"Commander, we have seen the enemy ship, do you want to fire?"
On the deck of the Bohai Navy's Three Thousand Materials Dafu ship, when Zheng Jun asked Yang Zhan, Yang Zhan just observed both sides with a monocular telescope and understood the approximate distance.
"I am familiar with Nanchenghuang Island. We are still five miles away from them now, and the artillery fire has not been effective."
"Order the entire army to follow the wind and move southwest. All fire ships are waiting for my military order to be released. Don't waste the wind direction God has given us."
Yang Zhan had been fighting Japanese pirates on the Imperial City Islands for several months and knew the situation here very well.
Although the wind direction during this season is northwest, there will be a northerly wind for a while after noon.
As long as he catches that north wind, the one hundred and forty fire ships prepared by his seventy warships can achieve great success!
"The whole army rushes forward, don't give the thieves a chance to use fire ships!"
How could Chen Xuan not know what Yang Zhan was thinking.
Although he didn't know that there was a north wind, he knew what tactics the Ming army was best at attacking enemy ships.
As long as the fireships filled with kerosene and gunpowder follow the wind and go south, the more than 200 warships will be reimbursed by at least 30%.
While the bandits have not put down their fire ships, he must lead the entire army to fight against them and win with shorthand combat.
For a moment, the two fleets began to take command respectively. Zheng Jun was nervous for a moment after seeing more than 200 warships of the Southern Army heading north.
But when he saw Yang Zhan's calm appearance, he unknowingly relaxed.
In fact, he didn't know that Yang Zhan was also feeling very heavy at the moment.
Chen Xuan could return to Daqin Island and even Dengzhou City after defeat, but Yang Zhan was different.
The Imperial City Islands are not under his control, and Lushun is much farther from Nanchenghuang Island than Daqin Island. Once they are defeated, they will not be able to find a small island to rely on, because North and South Chenghuang Islands There were not enough people to supply them.
Once they encounter a storm or the battle situation is unfavorable, their outcome is self-evident.
"Team up! Team up!"
"Don't hit the rudder too hard, fill all the artillery with gunpowder, and prepare to approach the platoon!"
"Fire ship ready..."
Under the constant northerly wind, it was difficult for the Bohai Fleet to retreat, and it was difficult for the Southern Navy to reorganize.
Although the wind in the Bohai Sea at the end of spring is not strong and unstable, the fleet does not need a shelter.
In addition, they are close to the seabed of Nanchenghuang Island and can be anchored directly in the sea. Therefore, their only risk is the typhoon problem, but Yang Zhan did not encounter a typhoon during the voyage.
There is no typhoon, which is good news for both armies.
Under the military orders of both sides, the Southern Army used fast bird ships as the vanguard to move north, while the Bohai Navy put down fireships filled with gunpowder and kerosene.
The distance between the two sides is getting closer, from ten miles at the beginning to five miles, and now to two miles.
The Southern Army had entered the artillery range of the Bohai Fleet, but Yang Zhan did not give the order to fire.
Chen Xuan asked Wang Sheng and Song Sheng, two navy commanders who had followed him for many years, to serve as vanguards, and he supervised the battle from the boat.
Obstructed by the wind, it was difficult for the Southern Army's big bird ships to move forward. Only the twenty-four big bird ships headed by Wang Sheng broke into the eight-mile range of the Bohai Fleet.
"Left full rudder, prepare to fire!"
Yang Zhan calmly waited for the arrival of Wang Sheng's twenty-four big bird ships, and then ordered the entire fleet to turn full rudder.
Fixed by the anchor, they quickly filled the rudder, the ship began to tilt, and the muzzle plate on the right side was pulled open side by side in an instant.
Wang Sheng and others were targeted by hundreds of naval guns in an instant. The feeling was indescribable.
"The whole army attacks!!"
Wang Sheng stood on the bow of the big bird ship, pulled out his sword and was about to break into the Bohai Fleet's formation, ignite the Bohai Navy's fireships to blast them, but his plan stopped at the moment when the cannon sounded.
"put!"
"Boom! Boom! Boom!!"
At the moment when the gunfire sounded, seven hundred shells roared towards the Confederate Bird Ship Fleet, which was less than half a mile away from them.
At such a distance, the Big Bird Ship almost became a target.
At least a quarter of the seven hundred shells were lost in the fleet, and the crushed wood chips became deadly weapons, reaping the lives of Confederate sailors.
"The first team of fire ships is released!"
