The first shot of the Second Battle of Jiangnan was not on land, but on water. Pen~Fun~Ge www.biquge.info Qing troops in Danyang retreated and retreated to Changzhou. But the Qing army in Jiangyin did not retreat, and a large number of Qing warships also seemed to compete with the naval division of the Fu Han army, and gathered on the Jiangyin River.

After Chen Dai joined forces with the former army and army at Hukou, after the large army of the water division and the third division arrived in Zhenjiang, he led his team to cross the mountain fort of Zhenjiang for the first time and marched eastward, when he encountered the Qing army's naval warship. At that time, the warship had just rounded the town of Xinba in Taipingzhou, which was the northwest corner of Yangzhong City in later generations, and Leigong Island had not yet come out of the water at this time.

The jingling of bells suddenly rang overhead.

"Enemy ships! The enemy ship was discovered, and it was in front of the south, about three miles, and the flag of the Green Battalion Sailor Division was hoisted! Quantity, six! As soon as the Fu Han army turned a corner, the lookout saw a small Qing army fleet marching along the northern shoreline of Taipingzhou.

The lookout struck the small bell in his hand vigorously, and shouted loudly while holding a tin horn.

Chen Dai, who was slightly smoked by the spring breeze in the south of the Yangtze River, was shocked, Sanli was too close. But then a smile appeared on his face. Because there are six enemy ships! Six! There are sixteen large and small warships around him, that is, after deducting two small sampans that have no combat power, there are also fourteen warships.

"Catch up, catch up—" There is absolutely no reason to give up. As for the report to the rear, just let a small sampan boat go back.

At the same time, the tinkling sirens sounded on the large rushing boat on which Chai Daji, the general of the naval division of Susong Town, was on the opposite side—their lookouts also spotted the fleet of the Fu Han Army that had jumped out of the corner three miles away.

The red battle flag fluttering on the hindmath was so dazzling in the eyes of the Qing soldiers.

"Shen Shenrong, Chen Wei has more than ten ships, just three miles away,...... They're accelerating, they're chasing us! It was also the trees and tall buildings in this ghost place in Xinba Town that blocked his sight, otherwise he would have discovered such a large patch of red.

Chai Daji raised the monocular with both hands, clenched it tightly, and the green tendons on the back of his hands were all bulging. What the hell are you afraid of!

"Withdraw, turn around and retreat. Send a small boat to report to the Huang Junmen! Chai Daji made a decision on the spot. Don't fight, don't fight, retreat! sent someone to tell Huang Zhenggang from Turtle Dun [more than ten miles below Taipingzhou], as for whether Huang Zhenggang sent someone to pick him up, or wanted to let him be used as bait to take the bait, Chai Daji took the order.

The enemy has more than a dozen warships, but he only has six, and there is only one large and medium-sized boat, and the rest are all small water-bow ships, so how can he fight? Huang Zhenggang has twenty or thirty ships there, and most of them are main warships such as shuttle ships and large and medium-sized rush ships.

Huang Zhenggang, the governor of Jiangnan who had been rolling in the military circles of Jiangsu and Zhejiang for decades, was directly transferred back to Jiangnan from Anhui by Qianlong after more than a year of correspondence with Gao Pingshan on the battlefield in Anhui. After all, he is as old as Huang Zhenggang, and he is not only a military general who knows land warfare, but also has a good time commanding on the water, he is one of the few people who can reassure Qianlong.

"Shen Rong, I didn't find Chen Yi's follow-up fleet!" The lookout on the mast shouted down again. That's good news.

Chen Dai leaned east this time, and indeed did not follow the main fleet of the Fu Han army, which was busy arranging the water camp in Zhenjiang. The previous water camp was too small. And this report made Chai Daji feel a little relieved, and at the same time, it also strengthened his idea of 'fleeing' to the east, maybe Chen Rei's fleet would not dare to chase too quickly.

