Zhu Ran didn't expect that Yang Di would set fire to the boat so hard? !
Uh, something seems a little wrong. Those forty or so fire ships seem to have been released by themselves.
But that doesn't work. With so many fire ships rushing into the fighting area between the two armies, even if everyone is not tied up, the two sides are now fighting together, and no one dares to retreat easily.
Once we withdraw, it will be a huge defeat.
But if you don't evacuate the fire on the fire ship, you won't actively identify which ones are Soochow warships and which ones are Jiangling warships.
These fire ships are filled with sulfur, straw, and fish oil. No matter whose war ship they encounter, it will only take a moment to be ignited.
Zhu Ran was also anxious. He was still high-spirited as he watched Jiangling's navy slowly fall behind and was finally defeated by him. Now he was also at risk of being attacked by a fire ship.
How can you, a man like you, not take the lives of your soldiers seriously? !
Yang Di became so cruel that he even resorted to this tactic of mutual destruction. But Zhu Ran couldn't do this.
He could not just watch the current good situation being destroyed by the forty fireships he had released. With the return of the Jiangling navy, regardless of the fact that the fireships were coming with the wind, the only chance he had was to stop the fireships. There are only his own flagship and the nearly fifty large and small warships that guard the flagship.
For this reason, Zhu Ran had to order to stop the assault on the middle of the Jiangling navy, and instead let his flagship warship intercept as many fireships as they could break into the battlefield.
Wait until these fireships are burned out on the outside of the battlefield, then come back to defend the flagship.
In doing so, although the threat of fire ships was avoided, Zhu Ran also lost the best opportunity to assault the middle of Jiangling Navy and defeat the enemy in one battle.
Zhu Ran didn't know whether what he did was right or not, but Yang Di was still very grateful to Zhu Ran for doing this. He finally bought himself some time to adapt.
The vacancy in the middle has been temporarily stabilized with the return of more than 40 warships and the shrinkage of Wen Dai's troops. On the left, with its own reinforcements and the stacked forces, Liuluo made a sudden advance. The momentum was also temporarily curbed.
Generally speaking, the Jiangling Navy was still at a disadvantage. They could only make temporary adjustments and passively defend. However, they finally avoided the danger of being directly defeated by the enemy.
There is no danger of being completely defeated for the time being, but that does not mean that the crisis has been completely resolved now.
Overall, the combat effectiveness of the Jiangling Navy is still not as good as that of the Soochow Navy. Now they are at a disadvantage and will be beaten passively. If they continue to fight, it will only be a matter of time before they are defeated.
Under this situation, Wen Dai had to raise a flag and ask Yang Xi for instructions on whether to take the initiative to retreat and withdraw to the water village to deploy defenses.
On the one hand, the war is now unfavorable, so retreating slightly and relying on the defensive facilities of the water village to hold off the enemy is an option to continue fighting.
On the other hand, Zhou Mu once said that if he really loses in a water battle on the river, he should not fall in love with the battle easily, which will lead to the complete annihilation of the Jiangling navy.
In Wen Dai's view, the Jiangling Navy has now reached the moment when it needs to make a decision.
Yang Di actually understood the meaning of Wen Dai's semaphore, but he thought about it carefully and finally made the semaphore - keep fighting and not retreat.
The issues that Yang Xi had to consider were not only the Jiangling navy, but also the more than 10,000 army troops at the public security ferry who had not completed the evacuation operation.
Now that they have withdrawn and retreated to the water village, it is equivalent to directly giving up control of the Yangtze River waters.
Perhaps the Jiangling naval force could be preserved, but those armies on the south bank of the Yangtze River that were too late to withdraw to Jiangling would be completely abandoned.
The reason why Jiangling ordered to abandon the public security and withdraw all the defenders was that Jiangling must have encountered a defense problem and had to mobilize these soldiers to return to support. If these soldiers cannot return, Jiangling will definitely be in big trouble.
As for the navy, the greatest value is that it can fight on the water. It is not impossible to withdraw into Jiangling to assist in the defense, but the overall combat capability is definitely not as good as these armies.
Therefore, no matter what angle they consider this issue, Yang Di feels that before the army troops at Gongan Ferry are evacuated, they cannot shrink into Shuizhai Port and give up the fight for control of the Yangtze River waters.
Now, we can't withdraw yet, we have to delay.
At the same time, Yang Xi can only hope that Zhong Limu, who led the two vehicles to retreat to the police, can understand the emergency of the current war situation and step up the army's evacuation work. He can only hope.
At this time, Zhong Limu had indeed led two vehicles to retreat to the public security ferry.
After Zhong Limu evacuated to the Gongan Ferry, the first thing he did was to find Li Qiu, hoping that Li Qiu could arrange all the soldiers to cross the river as quickly as possible.
Zhong Limu didn't know very well what kind of difficulties the Jiangling Navy was facing now, but he knew that when Yang Di asked him to lead the troops to retreat, the overall situation was not very good.
If the Jiangling navy cannot block the attack of the Dongwu navy in the front, and the public security garrison has not yet completed crossing the river and retreated to the north of the Yangtze River, then Zhong Limu will lead the only two remaining ships to rush into the water and shoulder the responsibility of protecting the smooth waterway.
