Dominate the Country

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Wuxi is also the Pearl of Taihu Lake.

It is adjacent to the Yangtze River to the north, Taihu Lake to the south, Suzhou to the east, and Changzhou to the west. The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal runs through it, making it the transportation center of the entire Taihu Lake Basin. Since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, this place has been a world-famous land of fish and rice. It is known as Cloth Wharf, Qian Wharf, Kiln Wharf, Silk City, and Rice Market. Various titles can show the importance of Wuxi and its pivotal position nationwide.

In the second year of Yongzheng's reign, the Qing Dynasty divided Wuxi into two counties, Wuxi and Jinkui, which were governed by the same city. But Chen Ming always regarded Wuxi as one place. During the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, there were many places in China that were governed by the same city. Chen Ming mainly named them in later generations and regarded them as one place. When the Fuhan army entered Wuxi, the two county magistrates were missing. Well, it’s the rhythm of never seeing people alive or dead, and now there are more and more officials like this in the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

Wei Xiuzhi led the team from Xushuguan back to Wuxi, and then repelled the attack of three thousand Qing soldiers from the direction of Taihu Lake. But the threat was not eliminated. The Qing army retreated to the edge of Taihu Lake, and after a brief reorganization, they rushed towards Huishan in the western suburbs. This place is considered one of the holy places of Buddhism in the south of the Yangtze River. It belongs to the branch of Tianmu Mountain in Zhejiang that stretches from east to west. The Huishan Temple above it has thousands of monks' rooms, and Huishan Spring is famous for its reputation as "the second spring in the world".

More importantly, the Qing army occupied that place, which was obviously eyeing Wuxi. Soon, the Qing army in Suzhou also came out to fight. Wei Xiuzhi found all four battalion officers in the team. The battalion deputy of Jiang Tianfang's department stayed in Changzhou no longer. This battalion leader made Wei Xiuzhi feel reassured the most. The biggest one is only the team officer. They are all organized at the battalion level. Although there are veterans and new recruits, the main force is not the main force, but you cannot blatantly put the team officers of the old battalion at the same position as the battalion officers at the head of the new battalion, or even a head higher. .

There are currently four battalion officers of the Fuhan Army in Wuxi City. The oldest Tang Wencan is already forty-one this year. He is from Hubei and was a prisoner during the Battle of Gunhe. Now his family has been sent to the base area by the secret camp. Still trustworthy, Tang Wencan is not the battalion officer of the Volunteer Battalion, he is the battalion officer of the new barracks.

The second battalion officer, Jiang Wei, was a veteran of the Fuhan Army and a native of Lushan. In terms of loyalty, he is absolutely trustworthy, but in terms of ability, it makes people murmur. Because Jiang Wei lost a leg in the initial battle, he was assigned to a prisoner of war camp as a guard very early. He was directly promoted from the position of prisoner of war camp guard to camp officer.

Then there is Chen Wei, a son of the Chen family and a veteran who has been bravely wounded many times. If Chen Wei had been a platoon leader or team officer, Wei Xiuzhi would have absolutely confidence in him, but now he is a battalion officer. Chen Wei was directly promoted to battalion officer without even being a team officer. It would be strange if Wei Xiuzhi could trust his ability to lead troops in war.

The last battalion officer was named He Zixiang. He was the leader of the militia in Nanjing who voluntarily surrendered. He was the least trustworthy among the four battalion officers in terms of seniority and loyalty. He Zixiang is also very self-aware. After learning the news of Jiang Tianfang's accidental death, he became stupid. Wei Xiuzhi did whatever he was told to do, without saying a word or making any unnecessary movements. The battalion head under his command was mostly composed of captured soldiers, coupled with the hundreds of militia groups under his command. To be honest, after Jiang Tianfang died unexpectedly and the current situation of the war suddenly changed, Wei Xiuzhi was very suspicious of him.

On the way to retreat, He Zixiang's camp was placed in the middle of the team, surrounded by veterans of the two teams.

