The casualty ratio of the Great Ming army had always been a mystery.
Perhaps it was because they hadn't encountered any formidable opponents, or perhaps it was because the Great Ming army was accustomed to a combat model of artillery bombardment followed by Shenjijian clearing, and then using grenades to finish off remaining enemies, resulting in consistently low casualties.
After a battle of regimental scale, the Great Ming army's casualties would typically be only a few dozen, most of whom were from frontal charges, and a smaller portion from artillery duels.
Among the casualties from frontal charges, the casualty ratio of the supervisors was even far greater than that of frontline officers such as platoon leaders and company commanders – under normal circumstances, once the Shenjijian had completed its clearing operation, these supervisors would lead the charge.
This greatly angered the bigwigs of the Five Military Commissions.
Given the shortage of talent, most of the soldiers in the Great Ming army were illiterate or semi-literate, with very few of them able to read or write. Strictly speaking, the literacy rate of those who could read and write five hundred common characters was only a few percent.
In other words, these supervisors, whose cultural level was equivalent to that of a county school graduate, were actually being groomed for officer positions in the Great Ming army, and any one of them was a darling in the hearts of the military commission's bigwigs.
The result was that the casualty ratio of these supervisors was the highest on the battlefield – although the number of casualties was not large, the proportion was high.
Consequently, the Five Military Commissions simply issued an order prohibiting supervisors from leading charges, and later even prohibited equipping these supervisors with weapons such as flintlock guns and sabers, lest these scoundrels get carried away.
However, the military orders of the Five Military Commissions were useless. Without flintlock guns and sabers, these scoundrels would charge forward with whatever they could get their hands on, keeping the casualty ratio high.
After all, the Five Military Commissions could not send all these supervisors to a military court.
Then, the Five Military Commissions changed their strategy.
If they couldn't manage the supervisors, they would manage the military commanders and let the military commanders manage the supervisors.
Therefore, Regiment Commander Yang Da Niu was very worried, even to the point of begging: "Please, Supervisor Yang He, properly restrain your supervisors. They charge to their hearts' content, but the营指挥使, company commanders, and platoon leaders who partner with them have to take the blame!"
Yang He grunted and said, "Alright, I'll be careful."
But with his wandering gaze and extremely guilty tone… not only did Yang Da Niu not believe his promise, but Yang He himself didn't believe it either.
After a long silence during which they stared at each other, Yang Da Niu finally broke the silence: "Tell me, when will this ever end? If it keeps dragging on like this, those Ming survivors will eventually cause trouble."
As long as the matter of leading charges wasn't mentioned, Yang He was fearless: "Probably soon."
Speaking of which, Yang He inexplicably asked, "Have you ever fished?"
Yang Da Niu shook his head and replied, "When I was in Zhili, I did a lot of fishing in the river, as we were under the Great Qing then, and the food at home was never enough. But as for fishing, I really haven't."
Yang He grunted and said, "It doesn't matter if you've fished or not. You just need to know that after the fish bites the hook, you have to tire it out for a while before bringing it ashore, otherwise, you'll either break the line or the rod."
"Burma and Siam are the fish that have bitten the hook, and our Great Ming is the angler. The distribution of land and the attack on local bullies earlier was to entice them to bite the hook. Now that they have bitten, we have to tire them out, make them feel like they still have strength to struggle, and when they are tired, it will be time to bring them ashore and put them in the pot."
Yang Da Niu nodded and said, "Then, can you restrain your subordinates from leading charges next time?"
Yang He's face immediately darkened.
What the hell are you talking about when we're discussing fishing?
Yang He stood up indignantly, turned, and left the room.
And when Yang Da Niu received the notice for the net-casting operation and began the crackdown on the Burmese, the supervisors led by Yang He once again fell into their old habits.
As long as the Shenjijian completed the clearing, these supervisors would dare to lead the charge.
If they weren't given flintlock guns, they would snatch grenades; if they couldn't get grenades, they would snatch sabers; if they couldn't get sabers, they would grab stools; if that didn't work, they would run to the cookhouse to snatch a spatula or something similar, as long as it could be used to hit someone, it was considered a weapon.
Fortunately, the fighting capacity of the Burmese was not high. Relying on geographical advantages and flintlock guns, they were probably only on par with the Manchu nobles. However, in front of the Great Ming army, which was accustomed to artillery bombardment, the Burmese had no advantage.
Run into the mountains?
Not to mention that those Ming survivors were quite familiar with the terrain of Burma, even without the Ming survivors leading the way, the Great Ming army could solve the monkeys with their most proficient artillery bombardment tactics.
The Holy Emperor's ammunition supply was no joke.
No one would dare to hold the Great Ming army responsible for setting fire to the monkeys.
Flintlock guns?
The flintlock guns in the hands of the Burmese were basically discarded goods from the Europeans, a generation behind the flintlock guns sold by the Great Ming. Compared to the percussion guns using Menglianggu-style bullets, they were worlds apart.
Mobilize the people?
This tactic might work in the Central Plains, but in Burma and Siam, it was essentially nonsense.
How many people are there in Burma and Siam combined? For every one lost, there is one less!
Based on this premise, the supervisors led by Yang He had a good time charging, while those Burmese who had been clamoring to march to Jinan Prefecture were in a difficult situation.
They had been tricked!
The claims of the Ming army retreating again and again, and the Great Ming army being similar to the Qing army, were all illusions!
Illusions!
The Great Ming army, no, it should be said that the Great Ming Emperor and the Great Ming court, had been fishing all along!
