Dominate the Country

At the intersection of Wusong River and the canal, the Han Army's land camp was built on the south bank of the river.

In the center of the Chinese army's tent, which was protected by a series of forts and military tents, Chen Ming, with one arm hanging, was carefully browsing the military reports and civilian information sent from all quarters, as well as secret messages from the secret camp.

Chen Ming was injured, Chen Ming was finally injured. He was wounded in the arm by a Qing military attache who pretended to surrender. The Qing military attache was a garrison officer who surrendered during the Fuhan army's attack on the Qing military camp at the intersection of the Wusong River and the canal. He was in his thirties or forties, and his surname was Zhou. A single name has the character "tiger". After the surrender, Zhou Hu neatly twisted his pigtails. As the highest-level person who surrendered voluntarily in this battle, he was brought to see Chen Ming along with several demoted officers who surrendered before and after the battle. It wasn't that Chen Ming didn't know that something was wrong with this guy. The first time he saw Chen Hu, Chen Ming felt waves of malice towards him. But Chen Ming didn't care. He didn't expect that Zhou Hu, who was very dissatisfied, would dare to assassinate him directly. The latter's waist knife was removed before he entered the tent, but he did so with bare hands.

Chen Ming's inner contempt for the Manchu civil and military officials almost cost him his life. In his heart, he has already relegated Zhou Hu to the cold palace and designated Zhou Hu as a key surveillance target. But on the surface, he still received the group of people very gently, and walked closer to chat with them. This gave Zhou Hu the opportunity to take action.

Chen Ming, who is neither tall nor strong, looks like an ordinary person and does not seem threatening. This is Zhou Hu's judgment. Although he doesn't have the weapon in his hand, he has practiced martial arts for many years and his fists are so strong that they can easily break tree trunks as thick as his arms. When Chen Ming was two or three steps away from Zhou Hu, he suddenly felt a murderous intention approaching, and he hurriedly backed up. Then he saw Zhou Hu, who had been bending down to express his submission, run up to him with a quick step, raised his fist and hit Chen Ming on the head.

Zhou Hu miscalculated. Chen Ming didn't seem to be strong physically, but he was very strong. He reflexively raised his arms in front of his face. Zhou Hu's fist full of murderous intent failed to smash it open in one fell swoop. Then a gunshot rang out. Chen Dawei, who was standing beside him, urgently took out his blunderbuss and shot Zhou Hu to death. Then he glared at the remaining officials with gnawing eyes. Chen Ming's arm was in extreme pain, and Zhou Hu's fist left a purple and purple mark on his forearm. The doctor who came from the medical camp said that Chen Ming's bones were cracked - not broken or broken, just bones. It's a bit crackly. Then Chen Ming's arm was hung up. This is the greatest trauma and danger that Chen Ming has suffered since the Chen family started their army.

Zhou Hu's dangerous move made Chen Ming know that there were great loyalists in the Manchu Qing Dynasty. If Zhou Hu really killed Chen Ming in one fell swoop today, hey, this guy's reputation in the history books would definitely be that of Yaoli, Zhuanzhu, etc. Jing Ke is actually more outstanding than Guo Xiu and Han Long. [Guo Xiu assassinated Fei Yi. After Zhuge's death, the Shu Kingdom was ruled by Jiang Wan. After Jiang Wan, he was Fei Yi, and then Jiang Wei. Han Long assassinated Ke Bineng, the leader of the Xianbei tribe. The latter's reputation does not seem to be very great, but in fact he unified Xianbei and controlled hundreds of thousands of people. Wang Xiong, the governor of Youzhou in Cao Wei, sent Han Long to assassinate Ke Bineng and replaced Ke Bineng's younger brother as King of Xianbei. The Xianbei tribe was scattered, the strong fled far away, and the weak asked for submission. As a result, Cao Wei's border areas were able to rest in peace. 】

"Xiao Jian? My surname is Fang. My father Fang Zhihang died at the hands of the Qing Dynasty..."

Chen Ming raised his eyebrows high. Fortunately, he didn't drink any water, otherwise he would have to spit it out. Xiao Jian, Fang Zhihang, what are you going to do? Is Brother Pig going to step in as well? "Does he have a sister?" Chen Liang promoted Xiao Jian as the captain of the Second Operation Team of the Southern Bureau's Special Branch.

"The Governor also knows about the reputation of Xiao Jian and Xiao Yan brothers and sisters? It's a pity that Xiao Yan, the heroine, was lost in Haining four years ago..." Liu Wu, the director of the attendant's office, knows quite a lot of miscellaneous things. This spring, Xiao Jian was recruited by the secret camp, and his life was reported to Chen Ming. It's just that Chen Ming didn't watch it.

