Late Qing Dynasty Executioner

Chapter 261 Songjun Training
Yunhua wanted to confront the imperial army and turn it into a protracted war.

But Song Jun didn't think so. The imperial court had a large number of troops, and the pressure on logistics was already great. In addition, the difficulty of transportation against the current made the logistics pressure even greater.

On the other hand, the Huaxia tribe had very convenient logistics as they went downstream along the Yangtze River. In addition, their troops were reduced by half, and they had previously plundered half of Hubei, so they had sufficient food and grass.

If the confrontation continues, the imperial court will suffer greatly, so the best solution is to end the war quickly.

After setting up camp in Shashi Si, Song Jun began to prepare for the siege.

The armaments of the imperial army this time can be said to be very abundant. There are as many as thirty thousand-jin cannons, and as many as four or five hundred other small cannons. In addition, there are three hundred submachine guns of various sizes, and more than ten thousand various shells for the submachine guns. There are countless other kinds of shells, gunpowder, and muskets.

It has to be said that the court's war potential was still very strong. If it were not for the serious corruption in the artisan camps across the country, the number of armaments could at least double.

Jingzhou is an important town guarding the Jingchu land. The city walls made entirely of stone slabs cannot be blown down by cannons, not even a thousand-jin cannon. It's not that it is absolutely impossible, but the effect of each bombardment is not great. It is too costly to completely blow down the city wall and it is not cost-effective.

Therefore, Song Jun only used cannons to suppress the defenders on the city wall, and then adopted the traditional siege method and sent Green Camp soldiers to climb the city wall.

In order to allow the vassal army to fight without any worries, Yunhua finally chose to relocate the people of Jingzhou City to Yichang. Of course, those who were willing to go to Chongqing could also do so. After transporting supplies from Chongqing, the ships would be empty and return. The young and strong could serve as boatmen, and it would also be convenient for the old, weak, women and children to take the boat to Chongqing.

The vassal troops were guarding the city at this time.

The imperial army attacked the city from the west gate. Yunhua initially sent only 500 vassal soldiers to guard the west wall, mixed with 200 main forces, to avoid artillery bombardment while looking for opportunities to counterattack freely.

After the Qing army attacked the city, Yunhua sent another two thousand vassal troops.

The initial siege was just a war of attrition of the forces of both sides. Although they were suppressed by the Qing army's artillery, the defending side still had an absolute advantage.

Yunhua adopted a rotation system of half an hour each, trying to minimize the casualties of the vassal army.

After the first day of fighting, the vassal army suffered 2,000 casualties, and the imperial army suffered more than 5,000 casualties, which shows how fierce the battle was.

"If this goes on, the vassal army won't be able to hold out for a few days!" After taking a sip, Lao Piao said to Yunhua in a leisurely tone.

Yun Hua frowned tightly, "I didn't expect Song Jun to be so willing to sacrifice. After all 50,000 Green Camp soldiers were wiped out, did he think that he could be a match for our main force with just the Eight Banners?"

"Why do you care how many people died? The key is that so many people died!" said Lao Piao.

"Let's see tomorrow!" Yunhua knew what Lao Piao meant.

Lao Piao still wanted to fight a decisive head-on battle and defeat the enemy's 100,000-strong army in one fell swoop.

The Huaxia tribe was not without the ability to fight. With 20,000 main forces and more than 30,000 vassal troops who were also quite powerful, they had an absolute advantage against the 50,000 Green Camp troops and 50,000 Eight Banners soldiers of the imperial court.

What's more, Lao Piao also brought the latest killer weapon developed by Fobao, the rocket.

Although the first generation of rockets was extremely unstable, their final landing point would depend entirely on luck if they were fired upward, but they could be launched from a high altitude or fired horizontally with absolutely no problems.

It was difficult to attack a specific target, but attacking a military formation was definitely a sure thing, especially in a large-scale battle involving tens of thousands of troops on both sides. As long as the luck was not too bad, effective targets could always be hit. A military camp of 100,000 people could stretch over an area as wide as two or three miles, so basically the entire Shashi Town was a target that could be attacked.

As long as you are not too unlucky, a rocket launched will always hit someone.

The next day, Song Jun actually dispatched the Eight Banners soldiers into battle. Not only were there Eight Banners soldiers from Nanjing and Hangzhou, but there were also Eight Banners soldiers from the capital.

At the end of the day, the vassal army suffered more than 2,000 casualties again, while the Qing army suffered nearly 10,000 casualties. However, after the 50,000 Eight Banners soldiers took turns to fight, the whole atmosphere changed and a sense of bloodiness increased.

"Song Jun is training his troops. I'm afraid that as the battle goes on, although the number of people will decrease, the soldiers will become more and more elite. In addition, the enemy has many cannons, and the combat power of both sides will soon be equalized.

If it's just these 100,000 people, it won't matter. But if Song Jun does the same with the subsequent reinforcements from the imperial court, I'm afraid he will really train an elite army for him!" Lao Piao smacked his lips and said.

Yun Hua could not help but remain silent. After hesitating for a while, he finally said, "I will call back the 5,000 main forces from Jingmen and attack the enemy tomorrow night."

"Haha, that's right, don't worry, leave the riverside to me!" Lao Piao laughed and went out. He would rush back to Yichang immediately, and then prepare ships to transport the main force down to cooperate with Yunhua's counterattack.

Yunhua also sent a messenger out of the city that night to Jingmen to gather the main force back.

The next day, Lao Piao set out from Yichang, and the main force of Jingmen also left the city early in the morning and rushed back to Jingzhou.

There was no way for the army to hide its movement from the enemy's scouts. The situation in the direction of Yichang was slightly better, after all, Jingzhou also blocked the Yangtze River, and the message could not be transmitted so quickly.

But Jingmen was only a hundred miles away, and a fast horse could arrive there in just over an hour, so Song Jun soon received the news that Jingmen's 5,000 main forces had left the city.

This gave Song Jun different ideas.

Although the main force of the Huaxia tribe is powerful, its strength has always been small. Even when facing a massive counterattack by the imperial army, it only sent 10,000 people to support, and the total strength was only 20,000.

If we can wipe out these 5,000 main forces, it will definitely be a big victory, which is much better than inflicting casualties on thousands of vassal troops.

Moreover, field battles are easier than siege battles.

Although a thousand-jin cannon is not easy to move, a small cannon weighing one or two hundred kilograms can be pulled out, especially a submachine gun, which has a great lethality to a single soldier.

So after noon, Song Jun pulled out 7,000 elite soldiers of the Eight Banners and 20,000 Green Camp soldiers from the city, ready to seize the opportunity to annihilate the main force of the 5,000 bandit troops that had rushed back from Jingmen.

In order to prevent the defenders in Jingzhou from attacking from both sides, Song Jun arranged another 20,000 Green Camp soldiers to defend the south of Jingzhou City, and the remaining 40,000 Eight Banners soldiers stayed in the main camp.

Yunhua couldn't help but be speechless about Songjun's arrangement.

After hesitating for a while, he first sent a messenger to notify the main force coming back from Jingmen to maintain their strength and march slowly, and be ready to engage in battle with the Qing army at any time. He himself led his troops out of the city half an hour later, ready to defeat the 20,000 Green Camp troops left behind for defense.

As for the 40,000 Eight Banners soldiers in the Qing army camp, just leave them to Lao Piao. I believe Lao Piao will not give up such a good opportunity.

(End of this chapter)