Chapter 167 Occupying the Tiger Men
A squad of vanguard soldiers were preparing to go up the mountain. [Read the full text] No one expected that when they appeared at the foot of Wushan Mountain through the smoke, they would cause a total collapse of the officers and soldiers on Ya Niang Shoe Island Mountain. When the 10-man reconnaissance team climbed to the top of the mountain, the Chinese military camp, which originally had more than 600 people, had become empty. Camp flags and weapons were scattered all over the ground.
After the task force occupied Ya Niang Shoe Island, Chen Haiyang ordered a suspension of the attack. The officers and soldiers got a little breather. Fortunately, the defeated soldiers were not captured and finally escaped to Humen Village. Some of the officers and soldiers originally stationed in the Humen area retreated to Humen Village, and the naval vessels retreated to Dahushan Island.
Whether it is Dahu Mountain or Humen Village, it is easy to capture them. Chen Haiyang ordered to stop the fighting because it was getting dark soon. He did not intend to get into a fierce battle with the Ming army after dark, which would increase unnecessary casualties in vain.
The Fubo Army established an observation post on Wushan Mountain to monitor Humen Village at the foot of the mountain. The location of Humen Village has become extremely dangerous at this time. From Wushan Mountain, you can overlook the entire Humen Village. Mounting a few meters of field artillery can make the entire village undefendable. Such phenomena that violate the most basic military common sense are common in battles.
China's military system, technology, and tactics had obviously stagnated in the late Ming Dynasty. The elders already had a clear understanding of this during the Tiger Men battle.
The navy has full confidence in its own military power and technology after this battle - Ming Zhengfǔ cannot be said to have a navy that can be used, and now it proves that the defenses of the land are also vulnerable.
Looking down from the mountain, the entire Humen Village is brightly lit and noisy. After observing, Shi Zhiqi believed that the situation in the village was dire and the entire army might be disbanded before midnight.
"If you collapse, you will collapse. This will save you the trouble of attacking tomorrow." Chen Haiyang looked at the map in the tent he had just set up. "We will capture Humen Village early tomorrow morning. There is Taiping Ruins in front of Humen Village. Try not to hurt the people." Life and property.”
"clear"
"Of course, the premise is that they are honest. If they come to attack us actively, then you are welcome."
Chen Haiyang planned to transfer artillery boats and sampans to the Sanmen Waterway the next day to support the navy in attacking Humen Village. The Sanmen Waterway is between Humen Village and Wushan. Once Wushan is lost, the Sanmen Waterway becomes the only barrier for Humen Village. In Xu Ting's combat plan, a sandbag fort was originally to be set up at the entrance of the Sanmen Waterway. However, the construction had not started at this time. There were only a dozen soldiers guarding the construction materials on the fort position, and they had already fled. The fleet composed of small ships easily passed through Sanmen, entered the Sanmen Waterway, and headed straight for Humen Village.
On September 21, after a night's rest, the navy quickly crossed the Sanmen Waterway by sampan. Formation in front of Taiping Ruins. The people in Taiping Ruins quickly sent a few old people to come out to present gifts and ask the army not to attack Taiping Ruins.
"We will do our best to prepare everything the army needs." Several old men kowtowed at Shi Zhiqi's feet, "Please, Your Majesty, restrain your men..."
"I'm not the king." Shi Zhiqi just wanted to have a few beauties kneel at his feet and kowtow to beg for mercy. I couldn't stand it when you old men did this. He immediately said righteously and sternly, "We are the upright Fubo Army and we are here to attack Guangdong." The official of the Ming Dynasty seeks justice. Don’t worry, as long as you do what we say, none of your plants or trees will be harmed."
Several old men expressed their gratitude again. Shi Zhiqi immediately ordered people to escort them to Chen Haiyang. He has specialized civil affairs personnel to communicate with the local indigenous people.
"Report to the leader of the detachment." The top soldiers sent for reconnaissance have returned. "There is no one in the village." He breathed. "It is an empty village."
"Have you searched the area?"
"After searching, there was no sign of the enemy. We caught a few wounded soldiers who stayed in the stockade, and they said that the large group of people fled in all directions in the middle of the night. General Xu did not stop him, and ran away with his own soldiers and others. "
Shi Zhiqi scratched his head: "He walked away happily."
The earthen city of Humen Village that Xu Ting had painstakingly built was now deserted. Xu Ting, Li Xijue, Fan Wencai and others all fled overnight, and a large number of weapons, food, ammunition, armor, staffs, and flags were abandoned in the village. Even the Hongyi cannons that had been transported with great pains were abandoned. A large number of muskets and artillery pieces were just left on the spot, without even setting fire to them. Shi Zhiqi was speechless as he discarded military supplies so carelessly.
There used to be a factory behind Humen Village that made ammunition and cast artillery shells, but it also fell into the hands of the navy at this time. In addition to the seizure of many finished pyrotechnics, there were also large quantities of saltpeter, sulfur, charcoal and other raw materials for making pyrotechnics. In addition, more than 200,000 kilograms of lead, pig iron and other metal materials were seized, which can be said to be a rich harvest.
