Chapter 1657: Keep Fighting

Just a short distance from the riverbank, dozens of cannons were arranged in a staggered manner. Trained soldiers carried shells and fired them one after another.

The soldiers on the riverbank launched a river-crossing beachhead landing battle without fear of death.

Under the sudden artillery fire, the Qing army on the opposite side had already lost their footing and were running around like headless flies. The officers kept shouting, intending to organize a counterattack.

But the artillery kept bombing, and the people they organized couldn't stop the river-crossing troops from approaching.

And the soldiers who landed on the beachhead would quickly seize favorable terrain. Even if they had already cleared the fields, using a tiny gentle slope could gain a certain advantage and serve as a bunker.

They cooperated tacitly, pushed the front line layer by layer, and soon occupied the area by the river. Subsequent troops slowly crossed the river on larger boats and began to advance on a scale.

At this step, the Qing army had already lost the heart to resist. The artillery fire was too powerful, pressing them so they couldn't lift their heads. The offensive was too fierce, making them unable to withstand the pressure at all, so they naturally collapsed.

This was just a battle that happened before Wang Yan's eyes. This battle was centered on Wuchang and surrounding areas. The purpose was to cross the river to the south, occupy the Yangtze River coast, and smooth out the natural barrier advantage of the Qing army. The main places where the war broke out were Wuchang, Jiujiang, and Yueyang.

And after taking these three places, the next step was to attack Nanchang and Changsha, contain Jiangxi and Hunan, and cut off Xiang-E.

At the same time, in the west, Shi Dakai was attacking the Jingzhou area. The launch of this day was to first occupy a favorable position and master the initiative of the war.

It has to be said that the foreign devils are indeed obstructive. In order to guarantee future interests, they frantically compensated the Great Qing with 10 billion subsidies. Truly speaking, the subsidies the Great Qing received in these years were about to catch up with the compensation.

If it weren't for this, Wang Yan wouldn't even have sold guns to the Heavenly Kingdom and the Manchu Qing at the beginning. He could have crushed them with those guns. Although he achieved the first-mover advantage at that time, those few years were not enough for him to maintain stability. Waiting for the foreign devils to send troops over later, it would be equally difficult, so it was dragged until today. Because of the Heavenly Kingdom, he had to start participating in the war directly.

Of course, these were all within Wang Yan's expectations. The Tianjing Incident was an important factor that had to be considered anyway...

The first battle ended like this, and Pang Qingyun felt dull.

Wang Yan gave him a chance to lead 10,000 troops to attack Wuchang. After knowing this news, he was so happy that he couldn't sleep. And under the huge happiness, there was huge pressure.

He only commanded 500 troops before, and he dreamed of commanding so many troops. Even his ambition didn't dare to think about so many troops. His Governor of Liangjiang was also because he became strong, and he dared to think and do it little by little. After all, he had to be able to jump and reach it.

However, it was not that Wang Yan ignored the realistic conditions and promoted wantonly. There were two main reasons. One was that Huoshan itself occupied an advantage, and the quality of soldiers was also higher. Those officers below knew what to do, and in the local battlefield, they occupied all the advantages and fought beautifully.

Another point was that Pang Qingyun had been a staff officer under Magistrate Chen for a long time, and he was considered to have received Magistrate Chen's personal teaching, which was considered to have a certain experience.

It was also by following Magistrate Chen's side that Pang Qingyun finally knew that Magistrate Chen, whom he looked down upon before and thought was particularly weak and incompetent, was actually a quite terrifying old monster. His mind was thoughtful, and his use of troops was not said to be the most outstanding, but he also had his own set of things. At the same time, Magistrate Chen fought not the battlefield in front of him, but focused on the overall situation, planning for the country and himself.

It was considered that Magistrate Chen trained Pang Qingyun in politics and war, which made Pang Qingyun learn things, have a certain practical experience, and at the same time broaden his horizons.

Plus Pang Qingyun himself was a capable person. Even if his ability was insufficient, he had a determined upper limit of Governor of Liangjiang. Wang Yan was naturally willing to give him a chance.

More importantly, this allowed others to see his attitude towards these surrendered generals. Shi Dakai was a main general of one side, Magistrate Chen managed the government affairs of the entire Huoshan territory, which was considered a prime minister, and Pang Qingyun, who was only a battalion officer before, could step into the sky and lead thousands of troops to be a main general of one side.

