[Net..] There were bursts of thunder, heavy rain poured down on the vast river, war drums were rolling, and shouts of death were rising to the sky. Through the rain curtain, some warships could be faintly seen fighting back and forth.
"Godmother, the enemy troops are coming too hard, and our brothers can hardly hold it anymore," a man in military uniform said urgently behind Mrs. Liu. The rain fell on him, turning him into a drowned rat.
It has to be said that fighting a water battle in the rain is not an easy and pleasant thing, because the artillery is mounted on the bow of the ship, and it cannot be used when it rains. The advantage of the artillery is lost, and the advantage of the dive upstream is not taken advantage of. , as soon as this battle started, we were at a disadvantage.
"Godmother, five of our warships have been hit and sunk. Let's retreat," another man who looked like a drowned rat advised,
"We can't retreat. We will suffer a loss, but the Ming Navy will not be better off either. Now we are competing to see whoever is more ruthless will win." Mrs. Liu was also soaked all over, but her face was full of expressions. perseverance,
"Bang," another loud noise came. Not far away, a warship was surrounded by four warships of the Ming Navy. Seeing that there was no way out, they actually ignited gunpowder and blew themselves up. The violent explosion wave directly destroyed the warship. The ship was blown into pieces, and the four warships around it were also affected. The two ships that were closer were directly overturned, and the two ships that were farther away were also blown up with half of the ship building.
As for the sailors on the warship, none of them survived. On the Ming navy side, Xu Huizu was so frightened that his face turned pale when he saw this scene. The morale of the Ming army officers also dropped sharply. It was obvious that the pirate army This desperate style of fighting is really terrifying.
"Father, the pirate army is desperate, we have to be careful," Xu Qin's face was not good-looking, because these desperate pirates in front of him were obviously playing with their lives, not only playing with their own lives, but also playing with other people's lives. From these people, he could faintly see the shadow of the Peking Army.
"How many warships do we have?" Xu Huizu asked seriously.
"Basically intact, there are still fifty-eight ships ready for battle, twenty-seven damaged, and eighteen sunk."
"How many more ships are there in the pirate army?"
"Forty-five ships,"
"Send the order, all warships disperse, fight one on one, don't besiege, lest they be affected by self-destruction again," Xu Huizu ordered through gritted teeth, because the training of the Ming army's navy was insufficient, and one-on-one would suffer. However, the pirate army did It's too life-threatening, and the siege is even more harmful than the gain.
Of course, Xu Huizu will not retreat, because there is no retreat, even if he fights to the last ship, he cannot retreat.
In this way, more than a hundred warships collided back and forth on the vast river, fighting against each other. The battle situation fell into a stalemate. At this time, the competition was not about the strength of the ships, but about the courage and perseverance. Whoever took a step back first would win. Whoever will be defeated,
The fighting continued from noon to the afternoon. More and more warships were rammed and sunk. On the warships that were not sunk, there were countless people jumping gangs and fighting. It was no longer possible to tell which ship was the Ming army's warship. , which one is a pirate ship. The heavy rain washed away the blood stains on the war ship, but soon there were new blood stains covering it.
In short, everyone was crazy. Even those who were greedy for life and fearful of death had to fight frantically to get a place on the boat when they saw the vast river water around them.
"Boom," there was another muffled sound. The deck of a pirate warship was occupied by the Ming army. Seeing that there was no way to save the day, the sailors below lit the gunpowder barrel and blew themselves up. The Ming army that was fighting against it The warship had no time to dodge and was directly knocked down by the violent explosion wave.
"If we can't fight, let's retreat."
"Yes, we can't win, let's run away,"
"This is a bunch of lunatics, don't go near them,"
...
Several warships self-destructed one after another, and the Ming army sailors became timid. Many warships began to retreat and did not dare to tangle with the pirate ships. However, the sailors on the pirate ships became red-eyed. The Ming army retreated, and they Keep up, chase and fight all the way,
"Father, the soldiers can no longer resist, let's..." Xu Qin became even more anxious when he saw that his army began to retreat.
At this time, the battle situation was in a stalemate, but nightfall had quietly fallen, and the heavy rain gradually lightened up.
"Send dead soldiers and fire ships to attack," Xu Huizu gritted his teeth and ordered,
The so-called fire ship is a small boat piled with flammable materials. The reason why it has been useless is because it rains heavily and cannot be used. Now that the rain has lightened up, and the battle situation is not conducive to one's own side, Xu Huizu has to use this trump card. come out,
Of course, Xu Huizu was also very distressed when he sent out fire ships, because these fire ships were not only filled with flammable materials, but also had enough gunpowder. The explosion power was comparable to that of a pirate ship's self-destruction. The design was no different from a mine. Once it was exploded, it would reach the enemy. When the time comes, both the enemy and ourselves will sink to the bottom of the river, and the dead soldiers on the fireboat will also die without a doubt.
