It was almost the fourth watch, and Yang Yi guessed that it was so late that Mr. Baihu would not be so active and would not come to inspect again. Yang Yi planned to sit down and take a nap. After all, the night watchers like them might not have a chance to rest at dawn. During the day, someone led their group of soldiers to patrol Wuzhou City back and forth to see if there were any suspicious people. Just yesterday, the people guarding Dayunmen caught a man who was said to be an Australian. This man was pretending to be a hawker, and his head is now hanging on the tower of Dayunmen.
As for whether this hawker is really meticulous, no one cares or cares. During Yang Yi's limited "expeditions", when he encountered "suspicious people", he mostly caught them, asked them a few questions, and then chopped them with a knife. In any case, whether they read it carefully or not, their words are almost the same. They all say that they are good people, with an eighty-year-old mother and an eight-year-old child at home.
However, killing a vendor is more profitable than killing a Le Dong civilian during an expedition - these people often have nothing around them, and the vendor should have some money, so everyone can get some benefits.
This is a good thing, why can't it be my turn? Even if you get a few dozen pennies, that's fine. Staying up all night and standing guard was extremely tiring, and I couldn't get any profit or water out of it. I heard that the Governor gave a reward to those who stood guard at night, but somehow it disappeared. It was probably taken away by an official.
Those who work as officials get the money, those who work as soldiers suffer the hardships, and those who work as grandma, this world is really unfair.
Yang Yi made up his mind, no matter whether Wuzhou City could be defended or not, as soon as there was chaos in the city, he would rob a few big households in Wuzhou City and make a fortune in troubled times. Someone had already roped him into their group, and they would all take action together as soon as there was chaos in the city.
Yang Yi felt happy when he thought of this, and suddenly wished that the Australians would call over quickly and make a fortune. But before he could close his eyelids, he saw a few bright lights suddenly streaking across the southern sky, like shooting stars. These bright lights crossed the south wall of Wuzhou City and then fell directly in the city.
Yang Yi was surprised for a while, and it took him a while to come back to his senses. He once heard someone say that Australian rockets can shoot far and accurately. Guangzhou City was attacked by Australian rockets back then, and the city was in a fire and a mess. Yang Yi hurriedly found a conch, blew it with all his strength, and then shouted into the city.
"Enemy attack!"
Following his roar, urgent gongs and drums resounded through the sky, lanterns and torches were lit everywhere, and people's voices were in panic.
The Australians finally came over.
In the early morning of April 12, under the cover of darkness, Schneider led the West Detachment of the Pearl River Advance Fleet to sail onto the water of the Xijiang River south of Wuzhou City. The large and small ships of the advance fleet anchored underground and fired more than a dozen Hale rockets to declare. The arrival of the Fubo Army. Several of them ignited several boats on the pier outside the city, setting off raging fires.
Although he couldn't see the situation in Wuzhou City, Schneider, who was standing on the deck of the Pearl River flagship by the blazing fire on the riverside, still smiled proudly: "Look at this big gift we gave Xiong Wencan!"
In contrast, Ruan Xiaowu was much calmer and asked: "Detachment leader, are you waiting for an opportunity to fight the enemy navy or rest on the spot?"
Schneider thought for a while, and the naval battalion in Wuzhou probably did not have the ability to fight with the advance fleet at night, let alone come out at night. So he said: "Command all ships to rest except those on duty."
"Yes!" Ruan Xiaowu saluted.
"Remind all ships to be prepared for night attacks," Schneider added.
Subsequently, the Pearl River sent out a signal to the other ships, and the crew members of each ship took the time to rest. Tomorrow's combat mission will be heavy, and they must have a good rest to cope with it calmly.
Zhu Mingxia gave Snyder three tasks: first, to wait for an opportunity to annihilate the fleet of the Wuzhou Navy Battalion and seize control of the river; second, to conduct a fire reconnaissance of Wuzhou City's defense to find out the strength of Wuzhou City's defense; third, to guide the shelling ships Occupy a favorable position and bombard Wuzhou City.
Wuzhou City is located at the intersection of Xijiang River and Guijiang River, guarding the waterway leading to Guilin, the capital of Guangxi, and the western Guangxi area. It is an important transportation hub and the gateway to Guangxi Province. After entering Guangxi from Guangdong and controlling Wuzhou, the next step can be to go up the Gui River to threaten Guilin, and to the west they can control the large agricultural area in western Guangxi. Therefore, the strategic plan of the Guangdong and Guangxi strategy takes the occupation of Wuzhou as the stage end point, which is to prepare for the next step of controlling the entire Guangxi.
As the first vanguard force to arrive outside Wuzhou City, the West Detachment of the Pearl River Advance Fleet completely controlled the water surfaces of the Xijiang and Guijiang Rivers and cut off the supply lines of Wuzhou City. Schneider knew that he had a heavy responsibility and did not dare to relax. He was already excited, but the thought of this made him even more unable to sleep. He simply sat on the wicker chair with his command knife, closed his eyes and rested, waiting for dawn.
But when he closed his eyes, Schneider could not help but think of the recent battle at Antelope Canyon. In the Battle of Antelope Gorge, the West Detachment of the Pearl River Advance Fleet was victorious. However, this victory made Schneider lose face. Two gunboats were damaged and dozens of casualties were suffered. This was already enough for Schneider, a veteran in the Navy. It's an unacceptable loss. In other words, such a victory is enough to make Schneider unable to hold his head high in front of his colleagues. Such a victory will not bring any honor to Schneider, but only ridicule. Schneider would get angry whenever he thought of Antelope Gorge, and he just planned to take his anger out on the Wuzhou Navy Camp.
