Yangzhong, like Jingjiang, is an island on the Yangtze River. This island faces Jiangdu and is also the largest island away from Jingjiang.
However, at this time, Yangzhong was not called this name yet, because Yangzhong was a land formed by the sedimentation of the Yangtze River, so it was called "Shazhou".
However, Yangzhong at this time was not a whole big island, but divided into two islands.
Among them, the big island is named "Shazhou", and the other small island is called "Xishazhou". The two islands echo each other and were once the important towns of the Yangtze River Navy in the Ming Dynasty.
It is said that in the early days of the Kingdom, Duke Xu Da of Wei once stationed troops in Shazhou.
Based on the intelligence collected, Xu Shixing said to Su Ze:
"Shazhou is the fiefdom of the Duke of Wei. Since the invasion of Japanese pirates, the Duke of Wei has abandoned Shazhou and evacuated all to Nanjing."
"The villagers in Xisha Prefecture have formed a team to protect each other. They are fighting against the Japanese pirates and are defending Xisha Prefecture."
"Isn't this generation of Wei Guogong working as an errand in Nanjing City? Why does the Xu family still have land in Shazhou?"
Xu Shixing said: "This piece of land in Shazhou was awarded to the Duke of Wei in the Hongwu Year. There is also a 'Daxing Temple' in Shazhou, which is the Xu family's temple and is used to worship Duke Wei."
Xu Da was a hero in the early Ming Dynasty, and it was normal for him to be granted a fiefdom. The current Duke of Wei was named Xu Pengju, and he was the governor of Nanjing's Central Military Command, and he was in Nanjing at this time.
Xu Shixing sighed and said: "This Shazhou was originally an estate given to the Xu family by Emperor Hongwu. The imperial court has never set up a county in Shazhou. It's just that these descendants of the Xu family really don't have the spirit of Wei Guogong. Every time something happens in Nanzhili I will run back to Nanjing."
Su Ze also understood the urinary nature of these meritorious nobles of the Ming Dynasty. Now the two highest-ranking ministers in Nanjing, Xu Pengju, Duke of Wei, and Li Tingzhu, Marquis of Linhuai, were called "Xu Pigs and Li Dogs" by the people. Xu Pengju was extremely greedy and went around everywhere. He invaded and occupied people's fields, while Li Tingzhu exploited the soldiers wantonly. The officers and soldiers in Southern Zhili hated him to the core.
"How is the situation in Xisha Prefecture?"
Xu Shixing said: "The people in Xisha Prefecture are all surnamed Wang, and they all come from the Wang family who immigrated to Shazhou in the early days of the Republic of China. There are more than a thousand Wang family members in Xisha Prefecture. Now they have organized group training to fight against the Japanese, and the Japanese pirates have not yet been able to board. Go to Xishazhou."
"So the Wang family in Xisha Prefecture is still resisting, but the Wei Guogong family has escaped?"
Xu Shixing nodded helplessly. The Wuxun family of the Ming Dynasty had long since fallen, and the Wuxun who stayed in Nanjing had long since lost their combat effectiveness. They were not as good as the group training organized by the village.
Xu Shixing nodded and said: "Now the government troops are fighting fiercely with the Japanese pirates in Nanjing and Zhenjiang, and those who fled to Shazhou are small groups of Japanese pirates."
Su Ze asked: "How many Japanese pirates are there in Shazhou now?"
Based on the intelligence collected, Xu Shixing said: "The ones occupying Shazhou are a group of Japanese pirates called 'Langdu' under Xu Hai. There are about 200 people. Now they have occupied the Xu family's house and are constantly intruding on Xishazhou. state."
Su Ze looked at the map and said: "Xisha Prefecture is too close to Jingjiang. If Xisha Prefecture falls, Japanese pirates will definitely invade Jingjiang. This time I will take the initiative to drive away the Japanese pirates gathered in Shazhou."
On May 15, Su Ze once again beat the drum to gather troops. This time he brought ten sand ships. Two of the sand ships were equipped with Fran cannons on the bows. One of them was manned by Su Ze himself, and the other by Lin Deyang controls.
The one hundred regiment drills originally stationed on the island plus the fifty newly recruited Jingjiang recruits all boarded the ship and headed upstream to Shazhou.
