The late arrival of the Fifth Division gave Tong Dai a day to prepare, and although one day was very short, it was enough for Tong Dai to do a lot of things, such as transferring the surrounding Qing troops into Wuchang City, and moving all the artillery that could be collected, including the artillery on the warships of the Jiangshang Naval Division, onto the Wuchang city wall.

Tong Dai knew that the Nanjing government had several large warships, but Tong Dai did not think that these warships could get close to Wuchang City, and the hundreds of artillery pieces on the city wall were not vegetarian.

Huang Degong was very angry early in the morning, and he kept shouting that the Fifth Division had broken a big deal, and he had to settle accounts with Weng Zhiqi when he went back.

Zheng Chenggong didn't understand the situation and wanted to step forward to plead with Weng Zhiqi, Yan Yingyuan made a face beside him, and Zheng Chenggong stopped suspiciously.

"Minister Huang, I don't think this is entirely a bad thing, we can take Ezhou purely by surprise, Wuchang City is probably not so easy to attack, if you really want to take Wuchang City, we Marines alone may not be able to catch up, we have to wait for the second and fifth divisions to catch up, I don't know what Minister Huang wants?" Yan Yingyuan stepped forward and changed the topic.

Yan Yingyuan knows the relationship between Huang Degong and Weng Zhiqi, and also knows that he is just angry now, and needs to send a few words of complaint to solve it, if Zheng Chenggong really stepped forward to intercede with Weng Zhiqi, then Weng Zhiqi would not be able to escape Huang Degong's scolding, and Huang Degong did not find a chance to scold Weng Zhiqi after a busy last night, even if it was not Weng Zhiqi's fault at all.

However, Yan Yingyuan did tell the truth, there were 40,000 or 50,000 Qing soldiers inside and outside Wuchang, and these Qing soldiers were equipped with a large number of new-style muskets, and they used 8,000 marines to seize Wuchang City.

If the fleet wants to march directly upstream without attacking Wuchang. The artillery on the city of Wuchang is a big trouble, although the two battleships have dozens of guns, they can only fire half of the guns at a time, and the density of fire is obviously insufficient.

When the fleet gradually approached Wuchang City, and the Wuchang City Wall could already be seen from the telescope, the three of them felt that there was a big problem. Because from the telescope, I can see that there are not only countless cannons lined up on the city wall of Wuchang, but also fortifications built with sacks around these cannons.

For artillery, the city wall can only be regarded as a line target, only a little better than a point target, if you want to destroy all the artillery on the city wall, the current number of artillery in the fleet is simply not enough, not to mention the limited amount of ammunition carried by the fleet, it is not possible to fight endlessly.

The current Wuchang City seems to be a big hedgehog, covered with thorns. If you want to take a bite, you will definitely be pricked with blood, what should I do? All three hesitated.

Huang Degong ordered the fleet to stop outside the range of the artillery on the Wuchang city wall, and he had to think about it.

Yan Yingyuan and Zheng Chenggong were also thinking hard, if they stopped at Wuchang City, this advance would not achieve the desired effect, which everyone did not want to see.

Yan Yingyuan thought about it for a while and then ran to the war room, thinking hard about the map.

Just when Huang Degong and Zheng Chenggong were discussing on the deck for a long time, they had no choice. Yan Yingyuan walked out of the cabin again and saw Yan Yingyuan coming out. Both looked at him with hopeful eyes.

"Can you not look at me like that? How to defeat Wuchang, I don't have a good way. Yan Yingyuan said with a wry smile.

As soon as Huang Degong heard Yan Yingyuan say this, his face that had just had hope suddenly darkened again, and Zheng Chenggong also turned his eyes to the river.

However, Zheng Chenggong quickly turned his head back, "Brother Liheng, you mean that you can't do anything to defeat Wuchang." Do you have any other tricks? ”

"It's not a good move, didn't the Governor say it? Analyze the problem and solve the problem, let's think about it according to this idea now. Yan Yingyuan went to the chair on the deck and sat down.

Huang Degong was also interested when he heard this, and beckoned the guards to bring a small coffee table and make a few cups of tea. Several people sat down.

"We said in the first two that our strategic goal of entering Hubei this time is to recapture Hubei and take back this big granary from the Manchu court, which is a long-term goal, and a closer and more realistic goal is to relieve the pressure on the second army, which can be agreed upon?"

Yan Yingyuan repeated the topic he had talked about the day before yesterday, and Huang Degong and Zheng Chenggong both nodded yes again and again when they heard it.

"Then the question arises, is Wuchang City the granary of the Manchu Qing Dynasty? Definitely not, Wuchang can only consume grain, and there is not a grain of grain produced. Now that the Qing army is heavily guarding Wuchang, it is not easy for us to attack the city, this is a fact. But we can think about it, can they destroy us? Even if we go on land, with their strength in Wuchang City, I am afraid that they will not be able to take down our marines. ”

Yan Yingyuan talked eloquently, Huang Degong and Zheng Chenggong seemed to have heard some clues, and the look of anticipation appeared on their faces again.

"We can't capture Wuchang City, but we can trap Wuchang City. I don't think it's necessary for us to attack the city that we don't need now, our marines are stationed outside Wuchang City, and we are also building fortifications, so we will confront them here for a long time, at least we have to make it look like we are going to besiege them for a long time. ”

Yan Yingyuan found a place on the battle map placed on the coffee table, pointed to this place and said.

