Chapter 218 Confusing

When Li Ping mentioned surgery again and thought it should be used as a last resort, Gao Lei did not object again.

In two days, Xu Keran's condition progressed almost rapidly.

Although the shipman hired by the merchants themselves took the classic rhubarb and peony decoction in time with the full support of Song Baolai and others, and added Yinghua, Gongying, Hedyotis diffusa, and Chuanzhuzi in time according to the change of the condition,

, red vine, etc., but it has no effect at all.

Xu Keran's right lower abdominal pain has turned severe and a mass can be palpated. At the same time, the person has started to have a fever accompanied by nausea and vomiting, constipation and red urine.

This may have become suppurated and perforated.

Although the doctor on board the boat had heard that acupuncture might still have some hope, he neither understood the method of the golden needle nor dared to perform the acupuncture. He even thought that it might be just a legend.

He is not a famous doctor but is definitely not a quack. He believes that Xu Keran's intestinal carbuncle disease may be beyond repair.

At this time, the doctor no longer shied away from speaking openly about the "Emperor's Internal Classic" written before the Han Dynasty, saying that intestinal carbuncle will eventually die of intestinal rot and is an incurable disease. However, despite the advancement of medical skills over the past thousands of years,

But he has never seen anyone with a serious illness like Xu Keran survive.

He suggested that Xu Keran could explain his funeral arrangements.

Facing death, Gao Lei's attitude finally changed, but she still advised caution.

Although it was obviously too late, Li Ping was still determined to give it a try.

He quickly summoned Hu Zhongshan, director of the logistics department, and Jia Youliang, commander of the newly established medical battalion directly under the brigade.

However, after some explanations and face-to-face discussions, Li Ping did not continue to pay close attention to the matter.

Hu Zhongshan and Jia Youliang had too much work to do and it took time. Whether Xu Keran could be saved not only had to race against time, but the operation itself also required a lot of luck.

And this is no longer something Li Ping can control.

Li Ping put all his energy back on Zhang Xianzhong, the real core and key, and on the confusing battlefield situation between the two sides.

Since the two sides fought in Daye County on May 6, there has been no direct conflict between the two sides south of the Yangtze River.

Not only did Li Rujing of Wuchang County fail to take further action, the Yanming Naval Battalion stationed at Yuan Lake and responsible for blocking the Yangtze River boldly dispatched several waterborne armed reconnaissances to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and found no signs of Zhang Xianzhong's large forces continuing to cross the Yangtze River south.

trace.

Except for Wuchang County, other areas south of the Yangtze River have not been attacked again.

But at the same time, Zhang Xianzhong's troops north of the Yangtze River were further strengthening their military offensive preparations against Qizhou. Not only did their reconnaissance cavalry strengthen their control over the area north of Chidong Lake, their infantry camps west of Qihe River also became larger and larger.

big.

Moreover, the naval reconnaissance ship also discovered that Zhang Xianzhong's headquarters was very close to the northwest side of Yuanfeng Mountain (189 meters above sea level) from the vast Guanjia Lake (connected to the Yangtze River to the south and Qi River to the east, and the easternmost side of the lake is only about ten miles away from Qizhou).

) A large new camp was built at the foot of the mountain.

This new camp and the unsafe infantry camp on the edge of the Qihe River formed a mutual dependence, and achieved solid control of the area west of the Qihe River.

Even while screening the ships fleeing from Wuchang City that were constantly intercepted on the river, the detailed operations sent by Zhang Xianzhong were discovered many times.

The mission of these agents was to spy on Li Ping's military deployment or take the opportunity to create chaos.

What's even more troublesome is that at Guanjia Lake, which is closest to the lush Yuanfeng Mountain, the navy's reconnaissance ship also discovered that the enemy was engaged in large-scale shipbuilding operations, and even hundreds of small fishing boats had gathered by the lake.

This is undoubtedly a very clear red flag.

Therefore, on May 10th, a fleet consisting of five medium-sized sand ships and more than ten small boats entered Guanjia Lake from the Yangtze River and rushed towards the northwest shore of Guanjia Lake with murderous intent.

The peasant soldiers and civilians who were building boats on the shore stopped what they were doing and stopped to watch. The few peasant soldiers on the fishing boats in the water also stood upright and looked.

Although it is clear that the slowly approaching ships uniformly flying rectangular flags with red upper half and blue and white stripes on the lower half belong to the Li Ping Department of the official army, and are currently their biggest enemy.

But the peasant soldiers were not too worried, and even pointed in groups of twos and threes. Even on the fishing boats, almost no one was in a hurry to go ashore to escape.

This place for ship building and ship gathering was carefully chosen.

The water here is very shallow and full of small sandbars. They know that the medium and large sand ships that should carry artillery will have to stop when they are more than a mile away from them.

According to the peasant soldiers who escaped from Qizhou, the artillery on these ships can only fire one mile away. This is the artillery they observed when this group of officers and soldiers were used as a deterrent on the river before attacking Qizhou.

range, no exceptions were found.