Therefore, Zhong Limu really hopes that the more than 10,000 police soldiers can be evacuated as soon as possible.
But Li Qiu is also in a dilemma about this matter.
There were only two days between the time Zhang Xi gave the order to retreat and the order was sent to Li Qiu, and the time when the Soochow Army's vanguard finally arrived at the Public Security Bureau.
In these two days, Li Qiu had to arrange an ambush and organize a large force to evacuate the police and defend the ferry. At the same time, he had to wait for the warships provided by the Jiangling Navy to transport troops. There was really not enough time.
The main force of the Jiangling Navy has already gone out to intercept the Soochow Navy led by Zhu Ran. There are less than thirteen warships left for Li Qiu to transport troops, and each ship can only carry more than a hundred people at most. , that is to say, the number of people transporting troops across the river at one time will not exceed 2,000.
To transport all the 15,000 soldiers across the river, these warships would need to make at least eight trips back and forth. This only counts people, not including logistical supplies such as food, grass, weapons, and weapons.
And crossing the river three times in one day is already the limit.
In other words, the two-day gap was not enough for Li Qiu to complete all the withdrawal work.
Not to mention, Zhou Yu did not give Li Qiu two days to withdraw his troops. Just one day after Li Qiu arrived at the public security ferry, Zhou Yu had already surrounded him with 20,000 Dongwu troops.
If the front is attacked and the rear is hastily retreating, who is willing to stay in the public security port and continue to hold on?
Therefore, what Li Qiu has to do now is not only to command the soldiers to stop the Soochow Army's attack on the public security ferry, but also to stabilize the morale of the army in a timely manner and arrange the evacuation of the soldiers in an orderly manner.
This matter is very difficult to put in anyone's hands.
When there were 15,000 soldiers guarding the Gongan Ferry, no matter whether they were defending or withdrawing, the soldiers at least had the confidence that with so many troops there, even if the Soochow Army came, they would not be able to attack in a short while.
But if the number of these fifteen thousand soldiers slowly decreases, and the offensive pressure of the Soochow Army on the opposite side increases, Li Qiu himself doesn't know when he will be unable to hold on.
Don't expect any soldier to understand the righteousness and voluntarily stay and resist for the sake of the survival of his comrades. Soldiers these days do not have this concept and will not have this discipline.
Li Qiu was already in a dilemma. When he heard that Zhong Limu had withdrawn to the public security ferry and told himself that the situation of the navy ahead was unfavorable, Li Qiu immediately asked Zhong Limu to block the news immediately.
If this news spreads, the morale of the entire public security ferry will be completely shattered.
Li Qiu quickly asked Zhong Limu to declare to the outside world that the Soochow Navy had been defeated and that the Jiangling Navy was now chasing the remaining enemies. Zhong Limu came back to help everyone guard the Public Security Ferry.
No matter how long it can be hidden, this matter must be said this way now. Stabilizing the morale of the military is the most important thing.
Then, Li Qiu asked Zhong Limu's two catapults, Mengchong, to anchor at the ferry and serve as catapult forts to bombard the Soochow Army outside the city. Even if they could not stop the Soochow Army's attack, they could scare them and improve their own Morale is always good.
Finally, they discussed with Zhong Limu privately how to withdraw the troops.
Yesterday, before the Soochow Army arrived at the Gong'an Ferry, 4,000 people had been transported to Jiangbei through two transports. Now, there are about 10,000 people left at the Gong'an Ferry.
If there was no threat from the Soochow Army today, it would not be difficult to transport troops across the river, but now if we want to transport another 4,000 people to the north of the Yangtze River, well, the army may be disillusioned.
When the first batch of 2,000 people retreated across the river, there were still 8,000 people inside the public security ferry. Li Qiu was still confident that he could stabilize the morale of the army.
But if the second batch of 2,000 people retreat across the river, there will be only 6,000 people left at the public security ferry. Who would be willing to stay and face the attack of the 20,000-strong army? !
At that time, the morale of the army will definitely not be maintained, and everyone will rush to board the ship to escape. This is not something Li Qiu can stop.
Therefore, this withdrawal of troops across the river must be the last one, and there is no possibility of another withdrawal.
But even so, only 8,000 soldiers who can withdraw across the river will die, and more than 6,000 people will be left on the south bank of the river.
Li Qiu knew that some things should not be forced, but it would be good if a thousand more people could be withdrawn.
Then, Zhong Limu said, didn't he come over with two Touche Mengchong? Touche Mengchong is also Mengchong. At least it is big enough.
Ordinary warships can only ferry about a hundred people at a time, but if the Mengchong warship can ferry over 500 people at a time, it shouldn't be a big problem, right? !
Nowadays, the catapults on the ship are used to help defend the public security ferry. But if at the last moment, the catapult on the ship is dismantled and the stones in the cabin are thrown away, it is not that it cannot be used as a troop transport. It is better to transport the previous troops across the river. It’s not impossible.
But this matter can only be a one-time thing. After all, the Mengchong battleship is too fast to capture the small boat, and Soochow will not give the Mengchong battleship time to come back.
But this was enough for Li Qiu.
(End of chapter)
