The Taiping Army Naval Division led by Qin Rigang has always believed that the strength of the Self-Army is far above the Wu Army's Water Division, and has always believed that until the time of the head-on battle, as long as the Self-Army goes with all its strength, it is easy for the Wu Army's Naval Division, which has only three battalions, to be completely annihilated, if it were not for the fear that the Wu Army's Naval Division would withdraw to Tianjia Town to seek permanent battery protection there, and also worried that the Qing Army's Naval Division hiding in Xiaochikou would take the opportunity to sneak attack Hukou, Qin Rigang would have already taken the main force of the Taiping Army to Shanjiazhou to find the Wu Army's Naval Division for a decisive battle. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

On the morning of the first day of the first month of the seventh year of Xianfeng, the Wu Army Sailor, who had been hiding in Shan Jiazhou, suddenly poured out of the nest, relying on the advantage of smooth wind and water, and suddenly joined the Jiujiang battlefield that had been fighting all night at a lightning speed, and appeared in front of the main force of the Taiping Army Sailor Division, which was also dispatched. However, it is a pity that the Taiping Army Sailor will not be able to meet it with all his might.

The reason why the Taiping Army's sailors could not meet the battle with all their strength is that they must transport the defeated soldiers of Jiujiang to flee for their lives, a large number of ships are used to transport soldiers, and a large number of small pull-out boats must also protect the troop carriers.

But fortunately, in terms of the number of ships alone, the Taiping Army Navy Division still has the absolute upper hand, so Qin Rigang did not panic even if he scolded the Qing Demon for being shameless and cunning, and immediately handed over the task of protecting the troop carrier to the overly tired Wei Jun fleet, and led the main force of the Chinese army to meet it, and made the most correct choice, "Raise the flag, rush up, mix with the Wu Demon fleet, set fire to the ship near the side, and kill the two big ships of the Wu Demon Navy Division first!" ”

When the flag was raised, the experienced Taiping army fleet immediately swayed and rowed together, and killed the Wu army fleet that was rushing towards the front against the wind and water. However, to the great disappointment of the Taiping Army's sailors, the clumsy and unfamiliar Wu Army's sailors during the Battle of Tianjiazhen more than a year ago no longer existed, and in the face of the overwhelming Taiping fleet, the Wu Army's sailors' sailing skills were no longer sparse and slow, and the soldiers were no longer flustered and nervous, and suddenly came up with a tactic that the Taiping Army's sailors had never seen before - slightly adjust the direction, and the whole army made a detour to the flank of the Taiping Army.

"Want to take a detour around and hit my flank? Or do you want to rush directly at our troop carriers? ”

Qin Rigang, the late Qing Dynasty soil bun, couldn't guess the intention of Wu Junshui for a while, but since Wu Junshui took the initiative to give up the upper hand, Qin Rigang naturally would not politely refuse, and was slightly stunned, and immediately subconsciously shouted: "Hit the flag, continue to move forward, and seize the upstream downwind position!" ”

Under the command of the banner, the fleet of the Taiping Army's naval division continued to advance at full speed, ignoring the Wu fleet that was detouring to the flank, and just rushed upstream, but just as Qin Rigang fantasized about grabbing the upstream position, he turned around and charged and flooded the life of the Wu army's fleet with a sea of small boats. The two main warships of the Wu army, the Loyalty and the Renyi, roared one after another, first firing two shells, and then before Qin Rigang could see the shelling situation clearly, the Loyalty and Renyi made a continuous loud noise, blasting out artillery fire one after another at a rhythm of ten seconds, and also bombarded the medium and large ships of the Taiping Army quite accurately.

Friends who are familiar with naval warfare in the Sail Age must know very well that the Wu Army's naval division used the most typical T-shaped tactics, and maximized the numerical superiority of the Loyalty and Renyi's gunwales. However, Qin Rigang and the other buns don't say that they have seen this kind of tactic, they haven't even heard of it, all they saw was that the artillery of the Wu army's warships seemed to fire continuously, and it was as fast as if they didn't need to charge and reload - in fact, of course, they took turns firing and reloading in turn, and the twenty-two guns on the side were fired in turn, and the first guns fired had already been loaded with ammunition.