Chen Ming's face was tangled, tangled and even a little twisted. Is there really Xiao Yan? Fortunately he is dead. All that flashed through his mind now was Brother Zhu, a drama is a drama. After so many years, Chen Ming still remembered the impression of a certain big-eyed, chirping idiot and sharp. "Grand Governor..." Liu Wu looked strange. What happened to the Governor? Do you have a bad impression of Xiao Jian? Is there a holiday...?

"Okay. Write back to Chen Liang. I agree with this request." In less than half a year after entering the secret camp, Xiao Jian, nicknamed "Broken Sword", assassinated seven Manchu civilian officials and three military attachés. Chen Liang praised him as witty, courageous and trustworthy. Since he is a talented person, this matter is settled.

Chen Ming is now in Suzhou, but he can't just focus on one corner of Suzhou. "The fleet of the Zheng brothers has gone north, okay, okay. As long as the foreign bandits are willing to work hard, the governor will not treat them badly." As the time for the Fujian Tiandihui uprising approaches, actions on the sea are about to begin, but the secret camp is still there Zhang Qiu, the most important target of Fujian Haiming, has limited strength. Now the Zheng brothers are willing to work hard and money is a trivial matter.

…

Guajingkou is the birthplace of Wusong River and the intersection of Taihu Lake and Wusong River. The clouds of war had shrouded this peaceful and peaceful waters half a month ago. The land of plenty and plenty in Taihu Lake had become a deserted place because of the war. All the people in the villages along the Nanbei River fled their homes. However, the Qing army immediately filled the gap. They set up camp here and set up a water camp. A large number of Qing army guns and artillery gathered here, and Rong Bao worked hard on this small area, because the success or failure of his "strategic plan" all depended on whether the Qing army could hold Guajingkou.

If they hold this place, the surface fleet of the Fu Han Army will be trapped in a jar. If they fail to hold this place, the fleet of the Fu Han Army will be like a dragon entering the sea.

In the night, as the water of Taihu Lake flows, a small speedboat slowly approaches the Taihu Navy Camp. Under the dim moonlight, the small speedboat is so tiny, but what they are carrying now is so intense.

The defense of the water camp is quite loose. The guards on the two newly built watchtowers at the entrance of the camp no longer pay attention to the small boat after a man on the boat greets them. It is common for boats to come in and out of the water camp, and the man on the bow is an acquaintance.

The boat rowed silently to the berth of the warship.

"Brothers, let's go! If we do this deal well, even if we fly far away, we can still eat, drink and enjoy comfortably in the future, and we will benefit from it for the rest of our lives, and we can also live a good life." In the cabin, Lu Lun, who had already started to undress, whispered to encourage the five brothers behind him. His eyes were shining brightly, and he was thinking about the promise of the dark camp all the time. That was a full two thousand taels of silver. As long as he thought of the white silver, he felt that his whole body was filled with extremely hot energy.

Taking this risk, but being able to live a happy life in the second half of life, what's not worth it?

Yes, Lu Lun, the foreign commissioner of the Taihu Association of the Qing Dynasty, has been instigated by the dark camp. Two thousand taels of silver, for a small foreign commissioner, that is a huge fortune that cannot be saved in a lifetime, and Lu Lun is already thirty-five, no longer as naive as he was ten years ago, thinking that with his own ability, he will be able to stand out in the future.

Lu Lun took a yellow gourd from the wall of the boat, and there was a pot of wine in it. The other five people in the cabin, ten eyes were shining, six people had two thousand taels of silver, even if Lu Lun took more, they could always have two hundred taels of silver each, this is two hundred taels of silver, right?

Go to another place, change your appearance, have two hundred taels of silver, as long as you manage it carefully, you can be a wealthy family.

The six people all wore one-piece fish skin water jackets, carried their own large packages, and quietly entered the water in the dark at the stern without making a sound.

June is about to pass, midsummer is gone, and the water of Taihu Lake is still a little cold at night, but this little coldness is nothing in front of two thousand taels of silver. The promise of the dark camp is a tall lighthouse, guiding them to the target.

