Except for the time when he was chased by the army and fled in the mountains earlier, Song Jin was defeated for the first time in more than a year. Moreover, when he was a bandit, he only had a few hundred men, but now his troops numbered 50,000.

It was actually a bit reluctant to command so many troops with Song Jin's ability, so when the army was defeated, he didn't know how to gather the troops at all, and his troops, whether they were navy or infantry, were panicked.

Once you run away, you can't stop.

It was not until dark that he stopped in shock. When Song Jin looked around again, there were only more than a hundred warships left, and the total number of soldiers was less than 10,000.

They reluctantly set up camp on the bank of the river, preparing to rest for a night before gathering their troops and horses the next day. Who knew that on the next day, Yuan Chonghuan led an army to arrive.

"Meet the Cabinet Minister" Song Jin knelt down in shame and saluted.

"Why was the defeat so miserable? How many troops did the opponent have?" Yuan Chonghuan asked.

"There are only more than twenty warships, but they are all large ships. They are equipped with hundreds of artillery. The fire is too sharp and they are invincible." Song Jin briefly introduced the battle, emphasizing that the opponent's warship was

How tall it is and how powerful its artillery is.

"It seems that the emperor has transferred the Fujian Navy to the Yangtze River." Yuan Chonghuan said calmly.

"Yes, yes, it must be the Fujian Navy. You didn't see it, Ministry of Defense. That ship is really big. Its deck is as high as a city wall. In the end, ships will be sent to besiege them. But the brothers can't climb on their deck at all."

, there is no way to engage in hand-to-hand combat, and there are many thousands of enemies on their ships, so the ships I sent were bombed and sunk hundreds of ships, so I had to retreat." Song Jin nodded repeatedly.

"I can't blame you, General Song. After all, it was the Fujian Navy that was built by the emperor. You have never fought a water battle in the past, so it is normal for you to lose a battle." Yuan Chonghuan consoled him.

"Thank you for your understanding," Song Jin said gratefully. He didn't expect that he would not be blamed for the defeat.

Now that the navy of the Imperial Guard had arrived, Yuan Chonghuan did not continue to march. Instead, he sent an order to set up camp on the spot. He set up a large amphibious camp on the south bank of the Yangtze River and sent out men to collect the defeated troops of Song Jin's troops. At the same time, he sent fast boats to Wuhu along the water and land to explore the enemy's situation.

The clipper quickly reported back, and the Imperial Guard navy was cruising on the Wuhu River. Wuhu City was also occupied by the Imperial Guard. The Imperial Guard was driving the people of Wuhu to build the city wall that was blasted by the red cannon.

"Very good, this is to rely on Wuhu City to stop my 200,000-strong army!" Yuan Chonghuan sneered.

According to the intelligence, the Imperial Guard only has about 20 ships and at most five or six thousand soldiers. They actually try to stop an army of 200,000 people. They really don’t know how high the sky is! This is clearly looking down on me, Mr. Yuan!

"Have you found out the names of the enemy generals?" Yuan Chonghuan asked coldly.

"The flag of the warship on the river is General Li of Fujian Province. It should be Li Yanzhi personally leading the navy. But there is no flag of the general on Wuhu City." The sentry reported back.

"Li Yanzhi" Yuan Chonghuan murmured, not having much impression of this man. When he was the governor of Ningyuan, Li Yanzhi had not yet joined the army.

"The cabinet department doesn't know that this Li Yanzhi was a martial arts scholar in the first year of Chongzhen. After passing the martial arts examination, he joined the Xiyuan Imperial Guard established by the emperor. He was the emperor's confidant. He was later sent to Fujian as a general soldier to replace him.

The emperor opened up maritime trade

Yi. This man was extremely fierce. He once led an army to defeat the Dutch Red-haired Ghosts, and snatched three plywood boats from the Dutch Red-haired Ghosts. In this way, he established a huge navy and dominated the southeastern seas." "Accompanying Army Staff

Huang Li introduced.

"Oh, I forgot, Mr. Huang is from Fujian. It seems that he has suffered losses from Li Yanzhi before." Yuan Chonghuan said.

Huang Li gritted his teeth and said: "Minister, you know that I am from Quanzhou. The Huang family in Quanzhou has been engaged in maritime business for more than a hundred years. In order to seize the maritime business, Li Yanzhi slandered the Huang family and colluded with the red-haired ghosts, and brazenly bombarded Quanzhou in front of the whole city.

