There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 234 Crossing the River and Pushing Forward
Xiaochi Town.

This place is not only a settlement for the people of Fengguozhou, but also an important port guarding the entrance of the Yangtze River into Poyang Lake.

If we capture Xiaochi Town and then cross the river to take Jiujiang, we can perfectly block this confluence of three rivers. When the Qing army's Fujian navy comes, they will have to obediently go ashore.

Several instructors from the Han navy were shouting through megaphones: "Fellow countrymen, come out quickly! We are the army of the Great Han, only fighting against the Qing dogs and bandits. You are all tenant farmers here. We are here to help you, to distribute land to you, so that everyone can live a peaceful life as farmers, cultivating the land and making a living, instead of working your lives as tenant farmers for those corrupt officials."

After shouting back and forth several times, and with other registered tenant farmers returning to testify and persuade them, the tenant farmers in the town finally agreed to believe the Han army.

The tenant farmers came out one after another, and at the command of the instructor, they went to the open space in the town to line up for registration, land allocation, and household registration.

The fact that it went so smoothly is largely thanks to the fact that Fengguozhou is under the jurisdiction of Jiujiang Prefecture, so the local dialect is generally Jiujiang dialect.

The main dialect spoken in Jiangxi is Gan, which differs greatly from the dialects of Hubei and Hunan. Jiujiang dialect is different; they don't speak Gan, but rather a Northern dialect, belonging to a similar language family to Hubei dialects, and can even communicate seamlessly with the Huangzhou Prefecture dialect.

The local dialects were all pretty much the same. Instructor Wen then learned a couple of common Jiangxi dialect phrases from the guides in Huangmei and Wuxue, which quickly put the local tenant farmers at ease.

Instructor Wen had settled things with the tenant farmers, while Lei Dabiao was also meeting with two other people.

"This humble servant greets the General!"

"Enough with the nonsense. You just said you had military intelligence to report?"

With a murderous glint in his eyes, Lei Dabiao cut to the chase and demanded, "Putting aside the issue of military intelligence, what are your identities, and how did you come to know this military intelligence?"

As a former bandit who once roamed Dongting Lake, and even one who had made a name for himself among them, this guy was not the brute he appeared to be.

Knowing they couldn't hide it any longer, the two men quickly said, "We are patrol inspectors from Huangmei County (Dehua County)."

In a small town like Chizhou, there are actually two inspectors, and they are inspectors from two provinces and two counties. This issue of territorial jurisdiction is really messed up.

Lei Dabiao nodded slightly: "Speak! What military intelligence do you have to report? If it's useful, I'll give you a credit!"

The Huangmei County inspector did not speak.

The inspector of Dehua County asked, "I wonder if the general intends to cross the river and attack Jiujiang Prefecture?"

"Speak your mind," Lei Dabiao said.

The inspector of Dehua County said, "If the general intends to cross the river and attack Jiujiang Prefecture, it would be best to attack now, because Jiujiang Prefecture is currently weak and has almost no troops to spare. If we attack Jiujiang now, we will surely win in one battle. I am the inspector of Dehua and I know part of Jiujiang's river defense layout. I am willing to draw it all out and present it to the general."

Lei Dabiao did not immediately agree, but instead asked in confusion, "Jiujiang Prefecture is a crossroads of seven provinces, such an important place, how could it be so sparsely defended?"

When Lei Dabiao asked about this, the Dehua inspector smiled bitterly and said, "Because of the rebels."

Lei Dabiao raised an eyebrow: "Because of traitors?"

Huang Mei, the patrol inspector beside him, quickly explained, “We are not talking about the general and the great man. The rebels who are wreaking havoc in Jiangxi call themselves the King of Slaughter, and they have a number of bandit leaders under their command, including the Demon of Chaos and the Winged Tiger. After they came to Jiangxi, they swarmed like locusts, and Ji’an Prefecture has been completely ravaged. In his fear, the governor mobilized troops from the entire province to surround and kill the bandit King of Slaughter, including Jiujiang Town.”

