【220】Thousands of miles of rivers and mountains open a new face (24)

Yao Fan's army was able to quickly sweep north of the Yangtze River, and Li Hongzhang contributed a lot.

As early as during the period of army expansion and training, Li Hongzhang wrote letters and sent them to various governors in the south in accordance with Yao Fan's requests and opinions.

The basic meaning of the letter is that Yao Fan's army is the best in the world, even stronger than foreigners, this is not my old Li blindly bragging, but my Li Hongzhang's Huai army in exchange for a lesson in blood. My Li Hongzhang's Huai army can't defeat Yao Fan, can you make up some new township brave rabble, plus the corrupt garrison green battalions in various places, can you compete with Yao Fan? Now that the court is gone, if you resist stubbornly, you will have no righteousness.

Since you can't fight it, and it is untenable in theory, you should study Yao Fan's enlightened gentry policy carefully, plan for your own future, and seek long-term benefits for future generations.

Li Hongzhang also praised Yao Fan's land policy in the letter, whether it was sincere admiration or flattery, in short, it was painstakingly to let the governors in all parts of the country know that the land reform policy is beneficial in the present and in the future, and fundamentally solves the historical cycle of dynastic change.

Under Li Hongzhang's persuasion, many middle- and lower-level local officials, and even officials at the level of governors, adopted a passive policy of non-resistance, wrapped up as much gold, silver, jewelry, and all the government's treasury silver as possible, and called themselves enlightened gentry after the arrival of the People's Liberation Army, demanding a lenient policy.

However, there are still quite a few die-hard emperor-honoring elements, and the big landlords in many areas have recruited private armed forces on a large scale before the arrival of the troops, and built earthen enclosures around their own villages, in which they store grain and practice knives and guns. For these people, Yao Fan demanded that the troops carry out severe suppression of them without forgiveness, execute the first evil, and the rest of them were raided through labor.

Because there were too many areas liberated at one time, and the entire territory north of the Yangtze River needed large-scale land reform and political power consolidation, as well as taking into account the autumn harvest, Yao Fan asked all armies to rest along the Yangtze River and carry out military readjustment and the establishment of a socialist regime in accordance with the central arrangements.

However, the desire of the various units to fight was very positive, and there was a strong demand to take the city north of the Yangtze River as a bridgehead, so with the approval of Yao Fan, the September campaign basically revolved around the capture of the bridgehead on the south bank of the Yangtze River.

After the Ninth Army took Yangzhou, the commander Hu Guangting planned for a week in order to attack Nanjing, and after collecting and requisitioning all the ships on the north bank, he was ready to cross the river.

Hu Guangting's first target was Zhenjiang, which was next to Yangzhou, just a river away.

On 12 September, as soon as the sky was dark, the troops crossing the river began the river-crossing operation silently without blowing the trumpet of the charge. At the head were 27 large ships, each with the strength of an infantry squad and a whole battalion, 81 light machine guns were erected in the bow. The second batch of troops is also a battalion, and most of the boats are small fishing boats, each boat can only seat three to four people, if it is a hard fortress, it is okay to be seven or eight people, but considering that the northern soldiers are not good at boating, many people can't even swim, so each boat must be equipped with a hired captain, plus the weight of equipment and materials, Hu Guangting finally put the people on the small fishing boat in three or four people.

The boat went to the middle of the river, and the defenders at the head of the Zhenjiang city on the opposite bank found the bright national defense green of the People's Liberation Army, shouted and began to shoot arrows, and there were four heavy copper cannons on the head of the city that I don't know how many years were also cast in turn, and the smoke of black powder suddenly shrouded the head of Zhenjiang City, looking across the river, the target was extremely obvious.

Hu Guangting saw it in the telescope, and immediately ordered: "Order the artillery battalion of the 25th Division to open artillery, knock me on the city across the river, tell these new artillery to aim well, correct the shot, don't be like when you hit Yangzhou, come up and fire a volley, but not a single shot hit, sue sùpay a sledgehammer, this time to waste shells, but it will not be two hundred push-ups, I will punish him to do a thousand!" ”

"Yes!" The guards beside him answered loudly, turned around and ran to the command post by the river to inform and send a report.

