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However, Xu Fang, the general of the Zhou army who was commanding the siege of this battleship, was willing to let this big fish escape. Seeing that Zheng Jian wanted to swim to another ship, he immediately ordered the archers on the deck to shoot at the Jianghuai soldiers who fell into the water with random arrows, and they must shoot all the people on the flagship of the Jianghuai Army. so that its master can no longer command the battle.

Zheng Jian finally dodged a lot of random arrows, and he was about to swim to the side of another warship next to him.

At this time, the rope ladder had been thrown down from the side of the Jianghuai battleship, and the soldiers on the deck shouted for him to climb up.

But just when he grabbed the rope ladder and climbed a few steps, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back, and then his eyes went dark, and he became unconscious.

It turned out that Xu Fang saw that Zheng Jian's clothes and armor seemed to be an official, so he ordered the archers to shoot at him. Although due to the long distance and the strong wind and waves, many arrows were missed. However, due to the large number of bows and arrows fired, in the end, a sharp arrow still hit his waist, back, shoulders and other parts.

Soon after Zheng Jian was hit by the arrow, his head shrugged off on the spot, and then his hand loosened, with a wave of surprise and unwillingness in his eyes, and he fell into the seawater, and then was quickly swallowed by the waves.

With his death, the fleet that came to the aid from Jiankang was immediately in chaos, and after losing their unified command, they had to fight separately and resist stubbornly.

It's just that when the Jianghuai Army Naval Division was under the unified command of the main general, it was still no match for the Zhou Army's Naval Division, and now that Zheng Jian, the main general of the reinforcement fleet, has been killed, how can they be the enemy?

Under the command of Xu Fang, the reinforcements of the Jianghuai Army's naval division suffered heavy losses and suffered heavy casualties. Wooden ship debris, oil stains, and floating corpses filled the sea, and the scene was filled with flames, thick smoke, and screams and cries for help everywhere. The corpses and blood of the Jianghuai army stained the sea red......

After the reinforcements of the Jianghuai Army Naval Division from Jiankang collapsed, Zhou Tao took the opportunity to command the Zhou Army's Naval Division to storm from the flank.

Like a tiger descending from a mountain, they launched a stormy attack. In the face of such high morale and such advanced warships and weapons in the Zhou army, where could those small warships of the Jianghuai Army Navy Division withstand it?

Seeing one after another of his own warships being sent to the bottom of the sea, Du Ping was also angry.

He never expected that the expected big victory would turn out to be a fiasco.

He stood on the deck of his flagship in shock and anger, waving his long sword in his hand, and ordered the flag bearers to wave flags at the ships, telling them to resist the attack of the Zhou army and not to retreat.

It's just that even though he shouted loudly, the arm of the flag bearer was about to break, but he still couldn't stop the Jianghuai Army's naval division warships from fleeing for their lives.

Du Ping was furious, so he gave the order to go down, and if anyone retreated without authorization, after going back, he beheaded the captain of the ship, and even the nine clans, so that the officers and soldiers on the ship stopped fleeing. However, the Jianghuai Army and Naval Division were already doomed, and no matter how hard they fought, they could not stabilize their position, and the defeat was already achieved.

Seeing that there were fewer and fewer ships around him, Du Ping's lieutenant Wu Bofang boldly proposed: "Little prince, it's not that the brothers are greedy for life and afraid of death, it's really that the warships of the Zhou Army's sailors are more than ours, and they are faster than us, so they can't stick to their warships at all. The tactics that we originally envisioned of taking advantage of the superiority in numbers and ships to board enemy ships and engage in white-knuckle combat are completely useless. On the battlefield now, there is a big difference between the situation of the enemy and our armies. According to the Admiral, even if he killed all the captains who had escaped, he would not be able to reverse the defeat. It's better to temporarily retreat back to Chongming Island, and think of another way to prevent the enemy from landing in Jiangnan! ”

After Du Ping heard this, he also sighed. If he went back like this, how would he see Duvoy? What kind of face do you have to compete with Du Yu for the position of prince?

However, if the war continues, the whole army will be wiped out, and in the face of the real threat, Du Ping has to think about life first, after all, only when people are alive can there be hope.

"Alright! Where there is life, there is hope! Pass my order and temporarily retreat to Chongming Island. When you have the chance, you will take revenge! After thinking for a moment, Du Pin still had to order a retreat.

Fortunately, the Jianghuai Army and Naval Division still had a numerical advantage, and after losing nearly a broken ship, the main force finally withdrew from the battlefield and anchored at the port of Chongming Island to rest.

This naval battle at the mouth of the Yangtze River ended in a complete victory for the Zhou army's naval division, which sank more than four warships of the Jianghuai naval division and killed more than 20,000 officers and men of the Jianghuai naval division. The Zhou naval division only lost more than a dozen warships, and most of them were small warships, which can be described as a big victory.

Xu Fang sent someone to ask Zhou Tao at this time, wanting to ask if he needed to continue the chase, according to the speed of the Zhou army's warships, it was completely possible to follow the Jianghuai Navy to Chongming Island together.

However, Zhou Tao ordered that he did not need to pursue with all his strength, but only followed the enemy from a distance. He said: If you keep chasing and fighting, although you can catch up with the enemy, the Jianghuai army will inevitably jump over the wall in a hurry when they see that they can't escape, causing unnecessary casualties to the Zhou army.