Shazhou was originally formed by the sedimentation of the Yangtze River, and the riverbanks were quite gentle. The appearance of a group of boats like Su Ze near Shazhou immediately attracted the attention of the Japanese pirates on Shazhou Island.
The leader of Langdu was named Xu Yuan, a fellow villager of Xu Hai. Because he had the same surname, Xu Yuan often claimed to be Xu Hai's brother.
The Japanese pirates under Xu Hai were divided into many small groups. On weekdays, these groups robbed at sea on their own. When Xu Hai attacked the Ming Dynasty coast, these small groups would gather together and obey Xu Hai's orders.
Xu Yuan and Xu Hai were both from Huizhou Prefecture. In this Japanese pirate group, his Huizhou Prefecture Township Party was also the backbone, plus some rogues recruited from the Japanese country, as well as Nanyang and Koreans who made a living at sea, the total number was about two Hundreds of people.
After Xu Yuan landed with Xu Hai, Xu Hai originally ordered him to attack Zhenjiang.
However, there were many officers and soldiers in Zhenjiang, and they resolutely carried out the tactics of strengthening the walls and clearing the country. Xu Yuan did not grab anything, so he gave up Zhenjiang and came to Shazhou.
Sure enough, the Xu family in Shazhou was vulnerable and even withdrew from Shazhou without any resistance. Xu Yuan occupied the Xu family's house in Shazhou and even staged a funny acknowledgment of their ancestors in the 'Daxing Temple'. During the ceremony, he said in front of the Japanese pirates that he was a descendant of Xu Da and put gold on his face.
"Xu Gong! There are boats on the river!"
One of his subordinates hurriedly came to report that Xu Yuan had just woken up from the Xu family mansion. He was still holding a woman snatched from nearby. Yesterday was a good day for him to "recognize his ancestors and return to his clan". After the ceremony, he stayed up all night Dadan was drinking and having fun, but his head was still buzzing at this time.
Xu Yuan asked in a daze: "Who is so blind to come here and die while I am doing good things?"
The Ming Dynasty's Yangtze River Navy had all been destroyed in the Jingkou Fire, so Xu Yuan was so confident. He had a boat in hand, and with these two hundred Japanese pirates, he could run rampant. If the war was unfavorable, he could immediately escape to the sea by boat.
"It's coming from downstream, it's a sand ship!"
Sand ship?
Xu Yuan woke up immediately. The sand ship was a cargo ship. Could it be a ship used by the Ming Dynasty to transport supplies?
It must be true. Sand ships are usually used to transport goods. If they appear on the Yangtze River at this time, they must be ships used by the Ming army to transport supplies.
Xu Yuan immediately put on a pair, and then put on the virtuous crown from the Xu family's old residence, and said majestically: "Kill the enemy with your father!"
The warships under Xu Yuan's command are three "Eagle Ships" worth 200 materials.
Xu Yuan snatched this from the navy of the Ming Dynasty. The so-called eagle ship is a kind of warship with two ends raised high, the whole ship is covered with a black tarpaulin, and there is no sail and it only slides by oars.
The tarpaulin on the ship can defend against bow and arrow attacks, and the oars can be used to sail quickly on the Yangtze River. The Eagle Ship's tactics are to use its maneuverability to quickly approach the target, and then use hooks like eagle claws to lock the enemy's warship, and then proceed Boarding the ship for combat.
During the Poyang Lake water battle, the Eagle Ship played a huge role, defeating Chen Youliang's elite fleet with a small number and a large number.
Xu Yuan took the Japanese pirates on board the ship, and Su Ze watched the three ships sail out from the dock and quickly approached his sand ship.
"Zhang Fan, Xingyue Formation!"
With an order, the sails of the sand boats were opened, and the oarsmen also sat in their positions. The ten sand boats gradually turned into a crescent shape. At both ends of the crescent were gunboats equipped with Fran cannons, and the soldiers on the sand boats that formed the crescent were Weapons were prepared and ready for battle.
Xu Yuan saw Su Ze's fleet changing formation, but he didn't panic at all. The Ming Dynasty Navy's combat effectiveness made Xu Yuan regard Su Ze as a lamb to be slaughtered.
