Daming kill

Chapter 218
When Li Ping brought up the operation again and thought it should be the last option, Gao Lei did not object any more.

In two days, Xu Keran's condition was almost developing rapidly.

Although the boat doctor hired by the merchants took the classic prescription rhubarb peony soup in time under the full guarantee of Song Baolai and others, and added Yinhua, Gongying, Hedyotis diffusa, and Chuanzhuzi according to the changes of the disease. , red vine, etc., but to no avail.

Xu Keran's right lower abdominal pain has become severe, and a mass can be touched. At the same time, he also started to have a fever, accompanied by nausea, vomiting, constipation, and dark urine.

There is a good chance that this has suppurated and perforated.

Although the doctor in the boat had heard about acupuncture and there might be some hope, he neither knew the method of the golden needle nor dared to use it, and even felt that it might be just a legend.

Not a famous doctor but definitely not a quack doctor, he thought that Xu Keran's intestinal abscess might be powerless.

At this time, the doctor no longer shy away from openly saying that the "Emperor's Internal Classic" written before the Han Dynasty said that intestinal abscess will eventually die of intestinal rot, which is an incurable disease.Over the past thousand years, although medical skills have improved, he has not seen anyone as seriously ill as Xu Keran survive.

He suggested that Xu Keran could explain the funeral.

In the face of dying, Gao Lei's attitude finally changed, but she still suggested to be cautious.

Although it was obviously late, Li Ping was still determined to give it a try.

He quickly summoned Hu Zhongshan, the director of logistics, and Jia Youliang, the battalion commander of the newly established medical battalion directly under the brigade.

However, after explaining and giving face-to-face instructions, Li Ping did not continue to pay close attention to this matter.

Hu Zhongshan and Jia Youliang have too much work to do and it will take time. Whether Xu Keran can be saved is not only a race against time, but the operation itself also requires luck.

And this is not something that Li Ping can control anymore.

Li Ping put all his energy back on Zhang Xianzhong, the real core and key, and on the confusing battlefield situation between the two sides.

Since the two sides fought in Daye County on May [-], there has been no direct conflict between the two sides south of the Yangtze River.

Not only did Li Rujing in Wuchang County not continue to take action, but the Yan Ming Naval Battalion, stationed at Yuanhu Lake and responsible for blocking the Yangtze River, boldly dispatched several armed reconnaissance on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and found no signs of Zhang Xianzhong's large troops continuing to cross the Yangtze River. trace.

Except for Wuchang County, other areas south of the Yangtze River have not been attacked again.

But at the same time, Zhang Xianzhong's troops north of the Yangtze River were further strengthening their military offensive preparations against Qizhou. Their reconnaissance and cavalry not only strengthened their control over the area north of Chidong Lake, but their infantry camps west of the Qi River were also growing in size. big.

In addition, the naval reconnaissance ship also found that Zhang Xianzhong's headquarters was located on Yuanfeng Mountain (189 meters above sea level) on the northwest side of the vast Guanjia Lake (connected to the Yangtze River in the south, connected to the Qi River in the east, and the easternmost side of the lake is only about ten miles away from Qizhou). ) A new large camp was built at the foot of the mountain.

This new camp and the unsafe infantry camp on the Qihe River formed a mutual dependence, and completed a solid control of the area west of the Qihe River.

Even when screening the ships fleeing from Wuchang City that were continuously intercepted from the river, the secret agents sent by Zhang Xianzhong were discovered many times.

The task of these secret agents is to spy on Li Ping's military deployment or take the opportunity to create chaos.

What's more troublesome is that at the Butler Lake, which is the closest to the lush and lush Yuanfeng Mountain, the Navy's scout ship also discovered the enemy's large-scale shipbuilding operations, and even hundreds of small fishing boats had gathered by the lake.

This is undoubtedly a very clear red flag.

Therefore, on May [-], a fleet of five medium-sized sandboats and more than a dozen small boats entered Guanjia Lake from the Yangtze River and rushed towards the northwest shore of Guanjia Lake.

