A few days later, Hong Chengchou finally led the army to Kanglang Mountain, and set up camp twenty miles away from the rebels.

Because of the strategy of persuasion, Hong Chengchou did not order the initiative to attack. On the rebel side, seeing that the Praetorian Guard had just arrived, Lu Peng thought that it was cheaper to fight, and sent Fang Guoan and Xu Chengming to lead their headquarters to attack the Praetorian Guard, trying to attack the Praetorian Guard's foothold.

Fang Guoan and Xu Chengming went hand in hand and launched an attack on the Janissary vanguard fleet from the southwest and west. The 120,000 army and thousands of ships lined up in a line of more than 20 miles, and the vanguard fleet was only more than 200 ships.

However, the commander of these two hundred ships was Zheng Zhilong, the commander of Caojiang, who had more than 20 large sea ships under his command, loaded with as many as 300 artillery pieces of various types, including more than 20 Hongyi cannons.

Seeing the rebels attacking, Zheng Zhilong ordered to open fire on the rebels.

When the distance between the two sides was still three miles, more than 20 Hongyi cannons of the Praetorian Guard opened fire, and more than 10 kilograms of projectiles crossed the surface of the lake for several miles, landed in the ranks of the rebels, and splashed a huge splash in the lake. Most of the shells missed, and one of them hit one of the rebels' riverboats, knocking the small riverboat apart and sinking to the bottom of the lake at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The fact that it could hit such a long distance made the rebel soldiers tremble.

And as the rebel flotilla continued to approach, more artillery fire, and from time to time rebel ships were shot and sunk.

"Rush forward, it's useless to get close to their artillery!" Xu Chengming shouted, directing his subordinate fleet to launch a fierce attack.

Once accompanied by Zhu Xieyuan to quell the rebellion of Lu'an, Xu Chengming is still quite rich in combat experience, knowing that the opponent has a lot of artillery, if you want to win, you can only fight in close combat, the ships on both sides are close to hand-to-hand combat, with the advantage of the number of their own ships and soldiers, there is a two-way flank attack on its foothold is not stable, there is still a great hope to win.

Under the command of Xu Chengming, more than 100 ships carrying more than 20,000 rebel soldiers launched a fierce attack on the vanguard of the Praetorian Guard. On the other hand, the Praetorian Guard fleet relied on powerful firepower to reap the lives of the rebels.

The distance is far away with Hongyi cannons, the distance is close to the use of Franc machines, and then there are tiger squat cannons, bowl mouth guns, etc., the Janissary Navy can be said to be armed to the teeth, and the number of artillery in the fleet is too much.

And as the distance got closer, more and more of Xu Chengming's ships were sunk. However, Xu Chengming gritted his teeth, hoping to quickly approach the Praetorian Guard fleet and start hand-to-hand combat.

As long as his side can entangle the Praetorian Guard fleet, Fang Guoan will attack from the west, and under the attack of the two sides, it is not impossible to defeat the Praetorian Guard vanguard fleet in front of him.

"Leave nothing else to worry about, charge with all your might!" Xu Chengming stood on the command ship, ordering loudly, and there were several heralds standing beside him, translating his orders into flags, and raising flags on the mast one by one, conveying his orders.

The fleets of the two sides were getting closer and closer, almost only a few tens of zhang away, and they could already see the faces on each other's decks.

As long as you work harder, you can rush up and start hand-to-hand combat with the other party, the ships on both sides are intertwined, no matter how powerful the opponent's artillery is, it is useless, and then wait for Fang Guoan to lead the fleet to kill, your own strength is more than twice that of the other party, and you will definitely be able to win, and this is Xu Chengming's plan. ….

However, Xu Chengming forgot that there are pig teammates in this world.

Fang Guoan's fleet, which launched an attack from the west, was also baptized by artillery, and more than a dozen ships were sunk by the Janissary artillery. Although the sunken ships were less than 10% of the total ships under Fang Guoan, he was already terrified.

Having experienced the Battle of Nanjing, the Battle of Wuhu, and the Battle of Nanjing with Yuan Chonghuan, Fang Guoan had seen the powerful combat effectiveness of the Praetorian Guard, and knew how terrible the resilience of the other side was. At the beginning, Yuan Chonghuan led the army to attack the outer city of Nanjing, and he was about to conquer the entire city of Nanjing, but in the end he was completely annihilated by the Praetorian Guards, and the resilience of the Praetorian Guards was simply appalling.

Fang Guoan didn't think that his army could be the opponent of the Praetorian Guard, and he never thought of fighting the Praetorian Guard head-on. He was completely forced to fight.

Now that he is being attacked by the Janissaries artillery, it is completely conceivable that he will retreat.

"Marshal, General Xu sent a flag to lead the troops

Engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Praetorian Guards, and let us flank from the west." A sentinel ship returned, bringing Xu Chengming's decision.

"Flanking? That is to engage in hand-to-hand combat, even if you win this time, how much of Lao Tzu's army can be left? I don't have the strength to play a ball." Fang Guoan muttered in a low voice.

"Marshal, can we attack it?" One of his subordinates asked.

"What do you think?" Fang Guoan asked.

"Subordinate, subordinate thinks it's better not to fight. The Praetorian Guard's artillery is too powerful, and the casualties we have to pay for the attack will be very large." One of his subordinates said cautiously.

"What do you think?" Fang Guoan looked at the other generals again.

"If we withdraw, General Xu will have to fight the Praetorian Guards alone, and I'm afraid we won't be able to explain to the prison state at that time." One of his generals reminded.

"Confess what? At that time, Xu Chengming's entire army will be annihilated, but we will retreat with all our bodies, and it will be too late for him to reward us." The first general retorted.

"Okay, give the order to go down, and the whole army retreats!" Fang Guoan finally made up his mind and ordered.

Winning a battle is meaningless than keeping your army. Only with an army can it be status, whether it is within the imperial court of the prison country, or in the future to surrender to the Praetorian Guard, having an army is better than a bare veteran.

"Marshal, Fang Guoan, they withdrew." Suddenly, his subordinate sentinel ship returned, and Xu Chengming almost fell headlong when he heard this.

In a good situation, as long as Fang Guoan cooperates with himself in the flank attack, it is not impossible to defeat the Praetorian Guard in front of him. And now, with Fang Guoan's escape, he has become a lone soldier, and he no longer has a slight advantage in the face of the strong Praetorian Guard.

"Dashuai, what should we do?" One of his subordinates asked.

What else can I do? It is nothing more than to continue fighting, or retreat, or surrender directly, there is no other choice but these three.

If you continue to fight, seeing that with Fang Guoan's escape, your own morale is low, and the firepower is much worse than the opponent's, and the troops are not superior, it is really difficult to win.

If he surrenders, Xu Chengming has not thought about it, but his family members are in Nanchang City, and surrender will inevitably affect his family. Thinking about what happened to Xu Yong and the families of Jiujiang generals, Xu Chengming didn't dare to choose to surrender.

Then, there is only one way left......

"Retreat, retreat!" Xu Chengming shouted loudly.

However, the two sides are at war, and it is not so easy to withdraw safely, and it is not known how many ships can safely escape the pursuit of the other side.

But Xu Chengming can't take care of it much at this time, can he escape one by one......

Ren Guocheng