At this moment, the roar of the slaves suddenly sounded from the shore.
Zheng Hongkui's low roar just now did not alarm the slaves on the shore, but when the navy bird boat left the shoal, the rattling sound from the hull alarmed the slaves on the shore who stayed overnight.
"There is a bright dog, a bright dog navy!"
"The Ariake Dog Navy warship is coming in!"
"Quickly notify the coastal forts and fire artillery to stop the attack!"
Immediately, the sound of drums and gongs started to sound from the right bank of the Yellow River.
Then a fire light came on, but it was blocked by heavy fog, and only a small portion of the lake could be seen.
Before the sun comes out, it is impossible to dispel heavy fog by the light of torches alone. Even some heavy fog may not be dispelled quickly by sunlight.
Naturally, the slaves on the shore could not see the Ming navy warships.
But even so, after a while, Jiannu's Hongyi artillery began to shell one after another.
Regardless of whether the shot was successful or not, Jiannu just fired the cannon in the center of the river based on his feeling.
Anyway, the Yellow River is wide enough. As long as the muzzle is not adjusted too high, there is no need to worry about the shells landing on the other side of the river, so there will be no accidental injuries to your own people.
"Boom! Boom!"
"Hugh! Hugh!"
"Tong! Tongtong!"
Accompanied by the roaring sound of artillery, from time to time artillery shells grazed the warships of the Ming Navy. The piercing screams could almost pierce the eardrums of the officers and soldiers of the Ming Navy.
Then there was the sound of shells hitting the water.
"Ignore them! Roar at full speed! Keep on course!"
Zheng Hongkui now had no scruples and stood on the battle tent of his flagship and shouted at the top of his lungs.
From time to time, the sound of kacha would be heard in the fleet, and occasionally there would be screams of navy officers and soldiers. It didn't take much to guess that a warship must have been hit by a cannon, and some navy officers and soldiers were even killed.
Even if the cannons of the Jiannu were just firing blindly, casualties were inevitable.
But Zheng Hongkui was not anxious about this, but was secretly happy.
Because the loud noise made when the Jiannu Hongyi cannon was fired, it became the best navigation mark for the navy!
By distinguishing the sound of the Hongyi cannon, the direction of the river can be basically judged, thereby avoiding deviation or even stranding.
In a foggy day like this, the threat of being stranded is actually far greater than the blind fire of Jiannu and Hongyi artillery, so the Jiannu artillery is helping them maintain their course, you good people.
…
There are actually sensible people on Jiannu's side.
Although Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming were captured by the Dashun Army, they were still alive.
Shang Kexi also came from Pidao Navy. He knew that in foggy weather like today, the threat to the Navy from being stranded was far greater than the random firing of Hongyi cannons.
However, this is a gratifying matter, and it doesn’t matter if I just say it, I still need to ask for instructions.
At this moment, I am still happy to rush to Dorgon's residence.
Finding that Dorgon was not there, he ran to the Yellow River to look for Dorgon again.
Then at the gate of the town, Shang Kexi finally found Dorgon and his party.
"Master, I have finally found you." Shang Kexi gasped, "Quickly ask the fort to stop shelling."
"Why?" Before Dorgon could say anything, Duduo stared and said, "Shang Kexi, you are a rip-off, do you want to let the Ming Army and Navy go?"
"Ten Kings, that's not the case."
Shang Ke was so happy and anxious that he shook his hands: "Firing artillery at this time is actually helping the Ming army."
When Duduo wanted to scold him again, he was stopped by Dorgon with a glare.
Dorgon asked Shang Kexi again: "King Zhishun, why are you helping the Ming navy by firing artillery at this time?"
Shang Ke said happily: "Because with the help of the sound of cannons on both sides of the bank, the Ming Navy navy can accurately judge the direction of the river and maintain an accurate course without running aground."
"Ah, stranded!" Dorgon said immediately.
At that moment, Dorgon shouted: "Send the order and stop shelling from all forts!"
However, it was still a little late. By the time Dorgon's order was conveyed and the Jiannu forts on both sides of the Yellow River stopped shelling one after another, more than half an hour had passed.
By this time it was already mid-morning, and the sun had already risen.
Under the continuous rays of the sun, the thick fog covering the river finally dispersed.
With their vision restored, Dorgon and Dodo raised their monocular telescopes at the same time.
With the help of the telescope, the two brothers happened to see that the last warship of the Ming Navy had turned the bend of the river and entered the gun platform area where the Ming Army was stationed in Xuzhou.
"You are a thief!" Duduo yelled in anger.
"Master, this is all my fault." Hong Chengchou said with some self-blame, "It was my servant who was negligent."
"Hey, how can I blame you?" Dorgon waved his hand and said magnanimously, "Hengjiu, you are not Zhuge Liang after all. Who can think of such things as celestial phenomena?"
After a pause, Dorgon added: "The top priority is to plug this loophole as soon as possible."
"What the master said is absolutely true," Fan Wencheng said. "If this loophole cannot be plugged and the Ming Navy's warships and cannons are allowed to come and go freely, the blockade of Xuzhou will be meaningless."
Ning Wanwo smiled and said, "Master must have thought of it."
"Hey, sir, how did you know?" Dorgon asked in surprise.
Ning Wanmei smiled slightly and flattered me: "Master, you are so smart. There is nothing in this world that can't stop you, so what does blocking the river mean?"
Duduo also asked curiously: "Brother Fourteen, have you really thought of a way?"
