In the early morning of the second day, when the Tsarist fleet finally reached an agreement with the Manchu Qingshui Division on tactical issues, a letter written on the cover of the letter received by Wu Chaoyue, the generalissimo of the Qing Dynasty's rebel army, was sent to Wu Chaoyue by the scouts of the patrol post. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The letter was shot with a bow and arrow near the fort on the south bank of the Wu army before dawn, and the content of the letter was very simple, with only one sentence - 'It was the Rakshasa people who forced us to storm the iron line line, and we retreated immediately after the defeat of the Rakshasa fleet. The inscription is 'the Qing Dynasty soldiers who hate the Rakshasas'.

Out of caution, the letter was written with the left hand, making it impossible to check the handwriting. But it's a pity that the letter sent by this well-intentioned Qing army soldier was used by Wu Chaoyue to blow his nose on the spot, crumpled it into a ball and threw it away, and then Wu Chaoyue scolded: "Play with Lao Tzu, you are still tender!" Obviously, I just don't want to be cannon fodder for the Russian old Maozi, and I pretend that I don't want to fight like me, if you have a chance to kill me, can you be polite to me? ”

After scolding, Wu Chaoyue's heart suddenly moved, and he quickly picked up the letterhead that was stained with his own snot and was crumpled together, opened it and watched it again, and muttered: "Is it the Rakshasa people who forced us to attack the iron line of defense?" Assault on the Wire Defense? Is this statement true or false? If it is true, then maybe it can be deduced from the combat tactics of the Russian old Maozi? ”

Wu Chaoyue's army does not have a staff department, it is not that Wu Chaoyue does not want to establish it, but that there are very few staff officers in China in this era, and there is almost no staff officer who is proficient in modern military affairs, so Wu Chaoyue has no choice but to continue to use the old-fashioned shogunate staff as the function of the staff department, and can only be the chief of staff for himself, and use his pitiful little modern military knowledge to deduce and analyze strategy and tactics.

On the premise of assuming that the Qing-Russian combined fleet was going to storm the iron cable defense line at the mouth of the source, Wu Chaoyue found that the enemy had two choices through deduction, the first was to lure the main force of his naval division to attack and fight a decisive battle in the open water surface downstream of the sandbar. The second is that the Qing-Russian combined fleet really wants to break through the iron line of the self-army at any cost and dredge the channel to the upper reaches of Shazhou Island.

Then, assuming that the Qing-Russian coalition forces really want to break through the barrage and dredge the channel at any cost, then it will not be difficult to do this with their strength. After the Qing-Russian coalition forces did this, they had three choices, the first was to directly take the hinterland of Hubei, or even directly attack the Hubei provincial capital to disturb Wu Chaoyue's lair.

The second option was to land on the upper reaches of the sandbank, which was not defended by the Wu army, and take the land route to directly attack the Daye Industrial Base.

The third option is to create an opportunity for a decisive battle with the main force of the Wu Army's naval division, and the Wu Army's naval division takes the initiative to fight a decisive battle in the open water surface of the upper reaches of the sandbank, and if it can't do so, it can also hit the six iron cables blocking the southern channel of the sandbank, and directly smash the camp of the Wu army's naval division, forcing the Wu army to meet or escape from the southern channel of the sandbank, and is forced to move to the open water surface downstream of the sandbank.

The first choice of the Qing-Russian coalition army was first ruled out by Wu Chaoyue, Hubei is Wu Chaoyue's nest, but no matter how the Qing-Russian coalition army fights, it will only smash all parts along the river at most, and it will not hurt Wu Chaoyue's vitality, in the case that there are already two grain-producing areas in Hunan and Sichuan, even if the Qing-Russian coalition army burns the cities along the river in Hubei into a blank field, it will not be able to reverse the overall strength comparison between the Wu army and the Qing army.

The only way for the Qing-Russian coalition to reverse the strategic situation is to destroy Wu Chaoyue's Daye Industrial Base, so it is also possible for the Qing-Russian coalition to land on the upper reaches of the sandbank, but Wu Chaoyue is not only not afraid of the Qing-Russian coalition army, but even wishes that the Qing-Russian coalition army would do this - with a well-equipped directly subordinate corps and the first corps of the descendant lineage, Wu Chaoyue is really not afraid of a decisive battle on land with the Qing-Russian coalition army.