In front of the people, they killed my cousin, the head of the Huang family, and took over the Huang family's business. I was only able to survive because I was outside."

"Sure enough, it is lawless, everything in the world is ruined in the hands of these people!" Yuan Chonghuan said, snapping the case.

Yuan Chonghuan naturally looked down upon a warrior like Li Yanzhi, who only relied on the emperor's support to achieve his current status, and there were not many people in the world he could look up to.

But after all, he had seen large-scale battles, and had led troops to fight a decisive battle with 100,000 slaves. Although he looked down on Li Yanzhi, Yuan Chonghuan still had the caution he needed. After sending out sentries to find out the details of the opponent, Yuan Chonghuan

The battle plan has just been formulated.

Although the Imperial Guard navy warships are strong and powerful, they have one biggest shortcoming, which is that it is inconvenient to turn in. They can only rely on sails for power, and they simply cannot exert their due strength in the Yangtze River. Therefore, if you want to

It is actually not difficult to defeat the opponent's fleet. You only need to choose the right moment to attack with fire to defeat the enemy! As for the opponent's army stationed in Wuhu City, there are only 3,000 soldiers and horses. Wuhu City can be defeated even with human lives!

Yuan Chonghuan immediately allocated 50,000 infantry troops, still led by Song Jin, and marched along the south bank of the Yangtze River towards Wuhu City.

"General Song, it has been determined that the Wuhu garrison only has 3,000 people. After you lead the army to Wuhu, immediately attack from all sides. I will order the navy to contain the opponent's fleet." Yuan Chonghuan ordered.

"Don't worry, Cabinet Minister, I will definitely attack Wuhu and avenge the defeat!" Song Jin gritted his teeth.

"You still have to be careful. The Imperial Guard was created by the emperor with a lot of money and is equipped with too many guns and artillery. When you arrive in Wuhu, don't rush to attack the city. Set up camp and build siege equipment, and build more carts to block the opponent's firearms."

Yuan Chonghuan ordered.

Song Jin led the army towards Wuhu. They arrived at Wuhu in the afternoon of that year, set up camp ten miles away from the city, and began to build siege equipment.

Yuan Chonghuan was not idle either. While dispatching a sentry ship to observe the situation of the opponent's navy, he ordered the dispatch of a hundred fast boats. The boats were filled with dry firewood and poured with kerosene. The bows were also equipped with sharpened ramming logs. Each boat

Twenty sailors on board were responsible for rowing, and a small boat was tied to the stern of the fire boat to form a fire attack fleet.

However, the camp did not move forward and remained here because the opponent's navy was too powerful. Yuan Chonghuan did not dare to get too close to Wuhu because he knew that most of his men were made up of former rebels, not to mention a rabble.

But it's not much different. It can't be compared with the imperial guards that the emperor spent a lot of money to build.

Since ancient times, the more troops the better, otherwise there would not be so many examples of fighting with less to defeat more. Yuan Chonghuan is familiar with military books, so he naturally knows that war is not a child's play and should not be careless.

"Report to the Cabinet, General Song's troops have arrived ten miles west of Wuhu City and have been attacked by enemy fleet artillery. General Song has ordered the army to stay away from the river bank and is setting up camp."

"Send an order to General Song and ask him to guard against enemy sneak attacks!" Yuan Chonghuan ordered.

"In the cabinet, the total number of enemy troops is only a few thousand troops. Do you dare to leave the city for a sneak attack?" Huang Li asked suspiciously.

Yuan Chonghuan said: "I can't say for sure. During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhang Liao dared to sneak attack Sun Zhongmou's 100,000 troops with 800 men. There were more than 3,000 imperial guards in Wuhu City. What's the point of going out of the city to sneak into the camp? But I really hope that they would go out to sneak into the city. That way

There is no need for Song Jin to attack Wuhu."

However, to Yuan Chonghuan's disappointment, the troops in Wuhu City did not leave the city, and the Imperial Guard navy in the river was also very honest and had no intention of coming to attack his camp.

Until three days later.

"At the Cabinet Office, General Song sent someone to deliver a message. He has made preparations to attack the city and is ready to start attacking the city early tomorrow morning!"

"Okay, here's the order. Food will be made tomorrow at the third watch, and the fleet will set off at the fourth watch!" Yuan Chonghuan ordered.

The next day, when the sky was dark and bright, Yuan Chonghuan personally led a fleet of 500 ships towards Wuhu. After traveling down the river for more than 30 miles in an hour, he arrived outside Wuhu City and saw boats cruising on the river from a distance.

