It is a very good idea to gather your own muskets to target the naval warships cruising on the river and conduct focused fire.
Wang Dingguo thought that he could give a bad breath to himself and even his soldiers, and give a severe blow to the arrogance of Gou Guanjun.
In particular, we must avenge the soldiers who were sunk or even sunk by the warships. We must not allow these official warships to run rampant on the river and act arbitrarily.
But the actual situation was completely different from what he imagined. The general made a common-sense mistake. If it were Zhang Xianzhong who was smart, he would probably not do this here.
The land division fights the water division, and the fixed target fights the moving target. The opponent not only has strong firepower, but also has extremely high defense. This in itself is an extremely risky decision.
Although the gunners of the rebel army are not experienced in the battlefield, they are definitely not novices. It is perfectly fine to bombard the city with artillery, but it is a difficult technical task to accurately hit the moving warships on the river.
When traveling downstream, no matter how slow the Fengfeng battleship's speed is, it is still faster than infantry walking. The most terrible thing is that they are combat units wearing heavy armor.
The wooden-hulled ship's anti-strike ability is not as good as that of an ironclad ship, but its defensive power is equivalent to that of a group of floating carriages. Wang Dingguo's men are equipped with small Folang machines. The weight of the projectiles is inherently light, and the damage caused to the target is very small. It’s limited.
Each shot fired several muskets, and the average hit rate was less than 5%. Even if it was a lucky hit, it was far from enough to directly sink a naval battleship.
Xiangfan was an important military town along the river in the south of the Ming Empire, second only to Nanjing and Wuchan. The strength of the navy stationed here was naturally not that weak.
It can't compare to the Denglai Navy and even the Tianjin Navy, which can fight at sea, but it is more than enough to fight against the bumpkin bandits on the shore.
Each warship is equipped with four to six small Folang aircraft. The entire Xiangfan Navy has a total of more than 20 large and small warships. There is no doubt that it will act as a local snake in the Xiangyang waters. No foreign "aquatic species" dare to build here. Second-rate.
The two warships approaching the south shore were caught off guard, but they were furious and immediately launched a fierce counterattack against the daring men on the shore.
The Xiangfan Navy thinks that they are the boss of the emperor. They are the second boss, especially in their own waters. They have always bullied others. If others want to bully them here, they are seeking death.
Therefore, there was an exciting scene of a crazy exchange of fire between two naval warships and the rebel artillery brigade on the shore. Multiple water columns more than ten feet high suddenly exploded on the river surface in the impact area, and the shore was filled with flames. Trees were directly destroyed by flying bullets.
But after all, the two warships have limited firepower. If they go head-to-head, the other side will not count the casualties, and the gunners of the rebel army are not all vegetarians. Then the navy will suffer. After a while, the two warships followed each other. Shot.
"Well done! Sunk the enemy ship for me, general! I will reward you with a hundred taels of silver!"
Wang Dingguo saw that the warships of the army were constantly being struck by his own guns, sawdust flying in the air, and he could vaguely hear the screams of the officers and soldiers. He couldn't help but get excited and began to encourage his subordinates to take advantage of the situation to win in order to reverse the decline. .
This is also fortunate that the warships can only use broadside fire to shoot at targets on the shore. The two ships are one large and one small. The only thing that can fire in total is the small Folang aircraft, which is certainly no match for the rebels.
"Wait you bunch of thieves! Send the flare!"
The thieves on the two warships think that it is okay for them to come and take advantage, but it is absolutely not okay to suffer a loss and get beaten. Aren't you bullying the less with more?
Okay, in this water area, they haven't been afraid of anyone yet. Let you, the self-righteous thieves, open your eyes today!
The signal flare suddenly rose into the sky, and the warships that were chasing the remnants of the ferry troops at the meeting naturally saw them immediately, and they instinctively gathered around and started to fight against the rebels on the shore.
In the Han River Basin, they bullied merchant ships and even fishing boats. Everyone who passed through this area had their feathers plucked, and today was no exception. And if the other party plans to turn their backs on customers, then they need to be taught a lesson.
If you dare to hurt my brother, you will have my limbs cut off. When it comes to bullying outsiders, the Xiangfan Navy is very united. The enemy is still a bandit, so there is no need to worry about life and death. The best thing is to kill them with one shot.
"Boom boom boom boom..."
More than 20 warships successively bombarded targets on the shore. As long as they thought it was a suspicious place, especially the enemy's gun positions, the navy officers and soldiers would not let it go. No matter what the result was, they would throw the bullets over first.
The navy has neglected management and has been lazy for a long time. Most of the skills in the position have been abandoned, but filling and launching are special skills. Everyone still points to this to charge passing ships, so naturally they will not deliberately forget it.
"Brothers, work harder! Maybe we can kill the 'big bastard'!"
