The world of film and television begins with the God of Medicine.

Chapter 1660 Keep Fighting
Not far from the riverbank, dozens of cannons were lined up, and trained soldiers carried cannonballs and fired them one after another.

The soldiers on the riverbank launched a fearless amphibious assault to cross the river and seize the beach.

Under the sudden barrage of artillery fire, the Qing troops on the opposite side were thrown into disarray, running around like headless flies. The officers kept shouting, trying to organize a counterattack.

But the artillery fire continued relentlessly, and the manpower they had organized was simply no match for the approaching troops crossing the river.

The soldiers who land on the beach will quickly seize advantageous terrain. Even if the area has been cleared of enemies, they can still gain an advantage by using a small, gentle slope, which can serve as cover.

They worked in perfect coordination, advancing the battle lines layer by layer, and soon occupied the area along the river. Subsequent troops slowly crossed the river in larger boats and began a large-scale advance.

By this point, the Qing army had lost the will to resist. The artillery fire was too intense, pinning them down. The offensive was too fierce, making it impossible for them to withstand the pressure, and they naturally collapsed.

This was merely a battle unfolding before Wang Yan's eyes, a battle centered around Wuchang and its surrounding areas. The objective was to cross the Yangtze River southward, seize control of the riverbanks, and neutralize the Qing army's natural defenses. The main battlegrounds were Wuchang, Jiujiang, and Yueyang.

After capturing these three places, the next step is to attack Nanchang and Changsha, contain Jiangxi and Hunan, and cut off Hunan and Hubei.

Meanwhile, to the west, Shi Dakai was attacking the Jingzhou region. The purpose of launching this attack on this day was to first seize a favorable position and gain the initiative in the war.

It must be said that the foreign devils were indeed a hindrance. In order to secure future interests, they paid the Qing Dynasty billions in subsidies. In fact, the subsidies the Qing Dynasty received in recent years were almost equal to the indemnities paid.

Otherwise, Wang Yan wouldn't have sold guns to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty in the first place; he could have easily crushed them with those guns. Although he did gain an initial advantage at the time, those few years weren't enough for him to maintain stability. When the foreign devils came to invade again, it was just as difficult, which is why it has been delayed until today. Because of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he has no choice but to directly participate in the war.

Of course, all of this was within Wang Yan's expectations; the Tianjing Incident was an important factor that had to be considered no matter what...

The first battle was over just like that, and Pang Qingyun felt utterly bored.

Wang Yan gave him a chance, allowing him to lead 10,000 troops to attack Wuchang. Upon hearing this news, he was so happy that he couldn't sleep. But beneath this immense joy lay immense pressure.

He used to command only five hundred soldiers; the idea of ​​having so many troops under his command was something he could only dream of. He didn't even dare to dream of having that many troops. His position as Governor-General of Liangjiang only began to take action gradually as he grew stronger; after all, he needed to be able to reach a certain level of power.

However, it wasn't that Wang Yan was disregarding practical conditions and arbitrarily promoting people. There were two main reasons. First, Huoshan itself had an advantage, with higher-quality soldiers. The officers below knew what to do, and in local battles, they had a significant advantage and fought very well.

Another point is that Pang Qingyun has served as an advisor to Lord Chen for a long time and has received his personal guidance, so he has a certain amount of experience.

It was only by following Lord Chen that Pang Qingyun finally realized that Lord Chen, whom he had previously looked down upon and considered particularly weak and incompetent, was actually a rather terrifying old fox. His mind was meticulous, and while his military tactics weren't exceptionally brilliant, he had his own unique methods. Furthermore, Lord Chen never focused solely on the immediate battlefield; he considered the overall situation, strategizing for both the nation and his own survival.

This can be considered as Lord Chen training Pang Qingyun in politics and warfare, enabling Pang Qingyun to learn something, gain some practical experience, and broaden his horizons.

Given that Pang Qingyun is a capable person, even if he is not fully capable, he already has a definite upper limit for the position of Governor-General of Liangjiang, so Wang Yan is naturally willing to give him a chance.

More importantly, this allows others to see his attitude towards these surrendered generals. Shi Dakai is a regional commander, Lord Chen is in charge of the political affairs of the entire Huoshan territory, and is considered a prime minister. Pang Qingyun, who was just a battalion officer before, was able to rise to the top in one step and command thousands of troops as a regional commander.

