Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 360
After repelling the attack of the Qing army in the local water camp, the Northern Marine Corps immediately dispatched two platoons, chasing the Qing army in the direction of retreat; fort.

The coastal defense fort located in Yangyuchi Bay is one of the twenty forts set up by the Qing Dynasty along the coast of Shandong. It was built in the 12th year of Yongzheng in imitation of the Cantonese-style fort. There is a cannon for the general and a cannon for the second general, and there are more than ten officers and soldiers stationed there.

Earlier, the Jinglei fired a cannon and collapsed the beacon tower, scaring the officers and soldiers on the fort to the ground.When they wanted to charge and fire again, the Northern Navy had already occupied the dock, and two large motor sailboats had already docked at the dock.

This is a fart, run away!
So when the Beihai Navy blasted a few times with mortars and then rushed to the fort, all the Qing troops stationed on the fort had already run away, leaving only a donkey in charge of transporting water and food, howling, trying to break free from the chained prison. strong reins.A large general gun weighing more than 3000 kilograms and two overturned second general guns have become decorations, with several iron bullets scattered around.

The mortar gunner who was in charge of firing the cannon afterwards was very fortunate that he did not hit the storeroom where the gunpowder was stored, otherwise the whole fort would have turned into a beacon tower billowing with smoke and dust.

At the same time, in the temporary camp of the Yuchi Dockyard, the wounded Qing soldiers brought back by the North Navy medical soldiers were treated by the medical soldiers, and then slowly recovered.

"Tell me."

Hearing Deng Fei's question, the Qing soldier said in a hoarse voice with a mournful face, "Say, say yes, good man, what do you want to ask?"

"Well, answer honestly, if you dare to talk nonsense"

Before Deng Fei could finish speaking, the Qing soldier interrupted out of breath: "Don't! I dare not! What a good man asks, I will answer."

"what is it call?"

"Wu Yongsheng."

"how old are you?"

"25."

"Why?"

"The little one is just a bunch of soldiers in the water camp. A good man, there is an eighty-year-old mother on the young one, and a three-month-old child on the bottom, a good man, you just treat the young one like a fart?"

Listening to the other party's Jiaodong accent, Deng Fei laughed and said, "Okay, it's still a routine. Then I'll ask you a few things, and if I make it clear, I'll let you go back."

Wu Yongsheng looked at Deng Fei helplessly, with a pitiful look, and said, "Then ask."

Deng Fei asked three things. One was the total number of garrisons in the navy battalion, the other was how many local forts there were, and the third was how many soldiers there were in Rongcheng County.Fortunately, Wu Yongsheng is a local, and he finished answering as quickly as beans poured out of a bamboo tube.

Since the sea ban was implemented in the early and middle period of the Qing Dynasty, and the "one-port trade" policy was pursued in the Qianlong period, its coastal defense strategy focused on the coastal inland, and the means was to prevent it from coming out, tightening inside and loosening outside; this doomed the Qing Dynasty. The low capacity of coastal defense.

In recent years, the coast of Shandong has been peaceful for a long time, and there is nothing wrong with it. In the Chengshan flood, whether it is a fort or a water battalion, the officers and soldiers have long been neglected in training, and even the daily sea patrols will find fishermen to replace them.The generals of the water battalion are best at fraudulently collecting money, deducting money to eat empty money to enrich themselves; the soldiers don't even get enough money, so they naturally use excuses to evade responsibility, and even the cruisers are not enough manpower, so they often have to find People replace.

When Fukang'an came to Shandong two years ago, he only rectified the Eight Banners stationed in Qingzhou and the green camps in Yanzhou Town and Dengzhou Town.The water battalion needed a lot of money because of the addition of ships and forts, and in the end it had to be left alone.

Although the Chengshan Xun garrison battalion is rated at 80 soldiers, it actually only has more than [-] soldiers.It was the entire force in the water battalion that the Beihai Navy fought off before.

As for the locations of the various forts, according to Wu Yongsheng's account, there are four in total along the coast of Rongcheng County.The Yuchi Fort has been captured by the North Navy, and the remaining three are Longkouya Fort, Matouzui Fort and Shidao Fort.However, Shidao Fort is 140 miles south of Rongcheng County, Matouzui Fort is [-] miles west of Shidao, and Longkouya Fort is [-] miles east of the county seat.

The last one is about the soldiers in the county. Wu Yongsheng said that there are no more than 100 people in total including the yamen servants and arresters.

Deng Fei led a team to Shandong this time, and the accompanying Marine Corps only had a battalion of more than 500 troops. The purpose was to rescue Yu Shun and take away a large number of young men recruited before.Therefore, before the Qing army in Dengzhou Prefecture reacted, he quickly took Rongcheng and Wendeng counties, and blocked the official road west of Wendeng to prevent the green battalion troops from Dengzhou and Jiaozhou, making them Do not cross the line of Guojiahe.

After listening to Wu Yongsheng's explanation, Deng Fei immediately ordered a company of the Marine Corps to quickly attack the county seat of Rongcheng County, trying to completely occupy the county seat before dark.