Obviously, Xu Huizu wanted to cut off the strong man’s wrist,
Xu Huizu started to get angry, and Mrs. Liu was not polite. When the rain stopped, the gunners began to load ammunition on the artillery. They aimed at the Ming army warships and started bombarding them. The rumbling sound of artillery fire kept ringing. Many Ming warships that had no time to escape were hit and were either sunk or destroyed. The morale of the Ming navy dropped sharply.
"Godmother, look over there, that must be the flagship of the Ming Navy." Since the rain stopped, the sailor's field of vision became wider. At a glance, he saw several big fortune ships parked a few miles away, all with Xu Xu hanging on them. Anyone with the word "Junqi" can guess that it is the headquarters of the Ming Navy.
"Don't worry about the warships around you, all rush over there." Everyone knows the principle of capturing thieves and kings. Mrs. Liu gave the order and rushed forward with her flagship.
On the opposite side of the Ming Navy's naval position, Xu Huizu saw more than 20 warships abandoning their opponents and rushing toward him, but he was not in a hurry. There was a hint of intention on the corner of his mouth, and he secretly said in his heart: "I'll wait." That’s it,”
Because they were sailing against the current, the pirate army moved very slowly. Nearly half an hour passed before they advanced more than a mile. At this time, they almost entered the range of the artillery. In the dark night, they saw a flash of fire and the roar of cannons. , dozens of lead bullets fell in front of the Ming Navy's battle formation, causing a huge splash of water.
"Father, we should retreat to avoid the enemy," Xu Qin urged,
"No hurry, no rush, the fireship fleet is about to approach. It's too dark on the river at this time, and the enemy ships can't fire well, so the fireships can't get close," Xu Huizu said in a deep voice,
"Father, let's leave in a small boat and leave a few empty ships here," Xu Qin advised again. He knew that his father would use the flagship as a bait to lure the pirate army to fire continuously so that the fireships could find it. Target, but in his opinion, it is enough to use the boat as bait, there is no need to set up people too,
"Okay, give the order to abandon the ship and everyone to leave." Xu Huizu thought the same thing and took the lead to leave. But as soon as he walked to the lifeboat, he heard another rumbling sound of cannons and a shrill roar of the wind. Crossing the sky, he suddenly felt a shock under his feet. He looked up and saw, good fellow, a lead bullet hit the ship's building separately, blowing half of the ship's building away. If he hadn't walked a few steps faster, he would have missed the target. Can't play,
"Abandon the ship, abandon the ship immediately," Xu Huizu had no time to lament his narrow escape. He jumped into the escape boat and urged his cronies to row away quickly.
At this time, the fireboat fleet he sent out had already approached the pirate army's warship in the dark. Only dots of fire were seen on the river. The fireships were detonated one after another. More violent explosions were heard non-stop. There seemed to be dozens of people on the river. Fireworks exploded in the dark night,
"Succeeded," Xu Huizu secretly rejoiced. The fire ship attack was successful, which means that the pirate army will suffer a devastating blow, because he prepared more than forty fire ships, one against one, which is enough to destroy the few remaining ones. all the pirate ships were sunk,
As Xu Huizu expected, Mrs. Liu was chasing with more than a dozen warships, but she didn't notice the fireboats like big wooden boxes floating on the river. It wasn't until these fireboats were ignited that Mrs. Liu knew something was wrong. She She just ordered the sailors to speed up and row away, but before she could get far, the fire ship was detonated. The violent explosion wave directly blew a big hole in her ship. The river gurgled in, and the entire warship quickly turned over. ,
"Godmother, the ship is sinking. Abandon it quickly." A woman took Mrs. Liu's arm and tried to pull her away, but Mrs. Liu's eyes were looking at the blasted warships all around. , the whole person stood there numbly, motionless,
"Godmother, let's go quickly." Another person came to pull her, but she remained unmoved and murmured: "It's over, it's over, a lifetime of hard work, a lifetime of hard work, just like this,"
With tens of thousands of people and good wishes, I originally wanted to destroy the fake Ming Dynasty in one battle and avenge myself for many years. Unexpectedly, I fell on the river. From the beginning of the war, I was in a disadvantageous situation. Now everything is Hard work is ruined in this battle, all dreams are shattered, time is fate,
"Godmother, if you keep the green hills, don't worry about running out of firewood. If the ship is gone, we can rebuild it. If the soldiers are gone, we can recruit more."
