1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 687 Bright Sword
On April 1653, 4, Hanzhou, Montenegro (near Palmerston, northern Australia today).

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."

More than ten cannons bombarded violently for a total of six or seven rounds, and the sound was endless. The "enemy" area hundreds of meters ahead was blasted into a sea of ​​flames, and a section of the simulated city wall built was also riddled with holes.

Zheng Zhiwan, who was watching from behind, had a faint smile on his mouth, showing his composure, but he was extremely shocked in his heart. The ammunition fired by the artillery of the Qi State was surprisingly powerful flowering bullets, which scattered and splashed in all directions. The shrapnel and the raging flames (deeply suspected that a kindling was arranged in the impact area) made the momentum even more alarming.

After the artillery bombardment, smoke and dust suddenly appeared on the attacking position, and the flames soared into the sky. Rows of rockets dragged their red tail flames, whistling and rushing forward, crossed the simulated city wall, entered the "city", and then exploded on the ground, igniting There was a raging fire.Rows of dummies made of vegetation burned and splashed violently in the explosion and fire, just like a tragic battlefield situation.

This kind of rocket newly developed by the military industry department of the State of Qi is an imitation of the rocket weapon in the early days of the Song Army - "Thunderbolt Cannon".A few years ago, in response to the maritime threat of the Dutch East India Company, an upgraded version of the "Shenhuo Flying Crow" was made, which was used to attack Dutch armed merchant ships at sea, and it played a good role.

In the past few years, when the Qi State Marine Corps attacked the enemy's solid city defenses, in addition to using powerful heavy artillery, it also used clumsy digging and trenching methods. Although they could eventually conquer the strongholds, the process took a lot of time and After breaking the city, you have to face the street fighting of the defenders in the city.

Therefore, the army hopes that the military industry department will continue to optimize and improve the explosive ammunition, and at the same time provide a new weapon that can kill a large number of defenders in the city, so as to reduce the losses of officers and soldiers in street fighting.

After receiving the request from the military, the Montenegro Military Factory turned its idea to the previously developed weapon "Shenhuo Flying Crow".Since it can be launched by one's own ship at sea and ignite the gunpowder or sails on the deck of the enemy ship, can it enlarge its combat part and design it as a flying "bomb" to achieve the goal of destroying the enemy's enemy? The purpose of carrying out remote attacks.

After several years of research and development, the land version of "Shenhuo Flying Crow" has been continuously improved and optimized, and several samples have been trial-produced one after another. At the beginning, it mainly used the tail flame to burn and kill the enemy. Later, it was equipped with a blasting warhead to kill the enemy with fragments of shrapnel. .Today, it was specially used in this offensive and defensive exercise to conduct some experiments to verify the lethality of this weapon to the military.

As we all know, China was able to manufacture rockets propelled by gunpowder in the Song Dynasty. This kind of rocket was introduced to India in the Yuan Dynasty or Ming Dynasty, and was quickly imitated and improved by the Indians.From the 16th century to the 18th century, India's rocket technology has developed greatly, and the power and range of rockets have greatly increased. The powder cartridges of some rockets have been made of iron, and various models have appeared.

In the 17th century, Britain, France and other countries invaded India, but were stubbornly resisted by the Indians.In these battles, rockets played a great role. In the battles against the British army in 1792 and 1799, the Sultan of Mysore, Dibo Sabu, fired a large number of rockets with a special rocket force, causing heavy casualties to the British army.

After the British conquered Mysore, the captured rockets were brought back home.At that time, during the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon was trying to land on the British mainland. Due to the lack of troops in the British Army, it was necessary to destroy the enemy at sea, so there was an urgent need for weapons that could effectively attack French landing ships.The Indian rockets aroused the great interest of Colonel William Congreve of the Artillery working at the Royal Laboratory of the Armory at Woulwich. He believed that the rockets were the best weapons against Napoleon and immediately set about modifying them.