The shadow of that cannon has always hung over Chai Daji's heart, and every time he wakes up after a nightmare, he is like escaping death. No one knew that Chai Daji's guts were disintegrating in this nightmare, anyway, Chai Daji just didn't want to fight anymore.

As a military general, Chai Daji, who had such a thought in his heart, is no longer a real soldier.

It's just that the big sampan ship of the Fu Han Army is faster than the long dragon boat and the fast crab boat, which is as huge as the big rush boat, and the flexibility is also greater than that of the big rush boat. In this kind of water, you chase me, not to see which boat of the pursued party runs the fastest, but which ship of the pursued party runs the slowest. In Chen Dai's telescope, the figure of Chai Daji's boat is getting clearer and clearer.

After half an hour of pursuit, the fastest sampan boat on the side of the Fu Han Army was already five or six hundred meters away from Chai Daji's big sampan boat. The seventy or eighty sailors of the Green Battalion on the big boat, everyone's breathing became heavy.

"Sanrong, the big ship is too slow...... and it will be difficult for us to escape. You must be ready to fight! ”

Shi Xinxiong stood beside Chai Daji and said. Chai Daji glanced at the sentry officer under his command who drew a knife and played a scoundrel when he lost the gambling money, and was famous for his 'courage' in the whole battalion, but he was really bold, his face did not show half timidity, and some were just endlessly fierce.

Chai Daji's gaze swept over the faces of the sailors again, some of them were pale and stiff, but some of them were murderous and eager to try, and they were not afraid of death.

"Continue closer to the Turtle Pier. If Chen Reverse catches up, then fight! Chai Daji looked at the distance between the two sides, and there was no shadow of reinforcements in front of him, and he knew in his heart that there would inevitably be a battle. Chai Daji's mental face trembled, but reason told him that he had to be ready for battle at this time. "Pass down the military order, all officers and soldiers, prepare for battle."

"Wow!"

……

Chen Dai's boat, he was nervously looking at the water map. It's okay to chase the enemy, but you can't cross the Taiping Continent, and if you rush headlong into the enemy's nest, then it's not necessary. You must know that the turtle pier more than ten miles down from Taipingzhou is a stronghold of the Qing army's naval division. The warships of the Qing army's sailors that patrolled to Taiping Island landed at Turtle Pier.

Today is just an appetizer, Chen Dai wants to eat meat but doesn't want to take risks. The feast still needs to wait until the water camp in Zhenjiang is repaired, and at most the day after tomorrow, more than 100 warships will enter with drums, and then it will be the real showdown.

Chen Dai could see clearly the faces of the sailors on the big boat with the naked eye, and the distance between the two sides was less than 150 zhang, and the fastest sampan boat was probably only 300 meters away from the Qing warship. The lookout in the mast of the thunder ship looked in front of the Qing army, and because it was facing the sun, the line of sight was shortened by a long distance, but there were no ships within five miles.

No one on either side fired at this time!

However, Chen Dai soon saw that the Qing warship in front of him suddenly changed direction, and instead of running straight, the bow of the ship was transferred to the north, which was to turn sideways. The Qing army is about to start fighting, after all, the side of the ship is the most concentrated place of firepower of the warship.

"Boom-" Chen Daiza's ship's bow of the ship opened fire first. But it missed, and the shell landed on the sidestring of the largest of the six warships of the Qing army. But it doesn't matter, Chen Dai's ships still have a second and third guns to follow. There are also fourth and fifth artillery pieces in the entire Fuhan army array......

"Rush, rush......"

Standing at the bow of the ship and shouting, Chen Dai did not hesitate to lead the team to rush up. The size of the thunder ship under his feet is not only not weaker than the big rushing boat, but also stronger than the big rushing ship in dexterity, and the fourteen warships of the Fu Han army took advantage of the stall of the Qing army's sideways body and rushed towards the Qing army.

A thunder boat, a bird boat, two fast crab boats, two dragon boats, and all the rest are big sampan boats.

