Dominate the Country

Fighting in Yancheng again.

The battle will not start outside Yancheng again. Chen Ming led his troops across the Shahe River, across the Dahong River, a strange river with a wide upper reaches and a narrow lower reaches, and directly set up a field in the north of Xiping County, Runing Prefecture, and the Qing army coming from the south.

There is still a river between the two armies, which is one of the tributaries of the Honghe River - Gunhe River.

The Anhui Green Camp of Chenzhou Prefecture was dispatched again. Chen Huizu led his troops to Zhoujiakou again, eyeing Yancheng covetously. This time he simply started from the northeast corner of Yancheng.

The number of troops under Chen Ming was increasing. Not to mention Chen Erbao, who was the battalion leader, after defeating the Henan Green Camp again, the Chen family army used the mules and horses seized in their hands to organize a 100-man cavalry - during the Qing Dynasty, Henan and Anhui were not short of men who could ride horses.

The combat power of Chen Ming's cavalry has exceeded 500 people, and Lushan also provided him with a logistics battalion of soldiers in a timely manner. The direct combat power of Chen Ming's men exceeded 5,000.

But on his side, there were 2,000 Jingzhou bannermen, more than 4,000 Hubei Green Camps and 4,000 troops from Xing'an Town in Shaanxi. Counting the four battalions of Fuyong, the regular army of the Qing Dynasty reached 13,000. This was not the 10,000-man army led by Fode at the beginning. The 13,000 people were all regular soldiers of the Qing Dynasty, with so many bird guns and artillery that they could beat Fode's army by three streets.

More importantly, this 13,000-man army also had a helper, Chen Huizu. And just like Chen Huizu who dragged the general cannon from the top of Anqing City to Henan, Yongrui also packed all the ten general cannons from Xiangyang City and Jingzhou City and brought them to Henan.

The Chen family army had already made a five-jin cannon in their old nest, and was testing the more powerful eight-jin and ten-jin cannons. However, the weight of this cannon is more than 600 jin. If the gun carriage, trailer and attached ammunition box are added, the total weight can reach 1,500 jin. On the poor road conditions in China today, at least 4 to 6 mules and horses are needed to maintain above-standard mobility and endurance.

Of course, the effective range of this cannon is also higher than that of the three-jin cannon and the two-jin cannon, which can reach 700 to 800 meters, and the maximum range can exceed 400 feet, that is, 1,300 meters.

Chen Ming only had six five-jin cannons to the front line. The two sides fought in Xiping, and they were very happy to fire across the river, but the distance between the two sides was pulled to more than 200 feet, and the cannons rumbled, but the effect was pitiful.

As for the Chen family army, none of the six five-jin cannons were destroyed. One of the ten general cannons of the Qing army was destroyed, but it was not because of being hit by a cannonball, but because the Qing army gunner had a problem with the operation, ignited the gunpowder barrel, and set off a large fireworks shell on the position, and the entire artillery group was reduced to pieces.

The Gun River is not a super large river. For war, this river with a width of only about 200 meters does not present any obstacles.

While the artillery of the Chen family army and the cannons of the Qing army were fighting back and forth, Chen Ming had already led his troops to cross the Gun River from seven or eight miles downstream, and then quickly set up camp with their backs to the river.

Of course, the Qing soldiers also noticed the actions of the Chen family army, but when their troops arrived, the Chen family army had already crossed the Gun River with two musket battalions, and brought more than ten tiger squat cannons and flying thunder cannons. Ying Shou, the deputy general of the Jingzhou City Defense Camp, who led the team, only made a slight test, and then led the troops to retreat one mile. When Fu Yong led part of the main force to attack, the Chen family army had grown to 2,000 people on the other side of the river. The two musket battalions that arrived first also built two simple breastworks.

The atmosphere at that time was tense as if it was about to explode, but Fu Yong finally retreated. The Qing soldiers came too quickly and did not bring cannons. It was too disadvantageous to fight against the Chen family army that had set up a stand. For a whole night, the surface of the rolling river that the Chen family army faced was as bright as day. The torches on both sides of the river and the lights on the ships on the river illuminated the night sky.

In one night, the Chen family army completed the transfer of most of the troops and transferred four teams of cavalry.

The lights in the Qing army camp were also bright all night. Yongrui was very nervous. He had been a "Taiping General" for many years. This real battle with real swords and guns was an unprecedented severe test for him. The real commander of the army, Huguang Admiral Fu Yong, summoned Jingzhou Deputy Governor Chang Xuan, Yunyang Town General Ma Wenjie, Xing'an Town General Qi Jianan, Xiangyang City Defense Camp Deputy General Zhao Yongji and Jingzhou City Defense Camp Ying Shou, as well as his Deputy General Zhou Lian, and other military leaders to gather in the military tent.

A large map was spread out on the table, marking the locations of counties, towns and even villages, as well as wide or narrow rivers, and mountains and hills of varying heights.

This is an unprecedentedly detailed map, a top military map hidden in the Qing Dynasty, and it is not at the same level as the maps that Chen Ming had captured in the past when he fought against the state government and the Qing soldiers. Of course, there are still many shortcomings on this map. You can't compare the level of this era with the satellite map of the 21st century. As for China at the moment, the map in Yongfu's hand is the top one. And in China, maps are rarely circulated among the people except for the official and military.

This high-end map is now covered with paperweights, pen holders, teacups, lids and other miscellaneous items by Fuyong and his team, and the targets of all these items are the Qing army camp and the Chen family army's south bank camp ten miles away.

These are not the routes for the Qing army to attack the Chen family army's south bank camp, but the routes for the Chen family army in the south bank camp to attack the Qing army camp. The Chen family army will not wait for the Qing army to set up the cannons and come to attack them in a heroic and vigorous manner.

"What Thief Chen wants to do most now is definitely to fight our army as soon as possible." Everyone in the big tent would not object to what Ma Wenjie said, but his words ultimately made Fuyong and Changxuan very dissatisfied because Ma Wenjie meant too much. Negative.

Oh, the Chen Jiajun wanted to fight decisively as soon as possible, but the Qing soldiers delayed the fight. Maybe this means that I won’t let the enemy do whatever he wants, right? But when Ma Wenjie, Chen Ming's defeated general, said it, he was trying to avoid the enemy in fear. This made Fuyong and Changxuan very dissatisfied. One of them is the admiral of Huguang and the other is the deputy commander of the Eight Banners Garrison in Jingzhou. Their status is higher than Ma Wenjie, the defeated general.

Fuyong was more able to keep his composure. He did not directly show off to Ma Wenjie like Chang Xuan did. This may be because he, the admiral, had more time to deal with Ma Wenjie, the commander-in-chief, and left a trace of face.

Ma Wenjie fell silent. The look of disdain on the face of his superior, Deputy Chief Tong Changxuan, made him want to scold his mother. He is now in the stage of making meritorious deeds. Among the people here, including Yong Rui, who wants to defeat Chen Jiajun as soon as possible than him? Throw away the label of "taking advantage of crime and doing meritorious service"? But there is no doubt that Chen Jiajun's combat effectiveness is strong. If you are not careful, you will suffer losses.

Fuyong and Changxuan were showing great courage now, and Ma Wenjie wanted to spit in their faces. If Fukunaga was really brave, why didn't he attack the Chen Jiajun who was crossing the river before? If the Jingzhou flag soldiers were capable of fighting, why didn't Changxuan take the initiative to join them at that time? Now it’s hindsight!