Dominate the Country

Shi Liang was crazy. He led his team not only to cross Jinkou, but also to Shenshan Lake, which was only a dozen miles away from the position of the Fu Han Army deployed on the west side of Wuchang.

Chen Ming was surprised. Why was this Qing army with only 5,000 people so bold? Wasn't he afraid that the Fu Han Army would rush up and eat him up?

Yes, the Qing army in Henan and Ma Mingxun's Sichuan Army had already reached Xiaogan and Hanchuan. The Fu Han Army had only 10,000 troops to defend these two places. 6,000 people were used to deal with the Qing army in Henan, and 4,000 people were used to deal with the Sichuan Army led by Ma Mingxun. Even if the follow-up troops of Sichuan had reached Anlu, they would be able to reach Hanchuan soon. But these 10,000 people were enough to deal with the enemy. Chen Ming felt that it was more than enough to use 4,000 people to deal with the Sichuan Army who had no cannon in their hands. So Chen Ming, who was stationed in Hanyang, still had sufficient troops in his hands.

When the Fu Han army left Jiangnan, the number of soldiers in the team was as high as 70,000 to 80,000. 20,000 stayed in Jiangnan, and Anqing and Jiujiang added 5,000 each. Chen Yongsheng led the main force of the First Brigade to join the 12th Battalion of veterans to attack Hubei. Chen Ming sent Miao Fuwei to lead the troops, which actually added 4,000 to 5,000 people. After deducting 30,000, Chen Ming still had 40,000 to 50,000 troops.

The occupation of Huangzhou was mostly done by logistics troops, and there was a special navy fleet along the river. To attack Wuchang, Chen Ming concentrated more than 40,000 people, and divided 10,000 to resist the Sichuan troops and the Henan troops going south. After deducting the navy, there were still 30,000 people used in Wuchang. There were so many armored veterans among them. The Qing army continued to lose blood in the night battle. How long could they hold on?

Looking around the entire Hubei battlefield, it was true that the Qing army had a lot of troops, but the Qing army was on the offensive and the Fu Han army was on the defensive. What happened was that the Fu Han army on the defensive also had an absolute advantage in artillery fire. The Qing soldiers on the offensive came too fast, and there were only a few cannons. This is why Chen Ming didn't care about the Qing army at all. This is the biggest gap between the Qing army and the Fu Han army. They lacked artillery, and their numbers in the offensive war were once again in vain.

In fact, Chen Ming didn't think that the Qing army's multi-way encirclement was an encirclement at all. Unless Agui becomes a great magician, a war halo will make the Qing army in Xiaogan and Hanchuan both excited and ready to die, and then let Fang Shijun's 15,000-6,000 Hunan Green Camp beep directly from Honghu to Wuchang City, and then the defenders in Wuchang City will become fearless. In this way, the Fu Han Army may really fail to bite Wuchang, where 30,000 or 40,000 Qing troops are fighting desperately, and be forced to retreat to Huangzhou Prefecture. But this is impossible.

The Fu Han Army has already established a foothold on the west side of Wuchang. Whether it is Shi Liang or the Hunan Green Camp, if they rush headfirst, they will only get bumped and will not cause a big impact on the Fu Han Army's front. Chen Ming relied on artillery defense.

Artillery, artillery. When the Fu Han Army had sufficient gunpowder, the difference in artillery power was not something that the Qing Army could make up for with more troops in the offensive.

And the current situation is that the morale of the Sichuan Green Camp is not high, and the Green Camp in Henan still has a little fighting spirit, but they can hardly touch the First Brigade, where Chen Ming has an extra artillery battalion. The Fu Han Army's 10,000 troops isolated more than 40,000 Qing troops, and the Hunan Green Camp led by Fang Shijun and the Qing Army of Shi Liang in front of them were also separated from the Wuchang battlefield by a small number of troops on the western defense line of the Fu Han Army. In other words, Chen Ming still has 26,000 to 7,000 people to fight Wuchang. The soldiers on both sides seem to be similar, but the losses of the Qing Army in hand-to-hand combat are enough to shake the defenders at this time.