Lei Dabiao was speechless: "This King of Slaughter is nothing but a defeated general of our Great Han, yet you allow him to gather the entire province's main force. Aren't you afraid that our Great Han will suddenly attack Jiujiang, and Jiujiang will have no troops available?"

How could I not be afraid?

But nobody expected that!

Jiujiang Prefecture is indeed in danger due to its sparse military strength. However, Huangzhou Prefecture is still blocking the way ahead. The Han army will definitely attack Huangzhou Prefecture first if they go down the river. Only after they have taken Huangzhou can they continue south to attack Jiujiang.

Who could have imagined that Huangzhou Prefecture would crumble at the slightest touch? Cangzhou collapsed so quickly that Jiujiang Prefecture had no idea Huangzhou was gone.

……

That afternoon, the Han army registered and distributed land in Xiaochi Town.

"what's your name?"

"Li San."

"Where are you from?"

"Um, I think he's a local! But my dad is from Huangmei County."

"Then he's from Huangmei County."

"Hey, young sir, if you register me in Huangmei County, does that mean I can't get land in the town?"

"This is just to register you first. The land will still be allocated. Even if your household registration is not here later, the allocated land can still be transferred to Huangmei County."

"That works."

"next."

"Hehe, young sir, my name is Chen Dezi."

"Where are you from?"

"..."

Xiaochi Town has a small but still considerable population. Even with several instructors working diligently, it still took them almost two days to complete all the registrations.

Next came the distribution of land to these tenant farmers, a process that went much smoother than the registration process. Since Fengguozhou was an island in the middle of a river, and the land was generally fertile, it only needed to be distributed equally according to the Han Dynasty's land system.

After all the tenant farmers had distributed the land, there was still a considerable amount of land left. This remaining land was left untouched for the time being, to be cultivated by subsequent immigrants.

After being allocated land and property, the Han Dynasty promised to change their household registration so that they could live as farmers and cultivate the land in peace, no longer oppressed and exploited by the government. These tenant farmers all sincerely supported the Han Dynasty.

The Han Dynasty was about to launch a military campaign against Jiujiang, and these tenant farmers all expressed their willingness to serve as laborers for the Han Dynasty, volunteering to help them fight the war without pay.

Two days later, Yang Fang and his army finally arrived to join them.

Lei Dabiao told Yang Fang the news he had received. The two compared the map of Jiujiang with the sketch of Jiujiang's defenses and discussed it repeatedly for a long time before finally deciding that the army would cross the river directly and push forward.

Strategy and tactics are things that only need to be considered when the difference in troop strength between the two sides is not significant.

When the disparity in troop strength reaches a point of immense disparity, all schemes and tricks become trivial; a straightforward, honorable victory is the true measure of military strategy.

Jiujiang.

"Your Excellency, the Han traitors have crossed the river!"

"what?"

Upon hearing the news, Fu Hongchang, the prefect of Jiujiang, dared not delay and hurriedly ran up the city wall to investigate the situation.

Because the Han army was delayed for several days in Fengguozhou, busy distributing land to the tenant farmers there, the city of Jiujiang had already learned of the Han army's attack through reports from fishermen along the river.

This prefect of Jiujiang was barely considered capable. Upon learning that the Han army had attacked and captured Fengguozhou, he was not too flustered. Instead, he immediately ordered the treasury to be opened and soldiers to be recruited to defend the city.

Standing on the city wall, Fu Hongchang watched the Han army warships crossing the river. He forcibly suppressed his fear and shouted an order: "Pass down the order to the gunners to fire! We cannot let the Han traitors cross the river safely!"

Upon receiving the order, the gunners in charge of operating the cannons were immediately thrown into a frenzy, nearly knocking over the gunpowder barrels.

