The Ming Dynasty: Starting with the border troops, it was overthrown and the Qing Dynasty was destro

Chapter 233 Breaking Through River and Coastal Defenses (Thanks to the guild leader '立根在破岩中' for their contribution)

After several days of deep thought, a plan gradually took shape in Jiang Han's mind.

Given the limited number of warships in the government navy, he decided to create chaos and harass the exhausted government and navy forces on the vast river.

Jiang Han dispatched more than a dozen elite teams to each of the three river sections.

Each team consists of dozens of people, led by several fishermen familiar with the water, and carries a large number of simple wooden rafts, straw figures, torches, gongs, horns, and other items.

Under the cover of night, the teams set out simultaneously at several gentle stretches of the Jialing River, far from the city, both upstream and downstream.

The troops deliberately created the illusion that they wanted to cross the river by boat, and lit a large number of torches on the riverbank to attract the attention of the guards on the opposite bank.

Then the straw figures were secured to the raft and pushed into the river one by one, letting them drift downstream.
In an instant, flames of war and sirens blared across the river surrounding Baoning Prefecture.

The officers' patrols were extremely busy, paddling frantically on the river, intercepting the bandits' rafts everywhere.

"Damn it, what bad luck! Here we go again!"

On a speedboat, dozens of officers and soldiers were rowing toward a raft not far away, cursing under their breath.

"It's another straw doll released by the bandits!"
"These damned thieves are trying to torture us to death!"

Upon approaching, the soldiers grabbed their spears and stabbed the straw figure on the raft several times, venting their anger.

On the speedboat, several officers and soldiers responsible for rowing were constantly moving their sore and swollen wrists.

"What are you guys complaining about while on the boat?"

"Oaring is the most tiring and demanding job, and I don't even get a penny more in military pay."

"I've made you bastards learn to row, and everyone's making excuses about not knowing how. If this keeps up, I'll cut my hands off."

But before he could finish speaking, a series of rapid arrow whistles suddenly came from the direction of the south bank not far away, followed by a burst of flames.

"Chief, there's trouble again in the south!"

The officers on the ship dared not be negligent and could only roar in annoyance:

"Why are you still standing there?!"

"Quickly swipe over and take a look!"

Upon hearing this, the officers and soldiers could only muster their spirits and row desperately towards the scene.

As expected, they came up empty-handed again.

Apart from a few burning bonfires and straw figures, there wasn't a single bandit soldier in sight on the raft.

Seeing this, the naval officer was so angry that he started cursing.

"Oh shit!"

"Are all those patrol teams on the shore pigs?!"

"Do you have to fire an arrow to warn me every time you see a glimmer of light on the river?!"

"If this happens a few more times, they'll torture me to death!"

"Let's go! Back to camp! I need to give those bastards on the shore a piece of my mind."

And so, over the next few days, the vast river was filled with "smoke bombs" released by Jiang Han.

The already small navy of Baoning Prefecture was completely overwhelmed and exhausted.

Their vigilance waned after each failed attempt, and their reaction time became increasingly sluggish.

Seeing that the time was right, Jiang Han began the next step.

He wanted to give these apathetic naval officers and soldiers a good jolt.

This time, in order to lure the soldiers into a trap, he went so far as to send out all the fishing boats he had collected from upstream.

However, these fishing boats had already undergone special "modifications" in advance.

The cabin was filled with a large number of explosive packages and covered with tarpaulins.

To increase its lethality, Jiang Han also ruthlessly mixed in a large number of iron nails, broken porcelain shards, and small stones picked up from the riverbank.

Based on the principles of trigger-activated landmines in later generations, Jiang Han designed a simple yet highly effective triggering device on the fishing boat.

He first secured a thick, long fire rope inside the cabin.

One end of the matchlock was aimed at a vat filled with gunpowder; the other end was tightly tied to the tarpaulin covering the cabin.

As soon as someone lifts this tarpaulin, it will instantly trigger the fuse, pulling the boat into the gunpowder pool, igniting the gunpowder and causing the entire fishing boat to explode!

This fishing boat floating on the river is the booby trap that Jiang Han carefully prepared.

That night, at midnight.

The garrison along the riverbank discovered something unusual on the river again.

After careful examination, they confirmed that this time it was no longer a fire and a straw man, but a real small boat.

The garrison dared not delay and immediately sounded the alarm.

However, the naval officers and soldiers anchored on the shore did not take the alarm seriously at all.

A flag officer named Deng Feng, looking impatient, stormed out of the cabin, cursing and swearing.
"What the hell happened again?"

"Can't those bastards on the shore just shut up for a second?"