"Well, this matter is actually not difficult." Dorgon nodded and said, "Because there are ready-made methods in the popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms."
"Blocking the river with iron ropes?!" Hong Chengchou and Fan Wencheng's faces showed just the right amount of "surprise", and they continued, "This method is indeed a good way to block the river."
Duduo also reacted at this time: "This is the method Lu Kang used to resist the navy of the Jin Dynasty."
Shang Kexi was a little worried: "But the Yellow River is much wider than the Yangtze River. It's not easy to keep such a long and heavy iron cable across the water and prevent it from sinking to the bottom of the river."
"This is not difficult." Ning Wanwo said, "We can use boats to provide support in the river."
Fan Wencheng then said: "You can also drive wooden piles into the river, or you can directly use pontoons to cut off the Yellow River! In this way, the Ming Navy's warships and cannons will have no chance."
"Let's do it like this," Dorgon said, "Just pull three iron cables to block the river in the lower reaches of Xuzhou, and then move the pontoon bridge originally planned to be built in the upper reaches of Xuzhou to the lower reaches of Xuzhou."
"Hey!" He Luohui promised in a loud voice.
…
When it was almost time, the fleet of the Ming Navy crossed the Yunlong Canal and entered the Yunlong Lake Navy Dazhai.
Zheng Hongkui and Wang Chengen looked closely and saw that Chongzhen was already waiting on the pier with the crown prince, King Ding, the general soldiers of the ten towns in Xuzhou and dozens of Qinwang scholars.
Seeing this battle, Zheng Hongkui was immediately startled.
Because Chongzhen's courtesy was indeed a bit excessive. As a chief naval officer, how could he be so virtuous?
"Your Majesty, Zheng Hongkui, bow to your Majesty." Zheng Hongkui took Zheng Cai and a group of navy generals off the ship in a hurry, trotted to Chongzhen, bowed his head and bowed.
Zheng Cai and other navy generals also prostrated themselves to the ground.
"My dear, please get up, all the generals, please get up." Chongzhen personally helped Zheng Hongkui up, and raised his hands to signal Zheng Cai and dozens of other naval generals to get up too.
"My dear friends, you have had a hard time on your journey."
"Your Majesty, you are really trying to defeat your ministers." Zheng Hongkui said.
Chongzhen smiled, turned to Zheng Sen and said, "Zheng Sen, I haven't met your uncle yet."
Only then did Zheng Sen step forward and bow to Zheng Hongkui on the ground, and said loudly: "Kowtow to my fourth uncle."
"Get up quickly." Zheng Hongkui quickly helped Zheng Sen up and said to Chongzhen, "Your Majesty, Sen'er has been naughty since he was a child. He has caused trouble to the scholar camp, right?"
"Uncle Fourth, what did you say?" Zheng Sen was unhappy.
"Look, Your Majesty." Zheng Hongkui said helplessly, "This kid is still so reckless."
"What Aiqing said is wrong." Chongzhen smiled and said, "Zheng Sen is now the backbone of the scholar camp. He has unique insights on many things. All the scholars are very convinced of him."
This is really not nonsense. Zheng Sen still has considerable prestige among the more than 6,000 scholars in the scholar camp.
Zheng Hongkui actually knew this, and he was both happy and frightened at the same time: "This all relies on the teachings of the Holy One."
"Zheng Qing, I'm already on my way to the banquet. Let's go." After saying this, Chongzhen took Zheng Hongkui's hand and walked forward. Zheng Cai and other navy generals also hurriedly followed.
Seeing Chongzhen affectionately pulling Zheng Hongkui forward side by side, Jin Shenghuan and other frontier generals were a little annoyed. They were all general soldiers, so why was there such a big gap?
Why does this person have the surname Zheng?
Just rely on the more than one hundred bird boats of the Navy?
In a word, these warriors did not understand Chongzhen's intentions at all.
But most of the diligent princes and scholars like Wang Fuzhi, Gu Yanwu, Zhang Huangyan and others could guess what Chongzhen was thinking.
The reason why Chongzhen spent so much effort to win over Zheng Hongkui was entirely because in the subsequent confrontation, the role that the navy could play would be far greater than that of the ten-town frontier army.
Because in the future, Jiannu will probably not launch a strong attack.
And if it is just a long-term siege, the Ming army's biggest task is to counter the blockade.
It is wishful thinking to break the Jiannu blockade by land. At least in recent years, it is impossible for the Ming army to have the ability to fight against the Jiannu in the field and win, so supplies can only be transported by water.
The food rations for the more than one million soldiers and civilians in Xuzhou City had to travel by water.
The navy led by Zheng Hongkui is the guarantee of waterway safety.
Of course, if Huang Zongxi's visit to Luoyang can persuade the puppets to send troops, the slaves will probably withdraw their troops.
If the Jiannu were really forced to retreat, the navy would have to shoulder the important task of dividing, delaying or even harassing the Jiannu. At least the Jiannu stationed on the south bank of the Yellow River could not allow them to return north easily.
Therefore, no matter whether the Jiannu retreats or the confrontation lasts for a long time,
The navy will play a decisive role, so the Holy One is so courteous.
The truth is this: these naval officers and soldiers are not scholars. The scholar battalion can fight for ideals, but these naval officers and soldiers have no ideals.
It is useless to tell them about the ancestral temple, the community and the common people.
There is no use telling them about their parents, wife and children. Their parents, wife and children are in Fujian.
Therefore, the only way for the emperor to come forward personally is to win over people's hearts and show them favor.