Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 200 The Shelling of Beihai Town
Ten miles south of Jurgen City, on the north bank of the Suifen River.

Fukang'an was crossing the pontoon bridge with the Chinese military guards, and he heard the faint sound of guns from the northwest.He turned his head and asked the attendant behind him: "Durjia's side has already started a fight! What's going on at the Hubei Army Gate?"

"Marshal, the Ejunmen sent someone to report just now, and they have all passed the pontoon bridge!"

"Okay! Let the vanguard battalion push the cannon up first, and the firearms battalion quickly follow! The whole army is arrayed five miles away! Du Erjia's place will not last long!"

Although it was snowing lightly in the sky at this time, the wind was not strong.The Qing army built the pontoon bridge with air-dried wood carried by the army, and many sheepskin airbags were tied on both sides of the bridge, which was relatively stable.And Zhao Xin did not arrange to bombard the pontoon bridge in order to release Fukang'an for a decisive battle across the river.

In the marching queue, military songs gradually sounded.The soldiers sang the "Thirty Songs of Triumph Made by Emperor Qianlong" when Qianlong pacified Jinchuan in 41 years.It can be said that the flattery of the military counselor hits the nail on the head.When Fukang'an heard it, a slight smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival on the [-]th, the red flag was handed out in the Mulan camp. I couldn't sleep and asked about the military report, but who said that I could see it tonight. The road is [-] miles away, and it is far away from more than ten dynasties. It can be seen that the hearts of the people are the same. Zhi, Jiazai rewards himself in Yizhao."

Not far away, the sound of hurried hoofbeats came.Fukang'an turned his head to look, and saw a cavalryman without a helmet and covered in blood passing through the gap in the queue; before the horse stopped, the sergeant rolled off the horse and staggered to Fukang'an In front of him, he fell to the ground.

"Report to the commander-in-chief, the military gate of the capital has been defeated! Our army on the western front suffered heavy casualties."

Fukang'an's heart "thumped", his eyes suddenly went dark, and his body was about to fall backwards. The two guards behind him immediately supported him.After all, Fukang'an was a battle-hardened man, so he quickly recovered and asked the sergeant, "Where's the Duerjia man?"

"The Dujunmen led the troops back to the camp, and they are no longer able to fight anymore."

"How much is the loss?"

"The gun battalion and the artillery battalion did not survive, and the cavalry lost most of them."

After Fukang'an heard this, his throat was sweet, and a bloody smell rushed up.He took out his handkerchief and covered his mouth, gritted his teeth and said with force: "Duljia bastard! That's more than 7000 people!"

The sergeant whimpered and cried: "Commander, the bandits' firearms are really powerful! Our army was a hundred paces away from the enemy, and the bandits fired tens of thousands of cannons. Many brothers were smashed to pieces, and even the corpses could not be found."

Fukang'an looked up into the distance blankly, not knowing what he was looking at.When he looked back, he noticed that many of the marching soldiers turned their heads to look at him, their steps slowed down, and there was a look of surprise on their faces.

"The morale of the army can't be messed up!" Fu Kang'an's face gradually calmed down from ferocious, and he looked at the crying sergeant at his feet, and his murderous heart suddenly rose.So he shouted: "Shut up! How dare you lie about the military situation!" After speaking, he winked at the soldiers around him.

That soldier was a family slave who had been with him for more than 20 years, and he knew it from the look in his master's eyes.So with a wave of his hand, two burly Chinese guards came over, picked up the sergeant and walked back.

The sergeant was stunned for a moment, but kept begging for mercy: "Commander! Commander!"

"What the hell are you eating?!" The soldier cursed in a low voice, and at the same time tore off a piece of cotton cloth from his waist, rolled it up twice, and stuffed it into the sergeant's mouth.

"Mmmm."

"Crack!" The knife flashed, and the sergeant's head rolled twice on the ground, and his blood shot on the snow-covered slope.

Without looking back, Fukang'an stretched out his hands and rubbed his face vigorously a few times.Feeling that his mood had stabilized a little, he asked a young general behind him: "Is there any news from Ush Hada?"

"Back to the handsome, there is no news yet."

Fukang'an turned to the general and said, "Mr. Guangting arranged you by my side because he wanted you to learn more about battle formations. I have an errand for you now, and I don't worry about others."

