On the Yangtze River, a very strange large fleet is swimming against the current and against the wind.

The reason why this fleet is strange is that this is a tugboat fleet of small boats towing big ships, and big ships towing small boats!

There are three types of ships in the entire fleet, the fast crab boat, the old lock boat and the sampan.

There were about one hundred and sixty fast crab boats, and sixty of them were ahead of the brigade and were the vanguard of the whole fleet, and the sixty boats formed two loose horizontal rows, marching side by side along the Yangtze River. These fast crab boats are of uniform size, about 42 feet long and 7 feet wide, with 40 long oars on each side, and no canopy windows on board to avoid catching fire and trapping themselves. Each boat has forty long oars on the left and right, turning against the tide and dividing the waves. Those oarsmen are all strong men, some have strength, and now the speed of the boat is not fast, just slow sailing, very bit of boating on the river to watch the scenery, so the oarsmen do not have any effort at all, while rowing and talking and laughing.

On the deck, in addition to the strong men who paddled, there were also many gunners, gunners, and knife players.

In the bow of these fast crab boats was a six-pound bronze cannon, guarded by four gunners. Ten musket firing positions were set up on the central axis of each boat, and on each firing position stood a heavy musket with turtledove's feet holding a flintlock, a helmet on his head, and a thick and large wooden shield on each side of the shooter to withstand bullets.

In addition, there are more than a dozen knife platooners on each fast crab boat, all sitting cross-legged in the cabin to recuperate, ready to fight against the ship, or jump on the enemy ship to cut people.

The sailors and sailors on these fast crab ships are all skilled sergeants, most of them are the elites transferred by Zheng Jing from Fujian, and they have fought and killed Qing soldiers, "friend thieves", profiteers, and all kinds of foreign devils at sea for many years, and they are all good hands!

This time, they took the identity of Fujian nationals issued by Zheng Jing on the one hand, and on the other hand, they took the silver taels issued by Li Yat-sen to trade in the Yangtze River. If Wu Sangui's sailors stand in the way, they will have to risk their lives to drive the boat to the top, even if they are desperate, they will have to carry it for a while, so as to buy some time for the fifty old lock boats that are being dragged away by the other fast crab boats behind them, so that they can turn their bows and use the guns on the side to meet the enemy instead!

These old locks were very old, and each ship was loaded with twenty six-pound bronze cannons and four twelve-pound red-coated cannons.

If all the fifty old lock ships have completed their U-turns, and they all use one side to meet the enemy, it will be 600 6-pound or 12-pound bronze cannons firing together!

Where are these fifty boats, this is simply fifty floating water batteries!

However, this tactic of using the old lock ship as a floating battery and dragging it away is indeed a bit contrary to the common sense of traditional water warfare. Of course, this style of play violates the common sense of traditional water warfare, and now, times have changed!

Now these fifty old lock boats without sails are dragged by a hundred fast crab boats and move slowly on the water. The oarsmen on these fast crab boats were not as relaxed as the oarsmen on the fast crab boats that were in front of them, and now they were all shirtless, muscular, sweaty, and steaming on their heads.

And behind these old lock boats that were towed, there were also sampans that were dragged by the old lock boats, and behind each old lock boat there was a string of four sampans, which looked like they had long tails.

At the same time, on an official road on the north bank of the Yangtze River controlled by the Ming army, a long red dragon of twenty or thirty miles was rolling forward, infantry, cavalry, engineers, baggage soldiers, six catties of bronze cannons dragged by four mules and horses, and people in coarse cloth clothes drove horse-drawn carts and mules loaded with grain, grass and military supplies, all the way to the southwest.

On the south bank of the Yangtze River controlled by the Great Zhou Army, a group of cavalry of the Zhou Army could already be seen slowly following the fleet towards the mouth of the lake. Under the sun, the faces of those sweaty and soaked second-generation Guanning cavalrymen, needless to say, must have all expressions of inexplicable surprise.

The cavalry followed for two or three hours, until the flotilla on the river stopped advancing, dropped anchor, and began to rest on the river. The leader of this group of cavalry finally believed that he was not mistaken, and sent a few cavalrymen to gallop all the way to the mouth of the lake along the official road on the embankment on the south bank of the Yangtze River.

