I'm in the Red Mansion

Chapter 300: Recovering the entire territory of Jizhou, Qing reinforcements arrive

On the church side, everything went well except that Tang Ruowang's attempt to recruit believers was not as smooth as he had imagined.

Next, Jia Cong began to prepare his troops and horses in Jizhou City, ready to go.

More than a month later, after the farming season was over, it was time for him to use his troops.

This more than one month of effort is actually time for soldiers to become familiar with hot weapons.

Jia Cong purchased a batch of flintlock rifles in the West.

The flintlock was based on the original musket, but with the spring steel wheel removed and a piece of flint clamped in the jaws of the hammer.

When shooting, pull the trigger and under the action of the spring, the flint hits the edge of the firing port heavily, causing sparks to appear and ignite the gunpowder to fire.

It greatly simplifies the shooting process, improves the firing rate and shooting accuracy, is easy to use, and has low cost, making it easy to mass produce.

This time, Jia Cong purchased a total of one thousand guns, as well as some ammunition.

This number is naturally not large.

However, there were one thousand of them, which was enough for the early liberation of Jizhou.

Next, after Master and Apprentice Johann Adam Schall von Bell have helped them train the craftsmen in the Firearms Camp and the Artisans Camp, they will be able to produce flintlock rifles themselves.

Even more accurate firearms.

As for the cannons, Jia Cong purchased a total of ten and a number of shells based on their calibers.

However, due to their quantity, the cannons purchased were actually of little use.

The main reason why Jia Cong bought it was that he wanted the craftsmen in the Firearms Camp and the Artisans Camp to use it as a reference.

In the future, when we cast cannons, we will have a comparison, and if we want to make improvements, we will have a physical reference.

As for the Firearms Battalion, there are still a small number of people making grenades.

The rest of the people were making bullets for the flintlock rifles.

The technology for making flintlock bullets was also bought back from the West.

It can be said that the West at this time was truly profit-driven.

As long as you have money, you can buy almost anything.

Over the next month, the entire Jizhou city entered a period of preparation for war.

In fact, you can't see anything from the outside.

After all, Jia Cong just wanted to sweep the entire Jizhou.

It is not a long-distance battle, and there is no need to carry a large amount of food and fodder, so naturally there is no need to prepare food and fodder in advance.

Therefore, the preparation period was only reflected in the various armies. During this month, the army strengthened its training.

In particular, the 1,000-man musketeer team conducted three-stage shooting training day and night.

This time, Da Xia's surprise force is the musket team, and the sharp blade army will be used as an ambush force.

Before they knew it, more than twenty days had passed and the people in Jizhou city began to get busy.

There are also large tracts of land around Jizhou City.

These lands were originally occupied by the Manchu nobles in Jizhou City.

Now that Jizhou City had been liberated, Jia Cong took out more than half of these lands and distributed them equally based on the number of people.

As for the remaining land, Jia Cong specially sent soldiers to cultivate it.

It’s not that Jia Cong wanted to embezzle these lands.

But in Jizhou City, many Han people had already been massacred and killed by the Qing Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty people were all executed by Jia Cong.

Therefore, there is currently a severe population shortage in Jizhou City.

The lands left by Jia Cong were reserved for future distribution.

On the 79th day, the river opens, on the 89th day, wild geese come, and on the 99th day plus 19th day, oxen walk everywhere.

Next, the people of Jizhou City entered the busy farming season.

What’s different this year from previous years is that there is hope in everyone’s eyes and smiles on their faces.

Because they all feel that life is becoming more and more hopeful.

At this time, Jia Cong submitted a memorial, requesting to send troops to capture the entire Jizhou in one fell swoop.

Although he was the Jiedushi of Jizhou, he naturally had to report to Emperor Yonglong before launching any large-scale military operations.

Because his use of troops this time is likely to trigger another war between the two countries.

The imperial court must also be prepared.

A few days later, Emperor Yonglong received Jia Cong's report.

After reading it, Emperor Yonglong did not call his ministers to discuss the matter.

