Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 719 The Road to Sanliang Town
Jiang Suo is her younger brother, and she knows that this younger brother is very interesting to her.But the junior brother is four years younger than her, so he can only be regarded as a half-grown young man.She is unwilling to marry a man younger than herself.It has been delayed like this.

However, she dared not reveal this feeling to anyone, even Jiang Niang, who was closest to her on weekdays.This is not only wishful thinking, even if it can be done, it will end badly.The sisters in the same company have also been greedy for beauty and concubines by wealthy gentry, and the results are mostly not good.Either being disliked by others is something that Jianghu women can only live with humiliation, or they are abandoned after being tired of playing.

Sanliang's preparations for the battle are in full swing, but Shi Zhiqi lives a leisurely life in Shiwan.After Shiwan was conquered, he did not continue to advance—the waterways in this area were complicated and there was no ready-made navigation map.From the mouths of the local people and the captive Xiangyong, I also learned that Sanliang Town not far from here is tightly guarded.Shi Zhiqi asked the detachment to station in Shiwan, while liquidating the big families who organized the village bravery, and at the same time approving "reasonable burdens" to search the properties of "hostile elements".

He set up the headquarters of the detachment at the east end of Shiwan, in the ancestral hall of a rich family near the harbor, where the houses are neat and there is a garden.Not only is it comfortable and convenient to live in, but it is also convenient to command because it is close to the troops-you can board the ship and set off immediately if there is any trouble.Shi Zhiqi sent many spies to inquire about the news - most of these spies were poor people in the Pearl River Delta region who had only taken refuge in the past month.Everywhere the detachment went, in addition to asking the villages and towns to bear a "reasonable burden", they would take out the rice silver they had seized to help the victims and take in orphans and poor people. Kun thief is not Kun thief, at least he can eat enough and wear decent clothes if he goes with him.There are more and more of these people, so that every ten days, Shi Zhiqi has to send a boat to transport these people to Humen, and then transfer them to the purification camp on Hong Kong Island.

Some of them stayed in the team to follow the army.They were organized into a separate team, armed with captured knives and guns, and served as laborers with the army. Those who were more clever and had a certain degree of loyalty were sent out as spies to collect various information everywhere.

Local spies have many advantages in their activities, at least they have no flaws in language.It doesn't matter if you lose a few in action.Relying on the activities of the spies, Shi Zhiqi has a clear grasp of the movements of the people in a radius of tens of miles.

All kinds of people flock to his headquarters every day.Most of them are poor people who come to ask Australians to "hit big households", and some of them come to complain - since they hanged the famous evil gentry and bullies in several places, the number of people who come to complain has increased greatly, some Some even came from more than [-] miles away, and the gate of the ancestral hall was crowded with people every day, wanting to see the "big leader of Australia".

Some people not only brought pleading papers, but also brought "evidence" such as bloody clothes and blood knives with them. How much treasure and so on.It just looks mouth-watering.Every time Shi Zhiqi saw this kind of paper, he couldn't help but want to take someone to "beat local tyrants" himself.It's not that he is greedy for money and treasures, but the scene of many goods being transported out of front of his eyes gives him a sincere sense of satisfaction.And the more captured, the more credit you will receive in post-war evaluations.

However, there are policy restrictions on confiscating the property of large households. The Government Administration Council strictly prohibits "cracking down on local tyrants" beyond the scope. Except for the organizers and leaders of the group training, it mainly cracks down on local bully landlords and the like.So the range that can be attacked is not large.

There are quite a few people who come to sue the "bully landlord".Shi Zhiqi was very interested in being the "Master Qingtian" at the beginning, but after meeting someone for a day, he was no longer willing to engage in "on-site office work". It is difficult to judge the authenticity of Pang Za, and there are many of them who want to take advantage of the power of the Australians to take personal revenge.Shi Zhiqi couldn't figure out whether it should be done or not.He simply pushed the matter to the civil affairs and intelligence personnel, and hid in the backyard to enjoy himself, and specially interviewed the landlords from the four townships—they were all afraid of the terrible power of the "kun thief", and they came to give gifts one after another to please.

