Chapter 690 The Battle of the Yangtze River: Powerful Acting Skills

To the north of Longyang, on the shore of Dongting Lake, thirty or forty large boats are moored on the lakeside, and there is an endless stream of people coming and going, carrying all kinds of materials.

"Old and miscellaneous! It's like this with ships, it's like it with guns, it's like it with people! How is this battle fought? ”

The deputy commander-in-chief of the Yangtze River Lin Peng fleet, the foreign general of the navy, Lin Peng, was holding his arms on the shore, and his face was still dissatisfied.

The other deputy commander-in-chief, Shi Tingge, who was also a foreign general, glanced at him, feeling the same and rolling his eyes.

Since the army building plan of "building is better than buying," the Yangtze River Fleet now has 60 or 70 large ships that can carry more than 1,000 stones, not only from Jingzhou, Yiling, and Xiangyang naval divisions, but also from the warships that the Hunan shipyard has rushed to work during this period.

But in the eyes of Meng Linshi, who was accustomed to naval standardization, the Yangtze River Fleet, which stood up in an instant, was simply miserable. The boats are of different sizes, and the ship types are also in a mess, so I have to pinch my nose and pick out half of them for use, and the rest will be used as transport ships.

The ships were in disarray, but they were finally there, and the artillery was missing. Jia Hao didn't completely let go, and gave most of the artillery that could be collected in Hunan to Meng Songhai, seventy or eighty guns, all of which were old eight-jin and twelve-jin cannons in the Yinghua Yongli era, and even in the Tianwangfu era, Meng Songhai even saw the eight-jin cannon on the Golden Carp back then......

People are a little troublesome, hundreds of soldiers and shipwrights were thrown from the town and two associations of the Manchu Hubei Naval Division, but they were all full of silver, so they thought about living a peaceful life, and few were willing to stay and fight. And even if they all stayed, Meng Songhai didn't have the courage to use it with confidence. These soldiers were packed and transferred to the dart bureau, shipping company, and other units, and a very small number of people who were still useful remained in the Yangtze River fleet.

In order for these ships to move and fight, it took at least four or five hundred shipwrights, an equal number of gunners, and more than two thousand soldiers, who could be bought with silver, and it was difficult to guarantee that they would be reliable and competent.

Meng Linshi, a three-person new tender group, showed his ability, and he actually got the boat in such a short time, and he got it directly from Yue Zhongqi's men, which was an extraordinary achievement. "Eat the enemy for a minute, be me for twenty minutes", the Yangtze River fleet spends money like a waterfall, but Jia Hao is not heartbroken at all, the money is too well spent.

There is no way to completely defeat Yue Zhongqi with silver alone, and the Yangtze River Fleet must be equipped with combat power as soon as possible. Jia Hao didn't care about the belonging of the fleet, he transferred a wing of old red clothes from the Shenwu Army, and then transferred a battalion of new red clothes to the Yangtze River Fleet as soldiers, and Zhao Hanxiang also selected fifty or sixty artillery crews from the Red Thunder Army and transferred them to the Yangtze River Fleet, and the shelves were set up like this.

In terms of boatmen, Huguang Jinglufang and Xin were also very concerned about the waterway contention, and fully cooperated, mobilizing local governments in Longyang, Yiyang, Xiangyin, Guluo, and various places along the Xiangjiang River to dig deep into the countryside, and also made up three or four hundred boatmen who dared to sacrifice their lives.

All parties attached great importance to it, and resources quickly converged on the Yangtze River fleet, and on the surface, Meng Songhai and others created a miracle, pulling up a team in less than a month. But what is the situation inside, everyone knows.

Lin Peng complained about this matter, put it together in a mess, and it was simply delusional to talk about combat. And Shi Tingge's white eyes were because he felt that Lin Peng was not greedy enough.

Shi Tingge said: "We only spent more than 400,000 taels of silver......