After receiving the notice from the walkie-talkie, Fu Dazhui, the commander of the artillery battalion of the 25th Division, anxiously wiped the cold sweat on his head, and repeatedly used the optical sight to measure the head of the city across the river. Fu Da Hammer was originally a guy in a rice shop in Jinan, but because of his brain, he could quickly calculate a good account in his heart, and he was arranged into the artillery. In the expansion of the army, he was promoted to battalion commander like a rocket, and his monthly income was thirty-one taels of silver, which was thirty times more than when he worked as a companion in a rice shop.

The salary structure of the People's Liberation Army is basically divided according to the salary structure of the People's Liberation Army at the beginning of the establishment of New China, soldiers, squad leaders, and squad deputies are all paid ten taels, deputy platoon commander 15, platoon commander 20, deputy company commander 24, company commander 25, deputy battalion 29, main battalion 31, quasi-regiment (chief of staff, director of the political department) 36, deputy regiment 39, main regiment 44, quasi-division 49, deputy division 60, main division 71, quasi-army 93, deputy army 104, regular army 115, quasi-corps 147, deputy corps 180, regular corps 213, 245 members of the Military Commission, 278 commanders and political commissioners of large military regions, 327 chairmen and vice-chairmen of the Military Commission.

In fact, this salary is not high, this year, the professor of Oxford University in the United Kingdom, the annual salary is about 700 pounds, that is to say, more than 3,000 taels of silver, about 250 taels per month, which is equivalent to the salary level of members of the Military Commission and commanders of large military regions.

And the price of the Qing Dynasty has been rising, during the Qianlong period of Kangxi, a large family bought a house slave for a few taels of silver, and a small family bought it more expensive, about ten taels of silver, this is because most people feel that selling their children into a large family is also considered a blessing. But the price of a maid who has read and read is very expensive, according to her appearance, the average is about 100 to 300 taels of silver. Yao Fan is now in the Guangxu years, prices compared to the early Qing Dynasty rose very much, the general house slave generally asked for 30 taels of silver to 120 taels of silver, literacy and hyphenation and long good-looking maids, in the rich Jiangnan region, the records of the beautiful maids who know the books and the good fortune to the gold transaction abound, and even the rich businessman spent tens of thousands of taels of silver from the Qinglou to buy the qin, chess, calligraphy and painting of the woman to go home as a concubine. Of course, most of the silver in this is earned by people's teeth, and the people who sell their children and daughters often only get a few taels of silver, and they have to be abducted and deceived by people's teeth to pay some fees.

At this time, the wind on the river was not strong, and Fu Da Hammer hit the Zhenjiang City with the first test shot, and the huge explosion caused a panic among the defenders on the city. After the second school firing, the shells smashed impartially on the head of the city near the river, killing and wounding the Qing troops defending the city.

Fu sledgehammer saw in the telescope that the head of the city was targeted, so the decision was relieved, the whole battalion fired a salvo, so 27 shells came across the river, Zhenjiang City Linjiang city suffered as many as five or six shots, stumps and flesh flew all over the sky, Zhenjiang garrison green camp suddenly chaos, howling and shaking the sky, the soldiers who fell their lives were like frightened birds and beasts, scattered and fled.

Hu Guangting stood by the river and grinned and laughed: "Good fight!" Well played! Fu Sledgehammer has grown this time! ”

Guard Yin Sanmu said: "Commander, the wind is light today, if the wind is stronger, I think the battalion commander Fu will hug his head and cry again." ”

Hu Guangting smiled and ordered: "Tell the third battalion of the 73rd Regiment to set off immediately and follow their commander!" ”

Hu Guangting's Ninth Army had three divisions, the 25th, the 26th, and the 27th, and the 73rd, 74th, 75th, 76th, 77th, 78th, 79th, 80th, and 81st regiments, and each division had an artillery battalion under its division.

