Traveling through the late Ming Dynasty to promote Chinese civilization

Chapter 129 The troops are approaching the city

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Liang Xiaoming estimated the distance and said regretfully, "It's about 600 meters. For a Caron cannon, that's a bit far. If we use a projectile, the accuracy won't be good, and it'll be too wasteful of ammunition. Cannons have a low trajectory, so firing at this distance won't be a problem, it's just that we don't have enough cannons."

According to his design, the Wu Yi-class naval guns were equipped with 10 32-pounder caron guns and 4 12-pounder cannons on each side, giving them a clear advantage in close-range naval combat, but making them somewhat inadequate for carrying out shore bombardment missions.

However, with the five ships combined, each side had 20 cannons, exceeding the number of cannons on the right side of the Ya Niang Shoe Cannon. As for power and accuracy, the two sides were not even in the same league.

The 12-pounder naval guns began firing calibrations, with most shells landing on the beach in front of the gun emplacement, creating yellow columns of water mixed with mud and sand.

“Once the situation stabilizes, all gunners, whether on ships or on land, will receive unified training to master the systematic rangefinding technology. Artillery is a profession, and the current level of gunners is really…” Liang Xiaoming shook his head.

Although the attack missed the fort, it still frightened the defenders. Chen Qian stared in horror at the water jets in front of the fort, his legs trembling. The enemy ship had so many cannons inside, no fewer than those on the fort, and they seemed to have a greater range. He couldn't decide whether to continue holding his post and command, or to go down and take cover.

But soon he won't need to worry about this anymore.

After adjustments, the second round of shelling greatly improved its hit rate. Shells hit the gun emplacements one after another. The large breech-loading cannons and breech-loading cannons, which had gradually stopped firing due to overheating, were broken in two by solid shot. The gunners were either knocked to the ground by the protruding barrels or smashed to pieces by the shells. Before Chen Qian could even run, a shell pierced his abdomen, sending him flying several meters into the air before crashing heavily to the ground, his intestines spilling out. He died without even uttering a sound.

After the third salvo, the fort was completely defenseless. Thick smoke enveloped the entire fort, and explosions could be heard from time to time—the defenders' gunpowder was ignited by the shells.

Several sampans carrying the guards landed, only to find the rudimentary fortifications collapsed, broken cannons lying scattered about, and corpses strewn everywhere. In the distance, figures disappeared into the mountains; the surviving defenders had all fled.

Several still intact cannons were loaded with gunpowder and blown up. After the defenders' stronghold was burned down, the Ya Niang Shoe Cannon Fort was completely wiped out.

The horizontal gun emplacement on the left was even worse; after a few shots, not a single living person could be seen on the island.

Having taken control of the Humen forts, the fleet weighed anchor and set sail upstream along the Pearl River. Aside from stopping at a few fishing villages to replenish fresh water, they made no further stops. The key to this operation was speed; they had to strike at the heart of the enemy while the authorities were completely unprepared, catching them off guard. If they waited for the authorities to react, even a harassment attempt using local militia and civilian boats would put the fleet in grave danger. For one thing, without a supply line, they could starve to death.

The officials of Guangzhou, long accustomed to peace, were clearly unprepared for a fleet to sail in from the sea, its target being the city itself. History wasn't without examples of pirate raids inland; during the Jiajing reign, when Japanese pirates roamed freely, a few dozen men in sampans dared to storm a prefecture or county. However, those were coastal areas, small towns in the Fujian region. At least until the seventh year of the Chongzhen reign, no pirate dared to venture thousands of miles inland and dare to offend the fortified city of Guangzhou.

So when an unfamiliar fleet anchored at Baietan in southwest Guangzhou, and a menacing force arrayed cannons below the city, the city gate guards thought they were dreaming.

Qiongzhou doesn't produce horses, so for a long time, the escort team could only transport artillery by using animal-drawn carts and pulling them by manpower. Mountain guns were manageable; a few people could carry them. But adding the field guns, which weighed 2200 jin (1,100 catties) on ​​the carriage, made things difficult. In order not to affect the battle plan of a quick victory, only 10 mountain guns were brought this time to protect the mortars.

The 10-inch mortar was not light either, weighing over a thousand pounds with its base. Fortunately, when the artillery battalion was captured, they also took dozens of oxen and Sichuan horses to pull carts. The mortar was loaded onto the carts and finally transported to the outskirts of the city by dragging and pulling.

