Jingzhou.

Xingguo Hou, commanding the left army in front of the battalion, hanging the seal of the dragon and tiger generals, Li Guo, the chief soldier of the loyal battalion, sighed in the face of the strong Jingzhou city wall.

This is a Ming army.

What Li Guo now has in his hands is the most elite army of the Han nationality at this time. The battle flags of the officers and soldiers fluttering in the army evoked many memories of him, and scenes of past history appeared in front of him.

The reason for the rebellion was that the poor could no longer live. The Zhu Ming clan and hereditary nobles suck the blood of the people, and the ubiquitous corrupt officials loot the people's fat and ointment. Li Guo once vowed to kill a good man for the poor and recreate the world.

After more than ten years of fighting, Li Guo was the most determined rebel army, and even in the most difficult moments, he never considered accepting Zhao'an like the Eight Great Kings. The skirt of the goddess of victory used to be so close to Li Guo, but Jianyu ruined it all. Most of the Shun army surrendered to Jianyu, and only a few Li Guogao were left.

In terms of fighting, Li Guo is the first Han for the time being. He once took charge of the Zhenyu army led by Azig in Yan'an for more than a month. Dolgon's original plan to attack Li Zicheng was that Duoduo crossed in front of Tongguan, and Azig made a detour from the northern line and entered the Great Wall to hit Li Zicheng's back. As a result, I didn't expect that Azig, the prince who was the most capable of fighting in Jianyu, carried a big heel on Li Guo. Because the battle of Wayaobao was unfavorable, Azig defeated the main force of the Shun army, recruited more than 100,000 Shun troops, and conquered the two provinces.

Li Guo didn't know that the later Manchu Qing Dynasty almost erased the record of the Battle of Wayaobao. It was Tang Tong's foolish bag revealed in the book that after Li Zicheng evacuated Xi'an first, Li Guo evacuated Yan'an.

Azig attacked Yan'an, passing through Wayaobao, and the whole army was scattered by Li Guo, who was ambushed here, and was forced to stay in Lujia and Panling for more than a month, until Duoduo captured Tongguan to relieve Azig.

Now, at the most difficult moment of the Ming Dynasty, Li Guo led the most powerful army of the Han people to join the Ming army. In fact, Li Guo can easily occupy Huguang, or even Liangguang. The Ming Dynasty government troops were concentrated in Fujian and Zhejiang, and Huguang and Liangguang and three provinces were placed in front of Li Guo like a woman stripped naked.

Mrs. Gao's words are still in her ears, "For the general, he must love the people, listen to the Lord, and be temperate, and there will be no death." ”

Now Li Guo has played the banner he once hated the most, and it is not because he has changed and become fond of this dynasty. It's just that the word "Ming" has become a symbol, and the meaning of this word has far surpassed the corrupt feudal dynasty that Li Guo had struggled to overthrow all his life.

He Tengjiao, a native of Guizhou, inspected the loyalty camp. Li Guo's department has 20,000, plus Hao Shaoqi, Tian Jianxiu and other departments, and the entire loyal battalion has 30,000 elite soldiers. In order to support this army, He Tengjiao asked Fujian for a monthly payment of more than 60,000 taels. Huguang Province couldn't scrape together so much money, so He Tengjiao could only scrape the ground and ask Fujian for help. In order to raise money for the loyalty camp, Huguang even had to pay money for the military salary when the children went to school. He Tengjiao is still minting money in Hengzhou, and millions of Longwu Tongbao of poor quality have flowed into the market.

Although the military salary was not sufficient, Li Guo still led the army north from Yuezhou without hesitation, crossing the Yangtze River to encircle the important town of Jingzhou.

It's just that the walls of Jingzhou are too strong, and the loyal battalions, which lack siege guns and other heavy weapons, suffered heavy losses under the fire of the captives.

