activa-t Chapter 61 The Qing army has degenerated to this extent!
Chapter 61 The Qing army has degenerated to this extent!
Chapter 61 The Qing army has degenerated to this extent!
"General, according to these Qing soldiers, in addition to their 200 cavalry, they also have a total of 200..."
"Theoretically speaking, there should have been this many muskets."
"But according to them, their officers seem to be secretly reselling arms, so it's hard to say how many of those 200 muskets are still around now."
After one of the cavalrymen finished his interrogation, he ran over to report to Rock, and upon hearing the news, Rock couldn't help but laugh.
"Well, 600 Qing soldiers only have 200 muskets in total. Are all these muskets intended for the Green Standard Army?"
"If we consider them at full strength, they have a force of 1200 men, yet these six only get one firearm. Isn't that a bit too cruel?"
In Luo Ke's memory, he was not very clear about the Qing soldiers during this period, but judging from the firearms configuration of the Green Standard Army in the early and mid-Qing period, about half of their soldiers should have been equipped with firearms.
From the early Qing Dynasty to the late Qing Dynasty, the military system of the Qing Dynasty remained basically unchanged. The Green Standard Army in the early Qing Dynasty was still the same as it was in 1861. There were no changes in terms of food, pay, equipment and organization. In fact, the treatment was even worse.
In other words, excluding the 400 Eight Banner soldiers, according to the normal organization, there should be 800 Green Standard Army soldiers here, and they should have at least 400 muskets. But unexpectedly, there were only 200 muskets. This was before their officers sold them!
As for now, who knows how many firearms their officers have already sold?
Maybe there aren't many left in total?
Rock had heard that the Manchu troops stationed outside the Great Wall were treated very poorly. Not only were their rations and pay often deducted by their superiors, but the weapons they received were also of poor quality, and their military supplies were subject to various deductions.
Now he realized that when they first started distributing guns, they probably never considered issuing them to these people according to the normal organizational structure.
"However, according to the information we have gathered, those Qing soldiers should have two Shenwei General cannons. However, according to them, these two cannons have been rusted because they have not been used for a long time, and it is unknown whether they can even fire."
Rock nodded, slightly startled when he first heard about the cannons.
Although those cannons were old-fashioned, even technically from the Ming Dynasty, they were still cannons nonetheless.
But when he heard the second half, Rock couldn't help but laugh.
"Alright, it seems these two cannons can't pose any threat to us anymore. I'm speechless!"
"The cannons are already rusty. Putting aside the question of whether they can even fire, I reckon their artillerymen probably haven't handled cannons much, and whether they even know how to fire them is another matter entirely!"
Without professional artillerymen and the corresponding instruments to assist them, traditional artillerymen rely almost entirely on feel to fire accurately.
These Qing army artillerymen were clearly traditional artillerymen. After all, professional artillerymen had to be proficient in mathematics, and some could even become math teachers in primary and secondary schools. Ordinary Qing army artillerymen obviously did not have such a level of education.
Therefore, when Rock heard that the cannon had hardly ever been fired, he knew that the Qing army's artillery was basically useless.
Without years of training to develop their skills, how can they expect to fire accurately?
Forget about hitting the target accurately, they might not even know how much gunpowder to load. After all, this requires experience, and accidentally loading too much gunpowder could even cause the cannon to explode.
"By the way, do these Qing soldiers have any Gatling guns or anything like that?"
Suddenly, Rock realized something and quickly pressed for an answer.
Upon hearing the word, several cavalrymen shook their heads; they had never heard of such a weapon before.
So a group of cavalrymen quickly ran back to find the Qing soldiers who were being interrogated, held knives to their necks and fiercely interrogated them, asking if they had Gatling guns.
But all the Qing soldiers were completely bewildered, having no idea what the Luo family army was asking.
"Not bad. It seems they don't have this weapon. But then again, it makes sense. This kind of thing isn't widely used in Europe yet, is it?"
Seeing that the cavalrymen couldn't get any answers, Rock waved his hand and said with a smile.
If we follow the original timeline, the Gatling gun, also known as the Gatling gun, should have been invented during the American Civil War and officially patented in 1862.
Moreover, even if the patent was granted, it was useless because people didn't have high hopes for this weapon at first, and for several years no one bought it.
People didn't truly realize the Gatling gun's formidable power on the battlefield until the Zulu War of 1879, when a small number of British soldiers used Gatling guns to kill thousands of natives, demonstrating just how powerful the Gatling gun really was.
