Zhong Yi had just ordered Ming Jin to retreat. Before the soldiers could carry out the order, someone was already beating drums to help the battle.
Zhong Yi bent over and rushed to another section of the city wall, shouting angrily at Zhou Lun who was beating the drum himself: "What do you want to do?"
Zhou Lun said: "Prime Minister, I have an arrow on my string and I have to fire it. The navy has already entered Qingcao Lake. If we march forward bravely, we can still fight. Once we retreat, the entire army will be wiped out. The thief navy will chase after us!"
"How can we win a head-on water battle?" Zhong Yi was very pessimistic.
Zhou Lun said: "We should have made a decision a few days ago. Either the army will go north for a decisive battle, or the entire army will withdraw to Xiangyin. The prime minister neither dares to advance nor retreat. If he sticks here, he will only be beaten. It is better to fight to the death today. Antlers The navy troops in the village should also go out to help in the battle!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the gate of the water village was already opened.
Gao Ling led more than 60 large and small warships to attack the Ming navy, which was ten times his own. He planned to cooperate with Red's advance, and Yang Yao launched a flanking attack from both sides.
Zhong Yi poked his head out to see the situation clearly and lay slumped on the city wall: "We can't win. The enemy's firearms are powerful. You are risking your own death."
Zhou Lun said: "Prime Minister, if you are afraid of death, don't fight. You can still fight to the death at this time. If you hide and dare not fight, you will not even have a chance to fight in the future."
Zhong Yi said nothing, but Zhou Lun ordered the water village to fire artillery, that is, use catapults to assist the friendly forces.
In later generations, the large land area between Luhu Lake and the mouth of the Xiangjiang River was all part of the Qingcao Lake waters at this time.
But the siltation at the bottom of the lake has become very serious. Hills like Shijun Mountain and Xiaoshantang are small islands in Qingcao Lake.
Why is it said that Lujiao Village can strangle the Xiangjiang River?
It is because of the large water area on the west side of Qingcao Lake that large ships can only pass through when the water level rises in summer and autumn. It is the fifth month of the lunar calendar, and a few heavy rains are not enough. If the Ming Dynasty navy wants to enter the Xiangjiang River, it must follow the east side of Qingcao Lake. The side deep water area goes south.
The numerous small battleships of the Chu Navy were scattered towards the shallow water.
They were very familiar with Qingcao Lake and were not afraid of being stranded at all. They planned to spread out their formation to avoid the bombardment, and then charge together from three sides, rushing over to mix with the Ming Navy to disrupt the battle.
And there will be countless small boats set on fire later on, trying to destroy the Ming Dynasty Navy even if they all die together!
"Go to the northwest, fight and then retreat!"
Pang Dingzi did not want to tangle with the Chu army here. To the northwest was the deep water area of Dongting Lake. Once there, he could fight any way he wanted.
Hundreds of warships had their sails spread out, and the boatmen were pumping their oars with all their strength. They sailed towards the deep water one after another before engaging the Chu navy.
Not just running away, but fighting and retreating at the same time.
More than a dozen gunboats opened fire with all their strength, and the other warships were also firing divine arm bows and returning cannons.
The warships of Yang Yao and Gao Meng were long and narrow and fast. They tried to keep the Ming Dynasty navy behind, so they rushed to the front and could catch up quickly without any accident.
The distance between the two sides is indeed getting closer, at the cost of heavy losses to the warships under their command.
More than twenty Chu army clippers were damaged and sunk by artillery, artillery, and divine arm bows. The Chu army sailors on board jumped into the lake to escape.
"Whoosh whoosh!"
The Chu army's fast ships were equipped with something similar to the bed crossbow. It was definitely not as powerful as the bed crossbow, but the operators did not need so many.
An arrow shaft as thick as a pigeon's egg was shot out, along with a long rope. Once it hit the Ming warship, the two sides were connected by the rope.
The Chu army tried to seize the ship!
"ignition!"
"Fire the arrow!"
Since the muskets made in various places were sent to the north and centralized and equipped in the Prince's Shenji Camp, the southern ministries did not have muskets.