Therefore they are safe.

As for the dozen or so small boats that came with them, they posed no threat to them at all.

However, for the sake of safety, the hundreds of infantrymen in charge of the guard formed a loose rectangular military formation a few hundred meters away from the shore. Some cavalry also began to gallop along the lake to explore both sides.

At the same time, several other riders were running towards the camp at the foot of the mountain only a few miles away.

Zhang Xianzhong’s troops were already familiar with the flags unique to Li Ping’s army.

The upper half is red and the lower half is blue and white striped in a rectangular shape. It is a new military flag that Li Ping has established for his troops for some time. It is very similar to the naval flag of the Republic of China in later generations and is used to distinguish it from other government troops or peasant troops.

Most flags are solid colors.

And it is common for navy and infantry.

In the upper left part of the flag, Li Ping also wanted to add a dragon, but in the end he did not dare, and other patterns could not be thought of for a while.

Therefore the flag still looks a little bald.

But it also makes this new flag less distinctive and much stronger than the previous pure red flag.

Zhang Xianzhong's troops were not only familiar with Li Ping's military flag, but also familiar with the gunboat he modified from a sand ship with sails and a row of artificial oars at the bottom of the ship's side. At the same time, they also knew that such a gunboat had never been seen before.

Concentrate more than two boats and go deep into the lake to conduct exploration and inspection.

Moreover, these gunboats were emitting very strange black smoke this time, as if there were many fires burning, which was even more puzzling.

Zhang Xianzhong's peasant army didn't know what tricks Li Ping was playing. They thought it was better to take precautions. After all, they had suffered a lot during this time.

But what they were confused about was that if the artillery could not hit them, could it be that they wanted to use the gunboat to confuse them? The ship was not equipped with artillery but people, and finally used the small boat-borne infantry surrounding the gunboat to make a surprise attack?

But how many people can be carried in five medium-sized sand ships? A thousand people can support the sky! And there are no cavalry. Are they not here to die?

But besides that, what else can they do?

While watching with curiosity and contentment, the peasant army soldiers watched five gunboats slowly forming a horizontal line facing them more than a mile away from them, and then all the sails were lowered.

Suddenly, there was a flash of fire on the side of a gunboat.

Immediately afterwards, patches of flames began to erupt from the sides of all the gunboats.

"The officers and soldiers actually opened fire?"

In the collective astonishment of all the peasant army soldiers, the sound of artillery and a black spot followed closely.

The peasant soldiers on the fishing boat were all startled. Some of them fell on the boat, some just instinctively shrank their necks, and some just stared blankly.

But there were no splashes on the water!

When the peasant soldiers on these boats were confused and curious, a scream suddenly broke out behind them.

When he turned around to look in horror, he saw that the hundreds of infantry formations on the shore had been shrouded in blood mist, and several sudden gaps in the formations could be seen through at a glance.

Some dark red iron balls that should be cannonballs were even slowly spinning and rolling on the soft, wet ground in front of the infantry formation, bringing up patches of white smoke.

But surprisingly, the infantry didn't disintegrate yet!

They seemed to be frightened.

A peasant infantryman at the rear of the phalanx saw his companions standing in seven or eight rows in front of him suddenly staggering in a line. The soldier directly in front of him suddenly disappeared in a flash of black shadow, and then he was

But he didn't fall down for a while, only the gap in his neck was spraying blood mist upwards.

The peasant army infantry's eyes straightened, and his body became stiff.

However, immediately after, a peasant soldier in front of him, who had also stiffened his body, suddenly lost his balance and fell down with a cry. He looked in the direction where his companion fell and saw that one of the man's legs seemed to be missing.

This companion's body seemed to have just realized that one of his legs was missing.

At this time, a dark red spherical object sitting in the soft, moist soil in front of his toes and emitting wisps of white smoke appeared in the eyes of the peasant soldier at the rear.

Just when he was frightened and about to scream, he felt a little pain in his left shoulder. Looking down to the left, he discovered that a piece of his left shoulder had neatly disappeared, and blood was gushing out from the fist-sized wound.

And out.

The pain started getting stronger and stronger.

He began to scream in fear and ran backwards, and then everyone around him also began to flee.

The infantry formation finally collapsed.

But Yan Ming, the commander of the naval battalion who was watching all this on the ship, had a dark streak on his face.

He was not satisfied with the results of the first round of bombardment.

Only six of the thirty new front-loading cannons fired hit a suitable position in front of the enemy infantry formation on the opposite side and formed lethal ricochet. Most of the rest either flew over the head or were too close to the target.

The jump distance is not enough.

Five or six rounds even hit the enemy's loose phalanx that was more than a hundred meters long.

Although the gunners are still very new, there is a bit of wind today, and the time for the new guns to be equipped is also very short, and the trajectory of the cannonballs after they burn red is also somewhat different from the normal ballistics.

But the wind was not strong, the waves were very small, and the oarsmen stopped completely. The swing of the ship was really not large, and the performance of the new cannon was not to mention, and it was still such a big target.
To be continued...