Great Qing Dynasty talker

Chapter 377: Yangzhou ahead, this river is blocked!
The fleet sailed into the East Waterway and docked to unload!

The boatmen worked very hard.

Thinking of unloading the goods quickly and returning to Jingkou on the other side of the river, this trip would be safe and sound, with a net profit of 2 taels of silver.

2 springboards, 1 foot apart.

Lao Gu went into battle shirtless, and the two of them worked together to carry the cannon barrel.
Keep your pace consistent, neither too light nor too heavy.

Like carrying treasures, they safely carried the five 5-pound shotguns in the cabin off the ship. This job can only be done by an experienced sailor.

……

On the return flight,
Going upstream, the boat speed is much slower.

But fortunately, the ships were all empty, so the speed was barely acceptable.

When approaching Jingkou,
They saw the second wave of ships coming down, fully loaded and moving at a very high speed.

When passing by,
They even greeted each other from a distance.

"Brothers, is Jiangbei safe?"

"It's safe, go ahead and feel free."

Someone noticed that the second wave of ships had no warships to escort them, which meant that the importance of the supplies was compromised.

But on each ship, there was a team of soldiers guarding it.

These soldiers will go ashore along with the supplies.

The East Waterway in Yangzhou is extremely busy.

suddenly,

A fleet of 50 ships arrived.

The soldiers on the battery just glanced at the flag and shouted:

"Minister of the Army and Commander-in-Chief of the 1st Corps, Lin, is here~"

……

Lin Huaisheng,
He arrived with four battalions of the 1st Corps and 4 artillery pieces.

Considering the difficulty in unloading the cannon, he also dismantled a crane.

First imagine a crane and cast its base with stone bars and cement.

However, the crane cannot be put into use before the cement has completely set.

Soldiers disembarked one after another.
Under the command of the officers, they worked hard, wielding shovels and digging fortifications.

Flintlock rifles were placed within ten paces and ready for use.

The chevaux de frise are all semi-finished products.

Soldiers only need to tie together wooden sticks of similar size with hemp rope to form mobile obstacles.

The tip of the stake has been surface carbonized.

Just half a day,

They built simple camps around the East Waterway.

Lin Huaisheng felt relieved.

The most dangerous moment is finally over~
Next, even if the Qing army sent out cavalry, they would not be able to push themselves into the river.

……

It borders the Yangtze River to the south and the Grand Canal’s eastern waterway to the east.

The beachhead is deep and wide.

"Have all the cavalry and all the staff report to me."

"Yes."

32 staff officers and more than 50 horse scouts.

Lin Huaisheng looked at these people and began to deploy his troops:
"From now on, you will be under my direct control. The battle in Jiangbei is of a large scale, and you must execute every military order from me. Those who disobey orders or neglect them will be subject to military law."

"As ordered."

"First order, find out how many soldiers there are currently, how many cannons, and how many pounds of gunpowder. The five of you are responsible for this, and report back to me in half an hour."

"Second order, expand the camp six miles to the west and north. Send one battalion to each to build a support point first. The four of you will be responsible for the necessary baggage and supplies."

"Third order: The logistical supplies piled up at the dock are to be counted and classified by the four of you, and the two of you to be deployed and distributed to the various battalions and teams. Make room for the follow-up fleet."

"Fourth order, pay attention to the allocation of materials. Suspended supplies will be temporarily suspended, and the cabins will be reserved for scarce supplies. The four of you will be responsible for this. If necessary, return to Jingkou with the ship to supervise the execution."

"All cavalrymen, from now on, be responsible for communication between me and the staff."

"have you understood?"

"understand!"

……

The 1nd Battalion of the 2st Regiment, 500 soldiers, marched west with 4 mule-drawn shotguns.

The Qing army scouts were patrolling just two miles away.

These Shaanxi-Gansu cavalry were ordered by Hailancha to investigate the movements of the Wu army crossing the river.

