Shou ordered to take a Galliot warship and sail up the Pearl River. The Junk fleet behind him was loaded with 1,500 Qiongzhou Ming Army and Army Dongshui Battalion.

This year, the troops were increased many times during the south wind period, and the defenders of Xiangshan have reached 3,000 people. A reward of 50,000 taels of silver was offered for the order, and the troops that were relatively elite after the birth were selected.

Guangzhou City is a city of water, the Pearl River has eight mouths to the sea, the rivers and the sea are connected, the coastline is long, and it is located in other major rivers and estuaries in China.

The Pearl River is a very beautiful river, with clear water, beautiful mountains and beautiful waters, and undulating forests on both sides.

The Pearl River has a strong current, and there is very little salt water backflow in the delta. Fertile farmland is spread out as far as the eye can see, all irrigated by river water.

The Pearl River has numerous tributaries, crisscrossing rivers and canals that divide the paddy fields into blocks. The Pearl River Delta does not need livestock and vehicles to transport, ships undertake almost all transportation tasks, and trade is extremely easy.

The effects of war are everywhere.

The large and small ships that used to shuttle the Pearl River like stars have disappeared. The valley, which was once as beautiful as a flower bed, seems to have been gnawed by dogs, missing arms and legs. The paddy fields after the harvest were idle and all muddy. The villagers stood in formation, vigilantly guarding against all outsiders.

The Tatars did not establish rule over the southern part of Guangzhou, and the villagers here waited and watched. A handful of Tatar rangers were of little use, and control of the Pearl River Delta had to rely on sailors.

Shang Kexi built more than 200 new ships in the upper reaches of Guangzhou on the Pearl River, basically sending face to the countryside, and it was difficult to find a victory. The Tatars were never able to break through the water defense line of Canton, neither blockading the city nor collecting grain from the villages south of Canton.

The river is dotted with small islands and sandbanks. During high tides or summer floods, some small islands are flooded.

This year, the winter temperature in Guangzhou is not low, and there are still many evergreen plants on both sides of the Pearl River, and each island in the river is so lush. Flocks of mallards forage there, and a large raft built like a house connects to the island, and the mallards fly freely in and out from the raft's door.

The island's villages are walled with arable land, vegetable patches and flower beds. The muzzle of a black hole can be faintly seen in the fortifications. In the rural areas of Guangdong, artillery fights are often carried into battle, and the equipment of the officials and soldiers is not much better than that of the officials, and the rule of the government depends on everyone giving face to each other.

Water nourishes everything in Guangzhou, and there are paddy fields everywhere. Farmers here make the most of the land, with two harvests per year.

The Tatars did not capture Canton, and were powerless against the villages in the water, and the villagers in the villages were safer and safer than on land.

The soldiers passed by the island and asked the people on the shore, but not a single one answered. The villagers just looked at the flotilla and smiled at the soldiers.

From the mouth of the Pearl River to Huangpu Island, there are three dangerous sandbar shoals.

The Galen battleship traced up the Pearl River, and most of the sailing sections were not a big problem, but these three sandbanks were difficult to pass. Galen had a deep draft and had to stop in front of the sandbar and wait for the tide to rise. To be on the safe side, it was best for the Galen to sail into the Pearl River during the day, crossing the dangerous section of the voyage with three daylight tides.

The Galliot and Junk boats have a shallow draft and are easier to pass through sandbanks.

On November 24, 1650, the first day of the 11th month of the 4th year of the Yongli calendar. The orderly fleet passed through the Haizhu Stone and Haiyin Stone Forts, and stopped at Baietan. The Pearl River here is more than 1.5 nautical miles wide, and it looks like the sea.

The width of 1.5 nautical miles meant that even if the Tatars occupied the other side of the river, they would not be able to block the river by building forts. The distance between the channel and the shore exceeds the effective range of the Hongyi cannon by too much. At the same time, this meant that Guangzhou could not be surrounded by land.

The Ming army in Guangzhou controlled the east and south city walls with Wu Wenwen, the commander of the naval division, and controlled the west city wall and most of the north city wall with the hilltop wooden city.

Eight months have passed since the Tatars arrived on the outskirts of Guangzhou on the sixth day of the first month of March, and the Battle of Guangzhou officially began.