Others didn't know how Wang Yan dared, but they could see Wang Yan's tolerance. As for whether Wang Yan was tolerant later... cheat them over first, after all, there are many reasons to kill people, who can say he is not?

Pang Qingyun didn't understand Wang Yan's considerations, nor did he understand. As long as he didn't make big mistakes, there would be no problem. So the huge pressure made him follow the staff every day to study how to take Wuchang with less casualties and faster speed. By the time the war really started, Pang Qingyun hadn't slept well for many days, and even slept less than two hours a day, and it wasn't concentrated sleep...

But when Wuchang City was taken down in less than a day, he stood on the broken city wall, looking at this empty city, his heart was full of mixed feelings.

He knew the power of artillery, and even knew that there were small cannons like mortars that could hit far and were portable. He also knew that Huoshan's soldiers were relatively capable of fighting. He knew this battle should be very smooth, but he never expected it to be so smooth...

"Why, is it not good to fight smoothly?"

Pang Qingyun shook his head: "This subordinate doesn't understand, it just feels different from what I thought."

"This is a good thing." Wang Yan smiled and laughed. "If it were the same as your feeling, maybe we would have to fall into a bitter battle, which would be a huge trouble. Now it's so good, smooth, fewer people died, and the results achieved are also good-looking.

What is the most important thing? It is to let the Manchu Qing who mobilize troops wake up, let them know that the war is not so easy to fight, and just wait for death obediently. Why waste money to fight with us? With that silver, they might as well prepare how to run away safely, and they can live comfortably in the future."

Wang Yan looked at Pang Qingyun and encouraged, "You fought well, the goals were all achieved, that is success. You can slow down the offensive for these two days, wait for the news to spread, so that Magistrate Chen can talk to the one surnamed Jiang and the one surnamed Di. It is always good to subdue the enemy without fighting, fewer people die, less silver is spent, and less grain is consumed. We have accumulated little, and we haven't grabbed much, so we are still poor."

"This time we took down the Xiang-E region, it should be able to alleviate a lot. I'm just afraid that foreigners will intervene to increase troops from Guangzhou. I heard that foreigners are mobilizing troops from Nanyang. Master must not be negligent."

"You have a heart. I am still clear about the movements of foreigners. They will definitely intervene and will not let us be relaxed. This is also their last chance. After all, we already have industry and are developing rapidly, becoming stronger day by day. The more we drag, the more unfavorable it is for them."

Although the foreign devils relied on the first-mover advantage of the Industrial Revolution to form a crushing technology on this side of Asia, now Wang Yan has leveled the firepower of both sides, so it is not the foreigners who rely on the power of firearms to harvest heads.

And the foreign devils are fighting away, their troop projection is a big problem, and the troops are limited.

But they have to help the Qing and destroy Wang. Otherwise, once Wang Yan succeeds, they won't be able to keep any results, losing such a large market for dumping goods here, plus their investment, it is truly a total loss. The sunk cost is too large, greed is at work, and now the foreigners will not give up unless they die more miserably...

Seeing Pang Qingyun leave, Su Zixuan walked over slowly and stood side by side with Wang Yan on the city wall.

"Master, I didn't expect that you fought this battle so easily. It is estimated that General Shi's side is also just as smooth. Once the news spreads, the Manchu Qing will be burned on the ass. I hope the two, Magistrate Di and Magistrate Jiang, are sensible, otherwise they will really be finished."

Wang Yan glanced at her: "So you didn't believe me before."

"I knew you would definitely win, but I didn't expect to win so fast. After all, they also have an army of 100,000, which is not so easy to fight. They are also old rivals of the Heavenly Kingdom. After fighting for so many years, everyone knows they are difficult to deal with. Who would have thought that they would have no power to fight back in your hands."

"It's under my muzzle."

"What about foreigners? They have strong ships and cannons, can you hit their ships?"

Su Zixuan's question is the key. If you can hit the foreigners' ships, then the foreigners are not a worry. But if you can't hit them, then you can only let the foreign devils be rampant overseas. At the same time, this also seals their future development.

"Of course I can." Wang Yan said definitely. "I'm still waiting to build ironclad warships in the future and open them to their hometown to fight their emperor."

"You can definitely do it."

"Then borrow your auspicious words. Alright, the excitement is seen, go do your business. From now on, settle down in Wuchang. I have a lot of things to be busy with."

"There is nothing to do now. Guarding you is the biggest thing."

"Not going back to the Heavenly Kingdom? Not studying your schemes?"

