Following Fang Guozhen's order, the Taizhou military fleet moved towards the river bank. Three of the large ships were the first to turn into the river connecting Shuimen, approaching the city gate.
Fang Guozhen often travels to sea, so the fleet is composed of large ships, with bows like awls, breaking through the water and moving forward.
The enemy troops on the city wall had already started shooting arrows, and the Taizhou army was not to be outdone. They fired arrows back, and some even used some weird darts and throwing axes. Their accuracy was amazing, and their lethality was especially high compared to arrows.
After a while, the three large ships were already docked outside the water gate. The Taizhou army climbed on the mast and yelled, setting up planks and attacking the city wall.
Some skilled veterans tied the rope to the mast, holding a knife in their mouths and hanging the rope with both hands, like monkeys, using their strength to rush to the opposite city wall.
This siege has just begun, and several people have already attacked the city wall.
The morale of the Taizhou soldiers soared. When several of them were about to follow them up the city wall, they suddenly saw that several veterans who had just climbed up the city wall were thrown down.
A big man with a beard stretched out his head from behind the female wall and shouted at the Taizhou soldiers: "You sons of turtles, come and die if you want!" The mace in his hand flashed coldly, it was Wang Da.
Not only were the Taizhou soldiers not frightened, but their ferocious nature was aroused.
The soldiers swung up the city wall desperately, and some of them were not very serious. They hit the city wall and died on the spot, but it still did not affect the movements of other people.
At this moment, many long-handled sledgehammers suddenly appeared on the enemy's city wall. When many Taizhou soldiers were flying in the air, the sledgehammers swung them over.
Under the collision of the two phases, those Taizhou soldiers died miserably, screaming like night owls in the air.
If the Taizhou soldiers died on the city wall, it would be nothing, since no one could see it anyway.
However, these soldiers were all hammered to death in mid-air. Although only a small number of them were hammered to death, the psychological pressure caused to all Taizhou soldiers was very obvious.
The Taizhou soldiers' offensive was visibly slowing down.
Li Desun's hands felt a little itchy after seeing it, and seeing that the offensive was not going well, he asked Zhan: "Brother, I'm going to twist off the head of the beard thief just now, and use it as a night pot for you!"
Fang Guozhen hesitated without answering.
At this moment, he saw a sheepskin bag the size of a pot fall from the city wall, land on a large ship, and hit a Taizhou soldier on the head.
The Taizhou soldier thought it was some kind of heavy object and thought he must be smashed to death. Unexpectedly, he touched his head and found that not even a drop of blood was shed.
He was about to laugh a few words when he suddenly heard a hissing sound and looked towards the sheepskin bag, only to see a spark approaching the sheepskin bag quickly.
"It's gunpowder!" he shouted hurriedly and lay down to the side.
Fang Guozhen was looking over there. Although he couldn't hear what the soldier said, when he saw his movements, he guessed that the sheepskin bag must contain gunpowder.
In battles on the sea, artillery and gunpowder can play a major role.
Fang Guozhen had more than a dozen cannons and thousands of kilograms of gunpowder in his hands, and he asked for some from Yuan Ting for this battle. So not only did he know gunpowder very well, but other Taizhou soldiers were also familiar with gunpowder.
According to past experience, the sheepskin bag only holds dozens of kilograms of gunpowder. Lie down ten feet away, which is a safe distance.
Unexpectedly, not long after the soldier lay down, he heard a loud "bang".
A wisp of black smoke rose up and lifted the soldier up. After flipping countless times in the air, he fell into the water with a pop.
The explosion was like thunder on the ground, making all the Taizhou troops attacking the city tremble.
Some people were climbing towards the city wall through wooden planks and wooden ladders. When they heard the sound, they couldn't help but trembled and fell down, forming a small splash on the water.
Fang Guozhen, who was supervising the battle from the rear, shrank his pupils. The sound was different from the gunpowder he was familiar with, and more like the sound of thunder during a storm.
He stared closely at the bombed ship, and saw that after a burst of black smoke, a large hole appeared in the hull, which was wider than the corpses of soldiers lying on the ground around it.
The big ship shook for a while and began to sink, indicating that either the entire ship was blown through, or the keel was seriously damaged.
Almost at the same time, two more powder packets were thrown down.
If it were normal, with the fierce bravery of the Taizhou soldiers, they would definitely pounce on them and try to put out the sparks.
However, the morale of the Taizhou soldiers has dropped a lot. Coupled with the terrifying power of the explosion of the first gunpowder bag just now, everyone's first reaction was to quickly stay away from the gunpowder bag, and some people even jumped directly into the water.<
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"Boom!" "Boom!"
After two loud noises, the other two ships began to tilt and sink slowly like the previous ship.
In an instant, the three large ships closest to the city wall sank into the water. The sinking of the large ships formed a huge underwater undercurrent. Even though the soldiers on board were very good at water, many of them were swallowed up by the undercurrent.
Fang Guozhen's eyelids twitched and he said coldly: "Use a firecracker."