Seeing the leader of the thieves leave after asking the question, Wu Yongsheng timidly asked the medical soldier who was sorting out the medicine: "This good man, can I go?"

The medic said: "You can't walk with this injury, you should lie down first. I have to change your dressing tomorrow."

"Ah? Ouch!" Wu Yongsheng didn't believe in evil, he tried to stand up with force, but as soon as he exerted force, there were bursts of severe pain in the wound, and he screamed in pain, so he had to lie down obediently. After a while, he fell asleep.

On the other side, under the astonished eyes of the old farmers in the nearby villages, dozens of heavily armed soldiers of the Northern Navy chased desperately on the field ridges with bayonets in their hands; tens of meters ahead, more than 70 Qing soldiers in livery It was a lifeless run.

In terms of foot strength, the Qing army is naturally no match for the Beihai Navy.But the problem is that they are all locals and know the way.Seeing that they were about to run away, most of the Qing army got into the sorghum field and disappeared without a trace; as for the leader Qian, he kept smoking his ass and ran to Rongcheng County, looking for The guard is in a hurry.

The platoon leader of the Beihai Navy who led the team is so angry. If you want to climb mountains and go to the sea to drill dense forests, the Beihai Navy is the second in the world, and no one dares to say that it is the first; but forget about drilling sorghum. There is no sorghum in Beihai Town. wheat field.

Three squad leaders came over to ask what to do. The platoon leader looked at the empty official road, gritted his teeth and said viciously: "Follow this road to chase! I don't believe it, I have to take some prisoners back!"

After a stick of incense, when the figures of more than 30 Beihai soldiers disappeared on the official road going west, there were a few swishing sounds from the sorghum field, and the heads of several Qing soldiers popped out again.

"Second brother, are they going to the county seat?"

"It's close. These pirates are so damn good at running, Jin is scary!"

"Then what should we do? Report to the county seat?"

"You fat man! What else can we do? Go back and hide for two days. This guy is running away, and he's so hungry. Go back and ask sister-in-law to make some side dishes. Let's drink Hatton first."

"Second Brother's words are as clear as daylight! Hurry up, hurry up."

In the sorghum field, several Qing soldiers disappeared in a blink of an eye.Not long after, an old farmer lying on the ground waited for the Qing soldiers to go away, then got up and cursed: "Bah! A bunch of filthy things, grass chickens!"

The old farmer was going home to pack up his things and go into the mountains to escape. Unexpectedly, he had just walked a few steps when he saw a large group of "pirates" in colorful clothes appearing from the road to the east. Stand in the middle of the road.

"My fellow, which direction is it to go to the county?"

"."

"Fellow countryman?" The North Navy soldier who asked for directions looked at the stunned farmer curiously, not understanding what was wrong with him, so he asked again.

"Yeah." The old farmer raised his hand blankly and pointed in the direction of the county seat.

"Company commander, that's right, this is the road."

"Thank you, fellow!" The company commander of the first battalion of the Marine Corps nodded at the old farmer, and then ordered: "Everyone, speed up, the target county!"

At this time, the Beihai soldier who asked for directions thanked him again, then took something out of his pocket and stuffed it into the opponent's hand, turned around and ran away with his companion.

Only then did the old farmer raise his hand and saw a flat object wrapped in oiled paper in his hand. He opened it carefully, and a scent mixed with oil, sesame and beans wafted into his nostrils.The old farmer swallowed, stretched out his tongue and licked it, a complex and inexplicable taste mixed with sweet and salt filled his mouth, which made his eyes shine.

"There are still such pirates?" The old farmer looked at the Bei Haijun who was going away, and couldn't help but stop when he wanted to go home. He thought that if he went to the fish pond, he might be able to earn some extra money.
At this time, although Rongcheng County had already received the warning of people coming from Shuiying, it had not been long since the gates of the city were closed.At the beginning when they heard the explosion from the beacon tower, many people in the city thought that something happened to the gunpowder depot of the fort, and ran to the city wall to watch the excitement.When these troublemakers saw the three giant warships parked on the sea, their jaws dropped in shock.

Although there are often merchant ships passing by from south to north in this area of ​​Rongcheng, they are all sand ships transporting beans. Many people have never seen such a large three ships in their entire lives.Especially the Jinglei number parked on the distant sea, it is even more terrifying.

As a result, more and more people came to see the strange news. The city wall was crowded with people. Even the county magistrate was alarmed. He took his men to the Kuixing Tower in the southwest corner to watch.

But not long after, there were gunshots from the fish pond, followed by several explosions. Those with good eyes saw that the smoke column from the explosion was exactly where the fish pond fort was, and then they understood problem occurs.

The problem is that the Chinese people's nature of watching the excitement since ancient times has driven these people not to leave, even if the county magistrate sent yamen servants to drive them away, it was useless.It wasn't until the soldiers who escaped from the fort ran into the south gate and called the police loudly that the common people on the city wall realized that the disaster was coming, and they were in a mess.

As Dian Shi ordered his subordinates to ring gongs in various places in the city to warn, the four gates of Rongcheng County were subsequently closed and barred.At this time, 8000 people had gathered in the city, many of whom came to the city to do business and work, and they couldn't get out now.

