Under Shi Kefa's strict order, although the Ming Navy was unwilling, they had to launch a counterattack against the superior enemy, trying to break through the siege of the Chu Army's Yangtze River Fleet, and then attack the Chu Army's cross-river transport fleet.
But because the strength gap between the two sides was so large, this counterattack was full of tragedy from the beginning.
As soon as they rushed out, they were met with intensive firepower from the Chu fleet!
The Chu fleet had six large warships as its core and more than twenty centipede ships as its main force. Together with the cooperation of many small warships, it formed an almost insurmountable water wall. Numerous artillery fire continued and hit the enemy. The Ming navy that came out was miserable and suffered heavy casualties.
If it weren't for the fact that the firepower of naval guns these days is still relatively limited and it is difficult to directly sink enemy ships in artillery battles, it is estimated that under such fierce firepower, the warships of the Ming Navy would not be able to survive for long before being sunk. .
But even so, many ships were still attacked by fire and burned.
The casualties were even more shocking. After the first counterattack failed, no matter how Shi Kefa ordered them to attack, they were still reluctant to move forward.
Shi Kefa was extremely angry about this: "They are all a bunch of trash. They are paid by the court, but they are afraid of the enemy at the critical moment. What use are these trash!"
Immediately afterwards, Shi Kefa ordered to kill two naval generals directly in front of the formation who refused to obey the order and continue to attack.
Trying to use strict military laws to force the Navy to continue attacking.
Even if you can't rush out, you will still have to die on the battlefield with the Chu thieves.
As a result, the remnants of the Ming Navy had to continue to attack, but changes appeared after they attacked.
Several of the Ming army ships directly hoisted white flags, directly signaling surrender...
Immediately afterwards, more Ming army ships followed suit and surrendered directly...
If they continued to fight, they would be killed by the Chu fleet, and they would be killed by Shi Kefa when they returned. When there was no way to survive before and after, they simply surrendered.
At this scene, Navy Minister Lu Xingye, who was personally in command of the fleet, was surprised.
This is the first time that the Ming Navy has surrendered on such a large scale in front of the formation.
Even in the previous Battle of Wuchang, although the Ming Navy was unable to defeat them, they persisted until the Chu Army landed and bombarded the fleet in the port from the ground before they were forced to surrender.
When they went to fight in the Dongting Lake area, although the Ming navy also surrendered, they were all small-scale surrenders, and no entire fleet surrendered directly.
The Ming Navy navy in the mouth of the lake was a pioneer.
When Shi Kefa on the top of Hukou City saw the same scene, he was angry and helpless.
With this military spirit and morale, how can we fight?
Can't fight!
——
With most of the ships of the Ming Navy running out and surrendering on their own, there was no suspense in the ensuing cross-river battle.
The strengthened 1st Infantry Brigade, escorted by naval warships, successfully landed in the wide area east of Shizhong Mountain.
As batches of soldiers came ashore one after another, and then transport ships rushed directly to the beach, and after lifting the field artillery carried off the ship one after another, the 1st Infantry Brigade had already established a firm foothold on the landing beach.
Although Shi Kefa really wanted to lead his troops to kill the rebels while they were still on a weak footing, he knew his own affairs. With only about 20,000 troops in the city, relying on the city's fortifications to resist stubbornly, it was estimated that he could still hold on for a while. time.
But if you take the initiative to run out of the city and play wild games with the Chu bandits who have landed ashore, you will probably die miserably.
In addition, he forced the navy to attack before, which eventually led to the navy surrendering to the enemy on a large scale.
Therefore, Shi Kefa did not want to go out of the city to intercept on the beach. Instead, he took advantage of the fact that the Chu bandits' troops had just landed and had not yet reached Hukou City so quickly, and mobilized manpower to emergency use the Hongyi artillery in several forts outside the city. Transported back to the city.
The Hongyi cannons in the coastal defense fort were originally intended to protect the navy on the shore and prevent Chu thieves from landing on a large scale here.
But now that all the Chu thieves have gone around and landed, and at the same time all the navy has surrendered to the enemy, these coastal defense forts have basically lost their main role. It is better to transport them back to the city and place them on top of the city to act as city defense firepower. Woolen cloth.
Ever since, a strange scene occurred in the Battle of Hukou.
On one side, the Chu army made a grand landing, even building a temporary trestle dock, and the engineers also began to build a pontoon bridge. The Ming army turned a blind eye to this, and there was almost no counterattack.
However, the Ming army began to fully shrink back to the city. Even the Hongyi artillery in the shore defense fort outside the city was urgently pulled back. However, the Chu army that landed ashore was not large in strength and did not have enough time. They fell instantly. There is no way to stop it.
As a result, both sides are now doing their own things, and the scene is very harmonious.
In this way, the first day of the cross-river landing operation came to an end.
On the first day of fighting, some of the Ming Navy's navy suffered casualties, and most of them surrendered. The Chu Army's 1st Infantry Brigade also landed successfully.
But the real siege battle has not yet come.
On the second and third days, the Chu army still did not launch an siege. Instead, they continued to stabilize the beachhead, built pontoons, and continued to transport reinforcements and supplies to the east coast via ships.
On the fourth day, as the pontoon bridge was built, a large number of Chu army troops and artillery successfully crossed the river through the pontoon bridge.