There are hundreds of soldiers on one ship, and the three ships combined have more than a thousand soldiers.
With such tragic casualties on his side, he is no longer allowed to withdraw his troops, otherwise the Taizhou Army will become the laughing stock of the world!
As the flag bearer on the lookout passed his orders in flags, several large ships loaded with cannons approached the city wall.
Before these ships had time to fire their cannons, they heard several booming explosions. Although the sound was not as loud as the gunpowder explosion just now, it still made everyone who was attacking the city panic.
After the noise, screams and wails came from a ship equipped with fire guns. Fang Guozhen turned around and saw that a mast of the ship was broken and there were several holes in the ship.
"Brother, they also have firecrackers, they seem to be able to hit farther than us!" Li Desun shouted while looking in the direction of the city wall.
Fang Guozhen turned around again and saw six fire cannons on the other side's wall.
Fang Guozhen took a deep breath and looked towards the city wall. Since the beginning of the war, the other side has been taking the initiative, causing his own morale to continue to decline.
If we continue to fight, even if we win, we will definitely suffer heavy losses.
At this moment, the balance in his heart tilted in another direction. He took a deep breath and calmly said: "Retreat, remember to be chaotic!"
Li Desun glanced at him and immediately understood his leader's intention. He smiled and said, "Yes!" and asked the flag bearer to pass the order on.
Almost in the blink of an eye, Fang Guozhen's fleet began to retreat, and the retreat was extremely embarrassing, and some ships even collided with each other.
The Taizhou soldiers on the three sinking ships were ruthlessly abandoned.
Many soldiers finally escaped from the undercurrent, but what they saw was their own fleet retreating. Before they could think about it, Jiangdu's army on the city wall fired a volley of arrows. After a while, corpses were floating everywhere on the water.
There were also some lucky people who escaped the rain of arrows and swam towards the other side of the river.
On the city wall, Wang Da saw that his side had easily won. He wiped the blood on his face and laughed loudly: "They all say that Fang Guozhen is so great. He is called the sea spirit. From my point of view, he is just a cowardless rat! It's a pity that there is no battle."
ship, otherwise we will definitely destroy them in one fell swoop if we chase them!"
The mountain boar glanced at him and said calmly: "You underestimate Fang Guozhen. If you lead people to chase him out now, no one will come back."
Wang Da fought several battles and was not as stupid as before. He said with emotion: "You mean, he deliberately led us to pursue him?"
The mountain boar said solemnly: "Do you know tigers?"
Wang Da nodded.
The mountain boar said: "Then do you know what a tiger will do when it encounters its prey?"
Wang Dal was stunned and said: "Didn't you rush over and bite me?"
The wild boar shook his head and said: "Although this beast is big, it is actually very cunning! When they encounter a weak prey, they will naturally eat it in one bite. If they encounter a strong prey, they will try their best to test the prey's strength and sometimes stalk the prey.
For a while, sometimes I ran past my prey on purpose."
Wang Da touched his head, looking thoughtful.
The mountain boar continued: "Fang Guozhen is the most cunning tiger. The attack just now was just a test, and the deliberate retreat was also a test. As long as we expose our weaknesses, he will tear us apart mercilessly!"
Wang Da's face became more solemn and he said: "Then what will he do if we don't chase him out?"
The mountain boar took a deep breath and said: "He will use more intense methods to test. When the enemy comes again, they won't be fighting as little as before. Be mentally prepared, the real offensive is coming.
!"
In fact, there is another possibility that Fang Guozhen will retreat. Boar understands Fang Guozhen's thoughts best. For him, he will never bite a bone that cannot be chewed. Preserving strength is the first priority.
However, saying this would only make Wang Da and everyone slack off, so he kept it in his heart.
……
Above the sea, Fang Guozhen's fleet formed a semi-arc, waiting for the arrival of his pursuers. There were also two fleets of clippers hidden on the left and right wings. As soon as the enemy came, they would block their retreat as quickly as possible. p>
This is Fang Guozhen's last test.
However, after waiting for a long time, the enemy still did not catch up.
Li Desun carried a serrated knife and curled his lips and said: "These turtles must not have a boat. Our arrangement is so good that it shows to a blind man!"
Fang Guozhen was silent for a while and said: "Maybe he saw through our purpose, so he was not fooled. It seems that it was not luck that Zhang Yangquan was able to capture Jiangdu. The defender of Tongzhou City is by no means an ordinary person!"
Li Desun had already killed the bloody enemy and had long forgotten his previous purpose, shouting: "Then let's attack with all our strength. I see there are not many defenders, so it shouldn't be difficult to take them down!"
The other generals were also hot-headed. Seeing that they had lost three large ships, they all clamored for another attack!
Fang Guozhen glanced sideways at the generals and said, "Haven't you noticed something is wrong? The enemy is very familiar with our tactics. He even knows exactly which ship our guns are on!"
Li Desun was stunned for a moment and calmed down a little.
