How big is fifty square kilometers? It is about the size of 7,000 standard football fields.
Deng Fei pretended to study the map for a long time, and finally circled a location on the south bank of the Kollidam River, 65 kilometers away from the local governance.
The largest town in this area is Pazhayarai, located south of the mouth of the Kolidam River. The original name of this place is Ayiratalli, which means "the place of a thousand temples". It was the ancient capital of the Chola dynasty in the Middle Ages.
In fact, he and Zhao Xin had already planned this. If they wanted to cooperate with Tipu Sultan in attacking the British in the south, the Northern Navy could march straight in along the Koli Dam River.
When Leclerc saw that Deng Fei had chosen this place, he thought it was pretty good. He considered it from his own perspective. Once the British in the north launched a sea attack, the ships of the Northern Navy could arrive in more than three hours. In addition, if you want to go to the Kingdom of Mysore, you can reach the royal capital by walking more than 300 kilometers west from the local government.
Since he wanted to assist Tipu Sultan, Deng Fei had to go to Mysore and meet the Sultan before setting off. He decided not to delay and set off immediately before the British could react. Governor Leclerc wrote a personal letter to Tipu Sultan, boasting about Butterworth Town.
Beihai No. 1 had previously performed an artillery display when the Governor visited the Thor. With only three rounds of fire from two 75mm cannons, it blew up a wooden house set up as a target on the beach three kilometers away. The power really shocked the French. When they learned that the shells of this kind of artillery were sold for up to 100 livres per shot, which is 388 grams of gold, Governor Leclerc and his officers were stunned.
Later, when Deng Fei and the others brought a 12-pound gun aboard the Thor for display, the French thought it was pretty good, easy to move and easy to copy, so they bought twenty of them at once.
On June 30, 1792, Deng Fei and his party of more than 500 people followed the envoy and translator sent by Governor Leclerc, plus a force of 300 indigenous soldiers, carrying 200 Beihai Town firing rifles and Two 12-pound cannons embarked on a journey to the Kingdom of Mysore...
Beihai Town was fighting fiercely with the French in South India, plotting against the British, and the Qing army in the north also launched. The second Qing Dynasty War officially started five days ago.
In order to quickly annihilate the Kuomintang troops on the Cami Mountain Pass (today's south of Zongkha Town, Jilong County) and achieve the unexpected goal of combat, on June 24, 1792 - that is, on the night of the sixth day of May in the fifty-seventh year of Qianlong's reign, five thousand Qing soldiers Under the cover of dense drizzle, the army divided into five teams and left the camp.
Fukang'an asked Batulu's bodyguards Zhang Jingzhe Senbao and Weng Guoerhai to each lead a team, march along the east and west sides of Camu Mountain to the mountain ridges on the left and right of the Kuo Army camp to intercept them; he also sent another team to bypass the mountain ridge and enter the Kuo Army's rear. Cut off the way; Taifei Ying'a led Amantai, Erdenbao and other guards and led the army to attack from the front; Fukang'an led He Lin, Delengtai and others as mobile troops, waiting for opportunities to kill. To the northeast of them, there are more than 2,000 Tengpai soldiers and garrison troops led by Hui Ling and Green Battalion Commander Zhang Zhiyuan as reserves.
Due to the rain, the stream in the valley of Camushan changed from the usual trickle to a surging and turbulent flow. When the Qing army waded through the river and encountered steep and dangerous places, they always used the light of torches to climb up. However, such terrain was really painful for the firearms battalion carrying two 12-pound guns. It was dawn the next day when the team arrived at the attack position.
Camushan Mountain is steep and densely wooded. The Kuo army built two stone blockhouses at the pass, with stone walls on three sides. Only a gate was left on the north side. If the Qing army wanted to attack, they could only rush up along a trail on the north slope. .
"Commander, do you want to fire a few shots first?" He Lin was quite confident in the two Beihai Town 12-pound cannons she brought. Their power was countless times more powerful than the Qing army's mountain-splitting cannon.
