At the end of April, Jiangnan has entered the rainy season. The water level of the Yangtze River is gradually rising, and the river surface is wider shuda8.. The vast river outside Jinling City is filled with countless warships. The sound of war drums is loud, and the warships form a huge formation.
The battle formation went down the river towards Yangzhou.
Yangzhou is located in the northeast of Jinling City, across the river from Jinling City. It is one of the gateways of Jinling, and it is also the intersection of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal and the Yangtze River. The importance of this city is not even much lower than that of Jinling City. Once Yangzhou falls, not only Jinling will be in danger
, the Ming Dynasty’s control over the northern provinces also plummeted
The "pirate" army headed by Mrs. Liu fiercely attacked Yangzhou City for more than ten days. Although the defenders in the city resisted to the death, they could not withstand the continuous bombardment of artillery. Half of the city wall along the river was blown down. Seeing that Yangzhou was not safe, it was under water.
Even when the navy was not ready, Xu Huizu still had to send the navy to reinforce it.
It was precisely because of the lack of preparation of the navy that Xu Huizu left the important task of Jinling's city defense to the veteran general Changxing Hou Geng Bing. He personally led a navy of 30,000 people to fight the pirate army. Although Changxing Hou Geng Bing was old, he was only a military commander.
The emperor's in-laws are loyal and reliable, and this old guy is good at defense. With him in the capital, Jinling can be guaranteed to be safe.
Along with Xu Huizu, in addition to his son Xu Qin, there was also Wu Gao, Marquis of Jiangyin. Wu Gao was originally the garrison of Liaodong, and sat with Yang to guard Liaodong. When King Yan raised his army, Zhu Di used a counterintuitive trick to deceive Emperor Jian and demoted him to Guangxi later.
He went to Annan with Xu Huizu and made great contributions. Xu Huizu naturally took him with him when he returned to the court this time.
Wu Liang, the father of Wu Gao, Duke of Jiang, followed Zhu Yuanzhang in his early years. He was good at water warfare. He made great contributions in the battle of crossing the river to capture Jinling. After that, he stayed in Jiangyin for many years and fought against Zhang Shicheng, who was separatist in Soochow. He made great military exploits.
After Wu Gao became a good general, he also had a deep understanding of water warfare, and he also had a wide network of contacts. Many of his father's generals were willing to serve him. Xu Huizu found him, which was regarded as a good help.
However, Emperor Jian was not at ease with Wu Gao and the navy. He followed the advice of the imperial master Fang Xiaoru and still sent several military supervisors to Xu Huizu. Among them, Fang Xiaoru's disciple Zheng Gongzhi was the leader.
Speaking of Fang Xiaoru, Qi Tai and Huang Cheng, these three people are good fortune tellers. When the palace was bombed, they managed to escape alive from the flames of war, but they were somewhat injured, and the most seriously injured were
It was Huang Cheng. His eye was cut by the flying debris and he became a one-eyed dragon. The one who was least injured was Fang Xiaoru, whose face was only scratched.
After receiving this blow, Fang, Qi, and Huang not only did not know how to restrain themselves, they still shamelessly talked about military affairs in the court. However, there were not many people in the court regardless of military affairs. Even the officials who usually looked down on military generals also switched sides.
Xu Huizu formed a practical faction headed by Xu Huizu
Due to the raging military situation, Xu Huizu was also busy engaging in factional struggles in the court. He had been seizing the time to prepare for the war. After more than ten days of hard work, he pulled out a city defense army composed of 240,000 people and a group of troops.
A navy consisting of 30,000 people was equipped with many firearms, which was enough to fight the rebels.
However, Xu Huizu's biggest headache was the pirate army, because the pirate army was equipped with many gunboats and its firepower was obviously better than that of the Ming Navy. Moreover, the pirate army seemed to have the influence of the Peking Army behind it, and the Peking Army's navy was both in terms of the quality of its soldiers and the
The equipment is beyond the reach of Ming Shui Master.
"Father, more than twenty miles ahead, there is Yangzhou." Xu Qin woke up in a low voice when he saw his father standing on the ship's deck looking into the distance with his brows furrowed and not saying a word.