Yang Zhan gave the order calmly, and a moment later more than ten fire ships rushed out of the Bohai Fleet with purpose, rushing towards the eleven or two surviving bird ships.
The shirtless sailor lit the fireship's fuse and jumped into the sea just as the two sides were about to collide.
"Bang bang bang——"
More than a dozen bright fires lit up on the sea, and the more than twenty bird ships of the vanguard, together with the vanguard officer Wang Sheng, disappeared into the sea.
The Southern Army, which had used fire ships to attack the enemy all year round, also experienced the power of fire ships. Everyone was frightened by the destruction of one-third of the bird ship fleet, even Chen Xuan.
Yang Zhan could clearly calculate the direction in which the sea breeze would blow the waves, and which direction could send his fireship to the Yangtze River naval formation the fastest, but Chen Xuan could not.
This is not because Chen Xuan is incompetent, but because he is not familiar with the culture of the Bohai Sea.
"The hull is back on track, all fireships are ready!"
Yang Zhan gave the order calmly. When the surrounding generals and soldiers were cheering, he knew very well that he was not qualified to cheer.
The destruction of more than twenty bird ships was far from a traumatic event for the Yangtze River Navy.
Sure enough, in the face of failure, Chen Xuan was not discouraged at all, but sent out a second wave of bird ship troops again.
At this time, the north wind that Yang Zhan was waiting for came...
"Set the boat on fire, set them all on fire!"
Seeing that the wind flag began to shift, Yang Zhan ordered the entire army to release the fire ships without thinking.
Chen Xuan, who also felt the change in wind direction, also changed his expression: "All the ships dispersed, the pirates are going to set fire to the ships!"
As soon as Chen Xuan finished speaking, he saw the fire ships of the Bohai Fleet coming out less than two miles away from them. Some of them found the charging bird ships, while others came straight towards their main force.
With the blessing of the north wind, the speed of the fire ships even exceeded that of the bird ships traveling upstream. A large number of bird ships were destroyed by the explosions of the fire ships, and many sailors jumped into the sea to wait for rescue.
Due to insufficient paper armor, many soldiers wearing armor sank into the sea.
Some were still able to calm down and use a rope cutter to cut off their armor ropes and surface, but most of them sank to the bottom of the sea.
"Retract the anchor!"
When all the fire ships rushed out, Yang Zhan also ordered the anchors to be put away.
If the iron cable anchor wants to be retracted, the speed cannot be too fast. It must wait for the ship to retreat and then slowly be retracted manually using a winch.
The sailors on the warship need to contend with the north wind and help the warship keep retreating.
This process took a lot of time, but it was within the scope of Yang Zhan's calculations.
Under his gaze, the fire ship had already broken into the dispersing Yangtze River Fleet of the Confederate Army, and bright sparks began to bloom one after another.
"Captain, the anchors have been brought up!"
Zheng Jun saw that most of the ships were flagging "completed" and immediately informed Yang Zhan.
Yang Zhan was not in a hurry, and after waiting for a while, he waved the command flag in his hand: "The whole army attacks!"
At once, seventy warships began to attack, and all the artillery was ready with gunpowder and shells.
The Bohai Navy's fleet went south, and while the Yangtze River Navy was avoiding the fire ships, the entire fleet rushed into their formation.
"put!"
"Bang bang bang——"
Not only the artillery of the Bohai Navy was sounding, but the artillery of the Southern Army also played a role at this moment.
The difference is that the artillery shells of the Southern Army are all granite stone shells, while the artillery shells of the Bohai Navy are special shells made of iron shells mixed with pig iron.
When the iron cannonballs penetrated the hull of the Yangtze River Navy, these special cannonballs shot into the air and glowed faintly.
"Boom boom boom——"
In an instant, these special pig iron cannonballs suddenly exploded, and the tiny iron pellets in them shot in all directions.
The flowering shell, Zhu Gaoxu made this shell appear in the Ming Dynasty more than a hundred years in advance.
The missile contains gunpowder and other materials without a proximity or delayed fuse. It is ignited by twisting a matchlock. It can explode after being launched and injure people with shrapnel and marbles.
Faced with the double blow of iron artillery shells and explosive bombs, the left and right Yangtze River naval divisions, which were only dozens or hundreds of steps away from the Bohai Fleet, were defeated, and there were countless leaking warships.
"how come!"
Chen Xuan almost gritted his teeth. He thought that the Bohai Navy's artillery was sharp, but he never thought that the Bohai Navy's artillery shells could penetrate his own warship.
