Section 175 The road to the town of Sanliang

Jiang Suo was her junior brother, and she knew that this junior brother was very interesting to her. But the junior brother xiǎo is four years old, and she can only be regarded as a half-grown xiǎo guy. She is reluctant to marry a man who is more xiǎo than herself. It was delayed like this.

However, she didn't dare to reveal this affection to anyone, even Jiang Niang, who was closest to her on weekdays. This is not only wishful thinking, but even if it can be successful, it will end up in a bad situation. The sisters who traveled with me were also coveted by the big gentry and took concubines, and most of the results were not good. Either being disliked by others can only endure humiliation, or being abandoned after being tired of playing.

Sanliang's preparations are in full swing, but Shi Zhiqi is living a good life in Shiwan. After the conquest of Shiwan, he did not continue his march - the waterways in this area were intricate, and there were no ready-made navigation charts. From the mouths of the local people and the captive villagers, I also learned that Sanliang Town, which is not far from here, is tightly guarded. Shi Zhiqi asked the detachment to be stationed in Shiwan, and on the one hand, it liquidated the big households that organized the township braves, and on the other hand, it approved the "reasonable burden" to confiscate the property of the "hostile elements".

He set up the headquarters of the detachment at the east end of Shiwan, near the harbor, in the ancestral hall of a large family, where the houses were neat and there was a huā garden. Not only is it comfortable and convenient to live, but it is also close to the troops and easy to command-- as soon as there is any wind and grass, you can board the ship and set off. Shi Zhiqi sent a number of spies to inquire about the news -- most of these spies were poor people in the Pearl River Delta region who had taken refuge in the last month. Everywhere the detachment went, in addition to demanding that the villages and towns bear a "reasonable burden," it would give the seized rice and silver to the victims of the disaster and shelter orphans and the poor. There were more and more of these people, so much so that every ten days, Shi Zhiqi had to send a ship to transport these people to Hu Mén, and then Hu Mén would transfer them to the purification camp on Hong Kong Island.

Some of them stayed in the squad and moved with the army. They were organized into separate teams, armed with captured knives and guns, and served as laborers with the army, and the more astute ones were sent out to act as spies with a certain degree of loyalty, and went around collecting all kinds of information.

Local spies have many advantages in their activities, at least not in their words. It doesn't matter how many you lose in the operation. Shi Zhiqi relied on the activities of the spies to clearly grasp the movements of the people within a radius of dozens of miles.

Every day, all sorts of people flock to his headquarters. Most of them were poor people who came to beg the Australians to "fight the big households," and some of them came to complain -- since they hanged the well-known gentry and bullies in several places, the number of people who came to complain and complain has greatly increased, and some even came from more than 100 miles away.

Some people brought not only paper, but also "evidence" such as bloody clothes and bloody knives, and some people carried paper with dense inscriptions, which were full of the font size of a certain big family, how many fields, how many treasures were hidden, and so on. It looks mouth-watering. Every time Shi Zhiqi saw this kind of paper, he couldn't help but want to take someone to "fight local tyrants" in person. It's not that he's greedy for money and treasures, but that the sight of a lot of goods being carried out in front of him makes him feel heartfelt. And the more captured, the more credit will be worth when evaluating the merits after the war.

However, there are policy restrictions on the seizure of the property of large households, and the Government Council strictly prohibits "cracking down on local tyrants" beyond the scope, and in addition to the organizers and leaders of the group exercises, the main thing is to severely crack down on local bullies and landlords. So the range that can be hit is not large.

There are quite a few people who come to sue the "bully landlord". Shi Zhiqi was very interested in being the "Lord of the Blue Sky" at first, but after meeting the people for a day, he was no longer willing to engage in any "on-site office". Shi Zhiqi didn't know whether it was good or not. He simply put the matter on the civil and intelligence officers, hid in the backyard and roamed around in a special way, and met with the landlords from the four towns, who were all afraid of the terrible power of the "thieves" and came to give gifts and ask for haode.

