The stretch of the Yangtze River from Yichang in Hubei Province to Yibin in Sichuan Province is often referred to as the Sichuan River, and the famous "Chuanjiang Trumpet" was formed in the shipping on this section of the Yangtze River.

Since entering the Song Dynasty, the shipping of the Sichuan River has gradually flourished, and there are historical records, "since Shu Tong Wu, the exchange of merchants, the popularity of goods springs, and the number of people who have traced down are unknown." Especially in the Southern Song Dynasty, Sichuan's strategic position became increasingly important, and the transportation of tribute, military rations, war horses and other military supplies basically relied on shipping, and the development of shipping on the Sichuan River also prompted Sichuan's transportation hub to move from Chengdu in the west to Chongqing.

Chongqing's strategic position is so important that Hong Chengchou, who knew that the Nanjing government's shipping industry was extremely developed, naturally put the defense of the whole of Sichuan in the Chongqing area.

The 3rd and 5th Divisions led by Huang Dequan and Li Chengdong, who were chasing Hong Chengchou westward, and Li Chengdong's Second Army are now blocked on the front line of Wanzhou, and the mountainous and steep terrain of Chongqing makes Huang Degong and Li Chengdong, who have no heavy firepower, at a loss.

In the past six months, Hong Chengchou has not only expanded his army in Sichuan to 100,000 people, but also quickly restored the gun factory in Chengdu.

When Hong Chengchou first entered Sichuan, he was also met with fierce resistance from the Sichuan people, and Hong Chengchou's group also caused great trouble, but Hong Chengchou quickly adjusted his strategy, looking for someone to pretend to be the son of Zhu Zhishu, the king of Shu at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and set him up as the king of Shu, and issued a document saying that he would be loyal to the Ming court.

The accurate information from Sichuan reached Nanjing, which made both Luo Jian and Shi Kefa feel that Hong Chengchou was far from being as easy to deal with as they imagined, not to mention that the Seventh Division also entered Sichuan along the route of the Second Army's march. The terrain is steep. Luo Jian, who had traveled to these places, knew it best.

When he arrived in Nanjing, Wang Qiang didn't know. Not only will his Seventh Division march into Sichuan, but the First Army and First Division in Shaanxi will also set off from Xi'an and enter Sichuan along the route that the Qing troops originally entered Sichuan.

Wang Qiang was a little unimpressed, he felt that there was no problem in directly hitting Chengdu Mansion with the combat strength of his seventh division.

"Chief, there's no need to let the first division go too, right? Isn't that a waste? Wang Qiang sat on the sofa in Luo Jian's mansion and said while nibbling on an apple in his mouth.

"You kid, why didn't the Japanese invade China dare to attack Chongqing? Do you think Sichuan is so easy to fight? Luo Jian saw that Wang Qiang was very light on the enemy, and began to be a little worried.

"Didn't the Qing soldiers easily enter Sichuan? I don't believe we can't beat the Qing soldiers. Wang Qiang still didn't care too much.

"Then do you know how the Qing soldiers entered Sichuan in the first place? What was the situation in Sichuan at that time? ”

Luo Jian's face became serious. Wang Qiang saw that Luo Jian was a little angry, so he put down the apple in his hand and sat up seriously.

"At the beginning, the Qing soldiers relied on the leadership of Liu Jinzhong, the rebel general of the Great Western Army, to succeed in the sneak attack, and the Qing soldiers at that time were very strong in combat, and Zhang Xianzhong's Great Western Army was not an opponent at all, so the Qing soldiers were able to enter Sichuan. Even if the Qing soldiers entered the customs, the resistance in Sichuan lasted for more than ten years, and then there was the massacre of the Qing soldiers in Sichuan. If you underestimate the enemy like this again, I will have to go myself! ”

"Chief, I really don't know about these circumstances. I'll know when you say it, I know it in my heart. Chief, you don't have to go out yourself, do you? ”

Seeing that Luo Jian was already angry, Wang Qiang said cautiously.

