Chapter 405 The Main Fleet of the Zheng Family Arrives at the Estuary of the Yangtze River
On Chongming Island, hundreds of warships were busy coming in and out of the dock. The last tactic adopted by the navy was Ren Shuangyou's style of play, which was to first capture Chongming Island as an advance base and then attack Songjiang Prefecture.
When a large number of imperial warships appeared on Chongming Island and Jiangkou, the whole south of the Yangtze River was shaken! It was expected that the northern imperial court might go south. However, they focused their defense on the Jiangbei and Shandong lines, and did not expect the north
They actually used the method of attacking across the sea to quickly place their army at the mouth of the Yangtze River in the hinterland of Nanzhi.
If it were allowed to occupy Haimen County and Nantong Prefecture at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the city of Nanjing would face the front line of the army. Even if the people did not occupy Nantong and Haimen, the large ships would be able to move along Jiangxi and approach the city of Nanjing. Faced with a dangerous situation, Nanjing's side
Emergency arrangements were made. More than 10,000 troops and horses were urgently mobilized from the Jiangbei defense line to strengthen the defense of Nantong. In addition, more than 30,000 troops and horses were mobilized into Nanjing City. They were even afraid that the navy would attack Nanjing City along the river, and used iron ropes to block Zhenjiang.
Lijiang.
What is more embarrassing is that they found that these arrangements were still not enough. In addition to Tongzhou in the north of the Yangtze River, Nanjing also needed heavy troops to defend the Songjiang and Suzhou-Changzhou front lines in the south of the Yangtze River. Once Chongming Island was lost, the entire prefecture and county near the estuary of the Yangtze River would be exposed.
Under the enemy's military front, the Yangtze River estuary is wide enough for ships to sail freely, and it only narrows near Zhenjiang. Who would have thought that a small island in the middle of the river would have such an important strategic position! This place is a
If we lose several strategic prefectures in the south and north of the Yangtze River, we will be in trouble. The problem is that there are so many soldiers and horses in Nanzhi to defend these prefectures across the board? If there are so many prefectures with 20,000 to 30,000 people in each prefecture, it will not be enough
One hundred thousand people? Unless you ignore the Huaihe River defense line in Jiangbei!
Finally, after a painful decision, Nanjing prepared to defend Tongzhou and Haimen in the north of the Yangtze River, and Su, Xichang in the south of the Yangtze River, and strategically abandoned Songjiang. There was no way, compared with Suzhou, Changzhou and other places, Songjiang Prefecture seemed less important. As long as Nantong Prefecture was in hand, even if
Even if they occupy Songjiang, they probably won't go all-out westward.
Looking at the busy figures of officers and soldiers on the temporary dock of Chongming Island, there was a person on a boat rented from the Zheng family not far away with a gloomy expression. This person was Zheng Cai, the head of the Zheng family’s rental fleet. Not long ago, he
He had just reported to his boss the news that the Beijing imperial court was moving troops southward. Yesterday, he received a reply from his boss Zheng Zhilong.
The reply received made Zheng Cai a little melancholy. Their boss said that he would soon lead the main fleet to Jiangkou in the name of pirates. What does it mean? It means that Zheng Zhilong neither wants to completely tear his face, nor tolerates the presence of the imperial army.
Songjiang exists on the front line. So he came up with such a way to deceive himself and others. He didn't want to break up because he had a lot of interests involved with the imperial court in the north. But after the imperial court occupied Songjiang, it would pose a real threat to the Zheng family.
.The sea route from Songjiang to Fuzhou will not take long. With Songjiang as a base, if the imperial navy has a whim one day, it might appear in Fuzhou! Although the Zheng family has many ships, it is impossible to be there all the time.
With so many ships moored in Fuzhou, there is a chance that someone might raid them that day.
What makes Zheng Cai feel embarrassed is Zheng Zhilong's attitude. "If you completely pull the lever and go it alone, then you should fall out with the imperial court as soon as possible and block the imperial navy at the Dengzhou line with all your strength. If you intend to defect to the imperial court in the north,
If you have such an idea, don't mess with anything! As a result, you now want to rely on the imperial court's lap and mess up all kinds of things. You even have the naive idea of drawing a river to rule with the north. How can there be such a good thing in the world?
Do you think the northern court is the same as the Tang Dynasty and the Nanjing court? They have serious soldiers and horses, and even their navy cannot be underestimated. Zheng Cai has seen the imperial court's naval ships testing cannons. Although the range of the cannons is
Our own is almost the same, but others use explosive shells, which can explode on the sea and on ships. The Zheng family's current advantage is that they have many ships and experienced sailors.
The boss has brought the main fleet. Can he defeat the imperial army? Zheng Cai is really confused. If he cannot defeat him, what should he do? Should he continue to follow the boss all the way to the dark side, or should he think of another way?
Logically speaking, joining the imperial court has a bright future, but the imperial court’s reorganization policy is quite harsh. If you betray your boss and defect to the imperial court, you will never have the chance to control the power. At most, you will become a naval general.
It's just that it doesn't have independent power like it does now.
Zheng Cai, who had no idea in mind, finally figured out a way to catch fish. At that time, he would do nothing on both sides, and he would decide where to place his bets when the situation became clear. Don't look at the Jiangkou War that was about to break out.
The battle is not a decisive battle between the two sides, but Zheng Cai knows that the outcome of this battle will determine the direction of the future maritime situation. If the imperial navy loses this battle, at least for the next three to five years, the Zheng family will still be the overlord of the sea, and may even change the situation.
Beijing is trying to calm down the world. If the Zheng family does not get any glory in this battle, considering the potential of the imperial court, the Zheng family will be destroyed sooner or later. The sooner they jump ship, the better. At least jump ship now, and the navy in Beijing
He is not strong enough to be able to fight for a good position on his own.
Three days later, a fleet of more than 200 large-scale ships appeared on the Yangtze River Estuary, flying the skull and crossbones pirate flag!
After receiving the news, Ren Shuangyou and Fang Ruocheng took more than 50 ships on Chongming Island and went out to fight.
"You want to hide it! There are so many Fuchuan forces on the sea today. Besides the Zheng family, who else can there be? It is possible for Westerners to gather so many ships, but the ships they use are not like this at all." Ren Shuangyou
He used his binoculars to look at the situation of the enemy troops on the other side and complained coldly to Fang Ruocheng.
"The attitude of the fleet we rented is very interesting. You can see that they are just wandering around the outside and have no intention of getting close to the Zheng family's fleet." Fang Ruocheng pointed to Zheng Cai's fleet outside and reported the situation to Ren Shuangyou.
"Either they have some evil idea in mind and want to use our escape route after the exchange of fire. Or they have second thoughts about Zheng Zhilong and want to bet on the outcome of this battle."
"Don't pay attention to them. Those ships don't have heavy artillery. Even if they want to cause trouble, they don't have the ability. We are not afraid of them in a boarding battle."
"What if they go to the island to rob the port?"
"Huh! They are just looking for death. They still have glory at sea. There are troops and forts in the port. If you are stubborn, come and fight."
"I often hear people say that the Zheng family's maritime strength is amazing! This time I want to see how good they are? Taking advantage of the many ships, they want to cause trouble with the court. I really don't know how many eyes Lord Ma has."
Fang Ruocheng and Ren Shuangyou were not afraid of the arrival of the Zheng family's huge fleet. On the contrary, they were eager to try and see how powerful the Zheng family was.