After several years of exploration, Congreve used a new type of gunpowder to create a practical rocket in 1805, and after continuous improvement, the range can reach as far as 3-4 kilometers.Compared with the artillery in the early 19th century, this new type of rocket has the characteristics of fast rate of fire, long range, and flexible maneuvering, which made the Congreve rocket a big hit before the emergence of new artillery.

Congreve rockets were used extensively in the Napoleonic Wars as soon as they were fielded.First attacked the French fleet at Boulogne, with good results.Then, under Congreve's own command, the British navy fired some 25000 rockets at Copenhagen, the Danish capital, nearly leveling the city. During the Battle of Bizig in 1812, the British rocket artillery unit in the Swedish army "scattered a group of French troops like a heap of ants" with a single violent shot.

Of course, the rockets currently trial-produced by Qi State are not as powerful as the Congreve rockets of the later generations. They mainly rely on their combustion performance to burn the fortifications near the city wall in a dense manner to deter the defenders. Some rockets are equipped with explosive warheads. bomb, because of the problem of the fuze, its explosive power cannot be fully guaranteed.

However, the salvo of hundreds of rockets fired today is really astonishing. If they fall into the enemy's dense array, it will be enough to cause a certain degree of casualties, and then cause chaos in the enemy army.

After the rockets were launched, the infantry phalanx formed by hundreds of marines and local soldiers lined up neatly and attacked the imaginary enemy city in a marching formation.At a place more than 40 meters away from the simulated city wall, dozens of grenadiers immediately threw hand-throwing bombs, and in the smoky battle, holding bayonets, launched the final assault.

"If the Qi army attacks Fujian in this way, can we hold it?" Zheng Zhiwan turned pale and asked Yang Geng next to him in a low voice.

"It's probably... a bit difficult." Yang Geng swallowed, shook his head and said, "However, I heard that the army of the Qi State Army Division is not strong, so we may be able to take advantage of the number of troops and barely occupy Jiancheng to fight against them."

"Qi State's army is small, but they can drive Li Dingguo and other bandits to attack Fujian!" Zheng Zhiwan said with a wry smile: "In addition, there are tens of thousands of troops in the imperial court of Denglai Yongchu. As long as people want to, they can use boats at any time. The ship was transferred to Fujian and attacked our weak points along the coast. How can our Zheng army resist with the tactics just now?"

Yang Geng remained silent. In the past two years of fighting at sea, unless Zheng Jun's navy assembled dozens or hundreds of warships of different types to fight against Qi Jun's navy, otherwise, it would not be Qi Jun's navy to go to sea alone with a few or a dozen ships. Rival warships.They often formed a formation of 2-4 ships and swam in Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and even the waters near Japan, frequently attacking and killing Zheng Jun's ships.The ships of the State of Qi are not only powerful in firepower, but also very fast. After being attacked by the ships of the State of Qi, a small number of Zheng Jun's ships could not be beaten or escaped, so they had to lower their sails and surrender.

Now it seems that not only the naval division of Qi State is strong, but also the combat power of the land division cannot be resisted by Zheng Jun, especially the firearms are extremely sharp.It seems that Qi State must take seriously the conditions put forward by Zheng's peace talks.

In fact, after Zheng Zhilong returned to the Ming Dynasty, he planned to pay Qi State 50 taels of silver, two thousand stones of tea (about 150 tons), one thousand dans of raw silk (about 50 tons), and [-] pieces of porcelain in exchange for a truce with Qi. Restore the former friendly and cooperative relations.

At the Qi State Military and Political Joint Conference, they also agreed in principle to stop the naval war with Zheng Zhilong, and prepared to put pressure on the Dutch East India Company to lift the maritime trade blockade against Zheng Zhilong.However, in order to ensure that Zheng Zhilong would not repeat himself in the future, he proposed that Fujian must send troops to the north, unite with the Ming army of Zhang Mingzhen in Zhoushan, attack Suzhou and Hangzhou occupied by the Qing, threaten Jiangnan, and support the Ming army of Li Dingguo in Jiangxi.