Shi Zhiqi felt that instead of facing a group of tattered and hateful people and listening to their accusations, it was better to sit comfortably in the Taishi chair and talk to the smiling big families, drink tea, and take a look at their gift list before accepting it. The double harvest of jīng divine matter.

The things sent were piled up, from gold and silver treasures, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, silk and satin cloth, to rice, pigs and sheep, and even maids and children. Shi Zhiqi accepted it all. Although it is all jiāo gong, the feeling of being valued is pleasant. All kinds of belongings are piled up under the eaves of the various courtyards of the ancestral hall, just waiting for the ship to transfer them.

Due to the large number of ships and personnel of the detachment being used to transport booty and population, the military operation against Sanliang was postponed for a few more days, and it was not until October 25 that Shi Zhiqi's E detachment officially began the military operation.

At this time, the E detachment, which participated in the operation, was strengthened to a certain extent, with a strength of more than three hundred people, more than twenty sampans and long dragons. Because I heard that the enemy was conducting blockage operations in the river, the shallowest draft of the xiǎo-type sampan without a deck was brought with a few more to pass through the blockage.

After Shi Zhiqi's fleet set off from Shigang, it walked four or five miles and turned into the river to Sanliang. The terrain here surprised Shi Zhiqi. The river becomes narrow, averaging less than 20 meters, and there is a large amount of aquatic plants along the shore, and from time to time you will encounter patches of xiǎo forests. He realized that the terrain of the area was very conducive to the enemy's organization of an attack on the ships on the banks of the river - the enemy could approach the river from both sides of the river at the same time and attack the boats in the narrow channel with bows and arrows and firearms, inflicting heavy casualties.

"Order the Trees of Each Ship to Raise Protective Plates"

The protective plate was a relatively recent addition to the sampan - a protective device made against the attacks of bows and arrows and artillery weapons encountered by the detachments in the previous stage of inland river operations.

It resembles a large rectangular shield, with brackets and hinges that can be densely arranged on either side of the sampan and the long dragon. It was used to protect the sailors and soldiers on the ship. This protective plate is wrapped in iron sheets, which can withstand all bows and arrows, bird guns, and most of the xiǎo-type earthen cannons. Soldiers can effectively protect their torso by hiding behind protective plates, while not hindering shè blows and observation.

However, when the protective plates were erected, the speed of sailing was greatly reduced, the boat became cumbersome, and it was necessary to row forward with more force. Therefore, it is generally only supported in the face of battle, and if the enemy does not have strong firepower, the commanders prefer not to use this protection to make the ship more flexible.

Shi Zhiqi's judgment was not wrong, Luo Tianqiu, under the advice of several martial artists, specially selected a number of Xiangyong who were good at shè arrows from among the village warriors, led by a special person, lurking on both sides of the river, waiting for an opportunity to attack the thief's ship as a harassment. And where the shipwreck and the laying of wooden stakes to block the river, Luo Tianqiu ambushed the Xiǎo team Xiang Yong, who was armed with xiǎo cannons, bird guns, and bows and arrows. It is believed that thieves may not be able to clear blockages - because they have many sampans and can easily pass through blockages. But they will inevitably slow down as they pass through these places, and at this time, the townsfolk who are lying in ambush nearby will fire their cannons and arrows together, inflicting a lot of casualties on the thieves on board.

"Send a group of sharp soldiers to search on both sides of the river and cover the passage of the fleet" Shi Zhiqi gave the order, and then the caretaker brought his steel helmet - if an arrow flew out of the river bank at this time, the possibility of death was very high.

Four groups of spearheads landed on both sides of the river, searching for jiāo on the banks of the river to cover the passage of the fleet. They soon caught fire with the Xiang Yong who were in ambush in the reeds and woods, and the reconnaissance, stealth, and observation training of the spearheads allowed them to spot the unconscious Xiang Yong from a great distance and quickly annihilate them. Since the operation was not a covert sneak attack, Shi Zhiqi did not ask for the clearance to be quiet - he just wanted to quickly and safely cover the passage of the fleet through the river.

