There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 106 What a Big Cannon
The Han army's intentions were too obvious, and they seemed not afraid at all that Changde Prefecture would guess it.

What are you afraid of?
With a radio station that can transmit messages thousands of miles away, as soon as the Qing army in Changde Prefecture moves, the main force of the Han army in Changsha will immediately know the news and make corresponding deployments.

This is no longer a matter of anticipating the enemy's moves, it is purely a crushing improvement in the efficiency of transmitting military intelligence!
Although Xing Zhao could not figure out the details of the Han army, he knew that once the Han army captured Changsha, his side would be fine, but the 100,000-strong army in western Hunan would definitely be cut off from food.

The food supply in western Hunan is cut off, and the Miao people are in turmoil!
By then, not only will western Hunan be in chaos, but Guizhou, Guizhou, and southern Hunan will all be involved in the chaos.

There is no way. This is all the fault of the Qing Dynasty itself. It was Yongzheng who set a bad example. Yongzheng was too radical. In order to implement the policy of localization more quickly, he sent reinforcements to the southwest region many times and issued an edict to encourage local officials to do evil in order to provoke the Miao people in the southwest to rebel.

If all the Miao people were killed, the chieftains could be transformed into commoners and the chieftains could be abolished at the same time.

Get it in one fell swoop!
It is indeed cruel, but it is also really effective.

The Miao people in western Hunan are now rebelling for similar reasons. If they don't rise up, they will all be tortured to death by the Qing court.

Xing Zhao knew that this was not going to work, so he quickly sent a boat via the Yuan River to Chenzhou to request reinforcements.

However, the waterway of the Yuan River was cut off by the Dongting Lake bandits. These bandits might not be able to defeat the Qing soldiers on the shore, but this was the Yuan River, and it was their world. It would be easy for them to deal with a few isolated and weak message ships.

In just two days, Xingzhao sent out more than a dozen speedboats, most of which were intercepted by pirates, and only two escaped.

"You said that the Yuan River is full of pirates?" Xing Zhao asked, suppressing his anger.

The courier, having barely escaped the disaster, now had to face the enraged Xing Zhao. He could only bite the bullet and anxiously say, "We're stuck in the Yuan River. Everywhere we look, there are pirates. Their boats aren't as big as ours, but they're outnumbered, and they've spread fishing nets and traps in the river. Our big boats can't get out. Once they get entangled in the nets, we become sitting ducks, helpless at the hands of the pirates."

"Then how did you come back?" Xing Zhao asked again.

The messenger said in fear, "Our boat is small, so we can run fast. The big boat was blocked, and we took advantage of the chaos to break through. The pirates didn't chase us, so we came back!"

To be honest, the pirates didn't want to waste their time, so they didn't chase them. Or they might have deliberately let them come back to disrupt the morale of the army in the city.

Xing Zhao was silent for a long time after hearing this, and then he waved his hand. He did not order the killing, not because he was kind-hearted, but simply because killing would not help. So many messengers died in the Yuan River, and only two boats escaped back. The water route was definitely blocked.

Land route... Land route is even more blocked. The Han army has surrounded the city of Changde. They did not surround it with three sides and leave one side open, but did not leave any loopholes at all.

Xing Zhao thought about it for a long time but could not come up with any way to break the deadlock, so he could only summon officials and generals in the city to the government office for a meeting.

Xing Zhao asked directly: "If Changsha is lost now, can Changde, Chenzhou, and Xiangxi still hold on?"

Hu Wenquan, the prefect of Changde, shook his head. "It's definitely not safe. Changsha is the capital of Hunan. If Changsha falls, even if it doesn't mean the whole of Hunan has fallen, then half of Hunan has fallen. Then the people of the entire province will surely be in turmoil."

"Is there any solution?" Xing Zhao asked again.

"General, why do you ask questions when you already know the answer?" Hu Wenquan said unhappily.

