"boom"
With a thunderous roar, Prime Minister Xia's ship had been hit by two or three hot metal shells! Yes, it’s a blazing cannonball! They are all "iron bullets" that burn brightly on the stove. If a person is hit by one, he will be half-baked on the spot and leave peacefully. If the ship were to take a shot, it would not be much better. Even if the hull was not broken, the hot shells would get stuck in the hull and might cause a small fire.
It would be even worse if this kind of "iron bullet fire" were allowed to fall on the superstructure of the building ship, or if it simply penetrated the wooden board walls and windows of the thin superstructure and penetrated into the cabin. There are a lot of flammable materials inside the cabin and on the superstructure of the ship. There is almost nothing such as sails, flags, ropes, sundries, etc. that a red "iron bullet" cannot ignite! If so, get a few more!
When the sailors on the Xia Guoxiangzuo had not yet recovered from the shock of being bombarded for the first time, the old lock ship opposite decisively fired another round of "iron bombs". This time, because the distance was closer and the aim was more accurate, four shots were hit at once, one of which was a twelve-pound large "iron bomb", which hit the top of Xia Guoxiang's head with a "click" The second floor! This "iron bomb" flew less than three feet from the center of Xia Guoxiang's head. Governor Xia could feel a deadly hot wind blowing towards his face, which scared him into a cold sweat! If it were any lower, he would have to be hit by a red-hot iron ball weighing twelve kilograms, and he would die on the spot!
"Quick, quick, quick." The words of the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy of the Great Zhou Dynasty were not easy to say. When he said "Quickly withdraw", he got stuck on the word "Quickly", and he could not pronounce the word "Quickly".
The soldiers guarding him were quite brave. When he heard the Governor's words, one of the soldiers shouted "Yes" loudly, then turned around and ran to the rower's cabin below the deck to convey the Governor's order!
Although the superstructure of this warship has been burned by several "iron bombs", many cabins have already caught fire. But no one knew about it in the rower's cabin on the lower deck. It was still a lively scene with everyone working hard.
Emperor Wu said: The rise and fall of the Great Zhou Dynasty will depend on this battle. The troops of the Great Zhou Dynasty will advance but not retreat!
Moreover, Wu Sangui is not the Japs Dongxiang who only knows how to make people die by talking nonsense, he actually provides benefits to his subordinates! The land deeds in Sichuan have been prepared. As long as they are completed this time, every one of the soldiers below will be counted as a Sichuan landowner, high or low!
If you row a boat and work hard, you can win a big landowner in Sichuan. How can these rowers recruited from the countryside of Huguang not work hard?
And the soldier who passed the order to Xia Guoxiang was also a clever guy. He knew how to tell lies to boost the morale of the army. He rushed into the rower's cabin and shouted: "Guys, please work harder, Li Datou's ship may be ahead."
Mr. Qian, the leading oarsman in the cabin, immediately yelled: "Brothers, work harder, row harder, and hit the man named Li to death!"
"Pull harder, row harder!"
The rowers below suddenly became more energetic and all opened their arms to paddle. This building ship was originally going smoothly, but now with the push of the oars, its speed suddenly increased, and it was getting closer and closer to the old lock ship.
"boom"
The Ming army gunner on the old lock ship opposite was really rude to the target that came to his door. He fired another round of "iron bullets". This time, four red-hot shells hit the building ship, not at all. The vague ones are four holes, and they are also lit, I don’t know what? The beating made this building ship "very angry"!
But this time it was not the Ming army's old lock ship that opened fire alone, but two warships that were about to collide and were firing at each other with artillery.
There are also two twelve-pound cannons on the bow of Prime Minister Xia's ship. They have just fired the first round and the penultimate round - because those gunners will die soon! Two six-pound solid bullets roared and hit the hull of the old lock ship opposite, opening two big holes on the spot. However, these two solid bullets were good solid bullets in their own right, weren't they? The evil spirit brought a smoking "iron bomb", so it didn't cause much damage.