"Oh, so fast?" Xu Huizu came back from his deep thoughts. He was just wondering if there was a Peking Army among the pirate army.
"As our army goes down the river, we will naturally find that our army is located in the upper reaches. It has a favorable location and has a much greater chance of winning," Xu Qin consoled him.
"I hope so. Go and call General Wu. It's time for our army to form a formation to fight." Xu Huizu glanced at the vast river, turned around and returned to the command post.
In fact, Xu Huizu also knew that the biggest disadvantage of his own army compared with the pirate army was the number of artillery. Due to time constraints, the blacksmith sent to imitate the artillery failed to successfully cast the artillery. There were only a dozen or so cannons on the many warships of the Ming Navy. This ship is equipped with large artillery, and other warships only have some small bronze cannons, which are inferior to others in terms of range and firepower.
In order to make up for the equipment gap, the only way was to attach ships to the battle. Xu Huizu had people prepare a lot of fire ships and small shuttle ships, with the purpose of setting fire to the ships and sending people to attach the ships.
Of course, the firepower of the pirate army is too strong. The naval warships should spread out as much as possible when the battle begins to reduce battle losses. As long as they escape a few rounds of salvo bombardment, the distance between the two sides will be closer, and the power of the artillery will be smaller. , even if there is a ship collision at this time, the Ming Shui Master will not suffer a loss.
While the Ming Dynasty navy was busy arranging ships and forming formations, there were more than 70 warships outside Yangzhou City, shelling the city continuously. Many small boats carrying brave soldiers rushed towards the broken city wall like a tide. And there were countless Ming troops on the city walls, braving the roaring artillery fire and fighting desperately.
The person guarding Yangzhou is Geng Xuan. This prince-in-law is actually the brother-in-law of Emperor Jian. The Geng family's loyalty to Emperor Jian is unquestionable. Not long after he was sent to Yangzhou, he strictly enforced military discipline and took over all the Yangzhou mansion. Since the appearance of the pirate army that defended the city, he has been personally supervising the battle at the top of the city. All the strong men have been pulled to the top of the city. Any soldiers who are timid and retreat will be slashed one by one without blinking an eye.
Under the threat of the murderous King Geng, the defenders in Yangzhou City resisted desperately and defended for nearly ten days under fierce artillery fire. However, Yangzhou is the gateway to Jinling. To attack Jinling, Yangzhou must be conquered first. Knowing that it is a hard nut, the pirate army has no choice but to bite it.
"General Zhou, didn't Prime Minister He lead troops to conquer Anqing? Why haven't we seen him marching eastward for so long?" Mrs. Liu, who was supervising the battle on the flagship, was also in military uniform. Seeing that the long battle was in vain, she rushed to the person beside her with some unhappiness. A middle-aged man asked
Because according to the prior agreement, Mrs. Liu led the East Route Army to attack Yangzhou, while He Miao led the West Route Army to attack Anqing. After that, they quickly marched to Jinling and attacked Jinling. However, it had been seven days since the West Route Army captured Anqing, but no reinforcements had arrived. Come on, Mrs. Liu is beginning to doubt He Miaoshun's sincerity.
"Madam, don't worry, Prime Minister He is short of warships. We have to prepare all the big ships before we can march eastward." The middle-aged man smiled casually, "Didn't Madam say earlier that the East Route Army would attack Yangzhou easily? Is it? It’s not captured now, maybe it’s because the lady is saving her strength.”
"Reserve your strength? Now that the pseudo-Ming Dynasty is in decline, and we are fighting to win the title, is it necessary to reserve our strength? Didn't you see that I have already sent all my sons into battle?" Mrs. Liu said very unhappily.
"No effort left? Didn't Mrs. Liu say that she could win over the Peking Army? But the past ten days have passed, and there has been no reply from the Peking Army. There has been no news from the envoys sent by the Prime Minister. This has to make people feel uncomfortable. I’m suspicious. Maybe Madam, you have already reached some peace agreement with the Peking Army and hid it from us.”
