Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 290: Fujian Navy Surrenders
boom! Boom boom!

The Tang army fleet turned its guns, aimed at the Langqi Island artillery and began to fire.

Amid the booming sound of artillery fire, solid shells and explosive bombs hit the Qing army’s artillery positions one after another.

The bomb exploded when it hit the ground, and the smoke and dust it raised quickly spread throughout the place.

The shock wave exploded, with shrapnel flying everywhere.

However, the Qing army has now learned to be smart and no longer uses open-air artillery batteries.

Instead, they were all built into semi-enclosed styles.

Sandbags were also piled up around the turret to strengthen protection.

Therefore, unless the Tang army's artillery shells fell exactly into the gun position, it would be extremely difficult to cause damage to the Qing army in the artillery position.

The solid shell bounced on the ground, rolled forward, and just jumped over the sandbag fortification in front of the gun position and landed directly in the gun position.

Then it hit the cannon whose fuse was already lit.

The barrel of the cannon was knocked askew, and the muzzle changed from pointing obliquely forward to pointing straight up into the sky.

There was a loud boom as the artillery opened fire, sending smoke filling the entire semi-enclosed gun position.

There was chaos in the gun position!
Driven by the gunpowder gas, the shell instantly flew out of the barrel, shot straight into the sky, and turned into an inconspicuous black dot.

Soon, the shell flying into the sky ran out of kinetic energy and fell straight down.

With a loud bang, it hit a nearby artillery position!

He smashed a Qing soldier's head into his chest, causing a round of curses.

Faced with the Tang army's artillery bombardment, the Qing army's artillery opened fire in return.

Amid the roar of artillery, shells flew and columns of water continued to rise from the sea.

But the Tang army's fleet did not give in and continued to fire and pour out firepower.

The reason was simple: the Qing army's artillery skills were too poor, making it difficult to hit the Tang army's fleet.

On the other hand, the Tang army could not guarantee that every shell would hit the gun position.

But it can ensure that every shell falls on the gun platform.

Relatively speaking, the accuracy of artillery fire is guaranteed.

Especially those breech-loading rifled cannons, which were incredibly accurate. In each round of shelling, one or two shells could hit the Qing army's artillery positions.

At the same time, the Tang army's infantry also began to land on the beach.

The Tang army soldiers paddled desperately, and the boats advanced rapidly, leaving obvious traces on the blue sea.

"Quick! Quick!"

"Faster! Charge forward!"

"Brothers, kill, kill the Tartars!"

"..."

Amid the shouts, Zhong Asi paddled desperately.

As he saw the coast getting closer, he became more and more excited, and his paddling speed began to increase significantly.

However, at this moment, Qing troops began to gather on the shore.

The Qing troops on Langqi Island completed their assembly and marched towards the beach in a mighty force, ready to block the Tang army from landing.

Snapped! Bang bang!

A burst of gunfire rang out.

The Qing army's musketeers stood on the beach, aimed at the Tang army's small boat that was about to rush ashore, and shot.

Snapped! Bang bang!

The gunmen pulled the trigger randomly.

They wanted to use this to stop the Tang army from landing!
Zhong Asi paddled desperately. From time to time, he could hear the whizzing sound of bullets breaking through the air, which made him a little nervous.

Although it was difficult for the Qing army's muskets to hit the target at this distance, there was always a chance of an accident.

In order to reduce the probability of being hit, Zhong Asi subconsciously lowered his head.

But just as he lowered his head, he felt as if his head was hit by a sledgehammer, and his vision went dark.

He subconsciously reached out to touch the helmet on his head and felt a very obvious dent, which must have been caused by a bullet.

"grass!"

"Damn you, you Tartar dog!"

Zhong A Si was very angry. If it weren't for the reliable helmet on his head, he might have died just now.

However, before he could do anything, he heard a burst of artillery fire from the sea behind him.

boom! Boom boom!

The gun ports on the sides of the Tang army warships on the sea began to spew out smoke.

The shells were fired towards the beach, attempting to use the bombardment to cover the landing of their own infantry.

With a bang, the shells landed on the beach.

An explosion sounded, and the shock wave, carrying with it fragments and mud on the beach, exploded.

Several Qing army musketeers were affected by the explosion and flew out in the blink of an eye, their bodies torn apart in mid-air by the shock wave.

It turned into a rain of minced flesh and blood!
boom! Boom boom!

The shells exploded on the beach like fireworks, beautiful but deadly.

The shock wave hit, and the air waves flew.

In the blink of an eye, the Qing army on the beach was blown to pieces by artillery shells.

Seeing this, the Tang army soldiers who were rushing to the beach could not help but raise their arms and shout.

"Wan Sheng!"

"Wan Sheng!"

"The Tang Dynasty is victorious!"

"..."

Under the bombardment of Tang army's naval guns, the Qing army on the beach scattered.

Subsequently, the Tang army's landing troops successfully completed the beach landing.

"Everyone, assemble!"

"Assemble, organize the queue!"

"Quick! Quick! Move faster!"

Zhong Asi waded ashore, assembled with the team, and then rushed towards the Langqi Island Fort. On the way, the Qing army tried to stop them several times, but they were all defeated by the Tang army.

Shi Delu kept mobilizing troops in an attempt to save the situation, but to his despair, as the Tang army landed, he lost control of his troops.

To put it simply, the Qing army no longer listened to him!