After pondering for a while, he decisively agreed to Jia Cong's action, and then asked someone to send the royal order to Jizhou.

Because Emperor Yonglong knew that as soon as this matter was brought to the court for discussion.

It will inevitably lead to arguments between the two groups.

In the end, only you can make the final decision.

If this happened, the matter would inevitably be leaked and the Qing Dynasty would be prepared in advance.

Therefore, it is better to just make the decision yourself.

Back in Jizhou City, after Jia Cong received the king's order, his soldiers were already ready and prepared to go.

Next, the various armies launched actions one after another.

The first to take action was Ni Er's special intelligence team.

After several months of development by Ni Er, the special intelligence group has now developed more than 300 intelligence personnel.

These intelligence personnel are almost everywhere in Jizhou.

Now that the army is about to take action, these intelligence personnel will first be responsible for collecting pre-war intelligence.

According to the intelligence they collected, although the entire Jizhou area is currently on guard, the defense is not strict.

This is also normal.

Now that Daxia has recaptured Jizhou City, it will naturally take precautions in the remaining areas of Jizhou.

But they all knew that there were not many troops in Jizhou City.

Without the cooperation of the Great Xia court, they would be able to protect themselves but lack the ability to expand outward.

Therefore, their defenses were not strict.

What they didn't know was that Jia Cong had already recruited soldiers in Jizhou City, and the weapons they used were also upgraded from muskets to cannons.

Since their defenses are not very strict, it will be easier to deal with.

Next, Jia Cong directly dispatched Liu Xianglian's Sharp Blade Army to cooperate with Daxia's 50,000 troops for an all-out attack.

Only 10,000 soldiers were left to guard Jizhou City.

This time, Liu Xianglian mainly mobilized the one thousand Shadow Troops from the Blade Army.

These shadow troops sneaked into the cities around Jizhou City.

Then, when the Qing defenders were completely unprepared, they began to seize and open the city gates.

Let the Xia army lurking outside the city enter the city, and then capture the entire city.

The Daxia army divided its forces into four parts and captured four cities in just one day.

In fact, these cities are not big - well, in the entire Jizhou, except Jizhou City, there is no other city of such scale.

These small towns originally had very few defenders, some of them even had only three to five hundred soldiers.

With the Great Xia army approaching, even if they attack the city by force, they will be able to capture it quickly.

What's more, they are so unethical and even launch sneak attacks.

However, after capturing four cities on the first day, the remaining cities all became alert.

Next time you try to break into the city in this way, you won’t be able to do so.

Moreover, the news of the Jizhou City's expedition was also quickly passed on by the Qing Dynasty.

I believe that in just one or two days, the Qing army in Danzhou, Shunzhou and Youzhou, which are adjacent to Jizhou, will be able to get the news.

As for the Qing court, the speed at which it received news was much slower.

It takes even longer for them to get feedback, respond, and send troops.

Therefore, in the short term, it is enough to guard against the Qing army in the three continents of Danzhou, Shunzhou and Youzhou.

These three continents will definitely send out large armies to launch a pincer attack.

Although the Qing army suffered a heavy loss outside Jizhou City last year, they suffered the loss during the siege.

As for the field battle outside the city - well, they also suffered a big loss after using grenades in Daxia.

But now, they have figured out how grenades attack and know how to defend against them.

Even their army was equipped with a batch of grenades.

Therefore, if they knew that the Xia army in Jizhou City dared to take the initiative to attack this time, they would definitely be taught a lesson by them.

As for this military operation to liberate the entire Jizhou, Jia Cong was not prepared for swift action.

Instead, prepare to take steady steps.

Because no matter what, they had to fight with the Qing soldiers from other states.

Only when they are scared and hurt will they behave themselves.

In this case, there is no need to pursue speed blindly.

Therefore, after taking over the four small cities, Jia Cong sent people to take complete control of the four small cities.

All Manchu officials, both big and small, in the city were executed.

Even the Manchu people who had migrated from the city were executed.

