Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 940 The Battle of the Yangtze River ([-])

After seeing Liu Haiyang's handsome flag erected by the river, Ao Guanhai immediately followed him quickly, and reported to Liu Haiyanghui in slightly unfamiliar Chinese: "The coalition forces commanded by Liu Guochang have invaded the city of Zhenjiang. The Shangjiu Department performed well this time. After our artillery blasted the gap, they entered first, but the loss may be not small, at least three or four hundred. I heard that many of them are relatives of the nephews and nephews of Li Chengdong's army officers, Hao Shangjiu I'm afraid it's going to be a big trouble."

Hearing this, Liu Haiyang looked in surprise at this Black Banners big Klar who is becoming more and more Chinese. His EQ has been on the rise recently, and he actually thinks about things from the perspective of human sophistication. It turned out that he thought these Black Banners were fools Woolen cloth.

"Xintaihou's troops have made great contributions, and they should be rewarded heavily, and they can also set an example for all the departments." Liu Haiyang nodded and said, "Well, let them recruit 1000 soldiers from the captured Qing army prisoners, and then let them recruit 1000 soldiers by themselves. Expand the army to four thousand. Give them some of the ordnance that comes with the ship, well, take two hundred pairs of iron armor, eight hundred pairs of leather armor, and give them another thousand spears with hardwood poles; The ordnance you have can also be taken to Chongmingsha Repair Institute for free repairs, so that you can feel at ease."

The logistics staff who was following behind Liu Haiyang immediately responded loudly.Although they only lasted five days to attack Zhenjiang Mansion this time, they have gained a lot.Among other things, the grain, rice, and silver accumulated in the ancient Xijin Ferry (that is, Jingkou Ferry) are enough for [-] troops to squander for a long time, not to mention the warehouses of many wealthy merchants who rely on Guo (the Xijin Ferry has a city wall). A large amount of porcelain, tea, raw silk, and goods from the north and the south, so much so that Liu Haiyang, who originally promised not to use these trophies, couldn't help breaking his promise and getting fat. The East Coast accounted for the lion's share.

Although Zhang Mingzhen, Lu Ruoteng and the others couldn't bear Liu Haiyang to swallow up the goods stored by the gentry in these places at the ferry, they also knew that it was absolutely impossible for these gangs of Qiu Ba to spit it out.How many people have ruined their homes because of this, and expropriating some supplies is nothing. Do you really think that borrowing troops from the Eastern Dynasty is for nothing?

When the army made a massive landing outside Xijin Ancient Ferry five days ago, the more than 1000 Qing troops stationed in the city basically did not make any effective resistance—they could not use long-range cannons to bombard the Allied troops who were slowly landing on the river beach and docks. Soldiers, these soldiers who have been guarding this rich place all year round also lack the courage to throw all their eggs in one basket and drive the yellow clothes thief down the river, so they can only sit back and watch the Allies spend a full three days landing on the river beach and the river branch .

But of course they failed to hold out in the city for three days. In fact, only on the evening of the first day when the first troops of the dynasty were ordered to attack the city, the thousand or so Qing troops gave up resistance and fled in all directions.The officer guarding the city was more "conscientious". Before retreating, he ordered the soldiers under his command to burn the supplies accumulated in the city. Unfortunately, the soldiers were also eager to escape, so they failed to implement this order effectively. The Allied soldiers who rushed in after them were put out.

After conquering Xijin Ancient Ferry, Liu Haiyang set up the headquarters here, and at the same time conscripted the nearby people, and asked them, together with the auxiliary soldiers and the navy officers and soldiers of Hong Xishan and Ruan Jin, to use the materials brought by the army to build a simple structure. To ensure the safety of the road between Xijin Ancient Ferry and the wharf, and also to facilitate the transfer of materials and personnel - if a large amount of money and food in Xijin Ancient Ferry City are not transported in time, the army will not be able to fight with peace of mind!

And on the same day when Liu Haiyang entered the ancient Xijin Ferry, he ordered Liu Guochang to lead his own troops and more than 2000 troops from Chaoxian and Hao Shangjiu to march to Zhenjiang Fucheng. And thousands of soldiers on the east bank are responsible for transporting logistics supplies.

As a water transportation node, Zhenjiang Mansion is also a barrier for Nanjing. There were originally some troops stationed there, but a while ago, the Allied forces made a big fuss in Changshu, and tens of thousands of soldiers and horses from the five southeast prefectures were attracted there. Zhenjiang Mansion was no exception. The guard led the Sixth Battalion of more than 1000 people to Jiangyin to meet with the troops of Jiangning governor Zhou Guozuo to suppress the bandits in yellow.After the six battalions left, there were only a few thousand troops left in the city of Zhenjiang Prefecture, and their morale was low, so they could basically go down in one go - despite the large number of Tartar soldiers, the stalls were also large. Historically, when the Yuyuan army in Shandong staged an uprising, there were only more than [-] troops stationed in Jinan all year round. The governor and officials at all levels were shocked almost three times a day, which was very pitiful.

The number of Qing troops in Jiangnan now far exceeds that of later generations—the Qing troops of later generations were empty to death before the Zheng family attacked Nanjing. At that time, the Qing government even cut down some of the green battalions with weak combat capabilities in order to alleviate financial difficulties—but they faced The enemy is also very powerful, since the 16th year of Chongzhen, the survivors of the former Song Dynasty who have been wreaking havoc in Central China, and the bandits in yellow clothes who have "entered from Xia to Yi" have taken root in Ningbo Prefecture for several years, and their local rule has become more and more stable.This sharp knife that hit the soft belly of the affluent Hangjiahu Songzhufu can be said to have caused the Qing court to suffer so much that it had to mobilize elite soldiers to besiege Ningbo for a long time, and at the same time continue to take offensives, trying to drive away the yellow-clothed thieves.