Everyone also knew about His Highness the Prince's reward. Zhang Xianzhong's head was worth 150,000 taels of silver, so the thieves on every ship were using telescopes to observe the situation on the shore.
Especially look for the banner of the "Eight Kings" Zhang Xianzhong. Seeing this means that there might be a priceless "Eight Kings" sitting nearby.
Who doesn’t want to win the 150,000 taels of silver reward?
When the generals of the land division and navy heard the reward amount, their eyes glowed green!
If this big tortoise was killed with one shot, wouldn't the oil and water be enough to keep the brothers happy for several years?
Zhang Gouzi was nicknamed "The Eight Kings", but in the mouth of the Xiangfan Navy, he became a veritable "Big Eight Kings", and he had to be fished out and bled...
The commander-in-chief of the Xiangfan Navy dispatched twenty-one warships. Even if only two Folang machines were installed on the side of each ship, the entire fleet would have forty-two Folan machines that could fire.
The scale of this firepower projection has greatly exceeded that of Wang Dingguo's fire gun team. The rebels only have twelve Folang machines available for battle, which is less than half of the opponent's number.
Once the Xiangfan Navy went berserk, the anger unleashed in an instant was beyond the ability of the rebels to bear. There were only trees and small mounds as bunkers, and the artillery positions did not even have the most basic cover, so their defense was almost zero.
This is free prey in front of the navy battleships that are armed to the teeth. The battleship's ability to withstand strikes is unquestionable. It is a large weapon that integrates offense and defense, while the simple Folang machine is just a one-sided small fire that has offense and defense. pistol.
In particular, Wang Dingguo deployed the Folangji on the flat coastal area, which was convenient for covering the troops crossing the river, but it was extremely deadly during artillery battles.
Not only were the artillery positions firing here, but a large number of infantry waiting for the ships crossing the river were also watching the excitement on the shore. In the early stage, the rebels had the upper hand, but as the main force of the Xiangfan Navy arrived to fight, the situation was fundamentally reversed.
The average firing range of a brand new Folang machine can reach more than 400 steps. The range of a model that has been used for many years will drop a lot. It can shoot a blunderbuss a distance of 200 steps without any problem.
When the warships began to approach and start bombarding, it was too late for the stupid rebel soldiers to run away. One was due to the terrain, and the other was the range. It was impossible to quickly run out of the range of the Fo Lang machine.
The Folang machine is not a Hongyi cannon that can fire once for more than half a quarter of an hour. The biggest advantage of this weapon is its extremely high-speed shooting that surpasses similar weapons of this era.
Once a party with many Folan machines is determined to carry out retaliatory shooting, that is, it will fire at the highest rate of fire regardless of barrel cooling, and the scene will be similar to strafing.
Deep holes were dug into the beach, the mounds were flattened, trees were destroyed, and the carriages were blasted into pieces of wood of various sizes. Naturally, the fate of the rebel soldiers was not much better.
Even if they were wearing thick Zha armor, they could not withstand the strong impact of the Fo Lang machine bullets at a distance of two to three hundred steps. Even though they were running away in all directions and hiding in Tibet, many people were still hit by the enemy in the blink of an eye. The bullets frequently cut him in half.
"Ah~ my hands..."
The beach was full of misery. Crabs crawled over the extremely fresh stumps and broken arms. They seemed to disdain the freshly baked food, looking for food with a more foul smell. Not far away, there was a living person lying on the ground struggling. , the crimson blood trailed more than a foot away.
There were far more than one wounded soldier on this beach. There were hundreds of them lying in a staggered pattern. The injured parts were different. They were all so severe that they were unable to escape and had to call for help from their companions.
However, at this time, all the rebel soldiers were frightened by the official warships. No one dared to come forward to rescue them. You must know that the impact of the Folang machine gun bullets is enough to penetrate a ten-man column, even if the carriage is at close range. I couldn't bear the blow from this object.
The blood of the injured stained half of the beach red. These people wanted to follow Wang Dingguo to join forces with Zhang Nengqi, then conquer Fancheng in one fell swoop, and then burn, kill, and loot the city.
Now not only are the money and women no longer available, but even the dogs' lives are almost at risk. If no one comes to rescue them, in less than three days, they will become the crabs' meal under the high temperature...
It was also right not to rescue them. The duty of the living was to live well. To save these dying people obviously went against the original intention of the soldiers who survived. What's more, under the fierce shelling from the opposite side, they were seeking death.
The warships of the official army not only have folang machines, but each ship is equipped with multiple muskets. What are these guns used for? It goes without saying that there is no money to be gained from killing ordinary thieves, but killing one is very easy. Relieve anger.
Therefore, before withdrawing their troops, the naval officers and soldiers fighting on the battleship did not mind killing a few more thieves who dared to shout at them on the beach.