Shi Zhiqi felt that instead of facing a group of shabby, hateful people and listening to their scrambled complaints, it would be better to sit comfortably in the grand master's chair and talk to the smiling rich people, drink tea, and take a look at their Accept the gift list again.A double harvest of spiritual and material.

The things sent were piled up like a mountain, ranging from gold and silver treasures, antique calligraphy and paintings, silk, satin and cloth to rice, pigs and sheep, and even maids and servants.Shi Zhiqi accepted all the orders.Although all have to be handed over to the public, the feeling of being valued is pleasant.All kinds of property are piled up under the eaves of the courtyards of the ancestral hall, just waiting for the boat to transfer.

Due to the large number of ships and personnel of the detachment being used to transfer loot and people, the military operation against Sanliang was postponed for a few days. It was not until October 25 that Shi Zhiqi's E detachment officially launched the military operation.

At this time, the E detachment participating in the battle has been strengthened to a certain extent. The detachment has more than 300 troops and more than 20 sampans and long dragons.Because I heard that the enemy is carrying out blockage operations in the river, so I brought a few extra small undecked sampans with the shallowest draft to pass through the blockage.

After Shi Zhiqi's fleet set off from Shigang, they walked four or five miles before turning into the river to Sanliang.The terrain here surprised Shi Zhiqi.The river becomes narrow, with an average of less than 20 meters. There are a large number of aquatic plants along the coast, and small forests are encountered from time to time.He realized that the terrain in this area is very favorable for the enemy to organize attacks on ships on the river bank - the enemy can approach the river channel from both banks of the river completely covertly, and then attack the ships in the narrow channel with bows, arrows and firearms, giving them a major blow kill.

"Order all ships to set up protective panels!"

The protective plate is the equipment that was only recently equipped for the sampan-this is the protective equipment made for the close-range shooting of bows and arrows and guns and guns when the detachments encountered in the inland river operations in the previous stage.

The shape is similar to a large rectangular shield, with brackets and hinges that can be densely arranged on both sides of sampans and long dragons.Used to protect sailors and soldiers on board.This kind of protective plate is covered with iron sheets, which can resist all bows and arrows, bird guns and most of the scattered shots fired by small earthen cannons.Soldiers hiding behind the protective plate can effectively protect their torso without hindering shooting and observation.

However, after the protective panels are set up, the speed of sailing will be greatly reduced, the boat will become cumbersome, and it will take more effort to row the boat forward.Therefore, it is generally only supported when facing a battle. If the enemy's projected firepower is not strong, the commanders would rather not use this protection to make the ship more flexible.

Shi Zhiqi's judgment was not wrong. Luo Tianqiu, under the advice of several martial artists, specially selected a few village warriors who were good at archery from among the village warriors. They were led by special personnel to lurk on both sides of the river, waiting for an opportunity to attack the boats of the bandits as harassment.And at the place where the shipwreck and stakes were laid to block the river, Luo Tianqiu ambushed a team of Xiangyong with small cannons, bird guns, and bows and arrows.Everyone thinks that the thieves may not be able to clear the blockage - because they have many sampans, it is easy to pass through the blockage.But when they pass these places, they will inevitably slow down. At this time, Xiangyong, who is ambushing nearby, fires cannons and arrows together, inflicting a large number of damage to the thieves on board.

"Send a vanguard team to search both sides of the river and cover the passage of the fleet!" Shi Zhiqi gave the order, and then the caretaker brought his helmet—if an arrow flew out from the river bank at this time, the possibility of death is very high big.

