The general of the Taiping Army, who commanded the steam gunboat to attack the flagship of the Wu Army's naval division, was called Hong Wei, and his official position was the division commander, before the Jintian Uprising, he followed Luo Outline to eat on the water surface of the pond in Jieyang County, Guangdong, and was the most proficient in water combat, and after joining the Taiping Army, he also served in the water division, and was promoted to the division commander after accumulating merit, and because of his combat courage and loyalty and reliability, he successfully defeated countless competitors, and was lucky to become one of the only three captains of the Taiping Army's steam cannon ships. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

In the fierce battle with the four main warships of the Wu Army's Naval Division, Hong Wei never thought of targeting the Wu Army's Naval Division's flagship Loyalty, and Wei Jun's tactical plan was also to give priority to killing the two steam cannon ships of the Wu Army's Naval Division, and then consider how to deal with the Loyalty and Renyi, which were less mobile.

In addition, Hong Wei, who regarded the steam gunboat as a treasure of his heart, never thought of driving a ship to impact the enemy ship, even if the bow of the steam gunboat in this era was equipped with iron ramming horns, which were specially used to hit the enemy ship in battle, Hong Wei was reluctant to hit the enemy with his heart, and he was afraid that there would be an accident in the process of hitting the ship, which would hurt his heart and liver. And the sudden ramming of the Wu Army's flagship Loyalty, a command ship that looked like chicken blood, was a complete accident.

This accident was that the fighter plane was so good that the commander of the Wu Army's flagship Loyalty, who didn't know whether he had taken the wrong medicine or had his head in the water, had been staring at another steam gunboat of the Taiping Army on the river, and he didn't know what he was trying to do after him, but the steamship didn't catch up, and inadvertently exposed the stern side in front of the impact angle of the Hongwei ship!

If the Loyalty can be killed, Hong Wei can not only destroy the command system of the Wu Army's Naval Division, but also have a great opportunity and hope to kill Wu Chaoyue to avenge countless sacrificed soldiers. And what's even better is that because of the continuous violent chrysanthemum by the steam cannon ships of the Taiping Army, the stern of the Loyalty was quite damaged, and the steam cannon ships commanded by Hong Wei wanted to be hit, at least sixty or seventy percent of them hoped that they could kill the Loyalty at once!

With such a good opportunity in front of him, no matter how much he cherished the steam gunboat Hong Wei couldn't help it, and after giving an order, his ship Mighty immediately opened up at full power and rushed to the stern of the Loyalty at the fastest speed. At the same time, something happened that made Hong Wei even more overjoyed, when he charged, a cold night wind blew right behind his mighty horn, and the half-sailed mighty ship suddenly became faster, and the impact power was destined to be greater!

"Full sail! Rush up and sink the Loyalty! Kill the Transcendence Goblin! Avenge Prime Minister Luo and our soldiers——! ”

At the same time as he roared out this order, Hong Wei also vaguely saw in the telescope what the Wu sailors were throwing down the Loyalty, but it was already dark, and it was impossible to see what the Wu sailors were throwing. But it doesn't matter, after those things fell into the water, nothing abnormal happened, how can it not be a threat to the mighty, so Hong Wei didn't pay attention to it, a pair of sharp and bright Danfeng eyes, staring at the seriously injured stern of the Loyalty!

The Loyalty was clumsily turning the sails, trying in vain to escape by the wind, but no matter how hard the officers and men of the Wu Army tried, the overly heavy Loyalty still could not increase the speed of the ship in a short period of time and get rid of the pursuit of the Mighty, and the boiler and sail of the Mighty Mighty were like an arrow from the string, flying like an arrow from the string, crashing into the stern flank of the sinful Loyalty, and the distance between the ships quickly shrank, one hundred and fifty meters! One hundred and twenty meters! One hundred meters! Eighty meters!

"You got it right!"

When the distance between the ships quickly shrank to within fifty meters, Hong Wei, who looked resolute, muttered to himself in his heart, knowing that his decision to hit the ship was right, and it was already nine out of ten to hit and even directly kill the flagship of the Wu Army, but at this time, at the left side of the Weiwu wheel, there was a sudden abnormal sound, and the Weiwu in high-speed movement also gained momentum, and the hull of the ship seemed to be slapped on the left side by a huge force, and the stern was thrown in the opposite direction a lot.

"What's wrong?"

