Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 936 Battle of the Yangtze River ([-])

On December 1652, 4, light rain.

The sound of cannons outside Chongming County (which is also the city where Chongming Sha guards thousands of households) is loud, and the 12 8-pound and 12-pound cannons placed under the temporary canopy are constantly spraying flames, and the hollow iron bullets with powerful kinetic energy It slammed into the city wall covered with rammed earth and bricks.They have been bombarding here for a day or two, and a small part of the city wall facing them has collapsed. At this moment, everyone only needs to work harder to uproot the first nail nailed on their way forward. rise.

"Report! The Cai Huaze Department of the Shun Army has conquered Pingyangsha with the assistance of our navy, wiped out more than 200 officers and soldiers of the Chongming Navy of the Qing Dynasty, and captured one member of the Qianzong." Lieutenant Junior, who was going southeast from Shandong on behalf of Shao Shude, took a A good news from the navy and personally report to Liu Haiyang.

"Very good!" Liu Haiyang clapped his fists and said happily, "It's only been two days since the battle started, and our army has already achieved great results. Chief of Staff Junior, please spread the word to all the troops to boost morale."

When everyone landed a few days ago, the 500 men of Hao Shangjiu's troops who attacked as the vanguard landed before the main force, and then defeated the [-] township soldiers led by the Lianzong of Chongming County with lightning speed.These people had just been summoned in various villages, and they wanted to enter the city in a hurry to help defend, but who would have thought that they were surrounded by Hao Shangjiu's troops who had landed halfway, and nearly a hundred people were killed or injured by three hundred township soldiers, and the rest surrendered. The head coach was shot dead on the spot, and it was a good start.

"In the two days since we landed, we have won two battles in a row. Although we have killed only five hundred enemies, the good news is that our army suffered few casualties, and the morale of the army is also high. This is the most important point. Doesn't fighting a battle mean morale What!" Liu Haiyang said with a smile.And just as they said this, the wall of Chongming Qianhusuo collapsed amidst the cheers of the soldiers. According to the plan in advance, the Ping Xibo Dynasty led thousands of officers and soldiers to rush into the gap and compete with the Qing army.

Chao Xian had a rough temperament, and most of his officers and soldiers were scattered Ming soldiers who had fled from Jiangbei. Their combat power was much stronger than that of Zhang Huangyan, another general under Zhang Mingzhen's command.At this moment, I saw that they all fought bravely to be the first. According to the plan made in advance, with the support of the 4-pound small artillery from the east bank, they wiped out the strongholds guarded by the Qing army one by one. By noon, they had successfully entered Chongming County.

The more than 1000 Qing troops in Chongming County could not resist, and some of them fled outside the city. They were attacked by 2000 people led by Yuan Bao from the Liu Guochang Department of Dashun, and most of them were captured. Chongming County was also captured in the evening. It's simple.

Of course, Zhang Mingzhen, Hao Shangjiu, and Liu Guochang fought very smoothly this time. It was because of the assistance of the East Coast Navy and artillery, and their four-month training in Dinghai County before the war, their combat effectiveness has improved. Otherwise, it would be useless, and it would be very difficult to take down Chongming City, a Qing army city with one or two thousand defenders.Doesn’t Zhang Mingzhen’s experience in history explain the problem? Their so-called navy could not completely block the rescue of the Qing army on the mainland, so that the reinforcements of the Qing army entered Chongming City, which strengthened their determination to defend; The army that looked like it was pulled up hastily had no choice but to take down the small Chongming Shaqianhusuo.

However, in this time and space where the warships and gunboats on the east bank firmly block the nearby river, Zhang Mingzhen, who has been training for four months (good food, training, and better equipment than in history), with the support of the army artillery on the east bank, only It took three days to conquer Chongming City, and the cost of casualties was negligible. People can't help but sigh the sharp contrast.

After conquering Chongming County, Liu Haiyang did not rush to move in. Instead, he entered the city the next day after the army had carefully cleaned up the city.Chongming City is said to be a county seat, but in fact it is just a city guarding a thousand households. Li Kui, the deputy general of Wusong Town in the Qing Dynasty, is in charge of the defense here. Yu, there are a few strong people, and generally speaking, it is a local county with average strength-if it is not located in a front-line place like Chongmingsha, it will only be defended by two or three hundred strong people here, and it will not be possible at all. Labor to lieutenants, guerrillas and other mid-to-high-ranking officers to defend.

It's just that no matter how much the Qing army attached importance to this place, their strategic disadvantage (isolation and helplessness) was irreparable. When the navy on the east bank blocked the nearby river, this Chongming city would become a turtle in an urn. chance of surviving.So Li Kui, the deputy general of Wusong Town in the Qing Dynasty, is also an unlucky guy. He is definitely not very popular, otherwise he would not be sent to this deadly place to guard the city.It's just that Li Kui himself died under artillery fire during yesterday's siege, and one of his guerrillas was also killed by a stray arrow. If you want to ask how these unlucky guys feel about being sent to defend the city of Chongming, it seems Impossible.