If such powerful artillery is used to attack a city, unless it is a city wall made of bluestone, even a city wall covered with rammed earth and bricks will not be able to withstand it.
In the information he obtained, there was no mention of explosive shells and sharp artillery that could penetrate the hull.
"The thieves have a backup plan..."
As soon as Chen Xuan's idea came to his mind, a "crackling" sound similar to fried beans appeared on the sea.
After all, the Yangtze River Navy was also an elite. Although the Bohai Navy's artillery was sharp, they also knew that there was a gap after the artillery fired. Therefore, many warships that were not seriously injured began to pick up the ship's side and lay planks in preparation for melee combat.
However, in the face of their charge, the Bohai matchlock soldiers who had been waiting early had already formed a formation and started firing rounds.
After three rounds of volleys were exhausted, the Confederate sailors suffered heavy casualties.
There were only forty or fifty people in a ship. After the double blow of volleys of guns and artillery, there were very few survivors left.
Instead, the soldiers of the Bohai Navy took advantage of the situation and launched a counterattack, seizing one Yangtze River Navy warship after another.
The scene was too chaotic. The orders of various ministries had been disrupted by the Bohai ships that broke into the formation. More than 200 warships were divided by 70 tall Bohai Navy warships.
All Chen Xuan could see was the smoke when the matchlocks and artillery were fired, and the shouts of killing all around.
"Ming Jin withdraws troops!"
After realizing that he could not revive his troops, Chen Xuan did not hesitate to order the withdrawal.
Compared to heading upwind, their retreat became smoother.
It's just that they are not alone in this tailwind. The Bohai Navy has maintained the advantage of tailwind from the beginning of the war to the present.
Facing the retreating Yangtze River Navy, Yang Zhan unhurriedly divided the fleet into three lines of attack:
Middle Road: There are 21 ships in total, divided into seven teams, each team has three ships. They are personally commanded by Yang Zhan and serve as the main force to attack Chen Xuan's boat.
Right: There are a total of eighteen ships, divided into six teams. Cui Jun is responsible for flanking the left wing of the Yangtze River Navy.
Left side: There are a total of eighteen ships, divided into six teams. Zheng Jun is responsible for flanking the right wing of the Yangtze River Navy.
The remaining thirteen warships were left by Yang Zhan to rescue the Bohai Navy and Southern Army sailors who fell into the sea.
The three fleets attacked according to the wind and were at an advantage for a while. Song Sheng, the commander of the bird ship, was bombarded and killed, and more than a dozen bird ships were captured.
Under the setting sun, the Yangtze River Navy retreated all the way, and the Bohai Navy pursued all the way.
As the time turned westward and the seawater rose fiercely, many Yangtze River naval vessels ran aground on the rocks of the Imperial City Islands on their way to escape and were captured by the Bohai Navy.
In the pursuit of the Bohai Navy, the Yangtze River Navy withdrew all the way to Dengzhou.
"Send smoke and send news to Dengzhou City!"
Seeing that he was about to arrive in Dengzhou City, Chen Xuan, who was worried that Dengzhou would be unprepared, ordered the smoke to be set off.
For a moment, the Yangtze River Navy that fled south began to emit streams of smoke, but Yang Zhan, who witnessed this scene, remained calm.
Of course, this was just the surface, because he never thought that Bohai's naval guns and explosive shells were so effective.
When the more than 240 warships of the Yangtze River Navy faced his 70 warships, they were defeated in less than an hour and a half, and they fled south for two hours.
"Dang...dang...dang...dang..."
At dusk, when the rapid bells of Dengzhou City's fort rang, many people did not realize what had happened.
Qi Jian, who was inspecting the city defenses, quickly looked towards the sea when he heard the bell, and sure enough he saw streams of fire smoke rising from the sea.
"The whole city is on alert, all ships are preparing to leave the harbor, and the forts are preparing to guard the harbor!"
Qi Jian quickly reacted and directed the Denglai Navy in Dengzhou City to leave the port. At the same time, he prepared the forts on the left and right sides of the port to prepare for the enemy.
He anxiously led the team to the port. When he arrived, many sailors were hurriedly boarding the ship, and warships were slowly sailing out of the port.
Qi Jian boarded one of the lucky ships with 1,200 yuan, and at the same time ordered the twelve forts on the left and right sides to wait for orders to prepare for the enemy.
Time passed little by little, and when more than a hundred warships of the Denglai Navy sailed out of the port, the sky gradually became dark.
But in such darkness, the burning warships on the sea began to become eye-catching.
