June 22, 1680, was the third day after the Great War. Lieutenant Colonel Júneo sat firmly in a mountain tea shop, enjoying a fairly hearty breakfast with the army while discussing things with his subordinates.

Bogdan, the commander of the Second Division of the Zhejiang New Army, wiped his mouth with a towel, took a sip of tea from the teacup at hand, and then said: "Commander-in-chief, the results have basically come out." In yesterday's battle, the Qing army lost more than 13,000 people, including more than 8,000 prisoners. The four or five thousand Qing troops who stayed in Yuyao surrendered directly to the 11th mixed battalion in desperation, and withdrew from the fortifications and fortresses that were guarded. ”

"Yuyao County has been taken, Shangyu County has now been breached, and half of Shaoxing Mansion has been mastered by me." Lieutenant Colonel Junio smiled slightly when he heard this, and said, "I thought that this battle would be won in advance, but I didn't expect it to be won so neatly. Your second division played the main role in this battle, and it was very good, very good! Master Bo is a general, and he is very disciplined in dealing with the battle, and I am very relieved that the southern development team will have you in the future. ”

After that, without waiting for Bogdan to say anything more, Junio stood up and said, "Yuyao has been broken, and there is nothing for us here for a while." Today we will rest for another day, and all departments will start early next morning, return to Shangyu County, and join all departments. ”

"Commander-in-chief, what about after the convergence? Do you want to cross the river and go west? Bogdan asked about his concerns. And this issue is also the focus of many other people's attention, and more than a dozen staff officers who were eating silently in the restaurant also pricked up their ears at this time to listen to what Ru Dashuai thought about next.

"Let's see. First gathered the Niu, Xie, and Dong departments, and then went to the wharf of Baiguan Town to supply grain, grass, ammunition and various military supplies. As for whether or not to go west, I have to think about it again. By the way, what happened to the secondment of the 11th Mixed Battalion to participate in the operation? Is there any news coming? Captain Ma agrees or disagrees? Junio asked suddenly.

The 11th Mixed Battalion is a regular unit on the east bank of the territory under the jurisdiction of the Southern Pioneer Brigade (occasionally transferred to Liaodong or the Outer Northeast for temporary operations), with a full strength of 1,450 people, and Jingjiang County is used as the recruiting place for soldiers. The battalion was commanded by Major Li Zhixin, who arrived in the Far East in 1679 to replace the 10th Mixed Battalion, which had served in the Far East for many years.

The 11th Mixed Battalion of the Qing Army, which attacked Yuyao County this time, performed well and played a great role, leading a servant division and the 5th Division of the Zhejiang New Army (less than 5,000 people have just been recruited) that came in the later period, giving great pressure to the Qing army. After the main force of the Yuyao Qing army retreated westward and was completely annihilated by the troops led by Lieutenant Colonel Júneo on the edge of the Yao River, they successfully collected and surrendered thousands of Qing troops who had long been unwilling to fight, and took over Yuyao County. At present, the ministry is stationed in Yuyao County and has not yet received an order for the next move.

Lieutenant Colonel Júnio is the commander of the 7th Mixed Battalion, and naturally knows very well how strong the combat effectiveness of a well-equipped and perennially trained elite unit like them is, so he suddenly had the idea of transferring the unit to his command sequence and marching west to attack the city of Shaoxing together. Liu Jianguo of Denglai still temporarily authorized him to mobilize any army on the ground in Ningbo, including the 11th Mixed Battalion.

If nothing else, Ma Wenqiang's approval of the 11th Mixed Battalion to the west should not be much of a problem, because this will Yuyao, Shangyu, Shengxian, Xinchang and other places have all been captured, and Ningbo Mansion has instantly become a large rear, and there is no longer a need for many troops to defend it. Units such as the Third Division of the Servant Army stationed in Cixi and the Fifth Division of the Zhejiang New Army stationed in Fenghua can actually be transferred west to participate in a possible major war.

However, considering that Ningbo has been under construction for many years, has a large population and a relatively developed economy, it really can't afford any mistakes. Therefore, it is still necessary to leave some necessary troops to garrison various key points. Therefore, Lieutenant Colonel Júneo named the 11th Mixed Battalion without asking for the 3rd Division of the Servant Army and the 5th Division of the Zhejiang New Army to be transferred westward, which is unrealistic and unlikely to be passed.