It's not that he is bloodthirsty, he just doesn't want to leave any hidden dangers in the rear.

Officials were also sent to take over four small towns.

The Han people in the four small towns were naturally extremely happy.

This place is not far from Jizhou City, and they have heard more or less about what happened in Jizhou City.

He had been looking forward to the arrival of the imperial army.

On the second day, the army continued to advance.

This time, the Sharp Blade Army led by Liu Xianglian hid in the dark.

This Sharp Blade Army was not originally designed for frontal warfare.

Now that the Qing Dynasty has taken precautions, the Sharp Blade Army is of no use.

On the morning of the second day, 50,000 Xia troops surrounded the fifth city of Jizhou.

The Manchu soldiers in the city rushed onto the city walls.

There was despair on their faces.

The city is three miles around, and the suburbs are seven miles around.

The defenders had only 1,000 troops, and faced with an army fifty times their own, the disparity in strength between the two sides was too great, and they were simply unable to contend.

However, these Manchu soldiers were already prepared to sacrifice their lives for the city.

The descendants of the Eight Banners roamed the world and were invincible.

They can die, but they must not die in cowardice.

Xia's army caused great damage to the Eight Banners Army of the Qing Dynasty in Jizhou City.

And this time, they also want to let Xia Jun see how powerful their Eight Banners Army of the Qing Dynasty is in defending the city.

This time, even if the Xia army can finally break into the city, they will still bite off a piece of meat from the Xia army.

At this time, the city walls were already piled high with supplies for defending the city.

Faced with being surrounded by the Xia Army, these one thousand Qing soldiers were already ready to take action.

However, the Xia army had no plans to attack the city.

Soon, the Qing soldiers saw that the Xia army actually pulled out two cannons.

The cannon was aimed at their city gate, and the muzzle was constantly adjusted.

Soon, the aiming was completed and the two artillerymen began to fire.

boom! boom!
Accompanied by two loud bangs, the ground shook violently.

The Qing soldiers on the city wall felt that the entire wall was shaking and it seemed like it would collapse at any time.

The soil on the city wall was peeling off.

Two large holes were blasted into the city gate.

Many Qing troops defending behind the city gate were killed by these two cannon shots.

The rest of the people were also terrified.

Then, Xia Jun began to aim and fire again. Boom! Boom!
The city gate, which had been shaken by the explosion, finally collapsed.

"Charge! Kill!"

"kill!"

"kill!"

On the city wall, the morale of the Qing soldiers was originally high, and they were just waiting to sacrifice their lives for the city.

After Daxia blasted open the city gate with a few artillery shells, their morale was completely destroyed.

The Xia army quickly rushed into the city, and in less than half an hour, they wiped out all the Qing troops and recaptured the city.

The entire Jizhou has only fifteen or sixteen cities.

It's only the second day today and they have already captured five cities.

And today is not over yet.

In two days, they captured one third of Jizhou.

After resting for an hour, Jia Cong left behind several hundred soldiers to guard the place.

Then lead the army to continue attacking the next city.

The next city is a medium-sized city.

The difficulty of siege this time will definitely be greater.

However, Jia Cong didn't take it seriously.

Because the population of the Qing Dynasty was limited, the military force was naturally limited. Although this city was a medium-sized city, there were not many troops left behind.

There are only 1,500 people.

Normally, such a large city would require at least three thousand men to defend it.

In Jizhou alone, there are sixteen cities.

These sixteen cities together would require more than ten thousand soldiers and horses.

Not to mention, the number of soldiers guarding Jizhou City was as high as 50,000.

In fact, among the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, only Jizhou City is a strategic location with the largest number of garrison troops stationed there.

The other fifteen states do not have so many troops garrisoning them.

Because the entire Qing Dynasty could not gather more than 500,000 troops at once.

For this central city, Jia Cong still adopted the method of besieging it and then bombarding it with cannons to break into the city.

In the face of artillery, perhaps the gates of those big cities are strong enough and can still barely withstand it.

However, such a central city is completely unable to withstand artillery attacks.