In addition, Fujian needs to cede Xiamen Island and Kinmen Island off the coast of Zhangzhou, and the Yongchu imperial army will settle there.Since the Zheng family has returned to the Ming Dynasty anyway, Zhangzhou Prefecture, Quanzhou Prefecture, Xinghua Prefecture (now Putian) and other areas are the rear, and there is no need to garrison troops, and the number of defenders must be reduced to a minimum.With such a request, it is obvious that the elite areas in southern Fujian are completely placed under the Ming army of Chaozhou Li Laiheng and Gao Yigong.The Zhongzuo Station located on Xiamen Island was stationed by the Yongchu imperial army, which allowed the Qi State Navy to obtain an important berth along the coast of Fujian to monitor and hold Zheng's Navy under control.

If Zheng Zhilong agrees to all of Qi's requests and makes arrangements accordingly.If he repeats it again in the future and surrenders to the Qing captives, then the whole of Fujian will be smashed by the Ming and Qi allied forces in an instant, with little power to turn around.

Of course, if the Zheng family insists on opposing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty, the Qi State will support him with various firearms as before, and will return some of the captured Luzon territories to him, and everyone will continue to happily fight together in the Nanyang region People occupy fields and dig gold mines.

Therefore, Zheng Zhiwan and other Zheng's missions were unavoidably panicked after receiving the truce conditions.It should be known that in order to gain more anti-Qing forces, Fujian returned to the Ming anyway, and could be accepted by the Yongchu court again to avoid land attacks by the Ming army.However, the Qi State may not necessarily obey the orders of the imperial court. In order to ensure the safety of the sea, they will inevitably impose many restrictions and precautions on the Zheng family.
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On April 4, the military building.

"In view of the current very favorable situation in the territory of Ming Dynasty, after more than a month of continuous deduction and calculation, our general staff has formulated a grand strategy - the Jiangnan Campaign." Chief of General Staff Cui Shaochuan looked at the ten people present with piercing eyes. The rest of the senior officers said, "The main idea of ​​this battle plan is to advance east and west simultaneously, advance both land and water, and join forces in the Northern Expedition."

"The location of the meeting is near Nanjing on the Yangtze River, on the East Road. The main combat troops are the Southeast Anti-Qing armed forces led by the Ming Army in Zhoushan, Yuhang and other places. If Zheng Zhilong really returns to the Ming Dynasty, the offensive of the East Route Army can be further strengthened; , with Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo's Ming armies as the main force, they traveled down the Yangtze River from the Huguang and Jiangxi regions respectively, and went straight to Nanjing."

"During this battle, the Eastern Route Army acted as a partial division to attract the attention of the Qing captives and lure the main force of the Qing army to attack. When Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo took advantage of the false attack to reach the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the two armies and volunteers from various places suddenly launched at the same time. Attack, so as to restore the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas in one fell swoop, and seize the entire Jiangnan."

"Our navy of the State of Qi assembled the main warships, joined forces with the navy of Zheng Sen and Gu Rong (Gu Sanmazi), broke into the mouth of the Yangtze River, first seized Chongmingsha, Zhenjiang and other places, and established a combat logistics base. The Qing army in Jiangbei sent reinforcements, and took the opportunity to capture several important cities in Jiangbei, completely cutting off the connection between the Qing Dynasty and the Yangtze River. The two Ming armies in Denglai and southern Shandong carried out feints after the battle was launched to attract the Qing army in the north. The main force should not be sent south to support the Jianghuai and Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions."

"If it is possible, let the Yongchu court contact North Korea, send troops to Liaodong, and bring a part of the main force of the Eight Banners of the Qing Army gathered near Beijing into Liaodong. Our Qi State Navy will divide a part to assist the Denglaiming Army in Guangningwei ( Today’s Xingcheng District, Huludao City, Liaoning) landed, thus cutting off the connection between the Qing Dynasty and Liaodong.”

"After the Ming army stabilized the situation in the south of the Yangtze River, they could use the affluent south of the Yangtze River as a base to send troops to Hubei and Henan to clear Heshuo. Finally, the army went straight to Beijing to complete the final step of the Northern Expedition."

