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The Ming warships turned their sails and moved forward, and the hooks and chains were cut off one by one with axes, and the two ships broke away.

When the smoke cleared, Wu Liuqi raised his head and glared at the enemy ship, his leg was wounded by shrapnel, and blood continued to flow, while there was a corpse and wounded on the deck, and the sound of moans and wails filled his ears.

A row of Ming sailors rose from the edge of the deck of the warship, stretched out the black barrels of guns, and at the sound of an order, the gunfire rang out like bursting beans.

A few lead bullets hit Wu Liuqi's body with blood flowers, but he was unstoppable, his eyes were wide with anger, and his mouth seemed to be scolding, but he couldn't make a mistake. Blood kept pouring out of his mouth, and he barely took a step forward, and his strong body collapsed with a bang.

The artillery bombardment at close range caused the ship to suffer a fatal blow and capsized and sank. Although Wu Liuqi was a general soldier, he was no different from an ordinary Qing soldier, and he was tragically buried at the bottom of the sea.

Death is fair to anyone, and you will not be rewarded for your dignity because of your high position. Don't say it's Wu Liuqi, even the British naval god Nelson was killed by an unknown French soldier in a naval battle.

On the deck of the "Sea Dragon", there was a constant sound of gunfire and shouts of killing. After smashing several attempts by Qing warships to engage in broadside battles, a Qing warship finally came up, buckled the mast of the bow of the "Sea Dragon" with iron chains, and forcibly landed on the deck.

"Fire!" Duan Zhiying roared and pulled the trigger, and clouds of white smoke burst out in front of him and beside him, and he saw the brave Qing army officer on the opposite side stop as if he had been hit by a heavy punch. The body shook and fell down.

More Ming sailors rushed out of the cabin, and under the command of Li Wangshan, they shot at the Qing troops on the deck, and then rushed up with bayonets in the white smoke. Shouts of killing, screams. The popping of bayonets into the flesh and the roar of the guns below deck showed the brutality of the battle.

"Sea Dragon" shook away from the enemy ship, the portholes were damaged, the mainmast was broken, and it was only possible to sail on the backmast. Duan Zhiying commanded the damaged battleship to turn with difficulty, retreating towards his own battle line, while continuing to fire guns and cannons, fighting non-stop.

The assault detachment stubbornly advanced forward to the front. Compressing the space outside the port. With the heavy losses of the ships that rushed out of the port, the subsequent departure from the port formed a refueling tactic, not only could not form a numerical advantage, but fought less and less.

Three Ming ships suddenly passed through the gap in the line, like an unstoppable tiger rushing into the war zone, guns in a volley, rampage. Yang Yandi saw that the number of enemy ships had been greatly reduced, so he transferred the three warships of the mobile detachment. Rescue the two warships that were trapped in the encirclement.

The ferocious attack made the Qing warships that were about to collapse dare not resist, and the siege of the "Sea Dragon" and "Sea Lion" was quickly broken. Three warships towed and protected two friendly ships downwind. Back behind the battle line. At this time, the two warships that charged into battle had suffered considerable damage and casualties, and the deck was littered with flesh, corpses, and wounded, but the military flag was nailed to the only remaining mast, and it was still hunting and flying.

The battle has been going on for more than two hours. More than a dozen Qing ships outside the port had no intention of fighting again, and as soon as the order to retreat was given, they turned around and sailed back into the port.

The order to retreat was given to Xu Long, who had been promoted from Nanyang adjutant general to the commander-in-chief of Chaozhou, and he was now the highest-ranking Qing officer in the port. He saw it clearly. With the continuous shrinking of the space outside the port, it is difficult for the own ships to form a numerical superiority when they go out of the port to fight, while the Ming ships have a great advantage in size and firepower, and forced combat can only be a continuous attrition.

Xu Long hoped that the Ming ships would take advantage of the victory to pursue and fall into the natural trap he had expected. In the long and narrow harbor channel, the Ming warships could not maneuver because of their large and bulky bodies, while the Qing warships could give full play to the advantages of small size, fast speed, strong maneuverability, and shallow draft to besiege the Ming warships.

However, the Ming fleet did not rush to pursue the retreating enemy ships, as expected, but reorganized its formation, slowly pressed up, and firmly blocked the port.

Xu Long was disappointed, but not desperate. Looking up at the sky, and observing the direction of the wind again, he squinted his eyes slightly, sent his own soldiers, and invited the generals of all departments to come to the meeting.

………………

The sound of artillery finally stopped, but the thick smell of gunpowder still hung over the battlefield. Blood stained the sea, and some ships were still burning.

After a big battle, the Ming army suffered more than 500 casualties, and the Qing army was more than several times. Thirty-one Qing ships were sunk and eight were captured, and the wounded are difficult to estimate. The Ming army suffered serious injuries to two ships and six ships to minor injuries, none of which sank, and still had combat effectiveness.

What's more, the assault detachment fought heroically through guò, achieving the best results. The original plan was spare, that is, the assault detachment could not achieve the effect of the raid, and the operation to close the port failed. They had to fight and go, lure the Qing warships to the open sea, and besiege them with the main fleet; If the Qing army did not pursue, it would swim around the perimeter of the port and wait for the main fleet to come before a decisive battle.