After Xu Fang got the order, he was a little puzzled, and sent someone to ask: If the Jianghuai Army sailors fled back to Chongming Island like this, then they got the support of the Jianghuai Army at the port, wouldn't it be more difficult to deal with after repairing the ships?

Zhou Tao only smiled slightly when he heard this, and sent someone to play the flag, saying that there had been an arrangement, so that Xu Fang did not have to worry.

……

Two hours later, Du Ping led the fleet of the Jianghuai army to flee more than eighty miles westward, and saw that the Zhou army's naval division did not chase with all his strength, but only followed behind his fleet from a distance, so he was relieved.

He secretly thought that as long as he returned to the supply port of Chongming Island, repaired the ships himself, and replenished the arrows, he could fight the Zhou army again. At that time, the Zhou army's sailors, who fought long distances and could not get rest and supplies, would not be able to take advantage of themselves in front of them.

It didn't take long for Chongming Island to be in front of you. Du Ping saw the outline of the island in his sight, and he was also overjoyed. He immediately ordered all the warships to enter the harbor, and at the same time waved a flag at the dock, asking them to use the trebuchets erected on the high mountains near the pier to launch at the Zhou warships behind.

Soon after the flag was raised, Du Pin saw that there was movement on several hills by the dock, many people began to carry stone bombs, and the trebuchets were also adjusting the firing corners.

He relented and commanded the fleet into the half-moon-shaped harbor.

However, soon after entering, Du Ping suddenly realized that something was not quite right.

Because at a glance, the wharf of Chongming Island was in shambles, and many houses were still emitting flames and smoke, as if they had just been looted. On the pier, you can even see the bodies of some Jianghuai soldiers.

"Could it be that Chongming Island has been attacked by the Zhou army?" Du Square was shocked.

At this moment, Wu Bo exclaimed: "Little prince, look ahead!" There are a lot of enemy ships! ”

Du Ping looked ahead, only to see that from the narrow entrance of the port, more than forty small wooden boats suddenly appeared.

On these small boats, they were filled with dry wood and oil, and on the bow stood some Zhou soldiers in black armor who were busy. There was also a canoe attached to the back of the boat, which seemed to be intended for retreat after setting the boat on fire.

"Not good! We've been tricked! Chongming Island must have been occupied by the Zhou army! Du Ping regretted it a little now.

In fact, when he first started the war, he was a little strange. Since the Zhou army is moving southward in a big way, and dares to fight a naval battle with its own side, its strength will definitely not be bad. It has been seven or eight years since the establishment of the Zhou Army's naval division in Liaodong, and they have not fought any battles, how can it be that there are only more than one ship after so many years. There must be fraud in this.

And now it seems that Zhou Tao must have sent another part of his troops to attack Chongming Island when he was fighting with him. After all, the island is a vast island, with a natural harbor and located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, which is the choke point into the sea. Whether the Zhou army crossed the Yangtze River in the south or the Jianghuai army wanted to go north and south from the Yangtze River, it was a strategic place that must be seized.

Cheng Yanjin was standing on the high hill next to the wharf at this time, looking at the Jianghuai Army fleet that was in a panic by the wharf and was blocked in the harbor and couldn't move, Fang Haha smiled and said, "Du Pingxiao, where are you running now?" ”

After saying that, he turned his head to the soldiers beside him and said, "Wave the flag and inform General Luo!" The fireship is ready to start! Inform General Qin at the same time! Trebuchets can now shoot fire at enemy ships! ”

After Luo Shixin saw the flags on the high mountain, he ordered the dozens of small boats carrying fire oil and dry firewood to pull up their sails, and the propeller turned rapidly, and sailed towards the Jianghuai warships that were huddled together.

When they were only more than ten zhang away from the enemy's battleship, the dead soldiers of the Zhou army set fire to the dry wood and fire oil on the ship, and the more than 40 small boats suddenly turned into more than 40 fire dragons, which dragged the flames of "whirring, whirring", like a fireball, and slammed into the warship group of the Jianghuai army!

The warships of the Jianghuai army, regardless of their size, were all made of wood, unlike the main warships of the Zhou army, which were covered with iron sheets on the sides and decks. At such a close distance, the Jianghuai army was suddenly attacked again and was defenseless. They didn't even have time to prepare baffles, harpoons, and the like to block the approach of the fireship.

Just listen to "Canopy!" Sail! Disheveled! The huge crashing sound continued, and the fireships crashed into the warships of the Jianghuai Army one after another, and then they burned violently.

The fire borrows the wind, and the wind fuels the fire.

In an instant, the warfleet of the Jianghuai Army suddenly turned into a fleet of fireboats!

The flames soared into the air, the flames were filled, the smoke was billowing out, and the tongue of fire devoured life, and the harbor of Chongming Island suddenly became a hell of fire, and the Jianghuai soldiers on the battleship jumped ship in embarrassment and fled for their lives.

However, in the case of trebuchet bombardment in front and shooting by the Zhou warships that caught up in the rear, there was no escape. The soldiers of the Jianghuai Army were burned, drowned, blown up, and countless were killed......

...