Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 100 Li Yi: Reflect, reflect hard!
In fact, this time the punishment of Fang Haiyang was a double act between Li Yi and Fang Haiyang.

A double act to maintain the dignity of the military law of the Restoration Army!
Regardless of whether there are extenuating circumstances or not, a defeat is a defeat, and defeat must be punished.

This is military law!
Military law does not allow for the slightest leniency.

If Li Yi takes the lead in not abiding by military law, then there is no need to discipline the army.

Therefore, Li Yi must punish Fang Haiyang openly for his defeat.

In order to prevent the navy from fighting desperately but still being defeated from feeling disheartened, this punishment cannot be proposed by Li Yi.

It would be best if Fang Haiyang apologized himself.

So, this double act came into being.

At the military meeting, Fang Haiyang took the initiative to ask Li Yi for punishment.

After punishing him openly, Li Yi will give him some compensation in private!

After the duet, Li Yi continued.

"If the battle is won, there will be a reward, and once the reward is given, there is no need to mention it again."

“A truly strong person will never dwell on the glory of the past, but will only look forward to a brighter future.”

"But if we lose a battle, we cannot just punish them and leave it at that. While punishing the defeated generals, we must also reflect and review the situation."

"We need to figure out how and why we lost, what we did poorly, and what we did well."

"And most importantly, how can we win next time!"

The five thousand years of war with the great powers were mentioned in passing, and the century of humiliation was divided into two volumes. Such things are normal for the Chinese.

After saying that, Li Yi looked at Fang Haiyang again.

The meaning is very clear. This post-war reflection begins with him, the "defeated general."

Seeing this, Fang Haiyang took the initiative to step forward and speak.

"Your Excellency, Grand Admiral, in my opinion, the main reason for our navy's defeat today is that the warships and weapons equipped by our navy are far inferior to those of the Qing army."

"The red single-boats equipped by the Qing army are tall and strong, and the muskets, swords and spears used by our navy can hardly cause any damage to them."

"And a Qing army red boat could be equipped with 20 to 30 guns. One shot could destroy our sampans as long as it hit the target."

"The gap between the two was too great to be restored by human power, which led to the defeat of our navy at the hands of the Qing army."

When he said this, Fang Haiyang felt so angry that his teeth were itching.

In his opinion, if his side could be equipped with the same warships and artillery as the Qing monsters, the outcome of the Battle of Guijiang would definitely not be a disastrous defeat for the Restoration Army Navy.

After saying this, Fang Haiyang sat down.

Li Yi heard this and nodded.

"That's it. Now that we've recognized the gap, we need to find a way to catch up."

"The future development direction of our navy is to find ways to equip more and larger warships and more and more powerful artillery, and this still requires the joint efforts of this governor and you all."

When everyone heard this, they all started to praise.

"The Grand Commander is wise!"

Upon hearing this, Li Yi waved his hand and said.

"But in my opinion, the failure of the Guijiang River Battle was not just a failure in terms of weapons and equipment."

"In addition to weapons and equipment, our army also has significant problems in the arrangement of tactics and methods."

"Since we realize that the Qing army's powerful ships and cannons are not something our sampans can defeat, we should understand that a brute force attack is not advisable."

"In this situation, our army should adopt more flexible tactics and methods."

"For example, we can use fire ships to attack with fire, send out water ghosts to sneak through the bottom of the Qing monster's ship, and use the advantage of our army's small and flexible ships to engage in a roving battle with the Qing monster."

"Instead of fighting desperately!"

"It is good to have the courage to sacrifice, but unnecessary sacrifice is unnecessary."

"We must also take this as a warning!"

Seeing this, everyone clasped their fists again in response.

"The Grand Commander is wise."

Li Yi continued.

"After today's daytime battle, the Qing monsters were defeated miserably, while our army won a great victory. This governor believes that the Qing monsters will never give up."

"It is estimated that they will soon launch another offensive against Wuzhou City."

"Let's discuss this together. How should we fight the Wuzhou battle next?"

After finishing the post-war summary, Li Yi took the opportunity to start a military meeting and discussed with the generals how to fight the next battle.

Upon hearing this, Li Sheng was the first to speak up.

"In today's battle, I led my troops to the battlefield to measure the strength of the Guangdong Qing monsters."

"In my opinion, the fighting power of Guangdong Qingyao is really not up to par."

