Chapter 337 The Final Blow
The Executive Committee's short-term plan for the mainland has also changed with the occurrence of the Lijiazhuang incident. In the future, the Guangdong Office will be the leader and fully responsible for arranging and managing the military and political affairs of the Crossing Group in the mainland, especially in Guangdong. business affairs. The Lijiazhuang Immigration Transfer Point will specialize in recruiting and transporting immigrants from the mainland, while the Dawanshan Island Stronghold located in the Pearl River Estuary will have mainly military functions and also serve as a commercial transfer station. After adding two strongholds in Lijiazhuang and Dawanshan Island, the Crossing Group's influence on the mainland will be greatly enhanced, and it will even be able to handle some small-scale regional armed conflicts independently, without having to rely on the rescue of the base camp for everything. —After all, Yuanshui can’t always catch the fire.
As for the expenditure required to establish this immigration transfer point, the Executive Committee did not have a dispute on this issue. The large-scale introduction of immigrants from the mainland is a development route that has been formulated before crossing. Investment in this area is a This is a necessary means for the development and growth of the group, which is the consensus of all executive committee members. Moreover, compared with the military-based stronghold of Dawanshan Island, the economic benefits that can be generated by introducing immigrants are obviously more intuitive. Immigrants who arrive at Victory Port will immediately arrange work as soon as they pass the quarantine observation period and start creating wealth for the crossing group. , but the financial capability of the stronghold on Dawanshan Island is very limited. Even according to Schneider's optimistic estimate, after the local facilities are put into use, it will be a miracle that the daily income can offset the military expenses of the garrison. The executive committee has even approved the cost of developing Dawanshan Island. Naturally, no one will interfere with the Lijiazhuang project.
Li Jifeng is already considered a leader among Ming Dynasty people with a flexible mind, but his vision and knowledge are limited to this era after all, and he is not aware of the long-term strategic layout of the Crossing Group in Guangdong - or in other words, he has not considered it at all until now. , this group of maritime merchants from Qiongzhou Island have such a big ambition to "take over the world". Whether it is economic, cultural or military measures, in Li Jifeng's view, everything the Chuanchuan Group does is a manifestation of the word "profit" first, and it is nothing more than to gain more wealth. In his view, this purpose It is completely understandable. After all, from a business perspective, everyone is of the same mind, and they are all pursuing more wealth.
Li Jifeng views the cooperative relationship between the two parties relatively simply. As long as it does not harm his own interests, the stronger the Crossing Group becomes, the more opportunities the Li family will have to make a fortune from this cooperative relationship. As for whether the growing growth of the Time Travel Group will affect the interests of other people, Li Jifeng cannot control this matter and does not have the ability to do so, but at least for now, it seems that no one can block the way forward of the Time Travel Group. Li Jifeng even had a little expectation in his heart, wanting to see how big a situation this group of wealthy and powerful Haihan people could finally manage on Qiongzhou Island.
After understanding the true purpose of the Haihan people, Li Jifeng's previously uneasy mood finally calmed down. After the meal, the officers at the table stood up to leave. Wang Tom called Chen Yixin and Xiao Liang to inspect several observation posts outside Zhuangzi.
After the Haihan Militia entered the village, they took over the local defense and announced strict curfew measures in Lijiazhuang during the war. Therefore, although it had just darkened, there was no one in the village, and the entire village was dark. Occasionally, you can hear dogs barking and chickens crowing. However, these three people all carry strong-light tactical flashlights, so they don’t have to worry about hitting a wall in the dark or falling into a ditch.
"Tom, you just said that you would build a stronghold and garrison troops in Lijiazhuang. Is this what the executive committee meant?" Xiao Liang asked softly.
"Of course, I'm not bold enough to pretend to preach the imperial edict." Wang Tom joked.
"Then some of the two companies you brought here this time should be left here?" Xiao Liang asked.
Wang Tom responded: "Not yet, at least until the barracks facilities here in Lijiazhuang are built. After handling the matters here, the troops will withdraw to Dawanshan Island to rest for two days, and then look at the Military Commission. One step command.”
"Nothing else to do?" Xiao Liang was still reluctant.
"What exactly do you want to say?" Wang Tom asked.
"We now have three companies of troops, and the Li's Militia Group can still support them. I think we should consider taking advantage of this moment to concentrate our forces and wipe out the pirates in the Wanshan Islands. Otherwise, we should stay there to attack Dawanshan Island. It is always a hidden danger!" Xiao Liang immediately began to promote his plan: "After destroying this group of pirates, there will be no other threats to the safety of Dawanshan Island in the waters of the Pearl River Estuary. The Eighteen Zhi’s forces are already seventy or eighty nautical miles away.”
Chen Yixin was startled: "Brother Xiao, our battle hasn't even been finished yet, and you're already thinking about the next one?"
"It's very easy to end the battle here. We are just waiting for the last blow from these bandits. If we are lucky, the battle will be over within tomorrow." Xiao Liang is very confident about the current battle situation and he can't wait. He turned his attention to the sea to the south: "Sooner or later, the pirates east of Dawanshan Island will be wiped out. Instead of waiting for the next time to specially mobilize troops, it is better to take advantage of this opportunity to attack their lair in one go! ”
"Neither the Executive Committee nor the Military Commission will allow military operations to be decided without authorization." Wang Tom poured cold water on Xiao Liang mercilessly: "You are also a soldier, you should understand what I mean."
