There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 273: Half-crossing and attacking
Li Fenghan, the Governor-General of Liangjiang, claimed to have led an army of 200,000 south to Jiujiang, but in reality, most of it was just a bluff. The actual number of troops was only slightly over 100,000, and nearly 70,000 of them were laborers, leaving only slightly over 30,000 soldiers capable of fighting.

Of course, he was the Governor-General of Liangjiang, not a god, and couldn't possibly conjure up an army of 200,000 out of thin air.

The Viceroy of Liangjiang actually had less than 70,000 Green Standard Army troops under his command. After deducting the Right Wing Navy of the Jiangnan Admiral, the Green Standard Army land force of the three provinces was only about 63,000 men. After deducting the Jiangxi Green Standard Army, which had been completely wiped out, the remaining army that could be mobilized was less than 50,000.

It can be said that Li Fenghan was under immense pressure to be able to spare 30,000 troops.

If he is defeated in Jiangxi, then Jiangsu and Anhui provinces will be without troops.

Jiangning still had the Eight Banners, but the Jiangning Eight Banners were under the jurisdiction of the Jiangning General, commanding about 4000 people including vanguard, commanders, cavalry, infantry, and training soldiers. There was also the Jiangning Eight Banners Navy, which totaled less than 10,000.

Li Fenghan originally did not want to go into battle rashly, but he could not withstand the pressure from Zhu Gui, the governor of Anhui!
Although Zhu Gui was not a member of the Eight Banners, he was Jiaqing's teacher, and Qianlong was already seriously ill. Most local officials were unaware of this news, but Li Fenghan, as the Governor-General of Liangjiang, certainly knew, and therefore could not afford to offend Zhu Gui.

Li Fenghan and Wang Bing mobilized the Jiangnan navy and forcibly requisitioned a large number of civilian boats in preparation for crossing the river.

The Han army, of course, did not stand idly by. Yang Fang immediately arranged for the Han army's naval fleet and civilian boats along the coast to urgently lay a large number of wooden rafts at Hukou.

These rafts were of little use; they only hindered the Qing navy from entering Poyang Lake.

Although the Han army also had a navy, it was extremely poorly equipped. Against Jiangxi, which lacked a navy, the Han navy was invincible, but against the true Qing navy in Jiangnan, it was not enough.

Still no big ships!
The Han army's warships were all converted civilian ships, so they were definitely not comparable to real naval warships.

Fortunately, these miserable days won't last long. Jingzhou Prefecture has made new breakthroughs in the field of steamships, and even the brand-new shipyard has been fully completed.

The dried timber that the Han dynasty had seized from the Qing dynasty's granary could finally be used to build warships for the true Han navy.

Early November.

After a half-month standoff across the river, the Qing army finally made a move, just as the snow finally stopped.

When the Qing army did not move, it was a full-scale attack.

The Qing army split into two routes: one crossed the river to attack Meijia Island, and the other went south to destroy the wooden rafts set up by the Han army at Hukou.

On Meijia Island, the Han army was already on high alert.

The main reason is that this ferry crossing is the narrowest point on the Yangtze River leading to Poyang Lake. If the Qing army wanted to attack Jiujiang, they would definitely have to take Meijiazhou first.

"The Qing army has crossed the river! The Qing army has crossed the river!"

"Artillery battalion ready!"

"Ready, fire!"

The Han army deployed thirty red-coated cannons, half of which were new cannons brought by the Sixth Division, and even the gunners were temporary replacements of mortar crews under Yang Fang.

"Boom boom boom!"

The narrow river surface at Meijiazhou Ferry was suddenly filled with the sounds of gunfire.

Thirty cannons bombarded the area, and most of the shells fell into the river.

The scene startled the Qing army crossing the river head-on, and countless Qing soldiers hurriedly rowed their boats, trying to return to the crossing point behind them.

However, the supervisory team at the rear ferry was no pushover. Upon seeing any Qing soldiers daring to row back, they formed a battle formation and charged forward to cut them down.

"Retreat immediately, or you will be killed without mercy!"

Under the angry shouts and threats of the supervising team, the returning Qing soldiers had no choice but to cross the river again.

"Boom boom boom!"

The Han army launched a second round of artillery fire.

This time the accuracy was significantly better; with thirty cannons firing simultaneously, five shells hit the target.

A cannonball hit the ferry carrying several Qing soldiers. The ferry, which was just a fishing boat forcibly requisitioned, was no match for the impact of the cannonball.

The shell slammed into the ship's deck, instantly creating a large hole from which water gurgled out.

Before the Qing soldiers could react, the ferry sank.

"Help me! I can't swim!"

"Gurgle~~! Help~~Gurgle~~!"

After several Qing soldiers fell into the water, they struggled and thrashed about, trying to stay afloat, but the more they moved, the faster they sank. They desperately called for help, but their allies ignored them and no one went to rescue them.