There were twenty large ships.

"Minister, I am willing to lead the fire fleet as the vanguard!" Through the telescope, Huang Li saw the military flag with the word "Li" flying on the mast of the enemy ship a few miles away, Huang Li's eyes turned red, and he volunteered.

Yuan Chonghuan raised his head, looked at the direction of the flag flying on the mast, and shook his head slightly: "The wind direction is not right, please wait."

The Yangtze River flows from west to east, but in this section of Wuhu, it turns north, and when it reaches Nanjing, it turns a corner and turns east again. At this time, the Imperial Guard fleet was in the north, and Yuan Chonghuan's fleet was in the south. At this time, the wind was blowing

The wind was northwest. The Imperial Guard navy was following the wind, and the Jingnan fleet was following the current. Both sides had an advantage. Therefore, Yuan Chonghuan decided to wait for the wind direction to change or become smaller, and the opponent's sail lost power, and then attack again.

On the distant shore, the infantry of the Jingnan Army, led by Song Jin, had already launched an attack on Wuhu. The shouts of killing were faintly heard, but Yuan Chonghuan calmed down and stood still.

"Commander, let's fight with the wind now!" Zhang Huang said while looking at the anti-thief fleet in the distance.

Li Yan said bluntly: "There is no rush, our goal is to delay time anyway, they can just delay it."

"But we can't just watch. How about we get closer and bombard them with artillery?" Zhang Huangyan suggested. The two sides are now about four miles apart, which is beyond the range of artillery.

"Okay, let's get closer." Li Yan nodded.

The flag wavered, all the ships pulled up their anchors, and the half-lowered sails quickly raised, and slowly moved towards the enemy fleet to the south.

"Government Department, they are coming to kill us!"

"The rear team becomes the front team and slowly withdraw westward." Yuan Chonghuan ordered.

"Ah! Why retreat?" Huang Li asked puzzledly.

"They want to approach and attack with artillery, but I don't give them a chance! Let's retreat first and lure them to chase. Huang Li, you are responsible for commanding the fireship. Once their fleet is separated from the front and rear, look at my flag and launch an attack immediately!" Yuan Chonghuan said coldly!

road.

"Yes, I'll take your orders!" Huang Li agreed with clasped fists and got off Yuan Chonghuan's boat.

"Commander, they have retreated, let's catch up quickly!" Zhang Huangyan was overjoyed when he saw the pirate fleet retreating and said quickly.

Li Yanzhi frowned: "Why do they want to retreat?"

"You must know that our artillery fire is sharp."

"The infantry is attacking the city, but the navy is retreating. There must be fraud!" Li Yanzhi slowly shook his head, "Although we have a tailwind now, our speed is still not as fast as theirs, and we cannot catch up."

"But they are in chaos now. This is a rare good opportunity!" Zhang Huang said. Since ancient times, unless there are elite soldiers, any army will retreat into chaos. It is a good opportunity to pursue and kill. Anyone who understands the art of war will

Everybody knows.

After being told by Zhang Huangyan, and then looking at the chaotic rebel navy in the distance, Li Yanzhi was also a little moved: "Then give chase, don't chase too close, just get closer and bombard them with artillery."

Following Li Yanzhi's order, twenty sea ships continued to pursue, and the first few sea ships quickly approached to a distance of three miles.

"Boom, boom, boom!" The bow gun began to roar, smashing several shells into the anti-pirate fleet, causing several splashes of water. However, most of the artillery on the warship were installed on both sides of the ship, and there was only one on the bow.

It's just an artillery piece. This firepower naturally won't cause much damage to the opponent.

"Commander, we should drive along the north bank of the river and bombard them with artillery on the port side." Zhang Huangyan suggested.

Li Yanzhi was silent for a moment: "Send the order, stop the pursuit!"

"Why?" Zhang Huangyan asked in confusion.

Li Yanzhi shook his head and said: "This is the Yangtze River, not the sea. If we use port artillery to attack them, the fleet will inevitably line up in a long line. What if the local fleet takes the opportunity to launch a fierce attack? Our ships have no time to turn around."

The sea is boundless. If you don't want to engage in a boarding battle with the opponent, you can turn around at will. It is very difficult for the enemy to get close. You have to rely on strong firepower to sink the opponent. But now it is the Yangtze River, and the river here is less than two miles wide.

, sea-going ships don’t have much room to maneuver, so it’s difficult to take advantage of artillery.
To be continued...