It was not until the end of leap June that the general matter was initially resolved on the Guangdong side, and in addition to the Chaozhou Mansion, all the other prefectures and counties in Guangdong had already been led by Zhu Hongsan, and as for the Chaozhou Mansion, it was not yet the time to turn his face with Zheng Zhilong, and he would be arrested and taken to Beijing in August next year, and then it would be a good opportunity to annex Zheng Zhilong.

Zhu Hongsan finally poured out his hand to prepare for the north, and Qian Yong and Zhao Guodong drew out their best teams to form an expeditionary force of 7,000 people. They paid lip service to the Manchu army, but after all, the Eight Banners of Manchuria were trumpets blowing outside the window - the reputation was outside, so the two of them were also well prepared. The basic people who were brought to the front line were non-commissioned officers, and there were no recruits who had joined the army for half a year among these 7,000 people.

Zhu Hongsan looked at the team they chose, and it was also painful. Most of these are company and platoon-level officers, and if the casualties on the front line are too large, it will hurt the troops. Therefore, Zhu Hongsan warned them in the third that they must reduce casualties.

The two of them also knew what was going on, and they promised to bring the army back intact. After expressing their determination, the two led the team on board. Zhu Hongsan made a bloody effort this time, and a total of five 800-ton sea ships were newly built in the shipyard, and all of them were brought along. There is also one of them that has just been launched and has not yet undergone sea trials, and was also sent out by Zhu Hongsan.

Zhu Hongsan took Yan Qingshan's hand and said, "Father-in-law, this is all that my son-in-law has, I must not be defeated, do you want your grandson and Wan'er to live in Nanyang?" ”

Yan Qingshan patted Zhu Hongsan with a hand like a bear's paw and said, "Son-in-law of the prison country, don't worry, there is such a big ship and you can't win." After speaking, Yan Qingshan got on the boat and led the team to set off.

Zhu Hongsan looked at the five big ships, as well as the ten 400-ton merchant ships full of soldiers, and silently thought in his heart: Don't encounter a typhoon, this is all the capital of the master.

Yan Qingshan's entourage was very smooth, and when they passed through Fujian, Yan Qingshan also fired a few shells as if demonstrating in the waters off Kinmen. Frightened, Zheng Zhilong hurriedly imposed martial law, and sent more than a dozen warships to follow for a long time.

The officers and soldiers under his command asked Yan Qingshan, do you want to sink these small boats? Yan Qingshan thought that he came out this time to help his son-in-law go north to fight, and it was really difficult to explain what he was doing with Zheng Zhilong. So he ordered the whole sail to quickly disengage.

The boats brought out by Yan Qingshan this time have all been modified sails, combining the advantages of Western soft sails and Chinese hard sails, so the speed is far above those wide ships, and they will be thrown away after an hour.

Under Yan Qingshan's rapid horseback, the fleet finally arrived at the mouth of the Yangtze River on the 10th day of July. The mouth of the Yangtze River in the Ming Dynasty was much wider than that of later generations, and it was 50 miles wide from Haimen County in the north to Baoshan in the south.

Yan Qingshan stayed in Baoshan for a day and went ashore to find a few fishermen as guides. The water conditions of the Yangtze River are complex, and there are many sandbanks, so it is easy to run aground without looking for a guide.

In the mouth of the guide, he learned that the county seat of Jiading has now become a ghost, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty has slaughtered the city twice. After receiving the news, Yan Qingshan advised Zhao Guodong not to go, after all, Jiading County is still some distance from the river, and the naval artillery does not have such a long range.

But Zhao Guodong could listen to Yan Qingshan's persuasion and insisted on going to Jiading. Yan Qingshan could not put down Zhao Guodong's 3,500 men at the mouth of the Liuhe River on 15 July, and left him five troop carriers. The other ships headed north to Jiangyin.

When Zhao Guodong led a group of men and horses to the outside of Jiading County, it was just in time for the Qing army to encircle and suppress Jiading for the third time, and more than 100,000 township soldiers from all walks of life were fighting a decisive battle with the Qing soldiers on the brick bridge. After the bloody battle in Jiading County, we are talking about it, and we are now mainly looking at Yan Qingshan all the way.

Yan Qingshan, under the guidance of his guide, finally arrived in Jiangyin on 21 July. Ten miles away, you can see the fire of Jiangyin Mancheng, and after entering five miles, you can still hear the roar of Manchu 10,000 catties of cannons.

Yan Qingshan grabbed a guide and asked, "Is there a dock outside Jiangyin City?" ”

"Of course, Jiangyin is the northern end of the Chengxi Canal, and the wharf facilities are very complete, but the general's big ship is too big, and the canal is afraid that it will not be able to enter."

Yan Qingshan nodded, and said to Qian Yong behind him: "Qian Yong, I will lead the gunboats to shoot at close range and give you fire support, whether you can seize the dock depends on your army." ”

Qian Yong smiled: "General Yan, let's see how the army fights!" ”

The army and navy under Zhu Hongsan have always been at odds, and the army feels that the navy is just a bunch of pirates, and equips them with so many cannons, if the army can equip several regiments of artillery. The Navy feels that the Army is just a bunch of landlubbers, and wearing a personal five-person six-person is actually not bullshit.

Yan Qingshan also doesn't like the army, but this battle is favored by his son-in-law, and he must not make a mistake. After Qian Yong went down, Yan Qingshan shouted: "Children, you all heard, these landlubbers let us see how they fight?" Listen to the fuck, give me a hard time to bombard the Qing army on the shore in a while, and the one who doesn't work hard will go to the army, you know? ”

The five gunboats of the Navy are either Yan Qingshan's disciples or pirates who have been accumulating for many years, and when they heard the boss say this, they shouted one after another, let the army landlubbers take a good look!

