Guo Sheng took the opportunity to lead less than 1,000 remaining breakout soldiers to join Zhang Chao's troops, and quickly boarded a merchant ship and sailed away from the river. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

There was such a big commotion, and Duoduo at the north gate would not know that if he didn't leave at this time, he really wouldn't be able to leave.

And Li Hongfei, who was on the other side of the river, couldn't help but complain when he saw the first time the "fire dragon came out of the water": "This loser, most of the year's inventory has been squandered for me all at once!" ”

"Firepower out of the water" is currently the Ming Army's all rockets, the farthest range, the most complex manufacturing process of a weapon, the entire Suzhou Heavy Industry, it took more than half a year, but also to create more than 300 of them.

Li Hongfei originally let the fleet carry it over just in case, but he didn't expect Zhang Chao to really use it.

"If you don't explain it to me clearly when you come back, see how I clean you up!" Li Hongfei said angrily.

After all, this is the last killer weapon he will use to resist the landing of the Qing army's naval divisions in the future, after all, although the coastal defense artillery is powerful, it is bulky and difficult to maneuver, how can this "anti-ship missile" be convenient and fast?

However, when Zhang Chao came back and reported the results of the "Fire Dragon Out of the Water", Li Hongfei was relieved.

"I can't imagine that a volley of rockets can effectively drive away the war horses.......... It's no wonder that even well-trained war horses are inevitably frightened when they encounter such an unexpected situation. It seems that this magic arrow will be built more in the future to restrain the cavalry charge of the Qing army. Li Hongfei thought to himself.

The new army in Suzhou lacked war horses, the whole army was 32,000 people, and there were only more than 500 horses that could really be called war horses.

What's more, today's firearms units are extremely dependent on logistics, and without stable logistical supplies, they cannot fight a few major battles, and soldiers can only hold bayonets and engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy.

This is also the main reason why Li Hongfei did not dare to easily lead his troops across the river to support Yangzhou, he did not have enough troops to confront the Qing cavalry, and once surrounded, the chances of victory were extremely low.

Even if you rely on advanced weapons and barely defeat the Qing army, you can only defeat it at most, and it is impossible to pursue it by victory, without the assistance of cavalry, and the enemy army has enough depth, the number of enemies killed is very limited.

Even once defeated, the new army in Suzhou was blocked by the Yangtze River waterway, and there was nowhere to escape.

Therefore, Li Hongfei did not dare to send troops to cross the river when he did not have the means to effectively restrain the cavalry of the Qing army.

But now it's different, as long as you go all out to develop the Divine Arrow, you don't necessarily need that kind of long-range weapon with a range of two or three miles.

Even if it is a "swarm of bees" (32 rocket salvos) with a range of four or five hundred meters, or a "hundred tigers running together" with a range of 100 rounds, if these firearms can be used intensively, they can effectively break the cavalry charge of the Qing army.

Just when Li Hongfei was thinking about the future direction of weapon development, Shi Dewei (Shi Kefa), who was rescued by Guo Sheng from Yangzhou City, suddenly knelt on one knee and solemnly said to Li Hongfei: "Governor Liu is trapped in Yangzhou City, and I hope that Master Li can send troops to rescue!" ”

Originally, Stilwell knew that the general trend of Yangzhou had been decided, and he didn't dare to ask Li Hongfei to send troops to rescue, let alone watch the Suzhou New Army die in vain.

But when he saw the Suzhou New Army, the unknown burst firearm, the small Furlong machine gun with a very fast rate of fire, and the "fire dragon out of the water" that was decisive in one hit........ After a series of equipment, a glimmer of hope rose in my heart again.

At this time, street battles were still going on in Yangzhou City, and the Qing army did not gain a firm foothold, if Li Hongfei could send troops, maybe he could recapture Yangzhou.

"General Shi, please get up!" Li Hongfei hurriedly stepped forward and helped Stilwell up, and then couldn't help but sigh, and then patiently explained: "It's not that this official is unwilling to send troops. It's just that the general didn't know that since Zheng Guogong (Zheng Zhilong)'s sailors withdrew, there was no barrier to the Yangtze River waterway, and the downstream was cut off by the Qing army's sailors, and the merchant ships in the upper reaches were all requisitioned by Zuo Liangyu to transport troops eastward. Yangzhou, although the waterway near Zhenjiang is in my hands, but there are only a dozen medium-sized merchant ships on my side, and it is the limit to transport two or three thousand soldiers across the river at a time, and there is no artillery on this merchant ship. ”

Now the situation in Nanming is quite embarrassing, after Zheng Zhilong retreated, the Qing army sailors were able to come out again to show off their might, and the Qing army sailors, out of nowhere, transported more than 100 gunboats, directly blocked the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and even the waters near Chongming Island also had traces of the Qing army's sailors.

Zheng Chenggong's dozens of warships could only rely on the shore defense guns in the port for defense.

Although Li Hongfei set up heavy artillery in Zhenjiang, the shore defense artillery did not have the mobility of warships, and it was already good to be able to hold the waterway in this part of Zhenjiang.

And the upper reaches of the Yangtze River are even more fucked, the Ming army is now regarded as its own people fighting its own people, the two sides are currently facing off in Wuhu, the merchant ships coming and going are basically detained, and there are no merchant ships that can pass through Li Hongfei's defense area.

Li Hongfei's army wanted to cross the river, unless it withdrew to Baoshan by land, used Chongming Island as a springboard, attacked Tongzhou, took Taizhou, and marched all the way west, it was possible to reach Yangzhou.

Of course, this back and forth, even if the road is like a bamboo, it is estimated that it will take about a month, will Yangzhou City still exist at that time?

Li Hongfei's explanation made Stilwell unable to refute, there was no boat to cross the river, even if Li Hongfei's army was a heavenly soldier, each of them could not cross the river with one as ten.

"Damn! It's all to blame on the damn Zuo Liangyu, if he hadn't been making trouble behind his back, how could Yangzhou be isolated! Shi Dewei didn't dare to scold Ping Guogong (Zheng Zhilong), so he had to sprinkle his resentment on Zuo Liangyu.

Li Hongfei did not comment on this, even if Zuo Liangyu did not advance eastward, Ma Shiying, Huang Degong and other general soldiers would not rescue Yangzhou.

However, if Zuo Liangyu really did not intercept the merchant ships upstream, Li Hongfei might have crossed the river with his whole army and tried the edge of the Qing army, after all, at the beginning of April, his 30,000 new army had been trained and could fight a battle.

"Okay, you have been fighting for days, and you must have worked hard, I have instructed the cooking class, boiled hot water, prepared meals, arranged for the brothers to take a hot bath, and after eating, just have a good rest. Although Yangzhou has been lost, there is still the entire Jiangnan that we need to protect, and then it is inevitable that there will be a series of fierce battles, and the shame of Yangzhou is bound to be returned! Li Hongfei said solemnly.

As long as the Qing army dares to cross the river, Li Hongfei will tell them to come and go, cross the Yangtze River, but it is the territory of the Southern Ming Dynasty, where the water network is staggered, and it is no longer a battlefield for the northern cavalry to gallop, once a battle breaks out, there will be no defeat, only total annihilation!