"Of course I understand." Xiao Liang nodded nonchalantly and said: "I have no intention of taking any unauthorized action. We can report this plan to the base camp immediately and let them hurry up and approve it as soon as possible."
Wang Tom smiled bitterly and said: "Xiao Liang, you have been on duty in Guangzhou for more than half a year. You may not be very clear about the current situation of the Military Commission. This matter is not that simple. To implement a combat plan, it must first be internally demonstrated and the required troops calculated. , materials and various consumption, and then submit the battle plan to the executive committee for discussion. It will take at least seven or eight days.”
"Then how come the troops were dispatched so quickly this time?" Xiao Liang asked unconvinced: "It only took a day or two from getting the news from Victory Port to issuing the order, right?"
Wang Tom explained: "This is a special situation! The Executive Committee cannot let the Li family suffer, and the opponent is obviously weak, so it quickly decided to send troops. Besides, the real purpose of the Executive Committee, you just said I also heard at the table that fighting off these bandits is the second most important thing. Taking this opportunity to occupy a place on the Pearl River to establish an immigration transfer point is the most important thing. The priority of Lijiazhuang’s affairs is definitely lower.”
Xiao Liang was silent for a long time before speaking again: "I still insist on reporting this combat plan to the superiors."
"Okay, we will send a telegram after we finish patrolling the sentry post." Wang Tom had no objection to Xiao Liang's proposal. Although there is little chance that this combat plan will be approved by the Executive Committee in a short period of time, Wang Tom actually wants to give it a try. After all, it is rare to have hundreds of troops at hand, so it is a pity to just come to Lijiazhuang to take a look around. This time, a group of military academy trainees were specially brought in. If they just dealt with the rogue bandits outside Zhuangzi, there would be no substantial gains at all. Although the opponent's strength was vulnerable, the officers strictly followed the combat regulations and set up multiple sentries on the outer defense line of Zhuangzi. They also left a platoon of armed personnel on standby in the west and north directions to prepare for the opponent's night attack. . However, this is obviously an overestimation of the bandits' combat capabilities. After seeing Lijiazhuang's defense methods during the day, no bandit leader is willing to let his people go to the village in the dark to die.
For the various bandits who participated in the attack on Lijiazhuang, this was their most difficult night in recent times. Although there were casualties when attacking villages in the past, and it was not uncommon for them to be repulsed by the village's regiment training, there had never been such a one-sided situation. The two attacks launched today seemed to have hit the opponent's defense line, but in retrospect, it turned out that so many people were killed and injured, but they did not pose a substantial threat to the opponent at all. According to the situation described by those who escaped, the opponent adopted a passive defense method. Even if it had sufficient combat power, it had no intention of attacking at all.
This situation has caused some disagreement among the bandit leaders about the prospects of this battle. Some people think that this is because the Lijiazhuang militia has limited close combat capabilities and can only rely on muskets to carry out defensive battles. As long as they increase the investment of troops next time, they will definitely be able to break through. The opponent's musket position. Another opinion is that the Lijiazhuang militia is deliberately preserving its strength to attract the attackers to continue to invest troops. In other words, the entire Lijiazhuang is a hole dug by someone. The armed forces guarding here have always been reserved and have not fought with all their strength. .
But no matter which view they hold, the bandit leaders are unwilling to give up the goal of Lijiazhuang. Although hundreds of men were lost on the first day, and Zeng A Niu, an unloyal guy, ran away early, the bandit leaders felt that since they still had thousands of men on hand, they could still fight again. And now, in addition to the legendary Lijiazhuang Bank, the bandit leaders have a new target, which is the muskets used by the guards of Lijiazhuang. If we can capture Lijiazhuang and seize these muskets for our own use, what other villages in Guangdong and Guangxi cannot be captured?
The one who suffered the biggest loss during the day was Liao Dabi, who initiated the operation. In addition to losing nearly 200 people in the two offensives, the 50% profit that was originally promised also attracted various bandit leaders because of the unfavorable war. Complained, and finally had to change from 50-50 to 30-70. The money he had not yet received suffered such a huge loss, which made Liao Dabi so painful that he could not sleep almost all night. The only thing that could comfort him was that the culprit, Li Maozai, was said to have rushed out in the afternoon. During the formation, he was killed directly in front of the formation by Lijiazhuang's musketeers.
Early the next morning, the bandit leaders from all walks of life who decided to make a desperate move ordered the release of grain to keep their men full, and prepared to attack Lijiazhuang directly with all their troops. If we still can't win this time, then everyone really has no choice but to give up.
"What a beautiful day!" Xiao Liang stretched, but the air that breathed into his nose smelled of blood, and he couldn't help but frown. Although the battlefield had been cleaned yesterday, the land near the parapet had long been soaked with the blood of the bandits, and even the soil had turned a dazzling dark brown.
