Great Qing Dynasty talker

Chapter 463 Parasitic Tactics~
Qingshan Town,
To the northeast of Wuchang City, adjacent to the Yangtze River, it has prosperous business and thousands of residents.

here,

There was a Green Camp captain stationed there, who later responded to the emperor's order and organized local militia.

……

The Wu army's navy fired in turns with their ship-borne cannons, and the shells fell into the town with long trails of white smoke.

Walls collapsed, houses fell down, and smoke and dust billowed.

The people ran out of the town crying and shouting, fleeing for their lives.

After a few rounds of solid bullets,

Wu Jun's gunners switched to hot bullets.

Wooden buildings are flammable and the houses are so densely packed that they resemble fish scales from above.

2 quarters of an hour later,
The fleet sailed away, leaving behind only a town burning in flames.

Dongshan Military Academy,

Specially taught to all students:

If you want to set a town on fire, just fire a scorching bomb upwind.

If you don't want to kill too many innocent people, you can fire a few rounds of solid bullets as a warning.

……

Wuchang,

Get the warning first.

The four gates were closed, soldiers went up to the city, and the city was in chaos.

Governor Wang Jie climbed up the city wall.

Just then they saw the Wu army fleet going up the river.

I saw flags fluttering, covering the sky and the sun, looking quite majestic.

"Announce to the whole city, defend Wuchang to the death, and block the north gate."

however,
However, the Wu army fleet turned elegantly under the city of Wuchang and sailed into the Han River, a tributary of the Yangtze River!

moment,

There was complete silence on the city wall of Wuchang.

Everyone just stared at the white sails going away.

Since there was no clear order from Wuchang, the Guishan Fort on the opposite bank did not fire!

……

Despite the hot weather in early summer, Wang Jie felt cold all over and he could feel the chill rising from the soles of his feet.

He turned to his confidant:

"Quick, send two couriers to Xiangyang and Nanyang."

"Whoo."

The north city gate was completely blocked by rockery and stones.

Wang Jie sighed when he saw this.

Order:

"Maintain the status quo. Passengers and vehicles should use other city gates first. The Wu bandits have big plans, and they will come back sooner or later."

"Inform the defenders in the city to train diligently and fight bravely against the enemy."

"From today on, the garrison will have two more white buns added to each meal. I will personally supervise this."

……

Wuchang has been plagued by disasters.

A few years ago, they were besieged by Bai Lian and suffered heavy casualties.

now,

Soon we will face war again.

Wang Jie ordered the city gates to be opened and a group of Wuchang residents to be released out of the city.

evacuation!

He needed a relatively pure and lightly burdened city.

In its heyday,

There were at least 40 people in the city, but now only 20 are left.

Among these 20 people, 2 were soldiers, a newly recruited army by Wang Jie - the Wuchang New Army.

Another 4 people are families of the "New Army".

There were many vacant houses in Wuchang, and he requisitioned them all as housing for the families of the new army soldiers.

During the war,

Everything is simple and crude.

……

In summer, southeast wind.

The Wu army fleet was upstream, but could use the wind to help.

The direction of the Yangtze River is constantly changing, and the speed of ships is sometimes fast and sometimes slow.

While sailing on the Yangtze River, the Hell was not worried at all about running aground.

But after entering the Han River,
The atmosphere on the deck became heavy.

Captain Wesson had beads of sweat on his forehead and ordered his troops to keep some distance from the ship in front.

A person was specially assigned to the front deck to keep an eye on the flag bearer at the rear of the front ship.

Every time you drive a section,
The sailors on the front ship lowered the weight to measure the water depth, and then sent out a flag to indicate safety.

……

Compared with the Yangtze River,
The Han River is like a small river with too many bends.

There has been a saying since ancient times that "nothing is as good as Han".

Both the width and depth are not very friendly to a pointed-bottom naval warship like the Hell.

There has been little rain upstream recently.