When Hong Wei was shocked, a strange sound suddenly came from the paddle wheel on the right side of the Weiwu, as if something had stirred the blades of the paddle wheel half-exposed on the water, and suddenly turned hard, and the speed of the whole ship also dropped greatly. Then, the foreigners hired by Hong Renji from Hong Kong at a high price also screamed like crazy, and Hong Wei, who couldn't understand foreign languages, hurriedly asked the translator, "What's wrong?" What are those foreign devils called? ”

"The paddle wheel blades are entangled by something!" The translator replied with a blank face: "The foreign devil told him to stop the ship and turn off the fire, otherwise the blades may be twisted!" ”

Before the translator's words were finished, Hong Wei's face was already a little bloody, and he didn't care about hitting the Wu army's flagship that was already close at hand, and yelled and just ordered the fire to stop the ship, but at this time it was too late, it was too late, and suddenly there was a series of wood breaking sounds from the left paddle wheel, and the splash that had been driven by the paddle wheel completely disappeared.

"The paddle wheel blade on the left has been twisted?!" When this thought flashed through Hong Wei's mind, something even more tragic happened - the right paddle wheel of the Weiwu actually stopped rotating on its own before it had stopped, and the blades and the rotating shaft made a huge strange sound together.

"General Hong, the foreigners said that the paddle wheel blades on the left side of the mighty were broken, and someone threw countless fishing nets in the river, and those fishing nets entangled our paddle wheel blades, and our horsepower was turned to the maximum, and the blades were twisted. In addition, the blade and shaft on the right are also tightly wrapped in the fishing net, and the net must be completely removed from the port before it can be started, otherwise it will definitely be broken. ”

Before the translator's words were finished, Hong Wei was already sitting on the deck, and finally understood what Wu Jun's sailors threw into the Yangtze River, and then, the heart-rending screams also echoed on the deck of the Weiwu, "Beyond the little demon, you lack virtue!" ”

The Weiwu suddenly lost its steam power, and the speed of the ship was greatly reduced, and the situation of the entire battlefield also changed dramatically, and the Taiping army could no longer use three to two to suppress the two steam gunboats of the Wu army, and under the two enemies of two, the pressure of the Wu army's steam gunboats was greatly reduced, and Wu Chaoyue also hurriedly waved the flag and ordered the steam gunboats to move closer to him, seeking the artillery cover of the Loyalty and Renyi, and at the same time, Wu Dada, who was sitting on the Renyi, was looking for an opportunity to use the fishing net array to kill another enemy steam gunboat.

It's a pity that Wu Jun didn't have this opportunity, Hong Wei, who had suffered a big loss, had already made people raise a dangerous flag to alert Wei Jun, and although Wei Jun didn't understand why the Weiwu suddenly dropped its speed, he was still very careful to leave the battlefield temporarily, and at the same time played the flag to let the remaining two warships move closer to him.

When the flag was raised, the other steam gunboat easily turned its head to rendezvous with the flagship, but the mighty ship, which had lost its steam power, could only turn with difficulty with the help of the sails and slowly sail in the direction where the flagship was located. Wu Chaoyue was unceremonious, and immediately commanded the warship to go forward to encircle the Weiwu, and also raised the banner to order the Renyi and the Loyalty to join forces with the Weiwu in a close-quarters battle to capture the Weiwu.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Wei Jun hurriedly rushed up with two steam gunboats to rescue the Weiwu, and the two steam gunboats of the Wu army both pounced on them, bombarding Wei Jun's two ships with fierce artillery fire, and directly used picric acid cannonballs under the command of the flagship, forcing Wei Jun and the other ships to stay away.

At this time, the sail advantage of the Loyalty and Renyi was reflected again, although the steam gunboats of this era were all hybrid, and the Weiwu was also equipped with sail aids, but the number of sails was less than that of the Loyalty and Renyi, which relied on the wind to eat, and the speed was not as fast as the Loyalty and Renyi, and it didn't take much time to be surrounded by the Loyalty and Renyi, and the cannon fire rumbled, bombarding the six forts on the left and right of the Weiwu, and the sailors of the Wu Army condescended and fired at the deck of the Weiwu one after another. Can't wait to shout loudly, "Surrender or kill!" Surrender or kill! ”

At this moment, Wei Jun's eyes were of course red, in order to rescue the surrounded Weiwu, he didn't care that it was possible to be hit by Wu Jun's bitter acid cannonball, and rushed straight over with two steam cannon ships, but unfortunately, the flagship Tianguo was first hit by a picric acid cannonball, and the cannonball exploded into the cabin, causing a raging fire, and then another steam gunboat Qijie was also hit by a picric acid cannonball, and it was also injured.