This general is called Na Yangui, the eldest grandson of Ah Gui, who is 24 years old this year.He made a military salute with his chest flat, and said in a deep voice, "Commander please give me instructions."

Fukang'an stretched out his hand, took a command arrow from Geshha who was holding the command arrow box beside him, and whispered to Na Yangui: "Take the command arrow, pick twenty guards from the Chinese army, and go to Duerjia The camp, stabilize the morale of the army for me!"

"Follow your orders!"

"Look at Duerjia's situation, and send someone to report to me immediately. Remember, the western front must not be messed up no matter what! Go!"

After a while, Fukang'an felt a little more at ease when he saw Na Yangui leading the people roaring away.The guards helped him into the sedan chair, lowered the curtain of the sedan chair, and then said to the bearer outside: "Let's go."

Fukang'an in the sedan chair leaned on the back of the chair, a puddle of black and red oozed from the white silk handkerchief he was holding in his hand.
At the same time, six miles east of Fuldan City, in the dense forest north of a small hill.Ush Hada walked around waving his horsewhip, looking up at the top of the hill from time to time with a look of anxiety on his face.

The 5000 soldiers of the Eastern Route Army have been lying in ambush here for three days, but not a single carriage transporting grain and grass has been encountered.Ush Hada sent scouts from the Vanguard Battalion to search all the mountain paths, but they didn't even see a ghost!

He also sent scouts to investigate the situation in Fuldan City.According to reports from the scouts, there seemed to be 3000 to [-] people living in the city of Fuldan, and there were people patrolling the city walls day and night; moreover, the original old city had been reinforced, and all four city gates had been repaired.

"Could it be that these thieves have hoarded a large amount of food and grass in the city of Fuldan? Otherwise, how would they support the defense of thousands of people?"

"My lord, the commander-in-chief has sent someone!"

Ush Hada was muttering, and the messenger sent by Fukang'an arrived.

"Master Wu! Commander, Commander-in-Chief ordered the Eastern Route Army to ignore the thieves, to attack the city of Fuldan, and to cooperate with the southern line to attack! This is a token and a letter from the Commander-in-Chief." He set off and rode the horse for two hours, and was already too tired to speak and breathless.

Wushihada took the token and confirmed it was correct; he took out Fukang'an's personal letter and read it again, then laughed and said: "The two southwestern fronts have been fully launched! It's the right time for the big men to fight and fight for the court! Brothers! After a while, fight hard, I will ask the commander to give you credit!"

"tie!"

After finishing speaking, he said to the messenger: "You go back and report to the commander immediately, we will send troops immediately!"

"tie!"

At noon, the snow became smaller.Outside the trenches of Juergen's Western Front, Monk Zhou followed dozens of soldiers from his company, holding up bayonet-mounted rifles, and was checking among the corpses of the Qing army.When he walked up to the corpse of an archer wearing animal skin, he first touched it with the bayonet in his hand; seeing that there was no response, he was about to stab it again with the bayonet when he saw the person under him move slightly.

"Here's a live one!" As soon as Monk Zhou finished speaking, two Beihai townsmen carrying stretchers ran over.They found that the archer was still alive, so they put it on a stretcher and trot towards the back of the trench.There were several flat four-wheeled carriages, and all the wounded soldiers of the Qing army who were alive would be put on the carriages and then transported to the medical center in Fuerdan City.

On the positions of heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft guns, the shooters and assistant shooters were busy cleaning the guns, replacing the barrels, and loading ammunition.Liu Sheng was sitting next to the M2HB he was controlling, smoking a cigarette in a daze.

Holding the rifle, Zhao Xin walked over from the headquarters with Guisheng, and said to Liu Sheng, "I'll leave it to you on the western front. I'll go to the trenches in the south and take a look at Lao Chen by the way."

Liu Sheng said without raising his head, "Isn't there a phone call?"

"I'm not at ease in my heart. I have to take a look to be relieved." After Zhao Xin finished speaking, he squatted beside Liu Sheng, took out a cigarette from the opponent's coat pocket, leaned closer and whispered: "What's wrong?"

Liu Sheng took a deep puff of cigarette, exhaled a long puff of white air, and said slowly, "If we hadn't met us, the Qing army would not be weak! Why did they lose the Opium War? I really don't understand."