The width of the Han River seems even narrower, and the exposed reefs on the shore are heart-wrenching.

The speed of the entire fleet was significantly slowed down by the Hell.

……

After Liu Wu discussed with the senior officers of the navy,
Decided to divide the troops.

Leaving behind were three "Ji Kang class" light warships, one transport ship, and the Hell.

Wait until there is precipitation in the upper reaches and the Han River becomes wider and deeper before catching up with the main force.

The remaining warships continued upstream and quickly blockaded Xiangyang.

The rice from Huguang was flowing to the north in an endless stream. Every extra bag of rice that crossed the river was equivalent to an extra soldier that the Qing government could support.

Food is the morale of the army!
……

After passing Zhongxiang, the Han River becomes slightly wider and straighter.

Simultaneously,

The fleet also continued to make gains, catching up with and capturing 20 rice-carrying grain ships.

The soldiers escorting the grain had almost no fighting power and either jumped into the water to save their lives or surrendered on the spot.

Liu Wu ordered the grain transport fleet to be incorporated into the fleet.

The navy must carry out blockade missions for a long time.

The amount of food supplies needed by more than 6000 people would be a huge number.

Transport ships,
Priority is given to loading gunpowder, artillery shells, medicines, and various supplies that cannot be supplied locally.

The proportion of food is not large.

……

Wu Ting adopted a relatively novel tactic.

Before the main army arrives, a small group of elite vanguards are dispatched to control one or two wealthy towns along the marching route.

Take their food and supplies,
As a granary for the army, they found food in enemy territory.

The Intelligence Agency pioneered the method of marking several suitable points on the map in advance by asking merchants, consulting local chronicles, and combining it with detailed on-site inspections.

Your Majesty named it - Parasitic Tactics.

Very vivid,
First invade the host, then absorb nutrients and take root.

after that,

The main force expands the wound and defeats the host.

The parasitic tactic has been put into practice many times, for example: the battle of attacking Anqing!

The goal of the Western Expedition Fleet this time was:
Wolong Town, located to the west of Xiangyang City, and Shihua Town, Gucheng County, 200 miles upstream from Xiangyang by water.

The two small towns are prosperous and well-off.

……

Xiangyang received early warning.

High alert~
The garrison consisted of 400 Manchu Eight Banners, 600 Mongolian Eight Banners, and the later formed Xiangyang City Defense Camp of 5000 and Shaanxi-Gansu Green Camp soldiers of 3000.

Countless militiamen were recruited.

Across the river from Xiangyang is Fancheng.

Fancheng is slightly smaller in area.

There were 500 Mongolian Eight Banners and 5000 Green Camp soldiers stationed there.

Both cities have been renovated.

Outside Fancheng, the Qing army also set up several more artillery batteries.

……

Everyone is nervously waiting for the fierce battle to begin~
Liu Wu quietly retreated into the command cabin. As the commander-in-chief, it would be idiotic for him to show off his bravery and fire his own artillery in the face of battle.

According to the established plan,

The fleet needs to be connected head to tail and rush through between Xiangyang and Fancheng.

Fight artillery fire with artillery fire.

After that, the fleet continued upstream without stopping.

The first priority is to find a foothold, and siege the city will be a matter after the infantry arrives.

The dense sound of artillery fire,
They sounded almost at the same time.

The Qing army's artillery bombardment was unprecedentedly high, and shells fell like rain.

because,

The surface of the Han River is so wide that there is no way to avoid it. The route can be predicted and the gun positions can be determined in advance.

……

The first ship, the Ji Kang, was caught in a crossfire and hit by six shells in succession.

The mainmast fell down and the deck was filled with black smoke.

The whole ship tilted.
The captain died on the spot. The surviving boatswain screamed and directed the surviving sailors to control the foresail, sail forward as far as possible, and then run aground on the shore.

in this way,

There is still a possibility of rescue.

The second Ji Kang-class ship had a slightly better fate.

