Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 477
"My lord! Report from the sentry. They have spotted the North Sea thief clipper. They have just sailed through the mouth of the Liuhe River. Because there are many ships on the river, their speed is not fast. It is estimated that they will enter the shooting range in two minutes."

Hearing the report from his subordinates, the general of the Qing army who was in charge of guarding the Puxi Fort and had no time to put on his helmet and armor said "hmm", then stood on a high platform, drew his waist knife and shouted to his subordinate gunners: "Brothers! When you serve the country with meritorious service We have arrived! You must obey this general's order, let the thieves know how powerful our Jiangnan water camp is!"

Under the high platform, a group of soldiers and gunners of the Qing army knelt on one knee and clasped their fists, saying in unison: "I am willing to serve my lord! I will die for the emperor!"

After two sticks of incense, the white shuttle-shaped "Ice Wind" has sailed past Luodian and entered Wusongkou.The general of the Qing army on the Puxi Fort saw that the opponent had entered the range of the artillery, and immediately waved the general flag and ordered the drum to be fired.

"Tom! tom! tom"

All of a sudden, the fort was rumbled and smoke billowed, and dozens of "General Victory Cannons" fired one by one from west to east.At the same time, the Pudong Fort located on Baoshan Island in the east opened fire at the same time.

Baoshan in the middle of the Qing Dynasty was a sand island. Because there were earth mountains piled up for ship navigation during the Yongle period, forts were built on it to form a condescending situation.

In order to completely intercept the "Ice Wind", the fort defenders in the east and west completely ignored the boats on the Yangtze River estuary, and the entire river suddenly seemed to be boiling water.The fishing boats that were queuing up to go fishing immediately suffered disaster. The three-pound solid iron ball hit everyone and killed them, and it immediately created a big hole on the boat.

Crying and screaming on the river, some fishermen jumped into the water and swam desperately to the shore;

When the Qing army first opened fire, Zhao Xin and Wang Yuanfang were taken aback by the overwhelming formation on the shore.Zhao Xin immediately speeded up, and the "Ice Wind" shot out of the river like an arrow from the string in an instant; he didn't care about those fishing boats, and directly smashed away those who were in the way.

The size of the "Bingfeng" was not too big, and its speed was so fast that the gunners of the Qing army underestimated the shooting advance, so dozens of shells fired from the two forts fell into the waves rolled up by the stern.

Wang Yuanfang had rushed onto the flying bridge at this time, picked up the "AEK-999", held the tripod in one hand, and kept shooting at the place where the white smoke filled the shore.However, it was precisely because of the billowing smoke and dust that his shooting vision was disturbed. Apart from the rain of bullets hitting the hard earth platform under the fort into smoke, the injured Qing army was almost negligible.

With a "boom", an iron bullet hit the bow deck of the "Ice Wind", and then bounced and fell into the water. The deck shell made of fiberglass was smashed into a depression.Everyone on the ship exclaimed, while the Qing army on the Baoshan Fort cheered thunderously.

However, the artillery positions of the Qing army were nothing more than that.After they finished the first round, they found that the enemy ship was too fast, and they had to adjust the direction of the muzzle if they wanted to shoot again.However, except for a small number of cannons with wheels, most of the cannons in the fort are fixed on a solid stone platform through the ear, and are fixed to a certain river.So don't talk about turning the muzzle, it is very difficult to lift it up.

In this way, enough time was left for Zhao Xin and the others. The further the "Ice Wind" rushed forward, the lower the density of shelling.And when the gunpowder smoke on the fort was blown away by the wind, and the Qing army on the emplacement appeared, Wang Yuanfang immediately had a clear goal.The dense rain of bullets hit the iron cannons with sparks flying everywhere, and the stray bullets that changed their trajectory flew around on the fort, immediately causing many casualties, and there was a mess of crying and screaming.

At this time, the general of the Qing army in command finally understood that it would be foolish to use a fixed-mounted cannon of hundreds of kilograms to sink the clippers of the Northern Navy.Unless you can prepare in advance, and at the same time you have to slow down the speed of the opponent's ship.