"No! If we alert the enemy, we can only attack from behind. This battle can only be fought at close range!" Fukang'an had done enough homework beforehand and was very familiar with the terrain here. He said to his soldiers: "Go tell Tai Fei Ying'a and ask them to climb up the mountain quickly and open the village gate! Let the musketeers aim at the door and come out and kill each one!"
"嗻!"
Because they were conquering dangerous mountainous terrain, Tai Fei Ying'a led the Jinchuan troops. These Tibetan soldiers were extremely tough and fought bravely to take the lead. When they arrived outside the wall of the Kuo army camp, Tai Fei Ying'a personally led people to climb over the wall. First, he cut down several Kuo soldiers on guard, and then opened the gate of the camp.
Hundreds of firearms battalion officers and soldiers armed with Beihai Town firing rifles swarmed forward, divided into five rows, and blocked the entrance of the village. When the Kuo troops rushed out of the watchtower, there was a loud roar of bullets and smoke, and hundreds of Kuo troops were killed on the spot. Afterwards, the Jinchuan garrison troops rushed into the first stone watchtower, shouting for kill and clashing weapons. In less than a stick of incense, the northern watchtower had been captured.
The Kuo army's second watchtower was built on the high ground in the south. There were two stone walls on the outside. There were musket shooting holes on the wall. The outside of the wall was densely covered with wooden piles and antlers, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack. The troops inside the fort saw the towers in the north had collapsed, and found that there were Qing troops on the east and west mountain ridges. They knew they had nowhere to escape, so they defended the towers, fired guns and stones, and defeated the attacking Qing troops. .
Upon seeing this, Fukang'an immediately ordered his men to push a 12-pound cannon up the mountain pass and blast it from a distance of five to six hundred meters. He also ordered Tai Fei Ying'a to lead his army to attack from the outer wall on the west side of the watchtower. While most of the Kuo army was resisting desperately in the western wall, Delengtai led 20 Sauron soldiers to blow up a large gap in the first wall on the east with a 12-pounder cannon shell, and then the Qing army in the middle They rushed in like a tide along the gap. In a fierce hand-to-hand battle, nearly a hundred Kuo soldiers were killed and 18 captured. Fukang'an refused to interrogate him and ordered them all to be beheaded.
The Qing army was victorious in the first battle and their morale was high. Fukang'an immediately sent an order to Sichuan Admiral Cheng De and Green Camp Commander Zhang Zhiyuan to lead a partial division of 3,000 troops to contain the Kuo army on the Nyalam front. He himself led the main force to immediately move towards Jilong. attack. When they marched to the densely forested Magarshaerjia area, more than 300 Kuo troops who had followed Jilong collided head-on, and a fierce battle broke out immediately.
This time, the Kuo troops finally showed their stamina in combat. They attacked from the bottom of the mountain and killed and injured dozens of people without giving in. Even though they were shot through the shoulder blades with an arrow from Sauron's soldiers, they threw and fought to the death with knives.
Upon seeing this, Fukang'an led most of Sauron's troops to ambush behind the big rock halfway up the mountain, leaving He Lin, the Firearms Battalion, a dozen Batulu guards, and Zhang Jing to stay on the mountain to lure Kuo's army to attack. As expected, the Kuo army was fooled and swarmed over with a red flag. When they rushed to the middle of the mountain, Fukang'an led his troops out, shot the leading general of the Kuo army on the spot, and captured the enemy flag. At the same time, He Lin ordered the firearms battalion, the Batulu guards, and Zhang Jing to launch an attack. For a moment, muskets roared in the mountain forest, arrows rained like rain, and there were swords and swords everywhere, and blood flowed in the ditch.
At this time, the power of the Beihai fire capper gun became apparent. The brown bass bought by the Gurkhas from the British was no match in terms of distance and accuracy. The Gurkha army's musketeers were beaten and fled away. Then the Qing army pursued them for more than ten miles, during which the Kuo army relied on the dangerous pass to hold on. So when 300 officers and soldiers from the firearms battalion arrived, the two sides launched a large-scale musketry exchange.