Now these four people are sitting in front of Wei Xiuzhi. Facing the menacing Qing soldiers, He Zixiang, Jiang Wei, and Chen Wei are all silent. The right to speak unexpectedly falls into the hands of Tang Wencan.

Wuxi City is located on the lakeside plain, with no strategic points worth defending around. The city wall is two feet high, with stone foundations and huge bricks covering it, which is quite strong. The perimeter is twelve miles and one hundred paces, with four city gates: Jinghai in the east, Shiquan in the west, Wanghu in the south, and Kongjiang in the north.

There are four prosperous gates outside the city gate, especially outside the east city gate where the Grand Canal passes. The streets and shops are lined up row upon row, which is much more prosperous than Lushan County. Of course, now all the shops and restaurants in the four gates outside the city have closed down, and the population has fled in large numbers.

"Director Wei, we should wipe out all the houses near the city wall. Then use sunken ships to block the canal docks." Suzhou is seventy or eighty miles away from Wuxi. It can be reached in one day at most by boat. Even the Qing army even returned Can bring in some cannon. Tang Wencan's method is just a very ordinary and ordinary pre-war arrangement.

Wei Xiuzhi agreed, and then Tang Wencan became mute. The five people who have never taken up a leading role, nor do they expect to be able to do so immediately. Facing the upcoming war, their psychological confusion and unconfidence are the key to the battle of the Fuhan Army. The biggest enemy. At the beginning of the battle in Wuxi, the Fuhan Army was very passive.

Rong Bao is not an experienced general, but he has been to the northwest, from Gansu to Xinjiang, where the wind and sand are blowing. Although he has never personally led troops into battle, Rong Bao, no matter how useless he is, has seen many pigs A 'veteran' in running. The Qing army marched from the Grand Canal to the east of Wuxi City, where they either set up camp or cleared the docks, and then unloaded the iron cannons and copper cannons one after another on the ship. The whole process was carefully arranged.

To the east and west, two groups of Qing soldiers with absolute superiority in strength sandwiched the city of Wuxi firmly in the middle.

The cannons bombarded the city walls. The Fu Han army only destroyed the four houses near the city wall, but the Qing army drove away the residents of the East Gate and directly destroyed half of the East Gate. They used the demolished bricks and wooden pillars to build a solid camp, build siege equipment, and wrap the remaining half of the East Gate and the canal wharf together.

Sixteen cannons bombarded the East City Wall. For a whole day, the battlements, parapets and towers of the East City Gate on the top of Wuxi City were beaten to a pulp. During this day, Wei Xiuzhi sent three war reports to Chen Tongan, who had arrived in Changzhou, asking him to rush to Wuxi. Chen Tongan himself also wanted to rush to the army, but he couldn't.

The Qing army in Huishan threatened Wuxi on one side and pretended to attack Changzhou on the other. After Chen Tongan arrived in Changzhou, he found that he could not go to Wuxi.

So, just as Chen Ming urged his main army to attack Shanghai and Huating and sweep Puxi, more than 10,000 Qing troops also launched a fierce attack on Wuxi. In addition to opening a hole in the north, the Qing army's offensive was opened on three sides, and of course the east was their top priority.

The houses in Wuxi City are all brick and earth structures. Facing iron bullets, these seemingly solid houses are useless. Any iron bullet that "hit" the house can easily penetrate the roof and wall. For the Fu Han Army, every explosion of the shells was like a hammer hitting their nerves.

Some people will have a nervous breakdown under this torment; some people will grow rapidly under this torment.

The Fu Han Army in Wuxi City should be grateful that they encountered a Qing army that was strong on the outside but weak on the inside, rather than a contemporary Western modern army. The Qing army that counterattacked from Suzhou City was not prepared for a hard battle. They thought that with the cooperation of the cannons, they would cheer together and rush up twice, and the Fu Han Army would retreat from Wuxi, which was an unfavorable place. Didn't you see that the Qing army in Huishan has already threatened Changzhou?

The Qing army, thinking this way, launched two charges against Wuxi City. The weak force posed little actual threat to Wuxi's defense, and the result can be imagined.