"Father," Li Laiheng reassured, "It doesn't matter if we can't defeat Jingzhou this time, and the Tartars can't escape, let's fight again another day." ”

Li Guo looked at the Jingzhou city wall, as if he was a little reluctant, but he made a quick decision, "Let's go, let's go back to Yuezhou." I'll fight next time. ”

…………

South of Yuntai Mountain, the northbound fleet, the flagship Luofu.

It is a very simple matter to clean up Gao Jinzhong, Zhang Pengyi, the chief soldier of the Shanhaiguan Naval Division, is famous, and the reputation of Gao Jie's department can stop children from crying at night.

The Luofu and other ships first used a row of shells to disperse the rout on the coast, and Zhang Pengyi and others easily landed, here are more than 3,000 elite Ming troops with sufficient supplies, and there are more than 7,000 rout soldiers who are suffering from hunger.

Gao Jinzhong had a few Hongyi cannons and a lot of Francophiles, all of which were mounted on ships, and there were no batteries on the island. As Zhang Pengyi and Mrs. Xing's army advanced, the Ming army on the island that did not belong to Gao Jinzhong immediately flashed aside, and Gao Jinzhong didn't know what Zhang Pengyi was doing, a little inexplicable. His soldiers were quickly intimidated by the wolf-like remnants of Gao Jie.

It's just that when Gao Jinzhong himself was arrested, some cronies tried in vain to resist, and they were soon cut down by Mrs. Xing's soldiers. Others were largely unopposed.

The families are reorganizing and regrouping their troops on the island, which will take some time. Shou Zhi only sent guards to accompany the landing, and he himself remained on board.

The first mate knocked on the captain's cabin door and stopped the pen in his hand. On paper is a machine of boilers, vertical cylinders, and a huge lever, and the sketches are not yet complete.

"What's the matter?"

"The flag came from the lookout post of Yuntai Mountain, and there is a fleet on the sea."

Fleet? Shou Xian was very surprised, and now there would be a fleet of ships in Yuntai Mountain.

Leaving his seat, Orderly raised his binoculars on the bow deck of the Louvre. According to the direction indicated by the lookout on Yuntai Mountain, the location of the Luofu is invisible.

The telescope turned around a few times in his hand, and he ordered: "Let the Zhenjiang go out to reconnoiter and report in detail." ”

"Yes, Your Excellency."

The Zhenjiang received orders to set off, and soon returned to meet the Luofu.

Enzo walked across the gangplank in a few steps, with a hint of excitement on his face, "Your Excellency, a large fleet of Tatars has been found ahead. ”

"What?" Shou Shou stood up from his seat, "Are you sure?" ”

"The yellow dragon flag with red borders, the main general should come from the yellow flag."

Shou Orderly walked to the chart table, "Location, distance, speed." ”

"The enemy ship is at a compass point north-west of our army, 6 nautical miles away, and the speed is less than 3 knots, so it should have come from Haizhou."

On the basis of Enzo's report, the staff officers marked the relative positions of the enemy and our fleets on the charts.

"How many ships does the enemy fleet have."

"There are more than a hundred, and it is impossible to count them."

Shou ordered the captain of the Louvre, "Inform Harris to go to the flagship, and bring all the generals as well." ”

This time to the north, the order let Harris command the galley detachment, not on the Louvre.

The allies all boarded the Louvre, and the orderly smiled, "Generals, a large fleet of Jianyu ships has been found at sea. ”

The news was confirmed, and the generals of the Ming army whispered.

Zhang Pengyi said: "How many people are there in Jianyu? ”

Orderly said that he could not get a definite number, "only judging by the number of ships, it will not be less than 6,000 people." ”

Now the discussion of the generals of the Ming army became louder.

Zhang Pengyi's face glowed a little, "Is it a real captive or a rebel?" ”

Orderly: "Probably both." At least my people saw the flag with the yellow flag. ”

Huang Wuchang slapped the table excitedly, "You can't beat the Tartars on the ground, why are you afraid of them at sea, more than 100 ships, we fight." ”

Zhang Pengyi couldn't stop laughing, he was beaten all the way from Shanhaiguan to Chongming Island, and he was really suffocated.

