Chapter 698: The Battle of the Yangtze River: Red Tide Scroll

Meng Songhai was anxious, but there were still people who were already red-eyed, such as Fang Tangheng, who led the eagle army back to the north, but he didn't come to beat the side drum.

"You pull the warship to fight Yue Zhongqi, and the rest of the ship carries the Eagle Yang Army, and I want to go directly to Wuchang!" No guns on board? Clearing the army to intercept the waterway? No matter! As long as it is not Yue Zhongqi's own sailor, the other shrimp soldiers and crab generals will deal with it by themselves! ”

Facing Fang Tangheng, Meng Songhai didn't even have the courage to shirk, he still wanted to ask Jia Hao for instructions, but Fang Tangheng pulled him to a high place, and a red tide suddenly caught his eyes, and the entire Yingyang army was pulled to Xiangyin......

"The Metropolitan Governor has adjusted the deployment, I am now the Governor of the Right Army, and I am responsible for the battle along the river, and you must also cooperate with me!"

Fang Tangheng said viciously, and Meng Songhai nodded timidly.

The 100,000 army can't wait any longer, and now it doesn't move, Xie Dingbei really wants to take Wuchang.

The news of the threat to Wuchang reached Jiangxi, and the Jiangxi soldiers of the Qing soldiers Xishan Battalion and Tian Wenjing retreated back to the line of Nanchang and Jiujiang, and Jia Hao's Yangtze River strategy was greatly affected.

While Meng Songhai gritted his teeth fiercely, Jia Hao also gritted his teeth ruthlessly.

The army was adjusted into five front armies, and Xie Dingbei was reappointed as the former military governor, leading the two armies of Shengjie and Anguo, responsible for capturing Wuchang and the following prefectures and counties. Yue Chaolong was the governor of the left army, and led the strengthened Tianwei army to the north to force Jingxiang. He Mengfeng was the governor of the rear army, and led the Huben army to attack Hanyang across Dongting, and marched east on the left side of the river. And Fang Tangheng's Eagle Yang Army and Zhao Hanxiang's Red Thunder Army wanted to go down the river and approach the line of Jiujiang and Nanchang. Jia Hao led the Chinese army by himself, led Long Zhilan's Jianyi army, and marched to Wuchang with Zhao Hanxiang and Meng Kui.

As soon as the deployment was changed, Jia Hao waved his hand: I can't wait for Meng Songhai to make a waterway, and the whole army will set off immediately! No boats? Lack of mules and horses? Cats walk the cat's way, dogs walk the dog's road, and all sides of the army figure out their own way!

The total number of regular troops and volunteers is 150,000 or 60,000, like a torrent of floodgates, rushing in their respective directions, and in May of the tenth year of the Holy Road, around Dongting Lake, the red tide is raging.

The other governors and commanders had a distant relationship with Meng Songhai, and they didn't dare to think of directly suppressing him, but as the supervisor who trained Meng Songhai in his youth, Fang Tangheng was unceremonious, and pulled the whole army to squeeze him.

"More than 30,000 people in five divisions? More than 200 artillery pieces of more than four pounds!? Even if the Yangtze River Fleet doesn't fight, it won't be able to carry it! ”

I didn't dare to complain, but after figuring out the scale of the Eagle Yang Army, Meng Songhai had to wave his hand again and again.

The fierce light in Fang Tang Heng's eyes seemed to be about to eat Meng Songhai: "Aren't you able to conjure up more than a hundred big ships with a single hand?" One more time! ”

Searching the intestines and scraping the stomach, one by one, Meng Songhai suddenly remembered something, and his eyes lit up.

When he bought a boat from Jingxiang Sailor earlier, merchants from Jingzhou and even Xiangyang also pulled boats to sell them. From Jianli to Huarong, it is said that the merchants gathered dozens of large ships, but because Jingxiang Sailor was strictly controlled by Yue Zhongqi, he couldn't move anymore, and there was no way to intermediate. The merchant directly found Meng Songhai through various channels, but he was already full of food and drink at that time, looked down on those ships, and didn't pay much attention to them.

