I want to be emperor

Chapter 234 Fighting!Fight!
According to Tang Hui's idea at the beginning, dense checkpoints were set up along the river, and medium and large camps were set up at a certain distance.

When it was discovered that the security guards wanted to cross the river, the checkpoint immediately lit a beacon, and the Ming army in the nearby medium and large camps quickly reinforced them. A counterattack was carried out to suppress the first batch of troops crossing the river to the beachhead.

At the same time, the main force in Wuchang City will also attack quickly, trying to reach the place where the thieves cross the river within a day, and then continue to attack the thieves crossing the river.

Once the thieves crossing the river were suppressed on the beach, there would not be enough space for them to deploy, and they couldn't even transport the artillery.

And without a lot of artillery, especially the bandit protection army with heavy long-barreled artillery, it is a toothless tiger.

At that time, the Ming army will use the pile of human lives to kill the bandit army crossing the river without the protection of artillery, and then block the attack of the township protection army crossing the river.

Based on these reasons, Tang Hui, who had retreated from Zhongxiang to Wuchang, formulated this seemingly risky division of troops, but in fact, in Tang Hui's view, this was the only strategy that could keep the township protection army on the north bank of the Yangtze River.

His successor, Yang Sichang, did not change this defensive strategy. It was not that Yang Sichang didn't want to change, but that he couldn't change it.

On the one hand, it is impossible for the Ming army to play beachhead sniper warfare today and defend Wuchang tomorrow. Changing a tactic during this period of time can easily toss itself to death.

On the other hand, the current Yang Sichang is also not well-known, and it is difficult to directly order to the various ministries of Huguang.

After all, he himself has not formally assumed the post of prime minister for the military affairs of the five provinces, and even he himself is still in his hometown in Wuling County, Changde Prefecture, Huguang.

After Tang Hui was arrested, Emperor Chongzhen wanted to retaliate against Yang Sichang, but this retaliation was very troublesome. Even if Emperor Chongzhen insisted on going his own way, there were still necessary procedures. just work.

Otherwise, everyone will lose face and have no way to explain to the world!
And this time Yang Sichang's recovery from love is still going through the procedure.

At present, Yang Sichang has already declined the second imperial decree, according to the rules, he has to decline again later.

After going through the process, it is estimated that he will not be able to officially take office until November.

Although Yang Sichang had actually started to intervene in the defense of Huguang area and other places, he also started to coordinate the defense of the five provinces through Zhezi's suggestion to Emperor Chongzhen, so as to concentrate the troops of many provinces to encircle and suppress the thieves.

But in the end, the name is not right, and the other person is not in Wuchang, so it is difficult to know more detailed information, and there is no way to make more appropriate and detailed arrangements.

This also led Yang Sichang to choose to continue the beachhead sniper defense strategy formulated during Tang Hui's period.

This strategy seems to be feasible, but Xu Zhixian in the General Staff of the Great Chu Empire is full of loopholes.

"It's a good idea that they want to do it halfway, but can they do it? Impossible!"

Standing on the south gate tower of Hanyang City, Xu Zhixian looked at the big Chu navy ships that covered the river in front of him and said: "Our army has been planning for more than a month to cross the river, and the first batch of troops to cross the river has been carefully selected. Commando, and focused on strengthening the equipment!"

"The more than 800 soldiers of the Crossing River Assault Battalion are all proficient in water skills. They are also strictly disciplined and have outstanding skills and tactics."

"We have also prepared a good batch of armor for this group of soldiers. Melee troops such as spearmen and sword shieldmen are all wearing heavy armor, and musketeers, archers and light gunners are also wearing half armor."

"The commando will carry six [-]-jin self-made light guns and two [-]-jin field guns with the ship."

"The boats they take are also specially selected flat-bottomed boats, which can be directly washed into the beach at that time, and some of the ships can be directly used as artillery positions after being stranded on the beach."

"Whether it is combat awareness or combat capability, this assault battalion is the best choice!"

"And they have gone through a month of intensive adaptive training, and they have simulated crossing the river three times, all of which have been a complete success!"

"In addition to the assault battalion, our Hanshui Fleet will also provide sufficient fire support for the troops crossing the river. When necessary, the warships of the troops will also directly rush to the beach to provide fire support nearby."

"After the beach is flushed, the engineering troops on board the ship will carry out emergency construction, and strive to remove the two-hundred-pound light artillery and two-and-a-half-pound field guns temporarily carried on the ship in the shortest possible time and transport them ashore."

"As long as we can stabilize the beachhead, we can welcome more friendly troops to cross the river. In one day, we can transport a fully armed brigade across the river by boat and provide this brigade with at least a dozen or more doors. Two and a half catties of field guns, twenty short-barreled light guns of two hundred catties."

"By the next day, our first pontoon bridge will be built. At that time, more troops will continue to cross the river through the pontoon bridge, and provide a large amount of ammunition supplies for the troops crossing the river through the pontoon bridge."

"As long as our pontoon bridge can be built, as long as our artillery and ammunition can cross the river, then this river crossing operation will be a complete success."

Xu Zhixian seemed very confident in this crossing operation.

