Chapter 486 North-South Advance

Five days later, in the fifth year of the Yongli calendar, on the afternoon of the twelfth day of the seventh month.

In Shanyang County, Huai'an Prefecture, on the ocean outside a small harbor called Clam Harbor, a huge fleet suddenly came.

The Qing army stationed in this harbor numbered more than 100 people, and almost without a fight, the two large gunboats that entered the harbor first seized the wharf.

With the rapid landing of a squadron of special combat personnel, after the Qing troops who led the squadron were killed, the remaining 100 or so soldiers fled and surrendered.

Soon, the main force of the fleet entered the port, and more than 60 large and small warships gathered in the small harbor, including the "Qinzhou", there were six large gunboats of 1,000 tons.

At this moment, among the masts and sails, many sampans are busily shuttling back and forth, and the wharf is full of military flags fluttering, war horses whistling, and the bustling people everywhere, and the soldiers of the captive army are unloading ammunition, grain and grass, as well as military horses and various supplies to the shore.

Lin Xiao was in a private house, looking down at the map, while waiting for Zhang Chenfeng and Shi Lang to come to the meeting to discuss the next plan of action.

Five days ago, after he chose the address of the military academy in Gushan, Hangzhou, he originally wanted to go to the Yuewang Temple to pay his respects.

But I never thought that the main hall of Yue Wang Temple had already been ruined by the Tartars, and even the statue of Grandpa Yue was destroyed, and several stone tigers, stone sheep and stone horses displayed on both sides of the tomb were also crooked and dilapidated.

Under the tomb, the four iron-cast figures of Qin Hui, Wang, Zhang Jun, and Wan Qiao, who framed Grandpa Yue, were heavy and hard, but they were still kneeling in front of the tomb.

Lin Xiao was resentful of this, and his silver teeth clenched and stood up, and he left after a long time.

Fortunately, Li Tao said that he would immediately order someone to repair it to ensure that when the military academy opened, Yuewang Temple would be restored as before, and Lin Xiao was a little calmer.

Early the next morning, he said goodbye to Li Tao and Xia Bomin and left Hangzhou to go north.

After arriving at Chongming Island that night, he didn't even bother to inspect the defense, and the matter of building a factory in Shanghai was put aside for the time being, and after entrusting the affairs to Duan Zhenghong, he went north non-stop.

In this Northern Expedition, Lin Xiao's purpose was very clear - Yangzhou Mansion, Hongze Lake, and the south bank of the Yellow River in Huai'an Prefecture.

Although the time is not yet ripe for the resumption of Beijing and the large-scale march into North China, it is imperative to take over China's largest sea salt producer.

This move, in Lin Xiao's view, is not only to understand the urgent need of salt shortage in the south of the Yangtze River, but also to oppose the guest, drink the Yellow River, coerce Hong Chengchou, and protect the safety of Nanjing from the side.

Of course, there are also shortcomings of this operation, as a result, the little mobile force he has at hand will also be exhausted, and the war on the Indian subcontinent can only be delayed for a while.

Fortunately, Li Dingguo's thousand-mile expedition was not a day's work, and before Li Dingguo entered Burma, he eliminated the Nguyen clan of Annam, appeased the city of Zhancheng, threatened Zhenla and Siam, and had the help of Chen Qice's sailors, and only Ding Shuai's regiment was enough.

The telegram to Xiao Kaifeng and Xu Tianshi has been sent, and they have agreed to merge the second regiment into one regiment, and they will be able to leave their posts and return to China in the near future......

Fortunately, Lin Xiao's Southeast Asia strategy is resilient.

Small local states such as Siam, Chenla, and Burma can be appeased, as long as they are willing to submit to obedient vassals, and the effect is no worse than direct annexation.

Lin Xiao considered that it was tolerable to purchase rice in the Mekong River basin at a fair price, and even if he did not consider the trade of goods, the silver in Lin Xiao's hands was abundant at the moment.

Lin Xiao is confident that once Lao Zhou's industrial products are dumped in the past, no matter how much silver he has, he will come back sooner or later.

But there is one point, Lin Xiao specially instructed Ding Shuai - Da Nang, an excellent military port, must be swallowed.

Lin Xiao believes that even if we do not take into account the Western colonial powers such as Francois and Britain and France, which already have privileges there, deal with the suspicious and fickle indigenous people of Southeast Asia, and do not station strong armed forces here and Temasek, all the tactics of appeasement are empty words......

