Peng Xuelin stood on the top floor of Suojiang Building, standing upright with the railing, looking from a high distance.

He's here with a great mission.

Before coming, he and Zeng Guofan discussed many times and agreed that Jiujiang was a strategic point to defend the old nest of Hunan.

The geographical location of the Jiujiang River is very important.

The Jiujiang River is located in the north of the west of the Yangtze River, the south bank of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the northern foot of Lushan Mountain, the east shore of Poyang Lake, known as Xunyang and Chaisang in ancient times, and is the place where the soldiers of the past dynasties must fight.

From the beginning of the Qin Dynasty, Jiujiang County was set up, and there was a saying that "the river went to Xunyang and nine factions", so it was called Jiujiang, also known as Jiangzhou.

It is "the Xiangjiang River with the lake", the three provinces are to rush, if you want to dominate the hegemony, you must occupy the Jiujiang River, so the Jiujiang River is called "the gateway to the west of the country".

In addition to the military significance, Jiujiang is an important economic town because of the seven provinces and the merchants of the four rivers.

The Jiujiang River is blessed with unique transportation, which is not only the water traffic of Chongqing, Han, Ningbo and Shanghai, but also the port exchange terminal of Jiangxi, Hubei, Anhui and Hunan water and land transport, so Peng Xuelin and Zeng Guofan made up their minds to focus on the operation of the Jiujiang River.

Although Peng Xuelin is a military general, but the elegance has not diminished, after he came to Jiujiang, he conducted an investigation of the customs here.

Then he found out that the title of Jiujiang was originally based on the records of "Jiujiang Kongyin" and "crossing Jiujiang to Tangling" in "Shangshu Yugong".

But there are two interpretations.

One of them is "nine" is the largest number considered by the ancient Chinese, and the nine in "Jiujiang" means "the place where many waters gather", and "nine" is a virtual finger.

The other is "thinking that the nine waters of the lake and Han enter Peng Lize", that is, the place where the nine rivers converge, and "nine" is the real reference.

These nine waters are Ganjiang water, Po water, Yu Shui, Xiu Shui, Gan Shui, Xushui, Shu Shui, Nanshui, and Peng Shui.

These nine water sources all flow into the Yangtze River, and then flow through the waters of the Jiujiang River, and Poyang Lake and Jiangxi, Hubei, Anhui Province adjacent to the rivers converge, hundreds of rivers return to the sea, the water potential is vast, the river surface is magnificent.

Of course, although Peng Xuelin retains the bookish atmosphere, Peng Xuelin has no intention of appreciating them.

He knew that Zeng Guofan and his cadres, although they had sold their lives, still could not save the collapse of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

Throughout the country, all the territory of the Manchu Qing Dynasty has either been occupied by the army of the Heavenly Kingdom and has become the base of the Heavenly Kingdom, or it is in the stormy China, and it is not known when it will be taken away by the Heavenly Army.

The hapless Manchu Emperor was also driven out of the Dragon Court in Kyoto, and then he was defeated all the way, like a lost dog, and he couldn't live in fear.

In fact, now Peng Xuelin doesn't know whether this outlaw emperor is dead or alive.

However, Zeng Dashuai continued to be loyal to the monarch and kept the Qingqing, and he had nothing to say, just follow Dashuai.

The Suojiang Tower at his feet is also a building with a great history.

This is actually a building complex, including Jiangtian Lock Key Tower, that is, Suojiang Tower, Wenfeng Tower, that is, Huilong Tower, and many other attached buildings.

Except for the Suojiang Tower, which is intact, many of the other buildings are damaged.

After Peng Xuelin arrived, they were repaired one by one.

This is not because he is relying on the ancients, but because of strategic needs.

Because his entire defense is centered on this Suojiang Tower.

The reason why the Suojiang Tower is built here is because the terrain here is higher than other places, and because the river here is very complex, not only the water flow is turbulent, but also there are many turns, which often causes boat wrecks and deaths.

His barrage included the construction of castles along the river, which were thirty feet high and divided into thirty floors, each of which was equipped with bows and arrows, crossbows, flint muskets, and artillery of various calibers.

Among them, the most advanced artillery can shoot hundreds of pounds of shells two miles away.

The enormous power of this artillery reached an unprecedented level and could destroy a medium-sized warship with a single shot.

In addition to the fortresses on both sides of the river, the most important defensive measure is the barrage of the river.

These cables are made of the highest quality wrought iron and are about a foot in diameter!

In order to make the iron cable here, Zeng Guofan used his power to transfer all the steel from all over the country.

Not only is the Teso coarse, but also very numerous.

There are 999 in total!

This Peng Xuelin has a deep-rooted concept, the nine of Jiujiang, plus the consummation of ninety-nine, must make Jiujiang solid.

Now, looking far away from the railing, Peng Xuelin not only saw all his fortifications and barrages, but also kept looking downstream, where Peter's fleet was.

He and Peter were old rivals, and they fought many times, but none of them won.

But he's been defeated again and again, and this time it's another round.

Unlike before, this time it was not a battle of warships on the water, but on land, sitting on the extremely strong river fortifications, and Peter was still on the water.

"Look how you beat me this time!

Although Peng Xuelin is more cautious and will not be complacent, he still has a bit of a winning mentality this time.

It is no wonder that he thinks so, because in one of Peter's attempts not long ago, all five invading warships were intercepted, and in the end they were all hit by heavy artillery of the river defense, three were sunk on the spot, and two were seriously damaged.

And his barrage was not damaged at all.

Even the loss of ammunition is minimal!

The skill of those gunners was very numerous, and the position of those battleships was simpler than the usual practice, and the problem was solved with just one shell.

In the fleet of the Celestial Army, Peter was standing at the bow of the flagship, staring angrily at the obstacle in front of him.

As soon as he made contact, he caused the loss of five battleships, which made him both regretful and angry.

Such a loss, he has not yet experienced.

He wanted to mobilize all his firepower to destroy the iron cables, but then he thought about it.

Because when they were impacting just now, those battleships had opened fire and tried.

After a burst of artillery fire, the iron cables were unscathed.

As for the tall river fortifications, Peter also tried to bombard them with naval artillery.

However, as soon as he opened fire, he attracted the bombardment of their city defense heavy artillery, and he could not take the slightest advantage.

Now, Peter stood there, feeling helpless against such a bulky defense.

At a loss, McCor arrived.

As the greatest leader of the Heavenly Army, he will not come empty-handed!

Even Peter's brother, he was not empty-handed!

It turned out that Mai Ke came this time to kill two birds with one stone.

The first was to support Peter.

The second is to expand the connection between Hanzhong!

His arrival actually connected the southern trunk line of Hanzhong to the Yangtze River.

From this main line, Maike established a branch line to the east as far as the Jiujiang River.

When he arrived in Jiujiang, the first thing Mai Ke did was to build two taller castles on both sides of Peng Xuelin's tall castle of river fortifications! .

(To be continued.) )