Li Jiangyao's judgment had inestimable significance for the final direction of the Battle of Dajiang.
If he felt sorry for the heavy casualties of Kunpeng's soldiers, or had a slightly careless attitude of underestimating the enemy, then he would not be able to force Bao Yuchun's trick.
Three hundred Tiger Shark penetration warships are indeed no small matter. They were originally the elite force of the rebel navy, and after two days and one night of rest, their morale, morale, and physical strength were at their peak. As soon as they appeared on the scene, they immediately reversed the situation on the battlefield, beating Nie Xianzeng and the others. Step back.
The Kunpeng fleet was originally on the offensive side, but in an instant it fell into passive defense.
However, fortunately, Nie Xianzang had received orders from Li Jiangyao before and launched a main attack, so they had a greater advantage in terms of overall numbers. After withstanding three or four rounds of attacks from the Tiger Shark Battalion, Kunpeng gradually stabilized his position, and the flywheel battleships quickly penetrated and began to outflank and divide the enemy.
Seeing that the reserve team was working wonders and had disrupted the formation of the Zhenjiang Navy, Bao Yuchun did not hesitate and immediately issued an order. All warships formed a formation to fight, and cooperated with the Tiger Shark warships to defeat the Kunpeng fleet in one fell swoop and completely end this stalemate. battle!
Hundreds of rebel warships beat their drums and raised their sails, forming a large black mass, pressing towards the north shore, and were about to launch an all-out attack. Nie Xianzang remained calm in the face of danger, commanding all his forces to form a wild goose formation on the spot. Taking advantage of the fully expanded shooting surfaces of each ship's side, he fired intensively at the enemy, trying to damage as many enemy ships as possible before they rushed over.
Rockets were flying across the sky, long poles and giant crossbows were whizzing across the sky. Bao Yuchun's fleet withstood the intensive firepower of Kunpeng's army, getting closer and closer. The vanguard had already merged with the Tiger Shark warship and successfully entered the Zhenjiang formation.
Tens of thousands of sailors from both sides of the enemy and ours once again engaged in a fierce battle under the bright starry sky. The entire river was boiling with excitement, and the murderous aura rising into the sky became higher and higher.
The Kunpeng soldiers endured huge pressure and persisted desperately, dragging the enemy's attack into their own rhythm and constantly draining the rebels' energy.
One hour, two hours, three hours, the number of casualties of soldiers on both sides continued to rise. One after another, warships caught fire and slowly sank. The entire river was littered with the corpses of soldiers and the wreckage of ships.
At this moment, there was a sudden explosion somewhere on the north shore. Immediately afterwards, a firework dragged its long flame tail straight into the sky, and instantly exploded into a ball of red fireworks.
As the fireworks bloomed into huge and gorgeous flowers in the sky, countless torches suddenly lit up on the hills to the south of Jingkou Village. In just a few seconds, the sound of killing in the mountains and forests was loud. A large army suddenly emerged from hiding and rushed towards the Jingkou military fortress in multiple directions!
This sight immediately shocked the rebels who were fighting fiercely. Bao Yuchun and Bao Xinyan both looked at the water village in disbelief and were speechless for a moment.
Before anyone could react, another firework shot into the air from the north bank, making a loud bang and bursting into green fireworks.
The next moment, drums rumbled on Jiangxin Island in the upstream direction, and eight thousand ghost-faced white-robed troops, with the cooperation and cover of the navy, began to launch a landing attack on the island.
"Report——, Commander, the Jingkou stronghold was attacked by the enemy. The brothers suffered heavy casualties and can no longer defend it!"
"Report——, the enemy stormed Jiangxin Island, the defenders requested reinforcements!"
In fact, even without his subordinates coming to report, Bao Yuchun already understood what was going on. He cursed viciously: "Damn Li Jiangyao, I was fooled by his mother!"
"Uncle, what should we do now?!" Bao Xinyan couldn't help but said anxiously: "The enemy is blocking us from all sides and wants to surround us!"
Bao Yuchun looked at the fierce and anxious water battlefield and ordered in a deep voice: "We can't let them lead us by the nose! Send back troops immediately and reinforce the water stronghold. As long as the fortress is defended, the Zhenjiang troops who sneaked in can be trapped to death. South Shore!”
Bao Xinyan nodded when he heard this, and quickly asked people to convey instructions to each ship: break away from the battle and return to Jingkou to aid!
After receiving the order from the flagship, the rebel navy immediately retreated. Except for some of the warships that were left behind after warning, the rest rushed south, trying to get ashore as soon as possible to block the Zhenjiang Army's surprise attack.
But at this moment, the fireworks that frightened the rebels tonight appeared again. With a bang, another golden firework exploded over the North Bank, which looked particularly dazzling in the dark night sky.
This time, after receiving the signal, the Kunpeng fleet quickly adjusted its formation and position. The wild goose formations moved to both sides, leaving an open waterway in the middle. Not long after, three rows of strangely shaped huge "boat bridges" appeared in people's sight.
The reason why it is called "Boqiao" is because it is shaped like a "bridge", but it is actually made up of large boats connected together. Under each row of boat bridges, there are fifty wide-mouthed flat-bottomed boats. The boats are connected and reinforced with iron chains, and the tops are covered with thick solid boards. At a glance, it looks like a flat bridge moving on water.