At this time, five large ships had already entered the wharf, and through the smoke of gunpowder, Yan Qingshan saw that the artillery of the Qing army was erecting on a small hill outside the city, and was bombarding the northeast corner of Jiangyin County. The north gate of the county has been blasted open, and the Qing army brigade is rushing into the city, and the city gate is full of dead people.

At this time, some people in the Qing army also saw five large ships, and they were stunned one by one. These Qing troops are basically the new annexed armies of the Eight Banners of the Han Army and the four towns of Jiangbei, where have I seen this kind of big ship that is higher than the city wall.

Yan Qingshan saw that the artillery position of the Qing army was within firing range, and shouted: "Little guys, open the cannon door, a mile away, three grenades are fired sharply!" ”

The 800-ton gunboat had a total of 60 guns, 30 on each side. When the sailors heard the order, they opened the gun doors on the side of the shore, rolled out the guns, and loaded the grenades. This grenade is a shrapnel developed by Zhu Hongsan, and this is the first time it has been used in actual combat.

The sound of the gun emplacements ready reached the deck, and Yan Qingshan shouted, "Open the guns!" ”

Immediately one hundred and fifty guns of five gunboats roared, and one hundred and fifty shrapnel shells were fired. This kind of shrapnel has a wooden butt to ensure airtightness in the chamber, and the butt is detached at the moment of discharge, and the embers in the chamber ignite the gunpowder in the wooden tube, and the gunpowder in the tube ignites the gunpowder in the shell after two seconds in the air. Fifteen egg-sized submunitions were fired after the gunpowder exploded, and because they exploded in the air, they were extremely lethal to unprotected people.

This ammunition has both range and lethality, but it is not suitable for use by the army. Because the army wants to emphasize mobility, artillery that is too heavy cannot be carried. Due to the limited power of black* gunpowder, the shrapnel must be very large, so this ammunition was born exclusively for the Navy and was designed to shoot unprotected people on the upper deck.

The Manchu artillerymen had seen this kind of sharp killing weapon, and in their eyes, they only had to shoot solid shells, and the rest was doomed. Therefore, after hearing the loud sound of the salvo of the guns of the five large ships opposite, the Manchu gunners were still looking at the sky stupidly, hoping to see the trajectory of the shells to avoid the solid shells.

But they were greeted by more than a thousand submunitions falling from the sky, and after the gunpowder was fully accelerated, each egg-sized submunition could easily tear the bodies of these fools, and for a time the Qing army's artillery positions were full of wails.

Unexpectedly, there were two more waves of blows, and these three salvos came down and there were no living people on the entire artillery position.

Yan Qingshan looked at the effect and was very satisfied, this new type of cannonball is cool. He then ordered: "At the gates of the city, five shotguns are fired!" ”

Now there are Qing troops outside the north gate of Jiangyin County, and Jiangyin County is also a fairly large county seat. These Qing soldiers knew that those who went first would definitely be able to grab some good things, so they were all blocked at the north gate, and they couldn't get in or out. At this moment, the grenade on his head struck, and immediately blood flowed all over the ground. Because the number of people is so dense, a lot of lead bullets have to penetrate three or four people before they can unload the force. After five volleys, the gate of the north gate was cleared, not that there was no one, but that there were no living people.

It's not that Yan Qingshan hasn't seen dead people, but he hasn't seen this kind of collective massacre today. Just now, there were seven or eight thousand Qing troops crowded at the gate of the city, and now all of them have been killed, and only a dozen guys who don't know whether they are unlucky or lucky, holding their broken legs and wailing in their stomachs.

Yan Qingshan, the bandit leader who has killed countless people, couldn't help but swallow and spit at the mouth, and thought in his heart: "Damn, my cheap son-in-law is really domineering to get this thing." ”

At this time, the 3,500 troops who had just come down to the dock were also stupid, and it was the first time they had seen a salvo of naval artillery, and they did not expect it to be so powerful. Qian Yong said in his heart: "It seems that this money is not spent in vain, and the speed of picking up and killing people is faster than that of our army." ”

At this time, Yan Qingshan's loud voice on the boat shouted: "Qian Yong, what the hell are you looking at?" Still not in the city? ”

Qian Yong secretly scolded the old water mouse, ordered his team to assemble, and killed from the north gate, and saw the pigtailed killing.

When passing through the north gate, many people vomited. After all, seven or eight thousand people were beaten to pieces, and their intestines were rotten, and the smell was definitely not good. The army is particular about queues, but when you are walking, you suddenly find that there is a half intestine under your feet, or half a skull, which can calm down.

Qian Yong looked at a few platoon commanders who vomited, and couldn't help scolding: "Don't look at your feet, just look ahead, listen to orders!" ”

The order was effective, and the men, regardless of the strange noises coming from under their feet, listened to the sound of the drums and marched into the city.

Entering the city is much stronger than the city gate, not that there are no dead people in the city, but there is no comparison between dying from cold weapons and dying from hot weapons. At this time, the Qing army in the city finally found that a group of troops dressed like roosters rushed in outside the city gate, walking neatly, and there were even drummers on the side.

The Qing army, a group of northern turtles, had seen this kind of European army, and they were stunned for a while.

Qian Yongke didn't care if they were stunned or not, and shouted after entering the firing range: "Raise your gun, prepare, shoot!" ”

With Qian Yong's order, the bloody battle in Jiangyin officially began.