Chapter 185: Capture of Wuyong
Thinking of how his master often blew his nose and wiped it with his hand on the oil sheet before continuing to chop and cook, Fu Ji felt that this was a matter of two different worlds. 【Read full text】
The poultry is cut into different parts according to the standards of the roux factory, refrigerated, and then processed into food supply troops. This approach is first for hygiene, and secondly for effectively controlling the quantity and nutritional content of meals supplied to each soldier. Simply mincing ten chickens with their bones and boiling them is difficult to measure when dividing, and it is impossible for every soldier to get food of the same quality. The difficulty in monitoring the quality will aggravate the phenomenon of fraud. Soldiers who share food can give two jītuǐ to someone and only two jītuǐ to others based on their interpersonal relationships and likes and dislikes.
After adopting split supply, except for slight differences in size, everything is exactly the same. One jītuǐ per person is jītuǐ - the number of jītuǐ is based on head count. If there is less, the military sergeants and cooks will be compensated. This is unambiguous. This is the "quantitative management" that Wen Desi has always advocated.
Splitting the supply maximizes utilization, so nothing is wasted after a bird enters the processing center. In addition to the meat and the viscera and blood suitable for consumption, the parts that are not suitable for consumption are dried and ground into feed and ingredients. Even the down feathers are not charged, and they are all packed and transported back to Lingao. After being sterilized there, the down is stored for future down jacket manufacturing, and the poor quality ones are processed into feather meal powder for use as feed - Xun Suji also worked with several people Chemistry experts are working together to see if it can be used to make soy sauce.
Fu Ji soon became a journeyman. When he put the decomposed parts in boxes one by one and prepared to put them on the freezer cart in the cold storage, he couldn't help but chew on them - when will it be his turn to eat these good things?
The food at the cooking processing center was much better than in the camp. The three meals were brown rice and a large pot of chicken and duck soup with cabbage - it was made from chicken and duck shells with the meat removed, so it didn't taste bad. After dinner, the chicken shells, which have no edible value, are recycled and ground into bone meal, which is said to be used for farming.
"Australian gentlemen probably come from poor families." Fu Ji thought. I couldn't help but feel a little closer to these people.
The navy team that withdrew from the Tiger Gate rested and trained for a few days, and the whale also sailed tremblingly on the river several times. When the river began to feel a chill, Chen Haiyang finally received the order from Lingao:
"Negotiations and contacts have failed, so the boat will be anchored immediately in Baietan."
"Now we are going to bombard Guangzhou - it seems we have reached this point." Chen Haiyang handed the message to the confidential female secretary beside him, "Immediately convene a meeting with the detachment leader and all the elders."
The day the fleet set sail was chosen as November 1st. It was a sunny day, but the autumn mood was already very obvious on the Pearl River during the Little Ice Age. The soldiers changed out of their tropical military uniforms and put on thicker autumn long-sleeved sailor uniforms. The five squadrons of spy boats and squadrons of gunnery boats that attacked Wuyong were escorted by a large group of small boats such as sampans and long dragons and headed upstream.
The big whale followed unsteadily at the end of the fleet. The dazzling array of objects on it and the black smoke it continued to spit out were very eye-catching in the fleet. People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are rumoring that this is the "monster" of Australians.
They have initially established a "prestige" in the Pearl River Delta region. People know that Australians have strict discipline and never disturb people. As long as they obey the orders of Australians, their lives and property will not be threatened. Maybe you can change your destiny and lead to a better life. At this moment, the fleet moved upriver in a mighty force. There was a group of shipowners who were good at management and followed behind the fleet in various large and small ships. The ships were filled with all kinds of food, melons and fruits that Australians might be interested in. class, ready to be peddled to the fleet. Many rich kids who usually have nothing to do know that the Australians are not good guys who kill the rich and give to the poor, so they boldly hire boats to follow behind and watch the rare diorama - the scene of the Australians cannonballing the tiger men is here to add to the excitement. Word spread around the area, and many people wanted to see the rare fighting scene with their own eyes. Everyone can also guess that the Australians are heading to Wuchong - that place has recently been crowded with officers and soldiers, forts have been built, and many Hongyi cannons have been transported.
"We will have to fight a big war now." The idle people who hired the boat to eat and drink and followed behind the fleet with their wives in their arms were talking like this. I am very excited to see a vigorous and spectacular artillery battle.