Unfortunately, although Prefect Fu ordered the recruitment of soldiers to defend the city on the very day he learned of the Han army's approach, there simply wasn't enough time. Recruiting soldiers to defend the city wasn't as simple as just issuing an order; it also required preparing weapons and provisions for the soldiers, various defensive supplies, and recruiting enough able-bodied men.

With so many miscellaneous tasks added up, it's impossible to finish them in just two or three days.

Fu Hongchang personally oversaw the operation, working almost non-stop for two days and two nights to gather more than two thousand able-bodied men to guard the city. He also sent all the yamen runners to the city walls, instructing them to lead the able-bodied men and laborers to prevent any disturbances.

To ensure that everyone would fight to the death, Fu Hongchang even took out money to reward the army in advance, and personally supervised the reward process, fearing that some greedy officials might embezzle the money.

"boom!"

On the city wall of Jiujiang, a few yamen runners and young men formed a makeshift artillery crew. After a flurry of activity, they finally managed to get the river defense cannons going.

A cannonball shot out from the muzzle, followed a parabolic trajectory, and struck a Han army escort warship on its flank with a clear target.

"boom!"

The shells hit the deck, causing the wooden deck to crack.

Debris from the deck splashed out and hit two Han soldiers who were caught off guard.

"Ah! My arm!"

"My legs, my legs feel like they've been ripped open!"

The Han navy on that ship was stunned.

When Lei Dabiao, the Grand Admiral of the Navy, heard the messenger's report, he was equally astonished: "Damn it, when did these Qing bastards become so accurate with their cannons? Open fire! Return fire! Give them a good beating!"

The military order was issued quickly, and all the cannons of the Han army's warships were aimed at the walls of Jiujiang.

The Qing army's cannonball was very accurate, but it was too far away. By the time it hit the deck of the warship, it had long lost its kinetic energy and got stuck after crashing into the deck.

The total number of casualties was only two Han army sailors, and they were not seriously injured, nor were any bones broken.

Although the gunners of the Han army's naval warships had no combat experience, they were much more trained than the "Qing army" gunners in Jiujiang, so they quickly took up the guns and started firing.

"Boom boom boom!"

For a time, the Yangtze River was filled with the roar of cannons.

All the shells were fired, and unsurprisingly, none hit their mark; they all went empty and into the river.

"Boom boom boom!"

The cannons defending the river at Jiujiang City then opened fire in return.

This time, no shell hit its mark on the first shot; they all landed in the river, and their distances and directions were all wildly off.

Lei Dabiao held up his binoculars and finally understood: "I wondered when the Qing dogs' artillery skills had become so advanced. It turns out they just got lucky and got the escort ships to keep firing to cover the army division brothers crossing the river."

"Boom boom boom!"

The Han army warships fired their cannons in a second salvo.

"Boom boom boom!"

The cannons on the river defenses of Jiujiang City followed suit and fired back.

The two sides exchanged fire, firing cannons across the river, and unsurprisingly, all the shells were fired without success.

On the walls of Jiujiang, all the gunners were novices. It was already a feat if they could fire the cannons at all; how could they expect them to be accurate?

The situation was similar for the Han navy. The gunners were all new recruits, and they were firing from their ships. The ships were rocking and moving violently, so accuracy was practically impossible.

However, if you can't control your accuracy, can you still not overcome firepower density?

The Han army had too many escort warships and even more naval cannons, which together exceeded the number of river defense cannons on the walls of Jiujiang.

Moreover, all of these river defense cannons have not been used for a long time.

If a cannon that has been in disrepair for a long time is suddenly needed in wartime, and it can still fire at least half of its original value, then it is considered to be of excellent quality.

"Boom!"

A loud bang suddenly appeared, startling even Fu Hongchang.

However, a yamen runner who was operating the cannon was so nervous and scared that he accidentally lit the gunpowder in the gunpowder barrel, which then exploded on the spot, blowing the runner and the cannon platform to their sides.

The other gunners were terrified when they saw this. They abandoned their guns and ran away without firing again.

(End of this chapter)