Wu Sangui had already left his summer palace in Lushan at this time, and put his line in Jiujiang City, which was so hot that it was to death.

When his sons-in-law Xia Guoxiang and Hu Guozhu came to Wu Sangui's side with the military report they had just received, the Zhaowu Emperor of the Great Zhou State was shaking a paper fan while reading a secret letter from Wu Guogui.

Wu Guogui told him in the letter that his daughter Wu Xiaofu had fallen for the trick and agreed to transfer Jia Hanfu back to Guangzhou in exchange for the peaceful coexistence of the father and daughter - this was tantamount to cutting Jia Hanfu's territory to curry favor with Wu Guogui! And Jia Hanfu is still Li Zhongzhen's father-in-law. What will this old thing Jia Hanfu be angry about? Since this old thing got Guiyang Prefecture and Chenzhou from Kangxi a few years ago, it has been painstakingly operated as an ancestral family business.

It is said that this old thing has already divided the territory of his six sons! Guiyang Prefecture and Chenzhou have a total of nine counties or subordinate prefectures, with Jia Da alone occupying three, Jia Er accounting for two, and Jia San, Jia four, Jia five and Jia six each accounting for one.

It's good now, Wu Xiaofu wants to pack these nine states and counties and give them to her Lao Tzu Wu Guogui, this Jia Hanfu doesn't know if he will be angry?

In addition, Wu Guogui also reported to Wu Sangui in the letter that after Wu Sanwei arrived in Guilin, Kong Sizhen couldn't control his son at all, and was so angry that he hid in the nunnery outside Guilin to try to be clean.

And the soldiers of Guihai Town, who were bewitched by Sun Jiqing, plus a group of Guangxi Tusi and local heroes, gathered a total of 50,000 people, and began to besiege Wuzhou, an important town on the border between Guangxi and Guangzhou-Wuzhou Mansion is Li Fuchen's domain, and it is also the richest mansion in Guangxi!

Sun Jiqing attacked Wuzhou, but he was going to do it against his own Laozi!

And Wu Xiaosu ceded Jia Hanfu's territory to Wu Guogui, it should be to concentrate troops to quell Sun Jiqing's rebellion, once the main force of the Guangdong army drove to Wuzhou to fight Sun Jiqing, then Wu Guogui's opportunity to take over Guangfu came!

Wu Sangui was about to discuss with his son Wu Yingxiong, who was with him, whether to change the title of Wu Guogui to be the king of Yue to encourage him to march to Guangfu, when the voices of Xia Guoxiang and Hu Guozhu came from the door.

"Your Majesty, good news. Li Zhongshan is coming against the current and the wind! ”

"Your Majesty, this Li Zhongzheng finally made a faint move, I see that he can't fight a water war at all!"

Wu Sangui heard the report of the two and hurriedly announced their audience.

The two naval governors saluted Wu Sangui together, and then Xia Guoxiang said to Wu Sangui with a smile: "Your Majesty, Li Zhongshan is coming by two routes, all the way to the north bank of the Yangtze River, it is the land division, and the long queue of twenty or thirty miles is not afraid that there are more than 100,000 people." ”

Hu Guozhu followed Xia Guoxiang's words and said with a smile: "Li Zhongshan's navy only has dozens of old lock boats and a hundred or dozens of fast crab boats. Among them, there were about 100 fast crab boats towing the dozens of old lock boats against the water and wind, walking slowly and hard. It's stupid! ”

"What? Dragged by a boat against the water and wind? Wu Sangui was stunned, "Do they really do this?" I thought they were only delaying when there was a sudden lack of wind and a change in direction! ”

"It should be like this," said Hu Guozhu, "and the minister asked Lin Xingzhu and Cai Lu, the two commanders-in-chief, and he said that the big ships sailing on the sea sometimes encounter a situation where there is no wind, and at this time they either wait for the wind at sea or can only use sampans to pull them." Unexpectedly, Li Zhongshan actually used two-thirds of the fast crab boats on hand as tugboats to drag them down, and the oarsmen had to be tired? How will the war be fought next? ”