Rock asked the cavalry to inquire because he was worried about the potential for changes in the timeline. He feared that the Gatling gun might be deployed on a large scale prematurely after the world underwent a major modification.
If the Qing army really had such a weapon, then he would have to think about it carefully; otherwise, he didn't want to experience the feeling of using a line-and-gun tactic against a machine gun.
After finding out all this, Rock asked about other things, but when it came to logistics, such as how much grain and gunpowder they had stockpiled, the Qing soldiers in front of him stammered and couldn't give a clear answer.
Even when the cavalrymen held their swords to their throats, they couldn't explain it clearly, because they simply didn't know, and could only guess at the general idea.
"—General, generally speaking, the logistics of these Qing soldiers are probably not very good. After all, they said that they don't eat well on weekdays, and the rice they receive is often moldy."
Hearing what the cavalryman said, Rock pondered for a moment, then shook his head.
"It's hard to say. This kind of issue is really hard to say. Even if the rice they received was of poor quality, it doesn't prove that their logistics were bad. At most, it just means that the deductions they encountered were more severe."
"Of course, I imagine their logistics are really not that good. After all, they've already cut back on supplies so much; it would be absurd if they could still have full granaries!"
Rock knew perfectly well why these officers were withholding their soldiers' rations—wasn't it just to make money?
If that's the case, why don't they just resell them secretly from the warehouse?
The reason why all the rice delivered was old rice, or even moldy rice, was because the good rice had all been sold.
"General, since these Qing soldiers are so weak, should we just take action now and finish the job by capturing Kaiyuan City?"
After listening to Rock's analysis, the cavalryman next to him said with shining eyes, "I thought these soldiers would be so tough, but it turns out they're just a bunch of pushovers. I don't feel afraid of them anymore."
In his view, Rock didn't even need to recruit more soldiers. With the current manpower, if things were handled properly, he could quickly take over Kaiyuan City.
After a moment of contemplation, Rock shook his head.
"You're thinking too simply. While taking Kaiyuan might seem relatively easy, a complex problem will arise afterward—what if Qing troops from other areas come to reinforce us?"
"Kaiyuan City itself doesn't have many people. Even if you include the Green Standard Army and Eight Banners soldiers from the surrounding ten miles and villages, they probably couldn't muster a thousand men. But besides them, Kaiyuan City also has its own local militias, right?"
"With such a serious bandit problem here, the wealthy families in the city have organized local militias, or rather, their own private armies. These people together can probably muster up about 1000 men, and their fighting strength is not necessarily much worse than that of these Green Standard Army soldiers."
"Furthermore, the Qing government's defenses here have always been characterized by a loose exterior but a tight interior. If war breaks out here, Shengjing can quickly mobilize at least 5000 troops to provide support, which is the real key factor."
"So if we attack Kaiyuan City now, things might go smoothly at the beginning, but soon it will be like stirring up a hornet's nest, with troubles coming one after another."
This is the most important thing right now. Once we really start fighting, no matter how slow the Qing court's reaction is, they won't be unable to suppress the rebellion.
Because his system has a population limit, even if he rushes into the city and plunders all the wealthy households as quickly as possible to gather all the silver he can, he still won't be able to recruit too many soldiers.
Perhaps he could fill the population to its limit and create an army of nearly a thousand men, but it would be too risky and hasty to rely on these troops to fight head-on against the ever-increasing Qing troops.
The best development strategy is to focus on developing in the outer areas, occupying more villages that the Qing soldiers don't value, further expanding your territory, and incidentally taking over that small gold mine.
Once he has gold and his population has increased, will he still have to worry about starting a rebellion?
After asking these questions, Rock didn't order the Green Standard Army soldiers to be killed directly, but instead told them to get lost.
To be honest, in Rock's view, these Green Standard Army soldiers did have a hateful side, but they were also quite pitiful.
If we were to put it bluntly, while these people were helping the Qing government oppress the people, they themselves were also being exploited.
Moreover, after releasing them, Rock wanted to see how Kaiyuan City would react.
If these guys go back and complain, the Kaiyuan garrison commander will immediately send troops to cause trouble for him, which means they should still have some strength. But if they go back and suffer this injustice in silence, then it will naturally prove that what these Green Standard Army soldiers said about the weakness of the Qing army is true.