The county seat of Rongcheng County was expanded on the basis of the former site of Chengshanwei in the 31st year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, and the area is not large.After the reconstruction in the 13th year of Yongzheng, the bottom of the city wall was one foot five feet thick and one foot high on Saturdays in the city.Regardless of the height of three meters, as long as the city gate can be closed and young and strong defenses are deployed on the city wall, ordinary small groups of thieves will basically be unable to attack if they do not have internal support.

However, when the county magistrate saw the real men and horses under the command of Shoucheng Qianzong, his face turned livid with anger.He pointed at Mr. Pan Qian who was kneeling on the ground and shouted angrily: "Master Pan, are these your soldiers? Are you always fooling me?!"

The county magistrate, surnamed Jiang, is a Juren from Guizhou, and he just took office this spring.I didn't expect that my buttocks were still sitting still, and I encountered such unlucky things.He didn't get angry randomly. According to the number of soldiers assigned by the Ministry of War, Pan Yaowu, the general guard of the city, should have ten cavalry soldiers and 78 infantry soldiers.

However, such things as eating empty quotas are very common in green camps everywhere, and Mr. Pan Qian also eats them.He thought to himself that Jiaodong had been peaceful for a hundred years, so there were only six cavalry soldiers and half of the infantry soldiers, and he enjoyed eating with nothing.

When the magistrate of Jiang County came to office this spring, he inspected the city's soldiers and horses, and Mr. Pan Qian found a few local thugs from the city to make up for it.However, when the real enemy is approaching, the truth of the short-selling quota is exposed.

After getting angry and scolding, magistrate Jiang really couldn't do anything to Boss Pan Qian.Pan Yaowu is from Penglai, and belongs to Sidihu; Jiang Rushi, an outsider, has just arrived not long ago, his eyes are smeared, and he has to rely on him to defend the city and resist the enemy.

As for the garrison officer of the water camp who kept silent, apart from a few domestic slaves and soldiers serving as slaves, there is only one Qianzong of the water camp who fled back on horseback.This man was more ruthless than Mr. Pan Qian. Not only did he falsely report his soldiers, but he even falsely claimed the money allocated by the court to repair the ship.

In fact, the whole coast of Shandong is like this. If the Beihai Navy fights, it will poke a big hole everywhere.

The front battalion of the Dengzhou Navy, which is in charge of the entire coastal defense mission in Shandong, has only 3000 sailors, 20 pier garrisons, [-] driving boats, and [-] double-covered boats. More than [-] kilometers of coastline, only relying on more than [-] boats to patrol and defend, is simply a big joke!
Just when Jiang County Magistrate was preparing to call the wealthy households in the city to donate money and food, and select the young and strong in the city to defend against foreign enemies, the vanguard of the Northern Navy had already arrived one mile south of the city.After hearing the news, County Magistrate Jiang, who came to the gate tower, saw the colorful figures appearing a mile away, his face turned green.

The so-called "becoming an official for thousands of miles is only for money", people make a move, and run from Guizhou to Dengzhou. Before the money is earned, their lives will be lost.At this moment, magistrate Jiang's mind kept flashing "if the city is broken, only death".

After another meal, the company sent by Deng Fei also arrived when County Magistrate Jiang began to discuss with the called rich households on the city tower.

Mr. Pan Qian at the top of the city felt relieved when he saw that there were less than 200 bandit soldiers.I said in my heart that although I only have this little manpower, I am really not afraid of more than 200 people.However, when the two mortars of the Beihai Navy opened fire, Mr. Pan Qian knew that today was going to be a tough one.

"Boom! Boom!"

"Mother! The thief has a cannon!"

As the smoke from the two explosions in front of the south gate rose, the soldiers and servants at the top of the city exploded immediately.They threw down their knives, guns and sticks, and Sa Yazi ran down the city. Among the crowd were County Magistrate Jiang and Mr. Pan Qian.

After the two test shots, the North Navy's artillery fire went straight to the South Gate Tower. After a few shots, the South Gate Tower was blown into rubble.Amidst the rumbling of the guns, a squad of soldiers had arrived at a position 100 meters away from the south gate, and were about to blast the city gate open with explosives.

When the shelling stopped temporarily, a soldier of the Beihai Navy rushed out of the city gate with a dynamite bag in his arms, lowered his head, put the dynamite bag against the city gate and put it in place. There were a few familiar gunshots, and then only one person shouted: "Quick! Open the city gate!"

The soldier quickly withdrew the explosive package and turned his head to call his companions over.The squad leader who led the team ran over and asked, "What's going on?!"

The soldier pointed to the city gate and said, "There are our people inside."

"what?!"

At this time, only the city gate creaked, and a gap was gradually opened. The soldiers outside the gate were overjoyed when they saw it, and hurried up to help push it open.When the city gate was opened enough for one person to enter and exit, I saw a guy in a long robe and mandarin jacket and a melon skin hat, holding a gun in both hands and pointing at the city. Door, don't let these guys get away!"

It was none other than Wang Changsheng who had been trapped here for many days.

　After reading the "Rongcheng County Chronicles" in the Daoguang period for a day, I felt dizzy.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)