It’s not that the Red Shirts didn’t have the strength to seize Beijing and Tianjin, but they just didn’t want to. On the one hand, they wanted to give the credit to Xu Zengshou, and on the other hand, they wanted to prolong the war. The sound of a cannon means ten thousand taels of gold, which for ordinary soldiers is
In this way, it might not be the case for Liu Ziguang.
The two countries were at war. It was a national war, not his own war. Money was pouring from the Ministry of Household Affairs. Several major military-industrial companies controlled by Liu Ziguang were operating at full capacity. Huge amounts of silver were being received every day. The war would not stop.
Beipiao tickets are about to be sold again. Relying on the relationship between the Ministry of Revenue and Rishengchang, Liu Ziguang bought a lot of Beipiao tickets in his name. They were bought at the issue price. Now they have doubled more than ten times. The war money is really good.
Earned.
Now the Manchu and Qing dynasties are in trouble, unable to afford any trouble, and Goryeo is even more of a joke. Liu Ziguang kept them for his own sake. If the Manchu and Qing dynasties were defeated too quickly, the imperial court would transfer the Red Shirt Army to the west to take over.
If Yuan Chonghuan's work is eliminated once Xixia is defeated, the imperial court can legitimately disarm, and he will be completely useless. If he can't make money, it will be light. The story of the bird being hidden and the rabbit dying is very likely to happen.
Moreover, Liu Ziguang also plans to expand his power to Northern Zhili. He wants to prolong the war longer so that he can encroach on the mining land here. The coal in Kailuan is said to be of good quality, and the men from Yanzhao are also very suitable for soldiers. If he can do it all at once
After the war is over, there will be no chance for the military to control the Manchu people's property and recruit local people to strengthen their strength.
I originally thought that Xu Zengshou had enough soldiers and advanced weapons. Even if he couldn't win, he wouldn't be defeated. Even if he failed, he wouldn't be defeated so miserably. Except for Jinan City, Qingzhou and Denglai all fell into the enemy's hands. He was the only mobile force.
The entire army was also wiped out. Now the Qing army has advanced to the front line of Qingdao, directly threatening the base of the Beiyang Navy, making Liu Ziguang very unhappy.
If the tiger doesn't show its power, you treat me like a sick cat! This is what Liu Ziguang is thinking at this moment. The shameless Hong Chengchou really thinks he is the savior of the Qing Dynasty. Is it stinky to have tens of thousands of Mongolian cavalry? Isn't it so?
If you don’t ask about the fate of those who dared to bite the red shirts in history, they would have their teeth broken without exception.
Qingdao is no exception.
Qingdao is a brand new city. It took a year to build. The city walls are high and thick, and there are many institutions. Let’s talk about the materials used to build the city walls. They are different from ordinary cities. They used a lot of cement brought from the distant Sumatra in Southeast Asia.
This kind of volcanic ash is mixed with yellow sand and lime and used as an adhesive between bricks. It is extremely strong. There are no cracks visible on the outside of the entire Qingdao city. It is completely covered with cement. When a fine steel chisel is hit, sparks will fly everywhere.
, leaving only some white traces of futility.
The battlements of the city wall are tilted forward, which makes it more difficult for the enemy to climb. There are also archery towers at the corners of each other and countless firepower points. The city defense weapons of Qingdao City are all thermal weapons. Even the Qing Dynasty is imitating them.
Steam cannons are obsolete here. Large-caliber copper-cast cannons can fire various explosive bombs, incendiary bombs, armor-piercing bombs, and primitive metal storm volley guns. Thirty-two blunderbuss tubes are tied together and fired at the same time. The power is
It's quite astonishing. What's surprising is that there are also a number of large catapults. In fact, these are not used to project stones, but are devices used to project large grenades in a curve. It can be regarded as a non-direct-aiming firearm.
There are not many troops stationed in Qingdao, and there is not even an army in the traditional sense. There is only a battalion of navy Bu Yong and a number of armed sailors. Their weapons are very advanced, including water-fired striker guns, rifled barrels, and polished breastplates.
