Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 424: The Destruction of the Yuan Navy

Why did Lu Jin plan to imitate the architecture of Harbin Institute of Technology? Firstly, because the style was suitable and it would not be too abrupt or too Western if copied; secondly, because the technical conditions were relatively easy to achieve.

Harbin Institute of Technology was one of the first universities built after the founding of the People's Republic of China. At that time, the country was very poor. Steel bars and cement could only be used for more than 100 industrial projects, and it was impossible to apply for them to build universities. Therefore, when Harbin Institute of Technology was built, a large number of brick buildings were used, and not much steel bars and cement were used. In order to use bricks to support the several-story building, and the climate in Harbin itself was relatively cold, the outer wall of the teaching building was built to be a full meter thick.
Although it consumes more bricks, it was still much cheaper than building large pure wooden structures at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. Bricks could be burned on site, but high-grade wood had to be cut in the mountains, and it was even more difficult to transport it out.

During the Yongle reign of Emperor Zhu Di, the Forbidden City in Beijing was built. All the golden nanmu trees used were cut down from Sichuan. The difficulty of cutting down these huge trees was recorded in the "Ming History·Biography of Lu Kun".

"As for wood collection, a 10-foot-long circumference would take more than a hundred years. In the deep mountains and valleys, snakes and tigers live together, poisonous fog is common, and there are very few people. There are countless deaths from cold, heat, hunger, thirst, and malaria. Even a tree lying in the ground is difficult for a thousand men to move. If there are obstacles, it will be damaged. The Shu people say: 'One thousand men go into the mountains, and only five hundred come out.' You can imagine how sad this is."

The most outrageous thing is that hundreds of lives were sacrificed for a pillar, and the palace that was finally built was struck by lightning and burned down before the capital was officially moved in, and had to be rebuilt all over again.

Of course, this matter is also quite strange. From a conspiracy theory perspective, perhaps it was the work of those southern ministers who were unwilling to move the capital. This possibility cannot be ruled out.

Then there is the aspect of steel bars and cement. The function of concrete in construction is to bear pressure, and the function of steel bars is to resist tension. Only when these two are combined together are they useful; neither one alone will work.

At present, Lu Jin has developed a hydraulic steel rolling mill. It is not impossible to replace a few rollers with threaded grooves to roll rebar. The only difference is that the cost is relatively high. If you want to save money, you can use a brick-concrete structure and only use reinforced concrete in important parts such as beams, columns and floor slabs. Continue to use bricks in other places. It is no problem to build a five or six-story high structure.

As for cement, although we cannot produce rotary kilns for the time being, we can use traditional methods to produce Portland cement using early technology.

The cement commonly used in later generations is made by mixing limestone, clay, and iron ore into clinker, then grinding it into powder and adding gypsum. Portland cement only consists of limestone and clay, which can be ground into powder after mixing and firing, without the need for a rotary kiln.

In fact, the adhesive used to build houses in ancient China was similar. Brick buildings were all made of burnt lime mixed with clay as the adhesive material for bricks. Key government projects would also add glutinous rice to increase the strength. The only difference between this stuff and Portland cement is that the clay and lime are not burned together. By changing the process, an ordinary lime-burning workshop can do it, which is not a difficult task.

In addition, Lu Jin had Shen Rong invest in the Liuli Factory, which produces ceramic tiles and glazed tiles. The only thing missing is glass, so the school's building materials are solved. However, if there is no glass, window paper can be used as a substitute. It won't be too late to replace it when it is manufactured later.
In early May, Lu Jin was discussing with officials in the Marshal's Office the new dynasty's horse policy, where to locate the capital, and the construction of schools. At the same time, the war on the Huizhou front was also progressing in an orderly manner.