"Although the plan is good, will the ministries of the Ming army fully cooperate in the implementation?" Qi Dajiang asked in a deep voice: "Although Zheng Zhilong returned to the Ming anyway, who can guarantee that he will not appear again when the two armies from the east and the west join forces on the Yangtze River?" Repeatedly, attacking the rear of the Eastern Route Army?"

"Although Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo had conflicts, they showed a relatively positive attitude when facing the Qing captives. Therefore, our staff decided that as long as the main force of the Qing army in the south of the Yangtze River was attracted by the anti-Qing armed forces on the East Road, we would leave a large area In the defensive gap, even if Sun and Li do not cooperate and jointly attack, they will certainly not be able to refuse the temptation to attack Jiangnan along the river. As long as 5 to [-] people attack Nanjing, Jiangnan will definitely be shaken. As for Zheng Zhilong, will it There will be repetitions again. In this regard, our Qi State Navy can gather the main fleet and join the Gu Rong Navy Navy to go to the coast of Fujian to force them to agree to the truce conditions proposed by us."

"What if Zheng Zhilong still doesn't agree to our conditions under my coercion?"

"If we don't meet our conditions, then it proves that Zheng Zhilong still has both ends of the mind. If that's the case, then... attack Fuzhou!" Cui Shaochuan said harshly: "Gao Yigong, Li Laiheng, and Yuan Zongdi's Ming army must be It is very hoped that the whole of Fujian will be taken down as a place for them to rest and recuperate. Based on our deduction, even without the help of Zheng Zhilong in Fujian, only Zhang Mingzhen in Zhoushan, Zhang Huangyan's Ming army and volunteers from various places are enough to mobilize the main force of the Qing army in the south of the Yangtze River .As long as Nanjing is under attack and the Yangtze River is cut off, the entire Qing army in the south of the Yangtze River will become a completely lonely army, and it will be destroyed sooner or later."

After Cui Shaochuan finished speaking, he turned his head to look at Qi Tian, ​​waiting for the king's decision.

Qi Tian folded his arms and stood in front of him, staring intently at a Ming map on the wall, on which the staff had used various marks and arrows to mark the distribution of several forces and the marching routes of several armies.His expression seemed a little dazed, as if he wanted to spy out something from the situation on the map.

"Ten years ago, we sent more than ten ships and hundreds of marines to the coast of Daming to recruit refugees and attack slaves. When Jiashen changed, we attacked Liaodong and fought against Denglai to inspire people and try to restore Daming. An overturned situation." Qi Tian turned his head and said slowly: "Over the years, we have made various efforts, but we have been hit again and again. The Ming Dynasty was shattered, the people were in disorder, and the dead were tens of millions. , Siege the city and seize the territory, if the momentum is like a broken bamboo, no one can stop it."

"However, the people of Hanzhou, the soldiers of Qi, never give up. To support Yongchu, we also sent more personnel and supplies, and defeated the captives in Shandong and Denglai several times. There were two defeats in Liaodong, Smash the lairs of the Qing Dynasty captives, slaughter the people of the Tartars, and comfort the tens of thousands of people who died. Then, they made a surprise attack on Nanjing, captured the Hong rebels, and shocked the world. Finally, they joined forces with the Western Army, attacked Guangdong and Guangxi, and killed the two puppet kings Shang and Geng. Establish the overall situation of the South."

"Today, gather the people's ideas, determine the strategy of the south of the Yangtze River, and the grand plan of the Northern Expedition. If we can proceed smoothly according to this, revive the momentum of the Ming Dynasty, and restore the Han people to the world, we can reverse the fate of the Chinese nation for hundreds of years in the future. Of course, there must be countless unpredictable dangers in it, and there is also the danger of being frustrated again, and there is even more fear of falling into a desperate situation. But if you want to shrink back from doing this, you will lose the aura of bright swords, and finally make us... hard to calm down .”

"...Since that's the case, let's try it out!"

(End of this chapter)