed and could not be supported. If the attack continued, it would only be filled with human lives.

After the Lantern Festival, the commander-in-chief and Beiyang Theater Command held a large-scale military meeting. The young generals who came back from the front and were angry and unwilling to accept their faces. They did not understand why the head of state and army commander ordered the cessation of the attack, while the senior staff of the commander-in-chief and Beiyang Theater Command had bad looks.

Li Mingxun was the one who stopped the attack. The reason was very simple. Too much casualties, too much loss, and too much casualties are not a big problem. After all, there are casualties in wars. The casualties of army soldiers are just a number in the eyes of real senior management. Although the generals care, they do not think that this is the reason for stopping the attack.

The casualties were too great, was there any casualties in the Qing army? Besides, this battle was a battle that determined the world pattern. As long as the United States won, it would be hard to say that it would destroy the Qing Dynasty. However, sweeping across the Central Plains was just a matter of time. Half of the country was lost in one battle. Not to mention tens of thousands of lives, even the death and injury of hundreds of thousands of people could be accepted.

But it is unacceptable to excessive losses. Three position attacks have proved that in front of those semi-underground fortifications, rockets, howitzers, and cannons are tickling and dispensable. Only heavy shells of the heavy artillery battalion with more than 50 kilograms can be gnawed off the position inch by inch. If these big guys were not available, the soldiers would attack in the rain of bullets. Not to mention anything else, the Qing army had to have more artillery and gunpowder.

The Qing Dynasty had the entire north to sweep the silt, and gunpowder was not short of gunpowder. Although the Qing Dynasty had few technical weapons such as long-barrel cannons, howitzers and heavy mortars, there was no shortage of all kinds of light cannons and small cannons, especially the Franchise machine, which was filled with lead bullets and was faster than flintlock guns. In the offense and defense of the position, it was like machine guns in later generations.

In addition, the army is not good at attacking and defensive positions. Although the army far surpassed the Qing army in terms of officers and non-commissioned officers, it has not yet reached the point where it can organize scattered attacks. In the era of flintlock rifles, it cannot organize scattered attacks with poor firepower. It can only use heavy shells to chew inch by inch. When the Qing army had an emperor in charge, it could only collapse with one or two victory or two or huge casualties.

More importantly, from the commander-in-chief to the Beiyang War Zone Command, no one expected to fight the Qing army in positional offense and defense.

There were soldiers at the military conference, and the issues considered were military. At most, tactics involved technology, but Li Mingxun had to consider more comprehensively. Who was the person and what was the limitation of the unsuccessful war in the United States?

Did the Qing army? The Qing army does have good combat effectiveness, but it can only be a tug-of-war with the army in a well-built position. Moreover, the casualties exchange with the army are very large, and the Qing army can only delay and defend, and cannot win by relying on this.

Li Mingxun knew very well that the reason why the army could not win quickly was the gentry class. This group of Shandong gentry immediately raised food and money and transported military supplies to Qingzhou after the army landed, giving the Qing Dynasty the basis for a protracted war. They also provided more than 100,000 rural militias, and hundreds of thousands of strong men who could be used to build fortifications and transport food and grass.

The Qing army was able to support it, killing human lives, food, grass and positions. These were provided by Shandong gentry. The gentry in the occupied areas of the Qing Dynasty had already understood that the United States would not give them a way out. If they wanted to safeguard their privileges and existing interests, they could only spare no effort to support the Qing Dynasty and win the war against the Eastern Banner.

When the option of attacking Qingzhou Camp was removed, the army could only choose other ways to win. In fact, it was very simple to win. The Qing army relied on the complete defense system of Qingzhou Camp, but such a defense system required massive amounts of food, manpower and gunpowder support. As long as the supply line to enter the camp was cut off, the Qing army could only surrender or perish on its own.

In other words, the army only needs to be around Qingzhou Camp, but this requires the cavalry troops to gain an overwhelming advantage.

"The information received by the Security Bureau, Shunzhi has ordered Hangzhou Daying and Jiangning Daying to send 30,000 elite troops north of Qingzhou, and I believe they will arrive in Shandong soon. It is said that there are 20,000 people in the Eight Banners alone!" He Wenxi informed everyone of the important military intelligence of the Qing Dynasty at the military meeting.