"Yes, we were about to use the firecrackers, but they shot with the firecrackers first, overwhelming us with their momentum! And the long-handled sledgehammers they used seemed to be specially designed to deal with us!" Fang Guozhen said in a deep voice: "They know everything about us, but we know nothing about them. We don't know why their gunpowder is so powerful, nor do we know how many reinforcements are on the way to Tongzhou. In this case, do you think it's okay?
Is it necessary to test it?"
The generals looked at each other and shook their heads.
"Father, shall we return directly to Changshu? Such a result will probably make people laugh." The person who spoke was Fang Deqian. He was Fang Guozhen's adopted son, and he spoke without any scruples.
Fang Guozhen was silent. He did not expect that the other party had such amazingly powerful gunpowder, causing him to lose three large ships.
The original idea was to test it out, take advantage and then retreat, so as to give an explanation to the court.
Now that I have suffered a big loss, leaving like this will definitely damage my reputation.
Fang Guozhen doesn't care about the false reputation. What he worries about is that others will think that the Taizhou navy has a false reputation, which will cause a lot of unnecessary trouble.
After weighing it again and again, he slowly said: "Deqian, what do you think you should do in this situation?"
Fang Deqian said: "You should return to Changshu first, send a detailed investigation to find out the situation in Tongzhou, and then consider whether to take revenge!"
Fang Guozhen was noncommittal and said: "Ben Yan, what do you think?"
Zhang Benren said: "We can ask the Changshu navy to attack with us. Not only can we regain the position, we will not suffer too much loss."
Fang Guozhen shook his head and said: "The Changshu navy will not be dispatched easily. They have always been responsible for protecting shipping, and the court is reluctant to let them fight!"
A general asked: "Why don't you go back to Taizhou?"
Fang Guozhen said coldly: "In less than half an hour, we lost three ships and more than a thousand soldiers, while Jiangdu's army lost less than a hundred people! When word of this victory spreads, not only the imperial court, but also the pirates in the South China Sea will come to rob them.
Our territory is ours!"
Li Desun said: "Then what should we do?"
Fang Guozhen thought for a while and said: "We must not return to Taizhou like this, nor can we confront Jiangdu's army head-on. Let's do nothing now and return to Changshu and wait!"
Li Desun said blankly: "What are you waiting for?"
Fang Guozhen narrowed his eyes and said: "Do you think Yuan Ting sent us to attack Tongzhou, but he will not take any action? Look, the Yuan soldiers in Jiqing must have been preparing for war!"
Fang Deqian said: "Yes, they will definitely take the opportunity to attack Jiangdu! Let us attack Tongzhou to tie up some of Jiangdu's troops!"
Fang Guozhen turned his head left and right and hummed: "We have already fought a battle and lost three warships. We can go back and rest for a while. Next, let's see how the Yuan Army and Jiangdu Army fight. If Jiangdu Army
If we are vulnerable and defeated by the Yuan army, we don't have to be polite, just capture Tongzhou!"
Fang Deqian said: "What if Jiangdu's army wins?"
Fang Guozhen sneered and said: "If Jiangdu's army defeats Yuan's army, its reputation will definitely increase. If we lose for a while, it won't have much impact!"
The generals were convinced after hearing Fang Guozhen's thorough consideration of all aspects, and had no objections.
As the order was conveyed, the fleet turned around and retreated towards Changshu.
No matter how much the rebels and Yuan court officials looked down on Fang Guozhen, everyone had to admit that Fang Guozhen's navy had never suffered a defeat since the rebellion against the Yuan Dynasty, and it was considered the strongest navy in the world.
The small city of Tongzhou, with only 10,000 defenders, actually repelled Fang Guozhen's 20,000 navy troops, with less than 100 casualties and more than 1,000 kills. This is an event that shocked the world. p>
Zhang Shicheng was the first to get the news.
In addition to keeping an eye on the news in Xuzhou recently, he is most concerned about the situation in Tongzhou.
He was very happy when he learned that Fang Guozhen was attacking Tongzhou. Because if Fang Guozhen occupied Tongzhou, he would have the opportunity to send troops to capture Tongzhou, and Zhang Yangquan had nothing to say.
Unexpectedly, Fang Guozhen came in a fierce manner and left in despair. While Zhang Shicheng despised Fang Guozhen in his heart, he also sent people to find out who the Tongzhou garrison was.
Soon he learned that the chief general defending Tongzhou was called Shanzhu, and his deputy was called Wang Da.
Zhang Shicheng silently wrote down these two names and said to his left and right: "If you fight with these two people in the future, you must not be careless!"
In addition to him, other senior leaders of the rebel army and the Yuan army also knew the names Shanzhu and Wang Da.
Before this, everyone in the world only knew that the commander-in-chief of the Jiangdu Army was named Zhang Yangquan, and that the famous Sesame Li Chen was serving under him, but they knew nothing about the others.
After this battle, not only did Jiangdu Army become more and more famous, Shanzhu and Wang Da also became Jiangdu’s good generals in the eyes of outsiders!
As the news spread more and more, the Yuan army in Jiqing finally took action.