Shang Geng and the two feudal domains originally had no heavy artillery, and captured 27 Hongyi cannons of the Ming army in Jiangxi and Nanling. After arriving in Guangzhou, the Tatars lacked firepower and attacked Guangzhou three times, all of which were defeated.

The Ming army in Guangzhou frequently went out of the city to counter-charge, and the Ming army in Zhaoqing successively attacked Sanshui and Qingyuan. At the most tense moment, the Tatars could no longer surround it, and the soldiers of the vassal demanded to withdraw from the place of death in Guangzhou. Shang Kexi stubbornly refused to withdraw the army, asking for help from Jiangxi on the one hand, and building a long trench to guard the camp north of the city.

With the arrival of more Jiangxi reinforcements, the situation of the Tatars gradually improved. In the past few months, a total of 46 cannons have been cast, and a total of 73 heavy cannons have been captured. Shang Kexi reserved 500 rounds of ammunition for each gun through looting and outsourcing, and the whole army had 400,000 catties of gunpowder alone. This means that in Guangdong, no other province in the country has this kind of arms mobilization capability.

Like the Ming army in Guangzhou, the Tatars also asked 2 Dutch gunners to direct the artillery battle. They had the initiative and were able to concentrate all the heavy artillery in the northeast corner of Guangzhou, gradually collapse the batteries outside the city in a month's time, and advance the artillery to a position less than 600 meters away from the northeast city wall.

The northeast corner was the weakest link in Guangzhou's defense system, and if the enemy's artillery positions could not be captured, it was only a matter of time before the city of Guangzhou fell.

The fleet docked at Huaiyuanyi, and the 2000 Qiongzhou Ming army walked neatly and entered the south gate of Guangzhou.

The Ming army of Qiongzhou was deeply influenced by the Dengliao Naval Division, and the armor had a strong border army style, and the color style was simple and simple, without superfluous decoration. The officer wore a red-tasseled six-petal iron-tipped helmet and a large armor covered with iron armor.

The spearmen and spearmen were mixed with a small number of Li and Yao sword and shield soldiers. The soldiers had no helmets, and their heads were wrapped in cloth towels. He is dressed in a vest-like cloth iron armor, wrapped in leggings, and the head of the battalion is marked on the back. The different classes are distinguished by the color of their turbans, with pikemen wrapped in red scarves, spearmen wrapped in blue scarves, and sword and shield soldiers wrapped in yellow scarves.

The army did not carry cannons, and the rear team dragged more than a dozen infantry guns such as Franc machines and mountain splitting guns.

The once prosperous Nantian Metropolis was closed in the door, and the square was fierce. On both sides of the road, occasionally a pair of vigilant eyes peeked through the cracks in the doors and windows.

The three horses walked side by side at the front of the team, and on the left hand was Zhang Peng, the general of Yinxiangshan, the general of Zhenhai, and on the right hand was Wu Wenwen, the chief soldier of the Guangzhou Naval Division. The faces of the two commanders of the Ming army were tense and serious.

The dull sound of artillery came from the north of Guangzhou, and it was endless, and the air was filled with a faint smell of gunsmoke.

Shou Xu asked: "Mr. Wu, how is the battle situation in the north of the city?" ”

Wu Wenwen sighed lightly, "Shang Kexi cast dozens of cannons in Conghua, and began to bombard the northeast corner of Guangzhou yesterday, and the shelling has not stopped for two days, and so far the outer city wall has collapsed 30 zhang, and the gap is still expanding. ”

Zhang Pengfei: "You don't want to think about it? ”

Wu Wenwen: "The Tartars used bamboo baskets to hold soil to build artillery positions, and all the batteries outside the city were defeated. Our forces went out of the city to counterattack, and it was difficult to capture the enemy artillery. ”

The defenders had to take care of the entire city defense, making it difficult to concentrate artillery. The Tatars don't have to, they have capital to concentrate fire. In months of artillery battles, the Tatars had the last laugh.

"Yaoyu, you go to Zhang Yue to arrange a change of guard. Mr. Wu, take me to the north of the city to have a look. ”

The reinforcements were then divided into 2 teams, and the guards were separated from the brigade in order. Zhang Yue is the commander-in-chief of the Guangzhou Army Division, Zhang Pengfei has met with him several times, they are familiar with each other, both of them are generals, and there will be no problems when the handover occurs.

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