On the seventh day of May, after Chang Yuchun's 43rd Army and Deng Shunxing's 46th Army successively conquered Shidai, Taiping, Jingde, and Ningguo, due to the voluntary surrender of Ningguo County, Deng Shunxing's 46th Army of 43 people did not get to fight, so Chang Yuchun assigned them to continue attacking Jixi on Huizhou Road, while Chang Yuchun himself led the main force of the rd Army to bypass Huangshan and continue attacking Qimen and Yixian.

Qimen and Jixi are located at the east and west ends of Huizhou Road respectively, blocked by Huangshan Mountain in the middle. It is equivalent to the Shengwu Army launching a pincer attack from the east and west, making it difficult for the Yuan army on Huizhou Road to take care of both ends.

The main general of the Yuan army was Wu Ne, the Wanhu of Huizhou Road. He had limited troops of only 20,000 men, and it was difficult for him to take care of both the eastern and western battlefields. When he saw the Shengwu Army coming in two groups, he was at a loss.

At this time, Wu Ne's staff gave him an idea, saying that the capital of Huizhou Road was in She County, and Jixi was the closest to She County, only 70 miles away. Qimen was at the westernmost end of Huizhou Road, miles away from She County. In terms of distance, the enemy on the Jixi side posed the greatest threat.

However, in terms of the enemy's combat effectiveness, it was just the opposite. It was said that the 43rd Army was attacking Qimen from the west. The main general leading the army, Chang Yuchun, was the number one general under Lu Jin. He was the first to land in the Battle of Crossing the Yangtze River. He was extremely brave and then successively captured the entire Ningguo Road. He was promoted to the governor of the front army for his merits.

By now Chang Yuchun had already made a name for himself in Jiangnan, and he was also a veteran unit of the Shengwu Army, so he was naturally feared by others. Therefore, the 43rd Army in the west would definitely be difficult to deal with.

The 46th Army on the east route is different. According to public intelligence, each front of the Shengwu Army has only four armies. The 46th Army is at the bottom of the list based on its number. It must be a newly established recruit unit. The commander-in-chief is said to be named Deng Shunxing. No one knows where he came from and he has no fame at all.

Therefore, although the 46th Army on the east route has 46 people, it is definitely easier to fight than Chang Yuchun on the west route. In addition, Jixi is relatively close to She County. It is better to lead the main force to Jixi to fight the enemy in the field and eat up the new recruits of the th Army. Then send orders to Qimen and Yi County, asking them to try their best to resist Chang Yuchun's attack. Just hold on for a few more days.

Chang Yuchun has been fighting continuously since he set out from Jing County for nearly half a month. By the time he reaches She County, his troops will be old and tired, and his attack will be weak. By then, Wu Ne will lead his fully-powered army that has just defeated Deng Shunxing's 30,000-strong army, and turn around with the momentum of a great victory. He will have a decisive battle with Chang Yuchun in She County and will surely defeat him!
Wu Ne thought what the military advisor said made sense, so he led 20,000 troops and set out, preparing to first take advantage of Deng Shunxing, and then deal with Chang Yuchun.
The result is naturally conceivable.

Deng Shunxing's 46th Army had just arrived in Jixi and had not yet begun to besiege the city when he saw Wu Ne leading an army of waiting for him outside the city.

Seeing that the Yuan army was leaning against the city and ready for battle, the scouts went forward and made a few circles, but could not find any flaws. Deng Shunxing was suddenly a little at a loss. He came from a folk militia and had only led more than 10,000 soldiers at most. He had never seen such a large scene of more than 20,000 people lined up behind a city.

Fortunately, at the critical moment, Han Cheng and Hu Dahai under his command did not let him down. They asked to be the vanguard and break the enemy's formation first. However, their request was stopped by Qin Rong. If they directly charged into the enemy's formation, even if they could break the formation, how many casualties would there be on their side?

With the Royal Guards Division around, when has the Shengwu Army ever asked its soldiers to risk their lives in battle?