"A thousand soldiers with spears will be assigned to occupy the county seat, and another five hundred soldiers will be sent to guard the pier. At the same time, we will count the treasury of the county government." Liu Haiyang sat in the county government with a loud voice, and ordered the general under his command: "In addition, send someone to find Hong Xishan, and ask him to call up his men to be stationed in the old camp of Pingyang Shaqingshui Division, and by the way, farm there to subsidize the military. Grandma, Zheng Sen is not a real person, so he sent three to five thousand old and weak Come over here and use it as a top ball, so it can only be used as a logistics."

"Also, search for weapons on the island, disband the people, and let them all go home to farm and grow vegetables. The estuary here is so fertile, it's a pity not to use it. By the way, go find Zhang Mingzhen again, I will Seeing that there are a lot of immature youngsters in his army, and there are also quite a few old men with gray beards, all of them are eliminated for this kind of vegetables to supply military supplies, so as not to let these people go to the battlefield and lose their lives in vain."

"Also, didn't you surrender two generals of the Qing army yesterday? De! Yes, it’s just these two people. They bring the troops to surrender. That’s good, but they can’t stay here. Send them to Ningbo to suppress the gentry and landlords there. Humph, I’d like to see if they are Whether it's a real surrender or a false surrender, let Hong Xishan send someone to escort them. Anyway, their small boats are not good enough, and they are just right for transporting people and goods. By the way, reorganize the teams of these two people, Changchun has more than 300 people Just make it into the God's Blessing Army, and the two hundred people under Hua Bende's command will be made up into the God's Blessing Army, and get a good start."

Although the two groups of mobs that were recruited added up to only 600 people, Liu Haiyang did not dare to stay. Instead, he sent them all back to their old nest, Ningbo Mansion, for guards, and asked them to suppress the local gentry.Nowadays, as the scale of the land reform in Yin County by the people on the east bank is getting bigger and bigger, the sentiment of the landlords and gentry is getting stronger and stronger. There is an urgent need for a large army to suppress the local area, otherwise there may be riots in the local area.

As for Chongmingsha and other sandbanks at the estuary of the Yangtze River, Liu Haiyang also intends to transform them into the general logistics base for the Battle of the Yangtze River. A large number of salted fish, dried meat, rice, vegetables, gunpowder, arrows, etc. The arrows and other military resources will be transferred over one after another, so as to replenish the "Allied Forces" brigade on the Shuojiang River nearby.

At the same time, Liu Haiyang will also order the heads of the military troops who stayed on the sandbar to conscript local masters, while repairing the city walls and consolidating the war defense facilities, while renovating the already aging wharf, so that in the future, the transport ships full of supplies from Shandong to the south can Close to the anchorage, improve the unloading efficiency of the terminal.

Liu Haiyang's order was quickly carried out.Perhaps Zheng Chenggong felt ashamed, so Hong Xishan, who he sent to "help" (doesn't it make up the number?), was very pleasing to the eye, and he would obey Liu Haiyang's orders as long as he didn't send them to death, so he was very He readily agreed to the task of going to the Pingyang Sand Army station and patrolling the river, and of course fully complied with sending some personnel and boats to escort the Tianyou Army and the Tianzhu Army back to Ningbo.

According to the scheduled plan, after Chongming was conquered, about [-] "Allied forces" with a total of [-] soldiers and auxiliary soldiers would rest on this sandbar for three days, and help the left behind build camps, warehouses, docks and forts.During this period, Liu Haiyang also summoned the generals to discuss the next step: According to his idea, the "Allied Army" should gather at least [-] elite soldiers (relatively speaking, of course) and head straight for the Qing army's water transportation. The node Zhenjiang, and then rely on the advantages of sea and land to attack and overcome it.

However, his idea obviously cannot be approved by the members of the alliance. For example, Wang Chaoxian, Ruan Jin and others advocated attacking the nearby Suzhou Mansion, first to gain votes in this world-famous and wealthy place; while Zhang Mingzhen and Zhang Huangyan two Ren advocated attacking Nanjing directly, first to create political impact. As for military success or failure, to be honest, it is not the first consideration of the two of them; while Hao Shangjiu suggested to attack the empty Yangzhou Prefecture in Jiangbei to avoid collision with the main force of the Qing army. above; Hong Xishan, who was present as a non-voting attendant, said that he didn't care, but judging from his own attitude, he seemed to agree with the two big bosses Chaoxian and Ruan Jin; perhaps only the more than [-] people under Liu Guochang in Dashun were more submissive and willing to obey Liu Haiyang ordered.

"It's really a group of hard-to-control rabble, either pirates and bandits who don't change their habits, or extremely pedantic royalists, or old warlords who fear the enemy like a tiger and are deeply depressed. Such a group of people with different ideas come together. Together, will we really be able to achieve the planned campaign goal?" Liu Haiyang looked at the generals who had a public quarrel because of different ideas with quite a headache. For the first time, he was uncertain about the prospects of the Yangtze River campaign he planned and organized. At first glance, he really doubted whether these people would be able to accomplish anything.

But there is no turning back when the bow is opened, the matter has come to this point, no matter how difficult it is, we have to go on!

(End of this chapter)