In addition, because the people on the east bank always disrupted the rhythm of the Qing army at critical moments, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang and other provinces that had been pacified were still in a state of repeated see-saw, which undoubtedly further dispersed the Qing army. With the military strength of the imperial court, there are only tens of thousands of soldiers in the huge Jiangning governor's jurisdiction (five prefectures). How can the people on the east bank sit by and watch this opportunity?

Therefore, under such a guiding ideology, Liu Haiyang chanted the slogan "time waits for no one" and ordered Liu Guochang, the Huaihou of Dashun who he considered the most reliable, to attack Zhenjiang City with a total of nearly 2 horses.And after three days of siege, that is, this morning (June 6), with the roar of the 18-pound cannon, a corner of the Zhenjiang city wall collapsed, and Hao Shangjiu, who was active, broke in first, and the Qing army desperately Resisted, helplessly outnumbered, and was defeated by the Allied forces who came to support them. At this time, Zhenjiang City has been occupied by the Allied forces. The 12 Qing troops guarding the city and more than 200 Manchurian Eight Banners surrendered without death, but the news has not been reported in time. Just let Liu Haiyang know.

But after conquering Zhenjiang, what to do next is still quite a lot of thinking.In Liu Haiyang's view, it is time to withdraw after Zhenjiang City is emptied. Although the main force of the Qing army is currently at the junction of Suzhou Prefecture and Changzhou Prefecture, it is not difficult for the whole army to come - especially the small number of troops. The small number of Manchurian Eight Banners cavalry posed a great threat to the infantry-based Allied forces.Liu Haiyang is confident that his East Coast Army and Black Eight Banners will not collapse under the frontal threat of cavalry, and Chen Zhilong's Fourth Division of the New Army may be shaken. Can't help the huge pressure exerted by the Mongolian Eight Banners Horse Team.

"If I have seven or eight battalions (about 5000-6000 people) of the Black Eight Banners heavy armored infantry at this time, and if I add some musketeers and artillery, I can almost walk sideways in the south of the Yangtze River." Liu Haiyang reassured himself in time Obsessed with obscenity, he turned his thoughts to reality, and after thinking for a few minutes, he had already made up his mind and quickly issued an order: "Order: Ruan Jin sent some naval officers and soldiers to Zhenjiang City to pick up the cargo." Materials and personnel, Hong Xishan Department is responsible for transshipment, all spoils and Dingkou will be sent to Chongmingsha as soon as possible. Chongmingsha is currently moored with a lot of our army's machine-sailed ships, and they can quickly send the materials back to Ningbo Dinghai Port; Order: Liu Guochang's various ministries and horses swept away the nearby Jurong and Danyang counties as soon as possible, and made an active move to Nanjing. Nanjing is empty, and the Qing court will inevitably send troops from Taiping, Ningguo, and Chizhou to defend. Create opportunities for our army to attack these prefectures in the next westward attack."

The liaison staff officer quickly repeated the order aloud, and after confirming that it was correct, he went down to find the messenger to give the order.Liu Guochang, Marquis of Huaihe, is a veteran general of Dashun. He has rich military experience and has great hatred for the Tartars and local gentry. He is a general that Liu Haiyang relies on and trusts, so he entrusts him with some tactical combat tasks. Liu Haiyang Self-consciousness is more reliable than commanding by oneself-of course, the soldiers and horses of the East Bank system, which are the main force of the elite, naturally still have to be held in their hands, not to mention that Liu Guochang can't command these "proud soldiers" like them.

After Liu Haiyang gave the order, Lieutenant Junior felt that there was no major problem, so he smiled and stepped forward to congratulate him and said, "Breakthrough of the ancient Xijin Ferry has already yielded a lot. Although Zhenjiang City does not have as much money as here, it will not be a problem if you search it." However, our army won two battles in a row near Zhenjiang, killing and wounding more than 4600 Qing soldiers, but its own losses were not large, and it has already made a lot of money. Commander Liu led tens of thousands of troops to defeat the few and the strong to bully the weak. Don't care about the gains and losses of a city or a place, but only focus on annihilating the vital forces of the Qing army with superior force and minimum cost, this is the correct way of war, if Shandong Commander Shao knows it, he will be deeply relieved."

Liu Haiyang laughed when he heard the words - he actually prefers to listen to people's flattery - and said: "Don't talk about such useless things, I have figured it out now, the army at hand has uneven combat strength, if you really want to Fighting a large-scale battle with the Qing army is likely to suffer. In this case, it is better to effectively use our own mobility advantages and firmly grasp the strategic initiative in our own hands. We choose the time of attack and the place of landing. It is up to us to decide whether to fight or not, and the passive situation of the Qing army is actually very difficult to reverse."

"In addition, I named this tactic of our army 'leapfrog tactics', which means jumping along the river bank to attack the Qing army. We don't pursue defeating tens of thousands of enemy troops at once, as long as we keep gaining, we can accumulate small victories into big victories. We have succeeded by eliminating a large number of Qing army's vital forces in the south of the Yangtze River, and at the same time training the combat effectiveness of our allies along the way." Liu Haiyang said a little proudly, "Time is on our side."

(End of this chapter)