Also starting from this day, the Chu army officially arrived outside Hukou City, built fortifications at the head of the city, and shelled and killed some Ming army fortifications outside the city, mainly some fortresses.
On the fifth and sixth days, the fighting between the two sides was still dominated by small-scale battles.
But on the seventh day, September 14th, as the Chu army completed all preparations for the siege, they launched a large-scale general attack towards Hukou.
The Battle of Hukou reached its climax on this day and also came to an end.
In the strong attack that day, the Chu army completely cleared many of the Ming army's defenses outside the city.
The next day, September 15th, the Chu army launched a fierce attack on the city wall!
There was no surprise. Although Shi Kefa personally went to the city to supervise the battle, it was still of no use.
The Ming army defending the city almost collapsed at the first touch. They did not even engage in a large-scale, brutal hand-to-hand battle with the Chu army on the city wall. What followed was a crushing defeat!
On the same day, the Chu army entered the city and officially announced that they had captured the strategic location of Hukou. They completely captured the Jiujiang defense line that the Ming army had worked hard for more than half a year, and completely opened the passage to the south of the Yangtze River.
Shi Kefa, on the other hand, still commanded his soldiers to resist at the last moment, and was captured after being outnumbered.
It's just that this person is different from Xie Xuelong. Although Xie Xuelong refused to surrender after being captured, he was relatively well-behaved and did not do anything too outrageous.
But even if Shi Kefa was captured, he still said he was a Chu thief and a Luo Ni. He had a tough attitude towards the Chu army's tentative recruitment, saying that he would rather die than become a thief...
However, even this could not stop a few pens from the Ministry of Rites of the Dachu Empire. On the same day, they concocted an article signed by Shi Kefa, stamped with his personal seal, and accompanied by a "Blood Letter Prosecuting the Nine Major Crimes of the Ming Dynasty" printed by the governor of Anlu.
They scolded everyone from the Ming court to Chongzhen, down to the ordinary soldiers, and also said that the biggest responsibility for the disastrous defeat of the Jiujiang defense line lies with Chongzhen, followed by Wang Jiazhen who is in charge of Jiangnan...
Since such a routine was used on Jie Xuelong before, the Chu Empire now likes this routine of forging documents captured by Ming court ministers for propaganda purposes.
After doing such a trick in the name of Jie Xuekong, it greatly stimulated the reaction of the Ming court, shook the morale of the Ming army, and at the same time increased the morale of our own officers and soldiers. Even the gentry and scholars in the jurisdiction were dissatisfied with Chu. The dynasty has changed, and there is already a voice among many traditional scholars among the people.
Luo Chu is also an orthodox dynasty...
No, many traditional scholars have already participated in the provincial examination of the Great Chu Empire this fall.
Therefore, the senior officials of the Dachu Empire continued to do this kind of thing secretly.
After all, this is just propaganda. True or false is not important. What is important is that it can guide public opinion, public opinion that is beneficial to one's own side.
Then, Shi Kefa was still imprisoned here, but the Great Chu Empire had already released Shi Kefa's "Blood Letter of Accusation of Nine Major Crimes", and even announced to the public that Shi Kefa had defected to the Great Chu Empire, and His Majesty Luo Zhixue cherishes talents. , Shi Kefa has been appointed as the right minister of the Ministry of War.
This appointment is actually real. It was directly deposited into official documents and processed by the Ministry of Industry. It just didn't go through Shi Kefa himself, and Shi Kefa didn't need to take office.
Basically, it is similar to the previous appointment of Xie Xuelong, which is to give an empty name to fool ordinary people in the outside world. When the influence is gone, it can be downplayed.
How to deal with it when the time comes.
The handling of Shi Kefa was actually a trivial matter. The senior officials of the Da Chu Empire had the idea of deceiving one person after another. Anyway, they wrote a few articles and appointed documents for an empty name without paying a lot of money.
On the other hand, the handling of the 10,000 Ming army soldiers captured in Hukou City seemed to be more cautious.
It was mainly the Ming troops in the city who captured several thousand of them who were still the New Standard Army.
The Chu Army has always been more cautious in dealing with these new standard troops. Considering that the soldiers of these new standard troops are better treated, their training level is also relatively high, their overall quality is better than that of the battalion sentries, and they have also undergone Received training in new tactics and learned how to use muskets or spears.
Even if these soldiers are still not very good in the eyes of the Chu army generals, they are still much better than the battalion sentries. If they are trained more in the future, they will be qualified soldiers of the main force.
Therefore, according to the old rules, some people were selected to join the main force, and the remaining people and the selected battalion sentries were incorporated into the garrison.
But when the Chu army reorganized and dealt with these prisoners of war, the main force of the Chu army that had ended the Battle of Hukou did not stop, but continued to fight eastward.
At the same time, Jiangbei's Second Army also launched an attack on Taihu Lake, successfully captured Taihu Lake and then went straight to Anqing.
And Anqing was also the most important strategic target in the second stage of the Chu Empire's eastward campaign.
Capturing this place means that the Yangtze River channel can be opened, and all kinds of ships from the Chu Empire can reach Jinling City unimpeded.
Even if the enemy army did not build a strict river defense system in Jinling City, even the Chu fleet could directly enter the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, that is, the Yangtze River, and eventually rush to the sea.
