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Chapter 768 The Battle of Songhu

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    According to Murphy's Devil's Law, whenever something has the potential to develop to the bad side, it will definitely develop faster and worse than you imagine.  Mobile version In fact, Hong Chengchou's worries were not unfounded. When his letters and title books were sent to Beijing and Nanjing respectively by Kuai Ma Clipper, the Eastern Route Army of General Luck Dehun had already been defeated.  And the defeat was disastrous. Not only did the troops and horses suffer heavy losses, but all the baggage, food, chariots and horses were lost. Even the coach Luck Dehun died on the battlefield.  However, his death was not heroic, and even a bit cowardly.  However, with his death in battle, according to the continuous sitting method formulated by Dorgon, a number of officers and generals at all levels of the Southern Expeditionary Army had to be killed!  We turn our attention back to Hongqiao Town at the junction of Shanghai County and Qingpu County.  This area is full of plains, with dense water networks and crisscrossing harbors and branches. The land is fertile and densely populated. It was originally a prosperous village and town near Shanghai County.  Not far from Hongqiao Town is the Shanghai Business District after the expansion. Those who are closer to the water get better. Hongqiao Town has also made a lot of money in recent years, and many people have become extremely rich.  Ordinary people, relying on the convenience of coming and going, can bring in and out of the business area a lot of small items and a small amount of goods every day. When they accumulate, they can live a life that makes their crotch wet when they fart.  As the war approaches, Hongqiao Town, as an important support base for Shanghai County¡¯s defense, has stationed a newly arrived security brigade to take charge of defense.  Ji Kaiming, the commander of the garrison brigade, stood on the town tower and looked west.  The city wall under his feet was about eight meters high, and its circumference was only about two miles.  At this time, the people in the town, including the old, weak, women and children, had basically been mobilized into the business area. Those who stayed in the town were all young people who had been screened, received simple training, and worked as urban management and other auxiliary law enforcement officers in the business area.  prime of life.  Under the city, almost right next to the city wall, is a river more than ten feet wide that winds around the town.  In order to prevent the Qing army from taking boats or launching rafts to set fire, several wooden fences were laid on the upper reaches of the river about a few hundred steps away from the town, cutting off about one-third of the river. When ships reached the wooden fence, they had to  Slow down and pass slowly.  Not to mention several wooden fences in a row?  This will prevent the Qing fleet from breaking into the city under the suppression of artillery fire from the tower gun emplacements.  Outside the river, there is an official road paved with burnt ash, which is three feet wide and can accommodate two carts side by side.  At the intersection of the official road and the river, there is a wide stone bridge.  The bridge was also built in the past few years. The bridge deck is wide enough for two large vehicles to run parallel.  Pedestrian passages are also opened on both sides for trolleys to pass, which can be regarded as separate passages for pedestrians and transportation vehicles.  The tall arched bridge opening allows ships with the maximum draft to pass through.  There is also a stone tablet at the head of the bridge, which is engraved with the list of people who originally donated money to build the bridge and the amount of donations.  What you can see across the bridge is farmland.  It is already late autumn, and war is approaching. The harvesting of rice straw that was originally planted sporadically in the farmland has been completed, and the straw bales are placed here and there, staggering here and there.  In the eyes of outsiders, it looks messy and abnormal.  However, in Ji Changming's eyes, these straw bales are excellent symbols in this plain area.  Through the lens of the telescope, he could clearly see the hidden markings on the straw bales, which were used to show the effective killing distance from the city walls and defense lines, as well as various firepower.  "It's a pity that the vast areas in this area are vegetable fields, and there are too few rice fields!" Ji Changming was a little unfinished, smacking his lips and looking at the scattered straw bundles scattered in the wilderness.  "Otherwise our firepower network will be better laid out! Not only do we not have enough for ourselves at the moment, we also have to leave some for the big men of the Rangers!" Qi Tianyue, the Guards battalion officer next to him, smiled: "  Hey! Brigadier, you are in trouble! Without this large vegetable field, we have tens of thousands of horses and hundreds of thousands of horses that have been withdrawn from Nanjing. Even though it is a problem in Jiangnan.  Jiangbei is much better, but it¡¯s much colder and drier than Nanzhong and Lingnan. If you don¡¯t have enough food, you can¡¯t let your brothers eat grass, right?¡± ¡°What you said makes sense!  Get a few buckets of red paint, and in those fields, look for markers every 100 steps and mark them with red paint!" He arranged for several officers around him to do this.  This is not difficult. In the fields, boundary stone monuments, ground stakes, and tree stumps cut down to clear the shooting boundary can all be used as markers.  "Our place is an outpost and the only way to Shanghai County. The Qing troops will definitely attack in large numbers. As long as the Qing troops do not arrive for a day, our fortifications will not stop for a day!" In fact, it is not just the construction and renovation of the fortifications.  The terrain does not stop, and the rivers passing through Hongqiao Town are constantly transporting various supplies day and night.  The reason why Li Huabao did this was not only the strategic significance of Hongqiao itself, but also because of the??A word from Li Shouhan.  "This is our Julu, our Hongqiao!" These were the inspiring words Li Shouhan shouted at the foot of Hexiwu City when he went north to Qinwang.  Back then, he casually used Li Hongzhang's Battle of Hongqiao as an example, but he didn't know that many people didn't know where Hongqiao was, and Li Shouhan could only deal with it vaguely.  However, when Li Huabao deployed the defenses around Shanghai County, he suddenly discovered the importance of Hongqiao.  On the one hand, it is the significance of Hongqiao itself, and on the other hand, the inspiring slogan shouted by my father has long been widely known, and its political significance is different.  Li Huabao then worked hard to deploy troops and arrange material reserves.  The material reserves are naturally easy to say. Anyway, the materials evacuated from Nanjing all the way to Shanghai, plus the materials stored in the business zone, are almost enough, not to mention the land reclamation.  This massive amount of supplies cannot be pushed into the Huangpu River, let alone the Qing troops.  Food, ammunition, medicine, clothing, and non-staple food.  As long as the materials are needed or may be needed, they will be shipped by the whole ship.  In Hongqiao Town, artillery forts and bunkers have been built using grain and rice bags.  However, Li Huabao spent a lot of time thinking about which troops to send to garrison here.  Everyone knows that this place is a place registered in the Lord's heart, and it is also used to inspire the entire army.  As long as we defend here and fight well, it won't matter what it means to be in the emperor's heart, what it means to be rich and prosperous, what it means to be granted a wife and a shadow, and to pass it on to the descendants!  As a result, the land and sea departments stationed in Shanghai were about to take action to compete for the task of stationing in Hongqiao.  In the end, it was the navy veteran Zhang Xiaohu who came forward to suppress the generals of the navy battalions, "Calm down, I am! The place where meritorious deeds are made is not just here in Hongqiao! Tatars are everywhere, I will just take you to fight them!"  Grab a bird!" "Sixth Master, where are we going to fight the Tatars?" An officer from the navy camp was still a little reluctant.  "Bullshit! The lord sent us an emissary to escort the supplies for the various ministries in Heilongjiang to the north. Aren't there a lot of Tatars on the way?! I'm so happy. When I return, I will take you to land from Beitang and along the Tianjin Wei.  Take a trip to Beijing! Give that badger a try! I wonder if the thing in his crotch will be so frightened that he won¡¯t be able to get on his sister-in-law¡¯s bed!  The rude joke immediately excited the navy officers, and many people kept cheering at the top of their lungs.  "Okay! Let's go north with Mr. Liu. We'll finish the Lord's errands first, then go to Beijing City, then to Shenyang City. We'll burn the wild boar skin's grave first, so that the badger can't get on his sister-in-law's kang!"  It will mean that we will not interfere with this small matter in Shanghai, and Li Huabao's work will be much easier.  After fiddling with it, the task of garrisoning Hongqiao fell on Ji Changming, the newly arrived security brigade.  The public reason, Li Huabao said, is high-sounding, "Lao Ji's brigade has just been organized in Nanzhong. It is composed of all the sons of Nanzhong. It is neatly equipped and has strong morale. Moreover, it has a complete organization and abundant physical strength. It was originally in Shanghai and Jiangnan.  