Lin Peng said: "You can't spend it all, you don't need silver to fight?" ”

Just as he was about to quarrel, Meng Songhai came over with a person, who was dressed as a green battalion soldier and had a wide leather belt around his waist.

"Let that Wang Foreign Commissar tell Han Deng, and then let Han Deng pass it to Wei and Wu, I don't want the merchant ships in the north!" If they collude with the merchants to sell the ship, I will deduct the money! As for what Han Deng said, there are still too many details to talk about, and I want him to come in person! "Yes, yes!" Don't worry, Dashuai, I, Zhu San, will definitely bring the words! ”

Zhu San nodded and bowed, and when he retired, he habitually knelt on the ground and bowed, Meng Songhai waved his hand impatiently and rushed away, and when he saw Lin Shi and the two of them coming up, he raised his eyebrows and said: "Rectify the fleet and prepare for battle!" ”

This is the battle? The ship has not been changed, and the people have not been trained, how can they fight?

The two were shocked, and Meng Songhai smiled: "It's just acting......

Yue Zhongqi's Wuchang sailors shrank on the northeast shore of Changde, while the sailors of one town and two associations set up camp on the lakeshore south of Anxiang. Yue Zhongqi's staff Li Yuan came by boat with more than a dozen warships from the middle camp of the Wuchang Naval Division, but what he saw was an empty camp......

The people who stayed in the barracks informed Li Yuan that the lake patrol team had encountered the Nanban fleet, and the two sides were facing off. The three main generals led the brigade to help, I was afraid that it was in the middle of a big battle, Li Yuan was relieved, he thought that the three of them took the sailor to join the Southern Barbarians.

The military composition of the imperial court in Hubei was very complicated, and the Wuchang battalion gathered the green battalions in Anhui, Henan, Shanxi and other places. The Wuchang Naval Division was also directly managed by the commander of the Wuchang Battalion, and the officers and men were relatively reliable. In the direction of Jingxiang, the Jingzhou Banner Battalion has little combat power, but after all, it eats the hardcore crops of the imperial court, and it is still credible.

In addition, including the sailors, there are tens of thousands of green camps in Hubei, and these people's butts are a little unstable, so when Li Yuan came, he was prepared for the worst.

"Where is the battlefield? Ducktail swing area? Okay, let's go see for ourselves......"

Li Yuan was unwilling to give up, and when he heard that the battlefield was not far away, he wanted to go to the field to watch the battle, not only to grasp the situation at the first time, but also to determine whether the Jingxiang Shui Division was secretly communicating with the Southern Barbarians.

For most of the day, Li Yuan's fleet arrived at the north of the Yuan River, between the two large islands. I heard the roar of artillery in the distance, and the faces of the generals around him suddenly changed, and it was really a big battle.

The Chinese army in the Wuchang Navy Battalion, who followed Li Yuan, was reluctant to move forward, "If the strange ship of the Nanban is also there, let's go, it will be meat buns and dogs......"

The Wuchang Navy Division was frightened by Lei Gonghao, and Li Yuan had no choice but to mobilize the soldiers who were not afraid of death and drove a small fast post to the front to find out the news.

The spies went back and forth quickly, sweating on their faces, and reported that the fire on the lake was fierce and the water was flying. Broken and wrecked ships were everywhere, and the battle was fierce. The Nanban gathered hundreds of warships and was pressing the Jingxiang Sailors to beat them. When they were looking for Wei Hong, the chief soldier of the Jingzhou Naval Division, the general Wei was changing ships and fighting again, and it is said that he had changed three boats and was still fighting.

"...... Where do these guys get so high-minded? ”

Li Yuan didn't believe it, but there was no problem with the battle situation reported by the spies, and although he felt that something was wrong, he had nothing to say.

He also wanted to find out, and asked the spies if they had seen the strange ships of the Nanban, and the spies said that the smoke on the lake was too thick to see clearly.

After hesitating for a long time, he quarreled with the Chinese army for a while, but there was still no result, but the Jingxiang Water Division was defeated.