The Peasant Army soldiers and civilians who were building boats on the shore stopped what they were doing and stopped to watch. The few Peasant Army soldiers on the fishing boats in the water also stood up and watched.

Although it is very clear that the slowly approaching uniform ships with rectangular flags with red upper half and blue and white stripes on the lower half belong to the Li Ping Department of the official army, and they are also their biggest enemy at present.

But the peasant army was not too worried, and even many in twos and threes pointed out one after another. Even those on the fishing boats, almost no one was in a hurry to go ashore to escape.

This place for boat building and gathering was carefully chosen.

The water here is very shallow and full of small sandbars. They knew that the medium and large sandships that should be equipped with artillery had to stop if they were as far as a mile away from them.

According to the soldiers of the Peasant Army who escaped from Qizhou, the artillery on these ships can only be fired at a distance of one mile. This is what they observed when this group of officers and soldiers were deterrent on the river before attacking Qizhou. range, no exceptions were found.

Therefore they are safe.

As for the dozen or so small boats that came with them, they did not pose a threat to them at all.

However, to be on the safe side, the hundreds of infantry guards still formed a loose rectangular formation a few hundred meters from the shore, and some cavalry also began galloping along the lake to both sides.

At the same time, several riders rushed towards the camp at the foot of the mountain, which was only a few miles away.

Zhang Xianzhong's troops are already familiar with the unique flag of Li Ping's army.

The upper part is red and the lower part is blue and white stripes and is rectangular. It is a new military flag that Li Ping set up for his troops for a period of time. It is very similar to the Republic Navy flag of later generations and is used to distinguish it from other official or peasant troops. Mostly solid colored flags.

And the navy and infantry are common.

On the upper left part of the flag, Li Ping also wanted to add a dragon, but he didn't dare in the end, and other patterns were not thought of for a while.

Therefore, the flag still looks a little bald.

But it also makes the new flag less distinctive and much stronger than the previous pure red flag.

Zhang Xianzhong's troops are not only very familiar with Li Ping's military flag, but also familiar with the gunboat he refitted from a sand ship with sails and a row of artificial oars at the bottom of the ship's side. Concentrate more than two ships into the lake for inspection and inspection.

Moreover, these gunboats are still emitting very strange black smoke this time, as if there are a lot of fires burning, which is even more puzzling.

Zhang Xianzhong's peasant army didn't know what kind of tricks Li Ping was playing. They thought it was better to take precautions, after all, they had suffered a lot during this time.

It's just that they are very puzzled. If the guns can't hit them, are they trying to confuse them with gunboats, not artillery but people on board, and finally use small boats around the gunboats to carry infantry to make a sudden attack?
But how many people can five medium-sized sand ships hold? 1000 people are as good as the sky!And then there is no cavalry yet.Isn't this here to die?
But what else could they do?
While watching curiously and comfortably, the soldiers of the Peasant Army watched as five gunboats slowly formed a horizontal line facing them more than a mile away from them, and then all the sails fell down.

Suddenly there was a flash of fire on the broadside of a gunboat.

Immediately afterwards, the sides of all the gunboats began to burst into flames.

"The officers and soldiers actually fired?"

In the collective astonishment of all peasant soldiers, the sound of artillery and a black spot followed.

All the peasant soldiers on the fishing boat were taken aback. Some of them fell on the boat, some just shrunk their necks instinctively, and some just stared at them in a daze.

But there were no splashes on the water!
When the Peasant Army soldiers on these ships were puzzled and curious, screams suddenly erupted behind them.

When he turned his head in horror, he saw that the hundreds of infantry formations on the bank had been shrouded in a blood mist, and several gaps that appeared suddenly in the formation could be seen through at a glance.

Some dark red iron balls that should be artillery shells were even slowly rotating and rolling on the soft and wet ground in front of the infantry formation, bringing up patches of white smoke.

