Ming Zhengzhi, I am Zheng Kezang

With fire-breathing eyes, he looked at the Qing army ships and rafts that were marching against the south bank of the Qujiang River to avoid the artillery fire on the north bank. "Start shooting," the order said.

The deputy sentry officer nodded slightly, and the artillery team leader standing behind him shouted loudly: "Every squad has it, first hit the boat!"

The sound of the rumbling cannon rang out, and the three-and-a-half-inch (12-pound) cannon of the three divisions shot a rear seat fiercely, and then fired a projectile weighing eleven catties into the river.Since it was not a rifled cannon, the round shell rolled in the air and fell on its own, independent of the will of the shooter, and then stirred up a jet of water on the river.

Although Zheng Jun's first bombardment on the south bank was completely lost, the waves aroused by the huge kinetic energy of the projectile still overturned a raft of the Qing army.The Qing army who fell into the water shouted for help on the water, but no one cared to save them in the panic, so many people were washed straight down by the river and became innocent souls at the bottom of the water.

But compared to this insignificant loss, what is more worth mentioning is that the formation of the Qing army fleet was chaotic. Many ships and rafts drifted to the north bank subconsciously, and were immediately dispersed by more violent artillery fire on the north bank. Some were rushed downstream by the river to the starting position, and only a small number still went up bravely, trying to get out of the shelling range in the direction of Huilongshan as soon as possible.

Thanks to the good mobility of the field artillery used by the Zheng Army and the rigorous training received by the officers and soldiers of the Zheng Army, the three fired artillery pieces were reloaded and quickly reset in just forty breaths.Afterwards, Zheng Jun's gunner fired again, and three more projectiles fell on the river, but unfortunately only three water jets were splashed.

The deputy sentinel, who couldn't hold back his face, cast a glance at the team leader, and then walked to the gun position in person. Some of the team leaders who followed suit also stood in front of a gun with grinning teeth. The guns they personally calibrated fired three times. As if with the help of a god, it landed on a Qing army troop carrier. The mast and oars were broken in an instant, and several stumped limbs and arms were thrown into the air. At the same time, the inland wooden boat, which could not withstand the impact of the shells, slowly began to sink; As for the other bomb, although it did not directly hit the target, it can also be called a near miss, which also caused a raft to turn over under the impact of huge waves.

Seeing the tragedy of their own side, even the bravest Qing army panicked. They dared not go up easily, but drifted downstream with the tide. In the scrambling to escape, a wooden troop carrier of the Qing army even knocked over. A raft of one's own.Seeing the ugliness of the Qing army, Zhao Baozhen didn't think he was complacent. Instead, he urged the cannons to fire quickly. Zheng Jun fired two rounds quickly. Although there was no gain, it made the Qing army flee quickly.

Watching the fleet of the Qing army disappear from his sight, Zhao Baozhen called over the white soldiers who were watching the battle with their fists clenched: "At the latest, the Qing captives will attack the Longshan artillery fortress in half a day at the latest. It is time to avenge the Lord Commander." At this moment, now I order you to eat well and sleep well, and then you can only go to Huangquan Road if you want to rest."

"My lord, look at Jiangnan." Two Green Banner soldiers assigned to the front line of Sandu Village, Hebei Province, Nanshui, were enjoying the early spring sun, but the soaring black smoke soon disturbed their pleasure, and the two who didn't know what happened The people quickly found Mr. Qian, the foreman's external committee. "It's Su Gongzhai, why is it on fire?"

The two Qing soldiers were talking to themselves, but they heard the sound of their upper and lower teeth chattering. They looked at their officer for no reason, but saw the officer with a dusty face running towards the village entrance, even without paying attention. Suddenly tripped over a lump of dirt and fell off the horse.The two of them helped the lord up with good intentions, but they were pushed away, and the two who thought they were being flattered on the horse's legs had no choice but to spit at the back of Mr. Qian, the foreign committee member.

Sandu Village, Jiatangling, Bianshiji, Hebei saw the fire in Sugongzhai. The Qing army stayed in flood waters and called Sang'e's base camp to call the police. The security forces at the confluence of rivers, such as Mengzhouba and Bajiaokeng, reported in horror that Zheng Jun's gunboats appeared at the mouth of the Nanshui River.

The snowflake-like news spread to Sang E's army account. Sang E, who was receiving the report of the fleet's failure to go up, immediately realized that he was in deep crisis. He didn't care about sending troops to attack Zhao Baozhen's department, and immediately transferred all troops back On the line of Nanshuihe, although Sang'e reacted quickly, Zheng Jun had already established a foothold in Henan, and the Qing army could only look at the river and sigh.

The distraught Sang E was naturally unwilling to reconcile himself to the fate of failure. On the one hand, he sent liaison troops to cross Furong Mountain to contact the Qing army on the northern line, and on the other hand, he sent troops to try to cross the river.But for the former, there was no way to get an immediate answer. As for the latter, the dense artillery at the division and regiment levels of Zheng Jun made the Qing army dare not go beyond the thunder pool.Zheng Jun also tried to cross the Nanshui River by force, but the Qing army also blocked the river with Hongyi cannons. Zheng Jun didn't want to lose too many troops, so the two sides faced off across the river.