It was the weak attack of the Qing army that allowed the nervous Fu Han Army to survive the most difficult period at the beginning.

"Boom boom boom..."

The sound of grenade explosions resounded everywhere.

"Second Squadron, attack-"

"Second Squadron, attack-"

In the smoke, the city gate, which was simply blocked by sandbags, cracked a crack, and a Fu Han Army sergeant wearing iron armor and waving a big knife rushed out of the city gate first.

"Tiger, tiger, tiger--" The soldiers shouted in unison, and the sharp gun heads slammed into the rushing Qing army while running. A squad of grenadiers followed the two platoons and entered the battlefield. Soon, the front line of the battle was filled with the familiar sound of grenade explosions that both armies were familiar with.

The Qing army's offensive on the city wall was not strong, but they got excited when they saw the city gate was opened. A group of Qing soldiers gathered their remaining courage amid the howling of officers, big and small, and shouted loudly, waving swords and guns to meet the Fu Han army. But some Qing soldiers were rushed by the sudden attack of the Fu Han army and fled. The command of the Qing army on the battlefield had fallen into chaos. Some were advancing, while others remained in place, hesitating, or even retreating. As a result, one red and one blue, two torrents collided head-on. The blue crowd collapsed on the spot.

The second attack of the Qing army was counterattacked by Tang Wencan, who fled with his head in his arms.

When the Qing army realized that "intimidation" could not drive the Fu Han army out of Wuxi City, when the Qing army took a serious attitude, corrected its thinking, and increased its offensive against Wuxi City, the Fu Han army in the city had already had the confidence to fight the Qing army.

Wei Xiuzhi felt very strange after the battle. Jiang Tianfang's sudden death greatly dampened the morale of the army from Changzhou. Even if they easily repelled the 3,000 Qing troops from Taihu outside Wuxi City, they could not really re-energize the team. The Qing army had so many people and so many cannons. If they had attacked Wuxi without caring about casualties at the beginning, the Fu Han army might not be able to hold on.

It was the Qing army that committed suicide. After two consecutive setbacks, they really started to get serious. After the Fu Han army easily repelled the Qing army's attacks twice, both the soldiers and officers had gathered enough confidence.

In the third battle between the enemy and us, the Qing army's offensive power was much stronger. The outside and the walls of the east city wall of Wuxi were covered with the bodies of the Qing army in blue clothes, but Tang Wencan, who was guarding there, persisted. Relying on only one battalion, facing the fierce attack of the Qing army, Tang Wencan did not ask for reinforcements from the city once.

Because he found that the Qing soldiers were still the original Qing soldiers. They luckily killed Commander Jiang, but it did not mean that their combat effectiveness was enhanced. These enemies with pig tails hanging on their heads were the garbage that they had swept away by the few. Even if Jiang Tianfang was no longer in the team, he should not be afraid of this group of trash.

Then Tang Wencan found that Dongcheng could really be defended with only his battalion.

The Qing army's artillery posed a great threat to the city, but Tang Wencan's troops could hide in the hidden caves and behind the city walls, leaving only a small number of soldiers on the city to monitor. When the Qing army rushed up, the artillery almost stopped. The Fu Han army soldiers guarding the city could completely resist the Qing soldiers with grenades and swords and guns in their hands.

When the problem changed from psychological reasons such as morale and fighting spirit to the real combat effectiveness of both sides, Wuxi City suddenly became a little indestructible.

The combat effectiveness of the more than 2,000 Fu Han troops from Changzhou is naturally not comparable to the main force attacking Puxi. In fact, the volunteer battalion among them is no different from the Qing soldiers, both in terms of equipment and individual soldier quality. But the 2,000 Fu Han troops defending the city against the 14,000 to 15,000 Qing soldiers [East and West] outside the city are not something that the Qing soldiers can swallow with a single mouth. In particular, Rong Bao, the chief general of the Qing soldiers, is still a person with "negative combat effectiveness".

The urgent military report from Wuxi that Chen Ming received was not a bad news, but a good news report from Wei Xiuzhi. They held on in Wuxi for two days, and it seems that they can continue to hold on...