"Liheng, do you mean that we will use the second and fifth divisions to march to the rest of Hubei and take down all the other places? In this way, they can only be trapped in the lonely city, and they can't control the whole of Hubei at all? ”

The old and spicy Huang Degong immediately understood what Yan Yingyuan meant, and asked.

"In this way, the problem of Hubei has been solved, but how can the dilemma of the Second Army on the Hunan side be solved?" Zheng Chenggong asked suspiciously.

"Hehe, we can't go into a dead end with this problem. The superintendent told us about the difficulties encountered by the Second Army, hoping that we would put enough pressure on Hong Chengchou in Hubei, and now that we have troops under the city of Wuchang, I think Tong Dai must have sent someone to report to Hong Chengchou, and I don't believe that Hong Chengchou will be indifferent to the loss of Hubei. On the other hand, we are too far away from the Second Army, and this strategy of encircling Wei and rescuing Zhao cannot be effective in a short period of time. ”

Yan Yingyuan pointed to the map again, and continued:

"We are more than a thousand miles away from the first line of Hengyang and Liuzhou, if Hong Chengchou can really eat the second army, I'm afraid it will be too late for any rescue, I think the second army is only in trouble at present, not to the point of exhaustion, I dare not say anything else, it is more than 100 artillery pieces of the second army, as long as the shells are not exhausted, it is enough for the Qing soldiers to drink a pot."

Huang Degong and Zheng Chenggong stopped talking, and listened carefully to Yan Yingyuan's analysis.

"With our current strength, it is not difficult to provide sufficient support to the Second Army, our sea transportation is now very fast, I am thinking, if the Second Army really encounters difficulties that cannot be solved, I am afraid that the Inspector has already transferred the garrison division in Nanjing or Hangzhou."

Yan Yingyuan glanced up at Wuchang City, then looked down at the battle map on the coffee table, pointed to several important strongholds near Wuchang City, and said:

"What we have to do now is to come to Wuchang City, as long as they are outside the range of their artillery, so I think the Qing soldiers will not go out of the city to fight with us in a short time, but we don't have to worry, when the second and fifth divisions catch up, let them first uproot these strongholds one by one, and then attack in all directions, and occupy their counties, these news do not have to block the Qing soldiers in Wuchang City, Minister Huang, if you are Tong Dai, can you still stay in Wuchang City?"

"Good! Let's do it! Huang Degong slapped the coffee table hard, almost didn't jump up the water cup on the coffee table, and hurriedly reached out and pressed the coffee table.

"Okay, as long as the Metropolitan Governor does not have a new order, our fleet is here to cooperate with you, and we must force the Qing soldiers in Wuchang City out." Zheng Chenggong nodded happily.

Looking at the map, the three of them discussed the plan of action in detail, it was already late today, and it would have to be early tomorrow morning to land, Yan Yingyuan took the small boat on the "Yue Fei" to several transport ships to convene his subordinates and hold another combat meeting, and made detailed arrangements for the matters after the landing.

Tong Dai held a monocular at the head of Wuchang City and looked at the river, and saw that the fleet of the Wehrmacht was far away on the river, and felt a little strange, did they come to walk around and leave? Why don't you launch an attack on Wuchang when you arrive?

Waiting until it was dark, and he didn't see any movement from the Wehrmacht's fleet, Tong Dai's heart became more and more anxious, he wanted to learn from Zhang Fei in the Three Kingdoms and roared, "You fight and don't fight, retreat and don't retreat, but why?" ”

Until the next morning, Tong Dai ran to the city wall to look at the river, and his heart was very much looking forward to the retreat of the Wehrmacht, and his peaceful life could still be maintained. Holding a telescope and looking at yesterday's river, the fleet is really gone.

Before Tong Dai could get happy, a general pointed to the front and shouted, "They're there!" ”

Tong Dai then moved the telescope to look at the place where the general's finger was, and after looking at it for a long time, his heart slowly cooled down.

Zheng Chenggong ordered the fleet to lean to the shore last night, and before docking, he also sent a small boat to go ashore to find nearby fishermen, and inquired about the depth of the water on this section of the river, he was afraid that the two warships would run aground here, and it would be really troublesome.

As soon as the morning dawned, Yan Yingyuan began to land with the marines, and the camp was selected not far from the river, which was only three or four miles away from Wuchang City, and the artillery fire of the Qing army could not hit it, but the guns on the ship could provide fire support to the marines at any time.

Yan Yingyuan personally took two people and a thousand to monitor the Qing soldiers in Wuchang City, and under the gaze of countless eyes on the Wuchang city wall, the soldiers began to set up tents and tidy up the camp.

It took almost half a day for the Marines to set up camp, and it was said that it would not take such a long time for the troops to camp, but the Marines seemed to be staying here for a long time, and the camp was extremely meticulous, and Yan Yingyuan even sent someone to find a lot of wood and set up a gate at the gate of the camp.

Tong Dai looked at the city wall for a long time, Tong Dai was not without the intention of sending troops out of the city to assault, but such a close distance, let him see all the actions of the Wehrmacht very clearly, when he saw that the marines had already built a defensive position in front of the camp, he had already made more than 10,000 soldiers ready to attack.

But when he searched carefully and found that the two battleships were already facing Wuchang City horizontally, and the guns on the sides of the ships were already raised and ready to fire at any time, he ordered the troops to stop. (To be continued.) )