The Hangzhou garrison brigade led by Niu Jie basically carried out operations in Hangzhou at the same time as Ma Liankui's side.
This time they have to deal with Governor He Guiqing.
In order to confuse the other party.
Li Cunwen came up with an idea and put himself in danger.
He took 500 people with him, pretending to be escorting tax money, and sneaked into the city to seize the city gate. This was an extremely risky move, and if he made a mistake, he might be trapped.
Then Niu Jie led a large force and rushed over as quickly as possible, and directly attacked the city through the occupied city gate.
Although there are artillery and explosives now, it is not difficult to bring down the city wall.
But for a big city like Hangzhou with a moat, it's not that easy to break through the city wall.
According to Huai Haijun's strength, five hundred people guarding the city gate should not be a big problem.
In order to ensure nothing goes wrong, Niu Jie selected a group of elite soldiers from his men to form a commando team and handed it over to Li Cunwen.
This team must be led by Li Cunwen. If it were anyone else, it wouldn't be enough to confuse the opponent.
Logically speaking, Li Cunwen does not need to personally take care of things like escorting tax banks, but now there is war and chaos, and bandits in Zhejiang and Fujian are constantly causing trouble.
Therefore, people everywhere are cautious when escorting tax collectors.
At this time, Li Cunwen personally led the troops to escort the tax bank, which is a very commendable thing.
Of course, it is also a problem to bring all the garrison brigades to the gates of Hangzhou. An army of five to six thousand would be a very large fleet if they took a boat.
After comprehensive analysis, Niu Jie decided to take the land route.
Traveling by road, the Huaihai Navy only needs to start from Deqing in Huzhou. Deqing is only about 40 kilometers from Hangzhou.
There is only Beixinguan in the middle, so as long as they can deceive Beixinguan, Hangzhou will be the big girl in front of them.
Li Cunwen, a gentle man, wanted to trick him all the way to Hangzhou this time, and he would probably lose all the righteousness he had accumulated in his chest.
But he has to do this. The higher his status, the more trustworthy he can be.
Five hundred Huzhou regiments marched from Huzhou to Hangzhou with silver chariots.
Because Huzhou has been quiet, there are not many soldiers and horses defending Beixinguan.
Most of the soldiers here are from the He Papi sect who collect taxes here, and they collect % tax.
The so-called % tax is a type of commercial tax that only began to appear in the third year of Xianfeng.
It is divided into two types: Zuili and Xingli. Zuoli is the transaction tax and Xingli is the toll tax on goods.
Nowadays, the Qing government is generally short of money, and the establishment of bureaucracies has reached the point of madness.
The soldiers seen on the highways in various places are basically tax cards set up by the local government.
Naturally, the officers and soldiers collecting the tax collection here at Beixinguan did not dare to embarrass the Huzhou prefect who was escorting the tax collectors.
It's not because it was the prefect who escorted the tax money.
They only have Governor He Guiqing in their eyes, because they are all He Guiqing's confidants.
They did not dare to embarrass Li Cunwen because the tax money he escorted was very important to the governor.
If the arrival of the tax money in Hangzhou is delayed because of people like myself, then all these people will have to go around in pain.
However, not long after Magistrate Li passed by, the soldiers following him suddenly rose up and drew their guns.
A small pass can be easily controlled.
After taking control of the pass, Niu Jie led his army to camp here because it was not far from Hangzhou.
Li Cunwen continued to lead his 500 men, dragging the fake silver truck loaded with ammunition, and continued to drive towards Hangzhou.
There are ten gates in Hangzhou City. The largest and most important gate in the north is Wulin Gate.
It was this martial arts sect that Li Cunwen planned to deceive.
In order to make things more real, Li Cunwen also sent one of his staff members to go to Hangzhou to report the matter first.
By the way, let’s take a look at the current situation in Hangzhou.
The Huaihai Navy has already obtained all the troops deployed in Hangzhou City.
At this time, Li Cunwen sent people to check where the governor, chief envoy, envoy and other officials of Hangzhou were.