Xiang Guoxiang has already asked two soldiers to help him up. He is preparing to escape before the battle! We had no choice but to escape, and we immediately ran into each other, and the cannons of the old lock ship on the opposite side kept firing. I wonder if this ship, which was on fire everywhere after being bombarded by the enemy's shells, would collide and fall apart? He didn't want the eldest princess of the Wu Sangui family to become a widow. Just as he was being supported by two soldiers and walked along the verandah deck to the starboard side of the building, a series of roars came from behind him!
This time it was a "cannon exchange" between the two sides. The two cannons on the bow of Xia Guoxiang's ship still fired two solid bullets. Because the distance was close, the shots were still successful, and they fired again on the hull of the old lock ship. There were two holes.
And the old lockboat responded with a wave of heartless shotguns!
These were twelve bronze cannons, including two twelve-pound red cannons, which fired a wave of cannonballs at the bow of the Xia Kingdom's ship! The Ming Navy used heavy shotshells with each bullet weighing three taels. A six-pound shotgun usually contained twenty-eight to thirty bullets, and a twelve-pound shotgun usually contained sixty bullets. A single salvo of ten six-pound cannons and two twelve-pound cannons output more than four hundred bullets! Immediately, the bow of this building ship was beaten to pieces with corpses all over the place. There were almost no living people left, and they were even dead in an ugly way. Everyone had holes in their bodies that were bleeding. It was really miserable.
If Xia Guoxiang had left a little later, Wu Sangui's eldest daughter would have become a widow! And his soldiers and staff, who walked a little slower, are now lying on the bow deck of the ship very peacefully!
Although the bow of this building boat has been washed away by the enemy's shotguns, and it was also hit by "iron bullets" and smoke was everywhere, the rower's cabin below was still in full swing, and everyone was rowing profusely with sweat. Holding the oar and shouting the labor chant, the boat was driven forward.
Suddenly, a "click" was heard, followed by violent shaking. Everyone in the cabin and on the deck could not stand still, and they all fell to the ground. Of course, Xia Guoxiang was no exception. He fell and landed on his face. His handsome face hit the hard wood of the deck with a bang. His nose was crooked and his front teeth were knocked out!
But now was the critical moment to escape. Xia Guoying had no choice but to endure the pain and get up. As soon as he stood firm, he heard someone shouting in his ear: "We collided!"
What hit each other? Xia Guoxiang turned around and found that it was broken! It was my building ship that collided with the old lock ship! Perhaps the old lock ship raised its anchor before the collision and then evaded it, but it did not completely avoid it. Therefore, the bow of the building ship did not hit the waist of the old lock ship, but hit it. The old lock ship's butt.
However, since Wu Zhoujun's building ships were all flat-headed and there was no collision angle below the waterline, the collision did not cause much damage to the sturdy old lock ship. However, Wu Zhoujun's building ships were equipped with a row of iron hooks on the flat heads. , when the collision occurred, the row of iron hooks was inserted into the plank of the old lock ship under the influence of huge momentum. With this insertion, the two warships were connected together, and no one could escape except jumping into the river and swimming!
Xia Guoxiang covered his face and turned to look at the Yangtze River. It was so far away from the river bank, and there was no hope of swimming across it. At this time, he noticed a wave of heat coming from behind him, so he turned around and looked again, and found that there was a fire coming out of the second-floor cabin of the building ship he was in!
This is really fatal!
The ship was on fire, surrounded by water, and connected to an enemy ship!
This Xia Guoxiang is really unlucky. This time he was either burned to death, drowned in water, or killed by the Ming army. He had no place to run!
Just when Xia Guoqiang was anxious, the cry of killing suddenly started, and then he saw a large group of navy warriors holding swords, carrying ladders, barefoot, and wearing only single clothes from the upper cabin or deck of the building ship. They rushed out from the rower's cabin below. It looks like the morale is quite high!
Mr. Qian from a rower cabin saw Xia Guoxiang with a bruised nose and swollen face, and hurriedly came up to say hello: "Prince-in-law, what's wrong with you? Is it okay?"
"Whatever it is, it doesn't matter. You quickly lead people to put out the fire, otherwise they will all be burned to death!" Contain it. And he himself had to bite the bullet and take a group of knife players who specialize in gang fighting to go to the bow of the ship to see how to fight in the water?