Compared with the high spirits when they set out, the Yangtze River Navy has completely become a lost dog at this moment, and the warships that returned are less than one-third of what they were before departure.
Such a scene made everyone in Denglai Navy feel numb.
The strength of the Yangtze Navy is several times that of the Denglai Navy. As the left-behind Denglai Navy, it has less than fifty warships with more than 1,000 materials, and the rest are small ships with about 500 materials.
If the opponent is an enemy that even the Yangtze River Navy can defeat, how should they defend themselves?
"Don't panic, our army is covered by forts, it's okay!"
Qi Jian became the backbone of the Denglai Navy, but no matter how hard he calmed down the ships, he still couldn't stop the spread of panic.
Under their gaze, Chen Xuan finally escaped back with sixty or seventy warships.
They entered Dengzhou Port under the cover of the Denglai Navy, and Chen Xuan also disembarked when passing by and came to Qi Jian's boat.
"Captain, what are you..."
Qi Jian looked at the embarrassed Yangtze River Navy in surprise, but Chen Xuan said calmly: "It's too late to explain, they are coming, you go to the fort and order the fort to prepare for bombardment!"
"Yes!" Qi Jian didn't have time to ask, so he bowed and issued the military order, and followed the Yangtze River Navy ships back to Dengzhou Port.
Soon, the twelve forts in Dengzhou began to change the direction of their muzzles under Qi Jian's command.
The artillery in this group of forts are all Hongwu iron cannons weighing more than 1,000 kilograms, with a range of up to one mile. The forts are made of command strips and are two feet thick.
However, even though he knew there was such a fort, Yang Zhan still ordered the pursuit to the offshore area.
They occupied Changdao, fifteen miles away from Dengzhou, and did not seem to be preparing to retreat, but were waiting for dawn to launch a full-scale attack.
This scene made Chen Xuan look embarrassed. He did not expect that the Bohai Navy would be so brave in water battles.
At the same time, he was also very surprised. He had never heard that there were generals in Liaodong and Bohai who were good at water warfare, let alone naval warfare.
Of course, he had no time to think about these things. What he was thinking about now was what to do with the Ping-Japanese navy that he sent to southern Liaoning to harass.
He did not doubt that the Pingbo Navy was collaborating with the enemy. After all, he himself wanted to send the Pingbo Navy to harass Liaonan. However, he did not know how the Bohai Navy avoided the Pingbo Navy.
Although the Bohai Sea is very large, there are only a few fixed waterways. Unless the Bohai Navy masters a new waterway, it will be impossible to avoid the Pingwo Navy.
If the Pingbo Navy hadn't sided with the Bo Navy to help fight, he might have suspected that Yang Qiu had leaked the news.
Now that the sea route is cut off, if the Pingwa navy doesn't know the news, then they...
"Captain, Commander Yang has sent a carrier pigeon!"
In the dim ship room, Chen Xuan's face was gloomy and uncertain, when a general came hurriedly with a message from Pingwa Navy.
After hearing this, Chen Xuan grabbed the letter and quickly opened it to read.
The content was very concise. Yang Qiu replied that he had led the navy to attack Lushun, but there was not a single ship in Lushun Port, and the defenders were huddled in the city.
Next, he prepared to divide his troops to attack Jinzhou and Fuzhou to attract the main enemy force for the Yangtze River Navy.
"The main force is with me!"
Chen Xuan crumpled the letter into a ball and confirmed that Yang Qiu had not surrendered to the enemy. The Bohai Navy must have mastered a new waterway.
"Captain, what should we do now?"
The general who delivered the letter asked Chen Xuan, but Chen Xuan also had a headache.
"It's okay. We have a fort to help us. Although the Bohai artillery is sharp, from today's look, the range should not be very large."
Chen Xuan fell into the trap Yang Zhan set for him. Because today the artillery of the Bohai Navy all fired within a one-mile range, he thought that the artillery of the Bohai Navy traded range for power.
If this is the case, it can explain why the Bohai Navy does not use today's powerful artillery on land.
During the Bohai Navy's operations on land, the artillery was basically fired from two miles away, but today it was within one mile. It seems that the artillery situation was different.
Chen Xuan thought this way, but she still felt uneasy in her heart.
He was not good at naval warfare, and had no reference for the Bohai Navy's naval warfare tactics. He could only prepare the whole city for the enemy, and let the reorganized Yangtze River Navy and Denglai Navy merge to defend the enemy outside the port.