Wu Sangui stood up and walked to the front of a map, Xia Guoxiang understood what this old man meant, and pointed to Madang Town on the map with the index finger of his right hand and said, "Your Majesty, Li Zhongshan's fleet has passed Madang Mountain." At the current speed, you will be able to cross Xiaogu Mountain tomorrow, and you will be able to get close to the mouth of the lake the day after tomorrow! ”

Hu Guozhu said: "Your Majesty, the southwest wind has been blowing these days, and Li Zhongshan's fleet is against the water and wind, which is indeed very unfavorable. But the sky is unpredictable. Now I'm afraid of a sudden southeast wind. According to Lin Xingzhu, if the wind is strong enough, the fifty old lock boats can run up to 50 miles in an hour, and 600 miles in one day and one night! If Li Zhongshan rushes along the Yangtze River with his head covered, maybe he can rush to Wuchang County! ”

"Rushed to Wuchang County in a day and a night? Can it be that powerful? Wu Sangui frowned.

Wuchang County is not the city of Jiangxia, but is located on the other side of the river in Huanggang, the capital city of Huangzhou, where Wu Sangui stationed some troops, and built a pontoon bridge over the Suojiang River, and pulled up an iron cable array to defend the city of Wuchang.

If Li Zhongshan is allowed to rush there in one go, this trouble is indeed a bit big.

"Of course it's amazing," Xia Guoxiang said, "The old lock boat is a sea ship, the sail is very large, and it can also be hung with soft sails, if the wind is downwind, the wind is strong enough, five or six hundred miles a day and a night." However, boats in the Yangtze River probably don't dare to go at night, but there is no problem for 400 miles. If these old lock boats can break the pontoon bridge we built between Xiaochikou and Jiujiang Fucheng, and set up an iron cable array, there will be a good wind for two days, and it will really rush to Hubei. ”

Hu Guozhu said; "Even if they don't go to Hubei, it's not easy for us to rush to Hanpokou with the tailwind."

"What do you mean by Lin Xingzhu and Cai Lu?" Wu Sangui asked, "They also think that our chains and pontoons may not be able to stop Li Zhongshan's old lock boat?" ”

Xia Guoxiang said: "They both said that there is no absolute war on the water, and Li Zhongshan has fifty old lock boats, if they collide with our shore artillery. Most of them can still break through, at most they will lose ten or eight old lock boats. So the two of them felt that if they really had a chance, they should still take advantage of the tailwind to set fire to the ship and launch a fierce attack with the building boat! ”

Hu Guozhu said: "Now we are smooth, and our building ships have oars, even if the war is unfavorable, we can withdraw it." And Li Zhongshan's old lock boats have no oars, and they are all sea boats, which are easy to run aground in the Yangtze River, so they can only carefully walk the waterway in the center of the river. ”

Wu Sangui squinted his eyes, his old man didn't know how to fight water, so he could only listen to the casual words of the people below. However, there is no way not to fight a water war, because Wu Sangui, who is proficient in land warfare, now knows that he is even less sure of fighting a land war.

Originally, Wu Sangui's advantage on land was two, one was that there were many soldiers, and the other was that the cavalry was strong.

But now Li Yat-sen has engaged in the national soldier system, okay, millions of Chinese people and millions of soldiers! Although there may not be a million, Wu Sangui's millions of people are not small! Moreover, Jiangxi is either a water network or a mountain, and it is not a place where cavalry can exert its might!

And the advantage of Li Yat-sen's side is the musket. Now it's more and more, and it's getting sharper and sharper!

"Since Lin Xingzhu and Cai Lu both think they can fight, let's fight well!" Wu Sangui nodded and said, "This time, I will personally go to Hukou and sit on Xia Zhong Mountain to supervise the battle!"

The Minister of State, the National Pillar, the two of you sent a message to the officers and soldiers of the Water Division on behalf of me: The first battle at Hukou, the first battle is a decisive battle, and the rise and fall of my Great Zhou Dynasty is here. If you win the war, everyone is the founder of the country! ”

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

The third year of the Republic, June 18.

