Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 317 Cai Bingwen: Build a strong camp and fight a stupid battle!
Upon hearing this, Cai Bingwen restrained the solemn expression on his face, turned to Nerjinge and said with a wry smile.

"Thank you for your concern, Lord Ne."

"I am just worried about the war in Tianjin."

Upon hearing this, Nerjing'e also sighed deeply.

"The national situation is so difficult! Even Tianjin, the gateway to the capital, has fallen into the hands of thieves. It's really... really... Alas..."

"As subjects, we can only do our best to live up to His Majesty's grace."

Cai Bingwen nodded as a sign of approval, but his expression remained solemn.

At this moment, a Qing army messenger came running from a distance.

The messenger ran all the way to Cai Bingwen and the other man and began to report.

"Report!"

"Your Excellency, our vanguard has reached the outskirts of Tianjin and has come into contact with the Tang bandits."

Cai Bingwen's expression froze and he asked immediately.

"How's the battle going?"

Upon hearing this, the messenger's face darkened.

"Reporting to the Admiral, our vanguards fought with the Tang bandits and suffered heavy losses, but they did not achieve any credit and have already retreated..."

When Cai Bingwen heard this, his expression became more serious, and he just said.

"Send the order down, have our vanguard stop advancing, set up camp where they are, and repair the camp and military camp in preparation for engaging the enemy."

From the current battle situation, Cai Bingwen has realized that the Tang army's combat effectiveness is quite strong.

In this situation, attacking Tianjin by force is definitely not the right choice.

But we have to fight!

Therefore, Cai Bingwen prepared to imitate Zeng Guofan's tactics.

They built a strong camp, fought a stupid battle, and relied on their own logistical advantages to slowly wear down the Tang army.

Anyway, the main force of the Tang army is still in Shandong, and the troops attacking Dagukou are limited.

Moreover, their supplies had to be transported by sea. Although the cost was not high, it was ultimately not as convenient as the Qing army's local supply.

If you keep consuming it slowly, maybe you will win?

Although Zeng Guofan was killed by Cai Bingwen, Cai Bingwen did not mind learning and making use of Zeng Guofan's tactics.

……

The Qing army continued to advance towards Tianjin City!

However, after arriving outside Tianjin city, the Qing army did not rashly launch an attack on Tianjin.

For several consecutive days, the Qing army, under the command of Cai Bingwen, began to build camps and fortresses outside the city of Tianjin.

Confronting the Tang army in the city from a distance!

Zhang Biao stood on the top of Tianjin City, looking at the Qing army camp that was gradually taking shape outside the city, and said with a serious expression.

"It seems that the Qing Yao is not prepared to directly attack Tianjin!"

He also had a serious expression on his face as to why the Qing army did not take the initiative to attack.

This was mainly because Zhang Biao was still thinking about the future Tang army's attack on the capital.

If they watched the Qing army's camp being built now, then once the Tang army prepared to launch an attack on the capital from Tianjin in the future, this camp before them would be an obstacle that the Tang army would face.

Determined to establish merit, gain a prominent position, and ennoble his wife and children, he naturally wanted to clear away all obstacles before the decisive battle between the Tang Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty began, so that the main force of the Tang Dynasty could launch a northern expedition in the future.

After thinking for a long time, Zhang Biao finally made a decision that he had to fight and could not just watch the Qing army build their camps leisurely.

He stepped down from the city wall and led his men to the Haihe River outside the city.

He was preparing to board his own fleet and discuss with Wu Quanmei and others how to cause trouble for the Qing army.

……

Qing army camp outside Tianjin city.

Looking at the camp that was being built bit by bit in front of him, Cai Bingwen had a smile on his face that came from the bottom of his heart.

"Master Cai, the emperor's order to us is to recapture Tianjin."

"Just building camps won't be enough to recapture Tianjin!"

"If we delay any further, and the Emperor blames us for the ineffectiveness of the Tianjin campaign, we won't be able to bear the consequences..."

Imperial envoy Shengbao came up to Cai Bingwen and spoke.

Now he feels that Cai Bingwen is a man of little more than reputation, and is very dissatisfied with Cai Bingwen's passivity and unwillingness to fight.

Upon hearing this, Cai Bingwen was still not in a hurry and just said with a smile.

"Don't be impatient, Master Shengbao!"

"As the old saying goes, in battle, courage is the key. The first time you are strong, the second time you are weak, and the third time you are exhausted."

"Now, the Tang bandits have just occupied Tianjin, and they are at their most aggressive and insolent."

"If I take the initiative to attack now and seek a decisive battle with the Tang thieves, I will not hesitate to take the initiative to run into the muzzle of the Tang thieves' guns."

"Nothing good will happen!"

"Therefore, this admiral thinks that we might as well set up camp outside Tianjin City and confront the Tang bandits."

"When this lone Tang bandit army has penetrated deep into the heartland of the Qing Dynasty and is isolated and helpless, and has fought for a long time without success, and the army is exhausted, we will send troops to fight a decisive battle and it will not be too late to decide the outcome!"

Cai Bingwen said nice things, but in fact he was afraid of fighting and did not dare to fight a decisive battle with the Tang army. He was just making excuses to delay time as much as possible.

Upon hearing this, Shengbao couldn't help but look thoughtful, and he stroked his chin in deep thought.

When Nerjing'e, who was standing by, saw this, he immediately clapped his hands and exclaimed in praise.

"Master Cai really knows military affairs."

"This plan is very clever, this plan is very clever!"

Seeing Nerjing'e's statement, Shengbao could only nod.

"Well, that's a good point."