Although the sails were beaten into sieves, the deck was damaged in many places, and more than 20 sailors were killed or injured, at least the ship did not sink.

The third and fourth ships are both Jiangnan class.

When it wedged into the water between the two cities, it happened to be the time when the Qing army was reloading their artillery. …

Jiangnan-class gun deck,
At the gunner's command, the side guns spewed out flames one by one.

The cabin was instantly filled with smoke.

Most of the gunners had become accustomed to the pungent smell of sulfur. They silently pulled back the artillery and repeated the loading process.

Loading shipborne guns is both a technical and physical job.

It directly reflects the quality of a navy.

The gunner leaned out of the porthole.

When the smoke cleared, the effects of the bombardment could finally be seen.

The northern city wall of Xiangyang City has been renovated and extended all the way to the Han River, with the bluestone strips at the bottom soaked in water.

The city wall is 5 zhang high and 3 zhang wide.

After the bombardment,
The outermost layer of large bricks were severely damaged in many places, revealing the rammed earth inside.

……

at the same time,

The Qing army's guns, bows and crossbows poured out.

It hit the deck with a crackling sound.

The gunner frowned and shook his head.

He judged that it would be impossible to destroy a fortified city like Xiangyang using conventional ship-borne artillery.

The classical city-building method of using bricks to wrap rammed earth is terrifying.

As long as it is thick enough
Even if the 200mm howitzer 152 years later hit the city wall repeatedly, it could only kill people but could not destroy the city wall.

Deck mortar,

For the first time, it demonstrated its terrifying power.

The iron ball dropped from the sky and smashed into the city, causing huge smoke and dust.

Mortar-like parabolic trajectories are well suited for straddle firing, even without the need for precise calculations.

……

The fleet passed by in a stream,

There were rumbling sounds of cannons on the river, flashes of fire, and columns of water filling the sky.

The walls of Xiangyang and Fancheng were shrouded in smoke.

There was white fog produced by our own artillery bombardment, as well as smoke rising from artillery shells.

As the Wu army fleet crossed the river, they opened fire at full capacity.

The bombardment lasted for a quarter of an hour!

After that, both sides stopped fighting at the same time.

There were many dead fish floating on the water, as well as more than a dozen bodies of Wu army sailors.

……

The Chahar governor Zheyong finally put away his shield and poked his head out from behind the battlements of Linhan Gate.

I muttered to myself:
"Old Ma, you deserved your death."

"Eternal Heaven can bear witness that we Mongols have never heard such fierce artillery fire."

Looking at the big round faces of his men, they all had similar expressions of fear.

"Just now, how many times did Wu Zetian fire?"

The subordinate blinked his eyes and counted on his fingers, thinking hard.

……

Zheyong sighed, turned around and found a trembling civil servant, and repeated the same question.

The answer is:

"300 to 500 times."

After asking around,

He was basically certain that Wu's army fired at least 400 artillery shells, more than a dozen of which were heavy artillery.

The Green Camp soldiers surrounded the ruins of a house, dug 4 feet down, and dug out a cannonball from the big pit.

Weighing result: 72 catties.

Zheyong stroked the big iron ball repeatedly, looking forward to the caliber of the cannon.

His face turned green.

The sky is falling~
The severity is even greater than that.

The woman on the couch adjusted her belt and said with a smile:
"Master Taiji, why do you worry about a minor illness that may be fatal ten years from now? Meishi! This is a high-quality specialty brought to the grassland by the Shanxi merchants who lend money to Korea."

……

The mortar gunner on the Jiangnan-class deck also collapsed like him.

The faces of the four people are like bitter gourds,
Looking at the big hole in the deck caused by the recoil~
This is the flagship, the strongest warship in the entire Wu army navy.

"Commander-in-chief~"

"what happened?"

Liu Wu looked at the hole with an incredible expression.

"Just one shot?"

"Yes."

"Oh my god, this recoil is too outrageous, right?"