Xu Ting, who was stationed at Wuyong, heard the soldiers reporting that a lot of black smoke appeared on the river. He quickly put on his armor and led his soldiers up to the observation tower. I saw dozens of black smoke billowing on the river in the distance, rising straight into the sky. There were more than 20 large ships and countless small boats on the river, densely packed along the Pearl River. This look reminded him of the scene at the Tiger Gate.
The defenses here in Wuyong have been greatly strengthened in more than a month after the Battle of Humen. The officers and soldiers densely arranged ten hastily built earth-rock structures or sandbag artillery forts here, and installed 84 Hongyi cannons and 160 Dafolang machine cannons - almost all the Hongyi cannons in Guangdong. All were collected, including the cannons originally planned to be transferred to Fujian, Shandong and the capital.
Li Fengjie sent three thousand troops here, two thousand of them Shui Yong. , there were so many people that we couldn’t even stand on the battlefield. There are also 24 naval warships-half of which are salt ships and rice boats temporarily recruited.
However, Xu Ting, who was responsible for the defense, did not think that he had any possibility of defending Wuyong - unless the wooden stakes and iron chains at the river mouth could stop the Kun bandits' ships.
In order to cheer up the generals who were said to be frightened out of fear, or to supervise them not to escape, Li Fengjie originally planned to send the Guangzhou Bingbei Road to Wuyong to supervise the battle. However, Nantou City in Dongguan, where he is stationed, has been blocked by bandits, and the messenger cannot reach it. Li Fengjie had no choice but to send Chen Yingyuan, the political envoy from the left, to Wuyong.
After Chen Yingyuan arrived in Wuyong, he summoned Xu Ting. After talking, he felt that this person was passively avoiding the war and was simply a "capitulationist". He simply kicked him away and personally arranged Wuyong's preparations for the war.
Wuyong is the outer entrance of Huangpu Port and is named after the Wuyong River in Huangpu. At the intersection of Wuyong River and Pearl River, there is a small island called Mayongwei. The main defensive position of Wuyong Fort is located on this small island.
Because the fort on Ma Chung Wai Island was the main position and bore the brunt, the fortifications were relatively strong. Chen Yingyuan personally supervised Nanhai and Panyu counties, recruited a large number of civilians, and built a civil structure fort on the south side of Ma Chung Wai. . The thick and high fortress wall is equipped with 44 gun holes and 44 Hongyi cannons.
In addition to laying down three rows of wooden piles to block the river surface, there is also an iron chain across the river. The iron chain is anchored with wooden rafts. There is also a sand boat specially sealed with nails attached to the iron chain, equipped with a large 10m large franc machine. gun. The purpose of this ship is not only to stabilize the iron chain and prevent it from being washed away by the river, but also to prevent the enemy from directly sending fire ships to burn the iron chain - Chen Yingyuan has seen in books all the battles to break the iron chain across the river. Laws are all burned with fire. So he made a special effort to deal with it.
Because he heard that the Kun bandits' artillery fire was very powerful and had a long range, he ordered all the newly built artillery positions to be pushed forward, and some were even built on the tidal flats. He also learned from the generals and soldiers that the Kun bandits often took advantage of the small guns. The ship boarded 6 and sent troops to attack the platform from the side and rear, rendering the cannon useless. Therefore, bamboo sticks, iron caltrops and horses were widely deployed outside each fort, and one hundred soldiers were added to each fort, ready to fight against the bandits who boarded the ground at any time. In order to prevent the soldiers from being killed by the Kun thieves' superior artillery fire, they ordered trenches to be dug on the river bank for the soldiers to avoid the artillery fire until the Kun thieves landed, and then jumped up to fight with them hand-to-hand.
For some reason, Chen Yingyuan was full of inexplicable confidence in the hand-to-hand and close-quarter combat capabilities of the officers and soldiers - since the Kun thief had powerful firearms, close-quarter combat must be very common. Maybe once you see the officers and soldiers coming out to fight hand-to-hand, they will be completely defeated. Therefore, his idea of using troops was to ensure that the soldiers survived under the superior artillery fire of the Kun Thieves - at least until the Kun Thieves rushed to the trench.
