Chapter 325: Mao Chenglu

After adopting this method, the channel to the Qimu Island pier could barely be maintained. The icebreaker broke the ice once every 24 hours, basically keeping the channel open and ensuring a continuous transport of refugees.

However, this method could only ensure the patency of the pier channel. It did not help much with the more serious problem: the safety of the island.

After Longkou Bay froze over, Qimu Island was no longer just connected to the mainland by a sandbar, but had become part of the Longkou Bay coast. Covered by heavy snow, it was almost impossible to see that it was an island.

The small islands near the coast of the Bohai Bay became a flat plain with no natural defenses every winter when they were frozen over. Similar lessons were countless in the Liaodong campaign of the late Ming Dynasty. Because the Later Jin army had no navy, they often took advantage of the large-scale freezing of the Bohai Sea to launch attacks on the islands garrisoned by the Ming army, often winning great victories.

The Dongjiang army had suffered this loss many times. Now that they were the attackers, they would definitely make full use of this advantage.

Although the ice in Longkou Bay was not very thick, and there were still some gaps between the sea ice, it was not difficult for people and horses to walk on it. This created a great danger for Qimu Island, which was originally surrounded by water on three sides and relied on the special service boats to ensure its safety at sea.

“In the frozen conditions, our ships have lost their mobility,” Lu Yang said, who had hurried from the Daishuang after hearing the alarm. “The warships in the channel can only serve as fixed batteries…”

“The firepower of your five ships firing together is enough,” Zhu Mingxia said. “The disadvantage is that they have no mobility and can only provide fire support within the channel, and the accuracy is a bit off.”

Since the island was surrounded by ice, the enemy might not choose the sandbar as the only attack route. They were very likely to bypass it from the ice and launch an attack on Qimu Island.

In this way, all the facilities on Qimu Island could face a direct attack from the enemy.

“I’m not too worried that the enemy can break in. Our biggest weakness is the refugee camp—it’s the most weakly defended, and there are almost ten thousand people crowded inside now. Once a battle starts, it will be very difficult if the refugee camp panics,” Lu Wenyan said with a frown.

The refugee camp also had walls, watchtowers, and artillery, but too many refugees were crowded inside. Once they were subjected to a fierce siege, it would be difficult to keep them “emotionally stable.” Moreover, the defense of the refugee camp itself was the weakest. In many places, it was just an earthen dike and a wooden fence, which was more for confinement and control than for external defense.

The eyes of several people were all cast on Zhu Mingxia. As the commander of the Northern Expeditionary Detachment, defensive operations were naturally his responsibility.

Zhu Mingxia said, “It’s no matter. The enemy may not be able to land on the island under our firepower. Even if they can, we can rout them before they can launch a siege.”

He paused and said, “Not to mention that we have a lot of things on the island. It would be quite troublesome if they really charged onto the island and damaged something.”

Zhu Mingxia believed that his own forces were quite sufficient and had enough firepower, so there was no need to be trapped in defensive works. His plan was for the militia and a small number of troops to hold the various forts, while he led four infantry companies to deploy in a mobile defense on the island, coordinating with the artillery on the forts and warships. They would attack the enemy wherever they came from and drive them off the island.

“The enemy will inevitably move slowly coming from the ice. We will continuously bombard their marching columns with our cannons. I’m afraid they won’t be able to hold on before they even reach the island,” Zhu Mingxia said. “Don’t worry, the enemy will definitely be defeated. It’s just that it’s a bit difficult to capture more prisoners…”

“If we capture any more prisoners, this place will become a living hell…” Lu Wenyan shook his head repeatedly. “It’s enough to drive them away.”

Chen Sigen said, “It doesn’t matter how many prisoners we capture. The key is to make the rebels feel the pain, otherwise they won’t know what’s good for them.”

They then divided the work. Lu Wenyan would be in charge of the overall situation in the Qimu Island stockade, and Chen Sigen would be responsible for guarding the willow fence. Zhu Mingxia would lead three companies in a mobile defense, and Lu Yang would return to the fleet.

The Northern Expeditionary Detachment and the Shandong Advance Column’s public security army all slept in their clothes with their weapons at hand. All sentry posts were doubled. Zhu Mingxia brought out all the cannons on the island and placed them in position—in the past, to avoid “startling the public,” some cannons were only placed in position, but the cannons were not mounted.

He then ordered the various kitchens to cook, boil a large amount of water, and make dry pancakes. The battle might last for a day, and they couldn’t just rely on dry rations. Moreover, once the enemy landed on the island, it would be very inconvenient to cook and boil water in the various camps, so they had to make preparations in advance.

Zhu Mingxia instructed Lu Yang to remove several more “typewriters” from the warships and reinforce the willow fence. He also mounted several naval short cannons from the inventory on the bastion of the willow fence.

