The Three Guards were lined up two miles from the riverbank, where even a row of twelve-pounder cannons on the shore could not be defeated. Li Xin knew that Western warships in this era had naval guns, but the power and range could rival the twelve-pounder cannon at the end of the day, so he just stared at the sea quietly, waiting for the people on the ship to land. He was not surprised by the sudden appearance of this fleet, and at noon he had already received news from Longtan that the Nanjing River had been attacked by unknown ships early in the morning, and Sun Jiao did not know whether he was alive or dead at this time.

What Li Xin has always worried about is Sun Jiao's comfort, he doesn't want to see this kind man who has been fighting side by side with him lose his life like this. At the same time, he also felt that out of the habitual thinking of land warfare, all the Ming troops had always ignored the threat from the water, and did not even have the most basic warning measures, which caused the other side to take advantage of the cover of night to touch the mouth of the Yangtze River all the way to the bottom of Nanjing without being discovered.

The ships on the surface quickly fired the first salvo, but their target was not the Three Guards, who were in good array, but the firepower lifters that were densely packed on the river beach. A solid cannonball smashed down, causing a lot of damage immediately, the hearth of the dome was smashed by the cannonball, and the huge wooden swinging arm was broken in two......

The prefect of Changzhou, who was obediently hiding five miles away from the river bank, was shocked by the terrifying fire of the fleet on the river, and saw that the "people" with their bare and dark upper bodies and neat formations did not even have a sound, and everyone was quiet as if the stone sculpture was motionless, and he sincerely admired: "The Marquis of Zhenyu is really a great general, and in an instant, these people are trained like veterans who have fought for many years!" ”

Although it is difficult for people to train soldiers at the time, it is difficult to move in a uniform manner, but what is even more difficult is not to make a sound before the big war, and such calm soldiers may not be able to practice even if they are afraid that Sun Wu and Bai Qi are alive.

"Fuzun, the lower official heard that the Marquis of Zhenyu sent his descendants to repair the canal, these are not ordinary people recruited!"

The prefect of Jiangyin whispered in the prefect's ear, he has always obeyed the prefect's orders, and he has a close relationship with him, so he has fewer scruples when he speaks.

"Is that so?"

The prefect of Changzhou was taken aback, you must know that the people who lead the troops regard the soldiers under their command as the foundation of their lives, how can ordinary people be willing to let the elite under their command do such civilian service? Moreover, the generals and soldiers under his command were willing to be ordered to come and repair the canal wholeheartedly, which is really incredible, and it also shows that Li Xin's training is comparable to that of ghosts and gods!

It was not until this moment that the prefect of Changzhou believed that Li Xin's achievements were indeed true, and he was able to be crowned a general at a young age, and he was promoted to the title of marquis, but he was not like the officialdom that was rumored, and he was lucky to get the knighthood.

With these realizations, his previous nervous mood gradually settled down, and he only watched the development of the situation nervously. It must be known that there is no garrison in Changzhou Prefecture, if these ships are carrying Haikou pirates, in case the town is defeated, the people of Changzhou Mansion are afraid that they will all become fish and meat on the chopping board.

The bombardment lasted about a quarter of an hour before the big boat cautiously approached the shore, and at the same time numerous small boats were lowered from the big boat and swam towards the shore like schools of fish.

The eyes of the soldiers of the Three Guards showed a light of expectation and excitement, they had not fought for half a year, they had already been suffocated, and today there was an eyeless sea raider, so let them taste the power of the Three Guards.

And the hearts of the officials of Changzhou Prefecture, who were a few miles behind them, suddenly rose, the visual effect caused by the dense boats on the river was too shocking, and it was roughly estimated that if all these people landed on the shore, there would be three or four thousand people, and the Zhenhou was only a thousand people, and the strength of the Zhenyu Hou was several times weaker than the other party, could they withstand the attack of the sea bandits?

Colonel Wallace stared at the landing boat with a stern face, and it was disappointing that there were actually Ming troops waiting for him here, but seeing that the other party was just some shirtless farmers, and it was the size of more than a thousand people, his mood relaxed again.

There were more than 3,000 soldiers who landed, of whom 500 were mercenaries from the West, and the rest were all pirates and bandits recruited from various places, including Japanese, Ming, and Spaniards in Luzon......

The commander of a group of Ming farmers did not know if it was a coincidence that they were arrayed outside the range of the ship's guns, which somewhat made Huailai is colonel have some doubts in his heart. When the first batch of mercenaries to go to sea landed and began to line up, he smirked, did this group of Ming farmers have to be so stupid as to wait for these brave soldiers to finish their formation before attacking? Or are they just passively waiting to be beaten, waiting to die?