In this way, once the spearhead found an ambush of the villagers, they used rifles to fire from a distance, and in the sporadic gunfire, the villagers on both sides of the strait were quickly eliminated. The living did not dare to stay on the shore and fled back.

After walking in the winding river for more than two hours, the spearheads finally encountered a large group of Xiangyong for the first time, and with the support of the ship's cannons, this group of Xiangyong quickly fled, leaving behind a number of ménxiǎo earthen cannons. Shi Zhiqi found that he could not move on. The sampan had already grazed to the bottom - they had encountered the first line of blockage.

The sailors who were familiar with the water on the boat went into the water to explore the mō and found that a blockage had been set in the river with three rows of wooden piles, which were so thick that they almost came out of the water. Even the sampan could barely pull through the top of the stake. Sometimes the soldiers on board also had to disembark to reduce the waterline.

"Put a rope on the stake and row hard"

It's a rudimentary practice, but it's been effective in real combat. In the 16th century, when the Spanish conquered Mexico City, they used this method to remove wooden stakes that the Mexicans had dug in the lake around Mexico City.

The rope was quickly fastened to the stake, and several sampans were paddled at the same time. The rope was dragged straight, the stern of the sampan was half-sunk, and the stake remained unmoved.

They then tried several stakes, but none of them were uprooted like the Spaniards. One sampan almost capsized.

"Strange, that's not what the Spaniards do?" Shi Zhiqi scratched his head, feeling a little embarrassed. He had heard this knowledge come from others, and he hadn't read the original book, so he didn't know that the Spaniards used a much larger tonnage brig when pulling out wooden stakes.

Seeing that he hadn't made any progress when he had spent more than a month, Shi Zhiqi decided not to waste time on it. He neither had the right tools nor enough manpower to clear the underwater obstacles, so he had to go over them and move on. But then all the dragons can only stay outside the obstacles, and only the sampan can move on. And the artillery is all assumed on the Long Dragon.

Shi Zhiqi ordered the 12-pounder mountain grenades to be disassembled and scattered on the sampan, which was too shallow to carry too many shells, so the 2mén gun carried only 40 shells, half solid and half shotgun. He then ordered a few men to remain to guard the boat, while the others dragged the sampans over the stakes one by one and continued on their way.

After walking more than two miles, the spearmen again had a jiāo fire with the Xiang Yong guarding the blocking line, and at this time the artillery could not support the shè attack, and the spearmen of only one squad were soon unable to withstand the fierce attack of more than 100 Xiang Yong with bows and arrows and earthen cannons, and were forced to retreat. The villagers rushed very close to the sampan before being repelled by rifle fire from the sampan. But they did not withdraw from the blockade, but only withdrew from the effective range of the Minny rifles, waiting for an opportunity to continue the attack.

Shi Zhiqi once wanted to let the troops go ashore and march, so as not to be able to effectively exert their firepower on the ship, and it would be difficult to conceal -- it was simply a live target. But when he himself climbed the riverbank, he was astonished. There is no land at all, there are rivers, ponds, and rice paddies everywhere. In some of the river mouths and embankments, it is clear that simple temporary bridges were once erected, but they have all been demolished by now. It took a lot of time for the troops to abandon their ships and go ashore and march on foot, just to build bridges along the way. He had no choice but to order his troops to continue their advance by boat.

In this way, they continued to advance in the mutual blows, and the resistance encountered became more and more intense. It was discovered that the thieves could not use artillery, and the villagers also became rampant. When the sampans tried to cross the blockade, the townsmen struck with earthen cannons and bows and arrows, and did not drive them away until the sailors landed on the river bank and charged. The battle across the river blockade line was one after another, and the townsmen took advantage of the fact that each time the flotilla was blocked and stalled, and the river could not exert its firepower, the arrows and arrows and the cannons of birds and earths rained down, and although there were not many casualties, they greatly delayed the advance of the detachment - the total waterway was less than ten miles, and the detachment walked for almost a morning. During this period, one person died and 10 were injured. Another sampan was grazed through the bottom of the boat while dragging over a stake, leaking and sinking.