When the "Ice Wind" rushed out of Wusongkou under the gunfire, it immediately went straight to Huaniao Island in the southeast like a dragon returning to the sea.More than two hours later, Zhao Xin and his party arrived at the bay in the north of Huaniao Island, where Beihai No. [-] had been waiting for a long time.

After meeting the captain Haiping, the first thing he said to Zhao Xin was: "My lord, Mr. Yu sent a telegram to Sheyang Lake, please hurry back to Beihai Town as soon as possible, there is a situation in the Beihai Special Zone."

Zhao Xin asked Haipingzhi something about Sheyang Lake, and then wrote a warrant for Haipingzhi to bring to Xu Dayong and Wang Changsheng.He asked the two to start immediately and secretly pick up Duan Yucai, Liu Taigong, Hong Liangji and Jiang Fan and their families.

More than two hours later, after sending Jiao Xun and others to Beihai No. [-] and watching each other go away, Zhao Xin and Wang Yuanfang returned to Beihai Town in the morning two days later after passing through Flower and Bird Island.

When he saw Yu Deli, the other party told him that Liu Sheng called, and the envoy of the Tsarist Russian Empire had arrived in Irkutsk four days ago, and submitted a notice to us, requesting that we All withdraw from East Siberia on June 6.

"Let's see, this is the condition put forward by the Russian side." After Yu Deli said, he handed Zhao Xin a piece of telegram, and then added: "Liu Sheng has issued a second-level combat readiness order."

Zhao Xin took a look and saw that there were five items listed above. In addition to allowing the North Navy to withdraw from the Russian-occupied territory, it also demanded the release of Russian prisoners of war, compensation for the Russian side's losses in the two battles of Heilongjiang City and Yaksa, and compensation for the offensive. Loss of life and property to civilians throughout Eastern Siberia.In addition, in view of the fact that Beihai Town has become the actual ruler of the Outer Northeast, the Russian side requested to start border trade in Nerchinsk and Yaksa.

Zhao Xin's first reaction after reading it was that the opponent should be ready for war, otherwise he would not have sent someone to send such an ultimatum.So he came to the North Navy Staff Headquarters non-stop, asking about the location of the reinforcements.

"Report, the second regiment arrived in Heilongjiang City this morning, and is preparing to leave after two days of rest. The third regiment has just arrived in Khabarovsk."

Zhao Xin walked to the map hanging on the wall and looked at it for a while, then stroked the beard stubble on his chin with his hand, without saying a word.At this moment, everyone in the room stopped what they were doing, waiting for his order.

"Send a telegram to Heilongjiang City," Zhao Xin's voice had just finished, and the young adjutant Xu Shounan began to record on the telegram draft paper.

"The second regiment can rest for a day. They must set off tomorrow morning. They must arrive in Irkutsk by the end of May at the latest. In addition, they will send a telegram to the military station in Khabarovsk, informing Lu Shoushan not to stay in Khabarovsk. The troops will immediately go to Heilongjiang Well, they can rest in Heilongjiang City for two days, and then continue northward, arriving in Irkutsk no later than June [-]."

After Zhao Xin finished speaking, he thought for a while and continued: "Send a report to the Beihai Special Zone that all parts of Irkutsk will enter a wartime state from the [-]th of this month. Once all collaborators are discovered, no matter who they are, immediately Arrested and handed over to the Northern Navy Military Court for trial."

"Send a report to Liu Sheng and order the troops to enter the first level of combat readiness. First, allow them to send a small group of troops to carry out harassment warfare against the Russian fortress on the Angara River. Second, combine the previous intelligence analysis and send a reconnaissance team into the Sayan Mountains Beilu, find out the deployment of the enemy troops."

At this time, a staff officer in his 20s named Li Rui asked: "Do you suspect that the Sayan Mountains are the real direction of attack?"

Since Sheng Haizhou was transferred to Heilongjiang City, this former Tongsheng from Henan has become the No. [-] figure in the North Navy's staff, helping Zhao Xin coordinate various affairs.