You can't expect the morale of the defenders when there are about 20,000 people to be on par with the morale when there are 25,000 people, right?

The Green Camp soldiers and the Lianghu warriors were not fools. Seeing their comrades killed or injured in large numbers every night, their morale was visibly low. Chen Ming had been sure of taking Hongshan two days ago, but he did not move. As long as the Fu Han Army did not occupy Hongshan, the Qing soldiers would continue to fill the pit here. After Hongshan, there is Shuangfeng Mountain, which is a surprise attack at night. Why didn't Chen Ming choose Hongshan, a territory that is already familiar to the Fu Han Army, to fight, instead of going to Shuangfeng Mountain? There is also the Sheshan artillery behind it!

But Chen Ming soon regretted it. Because it rained in Wuhan. Yesterday was still a bright and sunny day, and the spring sun was shining, but today since dawn, there has been no trace of the sun. The sky was overcast and dark, as if water could drip out.

In the afternoon, dark clouds rolled over the horizon, and in an instant, heavy rain fell from the sky.

The raindrops were clattering. It fell straight down like beans being sieved, hitting the bluestone slabs outside the house with a loud bang. Then the rain got heavier and heavier, and Chen Ming began to scold himself for being stupid and self-righteous. If he had taken Hongshan two days ago, he could have taken advantage of the heavy rain to attack Shuangfeng Mountain directly. If he had taken Shuangfeng Mountain, wouldn't he be able to set up artillery to bombard Wuchang City from the surrounding areas?

What? You said there was a point behind the tail of Sheshan Mountain? Yes, that point was really disgusting. The Qing army also deployed cannons there. The beacon tower built there during the Qing Dynasty - the Qing Dynasty changed the corner tower, and now it has been changed to a cannon platform, and the height is also higher than the top of Shuangfeng Mountain, but Chen Ming dared to use cannons to directly annihilate it.

Chen Ming looked out through the Changhu Lake, and it seemed that there was an extremely wide pearl curtain hanging between the sky and the earth, and it was all hazy. The rain fell on the blue tiles on the roof opposite, splashing small water flowers. The rain flowed down the eaves, starting like beads that had broken off the string, and gradually connected into a line. There is more and more water on the ground.

Jiang Wei, who was guarding the outer position of the western front, cursed the sky for being blind, but he had to ask for help from the back. The mortars, tiger squat guns, cannons and bird guns on the front line were all unusable under the good rain. If the Qing army on the opposite side rushed over at this time, Jiang Wei's non-main force battalion could not stop the Qing army that was ten times larger.

In fact, Chen Qi, who was stationed on the east side of Wuchang, urgently ordered He Zixiang to lead the team to reinforce Yehu when the heavy rain just fell. Yehu is the position where Jiang Wei is located. Further west is Shenshan Lake, one of the four lakes in the Jinkou area.

He Zixiang is also an old acquaintance of Jiang Wei. They also have Chen Wei and Tang Wencan, the four battalion officers when Wei Xiuzhi defended Wuxi. None of them are dead now.

When in Wuxi, He Zixiang was the least trusted of the four battalion officers by Wei Xiuzhi. Now He Zixiang is still the worst of the four battalion officers. Even his soldiers have not made much of a move. They are still the captured soldiers and the hundreds of people that He Zixiang won over during the militia training in Nanjing.

However, Chen Wei, Jiang Wei and even Tang Wencan have been in danger several times in the subsequent wars. Jiang Wei's knife wound on his left leg has not yet healed completely, but He Zixiang is safe. There is not a single scar on his body.

"This... military lord, I dare to swear to God that I have never lied. This rain will last at least until tomorrow morning."

In Chen Qi's command post, another local old boatman was invited out by the guards. This is the fourth local old man that Chen Qi has invited in an hour. The Fu Han Army was caught off guard by this heavy rain, so when will the rain stop? It has become a question that the top leaders of the Fu Han Army are extremely concerned about.