"Mrs. Xing?" Greet the lady in order.

Although Mrs. Xing is a woman, she is an expert in warfare, but she did not express her opinion this time, "My soldiers are all land divisions, and they don't know naval battles, please make a decision." ”

There were no opinions, and the guard ordered the whole army to be divided into four parts. Because of the different speeds of the ships, it is difficult to unify the formation. Among the warships, 4 schooner frigates were informed by the orderly; Harris's Galleria formed a team; Zhang Pengyi commanded all the Ming army sailors in a unified manner. Troops such as Madame Xing, Yang Qianqing, and Yuan Anjie, who could not fight naval battles, stayed on the island to suppress the rout.

No one asked what to do if the naval battle could not be won.

"Madam Xing, tell all the soldiers on the island that if there is a small group of Jianyu who wanders ashore, no matter what part of the country they come from, a head, I will give an additional reward of ten taels of silver."

……

There were 7 warships in Jincheng, and there were more than 40 warships of the Ming army and large and small warships.

Harris sailed north with the Callies, and the task given to him by Orderly was to take advantage of the Gallier's quick short-term circumnavigation of the enemy's northern flank and insert between them and the mainland.

Although Shou Ling felt that it was okay to win, but without a cruiser with strong ships and guns, it could not be too wavery. After going to sea, the four schooners temporarily joined the Ming army and met the enemy head-on.

The wind was south-southeast, and the ships retracted their upper mast sails and controlled them only with oblique truss sails.

In front of him were hundreds of enemy ships, mighty, the first few ships were equipped with Franco, and the others were looted civilian sand boats of various styles.

The allied warships stood between them and the sandy beaches where Yuntai Mountain could land, and unless the enemy wanted to climb a steep mountain or ran aground far away, they had to engage head-on. Orderly sent two communications officers to Zhang Pengyi's flagship to be responsible for liaison with each other.

The enemy and us could have confirmed it visually, but the convoy of Jianyu had no intention of turning around, and still rushed straight at us.

The draft of the schooner is relatively shallow, and it can sail in some waters west of Yuntai Mountain. Waiting for the enemy's sand ships to break out of the shallowest channel of the water, he ordered the ships to turn with the flagship. Diagonally cut through the outer columns of the enemy ship, and the 18 broadside guns rang out one after another.

The 4-pounder and 6-pounder shells could only scratch the cruiser, but they could easily smash the planks of the sand boat's fir and pine. The lighter weight of the ship's guns and shells also had a fast rate of fire, and each hit shell could inflict heavy losses on the enemy. When the first change of sides to the wind, three enemy ships collapsed on the surface of the sea behind Shou Order, and one of them had already begun to catch fire.

The effect of the shelling was not very good, the hit rate was low.

Captain of the Louvre: "Your Excellency, the fleet behind the enemy does not even have a whirlwind cannon. ”

"Hmm, so what?"

"Since they don't have the ability to defend themselves, maybe we can get closer and wash the deck with grape bombs."

Grape shells are larger in size and slightly less in number than shotguns, and the projectiles are bundled into a bunch with a net bag, much like a bunch of grapes.

A smile tugged at the corner of Order's mouth, "Let's try." ”

This time, the Louvre approached to an area of 20 meters from the enemy ship, and the window of time for firing in the same direction was longer. In the position of guarding the order, you can clearly see the Bayala guards with helmets and armor, opening their bows and shooting heavy arrows, and there are also Jianzhou soldiers crackling and firing birds. The rocking deck made these landlubbers uncomfortable, and they only occasionally made hits, and there was no threat except for a few small holes in the sail.

The five naval guns on the side of the Luofu fired grapeball shells one after another, and the flesh and blood flew sideways, no matter how strong the martial arts Bayala was, they were all minced meat in front of the grape shells. Decades of hard practice in horsemanship, archery, sword and shield skills, and the combat experience that survived countless bloody battles are all floating clouds at such times. Someone raised his shield, but the result was even worse, and he was pierced into the flesh by the flying wooden thorns and splinters, and he was still lying on the boat wailing for a while.

