There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 167 is over, it's all over!

The Han army's Dongting Lake naval force, although nominally a naval force, was in reality a makeshift operation.

From the warships to the sailors, none of them had ever fought a proper naval battle.

The only thing that resembled a navy was that all the Han soldiers could swim; they weren't landlubbers and didn't get seasick.

As for the rest, such as how to fight a water battle, how to coordinate operations, and how to control the river... they have no idea.

Nie Yu did manage to acquire several military books on naval warfare from the mall, but this kind of thing couldn't be mastered quickly. The Han army's sailors were all recruited from fishermen, river bandits, and militiamen who could swim. They had only been training for less than half a year, and the fact that they could sail with dozens of warships without colliding was already a testament to the naval commanders' "divine skill in warfare."

But that's alright. The Han army's navy was a makeshift operation, while the Qing army didn't even have a Yangtze River navy. It was still during the Jiaqing era, at least eighty years before the Yangtze River navy was established.

At that time, the main channel of the Yangtze River was virtually uncharted territory for the Han navy.

The coastal defense batteries atop Wuchang city had only been exchanging fire with the Han army's naval guns for half an hour before they all fell silent.

The firepower of the Han navy was too strong. The warships were still moving on the river, and the Qing army's coastal defense cannons could not hit them at all. On the contrary, the Han army's cannons could hit one or two shells from time to time due to the density of fire.

This is the firepower of a cannon; the shells hit the city wall, and even the bluestone bricks couldn't withstand it.

"Bang~"

With a loud bang, a Qing army coastal defense cannon that was being loaded with gunpowder exploded because too much gunpowder had accumulated and the barrel was not properly cleaned.

The cannon exploded, and the immense force caused the surrounding piles of gunpowder barrels to detonate simultaneously.

The entire fort was blown up, and a small, smoking dent was blasted into the city wall.

Now, the Qing soldiers' artillerymen dared not continue firing back. They either hid behind the parapets of the gun emplacements or abandoned their cannons and fled in all directions.

The Qing army officers tried to suppress the unrest, but to no avail: "Hold on, hold on! Anyone who dares to flee will be killed without mercy, killed without exception..."

Before he could finish his shout, this fellow also ran away, and the entire section of the river defense wall collapsed as his commander fled.

On the flagship of the Han army navy, two Han generals dressed in red and carrying swords were observing the distance. One of them, holding binoculars, was Lei Dabiao, the naval commander of this operation. This guy was originally a lake bandit; you could tell from his name that it was a pseudonym he used to mingle with the underworld.

After the Han army incorporated him into their ranks, because of his high prestige and fighting prowess, they appointed him to the military position of naval commander, giving him command of a naval force.

Lei Dabiao put down his binoculars and laughed, "Brother Yang, you can take your men and push it up now. Those spineless Qing dogs have all run away!"

Yang Fang smiled and clasped her hands in thanks, saying, "Thank you very much, Commander Lei."

Lei Dabiao waved his hand: "It's nothing, it's all the General's orders. We're all comrades, we should be fighting side by side. It's just a pity! We're in the navy now, we can't go ashore with you. These Qing dogs are too cowardly, they ran away before they even fired a few shots."

Yang Fang neither agreed nor disagreed, stating that the navy and land forces would not interfere with each other, at most cooperating in operations; this was a military rule set by the Grand General.

The Han army had high pay and benefits. Soldiers were rewarded for winning battles and received pensions for dying in battle. Correspondingly, the military discipline was very strict, comparable to that of Qi Jiguang's army.

Nie Yu had considered simplifying the military regulations, but then decided against it. Since he was currently rebelling and leading an army composed entirely of illiterate soldiers, he could only use strict rules to tame the soldiers' instinctive resistance.

Without rules, nothing can be accomplished; the more tears shed in peacetime training, the less blood will be shed in wartime.

These three sentences were personally written by Nie Yu and hung in front of the military camp and the military academy.

Soon, the Han army landed.

Yang Fang personally led several hundred Guizhou soldiers to quickly seize the mudflats at the riverbank wharf. After establishing a foothold, the main force followed and assembled on the mudflats.