There was no exchange of fire between the two sides.
Hailancha had already known the news of the fall of Anqing and was not surprised.

He felt that with the artillery strength of the Wu army, it was only a matter of time before they could capture most of the important towns in the plains. Besides, Mingliang, the frightened guy, was not much better than a rat.

"General, I beg your permission to drive the Wu bandits down the Yangtze River."

"Do not."

Hailancha looked at the generals and lieutenants in the tent with burning eyes.

"I have a bold idea. Let the main force of the Wu army land and let them in to fight. Kill them all in Jiangbei."

The generals had different reactions.

Some were excited, some were skeptical, and some were in deep thought.

Everyone was wondering whether Hailancha's strategy was feasible.

"The Wu army has powerful ships and treats the Yangtze River as its own backyard. The imperial court cannot provide a decent navy at the moment, but if we can destroy their elite land forces in one battle, the Wu army's navy will become a tree without roots."

……

Everyone looked up and looked at the fierce and fierce Hailancha.

"Generals, there are 6 officers and soldiers in the Jiangbei camp, and there are at least 6 more in Huai'an. If you win this battle, the court will not hesitate to reward you with official titles, gold, silver, and houses."

"At the critical moment of the battle, I will personally put on my armor and charge into the battle. Please whip your horses and follow me into battle. I'm counting on you all."

"Whoo."

Everyone bowed and accepted the order.

The coach has said so, there is nothing much to say, just fight for your life!

Anyone who has fought in many battles knows that once two armies break through the distance, firearms become fire sticks.

The Jiangbei camp, which is mainly composed of the Green Camp in the north, is still quite confident. They look down on the bad battles fought by their southern counterparts from the bottom of their hearts.

Especially the generals of the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Camp sneered at it.

After returning the account,
Everyone encouraged morale and prepared for battle.

Simultaneously,

Hailancha sent his personal soldiers to pass on the order, demanding that Yangzhou Prefecture, Huai'an Prefecture, and Xuzhou Prefecture provide food and money.

Before the war,

If we don't give the Green Camp soldiers two taels of silver first, their morale will not be boosted.

In addition, a large number of livestock must be slaughtered to enrich the food. Without oil and water in the food, people will have no strength.

According to Hailancha's request, all soldiers in the Jiangbei camp must eat meat every day for three consecutive days! If the Jiangbei government cannot provide enough pork, beef, and chicken, please use human flesh to make up for it.

……

This time,
The Grand Canal Governor Guan Ming'en, the Grain Inspector Yu Yunhe, the Huai'an Prefect Chang Huoyan, and the Yangzhou Prefect Hu Zuoyou were particularly active.

Hu Zuoyou slammed the table on the spot:
"Even if all the people in Yangzhou tighten their belts and there is no oil in their bowls for a year, we must ensure that the officers and soldiers in the Jiangbei camp have oily food to eat."

He sent all the yamen runners to the countryside to collect livestock.

On the official road,
The yamen runners holding whips and oxtail knives watched eagerly. The conscripted people led pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks and geese, crying and cursing as they walked towards Yizheng.

The Yangzhou City Defense Camp was fully mobilized. Three small-scale dissatisfaction incidents were put out in time, and the main offender, the village man, was locked up in a cage.

Huai'an prefect Chang Huoyan was even more decisive.

In addition to regular livestock, he even ordered all the dogs in Huai'an to be captured and sent to Yizheng.

Dog meat is also real meat!

Of course, this indicator is difficult to grasp scientifically.

Chang Huoyan gave the following order:
"Each village must capture 10 dogs, and each dog must weigh no less than 3 kilograms. If they fail to do so, the baojia will replace them."

The poor dogs were put into cages and transported south along the canal.

The barking of dogs along the way was a spectacle.

Chang Huoyan still lacks imagination. If he were from Guangdong, he could at least add two more kinds of meat - snakes and Hu Jian people.

……

The guilty officials and gentry of Jiangbei behaved particularly actively this time.

