Chapter 43: The Fierce Battle of the Fen River

There is no need to look at the flag, Zhang Zhimu has already seen that there are several big boats across the river in the morning fog, blocking the way. Before Zhang Zhimu could give an order, he heard a cannon shot, and a shot fell into the water next to the boat, and then exploded a small column of water. Zhang Zhimu was startled, knowing that this must be the so-called red-clothed cannon. This guy, as long as he takes a shot, will blow up the wooden boat completely. At this time, Zhang Zhimu saw clearly, there were four big ships and several small boats in front, and the big flag with the word "Chuang" was hung on the boat, and two of the big ships were one on the left and one on the right, and the two were in the middle side by side, and they were later. Zhang Zhimu trembled in his heart, it was so dangerous, if not, he ordered the sails to slow down, and the fleet entered the encirclement. The ship that fired the cannon was the one on the left side of the front, and from the point of impact, it was not really shooting, but it was found that our ship had stopped, thinking that it was going to run, it was a threat, so it was the command ship that fired the gun. Zhang Zhimu judged. Zhang Zhimu knew that the red-coated cannon, after a cannon, should be filled with water into the barrel, and then tied with a stick and cleaned with a cloth, and then put ** to be tamped, and then put the cannonball before it can be fired. So after firing one shot, it takes a long time to fire another one. The one that finished firing the cannon is now the least threatening. Zhang Zhimu also found that the opponent's big ship was much larger than his own, and in order to meet the needs of stable combat artillery, it was not a flat-bottomed boat, and the draft was much deeper than his own ship, so the resistance was greater than his own when going against the current, and his maneuverability was not as good as his own. However, at this moment, there was the sound of drums on the opposite boat, and many paddles stretched out from both sides of the boat, and with the sound of the drums, they rowed up one after another. In this way, the opposite boat slowly approached. Zhang Zhimu looked back and was much more relieved, the fleet behind him was slowly getting farther and farther away. Zhang Zhimu told Li Wei that you and Liu Yun approached the ship that had finished firing the cannon, so that the other ships would not dare to open fire, and then used the bed crossbow to shoot at the boat on the right closer, and the bow and crossbow shot at the boat. At this time, Li Jing came over and said, this is the boat that robbed our dart game, but it didn't hang the flag that time. After speaking, Li Jing jumped on Li Wei's boat, Li Wei's boat sailed forward, and leaned on Liu Yun's boat. The two boats set sail, one left and one right, and rushed to the boat on the left. The big ships in front of them were rampant on the river, and after the Ming army's ships were sunk, the shadows were gone. These shallow boats are lambs to the slaughter, thinking that if they open fire to scare the boats on the other side and prevent them from escaping, they are in the bag. Unexpectedly, the two ships rushed towards him, and he was not afraid when he rushed over, thinking that he wanted to entangle himself to delay some time and cover the escape of other ships, so many officers and soldiers on that ship were condescending and watched the excitement of the two ships. Unexpectedly, when the two ships were approaching. Liu Yun shouted: "Release!" ”

The bed crossbowmen on both boats had already aimed at the big ship on the right, which was approaching this way. When the crossbowman heard Liu Yun's order, he immediately fired a crossbow mine at the ship. At the same time, each of the ten crossbows on the two ships fired a bow mine at the ship on the left, and those who did not operate crossbows on board began to fire a volley of muskets. The smoke that rose from Dongdong's gunfire almost obscured the boat. Unfortunately, on the boat on the right, watching the lively officers and soldiers, after a row of guns rang out, they fell down one piece, and they didn't take a look at it, and their companions were still laughing together just now, and now their heads were half blown off, or their arms were broken, and they were hit in the chest, and a big hole came out of their backs. The deck was red and white. But they didn't have time to think about it yet. The bow thundered, and with the smoke, the human arms and legs and other parts flew into the air along with the wood on the deck. The explosion was all around them, and even if they weren't killed, their ears couldn't hear it for a while. Most of the bow mines that didn't hit the deck were stuck in the ship's gang, blowing up the ship one by one. Immediately afterwards, a second batch of ten bow mines flew into the ship, which not only ravaged the people on board, but also caused a fire. The explosions and gunshots were loud here, and the boat on the right was even more unlucky. The two ballistas fired from the armed ship were fired from the ship and because they were not well trained, they were both missed. One crossed the top of the boat and landed in the water with a thud, exploding a small column of water. The other shot low and fell into the water and landed on the gang of the boat underwater. The people on the boat, not knowing what was flying over, thought it wouldn't be a good thing, but one flew over and the other fell into the water, and they thought it was ridiculous, and a few of them ran to the bow of the boat and looked into the water to see what it was that had fallen into the water. But before they could see it clearly, the crossbow mine that was not tied to the gang of the boat exploded with a bang under the active efforts of nearly ten catties of black **, and the few poor people who looked down flew into the sky all of a sudden, and the bottom of the boat was also blown up with a big hole. The water quickly flowed in. The ship began to tilt in this direction, and it did not matter, for the ship was full of sails, and the weight of the sails pressed the ship sideways, and the people on deck fell into the river with a clatter. Those who were paddling on the second floor were miserable, not one of them escaped, and as the boat slowly sank, they went to feed the fish together.