"I feel that you didn't think about stopping when you fought this time." Su Zixuan hugged Wang Yan's arm. "And no matter what, I am your minor wife. You have a son, this time you can finally let me give you a child."

Not long before the war started, Liao Xuan successfully gave birth to a son. Wang Yan's foundation was considered to have a successor, and everyone was considered to have settled their hearts.

Su Zixuan had long regretted it, regretted not giving Wang Yan a child at the first time. Even if she didn't miss the love of children too much, she was a woman after all. After moving her feelings, she always wanted more.

As a result, she was always studying the great cause of revenge outside, and finally it was cheaper for the little girl Liao Xuan, which made her hold a grudge...

After a few days, news came from Shi Dakai's side that the war was smooth, and Magistrate Jiang's troops were retreating steadily. Good news also came from Jiang Wuyang's side. The troops were divided into two routes, one route attacked the Shanxi area, and the other route went out of Hangu Pass, took down Luoyang, and established a stable connection with Zhengzhou, which had long been replaced.

Zhengzhou was arranged by Wang Yan as a logistics hub city. Over the years, business had passed through here, and the city had long been operating. Just as Li Wantang said before, the city developed quite well.

In the past, everyone could fool each other and deal with it confusedly. Now that the war has started, there is no need to be hypocritical. So Zhengzhou very naturally broke away from the Great Qing without any waves. And then some troops were divided to encircle Luoyang.

Luoyang was naturally infiltrated long ago. Although there were some riots, overall there was no big chaos.

And after taking Luoyang, Jiang Wuyang continued to send troops forward and turned north directly. Following the Taihang Mountains to fight north, passing Shijiazhuang and Baoding, it was directly the capital.

At this time, the Manchu Qing was still mobilizing troops, and the speed was really slow.

Of course, it's not their fault. In fact, Wang Yan was too fast. Everyone knew that he had been infiltrating the local area, but no one expected him to infiltrate so fiercely, and the gathering of troops was quite fast.

There was no sign before, and then they started to gather. By the time the Manchu Qing received the news, they had already started to work here. The two sides had a huge time difference...

In just over half a month, the Great Qing seemed to be swaying in the wind and rain.

It was also at this time that they deeply understood what a big disaster Wang Yan was, and were happy about the decision to force Wang Yan to start a war by seizing the opportunity of the Heavenly Kingdom's internal chaos. Because the longer it dragged on, the greater Wang Yan's harm would be...

Magistrate Chen drank tea with a smile: "Magistrate Di, Magistrate Jiang, what do you say now?"

"Magistrate Chen is not a person who presents tongue-in-cheek benefits." Magistrate Jiang arched his hands. "I underestimated Magistrate Chen before. The broken ship Magistrate Chen boarded is not a leaking one, but the foreign ironclad warship."

"What foreign ironclad warship? With Wang Yan's ability, I think it won't be long before he can build ironclad warships himself. At that time, he won't need to watch foreigners show off their power on our land." Magistrate Di laughed and held up the gag.

Serving as an official for many years, Magistrate Chen was very clear about the conduct of these two people, and was also very accustomed to their low posture now. Even the more awesome Wang Yan had three sentences and three titles, which were the basic qualities of big figures. Without these two, they couldn't be big figures.

Magistrate Chen said: "The two Magistrates are talking empty words. Now that I am here, I want the truth from the two."

"Magistrate Chen, the families of Magistrate Jiang and I are in the capital, how can I give you the truth? Don't want the whole family?" Magistrate Di looked bitter.

"Yes, Magistrate Chen." Magistrate Jiang looked sincere. "Actually, before you came, Magistrate Di and I had discussed it. Otherwise, let's be the same as before and deal with it. You are also clear that without these troops, Magistrate Di and I will be beheaded when we return to the capital. But if we defect to Wang Yan, it will be the whole family in the capital who will be beheaded. Only if we are like before and fight the Heavenly Kingdom, we will tacitly fool each other and not fight out real fire. Only in this way is it a win-win good thing for us."

"This is afraid it won't work." Magistrate Chen shook his head repeatedly and sighed. "This time Master Wang is really serious. He wants to fight until the Manchu Qing disappears. It's just a matter of time. Master Wang has no intention of dealing with it."

?? Daily thanks to the good brothers who tipped, voted for monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, and silently read the book for their strong support! ===== CHAPTER 1658 =====

Daily thanks to the great brothers who tip, cast monthly votes, recommendation votes, and silently read the book for their strong support!