The villagers of Lijiazhuang started digging holes on the east side of Zhuangzi yesterday afternoon, transporting the bandits who died outside the village on pallets and filling them in the holes. At first, Xiao Liang suggested that they be cremated, but he soon discovered that this method was a bit unrealistic - the corpses accumulated too quickly, and the village simply did not have so much firewood to burn. So in the end we had to adopt the most primitive method of digging a hole and burying the body.
Wang Tom was busy arranging the trainees from the General Academy to various positions so that they could participate in the upcoming battle. The only thing that made Wang Tom feel a little regretful was that he could not bring Harugong's cavalry company to Guangzhou this time. Once the opponent's offensive collapsed, it would not be easy for his side to pursue the victory.
At ten o'clock in the morning, the dragging bandits finally began to form formation, and the armed personnel in Lijiazhuang also gradually entered the combat position. The artillery that had not even appeared in the battle yesterday was finally set up on the gun emplacement today, ready to play a role at the critical moment.
It is worth mentioning that this time Wang Tom went north and specially brought shotguns newly produced by the military industry department. This is a powerful weapon for dealing with large areas of infantry at close range. The manufacturing process of this kind of cannonball is very simple. The projectile body is a tin cylindrical container with a diameter consistent with the barrel. If necessary, the projectile body can even be made of paper tubes or wood. The 6-pound shotgun shell contains 48 cast iron projectiles tightly packed with sawdust. After being fired out of the gun barrel, the fragile projectile body will burst immediately, and the projectiles inside will form a huge firepower killing surface, and its power is also considerable. According to previous military test results, the effective killing distance of this kind of shotgun is at least about 400 meters. At a distance of 200 meters, the energy of the projectile is enough to penetrate the human body. In theory, it can hurt Second goal.
Compared with grenades and explosive bombs with higher technical content, this kind of high-power artillery shells that do not require a delay fuse in the artillery shells are more practical for the current army. Especially when you need to deal with an opponent several times your own strength on the battlefield, this thing is much more lethal than a large iron bullet coming straight at you.
When the military formulated the combat plan, it did not think about annihilating the opponent. Instead, it aimed to hit the enemy's effective forces as much as possible and make it lose the ability to harass Lijiazhuang again in a short period of time. Under this guideline, shotguns with high lethality at close range became the weapon of choice for the last battle.
After waiting for almost an hour, several ragtag groups finally integrated their teams and began to march towards Lijiazhuang. What made the bandit leaders a little angry was that many people from each faction fled last night while it was dark. When they counted the number of people this morning, they found that there were two to three hundred people missing. But the bandit leaders were relieved after being angry for a long time. After the war, there were hundreds of less men to share the accounts, and the money ended up in their own pockets.
However, dreams are beautiful, but reality is extremely cruel. After entering an area two hundred meters away from the defense line, thousands of bandits finally plucked up the courage to launch a final charge. But almost at the same time, the parapet that they had been unable to touch after attacking for a whole day suddenly collapsed. After a burst of smoke, a small group of people at the front finally saw the horrifying scene behind the wall - several dark artillery pieces sandwiched in the middle of a dense team of musketeers, the muzzles of the cannons already aimed at the charging crowd.
Although the people in front have discovered that something is wrong, people behind who don't know the truth are still swarming forward. Anyone who tries to stop will be trapped in the flow of people, or be squeezed by the people behind and quickly stepped on the human leather carpet.
Amidst the shouts of thousands of people, a sharp whistle sounded. Before the bandits could understand what this signal meant, there was a roar like thunder in front of them. The hundreds of people rushing at the front let out a miserable howl almost at the same time, while the people behind only saw blood foam flying and had no idea what was happening in front of them.
Of course, there are smart people who have seen the world and immediately thought of artillery. However, before these people could react, the sound of the second round of artillery came again, and the cast iron projectiles penetrated their bodies mercilessly. In an instant, It took hundreds of lives.
The 6-pound cannon originally kept by Lijiazhuang, the ten 12-pound cannon brought by Chen Yixin, and several 6-pound army cannon added after Wang Tom's arrival last night, made the artillery in both the west and north fire lines exceed Ten doors. In order to avoid the shooting blank time caused by the slow reloading speed of the artillery, the officers cleverly adopted the rotational firing of two guns in batches. The effect of the shotgun attack at this distance is a very wide fan shape, and the firepower of one cannon is enough to wipe out dozens of people.
In the continuous artillery firing, the musketry team also joined in at the right time, supplementing the strike firepower during the gaps between artillery firing. Facing the dense formation charge of the bandits, this combat method of combining light and heavy firepower resulted in an extremely terrifying kill rate in a short period of time. In just two minutes, the ground was covered with the corpses of bandits at a distance of 80 to 100 meters from the defense line.
Under this kind of killing effect, not to mention stragglers like bandits, even the Ming regular army could not bear it. There was no need for anyone to take the lead. The bandits who finally realized that something was wrong turned around as quickly as possible and began to flee. However, it is not easy to escape within the range of bullets and cannonballs. People kept falling down in the dust, and they died without understanding what happened on the battlefield.
(End of chapter)