Zhao Xin explained while gesturing on the map: "It should be a two-way attack, like the two pincers of a crab. Rumyantsev has fought for decades, and has always won by being flexible. Frontal containment, flanking assault , It’s easy to say, but the front and flanks need to be judged according to the battlefield situation, and there is nothing static. He has built the fort for more than a year, and he probably wants to find loopholes in our army by advancing steadily.”

Li Rui smiled and said: "In front of our cannon, nothing is useless." After that, several other staff officers also smiled easily.

Zhao Xin looked at them seriously, shook his head and said, "I am most afraid of your thoughts! There is no invincible army in the world, and arrogance and complacency will definitely lead to failure! Remember, whether it is Fukang'an of the Qing Dynasty or the Rumyantsev, both of them have been on the battlefield for many years. They eat more salt than you eat rice! Although we defeated the Russian army and the Manchus before, it was not only because of weapons, but because our tactical thinking was different from that of our opponents. Essential difference!"

From scratch to today, the Beihai Navy has been relying on advanced weapons and equipment and extremely arduous training advantages to achieve quick battles through preemptive strikes and surprise attacks.And Zhao Xin has also gained some experience in various deceptive tactics on the battlefield over the years.

Because the Beihai Navy has always followed the line of elite soldiers, this tactical thinking can avoid falling into a war of attrition. By forming an overwhelming advantage over the enemy at a certain point, it creates a fait accompli and forces the opponent to admit defeat and return to the negotiating table.

Some people in the crossing crowd once clamored to fight all the way to the Ural Mountains, but even if the Beihai Navy fought there, it was useless.The alpine region of millions of square kilometers cannot be defended at all.Zhao Xin's purpose is to completely hurt the Tsarist Russian Empire through a strategic decisive battle, thereby forming a fait accompli politically.

After hearing this, everyone put away their expressions of indifference, stood at attention and saluted Zhao Xin saying yes.

After reading several telegram drafts and signing for approval, Zhao Xin asked Li Rui to invite Wang Yuanfang to come. More than 20 minutes later, Wang Yuanfang arrived.

"Old squad leader, I've thought about it over and over again. You are not familiar with Irkutsk's topography or climate, so I have to ask you to look after the house this time."

Zhao Xin observed Wang Yuanfang's expression while talking, and saw that he nodded expressionlessly, and continued: "In the second half of the year, take your group of Sauron soldiers to the south."

Wang Yuanfang's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked, "Who are we going to deal with?"

Zhao Xin smiled slightly, stood up and pointed to two areas on the map: "The Pirates of Xishan and the Dutch."

After he met Haiping on Flower and Bird Island, he conveniently mentioned what happened to Zheng Wenxian and the others.Zhao Xin was a little annoyed at the time. The bullshit Xishan pirates and the Northern Navy didn't show their power. They really thought they could run across the southeast coast.

Although the Xishan Dynasty was short-lived, these bastards have been in trouble from the end of Qianlong to the Daoguang period in history, bringing heavy disasters to the coastal areas of the three provinces of Fujian, Guangdong and Zhejiang.Among them were Zheng Yi, Zheng Qi and Guo Po who had already been taken away by him in advance.

Since the Manchu, Fujian, and Guangdong navy divisions are too bad, let the special forces formed by the navy and Sauron soldiers clean up these guys early, and at the same time cut off the claws of the French extending towards Annan.

As for the Dutch, since they are all in Annan, let Batavia take a look around. The account of the "Red Creek Massacre" 50 years ago has to be settled with the East India Company.The Qing Dynasty doesn't care, Beihai Town takes care of it; although justice delayed is not justice, it's better than nothing.

In fact, Zhao Xin had this idea when he was in Dagukou last year.The British have come several years earlier than in history, and have also carried out military cooperation with the Manchu Qing.Then the details of this old empire under the glitz will definitely be gradually noticed by the British because of the "Naval Battle of Changxing Island".Furthermore, the upcoming "clearance war" also has the shadow of the British behind it.