He Gan's idea was naturally to starve the Qing army to death, but how could Sang E be willing to be a starved one, so under the urging of several envoys of Sang E, the Qing army on the northern front marched reluctantly to the west bank of the Beijiang River For this reason, the Qing army took great pains to first cross the Wujiang River from the Yuxian Bridge, then enter the west bank of the Zhenjiang River from the Taiping Bridge, and then advance southward with the whole army.

On the third day of March, the Qing army on the North Road arrived at Baishan via Hechong, Changle, Yazaikeng, Gaokeng and Gaotou.

There are only two divisions of Zheng Jun Yingde and Conghua on the front line of Baishan, both of which are newly formed units after Zheng Jun entered Guangdong. Their combat power is not reliable. The only thing that can be relied on is the remaining four outposts of the third regiment of Zuoyiwei Division There are only about 200 guards with a cannon post and the deputy general's office, which is really not enough to fight against the Qing army. Fortunately, a considerable part of the official road connecting the north and the south is the valley road between the Baishan Mountains, so Zheng Jun You can also use the favorable terrain to resist.

On the fourth and fifth day of March, after two days of onslaught by the Qing army on the northern front, they successively captured seven small fortresses with 50 troops stationed by the Zheng army, and opened up the passage to invade Shaoguan.However, the progress of the Qing army on the northern front could not rescue the Qing army on the southern front, which was already starved for food. Jiangcheng still had to go around Longtou Village, and it might not be able to break through Zheng Jun's blockade on the river.

As a last resort, the Qing army on the northern line retreated at a distance where they could already see Qujiang City, and then blocked the Baishan Valley Road. .The two sides immediately fought fiercely around the fort. Although Zheng Jun finally held the fort on the first day, the riverside artillery fortress was forced to abandon it.

The actions of the Qing army made Zheng Jun's plan to use the strong city of Shaoguan to attract the Qing army's troops completely defeated. Zheng Jun had to change his plan and use the Qujiang garrison to attack the front line of Baishan again, but he suffered a lot in front of the fortress he set up.Although the Qing army defending the village was finally wiped out, the main attacking Yingde division lost no less than 500 of the 2000 men and had to be withdrawn for rectification.Although the remaining nearly [-] Zheng troops forced the Qing army to shelve the attack on Zhangwuling Fort on the northern front and turn back to Yazikeng, they were not enough to fight a decisive battle with the opponents who still had superior forces.

Fortunately, he was afraid of beating wolves with hemp poles. Although the Qing army, which also lost troops and generals under Baishan and Zhangwuling, still had a scale of [-] people, the morale of the officers and soldiers was extremely low due to four crossings of the Beijiang River and a series of casualties, so they had to watch. Seeing that Zheng Jun, whose strength was far inferior to his own, retreated back to Baishan Road.

The slow movement of the Qing army on the northern front caused Sang E to suffer a lot. After thinking about it, he finally made a decision of a strong man to cut off his wrist.According to his order, the Qing army in the South River and Hebei Province set up banners and sounded golden drums for days, giving the illusion that the soldiers were exhausted and that they were about to cross the river by force. Take your military equipment and dry food and withdraw to the direction of Wujiang through the Furong Mountain trail.In order to cover his whereabouts, Sang E didn't even notify the friendly troops who were still on the front line of Yazaikeng until he safely crossed Furong Mountain and withdrew to Shiliting and Lishi.

The retreat of the Qing army on the northern line made Zheng Jun in Qujiang city extremely confused. Although he did not dare to judge whether the Qing army had set a trap, the defenders immediately passed the news to the main force of Zheng Jun in Nanshui Henan.He Gan, who had just woken up from a dream, immediately sent the vanguard to cross the river, but what was waiting for him was the thick and heavy abandoned by the Qing army.

It is a pity that I was full of optimism and lost He Gan, who solved the situation in northern Guangdong and even southern Hunan in one fell swoop. Immediately commanded the headquarters to pursue along the river. Although the outdated rear guard troops of the Qing army were constantly wiped out along the way, the Qing army with a total of more than [-] retreated safely. Went to Yizhang County and Chenzhou Zhili Prefecture in Hunan Province.

Of course, He Gan wanted to continue the pursuit to achieve his overall goal of marching into Hunan, but Mao Hongyan, who dispatched the main force of the two divisions and the shallow-water heavy artillery boats, faced the fierce attack of the Green Battalion in Guangxi Province, and lost Deqing County, Nanjiangkou, and Nine Cities in a row. , Liudu (Yun'an County), Yuecheng, Yangliu and other towns along the river and Dong'an County (Yunfu City) in Luoding Prefecture approached Zhaoqing from both land and water.

Faced with such a severe situation, Mao Hongyan naturally would not agree to let He Gan take the main force to Hunan regardless of his head. On the one hand, he repeatedly ordered the fifth division of the main force to be transferred south immediately, and on the other hand, he also asked Lu Xuefang, who was in Guangzhou, to send more troops to Hunan. Build long dragons, fast crabs, and more ship guns to deal with the water power of the Green Camp in Guangxi Province.

Lu Xuefang sent [-] large inland river gunboats urgently built by Dongning Shipyard. This kind of gunboat named "red single boat" by Zheng Kezang has a hull and plank as strong as a sea-going ship. Inch cannon, and a three-and-a-half-inch cannon in the bow, the firepower even surpassed that of the notification ship, which was a timely help for Mao Hongyan who was suffering.However, the strengthening of the Inland River Navy only made up for the shortcomings of Zheng Jun. To completely repel the invading Qing army, the arrival of the Lu Division is still needed.