Judging from the enemy situation in his hands, although the treacherous and cunning Hong Chengchou still has more than 100,000 troops, after repeated defeats, he no longer dares to disperse the elite too much, and he concentrates the most effective elite Eight Banners under his command in the deep area of the rear, and the coastal areas along the river are almost all miscellaneous troops.

Judging from the map, in order to maintain pressure on Nanjing, in addition to the 20,000 Manchurian cavalry stationed in Chuzhou on the other side of the Tianfu, almost all of his elite cavalry were in Luzhou and Fengyang, and they had the posture of crossing the river to the north or fleeing west along the river at any time.

At present, although there are more than 10,000 Qing troops stationed in Yangzhou Prefecture, almost all of them are green battalion soldiers who have retreated from Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

The nominal commander of Yangzhou Mansion was none other than Chen Jin, the governor of Zhejiang and Fujian, who escaped from Hangzhou, and a green camp governor named Ma Jinbao.

The funny thing is that perhaps he was frightened before, Chen Jin hid far away in Zhishanyang County, Huai'an Prefecture, while the prosperous Yangzhou let Ma Jinbao sit in charge......

After weighing it, Lin Xiao decided to divide his troops into two routes, adopting the strategy of advancing north and south along the coastal road and the canal.

Since Yangzhou Prefecture Zhijiangdu County is very close to the Yangtze River, Lin Xiao decided to send a partial division to feint to attack Yangzhou.

This time, in addition to the army, Shi Lang's sailors more than 100 warships all went into battle, Lin Xiao ordered Shi Lang's deputy Chen Liuyu to lead 30 small warships, carrying 1,000 soldiers, all the way north from the canal, feint to attack Yangzhou, and ordered He Shouxin to lead the guard company and board the "Beagle" to help.

According to Lin Xiao's meaning, the main task of this road is to contain it, attack if it can be attacked, and if it can't be attacked, it is only necessary to make the movement bigger and confront the Qing army near Yangzhou.

Lin Xiao himself personally led the other five main warships, with Zhang Chenfeng's cavalry regiment as the main force, and cooperated with Shi Lang's main fleet, directly north to land at the mouth of the Yellow River, and then advanced by land and water, all the way to capture the towns on the south bank of the Yellow River, and turned south from Hongze Lake.

……

"Master Hou, Master Shi and Head Zhang are here."

Lin Xiao was pondering, and Situ was coming in to report.

"Invite them in."

Shi Lang walked into the big tent first, hugged his fists and bowed: "Master Hou, the end is coming." ”

Zhang Chenfeng followed the stride in and saluted: "Commander-in-chief-"

Lin Xiao raised his head and waved his hand, signaling that they didn't have to be polite.

"How's the soldiers?"

Lin Xiao asked Zhang Chenfeng first.

"I sat on the boat for too long, and my body was a little stiff, but I went ashore and had a drill, and I moved my body, which was much better."

"Is there a sick number?"

"More than twenty, the symptoms are not serious."

"General Shi, how is the situation of your department?"

"Back to the Hou Ye, the morale is high, and there are few sick numbers."

"Well, okay,"

Lin Xiao smiled and nodded, pointing to the map and said, "The reconnaissance team came back just now, and it has been confirmed that the Qing army did not have many heavy artillery pieces at Yunti Pass, and only found three or four. ”

After landing, Lin Xiao decided to divide his troops into two ways again.

The main force of Zhang Chenfeng's cavalry regiment took a warship, and with the cooperation of Shi Lang, went up the Yellow River and smashed Chen Jin's old nest - Shanyang County, and at the same time, troops were stationed all the way to defend the towns and strongholds on the south bank of the Yellow River.

After the goal of the campaign was achieved, the main force of Zhang Chenfeng's regiment swung south along the canal, attacked Baoying and Gaoyou all the way, and approached Yangzhou, aiming to eliminate the main force of the Qing army in Yangzhou.

The main force of Shi Lang's fleet remained on the east bank of Hongze Lake, responsible for monitoring the Qing army on the north bank of the Yellow River.

On the other hand, Lin Xiao personally led the special operations brigade and the Duan Zhenghong machine artillery battalion on this trip, directly along the coastline to the south, all the way to Yancheng, Rugao, Tongzhou and other places, the main purpose of which was the salt field.

(End of chapter)