So, at Qin Rong's suggestion, Deng Shunxing arranged the 16 cannons of the artillery battalion that had been divided into two groups in a row, followed by two musket battalions and a trap camp of the Imperial Guards Division, and behind them were the three regiments under Deng Shunxing. After the Imperial Guards Division broke through the enemy's formation, Hu Dahai went straight to the enemy's center, Han Cheng and Deng Youlong each led a regiment to attack its left and right wings, and two of Qin Rong's three regiments were stationed on the periphery to encircle and intercept, leaving one regiment to protect their own center.

The battle began. Having learned from the experience of the Battle of Xiaomaoshan when Lu Jin crossed the river, the artillery no longer fired at a long distance. Instead, they shortened the distance between the two sides to 400 meters from the beginning. Sixteen cannons immediately fired a round of ten rapid shots at the Yuan army formation under the city.

In just over three minutes, a round of artillery fire was completed, causing nearly a thousand casualties to the Yuan army on the spot. Although a thousand casualties was nothing for a formation of 20,000 people, the situation of not being able to fight back and only being able to stand and take the beating still shook the Yuan army's formation.

As soon as the artillery fire stopped, without giving the Yuan army a chance to react, rhythmic and cheerful drum beats sounded on the battlefield. The two musket battalions of the Imperial Guards Division formed a dense horizontal formation half a mile wide, singing "We are all sharpshooters" and immediately went into battle. The trap camp that was sent to assist also held grenades and temporarily acted as grenadiers following behind the musketeers. Behind them was a large formation of three regiments of spearmen. The two regiments of Qin Rong also followed suit, going around the two wings to prepare to block the fleeing Yuan army.

Three hundred meters, two hundred meters, 180 meters, a sharp trumpet sounded, and the musketeers began to fire on the move in companies. The sound of musket fire rang out one after another. The center of the battlefield was filled with smoke, as if a thick fog had risen, and the soldiers in the front row of the Yuan army's formation fell down one after another like wheat cut by a sickle.

Such a horrific attack method immediately broke down the front line of the Yuan army. Before the musketeers got within 30 meters for the final round of shooting, the Yuan army began to collapse. The defeat spread rapidly to the left and right wings and the center like ripples in the water.

Deng Shunxing became excited when he saw this. He immediately ordered his men to beat drums and blow charge horns. The 46th Army immediately launched a charge. Hu Dahai, who was appointed as the vanguard, took the lead and rushed towards the flag of Wu Ne, the main general of the Yuan army, with a group of heavily armored soldiers from the Xianzhen Camp. Wu Ne, the Wanhu of Huizhou Road, was also killed on the spot by Hu Dahai.

Han Cheng and Deng Youlong also led a regiment each, and rushed into the enemy formation along the gap opened by the artillery and musketeers, completely splitting the enemy formation and driving them to both wings. Finally, together with Qin Rong's two regiments, they surrounded and captured all the defeated Yuan army soldiers on the periphery.

After this battle, Deng Shunxing's 46th Army finally got to eat meat and see blood. More than of the main forces of the Yuan army led by Wu Ne, the Wanhu of Huizhou Road, were killed on the spot, and the remaining were all captured. Among them, nearly were killed by artillery and musketeers with firearms, and another were killed when the entire army pursued the enemy after its complete defeat.

The artillery and musketeers only used less than 3,000 people to achieve such a brilliant victory, and were the first to defeat the main force of the enemy. The remaining spearmen holding cold weapons were nothing compared to them.
After this battle, Deng Shunxing and other new generals finally saw the power of muskets and artillery, and became more familiar with the fighting style of the Shengwu Army. Unfortunately, they still did not gain any practical experience in siege. The defenders in Jixi City watched the entire battle from the top of the city wall, and when they saw that their main force was completely vulnerable, they surrendered the city.
After the 46th Army captured Jixi, it immediately marched towards She County, the capital of Huizhou Road. The main force of She County had been taken out by Wu Ne before, leaving only a small number of old and weak people to defend the city. This time, seeing the Shengwu Army approaching the city with more than main forces plus prisoners, Deng Shunxing hung Wu Ne's head outside the city gate on a bamboo pole, and then asked the prisoners to shout to persuade them to surrender. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, She County had no choice but to open the gate and surrender.

