The situation of the Xuzhou militia is well known to Huai Haijun. When it comes to battlefield reconnaissance, Huai Haijun is definitely the most professional in the entire Qing Dynasty. Some Huai Haijun scouts wear ghillie suits made of rags and are covered with various camouflage items.
, lying around the militia, the most important thing is that each group is equipped with a pair of telescopes. This thing is easy to import abroad, but the domestic army is not equipped with much. Except for a few generals in the Qing army, who will spend a lot of money?
Where to buy it for the soldiers below? Here, the scouts have already reported the situation on the militia side to Dong Shuheng and Cai Shusen.
The command room of the Huai'an.
"President, it seems that the militia is preparing to swarm in. According to the news from the special forces that sneaked into the militia, the actual command of the militia this time is the head of the Zhang family. This person has many experiences of directing clan fights. It seems that,
The other party regards us as that kind of family private soldier, and is very confident in its own military strength." Cai Shusen said while standing in front of the map.
"It's best this way. It will accomplish all the work in one battle and won't cause much damage to the local area. What we want is a complete Xuzhou, not a battered Xuzhou." Dong Shuheng said.
"President, I'm going to the shore to take command. You can sit on the Huai'an." Cai Shusen was really afraid that Dong Shuheng would follow him ashore to watch the fun if his head got hot. That would make it difficult for him to perform. After all, the president would become the center of attention wherever he goes.
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On the shore, the soldiers of the Huai Navy who had already landed had dug a trench 300 meters away from the canal. Civil engineering work in the modern army is a very important subject. Dong Shuheng attaches great importance to this. Today's army, including foreigners
The military does not pay much attention to civil engineering work. Nowadays, the armies of major powerful countries are still popular in queuing up and shooting. The two sides compete in the firepower output and the courage of the soldiers. The Taiping Army pays more attention to civil engineering work, but it is mainly limited to city defense battles.
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This trench is very characteristic of the Huaihai Navy. The trench itself is only about one meter deep, but all the excavated soil is piled on one side to form a gently sloping low wall. In this way, soldiers in the trench can place their guns on the gentle slope.
shooting.
But Cai Shusen was not prepared to wait directly in the trench for the militia to attack. It can be said that the trench was to prevent unexpected retreats. Dong Shuheng taught all the officers battlefield deductions. In order to fight his first battle well, Cai Shusen had already fought with himself
The battalion company commander under his command conducted repeated deductions and finally came to the current conclusion.
On the shore, Cai Shusen was summoning his battalion commanders to make final mobilization and deployment.
"Report to the commander, the enemy is still three kilometers away from the shore." At this time, a messenger came over to report.
"Okay, everyone, the president is watching from the boat today. We must act as a defensive team. Now go back to the company and make final preparations before the war."
The sound of neat running came from the shore. The infantry were entering their positions to check guns and ammunition. The first garrison regiment was the only local garrison equipped with rear hall guns, but Dreiser's guns were not very mature and were very
It is prone to malfunction, so please check and maintain it carefully before and after each use.
After the attack on Yangzhou this time, more than four months later, the experts invited from abroad and the equipment ordered are about to arrive. Dong Shuheng has some ideas about some things, and only by gathering the strength of these people can they be made.
What Dong Shuheng needs most now is a mature rifle. When he has time, Dong Shuheng goes to the arsenal to find John Radford. He has already drawn a sketch of a rifle. This is a mature rifle with a rotating bolt.
, and also has a five-round magazine. It will be popular throughout China in the future.
Yes, it is the Mauser 1888 Commission Rifle. The Chinese imitation is called "Made in Hanyang" and "Old Sleeve". If this rifle can be successfully launched now, it will undoubtedly lead the world.
Back on the battlefield, if Dong Shuheng had a DJI in his hands at this time, looking down from the sky, he would see a large, dark group of people carrying various weapons and wearing all kinds of shabby homespun clothes.