"Don't men need to sleep?"

He had barely uttered two sentences when Yu Yang, the naval vice admiral not far away, rushed over and unleashed a torrent of abuse upon him:

"You son of a bitch, you think you've got wings now?!"

"I sent you aboard, not for you to sleep!"

"Get the hell over there and check the military situation right now! If the enemy soldiers manage to sneak over, I'll take your head!"

Not satisfied with cursing Yu Yang, he pulled out his riding whip and lashed Deng Feng hard across the back.

Deng Feng dared not disobey his superior and could only endure the lashes, wincing in pain as several bloody welts appeared on his body.

Under the strict orders of the naval deputy admiral, Deng Feng had no choice but to board a patrol boat and head towards the warning location.

When they arrived, they found only a fishing boat moored alone in the middle of the river.

The fishing boat was bobbing up and down with the current, but its position remained unchanged, which seemed very strange.

All of this was arranged in advance by Jiang Han.

He had already instructed Lin Chaosheng to lead several of the best swimmers to lie in ambush near the fishing boats.

Once they reached the middle of the river, they immediately dropped anchor and swam back, waiting for the officers and soldiers to come and inspect the fishing boat.

The patrol boat cautiously approached the fishing boat in the middle of the river, only to find that they had fallen into the bandits' trap once again.

It was the same old story; there wasn't a soul in sight on the ship, except that the cabin was completely covered with a layer of tarpaulin.

Deng Feng became angrier the more he thought about it. For this, he was not only woken up from his sleep, but he was also beaten.

He leaped directly onto the fishing boat in front of him.

"Those damned thieving soldiers, they're playing tricks again!"

"You cowardly scoundrel! If you're so capable, let's have a real fight!"

After cursing, Deng Feng was still not satisfied. He grabbed the tarpaulin on the cabin and yanked it up.

He was going to see what these bandits were up to today.

But to his utter surprise, the instant he draped the tarpaulin, the fire rope inside the cabin was also activated, instantly igniting the medicine pool. Deng Feng was stunned upon seeing this:
"What the hell happened? It's on fire!"

boom--! ! !
But before he could finish speaking, a deafening explosion rang out, instantly detonating a large amount of explosives inside the fishing boat.

The small fishing boat, along with the patrol boat that was parked very close by, was blown to pieces in an instant!
Deng Feng, the flag commander at the epicenter of the explosion, didn't even have time to let out a scream before he was blown into a pile of charred fragments, which slowly sank to the bottom of the river amidst the spray of water and wood chips.

Flames shot up into the sky on the river in an instant, and no one on the patrol boat survived.

Because the incident occurred late at night and there were no survivors, the officers and soldiers on the shore had no idea what had happened on the river.

They only saw their own navy's patrol boat approach the fishing boat, and soon after, it was blown to pieces.

The garrison soldiers didn't even know if there were bandits on the fishing boats, or if their patrol boats had been dragged down by bandits and perished together.

As a result, in the following days, the government navy's patrol boats were attacked one after another.

Anyone who dared to approach and investigate was invariably blown to smithereens.

This caused great anxiety among the naval officers and soldiers, and they dared not approach any fishing boats floating on the river.

Jiang Han's offensive continued; he wanted to completely crush this navy on the opposite bank and prevent them from making any rash moves.

Immediately afterwards, he ordered his men to throw a number of "poisonous smoke pontoons" down from upstream.

These pontoons were pre-sealed with quicklime, sulfur powder, saltpeter, wolfsbane, and a large amount of animal hair and grease mixture.

After lighting the fuse, it was thrown into the river upstream and allowed to float downstream.

Once the fuse burns out, it will immediately ignite the mixture inside.

When quicklime, sulfur powder, saltpeter, and wolfsbane are mixed, they produce a large amount of thick, pungent, and toxic fumes.

Faced with these pontoons emitting foul-smelling yellow smoke, the naval officers and soldiers refused to sail forward to investigate further.

Anyone with eyes can see that this stuff is definitely poisonous; if you inhale even a drop, you might die on the spot.

It's best to wait for the water to wash these things away.

Because no one cleared the obstruction, for several days in a row, the entire river surface outside Baoning Prefecture was shrouded in a pungent yellow haze, severely interfering with the garrison's visibility.

The officers and soldiers on the ship dared not linger and made excuses to rush back to the camp.

In this way, Jiang Han easily captured the first line of defense along the river with almost no cost to the government troops.

Next, he faced the second line of defense: the coastal defense.

The deputy commander in charge of coastal defense was named Wu Shenghua, and he was quite confident about it.