On May 46, the th Army officially liberated She County, the capital of Huizhou Road.

Since the main force of the Yuan army in Huizhou Road was annihilated by Deng Shunxing, Chang Yuchun encountered almost no strong resistance. He arrived at Qimen on the tenth day of May and broke through the city on the same day. He then attacked Yixian and Xiuning. Just when they arrived at the city of Xiuning, Shexian surrendered to Deng Shunxing.

After the main forces of the two armies met in the upper reaches of the Xin'an River, Chang Yuchun successfully captured Xiuning. Then, as Qin Rong had expected, Deng Shunxing's 46th Army was sent by Chang Yuchun to continue attacking Jiande Road, while Chang Yuchun himself turned to Wuyuan, the last city on Huizhou Road, and began to arrange spies to infiltrate Quzhou Road, preparing for the next stage of the war.

Five days later, on May 20, Wuyuan was conquered by Chang Yuchun, and the entire Huizhou Road was liberated. All the prefectures, counties and cities around Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces that were still in the hands of the Yuan army were shaken. With the recovery of Huizhou Road, the Third Front Army, which was originally stationed at Yuling Pass on the west line of Hangzhou, also withdrew the main force of a garrison division back to Hangzhou. Now that both sides of Yuling Pass are their own people, what is there to defend?

After this freed-up main force division regrouped in Hangzhou, it was sent by Yang Jing to reinforce Pujiang and prepare to participate in the upcoming Wuzhou Campaign.

Chang Yuchun's side was fighting very smoothly, and Deng Shunxing was still continuing to attack Jiande Road. At the same time, Liao Yongjian and Wang Zhiyuan on the western front were also busy.

After Wang Zhiyuan's 44th Army captured Qingyang on May 44, it immediately returned to Guichi with the main force of the th Army. After joining forces with the navy, it took a boat to Dongliu. Along the way, it did not encounter any support from the Yuan army's navy.

The barbarian Hague who led the Jiangxi Yuan army navy was not a fool. Now there were two naval regiments of the Shengwu Army nearby. The Third Navy Regiment, which was Miao Youzhen's Lei Chi Navy, occupied Wangjiang County where the Lei Chi River flowed into the river. The Second Navy Regiment led by Sang Shijie was further downstream, fighting with Liao Yongjian.

The Jiangxi Navy of Manzi Hague was in the area from Pengze to the mouth of Poyang Lake further upstream. If he stayed here, he could still occupy the geographical advantage upstream. If he went to rescue Dongliu and Jiande (Dongzhi), he would be attacked from both upstream and downstream by the Second Regiment of the Navy and the Lei Chi Navy.

Now the Yuan court has only one navy in the entire Jiangxi Province, and Jiangxi is an environment with crisscrossing waterways. It is difficult to fight a war in Jiangxi without ships. Therefore, the barbarian Hague is not that stupid. If he is surrounded and wiped out by the two navies of the Shengwu Army, it would be tantamount to handing over the entire Jiangxi. Even if it is to save Jiangxi, he cannot take the risk.

Therefore, the isolated and helpless Dongliu and Jiande had to surrender slightly in the face of the nearly 44 main forces of Liao Yongjian and Wang Zhiyuan. On the tenth day of May, when Chang Yuchun had just reached Qimen, the entire Chizhou Road had been completely liberated by the 45th and th Armies of Liao Yongjian and Wang Zhiyuan.

The two naval corps of Sang Shijie and Miao Youzhen continued to advance towards Pengze upstream, preparing for a decisive battle with the Jiangxi navy of the barbarian Hague. Whoever's navy wins this time will gain the right to control transportation in the entire Jiangxi province!