"I said Xiao Wang, why don't you kid grow up? Do you think that your Seventh Division will be invincible at any time and under any conditions? Liu Weimin also said with some hatred next to him.

"Old soldier Liu, Brother Liu, I know, please don't say it again." Wang Qiang said to Liu Weimin with a shy face.

The relationship between the two has always been very good, and Liu Weimin has always regarded Wang Qiang as a younger brother, and has always taken care of him since he was in Yangzhou.

"Xiao Wang, you must be steady, accurate, and ruthless in your march to Chongqing this time, and strive to fight down, we don't have so much time to spend there, although the Manchu court has been defeated, but the environment we are facing in the north is still very bad, we must free up our hands as soon as possible." Luo Jian saw that Wang Qiang had realized it, so he didn't say more, and only told him about the current situation, hoping that he could understand it himself.

"Xiao Wang, I have prepared some zha medicine bags for you, I hope I can help you then." Liu Weimin still takes care of Wang Qiang as always.

The huge fleet rested in Nanjing for three days, and on the morning of the fourth day, it set off from Nanjing, and at the same time Liu Zhaoji sent a telegram from Xi'an, and the first division had also set out from Xi'an and began to march towards Hanzhong.

The fleet headed to Yichang very smoothly, although it was against the current, but the fleet was all steamships, but the speed was slower, but there was always no problem in advancing, after more than ten days of sailing, the fleet finally arrived in Yichang.

From Yichang to Yibin is far from so smooth, although Wang Qiang is not very clear, but the experienced captains and sailors know best the danger of the Sichuan River navigation, the fleet stayed in Yichang for two days, we carried out a detailed overhaul of the ship, and let the technicians sent by the steam engine factory to maintain the steam engine on the ship, lest there be problems on the road.

Even after so many preparations, the voyage was still not very smooth, and when it was about to enter the most dangerous section, the officers of the naval division asked the 7th Division to disembark, first, the ship was not powerful enough, and the 7th Division had to get on board to pull the fiber, and second, it could prevent the ship from capsizing and causing too many casualties

Fortunately, all the 7th Division landed on the shore, and even with such care, two ships still touched the reef and sank in the Yangtze River, but fortunately, the boatmen were rescued.

Just stopped and stopped, and the section of the Sichuan River went for more than half a month, and the Seventh Division finally reached Yunyang County.

Yunyang County is not far from Wanzhou, and the road from Yunyang to Wanzhou is in good condition, Wang Qiang simply ordered all the Seventh Division to land on foot, got off the boat and walked for another day, and the Seventh Division finally arrived in Wanzhou.

Huang Degong and Li Chengdong were really overjoyed by the arrival of the Seventh Division, they had already choked enough in Wanzhou, and this kind of dilemma was really uncomfortable.

When the Seventh Division arrived, Huang Degong and Li Chengdong were not in a hurry, and simply let the Seventh Division rest in Wanzhou for a day. The Seventh Division has indeed worked hard enough this way.

Fortunately, the logistics baggage and artillery of the 7th Division were still transported by boat. This allowed the 7th Division to go for a day despite the march. But he was not particularly tired, Wang Qiang was in particularly good spirits, and as soon as he arrived, he took Huang Degong and Li Chengdong to investigate the enemy.

I don't know how Hong Chengchou promoted the Nanjing government and the National Defense Army in Sichuan, anyway, along the way, Wang Qiang felt that the people of Sichuan did not seem to be very friendly to the National Defense Army, although he did not take the initiative to attack the National Defense Army, but on the way to the front line, Wang Qiang hardly saw a single civilian.

In order to prevent the Qing army from counterattacking, Huang Degong and Li Chengdong built relatively garrison fortifications in Wanzhou. When Wang Qiang arrived at the fortifications, he raised the telescope in his hand and looked at it, and suddenly gasped.

"Holy! Damn, why are they all bunkers? ”

Wang Qiang was right, the Qing soldiers built countless large and small pillboxes on the front line of Wanzhou, and the shooting holes on the pillboxes were clearly visible in the telescope.