Even if the hit rate of the Wu army's artillery was not very high, but after a round of shelling, more than a dozen Taiping ships were directly sunk by the Wu army's artillery, and countless ships and sailors were injured, and at the same time, the original neat formation of the Taiping army's naval division was inevitably chaotic.

The sailors of the Wu Army, who had received rigorous training from the British instructors of the current maritime overlord, had already lowered their sails and slowly detoured downward by relying on the current to prolong the time that the Taiping Navy Divisions were side by side. The 3rd Battalion of the Wu Army, which was fully equipped with military sampans, closely protected the flanks of the Loyalty and Renyi to prevent the sneak attack of the Taiping boats.

Even the sail warships that have been phased out, the British naval guns equipped with the Loyalty and Renyi still throw off the Taiping army's warships and artillery more than eight streets in terms of range and power, and the Taiping army's sailors can't do anything just by being beaten, until they are bombarded by the Wu army's sailors are shouting and screaming, ghosts crying wolves, the ship is sunk, the dead and wounded are continuous, and the formation is gradually chaotic to the point that it is difficult to clean up.

Sweat also appeared on Qin Rigang's forehead in the wind and snow, and he wanted to give up the opportunity to seize the upstream tailwind, and immediately turned around and raided the flank of the Wu army's fleet, but after a little calculation, Qin Rigang categorically gave up this plan - at present, the Wu army fleet still has the advantage of smooth wind, even if the main force of the Taiping army's naval division turns around to rush the Wu army's flank, the Wu army will be able to leave the battlefield as long as the sails are re-opened, and the Taiping army fleet will not only be unable to catch up, but will have to sacrifice the overall formation.

"Flag again! Keep moving forward and resolutely seize the upper hand! After shouting out the response order, Qin Rigang added in his heart, "Anyway, there are many and cheap boats, and I don't feel sorry for how many old men I lose!" ”

The chaotic formation doomed Qin Rigang's latest orders to be carried out quickly and resolutely, and in the smoke of artillery fire, the chaotic Taiping army fleet could not even keep the bow of the ship moving forward in unison, and the undulating waves and ships collided constantly, which was difficult to control the ships, let alone maintain full speed forward, and was also destined to continue to serve as a live target for the Wu army's warships, and during the period of brushing with the Taiping army's fleet, the Loyalty and Renyi also took the opportunity to shoot a full five waves of wheel shots, sinking nearly 100 Taiping ships.

It was not easy to get out of the range of the Loyalty and Renyi, and before Qin Rigang could breathe a sigh of relief, there was bad news from the lookout, "His Royal Highness the King of Qin, Wu Demon Sailor Zhang Fan!" The target seems to be the north gate of Jiujiang! ”

"The Wu demon of the dog!" Qin Rigang scolded, only then did he remember that the Wu army's fleet still had a target worthy of artillery bombardment at the Jiujiang North Gate Wharf, and in his anxiety, Qin Rigang hurriedly shouted: "Immediately raise the flag, the whole army will turn around and form a team!" ”

When the Qin Rigang army hurriedly turned around, the fleet of the Wu Army's naval division had already taken advantage of the wind direction and the current to move eastward at full speed, and in a blink of an eye, it was already approaching the pier of the north gate of Jiujiang, and without saying a word, it was bombarded indiscriminately with artillery, and it was very shameless to shoot picric acid flowering shells, and the flames of the shells exploded, and the Taiping Army troop carriers full of soldiers and baggage were suddenly shot again and again, and even if they were not hit, they would soon face the threat of picric acid flames, and the picric acid flames that could float on the water and burn with the waves, The Taiping Army's troop carriers were burned to the point of screaming and screaming, and they hurriedly dodged the flames and collided with each other, causing chaos and greatly affecting the speed of the troop transport.

