Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 941 The Battle of the Yangtze River ([-])

On June 1652, 6, after successively breaking through the two counties of Danyang and Jurong, Liu Guochang, who was experienced in the military, did not dare to delay in the local area. Professionals such as storytellers, handicraftsmen, low-level scholars, and doctors hurriedly withdrew to Xijin Ancient Ferry.

During this period, no Qing troops came from Nanjing. Perhaps Liu Guochang's attack on Jurong confused them, thinking that the bandits in yellow were about to invade Nanjing on a large scale, so they all stayed at home and waited for it.But who would have thought that the people on the east bank just bluffed a shot, and then led their troops back to Xijindu by the Yangtze River with their spoils. This shows the emptiness of the Qing army's strength in the interior, so that the Allies are guessing at the Qing court. Will troops be dispatched from Jiangxi and Hangzhou to aid Jiangnan? However, this kind of approach is not very meaningful. The Jiangxi battlefield is now facing pressure from Guo Sheng (more than [-] people) and Wang Deren. It is also necessary to maintain pressure on the Ningbo and Wentai areas. Once the two forces are deployed, the consequences are really unpredictable.

Maybe we can only transfer elite soldiers from the Huguang battlefield to Jiangxi to the east, and then transfer Jiangxi's troops to Jiangnan?But the question is, isn't this the strategic purpose of the East Coast people?Isn't the biggest strategic purpose of their expedition this time to relieve the pressure of the Dashun and Daxi regimes on the Huguang and Sichuan battlefields?The Daxi regime is too far away to ignore him. On the Huguang battlefield in the central region, [-] to [-] relatively elite Qing troops gathered. Although they currently have the upper hand in the war with Dashun, once tens of thousands of people are transferred eastward , I am afraid that this momentum will be vented, and the Dashun regime may be able to stabilize the front line, and this is obviously intolerable for the Qing army.

It's very troublesome and difficult to do!It seems that it is very difficult for the Qing army to choose, because Jiangnan is no different than others, it is a place that the Qing court must protect, and it has to be saved!Otherwise, once it is broken here, let alone the political impact, the negative economic impact will be enough to make the Qing court uncomfortable for a long time.

The troubles of the Qing court are obviously the happiness of the people on the east bank. The faces of the Allied soldiers who are carrying supplies in Xijingu Watanabe are all beaming.It was refreshing to fight with General Liu of the Eastern Dynasty. Every time a lot was seized, it was almost too late to transport it;

From the first day of landing on June 6 to today's June 13, with the help of more than 6 ships of various sizes, it took the people on the east coast more than ten days to finally get the Zhenjiang area All kinds of materials and personnel seized during the war were sent back to Chongmingsha.On the Chongmingsha Wharf, the people from the East Coast even mobilized the naval warships and used their best efforts to ship supplies to Ningbo Mansion.

During these ten days, the Qing troops who came from Suzhou and Nanjing successively "recovered" counties such as Jurong, Danyang, and Dantu (that is, Zhenjiang Fucheng), and then gathered troops and pressed on Xijindu. .The people on the east bank were not afraid of this. They relied on the city wall of Gudu and some temporary camps built to confront a large number of Qing troops.The Qing army outside the city is mostly cavalry, including the Manchurian Eight Banners and the Han cavalry. The total number is almost 7000.But so what?The cavalry has the ability to attack the city, the uncle's sword has long been exhausted.

During the stalemate, Liu Haiyang also sent Aoguanhai's heavy armored infantry battalion, supplementary company, and artillery company to fight. The Qing cavalry could not charge forward, and was massacred by artillery, so they had to retreat disgruntled.Before retreating, a general of the Qing army scolded angrily, "Since ancient times, there have only been emperors on horseback, not emperors on ships." The generals on the east bank burst into laughter after hearing this, and Liu Haiyang even secretly laughed at another time and space. Was there an "emperor on board" who came to kill him? How did the "emperor on horseback" deal with it?

Ignoring the weak clamor of the Qing army outside the city, the people on the east bank acted according to their own rhythm. On June 6, the whole army rested for three full days inside and outside Xijin Ancient Ferry, and after discovering that there were slightly more Qing troops outside the city, Liu Haiyang decided that the whole army could pull anchor and set sail for the next goal.In the past few days, the sun in the south of the Yangtze River has gradually become venomous, and the temperature has risen rapidly. In such hot weather, tens of thousands of Qing troops were mobilized in the wild by people from the east coast. Do it a few times, the number of non-combat attrition of the Qing army will probably increase greatly, and morale will also drop to the bottom.

