nucmednet Chapter 122 Destroying Food Again
Chapter 122 Destroying Food Again
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Two days later, Liang Xiaoming led the fleet that had made great contributions to Qiongshan, guided by Lin San. Under the guidance of this local native, the fleet sailed along the coastline straight towards Qiongshan County.
Because He Rubin only gave him a ten-day deadline, as soon as Tang Yunwen arrived at the camp, he quickly mobilized the only dozen or so old ships in the water fortress, and then ordered someone to take the command arrow to Qiongshan Wharf to gather the sealed ships. As soon as the grain arrived, he would start transporting it. In Qiongshan County, General He's staff would take care of the grain and other related matters, and he was only responsible for transporting the grain.
They rushed to the scene, and finally managed to pack the 60,000 jin of urgently procured grain within three days. Tongzhi Zhao Yue grabbed his hand, his face contorted with grief: "General Tang, you must deliver this grain safely! If the garrison commander does something like this again, even if we search every inch of Qiongshan, we won't be able to gather any more grain. The prefect and we all will have to hang ourselves!"
Tang Yunwen was a local garrison officer and knew that it was not easy to collect food in Qiongzhou Prefecture, a remote southern region. He could only nod and promise repeatedly that he would deliver the food.
Just as the grain transport fleet was preparing to depart, several tall ships appeared on the sea a few miles away. Sharp-eyed fishermen spotted them and shouted excitedly.
Upon seeing this, Tang Yunwen's heart sank. Neither the local navy nor the Guangzhou navy possessed such a large vessel; it was most likely a warship belonging to the Bo Fu bandits. He was about to ask the general's staff in charge of supplies when he noticed the staff member trembling violently, muttering to himself, "...Oh no, this...this is a bandit's large ship..."
Just as Tang Yunwen was about to ask for more details, the man picked up his long robe, turned around, and ran away, as if he had seen some kind of demon or monster.
This staff officer had witnessed firsthand the power of the cannons on those large ships; it was truly like a mountain collapsing and the earth splitting apart. Each cannonball weighed dozens of kilograms. If someone were still standing foolishly on the dock, they would be hit by a cannonball and not even have a whole corpse left.
This was Liang Xiaoming's fleet. He had originally intended to raid Tang Yunwen's base at Baisha Water Village, but unexpectedly, while passing Qiongshan Port, he discovered a large number of ships loading cargo. Although Lin San couldn't see clearly, he guessed that they were loading grain and suggested that Liang Xiaoming attack the dock directly.
On the dock, Tang Yunwen was caught in a dilemma: if he fled, abandoning the grain transport ships and missing the ten-day deadline for delivering the grain, Commander He would not grant him a way out; if he stayed, his few dilapidated naval vessels would be no match for the bandits, who were known for their powerful cannons. Leaving meant certain death, and staying also meant certain death. He stood on the dock, utterly lost and confused.
Five Wuyi-class warships slowly approached the dock, forming a horizontal line a few hundred meters away on the sea, their right sides facing the dock, their gun ports all open. Anyone who had witnessed a naval attack would know what terrifying things were about to happen. However, the officers, soldiers, and boatmen on board were unaware of this; they simply stared blankly at these large, unfamiliar warships, just like the civilians on the dock.
"Boom boom boom!" Orange flames burst forth from the cannon windows as 30-pound iron balls hurtled towards the poor merchant ships and fishing boats. Wood chips flew everywhere, and huge splashes of water shot into the sky. Several small fishing boats that were affected were completely destroyed, turning into countless pieces of wood floating on the water.
The officers, soldiers, and boatmen finally realized what was happening and jumped onto the plank road, crying and screaming, to run to the shore. Some of them jumped into the water and swam to the shore. Even so, people were still being hit by shells from time to time, their flesh and blood flying everywhere, and half of their bodies were gone.
Tang Yunwen stood on the dock, watching the grain ship capsize after being hit, the grain scattered in the water, floating on the surface with the corpses, and then gradually being stained red with blood. Only one thought came to his mind: "It's over!"
