Chapter 2152 - Jieshou Shoal
Li Pudun's family had many dependents. He had heard that the Australian army had excellent firearms, rarely lost men in battle, and paid generous wages—that was what had moved him to enlist. All he'd wanted was a living. He hadn't expected that after joining, the training would be so grueling, with constant "martial spirit injection" by "squad leaders"—though soldiers expected hardship and beatings, this daily drill that worked you half to death, followed by evening study sessions, was really too much to bear.
At least the officers were decent people who rarely tormented anyone deliberately and didn't skimp on rations. Otherwise, Li Pudun would have seriously considered deserting.
"Who wants to go fight?" The sergeant beside him, Luo Mao, was chewing on a tender willow twig—he had a bit of a cold, and the medic had given him a packet of split willow bark to chew. "It's all bad luck that sends us into this business of licking blood off knives. But being able to serve the Council of Elders—that's stepping in dog shit luck, you know."
Luo Mao was the opposite of Li Pudun: he had been a dockworker at Haikou Port and decided that stevedoring was too hard and offered no future, so he volunteered to become a soldier. Because he was on the older side, he could only join the National Army. After barely three months of service, he had been promoted like a rocket—first to corporal, then to squad leader commanding a full squad. In the old days, his corporal's rank would only have gotten him a fire-team leader position; now he had thirty men under him.
"...Every time the Council of Elders goes to war, there's never been a loss: pirates, bandits, Imperial troops—none of them stand a chance. They've even fought the Red Hairs and the Koreans... Winning isn't remarkable; winning without casualties, that's impressive. Let me tell you, at the Great Battle of Chengmai, tens of thousands of Imperial soldiers came swarming at our fortifications. My calves were shaking, but then a volley of rifle fire and a few cannon shots scattered them completely. Bodies all over the ground..."
Luo Mao's story was vivid, though in truth, during the Battle of Chengmai, he had still been in Beizhili wearing an Imperial uniform and slacking off. He hadn't heard so much as the words "Australians" at that point, let alone seen the Beiwei Army.
Seeing Li Pudun staring in astonishment, Luo Mao's boasting grew even grander: "By the end, the entire Imperial army was annihilated—tens of thousands dead. The blood stained the seawater red—"
This not only hooked Li Pudun's appetite but drew other soldiers in as well.
Now Luo Mao was on a roll: "Guess how many men the Beiwei Army lost..." he asked mysteriously.
"How many?"
"Less than ten!" Luo Mao declared loudly. "The old saying is 'kill three thousand, lose eight hundred.' That battle killed tens of thousands, and we lost fewer than ten. What are you lot so nervous about?"
This speech worked like a tranquilizer; the anxious recruits seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief. That was right—the Australians had superior ships and powerful guns, and every battle was a rout of the enemy. This was something they had all heard before.
The previously tense, gloomy atmosphere immediately became somewhat livelier. Li Dong watched and laughed inwardly—never mind Luo Mao, even National Army Battalion Commander Zhu Si hadn't participated in the Battle of Chengmai. By the time Luo Mao arrived in Lingao, Operation Initiate had been over for nearly half a year...
At that moment, however, someone spoiled the mood.
"But the Beiwei Army uses muskets. We're armed with spears..."
The words fell like a bucket of cold water. The warm atmosphere chilled instantly. Li Dong inwardly cursed this new recruit and all his ancestors, and resolved that when they got back, he'd have the squad leader drill the man until he wept at the mere mention of "Beiwei Army"...
Luo Mao glared at the tactless recruit and was about to retort when the lookout suddenly shouted: "Channel narrowing!"
Li Dong hurried to the helm platform at the bow. The once-broad river was gradually narrowing; the banks ahead became mountainous terrain, and reefs and yellow sandbars began to emerge on the surface. This was Jieshou Shoal. Once they passed it, they would have covered almost half of the day's journey. Such speed! With steam-powered boats, a voyage that used to take days now took half a day. If nothing happened, they should be able to reach Xintan by sunset as planned.
As if to shatter Li Dong's hopes, a sharp whistling sound suddenly came from afar, growing closer. Li Dong shivered—a whistling arrow!
Whistling arrows were signal arrows, used by armies to mark positions. The Beiwei Army had signal flares and didn't use these things. Whoever fired it was an enemy!
"Alert! Enemy attack!"
Before Li Dong finished speaking, three feathered arrows shot out from the reeds along the bank.
"Red arrows!" An old veteran from the Imperial army shouted.
Perhaps because the shooters were too far away, all three arrows fell into the water.
Li Dong quickly raised his binoculars and scanned the mountainside along the bank. In spring's lush vegetation, he could see nothing from the lookout platform. Just as he was puzzling over this, another whistling arrow sounded—this time from the opposite bank of the West River.
"Signal the left column! Enemy present!"
