The explosion not only wiped out all the crew on No. 41, but also caused heavy casualties on several gunboats rescued around it. One gunboat probably had its captain injured, and the ship lost control and drifted sideways.
Several nearby gunboats immediately hooked the small boat with pennies, and several sailors jumped on board desperately to control the gunboat.
Schneider felt that he was a little reckless today. If he had known there were so many fire attack ships, he should have retreated first and dealt with them in the open area of the river. Rather than rush into the narrowest part of the canyon and forcefully break into the fire boat formation.
Annoyance is annoyance, things have come to this, and there is no room for him to retreat any further.
"Every ship should keep its distance!" he ordered, "ships on fire should throw away their ammunition boxes!"
The fireworks began to dissipate, and the Pearl River took the lead and rushed out of the fireworks array. Schneider pulled off his mask and took a deep breath. Looking at Ruan Xiaowu's face, he was already completely black. He thought he would not be much better.
Looking at the fleet behind them, except for the loss of two gunboats, they were generally safe and sound. However, each of them was blackened by fireworks, and the signal flags and military flags were burned to pieces by sparks.
"Okay, the officers and soldiers' drama is over, it's our turn to sing." Schneider's face darkened, "Every ship is moving forward at full speed! The front main guns are ready to fire!"
Upstairs in Yuejiang, Xiong Wencan put down his telescope, his hands trembling slightly. Chang Qingyun whispered: "Sir, it's not too late..."
Before he finished speaking, a loud roar was heard from the river. The Pearl River's main gun sprayed a plume of smoke into the sky. A shell rose into the sky and crashed towards Zhaoqing City with a sharp whistling sound.
"Imperial Spring and Autumn" April 1735 issue "Special Issue to Commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Restoration of Guangdong"
The sound of artillery booming at Antelope Gorge - the recovery of Zhaoqing that I experienced
Editor's note: This article is excerpted from the memoir "The Baton Under the Star Fist" written by former Army Major General Comrade Liu Xing. It contains records about the spiritual outlook of the old Ming army, the impact on the minds of the Guangdong people after the Fubo Army entered Guangdong and the description of the recovery of Zhaoqing. It has precious historical value. With the consent of the descendants of Comrade Liu Xing, the editorial department of our magazine has excerpted and published some of the passages in the "100th Anniversary of the Restoration of Guangdong" for the benefit of readers.
I was born in Gaoyao County, formerly Zhaoqing Prefecture, Guangdong. I was the second oldest child, so my nickname was Liu Erzai. My family is a military household, and my ancestors have been soldiers for generations. Nowadays, young comrades probably don’t know this anymore. They think that military families are soldiers whose ancestors have been in their families. Joining the army is glorious and majestic. Actually no, comrades. It is an honor to join the army. It was our ground-breaking Fubo Army. In the old society, what was important was that good iron should not be nailed, and good men should not be soldiers. Soldiers were the same as farmers and craftsmen. They would be looked down upon by others, and even oppressed than ordinary people. Deeper.
In the Pseudo-Ming Dynasty, military households were also divided into three, six or nine levels, such as the commanders of hundreds of households. Of course, they were prestigious, popular and popular, and their official positions were passed down from generation to generation. What about ordinary military households? To put it nicely, they are the long-term workers of the masters, but in fact they are their slaves. They are also exploited and oppressed, and they are also the liberators of our Fubo Army.
My family is better off than other families, because my grandfather worked as a servant for hundreds of families and took care of hundreds of thousands of grandchildren. Because of this relationship, the Sun family remembers the fireworks relationship with my family very much, and looks at my family very differently. Therefore, my family is less oppressed, but others are not so lucky. Most of my childhood playmates are military households, but their families are very poor. They work hard for Sun Shiwan all year round, and all they get is only a few hundred kilograms of grain. , even making ends meet is difficult. Therefore, ordinary civilians are not willing to marry ordinary military households - who would want their daughter to suffer and suffer poverty? As a common man, as long as he doesn't go to the city and doesn't see officials, he will suffer less oppression. Military households worked hard under the eyes of their superiors every day, and it was not considered a hard work. Any slightest disobedience would be "handled by military law" by the officers. It was not uncommon for them to be beaten to death with dozens of military sticks, not only to bruise the skin and flesh, but also to beat them to death. They were beaten to death, dragged and buried in the fields - worse than slaves of wealthy families.
Therefore, many military households fled at that time. It is said that there were more than 100 military households in our camp, and each household had more than 100 soldiers. But when I was born, there were only twenty or thirty military households in the camp. A scene of depression and dilapidation. In addition to the hundreds of thousands of families, even "officials" such as Zongqi and Xiaoqi lived in poverty.
Military households lived in embarrassment, with broken jars and broken jars, and military discipline was extremely bad. Those who were recruited to serve as camp soldiers fled as fast as the wind when they saw foreign enemies, but they invaded like fire when they bullied their own people. They had no idea of holding a steel gun in their hands to defend the people. consciousness. It's okay to be in my hometown. After all, the folks in the hometown don't look up when they look down, and they don't dare to go too far. But what about the troops from other places? Those who were unfamiliar with the place would rob and harass the people. I was "lucky" to see it once.
