The task force stopped at Humen - after passing the Humen rung, they could reach the outskirts of Guangzhou within three or four days of continuous sailing - but Chen Haiyang was not in a hurry to arrive at the gates of Guangzhou, and followed the established policy: his main task was to "show off"
"Force" and "Propagation". Now that the purpose of showing off force has been fully achieved, the key point is "Propagation" - first of all, we must give enough time to the residents of Guangzhou City and along the Pearl River to spread and understand the news of the fall of Humen.
The task force began to form many small teams. Each team consisted of about a hundred people, carrying small artillery, and equipped with civilian personnel and prospecting personnel. The small teams would take sampans and long dragons along the dense cobweb-like inland waterways and deep into the Pearl River coast.
They levied "reasonable burdens" on various villages and market towns, posted notices, and built a great momentum. Of course, at the same time, they imposed severe penalties on any village that attempted to resist them.
Due to the insufficient number of sailors, Shi Zhiqi, who was in charge of this operation, transferred some sailors to strengthen the small team. A large part of the sailors in the navy were pirates. Not only were they familiar with the Pearl River waterway, they were also experts in doing this. Back then,
They also followed the "shopkeepers" of various gangs and units in small boats deep into the inland rivers, plundering and kidnapping people everywhere.
The news of the fall of Humen reached the city of Guangzhou that day. The four cities were shaken for a while. The prefect of Guangzhou hurriedly came to see Li Fengjie and asked whether the city gate should be closed immediately.
Li Fengjie was shocked. He did not expect that Humen would fall so soon. Once Humen fell, it would only be three or two days before the Kun bandits arrived in Guangzhou. Thinking of the Kun bandits attacking Guangzhou, his face turned pale.
"Don't close the city gates for the time being. Closing them will shake people's hearts!" Li Fengjie calmed down, "You and Nanhai and Panyu counties should send more people to each city gate to step up inspections to prevent thieves from sneaking into the city!"
"Yes, I'll do my humble job now!"
The only weapon Li Fengjie had was his own Fubiao. However, Fubiao suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Chengmai. One thousand of the men he sent were either killed in Chengmai or captured or trapped in Qiongshan. So far, not one of them has died.
He didn't come back. Fu Biao currently has less than 700 men available for fighting. Fortunately, these people are the elite of Fu Biao. Li Fengjie is very kind to them on weekdays, and they are a force that can be relied on in critical times.
Li Fengjie is not worried about guarding Guangzhou: Guangzhou is not only well-defended, but also has a large population. When necessary, a large-scale recruitment of young men can be carried out in an instant, and mobilizing 100,000 men into the city can be done in an instant. In addition to the bidding, there are also coastal defenses inside and outside Guangzhou.
General Xu Tingfa's men and horses and some sporadic troops, in addition to the garrison stations stationed in Guangzhou and surrounding areas, although these garrison stations were dilapidated, it was still possible to recruit thousands of men to fight. The senior officers and soldiers of the Guangzhou Guard were very famous at that time, and the entire
In the Ming Dynasty, they were often deployed to fight against Miao and Yao.
The total number of these troops is three to four thousand, which is enough to serve as the core of Guangzhou's city defense. But as the governor of Guangdong, he has to consider not only the city of Guangzhou, but also the counties and villages along the Pearl River. If he is captured by the thieves,
The killings and plundering were so miserable that even when the censor impeached him, he couldn't bear it.
Li Fengjie convened officials and staff in the city to discuss countermeasures. Everyone's opinions were generally based on consolidating Guangzhou's own city defense and strengthening the self-defense capabilities of villages and towns along the river.
When Liu Xiang first mobilized in the Pearl River Delta, the Guangdong local government stepped up the implementation of the Baojia Law in various parts of the Pearl River Delta, encouraging gentry from all over the country to organize regiments to practice rural bravery and self-defense. Each county had established a public office, with the county magistrate serving as the general regiment commander, and local officials
Jin gentry who has a good reputation and is willing to contribute serves as the deputy regiment commander. The government can lend cannons to those who train regiments in each village and town, and each village is also allowed to make its own cannons. Watchtowers and fences are built at various intersections and river mouths, and they are equipped with gongs.
It also stipulated that multi-village joint security should be provided. If a village is in trouble, neighboring villages will send out villagers to support it. As for the required funds, each village will bear it on its own: some come from donations from large gentry households, and some come from donations.
It was apportioned by all the villagers. Some counties simply levied an additional sum of money on the land tax as the county's team training expenses.
This system has been implemented since the beginning of last year and has begun to bear fruit. Most officials believe that the thieves are not familiar with the place and may not dare to go deep into the various inland rivers along the Pearl River. The villages along the Pearl River are the most active in fortification and courage training.
, and Xu Tingfa's naval force is generally still intact. The bandits are not too rampant.
He Chengzong proposed: It is better to defend the city than to defend the river. The Kun thieves had strong ships and powerful guns, but few soldiers and did not dare to move too far away from the ships. Therefore, there was no need to worry about them attacking Guangzhou from the land. The officers and soldiers only had to defend the Pearl River continuously and harmonize the countryside.
Bravely cooperating in combat can wear down the thief's energy step by step, and ultimately achieve the goal of forcing the enemy to withdraw from the Pearl River.
From Humen to Guangzhou, there are many defensive passes on the Pearl River. Among them, Wuyong is the most important. He Chengzong suggested concentrating most of the troops on Wuyong, building sandbag forts, and mobilizing more cannons and sampans to form a long queue.