Like a tide, it swept towards the bank of the canal. More than a thousand soldiers of the 201st Huaihai Navy Garrison Regiment, wearing uniforms and uniforms, lined up in three rows, forming a thin battle line, lying horizontally across the canal like a dam.
More than 300 meters away from the pier, looking from the front, you can see a low earth wall 50 meters behind them.
There is a hill 2 kilometers away from the canal, with a pavilion on it, which is usually used for merchants traveling to and from the canal to rest. At this time, it became a temporary command post for Zhang Yulin and others. In the center of the pavilion, there is a small tea stove, and several handsome men
The maid is making tea, and Zhang Yulin is chatting with several other family heads.
"Brother Zhang, you really have the demeanor of a Confucian general!" said Yan Xibin, the head of the Yan family at the scene, "I'm afraid the Huaihai Navy has already made dumplings in the canal before the tea is cooked. Hahaha..."
One kilometer away from the canal, Zhang Mengzheng led the regiment to press forward.
"This uncle is so unreliable. He did all the pretentious stuff before, but now that he is about to charge into battle, he reminds himself of himself." Zhang Meng complained in his heart.
However, looking at this huge team, Zhang Meng felt a lot more at ease. Surrounded by him were more than a thousand patrol battalions and more than 500 servants from various families. Most of these people held blunderbuss in their hands, and the team was a little more orderly. Zhang
Put these people at the back of the team, responsible for holding down the formation, and playing the role of supervising the team.
By the river, Cai Shusen stood in line with his soldiers. Although the Huaihai Navy must be well-trained, as a garrison, he has not many veterans except officers and veterans. The so-called veterans have only experienced one or two battles and have seen blood.
That’s it. The Huaihai Navy was still established too young and lacks experience.
Therefore, Cai Shusen chose to stand with the soldiers, on the one hand to boost morale, and on the other hand to quickly deal with various emergencies.
There is a forest five kilometers northwest of the battlefield. At this time, a cavalry team of more than 500 people is hiding here. These are the Shandong thieves invited by the Zhang family. Because this team has never appeared before, it did not appear here.
In terms of Huai Haijun's intelligence, this was Huai Haijun's negligence. Even the scouts sent by Cai Shusen did not pay attention to this direction. They still thought too lightly of the landlords and gentry. You must know that these people have ruled China's lower society for thousands of years.
Maybe he doesn't have any skills.
This group of thieves has been operating in the Yizhou Prefecture area. The leader is named Lin Wei. He is a righteous man and has gathered a group of green forest heroes around him. They have their own village in the Yimeng Mountain area, and their brothers and their families total about five to six thousand people.
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Usually, the main source of income for this team is to blackmail landlords and squires and rob caravans. Sometimes they also take on some dark jobs. There is also some reclaimed land near the village, but the land in Yimeng is barren, and farming alone will definitely not be able to support so many people.
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Lin Wei is not a bad person in nature, and can be described in one word as "robbing the rich and giving to the poor." There are so many copycats of him because he often helps the people around him who can't survive, so many people defect to him. The copycats just keep getting better and better.
There are more mouths to eat, but not much more people to fight, so the burden on the village is getting heavier and heavier.
Therefore, this time Lin Wei took over the work of the Zhang family for 20,000 taels. This kind of cross-border business was originally against the rules. But with such a large deal, the village will no longer have to worry about food and clothing for a year.
This time, he brought out more than 500 of the most capable cavalrymen in the village. He said they were cavalry, but in fact, most of them rode stolen packhorses and mules, and some of them rode donkeys.
"Master, there is still one kilometer between the militia and the Huaihai Navy. Should we prepare to set off?" One of Lin Wei's men reported, "I just took a look secretly. Although the Huaihai Navy is equipped with muskets, it only has muskets.
There are more than a thousand people, and the array is very thin, and the brothers can break through it with just one charge."
"There's no rush, we only have a stick of incense to rush over. Let them engage first, and then we can have a surprise effect." Lin Wei said, he is very calm in doing things, otherwise he would not become Ludongnan.
The strongest thieves in the region.