Just wait, tomorrow I want you to kill everything.
At six o'clock in the morning, the battle alarm sounded on time, not because the enemy navy was attacking, but because Schneider had planned to use cannon to wake up Wuzhou City early in the morning. Schneider's plan was to bombard the south city of Wuzhou, lure the Wuzhou Navy Battalion into battle, and then set up a formation to annihilate the Navy Battalion in one fell swoop. But while sailing on the Xijiang River, Schneider was dumbfounded. Not to mention the warships of the Wuzhou Naval Camp, there was not even a small sampan. The entire river was empty, and there were no ships moored at the docks on both sides of the Xijiang River.
Probably because the Wuzhou Naval Battalion didn't kill them so early. Schneider comforted himself.
Then one hour passed, two hours passed, three hours passed, and in the blink of an eye it was already ten o'clock, and the Wuzhou Naval Battalion was still nowhere to be seen. The reconnaissance ships he sent out early in the morning came back one after another, and the reports were the same. There was no ship on the Xijiang River for nearly ten kilometers.
When something goes wrong, there must be a monster. Schneider immediately thought of the fire attack ship. It seems that the enemy wants to repeat their old tricks again. The Xijiang River is vast. The Battle of Ershawei five years ago has proven that attacking ships on the wide water has no effect on the Fubo Navy. But the Guijiang River in the west of Wuzhou City is different. The width of the river is only less than 500 meters. It is difficult for the fleet to disperse there, and it is easy to become a living target for fire attack ships. Since there are no enemies on the Xijiang River, the Wuzhou Naval Battalion must be ambushing on the Guijiang River, and perhaps there are already a large number of fire attack ships waiting there.
However, the reconnaissance boat sent to Guijiang soon came back to report that there were no invincible ships on Guijiang.
"Why, you just lie down and get beaten up when you know you can't do it?" Schneider wondered, and asked, "Fire a few shells at Wuzhou City first!"
The shells roared across the river, first landed on the pier outside the south gate, destroying several houses, then collapsed a piece of parapet battlement, and then punched more than a dozen holes in the city tower, causing a small fire. . But there was no sound on the city wall, no artillery fire was fired, and no troops came out of the city to prepare for the battle.
It seems that the Ming army has learned well - this is the consensus of the South China Army since the Guangdong and Guangxi strategy. It has become the consensus of the Ming army generals not to fire at targets outside the range and not to be casually exposed to the artillery fire of the Fubo Army.
Schneider's original plan was to eliminate the Wuzhou Naval Battalion and then enter the Guijiang River, but as time passed, Schneider could no longer sit still. Soldiers are valuable and quick, and waiting blindly on the Xijiang River will only delay the opportunity for war in vain. The infantry ships of the first brigade have been waiting for a long time. If he does not launch a full-scale battle, that is, if he does not achieve the combat goal, Schneider cannot afford to lose this person. The water surface of the Guijiang River is not a very good battlefield. The water surface is narrow, which is not conducive to the deployment of the fleet, and it is fully covered by artillery fire on the west wall of Wuzhou City.
The most terrible thing is the hydrological treatment provided by the intelligence department: the water in the Guijiang River is much shallower than the Xijiang River. The biggest problem is that there are many shoals and they change greatly, making it difficult to locate accurately. The reconnaissance boat reported just now that the waters in the Guijiang River showed signs of being blocked by enemy heavy stones. Although it is not enough to strand the gunboat, a large ship like the Pearl River will definitely not be able to enter.
But without entering the Guijiang River, he could not complete the task of blocking Wuzhou City from the water.
"Send the fifth squadron into the Guijiang River and send a tugboat to follow behind to cover."
I couldn't figure out the hydrological conditions of the Guijiang River for a while, so I had to bite the bullet and try. In the event that a ship runs aground, a paddle wheel tug can quickly pull them out.
Six large gunboats of the Fifth Squadron entered the Guijiang River, waiting for an opportunity to engage the enemy. The ships soon saw the flag hung on the Pearl River, so according to Plan B of the predetermined plan, they moved forward in two columns, with the tugboat at the back, and sailed toward the Guijiang River in a mighty manner.
"Every ship, please keep a lookout!"
The two forward gunboats were in an oblique formation, with No. 38 at the forefront. Second Lieutenant Yan Youcai, the captain of boat No. 38, was recently promoted. He was in the vanguard this time and couldn't help but be very energetic. It's not that Captain Yan is overly cautious, but that he is looking forward to making new achievements, so he must concentrate on achieving excellent results. But fate played a joke on Yan Youcai. Not long after Boat No. 38 sailed into the estuary of the Guijiang River, there was only a crash, and Boat No. 38 could no longer move.
Schneider saw the flag of the stranded boat No. 38 from a distance on the deck, and murmured in his mouth: "How the hell does this scout boat work!" As soon as he finished speaking, the other man in the vanguard A gunboat also ran aground, and the two gunboats stopped motionless at the mouth of the Guijiang River, with black smoke from the boilers still rising.
Volume 7 will be updated tomorrow - Chapter 299 of Guangzhou Governance
