Regarding Liu Qi's vomiting of blood and coma, although the remaining generals were frightened, they had to work hard to rectify the army in order to survive.
So in accordance with Wang Fang's request, the Song generals reluctantly calmed the morale of the troops and allowed the soldiers to continue to stay in Yangzhou and arrange defense.
But this is not enough.
Liu Si died in the battle, Wei You died in the battle, Wang Gang died in the battle, and the entire army of 20,000 was wiped out.
The battle had just begun and the situation was not clear. As a result, Liu Qi lost two brave generals and his nephew as well as 20,000 troops, which was considered a good army. This caused a very serious blow to the morale of the Song army.
Moreover, Liu Qi himself vomited blood and fainted, and his condition suddenly worsened, making Yangzhou's city defense even worse.
Fortunately, Liu Qi's previous arrangements were quite appropriate. Yangzhou had become a pretty good war fortress. Even if the Ming army wanted to attack by force, it would not be easy. Therefore, the Ming army's vanguard attacked the city without an iron head and quickly retreated.
At noon the next day, Liu Qi woke up, and the guard immediately told Wang Fang the news. Wang Fang was overjoyed and immediately came to visit Liu Qi, planning to tell him what happened during this period.
When Wang Fang arrived at Liu Qi's ward, Liu Qi was crying on the bed. Wang Fang sighed when he saw it, so he comforted Liu Qi and told him not to be too sad about Liu Si's things.
"A general will die in a hundred battles, and a strong man will return in ten years. For those of us who join the army, it is our destiny to be buried in horse leather."
Liu Qi nodded repeatedly.
"Yes, the general died in hundreds of battles, I know that, so I am not crying for Liu Si. When a person goes to the battlefield, he must be prepared to return his body wrapped in horse leather. I am crying for the army, crying for the Song Dynasty, and crying for myself.
Because of my command errors, the 20,000-strong army was destroyed, the Song Dynasty was defeated miserably, people's hearts were floating, Yangzhou was in danger, Zhenjiang was in danger, once the Ming army was allowed to pass through Guazhou Crossing and reach the south of the Yangtze River, I... How could I have the face to see Your Majesty?
Because Your Majesty trusted me, and because the court trusted me, they gave me such an important frontline area and army in Zhenjiang Prefecture to lead. But what did I give them in return? "
Liu Qi continued to cry, his face full of guilt.
Wang Fang was speechless after hearing this.
After a while, Liu Qi sighed, waved his hand, and asked Wang Fang to sit beside his hospital bed.
"Now you are the only one with me who can be of great use. You must guard Yangzhou strictly and never let Yangzhou fall. Once Yangzhou falls, Jiangbei will inevitably fall, and Zhenjiang Prefecture will not be protected. It is too difficult, really too difficult to rely on the navy alone. Already..."
Wang Fang immediately stated that he would do his best to defend the city and never let Yangzhou fall.
Liu Qi nodded and sighed: "Now I am not only worried about Yangzhou, but also Guazhou Town, and even more worried about the Guazhou Navy. If Guazhou Town is not protected, Yangzhou will become an isolated city and Zhenjiang will be in danger.
And if the navy cannot defeat the Ming navy, Yangzhou will become an isolated city, and Zhenjiang will also be unable to be defended. Once Zhenjiang is lost, the south of the Yangtze River will be in danger, and the Ming army will be able to march straight in... When will Lin'an reinforcements arrive? "
There was definite news before that Zhao Gou had approved 20,000 reinforcements for Zhenjiang Prefecture, all of which were the elite Sanya Forbidden Army. Liu Qi was happy about this, thinking that Zhenjiang Prefecture would be able to hold on if it had 20,000 reinforcements.
As a result, no reinforcements have been seen yet.
Where are the reinforcements?
"Three days ago, it was said that there were still three days to go, but yesterday it was said that there were still three days to go. I don't know what they said today. Maybe they had arrived long ago, but they didn't want to come! General, I think those Lin'an Forbidden Army are just cowardly. We just don’t dare to fight against the Ming army!”
Wang Fang said very angrily: "We clearly agreed to come to support. If 20,000 forbidden troops arrive at Zhenjiang Mansion, we don't have to be so stretched. We only use 10,000 troops to guard Yangzhou and only 10,000 troops to support General Wang Gang. Those bastards Forbidden Army, if I can survive this time, I must go to them to settle the score!"
"Don't be impulsive! As long as there is enough food, ten thousand soldiers are enough to protect Yangzhou, but that's not the problem."
