dognovel Chapter 132 Anyang Prefecture Commercial New City
Chapter 132 Anyang Prefecture Commercial New City
It should be noted that during training at the Dragon Tiger Camp, Li Zhen specifically instructed that automatic rifles have two settings and should not be used for continuous firing unless absolutely necessary. Although he still had a lot of ammunition in his storage space, he still wanted to conserve it.
At first, the new recruits were a bit nervous. When people are nervous, their bullets tend to go astray. After being given guidance by their company and platoon leaders, who punched and kicked them, the recruits' shooting accuracy returned to normal.
"Don't be afraid. Those Jin soldiers are also born of parents. The bullets from your rifles can still kill them. Remember the key points from training: keep your hands steady and aligned with the three points. I'll reward whoever shoots well when we get back."
After a hail of bullets, only thirty or forty of the two hundred Jin cavalrymen survived and returned alive. The rest either fell into the trenches and could not climb out, or were shot dead on the spot.
Battalion Commander Wei looked at the battlefield through his binoculars. When he saw the Jin soldiers on the other side begin to disperse their forces and flank the enemy, an evil smile appeared on his face.
The Jin army centurion was a veteran who had fought on the battlefield for many years. Through the probing earlier, he knew the strength of the Dragon Tiger Camp's defense. Although he could take the enemy's position in one fell swoop, cavalry warfare is all about getting the greatest victory with the least casualties. So he decided to outflank them from both sides.
On the main battlefield, the Jin army sent out a small squad of soldiers to harass the enemy, while the majority of their cavalry split into two groups and quickly rushed towards the flanks of the Longhu Camp's position. As the commander of these Jin soldiers, the Jin army centurion took the lead and charged at the forefront of the left flank.
Just as they were about to break through Li's army's position, they heard the sound of machine gun fire from the opposite side.
"Da da da... da da da..."
The centurion, who was at the forefront, was riddled with bullet holes. He fell weakly from his horse, his face contorted with resentment.
When setting up the battlefield defense line, Battalion Commander Wei had already considered the possibility of the Jin cavalry maneuvering around the enemy. Therefore, he deliberately placed two machine guns on both sides of the defense line, so that if the enemy attacked from here, the machine guns would be their final destination.
In fact, starting from World War I, with the deployment of large numbers of machine guns on the battlefield, cavalry units of various countries began to gradually withdraw from the battlefield. It can be said that machine guns are the best weapon to counter cavalry. As long as the number of machine guns and their firepower are properly configured, no matter how many cavalrymen there are, they can only serve as cannon fodder on the battlefield.
After seeing that his machine gun fire had successfully suppressed the Jin army's cavalry, Battalion Commander Wei said to the messenger beside him, "Signal the soldiers to attack the enemy from the front."
The messenger stood on a high point on the defensive line and signaled to the front-line troops with red and blue flags. Upon receiving the signal, the soldiers at all levels fixed bayonets to their automatic rifles and then began their charge to the sound of the bugle call.
Because the Jin army's centurion was killed on the battlefield by machine gun fire, and the other centurions were suppressed on the outer perimeter of the defensive line, the Jin soldiers on the front were left without command and were predictably counterattacked by the Dragon Tiger Battalion warriors.
Seeing the situation was dire, a Jin centurion hurriedly shouted to the Jin soldiers beside him, "Stop fighting! Everyone, retreat quickly and preserve your strength!"
In less than half an hour, the battle to defend the position came to an end. The entire position was littered with the corpses of Jin soldiers, and many ownerless warhorses wandered aimlessly on the battlefield.
According to battlefield statistics, a total of 500 Jin soldiers were killed and 200 were captured in this battle. Although the Dragon Tiger Battalion had strong firepower, 200 to 300 of them were eventually allowed to escape.
Seeing the Jin army's warhorses being led back by the soldiers who had cleaned up the battlefield, Battalion Commander Wei's mouth almost stretched to the back of his head in a wide grin.
At this moment, Wanyan Ping, who had just captured Puyang City, received news that one of his thousand-man squads had been wiped out by the Li family army. He remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking: "Don't worry about Anyang Prefecture for now. We need to take the entire north bank of the Yellow River as quickly as possible. Don't worry about the gains or losses of a single city or place. We need to consider the big picture."
Next, under Wanyan Ping's command, the Jin army successfully captured the entire north bank of the Yellow River. This caught Han Shizhong off guard, forcing him to urgently transfer a large number of troops from the southern and western battlefields to defend the south bank of the Yellow River and prevent the Jin army from advancing south.
At the same time, the Southern Song army launched a full-scale counterattack, retaking the lost Pingjiang and Jiankang prefectures, and preparing to besiege Emperor Qinzong of Song, Zhao Heng, with nearly 200,000 troops.
While the Song and Jin armies were engaged in fierce fighting, Li Zhen was leisurely inspecting the construction progress of the new city of Anyang with his hands behind his back.
"Didn't I tell you that the drainage ditches on both sides of the road need to be covered with stone slabs? Otherwise, the smell inside might be unbearable."
"Set up several public toilets here. Have people stationed on every street to watch over them; if anyone is caught urinating or defecating, fine them severely!"
If it weren't for technological limitations preventing the construction of skyscrapers over ten stories high, Anyang New City would resemble a modern town. From the paved roads to the green trees lining the streets, everything exudes a very modern feel.
Mr. Bad Guy approached Li Zhen with a beaming smile, pulled him aside to a quiet corner, and said, "My lord, do you know how much we collected in business management fees this month?"
Li Zhen glanced at him and said, "How much could it be? At most, it would be tens of thousands of strings of cash."
Bad guy: "Hahaha...a full 150,000 strings of cash, and it's still going up."
Li Zhen was also stunned when he heard the number. He did not expect that he could make so much money just by collecting management fees. He knew that Anyang Prefecture's annual commercial tax was not even this much.
Li Zhen: "Go check and see if we've been charging too much management fee."
With a smirk, he replied, "I've already investigated. Our officials haven't overcharged. There have been too many merchants coming from the north and south these past two months. They all came because they heard that we don't have a business tax here."
Li Zhen glanced at the newly built Anyang New City and said to Bu Liang, "We'll start developing the new city in a few days and gradually move the trade markets from the west of the city here in sections. Tell the officials below that we will only rent out the houses in the new city, not sell them, and the rent will be charged at the lowest level. We can't scare away those shrewd merchants."
In ancient China, among the social classes of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, merchants held the lowest social status. Although they possessed vast amounts of social wealth, these merchants were seen as lambs to the slaughter in the eyes of the rulers. Initially, the rulers might not act, but once these merchants reached a certain scale and accumulated sufficient wealth, their doom would come.
Therefore, people in this era taught their children to study hard and diligently. If they couldn't study, they would hoard land and become landlords. They would only go into business as a last resort.