"Xiao Wang, it's these turtle shells that can be suffocated by Lao Huang, you are here, there is always a way to deal with these guys, right?"

Huang Degong pointed to the bunker in front of him and said, and Li Chengdong next to him nodded again and again. The Second Army came earlier, and they suffered more in front of these turtle shells.

Wang Qiang did not speak. Just carefully observe these pillboxes, those small pillboxes can be stationed in a dozen soldiers, the large pillboxes can be stationed in thirty to fifty people, and some are divided into several layers, each layer has a shooting hole, so that the Qing soldiers can fully exert their firepower.

Looking at the large and small bunkers in front of him, Wang Qiang secretly thought to himself, some small bunker artillery can be destroyed, but some large bunker 75mm artillery can not deal with it.

Wang Qiang remembered that Luo Jian used to say that he used to learn war in war, and it seemed that Hong Chengchou did a better job than the Wehrmacht in these aspects, if it wasn't for Liu Weimin to prepare some explosives bags for Wang Qiang in Nanjing, it seemed that if he wanted to break through these fortresses, he would have to fight with his life.

"Hong Chengchou, this old boy really has a set! These turtle shells are really hard to deal with, so we can only take it step by step. Although Wang Qiang already had some confidence in his heart, he felt that he couldn't say too much.

"There's no other way around?" Wang Qiang tried to ask.

"Alas, we have all tried, just these mountains, it will take several days to climb one of them, as soon as we go up the mountain here, they have seen it there for a long time, and they have already taken precautions, we have lost a lot of people, and they still beat it back." Li Chengdong said dejectedly.

When Wang Qiang was in the army before, many of his comrades-in-arms were from Chongqing, and he had heard them talk about the mountains in their hometown.

Although the Seventh Division had a difficult journey, it finally arrived in Wanzhou smoothly, but the First Army and the First Division encountered even greater trouble.

It is difficult to go to Shu Road, it is difficult to go to the blue sky, and the first division is this extremely difficult Shu Road.

Liu Zhaoji and Zhuang Zigu made a lot of preparations for this march into Tibet, and they even sent people to find the Qing prisoners who had followed Haoge into Sichuan, and asked them to be guides to prepare to follow the path taken by the Qing army.

Luo Jian knew that the road for the First Division to enter Sichuan was more difficult than that of the Seventh Division, so he also sent a two-cross telegram to Liu Zhaoji, "Forcibly cross the Jialing River, close the gate after a detour, surprise attack the camp Panzui, and conquer the Jianmen Pass."

Jianmen Pass was built by Zhuge Liang during the Three Kingdoms, the city was built for thousands of years, there has never been a soldier who has conquered Jianmen Pass head-on, it can be seen that its terrain is dangerous, only in another time and space when the Red Army marched, Li Xiannian led the Red Army to conquer the Jianmen Pass from the back gate, so Luo Jian hoped that the first division could learn from the successful experience of the Red Army.

It's a pity that when Luo Jian remembered this matter and sent a telegram to Liu Zhaoji, the first division had already set off for more than ten days, and Liu Zhaoji knew the importance of these 20 words, so he hurriedly sent fast horses to chase after the first division, and wanted to give Luo Jian's "two crosses of the true scripture" to them.

With the fire support of artillery, the 1st Division did not make much effort to conquer Hanzhong, perhaps Hong Chengchou knew that Hanzhong could not be defended at all, and only sent less than 2,000 troops to Hanzhong, and it was not equipped with new muskets.

It took a lot of time for a division to get from Hanzhong to Chaotianguan, mainly because the march of artillery slowed down the speed of the troops.

Chaotian Pass is the first pass to enter Shu, and Hong Chengchou certainly knows the importance of this pass, so he arranged 5,000 defenders equipped with new muskets here.

Zhuang Zigu had just arrived at Chaotian Pass, and when he saw the steep terrain of Chaotian Pass, he gasped at that time. (To be continued.) )