New Ming Empire mixed in America

Li Mingqi's words did not reassure Wang Chuan, but made him even more worried.

His headquarters will move forward as the army advances. It seems that His Majesty plans to stay on the front line for a long time.

"Your Majesty, aren't you supervising the construction of the battleship?"

Wiping the sweat from his head, Wang Chuan was ready to persuade His Majesty so that this big trouble would change his mind and go back to torturing those shipbuilders.

But Li Mingqi did not give him this opportunity and said: "The battleship matter is the work of the design bureau. What do you, an army brigade commander, worry about? Go to your headquarters and let me see how your battle plan is being formulated."

Seeing Wang Chuan happily riding an iron frame into the military camp, he grabbed Liu Erhe who was passing by and said:

"You, the commander of the Imperial Guard, why don't you advise His Majesty? How dangerous is this front line?"

Liu Erhe, who was originally swaying while riding his bicycle, was pulled by Wang Chuan and suddenly lost his center of gravity.

Seeing that the man and the car were about to fall to the side, Liu Erhe and the handlebars of the car fell directly on top of Wang Chuan.

"How can I persuade you? If I could persuade you, would my eyes be beaten like this by my father?"

Liu Erhe is also a little aggrieved. He has a very clear positioning of himself, that is, as a guard leader.

He doesn't have that talent for politics or anything like that, but protecting Li Mingqi is much easier. It only requires four words, that is, loyalty.

But who knew that his father would choose to take out his anger on his son after trying to persuade him to no avail.

He also asked him why he didn't persuade Long Live Master to go to the front line, but how could he persuade him to do such a thing? With his eloquence, he was refuted by Long Live Master in just a few words and was rendered speechless.

As for that annoying spirit Zhao Zhen...

After getting up from the ground, Liu Erhe said: "You should ask that Zhao Zhen, didn't he say that he used historians as pens and history as paper to write the glory of the New Ming Empire?"

"Look at what he's doing now. If he hadn't been making trouble, why would Long Live Lord have to march on this iron lump halfway through?"

As he talked, Liu Erhe unconsciously turned the topic to bicycles.

Wang Chuan, who was hit by the bicycle, finally moved the bicycle away from his body and stood up.

He looked very excited when he saw the Imperial Guards who, like His Majesty, rode into the barracks quickly on iron frames.

"You know what the heck, if this kind of iron frame is distributed to the National Defense Forces, it will be much easier to travel in the future."

"You are also an old soldier, how come you can't even see this?"

Wang Chuan didn't want to be fooled by Liu Erhe and follow his words to arrange the historian Zhao Zhen.

He also wants to leave some records in the history of the Xinming Empire in the future. What if he offends Zhao Zhen and the other party tilts his pen and puts him and Liu Erhe together?

He didn't want to be misunderstood by future generations as a reckless man.

"I don't know the value of this thing?" Liu Erhe was very angry. He patted the seat of the bicycle and said, "I also know that it can carry more than two hundred kilograms of supplies to follow the road!"

"But we, the Guards, have horses. If you don't ride a horse but ride something instead, you don't know how to be an army!"

After saying that, he grabbed the bicycle from Wang Chuan's hand, pushed it and ran a few steps, then got on the bike and started riding.

But who knew that as soon as the back seat sank, Wang Chuan jumped up and sat on the back seat without any instructions.

"Hey, it's indeed a good thing. Having this is much better than relying on your legs to travel. Even riding in a carriage is not as comfortable as this."

Wang Chuan twisted in the back seat, then watched Liu Erhe riding his bicycle through a short road, and quickly praised:

"It seems that this kind of tool can be ridden on not so good roads, but going uphill is a bit difficult!"

The two people bickered all the way and soon arrived at the headquarters.

At this time, more than 200 bicycles were parked in front of the command post. These were all ridden by the Ouchi guards responsible for protecting Li Mingqi.

The remaining guards will have to wait a while to get here. After all, although the guards have horses, they also have logistics carriages and horses that drag artillery, so the speed will be a little slower than bicycles.

After seeing Liu Erhe put his bicycle at the entrance of the command department.

Wang Chuan rolled his eyes, called his security guards, and nodded at the bicycles at the door.

Then he ignored the gloomy guard who was looking for someone to move the bicycle, and followed him into the headquarters.

Li Mingqi was staring at the sand tray on the table. When he saw Wang Chuan walking in, he asked, "Is this sand tray easy to use?"

Wang Chuan nodded and said: "Your Majesty, this sand table is easy to use, but it can only be used in small-scale battles."

"And it's not convenient to carry around. It also requires specialized scouts to restore the terrain by comparing it with the map bit by bit."

Listening to Wang Chuan's words, Li Mingqi also agreed. It's okay to leave this thing in the rear headquarters for the officers to deduce the battle situation. If it's on the front line, this thing can't compare to the map.

"How are the staff officers who just graduated? Have they caused any trouble?"

Li Mingqi asked again about one of the reasons for his personal expedition this time, which was to see the rookie staff officers who were sent to the second brigade to experience the battlefield.

"Theoretical knowledge is all set. One person can say that he can beat two of me. But after arriving at the front line, it takes half a day to choose a camp location, and I still can't find the right place..."

Seeing that Wang Chuan wanted to express his sorrow, Li Mingqi quickly interrupted him and consoled him:

"Didn't they just graduate? They are still rookies. Otherwise, I wouldn't have sent them to you to hone their skills."

After hearing about the training, Wang Chuan put away his bitter and resentful look and said with a smile: "Don't tell me, all the staff members are holding their breath."

"Now I have to follow the scouts out to survey the terrain every day, and a few of them have also made very useful suggestions. For example, the suggestion of preset battlefields is very good."