Others may not know how Wang Yan dared to do it, but they can see his leniency. As for whether Wang Yan will be lenient afterward... let's talk about it first. After all, there are many reasons to kill someone, and who can say he's wrong?

Pang Qingyun didn't understand Wang Yan's considerations, nor did he realize that as long as he didn't make any major mistakes, there wouldn't be a problem. Thus, the immense pressure forced him to spend every day with his staff, researching how to capture Wuchang with fewer casualties and faster speed. By the time the actual battle began, Pang Qingyun hadn't had a good night's sleep for days, sleeping less than two hours a day, and not even a concentrated period of sleep…

But after capturing Wuchang in less than a day, he stood atop the ruined city wall, looking at the empty city, and felt a mix of emotions.

He knew the power of artillery, and even knew about portable mortars that could fire at long range. He also knew that the soldiers in Huoshan were quite capable fighters. He knew this battle should go smoothly, but he never expected it to go this smoothly...

"What, you're not happy because you're playing well?"

Pang Qingyun shook his head: "This humble general doesn't understand either, it's just that the feeling is different from what I thought."

"This is a good thing," Wang Yan said with a smile. "If it were as you feel, we might have been plunged into a fierce battle, which would have been a huge problem. Now it's much better; everything is going smoothly, fewer people have died, and the results are impressive."

What's most important? It's to wake up the heads of those who mobilized the troops, to let them know that war isn't so easy, and that they should just obediently wait to die. Fighting us for nothing is such a waste of money. With that money, they'd be better off planning how to escape peacefully and live comfortably afterward.

Wang Yan looked at Pang Qingyun and encouraged him, "You did a good job. You achieved all the objectives, so that's a success. We can slow down the offensive for the next couple of days and wait for the news to spread. This will allow Lord Chen to talk to those surnamed Jiang and Di. It's always good to subdue the enemy without fighting, which means fewer deaths, less money spent, and less food consumption. We haven't accumulated much, and we haven't plundered much either. We're still poor."

"Now that we've taken over Hunan and Hubei, things should be much more relaxed. The only concern is that the foreigners might get involved and send reinforcements from Guangzhou. I've heard they're transferring troops from Southeast Asia, so you absolutely mustn't be careless, sir."

“You’re very thoughtful. I’m aware of the foreigners’ movements. They will definitely intervene and won’t let us have an easy time. This is their last chance. After all, we already have industry and are developing rapidly, becoming stronger every day. The longer we drag this out, the more disadvantageous it will be for them.”

Although the foreign devils had the advantage of being the first to industrialize and thus had a crushing technological advantage over Asia, Wang Yan had now leveled the playing field with firearms. It was no longer the foreigners who were reaping heads with the power of firearms.

Moreover, the foreigners are fighting on foreign soil, so their troop deployment is a major problem, and their troop strength is limited.

But they had no choice but to support the Qing and destroy the Wang; otherwise, if the Wang Yan succeeded, they would lose all their gains, including the huge market for their dumping goods. Combined with their initial investment, it would be a complete loss. The sunk costs were too high, and driven by greed, the foreigners wouldn't rest until they were utterly ruthless…

Seeing Pang Qingyun leave, Su Zixuan walked over gracefully and stood side by side with Wang Yan on the city wall.

"Uncle, I really didn't expect you to win this battle so easily. I guess General Shi's side is just as smooth. By the time the news gets out, the Qing Dynasty will probably be in deep trouble. I hope Di and Jiang are sensible, otherwise they might really be finished." Wang Yan glanced at her: "So you didn't believe me before?"

"I knew you would win, but I didn't expect you to win so quickly. After all, they also have an army of 100,000, which is not easy to defeat. The two of them are also old rivals of the Heavenly Kingdom. They have been fighting for so many years, and everyone knows they are difficult to deal with. Who would have thought that they would be powerless against you?"

"It's under the muzzle of my cannon."

"What about the foreigners? They have strong ships and powerful cannons. Can you hit their ships?"

Su Zixuan's problem is crucial. If they can hit foreign ships, then the foreigners will be no longer a threat. But if they can't, then they can only let the foreign devils run rampant overseas with their warships. At the same time, this also blocks their future development.

“Of course we can,” Wang Yan said confidently. “I’m even looking forward to building ironclad warships in the future, sailing them to their homeland, and fighting their emperor.”

"You can definitely do it."

"Then I'll take your kind words. Alright, you've seen the excitement, go and get on with your work. From now on, I'll be settling down in Wuchang. I have a lot to do."

