Chapter 228 New Year's Eve - Take the initiative to attack (4)
On the afternoon of the 30th, the prisoner presentation ceremony before the New Year’s Eve dinner officially began.
The so-called prisoner presentation ceremony is actually an ancient military parade. Of course, while reviewing the army, the enemy's prisoners, heads, and captured trophies must also be displayed to demonstrate martial arts.
However, there were not many prisoners and seizures this time, so the focus of the prisoner presentation ceremony was to review the troops and weapons. The participating troops were a guard company and an infantry battalion from Shang Yi, and more than 50 artillery pieces were also brought. Now is an extraordinary period, and the entire military parade is not complicated. It basically involves lining up in a queue and walking in front of the palace. It mainly shows the military appearance and majesty of the soldiers, and there is no change in the queue. At the end of the performance, some prisoners and trophies were symbolically placed, but there were no heads, so as not to scare Zhu Yousong.
Because Zhu Yousong was too fat, he could not ride a horse when reviewing the army, but could only ride in a car. But that's it. After pulling Zhu Yousong in front of the army, the two horses pulling the cart snorted. Obviously they were tired. It was not an easy task. However, the whole process was finally completed relatively smoothly, and Zhu Yousong's performance was satisfactory and there were no mistakes.
There were about 100,000 people present to watch the entire ceremony. The current population of Nanjing is about 300,000, so there were not a few people who came. During this military parade, they kept cheering and cheering. His voice and overall mental outlook seemed to be much better than the panic-stricken look when Shang Yi first entered Nanjing, and he also encouraged them a lot.
After the entire prisoner presentation ceremony was over and the people dispersed, Zhu Yousong and all the officials returned to the palace to prepare for today's dinner. Shang Yi first went to inspect various defense lines and told the officers and soldiers not to be careless. At the same time, the scouts also reported that all the camps of the Qing Army were basically normal, and there seemed to be no army dispatch. Shang Yi felt relieved and returned to the palace to attend the dinner.
Shang Yi entered the imperial city through Hongwu Gate, and then went straight to the palace. In front of Chengtian Gate, he saw Zhu Shicheng, the leader of the Xuanhuang Sect, and his wife Akashi Ji, who were also entering the palace.
Seeing Shang Yi coming, they all stopped. Zhu Shicheng bowed his hands and saluted, saying: "Supervisor Shang is here."
Shang Yi also returned the gift and said: "It turns out to be Imperial Physician Zhu and Imperial Physician Shi."
Imperial physician is the false identity of Zhu Shicheng and Akashi Hime in the palace. Several people pretended to greet each other, pretending to meet by chance, and walked into the palace together. Now Zhu Shicheng and Akashi Hime both have the identity of imperial physician, and Shang Yi walked together without attracting attention, because ordinary officials wanted to get to know a few imperial doctors. It would be good to have an insurance policy if they were suffering from serious or minor illnesses.
On the way into the palace, Zhu Shicheng asked in a low voice: "Is there no news about the battle situation in those two places yet?"
Shang Yi shook his head and said, "Not yet."
Zhu Shicheng nodded. Although he didn't say anything else, his face could not hide the look of disappointment. Of course Shang Yi could see it, but since coming to Nanjing this time, the Xuanhuang Sect has indeed been very cooperative. With their full support, the Shang Army's preparations in Nanjing were able to proceed very smoothly. Therefore, Shang Yi also tolerated him and said: "The results of these two battle situations cannot be determined in a short time, and Even if there is a result, it will take at least an hour to send it back to Nanjing from the front line. Therefore, it is estimated that the news will not be delivered until after the banquet starts. But don't worry, I am very sure about this trip, and I will send it as soon as there is news. , I will announce it immediately at the dinner party."
Zhu Shicheng's face also improved a little, and he said: "Okay, let's go in first, hoping to receive good news at the banquet."
At this time, I had reached the Meridian Gate without realizing it, and the number of officials gathered here gradually increased. They were gathering in groups, waiting to enter the banquet hall.
At this time, the defeated troops of the Qing Army had already hid in the dock of Longshan Shipyard. The forts set up on the shore, as well as crossbow beds, trebuchets and other weapons were also launched to attack the merchant warships in the center of the river. The merchants
The army's warships lined up in the middle of the river, attacking the attack points on the shore with their respective broadside artillery, and at the same time firing thunderbolt rockets.
Longshan Shipyard was originally located inland, not on the coast, and was not likely to be attacked. Therefore, there were not many fortifications and only sixteen forts. After the Qing army occupied Longshan Shipyard, although they took over the
All ships, but the shipyard's defenses were not strengthened, only a few trebuchets and crossbow beds were temporarily added.
However, the range of these weapons is simply not enough. The only ones that can pose a slight threat to the warships of the Merchant Army are the sixteen forts, but they cannot compare with the firepower of the Merchant Army. After more than ten battles between the two sides,
Minutes later, the river bank was almost completely bombarded by artillery fire, and most of the forts were destroyed. Other weapons such as trebuchets and crossbows were completely useless.