There was no other solution except to call for reinforcements. Changde City did have troops, but they were a complete rabble, barely capable of fighting. The only troops they had were Xing Zhao's 1,000 Manchu soldiers from Jingzhou, the remaining 1,000 or so from the Green Camp, and over 7,000 local militiamen whose training schedules varied.

In total, there were 9,000 Qing troops in Changde Prefecture, nearly 10,000 defenders, and 8,000 Han troops besieging the city.

Ten thousand against eight thousand, the advantage is killing me!
Xing Zhao is not a fool. Even though Hui Ling was defeated before, he still said that Hui Ling was a fool. He might have wiped out Fu Zhina's entire army. What's the point of this?
Xing Zhao's face turned grim: "Is there no other way?"

Everyone looked at each other, and no one dared to speak first.

Their original thought was that the Han army had captured Lizhou and Yuezhou and hadn't moved in several months, so they wouldn't be moving south anytime soon. They just had to wait for General Fu in western Hunan to wipe out the Miao people. By then, neither the Han army nor the White Lotus would be a match for General Fu.

With the power of Mount Tai, no matter how many rebels there are, they will be wiped out!

But who would have thought that before the situation in Xiangxi was resolved, the brave and warlike Marshal Fu would die first.

At the moment, we can’t fight, but we may still have some hope if we can barely defend the city.

……

Xing Zhao of Changde Prefecture was unable to take care of himself and could only barely maintain a stalemate with the Han army besieging the city.

Changsha Prefecture City.

The Han army has been at the gates of the city for several days, and Nie Yu is finally ready to attack the city because the siege cannons have arrived!

It is not a conventional red cannon, but a newly built giant siege cannon with a barrel caliber of 206.2 mm and a conventional shell diameter of 201 mm. Its propellant weighs 16 pounds and can withstand up to 25 pounds of propellant. The effective range is about 3000 yards, and the maximum range is 15 yards when the barrel is fired at an elevation angle of 3620°.

Yes, that’s right. You will know it when you see this. Nie Yu directly copied the “50-pound cannon” used by the British 68 years later.

Although this thing is still a muzzle-loading cannon, it has the advantages of great power, fast rate of fire, stable performance, and is cheap enough.

Let’s put it this way! This cannon was developed by the British and used for eighty years before it was officially retired after the end of World War I.

During this period, breech-loading cannons were introduced, but they could not withstand high chamber pressure, resulting in a low muzzle velocity for the shells, and their destructive power was actually less than that of this muzzle-loading cannon.

During the few days when the Han army besieged the city and waited for the siege artillery, Changsha was not idle. At the reminder of Chen Sanchen, Zheng Yuanyun had gathered most of the local militia, green camp, and yamen runners scattered in the city.

Chen Sanchen finally had something to do. Since Zheng Yuanjun did not know how to lead troops, he entrusted the task of defending the city to the prefect Chen Sanchen, while he helped to dispatch military supplies from behind.

Chen Sanchen frowned and said, "Master Fantai, these soldiers are all useless. If they go up to the city wall, I'm afraid something bad will happen!"

Zheng Yuanyun shook his head. "Bei Shu! How could I not know? But the situation is critical now, and I can't care less. But don't worry, there will be absolutely no problems with the logistics and transportation of supplies. Anyone who dares to withhold or delay will be personally beheaded by this clan!"

All right! With his superior saying this, Chen Sanchen had nothing to say and could only bite the bullet. Fortunately, the city beneath their feet was Changsha. This was not an ordinary provincial capital, but the capital of Hunan Province. The city walls had been repaired and reinforced by several successive governors. Although it was not an iron wall, it was not far from it.

The shortest part of Changsha city wall is 14 meters, the thickness of the wall base exceeds 10 meters, and the thickness of the wall top is 6 meters.

The Taiping Army attacked Changsha for 81 days and even killed the Western King Xiao Chaogui. However, they were unable to break through the Changsha city defenses and had to take a detour to attack Yiyang and Yuezhou.