His approach was smooth and stable, at least there was nothing worthy of criticism in the water battles of this era.
However, precisely because everything is stable, it is easy to be defeated by surprise.
Before dawn, strong winds began to blow in the Bohai Sea.
Before the change of seasons, the northwest wind at sea was constantly blowing, and the Bohai Fleet, which had rested all night, also launched an attack in the early morning.
"woo woo woo woo--"
The horn sounded. Compared with yesterday, the Bohai Navy had a few fewer ships. There were only 62 ships that could pursue them here, but this was enough.
Standing on the deck, feeling the stinging cheeks from the blow, Chen Xuan nervously clenched the handle of the knife.
On the deck of the Bohai Navy, Yang Zhan also ordered: "The whole army marches to two miles and does not exceed it."
"There are twelve forts in Dengzhou, each with sixty Hongwu iron cannons. They can only hit one and a half miles away. As long as we are two miles away, they can only be beaten passively."
"Destroy the Dengzhou fort first, then charge forward with the entire army, and fight according to the way we fought yesterday."
"yes!!"
Attacking with the wind, the Bohai Navy was at an advantage, which made many superstitious Southern sailors pray.
The voices of those prayers sounded harsh, and a good-tempered person like Chen Xuan couldn't help but curse: "What's the use of praying to God and worshiping Buddha? This season is when the northwest wind blows!"
Chen Xuan scolded and regretted at the same time.
If he could wait until March before attacking, he might not be in such a mess now.
But as soon as the thought came to his mind, he shook his head and shook it out.
He knew very well that even if he did it again, he would have to mobilize troops at that time, because the court had been urging them for half a month, and with his official position and status, he could no longer hold on.
Moreover, even if he understands the strength of the Bohai Navy, can he defeat the Bohai Navy?
Chen Xuan saw clearly yesterday that the number of artillery pieces of the Bohai Sea Division was almost three times theirs.
Their artillery was numerous and powerful, far beyond what the Confederate Navy could match.
If the Pingwa Navy had not moved north, this battle would still have to be fought, but right now...
"Boom boom boom——"
The dull sound of artillery began two miles away from Denglai Navy. This sudden change made Chen Xuan look up suddenly.
"The range estimate was wrong!"
Chen Xuan realized later, but things were changing rapidly on the battlefield.
Sixty-two Bohai warships began to turn left and right to bombard Dengzhou Port, with each side representing five to six hundred shells.
When the cannonballs were two miles away, the aim began to get lower, which made Chen Xuan breathe a sigh of relief.
But then, when a warship around him was hit by bullets, and the power of its shells could still penetrate the deck and single-sided hull, his breath was suspended again.
"Can't the turret hit it?!"
Chen Xuan questioned the flag soldiers, who also cried sadly: "Captain, we can't hit him."
"It's over..." Chen Xuan closed his eyes. He seemed to have seen the fall of Dengzhou City.
If Dengzhou City is captured, Zhu Gaoxu can completely transport a large number of troops to Dengzhou with the warships captured yesterday and his own warships, just like Emperor Taizu Gao asked the two generals Ma Yun and Ye Wang to lead the army more than ten years ago. The same thing happened when tens of thousands of infantry troops crossed the sea to attack Jinzhou.
But the difference is that once Dengzhou is lost, Zhu Gaoxu can go west to capture Laizhou, and go straight to Qingzhou Prefecture and Jinan Prefecture, cutting off the grain route of the Dongchang Canal.
Once the Dongchang Canal is cut off, the 300,000 troops in Peiping...
Chen Xuan didn't dare to think about what would happen, so he could only draw his sword and shout: "The whole army attacks!"
Under his order, nearly two hundred warships set off again and launched an assault against the Bohai Navy against the wind.
At the same time, rapid wooden whistles also came from the Bohai Fleet.
"The enemy is coming from the north!!"
"Beep--"
The sudden change caused many Bohai naval generals to look back nervously.
To the north of Long Island, a fleet of hundreds of warships appeared on the sea level.
This scene made the Confederate navy, which was launching the charge, excited.
"The Pingwa Navy is here to help! The entire army attacks!"
"Rush!!"
The navy of the Southern Army was like a chicken blood, and the soldiers of the Bohai Sea were also nervously preparing to meet the enemy.
In such a chaotic environment, only Yang Zhan was very calm.
He made slight changes to his original plan, and did so to protect his father's safety.
But even so, the outcome of this naval battle will still not change...
"Prepare to meet the enemy!"
(End of chapter)