Shi Zhiqi's face was blue, this embarrassment was also too big The E detachment was involved in the battle along the Pearl River, attacking the village all the way, and there were no casualties or ship losses, and now he was actually killed by Xiang Yong, and it was too ugly to sink a sampan back and go back.

At this moment, the front sampan opened fire again. He hurriedly raised his binoculars. Several of the leading sampans were already shrouded in smoke from the Minnie rifles. Only the flame of the rifle fired in the smoke could be seen. The gongs and drums on the river bank shook the sky, and many people were shouting and screaming, and there was an uproar. Suddenly, a cloud of smoke rose from the trees, and with a thunderclap, many columns of water crackled on the surface of the river. Some of the pieces of iron hit the protective plate on the sampan, making a clanging sound.

"Fire in the direction of the smoke," shouted the non-commissioned officers on the nearby sampan, directing the direction of the shè strike, and a dozen Mini rifles simultaneously fired into the smoke-rising bushes, the sound of gunfire and bullets tearing through the branches and leaves. The screams of the people were in a heap. Shi Zhiqi nervously observed the river bank with binoculars, and several sampans had already rowed to the river bank without waiting for orders, allowing the sailors to land and drive out the enemy.

Dense feathered arrows flew out of the bushes, and the sailors shrank their heads behind the protective plates, which were densely packed with feathered arrows. From time to time, there were also a few roars of birds. The iron hit the protective plate with a "bang" sound. The sailors poked out their guns from behind the protective plate and kept firing. After a few minutes of jiāo fire, the shore gradually stopped shèring and slowly fell silent.

After driving away the villagers, the fleet slowly passed the blockage line, and there was a bend in the river in front of it. The river narrowed. The current is fast. The banks become steep. The first sampan approached the bank of the river to avoid the current in the center of the river, when several figures suddenly jumped out of the grass on the bank and pushed a black object onto the sampan.

Before Shi Zhiqi could scream, a cloud of smoke rose from the first sampan and exploded.

Almost at the same time, the sampan behind them was shot at the same time, the grass was beaten to the point that the branches and leaves flew away, and a villager was shot from the river bank and fell into the river.

The other sampans hurried in. The bombed sampan is still floating on the water. The protective plates on both sides and part of the hull of the ship were blown away, and more than a dozen sailors and sailors on the ship fell to the bottom of the ship, one by one dripping with blood. There was a person who probably had an explosive exploding in his arms, and a hole was blown open in his stomach, and all the dark red internal organs came out. A bloody scorch and smoke filled the air.

"Ten thousand enemies," a naval officer shouted.

The 10,000 enemies are firearms native to China: bombs made of clay jars, with seven or eight catties of black fire in them, plus various pieces of iron, xiǎo stones and porcelain pieces, etc., are lit and thrown from the city when they are used, and the killing effect is very considerable according to the standards of the time, and it is a sharp weapon for guarding the walled city. However, the "10,000 enemies" are so heavy that they cannot be used as grenades at all. No one thought that Xiang Yong Mén would be used in the field.

I didn't expect that they would take advantage of the terrain characteristics of the cliff on the river bank, and when the ships passed by, they directly pushed down the 10,000 enemies and blew them up impartially. This thing exploded on the crowded xiǎo sampan. The power can be imagined.

All eleven people on the sampan were killed in this sneak attack, and all weapons were destroyed. Heavy losses. After the marines landed, they only found a few corpses of Xiang Yong who had been shot and killed by Luàn nearby.

"Rely on" Shi Zhiqi waved the command knife angrily, "Kill into Sanliang City, and the dog will not stay"