Zhao Xin intends to completely deter the British East India Company through the military operation in Batavia, and by the way interfere with their tea plantation project in Ceylon;

After listening to Zhao Xin's explanation, Wang Yuanfang said: "Okay! That's what you said. A gentleman!"

"Hurry up! Don't worry, I or Wu Siyu will take care of your house when the time comes."

Hearing Wu Siyu was mentioned by the other party, Wang Yuanfang put away his smile and asked seriously: "What do you think? Let Xiao Wu and his wife go to Yaksa for two years?"

Zhao Xin shook his head and explained: "Where are you thinking! Wu Siyu is still very meticulous in his work, but he is too lazy and not tough enough. In fact, he is more suitable for striding across the military and political affairs, not as open and closed as Liu Sheng. He is only suitable for Leading troops. Besides, Liu Sheng will lead troops into Outer Mongolia sooner or later, and Wu Siyu, I just want to force him to get busy!"

Hearing Zhao Xin's description, Wang Yuanfang smiled.He knew that what Zhao Xin said was right, Wu Siyu was capable, but his temper was too lazy.

Zhao Xin lit a cigarette for himself, rubbed his swollen forehead, and continued: "He has managed Russian prisoners of war in Yaksa for so long, so he must have a better understanding of the character of the Tsarist Russians. Rutogorov cultivates his relationship. Later, it is best to go back to Beihai Town to accumulate more experience in government affairs. After all, we are cultivating a Cossack kingdom on the West Siberian Plain. The purpose is to block Tsarist Russia to the west of the Yenisei River. It takes some means. In the future, I want him to be responsible."

Wang Yuanfang said: "Where is that young Zhang Jingxuan?"

"Him? No." Zhao Xin took a puff of cigarette, showing a disdainful expression: "If it weren't for relying on Liu Sheng to play tricks, he would almost be taken into the ditch by the five masters. After all, the temptation of the blonde girl is not low. .”

Wang Yuanfang was taken aback for a moment, then he laughed.

"He can't even deal with a few Tsarist Russian businessmen. Can he be expected to deal with those Shanxi businessmen in Kyakhta? I don't expect anything else, as long as he can do a good job in immigration."

Speaking of this, Zhao Xinyu said to Wang Yuanfang earnestly: "It is easy for us to occupy a piece of land, but it is too difficult to hold it and make it a territory of Chinese civilization! Not to mention the distance, the Manchu Qing Dynasty started from Kangxi From the beginning until Daoguang, the five generations of grandparents and grandchildren fought with the Junggar tribe one after another for nearly 200 years. After beating the grandpa and grandson, and after beating the grandson, they took advantage of the opportunity to take advantage of the opportunity. Only then did Xinjiang be included in the territory. But when As soon as the national power in the late Qing Dynasty weakened, it was immediately divided by Tsarist Russia. Brother Wang, this is not something you and I can solve in one generation, but we must leave a good foundation for future generations, and there is a long way to go!"

Wang Yuanfang thought for a while after listening, and then nodded in agreement. He asked curiously: "What about Nanyang? After cleaning up the Dutch, what then?"

Zhao Xin shook his head and said, "I haven't thought that far ahead yet."

In fact, he didn't tell the truth, but in terms of the current delivery capabilities of the Beihai Navy, intervening in Nanyang prematurely will only cause trouble for himself, and Zhao Xin will have to toss back and forth by himself.

Zhao Xin was very annoying to those people in Nanyang. You must know that the first people who brought opium from Goa to the inland in the early Qing Dynasty were those who came back from Nanyang.As for gangs and clan associations such as Lanfang and Jiapidan, he is even less interested; the fight is all for the gold mine.

With his limited geographical knowledge of the Southeast Asia region, there are only two places that interest him, one is the Tampakan copper-gold complex mine on Mindanao Island, and the other is Malacca.Instead of letting the later Yingmei cut the leeks, it is better to let yourself cut the leeks first.

(End of this chapter)