Liu Ye sighed, realizing that things are easier said than done. He had initially thought bombarding Guangzhou would be easy, but transporting those mortars had proven incredibly difficult. If Guangzhou had a fast-responding and capable force that could launch an attack during this opportunity, the city would be in a very passive position.

As he exclaimed in disbelief, the guards at the city gate were dumbfounded. What were these people doing, pulling carts and transporting cannons? Had they lost their minds and come to attack Guangzhou? This wasn't the Jiangnan region ravaged by Japanese pirates, nor was it northern Shaanxi overrun by refugees, nor was it Liaodong where the Manchus frequently raided the gates. Even the Dutch hadn't come to Guangzhou—where did these people come from? Besides, with so few people brazenly setting up cannons outside the city gate, did they think the guards were all dead?

The garrison commander on duty at the city gate was extorting money from the people and merchants entering and leaving the city. Seeing this, he felt greatly insulted, suspended his glorious work of collecting protection money, and led a squad of soldiers from the city gate to charge menacingly at this group of ignorant people.

Liu Ye didn't even blink when he saw the fewer than one hundred soldiers. Shi Ying directed one hundred guards to step forward, line up in two rows, and methodically load ammunition.

The captain's intention was simply to scare these crazy guys into backing down, not to actually try to charge into a force of hundreds with just a few dozen men. Unexpectedly, the enemy calmly pulled out their muskets and adopted a fighting stance. The captain's heart skipped a beat; something seemed amiss.

A little over a mile isn't a short distance, but it's not long either; with a burst of energy, they'd reach it in no time. The captain shouted orders for his men to charge, but inwardly he hesitated, his pace slowing. Turning back now would be too cowardly; so many civilians outside the city gates and officials on the city walls were watching. He couldn't help but regret it. If he had known these men weren't afraid of the soldiers and had muskets, he wouldn't have been so reckless.

Before he could make up his mind, the soldiers in front of him had already entered the range of the Patriot rifles. A burst of gunfire, like popping beans, rang out, and the soldiers at the forefront fell one after another.

"Oh my god..." The soldiers fled back even faster than they had come. Their main job was collecting protection money; fighting was not their forte. They would get dizzy at the sight of blood, let alone be shot.

The guards at the city gate were horrified by what they saw. They quickly dispersed the crowd and closed the gate. The tall, heavy gate creaked as it slowly closed. The frightened people ran back into the city, and even those who wanted to leave turned back. The soldiers couldn't stop them.

The soldiers who had escaped started cursing from a distance: "Damn you! Don't close the gate yet, wait until I get into the city!" Fortunately, the people behind them did not follow and pursue them, and the city gate was left with a small gap, allowing them to enter the city.

The invasion of Guangzhou was a momentous event. Upon learning of this, Guangzhou Prefect Yu Baocheng turned pale. Unidentified individuals armed with guns and cannons were at the city gates; regardless of the consequences, he was in deep trouble. Guangdong lacked a full-time governor, and the concurrently acting governor was far away in Zhaoqing. He immediately dispatched messengers to the governor's office while simultaneously reporting the matter to the three provincial authorities within the city.

As he expected, upon hearing of such a thorny matter, the three departments didn't consider how to respond; instead, they first tried to shirk responsibility. The Provincial Administration Commission sent someone back saying they were only in charge of civil affairs, and the defense of Guangzhou was none of their business. The Regional Military Commission was also very straightforward, saying that apart from matters related to the garrison troops, they shouldn't come to them with anything else. As for the Provincial Surveillance Commission, they only handled criminal cases and supervision, so they were even less involved.

A reply from Zhaoqing wouldn't arrive anytime soon, so Yu Baocheng went to the city wall first to see who was so audacious. Upon reaching the city wall, he saw a group of people busily fiddling with some iron contraptions that resembled cannons, about two miles away.

He asked the general in charge of guarding the city walls, "Who are they? Why are they attacking Guangzhou?"

The general nodded and said nothing.

Yu Baocheng was furious: "They've already come to our doorstep, and we don't even know who they are. Quickly send someone to find out."

A daring soldier was lowered down the city wall in a basket and ran to the other side to inquire. Perhaps the other side adhered to the principle of "in war between two countries, envoys are not to be killed," because the soldier returned unharmed.

"Your Excellency, these people say they are from Qiongzhou Prefecture. They are dissatisfied with the Governor-General's order to send troops to suppress them and to shut down their shops, so they have come to Guangzhou to demand an explanation. If they are not given a satisfactory answer, they will bombard the city of Guangzhou!"