At this time, the partial division of the Taiping Army Naval Division led by Wei Jun also hurriedly pounced, and the third battalion of the Wu Army's Naval Division, which was fully equipped with military sampans, was in full array, and eight Congreve rockets also flew out of the Transcendence and Renyi one after another, and the targets were all aimed at Wei Jun's flagship that took the initiative to enter the range. The Kangreve rocket, which has been improved by Shao Yanhong, a famous firearms craftsman, has been greatly improved in accuracy, and two of the eight rockets accurately hit Wei Jun's towing boat, and the picric acid carried by the arrow exploded violently, and Wei Junjun's flagship was immediately broken and cracked, and immediately ignited a sky-high fire, which was directly on the verge of scrapping. Wei Jun shouted bitterly, and he could only transfer to the other ships while letting the flagship give the last order, "Rush forward!" Stir up with the Wu Demon Water Master! ”

It's not so easy anymore, when the sailors of the Taiping Army worked hard to drive the small pullout boat to meet the third battalion of the Wu army, the bow guns of the third battalion of the Wu army's sampan equipment suddenly opened fire together, and immediately hit more than a dozen small pullout boats, and also protected the Loyalty and Renyi while firing the cannon to gallop downstream, the Taiping army small pullout boat fired back, and the shelling between the two armies continued, although there were casualties and wounds, the Taiping army small pullout boat could not easily rush into the Wu army fleet as imagined, and performed a good melee battle. - Of course, this also has a lot to do with Wei Junjun's fierce battle last night, and the decline in the physical strength of the sailors is quite serious.

It was still in the first wave of small boats that really got the opportunity to engage in a melee battle with the Wu army's sampan, and the Taiping army sailors found that the battle in the close hand battle was actually their own loss - for no other reason, the Wu army sailors were equipped with firing needle guns and picric grenades. The high-speed firing pin gun can effectively kill the sailors of the Taiping Army who kill and injure the small pull-out boat, and the bitter acid grenade that is suddenly thrown can directly reimburse a small pull-out boat with people and the boat as long as it hits the small pull-out boat. In the continuous gunfire and intermittent explosions, the Taiping army's small pulling boat continued to catch fire and burn, and even directly shattered, and the sailors on the ship were shot and fell into the water continuously, and the attack was quickly repulsed.

During this period, the Loyalty and Renyi never forgot to bombard the pier at the north gate of Jiujiang with bitter acid shells, and the shock wave of the explosion and the fierce flames quickly swept across the pier of the north gate, and the large and small Taiping troop carriers also quickly smoked and caught fire, and the dock was gradually shrouded in a thick smoke.

It was only when Qin Rigang's main force turned around and caught up that the Wu Army's naval division gave up the shelling of the wharf and instead made a detour to the wide area downstream, preparing to turn around and seize the upper hand. Qin Rigang, who was experienced in water warfare, saw through the plans of the Wu Army Navy Division at a glance, gritted his teeth and commanded the fleet to chase after him, but at this time, Qin Rigang was extremely depressed to find that the Loyalty and Renyi, which had been thoroughly familiar with the performance and operation of the warship by the officers and men of the Wu Army, had thrown off a large part of the Taiping Army fleet in terms of ship speed, and quickly opened the distance and turned around calmly, without giving the Taiping Army Navy any chance to take advantage of the surprise attack.

For Qin Rigang, the worse is still to come, at this time, Bao Chao, the Qing army's sailor who had withdrawn from Longganhu, had also returned to the Jiujiang battlefield, and also took the initiative to raise the banner to express his willingness to accept the command and order of Wang Fu, the commander of the Wu army's sailor division. Wang Fu was overjoyed when he saw it, and unceremoniously ordered Wang Fu to lead the army to meet Qin Rigang, giving the army a chance to turn back and seize the upper hand.

The real fierce battle on the water began, and in the continuous sound of artillery, Bao Chaojun collided head-on with the main fleet of the Taiping Army at any cost, using flesh and blood as a shield to create a roundabout opportunity for the Wu army's fleet. The Wu fleet took the opportunity to make a detour back to the open area in the north, and advanced in the shape of a 'zhi' by virtue of its spinnaker, while driving against the current, it always kept the side of the ship facing the enemy, and constantly bombarded the Taiping fleet with superior artillery, and constantly released rockets to reinforce the firepower during the period. Qin Rigang fought fiercely with Bao Chao, and constantly sent a fleet to intercept the Wu army's fleet, never forgetting to stop the Wu army's big ship and strive for a close-quarters battle. The two sides come and go, each with its own purpose, and the artillery and guns are bombarded upside down, and the sun and moon are gone.