"Our army should seize the opportunity after today's battle, when our morale is high and the Qing army's morale is low, and take the initiative to go out of the city and launch an offensive."

"In order to defeat the invading Guangdong Qing monsters!"

The great victory today made Li Sheng full of confidence, especially when facing the Qing army, he had a great psychological advantage.

Upon hearing this, Li Yi did not express his opinion rashly, but looked at the other generals, waiting for them to express their opinions.

Li Yi's current role is decision maker.

All he needs to do is wait until everyone has expressed their opinions before he can make the final decision on whose strategy to use.

Instead of standing up as the commander-in-chief of an army and arguing with the generals under him.

That would be so embarrassing!
Seeing this, Wang An stood up and spoke.

"General, I think that although our army won a great victory in today's battle, the Qing army also lost its main force."

"In the next battle, our army should still be cautious and continue to implement the original 'defense and counterattack' combat strategy."

Before the Battle of Wuzhou began, Li Yi had formulated a battle plan.

That is defensive counterattack.

In general, at the beginning of the war, the Restoration Army had to hold Wuzhou and defend it without attacking.

When the Qing army suffered heavy casualties in the process of siege and failed to make a breakthrough and their morale was low, the Restoration Army took the initiative to fight out of the city and launch a counterattack in order to defeat the enemy in one battle.

After hearing this, Li Yi still did not make any rash statement, but just sat in his seat waiting for others to speak.

Soon, Zhao Xiang also spoke.

"Your Excellency the Grand Commander, I also think our army can take the initiative to attack."

"Since our army has already figured out the depth of the Qing monster, there is no need to continue delaying the war, otherwise there will be changes."

"If the battle in Wuzhou drags on for a long time, I am worried that the Qing demons will once again send reinforcements from Guangdong to Guangxi."

"Therefore, I think it would be best for our army to take the initiative to attack and eliminate the Qing monsters outside Wuzhou before their possible reinforcements arrive. Then, we can march down the river to Guangdong."

Li Yi was somewhat moved when he heard this, because Zhao Xiang's worries were justified.

At this moment, there was a sound of hurried footsteps outside. Li Liang walked in with a worried look on his face, strode to Li Yi, handed him a military report, and then leaned over and whispered something in Li Yi's ear.

When Li Yi heard this, his expression changed. After pondering for a few breaths, he looked up and said to everyone.

"Pass on this military command, ordering all units of our army to immediately prepare to leave the city and fight."

"When tomorrow morning comes, the army will march eastward from Wuzhou, take the initiative to attack, and defeat the Qing monsters!"

Upon hearing this, all the generals clasped their fists and accepted the order.

Then, they all took their leave and went to prepare for battle.

……

Li Yi also left the meeting hall and returned to his bedroom.

But he did not go to sleep. Instead, he held a military newspaper in his hand, thinking about something with a serious face.

It was this military report in his hand that prompted Li Yi to make the decision to let the Restoration Army take the initiative to attack.

Li Yi picked up the strong tea in front of him and took a sip, then continued to read the military newspaper under the light.

This military newspaper contains a total of three urgent military information.

One is an emergency in the Xinyi direction.

After the main force of Zhao Xiang's troops decided to withdraw, the Qing army did not choose to continue besieging Ling Shiba's troops trapped in Daliao.

Instead, he chose to attack Cenxi from the direction of Ziyi along the Longdi River.

Fortunately, the Qing army was blocked by the defense line set up by the Restoration Army in Pinghe Village along the Longdi River, which prevented the Qing army from advancing along the Longdi River to Cenxi in one breath.

However, as the war progressed, the Qing troops in Xinyi and Gaozhou continued to increase their forces, and the defense line of the Restoration Army in Pinghe Village began to crumble.

The second urgent military intelligence came from Xunzhou.

After Wang An's Restoration Army evacuated from Xunzhou, the Qing army from Wuxuan joined forces with the remnants of the gentry in Xunzhou to launch a counterattack against Xunzhou.

Just yesterday, Xunzhou fell under the internal and external attacks of the Qing army and Xunzhou gentry, and the remnants of the Restoration Army had no choice but to retreat to Pingnan.

After Wang An led his army to capture Xunzhou, the gentry of Xunzhou immediately expressed their submission.

Li Yi did not use any cruel methods against the gentry in Xunzhou because they were all from the same hometown.

As long as the gentry surrendered voluntarily, no matter what their previous reputation was, Li Yi would use the redemption method when distributing the land instead of directly attacking the local tyrants and dividing the land.