Because the expansion of the army is too violent, the commanders of all armies are still accustomed to personally commanding everything in detail, and army commanders like Hu Guangting, who like to give direct orders to various battalion-level units, are typical examples, and some army commanders will even directly order to company-level units.

In order to save ammunition, Fu Sledgehammer stopped shelling after two rounds of salvos. At this time, there was a sudden sound of artillery on the river, and a shell fell in the center of the river, although it was far away from the small fishing boats of the People's Liberation Army, but the water splashed everywhere where the shell fell, which immediately aroused the alarm of the Ninth Army.

Hu Guangting hurriedly asked, "What's the matter?" Who's firing the cannon? ”

At this time, the troops in charge of the guard on the east side came with the news that a fleet had come from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, going backwards from east to west, heading towards the river between Yangzhou and Zhenjiang.

"Report to the Commander! The 77th Regiment, which served as a guard downstream, confirmed that the other party was flying a rice flag and was a British warship! They were shelling the north bank, and the 77th Regiment asked for artillery reinforcements. The guard rushed to Hu Guangting's side and reported.

Hu Guangting was furious when he heard this: "Order the two artillery battalions of the 26th and 27th divisions to immediately shell the British ships in the east for me!" With high-explosive incendiary bombs! Ordered them to me!! ”

After speaking, Hu Guangting turned around and left the riverside and personally rushed in the direction of the headquarters.

It was the Chinese fleet of the ten British fleets that came to blockade the river, and the Chinese fleet had a total of fifteen warships, and this time six came, one fifth-class warship, two sixth-class warships, and three small gunboats.

The so-called fifth-class battleship is not a battleship at all, but a frigate. Britain's lightest battleship was a fourth-class ship, and only one flagship, the Allecourt of the entire Chinese fleet, was a fourth-class ship with a rear admiral.

As a frigate, the fifth-class ship carries 130 people, has 44 12-pounder guns, and the captain configuration is the rank of colonel, while the so-called sixth-class ship is a reconnaissance and defense fast ship, carrying 92 people, 32 12 and 10-pounder guns, as the name suggests, it is used to quickly reconnoiter the surface and block the port, and prohibit smuggling ships, as for the British small gunboats, they have only more than 60 people, ranging from 18 to 26 guns, and the draft is shallow, and they can enter very shallow inland rivers and inland lakes.

Hu Guangting didn't know how the British warships were subdivided, but he knew that Yao Fan had instructed that the British warships in the Far East were all wooden-hulled sailboats, and only three of the small gunboats were mixed sails and steam. In the event of the intervention of the British fleet, he could only use the high-explosive incendiary shells of mortars, and the range of the mortars equipped by Yao Fan was much farther and more accurate than the 12-pounder naval guns of the British.

Hu Guangting rushed into the headquarters and ordered continuously: "Order the artillery battalions of the 26th and 27th divisions to quickly switch to high-explosive incendiary shells to shell the river where the British warships are located." The troops at the front should pay attention to cooperating with the artillery, use walkie-talkies to give communication guidance, and be sure to smash the wooden boats of the British! ”

The signal soldier sitting in front of the radio reported: "Report, the 77th Regiment in front reported that the 77th Regiment of the British shelling guide to the east of the river killed and wounded 19 people!" ”

Hu Guangting roared angrily: "Tell Ge Shunan to resist me!" Approach as covertly as possible and strafe the British ship with machine guns! Don't take a step back! Lao Tzu didn't believe that the wooden boats of the British could block 7.62 !! ”

Hu Guangting's self-confidence is reasonable, the steel core bullets used in the 56 and a half and 81 light machine guns are enough to penetrate a 40 cm thick wooden board and a 6mm thick steel plate 300 meters away, Hu Guangting heard Yao Fan say that he did not believe in evil and personally tested firing at a big tree, but the result was pierced through the big tree, and it was also five centimeters into a tree behind, so he worshiped the number 7.62 after that.