Liu Qi said slowly: "Once our place falls into decline, the isolated city of Yangzhou will be difficult to defend, and Zhenjiang Prefecture will not be able to protect it. Once there is a problem in Zhenjiang Prefecture, the Jiankang Prefecture downstream will also be very dangerous, and I have no confidence in the royal power.
A person like Wang Quan, tell me, once the news of my defeat spreads, will he dare to lead troops to rescue me? I have sent people to ask for his support a long time ago. Has he sent any troops to save me yet?
He and I clearly have a close relationship. Couldn't he even see such a problem? I really don’t believe it, so why doesn’t he come? Haha, it’s funny to say that there are obviously so many armies in the Song Dynasty, why do I feel like I am fighting alone? "
Wang Fang felt deeply sad and angry about this, but there was nothing he could do.
Liu Qi then said: "The Ming army is too powerful. I never expected that Wang Gang's 10,000 soldiers and Liu Si's 10,000 soldiers are both elites, right? They were no match for them in the field, and they were all annihilated. It can be seen that the Ming army’s field combat ability is no less powerful than that of the Golden Thief thirty years ago, and we must not fight with it unless it is absolutely necessary.”
"My subordinate understands."
Wang Fang nodded.
"That's enough."
Liu Qi let out a long sigh and said quietly: "It's a pity that I am already in my dying years. If it were thirty years ago... no, even ten years ago, even if I would die on the battlefield, I would still fight the Ming army with real swords and guns. , but now, I am old and weak, and I am afraid that I will fail His Majesty's trust..."
"As long as my subordinates are still alive, the Ming army will never be allowed to pass Yangzhou City. General, please rest assured and rest your body. Leave everything to your subordinates!"
Wang Fang assumed the responsibility of Yangzhou city defense, dispatched troops and generals to arrange defense, set up front-line city defense troops and reserve teams, sent people to train the strong men in the city to prepare for emergencies, and tried his best to do what he could.
At the same time, the Ming army did not choose to attack Yangzhou City, but instead surrounded Yangzhou City.
Zhou Zhi judged that Yangzhou City was too strong and difficult to capture by force, so he decided to find another way to surround Yangzhou City with the main force, and then sent troops directly south to capture Guazhou Town.
Guazhou Town is the location of Guazhou's northern ferry crossing the Yangtze River. The Song army's defenders were not large in number and were easily captured by the Ming army.
Then the Ming army quickly captured the port. They set up trebuchets and crossbows at the port, launched thunder cannons, and launched large rockets to attack the Song Navy warships in the port. They achieved some results and forced all the Song Navy in the port to leave the port. .
Next, it was time for Zhou Mancheng to appear.
On the morning of April 10th, Zhou Mancheng led the Ming Army's Inland River Navy to face the Guazhou Navy under Liu Qi.
The Ming army used its numerical superiority to confront the Song navy, which was more familiar with hydrology and had more experience in ship handling. The two sides launched a very fierce duel along the Yangtze River.
At the beginning of the battle, the Song navy tried to use the tactics of cutting and encircling, trying to use their richer water warfare experience to get close to the Ming army ships, split the Ming army ships, in order to achieve localized attacks with more and less, using ramming and shooting sticks. and gang-hopping tactics gradually defeated the Ming Navy.
The Ming Navy's response strategy was also very clear.
After the Song Navy approached to a similar range, the Ming Navy collectively launched large rockets.
Shui Zhan used a bed crossbow to launch large rockets with a greatly increased charge and roared away at the Song army ships.
Because the launch volume was large and the shooting surface was not wide, the number of Song warships in the unit area was relatively large. Therefore, under such circumstances, the Ming army's large rockets hit the Song warships one after another, and only a few fell into the water and failed to hit the Song warships. vessel.
What followed was a series of explosions.
The sailors of the Song Army who were moving forward bravely thought that this was just a conventional crossbow with a big arrow, nothing special.
When the big rocket hit the warship, they realized something was wrong. There was smoke, and then there was a deafening explosion.
With the help of the bed crossbow, the Ming army had the means to achieve long-range attacks with gunpowder weapons before it had artillery. Although the accuracy was not very good, and the power was not strong enough to destroy the Southern Song Dynasty navy from a long distance, but It's more or less a deterrent.
The explosion of gunpowder not only brought a huge noise, but also considerable destructive power. First of all, some of the Southern Song Dynasty navy warships had been blown open several times. The decks were full of broken boards and injured and war-torn ships. Dead sailors.
The Navy of the Southern Song Dynasty had no psychological or practical preparation for the emergence of new gunpowder weapons in the Ming Army.