Gao Feng sneered: "It seems that the Qing Dynasty is going to fight to the death with the United States of our country in this Qingzhou."

In fact, although Shunzhi personally conquered Shandong, at least half of the elite Eight Banners were under the command of Jiang Na Yuele's heavy army group. This time, the elite troops were dispatched to the north, and the number of Eight Banners under Yuele's command was no more than 10,000, which could only maintain the situation.

"This is also a good thing. If you finish your efforts in one battle, you will win the battle. If you chase the Tartars all over the world, it will be troublesome." Someone said immediately.

"If this is the case, the number of cavalry in the Qing army in Shandong will soon exceed 80,000." He Wenxi reminded.

As long as the Eight Banners in the south of the Yangtze River are under Shunzhi, the number of Eight Banners under Shunzhi will be about 35,000. In addition, there are the outer vassal Mongolia, the Eight Banners outside the Pass, the Green Camp Cavalry, the Khalkha in the north of the desert and the west of the desert. The combined cavalry of the mixed cavalry will definitely exceed 100,000, of which no less than 80,000 can be defeated, and these 80,000 cavalry are the most elite force of the Qing Dynasty.

After hearing He Wenxi's words, the generals' expressions changed, because with such a huge gap in cavalry strength, the army was no longer sure to cut off the Qingzhou camp and the outside world. If the Jiangnan grain brought by the canal can always enter the Qingzhou camp, then the positional war will continue.

Cavalry has always been the weakness of the United States. Although it has invested heavily, the same is true. When the army builds cavalry, it has the theme of being more important than being greedy. This has led to the grand occasion where elite cavalry of the army use a large number of pure-blood Western war horses, and ordinary cavalry can also use a large number of mixed-blood war horses. The level of war horses of the United States Army is far greater than that of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty and Mongolia.

In fact, there is also the issue of transportation. Even if the horses from the Jeju military horse farm are transported to Qingdao, at least 10% of the horses will be damaged. Not to mention the base camp and Nanyang, the war horses from the South China Sea do not use the bitter and cold weather in the north. Jeju military horses, Yongning military horses and the high mountain ranch military horses in the base camp are the main sources of war horses in the Beiyang war zone. There are few sources and high requirements, so it is understandable that the scale of the army cavalry is not large. Even if the troops still stay in Jeju, all cavalry units in the Beiyang war zone will not exceed 40,000, including the dragon cavalry riding infantry.

"It seems that we can only force the Qing army to go out of the camp to fight." Pei Chengyi said.

Li Mingxun looked at Pei Chengyi. The young general had always had an idea. He nodded slightly and signaled Pei Chengyi to continue talking.

Pei Chengyi said: "Either avoid the real and attack the virtual, or attack it and rescue it. We can completely imitate Huang Taiji's strategy of "grabing the West" and send elite cavalry into the Central Plains and sweep across the world."

"How to manage the food and grass support?" Gao Feng asked.

Pei Chengyi said: "Ratch, um...... Cough cough, humble vocation means to collect military taxes. In the huge Central Plains, there are gentry everywhere, and most of the countryside has food. The Qing Dynasty could not put all the martial law in the entire northern city. Wherever it was raided, it would be to clear the gentry wherever it could not be settled. If it could not be settled, it would be ordered to provide military tax support for Zhendian and wharf, or simply to redeem the city silver and the food for sin as the head of state swept across Lu back then."

"If this is true, the Qing Dynasty will definitely go to war, only fearing that it will send cavalry to chase and kill our cavalry, and that our side will fight in the enemy's territory will be inconvenient." Wu Xing said.

Gao Feng also said: "What General Wu said is very much. The Qing army did not want to fight the decisive battle with us in the wild. It was not like Zhu Ming in Chongzhen. It had lost its ability to fight in the field. If the cavalry went deeper alone and had no other military cooperation, it would be unsatisfactory."

Lee Mingxun said: "Tell me the way to rescue him if you attack him."

