The main warships of the Peng Ze Naval Division of the Taiping Army were still more than 200 old-fashioned small pulling boats, which could only be equipped with homemade earth cannons, and their long-range attack power was pitifully weak, and it was possible to pose a threat to the ships of the Wu army only by firing guns and arson during near-board combat. In addition to this www.biquge.info Peng Ze's Taiping Army only had about 60 military sampans, a dozen old-fashioned long-haired fast crab boats, and a tugboat used by Huang Wenjin as a flagship.

With such a weak naval division, even when the Wu Army's naval division had just obtained the Loyalty and Renyi and had just formed an army, the Taiping Army's Peng Ze Naval Division did not have much chance of winning, and now the Wu Army's naval division has rapidly developed to the point of dominating the Yangtze River, and the Taiping Army's Peng Zeshui Division dared to take the initiative to attack the main fleet of the Wu Army's naval division, and even Huang Wenjin felt that he had gone crazy.

However, Huang Wenjin had to go crazy, and the Wu Junshui Division, who had already been tricked, did not know what medicine he had taken wrongly, and suddenly withdrew the battleships that were ready to attack, and concentrated all his combat forces to protect the baggage fleet. In order to create a sneak attack fighter for the Taiping Army water commando team ambushed in the lake, Huang Wenjin had no choice but to take the initiative to attack, using the entire Peng Ze Naval Division as bait and cannon fodder to disrupt the defensive formation of the Wu Army's naval division.

As soon as he arrived at the westernmost end of the sandbar at Hezihao, Huang Wenjin saw in the telescope a dense crowd of Wu army's baggage ships, as well as the Wu army's naval division warships waiting on the outside of the baggage fleet.

"Boom! Bang! ”

Although the number of military sampans that came with the army was large, the Wu Army Naval Division was not afraid of fighting close to the Taiping Army Naval Division, but in order not to give the enemy any chance to approach the baggage fleet, the Taiping Army Naval Division had just entered the range of the Wu Army's naval fleet, Wang Fu still decisively ordered to open fire, and the cannon exploded one after another.

The Wu army warships involved in the artillery battle had two third-class sail battleships, two steam gunboats, and five red single boats, but even so, the Wu army still fired nearly 100 shells in one round, and the whistling shells fell into the fleet of the Taiping Army's sailors one after another, constantly splashing huge splashes more than a foot high, and also constantly smashing the fragile small pulling boats and sampans of the Taiping Army's sailors.

The reason for the inability to fight back was, of course, that the Peng Ze Naval Division of the Taiping Army seriously lacked long-range firepower, and the Changlong Fast Crab warship equipped with gunwales was still behind and could not hit the Wu Army's naval division for the time being, so Huang Wenjin had no choice but to keep playing the banner and forcing the self-army fleet to move forward at full speed, striving to fight a close battle with the Wu Army's naval division.

The cannons continued to sound, and the shells of the Wu army also continued to fall into the Taiping fleet, and no less than 30 Taiping ships had been sunk before the port engagement. The performance of the Taiping Army is also commendable, in the case of the general decline in the quality and combat effectiveness of all units of the Taiping Army, the officers and men of the Taiping Army under Huang Wenjin's department can still do the succession, charging forward against the fierce artillery fire of the Wu Army, and gradually narrowing the distance with the Wu Army's naval division.

Soon, the Taiping army's small boat pulling team was already less than a mile away from the Wu army's defensive position, but just when Huang Wenjin was secretly happy in his heart, between the whistles, two steam cannon boats suddenly rushed to the right wing of the south of the Wu army's naval fleet.

"Coming straight at me?!"

Although he is not very good at water warfare, just looking at the charging route of the two steam gunboats of the Wu army, Huang Wenjin, who is old in the battlefield, guessed that the Wu army's sailors were planning to use the beheading tactics of capturing the thief and capturing the king first, and he was suddenly a little overwhelmed, not knowing how to deal with this tactic of the Wu army's sailors on the water. In the end, under the reminder of Fan Ruzeng, the deputy who had fought a water war with Shi Dakai, Huang Wenjin hurriedly shouted and ordered: "Hurry, open the cannon!" Shoot at those two steamers that surpass the little demons! ”

More than a dozen old-fashioned warships of the Taiping army opened fire, and together they bombarded the cannonballs to the Wu army steam gunboats that rushed from the side front, and they were also very lucky to hit the target three times in a row, causing the wood chips on the Wu army's steam gunboats to fly sideways, and the armor was deformed, but this bit of firepower could not stop the Wu army's steam gunboats' charging footsteps, and the two Wu army steam gunboats were both brutal and rude and quickly closed the distance with the Taiping army's flagship, and after seizing the position that gave full play to the power of the gunwales, they fired together and fired at the Taiping army's flagship one after another at close range.