Shou Sequence patted the captain on the shoulder, "Good idea, how many grapeshot and shotguns did we bring?" ”

The captain was silent for a while, "Your Excellency, it is definitely not enough to fight so many enemy ships. ”

Shou Xuan thought for a moment, "In that case, let's ignore the enemy ships with breech guns. The starboard naval guns are mainly equipped with grapeshot shells and shotguns, and the port side naval guns are mainly equipped with solid shells with a small number of chain shells. Wash the deck with grapeshothureal and shotgun when traveling in the opposite direction with enemy ships, and use solid bullets when traveling in the same direction for a longer time window of firing. ”

It was also the first time that Orderly had a naval battle with a large group of junk ships, and everyone was accumulating experience. The other battleships saw that the flagship's shooting effect was good, and they soon changed their ammunition types. Another diagonal cut, 7 enemy ships with flesh and blood flying.

Third broadside change.

This time the rhythm was the best, 10 enemy ships were hit, they might not have sunk, but there were heavy losses in personnel.

Fourth side change.

Some of the ships in Jianzhou's fleet rushed out of the queue and tried to ram. The Junk ship is not good at maneuvering, and the sand boat is the worst of the ships. The sand boats rushing to the south flank were still headwind, and their movements seemed to be in slow motion.

The Louvre lightly adjusted the sail pole, slightly slapped the rudder, and went around the bow of the enemy ship without firing. The West Reef, which followed up, fired a cannonball at the stern of the ship, easily destroying the elevator of the sand ship and declaring the ship doomed.

At this time, the Ming army had exchanged fire with Jianzhou, and the northern half of the enemy fleet still retained considerable combat effectiveness. The Ming army had few ships, but they were skilled in handling the ships, and when they saw that Zhang Pengyi would be fine for the time being, they sailed past the tail of the enemy fleet and destroyed the rudders of 14 enemy ships from south to north. The rudder of the junk was so fragile that grapeballs were enough to hurt the upper and lower gold and the rudder ropes that bound the rudder.

Harris's galleon was rushing at high speed, and he handed over the rear of the enemy ship to him in order, and led the schooner to block the north flank of the enemy ship. In order to avoid the collision of enemy ships with a tailwind, the distance was slightly widened and solid bullets were fired. The Gallerie ship rushed directly into the enemy convoy, and the bow guns and stern guns, and the side swing guns fired on all sides, and the sound was amazing.

After sweeping the north flank of the enemy ship, the order ordered, "Disband the formation, all ships fire freely, support friendly forces, be careful, avoid broadside battles." ”

This is a complex set of signals, and it took the Jincheng Navy four years to perfect the naval flag language that was orderly, and now it can transmit more complex orders.

Zhang Pengyi did not fall behind under the impact of Jianyu, but he had fewer people and still paid some losses.

With four gunboats on board, the Ming army immediately blocked the attack on Jianzhou and pushed back to the enemy's fleet. Zhang Pengyi did not deliberately avoid broadside battles, and after the gunboats washed the deck with shotguns, three or two Ming ships approached, opened fire, threw primers and rockets, and then engaged in broadboard.

By the time Harris's Gallet had passed through the left flank of the enemy fleet, Jianzhou's fleet was all scattered. The first to run were the ships of the Green Bannermen, who were clearly more skilled in the business of escaping.

Shou is too lazy to chase after it, there are a lot of Eight Banners Masters here. When the flotilla of the Eight Banners also began to flee, the whole army chased after them. The ships that ran downwind to the north were handed over to part of the Ming army, and they kept an eye on the U-turn and headed for the coast, the largest of the fleet.

Like peeling apples, the fleet of Jianzhou was shaved off layer by layer, and more than 60 enemy ships were sunk or burned, revealing the enemy's main ship in the center, and the real flag of Melle with a yellow flag, which was also a deputy commander.

"Take your time, don't rush, first cut him with chain bullets and solid bullets."