This kind of confidence is not blind self-confidence, but comes from the sufficient preparation of one's own side and the strong combat effectiveness of the rural protection army itself, especially the artillery strength.

When the Ming army thought that the Xiangbao army crossed the river, it was just a group of people paddling bamboo rafts and rafts, carrying nothing but a waist knife or spear alone, without artillery support.

But in fact, in the operation of crossing the river by the rural protection army, the first batch of troops crossing the river were all wearing heavy armor and carrying artillery, and it was expected that some ships would rush directly to the beach to serve as forts.

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About ten kilometers to the west of Wuchang City, in the morning, after the Hanshui Fleet moved westward and arrived near Shuilin Town, a large number of soldiers of the rural protection army who had been hiding in Shuilin Town suddenly rushed out. At the same time, a small river beside the town It is also a large number of small boats pouring out into the Yangtze River.

The arrival of the Hanshui Fleet of the Township Protection Army, coupled with the sudden influx of soldiers from the Township Protection Army into Shuilin Town, appeared on the bank of the Yangtze River, and at the same time a large number of small boats ran out.

No matter how stupid the Ming army on the other side of the river was, they could guess that the security guards had made a big move.

Soon, the Ming army checkpoint on the south bank lit a beacon, and nearly a thousand soldiers rushed out of a nearby Ming army camp.

After seeing the beacon fire in a Ming army camp four or five kilometers away, they also began to dispatch urgently according to the plan they had made.

The actions of the Ming army on the other side did not affect the plan of crossing the river by the rural protection army.

A large number of soldiers of the Rural Protection Army began to take various boats, most of which were built in Shuilin Town and hidden in the small river in Shuilin Town. After boarding the boats, the soldiers began to paddle and set sail Paddle towards the opposite bank of the Yangtze River.

On the other side, more than a dozen warships of the Hanshui Fleet headed towards the scheduled landing site one step ahead.

At this time, more than 200 ships of various types were densely packed on the river surface in the area of ​​Shuilin Town.

There are warships of the Hanshui Fleet, ships of the commandos, ships of the First Infantry Regiment, ships of the First Engineer Battalion, and ships transporting all kinds of combat materials and building pontoon tools behind them.

Although most of them are small sampan boats, there are not many ships with a displacement of more than ten tons, and there are only a dozen or so large ships with a displacement of tens of tons.

However, so many ships still look very spectacular and even shocking.

In the Ming army camp on the other side of the river, the generals in charge of leading the camp and nearby checkpoints, a total of more than a thousand Ming army officers, looked at the densely packed boats on the river, and they were all breaking out in cold sweat.

This time, the army of thieves is for real.

With so many boats, at least thousands of thieves are going to cross the river!
If these security thieves can cross the river and land smoothly, it will be completely over.

"Quick, run up and pull out the cannons!"

"Damn it, put on all the armor, bastard, is it courting death if you don't wear armor?"

The general looked back at Jiang Mian and yelled at his subordinates instead.

Now he can only calm down the panic in his heart by yelling!

"Hurry up, send fast horses and flying horses to Wuchang and other nearby camps, tell them that the main force of the bandit army has crossed the river, let them rush over here as soon as possible, the bandit army will kill them if they come too late!"

"I know that the beacon fire has been lit, but it's not safe enough, send someone to report it on horseback!"

"Also, keep your eyes wide open to see where they are going to go ashore. As long as you are sure of the location, we will directly pull our Francophones and general guns and prepare in advance. As long as they dare to approach the ashore, they will directly fire! "

Just when the Ming army on the opposite side was panicking, Brigadier General Han Ziping, the brigade commander of the [-]st Infantry Brigade, also boarded a ship on the wharf in Shuilin Town.

At this time, he was wearing a dark blue general's uniform. The yellow collar badge represented that he was a general, and the yellow one-star epaulets on his shoulders represented his rank of brigadier general.

As the brigade commander of the [-]st Infantry Brigade, Han Ziping will personally lead the commando, the [-]st Infantry Regiment, the [-]st Sentinel of the [-]st Engineering Battalion, the [-]nd Sentinel, and the [-]st Battalion of the [-]st Supplies Regiment. The troops crossing the river were approved to launch the crossing operation.

The victory or defeat of this battle of crossing the river is all tied to the success or failure of the first batch of troops crossing the river.

Only when their first batch of cross-river landing troops successfully crossed the river and occupied the beachhead position, could they cover the engineering troops and build pontoon bridges, and be able to meet more friendly troops crossing the river in the future.

Once it fails, it will not only lead to the failure of the battle of crossing the river, but also cause heavy losses to the first batch of troops crossing the river.

Therefore, Han Ziping was also under great pressure, but although he was under great pressure, Commodore Han Ziping looked relaxed and even smiled when he boarded the ship.

In a joking tone, he said to Li Chengtong, the commander of the First Division, and Brigadier General Cao Hongsheng, the deputy commander of the First Division, and others on the bank: "You two brothers, you can watch the show at the back and watch my old Han give you a good start, haha , I, Han Ziping, have decided on the first achievement of crossing the river!"

(End of this chapter)