Shi Delu was very angry, but there was nothing he could do. He could only watch the landing Tang army approach the Langqi Island Fort.

Soon, the Tang army's landing troops arrived at the Langqi Island Fort and launched an offensive towards the fort.

When the Qing army defenders in the fort saw this scene, they collapsed immediately without any hesitation.

Either surrender to the Tang army, or drop what you have and run away.

The few stubborn elements that remained were quickly wiped out by the Tang army.

In just a moment, the Tang army's landing troops captured the Langqi Island Fort.

Looking at the large Tang-character flag rising on the artillery position, Fang Haiyang immediately realized that his landing troops had succeeded.

"Send a signal and order our fleet to attack!"

"Conquer Langqi Island!"

With command flags waving, the Tang fleet advanced.

After the threat of the artillery batteries was gone, the Tang army fleet successfully blocked the Qing army's water fort.

boom! Boom boom!

The Tang army warships lined up in a row, aimed their black gun muzzles at the Fujian Navy of the Qing army anchored in the water fort, and began to deliver fire.

There was a deafening sound of shelling.

Under the bombardment of the Tang army, the Fujian Navy of the Qing army, which was blocked in the water fort, was in a panic and could not launch an effective counterattack.

After several rounds of artillery fire, several Qing army ships were sunk, and the sea was filled with driftwood and corpses.

Finally, the Fujian Navy of the Qing army could no longer hold on.

The Qing Dynasty's dragon flag flying over the water fort was lowered and replaced by a white flag.

With no other options left, the Fujian Navy of the Qing Army chose to surrender!
……

Shi Delu looked back at Langqi Island where smoke was rising.

He took another look at the white flag flying high, his eyes full of unwillingness.

However, he had no way to change anything and could only take a boat towards Fuzhou City.

"Hurry up! Hurry up!"

"The damn Tang thief is catching up!"

Shi Delu couldn't help but tremble in her hands and feet, and she kept urging her soldiers to row faster to avoid being caught up by the Tang army.

Shi Delu fled back to Fuzhou City and headed non-stop towards the Fuzhou General's Mansion.

As soon as she saw the vermilion lacquered gate of the general's mansion from afar, Shi Delu began to cry and wail.

"General! Something bad has happened! The Tang thieves are coming to kill us!"

"Langqi Island has been lost!"

"General, please think of a solution..."

He cried and wailed all the way into the Fuzhou General's Mansion, and then went to the main hall of the General's Mansion.

From a distance, You Feng, the general of Fuzhou and the governor of Min and Zhejiang, heard Shi Delu's crying. He came out from the main hall and asked.

"what is going on?"

"Didn't Langqi Island have a new artillery fort and a heavy garrison? How could it be lost so quickly?!"

You Feng heard Shi Delu's crying and her whole body trembled slightly from the shocking sound.

You know, in his imagination, even if Langqi Island could not repel the invading Tang army, it could hold out for ten days or so, buying time for him to dispatch troops and seek help, which should not be a big problem.

You Feng would never have thought that Langqi Island would be lost in less than a day!

You know, once Langqi Island was lost, the Tang army would be able to go straight into Fuzhou city along the Minjiang River.

In this way, the gate of Fuzhou City was open to the Tang army!
This is really not good news for the Qing army.

Enming on the side also asked.

"Master Shi, what is going on?"

"How could Langqi Island be defeated so quickly?"

Shi Delu took a deep breath and recounted the battle on Langqi Island with a sad face.

"Although the Tang bandits' artillery fire is fierce, my newly built artillery fort is strong enough, so I am not afraid of it."

"But the Tang thieves were despicable. They sent troops to land and raid our artillery positions from behind."

"Unexpectedly, the fort fell under the surprise attack of the Tang bandits, and then Langqi Island fell into the hands of the bandits."

"How sad and lamentable! It is really sad and lamentable!"

You Feng couldn't help but gasp when he heard this, and his expression became more solemn.

He kept pacing on the spot.

"What can we do!"

"What a good thing!"

Seeing this, Enming, who was standing by, couldn't help but make a suggestion.

"General, why don't we evacuate?"

"Fuzhou is not a fortified city, and it is not a place that can be defended for a long time. It would be better to withdraw to Jiangxi or Zhejiang, and join forces with our Qing troops in Jiangxi and Zhejiang to seek a decisive battle with the Tang bandits, or find a fortified city and hold on to it until the imperial court's reinforcements..."

Enming has already thought about running away.

If he were not the general of Fuzhou, he would have ordered a transfer long ago.

You Feng was still hesitating after hearing this, and Shi Delu beside him spoke up to agree.

"Yes, General, let's retreat!"

"Although we, as local officials, have the responsibility to defend our territory, there are still more than 10,000 Eight Banners people in Fuzhou."

"I would rather let others bear some infamy than let these tens of thousands of people fall into danger..."

If Enming had only proposed the idea of ​​running away, then Shi Delu would have directly thought of the reason for Youfeng.

And it's very persuasive!

The Tang invaders are coming, and it doesn't matter if we die in Fuzhou. It will be considered as serving the Qing Dynasty loyally.

But what about the more than 10,000 Eight Banners in Fuzhou?
If it was really because of us that these Eight Banners of Fuzhou died tragically at the hands of the Tang bandits, who can take this responsibility?
We have to be responsible for the Eight Banners nation!
(End of this chapter)