This is a five-masted sand ship, very large, very bulky, maybe the people who ride the boat are more comfortable, but it is rubbish to use for war, and the only advantage is that it is a little more durable.

It was difficult for the 6-pounder guns to sink the enemy ship, and the Louvre was rounded and sharpened three times, and the ship was in shambles, and a winch with a lifting sail was sent into the sea. The mainmast sail rope was broken, and the stiff sail truss that had lost its restraint slammed into the deck, crushing the two men underneath, and it should be hopeless.

There were still people on the ship shooting, and there were quite a few of them, shouting loudly in an incomprehensible bird language. The Louvre changed a round of shotgunning, first bombarded all of them, and then made up for another round.

Shou Xiang waited for a while, and saw that there was no one on the deck. Pull Lin Chuyong over, "Take 40 people to take over the board, that Melle is true, you have to see people in life, and you have to see corpses in death." ”

……

Izumi led a boarding party selected by the guards and sailors, carrying a scimitar boarding axe and grenades, or walking on a gangplank or swinging directly with a rope to board the enemy ship. Open the hatch and throw two grenades into it.

"Good habits," Orderly applauded.

Izumi Yong led people down, and the sound of ping-pong fighting came from the cabin.

Orderliness thought to himself that if only there were more flintlock pistols, pistols would be better in the cramped cabin.

Soon, Izumi Yong returned to the ship with a bloody human head.

"My lord, this is the Tartar's defense and identity certificate."

The Yellow Banner Mongolian First Class Meler Ezhen Plus Half a Prospect, Sylaba Yala.

At this time, there were no warships on the sea that were either sunk, burned, or captured.

Captain Louvre: "What are the friendly forces doing?" ”

Shou Xuan glanced at it, "Salvage the corpse." ”

"Your Excellency, what are they doing with the corpses?"

"Cut off your head."

……

The Louvre picked up some half-dead Tatars who had been soaked in the sea.

Before he could ask anything, he spewed out the words that he didn't understand. Lin walked up and cut their necks.

Shou Xiang shrugged, "Don't worry, I'll ask when I get ashore." ”

The Ming army persevered in the sea to salvage, and finally cut off 2,200 heads, with green flag soldiers and real captives.

More than 100 real captives and more than 300 green flag soldiers were captured alive.

Shou Zhi found an old Caribbean brother, "Dear Andreosi, you haven't forgotten your craft, have you?" ”

This is a roast pirate from Tortuga.

Andreosi pulled out his dagger and gently brushed it with the tip of his tongue, "Don't worry, Captain. I promise they'll tell everything they know. ”

The tools are simple, wet ropes, and coal lumps.

Andreosi had some regrets, "There is only coal on the ship now, there is no charcoal, and it doesn't taste good to roast." ”

……

The screams of the captives howled through the valley.

Piles of human heads were thrown in front of the Ming army on the island, and the veterans could tell which was the real Tartar and which was the Green Flag soldier.

"Wan Sheng!" I don't know which Ming army started the head, and the cheers shook the sky.

The Mongolian yellow flag Meler Ezhen flag was rolled out in order, and the flag was somewhat damaged, which did not affect the identification. This is the second Tatar military flag in his collection.

……

Andreosi reported to Shou Order with some regret, "Captain, we may have let a big fish go. ”

"What's that?"

"The captives said that there was a big officer in the ships that ran away."

The translator on the side added, "My lord, Jianyu said that Wang Wenkui, the governor of Jianzhou Caoyun, ran away. ”

There is nothing unusual about the traitor governor, the order cares about how many people are killed, "How many Tatars have we exterminated?" ”

The Chinese translator's voice trembled, "My lord, the Zhengbai Banner Gushan Ezhen Zhun Pagoda stationed in Huai'an Mansion handed over half of the armor soldiers and all the Niu Lu Ezhen to Xilaba Yala, and came to Yuntai Mountain to solve Gao Jinzhong, a total of 2,600 real captives, and we eliminated more than half of them." ”