"What nonsense are you talking about? I sent Wan'er and Fei'er to Peking. Logically speaking, we should be able to negotiate a peace agreement, but you insist on sending more people. Maybe your people made rude remarks and offended the Peiping army, so the peace negotiation was not negotiated. Cheng actually offended others and now they blame me, what's the point?!" Mrs. Liu was really angry.
"Anyway, we don't know anything about the Peking Army. You can say whatever you want, but we have made an appointment in advance. Our West Route Army will attack Anqing, and your East Route Army will attack Yangzhou. We will capture both sides before we join forces. Our West Route Army has already captured Anqing in a flanking attack on Jinling. Your East Route Army should seize the time to capture Yangzhou."
"Hmph!" Mrs. Liu snorted coldly and ignored the middle-aged man. In fact, she also knew that there were conflicts within the West Route Army. The one who really supported the military power was He Miaoshun. However, this man was a sinister villain, even more powerful than Chen You back then. Of course Mrs. Liu would not succumb to him, and she was even more unwilling to hand over her fate and the tens of thousands of men from the East Route Army to such a person.
Since Mrs. Liu refused to give in, He Miaoshun was also willing to die without saving anything. This was the main reason why the West Route Army stayed in Anqing for a long time. He Miaoshun hoped that both the East Route Army and the Ming Army would lose in a fight, so that he could reap the benefits of Mrs. Liu. I know what He Miaoshun is planning, but she is just a woman, and her strong desire for revenge still drives her to continuously attack the Ming army.
"It's a pity that I couldn't convince the Peking Army. If the Peking Army is willing to take a stake, it will not be difficult to capture Jinling, let alone Yangzhou. If the Peking Army is willing to take a stake, there will be no need to look at those mud-legged eyes in the future? But Wan'er and Fei'er, what's the matter? Can't you convince that Wan Lei? Didn't I tell them earlier that I would win over the Peking Army at all costs?"
Mrs. Liu secretly complained in her heart that Jiangshan Sheji was not important to her. She only wanted to kill all the Zhu Ming royal family and avenge her family, so she even offered the Peking Army conditions such as dividing the river and conquering it. However, Wan Lei Still unmoved, she really couldn't figure out: What could make Wanjia Xiao tempted?
Just as Mrs. Liu was thinking about how to attract the Peiping army to join the army, the sentry on the ship's building suddenly blew the gong. She was startled when she heard the sound. She looked up to the west and saw countless warships appearing on the river. , most of them have big Xu Jun flags hanging on them!
"The Ming Navy is attacking, send the order, stop the siege, and prepare the entire army to fight!" Mrs. Liu has also experienced water battles for a long time. She also cooperated with the Peking Army and Navy in a battle last year and learned many tactics and tactics. The most important thing I learned from the Peking Army is: Don’t be chaotic in the face of battle!
More than 70 warships on Mrs. Liu's side quickly formed a formation, and more than one warship under Xu Huizu's command was already approaching. At this time, the southeast wind picked up, dark clouds rolled in, a bolt of lightning pierced the sky, and large raindrops fell. to the river
"Hahaha, God helps me, God helps me! Send the order, the whole army attacks!" Xu Huizu's bold laughter rang out on the flagship. Because of the arrival of this timely rain, all artillery, guns, and fireships became decorations. What really determines the outcome is collision and hand-to-hand combat!
Faced with the sudden heavy rain and the sudden arrival of the Ming Navy, Mrs. Liu, who had always been calm and calm, also panicked, and her subordinates also came to persuade them to retreat from the Ming Army. After all, the Ming Navy occupied the upper reaches, and along the way Go down the river and start a boat collision to gain the upper hand.
However, Mrs. Liu remembered that she had worked hard for many years to achieve today's situation. If she retreated this time, her morale would definitely be low, and all her previous efforts would be in vain. She gritted her teeth and ordered: "Assemble the entire army." , this is the decisive battle.”
She has waited too long for revenge, and the hatred in her heart has been suppressed for too long. She doesn't want to retreat anymore. Whether she wins or loses, let's see the truth in this battle!