As for the target of the next battle, Liu Haiyang also made a plan after discussing with the generals, that is Taiping Mansion, Chizhou Mansion, and even slightly further away Luzhou Mansion and Anqing Mansion, which are located further upstream of Jiangning Mansion.Although these prefectures and counties belonging to Jiangnan Province are not as rich and prosperous as the five southeast prefectures, they were also rare lands of fish and rice in ancient times. Coupled with the lack of troops and weak defense, it is the perfect place for Liu Haiyang's tens of thousands of allied forces to play. .

Before setting off, Liu Haiyang and others decided to play another small trick, that is, to send Ruan Jin and Hong Xishan to lead thousands of naval officers and soldiers down the river, wandering along the banks of the river in Suzhou and Changzhou, making a plan to land posture.Liu Haiyang told them to move slowly, and to allow enough time for the Qing army to "discover" them, so as to attract and mobilize part of the Qing army's forces, and use this to cover up the true combat intentions of the Allied forces.

Anyway, the troops of these two people are mainly naval forces, which are not very resistant to battle, and they are not very useful when they actually go into battle. Therefore, it is better to let them confuse the Qing army and give them to the main fleet led by Liu Haiyang and others. Create good raid opportunities too.

And the combat operations of organizing an army of [-] to [-] are quite complicated, and the consumption of materials is not a small amount.Fortunately, the grain, rice, and vegetables needed by the army can be collected on the spot—in fact, they captured a lot in the previous battle, and a lot of grain and rice had been transferred back to Chongmingsha for temporary storage—meat (supplemented with fat) ) part of it is raised locally, and part is transported in the rear; as for the supplement of protein, it can only rely on the barreled salted fish transported in large quantities from Chongmingsha.

These fish are mainly Pacific saury, saury, sardines and salmon, which are accumulated in the Blackwater area over the years. In this Yangtze River operation, the [-] troops fought continuously for several months, and the consumption was extremely huge.If it weren't for the rapid expansion of the fishing fleet in the Heishui area every year, perhaps the stock of salted fish in the ice cellars in Heishui and Dabo would drop to a very dangerous warning line starting next year.

In addition to these foodstuffs, gunpowder, lead, shells, arrows, and coal consumed in large quantities in combat were also transported from Chongmingsha.The transport ships in the hands of the people on the east bank transported all kinds of materials from Yantai, Ningbo, Jeju and other places to Chongmingsha day and night, and then some naval ships (armed transport ships, a total of 6 flute-shaped ships) joined Ruan Jin and Hong Xishan The navy was transferred to the front line.Of course, as the battle is increasingly spreading upstream, Liu Haiyang is also considering transferring the last 4 gunboats that are still parked in Dinghai Port, together with the 8 gunboats that have already joined the army, using their faster speed to transfer Materials (Each ship removes the necessary coal and supplies, and can carry more than 50 tons of additional materials), while patrolling the river along the way, and attacking Qing army boats that may appear.

In this way, after most of the materials were in place, on June 6, Ruan Jin and Hong Xishan led some small boats (about 28 ships) down the river, preparing to go to Suzhou and Changzhou to confuse the Qing army; The main force of the army (a total of more than 3 auxiliary soldiers) boarded naval warships, some sail transport ships, and more than a thousand offshore small boats. On the night of the 28th, following the southeast wind blowing from the sea, they went up against the current of the Yangtze River. Quietly headed towards the first target - Dangtu County, Taiping Prefecture.

On July 7, as many as 6 Allied soldiers braved the drizzle and landed on the riverside, and then rushed straight into Dangtu City with lightning speed.Dangtu County, as the head county of Taiping Prefecture, originally had thousands of troops stationed there. Unfortunately, last month, bandits in yellow clothes ravaged Zhenjiang. Aid to Nanjing.But who would have thought that this group of thieves in yellow clothes would be so cunning that they would kill them in the territory of Taiping Mansion with a feint shot?