There was no other way; the other Qing soldiers were also struggling to protect themselves. At the beginning of their crossing of the river, they were still far from the Meijia Island ferry, at least six miles away, and the Han army's red-coated cannons had a hard time hitting them.

However, as the Qing army crossed halfway across the river, they had already entered the range of the Han army's cannons.

The closer the Qing army got to the crossing, the more concentrated the artillery fire became from the Han army, and they even used mortars.

The disadvantage of the Han army's mortars was their short range, making them unsuitable for engaging targets at greater distances. Their advantage, however, was their sheer number; Yang Fang had several hundred, and they could also use shotgun shells for truly concentrated fire coverage.

When the Qing army, having finally managed to withstand the heavy artillery fire of the Han army, was about to approach the crossing point, they saw the Han soldiers at the crossing point leisurely pushing out hundreds of small-caliber mortars.

"Boom boom boom!"

No need to aim, just fire.

Since they were firing stone shrapnel, as long as the distance was roughly estimated, the shrapnel fired by those hundreds of mortars was enough to cover the entire river surface at the ferry crossing.

In an instant, the Qing army, which was already prepared to land, suffered a devastating blow.

Even though the cannon fire wasn't very loud, they saw a large number of black, unidentified objects appear in the sky, almost covering all of them.

"Clap! Clap! Clap!"

The stones, heated to a scorching red by the gunpowder of the cannonballs, were smashed into the bodies and flesh of the Qing soldiers.

Those Qing soldiers who were hit in vital areas were a little luckier and at least died less painfully, but the remaining Qing soldiers who were not hit in vital areas were in a terrible state.

"Ouch, it hurts! My arm is broken!"

"My legs, my legs!"

"My intestines, my intestines are coming out! Help me! Help me!"

The distance to the ferry crossing, just a few hundred meters away, seemed like an insurmountable chasm to these Qing soldiers. They were bombarded with stones fired from hundreds of mortars, resulting in heavy casualties.

A small number of surviving ferries, seeing the tragic state of their comrades, still wanted to fight to the death and rush to the shore.

Before they could even reach the ferry, the Han army's musket battalion was already prepared, and their rifled guns were aimed at these guys and fired with precision.

"Bang bang bang!"

Not a single Qing soldier was able to land; those who dared to land were all shot dead.

Those who remained either jumped ship to escape or tried to escape by boat.

The Qing army's crossing of the river lasted for almost an hour, and due to the Han army's attack while the troops were halfway across, less than one-tenth of the Qing army successfully crossed the river.

Even if they successfully crossed the river, they were quickly cleared out by the Han army's infantry, who were waiting in ambush on the shore. They were unable to form any combat power, let alone occupy a beach where subsequent troops could land.

Halfway through the battle to cross the river, the Qing army finally couldn't hold back any longer.

"Report! The lookout has spotted a large number of Qing warships approaching on the north bank of the river!"

As the Qing army commander-in-chief attacking Meijia Island ferry, Tian Yongyi, the General of Suzhou and Songjiang, was no pushover. He knew that crossing the river head-on would make them easy targets. The Han traitors were already known for their superior firearms, so he simply used a frontal crossing as bait, while he led the main naval force to cross the river on the north bank, using the navy to cover the main force's crossing of Meijia Island.

With a simultaneous land and sea attack, the three routes of invasion forced their way across Meijia Island. Even the most ferocious Han traitors would be exhausted from dealing with it.

Fang Jie, who was launching an attack while the enemy was crossing the river, immediately said to Wang Yong through the walkie-talkie: "Old Wang, go to the north bank and block the Qing army there, is that alright?"

"Don't worry, Lao Fang!" Wang Yong grinned.

Wang Yong's Han troops quickly broke away and headed towards the north bank to intercept the Qing troops that were about to land there.

Tian Yongyi's tactics were sound. He used the Qing army crossing the river from the front to draw the attention of the main Han army force, while he himself launched a simultaneous land and water attack from the north bank to forcefully cross the river and eliminate the Han army's stronghold at Meijia Island.

Unfortunately, while he considered these factors, he failed to take into account the actual combat strength of the Han army.

The Han army stationed at Meijia Island consisted of Fang Jie and Wang Yong's troops, who were not only veterans of the Han army but also a strong army that dared to launch a solo raid southward.

Furthermore, Tian Yongyi's estimation of the Han army's firearms was far from the reality. He thought the Han army's firearms were sharp, at most somewhat powerful, and that having red-coated cannons was already quite formidable. He never imagined that the Han army also had cannons, mortars, rifled guns, and hand grenades.

With so many powerful firearms, the Qing troops that Tian Yongyu used as bait were not even enough to defeat a single Han army unit under Fang Jie.

(End of this chapter)