As for why the 11th Mixed Battalion was mobilized. In fact, it is also very simple, that is, it is combined with the 7th mixed battalion to form a strategic general reserve, which is put into battle at a critical moment, and uses its long range and high accuracy to carry out a dense volley of guns on the Qing army encountered, and play a decisive role. You must know that on the west bank of the Cao'e River on the opposite side, most of the Qing troops have already arrived, and there is a cavalry brigade, and the combat effectiveness should not be underestimated.

And now with the existence of two mixed battalions of 3,000 people, in the future big battle with the Qing army - if there is - will become a formidable force, whether it is to destroy the enemy and break the front or flank surprise attack, I believe that the Qing army has no way to take them, it is simply the winner and loser on the battlefield, how can you not take it with you?

On the afternoon of June 24, Júnio led his army back to Shangyu County, which had been completely conquered. That night, Major Li Zhixin arrived in Shangyu County with all the 11th Mixed Battalion, and officially came under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Junio. After consulting with the generals, Lieutenant Colonel Júneo finally made up his mind to cross the river and march westward, intending to march his whole army the next day and arrive at the Baiguanzhen Wharf on the east bank of the Cao'e River, replenish water and ammunition, and collect ships—most of the original civilian boats were destroyed by the Qing army, and there were only a few small steamers from Ningbo, which were not enough—waiting for the opportunity to force the Cao'e River, march westward, and occupy Shaoxing Province.

On June 25, after leaving an infantry regiment to guard the county town of Shangyu and collecting grain and grass in the surrounding areas, Lieutenant Colonel Junio led nearly 23,000 men (3,000 men from the Ding Jisuo Division of the 10th Division of the Servant Army had been rebuilt) to arrive at the Baiguanzhen Wharf and join the few naval personnel who stayed there. At this time, the number of shallow river gunboats stationed at this temporary wharf had increased to eight, and the relatively shallow draft of 72-ton and small river steamers had already been four.

"Why only four small steamers? That's too little, right? As soon as he arrived at the docks, Lieutenant Commander Júneo was very dissatisfied, and asked the cooperating naval officer: "Four small steamers can carry a few hundred people at a time." How many days will you transport my 20,000 or 30,000 troops, as well as a lot of grain, grass, ammunition, equipment, artillery, war horses, and other supplies? Besides, you don't have enough coal here, so how did you plan before the war? ”

"Commander-in-chief, wait two more days, and we can still send three small steamers over. There is no way, there are a total of ten small steamers in the jurisdiction of the Southern Pioneer Team, two of which were sunk by the Qing army fort at the mouth of the Cao'e River, and one was overhauled in the dock in Dinghai County, and only seven of them can be used in total, and they have all been used now. At that time, we planned to use a 'Yaxa'-class armed transport ship to transport coal, but who would have thought that after we surveyed the water level, we found that the sediment in the lower reaches of the Cao'e River was serious, and it was impossible to walk the big ship with a deep draft, so the plan ran aground. The naval officer was a little anxious when he heard this, and immediately explained.

"Why don't you want to requisition some small sailing boats from Ningbo with shallow drafts?" Junio asked again.

"We have also requisitioned a few small sailing boats, and they were sunk by the Qing army fort outside the Cao'e River before. It's just that these wooden sailboats, riding the southeast wind to sail to the mouth of the Cao'e River are already very reluctant, if they enter the upper reaches of the river upstream, it is really impossible. The naval officer explained: "We are now trying to find some small sailing boats with rocking boats, but it is more difficult and there may not be many of them. Moreover, when this kind of ship sailed into the Cao'e River, it was afraid that the speed was extremely slow under the headwind and water, and it could only become a live target for the Qing army's forts, and it is estimated that few ships could be retained. ”

"You mean I'll wait until winter?" Lieutenant Colonel Junio's face instantly darkened, and he didn't pay attention to the uneasy naval officer, but walked further to the river, looked at the shadowy Qing army flags on the other side of the river, and only after a long time sighed and said: "This battle is really annoying!" Anyway, there is only another way. Contact the staff officer, give me orders, and the whole army will prepare for evacuation, and evacuate in turn after nightfall. Be careful, don't make too much noise! After evacuating, the whole army went south, interrogated local guides, found a suitable place for landing, and rushed to cross the Cao'e River. I don't believe that the Qing army can block it over such a long distance! ”

When the people heard this, they all responded. Everyone understands that only more than 20,000 people crossed the river this time, and the number of Qing troops on the other side of the river is not much, perhaps twice or even three times that of them, and the number of muskets and artillery must be quite a lot, and the combat effectiveness should also be there. The advantage that the people on the east coast now have is nothing more than the large number of light field artillery, and they have just won the battle, and their morale is rising.

