Chapter 496 Some Changes in the Qing Army

After the recovery of Andong City, Zhang Chenfeng did not immediately take advantage of the victory to march.

It was not early, so he decided to stay here for one night, so that the soldiers could eat and drink enough, sleep well, and start tomorrow morning to continue to the city of Huai'an Mansion Shanyang.

In fact, taking Anton, the stronghold on the north shore, is not all right, and some things need to be deployed in time.

There were only a few strongholds on the north bank of the Yellow River, while the vast area on the south bank, with the collapse of the Qing army, needed to be mainly stationed with Shi Lang's people.

In addition, the oppressed people everywhere also need to be appeased.

If the counties on the south bank cannot be quickly controlled, once the unmanaged people start to riot, it will inevitably affect the next step of military work and greatly limit the strength of the cavalry regiment.

It is necessary to occupy Shanyang and Hongze Lake as soon as possible and ensure control over the area on the east bank of the canal, and at the same time to "appease the people" and ensure the stability of the people's minds; these are the two major tasks facing Zhang Chenfeng and Shi Lang.

From Yunti Pass to Hongze Lake, the south bank of the Yellow River is a flat river, and there is basically no danger to defend.

Although the turbulent river made it difficult to cross the moat itself, as long as a small group of Qing troops secretly crossed the river, it was enough to cause panic among the people......

Next to the water division camp, there are several temple buildings, and Zhang Chenfeng's temporary headquarters is located in Nengren Temple.

Bordered by the Yellow River in the south and the beautiful Ripple Lake in the east, this temple is also one of Andong's famous attractions.

In order not to disturb the monks in the temple, the temporary headquarters kept everything simple.

The soldiers of the guard squad set up a conference table in the main hall and hung a map, which was considered the headquarters......

"Have all the troops arrived?"

Zhang Chenfeng looked at the map and asked.

"The first battalion and the troops directly under the regimental headquarters have arrived, and the rest of the troops are going ashore in turn."

The guard reported.

"It's too slow,"

Zhang Chenfeng frowned slightly and asked, "What about General Shi's second echelon?" ”

"On the way, they are going to clean up the battlefield and gather the unowned enemy ships that are intact."

"Have all the surrendered Tartar generals been brought here?"

"It's all out there."

There are not many officials who surrendered, there is only one civil official, and among the military attachés, the highest official is only a guerrilla, and they are all minor officials.

"Tell them to wait in the courtyard, set up the radio, and I'm going to talk to the commander-in-chief."

"Yes!"

There was a new situation, and Zhang Chenfeng felt that he had to report it to the boss in time.

When breaking through the defense of Yunti Pass, Zhang Chenfeng found that compared with the period of the Battle of Liangguang, the Qing army had undergone some changes in some tactics and equipment.

Judging from the water battle of the Yellow River, the Qing army, when it did not have an advantage in strength, changed its previous style of only settling big accounts and fighting in a stupid way, and began to take the initiative to attack with a small force.

Judging from the seizures, in addition to artillery, although the green battalion soldiers here are still mainly cold weapons, and there are very few musketeers, they are all equipped with newly made firearms.

It seems that the course of history began to deviate somewhat, and due to the extremely unfavorable military situation, the Qing court, which had no one in its sights, began to relax restrictions on the manufacture of firearms by miscellaneous armies in various places.

Importantly, this new batch of muskets is no longer the old-fashioned bird-gun and pistol, but similar to the Franco-machine arquebus, with greatly improved range and accuracy......

This made Zhang Chenfeng realize that although the combat effectiveness of these green battalions was unbearable, there was still no shortage of "people of insight" within them, and they quickly explored ways to improve their combat equipment and tactics at a low technical level.

Although these improvements are really insignificant in terms of the advantages of the captive army, it is still possible to cause some damage to the captive army under certain favorable times and terrain, not to mention teams like Shi Lang and Wang Xing, who are also backward in equipment.

Zhang Chenfeng felt that this was a new trend that could not be ignored, and he should remind Lin Xiao that he must be prepared accordingly, at least to speed up the manufacture of "medium formal" rifles.

In the unlikely event that the Tartars did not hesitate to spend money and obtained Western flintlock technology from some source, it would have significantly increased the casualties of the troops - for the second-line troops, the flintlock pistol was still somewhat threatening......

……

"There are still more than thirty miles from Shanyang,"

After Shi Lang arrived, Zhang Chenfeng immediately suggested, "How about the whole army stay in Andong tonight and fight again tomorrow?" ”

He estimated that he would arrive in Shanyang tomorrow afternoon, and before dark, Shi Lang's fleet would be able to sail into Hongze Lake.

Shi Lang naturally agreed.

In his opinion, it is natural for the army to stay overnight.

His men and the thousands of migrant workers were in the process of maneuvering by boat all day.

It is necessary to march by boat, but if you do not move your body for a long time, you will inevitably have blood discord and stiff muscles.

In addition, the extent of the losses of the two destroyed warships also requires a detailed understanding and timely disposal of the remains of the fallen soldiers.

More importantly, they also have to negotiate and divide their troops to garrison various places downstream......

The main task of sending troops to various towns on the south bank of the Yellow River was to suppress bandits and appease the people, and to organize migrant workers to set up some logistical military stations, and there was no major battle to be fought.

According to the plan, stationing in these places is mainly his Shi Lang's responsibility.

This regiment commander Zhang has already divided his troops to defend the stronghold on the north bank, and his army will return to the south to attack the main force of the Tartars in Yangzhou.

However, Shi Lang has happy troubles in his heart - the troops at hand are really a little stretched.

Shi Lang knew very well that in this northern expedition, the territory that the Marquis of Qinchuan took them to recover was much larger than the big man where his prince was.

This salt-producing area is not only large, but also involves the livelihood of the people of several surrounding provinces, and is almost the lifeblood of both the enemy and us.

In this case, will the Tartars be willing to give up?

With a slight relaxation, Hong Chengchou, who is close at hand, may suddenly counterattack at any time.

Therefore, the main duty of his fleet is to cruise at the mouth of Hongze Lake and guard against threats from Fengyang Mansion and the upper reaches of the Yellow River.

In this way, each of his warships, in addition to the sailors, was equipped with at least twenty men, and roughly calculated, more than sixty warships needed at least 1,200 men.

However, there were more than 3,000 people under his command, but after Chen Liuyu divided his troops, even if he added the sailors of each ship, there were only more than 2,000 people left.

And his 500 Iron Man Army cannot be dispersed, and must remain in Shanyang City as a whole as a general reserve for the defense of depth.

In this way, the number of troops that he can divide is very small—at best, thirty or fifty men can be stationed in each town......

"Can we only garrison a few key towns and focus on defense in depth?"

Listening to Shi Lang's bitter water, Zhang Chenfeng groaned and made a suggestion, "My people are all cavalry, once something happens, the speed of rushing to help is very fast......"

Zhang Chenfeng thought to himself that his own troops were not sufficient.

One company has already been retained at the mouth of the Yellow River in Clam Harbor and at the mouth of the Yellow River, and Andong and Qinghe County will each send another company, so that he will have two main battalions left at hand.

Even if you add the reconnaissance company, machine gun company, and baggage company, as well as a headquarters machine gun company that Lin Xiao strengthened for him, there are only more than 2,000 people in total.

However, his subsequent tasks were much heavier than Shi Lang's.

(End of chapter)