Chen Ming didn't have the golden finger like Liu Xian, who had his own weather forecast. If he wanted to know the climate, he couldn't go to a fortune teller, so the only reliable thing to do was to ask the local elders. This boatman was very concerned about the weather. Before Chen Qi received the specific order from Chen Ming, he found four local elders, and none of them said that the rain would stop soon.

"Commander-in-chief, the reconnaissance team sent someone to report."

"Quickly pass it on." Chen Qi, who was pacing in the command center, was refreshed.

"Report to the commander-in-chief, Shi Liang led the team back to the camp on the south bank of Shenshan Lake."

"Is it Xiejiashan south of Shenshan Lake?"

"That's it."

Chen Qi smiled, "Okay, okay. Your reconnaissance team has made a contribution, and the news was delivered in time. If you can catch Shi Liang now, I will let Gao Yuanhou promote you." Chen Qi was of course joking, but the news sent back by the reconnaissance team did make him determined.

"Let Gao Qiao run over there."

"The commander-in-chief wants to eat Shi Liang?"

"Or we will just listen to the rain all night in vain." Chen Qi looked at the raindrops outside. Tonight's attack would definitely not be successful. I don't know how many shells have fallen on the Hongshan battlefield in recent days. The loose land hit by the shells will probably turn into a pile of mud after the heavy rain. However, the trenches were flooded, and the Qing soldiers had a hard time.

The heavy rain turned into light rain near dark, but soon a strong wind blew up, and the light rain soon turned into heavy rain, and it was getting heavier and heavier. Gao Qiao led two main camps and two non-main camps and set out from Yanchuan Mountain by Qingling Lake - Qingling Lake is east of Yehu and closer to Wuchang. The route of their team was to walk from Yanchuan Mountain to Chenzi Mountain, then pass through the angle of Yebo Mountain, Changmao Mountain and Wugui Mountain, then Xiejia Mountain and the adjacent Changshan Mountain, from the side of Shi Liang's Qing army to the front of the Qing army [west], and block Shi Liang's retreat at Guanzai Mountain.

After Guanzai Mountain, it was actually a large flat land that could be walked on flat ground. There were no very high mountains in Wuhan. These "mountains" such as Xiejia Mountain, Wugui Mountain and Guanzai Mountain were actually small hills of 100 meters high, and even Hongshan Mountain was less than 100 meters high. After Guanzai Mountain, as long as you don't go to the riverside, you can ride a horse all the way back to Jiayu County. No one would go to the riverside, right? The navy warships of the Fu Han Army were still on the Yangtze River. If you go to the riverside, wouldn't it be feeding the shells? So, if we take advantage of this heavy rain, the Qing army will camp all night, and its cavalry will not be able to spread people everywhere like a net, the Fu Han army has a certain degree of confidence in the success of the encirclement, and Shi Liang's team is really difficult to defeat.

He has hundreds of horsemen, and they are everywhere like a net. If there is a little disturbance, he will lead the team to run west, and you can't stop him at all. But this heavy rain tonight is a good opportunity.

Chen Ming saw Chen Qi's report at around seven o'clock in the evening and agreed with it. This is indeed a good opportunity, and if Shi Liang is completely wiped out, not only will most of him be annihilated, but the morale of the Qing army in the city will be weakened if the captives are taken out of Wuchang. Chen Ming also does not have more troops. If the 20,000 people led by Huang Jie in Jiangnan can fly to Hubei overnight, Chen Ming will not only plot Wuchang, but will besiege the city and fight for reinforcements, grinding more Qing army mobile forces into minced meat like a millstone. Isn't it because he doesn't have so many soldiers?

The rain was pouring down, soaking the clothes of the soldiers and the soldiers. The raincoats were useless, and people in the army would fall into the slippery mud from time to time, making a sound of "slapping".