So that's what happened. Yu Baocheng had participated in the military council for the attack on Bofu and knew the details. But knowing the details made him even more upset: General He Rubin had personally led a large army across the sea to attack, bringing not only elite troops from the provincial and garrison units, but also more than a dozen newly cast cannons—a truly daring move, like a lion hunting a rabbit. No one had even considered the possibility of defeat. And now the rebels had actually swaggered to the gates of Guangzhou. Wasn't the army that had crossed the sea in grave danger?

He wasn't worried about the defense of Guangzhou: not only was the city fortified, but it also had a large population. If necessary, a large-scale conscription of 100,000 able-bodied men could be mobilized to the city in an instant. Although most of the elite troops had been taken to Qiongzhou by He Rubin, there were still troops under the command of the coastal defense adjutant Xu Ting inside and outside Guangzhou. In addition, there were garrisons stationed in and around Guangzhou. Although these garrisons were dilapidated, each could still muster a thousand or so men for combat. These forces, when assembled, numbered three to four thousand, sufficient to form the core of Guangzhou's defenses.

However, as the prefect of Guangzhou, one must consider more than just how to defend the city. If the enemy cannot be driven away and is allowed to bombard Guangzhou, the political impact will be even greater, and officials at all levels, from the governor to the prefect, will not be able to escape responsibility.

The city guard asked, "Should we use the cannons on the city walls to drive them away?" Although the cannons on Guangzhou's city walls were not as good as those in the capital, Guangdong was responsible for the Ministry of Works' cannon-casting tasks, so there were still several large cannons on the walls, and as for the large and small breech-loading cannons, there were as many as a hundred.

Yu Baocheng thought for a moment, then shook his head: "Let's wait for the Governor's orders." The enemy hasn't made a move yet; they might just be putting on a show at the city gates. It would be best to avoid a fight. Once they open fire, the news of Guangzhou being besieged by rebels will be impossible to cover up, which would significantly impact his career. The best course of action is to send troops out of the city to drive them away.

However, the governor's orders have not yet arrived, so he cannot mobilize troops to fight outside the city. Moreover, there are no organized troops available in Guangzhou at the moment; the capable ones are all in Qiongzhou.

Yu Baocheng stared at the bandits below the city for a long time, thinking it over. Even if the bandits could withstand the attack of the crossing army and had amazing combat power, there were no more than a thousand of them here, and they couldn't all be superhuman. If the coastal defense commander and the troops stationed in the city were gathered together, along with able-bodied men, tens of thousands of people could be brought out of the city to fight the bandits. Surely they could drive them away.

"Someone, go and invite Lieutenant General Xu to the prefectural government office. Tell him we have important matters to discuss."

Outside the city, Liang Xiaoming looked at the cannon muzzles faintly visible on the city wall and said worriedly, "This distance is a bit awkward. If the cannons on the city wall can hit this spot, it will cause unnecessary casualties, but if we retreat too far, the mortars won't have enough range..."

Liu Ye nodded: "I've been thinking about that too. But why aren't the defenders firing? Could it be that they haven't received orders from their superiors?"

Liang Xiaoming shook his head: "I don't know about that." He estimated, "Cannons mounted on the city wall can fire farther, but the disadvantage is that they have large blind spots. If we advance to within 200 meters of the city wall, we will be in the blind spots of the cannons on the city wall, and the enemy will be unable to do anything to us."

"Then let's move closer and act quickly before the cannons on the city walls fire."

The defenders on the city wall watched helplessly as this group carried a pile of iron lumps to the foot of the city. They were within arm's reach, but they were too afraid to fire the cannons without orders, and their bows and arrows were out of reach. They could only watch helplessly.

After the 10 mortars were ready, Liang Xiaoming asked, "Can we fire now?"

"fire!"

The soldiers defending the city walls watched as these men fiddled with the iron lumps, followed by a deafening roar and sparks flying from them. Then, dark shadows rose into the air, soaring over their heads, passing over the city walls, and landing inside. They looked at each other, bewildered. Was this a cannon barrage? Why did they all miss?

The subsequent, even more violent explosions proved how naive their earlier thoughts had been.

Most of the 80-pound bombs that landed in the city detonated successfully. The enormous impact weakened the timber-framed houses, shattering tiles and breaking beams in many buildings. Walls cracked, and doors and windows were blown off in many homes. The worst off was a restaurant, where a bomb crashed through the roof and exploded in a private room on the second floor, killing several businessmen who were drinking and listening to music on the spot. One person was thrown out of a window by the shockwave and landed on the street, causing terrified pedestrians who were stunned by the explosion to scatter and flee.