The earthen walls and moats on the bank are still there, and they are densely packed with wooden stakes and bamboo poles.

The area was also dotted with arrow towers, so that if any bandits dared to build a bridge to cross the river, they would be discovered immediately.

To Wu Shenghua's surprise, Jiang Han had no intention of launching a beach landing at all.

After driving away the naval patrol boats, Jiang Han immediately ordered Shao Yong to lead tens of thousands of militiamen to dig deep trenches and build dams to store water in the upper reaches of the Jialing River.

He intends to use a massive flood to completely destroy all the defensive fortifications Zhang Ling has laid out along the coast!
At his command, tens of thousands of laborers, carrying hoes and carrying sand and gravel, began to build the dam.

Taking advantage of the slow water flow during the dry season, the laborers quickly dug a tributary along the riverbank.

This tributary faces several key riverbanks in Baoning Prefecture. If the water level is high enough, the flood can completely destroy the soldiers' defensive fortifications.

At this time, the government army's navy was still holed up in their camp, not daring to move.

Without them, hardly anyone noticed that some of the river water flowing from upstream had decreased.

Without the navy's fast ships as informants, Zhang Ling in the prefectural city had no idea what the bandits on the other side were doing.

But he dared not make any rash moves.

According to reports from scouts, several thousand more bandits have appeared on Panlong Mountain near the North Gate.

The bandits are gradually cutting down trees and clearing obstacles, seemingly still intending to open up a battlefield and launch an attack from the land.

Left with no other choice, Zhang Ling had to lead his troops back to the North Gate, ready to deal with any enemy attacks.

Despite several relocations, they hadn't even caught a glimpse of the bandits. Zhang Ling wasn't worried, but his deputy, Chen Yilong, was.

"General Zhang, our way of defending the city is far too passive!"

"How about you give me two thousand men and let me launch a night raid out of the city tonight?"

But Zhang Ling rejected Vice General Chen Yilong's proposal on the spot without saying a word.

Intelligence indicates that the bandits are quite powerful, and a night raid would be far too risky.

He didn't have many troops to begin with, and if the night raid failed and he suffered heavy losses, the enemy would probably launch a general attack from the north gate immediately.

Ultimately, Zhang Ling has grown old and lost the vigor he had in his youth.

He now only wants to defend the city safely and wait for reinforcements to arrive.

But he completely forgot that no city in this world is truly impregnable.

If the enemy seizes even the slightest opening, a huge hole will be gradually torn open.

Five days later, outside Baoning Prefecture, dark clouds gathered and thunder rumbled.

A heavy rain is coming.

At this moment, Jiang Han was standing in front of the dam upstream, looking up at the dark, overcast sky, and praying in his heart.

"It has to be a heavy rain!"

In recent days, Jiang Han has not ordered the sluice gates to be opened to release water due to insufficient water storage in the tributaries.

He even wanted to widen the tributary channels further, to store as much water as possible.

Fortunately, the weather cooperated, and a heavy rain soon poured down, fulfilling his wish.

In less than two hours, the water level of the Jialing River began to rise sharply.

The riverbed, which had been somewhat dry, gradually rose in water level, and the current became unusually turbulent.

The makeshift dam was teetering on the brink of collapse under the impact of the flood.

Jiang Han and his men retreated to a nearby hilltop early on, quietly waiting for the dam to burst.

The dam, which faces Baoning Prefecture, finally reached its limit after enduring immense pressure for several hours.

Boom——!
With a loud bang, a huge gap was torn open in the center of the dam by the raging flood.

Immediately afterwards, the breach expanded rapidly at a visible speed, relentlessly swallowing up the embankments on both sides.

The river, which had been suppressed for several days, surged like a wild horse, carrying mud, sand, broken logs, and the remains of dams, forming a massive torrent that roared downstream towards Baoning Prefecture.

In an instant, the raging floodwaters crashed violently against the riverbank outside Baoning Prefecture.

Many officers and soldiers were not even able to react before they were instantly knocked over by the flood on the bank and rolled into the water, where they never lived again.

The temporary arrow tower that Zhang Ling painstakingly built was washed away by the flood, just like a castle built on the beach, and was destroyed in the blink of an eye.

The earthen wall was gently slapped by the wave and instantly shattered into pieces.

The sharp wooden stakes buried in the shallows were also uprooted and swept into the turbid river water.

In just a quarter of an hour, Zhang Ling’s proud second line of coastal defense was completely destroyed.

　I wrote from dusk till dawn, buddy, you really did your best.

　　Stop talking, there's still 8k left, I'll do it after I wake up.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)