Compared with these three results, the first one is naturally the best. Whether it is an open sea siege or a decisive battle, there may not be a 100 percent certainty of victory, and only the first one, which is to seal the enemy ships in the harbor, can we have the chance of victory.

Although they have reached the first step of success, Yang Yandi and others still dare not take it lightly.

In the era of wooden sailing ships, that is, before the advent of ironclad ships, fireships were sent to drift to enemy ships downwind and ignite enemy ships, causing them to burn or lose their combat effectiveness, which was called fire attack. Although ancient, this tactic is widely used as a feasible (but certainly the most effective) tactic.

However, there is no guarantee that any tactics will be effective, and the same is true for fire attacks. The fireship floats with the wind, and if the wind is not in the right direction or the enemy warship can dodge, it can easily defuse the danger of fire attack.

With an order, the Ming fleet immediately began to prepare. At this time, the wind direction was favorable for the Qing army to carry out a fire attack, but the Qing army needed to make some arrangements, such as mobilizing fireships, readjusting the order and number of ships in the harbor road, etc., and seizing the time to take precautions, which was undoubtedly very important to ensure the results of victory. And hoping that the wind will change soon is foolish.

The Qing prisoners were concentrated in the cabins of the "Sea Dragon" and "Sea Lion", which were heavily damaged, and the two warships slowly sailed away and left the battlefield for rest under the protection of the "Sea Eagle". The eight captured Qing warships and the small sampans laid down on each warship formed two fire lines.

Then, eight light warships were placed in the middle of the two fire lines, responsible for blocking enemy ships leaving the harbor, and their maneuverability could be more flexible to evade fireships that had escaped the net; The heavy warships are divided into two parts, one is behind the second line of fire, which is not only to strengthen the blockade, but also to reinforce the light warships in front; The other consists of six warships, deployed on the flank of the defensive line, that is, on the land side to the right of the port, and they can strike at any opportunity, wedge between the enemy ships leaving the port, fire left and right, strike the enemy, and block the port.

The Ming army has been arranged, and the sky has darkened. Although it was a battle, it was still essential to eat and rest, but the sentries and surveillance ships had to work harder.

Time is passing quietly, the Qing army's fire attack still has not appeared, and the generals of the Ming army are suspicious and guess, not knowing what the Qing army is doing.

As the saying goes: there are many droughts in dragons, and there are many chaotic people. Yang Yandi and others did not expect that the Qing army sailors in the port responded to this common saying, and their actions were suspiciously slow.

Although the total number of ships of the Qing army's Cantonese naval division exceeded 400, less than 300 were capable of naval warfare, and the number of ships assembled in the harbor was only 183. Well, there should only be about 130 ships that can fight now.

And this is not the most important, the key is that these ships belong to various water battalions, although Xu Long has the highest official position, the rank of chief soldier plus the governor of the capital, and the subordinate naval division is also the most combative, but in fact, it lacks the name of commander-in-chief.

The superintendent of the standard water division is in charge of the water division camp, the four club camps, and the new club camp; The deputy general of Huizhou has jurisdiction over the left and right camps of the Xiangshan Association, the left and right camps of the Shunde Association, the left and right camps of the Dapeng Association, the left and right camps of the Chixi Association, the right camp of Qingyuan, the Guanghai Zhai camp, the Yongjing camp, etc.; In addition, there are "local troops" Nanao Town Right Battalion (the left battalion belongs to Fujian), Chenghai Association, Haimen Battalion, Dahao Battalion, Jieshi Town Standard 3rd Battalion, Pinghai Battalion, Guishan City Guard Battalion, Chaozhou Town Biao 3rd Battalion, Raoping Town Biao 3rd Battalion, Huanggang Association Left and Right Battalion, Gaolian Town has jurisdiction over Yangjiang Battalion, Dianbai Battalion, Jiezhou Battalion, Dongshan Battalion, etc.

Enough is enough to mess up! Because of this, although the fire attack method proposed by Xu Long has been recognized by everyone, when it comes to the details, they are quarrelling. from which ships should be transferred to fireships; If the fireship tactics are successful, the order in which the various divisions leave the port to break through; After breaking through, will it continue to fight with the Ming fleet, or will it assemble in a certain place and then try to counterattack......

It involves the rise and fall of the strength of the department, and even the survival of life; They also feared that they would be dealt a heavy blow if they broke through first, and that if they broke through later, they would not be able to get the support of friendly forces who were out of danger...... The generals of each ministry had different thoughts and ideas. In particular, many officers were born in the pirates and only planned for themselves. They were stubborn for a while, and then changed their original intentions, which made Xu Long feel helpless and resentful.

Fools, a bunch of fools, don't you know that the wind at sea is changeable, and the opportunity for fire attack is very rare? Quarrel, fight, wait for the wind direction to change, and attack a fart!

Xu Long didn't know how many times he got up and went to the hatch to look at the flag and check the direction of the wind. Everyone is still clinging to their own opinions, competing for fat and thin, and even fighting for red faces, slapping the table and glaring. The anger in his heart rose higher and higher, and he couldn't suppress it.

"Enough!" The roar sounded in the cabin, suppressing the chattering quarrel, Xu Long strode back to the table, slapped his palm hard, glared at the stunned generals of the various departments, gritted his teeth and said: "The fire ship Lao Tzu is out, the work you don't want to do, Lao Tzu has all the work." How, how? Are you still fucking noisy? ”

…………… (To be continued......)