There is no greater sorrow than heartbreak. The fire of hope in Mrs. Liu's heart has been extinguished by this sudden tragic defeat. She shook her head in pain and said miserably: "My Godmother is old. She is old. She can't run anymore. I don't want to." If you don't run around anymore, you don't have to worry about me and just run away by yourself,"
"If my godmother doesn't leave, neither will we," four women and one man stood in front of Mrs. Liu and said anxiously,
"Leave quickly, if you don't leave, I will, I will..." Mrs. Liu looked at the five "children" who refused to leave, tears flashed in her eyes, and at this time, most of the warship she was on had sunk. , the Mingshui Master who was originally watching from a distance came around again and rounded up the escapees.
"Ti'er, you are the boss. Now I order you to take everyone away immediately." Seeing the critical situation, Mrs. Liu ordered to a mature woman,
"Godmother..." The mature woman didn't listen and still refused to leave.
"Go quickly, my godmother will kill herself in front of you if you don't leave," Mrs. Liu raised her hand, put a dagger to her heart, and said angrily: "Do you want to force your godmother to death so that you can feel at ease? I want my godmother to die with a clear conscience, so that I can feel at ease,"
When the mature woman saw Mrs. Liu threatening her with death, she knew she could no longer persuade her. She gritted her teeth and said, "Why are you guys still standing there? Why don't you leave quickly?"
After saying that, she pulled a few sisters and left. They had to grit their teeth and leave. As they walked, they looked back at Mrs. Liu who was isolated on the bow of the boat. Under the blowing of the evening breeze, there seemed to be more white hair on her head. She looked a lot, but her face was very calm, and she didn't care about life and death...
"Remember, I will avenge my godmother in the future," Mrs. Liu shouted, and she disappeared into the ship building. However, those who were sitting on the escape boat heard a violent explosion behind them not far away. They looked back and saw a burst of red light. The warship had been torn apart.
"Godmother..." On the escape boat, the four women and one man burst into tears.
"Don't cry, don't cry at all," the mature woman wiped the tears on her face and shouted angrily: "You can't cry for anything. My godmother wants us to live. We must escape from here and be strong in the future. To avenge my godmother,”
"Sister Ti, there are Ming troops all around. How are we going to escape?" A woman stopped crying and looked at the Ming warships all around with a hint of despair.
"Go into the water and dive under the water," the mature woman said, taking the lead and jumping into the water.
+++000+++
To the west of Jinling, not only Anqing City, but also the entire Anqing Prefecture fell into the hands of the Red Scarf Army. Nearly 300,000 people gathered in Anqing City. This is the base camp of the "Rebel Army" West Route Army. The nominal leader of the Rebel Army is the self-proclaimed The emperor of the Han and Ming Dynasties was King Jingangnu, but the military power was in the hands of Prime Minister He Miaoshun.
As a puppet, Wang Jingangnu, who was over fifty years old, was held hostage in the army by He Miaoshun. Originally, Wang Jingangnu was supported by the East Route Army headed by Mrs. Liu. Although He Miaoshun was authoritarian and domineering, he did not dare to do anything to the nominal leader. However, As soon as the news came that the Eastern Route Army was defeated and the whole army was destroyed, he had no reason to be polite to Wang Jingangnu.
No, on April 28, on a thunderstorm night, Wang Jingangnu and his cronies were "invited" by He Miaoshun to a luxuriously decorated flower boat to attend a banquet. The flower boat sailed to the center of the river, and the guests attending the banquet They all fell drunk and fell to the ground. Afterwards, the flower boat caught fire, and Wang Jingangnu and his cronies were all burned to death.
After neatly disposing of the eyesore Wang Jingang's slave, He Miaoshun put on the yellow robe "naturally" and was crowned emperor. He still called himself Emperor Hanming and changed his reign title to Shen Gong. After conferring honors on his trusted ministers, he ordered the entire army Set up camp and march to Jinling to fight for the real throne and realize the dream of being the real emperor.
On April 29, the "Han Army" was divided into two groups. One was the navy, with hundreds of warships of various types heading eastward via the Yangtze River; the other was the army, which landed at Ningguofu and approached Yingtianfu where Jinling is located. , the land and water armies advanced hand in hand, and the momentum was really fierce. All the states and counties along the way turned to the wind, and nearly 50,000 strong men were attracted along the way. The total strength of the Han army reached 340,000.
These 340,000 people were scraped together from here and there. Although the quality was worrying, the quantity was sufficient. Looking at this mighty army and not encountering any resistance from the Ming army along the way, He Miaoshun became even more ambitious and thought Taking Jinling is easy,
On the third day of May, after many days of marching, the "Han Army" finally arrived at the outskirts of Jinling City. At this time, the Ming Army had completed the task of clearing the country. All troops entered the city to garrison, waiting for the "Han Army" to attack.