At this moment, in addition to caring about the safety of the Weiwu, Wei Jun also greeted the eighteenth generation of Hong Renji's ancestors in his stomach - why didn't he buy some bitter acid shells and return them to the Taiping Army Sailors? However, what Wei Jun didn't know was that Hong Renji had not had the idea of picric acid shells, but because the picric acid explosives had not been used for a long time, the picric acid shells currently produced by the British side were not enough to equip the Royal Navy in Europe.

Just like the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle, it is precisely because of the difference in the power of the artillery fire, in the case that the strength of the ships is basically equal, the two steam gunboats of the Taiping Army are still at a disadvantage in the artillery battle, and they are hit by picric acid shells one after another. The Heavenly Trumpet and the Celestial Thong may not be able to keep it! ”

Wei Jun didn't know that he suffered too much from fighting for artillery fire, Wei Jun also considered rushing over and using throwing picric acid weapons to fight against Wu Jun's steam gunboats, but considering that Wu Jun's bitter acid grenades were definitely a lot more than those of his own army, Wei Jun couldn't muster up the courage - losing a steam gunboat might be bearable for the Taiping army, and if he lost two or three, then even if he could escape back, Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing would definitely peel off Wei Jun's skin.

It was still when the dense lights of the Wu army's sampan fleet appeared in the distance upstream, Wei Juncai made up his mind to order a retreat, and at the same time let the flag platform play the flag with torches, ordering Hong Wei to destroy the ship and flee for his life, preferring to burn the Weiwu by himself than leaving the Weiwu to Wu Chaoyue!

The flag of the self-destructing warship was fought a little later, and after destroying the battery of the Weiwu with artillery, the Loyalty used the hook tactic to pull the hull of the Weiwu and fight against the broadside, and under the cover of the muskets of their comrades, many Wu sailors had already ventured to jump on the deck of the Weiwu and fight the Taiping army with melee weapons such as revolvers and knives and axes, and the purpose was nothing else, that is, to capture this precious warship! Therefore, even if the lookout saw the banner of the flagship, he also forwarded the order to Hong Wei in time, and it was not so easy for the Taiping army to easily self-destroy the warship.

Despite his reluctance, the loyal Hong Wei still picked up the torch with his own hands and ignited the flammable materials on the mighty ship. In order to catch a steam cannon ship, Lao Tzu's Daode and Brave tied their hands and feet and suffered dozens of more cannons in vain, if Changmao burned the ship, wouldn't Lao Tzu lose a lot?! ”

Hearing Wu Chaoyue's hungry wolf-like howl, the officers and men of the Wu Army, who had always been very bloody, jumped off the side of the ship at the risk of falling into the river, jumped on the deck of the Weiwu to join the battle, and in order to save time, they also directly pounced on the enemy with knives, and started a hand-to-hand white-knuckle battle with the sailors of the Taiping Army who were burning the ship.

Seeing that the battle on the deck was critical, Hong Wei gritted his teeth, and simply rushed into the cabin that was bombarded by Wu Jun's solid shells, and rushed directly into the ammunition depot to ignite the ship, but just when Hong Wei kicked open the hatch and was about to throw the torch on the powder keg, several foreign mercenaries next to him who had already seen that something was wrong rushed up, two held down Hong Wei, one snatched Hong Wei's torch, and shouted in English: "What are you going to do?" You're going to kill us? ”

Of course, Hong Wei couldn't understand the foreigner's words, so he just struggled and shouted, "Let go of me!" Let me go! I'm going to blow up this ship, and this ship must not fall into the hands of the Transcendence Goblin! ”

The struggle was useless, the foreign mercenaries were tall and strong, and pressed Hong Wei to the deck, and another foreign mercenary threw the torch brought by Hong Wei into the Yangtze River from the gap in the shell for the sake of prudence. At the end, several foreign mercenaries also discussed: "Or, surrender to the soldiers of the Qing Kingdom, although it is shameful to surrender, it is better than losing your life." ”

The foreign mercenaries who worked for the money applauded, and the even more shameless employer, Hong Wei, tied them up, and waited for the Wu army to surrender when it arrived.