The Wu army's steam gunboat also used picric acid cannonballs very viciously, although only three of the more than ten shells fired one after another hit Huang Wenjin's towing boat, but all of them smashed into the cabin and exploded, which immediately caused a fire in the cabin, the flagship of the Taiping Army shook indirectly after being shot, and the Taiping soldiers screamed again and again, but Huang Wenjin didn't have time to check the losses at all, just yelled with red eyes, "Open the cannon, open the cannon quickly!" Shoot! ”

Without Huang Wenjin's order, the old warships of the Taiping Army have been charging and firing cannons, but the steam gunboats of the Wu Army still kept their feet while shelling the flagship of the Taiping Army, and quickly passed by the rear team of the Taiping Army.

It was only at this time that Huang Wenjin found that the fire was already raging in the cabin, and the smoke of the fire continued to erupt from the cabin, and when Huang Wenjin hurriedly ordered the soldiers to extinguish the fire, he got an answer that made him desperate, "Huang Chengxuan, the monster steamer is a demon artillery shell, and it can't be extinguished!" ”

After scolding a dirty word, Huang Wenjin had no choice but to prepare the equipment for abandoning the ship and transferring, and then hurried to see the situation ahead, but saw that there were already two steam warships rushing out on the left flank of the Wu army, and they rushed directly to the flank of his main fleet even more brutally.

In addition to the two steam gunboats that directly relied on brute force tonnage to win, the left flank of the Wu army also had more than 50 military sampans, which first grabbed the northwest to gain the advantage of the water flow, and then charged at high speed with the help of the water current, and followed into the Taiping army's naval fleet, which had been washed into chaos by the steam gunboats.

At the same time, the sampan fleet of the Wu army, which was intercepted head-on, also joined the battle, and also fired with small-caliber artillery and muskets, head-on the small boats of the Taiping army, which was staggered by the current because of the confusion of the formation and the current, and was unable to pose a frontal threat to the defensive formation of the Wu army, on the contrary, it immediately showed signs of defeat.

Huang Wenjin gritted his teeth unwillingly and insisted, but soon, there was an alarm from the rear, and it turned out that the two Wu army steam gunboats that had rushed to the rear before turned around calmly in the open area, and then took advantage of the upstream to rush to the rear of the Taiping Army's naval division at full speed again.

"Huang Chengxuan, hurry up and get on the boat, the steamer that surpasses the little demon is here again, it must be coming to our flagship again, change the ship quickly!"

If it weren't for Fan Ruzeng's timely reminder and his own soldiers forcibly putting Huang Wenjin on a small boat to flee for his life, Huang Wenjin would definitely not have been able to avoid the disaster of being killed -- when the two Wu army steam gunboats passed by the Taiping Army's naval division again from the other side, during the successive shells, not only did four shells hit the already blazing Taiping Army flagship, accelerating the sinking speed of the Taiping Army flagship, but one of the shells also happened to hit the bow of the Taiping Army flagship, which immediately turned Huang Wenjin's command position into a sea of fire. It also swept a few Taiping soldiers who didn't have time to escape directly into the smoke of the fire.

Then, when Huang Wenjin finally transferred to a long ship, his original flagship had already turned into a huge fire mass floating on the water, and at the same time, the Taiping Army's small pulling fleet and sampan fleet in front had also been completely defeated, fleeing all over the river, and countless Taiping soldiers who had fallen into the water and sundries were floating on the river with the waves, struggling and calling for help, and they were defeated and could not be defeated again.