When the time comes to capture Hangzhou and miss a few high-ranking Hangzhou officials, it will be a joke.
When we first made the plan to march, the reason why we had to go straight to Huanglong and capture Hangzhou City first was to capture all the top officials of the Qing court in Zhejiang.
Paralyzed the Qing command center in Zhejiang.
The plan was well planned and executed surprisingly smoothly.
Countless examples prove that officials who like to make money to please their superiors generally have average abilities.
However, Li Cunwen could only achieve this level. He could not capture the city of Hangzhou with only 500 men.
Unlike Jiaxing, Hangzhou has many officials and the Eight Banners are stationed there. There is no way to seize the city by controlling officials.
It is about ten kilometers from Beixinguan to the city gate. Niu Jie's large army arrived with heavy loads, and they still had to maintain a certain amount of physical strength to launch a counterattack against the troops in the city. It took about an hour's journey.
If the speed is too fast, these soldiers may not have the physical strength to continue the attack after arriving at Wulin Gate.
The speed of soldiers' usual cross-country running cannot be applied to the time of war.
Battles that really require urgent marching usually start immediately after arriving, and the enemy will not give you time to rest.
Therefore, the 500 people brought by Li Cunwen must guard Wulin Gate for an hour.
One hour was enough for He Guiqing to summon all the defenders in Hangzhou City to Wulin Gate.
"Bang bang bang..." Gunfire continued at the Wulin Gate in Hangzhou City.
At the beginning, Li Cunwen led his 500 commandos.
He quickly disrupted the situation and quickly cleared the Qing troops around the city gate.
Then these five hundred people set up defensive positions based on this city gate.
The position is divided into two levels: the upper level and the lower level. The upper level position prevents enemies on both sides from passing the city wall for support, and at the same time provides fire support for the lower level position.
Hangzhou is a big city, so naturally there are artillery on the city walls.
This is why Li Cunwen tried his best to trick the city gate into opening.
Although the role of city walls is getting weaker and weaker now, the role of city walls in such a big city still exists.
All the artillery that could be moved on the city wall was moved to the defensive position on the lower level.
Naturally, the Huai Navy also brought artillery, but they only had mortars and grenade launchers, which were smuggled over in large boxes containing silver.
If a team of 500 people were dragging cannons, they would probably be stopped before they even got close to the city wall.
The carriage transporting silver was placed across the street in front of the city gate, and door panels, gravel and logs were built up to form a blockade.
The soldiers of the garrison brigade put their guns on the carriages and stood ready.
In the gap between the carriages, the old artillery that had been moved from the city wall revealed its dark muzzle.
The artillery was arranged very simply, with the front body resting directly on the sandbags that had been built up. The rear of the gun was also fixed with sandbags.
This kind of gun has no technical content and is generally used by gunners in the Huai Navy.
If you're afraid of exploding the barrel, just reduce the amount of powder and you'll be fine.
Anyway, the commandos only use it to hold shotguns and use it as a big killing weapon.
The war has nothing to do with Li Cunwen. He only took it to this step and left the rest to the commandos.
At this moment, he is sitting in the tower. This is the safest place at present.
The news that Wulin Gate was suddenly occupied soon reached He Guiqing's ears.
He Guiqing was at the governor's office with his staff to count the tax bank.
In the morning, the prefect of Huzhou sent someone to report that Huzhou had handed over 500,000 taels of tax money, which was on the way to be escorted.
In this case, he could pay a total of 4.5 million taels of tax silver to the court.
With this money as a foundation, the court will have to get myself a bachelor's title no matter what this time. Or make myself a governor of Min and Zhejiang, and add a title of minister or something.
A city patrol officer ran over in a hurry.
"My lord governor, it's not good!"
You are the only one who is in trouble, and your whole family is in trouble.
If He Guiqing hadn't considered being gentle, he would have kicked him long ago.
"What's going on? Tell me quickly!" He Guiqing said impatiently.
It's not that the general didn't pay attention to the important points, he was running too fast and couldn't catch his breath.