The Solendahur soldiers took advantage of the gap between the Kuo army's reloading and hid behind rocks as big as door panels and kept firing arrows, causing heavy casualties to the Kuo army. When the remaining Kuo army fled to Jilong camp, only more than twenty people were left.
On the ninth day of May, the Qing army set up camp in Bangxing. While waiting for the artillery from the rear to arrive, Fukang'an also led people to check the enemy situation on the road. The military camp built by the Kuo army in Jinong still had two protective walls made of stacked stones. The outer stone wall was two feet high, and the bottom of the wall was densely covered with antlers and crossbars. In addition, the Kuo army also built a tall watchtower near the river in the northwest of the camp to protect the water intake area. In addition, there are two watchtowers in the northeast and southeast of the camp. Fortifications have also been built in the Lamasery at the foot of the mountain and people are stationed there.
In the early morning of May 10th, several more 12-pound cannons and ammunition supplies from the rear arrived at Bangxing, as well as thousands of Qing troops arriving from Zongkha. In view of the sufficient strength of his troops, Fukang'an decided to launch attacks on various strongholds of the Kuo army at the same time, making them vulnerable to enemies everywhere and unable to care about each other.
His tactics this time are exactly the same as Zhao Xin's previous methods, which is to use a sharp and powerful offensive to fight continuously and never give the enemy a chance to breathe!
Yes, after fighting with Beihai Town for so many years, Fukang'an had already seen through Zhao Xin's tricks, which were just three tricks. However, the firepower of the Northern Navy was so fierce that the Qing army was often blinded as soon as it came up, resulting in heavy casualties. Even if the generals in the rear had all kinds of tricks, they could not resist it. But now the two sides fighting were replaced by the Qing army and the Gurkhas, and Marshal Fu immediately realized the beauty of it.
Of course, being able to do this must be based on strong logistical supplies. Thanks to Fukang'an who stayed in hiding for two months and planned a large amount of grain and military supplies to be transported to Zongkha, he was able to rush forward without hesitation. If we rely on supplies from the Sichuan-Tibet Line... forget it, the military supplies shipped from Dajianlu three months ago are still halfway there!
On the morning of May 10th, tens of thousands of Qing troops were divided into seven groups. Under the cover of fierce fire from several 12-pound cannons, they simultaneously launched a fierce attack on various targets of the Kuo Army. The Kuo army was condescending and soon realized that the situation was not good, and immediately fired back.
The Qing army first attacked the Kuo Army's blockhouse on the southeastern ridge. After the 12-pounder artillery blew up the tower, the remaining Kuo troops rushed out. After a close battle with the Solundahur soldiers led by Tai Fei Ying'a, the Kuo army All were killed. Later, the Lamasery was also destroyed by the Qing army's artillery bombs.
However, when Balutu guard Bayantai led his men to attack the bunker near the river, the Kuo army, worried that the water source would be cut off, launched a counterattack like crazy. Faced with round after round of artillery fire from the Qing army, a corner of the bunker was quickly blown down. The Kuo troops who were shooting from high places panicked and jumped from the tower into the river one after another. Most of them were drowned, and those who were lucky enough to swim ashore were also killed. The Sauron soldiers patrolling on horseback shot him on the spot with bows and arrows.
In short, with the assistance of five 12-pound cannons, the Qing army attacked the watchtowers much more smoothly. Every time, the towers were blown down with explosive bombs provided by Beihai Town, and then the musketeers and archers went up and fired them in several rounds. The officers and soldiers who could rush in rushed in, and those who couldn't rush in would use flying gourds filled with kerosene to throw them and set them on fire. , and it was not until evening that all the watchtowers were conquered.
At this time, heavy rain poured down, and the Qing army was extremely exhausted from continuous fighting. However, Fukang'an did not intend to give the Kuo army a chance to breathe, so he urged all ministries to attack overnight.
The Kuo troops in the camp were not afraid of death. They relied on the stone wall to engage in exchanges with the Qing troops. After their muskets ran out of bullets, they threw stones to fight back, defending to the death.