Zhao Xin didn't answer him. This cannot be explained clearly in a few words. Just saying "the Qing government is corrupt and incompetent" is not enough to explain the reason behind it.He got up and patted Liu Sheng on the shoulder, then turned around and took Guisheng on his horse.

In the trenches on the southern front, the first battalion led by Ding Guofeng and Sheng Haizhou and the third battalion led by Hepingtai already knew the news of the great victory on the western front.When they saw Zhao Xin coming on horseback, the soldiers in the trench cheered.

"Wan Sheng! Wan Sheng!" Sheng Haizhou, Ping Tai and other soldiers all looked at Zhao Xin with admiration.It was this person who led them all the way to the wild land through hardships and waves, and saved tens of thousands of refugees by relying on endless "divine power".Now it is this person who leads them to break the siege of the Celestial Army and gradually move towards victory.

Ding Guofeng saw Zhao Xin walking into the bunker with Sheng Haizhou and Hepingtai, he raised his head and asked, "Why did you come here? How are the casualties in the west?"

Zhao Xin shook his head and said in a deep voice, "Not good. In just one round of bows and arrows and shelling, less than 100 people were killed or injured. I came here to remind you." Then, he described the situation on the Western Front.

After listening, Ding Guofeng said: "These soldiers have little experience in combat, and many of them have only been in the army for half a year. It is normal to have such a situation."

Zhao Xin said solemnly: "I originally thought to wait for the Qing army to enter a distance of 50 meters before firing, but now it seems that I underestimated the enemy. I only thought about the lead in weapons, but did not consider the quality of the soldiers. They are equipped with such equipment. A large number of musketeers, artillery and archers, with progressive tactics, is almost invincible in East Asia in this era."

Ding Guofeng nodded and said: "Actually, I talked with the old squad leader in private about this matter, and the old squad leader just said a word, our army has no soul."

At this point, Zhao Xin couldn't say some things in front of Sheng Haizhou and Hepingtai.He changed the subject, gave them some instructions, and then dragged Ding Guofeng to the outside of the bunker.

Seeing that the people around him were far away, he whispered to Ding Guofeng: "Actually, I have conflicts with these island soldiers."

Ding Guofeng reacted immediately when he heard it. He glanced at the soldiers in the trench and sighed: "We are all the same. But when you think about it, they are also quite pitiful. Wait until the refugees in the country bring It should be much better if you mess up with them."

Zhao Xin walked up to his horse, turned to Ding Guofeng and said, "I'll go around Fuldan City, be careful. If the situation is not good, call Liu Sheng and call for artillery support."

In the medical station in Fuldan City, dozens of female nurses and male nurses are tensely treating the wounded.In the operating room, Director Liu was holding a surgical saw, resecting a guy whose arm had been blown off by Qing army shells.

A Miao was cleaning the wound of a wounded soldier and preparing to sew it up.The horror of the first batch of wounded soldiers to be withdrawn from the Western Front really shocked her.After the battle last year, Liu Siting didn't let A Miao follow to treat the wounded, so the little girl didn't know much about it, but this time it was different.

She picked up the tweezers and needles and was about to start stitching when she heard someone knocking on the glass.Looking back, it was actually Zhao Xin.A Miao looked happy, quickly put down the tool in her hand, and waved at Zhao Xin.Zhao Xin gestured for her to continue, then turned and left.

In the logistics headquarters, Chen Qingsong was issuing warrants one after another.The western front had just been fought, and in addition to urgently dispatching ambulance personnel, he also had to dispatch supplies.Seeing that he was very busy, Zhao Xin didn't bother him much.I just learned about the use of materials and looked at the account books.

The down-and-out scholar Jiang Tenglin who once told Zhao Xin that "the teacher is famous" is also here. He is currently in charge of registering the transfer of various materials into and out of the warehouse, and recording them in the book.

When he saw Zhao Xin coming, Jiang Xiucai hurriedly stood up and saluted, and said respectfully: "Your Excellency is here. It is really hard for you to inspect the rear in your busy schedule. I also ask you to take care of yourself. There are tens of thousands of people in Beihai Town. People still count on the adults."