Before he finished speaking, red feathered arrows were fired again from the near bank. This time, though the arrows also fell into the water, they landed noticeably closer than before.
Li Dong understood immediately: they were ranging!
As if to confirm his thought, a loud musket shot cracked from the bank. He immediately swung his binoculars to search for the source—and sure enough, a wisp of white smoke rose from above a stand of trees.
From the swaying of the vegetation, it seemed people were running along the bank to keep pace with the boats, though their numbers were hard to estimate.
This might be a routine harassment—according to reports, such attacks had been surging recently, but they were generally small-scale. Properly protected convoys typically suffered no losses.
But the whistling arrows and red ranging arrows gave Li Dong a different feeling.
"Sound battle stations! Signal the left column—there's an ambush ahead!" he said, climbing down from the lookout platform and ordering the two Nanyang rifle shooters aboard to take his place.
Three urgent blasts of the steam whistle sounded. The left column's No. 1 boat responded with three blasts—Zhu Si's side was also seeing something.
"Everyone stay calm," Li Dong said loudly. "Be ready to fight at any moment!"
Luo Mao sidled up: "Commander! Should we fire the cannon...?"
"No rush. Firing now would just waste ammunition," Li Dong said. "The steamboats make such a racket—they definitely knew we were coming and set up an ambush here!"
The ammunition for the ship's 12-pounder mountain howitzer was limited to begin with. If they expended it now, they might not have enough if they encountered a real emergency later.
"Order from Battalion Commander Zhu!" The signalman on the bridge called out loudly. "Change from single column to double column, maintain speed, continue forward."
Changing from single to double column meant shifting from marching formation to battle formation. According to the predetermined plan, the left and right columns would each cover one direction—ensuring they could bring fire to bear on both sides simultaneously while shortening the formation's length.
The flotilla continued forward as the channel grew narrower. The sporadic arrows from shore were landing closer and closer. Clearly, once they entered effective range, a fierce barrage of arrows would rain down.
Though temporary iron plates and bamboo-bundle screens had been installed on both gunwales for protection, when it came to plunging fire, these defenses couldn't completely stop arrows dropping from above. Though discipline kept the men outwardly silent, inwardly they were praying for heaven to hurry them through this shoal. But fate was unkind. Just as they were about to clear the shoal, Boat No. 1 seemed to hit something. An ominous creaking sound came from the hull; the smokestack belched black smoke, and the vessel stopped dead in the middle of the channel. Moments later, Boat No. 2 also shuddered to a halt.
Li Dong's heart lurched. He squeezed past to the captain at the helm.
"Why have we stopped?"
"Debris from upstream might have piled up here and blocked the channel. It wasn't like this last time we came through."
Li Dong had heard that when the Southern China Army attacked Zhaoqing, there had been a major naval battle at Lingyang Gorge, sinking many ships; the debris was probably left over from that. But this was a long way from Lingyang Gorge, and of all places, it had blocked the main channel! Too coincidental? As he pondered, a sailor climbed up from the bilge to report no damage to the hull.
"I'm going to reverse engines and back off a bit first, otherwise we'll run aground," the captain said. "Let me see if there's another channel we can use. If not, we'll have to organize a landing party to clear the obstruction."
"Commander! Message from Boat No. 1: You're to come over immediately for a conference."
Li Dong quickly boarded Boat No. 1. Zhu Si was crouching behind the armored screen behind the helm platform.
"The captain just told me there's no way through here—we either send men ashore to clear the obstruction on the spot, or we turn around and take a different channel." Zhu Si's face was tense. "What's your view?"
"The captain on Boat No. 2 said the same thing. My opinion is to send soldiers ashore and clear the obstruction here..."
Zhu Si shook his head: "There are definitely enemies lying in ambush on both banks right now. Once we disembark, we lose our cover. If the enemy attacks, our casualties will be heavy..."
This was Li Dong's concern too. Since Zhu Si didn't favor that option, he proposed an alternative: take the channel on the north side of the sandbar.
"The helmsman says that channel is also passable, just much narrower."
If they were attacked there, the risk would be far greater than clearing the obstruction here, because the channel ran almost right along the shore.
Zhu Si alternated between studying the map and raising his binoculars to scan the bank, his face showing indecision. The rhythmic thrum of the steam engine made Li Dong secretly anxious: in his view, either option carried risk. But either was better than sitting here in a daze.
"Commander..." After watching Zhu Si hesitate for about five minutes, Li Dong finally couldn't hold back. "We can't stay here long. Let's move quickly."
"Li Dong, which plan do you think is better?" Zhu Si kicked the ball back.
Li Dong was taken aback. "My view is to take the northern channel. The obstruction here was definitely man-made. We don't know how bad it is or what materials were used to block it. We don't have the right tools or equipment on hand, so clearing it won't be easy..."
(Chapter End)