The most important thing now is time, and after some calculation, several things are separated. Meng Song Hai took the Lei Gong and more than 30 large war ships to attack, and the remaining ships carried the vanguard of the Yingyang Army to Wuchang. In the name of the Yangtze River Fleet, Shi Tingge contacted the merchants from the north and pulled the ship directly to Guluo, where the Yingyang Army Brigade boarded.

In the middle of May, the Anglo-Chinese armies were like the Yangtze River Fleet and the Eagle Yang Army, rushing forward at an almost frantic pace, and afterwards the Privy Council examined the actions of the armies during this period, and they were all sweating. Just like Meng Songhai's plan to buy a ship, one link is linked to the other, and there is no room for error at all, once any link cannot keep up, the first army will be suspended. ..., but the fact is that the general trend is mighty, the red tide is rushing, and the hearts of the northern and southern armies are also clear, and the seemingly risky plan has nothing wrong in all aspects.

On the side of the Eagle Yang Army, the Jingxiang ship merchant not only happily presented the ship, but also actively contacted the surroundings, searching for every available river boat, which is not only directly related to the silver in the white flower in his hand, but also the posture of the south is ironclad to eat Hubei, at this time do not have a good relationship with the south, but when?

The Eagle Yang Army quickly gathered a sufficient number of ships, and even had spare strength to deploy to He Mengfeng for him to cross the rivers and lakes and advance north. &*．． Fastest Update**

On the other hand, Meng Songhai's Yangtze River fleet was under the heaviest pressure, and the Yinghua army was all over Dongting, busy advancing north and east, if Yue Zhongqi's sailors were not dealt with and let them take advantage of the chaos to attack, it would be a big trouble.

Hurrying and roaring with more than thirty warships to fight Yue Zhongqi, Meng Songhai still had the determination to become a benevolent if he didn't succeed, but his opponent had completely lost his will to fight.

Jingxiang Sailor was purged by Yue Zhongqi, mixed with Wuchang Sailor, parked in the west of Anxiang, and directly guarded under Yue Zhongqi's nose. The generals of each battalion seem to be loyal, but they can see the situation in Huguang clearly, the vast situation of Huguang has gone, and it is doubtful whether Yue Zhongqi can hold Jingzhou, and he can no longer take care of the waterway.

Yue Zhongqi wanted to defend Lizhou, but it was far from enough to rely on his firearms army, which was only in his early 10,000s, and he was fighting in the ring with the new Jingzhou general Cha Bina, fighting for the banner camp men and horses promised by Yongzheng.

Ten years ago, the Changsha War, the original Jingzhou Banner Camp was almost completely wiped out, and the remaining seedlings were afraid of Nanban Red to death. The newly transferred Manchu Han Banner people were affected by it, and when they heard that they were assigned to Yue Zhongqi's jurisdiction, they organized a group to make trouble with his boss every day. If he really wants to let the flag camp send troops, Cha Bina believes that he, the general of Jingzhou, will be stripped naked by his subordinates and tied up at the gate of the city.

Even with Yongzheng's edict in hand, Yue Zhongqi couldn't get the flag camp, which made him embarrassed, and he was hesitating whether to give up Lizhou and take the sailor back to Jingzhou to defend it, or to fight to the death with his uncle Yue Chaolong in Lizhou, and be loyal, Meng Songhai came to the door.

On May 28, on the shore of the lake south of Anxiang, the sound of artillery shook the sky. Lei Gong took the lead, and began to shell the Qing warship from two or three miles away, followed by a large shadow of the ship.

Two or three hundred Qing warships gathered in a pile and moored on the shore of the lake, and although the sentinel ship had raised the alarm early, the officers and men of the sailor division were slack, and the ship's engineers and soldiers had not yet had time to take their positions.

Yue Zhongqi's camp was on the high slope of the hill on the shore, and he had come to inspect the condition of the sailors, so that in case the situation deteriorated, he could retreat directly by water. Hearing the rumbling of cannons, when he came out of the tent, his heart suddenly sank to the eighteenth floor of the underworld.