On those bridge decks, forty large trebuchets and a large number of kerosene bombs were fixed. Three rows of boat bridges are a total of one hundred and twenty long-range killing weapons!
In Li Jiangyao's words, this is called a mobile fort on the water surface.
The rebel fleet had begun a full retreat at this time, and was in a panic as it was being attacked from both sides. Therefore, although the three rows of boat bridges were not moving fast and had flaws everywhere, they would not be too threatened by the enemy under the escort of Kunpeng warships.
The only thing they need to do now is to blast the target ahead!
The trebuchet did not need to travel to the center of the river. It started firing far away from the enemy fleet. The huge fireball crossed a distance of nearly a thousand steps and directly smashed into the dense group of battleships.
One, two... fifty, a hundred!
In an instant, a large number of fireballs seemed like countless meteors falling from the Milky Way, illuminating the wide river surface instantly, and then bombarded the rebel ship head-on, and the sound of explosions was heard all of a sudden.
In this way, the rebels were chased and beaten by the trebuchet, and they couldn't help but feel anxious and angry.
They wanted to turn around and go back to fight back, but the Jingkou stronghold was being attacked fiercely and was about to fall. There was no room for any further delay. However, if they left it alone, the trebuchets of the Zhenjiang Army were accurate, ruthless, and extremely numerous. Being beaten like this in vain, the fleet will suffer heavy losses in a short time.
Bao Yuchun was so angry that he almost vomited blood.
In desperation, he had no choice but to order the dozens of fighting ships at the back to turn around and charge, approaching and destroying the three rows of weird and terrifying weapons.
After receiving the order, the fighting ships were about to change direction, but they were targeted by trebuchets. They fired intensively and sank four ships on the spot. The other ships were tightly entangled by the flying wheel battleships that were chasing after them, and they were locked in a bitter battle.
Nie Xianzeng commanded the Kunpeng fleet, maintaining a complete formation, protecting the three rows of boat bridges, and advancing steadily. When the enemy is far away, let the trebuchets on the pontoon bridge fight with their lives to greet the enemy; when the enemy rushes close, let the flywheel battleships attack, using more to hit fewer. The big elephant boat built by Jinhe is like a city wall, blocking the front of the boat bridge to block the arrows of the trebuchet.
Such a combination would have been difficult to produce good results two days ago, a day ago, or even a few hours ago. Because the rebel fleet at that time still maintained strong combat power. Bao Yuchun only needs to send two to three hundred warships and launch a split charge, and he can easily tear open the gap in the formation and completely destroy the trebuchet bridge on the river.
But now, the enemy has become exhausted.
In the past, the Xinjiang Army made a surprise attack on Jingkou Village, and in the later, the trebuchet monsters were outputting wildly. They were exhausted, and the strategic reserve team had also been put into use. At the moment, apart from a hasty and ineffective small-scale counterattack, the only option left is to be beaten on the spot.
Before Bao Yuchun's flagship, the Furious Dragon, even approached the dock, his men rushed over in a panic to report: The water village can't be entered!
The reason is very simple. The Zhenjiang soldiers and horses, who have shown the banner of the fifth army of Jushi, have already entered the fortress and are desperately trying to seize the dock bridge.
Returning to Hong Kong now is equivalent to delivering food to the other party!
Jushi's Fifth Army originally dispatched three battalions of troops to secretly cross the river with the Grand Protector Li Jiangyao. They traveled hundreds of miles and finally fought their way through Jingkou Wharf. They were picked up by Kunpeng's Tenth Army and returned to the north of the Yangtze River.
Therefore, they are very familiar with Jingkou Fortress and the surrounding terrain. If they return to their hometown this time, they will naturally be able to fight with ease.
After listening to the report from his subordinates, Bao Yuchun finally realized the seriousness of the problem. If he disembarks from the ship and lands ashore, not to mention whether he is sure to drive the Zhenjiang Army out of the fortress, the Kunpeng fleet chasing him will be able to wipe out all the Kuohai warships docking in one go.
He must not take this risk!
"Yan'er, adjust your direction immediately and rush downstream!" Bao Yuchun made a decisive decision and issued an order: "Jingkou can't be saved, we must save the fleet! Let's go to Jiangyin, there is still a chance to regroup!"
Bao Xinyan also knew that the situation was critical and could not tolerate any hesitation. He quickly sent signals to the surrounding warships, then commanded the Raging Dragon to turn around and head east first.
Under the intensive attack of the trebuchet group, more and more rebel warships began to catch fire. The river outside Jingkou Stronghold was in chaos. Many people did not receive the commander's order at all and had no idea what to do next.
Some ships recklessly broke into the naval port pier and ran into the Fifth Army head-on, causing the opponent to rush onto the deck and kill them indiscriminately;
Some ships were spinning around in confusion, not knowing where to go, and were soon overtaken by flywheel warships, sunk or captured;
There were also some ships that reacted quickly, knowing that they would be dead if they didn't run away at this time. Unfortunately, they couldn't find the flagship Furious Dragon, so many of them chose the wrong direction and turned around and fled upstream.
The rebel fleet that once dominated the river and was arrogant finally came to a point of disintegration under the joint amphibious encirclement and suppression by the Zhenjiang Army.