Although he had long understood that his sailor could not beat the main force of the Wu army's sailor, when he really saw this picture, Huang Wenjin couldn't help but exclaim in disbelief, "This is already lost?" This is the sailor who surpasses the little demon? So powerful? ”

"General Huang, run! Look ahead, it's here again! ”

The heart-rending screams pulled Huang Wenjin back from his nightmare, and when Huang Wenjin looked up in surprise, he suddenly turned pale and saw that the two Wu army steam gunboats that had been guarding the front had already sounded their whistles and rushed directly towards his front with a crushing momentum! Huang Wenjin had no choice but to quickly yell: "Retreat!" This battle can't be fought! ”

It was also a shame that the Wu army sailors didn't know that Huang Wenjin was hiding on that boat, and for the safety of the baggage fleet, the two Wu troops who were killed head-on only chased five miles before turning around and returning to the team, otherwise, Huang Wenjin would definitely have to be sent into the water to see the water dragon king. However, even so, when Huang Wenjin fled to Madang Mountain with the defeated army in embarrassment, his new ship still suffered a bitter acid shell, and the warship was directly burned to serious injury, and at the same time, his Peng Ze sailors were also scattered, and the sky was completely dark and he hadn't come back halfway.

"Can't win! Fight head-on with the sailor who surpasses the little demon, we have no hope, we just die in vain! ”

Huang Wenjin, who was once known as the Yellow Tiger by the Qing army and the Hunan army, was convinced for the first time, and completely lost the confidence to fight head-on with the Wu army's naval division on the water, but Huang Wenjin did not lose hope, and while trying to collect the defeated army, Huang Wenjin also clearly told his subordinates, "Get ready, you have to fight tonight!" As soon as the fleet led by the Wing King 8,000 years old arrives, we will go back on board immediately! ”

…………

After killing chickens with knives and easily defeating the Taiping Army's Peng Ze Naval Division, through interrogating the Taiping soldiers who fell into the water and were captured, Wang Fu and Xu Lai and other Taiping Army Naval Division generals also quickly knew that Huang Wenjin was actually cheating to death, and scolded Huang Wenjin for being shameless, Wang Fu, Xu Lai and others naturally became suspicious - why would Huang Wenjin collude with the army to rub him at such a cost? After the lure failed, why did you still touch the stone with the egg and take the initiative to come to the door to find death?

"Could it be that Huang Wenjin has an ambush? Want to use his main fleet as bait to lure us to annihilate them and create a sneak attack for his ambushes? ”

Wang Fu was infinitely close to the truth during his analysis, but unfortunately, at the critical moment, the urgent report of discovering the enemy's situation suddenly sent from the rear seriously misled Wang Fu's analysis and judgment, and also made Wu Jun miss the opportunity to nip the danger in the bud. Hearing that a large number of Taiping ships suddenly appeared downstream, Wang Fu immediately decided that this was the reason for Huang Wenjin's series of strange actions, and immediately made a decision and instructed Xu Lai: "Brother Xu, give you six steam cannon ships and five red single ships, take the initiative to attack, use our speed and tonnage advantage to directly kill the long-haired fleet from downstream, and don't give them a chance to get close to our baggage fleet!" ”

Xu Lai received the order and immediately went out of the cabin to organize the fleet to take the initiative to meet the battle downstream -- the tonnage of the main warships of the Wu army was too large, and they could only be used as water batteries when they were moored in place to meet the battle, and only when they moved could they exert all their combat effectiveness.

After making the decision to take the initiative to meet the enemy downstream, Wang Fu thought for a while, and simply sent two more steam gunboats and some red single boats, and handed them over to the general Sun Yuanhui to lead, and took the initiative to attack Madangshan to pick up the Peng Ze Sailor who would definitely attack again, and killed Huang Wenjin by surprise.

"Brother Wang, is it too much to divide the troops?" Sun Yuanhui asked with some concern.

"It's too much of a division, but I have to." Wang Fu replied with a stern expression: "Huang Wenjin is upstream, and the current wind direction is unstable, if we don't attack him first and press him on Madang Mountain and give him the opportunity to organize fireships to attack, then our trouble will definitely be greater." ”

After saying that, Wang Fu waved his hand and ordered: "Go quickly, I will carefully protect the baggage fleet, don't worry." ”

Wang Fu expected that in order to win more hope in the second attack, Huang Wenjin did hurriedly arrange and prepare more than a dozen gunboats at the foot of Madang Mountain, and also imitated the Wu army back then, using the gunpowder on the Madangshan Fort to prepare several gunpowder ships, in order to surprise the Wu army when attacking again.

However, what Huang Wenjin never expected was that when his fireships and gunpowder ships were not fully ready, and at the same time had not yet made contact with the main fleet of the Taiping Army led by Shi Dakai, the partial division of the Wu army's naval division had already killed at the foot of Madang Mountain, and in turn took the initiative to attack his naval division.