By the river, Huai Haijun could already see a huge crowd of troops from the west pressing towards us. Some of the timid recruits were a little nervous, and the hands that clenched their guns were trembling slightly.
"Don't be afraid, everyone. The guns in your hands can shoot hundreds of meters away, and the people on the other side have to get close to us before the knife can hit us." A platoon leader in the queue said to the brothers next to him. He was the second batch to be recruited.
Thousands of Huai navy soldiers participated in the battle against the water bandits.
"Last time, I was not afraid of more than a thousand bandits fighting against five thousand water bandits. Now we are facing just a group of militiamen. They can also fight in groups. Later, we will fire a volley, and the custody will scare the shit out of them."
The platoon leader's words were rough and rude, and they immediately resonated with the soldiers around him.
"Captain, why do I feel like I'm waiting to shoot a bunch of prisoners who came to die?" Beside Cai Shusen, his regimental staff officer Zhu Xing said.
"It's better not to take it lightly. Before the war is won or lost, all accidents are possible. Send scouts to the left and right wings to take a look." Cai Shusen said seriously.
"Commander, are you too careful? Our cavalry guard company is hiding on the left wing, and the right wing is the direction where the 202 regiment is outflanking." Zhu Xing asked doubtfully.
"Execute the order!" Now on the battlefield, the commander must trust his own intuition. Subordinates can put forward opinions, but first they must execute the order as quickly as possible.
"Inform the navy to launch shelling on the enemy in depth." Cai Shusen said to another messenger next to him.
Before the two armies engaged in battle, the naval artillery was the first to sound the clarion call for war. Within 1 kilometer, both the 6-pounder cannon and the 12-pounder cannon on the naval warships were within range.
"Prepare all port gun positions, blast shells, and fire five rounds rapidly!" Zhang Qiang ordered on the Huai'an. To be honest, the Huai Navy's navy has not had many opportunities for actual combat since its establishment, and Dong Shuheng had no way to open the water to let the water go.
The divisions were fighting, and artillery shells were not as cheap as gun ammunition. The navy could only capture bandits at Gaoyou Lake and along the canal, or escort the Huaihai Group's transport fleet.
Behind the militia group, Zhang Meng asked the patrol battalion and servants to urge the militia group in front to speed up. They had already entered a distance of one thousand meters, and the team could slowly accelerate forward.
We were still 700 meters away from Huai Haijun's thin array line, and we could already clearly see the weapons in the opponent's hands.
Zhang Meng saw the opponent's neat clothes and hat, and was very envious. What Huai Haijun was holding was not a shotgun, but a foreign musket. Zhang Meng had never seen it before, but his experience made him feel that the difference between muskets should not be big. As long as he persisted
Stay within the last 50 meters and break into the opponent's formation. Your patrol battalion and servants will be able to defeat the opponent in close combat.
Just as I was thinking about it, clouds of gunpowder smoke rose from the canal, and then I heard "bang bang bang..." the rapid sound of artillery.
Zhang Meng had never thought before that the ship transporting the Huai Navy was actually equipped with artillery. A total of 14 broadside guns on the 6 warships opened fire at the same time. The shells carried kinetic energy and plunged into the crowd of militiamen, and then there was another "bang" sound.
It exploded, and the airwaves instantly threw the surrounding militia into the air.
Zhang Meng felt something hit him and viscous liquid poured all over his face. He turned around and saw that it was a human arm, with scarlet blood flowing down the ends of the torn muscles. Even if it was Zhang Meng
This kind of warrior couldn't help but feel sick in his heart.
The sudden bombardment caused the militia to panic. These ordinary people had never seen such a scene before. A large number of people were killed by a single shell, but there were still no intact bodies.
Most of the artillery shells actually fell into the patrol camp behind, but the militia group running in front started to cause chaos.
Zhang Meng also wanted to retreat, but he thought that his uncle would not give him any good fruits if he went back. He gritted his teeth and persisted.
"Everyone, just rush forward. If you rush forward, the cannon will be useless." Zhang Meng shouted to the people around him.