The foreign mercenaries did not wait much time, relying on the sacrifice of their lives, the soldiers of the Wu Army Naval Division had basically cleared the enemy on the deck, and began to shout the slogan of surrender and not kill to the cabin to rush to kill, although there were many Taiping soldiers in the cabin who resisted stubbornly, but suffered in the melee weapons were not as good as the Wu soldiers, even if they relied on the familiarity of the cabin shape to kill some Wu soldiers, but basically they were killed by the revolvers of the Wu soldiers as soon as they succeeded, and no matter how tenacious the resistance was, they still could not stop the continuous advance of the Wu soldiers.

Finally, at midnight, the soldiers of the Wu Army finally completely wiped out the remnants of the enemy in the cabin, and successfully captured the Weiwu that was seriously damaged but could still be repaired, and after the good news reached Wu Chaoyue, Wu Chaoyue was so excited that he lay directly on the deck and spread his limbs, shouting at the stars in the night sky, "It's worth it!" It's finally fucking worth it! From now on, I will be the boss in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and I don't have to worry about the long-haired sailor entering my hinterland! ”

"By the way, we caught this steam cannon ship and renamed me the Victory after repairing it! To commemorate this hard-won victory, and also to commemorate this victory moment when we are no longer afraid of being bullied by the long-haired sailor! ”

Wu Chaoyue was excited and cheered, but the Taiping army was completely stupid, when the news of the successful capture of the Weiwu by the Wu army's sailors reached Hukou, Wei Jun vomited blood on the spot, and then shed tears, grief and sadness, no less than the moment when Wei Changhui was shamelessly killed by Wu Chaoyue.

Even more sad and angry was Yang Xiuqing, when he learned that the mighty number was snatched away by his good brother Wu Chaoyue, Yang Xiuqing was so angry that he turned over the table on the spot, roaring and crying, "Beyond the little demon, Wei Jun, you return the king's mighty number!" Return the king's mighty number! ”

How sad the Taiping army will be, of course Wu Chaoyue will not worry, after successfully grabbing the Weiwu, the first thing Wu Chaoyue did was to order the troops to be collected, and hurriedly dragged the Weiwu back to Tianjia Town for maintenance. At the same time, because the four main warships of the Wu army were all damaged, Wu Chaoyue also decided to withdraw all the Wu army's naval divisions to the provincial capital, and went to the newly built large dock in Hankou to completely renovate the four main warships and the Weiwu, and the task of protecting the route between Tianjiazhen and Jiujiang was kicked by Wu Chaoyue to the Hubei naval division that was being reorganized and reequipped.

During this period, it was still under the reminder of Zhao Liewen and others, Wu Chaoyue, who was dizzy, remembered to write an excerpt to report to Emperor Xianfeng, but when Wu Chaoyue asked Zhao Liewen to boast about his brilliant results this time, Yan Jingming, who stayed in the provincial capital, suddenly sent someone to Wu Chaoyue to send an urgent report, so that Wu Chaoyue knew a shocking news - the army of the Manchu Qing Dynasty actually defeated the British and French forces at Dagukou! Forced the Anglo-French flotilla to withdraw to Canton!

"Actually won? How can it be? Wu Chaoyue, who has a sparse history, couldn't help but be afraid, and said secretly: "Thank God, fortunately I didn't raise troops this time, otherwise, I would be happy now." ”

Rejoicing in his own sanity, Wu Chaoyue thought about it again, and then instructed Zhao Liewen: "Huifu, we have to add some content to the excerpt of the victory, and try to introduce in detail the process of our capture of the Changmao Weiwu as much as possible, explaining that it was because of the defection of the foreigners that we were given the opportunity to capture the enemy ships, and also emphasized that I insisted on using only Qing soldiers to drive the steamer because I could not trust the foreigners, and I knew that the foreigners were not morally unreliable. Use dim sum in this paragraph, try to write beautifully, and be reasonable, powerful and responsible! ”

has been an accomplice to Wu Chaoyue for so many years, Zhao Liewen of course figured out Wu Chaoyue's flowery intestines, and immediately understood the intention of Wu Chaoyue's move, and asked with a smile: "What?" Comfort Pavilion, scared? ”

"I'm scared." Wu Chaoyue nodded honestly and said: "Dagukou unexpectedly won the battle, the court must be happy, and if I don't take foreigners in my eyes, if I don't hurry up and draw a line with foreigners at this time, wouldn't I be unlucky?" (To be continued.) )