"It's a pity! I can't imagine that Wu Thief has such a hand! Just give me a little more time! ”

After slapping the side of the ship with remorse, Huang Wenjin, who couldn't take the initiative to attack anymore, was first disappointed, and then secretly rejoiced, and said secretly: "Little demon Wang Fu, it's good that you take the initiative to fight me, at least my arson fleet has more chances." ”

At the same time, the fleet of the Wu Army Naval Division led by Xu Lai has also been done in the area of Sankouyao downstream and the Taiping Army Naval Division, although Shi Dakai also did not expect the nobody Wang Fu to be so decisive with his troops, and immediately attacked when he found that it was wrong, avoiding the weakness of the naval division that was good at attacking and not defending, and giving full play to the advantages of the Wu Army's warships with large tonnage, fierce firepower and fast speed of steam gunboats, but Shi Dakai was also secretly happy in his heart, and said secretly: "The surname Wang, you must not have imagined it, in addition to having our army in front and behind, you also have the side." ”

Wang Fu did not expect that there were enemies on his flanks, in order to prevent the upstream and downstream from slipping through the net, Wang Fu was also very careful to put the light and flexible sampan fleet mainly on the east and west, ready to make up the knife at any time, and the four third-class sail battleships were also placed by Wang Fu on the east and west sides as water batteries. As for the north and south banks of the Yangtze River, which had been closely searched by the Wu army's scouts, Wang Fu obviously did not pay enough attention.

It was also time to come to the Wu army and the Taiping army was lucky, during the simultaneous battle between Madang Mountain and Sankou Kiln on the east and west lines, the night sky that had been gloomy for a long time suddenly rained, first dripping, and then wind and rain, although it did not reach the point of storm, but it also seriously interfered with the sight of the Wu army's sailors and soldiers, and increased the difficulty of the Wu army's scouts and clippers to discover the enemy in advance. Wang Fu sensed the danger, but he had no choice but to intensify the monitoring of the upstream and downstream, for fear that a few fish that had slipped through the net would suddenly kill and rush into the Wu army's baggage fleet, which had no ability to resist, and start a killing ring.

Under the cover of wind and rain and night, the Taiping arson fleet of the Taiping Army, which was ambushed in the depths of Bohu Lake by Huang Wenjin, had also sneaked out of the mouth of the Bohu Lake under the personal leadership of Huang Wenjin's brother Huang Wenying, and quietly turned into the narrow channel north of Pengze Jiangxin Island (Cotton Boat Town), quickly gathered into a group, and then did not use torches and lanterns, but through the familiarity with the topography of the water flow, relying on the impetus of the Yangtze River to touch the downstream outlet of the north channel of Jiangxin Island, almost unknowingly, it suddenly appeared in the northwest upstream of the Wu army's fleet.

It was still when the arson fleet of the Taiping Army was swaying and rowing to launch a charge, and the Wu Army scouts who were disturbed by the wind and rain realized that the danger was coming, and hurriedly beat the gongs and drums and released the guns to warn, "There is an enemy situation!" A fleet with long hair! ”

"The enemy situation has been discovered in the northwest direction upstream!"

Hearing the report hurriedly sent by his own soldiers, Wang Fu's face was as pale as paper at first, but after forcing himself to calm down, Wang Fu quickly made a decision and issued three orders one after another:

"Order the rear team, mobilize the sampan fleet and immediately return to the baggage fleet for reinforcements! Only kill the enemy! No firefighting! ”

"Immediately ordered the baggage fleet to continue to maintain its current formation, if the enemy burns the ship, only firefighting, not escaping, and those who leave the brigade without authorization and flee will be executed immediately!"

"Give Xu Lai and Sun Yuanhui an order, tell them to concentrate on dealing with the enemy in front of them, and without an order, they are not allowed to return to the baggage fleet! Those who return to the aid without authorization will be killed immediately! Besides, tell them to beware of Longhair's fraud, and they must keep an eye on Longhair's front of them, and don't give Longhair a chance to sneak up on our baggage fleet again! ”

Quickly issued three orders to minimize the losses as much as possible, Wang Fu's face was still terrifyingly pale, and he also said in his heart: "It is impossible to bring all the baggage ships back to Hubei this time, I hope the losses can be smaller." ”