Xu Ting was very respectful to Chen Yingyuan and simply obeyed his words. Just do whatever Chen Yingyuan wants him to do. When asking for his opinions, he will always respond with words such as "Only adults are wise", "Adults are wise", "The general will not read much, and his strategies are even shallower".
Originally, he was a small coastal defense general, but his status was not comparable to that of Guangdong's Zuo Buzheng. Standing firm in your opinion is just asking for trouble. However, he was extremely dissatisfied with Master Chen's various arrangements. In his opinion, unless a thick fortress is built with "solid stone", such a fort, which is just a wall facing the river, will have no effect at all. Needless to say, the shells fired by the thief's ship cannon are indestructible, but the large shells fired by the thief's "thunder boat" can knock ten thousand enemies off their feet as soon as they fall behind the wall. They can survive. Even if it's good, why bother?
As for the practice of pushing the artillery base forward, it is even more ridiculous. Could it be that if you push forward, the other party can't retreat? Moreover, as the fort was pushed forward, the flood water came in and eroded the fort. As time passed, I am afraid that the fort itself was washed away first before the thieves came to fire the cannon.
While he was watching the enemy's situation, he suddenly saw that Chen Yingyuan had personally led his soldiers and generals to Ma Yongwei through the pontoon bridge erected on the Wuyong River. It seems that he is preparing to go to the front line to supervise the battle in person. Xu Ting did not dare to neglect, and quickly got off the watchtower, and followed him to the island with his own soldiers.
Chen Yingyuan was wearing a third-grade official uniform, a black gauze on his head, a cloak, and a sword hanging from his waist. Surrounded by a group of soldiers, he climbed to the highest point of Ma Yingwei Fort. He was really majestic.
"This is the gate of Guangzhou and the key to Guangzhou. Today, the soldiers must work together to destroy these ugly people," Chen Yingyuan shouted in a high-pitched voice.
Xu Ting hurried forward and asked him to supervise the battle on the north bank.
"What are you talking about, general?" Chen Yingyuan looked generous and arrogant, "I am here to supervise the battle under the orders of Master Fujun. It is related to the safety of the provincial capital. How dare students be greedy for life and afraid of death?"
Xu Ting secretly complained - if Zuo Buzheng was confused and died here, his responsibility would be huge. At the moment, he asked one of his cronies to contact Chen Yingyuan's generals. If there was even the slightest danger, he would rush him across the bridge and run away. To this end, he let his own soldiers control the pontoon bridge on the Wuyong River.
On November 1, 1630, with the survey ship "Haitian" escorted by Li Guang's 13th Squadron as the vanguard, the task force arrived at Wuyong Fort, 30 kilometers away from Guangzhou City.
Under the escort of a spy boat, the Haitian first approached Wuyong to measure the water depth. When the ship sailed within the cannon firing range of Wuyong Fort, Chen Yingyuan immediately ordered the cannon to fire. Suddenly, smoke rose from the entire Majongwei Island, and all gun positions on the fort fired, regardless of direction or range. All kinds of cannonballs fired smoke trails of different heights and distances towards the Haitian Ship. Most of them landed far away from the ship, and only a few of the cannonballs approached the side of the ship.
The Haitian immediately turned the rudder and left the mission. It has obtained sufficient water depth information, and has also roughly determined the range and power of the island's artillery.
A few minutes later, this information was communicated to each squadron via semaphore. Chen Haiyang ordered that the 13th Squadron, taking the lead, approached Mayongwei Island and started shelling.
The four cannon squadrons approached the fort in column formation according to the old method. They approached 500 meters under the heavy fire from the fort, and then turned the helm.
Although the Hongyi cannon of the officers and soldiers has a maximum firing range of 1,000 steps, the fort this time was not placed on a pier, but behind a thick earthen wall. The firing opening on the wall was very small. , and there is no room for adjustment of the left, right, up and down firing angles, and the shells can only be fired at a fixed firing angle. Although it is spectacular when firing continuously, the shells rarely fly near the spy boat.
The 13th Squadron completed the steering wheel amid the artillery fire and fired spherical bombs and incendiary bombs five hundred meters away. The following squadrons also turned their rudders one after another to follow up the bombardment.
One round of shelling by four squadrons left the entire fort on Mayungwei Island riddled with holes. In some places the walls have collapsed. Most of the artillery pieces had been completely silenced. No matter how the officers shouted, the intercepting soldiers had already begun to flee. As for the Shui Yong who was transferred to the island to defend the fort, they escaped faster - compared to the officers and soldiers, these temporary workers had weaker fighting will, and they started running away as soon as the cannon fired.