"Wuyong controls the important river in the province. Our army is stationed here. If we enter, we can enter the Pearl River to help defend everywhere along the river. If we retreat, we can ensure the safety of the provincial capital. This is the top priority."
He Chengzong vigorously advocated his theory of Wuyong's victory. Most officials and staff also agreed with his view. However, Xu Tingfa, who saw the powerful firepower of the Kun thieves with his own eyes, expressed opposition.
Guangzhou's defense must be stepped up." After Xu Tingfa was defeated in Humen, he temporarily stationed in Huangpu. The core of his command was still intact - originally the main force was the navy, and the navy only lost some troops in the Battle of Humen.
The repaired ships, the main ships and soldiers all retreated. He sent people along the river to recruit the defeated soldiers. The soldiers who had escaped from Humen Village and other places have returned one after another in the past few days, and he has nearly 2,000 troops in his hands.
"The villages along the river can at most protect themselves and cannot stop the bandits from going up to Guangzhou. As for Wuyong, how do you gentlemen compare to Humen?" Xu Tingfa said.
The construction of the Humen Fort began in the Wanli period, and it has been heavily repaired and renovated in the past year. Regardless of the strength of the fortifications or the number of artillery pieces, it cannot be compared to the Wuyong Fort, which was built in a hurry and was not even scratched.
Such a fort, guarded by 2,000 soldiers, collapsed in less than a day of fighting. This psychological impact was extremely huge for Xu Tingfa. He could clearly see that with the existing qualities and weapons of the officers and soldiers,
It was no match for the Australians, who had strong ships and powerful guns.
Therefore, Xu Tingfa's suggestion is to directly defend Guangzhou, concentrate most of the troops that can be collected into Guangzhou city itself, build additional forts on Yuexiu Mountain, and at the same time station heavy troops at Dongsheng Temple in the east of Guangzhou and Fenghuang Gang in the west.
.
As for other key points along the provincial river, such as Liede, Pazhou, and Qinzhou, it does not matter whether they are fortified or not, because hastily built forts cannot withstand the enemy's shelling and will only increase casualties in vain.
Only the city of Guangzhou itself, with its high defensive walls and deep ditches, a century-old operation, and countless strong people as support, can probably withstand the fierce attack of the Kun thieves.
"Is it possible to let the Kun thief's gun captain drive straight in and reach our city of Yangcheng?" Li Xijue said dissatisfied. He was attending the meeting as a representative of the Governor's Yamen - after all, Wang Zunde was the highest military officer of the two provinces, Guangdong and Guangxi.
The military attaches were all under his control. Li Fengjie wanted to kick out the governor to negotiate a peace, but it was absolutely impossible to kick him out and start a war.
Li Xijue had seen the artillery fire of the Kun thieves, so he could somewhat understand Xu Tingfa's fear of fighting. However, despite understanding, he could not help but despise this man, thinking that he was greedy for life and afraid of death, and was unwilling to fight to the end.
But he couldn't toughen his tone. First of all, when he escaped from Humen Village a few days ago, he did his best to take the lead and ran away holding the horse's neck. Secondly, the only decent troops around Guangzhou are Xu Tingfa's governor in Guangzhou.
The sea defense ginseng is everywhere, so you have to fake the color a little bit.
Xu Tingfa suggested that instead of building useless sandbag forts everywhere that were vulnerable to gunfire, it would be better to select places with narrow river channels and more siltation on the provincial river leading to Guangzhou to block the channel with wood and rocks, and at the same time place wooden rafts on the river.
Chains lock the river.
"Many of the Kun thieves' ships have been modified and equipped with many weapons and equipment. They have a deep draft. If we block the river surface, the enemy ships will be afraid of running aground on the rocks and will not dare to go deep into the provincial river."
However, Xu Tingfa's suggestion was rejected by Li Fengjie. First of all, he was unwilling to let the Kun thieves' ships appear at the foot of the provincial capital - if the news reached the capital, they would give people a handle. Secondly, he was opposed to Xu Tingfa's so-called "strong ships and powerful guns" of the Kun thieves.
I think there is some exaggeration: Whenever a battle is defeated, the officials and generals in charge will always describe the enemy as extremely powerful, many of which are untrue. Li Fengjie is an old local official, and this trick
How could he not know? He regarded Xu Tingfa's suggestion as a sign of the general's "fear of war" and didn't care.
The final decision of the governor's yamen meeting was to strengthen the defense of the inland rivers, and at the same time train the regiments to "strengthen their prestige." For this purpose, a special Youth League Bureau was set up in Guangzhou, and the local enthusiastic and powerful Jin gentry were summoned to handle the affairs of the regiments. In addition, Xiaozhi
All prefectures and counties in the Pearl River Delta ordered each county to quickly set up a youth league bureau to handle security.
Xu Tingfa was stationed at Wuyong, a key pass into the inland river of Guangzhou. He immediately built an emergency sandbag fort in Wuyong and placed 18 Hongyi cannons. At the same time, according to Xu Tingfa's suggestion, he sank sandbags full of sand and gravel at Wuyong, Liede, Ershawei and other places.
Several old ships blocked the waterway, and they hired workers to drive wooden piles into the narrow areas of the river. As for the long iron chain on the river, they were nowhere to be found, so they had to send people to Foshan to rush to build it.
There are 1,200 troops stationed in Wuyong. All 40 naval vessels under Xu Tingfa are concentrated near Wuyong, ready for reinforcement at any time. At the same time, at Qinzhou, Pazhou, Liede, Ershawei, Dahuangjiao and other provincial river strategic points
They urgently built sandbag forts and placed Hongyi cannons.