In the back, as soon as I saw that the command ship in front of me was on fire, the other one also tilted. The two boats were gone, and rushed over with their drums beating and oars. At this distance, the cannon is already useless. But the bow and arrows came whizzing, and two crossbowmen who were ready to shoot the crossbow were in their hands. Liu Yun and Li Wei hurriedly asked everyone to hide behind the arrow stacks. The two armed ships were not equipped with horse stalls, but with arrow stacks. Because as we all know, before there were no firearms, warfare on the water mainly relied on archery. Therefore, the armed ship was equipped with half-man-high arrow stacks on all sides. Outsiders and the people on the two boats, when they saw that the people on the armed ships were suppressed by the rain of arrows, they all thought that Liu Yun was very passive. In fact, Liu Yun is now very, very confident. Because of the melee combat, the advantage of the musket's double burst can be fully exploited. Therefore, he shouted to Li Wei: "One person, one boat, two rounds of shooting, strive to get on the boat." Afterwards, they learned these words to Zhang Zhimu and Liu Yun, and Zhang Zhimu knew that Liu Yun had the talent of a general.

Two armed ships, each facing a large ship, were already filled with arrows in the battlements and canopies. At this moment, the big ship that was on fire exploded with a bang. Taking advantage of the enemy's stunned efforts, Liu Yun took the lead in getting up and firing two shots, and on the two boats, those who arranged the first round of shooting also got up and released two shots, and then squatted down to load the bullets. It's so close that you barely have to aim. The enemy troops in front of them fell in a row, and the most puzzled were the archers who were hiding behind the shields held by the shield soldiers, thinking that they were absolutely safe with shields in their way. But I didn't expect that a bullet could pass through a shield and knock people down. Anyone who is hit by lead bullet is in a horrific situation, and often, when a soldier falls, the soldier next to him vomits directly next to him, losing the ability to draw a bow. And those, the shield soldier also wondered, the fire gun himself has also seen, it is not so powerful, as long as the shield in his hand is not forced, it will be knocked away all of a sudden. At this time, Fan Song and Liu Jun showed their might, and the bullets they usually shot did not seem to be wasted at all. The two of them did not participate in the round shooting, but two people specially loaded the two of them, and after loading the guns, they picked up both shots, and the two people fell on the opposite side, and then they changed to another gun. And the two of them have a wide field of vision, because they remember what Zhang Zhimu said, snipers are always the most important target to look for. So, both of them thought at the same time, and the lookout signal corps on the mast and crane of the big ship knocked them down in the first round. Let several ships lose contact and cannot be coordinated. Secondly, it is to beat the official, so as long as the official shows up, basically half of the head will be knocked away. At this time, the benefits of two rounds of shooting were also fully reflected, because this ensured the continuity of shooting, and from the beginning of Liu Yun's gunshot, he kept pressing the other party, so that the other party did not dare to show his head. As soon as the boat approached, Liu Yun carried his big iron gun, jumped onto the big boat, and swept with a big gun, and it was just this time to buy time for the other brothers to board the ship, and Liu Yun and Fan Song went up first. Over there, Li Jing took Liu Jun up first. Li Wei didn't get on the big boat, because there were a few small boats under the big boat. By the time the musketeers were on board, the situation was one-sided. At close range, muskets are fired in turns at broadswords and spears, which is a one-sided slaughter. It must be said that Li Zicheng's soldiers still have combat effectiveness, but they saw no hope at all and slaughtered them unilaterally, and finally made them collapse. In the end, there were more than twenty people left on the deck of each ship and they surrendered. The paddlers on the second deck were basically the ones who had been issued with trumpets, and the stronger farmers, who did not even have weapons, needless to say, surrendered. Under the big ship, there were four flat-bottomed boats, which were hiding behind the big ship, ready to rush up to get the spoils after the big ship succeeded, but when they saw that the big ship was lost, they were about to escape, and Li Wei commanded the bed crossbow to fire crossbow mines and sink one. One more was shattered by a few bow mines. The other two stopped there and didn't dare to move. In this way, two large ships and two small boats were captured.

In the distance, Zhang Zhimu, Chen Yufeng and others saw that their people were starting to board the ship, so they also leaned over the boat, and when they arrived, the battle was over. Zhang Bingchen hurriedly treated the wounds of the wounded, and there were seven or eight injured people, and three of them were serious, all of which were arrow wounds. However, Zhang Bingchen said that there should be no danger to his life. Zhang Zhimu put his heart down. At this time, the big ship was already leaning on the shore and anchored. Put the rope ladder down, Zhang Zhimu and others got on the big boat, saw the battlefield that had not been cleaned, bloody and messy, some were on the boat with great interest, and when they got on the boat, they immediately ran to the side and vomited, Zhang Zhimu also endured it and did not vomit, he knew that everyone was looking at him at this time. Zhang Zhimu saw that the general situation had been decided, so he ordered Li Wei. Go back and inform the fleet, come over and drop anchor together. Liu Yunan led people up from the bilge, arranged for people to clean up the battlefield quickly, and if there was a seriously injured enemy, he would help and make up for it, so as not to let him suffer. Then, he pulled Zhang Zhimu to the side, and said in his ear: "This time, there are a lot of gold, silver, jewelry, and various goods in the bilge." It is estimated that Li Jing's side is also indispensable. I have commanded that no one shall approach without permission. Zhang Zhimu said: "Okay, well done." ”

Liu Yun asked, "What about the captives?" "Actually, Zhang Zhimu, after this battle, is still very complicated in his heart. Because since he was a child, King Li Chuang has been a big hero, especially Yao Xueyin's novel "Li Zicheng", which portrays Li Zicheng as better than an excellent party member. Now he wants to kill Li Zicheng's soldiers, and these soldiers have nothing to eat before they rise up to rebel. This time, he will definitely take over with Li Zicheng. However, if you don't kill them today, they will kill themselves.

Zhang Zhimu said: "Take all the prisoners to this boat, and I will deal with them personally." ”