The six people of Lu Lun, who came from the Taihu Navy, of course knew well about the anchoring of warships. The large package they brought was the explosive pack taught by the dark camp. Wrapped tightly with silk and oilcloth and soaked in water, it would not be a problem for an hour or two. The fuse of the explosive pack is an open flame type. The oilcloth wrapped with a matchlock extends outward and is inserted into the bottom of a porcelain bottle. A piece of incense is fixed in the porcelain bottle and connected to the matchlock. The incense head is lit to block the bottle stopper. Anyway, there is a hole for ventilation, so the incense head will not be suffocated. This is a very simple and primitive timed detonation device. The distance of the incense is enough for the six brothers Lu Lun to do everything and then row away from the Taihu Water Camp at Guajingkou. If they are willing to expose themselves.

Lu Lun and his men's target is the ten gunboats of the Taihu Navy. They are the ten largest warships of the Taihu Navy Association. In terms of size alone, they can catch up with the large sampans of the Fu Han Army, but the ten gunboats of the Taihu Navy have only one gun, which is set at the bow. There are quite a few sailors on board, but except for the three gunners at the bow, the rest are all swords, guns, muskets, bows and arrows, and rattan shields.

If the Fu Han Army's naval battalion enters Taihu Lake, the Taihu Lake Naval Association will be completely unable to compete with it. The Taihu Lake Naval Association has already withered in the two previous battles in Wusong River. Now they can only defend Guajingkou tightly to have a chance of survival.

Chen Ming has been in Suzhou for more than half a month. Naturally, he will not watch the Qing soldiers "wait in full battle array" in vain. He asked the dark camp to select a few bold and daring people from the informants and drive them to attack the Taihu Lake Naval Division at night with huge rewards and high profits to blow up the ten most threatening gunboats. These six people, Lu Lun, are the top seed players carefully selected by the dark camp. Two thousand taels of silver is an astronomical figure for these low-level green camp sailors who can't get any oil. It is more than enough to buy their lives.

As soon as the news came, Lu Lun immediately agreed. He took the 1,000 taels of silver given by the dark camp as a deposit and selected the five most reliable and pure water people behind him from the dozen of his men. As soon as the news leaked, everyone was willing to do this business. The white silver had blinded their eyes.

"Toot... Toot..." The barely audible sound of nails was drowned in the sound of the waves. Large packages wrapped in oil paper and wax paper were nailed near the waterline of the warship. Lu Lun's small boat brought in six large packages, each containing three explosive packs. In addition to the ten target warships, it could deal with eight more.

One, two, three... nine, ten, eleven...

"Splash..." With the slight sound of waves, a head with a slightly pale face emerged from the water, "Water monkey, are you done?" Lu Lun was already trembling while speaking.

The busy 'water monkey' was startled at first, and then whispered back, "It's done. Just light the incense head."

Late at night, just as the fourth watch came, a series of loud noises, "boom boom boom...", woke up all the people in Guajingkou, especially the Taihu Navy. When the guards of the watchtower and the garrison panicked and climbed to the roof and ran to the port, they saw the originally very imposing warship formation - the middle part - more than ten main warships were slowly sinking into the dark waters of Taihu Lake.

The entire Qing army in Guajingkou was shocked and terrified. The people of the Fu Han Army could actually touch the water camp and attack? ? This is too terrifying. They could never have imagined it.

The news was passed to the dark camp, and the helmsman of the dark camp in the Taihu area was overjoyed. He didn't expect that all the success would be achieved in just one time. He immediately paid off two thousand taels of silver to pay off Lu Lun's remaining account, and the extra one thousand taels was rewarded to him.

On the second day after the Taihu Navy was attacked, the Fu Han Army, which broke through the fourth underwater Great Wall, entered by water and rushed over aggressively. In Rong Bao's eyes, the explosion was confirmed to be the work of the Fu Han Army.

Anyway, the Fu Han Army's secret camp is well-known throughout the world, and the elite in the army are called "scouts", which is better than the previous night without a response.

"Boom boom boom..."

On the battlefield of Guajingkou, the iron-blue gun body glowed with a faint cold light, as if it could capture people's minds. The hot shells spurted out, and dazzling meteors slid by. Accompanied by the deafening sound, there must be a cloud of gunpowder rising.

Gradually, the entire Guajingkou seemed to have been shrouded in smoke.

The wind from Taihu Lake in July could not blow away the smoke in the sky, because as soon as the smoke was swept away, another cloud of smoke rose from the battlefield again.

"Boom boom boom--"

"Boom boom boom--"

The Qing army's cannons also began to roar, but it was just a sound. The range of the Qing army's cannons was obviously shorter than that of the Fu Han army's five-jin cannons. Most of these cannons were cast by the Qing army in Suzhou. The cannons that the Jiangnan Qing army had were either abandoned in Nanjing and Zhenjiang, or left in Hangzhou. Zhejiang was unwilling to send cannons to Suzhou to defend the city.