It was shiny, and inside was a blue-striped sea soul shirt. The iron helmet had the same style as the red shirt army, both were shrimp-tail helmets that could protect the back of the neck, but instead of red feathers, they had white feathers on them.
Tall and solid city walls, sharp weapons, sufficient food, grass and water resources, the Qing army could not even reach the base of the city wall in two attacks and would be bombarded to pieces. Liu Ziguang knew this very well, so he was not worried, even
Not a single ship or a single soldier was sent back, but instead a large army was raised to attack Tianjin, causing counter-pressure to the Qing army.
The Sky City, which cost three million taels, launched its maiden battle, which was to capture Dagukou. In fact, to deal with a fortress of Dagukou level, the navy's heavy gunboats were enough. They were not used last time because they deliberately showed weakness.
The large-caliber heavy artillery was used without hesitation this time. The Beiyang Navy went south to the sea outside Dagukou, and set up a formation to bombard the whole sea.
They were shirtless and under the orders of the officers, they kept loading, shooting, cleaning the barrels, and shooting again. Artillery shells of various calibers and models flew towards Otaniguchi Fortress. The intensity of the bombing was a hundred times stronger than last time.
The Ming army only used the most primitive solid iron ball artillery shells. This time they used advanced explosive shells, which were filled with explosive shells and flew to the fortress. The streamlined projectile hit the ground head first, and the fuze triggered the mercury fulminate.
The artillery shell exploded, sharp shrapnel flew across the sky, and the masonry fragments were hit like rain. The seemingly solid bunker was as fragile as paper in the face of the powerful artillery shell. The Qing soldiers only felt that the whole world was shaking, and their ears could not hear anything.
There was no sound, so I could only cover my head and lie on the ground and pray to God, Guanyin Bodhisattva, not to take me away.
After a round of shelling, the survivors stood up tremblingly and took a look. The entire fortress had changed. Except for the outline of the fortress, the superstructure had been flattened. There were broken walls and charred black walls everywhere.
People crawled out from under the rubble, and each one was no longer human. Their helmets were crooked, and their expressions were dull. Looking around, there were dead people everywhere, with broken limbs and broken arms and entrails hanging on the remains of the city's crossbows. The weapons they relied on to fight back were gone.
All were destroyed.
Looking at the sea, above the Ming fleet, a city appeared at some point, a city floating in mid-air. The Qing soldiers opened their eyes in disbelief. Yes, it was indeed a huge city in the sky.
, they could no longer withstand the strong stimulation, holding their heads and shouting wildly.
The ambush in the water has been cleared by the Ming Army's Water Ghost Team, and the chain across the Haihe River has been blown apart. The flat-bottomed shallow-water gunboat sailed into the Haihe River with great force. The navy painted its face and wore a blue and white striped sea soul shirt.
The Buyong commandos held bayonets and guns and boarded the Dagukou Fortress where the smoke was still rising. However, there was nothing left for them to do, and the fortress had become a dead city.
In just one hour, the impregnable Dagukou Fortress was razed to the ground. The Ming army did not use infantry or air power at all, but only used firepower to cover it. As for the powerful city in the sky, it only showed its face.
No chance to take action.
Dagukou changed hands, and the door to Tianjin was opened. The Ming army had shallow-water gunboats specially used for inland waterways, which could sail from the Bohai Sea into the Haihe River Basin. The Haihe River is a large water system in Hebei, with five major rivers, and can directly connect to Tianjin and Beijing.
, it is theoretically feasible to sail a boat from Dagukou to the Yongding River under the city of Beijing.
Liu Ziguang stood on the Sky City, observing the devastated Dagokou with binoculars. While admiring his masterpiece, he sneered: "Do you really think that I don't have the ability to conquer Beijing and Tianjin? Then Liang Liang
Let me show you one hand and see if it is my Qingdao crisis or your Beijing crisis."
The situation in Qingdao is indeed not optimistic. In addition to the Qingdao base, the Beiyang Navy also has the Liuting base near Jimo and the submarine base on Liugong Island in Weihaiwei. Fortunately, Weihaiwei does not have a navy, even if it is only a few miles away by sea.