If you want money, give money; if you want food, give food.

I hope to lightly expose the "burning imperial envoy case"~
Fengji Warehouse Case,
The amount involved is really too large. In the past 10 years, at least 300 million shi of grain have disappeared.

Of course,
Following the "law of conservation of all things", these grains were just stored in a different way. At least, they were still within the territory of the Qing Dynasty and were not lost.

The soldiers in the Jiangbei camp didn't care about that and ate as much as they wanted. The canal was flooded with blood.

When all kinds of livestock were brought in, they were immediately cut into pieces, skinned and bones removed.

At first, the stubborn dogs resisted fiercely and bit several people.

later,

By the river, the smell of blood was so strong that it felt like the Asura Hell.

Even the most ferocious dogs would be scared to death here, whimpering and trembling, unable to resist the butchers. They would still be skinned, deboned and thrown into the big pot to be cooked.

……

"General, the silver carriage has arrived."

"How many?"

"One hundred thousand taels."

"Humph, I'll take it all."

"General, the Huaiyang gentry representatives want to see you."

"No. Just tell them that I'm busy with military duties and send them away quickly."

Hailancha didn't want to have anything to do with this group of people at all. He was a warrior and not very literate, but he was not stupid at all.

He could not predict how the emperor would deal with the "burning of Zheng Jinsheng case."

but,

Two second-rank officials fell in Huaiyang in succession, and this matter cannot be covered up.

If he could get away with this easily by drinking three cups of wine as punishment, he believed that the days of the Qing Dynasty would not last long.

Lack of culture does not mean lack of brains.

Not understanding the officialdom does not mean that you do not have a sense of danger.

This also fits with the two factors of the country's demise that Qianlong told Prince Yongyan, one of which was that "the emperor lost effective control over local governments."

Hailancha didn't understand words, but he had hunted!

Hunting is a collective cooperative activity. If a tribal warrior participating in the hunt dared to shoot a hunting dog without authorization, just because the hunting dog prevented him from stealing the liver of the prey.

The tribal leader must kill the warrior on the spot to maintain his authority!

……

The Jiangnan Canal once again saw the grand spectacle of white sails covering the sky.

The ships stretched all the way from Hangzhou Prefecture to Jingkou.

All the states and counties under the rule of Wu State,
People were saying: "The King of Wu is heading north to fight a war, and the dynasty is about to change."

Merchants from all over the world gathered in Suzhou Prefecture in horse-drawn carriages.

Economic Minister Fan Jing is in great demand.

Countless people wanted to get in touch with him and get more military supply orders.

Fortunately, he was sober enough and calmly wrote a memorial requesting Li Yu to set up a separate agency specifically responsible for military procurement.

Li Yu, who was secretly recuperating from his illness, did not comment on this.

But deep down, he approved.

Purchasing, this business is too complicated. Maybe I need to share some of the burden with Fan Jing.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs has too much authority.

People in Wu State jokingly called the God of Wealth in Jiangnan, and his surname was Fan!

Without mentioning anything else,

In this year alone, the State of Wu purchased as many as 1 transport ships of various types from private shipyards, covering various shapes, including but not limited to grain ships, troop transports, and coal transports.

Ships of different purposes and sizes use different materials.

The timber smuggling route from Fujian to Zhejiang has been opened, and Fujian's pine, fir and elm wood have continuously contributed to the Wu State's shipbuilding industry.

After Wang Danwang took office as acting Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang, he was stationed in Fuzhou.

Eliminate dissidents and place trusted aides in positions of power. The officials in Fujian are ruthless and ruthless, and everyone is in danger. Therefore, no one dares to ask about such a small matter as smuggling timber.

Wang Danwang admired Li Yu for one thing.
We never default on payments when doing business, and payments are always quick.

……

Wang Danwang first forcibly purchased timber that had been stored for more than three years from local timber merchants at a very low price.