At the same time, of course, the Qing army on land also strengthened the intensity of street fighting, besieged Wei to save Zhao to share the pressure on the water division, and forced the Taiping army to turn back to save the Taiping army in Jiujiang. As a result, at this moment, the advantage of the Qing army's adequate preparation was also fully displayed, and they could eat at any time with sufficient dry food, and the physical strength of the Qing soldiers did not decline much. On the other hand, the Taiping army not only did not sleep all night, but also had insufficient preparation and no food to satisfy hunger, and the decline in physical strength was far greater than that of the Qing army.

The Jiujiang Taiping Army also had a troublesome matter, that is, after the Qing army encountered stubborn resistance in the street battle, Zuo Zongtang quickly made tactical adjustments, specially divided two battalions to seize the battlefield of the city wall, and advanced along the city wall to outflank the north gate from both wings. And with a battalion of Wu army and land division forced to the north gate city wall, the pressure of the Taiping army also increased sharply, the Taiping army in the city street fighting behind the enemy, outside the city ready to get on the boat to escape the Taiping army women and children family members are even more chaotic, crying and screaming to the sky, the sound of several miles.

Seeing that the situation was critical, Luo Gang had no choice but to hurriedly send a clipper to contact Qin Rigang and ask Qin Rigang to give an immediate reply. If not, then the Jiujiang Taiping Army would have to immediately abandon the city and flee to Yangjiachang, where they would board a boat and cross the lake to escape for their lives, and Qin Rigang would have to return to Shihukou immediately and go there to save people across the lake!

The big problem was once again put in front of Qin Rigang, and he immediately ended the water war and returned to the north gate of the division to save people, which Qin Rigang certainly couldn't do. However, when the Taiping Army Navy Division was withdrawn to the mouth of the lake to save people, the Taiping Army Naval Division would still face a huge threat from the Wu Army's Water Division. Caught in a dilemma, Qin Rigang, who was already accustomed to fighting under Yang Xiuqing's fingers, really didn't know how to choose.

At this time, Wei Jun, whose face was blackened, suddenly appeared in front of Qin Rigang, and as soon as they met, he roared angrily: "His Royal Highness King Yan, how did you command this battle?" ”

"What's wrong with me?" Qin Rigang was yelled at by Wei Jun.

"See for yourself!" Wei Jun pointed to the water battlefield and roared, "Why is it like this? Our fleet of sailors is so scattered, how can we give full play to our numerical superiority? ”

Dewei Jun reminded him, and Qin Rigang suddenly found out that he had committed a military taboo - too much division of troops! In order to intercept the large ships of the Wu army, the small fleet of the self-army was too scattered, and not only could not give full play to the numerical superiority, but was also scattered and killed by the Wu army's naval divisions with quality superiority, and the large and small warships were completely scattered on the wide surface of the Yangtze River. The zigzag fleet of the Wu army always maintained a unified action, and although it did not seize the upper hand, it also went back and forth in the loose fleet of the own army, as if it were in a no-man's land, and constantly attacked the own army with superior firepower and sophisticated weapons as it advanced.

By the way, this is also the deliberate work of the Wu Army's naval division, carefully studying the Taiping Army's specialty small boat sea tactics, and getting the guidance of naval instructors from Britain and France, Wu Junshui Division was suffocated from the beginning, and was determined to take advantage of the smooth wind and the quality of the warships to stretch the battle line as much as possible, lengthen the ranks of the Taiping Army's naval division, dilute the enemy's strength, and then turn back to disperse with a whole blow, and break the quantity with quality. And the unexpected appearance of Bao Chao's water division also made the tactics of Wu Jun's water division more ideal and significant.

Getting back to the point, finding that the army had fallen into a trap unconsciously, Qin Rigang knocked his head and was annoyed, but immediately made up his mind, and yelled at the messenger sent by Luo Xuan: "Go and tell Prime Minister Luo Cheng to abandon the city and go to Yangjiachang immediately, and I will withdraw to Hukou to meet him!" ”

After sending away the messenger of Luo Xuan, Qin Rigang shouted again: "Quickly raise the banner, the whole army retreats, withdraw to the mouth of the lake and regroup!" ”

The hurriedly retreating Taiping Navy Division gave the Wu Army Sailor and the Qing Army Sailor a chance to beat the water dogs, and in the cheers, the Wu Army Sailor who had not yet been vicious enough was of course immediately turned around and pursued, and Bao Chao also roared and joined the pursuit despite the fact that his ship had lost more than half of it. However, it didn't take long for Zuo Zongtang to send an urgent order, ordering Wu Junshui and Bao Chao not to pursue into the narrow river south of Meijiazhou, and to stop advancing when they pursued to the area of Sunjiazhulin, waiting for a rendezvous with the land division to act in unison.