"I just hope that the Tang thieves won't attack us on their own initiative..."

Cai Bingwen heard this and raised his flag with a smile. "Don't worry, Imperial Envoy."

"The invading Tang bandits came from afar and marched deep into the enemy territory alone. It is a great fortune that we were able to capture Tianjin by chance."

"How dare they march again?"

"The reason why the Tang bandits were able to first seize Dagukou and then take Tianjin was because of their strong ships and powerful guns."

"If the Tang bandits dare to go deep inland and escape the protection of their fleet, then if our Qing Dynasty gathers its main forces, it is not impossible to annihilate them."

From Tianjin to the capital, the Haihe River cannot go directly, and it is necessary to take the canal.

Although the Haihe River is navigable, it is only the Haihe River that is navigable.

Once you turn from the Haihe River to the Grand Canal, the most you can do is use some canal boats or flat-bottomed boats, and there will be no large ships at all.

Therefore, Cai Bingwen said that once the Tang army went deep into the inland, it would inevitably lose the fire cover of the fleet.

However, just when Cai Bingwen vowed that the Tang army would definitely not invade.

There was a burst of artillery fire outside the Qing army camp.

Boom! Boom!
The Tang army took the initiative to march out of Tianjin City, arrived outside the Qing army camp, and launched firepower on the Qing army camp.

The shells landed in the Qing army camp and a rumbling explosion was heard.

Cai Bingwen and others were startled by the sudden explosion, and their faces were full of shock.

Shengbao and Nerjing'e looked at Cai Bingwen almost at the same time, their eyes seemed to be asking questions.

Is this what you, Cai Bingwen, said when you said that the Tang army promised not to invade again?

Cai Bingwen opened his mouth, feeling somewhat embarrassed, and immediately turned around and shouted angrily at a personal soldier beside him.

"What are you still standing here for?!"

"Go and investigate immediately. This admiral wants to know why the Tang thieves took the initiative to attack us!"

"We need to know how many Tang thieves are coming to attack us!!"

The personal soldiers were so badly scolded by Cai Bingwen that they dared not disobey in any way. They immediately left and went to investigate the battle situation.

Cai Bingwen also climbed up a lookout tower in the Qing army camp with a serious expression, and used a telescope to observe the movements of the Tang army outside the camp.

Shengbao and Nerjing'e followed closely and climbed up to the observation tower to observe the situation on the battlefield.

boom! Boom boom!

In the wilderness outside the Qing army camp, clouds of smoke continued to rise.

Artillery shells flew across the sky and headed towards the Qing army camp.

In addition, a large black mass of Tang troops appeared in the wilderness, advancing slowly towards the Qing army camp in a scattered line.

Cai Bingwen put down the telescope in his hand and said solemnly.

"The Tang bandits' fighting method is different from the traditional battle formation, and also different from the foreigners' line battle. It is a unique skirmish line battle."

"At first glance, the formation is loose, disorganized, full of flaws, and seems easily breakable."

"But only when you actually fight the Tang bandits can you realize how terrifying their tactics are."

"Faced with the Tang bandits' skirmish line fighting, our Qing Dynasty's artillery and muskets can hardly cause large-scale casualties to them."

"And if we use cold weapons in combat, we will be targeted by the Tang bandits' extremely fast-firing breech-loading guns and cannons."

"It's really tough!"

During the time when Cai Bingwen was defeated in Henan and dismissed from his post and returned home unemployed, he studied the tactics of the Tang Army and the Taiping Army.

But the more he studied, the more powerless he felt.

The Tang army's tactics were so sharp that he could not find any flaws at all.

Shengbao, who was standing by, saw this and said with a serious expression.

"Does Admiral Cai have any idea to repel the enemy?"

Cai Bingwen nodded slightly, and then told him the method of fighting the enemy that he had figured out after a long time of thinking.

"Unless they are equipped with the same weapons and tactics as the Tang bandits, otherwise, in a field battle, not to mention the Qing Dynasty, even the foreigners are no match for the Tang bandits."

“But that’s almost impossible.”

"The rear-loading guns and cannons that the Tang thieves are using now are rare in the foreign lands. Very few armies have them, let alone sell them to the Qing Dynasty."

"Besides, the Qing Dynasty itself does not have the ability to produce breech-loading guns and cannons."

"Naturally, we can't get a large number of breech-loading guns to equip the army."

Of course, it’s just that we can’t get large quantities.

There are still a small number of samples here in the Qing Dynasty.

Whether it was stealing, robbing, seizing, paying bribes to Tang army logistics officials, or thinking of other ways.

It was very easy for the Qing Dynasty to make a few sample guns!
The Tang army's breech-loading rifles have been mass-produced and equipped to the army. Among the tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands produced, the whereabouts of a few are unknown and there is no way to track them.

But it's just a small amount, it's impossible to have more.

It is normal to lose a few guns occasionally. After all, the Tang army is now fighting everywhere, the situation on the battlefield is chaotic, and no one can guarantee that no accidents will happen.

But if a lot of guns are lost, the Military Intelligence Department of the Tang Dynasty will not be a pushover.

Seeing that Shengbao and Nerjing'e both had serious expressions, Cai Bingwen continued.

"Therefore, there is only one choice before our Qing Dynasty."

"That's defense!"

"Build a strong camp and fight a stupid battle!"

"By building camps, trenches, and fortresses, we can stop the Tang bandits' offensive, slow down their offensive pace, and fight back and forth with them for every inch of land."

"Until the Tang thieves are worn down and exhausted..."

"Only in this way can we have a chance of winning this battle."

……

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(End of this chapter)