"Nothing much is happening right now, staying by your side is the most important thing."

"Not going back to heaven? Not studying your schemes anymore?"

“I feel like once you started fighting this time, you never seemed to think about stopping.” Su Zixuan put her arm around Wang Yan’s arm. “Besides, no matter what, I’m still your little wife. You’ve already given birth to a son, so this time you can let me give you a child, right?”

Shortly before the war began, Liao Xuan gave birth to a son, ensuring that Wang Yan's legacy would have an heir, which put everyone's minds at ease.

Su Zixuan had long regretted not having a child with Wang Yan right away. Even though she didn't care much for romantic love, she was still a woman, and once she fell in love, she always wanted more.

As a result, she was always out plotting her revenge, which ultimately benefited that little girl Liao Xuan, something that she resented...

A few days later, news came from Shi Dakai's side that the war was going well and that Lord Jiang's troops were being forced into a series of defeats. On the other side, good news also came from Jiang Wuyang's side: his troops had split into two groups, one attacking Shanxi and the other passing through Hangu Pass, capturing Luoyang, and establishing stable contact with Zhengzhou, which had long been reorganized.

Zhengzhou was designated by Wang Yan as a logistics hub city. Over the years, I've passed through here frequently for business, and the city is already well-developed. Just as Li Wantang said before, the city is developing quite well.

Previously, everyone could deceive each other and deal with things in a muddled manner. Now that war had begun, there was no need to feign compliance anymore. Thus, Zhengzhou naturally broke away from the Qing Dynasty without any trouble. Then, some troops were dispatched to besiege Luoyang.

Luoyang had also been infiltrated long ago, and although there were some disturbances, there was no major chaos overall.

After capturing Luoyang, Jiang Wuyang continued to send troops forward, heading directly north. Advancing north along the Taihang Mountains, past Shijiazhuang and Baoding, they were on their way to the capital.

At this time, the Qing dynasty was still mobilizing troops, and the process was extremely slow.

Of course, it's not their fault; it's just that Wang Yan acted too quickly. Everyone knew he had been infiltrating the local areas, but no one expected him to infiltrate so effectively and amass troops so rapidly.

There were no warning signs before they started gathering. By the time the Qing Dynasty received the news, the fighting had already begun, creating a huge time lag between the two sides…

In just over half a month, the Qing Dynasty seemed to be teetering on the brink of collapse.

It was only at this moment that they truly understood just how great a threat Wang Yan was, and they were pleased with their decision to force him to wage war by taking advantage of the internal strife within the Heavenly Kingdom. Because the longer it dragged on, the greater the harm Wang Yan would cause…

Lord Chen sipped his tea with a smile: "Gentlemen, what do you have to say now?"

“Master Chen is not one to rely on words.” Lord Jiang bowed. “I underestimated Master Chen before. Master Chen didn’t board a leaky, dilapidated ship, but a foreigner’s ironclad warship.”

"What foreign ironclad warships? With Wang Yan's abilities, I think it won't be long before he can build his own ironclad warships. Then we won't have to watch the foreigners swagger around on our territory anymore." Lord Di laughed heartily, playing the straight man.

Having served in the same court for many years, Lord Chen was well aware of the two men's character and was quite accustomed to their current humble attitude. Besides, even the more powerful Wang Yan used three different titles in three sentences; these were basic qualities standard for important figures, and one couldn't become an important person without them.

Lord Chen said, "What you two gentlemen say is all empty talk. I've come here to ask you for the truth."

"Lord Chen, my family and Lord Jiang's family are all in the capital. How can I tell you the truth? Do we have to abandon our entire families?" Lord Di said with a bitter expression.

"Yes, Lord Chen," Lord Jiang said in a candid manner. "Actually, before you came, Lord Di and I had already discussed it. Why don't we just do what we always do and deal with it as before? You know, without these soldiers, if Lord Di and I return to the capital, we'll lose our heads. But if we side with Wang Yan, our entire family in the capital will lose their heads."

The only way is for us to tacitly deceive each other, just like when we fought against the Kingdom of Heaven before, and avoid escalating the conflict. Only in this way can it be a win-win situation for both of us.

"I'm afraid that won't work." Lord Chen shook his head repeatedly and sighed. "This time, Master Wang is serious. It's only a matter of time before he fights until the Qing Dynasty is wiped out. Master Wang has no mind to deal with it anymore."

……

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　　(End of this chapter)