But, they have rockets!
It is to tie something similar to a flying monkey to the front part of the arrow shaft.
It can not only boost the acceleration of arrows, but also burn violently to ignite enemy supplies. In the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, Yu Yunwen fought against Caishiji, and Li Bao crossed the sea to attack Shandong, both of which used rockets in large quantities.
This thing existed in the late Tang Dynasty. Before that, rockets used rosin and other flammable substances.
Hundreds of rockets were fired at him. Yang Yao blocked a few with his sword and shield, but most of the others landed on the warship. Only seven or eight sailors were hit.
The ignition effect is limited, after all, this is not a fire ship filled with firewood.
Then, while the Chu army's sailors were putting out the fire, the other two Ming warships had already finished loading their bombs.
Although only a dozen warships were equipped with iron cannons, the remaining warships were all equipped with wooden cannons!
The advantage of wooden cannons is that they are cheap to make, but the disadvantages are that they are low in power and difficult to preserve for a long time. Not only were they used during the Anti-Japanese War in China, but even Germany had wooden mortars during World War I, and Japan also had a large number of wooden cannons during the Russo-Japanese War.
It is not a completely wooden structure. It must be made of dense wood and has iron hoops on the outside.
The more particular ones will embed iron sheets in the barrel, or the barrel may simply be made of iron sheets, and add a layer of leather when adding the iron hoop.
"Boom boom boom!"
More than a dozen wooden cannons fired one after another, and a large number of small stones flew out like a goddess scattering flowers.
Anyway, the power of this thing is relatively small. The Ming Dynasty Navy is specially used for close combat, and is used to attack enemies from a few meters to dozens of meters away. They don't even bother to use iron bullets, and just use small stones to shoot shotguns.
Yang Yao was hit by a small stone and his tibia was fractured. The mouth of the tiger holding the shield was also cracked and bleeding. In panic, he reluctantly shouted in pain: "Crash into the ship and seize the ship!"
But the soldiers dragged Yang Yao back and hid: "General, we can't fight, the thieves have powerful firearms, and many of our brothers died!"
Yang Yao poked his head out to take a look and found that many of the exposed sailors had been killed and wounded, and no one dared to stand outside anymore.
In last year's water battle, the Ming Navy was not even equipped with wooden cannons, but this year they were all equipped with them.
The tactics of the Ming Dynasty Navy are as follows: use iron cannons directly at long distances, use return cannons and divine arm bows at mid-range, and use wooden cannons to fire shotguns at close range. When encountering enemy fireships, they can also fire a salvo of rockets to ignite them in advance.
.
How can the Chu army's navy fight?
No matter how brave Yang Yao was and he was not afraid of death, he knew that he had no chance of winning in the face of cannon shells. He ordered his soldiers to say: "Send a message to Mr. Lei Hou and ask him to retreat quickly. I will lead the vanguard and cut off the rear to defend against the enemy!"
Red quickly saw the flag signal clearly when he entered, but the arrow was on the string and had to be fired. The Chu navy had already deployed and charged, and it was too late to retreat now.
Even if most of the warships received the order to retreat, it would be difficult for them to retreat in an orderly manner, and they would inevitably be pursued by the Ming Navy.
"Call around!"
Lei Jin could only act according to the original plan, which was to use regular warships to sacrifice their lives to retain the Ming army, and use thousands of fire ships to start the fire during the melee.
Yingxuan used a telescope to observe the situation. When he saw the actions of the Chu army's navy, he couldn't help but sigh: "Alas!"
The place where the two sides fought was in the transition zone between Dongting Lake and Qingcao Lake.
Hundreds of warships of the Ming Dynasty Navy gradually dispersed into twenty crescent shapes. Navy officers and soldiers called it the "Reflection Moon Formation", and Prince Zhu Ming said it was a battle line.
As for the Chu navy, they still used traditional water warfare formations, and they also knew how to fire rockets and ballistae.
The Chu army's warships desperately wanted to fight on the side of the ship. They finally rushed forward despite medium and long-range firepower, but they were faced with close-range shotgun fire from wooden cannons.