The quality of these cannons cast by the Suzhou Qing army was worse than that of the Beijing city. Often, the cannons weighed one or two thousand jin, but the gunpowder was only half a jin and eight liang. It was a great thing that the cannonballs could fly two or three hundred meters away.

Not to mention the five-jin cannons of the Fu Han army, even the three-jin cannons were not their opponents.

Besides, the current level and skills of the Fu Han army in operating the cannons were not comparable to the old-fashioned Suzhou Qing army gunners. Advanced aiming technology and thousands of times of operating the cannons were the biggest capital of the Fu Han army's artillery in the artillery battle. Let's not talk about the gun gauges and gun tables. For example, the set of tangent scales sent by the dark camp is a very useful technical innovation. It is a door technology that the dark camp accidentally obtained from a gunner of an English armed merchant ship. It is an aiming technology innovation that has appeared in Europe for some time but has not yet become popular.

This aiming device is installed at the breech of the gun. It is equipped with a level and some scale divisions representing the elevation angle and range. It is matched with the sight installed in the middle of the barrel or the muzzle. The tangent relationship in trigonometry can quickly determine the elevation angle of the artillery and the corresponding range. Chen Ming felt that this thing could be used on the musket after a slight improvement. Anyway, all the numbers are there, and there is no need for the gunner and musketeer to learn it themselves. But in fact, what he didn't know was that his "feeling" was a lucky coincidence. This aiming technology is very close to the sight used on modern rifles in later generations.

As long as the cannon is equipped with a separate sight and a tangent sight, even if the gunner is covered by gun smoke, he can continue to shoot according to the equipment scale. The gunpowder at the end of the 18th century was not the smokeless gunpowder of the future. Not only the cannons, but also the muskets were the same. After firing a few rounds, the sights of the gunners and musketeers were completely obscured by the gunpowder smoke, although the gunpowder smoke was white. Therefore, this aiming device is extremely useful for both artillery and musketeers.

The Qing army's artillery fire at Guajingkou was completely suppressed by the cannons of the Fu Han army. Rong Bao's face became even paler, his lips were pursed, and the monocular telescope in his hand was almost deformed by his grip. The veins of both hands were exposed, and the joints were bone-white.

In the telescope, he clearly saw the process of a cannon being blown apart. The cannonballs of the Fu Han army did not hit the gun carriage with great accuracy, but the landing point was exactly the same. The bouncing cannonball smashed the wall in front of the gun carriage, and then hit the gun carriage with unabated momentum, immediately smashing the heavy gun carriage to pieces, and the shattered wood debris also killed and injured several surrounding gunners. The barrel of the general's cannon was turned upside down by the collision, and then fell heavily in front of the broken wood of the cannon cart...

"Fire, keep firing--" Rong Bao roared in his heart. He was about to despair.

"Boom boom boom--" Another round of artillery fire came.

Whether it was the fence, the chevaux de frise, or the wall, the Qing army's camp was shattered into pieces as long as it was hit by the shells.

"Boom--" A loud crash came from not far away from Shi Meng, and the broken wood fragments flew everywhere. As the shield cart approached the Qing army camp, the Qing army's artillery was at least put to use.

Amid the screams, Shi Meng turned his head to look, but saw a shadow suddenly flashing past his forehead. With Shi Meng's reaction speed, he had no time to dodge. Then he felt a heat on his forehead, and a stream of blood had already dripped into the corner of his eyes...

"Camp Commander..." The personal soldiers around him were horrified and hurriedly rushed to Shi Meng with their shields.

"It's okay!" Shi Meng wiped his forehead. It was a small wound, but it was bleeding so much. "Go tell the brothers to be careful. The Tartars' artillery can hit us." Even if the cannon has a short range, it will kill people if it hits. In this attack, Chen Ming used the tank battalion as the vanguard, cooperated with a musket battalion, and put two main battalions at once. Chen Ming wanted to defeat the enemy in one battle. As the chief officer of the tank battalion, how could Shi Meng leave the front line because of this small wound on his forehead.

"Push, keep pushing hard." Shi Meng turned around and yelled at the prisoners who were pushing the shield cart in front. These prisoners were all captured in the previous battle along the Wusong River, and now they are just right to push the shield cart.

The crudely made shield cart, with bags of heavy soil and sand, was driving on the dirt road in front of the Qing army camp. It was really not as convenient as pushing a tricycle in the 21st century. The ten prisoners used all their strength, but they could only push the shield cart as slowly as a snail.