The excuse was to build a group of strong fortifications on the border between Fujian and Zhejiang!
Any businessman who is unwilling to cooperate will be labeled as an "unscrupulous and unscrupulous businessman" and sent to jail.

then,

Take these timbers to the north and sell them to the Wu State Commercial Bureau at normal market prices.

The Commercial Bureau then sold the timber to private shipyards at a higher price. The shipyards then made the timber into transport ships needed by Wu's army and made a profit.

Anyway,

Today, the State of Wu has no shortage of civilian ships, but only lacks proper warships.

Under the impetus of Liu Wu and others,
Jiangnan Shipyard also tried a new idea, building a double-decker ship with pine and elm wood, and then carrying various small-caliber firearms as a fire support ship.

This time,
The first two of these fire support ships to enter the Yangzhou East Waterway were:

at this time,

A ship with a retro appearance is cruising the Grand Canal.

There are 8 oarsmen on each side to provide power for the boat to move forward.

The ship has 2 floors.

The upper floor was set back 1 feet on both sides, with firing holes dug evenly on the walls. On the lower floor, there were 10 imitation Francois cannons.

……

After going 15 miles upstream along the Grand Canal, you can no longer go forward.

"Captain, the river ahead is blocked."

The captain ran to the top of the ship, crouched down to take a look, and smiled helplessly:
“This is called overturning the dam.”

In ancient times, two methods were generally used to eliminate the water level difference between the two sides: the first was a ship lock, and the second was a dam. The so-called dam is to build a dam in the middle of the river. Stone and wood are used as the foundation, and mud is used as the dam body. The dam body is covered with soft mud, and a winch or animal power is used to drag the boat from one side to the other. In this process, in order to prevent friction from damaging the bottom of the boat, the surface of the dam body is covered with soft mud to act as a buffer. 】

A group of flood control soldiers hid in the woods and behind the earthen embankment around the dam, peeking their heads out.

The two sides were deadlocked for a while.
Suddenly a Qing army fired a shot.

The lead bullets hit the planks of the ship, making a dull sound.

……

The captain shook his head, thinking there was no need to waste gunpowder.

Shout out the order:

"Turn around and return."

The order was conveyed twice and finally reached the rowers in the bottom hold.

The ship slowly turned, preparing to return.

Seeing that this strange ship had no intention of fighting back and even turned around to escape, the soldiers gradually grew bolder.

"Brothers, there must be a great reward for capturing this ship."

More than 100 flood control soldiers and more than 50 dam workers actually chased along the river bank, howling.

These people were armed with muskets, bows and arrows, hook-and-sickle spears, spears, and even carrying poles.
"Captain~"

"Stop the boat and fight."

The ship slowly stopped, only 5 meters away from the shore.

The pursuers were in high spirits, ready to wade into the water and seize the boat.

……

suddenly,

All the portholes on one side were open.

More than a hundred people gathered on the shore saw a flash of fire before their eyes.

The shotgun shells fired from four falconets resulted in a tragic ratio of casualties.

Ah ~
Everyone howled and fled madly.

boom,
The tower ship fired another shot, then silently gave up the unwise move of wasting gunpowder on this group of small fry.

The captain smiled.

Not to mention more than 100 people, even 1000 people would not be able to do anything to this ship.

Ordinary bows and arrows can hardly penetrate the ship's planks, but a matchlock gun has a certain probability of penetrating the ship's planks within 10 feet.

The only thing that can really pose a threat to his battleship is artillery!
The Shipbuilding Department clearly informed the Navy:

Even a 200-jin mountain-splitting cannon can pose a huge threat to the ship.

If the opponent uses a medium-sized red cannon, one shot will cause serious damage, and two shots will cause the opponent to fall apart.

same,

The ship's flimsy structure is also unable to withstand the recoil of artillery with a slightly larger caliber, and the 3-pound gun is probably the top-of-the-line weapon on the ship.

Therefore,
Currently, it is only equipped with falconets, rifles, and flintlock rifles.

……

(End of this chapter)