More than 200 craftsmen and their families living near the factory were all taken prisoner. The officers and soldiers simply forgot about them when they fled.
The battle at Dahushan lasted even shorter. The ten warships led by Chen Qian retreated upstream without engaging in the battle. The Dahushan fort was completely paralyzed after a short period of shelling and shelling by spy boats. The navy boarded Dahushan Island, dismantled the cannons, and searched for the defeated soldiers. All military operations in the Humen area ended before noon on September 21. The officers and soldiers suffered 1,000 casualties and 600 were captured. The task force captured 14o of various artillery pieces alone. Another 22 navy ships and small boats waiting for repair were seized.
Total casualties of the task force were 2 killed and 31 wounded. Ten ships were hit, but none suffered any serious damage. Only the ammunition consumption was huge. The large-caliber mortars on the gunboat fired fifty shells per gun during the two days of battle. Even the shells stored on Hong Kong Island were counted, and there were only six shells left per gun. Cannonball. The ammunition on the spy boat also consumes a lot.
"We are about to lose the U.S. military in time and space. High investment, high logistics." Chen Haiyang sighed while looking at the form sent by the logistics staff.
The consumption of a modernized and hot-weaponized army was more than ten times that of a medieval army. Chen Haiyang's two battles at the Pearl River Estuary consumed two-thirds of the total tonnage of ammunition carried by the entire fleet.
Chen Haiyang began to establish a temporary supply line from Hong Kong Island to Humen. The supply line is carried out by captured sampans, long dragons and other small ships, and supplies are continuously transferred from Hong Kong to Humen. Since the navy eliminated the pirate gangs on Lantau Island, the Pearl River Estuary maritime patrol system has greatly improved maritime security in the entire Lingdingyang area. The introduction of highly flexible patrol boats has also made navigation clumsy, and poorly armed pirate ships have disappeared. . Supply lines require only a small number of armed ships
Seized materials were also shipped via this route to Hong Kong Island for transfer back to Lingao - some were used locally. As for the various construction materials left on several unfinished fort positions, they were all shipped to Hong Kong for use. As for other forts, military barracks and other buildings, except for a small part reserved for the fleet, most of them were dismantled by the prisoners, and the dismantled building materials were also sent to Hong Kong for use.
"Demolish all the houses we can no longer use," Chen Haiyang ordered.
So Shi Zhiqi became the captain of the demolition team, driving the prisoners to demolish the houses every day. Except for a few better military barracks houses, which were temporarily retained and disinfected and used as temporary barracks, all buildings were razed to the ground.
Chen Haiyang plans to use Humen as a temporary base. To this end, he renovated the trestle at the foot of Wushan Mountain to provide fleet ships with a chance to dock and rest. He himself moved his headquarters to the top of Mount Wu.
He then met with the people of Taiping Ruins. The trembling people brought gifts - fifty taels of silver, two loads of sucrose and ten bare pigs. Chen Haiyang ordered to accept it. The people were asked to elect liaison officers, and reasonable burdens were announced at the same time. This so-called reasonable burden was actually a kind of blackmail on the people. Of course, it could also be called a tax. The Senate used it as a tax. Although the Pearl River Delta region cannot be brought under their direct rule in the short term, the Central Government Administration Council believes that it is entirely possible to impose "reasonable burdens" from now on.
Zheng Zhilong collected navigation taxes at sea, while pirates in the Qing Dynasty had been collecting various "fees" in the Pearl River. Such fees were levied not only on villages, but also on transport ships and merchants sailing on the Pearl River and along the coast. . Anyone who refuses to pay will be brutally retaliated against. When the pirates were at their most rampant, they even set up a semi-public tax collection agency in Guangzhou to collect "fees". Traveling through groups should be done in the same way, but the technique and degree should be gentler and more beautiful.
According to the provisions on reasonable burden, when people and ships passing through the group need to requisition labor and materials on the spot when passing through Taiping Ruins, the collected materials and labor can be used at a discount to offset the village's reasonable burden. If the amount requested exceeds the reasonable burden, the group will pay the part of the crossing at the price.
As for the reasonable amount of the burden, after some bargaining, it was set at thirty-five taels of silver per year - because the villagers had already sent fifty taels of silver, Chen Haiyang generously agreed to waive the payment this year and start counting from the next year. The "reasonable burden" can also be offset by rice and other physical goods according to market conditions. According to the economic level of Taiping Ruins, this amount is not large - if they can spend some money to buy peace, the villagers are still willing to accept it.
The Ministry of Finance hopes to use this expedition to form a primary taxation system for the villages along the Pearl River and open up a second tax source besides Hainan - especially the various agricultural products abundant in the Pearl River Delta, which is very much needed by the Chuanchuan Group. supplies.
The current tax amount is of course negligible, but it can always remind villagers in the Pearl River Delta of the existence and power of the Crossing Group.