After announcing Zuo Zongtang's decision, seeing that Wang Fu's face was not good, the messenger hurriedly added: "General Wang, Mr. Ji Gao knows that you definitely can't figure out why you missed such an opportunity. Mr. Ji Gao said, although now is the best opportunity for you to expand the results of the battle, but the small wrecked ship with long hair is useless no matter how much it sinks, it is purely a waste of ammunition, the river in that area is too narrow, long hair only needs to jump into the water and want to escape, but your loyalty and benevolence are not worth it even if they are hit by long hair. ”

"Mr. Ji Gao also said, if you want to make more meritorious contributions, there will be an opportunity, and when Jiujiang Changmao crosses the lake, you will make a move, and if you hit a boat, you will have a boat with long hair, and the results will be much more."

When the messenger patiently explained to Wang Fu the reason why Zuo Zongtang asked to stop the pursuit, the Jiujiang Taiping army also began to break through and retreat, and the old and weak women and children who went out of the city from the north gate first fled directly to the east, while the main army fought and retreated, and gradually withdrew from the north gate and retreated to the east. Cao Yanzhong's camp, which had been waiting for a long time, immediately went north to intercept it, but Zuo Zongtang sent someone to stop Cao Yanzhong again, asking Cao Yanzhong not to stop the old and weak women and children from brushing their heads, but only to intercept and kill the main soldiers of the Taiping Army who were the last to leave the city. In the end, Zuo Zongtang also asked the messenger to tell Cao Yanzhong, "Those women and children can't run fast anyway, how can they catch them in the future, why waste ammunition and kill more?" Leave behind infamy? ”

Cao Yanzhong, who was seriously brainwashed by Wu Chaoyue, decisively obeyed the order, and let the family members of the Taiping army flee from the front without firing a single shot, but just when Zuo Zongtang saw this scene and nodded with satisfaction, an accident suddenly appeared - the Hunan army camp suddenly poured out and killed the northeast of Jiujiang with great momentum. Zuo Zongtang was shocked when he saw it, and hurriedly pulled Yang Wending to chase after him, and it took a lot of effort to catch up with Hu Linyi, who led the team, and asked, "Hu Linyi, there is no order, why did you go out without permission?" ”

"Avenge the big handsome!" Hu Linyi roared with red eyes, and the soldiers of the Hunan army beside him also yelled, "Kill Changmao!" Avenge the handsome! ”

Knowing that persuasion could not stop Hu Linyi and others from killing innocents indiscriminately, Zuo Zongtang could only change his method and said to Hu Linyi: "Zhensheng, regarding Wu Futai's impeachment of Jiangxi Governor Wen Jun who did not save him when he saw death and sat back and watched Zeng Butang be killed, the imperial court actually has already had an answer, but I am afraid of affecting the morale of the army, so I did not announce it in advance, do you know what punishment the imperial court gave to Wen Jun?" ”

"What sanction?"

Hu Linyi hurriedly asked, and the soldiers of the Hunan army next to him also raised their heads one by one, looking at Zuo Zongtang nervously, Zuo Zongtang's face was gloomy, and he replied after a while: "I will be fined for three years, and I will be demoted to three levels and retained in my original position." ”

The steel knife in Hu Linyi's hand fell to the ground, his face was full of disbelief, and he couldn't help but have tears in his eyes. Zuo Zongtang asked again: "Zhensheng, four hundred and sixty-five taels of silver, four hundred and sixty-five pieces of grain, in exchange for the lives of Zeng Butang and thousands of three Hunan disciples, if you think it is worth it, go and take revenge now, I won't stop you." ”

Note: After the Jiujiang War in history, the Hunan army slaughtered the city in retaliation. In history, the Hunan army slaughtered the cities of Jiujiang, Anqing and Nanjing, and Li Hongzhang killed more than 20,000 prisoners in Suzhou, but Zuo Zongtang did not have similar evil deeds. But it's also a pity that Zuo Zongtang's kindness also led to ...... (To be continued.) )