But no matter how regretful it is at this time, it will be of no avail. The troops who entered Nanjing will not be able to come back in a short time.Therefore, the fate of Dangtu County is doomed!

On July 7th, the army on the east bank only attacked for one round, and more than a thousand Qing troops in the city fled in all directions.Liu Haiyang got off the boat and entered the city that night, and then ordered Liu Guochang to lead tens of thousands of people to take the boat to Wuhu.There used to be a general in Wuhu County stationed with thousands of troops, but unfortunately he has already gone to Nanjing for a run against the sun (people on the east bank jokingly call it, meaning that the Qing army was mobilized in the wild). It is basically undefended, and it is easy to get.

On July 7, when the main force of the allied army led by Liu Haiyang with more than 13 people arrived in Wuhu County by land (collecting grain, grass and livestock by the way), Liu Guochang's army had already set out again to attack Fanchang County in the west.Some anti-Qing militias hiding in the mountains took the opportunity to riot and engulfed thousands of people to respond to the actions of the allied forces. At present, Zhang Huangyan has personally led people to contact them. If they are recruited, it will be more or less helpful.

On July 7, the main force of the Allied forces gathered in Digang, and then quickly conscripted local masters to build the city wall, and waited for naval ships to deliver supplies from downstream.In fact, their battles in the Taiping Mansion in the past half month have hardly been intense at all (only more than 20 Qing troops were killed and wounded), all kinds of military resources were consumed very little, and gunpowder and lead even increased compared to before the war (Because of the seizure), it is completely possible to continue to sweep around without waiting for the supplies from the downstream to arrive.But Liu Haiyang thinks it's better to wait and see the movements of the Qing army. After all, their main goal is to attract the Qing troops on the battlefields of Jiangxi and Huguang to transfer eastward. It's useless, it's just training soldiers.

And at this time, the news that almost the entire territory of Taiping Mansion has fallen should have spread to Chizhou Mansion and Jiujiang Mansion further upstream, right?At this time, the Qing army had to carefully weigh and judge, that is, whether to send troops from the Jiangxi battlefield to the east to rescue Jiangnan Province; Otherwise, aren't they afraid that Nanchang and other prefectures in northern Jiangxi will be conquered by Guo Sheng and Wang Deren?

Therefore, this choice can be said to be related to the overall situation, and everything depends on how the commander-in-chief of the army judges.If he judges that he can wipe out the 30 million soldiers of the Shun Army before Jiangnan is turned upside down by the yellow-clothed thieves, then it is not a bad idea to sit back and watch Jiangnan degenerate. After all, it is reasonable to deal with the enemy first; To eliminate the main force of the Shun Army—this seems to be a high probability event—then we must honestly deploy elite soldiers to fill the vacancy in the Jiangxi battlefield, so that Geng Zhongming and Shen Zhixiang can escape to rescue Jiangnan. After all, the consequences of Jiangnan’s corruption are not for anyone. I can afford it. Do you want to live your life next year?

On August 8, when the Allied forces had just returned from sweeping Nanling County in Ningguo Prefecture, the news of the appearance of the Qing army in the brigade finally came. In the sudden attack, more than 16 people were wiped out.And this immediately attracted the attention of the people on the east coast. Liu Haiyang hurriedly ordered all the ministries to gather together, and at the same time sent troops to continuously inquire about the news.The soldiers and horses of the Qing army came from afar in spite of the hot weather in August. They were tired and exhausted troops. If the number was not large (less than [-]), Liu Haiyang planned to fight someone.

However, the number of Qing troops was obviously beyond his expectation. The number of Qing troops who smuggled in from Chizhou Mansion, Ningguo Mansion and Jiangbei was unbelievably large.Moreover, the naval gunboats patrolling the river reported that there were signs of activity by the Qing army's navy nearby-the Qing army's navy tried to drive piles in the river to prevent the east bank fleet from going west.

Liu Haiyang, who heard the news, was not surprised but pleased, because it meant that the strength of the Qing army on the Huguang battlefield was likely to be weakened, and their momentum of advancing triumphantly before was likely to be frustrated. The whole army, the repair of the city defense, and the adjustment of the deployment have extremely critical significance.