But strangely enough, the infantry haven't dispersed yet!
They seemed to be taken aback.

A peasant infantry soldier at the back of the phalanx watched his comrades standing in seven or eight rows in front of him suddenly stagger in a line, and the soldier directly in front of him suddenly disappeared in a flash of black shadow, and then people But it didn't fall down for a while, only the gap in the neck erupted upwards with blood mist.

The eyeballs of the infantryman of the Peasant Army were straightened, and his body also became stiff.

But then, a peasant soldier in front of him on the right, whose body was already stiff, suddenly fell down with a yelling and unsteady focus. He looked in the direction where his companion fell, and it seemed that one of the man's feet was missing.

This companion's body seems to have just realized that a foot is missing.

At this time, a dark red spherical object stuck in the soft and damp soil in front of his toes and emitting wisps of white smoke appeared in the eyes of the last peasant army soldier.

Just as he was about to yell in fright, he felt a pain in his left shoulder.Looking down to the left, he realized that a piece of his left shoulder had neatly disappeared, and blood was gushing out from the wound as big as his fist.

The pain started to get stronger and stronger.

He started yelling in fear and ran backwards, and then everyone around him also started running away.

The infantry formation finally collapsed.

But Yan Ming, the commander of the navy battalion who was watching all this on the boat at this time, was full of dark lines.

He was not satisfied with the results of this first round of shelling.

Only six of the thirty new front-mounted guns hit the right position in front of the enemy infantry formation and formed a lethal ricochet. Most of the rest either flew over the head or were too close to the enemy. The forward jump distance is not enough.

There were even five or six rounds that hit the side of the enemy's loose square formation that was more than a hundred meters long.

Although the gunners are still very new, and it is a little windy today, the time for the new guns to be equipped is also very short, and the shells have some differences from the usual trajectory after burning red.

But the wind was not strong, the waves were small, and the oarsmen stopped completely. The swaying range of the ship was really not large, and the performance of the new gun was not to mention, and it was still such a big target.

Such shooting results are really unacceptable.

It seems that these bastards still have to practice hard.

The first attack on the enemy's infantry formation was strictly adjusted according to the actual situation. Seeing the enemy standing there in formation and not fighting, he felt really itchy.

Anyway, they didn't come here to really destroy all the fishing boats. Such a long distance is impossible with the current performance of the artillery. It is enough to destroy most of them.

In fact, they still focus on intimidation and deterrence.

For this reason, they even concentrated most of the new front-mounted cannons equipped by the Navy Battalion and adjusted them all to the same side of the five ships.

Just for maximum effect.

Just as he was about to see if the results of the second round of shelling had improved, Yan Ming found that the targets had been scattered and completely lost the meaning of the shelling, and the reloaded artillery of each ship had to wait for new orders.

Helpless, Yan Ming could only issue orders to the ships to shoot freely at the fishing boats in the water and the semi-finished products under construction on the shore.

So a unilateral artillery show soon began.

Moreover, the red-burning cannonballs hitting wooden products are exactly the right place, and they are also specially prepared.

As soon as the second round of cannon fired, although the hit rate was still pitifully low, sawdust flew everywhere, and even ignited in some places.

As for the peasant army on those fishing boats, they all jumped out of the boat and ran away, and the peasant army and the people who built ships on the shore flocked and fled inland...

The next day, Li Rujing in Wuchang County got the details of the official army's shelling operation at Guanjia Lake.

He sat alone frowning quietly for a long time.

Then, he decided to recruit his men to cancel the operation of secretly building boats in Dawang Mountain, about ten miles away from Yuanhu Lake.

But the subordinates did not call to come first.

It turned out that some of his newly recruited subordinates violated his regulations and robbed a little squire when they were collecting grain in the countryside, and insulted the man's wife and daughter.

Li Rujing immediately said angrily: "Li Ping's officers and men have not committed any crimes against Minqiu, how can we be inferior to the officers and men? Catch them all and cut them all down."

(End of this chapter)