The officer who reported the news took a few deep breaths, finally regained his composure, and said quickly: "The prefect of Huzhou entered the Wulin Gate with his team of depositors, and for some unknown reason, seized the city gate."
"What? Is there such a thing? This Li Cunwen could be crazy. Go and report it to Admiral Deng immediately."
"When the general came over, he had already sent someone to report to Admiral Deng."
"How many people are there on the other side?"
"There are only about five hundred people."
"Five hundred people dare to come and rob the city gate? There must be foreign aid outside the city. Tell Admiral Deng to send troops to bypass the city to intercept the bandit reinforcements."
After He Guiqing made arrangements, he exhaled a long breath.
The situation does not seem to be very serious. Although the opponent has taken the city gate, they have no ability to penetrate into the city.
"Come here, please report this to the Hangzhou General." He Guiqing suddenly remembered that there was a Hangzhou General in Hangzhou City.
At Wulin Gate, the garrison brigade has been occupying this place for a quarter of an hour. The signal has been sent out, and Niu Jie's large force should be on the way.
At this time, the reinforcements of the Qing army came over. This was so slow that only the Qing army in the southeast could do it.
The reinforcements first sent a team of people up to test the situation, but these few people were not enough for the commandos to fill their teeth.
Not one of them came back alive.
The reinforcements behind were dumbfounded. The idea was too tough. The officer leading the team directly ordered to surround them on the spot and wait for subsequent reinforcements.
The arrangement of this Qing army officer was correct. Someone like him would only die if he went up there.
To deal with Huai Haijun's intensive shooting, it is necessary to use a sea of people to pile up.
More and more Qing troops gathered on the street south of the city gate, and they crowded the street.
It was like attending a temple fair, crowded with people.
"Captain, it looks like they are going to launch a general attack." A company commander said to the commando leader.
"Get these old cannons ready. Also, get our mortars and grenades ready. I want to see if the bones of the Qing army in Hangzhou City are strong enough."
If the Qing army was really not afraid of death and rushed forward risklessly, then these Huaihai navy would really be in danger.
Sometimes, the advantage in numbers can indeed make up for some of the deficiencies in weapons.
On the streets of the city, Deng Shaoliang was personally conducting front-line command.
"Have you figured out who the other party is?" Deng Shaoguang asked the person next to him.
"There is no doubt that it is a team training in Huzhou, but I don't know why the other party suddenly rebelled."
"Could it be that they are the nails planted in my Zhejiang province?"
It's scary to think about it.
Deng Shaoguang frowned.
Is it a bandit?
It is very possible that the bandits are secretive and cunning.
It is also possible that he is a gangster, as the Tiandihui often does such things.
Huai Haijun?
Have they started to rebel?
The last thing Deng Shaoguang wanted to encounter was to confront Huai Haijun.
Deng Shaoguang had an assessment of the strength of the first two. Only the strength of Huai Haijun, Deng Shaoguang had no idea.
But after Deng Shaoguang observed for a long time, it seemed that such equipment and firepower could not be achieved by bandits or bandits.
Huai Haijun still rebelled!
I am afraid that the Qing Dynasty is really coming to an end.
Deng Shaoguang was a high-ranking military commander, so he knew that tens of thousands of people from the Huaihai Navy were marching in Zhili.
What does it mean to be able to run rampant in Zhili and finally escape unscathed?
It shows that the imperial court has no way to control the Huai Navy, and it shows that the Huai Navy can manipulate the court at will.
Now is not the time to think about these things. Deng Shaoguang must get rid of the five hundred people in front of him, otherwise he will be completely embarrassed.
After coming out of Hunan and accumulating military exploits to reach his current status, Deng Shaoguang is quite capable.
"Send 500 men from the east and west sides of the city wall, and 1,000 men from the street on the other side of the city gate. Let me kill them from three sides."
"Archers line up behind the formation, and anyone who retreats will be killed without mercy. Send an order to the army going out from the west gate to speed up."
The West Gate is the closest to Wulin Gate in Hangzhou because Wulin Gate is located in the northwest corner.