As soon as Fukang'an saw it, he ordered the other five officers and soldiers to attack together. He also sent the easy-to-carry mountain-splitting cannon to the collapsed watchtower near the river, set up a fort, and fired continuously at the embrasures and lookout windows in the Kuojun camp. The 12-pound cannon provided by Beihai Town fired quickly and accurately, and the Kuo army artillery in the camp was bombarded with howling ghosts and wolves.
After it turned completely dark, tens of thousands of Qing troops lit torches, illuminating the outside of the Jilongkuo military camp as if it were daytime. The Qing army tied thick wood into a ladder and set it up on the first stone barrier. Jinchuan native soldiers and ants climbed on it, and then demolished the first stone barrier.
An unprecedented brutal hand-to-hand battle broke out immediately. The Jinchuan native soldiers and the Kuo army were completely mixed together. Swords and guns burst out, and sparks flew everywhere. From time to time, some people screamed and fell down. Everyone was killed with blood on their faces, rain, blood, and mud. Mixed with the broken limbs, they were kicked around under the feet of countless people.
It was not until late at night that two 12-pound cannons finally collapsed the northeast corner of the second stone wall. The Kuo troops in the camp retreated to the southwest in panic, but that side was full of stone cliffs, and the Kuo troops tried to escape. Rolling all the way down the hillside, the Jinchuan soldiers became red-eyed and jumped down, chasing them all the way to the foot of the mountain and killing all the fleeing Kuo soldiers.
At this point, it only took 5 days from the Qing army's attack on the sixth day of May to the capture of Jilong and the recovery of all lost territory. Fukang'an ordered the entire army to rest for three days. While reporting the victory and asking for credit, he urged the rear to supply grain, grass and ammunition. The 12-pounder gun provided by Beihai Town is easy to use, but the rate of fire is too fast and consumes a lot of ammunition.
On May 14, the Qing army marched toward the Resuo Bridge dozens of miles away, and a battle across the Himalayas that was extremely rare in history began!
The Resuo Bridge spans a tributary that flows into the Giron River from the east, beyond which is the territory of Gorkha. The Kuo army built a pontoon bridge with wooden planks on the tributary, and built a stone watchtower on the Solala Mountain three or four miles away on the north bank, and built two large watchtowers on the south bank near the river, taking advantage of the danger to resist the enemy.
When the Qing army took the lead in capturing Shika on the north bank, the Kuo army on the south bank immediately removed the bridge planks to prevent the Qing army from crossing the river. Upon seeing this, Fukang'an ordered the army to retreat, and asked Bayantai to lead some Qing troops to conduct a feint attack by the river. He also pushed a 12-pound cannon over, and fired from time to time, making the Kuo army on the other side of the river extremely nervous.
At the same time, he ordered Amantai, Zhesenbao, Mergenbao, Wengguoerhai and others to lead the Jinchuan native soldiers from the Luqian Green Mountain in the east to the shallow water upstream and sneak along the river. When they arrived six or seven miles away from the Resuo Bridge, they immediately cut down big trees and built rafts to cross the south bank, and then rushed along the river to attack Kuo Jun's Linhe Stone Fort.
The Kuo army was preparing for a feint attack on the other side of the river. When they saw the Qing army suddenly coming from the south bank, they were shocked and hurried out of the fort to resist. The Qing army on the north bank took advantage of the situation and quickly built a bridge, advancing in two directions, and then captured the stone fort. After that, the Gurkha army collapsed one after another, and the Qing army pursued them all the way. By the time they reached Sedam, they had already entered Gorkha territory for more than 30 miles.
After entering the Gorkha border, the Qing army's offensive slowed down due to the terrain. There are narrow mountain trails everywhere here, and there are lots of rocks. The mountains are layered one after another, and there is no way to pass. Fukang'an had no choice but to move forward slowly while building the road.
At this time, Bahadur, the regent of Gorkha, had received the battle report from the front. He and the leaders were all shocked, knowing that once the Qing army was allowed to rush out of the Himalayas, it would be a disaster for the country. So on the one hand, they gathered their elite troops towards Dongjue, and on the other hand, they sent people to ask for help from the East India Company in the south.