Chai Daji taught Shi Xinxiong the command of the big boat, and he himself had the name of coordinating the entire fleet. The guns of the big ship, which had not moved, finally spewed sparks. The cannon exploded, and the fireworks from the muzzle of the cannon were a foot long, and the smoke rose like a pillar.

But this shell, like the shell fired by the Fu Han army, did not hit at all.

In the European naval battles of the 18th century, the fleets on both sides were close to each other by one or two hundred meters, and of course the wind and waves on the Yangtze River could not be compared with the sea, but the two sides were bombarded by 400 meters, and it was more of a waste of shells. Again, you have to think about the quality of the Eastern and Western gunners.

The roaring cannons roared violently in the Yangtze River, and Chen Dai vigorously urged the warships to get close to the Qing army. Fourteen warships compared to six warships, although the six warships of the Qing army were all gunboats, although eight of the fourteen warships of the Fu Han Army were sampans with only two guns, but he still firmly believed that the cannons on his ships were more and more powerful than the cannons on the Qing ships. At the very least, the thunder boat under Chen Dai's ass and the other bird boat were additionally equipped with mortar cannons.

"Rush, rush—" Chen Dai roared, his fighting intent bursting out. Let the Banner Soldier give orders to other warships one after another, increase the speed, and fight closely.

The sound of artillery rumbled, the smoke of gunpowder rose one after another, and the firelight and white and black smoke quickly filled the entire river.

The spherical cannonball slammed into the side chord of the ship, and the wooden plank could not stop the penetration of the cannonball, like a piece of tissue paper, which pierced into it at the touch of a button, and the screams of the sailors followed.

The distance between the two sides was shortened to 200 meters, and the big boat was hit by a cannonball again, Shi Nobuo was swept by a flowering bullet fired by the mortar cannon on the thunder boat, and the whole person was directly swept up by the shock wave and thrown onto the wall of the ship, and Shi Nobuo, who fell heavily on the surface of the boat, felt that his whole person was like being crushed by an elephant, and he didn't even have the strength to moan in pain. Shi Nobuo closed his eyes, but opened them again in an instant, because the big boat was hit again.

There were four warships besieging this big rushing ship, and the cannonballs fired at it didn't seem to stop for a moment, and Chai Daji's other medium-sized rushing ship and four water-bow ships were cut by two fast crab boats and seven large sampan boats led by the bird boats of the Fu Han army, and each Qing warship was pasted up by the superior number of Fu Han warships.

The artillery battle on both sides unfolded in the process of 'you stick to me and hide', with shells flying sideways and gunsmoke filling the air. The distance between the two sides is getting closer and closer, and they quickly enter the 'melee battle'!

Whether it is a Chinese civilian ship or a warship, because it is spliced, it is not very strong, and the horizontal support is insufficient, and the lethality of Chinese ships with the same power of artillery shells is obviously stronger than that of Western ships of the same tonnage.

Therefore, if the two sides are engaged in close 'hand-to-hand combat', the damage to each other's warships will be great. Chen Dai made this choice just to solve the Qing army warship in front of him as soon as possible. He was worried that there was still a large force of the Qing army's naval division behind the Qing army fleet in front of him.

"Open the cannon, fire the cannon immediately......" There was a faint hoarse shout from the opposite side, and in addition to the smoke of gunpowder and the sound of artillery on the river, the screams of sailors were also heard from time to time.

Chen Dai stood straight on the bow of the boat, his eyes wide open, and the green tendons on his forehead burst out. It was only a quarter of an hour that the two sides were close to each other, but the ships of each other had changed dramatically. The gunpowder smoke blackened the battle flag, the cannonballs cut through the hard sails, and the left and right sides and cabins of the thunder ship under Chen Dai's feet were broken several large holes, and the blood stains on the deck and the terrible screams of the sailors were ......