There was nothing the Ming army could do, and the Liuting base could not be saved. The nearby prefectures and counties, Jimo, and Jiao County were all in the hands of the Qing army. Officers, soldiers and civilians who had fled from various places filled Qingdao city, including many high-ranking officials.
Shi Kefa, the prefect of Qingzhou, had the highest official rank among the refugees.
Qingzhou is Mangui's territory, but Mangui still respects Shi Kefa very much, because this official who was decentralized once spoke to Liu Ziguang in the capital, and he is regarded as a member of the Zhenwu Hou family. Mangui dare not give it to the Donglin family.
Officials did not dare not to give face to the people of the Zhenwu Hou family, so the relationship between civil and military officials was relatively harmonious. Shi Kefa managed Qingzhou in an orderly manner. In just over a year, it reached the point where people did not pick up lost items on the road and did not close their doors at night.
The Qing army attacked Qingzhou Prefecture, and Shi Kefa personally led the government officials and civilians to the city to resist. However, the enemy's attack was too fierce and there were many casualties. Shi Kefa knew that Qingzhou was not safe, and was afraid that the Qing army would follow the old example of Jinan and massacre the city for three days, so he asked the chief registrar to lead the people.
He fled out of the city, but he wanted to stay and live with the city. The people couldn't bear the good prefect to sacrifice his life for the country, so they kidnapped him and fled out of the city. Shi Kefa had no choice but to sigh and tell the people not to flee to Jinan, but to go to Qingdao if they wanted to survive.
Shi Kefa's judgment was very accurate. The Qing army had defeated Wei Guogong's army and took the initiative in the Shandong battlefield. Most of the Shandong army was concentrated in Jinan City. There were very few troops stationed in other states and counties and could not hold on at all. There was only the base city of the Beiyang Navy.
Tall weapons and sharp weapons are a safe place.
The pursuers of the Qing army followed closely behind and captured Dengzhou and Laizhou successively. However, they did not kill people and massacre the city. Instead, they allowed the officials and people to escape to Qingdao, the last safe island in Shandong.
So many refugees flooded into Qingdao, including officials, which made the garrison very embarrassed. The current Qingdao garrison is Lu Ying, the former commander of Nanjing's Five Cities Military and Horse Division, who was also an old man from the death camp. This person was under Liu Ziguang's command
Among his subordinates, his ability is average and his personality is stable, so he was left to defend the city instead of going to the north to fight.
They are all compatriots, and we cannot just watch them being killed by the Qing soldiers. Lu Ying accepted the refugees as much as possible, and of course he would also screen them to see if there were any spies mixed with the Qing army. In fact, Hong Chengchou wanted to use the refugees to bring down Qingdao.
A large number of people consume a huge amount of food every day, and eating, drinking, sleeping, and drinking consume resources. No matter how much food Qingdao has in stock, it will eventually be exhausted, but relying on sea supplies is not an option.
The Qing army occupied the prefectures and counties around Qingdao and set up camp at the original Liuting Airport. The next day, they sent troops to attack the city. They were defeated by a burst of artillery and lost hundreds of troops. A day later, they sent troops to attack again. Lu
When Ying saw it on the city, he was shocked. It turned out that there were many Han people standing in front of the Qing army's formation. It was neither possible to fight nor not to fight.
The Qing army used swords and guns to force the common people as the vanguard to slowly approach Qingdao. They could only hear bursts of mourning and wailing. The common people supported the old and the young and stumbled forward. Anyone who walked slowly was hacked to death. In the end,
What's annoying is that it's not the Eight Banners soldiers who threaten them, but the Han Green Camp.
Lu Ying's fist clenched loudly, and the Qing army was very cunning among the people. If the artillery was fired, everyone would be destroyed. How many old people, women and children would die under their own cannons. But if the artillery was not fired, the ten people in Qingdao city would be destroyed.
The safety of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians is about to be threatened, what should we do?