"Speed up! Don't let the fat sheep get away!"
Although Xu Yuan's eagle ship was fighting against the wind, there were four large oars on each side of the eagle ship. As the Japanese pirates struggled to slide, the three black eagle ships quickly approached.
Su Ze ordered the messenger: "Inform Lin Deyang to use the star-and-moon formation to surround the enemy ship before attacking! Wait until the enemy enters the encirclement before firing!"
The messenger immediately passed on Su Ze's order in flag language. With the colorful flags waving, the entire Xingyue Formation opened its "pocket" and took out the three eagle ships.
Until this time, Xu Yuan still didn't find anything wrong.
The three eagle ships were completely surrounded by the fleet, and Su Ze immediately ordered:
"Adjust the bow of the ship and prepare to attack!"
Su Ze loaded the artillery shells into the sub-cylinder of the Folan cannon, installed the sub-cylinder into the main cylinder, checked the air tightness, and began to calculate the trajectory of the artillery shell.
The artillery shells used by Su Ze are also special chain shells. This is a special artillery shell for naval warfare. It uses an iron chain to link two solid shells so that they can be fired as a whole.
This kind of artillery shell can be used to hit local masts, oars and other targets, and quickly destroy the opponent's power plant.
Lin Deyang's ship sent out a signal, and seeing that Lin Deyang had finished loading, Su Ze immediately ordered: "Launch!"
When Xu Yuan was still preparing to choose which fat sheep to attack, he heard two cannon shots.
Two chain rounds, one on the left and one on the right, flew directly to the side of Xu Yuan's Eagle Ship and accurately hit the oars.
There was a huge shattering sound, and the oars were broken by the chain bullets that passed quickly. The chain bullets fired by Su Ze were fired directly into the cabin, mincing an oarsman into a pulp!
After the two hits, Su Ze immediately began to clean the barrel and lifted the other barrel up.
This is the advantage of the Folan cannon. The design of the main barrel can be loaded quickly. You only need to wait for the barrel to cool down before firing the next round. You do not need to wait for the barrel to cool down completely before loading like a front-loading gun.
This time, the bladed projectile installed in the sub-tube, which is half a solid projectile and half a folded blade, is used to destroy the wooden hull structure and attack enemies on the cabin.
Xu Yuan's ship had its oars destroyed and lost power and could only float on the Yangtze River.
Su Ze, on the other hand, had already opened the sails and used the sails and oars to quickly approach Xu Yuan's ship.
Xu Yuan had been scared out of his wits by the artillery fire just now. When he saw the sand ship approaching rapidly, his mind went blank.
Fortunately, his deputy reminded: "My lord! The ship will be picked up soon!"
"Yes, yes, come out of the cabin quickly! Get ready to pick up the ship and fight!"
But as soon as Xu Yuan finished speaking, he heard the sound of the cannon again, and a cannonball with a shining metallic light flew out of the barrel, and then quickly spread into a blade that was traveling rapidly!
"Get down!"
A cold light flashed, and Xu Yuan's reaction was quite fast. He lay on the cabin with his head in his arms and escaped, but his deputy was not so lucky.
The sharp blade cut open the deputy's arm. The deputy screamed and fell into the Yangtze River.
Many Japanese pirates who came out of the cabin suffered the same fate. The sound of falling into the water was heard, and the river water around the eagle ship was dyed red.
A half-moon-shaped formation of sand ships surrounded them. As key officers took the lead in the charge, the three eagle ships quickly fell.
Su Ze led the fleet to hunt down the Japanese pirates who jumped into the river to escape. Xiang Yong, holding a harpoon, with a deep hatred for the Japanese pirates, skewered all the Japanese pirates who tried to swim to escape to death.
The Japanese pirates who stayed on the ship did not escape either.
Xu Yuan, who was wearing the title of Jinxianguan, was found out. Su Ze followed the tradition of not pardoning Japanese pirates and shot Xu Yuan and sank him into the Yangtze River. The remaining Japanese pirates were also sunk into the river.
After the war, Su Ze dragged three boats to Shazhou Island.
That’s it for this chapter. I’ll update it in the evening and post it around ten o’clock.
(End of chapter)