The various units were withdrawn from Nanjing to Shanghai. They fought a lot of battles, large and small, and suffered losses in physical strength and organization. It was just a good time to rest in Shanghai County, recover their physical strength, and replenish their troops. "This is what I said in public.  Privately, the generals in various ministries did not understand it so well.  "Second Young Master is right. When it comes to fighting, you can't just bring out all the big names at the beginning. How can you kill a chicken with a butcher's knife? For things like defending the city, it's better to let the new troops like Lao Ji go up, and the old battalion like us  , We still have to wait until the critical moment, such as when Lao Ji can't hold it back, let's kill him again! " "I followed the master in the first battle with the Tatars at the foot of Hexi Wucheng. At that time, we were fighting the serious Liaodong Tatars.  We only have 3,000 troops here, but we are facing tens of thousands of Tatars! At that time, I was still a brigade officer under the lord, and over the years, I have become a brigade commander! The same goes for you, we are here in Hongqiao!  Once the battle is over, there will be plenty of opportunities for promotion and fortune and to leave a name in history! We have a full team, and our brothers are full of energy and morale, and we are eager to fight for this battle!  Brothers, take a look and let the Qing soldiers from the south and north of the Yangtze River get to know us! "It's all about benevolence and wisdom.  However, they are all full of confidence and pride.  Ji Changming was one of the three thousand troops who followed Li Shouhan thousands of miles north to Qinwang. However, he was just a team officer in charge of dozens of spearmen.  Because of his outstanding performance in the battle of Hexiwu, he was promoted after returning to Nanzhong. He had established military merits in suppressing bandits and quelling chaos. He accumulated meritorious service in the past ten years and became the brigade commander of the garrison brigade.  Although most of his subordinates are mobilization soldiers, strong men, watch teams and other armed forces recruited from various places.However, Ji Changming was full of confidence in his team.  In addition to his three fully-staffed infantry regiments, a Guards battalion, an artillery team, and a cavalry communications team, his subordinates also had an artillery battalion reinforced by Li Huabao, with twelve 12-pounders.  Cannons, fifteen eight-pounders, ten large Folang machines, and twenty groups of rocket launchers.  "We still have more than 2,000 young men in this town. Although they have not experienced battle formations, they have been trained and know military disciplines! If they can't go into battle, they still carry ammunition, carry wounded soldiers, patrol the town and put out fires.  "Yes!" More than two thousand young men were organized by Ji Changming into ten battalions of auxiliary teams according to the organization of fifty men per team and two hundred men per battalion, and were uniformly managed by his brigade headquarters. When necessary,  They can be used as supplementary troops to make up for organizational deficiencies caused by excessive casualties.  "Qing soldiers, you'd better come quickly. I can't wait any longer! However, I still hope that you will come later, so that I can repair the fortifications better!" Ji Changming held the telescope and looked towards the road to the west.  , muttering to himself.  "Brigade commander, are you looking forward to the Tatars coming, or are you unwilling for them to come?!" Lan Wei, the general manager of the brigade headquarters' battalion office, smiled and found the fault in his words.  "Come early, and we can have a good fight. Come later, and our fortifications can be built better and more! Brothers can shed less blood!" Ji Changming was very fond of his performance in Hexi Affairs back then.  The important role of the field fortifications is impressive.  Therefore, after accepting the mission, he built fortifications and transformed the terrain in Hongqiao.  By closing several sluices upstream, several non-critical rivers gradually dried up, and the silt in the rivers was pulled out to form natural barriers and trenches.  Then, relying on these trenches, they were transformed, and part of the river channel was filled with earth and rocks, and covered with earth and wood, forming sections of covered trenches.  In addition to digging trenches outside the town and stacking earthen walls with the excavated soil, artillery forts were also set up to place the battalion's six-pounder guns. On average, each gun had two to three gun positions, ready to be moved at any time.  At the artillery position, use artillery shells to greet the braided soldiers.  We also learned from Dorgon's experience and practices in Tashan and set up bunkers, bunkers, and artillery positions within the trenches.  