This is really embarrassing for Xia Guoxiang, the landlubber navy commander. But when Xia Guoxiang returned to the bow deck under the protection of a group of shield soldiers, he suddenly realized that he might be involved in a water fight. Because he found that the poop of the old lockboat blocking the bow of his ship looked almost like a castle, and there were even crenellations on the poop!
This water battle turns out to be the same style as a siege battle!
When he finally understood the essence of water warfare, Xia Guolian hurriedly called for another Chief Qian and asked him to lead his men to carry ladders to attack the city, no, attack the ship!
He himself did not dare to take the lead. He was afraid that the Ming army would hit him in the face with artillery shells, so he huddled on the verandah deck behind the bow deck, relying on the wall panel of the superstructure of the building as a shelter. Feeling that it was not safe, he gave up his hand. Go down and find a wooden shield to block the front.
As soon as he protected himself, gunshots were heard in front of him! He quickly leaned on the wooden shield and looked forward. After a quick look, he realized that the sailors below were really attacking the city! This has led to the ladder being put up on the back stern of the house.
However, the Ming army was not a vegetarian. They were condescending and shooting with flintlock guns. It was like a rain of bullets, and they immediately killed and injured the group of Wu Zhou sailors with high morale!
The sailors who climbed up the ladder also knew how powerful the Ming Dynasty's "defensive city" navy was. Not only did they have muskets, but they also had a wooden handle that looked like a small hammer to explode thunder. It had a cast iron shell, filled with granular black powder. Small holes were cut into the iron shell, and a wooden tube fuse was inserted. After it was lit, it was smashed down on the bow of the building as if it was free of charge. Just throw out more than a dozen! Some didn't explode, but those that did exploded in a large area. Even Sailor Wu Zhou who had climbed up the ladder was injured by the shrapnel flying from behind, and fell down screaming.
Wu Zhou's navy also had guns, but they did not have flintlock muskets, only large-caliber turtle-dove-foot muskets, which were used to beat ship planks. However, the boards of the old lock ship were too thick, and the projectiles of the turtle-dove-foot muskets could not hit them at all, and it was difficult for the Ming army musketeers who relied on the crenels to fire.
So after a while, Wu Jun's musketeers were at a disadvantage in the exchange of fire!
For a time, the bow of the tower ship was full of dead bodies, and the deck was dyed red with blood. And this wave of attacks on the stern tower of the Ming army's old lock ship had suffered a disastrous defeat by this time!
Unable to bear the losses, the sailors of Wuzhou Army finally realized that it was not easy to be a big landowner in Sichuan, so they had to retreat in defeat crying.
It seems that it is not easy to attack the city on the water of the Yangtze River!
Just when Xia Guoxiang looked at the defeated sailors and the stern of the old lock ship that was much higher than the bow of the ship he was on, and didn't know what to do for a moment, something suddenly happened on the stern of the ship. A few ropes were thrown down, and then batch after batch of skilled Ming army sailors climbed out from behind the crenellations on the stern of the ship, and slid down the ropes to the bow of the building where Prime Minister Xia Guo was.
These Ming army sailors were all swordsmen. After sliding down, they stepped on the corpse of Wu Zhoujun and began to charge towards the veranda deck where Prime Minister Xia was!
Wu Zhoujun's sailors had just failed to "attack the ship" and suffered heavy losses. Now they were suppressed by the musketeers on the poop of the old lock ship with flintlock guns. How could they withstand the attack of the Ming saber players? After barely resisting for a while, they were defeated because more and more Ming troops came to join the gang!
Prime Minister Xia had no choice but to turn towards the stern of the ship under the protection of his own soldiers. While running, he also groped on the river surface, trying to find a small boat that could rescue him.
After looking around, I discovered that at this time, there were building boats and old lock boats fighting each other everywhere on the Yangtze River! Some building ships also hit the old lock ship and were inseparable! In some cases, two boats were put together, and many ropes, perhaps with iron hooks, were thrown onto the Wu family's building boat. Some of the ships looked like they had been captured by the Ming army, with red flags flying on them! There are also fierce battles going on on some buildings and ships, with gunshots, explosions, and shouts of killing! There were also several old lock ships and building ships that collided with each other. The fires were out of control. The sailors on both sides were jumping into the Yangtze River like dumplings!