Therefore, it didn't take long before the city gate was blasted open.

The city then fell into the hands of Daxia.

During the process of capturing the city, the Xia army suffered some casualties.

However, the casualties were not heavy.

Next, Jia Cong began to clear out the Manchu soldiers and civilians in the city, and left people to take over the city.

Now, they have captured six cities.

Jia Cong did not choose to continue attacking the city, but instead let the army stay there first.

In the evening, Wu Shan, the vanguard officer of this expedition, came to ask for a meeting.

Jia Cong ordered his men to invite him into the military tent.

After Wu Shan met Jia Cong, he said, "General, I came here this time specifically to ask for merit for someone else."

When a large army sets out, there are naturally people who are responsible for recording the military achievements.

As long as the commander-in-chief is clear-headed, there will be no false claims of merit and reward in the army.

Generally, military merits are counted after the war, reported, and then rewarded uniformly.

Of course, there were also those who were promoted on the battlefield during wartime because of their outstanding contributions.

And Wu Shan was the vanguard officer. Logically speaking, there was no need to inform him when promoting him to a sergeant or a squad leader.

Does he want to promote a centurion or a thousand-man commander?

The promotion of low-level officials at this level is not so casual.

But, how many cities have been captured so far?
In total, they only captured six cities - oh, that's not a few.

However, of these six cities, four on the first day had to be captured by separate forces.

The soldiers under Wu Shan's command only participated in three wars in total. How much contribution could they have made?
Thinking of this, Jia Cong couldn't help but ask: "General Wu, who do you want to ask for credit?"

Wu Shan said, "General, I want to ask for merit for Jia Huan, one of my soldiers."

"Since he joined the army, he has participated in three battles to capture cities, and he fought bravely every time. In the three battles, he killed a total of 17 Qing soldiers."

"According to his military merits, he can even be promoted to centurion. It's just because of his lack of experience that I plan to promote him to captain first."

"As long as he performs meritorious deeds again, I will report his achievements and ensure his promotion to centurion."

Jia Huan?

Are you kidding me?
This guy just joined the army, participated in three wars, and killed sixteen Qing soldiers?

Doesn’t Jia Cong know what kind of person he is?

Thinking of this, Jia Cong couldn't help but say, "General Wu, Jia Huan is my cousin. I know his abilities very well."

"This is the military, everything is based on military merit, and you can't treat him with extra care just because he is my cousin."

"In our army, everything is based on military merit."

Hearing this, Wu Shan suddenly stood up and said, "General, if Jia Huan was not your cousin, why would I come here to ask for instructions? I would have promoted him to the position of deputy commander long ago."

"Jia Huan is a brave warrior who values ​​friendship with his comrades. Please do not suppress him just because he is your cousin. I will not accept this!"

Huh?
Does it mean that one should look at someone with new eyes after three days of absence?
Is Jia Huan really so brave now?
Jia Cong nodded and said, "General Wu, if that is true, then I will approve your request for merit."

Hearing this, Wu Shan was overjoyed and said, "Thank you, General. In this case, I will take my leave first."

After Wu Shan left, Jia Cong was still confused.

He could not help but call Jia Cang over and asked, "How is Jia Huan doing in the army?"

Jia Cang reported: "General, Jia Huan killed sixteen Qing soldiers in three battles in the army."

Jia Cong asked again: "Did he kill all these sixteen Qing soldiers himself?"

Jia Cang replied: "Indeed, he killed him himself, but..."

Jia Cong's eyes shone as he asked, "But what?"

When Jia Cong pressed the issue, Jia Cong had no choice but to say, "However, these sixteen Qing soldiers were actually subdued by Jia Huan's comrades, and then Jia Huan stabbed them..."

Good guy, Jia Cong exclaimed. Good guy.

I was wondering, when did Jia Huan become so brave?

Isn't this what those dandy second-generation military tycoons like to do the most?
Although he was not taking credit for something, it was almost like stealing the credit.