"Third brother, the rain is too heavy! Do you want brothers to take shelter first?!" Gao Shifeng shouted into Gao Qiao's ear amidst the sound of wind and rain. He was Gao Qiao's clan brother. He also had a chance at the beginning, but unfortunately he didn't. Get up and become Gaoqiao's guard captain now. "It's raining so hard. Can Shi Liang move? We still have time."

"Stop being clever! You can't stop for a moment." Gao Qiao shouted loudly. He turned to look at the men and horses behind him, and then shouted at a battalion officer not far away: "Chen Wei, go tell the brothers and ask everyone to work harder! We will win the battle when we reach Coffin Mountain." This is to capture the city of Wuchang, and to capture the whole of Hubei. To capture Wuchang and capture Hubei, what does this rain mean? Even if the sky drops a knife, we brothers will have to fight hard!"

After all, it was still spring, and the rain soaked my whole body. It was not only cold, but also cold. They were equipped with raincoats and hats up and down, but this could not really stop the rainwater from penetrating.

Clothes wetted by rain clinging to the body are not only uncomfortable, but also make people feel clammy. What makes them even more uncomfortable is the slippery road. The muddy and slippery mountain road doesn't care whether you are a commander, a battalion officer, or an ordinary soldier. In front of it, you are the king of heaven or a beggar. The team couldn't count how many people fell down, and Gao Qiao himself was covered in mud, making it extremely sticky and uncomfortable.

In fact, Gao Qiao also wanted to take a rest. The clothes on his body were so wet and cold that he could shiver. It would be nice to wait until the rain stops before walking. If the Qing soldiers are still moving at that time, they can climb down Coffin Mountain even if they climb!

But no, although marching in heavy rain is difficult, who can guarantee that Shi Liang will not move? Could he not know what kind of impact the heavy rain would have on his team? Shi Liang is deaf and blind because his cavalry cannot be released. And he only had 5,000 men in his hands. Facing the Fuhan Army, this strength was too weak.

The only thing Gao Qiao could be sure of was that if he were Alhatu, he would definitely lead his army westward at this time, and no matter how heavy the rain, he would have to retreat to the west of the Jinshui River - hence the name Jinkou.

"Commander! It's raining too hard! Do you think we should take a rest before leaving? Brothers are so tired that they can't walk!" Zhang Xianlong, the battalion officer of the 38th Infantry Battalion, also ran to Gaoqiao. Come and complain.

"Fuck you, didn't you hear what I just said?" Gao Qiao's face darkened and he was furious. "As a battalion officer, do you no longer want to do this? If you don't want to do this, just tell me as soon as possible, and I will let you go back immediately."

"Commander Gao, it's not me who is complaining. What kind of suffering have I not suffered? You know the life I lived back then. This is because the brothers can't stand it anymore. Look at what the brothers are like now." Zhang Xianlong said to Gao Qiao ignored the threats at all, knowing that they were just angry words. "This rainy day is very unfavorable for our march. The Qing soldiers are so delicate. Can Shi Liang move? The rain is so heavy. As long as it keeps raining, the Qing army will never continue to march in the rain based on their morality. I am now I’m afraid that when we get to Coffin Mountain, everyone will be exhausted and won’t be able to fight tomorrow.”

The Fuhan Army's strategy is to assemble a team to attack Xiejia Mountain as soon as the rain stops tomorrow. Shi Liang should take the initiative to retreat. Then when they retreated to Coffin Mountain, they were stopped by Gao Qiao's men. The team in front Then they rushed over and made dumplings for Shi Liang's men at the foot of Coffin Mountain.

"Let's take a break and take shelter from the rain. It won't hinder the big things." Zhang Xianlong touched the rain on his face. He was about to freeze.

Raindrops could be heard everywhere. Gao Qiao didn't answer a word, looked at Zhang Xianlong coldly, turned around and left without saying a word. With both hands pinching his waist, Zhang Xianlong took a short breath, shook his head, and then shouted at the top of his lungs: "Brothers, work harder, let's go..." The fierce voice sounded like a wolf howling.