The Yangtze River, about ten miles west of Xiaogu Mountain. When night falls, the open surface of the river (there will be a sandbar in this area in the future, but now the sandbar is still underwater, and the river surface is very open) is reflected in the light. On the flat land of Longhu Lake in Anhui Province on the north shore is full of the camp tents of the Ming people's army. From time to time in the night, there was the sound of bangs announcing safety, as well as the sound of patrolling soldiers' passwords.

Although the Longhu area is under the jurisdiction of Anhui Province and has always been under the control of the Ming Dynasty, it has never been occupied by Wu Sangui, and Wu Sangui only occupied the two strongholds of Xiaochikou on the other side of Jiujiang Fucheng and Balijiang on the other side of the lake, and the garrison is not much, so it is impossible to pose a threat to more than 100,000 Ming troops. However, the army led by Li Yat-sen was still very cautious in setting up camp, and he did not dare to take it lightly.

After all, this opponent is Wu Sangui!

In today's China, who can compare with him in terms of experience in using soldiers?

On the water surface of the Yangtze River near Li Yat-sen's camp, there were more than 300 warships of all sizes moored at this time. Most of these warships did not turn off their lights, and from a distance, it seemed as if the stars in the sky had fallen into the water of the Yangtze River.

At this time, a hazy light fog rose on the river, and in such weather, even the sailors on the small sampans patrolling around these Ming naval warships on the river were also a little carried. In the mist, he walked around the Grand Fleet at will, and was in a hurry to row back. But even if they were meticulous patrolling with small sampans, they couldn't see what was happening too far away on this foggy night.

As for the soldiers on the fast crab boats that formed a blockade on the river, except for a few who were on guard, everyone else lay down in their clothes and slept in the cabin. The oarsmen were already exhausted after days of going against the wind, and the other crew members were actually alternate oarsmen, most of whom had been substitutes for some time today, and they were also tired.

And the flotilla is now not far from the mouth of the lake, maybe tomorrow there will be a battle!

Therefore, every soldier is seizing the time to rest, so that he can recover his strength in time, and it will be a lot of trouble tomorrow!

And at this moment, in the middle of the Yangtze River, dozens of small sentinel boats are parting the river and quietly coming!

These small sentinel boats are the common willow-leaf-shaped fast boats on the Yangtze River in Dongting Lake and Jingzhou, and fishermen like to fly these boats to and fro on the river and lake.

These dozens of willow leaf boats have been refitted, in addition to the rear oar, several pairs of oars have been added on both sides, and there is a wooden shield in the bow. And each small sentinel ship has two ropes in the stern that tows two boats of the same type. However, there was only one sailor on those boats, who was dressed in water, and at a glance he could tell that the nature of the water was extraordinary. But the sailor did not shake the oar, but sat in a corner of the cabin, which was piled with firewood, rags, and grease, folded with his arms crossed, and waited quietly for the moment of fire.

The first person on the small sentry boat in the lead, short and sturdy, is Lin Xingzhu, the first warrior on the water of the old Wu family. Although he is the chief soldier of the former army of the Navy Division, he is in a high position, but tonight, he still desperately led his good brothers to sneak attack, and he didn't talk about martial arts at all!

On the dark surface of the Yangtze River behind Lin Xingzhu, dozens of building boats and two or three hundred smaller warships were already touching up at night. On the river at night, two shock clusters were formed!

They are the main force of the fleet led by Xia Guoxiang and Hu Zhuguo. Although it is the main force, a sneak attack is a must! Water warfare has always been about martial arts, even if gunboats have dominated water warfare nowadays, the favorite tactic of the navies and naval generals of various countries is to sneak attack anchorages. Not one of them!

In all the naval battles that took place in Europe, seven or eight out of ten battles that could really win a great victory were raids that did not emphasize martial virtues!

If you really want to fight, no one can guarantee that you will get a satisfactory exchange ratio - and the battleship is too expensive to lose!

And this time, according to the plan formulated by Lin Xingzhu and Cai Lu for Xia Guoxiang and Hu Guozhu, tonight is a fire attack and a sneak attack. After the fire in front of the front, the building fleet and other warships behind charged forward, completely disrupting the formation of the Ming fleet, and then using the "chaotic battle" to solve the Ming Naval Division!

(End of chapter)