This action would certainly make him hated by the soldiers around him, and it would not be long before his life was lost.

Moreover, it will also bring about the military atmosphere.

Jia Cong couldn't help but ask with a gloomy face: "Did he use his status to force others to do this?"

Jia Cang said, "General, no, it was Jia Huan who bribed them and promised that he would protect these soldiers when he became an official in the future."

"All the soldiers in his group were bribed by him, that's why..."

Hearing this, Jia Cong's face changed again.

Coercion and inducement are two different concepts.

If he tried to intimidate others, Jia Cong would definitely kick him out of the army immediately.

And if you use bribery...

This is something this guy can do.

Jia Cong remained calm and prepared to wait and see what would happen.

Let him be the sergeant first and see how it goes.

……

The news that Daxia sent troops to capture cities of all sizes in Jizhou soon spread to the three continents of Danzhou, Youzhou and Shunzhou.

The Manchu generals in the three continents were all angry and terrified.

Because there are not many garrisons in these three continents, far less than Jizhou.

The three states together have no more than 50,000 soldiers and horses.

This number is only about the same as that of the Xia army in Jizhou.

But they did not dare to come out in full force.

But they couldn't just watch the Xia army attack their city without providing any rescue.

The three states' main generals made the final decision after some discussion.

Each state sent 10,000 cavalry to rescue Jizhou.

Although they suffered a heavy loss in last year's night battle because they encountered Daxia's grenades for the first time.

But now, they have figured out how to use grenades.

Even their army is equipped with grenades.

They always firmly believed that the Eight Banners Cavalry was invincible in field battles.

The Eight Banners were invincible with tens of thousands of men.

What's more, they now have 30,000 cavalrymen.

You can attack when you advance and defend when you retreat. Even if you are in a desperate situation, you can still be invincible.

These three continents are originally adjacent to Jizhou.

However, the three continents must cooperate, send troops together, and then join forces to encircle and suppress Jizhou.

Therefore, it will take at least three to five days to complete the journey.

In Jizhou, the Xia army was advancing at the rate of one city per day.

By the time the combined 30,000 troops from the three Qing states arrived, Daxia had already captured five more cities.

At this point, eleven of the sixteen cities in Jizhou had been captured.

At this time, the 30,000 cavalrymen of the three Qing states coalition forces and the 50,000 troops of Daxia were separated by 30 miles.

A war between the two sides is about to break out.

At this time, both sides were very familiar with the terrain.

Needless to say, the Qing Dynasty occupied the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun for more than ten to twenty years.

Nature has long been mapped in detail.

Moreover, the generals of these three continents would also pay attention to the terrain of Jizhou, which is adjacent to them.

As for Jia Cong, he occupied one city every day in the past few days, advancing steadily and cautiously, and was not in a hurry to retake the entire Jizhou.

The purpose is to detect the terrain.

At present, Jia Cong has a clear understanding of the surrounding terrain.

At this time, both sides were looking for opportunities to fight.

As for the Qing Dynasty, every failure made them wiser.

Even if we kill them now, they would not choose to continue attacking the city.

They suffered a huge loss in the siege last year.

A total of about 150,000 soldiers died.

Now, they are seeking a field battle.

As for Daxia, they hold the initiative of whether to fight or not, when to fight, and where to fight.

Anyway, it is impossible for the Qing Dynasty to attack the city.

At this time, Jia Cong was discussing the battle plan with the generals in the army.

Now they have 16,000 cavalry and the remaining 34,000, all infantry.

Among the 18,000 cavalrymen, there was a 13,000-man cavalry regiment initially led by Jia Cong, which eventually expanded to 15,000 men.

The remaining 3,000 cavalrymen were from Liu Xianglian's Blade Legion.

In terms of cavalry, eighteen thousand versus thirty thousand, they had only a little more than half the number of the other side.

Of course, in terms of total military strength, Daxia is far superior.

However, the Qing army had suffered losses at their hands time and time again. This time, if there was no good opportunity, they would not dare to launch an attack casually.

(End of this chapter)