Four groups of vanguard soldiers landed on both sides of the river, searched and advanced alternately on the river bank, and covered the passage of the fleet.They quickly exchanged fire with the Xiangyong ambushing in the reeds and woods. The scouting, sneaking and observation training of the vanguard enabled them to find the unconscious Xiangyong from a long distance and wipe them out quickly.Since this operation was not a secret sneak attack, Shi Zhiqi didn't ask for the cleanup to be quiet -- all he wanted was to cover the fleet quickly and safely through the river.

In this way, once the vanguard found an ambush Xiangyong, they would use rifles to shoot from a long distance. Amid sporadic gunfire, the Xiangyong on both sides of the strait were quickly wiped out.The living people did not dare to stay on the shore any longer, and fled back one after another.

After walking in the winding river for more than two hours, the pioneers finally encountered a large group of bravery for the first time. With the support of the cannon on the boat, this group of bravery quickly escaped, leaving behind several A small earth cannon.Shi Zhiqi found that he couldn't move on.The sampan had bottomed out—they had encountered the first jam line.

The skilled sailors on the boat went into the water to find out, and found that a blockage consisting of three rows of wooden stakes had been set on the river here. The wooden stakes were so thick that they almost exposed the water.Even the sampan can barely pull over the top of the stake.Sometimes soldiers on board had to disembark to reduce the waterline.

"Loop a rope over a stake and paddle hard!"

This approach is very crude, but it has worked in actual combat. When the Spaniards conquered Mexico City in the 16th century, they used this method to clear the wooden piles laid by the Mexicans in the lake around Mexico City.

The rope was quickly fastened to the stake, and then several sampans rowed at the same time.The rope was pulled straight, the stern of the boat was half sunk, and the stakes remained motionless.

Then they tried several wooden stakes, none of which could be pulled up like the Spaniards back then.One of the sampans almost capsized.

"Strange, don't the Spaniards do that?" Shi Zhiqi scratched his head, feeling a little ashamed.He got this knowledge from what people said, and he didn't read the original book, so he didn't know that the Spaniards used a brig with a much larger tonnage when pulling up the wooden piles.

Seeing that more than an hour had been wasted and no progress had been made, Shi Zhiqi decided not to waste time on it.He had neither the proper tools nor the manpower to clear the underwater obstacle, so he just jumped over it and continued on.But in this way all the dragons can only stay outside the obstacle, and only the sampan can move on.And the artillery is all assumed to be on the long dragon.

Shi Zhi strangely ordered to disassemble the 12-pound mountain grenade and place them scattered on the sampan. The draft of the sampan was too shallow to carry too much ammunition, so the 2 guns only carried 40 shells, half of which were solid shells and half shot .Then he ordered a few people to stay behind to guard the boats, while the others dragged the sampans over the stakes one by one and moved on.

After walking for more than two miles, the pioneer soldiers exchanged fire with the Xiangyong who guarded the blocking line again. The fierce attack of the earth cannon forced them to retreat.The villagers rushed to a place very close to the sampan before being repulsed by the rifle fire on the sampan.But they did not withdraw from the blockade, but only withdrew from the effective range of the Mini rifles, waiting for the opportunity to continue the attack.

Shi Zhiqi once wanted the troops to go ashore and march, so as not to be able to effectively display firepower on board, and it would be difficult to hide-it was like a living target.But he was taken aback when he stepped onto the bank himself.There is no stretch of land here at all, and there are rivers, ponds, and rice fields everywhere.It can be seen that simple temporary bridges have been erected on some river mouths and embankments, but they have all been demolished now.It would take a lot of time for the troops to abandon their ships and land on foot and just build the bridge all the way.He had no choice but to order the troops to continue on the boat.

As they continued to shoot each other forward, the resistance they encountered became more and more intense.Probably when they discovered that the thieves could not use artillery, the townspeople also became rampant.When the sampans tried to cross the blockade, the village warriors fired fiercely with earthen artillery and bows and arrows, and did not drive them away until the sailors boarded the river bank and charged.The battles across the river blockade came one after another, and the township warriors took advantage of every opportunity that the fleet was blocked by obstructions and stayed on the river surface and could not exert their firepower to launch attacks again and again. , although there were not many casualties, it greatly delayed the progress of the detachment-the total waterway was less than ten miles, and the detachment walked for almost a morning.One person was killed and ten others were injured.Another sampan was scraped through the bottom of the boat while being dragged over the wooden piles, leaking and sank.