They treated the aristocratic families of Burma and Siam as fish, and the aristocratic families of Burma and Siam had all taken the bait!
Damn it all!
...
While the Great Ming army was sharpening its knives against the monkeys, Qianlong the old dog was also sharpening his knives against the Japanese.
It had to be admitted that Qianlong the old dog was easily emboldened. After taking back Yaksa and Chakta by taking advantage of the fierce fighting between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, he immediately set his sights on the Japanese.
Qianlong the old dog had a clear understanding: my Great Qing originally occupied Zhili, Liaodong, and Korea. If they could capture Japan, wouldn't that form a pincer attack on Zhu Ni?
Even if, to take a step back, my Great Qing couldn't defeat you Zhu Ni at sea, there's a saying in the Central Plains: there are a thousand days to be a thief but not a thousand days to guard against a thief – can you, Zhu, guard against endless Japanese pirates?
Either you, Zhu, learn from my Great Qing and strictly implement the policy of coastal migration and sea ban, or you expand another front and completely eliminate Japan – the former would damage your reputation among the mud legs, and the latter…
As long as my Great Qing could capture Japan first, they could defend the coast. How many cannons could the navy under you Zhu Ni equip? Could they be more powerful than my Great Qing's Hongyipao?
However, this would put the Great Qing in a difficult situation of fighting on two fronts.
As everyone knows, war is a very expensive undertaking. Zhu Jinsong has the confidence to fight on two or even three fronts because the weapons equipped by the Great Ming army are far ahead of others, and the Great Ming's treasury is not really short of money – whether to buy cats or not is a different matter from being short of money.
But Qianlong the old dog's Great Qing treasury was short of money!
After losing the seventeen provinces of Hanzhong, the Great Qing treasury lost its source of fiscal revenue and could only barely maintain itself by relying on the reserves it had accumulated and the money plundered from Gurkha, Korea, Chakta, and Yaksa.
In other words, the Great Qing under Qianlong the old dog had fallen into a situation of maintaining itself through war, and it had to win battles. If any war did not go as Qianlong the old dog wished, the Great Qing treasury could truly see rats running, and the consequence would be either Qianlong the old dog taking money out of the Imperial Household Department, or finding ways to get money from Heshen the Zhongtang into the treasury.
And for Qianlong the old dog, whether it was taking money out of the Imperial Household Department or getting money from Heshen the Zhongtang, wouldn't it ultimately be a loss?
What was even more fatal was that after reclaiming Chakta and Yaksa, there was nothing left for Tsarist Russia to plunder in the Far East.
Therefore, Qianlong the old dog set his sights on Japan.
But it had to be admitted that Korea truly lived up to its reputation of dropping the ball since the Yuan Dynasty, continuing to drop it all the way to World War II – when Kublai Khan wanted to conquer Japan, the warships built by Korea for the Yuan Dynasty were substandard, and when Qianlong wanted to conquer Japan, the warships built by Korea were also substandard.
The key point was that the warships built by Korea were not like those built by Brother India.
The warships built by India would sink when they were supposed to sink, and they would sink during sea trials near their own shores. As for the warships built by Korea, they did not sink at the beginning, but sank when the entire fleet was about to sail to Japan!
This sinking was truly unfortunate, because on the vast sea, neither close to Japan nor connected to Korea, twenty-eight warships sank, and sixteen sank. The remaining twelve warships tried to rescue the drowning Great Qing soldiers, but there were too many to save!
In desperation, the twelve warships could only try their best to salvage the drowning soldiers and then desperately sail towards Japan.
Since the sinking site was closer to Japan and farther from Korea, there might be a glimmer of hope if they reached Japan. If a few more sank on the way back, it would truly be a case of crying out to heaven and earth but receiving no response.
However, what was even more unexpected for Qianlong the old dog was that although Japan at this time was under the control of the Tokugawa shogunate and had a policy of seclusion, Japan still retained ports open to trade with the Western barbarians, and was equipped with a batch of Hongyipao and flintlock guns.
In addition, those short and stocky fellows, with their spirit of Bushido, fighting the Great Qing Eight Banners with their short legs, actually had a bit of a fierce aura.
After all, the combat power of the Great Qing Eight Banners was evident.
What? The Gurkha Eight Banners and the Korean Eight Banners were quite capable?
Yes, the Korean Eight Banners were quite capable, but during the shipwreck and drowning incident, the Great Qing Navy, adhering to the principle of dying to the last servant without harming the master, had made every effort to rescue the drowning Manchu Eight Banners.
In other words, the quite capable Gurkha Eight Banners and Korean Eight Banners had all drowned!
Then, the Great Qing Eight Banners displayed the noble tradition of the Great Qing –
Back then, when Empress Dowager Longyu and Guangxu could flee west, the Eight Banners nobles of the Great Qing could also annihilate countless enemies and retreat like the wind.
Of course, because they didn't trust the quality of the warships built by Korea, these Eight Banners nobles never dared to turn back towards Korea, and could only circle the sea with Japanese warships.
So, this scene was quite amusing: no matter how unreliable the Great Qing warships were, they were at least formal warships built with the strength of the entire nation of Korea, while Japan, due to its policy of seclusion, had older warships, and some of them were even temporary modifications of whaling boats.
Could anyone believe that formal warships were being chased by whaling boats across the sea?
What was even more miraculous was that just as the Great Qing navy planned to shake off the Japanese warships and land in a sparsely populated area, a wind rose over the Japanese sea!