Unexpectedly, his trust was rewarded with betrayal!
This broke Li Yi's heart!

The third urgent military intelligence came from the direction of Yulin Prefecture.

Li Qingfu, the prefect of Yulin Prefecture, joined forces with gentry Jiang Wenhai and others to launch an offensive towards Cenxi from the direction of Yulin Prefecture.

The battle situation in Cenxi direction is critical.

In other words, what the Restoration Army now has to face is not just the Guangdong Qing army led by Xu Guangjin.

But there are enemies on all sides!

Moreover, in the battles in these four directions, the Restoration Army had already fallen into a disadvantage in three directions.

If Li Yi had not carried out land distribution work in Cenxi, Tengxian, Pingnan and other places, the people's hearts would not have been stable.

Some people even organized themselves spontaneously to assist the Restoration Army in fighting the Qing Army. The Restoration Army in the other three directions might even have been completely defeated.

Even so, the battle situation in the other three directions is not very good, and no one can say how long they can hold out.

Therefore, Li Yi understood that the battle in Wuzhou could not be delayed any longer!
We must end the battle in Wuzhou as soon as possible and then send troops to support the other three parties.

Otherwise, the consequences will be disastrous!
If one of the three directions of the battlefield collapses, the entire Restoration Army may collapse as a result.

Li Yi really has no more choices now.

He could only pray that the Restoration Army would win the battle tomorrow.

Otherwise, Li Yi would have no choice but to temporarily abandon the plan to go east and retreat to Cenxi, waiting for major changes after the Taiping Army entered the south of the Yangtze River.

It was late at night, Li Yi was lying in bed, tossing and turning but couldn't fall asleep.

So he simply got up, sat against the head of the bed, took out a handmade cigarette from the wooden box, lit it with a candle, and took a long puff.

The feeling of nicotine and tar attacking his lungs made Li Yi a little intoxicated.

He didn't smoke originally, but after traveling through time, the pressure on him was too great, so he needed to smoke to relieve and release the stress, so he became addicted to smoking.

The light from the cigarette butt flickered, and Li Yi's expression kept changing.

Now he is not only worried about tomorrow's battle.

I am still thinking about how to deal with the Qing navy the next time the Restoration Army faces it.

There are so many things in my mind, so chaotic, they flow like a revolving lantern...

Suddenly, Li Yi had an inspiration.

Rocket!

But it is not the traditional swarm of rockets in Chinese history.

But it's a Western-style rocket.

The most typical example is the Congreve rocket.

The prototype of the Congreve rocket was a rocket introduced from China to India and later improved by the British.

This type of rocket was used on a large scale in naval battles when it was first invented.

Its first use was to defeat and severely damage the French fleet at Boulogne.

Subsequently, under Congreve's personal command, the British Royal Navy launched about 25000 rockets at the Danish capital Copenhagen, almost razing the city to the ground.

During the First Opium War, the British army used rockets and sailing battleships to attack the Qing army, causing huge casualties to the Qing army in Guangzhou, Ningbo, Shanghai, Nanjing and other places, and achieved great results.

The "Kusama Diary" and "Renyin News and Events" written by people at that time both mentioned that the British army used rockets to attack the city.

"The rockets were like flying stars, or they landed on the ground and made a loud explosion."

During the Second Opium War, the British and French forces also used rockets to attack the Qing army.

Apart from the Battle of Baliqiao, this famous battle in which Senggelinqin was defeated by the British and French forces.

In addition, during the attack on Tianjin, the British and French forces also used rockets to attack the Qing navy and civilian ships near Tianjin.

A large number of Qing navy warships and civilian ships were burned, achieving great results.

It is worth mentioning that when the British army used rockets in naval battles, they did not use sailing battleships as carriers.

Instead, it is a rocket launch ship modified from a small sampan!
As far as the current situation is concerned, rockets are the most suitable choice for the Restoration Army to defeat the Qing navy with a small investment.

Li Yi calmed down, summoned his golden finger panel, and quickly found the product he wanted in the mall.

But not the old Congreve rocket that was invented in the early 19th century.

Instead, it was the Hale rocket that was modified by the British William Hale (also translated as Hal) in 1844.

Compared with the Congreve rocket, the Hale rocket added three tail fins at the tail, which improved the accuracy and range of the rocket.

Its performance in all aspects is far superior to that of the Congreve rocket.

(End of this chapter)