The main force of the Qing army quickly pressed down on the small Digang from all directions. The soldiers and horses in the early 1s on the east bank did not dare to fight, and retreated one after another, and then confronted the Qing army relying on camps and cannons.Liu Haiyang knows that if he stays in Digang for an extra minute, he will buy an extra minute for the Ming and Shun armies on the battlefields of Huguang and Jiangxi, which is of great significance.So, he once again became psoriasis on the south bank of the Yangtze River. Across a camp built of barbed wire, logs, cement, and rammed earth, relying on cannons, muskets, and arrows, he launched a boring battle with the Qing army.

On August 8, Ruan Jin and Hong Xishan, who traveled up the Shuojiang River from the lower reaches, arrived in Digang with hundreds of ships and a large amount of supplies.On the way, they defeated the remnants of the Jiangnan navy of the Qing army in the Zhenjiang area and captured more than a hundred small boats. At that time, these Qing troops were really talented enough to use the sandbars in the Yangtze River to set up iron chains to block the river.At the same time, they also brought the long-lost Ningbo Mansion news from Chongmingsha, that is, Jierhalang may have left Hangzhou, and the strength of the Qing army stationed in Shaoxing Mansion, Jinhua Mansion, and Jiaxing Mansion has also decreased. , where they are going is self-evident.

The arrival of reinforcements and supplies greatly boosted the morale of the Allied officers and soldiers, and they made up their minds to fight the Qing army to the end.Not only that, these guys who have already tasted the sweetness will occasionally take advantage of the navy to go straight to the north bank, and then attack the towns under the control of the Qing army-except for one mistake and the loss of more than [-] soldiers, they all succeeded, which greatly hit the Qing army. Army prestige.

After the Qing army gathered some troops, starting from August 8, it dispatched a brigade of green battalions to attack the camps of the people on the east coast.Their offensive has been launched six times, from the scale of 24 people at the beginning to the craziest scale of 2000 people, but each time they were repelled by the East Bank army.

On September 9, Liu Haiyang began to order a retreat in view of the rapid consumption of ammunition due to the long-term fight with the Qing army and the reduction of food reserves to the warning line.However, due to the fact that a large number of active forces of the Qing army were killed by the artillery on the east bank during the siege battle, coupled with the hot weather and rampant disease, they also fell into a state of weak attack at this time. There is a tacit agreement to end this war of attrition.The people from the east bank boarded the boat and left, and the Qing army took over the camp (you can explain to the above), and both sides were happy.

After retreating from Digang, the people on the east bank did not delay any longer. They just raided and raided some of the Qing navy ships hiding in Guazhoudu when they passed the Zhenjiang River, killing and wounding hundreds of Qing soldiers, and then After firing cannons along the river to show off their power, they went down the river and arrived at Chongmingsha to anchor and rest, and it was already the end of September by this time.

The battle began in mid-spring and ended in early autumn. More than 1.6 Allied officers and soldiers traveled thousands of miles along the Yangtze River, broke through countless towns of the Qing army, seized a lot of money, food and goods (of course, people did not lose much), and killed and wounded Qing soldiers. The army has about 3500 people (according to the statistics on the battlefield, the Qing army’s injuries, illnesses, deaths or non-combat attrition cannot be counted), and its own casualties are about 4000-1 (including wounded, sick, dead, and a few captured personnel) , achieved an exchange ratio of more than 4:4000, which is considered a rare victory in the battle with the Qing army-because the battlefield basically fell into the hands of the people on the east bank, many of the wounded among the three or [-] people returned to the team one after another, so The actual exchange ratio was even higher, and it is self-evident what happened to the wounded of the Qing army.

Of course, the biggest achievement of this battle is neither the captured money and food nor the elimination of the Qing army's vitality, but the mobilization of the Qing army on a large scale, thus buying the Shun army on the Huguang battlefield two to three months—— During this period of time, the pressure they faced from the Qing army actually decreased a lot, which was of great significance for them to take a breather to adjust their deployment and persist in resistance.As long as they don't fall, the Qing government will always have to spend a large number of elite soldiers in the Huguang area, which will undoubtedly be a major benefit to the national anti-Qing situation.

At the beginning of October, a large number of ships on the east coast went north to Yantai for overhaul and maintenance, preparing to start the annual immigration transportation task, and this obviously also means that the Battle of the Yangtze River has officially come to an end.

(End of this chapter)