This prevented the Qing troops from losing their advantage after rushing into the trenches and quickly entering a one-sided hand-to-hand combat situation.  "If you can rely on fortifications to kill a large number of enemies, why should you let your brothers risk their lives and fight with blunderbuss?" This is Ji Changming's view.  In the town, several ancestral halls and temples have been turned into warehouses for the South Cantonese Army, with ponytail grenades, submunitions, and artillery pieces piled up like a hill.  The brigade health camp opened a hospital in the Confucian Temple. The chiefs of each battalion shuttled between the warehouse and the health camp with large and small vehicles to collect ammunition and bandage emergency medicines.  "Brigadier Commander, we have seen the gun emplacements on top of the city and the firing positions of the muskets. The trenches, trenches, parapets, bunkers and gun emplacements below the city are basically ready. Only a few horse traps have not been completed yet.  " Lan Wei held the drawing in his hand and pointed out to Ji Changming the fortification positions marked on the drawing and the emotions in reality.  He knew that he, as the brigade commander, attached great importance to the Hongqiao War, so he also worked hard to complete his mission.  On the top of the city, there were several reinforced twelve-pound cannons. The gunners were wiping the barrels and carrying ammunition among the forts.  The dark muzzle pointed to the west, and the gunner was observing the range of fire through a celestial ruler at the breech.  From his point of view, within an angle of thirty degrees and a distance of several miles, everything was within the killing range.  "It's a pity that Hongqiao is not like those cities in the north of the Yangtze River. There are no sheep and horse walls or gates. Otherwise, the trenches, parapets, bunkers, artillery positions, and wooden fences in the rivers above and below our city walls would be enough for the Qing soldiers to drink a pot.  "Ji Changming always felt that his fortifications were insufficient.  Lan Wei, Qi Tianyue and others exchanged glances and curled their lips in unison.  Because of Ji Changming's crazy hobby of building fortifications, they guard the 24th Brigade and have become a joke among the troops around Shanghai.  "Do you dare to fight? If you don't dare to fight, just step aside! Let me come! Don't always dig trenches!" Ji Changming also heard a little bit of wind in his ears.  However, Ji Changming just pretended that he never existed.  Just kidding!  As long as I finish the battle and win, you don't care how I fought?  Therefore, he went out early this morning to inspect the construction of the position.  It is already late autumn, and Shanghai County is a land bordered by rivers and seas. The autumn wind and autumn rain are blowing, making people feel chilly.  On top of the city and under the city wall, all the soldiers and officers of the South Cantonese Army have put on winter clothes.  The cotton produced in Tianzhu was made into thick cotton jackets, and the uniforms of the South Guangdong Army were put on outside. The uniforms were covered with breastplates.  Wearing a small hat made of wool?Then he put on the iron helmet. With this woolen hat on his shaved head, the cold chill caused by the iron helmet was greatly reduced.  Because Qiu Yu¡¯s dislike is sometimes big and sometimes small, almost everyone wears tung oil ponchos on their bodies and hats on their heads.  A gust of autumn wind mixed with rain came in. Ji Changming and others couldn't help but shiver. One of the guards cursed in a low voice: "Damn it, this damn place in Jiangnan is much colder than Guangdong, Guangxi and Nanzhong!" "Bah! You bastard  You have no idea! If you go to the two brigades in Heilongjiang, they are really called ice and snow! Compared with the Sauron people, we are in Shanghai, in this land in the south of the Yangtze River.  Guangdong and Guangxi are in Nanzhong! " Lan Wei followed the battalion office to several fortresses at the mouth of the Heilongjiang River. He had some knowledge of the terrain and weather there. Hearing the complaints of the soldiers of the Guards Battalion, he had to teach him a lesson.  A few words.  "Lantou, they say it's cold over there, but how cold is it?" Several soldiers from the Guards Battalion asked Lan Wei with a smile.  "How cold is it? Have you ever seen the scene where everything is completely white when you go out? There is a snowfield for hundreds of miles and thousands of miles. If you want to go out, you have to wrap up thickly, with furs and furs.  Wear boots, fur gloves, and a leather hat, and cover yourself up tightly before going out, otherwise, you will freeze to death!" Just as Lan Wei was about to go on, a firework rose on the distant horizon.  After a line of fire was drawn in the rain curtain, it quickly exploded in mid-air.  "Alert! Be on guard!" Seizing the Ding 1617
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