The first batch of landed mercenaries were the absolute main force of this landing team, and after the formation was completed, they obviously did not intend to wait for the followers to follow and then charge together, they raised their spears, picked up the muskets in their hands and began to roar forward. At the same time, there were also people in the team pushing two six-pounder cannons and slowly moving towards a high ground on the right side of the phalanx.

Li Xin saw that the other party had launched a six-pound cannon and his pupils shrank suddenly, "Where is Niu Jinsong?" Lead your cavalry and destroy the enemy's two six-pounder guns! ”

Niu Jinsong came to Changzhou with 100 personal soldiers with Hu Li Xin, although the number was small, they were all cavalry, and they could come in handy by raiding important targets at critical moments, just like now.

The three-masted galleon was close enough to the riverbank, and Wallace could clearly see the arrangement on the riverbank even without a telescope, and as long as the two six-pounder guns were pushed up to the high ground and a few salvos were fired, he was eight points sure that the Ming farmers could be scattered.

The accuracy of the artillery is too low, and its significance is not to kill, but to be a powerful deterrent, and the loud rumbling sound and the terrible damage of the projectiles when they hit the ground will hit their spiritual embankments like a flood until they are completely destroyed.

In the next second, Wallace's hand trembled, and a hundred-man cavalry suddenly appeared in view, driving directly to the two six-pounder guns and a dozen artillery pieces that were forcibly occupying the commanding heights. The nearest infantry was at least three hundred feet away, and in the blink of an eye the horsemen on horseback slaughtered Wallace's proud artillery, and at the same time ignited all the gunpowder contained in the cart. When the gunpowder burned, it exploded, causing a large number of fireballs and smoke to rise.

Then the cavalry skilfully bypassed the rushing pirates, and when they returned to their own formation, they were very self-aware and did not intend to attack the flanks and rear of the infantry phalanx. Because hundreds of pirates have already landed behind the flanks of the mercenary phalanx.

The destruction of the six-pounder discouraged Wallley, who stomped the shiny oak deck with tung oil with his cowhide boots.

"Damn Akito, it's too cunning!"

Wallace didn't know at this time that this was just the beginning of his anger.

Niu Jinsong's successful action made the morale of the Three Guards even stronger, and these soldiers suddenly burst into terrifying cheers. Even the officials of the Changzhou Mansion who watched the battle behind them were deeply infected.

"Pirates are also stupid, the artillery is not behind the formation, but if you want to be alone, isn't it looking for death? It was also thanks to the cavalry under the command of the Marquis of Zhenyu who came and went like the wind, so he succeeded in one blow! ”

"Look, that's a red-haired fan, but it's not an ordinary pirate!"

Immediately, someone on the side retorted with disdain in his tone: "Red hair? What about the Waiko? Obviously, there is no comparison! In fact, his feet were still sore and softened by the dense sea boats on the river. However, these inner activities must not be noticed by colleagues, and the momentum must not be low, otherwise it will spread in the officialdom in the future, and how can we still have the face to continue to be an official? If you don't be poked in the back and laugh to death, you will have to die of shame!

But everyone also knows that it is too early to be optimistic, and the real enemy and opponent of the Three Guards is the thousands of ants and locust-like pirates. Once the Hou is defeated, he will not be able to say any face, and when everyone runs for their lives together, no one can laugh at anyone. As long as there is a glimmer of hope, it is worth waiting for a while.

The phalanx at the front was composed of tall red-haired fans, including longbowmen, musketeers, and spearmen.

Li Xin watched them closely, and it was clear that in this era they had not yet evolved the line formation tactics that were specially designed for smoothbore muskets. The spearmen charged at the front of the phalanx, with musketeers in the center and longbowmen on either side.

While Li Xin was observing them, the longbowmen fired their first salvo, and without the two six-pounder guns, the compound longbow was their longest-range and most powerful long-range strike weapon.

A sharp whizz burst through the air, and a long arrow pierced through the chest of a bare-chested soldier of the Three Guards, who collapsed in agony as he spasmed. With the salvo of the longbow, some of the three guards fell one after another, but this did not cause the army to collapse, but instead provoked their anger, and everyone's eyes spewed angry flames, just waiting for these red-haired fans to enter the twenty paces where they could shoot.

After firing the fifth salvo, the longbowman had to fight and stop firing due to arm exhaustion in order to accumulate the strength of the next volley.

The first volley of Hongmaofan made the eyes of more than a dozen soldiers in the phalanx close their eyes forever, but Li Xin still could not give the order to attack. As soon as the opponent comes within twenty paces of each other, the musket will deal a devastating blow to them. At this time, some soldiers persuaded Li Xin to hide behind the relatively safe military formation, but he sternly refused.

On the three-masted galleon on the river, Wallace's rhinoceros horn mustache on his upper lip habitually shook twice, making the corners of his mouth reveal a smug smile. He was very pleased with the longbowman's appearance, but he was somewhat surprised that the Akito farmer did not collapse under the terrifying longbow volley.