From this we can see how outrageous the defense of Changsha city wall is. Even if a coffin is used to blow up the city wall, it is not easy to blow it open. At most, it will only make a hole.

Zheng Yuanyun handed the defense of the city to Chen Sanchen, but instead of returning to the government office, he stayed at the temporary office under the city, handling all matters. He simply didn't know how to defend the city, not how to fight. If he really did, he would have surrendered long ago.

Chen Sanchen had taken off his prefectural uniform, put on a suit of armor, and patrolled back and forth with a sword slung over his waist. Although the Han army was not attacking the city, he still felt a little uneasy.

Outside the city, Han army laborers were filling the moat, and it took several days to create a few small paths.

The Qing army also tried to obstruct with archery, but it had little effect. Without special training, most archers could not draw their bows, and those who could draw their bows could not shoot anyone.

As usual, Chen Sanchen inspected the city wall and then returned to the city wall, intending to observe the movements of the Han army and think about the upcoming war situation.

"Huh? What is that?"

As soon as Chen Sanchen stuck his head out to look, he saw that the Han army seemed to have pushed out something huge. Why did that huge object look a bit like a cannon?

How can it be?

How could there be such a big cannon? Judging from this distance, this cannon is probably several times bigger than the red cannon.

"not good!"

Chen Sanchen suddenly realized it, but it was too late.

"what is that?"

"Looks like a cannon!"

"How can there be such a big cannon?"

"Is this cannon meant for us?"

"Mom..."

Many soldiers defending the city saw the huge siege cannons pushed out by the Han army. They were real cannons, much larger than the siege cannons on their city walls.

If you insist, their cannons are grandsons, and the Han army's giant cannons are grandfathers. Even from such a distance, you can still feel that the cannons are quite large.

Soon, Zheng Yuanyun was also alarmed and hurriedly ran up the city wall.

"What's going on? Beishu, is there something serious going on?"

No one paid any attention to him. Everyone lay on the battlements and looked out.

Zheng Yuanyun frowned and moved forward. He was also shocked when he saw it: "Where did such a big cannon come from?"

The Han army pushed the cannon forward again, and it became more obvious that there were more than 20 civilian laborers pushing the cannon alone. The length of the gun barrel was several times that of their city defense artillery, and it was obviously newly cast.

Seeing the cannon being pushed to a slope and stopped, all the surrounding laborers ran up to dig soil to fill it and secure it.

Several more Han gunners in red came forward and worked together to adjust the direction and elevation of the gun muzzle.

Without being reminded, Chen Sanchen and Zheng Yuanjun rushed down the city wall with their entourage before the Han soldiers could load their artillery shells.

After repeated calculations, the Han army gunners were excited and ready to test the artillery.

This was the first time they had seen such a heavy cannon, and the first time they had used it to fight the Qing army.

The 20cm diameter shells were bigger than their heads, and it took two people to carry them and force them into the muzzle!
Only four siege cannons have been built so far, and the process of melting and casting the gun barrels was omitted. It took several months to complete.

It is indeed slow without a production line, and building a production line requires a steam engine. Nie Yu currently does not have much free time and does not have that many craftsmen to do it, so he can only throw out a few drawings and find a few craftsmen apprentices to figure it out first.

Four huge cannons were placed in the center of the position, and there were another twenty-five red cannons in two rows, all aimed at the main city wall of Changsha.

"preparation!"

"fire!"

"Boom boom boom!"

The shells were fired at the same time, and the four siege cannons were pushed back by the powerful recoil.

Most of the shells missed the target, either falling into the moat or flying over the city wall. Only three shells hit the target.

All the Qing soldiers guarding the main city wall fled, and they couldn't even suppress the rebellion.

There must be artillery in Changsha City, but the gunners dared not show up at all, and no one gave them orders.

(End of this chapter)