Pei Chengyi said: "Now the Qing army, gentry and people entrenched in Qingzhou Prefecture and its surrounding camps, have no 600,000, but also 500,000. These people rely on the food stored in the camp to survive, so they support the harvest of summer grain. The surrounding prefectures have been damaged and food is difficult to replenish. What the Qing army can really rely on is Linqing's food. Whether it is collected from the Central Plains or from Jiangnan, they are transported along the Linqing, Jinan, and Qingzhou lines.

If we send cavalry and mobile troops to cut off the supply line, it is difficult to say whether it works. It is better to simply divide the existing army into two parts and continue to confront the Qing army in Qingzhou. The rest organize a large mixed field force, combining infantry, cavalry and artillery, and attack Linqing. If the Qing army ignores it, then seize Linqing and cut off the food and grass of the Qing army, and wait for the summer and autumn collapse. If we go to war, we can fight a decisive battle with it in a field separated from the city and fortification group. According to the humble position, as long as two field troops and some cavalry are combined, 70,000 troops will be enough."

Everyone's eyes lit up and agreed with this plan, but Li Mingxun asked: "How should this main field force be used to deal with the supply supply? Can I transport it from Linqu?"

"Of course, it won't work." Pei Chengyi said quickly. If it was transported from Linqu, the result would be that the superior cavalry of the Qing army would cut off the army's supply line.

"Since it is the main force in the field, it can capture the enemy's cities and obtain supplies." Pei Chengyi thought for a while and said.

Li Mingxun smiled and said, "The food in Shandong was swept away by the Qingzhou camp last year. How can ordinary prefectures and counties supply 70,000 troops? Could it be beaten one by one? If you attack a big city like Jinan, there is a situation where the Qing army reinforcements have not yet been captured, what should you do? Isn't it that the city attack and defense with the Qing army? What is the difference between it and the Qingzhou battlefield?"

Pei Chengyi and others lost their excitement just now, lowered their heads, and Li Mingxun said: "Your idea is good, but you chose the wrong direction."

"What do you mean?" Gao Feng asked.

Li Mingxun pointed to Yanzhou on the map: "This plan is better to dodge Yanzhou. The southern Shandong region is separated from Qingzhou by mountains. Last year, except for some places in Tai'an Prefecture, there were not many wars, nor were they plundered by the Qing Dynasty. The army circled southern Shandong, and Qingdao provided military supplies, grain and other materials to raise locally. Whether it was siege or military tax, it was easy to deal with. If you captured Jining, you could isolate the canal artery of Jiangnan and Shandong.

Of course, this is not enough to cut off the attacks between the Central Plains and the Qingzhou Camp, but the Qing Dynasty gave us an excellent opportunity. Originally, if we attacked from the southern line and went north along the canal, it would be possible that the Qing army in Jiangnan would cut off supplies from behind. But now, Shunzhi ordered the Qing army in Jiangnan to go north and attack from the southern line again, and our army would have no worries anymore."

"Then you have to attack after spring, which is not as cheap as winter." Gao Feng said.

Winter offense has the benefits of winter offense, at least not being hindered by rivers, but Li Mingxun doesn't think so. He said: "It's just that the boat and bridge troops will be more."

As he said that, Li Mingxun stood up: "The attack on the southern front is under the responsibility of the military army. The Beiyang War Zone came up with a combat plan, and the meeting will be dispersed. Pei Chengyi, you stay."

Pei Chengyi was the only one left in the war room. Li Mingxun smiled and said, "There are two types of military achievements in the army. One is to kill the enemy and the other is to Futu. General Pei, which one do you think is important and which one do we want."

Pei Chengyi immediately said: "Everything is important, we need to have both."

Li Mingxun smiled and said, "You are right. We all want. This time, the United States of China went all out in the Shandong battle, bringing 200,000 soldiers and tens of millions of supplies and military pay. So far, we have returned to the Senate and the more than 20 million people of the United States. Even if we attack from the southern line this time, there will be no news of a decisive victory before autumn. This means that the army will spend tens of millions of dollars in attack for a year and cannot produce a reproachable convincing record. This is very unfavorable for me, the army, and your generals."
Chapter completed!