Then Huang Zhencai gave the order to launch an attack on Longshan Shipyard.
At this time, there were more than 300 ships of various types docked at the dock of Longshan Shipyard, but they were completely defenseless. Under the fierce fire attack from the merchant army, the ships hiding in the dock of the shipyard also docked one after another.
All the soldiers and sailors on the ship abandoned the ship and fled for their lives.
, As for the warships, we can only leave it to fate, but the shipyard is only so big and the location on the shore is limited. Not all ships can reach the shore. Therefore, the soldiers and sailors of some ships that cannot dock can only
You can choose to abandon ship and jump into the water to escape.
When the Merchant Army saw that there was no resistance on the shore of the Qing Army, they also stopped firing and instead used Thunderbolt rockets to launch from the dock of the shipyard. As a result, countless rockets flew out from each ship, almost hiding the area.
The entire sky above the river points towards Longshan
It was launched from the shipyard, and most of it fell on the dock. The oil and grease ejected after the explosion also spread all over the river, and there were dots of fire. However, a considerable part of it fell on the shore, causing a fire on the shore.
Warehouses, factories and other buildings burned.
In fact, at this time, most of the materials were wood, so incendiary weapons were far more lethal than artillery. After the merchant army continuously shot out rockets, whether in the dock of the shipyard, or
On the shore, raging fires were burning, and the flames and smoke were reaching into the night sky. All the ships, as well as most of the buildings in the shipyard, had been engulfed by the fire.
Although at this time, the Qing army camp had heard the news and sent reinforcements, it was of no avail. Firstly, the fire had completely burned out and could not be extinguished at all. Moreover, facing the merchant warships in the center of the river, the Qing army
The army was also full of ambition but lacked strength. Not only was it unable to hit the warships of the Merchant Army, on the contrary, under a round of artillery fire from the warships, the reinforcements could only retreat quickly.
Huang Zhen looked at the huge fire like a flaming mountain on the bank of the river, and knew that the mission of the attack had been completed, so he ordered all warships, including prisoners and surrendered ships, to return to Nanjing. At the same time, he immediately used
The story of flying pigeons, reporting back to Shang Yi.
Although it took less than an hour for the merchant army to break through the city wall of Gaochun County, the intensity of the battle in the city far exceeded Cheng Jin's imagination.
With no way to retreat, the Qing army's commander-in-chief, Su Bai, led the Qing army in the final struggle in the city. Unexpectedly, this struggle lasted for most of the day. The Qing army's resistance started from the city wall, and then gradually moved toward the county town.
Retreating, setting up defenses layer by layer in every street, even though there was no chance, they still did not give up resistance.
As a result, the merchant army spent a lot of energy and time. They invaded the county around 10 noon and the battle continued until about 3 pm. The Qing army's chief general Su Bai and most of the Manchu banner soldiers were killed in the battle.
, the remaining Qing soldiers gave up resistance, some fled from the city, and some surrendered to the merchant army. Only then was the overall situation settled.
It took more than an hour for the merchant army to clean up the city, collect prisoners, and eliminate the remaining resistance forces. By the time Cheng Jin led the army into the city, it was already past four o'clock. This battle
A total of nearly 4,000 Qing soldiers were killed and more than 3,000 were captured. The merchant army itself also suffered many casualties, with nearly 1,000 soldiers killed in battle.
After listening to the report of the attacking troops, Cheng Jin also felt that he had indeed underestimated the fighting will of the Qing army. After all, the Qing army was not like the Ming army, which dispersed as soon as they were beaten. They would fight to the death for an important place like Gaochun that must be defended.
Fighting vigorously is not about storming the city,
The overall situation of the battle has been decided, and it will also cause considerable losses to the merchant army. In the future, the merchant army will gradually take more active offensive battles and siege battles. It seems that I should pay attention to this, because like the Qing army
It is obviously not cost-effective to fight for consumption.
However, after capturing Gaochun, a gap was opened on the flank of the Qing army. In terms of the battle situation, it was indeed a major blow to the Qing army. The tactical plan formulated by Shang Yi before was also gradually realized.
At this moment, Cheng Jin received another report from the scouts. It turned out that reinforcements from the Qing army had come out from Ningguo Mansion and came to rescue Gaochun County. However, at the same time, the two subsequent infantry brigades that attacked Gaochun were
And the cavalry regiment too
They all rushed to Gaochun. So Cheng Jin immediately ordered to prepare to attack the Qing Army's reinforcements. This time, both the encirclement and the reinforcements would be successful. But before that, Cheng Jin also sent the news of the capture of Gaochun back to Nanjing using a carrier pigeon.
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Three white doves flapped their wings, flew into the sky, and disappeared into the distance in the blink of an eye.