"Cao Enxu!"

Yue Zhongqi summoned the commander-in-chief of the Wuchang Navy Division who took over from Delin with a grim face, hesitated for a moment, and summoned Wei Hong, Han Deng, and Wu Wenzhong, who had already been placed under house arrest by him.

He forced everyone to look at everyone and said sharply: "The grace of the monarch and the righteousness of the court, whether it can be kept, it depends on today, you must not let me down!" ”

The four of them rushed to the flotilla that was in a panic, Yue Zhongqi sighed secretly, only hoping that his words could hit the hearts of these people and arouse their will to fight to the death.

"Don't let him down? Who does he think he is!? Your Majesty? That's disrespectful! ”

"The emperor is about to hand over the peace treaty, but he is bent on fighting with Nanban, this is disloyalty!"

"We have to protect the people and ships of the imperial court, aren't we ......?"

"Mr. Cao, let's do it with us."

If Yue Zhongqi could hear the conversation between the four of them, a mouthful of old blood would definitely spurt out, staining the entire Dongting Lake red.

There was no need to hear the conversation, after a while, seeing the movement on the surface of the lake, Yue Zhongqi was so angry that he almost fainted to the ground. ..., with the command of the commander-in-chief, the sailors gradually restored order, and the boats drove outward, but they did not fire cannons, let alone rush to the warships of the Southern Barbarians.

The white flag was hoisted high, this was the goodwill flag when he bought and sold warships with Meng Songhai earlier, Wuchang and Jingxiang sailed outward, Wei Hong, as a representative, got on the Lei Gong and said to Meng Songhai with a smile: "We are going to be friendly when we see that the north and the south are going to be friendly, why should we fight this battle again?" Wuchang Sailor and Jingxiang Sailor withdrew from this battle, and if they want to fight, let Nayue Zhongqi fight by himself. ”

Wei Hong's abacus played well, and he also regarded Meng Songhai as a business partner, but he didn't want Meng Songhai to turn his face: "Quit?" No way! Now is not the time to talk about business, you have only one choice, fight, or surrender! ”

Wei Hong's body was weak, and he almost fell into the lake, but he was easy to stabilize, and he was still unwilling: "If you don't follow the previous price, will our ship drop people?" Belch...... Seventy percent? Fifty percent? Three, three! ”

In the end, Wei Hong won a 20% discount and sold the entire sailor, Meng Songhai took into account that the army was in need of ships, and the thousands of Qing soldiers and sailors were arrested, and it was also troublesome to take care of and provide for them.

From the binoculars, I could clearly see that the officers and soldiers of the Navy Division were offering the ship in an orderly manner, and the big tears slipped from the corners of Yue Zhongqi's eyes......

He swallowed the hot heat in his throat with difficulty, and said to his cronies: "Tell Li Yuan that I have decided to defend the ...... of Lizhou."

At the same time that Meng Songhai bought nearly 300 Qing warships with 100,000 taels of silver, and wiped out Wuchang and Jingxiang sailors, under the city of Wuchang, Xie Dingbei said to a circle of Qing generals in embarrassment: "Oh, my old Xie is not the big money owner of Xiao Meng, you can be sincere......

Xie Dingbei was also bargaining, bargaining with the Hubei Green Camp generals outside Wuchang City.

After years of repair, the Wuchang city defense system has been very perfect, in addition to the city wall, there are also small fortresses such as Chuwangtai similar to the "Acropolis" outside the city. Ortai only has about 10,000 soldiers left in the Wuchang battalion, and it is still an old-style green battalion. But relying on the city defense, relying on more than 100 large and small artillery, and tens of thousands of Lianyong organized by the surrounding states and counties of Wuchang, he felt that he could still hold it for a while. I don't expect three or five years, but in three or five months, there is always hope that the imperial army will come to help, or the situation between the north and the south will ease.

But Ortai still has a big trouble in his hands, that is, Hubei Green Camp.