"Hurry up, hurry up! If the Nanban pursues, we will be annihilated! ”

When he saw Li Yuan, Wei Hong, who was wet and still hanging his arms, and his face was covered with blood, shouted in panic.

"Sure enough, it was defeated......

This result had long been expected by Li Yuan, and he was not sure what the Nanban fleet that jumped out of thin air had anything to do with the Jingxiang Naval Division, but as far as he could see in front of him, the previous suspicions seemed to be untenable, and Wei Hong was indeed fighting to the death.

"How's it going? How can it be defeated? ”

After getting on Wei Hong's general army, Li Yuan continued to ask.

"It is estimated that more than half of the ships have been lost, Nanban is too powerful, a few miles away, our ships sank one by one, and I didn't even see the shadow of the other party's boat. was beaten into a mess, and the Nanban fleet pounced again, and that's it...... Ouch .........", Wei Hong said breathlessly, accidentally holding the wound, and grinning with his teeth.

recruited Han Deng and Wu Wenzhong again, although the two were not injured, they were also defeated, soaking wet, and it was said that they also changed ships to fight again, but they were still invincible.

"It's probably the strange ship hiding behind and firing cannons, just one boat, it's easy to deal with, but with a fleet, it's really troublesome."

The Zhongjun of the Wuchang Navy Division Battalion indirectly helped the three of them speak with their own personal experience.

Li Yuan didn't find any flaws, got off the boat with a suspicious face, and reported to Yue Zhongqi.

Looking at the vague shadow of Li Yuan's fleet, Wei, Han and Wu glanced at each other, their faces changed suddenly, and their eyebrows fluttered.

"The Commander Meng in the south is very talkative, in order to help us cover up, cooperate everywhere. As long as the mouths of the people below are closed, Yue Zhongqi can't find the handle! ”

"Most of the people below who know about it have passed, and those who don't know are at the mercy of us on the periphery, thinking that they are really fighting. A few, like the king's foreign commission, are full of silver, and they will not kill themselves. ”

"I'm admiring my acting skills, I didn't know I could do this before."

The three of them giggled and were extremely happy, and this battle was done in collusion between them and Meng Songhai. Li Yuan is going to come to inspect the camp, forcing them to "whitewash" the previous lost ship, how to wash it? Of course, it was sunk by the Nanban, or captured. The defeat was not shameful, and the whole court thought that being defeated by the Nanban was the norm, and defeating the Nanban was abnormal......

The two sides discussed the details in the early contact, and then the leaders of the brigade gathered ducktail. The Jingxiang Sailor put the broken boat that Meng Songhai couldn't see in front of him, and let the Nanban Sailor be the target to sink it, and the three chief officers performed the drama of "changing ships and fighting again" to let the biggest and best warship out.

The other warships that Meng Songhai saw were disposed of in their own way. If they know and have the heart to go south, they will pretend not to see it and let them throw themselves to the south. If it is a stupid goose that is unaware and unpleasant, it will be isolated by military order and attacked by the Nanban itself. Those who knew but had no intention of going south had already been contacted through their cronies, pretending to be unstoppable, fleeing with a sampan, and leaving the big ship behind.

In short, this ducktail swinging water battle, is there truth in falsehood, truth in falsehood, just such a drama, and sold forty or fifty warships, the three people's private pockets are bulging, and there is also the cover of the name of the war, Yue Zhongqi is difficult to find out clearly.

"But there are too many lost ships, will Yue Zhongqi dispose of us in this name?"

Wu Wenzhong is still a little worried, Yue Zhongqi is handsome, he must clean them up, there is always a way. They had more than 200 warships in one town and two associations, but sixty percent of them were sold before and after, and with the "performance cost" used as war props, they now only have about 40 warships left.

"This is easy to do, weren't we reselling the merchant's ship before? Replenish those ships to the camp, and the number of lost ships will be much less. We have lost a lot of ships, but there are few people to lose, and the defeat is not very bad. ”

Han Deng didn't care about the authenticity, he didn't sell his ship enough before, and he also took the boat from the Xiangyang merchant and sold it to Nanban.