In addition, there were several building boats that did not collide with the old lock boats, but were besieged by the Ming army's fast crab boats, and it seemed difficult to escape!
Xia Guoxiang observed for a while, and his heart was already cold, because he did not find any fierce fighting going on on any old lock ship, and it seemed that no old lock ship had been breached. Obviously, a ship with a high forecastle and a high stern The old lock ship is easy to defend but difficult to attack. It looks like a castle floating on the water!
However, the building ship with its lower side and smaller bow and stern suffered a lot in the battle with the old lock ship! The old lock ship is condescending and occupies the advantage of the terrain!
This water battle actually depends on terrain and geographical location!
Xia Guoxiang's eyes were opened!
And those high-rise ships with low sides do not seem to have much advantage when encountering the siege of fast crab boats. Fast crab ships are much more flexible than high-rise ships, and their firepower is not inferior. It seems that it is difficult to board the high-rise ships from the fast crab boats. It's not that difficult.
In addition, it seems that the fast crab boat can also hit the oars of the building boat - Xia Guoxiang saw that the oars on one side of the building boat were all broken and it was spinning on the water!
Suddenly, he saw a ship flying the flag of Wu Zhou approaching. He may have noticed that he was the left governor, so he hurriedly shouted with his soldiers: "Quickly, come here quickly. Commander Xia Guoxiang is here this!"
As soon as they shouted, the bluffing boat came closer. Just when Xia Guoxiang thought he was about to be rescued, he suddenly realized that something was wrong! There were actually several sailors with red scarves on their heads standing on this boat that was still flying the flag of Wu Zhou, and they were all pointing flintlock guns at him. One of them even shouted loudly: "Xia Guoxiang, you still haven't surrendered!"
From Hukou, go down to Zhongshan Fort.
The dragon flag of the Great Zhou Emperor has been flying on this fort on the bank of the Yangtze River for two days and two nights.
Wu Sangui, on the other hand, couldn't sleep for two days and two nights - ever since Xia Guoxiang and Hu Guozhu led the main force of the Zhou Navy to attack, he felt uneasy and couldn't sleep at all.
He is now deep into Jiangxi and stationed in Jiujiang and Hukou, relying entirely on the navy for logistics. Once the Yangtze River Navy of the Great Zhou Dynasty was defeated, it would be difficult for him to return to Wuchang Fucheng intact, let alone capture Jiangxi.
Once Wuchang Fucheng was recaptured by Li Zicheng and Li Zhongshan, the national destiny of the Great Zhou Dynasty might take a turn for the worse!
Wu Sangui, who was walking around in a large golden-domed tent, felt stars in his eyes when he thought that Wuchang Mansion might be lost. At this time, someone suddenly heard shouting outside his golden-domed tent: "Grandpa, grandpa, our building boat is back!"
came back?
It's good to be back!
Wu Sangui breathed a sigh of relief. At this time, Wu Shifan had already opened the curtain of the big tent and walked in.
"How's it going? How many are you back? Are there any Ming army warships following you?"
"The thirty or so old lock ships that have not seen the Ming army are following us back!"
"Thank God!" Wu Sangui breathed a sigh of relief, "Let's go and have a look with grandpa!"
"Yes!" Wu Shifan hurriedly helped Wu Sangui out of the tent and came to the heights of the Xiazhongshan Fort. At this time, the thirty or so boats, which looked to be somewhat injured, had already reached the Xiazhongshan Fort. under.
At this moment, the triangular red-bottomed dragon flags of Wu Zhoujun on these buildings suddenly lowered one after another, and then raised bright red rectangular flags - these were the bloody red flags of the Republic and Ming Dynasty!
Immediately afterwards, Wu Sangui, who was in shock, heard an unknown number of people shouting in unison: "On that day in Dinghu, I abandoned the world, defeated the enemy, took the capital, and went to Yuguan. Weeping and mourning, the six armies are all in silence, and they are angry and become a beauty."
(End of chapter)