Nearly 20,000 Hubei Green Camp is not used, and it is not used. placed in the city, afraid that they would take the initiative to sacrifice the city when they were in danger. Let them fight Xie Dingbei, there is a lesson of Hao Dai's attack and the annihilation of the whole army, Xie Dingbei has become a wise general who pretends to be a pig and eats a tiger, and no one has that heart.

Ortai was so helpless that he had no choice but to put them in the fortifications outside the city, hoping that they could somewhat block Xie Dingbei and drag them out for a day.

After Xie Ding's Northern Army forced to the city of Wuchang, the Hubei Green Battalion, up to the deputy general of the general army, down to the ordinary officers and soldiers, all had strange thoughts. Xie Dingbei was promoted to the general of the Chinese army by Huguang that year, and he made a wide range of friends. Although everyone can't get used to his face, but after all, he greets everyone with a smile and has a good temper.

At first, it was just a matter of sending close family members to contact carefully, but it soon developed into the current bargaining meeting.

The news that Meng Songhai is doing business with Jingxiang Shui Shi has already spread throughout Hubei, and there is this precedent, and the people of Hubei Green Camp hope to paint the scoop according to the gourd, Xie Dingbei will pay the silver, and they will make way, the best of both worlds.

These guys are very greedy, and they will pay 30 taels of silver for each soldier when they open their mouths, and they will get 670,000 taels, of course Xie Dingbei can't take it out. Even if he has this silver, he can't pay for it, otherwise how can he reassure his subordinates?

Asking for a price all over the sky, sitting on the ground to pay back, listening to Xie Dingbei's heart of bargaining, the guerrillas of these generals who acted as the deputy general of the general army were in high spirits, and the price soon fell to ten taels per soldier. ..., calculating that his vanguard army also has a special expenditure fee promised by the governor, plus the silver looted from the treasury of the state and county along the way, two or three hundred thousand yuan can also be obtained, Xie Dingbei was a little tempted.

"Is there such a strange thing in the world? Is that just sending a merchant to the north, as long as the price is right, the Forbidden City can be bought? ”

"yes, what's the use of asking us to be soldiers? I think it's better to do it as soon as possible, take down the outer city defenses, and see what else they can sell. ”

The voice of indignation outside the tent came, the faces of the Qing generals turned pale, and Xie Dingbei's heart lit up, these guys are not enough capital, they are so stupid, since they are talking about business, they should seek more benefits for themselves.

Xie Dingbei said leisurely: "Xiao Meng's side has a lot of silver, it is a genuine warship owned by other sailors, what do you have?" 300,000, my Lao Xie can also take it out, but only 300,000, distributed to so many people, not only is it not a lot of money, but it is also a big crime of rebellion! Now that this great sin has been convicted, why not sell more? We...... It's okay to talk about some big business. ”

The Qing generals looked at each other, and they all understood what Xie Dingbei meant, what did Xie Dingbei want? Wuchang, of course.

Originally, they didn't dare to think about it, they were "repulsed" by Nanban, lost the defense line outside the city, and took the initiative to cooperate with Nanban to sacrifice Wuchang City, which are two natures. Although they had no intention of fighting, they did not have the intention of following Nanban. In the whole war, the purpose of Hubei Green Camp was to protect oneself, and there were rumors in the court that this battle was fought for the peace between the north and the south.

Xie Dingbei's face turned cold, and he took out the solemn tone of the admonishment college in Changsha Army Academy in the past: "Everyone, you haven't seen the general trend of the world yet!?" The world is too big, you can not look at it, but the lake is vast, don't you see it? ”

"Hundreds of thousands of Yinghua tigers are rushing towards Wuchang! Lao Xie, what kind of goods I am, you can also figure it out, in the country of Yinghua, I am ...... (Raise your little finger) this. Who is our Grand Doge? Jia Hao! Zhan Bo Mu, exterminate Luzon, crush the Dutch, eradicate Aceh, for more than ten years he has been fighting with the Yangyi, and he is too lazy to open his eyes against you people! ”

"The 30,000 horses I brought with me are only a drop in the bucket compared to the men and horses in the hands of the Metropolitan Governor! To tell you honestly, 300,000 red-clothed and millions of volunteers have attacked from all sides of Hunan, not only to take Huguang, but also to go down to the south of the Yangtze River, and even more to the north into Shaanxi and Gansu! Divide the river and rule? Our emperor said that there is no predetermined line, and where you hit, it counts! In this Wuchang, do you still want to block the car with your mantis arm? ”

Xie Dingbei sprayed a special spray, and his words corroborated each other with many rumors, and the Qing soldiers were all defeated. Sure enough, it was naïve to want to stay out of the matter, the whole of Huguang was the territory predetermined by the Nanban, and they thought that the peace between the north and the south would stop at the existing border.