However, the Qing army has been fighting with the East Coast for so many years, and they should have a deep memory of the characteristics of the yellow-clothed thieves' "sharp guns", and if they didn't really have no choice, they should not be inclined to engage in field battles with the East Coast people. After all, the troops on the east coast come and go like the wind, often landing from the sea, and the troops that are hastily assembled are not large in number, have poor guns, and lack artillery, so they will naturally be defeated and lost when they start a field battle.

The Qing army's best way to give full play to its advantages was to rely on the fortified city and use artillery to fight a big battle with the attacking east coast army. Just like the army they have stationed in Yuyao County for many years, they have built a large number of forts and placed more than 100 large and small artillery, and the people on the east coast are attacking head-on, and it is also a headache, and it is impossible to make an inch without paying heavy casualties - the artillery of the Qing army is actually not much less than that of the people on the east coast in terms of quantity (before the first Opium War in history, even in the peaceful era when the horses were put into Nanshan and the knives and guns were put into storage, the number of active artillery pieces in the Manchu Qing Dynasty exceeded 5,000, which is a number that frightens people to death), And they have attached great importance to the role of artillery since the time of old slaves. In the battle of the Hunhe River, the captured Ming army artillery bombarded the formation of the Zhejiang army, and after the Huangtaiji era, the three miners in Liaodong carried a large number of casting talents to vote, and the Manchu artillery casting industry was still very developed. Since then, he has entered the customs many times, and all the fortified cities have been broken by heavy artillery to collapse the city wall, such as the collapse of the Taiyuan city wall in 1644 is a classic example.

However, the artillery of the Qing army had a fatal flaw, that is, with the same power, it was often much heavier than the people on the east coast, so that it could not move. Moreover, their thinking of casting cannons is also very rigid, and most of them are 18-pounder naval guns, which are used for siege purposes, and there are few light guns used in field battles, and this problem is also slowly improved after the introduction of a large number of military instructors from the United Provinces, England, and Portugal.

But in any case, the number of light army field guns used in the Qing army camp is not very large, which may be related to the slow transformation of their military production system. Even the occasional field artillery was far inferior to the East Coast in caliber, range, quality, and life, so it was really too much of a loss to fight a field war when the two sides were in equal numbers, so they have always tried to avoid doing so.

However, when defending the city, this disadvantage no longer exists. Just like Yuyao County, there is no problem for the Qing army to place a large number of artillery at the head of the fortress, and there is no need to move anyway, just shoot at the people on the east coast, who is afraid of whom! In the Qing Dynasty, we had artillery casting workshops in Jinzhou, Beijing, Kaifeng, Xi'an, Xiangyang, and Nanjing, and with the improvement of some foreign technicians, the quantity and quality of artillery have been improved to a certain extent.

Therefore, over the years, the Qing army has been using a tactic of fortifying cities and artillery on the east bank, in order to achieve the maximum effect with the least number of troops, so that more energy can be put into other places and do their best to solve the main enemy of Dashun. It is believed that if the people on the east coast had not taken the initiative to attack Shaoxing Mansion with King Lu a few years ago, the Qing army would still continue to implement this policy until the Li Shun regime was resolved, and then gather heavy troops to solve the troubles of Ningbo and Denglai in one fell swoop.

This time, the people on the east coast captured Shengxian and Shangyu like lightning, and wrapped the dumplings of the Qing army in Yuyao, and the Qing army lost nearly 30,000 soldiers before and after, which was already a broken muscle. I just don't know if the Qing army will start a battle with them after Júnio leads 23,000 troops to the west to completely reverse the situation - the people on the east coast hope so, and the Qing army should also have this impulse, because once the field battle is won, the main force on the east bank will be wiped out, and Ningbo will be left without troops to defend, but I don't know if the Qing army can resist this temptation.