The staff officers Li Mingqi mentioned were all outstanding soldiers selected from the army. These soldiers were selected into the military academy when they were in the new barracks and became the first batch of quick-service staff officers.

More than half a year of cramming teaching allowed these recruits to understand a lot of theoretical knowledge about the battlefield.

But for a rookie who has not experienced the battlefield, no matter how rich the theoretical knowledge is, it will not be enough.

It's the same as studying. No matter how familiar you are with memorizing circuit diagrams, when a pile of materials is placed in front of you, you will still feel numb when you should be numb, and you will make mistakes when you should.

Therefore, Li Mingqi's order to Wang Chuan was to hone these rookies and then appropriately allow these rookie staff officers to participate in tactical discussions.

Of course, this is limited to discussion. If you really want to fight a war, you have to rely on the advice of low-level officers with wild backgrounds.

If they really followed those armchair suggestions, it would be difficult for the National Defense Forces to hold their own defenses, let alone defeat the British army.

For example, before setting off, Li Mingqi arranged an exam on defensive warfare.

Each of these staff officers drew the trenches perfectly, talking about crossfire, double-line defense and so on.

But no one has considered the soil condition in Li Mingqi’s question.

After talking about the staff matters, Li Mingqi asked again: "Where are the troops led by Ying? Have you sent anyone to investigate?"

After Wang Chuan heard Li Mingqi's question, he took out several pieces of information from the drawer of his desk and said, "We have already investigated them. Those wearing British soldiers' uniforms can clearly detect them from two hills away."

"Their vanguard is still one day away from our planned battlefield, and their logistics supplies are purchased from local residents."

"It seems that they want to find a suitable position to wait for the subsequent troops..."

Combining the intelligence at hand, Li Mingqi finally analyzed the number and equipment of the British troops from Wang Chuan's words.

This British army, not counting the Canadian servants, has a total of more than 11,000 people. This army came to defend and intimidate the Northern Confederation.

Because at that time the war between the North and the South on the Bull River ended with a great victory for the Confederate Army.

The Southern Alliance wanted to rely on its military superiority to obtain further help from European countries.

So an envoy was sent to Dai Ying on Dai Ying's "Trent", but during this period he was hijacked by the Northern Federation Navy.

After the Trent incident was inflamed by the British media, almost all British people called on the government to launch a war against the Northern Commonwealth.

Northern American newspapers were also filled with editorials strongly calling for war with Britain, which led to the imminent war between the two sides.

So this army was sent to Canada to protect British interests in America.

In addition, the Canada of this period is not the Canada of later generations, it is now the British Province of Canada.

During the Civil War, it referred to the small part of the country that now bears the same name.

The British Province of Canada was formed from the merger of the colonies of Upper Canada and Lower Canada in 1841, and is roughly equivalent to the current St. Lawrence and Quebec regions in Ontario along the Great Lakes.

Moreover, the United States and Canada have been fighting since the United States became independent, because the United States wanted to annex the Canadian province and become a state of its own.

Li Mingqi scratched his head for a while while looking at the intelligence. The previous intelligence only focused on the number of British troops.

Only now did we discover that there were as many as 30,000 Canadian servants who came with them.

Most of these slave soldiers were recalled from the United States.

Don't think that Canada didn't do anything during the Civil War. In fact, they had always participated in the war.

According to statistics, more than 50,000 people participated in the Civil War, and most of them joined the Northern Confederacy.

This is not to say that Canada helps the Northern Confederacy, but because Canada needs an elite force of experienced soldiers.

So the mercenary-style army was born. In fact, Canada not only participated in the Civil War, but also participated in the Crimean War.

Using other countries' wars to train their own soldiers was one of the main reasons why the Canadians were able to defeat armies much larger than their own in other wars such as the War of 1812.

Therefore, the strength of the Canadian Servant Army is not weak, and at certain times it can even unleash a more heroic fighting force than the British Army.

When he saw the large number of Canadian servants, Li Mingqi gave up the fighting method of attacking instead of defending.

The right way is to fight a defensive battle honestly and then rely on the navy to cut off the opponent's supplies.

The supplies needed for an army with so many people are not a small expense. I believe that neither Canada nor the British want to see the anxious situation of war.

Therefore, Li Mingqi was sure that the opponent would launch a fierce attack at the beginning of the battle.

As long as the Xinming Empire's troops deployed on the border are defeated, there will be no need to consider logistical issues after they enter the territory of the Xinming Empire.

Because the wealth of the Xinming Empire is no longer a secret in the world.

Otherwise, the British media would not have ridiculed the Xinming Empire for purchasing Alaska to store uneatable potatoes.

In fact, these potatoes are used to brew alcohol. Now the Xinming Empire needs a large amount of alcohol for its medical and war undertakings.

This is why Li Mingqi called for large-scale planting of potatoes.

In addition, wheat and a small amount of rice are the favorite crops of the people of the empire.

Now the Xinming Empire can be said to have ample food and clothing. Texas provides a large amount of cotton and can produce its own grain.

As for the gunpowder materials, they are all imported from Chile and Mexico.

Manure is provided through Guano Island in Peru, which has now been leased to the Chileans.

Li Mingqi only needs to ensure domestic needs, and only collects a small part of the tax revenue from Chile to sell the rest to Europe.

As for Peru's finances still relying on Guano Island's financial resources, this is not something Li Mingqi should consider.

As long as Peru thinks it can defeat the Xinming Empire, they can take it back at any time.

But don’t they have this strength?

"How are the mines being laid?"

After Li Mingqi studied the map for a while, he thought of the large number of landmines Wang Chuan reported and applied for some time ago, so he asked.