Xie Dingbei's eyes flashed with charm: "Our Yinghua red clothes are very picky, if you want to vote for me Yinghua, that opportunity is not readily available." As long as you are willing to cooperate, my Lao Xie will not only spare money, but also be willing to help you make an explanation, so that you can still keep the glory and wealth of the north......"

The Qing generals looked at each other again, and their eyes were firm, the situation is so sinister, and they can still fish in troubled waters, what could be better than this choice.

On 29 May, the Yamen of the Huguang Governor of Ortai was surrounded by the Hubei Green Camp, and it was all too common for him to make a fuss and beg for belief. Not only did Ortai disagree, but the Wuchang battalion in the city also did not react, and they also looked at this with a gloating mentality. They have not been paid for two months, and the Hubei Green Camp has not been paid for four months. And the people led by Hao Dai were destroyed before, and there was no explanation for the pension.

Ortai successively sent his master, the prefect of Wuchang, and the political envoys of Bu to pacify them, and on the grounds that the enemy was at present, he asked the officers and men to take into account the overall situation and not to mess up their own positions. …,

But I didn't expect that this commotion had ulterior motives, not only did it not be appeased, but the matter became bigger and bigger, a large number of officers and soldiers of the Hubei Green Battalion were involved, and even the soldiers of the Wuchang Battalion also participated.

This is difficult for Ortai, there are indeed more than 400,000 taels of silver in the domain, but this is the cost of planning to defend the isolated city of Wuchang for half a year, how can it all be thrown out now?

Ortai was meticulous in his work, especially able to pick out details, and in the Changsha War, he kept the materials meticulously, so that Kangxi's artillery team had a small amount of gunpowder that could be used, and thus made steady progress.

But God is always fair, and if you love to pick out details, it is difficult to take the overall situation into account. Ortai didn't think about it seriously, if he didn't disperse this silver, Wuchang wouldn't be able to keep it for a day.

On 30 May, the situation deteriorated further, the false promises were quickly exposed, and even Ortai's calculations were revealed.

The Hubei Green Battalion wrapped the officers and soldiers of the Wuchang battalion, stormed the governor's yamen, smashed the treasury, and looted on a large scale, even if the news of the red-clothed soldiers entering the city came, they did not care. The reason is also very simple, Xie Dingbei had promised to not only give 300,000 to the generals of the Hubei Green Battalion, but also all the silver of the Wuchang official mansion and the treasury, and the city gate was originally opened by the "activists" of the Hubei Green Camp in collusion with the Wuchang battalion.

Ortai and his staff, like lost dogs, crossed the river by boat and fled to Hanyang. Stepping on the gate tower of Wuchang City, Xie Dingbei felt that his brain was dizzy, like floating in the clouds.

Wuchang just took it down? Not a single soldier was damaged, and he was given 300,000 taels of silver...... It's too child's play, isn't it!?

Looking at the sky, Xie Dingbei burst into tears, God, I really want me to be a late bloomer......

While shedding tears, looking at the tide of red clothes pouring into Wuchang City, Xie Dingbei's heart was warm again. When he was captured ten years ago, he cried at the young emperor and bitterly confessed his ambition to abandon the darkness and turn to the light, and in retrospect, he did not blush at all.

God meant it! This is my thanksgiving for the north and the sky!

Xie Dingbei has the sky on his head, his feet on Wuchang, and his back to the country of Yinghua, only to feel proud, and his life has also opened the Golden Avenue, leading to the splendid and magnificent kingdom of heaven.