"He wants to deal with us on the grounds of defeat, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to convince the army. He was already defeated before, even lost his son, and he didn't succeed in attacking Changde in January, what is our defeat? Now that the battle in Jiangxi is going well, if he wants to rectify us, he is not afraid that the court will find an opportunity to rectify him? The imperial court was already dissatisfied with him as a Han commander, and there were rumors that he had a tacit understanding with his uncle Yue Chaolong in private, otherwise why did he run from Wuchang to Changde all of a sudden? It's just pretending to be with his uncle in Changde! I see, he would not have dared to set fire to his own backyard. ”

Wei Hong said firmly, in terms of officialdom and politics, his insight as a general soldier is naturally higher than that of the two deputy generals. ..., Wu Wenzhong was still a little worried, "But...... We seem to have made a big deal about this, and the court will investigate it after the war, so what should we do? ”

Han Deng sneered and laughed: "Not to mention the imperial court, even the emperor, I'm afraid he is counting on the north and the south to negotiate peace, isn't this what this battle is for?" After all, we didn't go to Nanban, and our heart is still towards the emperor and the court. How could the imperial court come to investigate this matter? Haven't you seen "The Middle Stream"? The top-secret news that the imperial court was going to send troops came from the Forbidden City, from the emperor's side! ”

Wei Hong also said: "You, you have to invigorate your thinking......"

General Jingbian walked away, and Yue Zhongqi said to Li Yuan: "They are acting!" I have received a newspaper from the Jingzhou government, saying that the people of the Jingzhou Navy Battalion are looking for a shipmaker to buy a ship in Jingzhou......"

He shook his head angrily: "Where did the Nanban fleet come from?" They sold it! ”

Li Yuan took a cool breath, the water battle he had seen before was ......

Yue Zhongqi sighed: "But this doesn't prove anything, their brains are really useful, and their hands and feet are really clean." ”

Li Yuan gritted his teeth and said: "This is a rebellious move!" The handsome should be decisively dealt with and take down these three people! ”

Yue Zhongqi smiled bitterly, and his laughter showed a hint of melancholy: "Three people? What about the three of them? Without the cooperation of the people below, how could they do such things so quickly? If I expected it to be true, the two associations in this town have a tacit understanding with Nanban. Disposal? Now they can still keep their faces, they don't want or dare to go south, I want to deal with it, I'm afraid they all have to go south! ”

"On the battlefield of Jiangxi, Xibao and Tian Wenjing have entered Yuanzhou and Ji'an. I was in Hunan, but instead of affecting the Nanban, there was civil strife, even if the emperor believed me, it would be difficult to protect me. ”

Li Yuanleng was on the spot, and he heard Yue Zhongqi's voice getting deeper and lower: "Why? Why is this the case? This is a national war, what is their heart like? ”

Li Yuan came back to his senses, thinking of Yongzheng's attitude towards this battle, and thinking of the rumors that had been passed down from the imperial court before, he suddenly had an understanding.

"Dashuai, you have to blame...... It's no wonder that the imperial court has no intention of recovering the world, and this war is only for peace. ”

Li Yuan's words were like tearing through the morning light of the twilight, and Yue Zhongqi's heart suddenly lit up.

Yes, he actually saved the hearts of others with his own heart. For him, for Tian Wenjing, Xibao, Ortai and even Li Wei, they all bear the responsibility of this battle, and they have no intention of thinking about the aftermath of the war. But when you go up to the princes' clan and the imperial court, and down to the local civil and military, especially the green camp, you think about the final war.

For the Green Battalion, what difference does it make if this battle is good or bad? Anyway, it is all about peace, if you can contribute, you will contribute, and if you can benefit, you will benefit. As for colluding with Nanban, since we are going to make peace, why not "get along amicably" now?

*J