But its opponent, the Chai Dajiza ship, the Qing army's big ship, looked even more miserable. Its main mast was broken by chain bullets. The lookout on the mast slammed into the water with a terrible scream as the collapsed mainmast slammed into the water. Moreover, the Fu Han army fired not only iron bullets, but also flowering shells [mortar cannons], as well as red-hot arson bombs. The ship has caught fire twice!

"Fire, fire, ......"

"Vice-seat, the Qing warships on the water downstream are speeding ......up" There are indeed large forces behind the Qing fleet, just now, the lookout soldiers came to report that the Qing warships were found five or six miles downstream, and the number of warships was as many as twenty or thirty. But Chen Dai didn't want to give up this piece of fat that had reached his mouth, he wanted to usher in a beautiful start before the decisive battle on the water, so he had to fight and get closer to each other.

"Boom, boom......" huge explosions rang out one after another!

Almost the next second after the watchman's shout, an iron bullet fell on the deck of the ship, and the broken wood flew and the two gunners on the side became blood gourds, and the iron bullet rolled into the cabin, and two screams were heard from the cabin. Chen Dai's face turned blue, and a wooden thorn like a flying arrow flew past his right hand, and the fast speed made him wonder if this wooden thorn would kill him if it pierced his neck!

"Boom, boom, boom......"

Two iron bullets hit the ship in succession, and one of the red-hot arson bombs ignited the fire again. Immediately, there were Qing soldiers who rushed to extinguish the fire.

The Fuhan Army Sailor is not doing a one-on-one battle! Fourteen warships surrounded six of the opponents, and this large ship attracted the constant bombardment of four warships, including the Thunder Ship, even though one of the large sampan ships inside had only two guns. And the entire battlefield, twenty enemy and enemy warships, artillery and artillery exchanges, is enough for the narrow surface of the Yangtze River to boil into a mess of porridge. Twenty warships were entangled in each other, and the fierce exchange of fire made it possible for cannonballs to fly overhead at any moment.

A Qing army's shipwhelm had already caught fire, the sails were on fire, and the remaining sailors jumped into the river one by one.

Shi Nobuo fainted in a series of gunpowder explosions caused by a flowering bullet that hit the ship, and his whole body was lifted up by the powerful shock wave, and he fell backwards and hit the bulkhead, leaving a touch of red on the bulkhead, and then fell into the corner, his head drooping and he didn't know whether he was alive or dead. The deck of the ship near him was also covered with blood, a gunner had one hand cut off and was thrown less than three feet from his body, and a sailor's chest was blurred with blood, and the whole person had no breath......

Chai Daji's hands were trembling, his legs were trembling, his heart was trembling even more...... fear had completely dominated his heart, but he knew that he couldn't retreat, and if he retreated, he would be ruined, because Huang Zhenggang had already led the fleet to arrive.

The "boom......" big boat shook violently, and the towering auxiliary mast was also broken by the chain bullet, and the fir mast with the thickness of the human waist was wrapped inch by inch by the iron hoop, but it was gently wrapped by the chain bullet, and the iron chain fell into the mast at a speed visible to the naked eye, and then the iron hoop wrapped inch by inch, and the whole hero actually bent his waist. The whole side of the sail slapped on the water, and the speed of the big boat was reduced to the extreme, and it could hardly move anymore.

The auxiliary sail under Chai Daji's split head cover was pressed underneath, and Lisuo fainted......

"Retreat, retreat......" Chen Dai's unwilling voice sounded on the thunder boat.

Six Qing warships have been burned two water-bow ships, the big rush ship has also been beaten to the brig, only waiting for death, the middle catch up ship was beaten in a mess, victory is already in sight, within reach, as long as he is given another quarter of an hour, he can burn the big rush ship in front of him into an empty shell, but the reinforcements behind him did not arrive, but the Qing army warship rushed violently. Then he had to retreat.

"Passenger seat, it's a pity that the big boat is in a hurry......" (To be continued.) )