However, unlike the barbarian Hague who was isolated and helpless, the Shengwu Army, under the coordination of the General Staff, fought closely together.

The entire southern front campaign was planned by Zhan Ding. Lu Jin only proposed the strategic direction and strategic window, and decided when to fight and how many troops to send, but the specific tactical planning was the responsibility of Zhan Ding.

When Zhan Ding first arrived, he was unfamiliar with the combat style, strategies and tactics of the Shengwu Army, and he did not know much about the performance of technical weapons such as artillery. But later, when he learned that Lu Jin's artillery range was able to block the entire surface of the Yangtze River, a bold plan came to his mind.

Who told you that I can't attack you from both sides without my navy upstream? Aren't you, the barbarian Hague, afraid of this? Then I will attack you from both sides to show you!

After taking down Dongliu and Dongzhi, Sang Shijie and Miao Youzhen's navy continued to press upstream, advancing towards Pengze, forcing the barbarian Hague to come for a decisive battle.

Barbarian Hague had no choice. He couldn't keep retreating. Pengze was already the last barrier of the Ganjiang River and Poyang Lake water system. If he retreated any further, he would have no choice but to retreat to Poyang Lake. Once the Shengwu Army navy poured into Poyang Lake, the Yuan Army navy would completely lose its geographical advantage of being "upstream".

Moreover, the navy of Barbarian Hague has fewer ships than the navy of the Holy Martial Army. Once both sides enter the open waters of Poyang Lake, the Holy Martial Army will be outnumbered, which is naturally what Barbarian Hague does not want to see, so he can only bite the bullet and fight.

On May 16, after careful planning by the Marshal's Office, all participating troops were secretly moved into place, and the Shengwu Army Navy also went upstream and reached the Yangtze River basin between Wangjiang County and Pengze County. There was a huge sandbar in this section of the Yangtze River, where people lived. Administratively, it belonged to Pengze County under the jurisdiction of the Yuan court and was called Mianchuan Town.

Mianchuan Sandbank divides the Yangtze River into two parts. The waterway on the west side near Wangjiang County is only 200 meters wide, while the east side near Pengze County is the main channel, with the river surface being over a thousand meters wide. There is a triangular water surface area upstream of Mianchuan Town, near Pengze County, which is even more open, with the widest part of the river being two to three thousand meters.

Barbarian Hague had relatively few ships, so he certainly didn't dare to go to this open water to fight with the Shengwu Army's navy. As for the downstream of Mianchuan Town, he didn't dare to go there even more, because the waterway on the west side of Mianchuan Town was too close to Wangjiang County, within the range of bows and arrows on the shore, and Wangjiang County was the territory of the Shengwu Army, so the waterway on the west side was actually controlled by the Shengwu Army.

If he went downstream via the eastern channel, the Shengwu Army would be able to send a detachment to go around him from the western channel and trap him to death in the eastern channel of Mianchuan Town.

Considering that the barbarian Hague occupied the upper reaches and there were relatively few ships, his best defense plan was to control the upper reaches of Mianchuan Town. There was an extremely narrow part of the river here. On the west bank was Xiaogushan occupied by the Shengwu Army, and on the east bank was Penglangji occupied by the Yuan Army. It formed a strategic point with a river sandwiched between two mountains. The width of the river here was only 800 meters, and the water flow was relatively turbulent.

Manzi Haiya occupied the upstream area. As long as he controlled this key point, when the huge fleet of the Shengwu Army broke up from the downstream, he could set fire to the ships upstream and fire rockets on the east coast to set fire to the ships of the Shengwu Army. Once the ships of the Shengwu Army were set on fire and the fleet was in chaos, Manzi Haiya could lead the Yuan army navy downstream to hunt down the Shengwu Army navy.

This was a good idea. Sang Shijie was indeed afraid of the Yuan army's fire ships. The purpose of naval battles upstream was to gain the advantage of fire attacks.