“Is my bastion over-armed?” Chen Sigen couldn’t help but object. “Now that the road to the island is open in all directions, the enemy doesn’t have to attack from the willow fence…”

“Your willow fence will definitely be under the greatest pressure,” Zhu Mingxia said to Chen Sigen. “The sandbar is the most convenient way to enter the island, and the road conditions are also the best. The enemy will definitely drive a large number of refugees to directly attack the willow fence through the sandbar. At that time, I’m afraid you’ll get tired of killing people…”

Chen Sigen expressed his doubts, “Are you so sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. Let’s assume for a moment that you are the rebel general. How would you plan to attack Qimu Island?”

“Since I have an advantage in numbers, of course I would launch a multi-pronged attack to force the defenders to divide their forces.”

“That’s right. After the sea is frozen, it’s very convenient to choose a breakthrough point. Bypassing us from the sea ice to our weak flank is the best way. But it’s not an easy thing to conduct a flanking march on the sea ice. If most of my subordinates are conscripted refugees, it’s impossible to make them do such a complex tactical action.” Zhu Mingxia pointed to the sand table. “If I were Mao Chenglu, I would drive a large number of refugees to directly attack the willow fence from the front to attract our attention and firepower. Then I would choose elite troops to attack from the sea on foot.”

Chen Sigen nodded, “But if we strengthen the willow fence like this, isn’t it just what they want?”

“If I were an army of the same level as them, Mao Chenglu’s plan would be a great threat to us,” Zhu Mingxia said. “But our army has a generational advantage over them—the Dongjiang army is no match for the Tartars in Liaodong, and they are even less of a match for the Fubo Army on Qimu Island. On the contrary, the willow fence will have to withstand the tide of thousands of refugees. It’s better to have more firearms to quickly disperse the cannon fodder and save a few lives.”

“I understand—”

“There’s something I need to remind you of,” Zhu Mingxia said. “There’s intelligence that the rebels have conscripted a large number of able-bodied men, and there are also many civilians in Huang County. They are very likely to use the tactic of driving the civilians as cannon fodder to fill the trenches and consume ammunition to attack the willow fence. You have to be steady at that time…”

Chen Sigen’s face turned a little pale. He clenched his fists, “I know what you mean. Don’t worry.”

After arranging the defense, Zhu Mingxia immediately instructed the sapper training team to take the public security army to the shore of Qimu Island to lay simple directional mines, and to install barbed wire and lay mines around all the forts.

He ordered the four infantry companies assigned to the mobile defense to be issued double ammunition, including bullets and grenades.

After making the arrangements, Zhu Mingxia sent out all the special reconnaissance teams and reconnaissance cavalry he had on hand to keep track of Mao Chenglu’s movements at all times.

Mao Chenglu’s large army did not set out from Huang County until the twenty-first day of the first lunar month of the fifth year of Chongzhen, which was the year of Renchen. The entire army had nearly ten thousand men—more than half of whom were conscripted civilians from Huang County. Some were given weapons, but many were driven to fight without even a wooden stick.

The road was difficult to travel due to the snow. Although the rebels had obtained a large number of cattle, horses, donkeys, and mules from looting, the large army was carrying six heavy cannons and many cannons and muskets of different sizes. The marching speed was not fast, and they did not arrive in the Longkou Bay area until that night.

Mao Chenglu did not even know where “Master Lu’s” stockade was at first, only that it was roughly in the Longkou Bay area. He sent out several groups of scouts on the road to find out that the village was on Qimu Island.

Along the way, they captured some more civilians and roughly learned that there was a stockade on Qimu Island, with a stockade wall built on the sandbar. Entry and exit were checked by militia, and it was very tightly guarded.

Mao Chenglu had been to Qimu Island before and knew the general terrain. That night, after setting up camp ten li outside Qimu Island, he immediately sent out several groups of scouts to find out the situation in the surrounding area—especially the ice conditions in Longkou Bay.

That night, the special reconnaissance teams and the scouts engaged in continuous night battles around Qimu Island. The sound of gunfire and screams rang out from time to time in the dark night. The scouts were almost completely wiped out. Of the dozens of people sent out, only seven or eight returned to the main camp.

The next morning, Mao Chenglu, surrounded by his subordinate generals, ascended Longkou Dun on the side of Longkou Bay—from here, he could clearly see Qimu Island.

Mao Chenglu took out his telescope—which Sun Yuanhua had specially asked a missionary to buy from Europe—and observed the terrain around Qimu Island.

It could be seen that the only passage to the island, the sandbar, was very strictly defended. In addition, there were three isolated stockades on the island, all with stockade walls and watchtowers.

Looking at this, Qimu Island was not an easy nut to crack. Mao Chenglu took a deep breath. He found that these stockades were all “Western-style blockhouses,” that is, the red-haired people’s forts that Governor Sun had always advocated for building. As a general, he had also communicated with Consales Texeira, the Frank in Dengzhou, and roughly knew the tactics of the Franks.

“My goodness, this stockade is not easy to deal with,” he muttered, handing the telescope to the company commander Chen Guangfu next to him. He had been ordered to lead three thousand men to reinforce Mao Chenglu and was now a “colonel.”