Shi Zhiqi's face was livid, this embarrassment was too great! Detachment E entered the battle along the Pearl River and attacked villages all the way. No one was killed in battle, and the ship was lost. Now Xiangyong killed a soldier and sank a sampan!It's too ugly to look back.

At this moment, the sampan ahead opened fire again.He quickly raised the binoculars.The leading sampans had been shrouded in thick smoke from the firing of Minie rifles.All that could be seen was the jet of flame from the rifle firing in the smoke.The gongs and drums on the river bank were shaking, many people were shouting and screaming, and there was a lot of noise.Suddenly a cloud of thick smoke rose from the bushes, and with a thunderclap, many small jets of water crackled on the surface of the river.Some pieces of iron hit the fenders of the sampan directly, making a clanging sound.

"Fire in the direction of the smoke!" The non-commissioned officers on the nearby sampan shouted, guiding the shooting direction. A dozen Minie rifles fired at the smoky bushes at the same time. Crack.The screams of people were mixed together.Shi Zhiqi watched the river bank nervously with a telescope, several sampans rowed to the river bank without waiting for orders, and let the sailors land to expel the enemy.

Dense feather arrows flew out from the bushes, and the sailors huddled their heads behind the protective plate, and the dense feather arrows were inserted everywhere on the protective plate.From time to time, there were a few roars of bird guns.The iron hit the protective plate with a "bang bang" sound.The sailors poked out their guns from behind the protective panels and fired back continuously.After a few minutes of firefighting, the shooting on the bank gradually ceased, and slowly fell silent.

After driving away Xiangyong, the fleet slowly passed the blocking line, and there was a bend in the river ahead.The river narrowed.The current is fast.The banks become steeper.In order to avoid the current in the center of the river, the first sampan approached the river bank. At this moment, several figures jumped out of the grass on the river bank and pushed a black thing onto the sampan.

Before Shi Zhiqi could scream, the first sampan burst into a cloud of smoke and exploded.

Almost at the same time, the sampans behind fired shots at the same time, the grass was beaten to flying branches and leaves, and a village brave was shot from the river bank and fell into the river.

The other sampans quickly moved closer.The bombed sampan was still floating on the water.The protective panels on both sides and part of the hull were blown away, and more than a dozen sailors and sailors on board fell to the bottom of the ship in disarray, dripping with blood.One person probably had an explosive exploded in his arms, and a hole was blown open in his stomach, exposing the dark red internal organs.A bloody stench and smoke filled the air.

"The enemy of ten thousand people!" cried a naval officer.

Thousands of enemies are firearms made in China: bombs are made of clay pots, and seven to eight catties of black powder are put in it, plus various pieces of iron, small stones, and porcelain pieces. Lighting the fuse and throwing it from the top of the city, the killing effect was very impressive according to the standards at the time, and it was a sharp weapon for defending the city.But "Enemy of Ten Thousands" is very heavy and cannot be used as a grenade at all.No one thought that Xiangyongmen would be used in field battles.

Unexpectedly, they would take advantage of the terrain characteristics of the cliffs on the river bank, wait for the ship to pass by, and directly push down the ten thousand enemies, and blast them impartially.On the crowded sampan the thing exploded.The power can be imagined.

All eleven people on the sampan were killed in this sneak attack, and all their weapons were destroyed.lost heavily.After the marines landed, only a few corpses of Xiangyong who had been shot to death nearby were found nearby.

"Damn!" Shi Zhiqi waved his command knife angrily, "Shoot into Sanliang City! Don't leave any chickens or dogs behind!"

(End of this chapter)