……

After Adelaide, the Governor of the Saxon East India Company, presented Liu Wu with a mortar as a gesture of friendship.

Wu Jun's Military Industry Department quickly copied 10 of them.
The calibers vary in size, and the materials include bronze and cast iron.

With the technical reserves of the Military Industry Bureau, it is not difficult to imitate ready-made artillery.

but,

The Ordnance Department of the Ministry of the Army believed that the parabolic trajectory of the mortar was very complicated and troublesome, and it was difficult to refer to the firing table.

but,

No one expected the recoil of this thing to be so great.

Only 1 shot,
The mortar directly transformed into Tuxingsun, pierced through the deck, and white smoke rose in the cabin.

under,

A group of gunners looked at Liu Wu through the hole.

……

No time for research,

The maintenance carpenter arrived and urgently repaired the hole.

Along the shore,
There were people running around everywhere, including Qing soldiers and civilians.

Li Ergou's mouth was grinning to the sky.

laughed:

"What are these people running around for?"

Seeing a joke,

The captain came over in a hurry, his face serious:

"Lieutenant, the flagship has issued an order to lead your men to prepare for a landing assault and capture Wolong Town."

Li Ergou saluted quickly.

……

2 quarters of an hour later,
The troop transport ship approached the south bank, lowered the gangplank, and the infantry quickly disembarked.

Launch an outflanking charge towards the town one mile away.

Liu Wu climbed up the mast
Pull out the telescope to observe the progress.

Li Ergou's mixed battalion was indeed fierce. The infantry charged with flintlock rifles equipped with bayonets at a very fast speed.

Directly block several roads in and out of the town!

……

"People of Wolong Town, don't panic. Those who obey will live, and those who resist will die!"

The soldiers of the mixed battalion shouted and quickly entered the town.

The primary goal,

Control the town’s warehouses, big merchants, and those few luxurious houses.

Thanks to the Intelligence Agency, the map is well done.

Without wasting much time, the mixed battalion followed the map and found the key - 1 granary and 2 commercial warehouses.

The Inspection Office had no idea what was going on, and dozens of people ran out in a hurry, holding knives.

Collided head-on with the soldiers of the mixed battalion.

After a volley of gunfire, the bayonet solved the problem.

……

However, the richest man in this town, Niu Zhai, is a bit difficult to deal with.

Mr. Niu is a local tyrant.
The family had dozens of servants, equipped with knives, spears, bows and arrows, and guns.

The house is tall and the blue bricks are thick.

After closing the door from the inside, the servants lay on the ladder and fired guns outside.

Four soldiers of the mixed battalion died before they broke through the courtyard wall.

after that,

It was a one-sided massacre.

Master Niu finally gave in.

He raised his hands and shouted that he wanted to change his allegiance and was willing to provide military pay for the army.

Li Ergou didn't bother to talk nonsense. He drew his sword and sent Master Niu to the Western Paradise.

……

The thousand-year-old Wolong Town is famous for Zhuge Kongming and is also one of the most prosperous towns around Xiangyang.

The navy dispatched additional personnel to count the supplies.

A rough count,

At least 8000 shi of rice, 1500 pieces of cloth, 500 pieces of silk, salt, wine, porcelain and other miscellaneous items were seized.

Liu Wu was relieved.

Sure enough, the best logistical supply is to grab it!

Finally, we have the capital to hold on for a long time.

Worst case scenario,
After 10 days, the food supply was exhausted and the parasitism failed. The fleet gave up the blockade mission and returned to Jiujiang.

……

The military judge whispered:
"Commander-in-chief, how do we deal with the civilians?"

Liu Wu said loudly:
"Pass on my order. Within 2 minutes, the people of Wolong Town can take away their gold and silver and leave the town."

"If there are those who really have no livelihood and are willing to obey the military orders, they can stay and become our army's hired workers. Meals will be provided and the daily salary will be 100 wen."

"You, go ashore immediately to supervise the execution."

"be quick!"

(End of this chapter)