The third choice of the Qing-Russian coalition army is to annihilate the main force of the Wu army's naval division, and once the Qing-Russian coalition army achieves this, then the entire middle reaches of the Yangtze River will become their world.

"The purpose of breaking through the iron rope is to destroy the main force of my sailor, will this be the case?"

While analyzing and studying this possibility, a scout suddenly came from outside the tent to report that it had found signs that the combined fleet of Qing and Russia was fully prepared for war, and that it was possible to launch an attack today. Wu Chaoyue did not dare to slack off when he heard the report, and hurriedly ordered the whole army to fight, and then out of prudence, Wu Chaoyue sent someone to send an order to Wang Fu and arranged for Wang Fu to make an emergency preparation......

…………

The judgment of the Wu army scouts was very correct, and about an hour later, the scouts by land and water really sent the Qing and Russian combined fleets to the westward march to probe and protect them. Fortunately, the officers and men of the Wu army were also ready for battle, and Wu Chaoyue no longer had to worry about the lack of preparation, but hurried to the position of the Wu army's Huang Yuanlong Corps on the other side of the Jin River, and boarded the fort to personally check the enemy's situation.

The huge Qing-Russian combined fleet soon appeared in Wu Chaoyue's telescope, and then Wu Chaoyue quickly discovered that the Tsarist Russian fleet had finally moved seriously this time, leaving four of the nineteen steam cannon ships to protect the transport fleet in the rear, and the remaining fifteen all came to the front line of Xiangyuankou. Twelve sail battleships of different sizes were dispatched from the nest, and the Qing army's naval division was also the main force, and more than 100 huge warships were densely packed, and the momentum was very amazing.

Many of the officers and men of the Wu army guarding the fort on the south bank saw the whole picture of the combined fleet of Qing and Russia for the first time, and most of them were frightened by the enemy's amazing strength, and even Huang Yuanlong, the number one fierce general under Wu Chaoyue, frowned, worried that the enemy was too strong to resist. Only Wu Chaoyue, who did not have to open artillery on the front line, did not take the enemy's powerful fleet seriously, but patiently observed the enemy's arrangement and selection of waterways.

The Qing-Russian combined fleet chose to anchor in the area of Guanjiao Town, where all the residents had already withdrawn, and temporarily anchored on the north bank of the Yangtze River, and then the Qing fleet soon sent more than 20 red single boats forward, and the Russian army also sent six sail battleships out to follow the Qing fleet westward along the north shore channel.

Seeing this scene, Wu Chaoyue immediately understood that the content of the whistleblower letter was true, and the Qing-Russian combined fleet was planning to break through the barrage and iron cable defense line of the self-army and dredge the channel that reached the upper reaches of the sandbank. Then Wu Chaoyue did not hesitate, and immediately sent someone across the river to give an order, shouting: "Tell the North Shore Battery, there is no need to have any reservations, there is no need to worry about exposing the gun position, and the rocket will hit me as soon as it has the opportunity!" Even if you can't keep the iron line of defense, you have to let me make the Rakshasa devil break a few teeth! ”

When the herald received the order, Wu Chaoyue added another sentence and said: "Also, don't be merciful to the water division of the chaotic party, you can fight when you should fight, you don't need to be polite!" Only when they are beaten and scared will they not dare to sell their lives to the Rakshasas! ”

When the clipper quickly sent the order to the position on the north bank of the Wu army, the fleet of the Qing-Russian coalition army had already entered the range of the Wu army's batteries, and Lin Zhi, the deputy commander of the first corps of the Wu army guarding the north bank, hurriedly ordered all the batteries to prepare to fire together, and at the same time notified the rocket army hidden under the camouflage to also be ready, and then after the Qing-Russian coalition forces all entered the range of fire, Lin Zhi also immediately sent a signal to order all the batteries and the rocket team to fire together!

Under the order of Wu Chaoyue, the 50 breech-loading rifled guns of the Wu army deployed on the north bank all used picric acid shells and fired at the same time, and more than 300 improved Congreve rockets also took off into the air, flying out with white gunpowder smoke, joining forces with the shells, overwhelmingly smashing into the Qing and Russian coalition fleets, and the deafening explosion quickly echoed on the water surface of the surging Yangtze River.