However, with the unified dispatch of the Marshal's Office, the situation on the battlefield was naturally different. On May 16, the naval battle officially started. Sang Shijie first sent out a fleet of twenty or thirty three-masted ships to tentatively break into the pass.

When the barbarian Hague saw that there were only thirty large ships and the main force of the Shengwu Army's navy had not arrived, he refrained from setting fire to the ships and only sent out fifty warships to fight. As a result, they suffered heavy casualties from the artillery on the Shengwu Army's ships and had to retreat. The Shengwu Army's vanguard fleet wanted to continue to force its way forward, but was repelled by the catapult position deployed by the barbarian Hague at Penglangji on the east coast.

In the first round, the Yuan army navy suffered a small loss, and the Shengwu army navy failed to successfully break through the pass.

It seemed that they saw that the Yuan army's navy was just so-so, so the main forces of the two naval regiments of Sang Shijie and Miao Youzhen pressed forward, with six large ships leading the way. War drums were beating on the decks of the ships, and the sound shook the whole area. The black fleet rushed upstream together!

When the barbarian Hague saw this, he was not surprised but happy. When the navy of the Shengwu Army approached, he immediately released more than 500 small fireboats that had been prepared in advance, and sailed downstream to ram the navy of the Shengwu Army. Sang Shijie and Miao Youzhen were shocked and hurriedly led the navy to turn around and flee, but the few tower ships could not run fast, and two of them were soon set on fire by the fireboats. The Shengwu Army's fleet suddenly became more chaotic, and they all fled downstream.

The Yuan army's navy burst into laughter, and the barbarian Hague also vented his anger. What if you rebels have a lot of ships? Aren't you afraid of my fire attack?
The high-spirited barbarian Hague immediately ordered the war drums to be sounded, and took all the navy warships to actively pursue the chaotic Shengwu Army fleet, and soon sailed to the downstream of Xiaogushan.

However, when he had only sailed three or four miles away, he saw that something was wrong. The Shengwu Army navy, which had been in chaos just now, had avoided all the fire ships, reorganized and turned around to fight back. At the same time, a team of warships sailed out from the west channel of Mianchuan Town, preparing to go around behind the Yuan Army navy.

Barbarian Hague suddenly cried out inwardly, "Oh no! I've already prepared fire ships when I occupy the upper reaches. Could it be that the Shengwu Army couldn't guess it? If they knew that I had prepared fire ships, why would they take the initiative to provoke me? Unless the Shengwu Army was using their trick to deceive the enemy and lure him downstream, and then send a detachment from the west side of Mianchuan Town to outflank me, I almost fell into their trap!"

Thinking of this, the barbarian Hague suddenly shouted to retreat, and his ship immediately sounded the retreat, and all the Yuan army's navy also began to turn around and head upstream.

However, it is easy to go but difficult to come back.

Although the Shengwu Army Navy failed to complete the task of outflanking the Yuan Army Navy's rear, the Army did it. Liao Yongan, the governor of the First Front Army, had received orders from the Marshal's Office long ago and mobilized four artillery regiments with a total of 256 cannons. He set up four secret artillery positions on Xiaogushan Mountain on the west bank. The river here is only meters wide, which is completely within the range of the artillery.

So when the barbarian Hague wanted to lead the navy to escape back to the upper reaches of Xiaogushan Mountain, the artillery positions hidden on the mountain immediately opened fire. More than two hundred solid iron balls with white smoke trails whizzed across the surface of the Yangtze River. All the ships passing by had their masts broken and their sails damaged. The smaller ships were directly smashed into pieces. The larger river ships could not withstand a round of salvos and were immediately riddled with holes, lost control, and were washed downstream by the rushing river.

You know, the firepower of 256 guns at the same time is equivalent to the broadside fire of four first-class battleships.

Who said that I can’t block your retreat just because I don’t have a boat upstream?
(End of this chapter)