The ambush army still uses the old tactics. After the cannon-equipped warships have eliminated the threat of enemy artillery counterattack, the artillery boat squadron will shoot large-caliber grenades at close range: the artillery boat approaches 400 meters away from the shore and bombards it with 28mm mortar cannons. Mayung Wai Island. The violent explosion swallowed up the fort like water. After several rounds of artillery, most of the Wuyong fort had been destroyed, and there was no one on the shore. Sampans and small boats, carrying sailors, began to board the beach on the south side of Xiaodao.
The officers and soldiers who had been ambushing in the trenches and Shui Yong did not suffer many casualties in the bombardment. At this time, they suddenly jumped up and shouted to the marines to rush over. However, Chen Yingyuan believed that the Ming officers and soldiers were superior to the Kun thieves in hand-to-hand combat. There was no basis for this - a victory in hand-to-hand combat. The soldiers always belong to the army with strict discipline and better organization and training. In just five minutes of hand-to-hand combat, about 50 people fell under the bayonets of the sailors. Only 2 sailors were killed by bows, arrows and spears because they were caught off guard.
Now that the south bank of the Ma Chung Wai Fort has been lost, the remaining few cannons on the fort are completely ineffective. Only a few soldiers relied on the trenches to continue resisting.
While launching a frontal attack, another company took sampans and boats and headed towards the north bank of the Pearl River. Since this area can cover the flank and rear of Wuyong Fort, Chen Yingyuan deployed three sandbag forts and hundreds of water warriors in a surprise attack a few days ago.
The spy boat followed closely behind the troops who boarded 6, ready to use artillery fire to "scrub" the officers and soldiers' fort at any time, and the typewriter on the small boat was also ready to fire at any time. At this time, a southeasterly wind suddenly blew on the river, the waves were turbulent, and the water level rose sharply. The three forts were flooded in an instant because they were too close to the shore. The ammunition piled on the fort was all soaked. Shui Yong and the gunner lost their last bit of courage and collapsed without firing a single shot.
When Xu Ting saw that the fort on the north bank had failed, he knew that if he didn't escape, he would be attacked from both sides and blocked on the island waiting to die. Immediately shouted: "Send the adults away"
Chen Yingyuan's soldiers rushed forward and helped him onto the horse without any explanation. Xu Ting immediately led the soldiers and servants to clear the way. He escaped from the First Army and was the first to cross the pontoon bridge and escape from danger.
Now that the cover on the side and rear of the defensive fort has been broken, the open side of Wuyong fort has only bamboo sticks, iron caltrops and Juma to rely on. The navy pulled 2mén 12 pounds of mountain melons from the sampan and bombarded them from behind the Wuyong Fort. The few people who were still holding on to the island were completely defeated.
The sailors who landed on the island swarmed onto the island like floodwaters. The hundreds of officers and soldiers on the island had been scattered and suffered heavy casualties from the front and rear attacks of artillery fire, rifles and bayonets. Some soldiers and Shui Yong fought and retreated to the Wuyong River. The Wuyong River is about ten meters wide. There was originally a pontoon bridge connecting Xiaodao with the north bank of the Pearl River. After Xu Ting led Chen Yingyuan across the bridge, the hundreds of soldiers originally guarding the bridge dispersed. The sailors who had previously landed on the north bank quickly seized the bridgehead and fired dense bullets at the officers, soldiers and sailors who tried to pass by. On the bridge, people and horses suddenly fell on their backs, and dead bodies appeared among them.
Facing the enemy who were blocked in front and pursued in the rear, the officers and soldiers were unable to retreat, and were eventually destroyed in a two-pronged attack. 216 people were killed and 200 were captured.
After the fall of Mayung Wai Island, the entire defense system of Wuyong Fort collapsed completely. The brave officers and soldiers guarding various roads, forts and warships collapsed and fled one after another without waiting for the attack. The navy took over the forts and military camps one by one as if they accepted it peacefully. A small detachment boarded the now empty sand barge tied to the iron chain and dismantled the iron chain across the Pearl River. This huge iron chain was obviously a valuable trophy - enough to recover several tons of iron.