I never dreamed that the Wu army's north shore battery would use all its strength as soon as it struck, and the Qing and Russian coalition fleets that served as the vanguard were suddenly killed by surprise, seven Qing army red single ships and two Russian battleships were hit by shells one after another, and most of the remaining warships were also hit by more or less Congreve rockets, and the picric acid explosives exploded violently, and the decks and hulls of the Qing Russian warships were suddenly flying with sawdust, and the fires were everywhere, and the screams and exclamations of the soldiers were endless.

Almost in the blink of an eye, the high-rate rear-loading rifled guns fired a second wave of shells, and the faster-firing Congreve rockets had already fired more than 200 pieces, once again covering the Qing-Russian fleet in a sea of fire. In the face of such a high-frequency firepower attack, not to mention the Qing army's Red Single fleet, even the well-informed Tsarist Russian fleet was also frightened, exclaiming, "Hurry, hurry up and suppress the artillery to suppress the battery firepower of the Qing rebels." ”

In a hurry, most of the shells of the Qing-Russian coalition fleet lost their accuracy, but a considerable part still hit the Wu army's battery, which had some effect of suppressing the Wu army's firepower. The officers and men of the Wu army gritted their teeth and fired shells and rockets as fast as they could, desperately bombarding the enemy ships. The sound of artillery on the river shook the sky, the smoke of gunpowder was filled, and the shells came and went endlessly, as fierce as a pot of boiling rice porridge.

In such a high-intensity firepower battle, the most unlucky is of course the Qing army sailors, their red single boat is all wooden and does not even have hull armor, as long as it is hit by the Wu army's bitter acid weapon, it is destined to suffer a big loss, either it was blown up to the side of the board cracked, or the mast was broken, and then immediately ignited a skyrocketing fire, the water could not be extinguished, and the Qing soldiers ran in the sea of fire and screamed for help, as if they were in hell. Ye Changchun, the general of the Qing Army Navy who led the front team, was even more tearful, complaining aggrievedly, "Damn Wu thief, he was kind enough to tell you, and he was so cruel to us." ”

Although the hull of the Tsarist Russian battleship had copper and iron armor, Wu Jun's round picric acid shells could hardly penetrate the armor and penetrate the interior of the enemy's ship's cabin, and basically exploded on the surface of the armor, and the destructive power to the enemy ship was relatively small.

But even so, there were still three Russian battleships whose decks and buildings were hit by Wu Jun's picric acid shells, causing fires on the ship, and at the same time, a large number of Congreve rockets fired by Wu Jun's officers and men also hit the Tsarist Russian warships, expanding the fire on the ship, forcing the Tsarist soldiers to rush to the deck to fight the fire at the risk of being shot at any time, and the number of casualties rose rapidly.

By the way, the Tsarist Russian army was also lucky, because the rear-loading rifled guns gradually showed great advantages in actual combat, and the British military, which was not very optimistic about the breech-loading rifled guns, made a technical blockade of the whole world and did not sell them to Wu Chaoyue's newly developed five-pounder breech guns, so Wu's military was still an old-fashioned three-pounder breech gun, with a small caliber and less charge, and not enough power. Otherwise, let the Wu soldiers use five-pounder breech-loading guns, the hull armor of the Tsarist Russian battleships would not have much effect.

The words are far away, to get back to the point, although the firepower of the Wu army on the north bank is fast, but the number of guns on the shore is only fifty - the rear-loading guns are too difficult to produce, and the power of Congreve rockets is seriously small, so no matter how to seize the lead and surprise, it failed to sink a large number of enemy ships, just relying on the advantage of going all out as soon as the battle started, quickly sank nine Qing army red single ships, and severely damaged three Tsarist Russian sail battleships.

With the all-out counterattack of the Qing and Russian coalition forces, the absolute superiority of the number of gunwales was gradually revealed, and the firepower of the Wu army battery was gradually suppressed, and it was no longer possible to calmly aim and open artillery.

Fortunately, the biggest advantage of the Wu army is still picric acid explosives, this thing is born to be the nemesis of wooden warships, as long as a hit can cause huge damage to the Qing army's red single ship, and at the same time, as long as it can hit the parts of the Tsarist Russian battleship without armor protection, it can also cause a lot of losses to the Tsarist Russian battleship.

The first Tsarist Russian battleship was forced to retreat because of the serious fire on board, and another Tsarist Russian battleship's main sail ignited a skyrocketing fire, and the maneuvering speed was seriously reduced, and it was no longer possible to flexibly dodge, and it immediately became the focus of Wu's shore artillery and rockets, and it turned into a huge fireball in less than ten minutes, and the soldiers on board were forced to abandon the ship and retreat.