Seeing him still standing there in a daze, several of his trusted men quickly grabbed him and ran. Just as they left the dock, a cannonball slammed into the spot where he had been standing, creating a large crater.
Tang Yunwen survived, but the mission failed; the grain transport fleet was reduced to rubble. When the news reached He Rubin, he could no longer bear the successive blows and collapsed. The army physician, after taking his pulse, said he was suffering from excessive anxiety, excessive liver fire, and external pathogens had entered his body.
With their food supplies destroyed and both land and sea supply lines cut off, the remaining food wouldn't last more than a few days, and their commander had fallen ill. The encircling army was now in a real crisis.
After an emergency discussion, several officers with considerable military power and He Rubin's staff consulted with the ailing He Rubin and decided to abandon the siege of the bandits and temporarily retreat to Qiongshan.
If He Rubin hadn't fallen ill and had unified the order of retreat and the flags for communication among the battalions, the retreat would have been orderly. Now, without the commander-in-chief to personally arrange things, none of the battalions wanted to be the last to retreat and all wanted to retreat first. After some debate, the artillery battalion, whose commander was missing, many cannons were destroyed, and which hadn't achieved any merit, became the unlucky one.
According to usual practice, retreats were always in the morning to avoid confusion and getting lost due to poor visibility at night. However, food was scarce, and the first to retreat could still "borrow" provisions from villages and towns along the way, while those who followed would only have leftovers. With this mindset in mind, Tong Yizhen, the military commander of Chaozhou, was the first to retreat at night, hoping to be the first to have some food on his return journey. Upon hearing this news, Yan Zungao, the military commander of Huizhou, cursed a few times and also retreated overnight.
The withdrawal of the two men's troops triggered panic in the other battalions, who rushed to break camp and flee. By 9 PM, except for the garrison's main force and the rearguard firearms battalion, the rest had completely vanished. Garrison commander Sun Changzu was furious: "These bastards! The garrison commander is still here, and they dare to leave like this! I'll make sure they regret it when we get back!"
Although he said that, he knew in his heart that this encirclement and suppression was a complete defeat, and He Zhentai's position was most likely in jeopardy. That's why these adjutants dared to abandon their commander and run away so recklessly.
His advisors urged him to follow, saying that since all the other battalions had retreated, the garrison should catch up as soon as possible. Being left behind would leave them vulnerable to enemy attacks. Sun Changzuo himself didn't want to fall behind, but as the garrison commander, there were certain things he couldn't say himself. Seeing everyone's opinion, he readily agreed to break camp that very night. He Rubin, currently unconscious, saved Sun Changzuo the trouble of explaining himself; he could later claim it was an emergency.
On the earthen fort, Lin San was the first to notice the commotion in the government army camp. The noise never stopped, and a long line of torches stretched eastward from the camp, while the firelight inside the camp became increasingly sparse.
"The government troops are trying to escape!" Lin San keenly noticed the government troops' intentions.
Liu Ye was woken up and went to the earthen fortress to observe. It seemed the government troops were indeed about to flee. No wonder; they couldn't transport supplies by land or water. If they didn't retreat, were they just waiting to starve to death?
"Should we pursue them tonight?" Lin San asked for instructions.
“We have less than a thousand men, while the government troops have at least seven or eight thousand. We can defend with our fortifications, but going out to fight is too risky. Besides, it’s pitch black at night, and we can’t aim our artillery.” Liu Ye considered for a moment and said, “We will launch a full-scale pursuit tomorrow morning. We will not bring heavy artillery, only mountain guns.”
"Aren't we leaving some men to guard the fort? What if the government troops try to trick us?"
Liu Ye waved his hand: "The government troops don't have that kind of strategy or ability! They have no will to fight and have already decided to retreat. They are unlikely to launch a counterattack, so there's no need to leave anyone to defend them. Besides, what use would leaving a hundred or two men be?"