I have a childhood friend named Hou Haisheng, and I call him Brother Hai. His mother's surname is Hou, and his father's surname is Hai. They are their parents-in-law. My grandfather's family originally lived a decent life in the ancestral pork shop in Zhaoqing. Unfortunately, his mother was a gambler and lost all the family property and hanged herself. His father was so angry that he was bedridden. He could barely make ends meet, let alone go to school. However, Brother Hai, who was in such a difficult situation, was also entangled by the guest troops from Guangxi. That year, Fubo's army had just won a great victory at Chengmai. When the news came back to Zhaoqing, people were very panicked. At that time, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi under the Ming Dynasty was Wang Zunde. He clearly started the war, but he was afraid of the liquidation of the Senate and the people, so he transferred the garrison from Wuzhou to assist in the defense of Zhaoqing. The Guangxi soldiers showed no signs of sharing the same hatred with the enemy and did not train on a regular basis. When they arrived in Zhaoqing, they took to the streets to rob shops and harass women. Especially the wolf soldiers inside not only robbed things, but also killed people at will, and everyone was in danger for a while.
What I often heard at that time was that someone's shop was smashed, someone's daughter-in-law was bullied, and someone was killed by the guest army - for a while, the city was filled with smoke and chaos. Several of my younger sisters also smeared black ash on their faces all day long and hid in their homes and dared not move. That day I went to deliver some firewood to Brother Hai's house. I had just chatted with Uncle Hai for a few words when a neighbor rushed in and said that Brother Hai and the Guangxi soldiers were fighting. I later found out that when three Guangxi soldiers took to the streets to harm the people, they cut off Brother Hai's pork and refused to pay him. Brother Hai is also a strong player. If he grabs the collar of a Guangxi soldier, he must give it to him. The Guangxi soldier said, "I don't even pay the prostitutes in the brothel. How many kilograms of pork you have is nothing!" The two sides started fighting.
I was anxious at that time, for fear that Brother Hai would be killed by Guangxi soldiers. These ruffians from the guest army were quick to kill. I quickly went home and called my friends, and arrived at the scene with a gun and a stick. Brother Hai is fat and strong, and he still has the upper hand against three. We hurried over to start a fight. He held the three Guangxi soldiers apart arm in arm and used the confusion to beat them up. When the Guangxi soldiers did not come back to retaliate, they hid Brother Hai and his father in my house. The Guangxi soldiers couldn't find the real master, and they didn't dare to go to the local guard station to make trouble, so they had to smash Brother Hai's pork shop to vent their anger. Later, Wang Zunde was frightened to death by the Senate, and the Guangxi troops withdrew to Wuzhou, so the matter ended.
Later, Brother Hai and I joined the army together and made a lot of contributions to the Senate and the people. Unfortunately, he later died in the battle to liberate Manila and was unable to see the final victory with his own eyes. Unexpectedly, the farewell to Guangzhou became forever!
Although the military household was looked down upon by the common people, was dangerous, poor, and had no honor at all, it was not so easy to leave. The Ming government was extremely strict on the household registration management of military households. Although it was said that you could escape from the military household by doing anything, it was illusory after all. It was the same as cultivation. Although I have heard that Mr. Zhang Ge from the Wanli Dynasty was born in a military household. , After taking the imperial examination and becoming a high official, you can get rid of your military status, but this has never been seen with your own eyes. The only thing you have seen with your own eyes is that a civilian from a certain family committed a crime and became a "benefactor" and returned to the military household.
My family is also dreaming of such a illusory autumn dream. At that time, my family was still relatively easy off, so I just wanted to educate the boys in the family, and then pass the imperial examination and leave the family. I was originally ranked second, and there was an older brother before me, but unfortunately he died when he was five years old. Now the family placed all their hopes on me. Grandpa came forward to plead with Sun Shiwan. After kowtowing countless times, Sun Shiwan allowed me to accompany the "young masters" in the family to study together. He agreed to serve "Mr." for his family without paying any money, and he would also provide two meals and one night's stay.
My grandfather and father were so grateful to the Sun family that they took me to kowtow to Sun Shiwan. From then on I studied at Sun Shiwan’s house.
The children of Sun Shiwan's family specially hired a "sir" to teach them at home, which was called a "family school" at that time. When I went to "study" with him, he was actually a free servant who helped him earn money. In addition to cleaning the house every day, I also have to wait on this so-called "sir".
Speaking of this gentleman, he was already in his fifties at that time. He had read a lot of so-called "poems and books" and was a scholar. He has always been proud of this. However, apart from reciting some nonsense and writing a few nonsense eight-legged articles, there is no real talent or learning at all. I thought he was a knowledgeable person at first, but when I asked for advice on something I didn't understand, I always got scolded by him. I know that he doesn't treat me as a student, but treats me as a slave. I was asked to drink and work all day long, and I had no time to go to class or study. After half a year, children from hundreds of families have begun to read the Book of Songs. I haven't even learned the surnames of hundreds of families or the thousand-character essay. But this scholar always said that I was "unbelievably stupid" and "stupid". Several of Sun Shiwan's children and grandchildren also often made fun of me, treating me as the object of their amusement. But for the sake of studying and for the so-called "honoring of my ancestors," I endured all these insults. I dreamed that one day I would be able to be a high school candidate and a Jinshi, and feel proud of myself.