Manichaean soldiers are also human beings, and they are also afraid of death. Many warships have been frightened and have retreated.
Seeing that the scuffle was hopeless, Redjin could only place his hope on the fire ship.
More than a thousand small boats were filled with firewood and rushed forward quickly through the gaps in the battlefield. From time to time, one of them was capsized by the waves. This was the waves caused by the shells of iron cannons and return guns falling into the water.
Finally, some small boats rushed closer, but they were greeted by countless rockets and shotguns.
The rocket fell onto the small boat, and the firewood was quickly ignited. The sailors and fishermen operating the boat could only jump into the lake to escape, and were unable to deliver the fire boat to the Ming warship.
"Get back to the shallow water!"
Redjin ordered with tears in his eyes that this battle could not be fought. He was lucky to be able to escape with a quarter of the warships back.
After dozens of Chu warships were left behind, they launched a suicide charge in an attempt to entangle the Ming Navy.
Even Yang Yao, who had a broken leg and a cracked tiger's mouth, was leading the warship forward.
Unfortunately, another cannon shot opened, and the pebbles hit the shield, and then hit his forehead. Yang Yao fainted with blood on his forehead, and a piece of broken shield sawdust was embedded in his cheek, and his left hand holding the shield was shaken.
Broken wrist.
The flag of the Ming Navy was waved, and several battle lines changed their formations to counterattack, encircling and cutting up the fleeing enemy ships.
For the Chu army, the situation took a sudden turn for the worse, and even some of the people responsible for breaking up the rear were so frightened that they turned the warship's direction and fled.
When Leide Jin led the remnants of the Chu navy and successfully retreated to the shallow waters of Qingcao Lake, he was horrified to find that there were only about twenty warships left.
"Stop chasing, it's easy to get stranded over there," Yingxuan, who was watching the whole battle, finally said, "General Pang, please rescue those who have fallen into the water. If there is no resistance, don't kill the prisoners. They are all good soldiers!"
Pang Dingzi knew that the prince valued Yingxuan and there was no need to make trouble over trivial matters, so he immediately issued military orders according to Yingxuan's suggestion.
The Ming Navy allowed the remaining enemy troops to escape and stretched out bamboo poles to pull up the fallen enemies.
All the rescued people were dejected and sat there being tied up.
There were also sailors with strong faith who refused to be rescued and swam to the shore several miles away.
Yingxuan became more and more distressed as he watched, and said to Pang Dingzi: "General Pang, some of the people floating on the water are just injured and unconscious. Please rescue them too. There are too many floating corpses in Dongting Lake, which can easily cause plague."
Pang Dingzi resisted the urge to roll his eyes and ordered: "The whole army will seize the people, bring the alive ones back for treatment, and drag the dead ones ashore and burn them!"
But it was said that Leidejin led the remaining navy back to Lujiao Village, knelt in front of Zhong Yi and cried bitterly: "Prime Minister, it was my poor command that killed the brothers. You can chop off my head!"
Zhong Yi held a breath in his chest and was so angry that he didn't want to curse.
Zhou Lun said: "Prime Minister, abandon the defense of Lujiao Village and retreat to Xiangyin. The water battle is defeated. The Xiangjiang and Miluo River food roads will be controlled by the enemy. Sooner or later, tens of thousands of troops will run out of food here. Taking advantage of the enemy's main force
If you haven’t arrived yet, you must leave here as soon as possible.”
Zhong Yi did not hesitate for long before he ordered: "The whole army retreats. Who will guard the stronghold and cut off the rear?"
Zhou Lun said: "I am the guard of Lujiao Village, and it is my turn to defend the rear."
Zhong Yi's eyes were wet, he held Zhou Lun's hand and said: "General, take care!"
Just when the main force of the Chu army was packing up their baggage and preparing to evacuate by land, Tan Ma, who was observing the enemy's situation in the north, galloped back: "The Ming army's forward is coming!"
Bai Qi and Wang Yuan's tens of thousands of troops were stationed twenty miles away.
The Ming Dynasty Navy has already taken action, how could the Army sit idly by and do nothing?