Zhao Xin didn't respond, thinking that the flattery was disgusting enough!I really didn't see that Jiang Xiucai came to this set before, how much I want to climb up!
He picked up the account book on the table and looked through it, and found that this Jiang Xiucai was actually good at writing with a calligraphy brush.Zhao Xin was stunned, this could not be written without more than ten years of hard training!He planned to praise the other party with a few words, but he couldn't find the right words for a while.So he put the account book back on the table, and went out with his hands behind his back indifferently.

Jiang Tenglin sat down a little disappointed. He originally thought that Zhao Xin would be able to praise him for his good handwriting, but he just glanced at him a few times, without expression on his face, and left without saying a word.It seems that I have to continue to work hard!

Zhao Xin walked around the city of Fuldan and saw that although there were many people in the city, everything was orderly. It seemed that Chen Qingsong really put in a lot of effort these days.

He led Guisheng up the city wall, and as soon as he reached the east end of the fort wall, he heard the sound of rumbling horseshoes in the distance.Zhao Xin took the binoculars from Guisheng and looked towards the east, only to see a flock of crows scattered into the air and circling in the air, and there seemed to be a large group of people marching in the dense forest in the distance.

"So the last one is here!" Seeing that the last troops of the Qing army finally appeared, Zhao Xin's hanging heart finally fell down.

"Woo~~~!" A piercing siren sounded above the city of Fuldan, and the west and north gates that were originally wide open were quickly closed.Groups of migrant workers with rifles appeared at the top of the city and behind various gates.

"Map! Compasses! Coordinate ladder ruler!" Zhao Xin didn't interfere with Wanzo and Maosuke's command, and he ordered Guisheng behind him without looking back.

Guisheng hastily took out a folded map from the satchel that followed him, and then took out compasses and three rulers of different sizes and specifications, and hurriedly asked, "Which one is it?"

"The rectangular one, remember it!"

"Oh!"

Zhao Xin took the map and looked around, and found a wooden plank under a low wall.He hurried over and spread it out on the wooden board; Guisheng found stones to help hold down the four corners.

This map was surveyed by him, Chen Qingsong and Zhang Bo with thousands of people a few days ago, and Chen Qingsong spent another two days roughly drawing it.The area on the map covers a 36-kilometer square from two kilometers west of Juergen to two kilometers east of Fuldan.

The scale of the map is 1:500, which means that for every centimeter on the map, the distance on the ground is 5 meters.A square on the map has a side length of 10 centimeters, which actually corresponds to a distance of 50 meters.A 122mm high-explosive bomb has a killing range of 30 meters around. If five high-explosive bombs are evenly distributed in an area of ​​250 square meters, the effect can be imagined.

Zhao Xin raised the binoculars to observe again, determined the direction and approximate location of the Qing army coming, and predicted the location where the opponent would pass.

He took a compass, found the predicted location on the map, and then used the iron tip to stick the predicted location point, and then used the coordinate ladder to measure the vertical and horizontal coordinates.At present, the troops of the Qing army have appeared at a position 1750 meters away from Fuldan City, so the vertical coordinate is on the line 06, corresponding to the vertical scale of the coordinate ladder, the coordinate is Y06420; the horizontal coordinate is on the line 41 Online, the coordinates are X41850.

Speaking of which, he still learned this measurement method from Wang Yuanfang. As long as the map is accurate, the measurement is very simple.After quickly measuring the data, Zhao Xin used a walkie-talkie to connect to the artillery position; first confirmed his identity, and then reported the coordinates: "Area 41, Y06420, X41850, a high-explosive bomb is ready!"

On the artillery position, the artillery company commander who received Zhao Xin's order did not dare to delay. After a busy day, he reported that Zhao Xin was ready. "Listen to my password!" Zhao Xin stared intently into the distance with his binoculars held up.

"fire!"

With a loud noise of "Boom!", the gunpowder smoke was ejected from the muzzle brake, and a strong wind accompanied the dust that was blown up around the gun.

When the artillery shells whizzed across the air, the cavalrymen of the vanguard battalion of the Qing army who were marching through the dense forest looked up at the sky in surprise.A Xiaoqi school raised his head and murmured, "What's that sound?"

As soon as the words fell, everyone felt a flash of fire in front of them. "Boom!" With a sound, nearly [-] pieces of prefabricated fragments tore the Qing army to pieces!

Zhao Xin looked at the flames and black smoke rising in the distance, and quickly shouted into the walkie-talkie: "20 to the right, plus 50 to the range! Five quick shots!"

(End of this chapter)