Then, a miracle appeared, and I didn't know that it was the Wu gunner who bought a lottery ticket and won the jackpot, and he happened to hit a picric acid shell into the gunsoft window of a Tsarist Russian battleship, and exploded directly in the gun compartment of the enemy ship, causing the Russian artillery to explode, blowing up a huge hole in the hull of the enemy ship, and severely damaging the enemy ship in one fell swoop.

Seeing this scene, Wu Quanmei, the commander of the Qing Army's naval division, and Novosilsky, the commander of the Tsarist Russian fleet, who were watching the battle in the rear, of course had gloomy faces one by one, but Novosilsky, who was selfish, did not order the battleships of the Qing army to retreat, and also raised a flag to urge the fleet to continue to advance and attack the Wu army's barrage line. Then Novosilsky gritted his teeth and said: "I see how many rockets you yellow-skinned monkeys have." ”

Expected by Novosilsky, with the large consumption of rockets, coupled with the fact that the rocket position was covered by the artillery fire of the enemy fleet, the rocket launch density of the Wu army on the north bank really began to decrease, and without the help of rockets, the weakness of the Wu army's lack of firepower on the north bank was also more and more obvious, and the remaining Qing and Russian coalition ships continued to advance while firing frantically to suppress the Wu army's battery, and attacked the Wu army's barrage.

The first Qing army red single boat with a fire head hit the Wu army iron cable, but before the soldiers on the ship waved a giant axe to cut the iron cable, the draft of their warship had already made a loud noise, and the Wu army mine tied to the iron cable exploded violently, and the unlucky Qing army red single boat was also seriously tilted immediately, and the river water surged into the cabin, and the soldiers in the cabin were forced to run to the deck to escape.

The experienced Tsarist Russian navy, of course, would not be as stupid as the Qing army's sailors to rush directly, and just after confirming that there were indeed mines in the Wu army's iron cable defense line, the remaining four Tsarist Russian battleships immediately lowered a dozen small boats and carried soldiers to the vicinity of the Wu army's iron cable, and eliminated the mines preset by the Wu army by cutting the mine rope. Seeing this scene in the telescope, Wu Chaoyue was of course immediately dumbfounded, and screamed: "The Rakshasa people still have such a hand? ”

The book explains that Wu Chaoyue's history is too sparse, and he does not know that the most advanced mine technology in this era is the Russians, who are the first countries in the world to be equipped with trigger anchor mines, and have long accumulated rich experience in mine clearance.

As soon as he saw that the mines had been broken, Wu Chaoyue, who had originally hoped to rely on the north bank batteries and mines to inflict heavy damage on the enemy, only calculated for less than three minutes, and immediately gave a decisive order, ordering the south bank batteries of Huang Yuanlong's army position to join the battle and bombard the enemy ships with picric acid rockets and picric shells to strengthen the fire effect.

After the South Bank Battery also joined the battle, the firepower of the Wu army increased again, and the Tsarist and Russian coalition forces, which had already suffered heavy losses, naturally suffered even more. However, the commander of the Tsarist fleet, Novosilsky, smiled and muttered: "Damn yellow-skinned monkey, your gun positions on the south bank have finally been exposed." ”

After talking to himself, Novosilsky immediately sent an interpreter to Wu Quanmei to send an order, asking Wu Quanmei to organize another assault fleet and prepare to cooperate with the remaining six sail battleships of his army to attack and join forces on the front-line battlefield. And Wu Quanmei learned that the Tsarist Russian warships would continue to cooperate with the battle, of course, he did not refuse, and hummed: "It should have been fought like this a long time ago, so that Lao Tzu has always been in front, and Lao Tzu will give you Rakshasa foreign devils to sell their lives." ”

After a long period of fierce fighting, it was still after seeing that there were no more rockets flying out of the positions on the north bank of the Wu army, nearly half of the artillery positions were silent, and the density of rockets on the south bank was also rapidly decreasing, Novosilsky let the flagship raise the flag and ordered the second wave of attacks.

"Yellow-skinned monkey, the firepower on your north bank is seriously insufficient, and the artillery positions on the south bank have also been exposed, I see what else you can do this time?"

By the way, the six Russian sail battleships that fought before were two fourth-class ships and four fifth-class ships. The six Russian sail battleships that launched the second wave of attacks were all third-class battleships with more than 70 guns.