"Brothers, follow me and we'll take the city!"

Having gathered just over a thousand men, Yang Fang felt it was about time and eagerly led her team to charge towards the Wuchang city wall.

"Kill!"

"Seize the city, kill the Qing dogs!"

"May the Great Han be victorious!" Different voices, mixed with different dialects, accompanied the charge of a thousand-strong army.

The walls of Wuchang were still collapsing due to the riots. Because the commander had fled, the Qing troops had lost unified command. Some Qing soldiers saw the Han army landing and tried to organize resistance, but no one listened to them at all.

These clear-headed Qing soldiers, seeing that the situation was hopeless, didn't care about anything else and fled together.

"Don't run, don't run! Open the city gates, let's all surrender to the Han army and achieve great merit!"

Suddenly, some brilliant strategist uttered a remark amidst the chaos of battle.

Holy crap, that's right! The rebels are about to breach the city, so why are we running away?
Just surrender!
Several Qing soldiers came to their senses and quickly formed a small group. In order to make a great contribution as quickly as possible, they simply swung their swords and slashed at their own routing allies.

After a fierce battle, by the time they reached the city gate, half of the Qing soldiers were dead, and the other half were covered in blood.

The Qing soldiers who were supposed to hold the city gate had long since disappeared.

The few surviving Qing soldiers rushed forward and slowly pushed open the city gate.

"Commander, the city gates are open!" the guard reminded him, bewildered.

Yang Fang was also somewhat bewildered. When she led her troops to the city gate, she saw several Qing soldiers kneeling on the ground, holding a blood-stained braid (someone else's blood) in their hands.

The Qing soldier kneeling at the front shouted, "General, it was our brothers who opened the city gates. We all want to surrender to the Han army! We can lead the Han army to raid the offices of the governor and the provincial treasurer."

Good heavens, another group of collaborators who surrendered, and Qing soldiers at that! Even more impressive than Hanyang City before.

Yang Fang shouted, "Lead the way!"

More than a thousand Han soldiers, led by a few Qing soldiers, entered the city gate in a dignified manner. One hundred of them took control of the Wenchang Gate on the western section of the city wall, while also receiving the troops that landed later.

The governor's office, located at Wangshanmen, was mostly empty because the puppet Qing governor-general of Huguang was in Xiangyang. A squad of soldiers was left to guard the office and prevent the important documents and archives inside from being looted and destroyed by the mutinous soldiers.

The remaining Han soldiers all moved along Changjie-Wangfukou, prioritizing control of the southern part of Wuchang.

The overall structure of Wuchang City is rather peculiar because it was built on Snake Hill. The Yellow Crane Tower is located on the summit of the western section of Snake Hill, and the entire Snake Hill acts as a dividing line, splitting Wuchang City in two.

Besides the Governor's Office at Wangshan Gate in the south of the city, there was also a moat here where water from the Yangtze River was diverted, which connected to Wangshan Gate.

The remaining offices of the governor, the education commissioner, the provincial administration commissioner, and the provincial judicial commissioner were all located in Beichen, Wuchang, north of Snake Mountain.

The Han army breached Wenchang Gate and took control of the southern part of Wuchang. The news had already reached Chen Wangzhi, who was observing from the Yellow Crane Tower.

He couldn't help but know; he was standing on the Yellow Crane Tower, watching the Han army's navy land at Wenchang Gate, and then brazenly stormed into Wenchang Gate.

Zhang Zengyong's face was filled with fear: "Your Excellency, the southern city has fallen! What are we going to do?"

"..."

Chen Wangzhi did not answer.

Ask him what to do? How would he know what to do?

First Hanyang was lost in a day, and now, the southern part of Wuchang has also been lost in a single day.

Fortunately, there were no officials in the southern city, otherwise they would probably have become prisoners of the Han army.

Chen Wangzhi now understood how the Han army had captured Hanyang.

Such a shameless and bullying tactic would make it impossible for even military generals like E Hui to defend Wuchang.

It's over, it's over!

(End of this chapter)