If you go and attack Xiangyang and Fancheng, that's your business. But to dare to cross the river without the permission of one's own troops, or even to bombard the naval warships, is to offend the navy men!
Compared with fighting between good and evil, the Xiangfan Navy is no less inferior to the Eight Kings, but the identities of the two sides are different at this moment, and they have been hanging around in the local area longer than these guys who went south.
If we directly send ten thousand taels of silver, the Xiangfan Navy might turn a blind eye and send troops as a symbolic blow.
But when our side has an absolute advantage in this area of water, the other side wants to cross the river, but does not want to pay, and does not take itself seriously, so it bombards the battleship, and the beam is deep. You are the grandfather on this ship. Is the Folang machine used for frying fish?
Another important reason why the Xiangfan navy dared to act like this was that before leaving the shore, they learned that the Xiangyang prefect Wang Chengzeng and his deputy Yang Shien had sent flying cavalry generals to talk to Hong Chengchou.
Now that most of the day has passed, most of Hong Shaobao's army is on its way back to the division. Maybe in these two hours, they will swarm in and launch a massive attack on the bandit army. The victory of the official army is just around the corner.
If the navy were to stop showing off and allow the rebels to cross the river to attack Fancheng, whose city defense was far inferior to Xiangyang, how should they report the situation to Hong Shaobao after they landed ashore?
It is difficult to provide help in times of need, but it is easy to add icing on the cake. The navy is a group of people who bully the weak and fear the strong. Of course, at this juncture, you must first consider yourself.
First, all the rebels who were planning to cross the river were intercepted and killed in the river, and then the rebels near the beach were blasted to death.
As a result, the rebel army was unable to cross the river, the navy was able to capture nearly a thousand men, and Hong Shaobao was given an explanation.
If a man does not serve himself, he will be punished by heaven and earth!
In this world, you have to think more about yourself.
Wang Dingguo, who is eager to make meritorious deeds, actually had the same plan, but today he was unlucky and ran into a group of people who were even more ruthless...
"What a bunch of god-damned dog officers!"
Wang Dingguo was so angry that he gritted his teeth with grief and anger. However, facing the overwhelming firepower of the army, he had no choice but to go to the Eight Kings for help.
The way to restrain the government warships is to bring more guns. The more guns and the farther the range, the better. However, the Eight Kings are also engaged in an artillery battle with the government troops in Xiangyang City, so it is impossible to go as scheduled. Draw.
In this way, Wang Dingguo's troops were divided into two by the Han River, and the rebels on the south bank were bombarded by the Xiangfan Navy.
However, nearly a thousand rebel soldiers on the north bank did not receive new orders after crossing the river, and they were all doing nothing. They could neither swim back nor help, and they watched helplessly as their companions on the other side were beaten...
After being bombarded for a long time, Wang Dingguo learned a painful lesson this time. He should try to stay away from the shore in the future, especially not to challenge the navy of the army.
If you annoy the other party, it's really not something you can bear once he gets angry.
The gunners under his command failed to sink a single warship after fighting for a long time, but the bloody retaliation from the other side caused heavy losses to their own troops.
Afterwards, after counting, there were less than 800 unscathed soldiers, and the rest had varying degrees of trauma.
"Okay! Return!"
The entire battle lasted less than two-quarters of an hour. All the rebel soldiers ran into the mountains when they saw it. There were not many targets left on the shore. Almost all the artillery positions were destroyed. No rebel gunners dared to make trouble anymore.
The Fo Langji sprayed wildly for a while but could no longer hold it anymore. The Navy Admiral felt that it was almost done. He had successfully completed the task assigned by Wang Chengzeng, the prefect of Xiangyang, so he fired a signal flare and led the fleet away in a swaggering manner.
The wharf outside Xiangyang City is very close to the city head. It is within the range of the Folangji. It is almost impossible for the bandit army to seize the naval warship without killing thousands of people. They can safely and boldly continue to attack the "big tortoise" in the river and the mountains. A battle of wits and courage.
"Let's go back and eat our mouths first! When the thieves cross the river again, they will be dispatched in full force. They will first call them grandpa, and then feed them to the bastards!"
"Ha ha ha ha……"
The bandit army has no big ships, and there are very few small boats left. Even if they find some small boats upstream, they will not be able to compete with the Xiangfan Navy. If they bombard the warships cruising on the river from the shore, this will be the end.
Everyone really hopes that the thieves can find some boats, because then they can "bully the small with the big" again. This game is really fun.
One shot can blow the pirate army's boat into smithereens, sending the boat and its people to the sky, but it's very enjoyable!
The navy is very willing to accept such a job that involves no risk and can kill enemies and make meritorious service... Friends who read books, you can search "Blue Chinese Network" to find this book as soon as possible. Stop.
