"Boom"

With a thunderous roar, Xia Guoxiang's ship had been hit by two or three red-hot metal cannonballs! That's right, it's a red-hot cannonball! They are all "iron bullet burning" that burns red on the stove, and if a person is hit by a shot, he will have to be half-baked on the spot, and he will walk peacefully. It wouldn't be much better if the ship had been fired, and even if it hadn't broken the hull, the hot shells would get stuck in the hull, and it would have caused a small fire.

It would be even worse if this "iron bullet" was allowed to fall on the superstructure of the building, or if it simply pierced through the wooden walls and windows of the thin superstructure and entered the cabin. There are many flammable materials in the cabin and on the superstructure of the ship, sails, flags, ropes, sundries, etc., and there is almost nothing that cannot be lit by a red "iron bullet"! If there is, a few more!

When the sailors on the Xia Guoxiang ship had not yet reacted from the shock of the first bombardment, the old lock ship on the opposite side decisively fired another round of "iron bomb burning". This time, because the distance was closer and the aim was more accurate, he was hit by four shots at once, and one of them was a twelve-pound large "iron bullet burn", which hit the second floor above Xia Guoxiang's head with a direct "click"! This "iron bullet burning" flew less than three feet away from the top of Xia Guoxiang's head, and Xia Dadu could feel a terrible hot wind blowing in his face, which scared him out of a cold sweat! If this is any lower, he will have to face a twelve-pound red-hot iron ball, which will not die on the spot!

"Hurry up, hurry up", the governor of the Great Zhou Navy, said that the words were not good, and a "quick withdrawal" was stuck on the "fast", and the word "withdrawal" could not be pronounced.

The soldiers guarding him were quite brave, and when they heard the Governor's words, one of them shouted "yes", and then turned around and ran to the oarsman's cabin below the deck to convey the Governor's orders!

Although the superstructure of this warship has been burned by several "iron bombs", many cabins have already been burned. But no one knew about it in the oarsman's cabin on the lower deck, and it was still a scene of enthusiasm and everyone working hard.

Emperor Wu said: The rise and fall of the Great Zhou, in this battle, the soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty, there is no retreat!

And Wu Sangui is not the devil Dongxiang who only knows empty vernacular to send people to death, he really gives benefits to the below! Sichuan's land deeds are ready, as long as they are played well this time, one of the government soldiers under them will be counted as one, and there will be a big Sichuan landlord who can be a high and low landowner!

If you row a boat and sell a little strength, you can get a big landlord in Sichuan, how can these oarsmen recruited from the countryside of Huguang not work hard?

And the pro-soldier who passed the order for Xia Guoxiang was also a clever ghost, knowing that he was telling nonsense to inspire the morale of the army, so he rushed to the oarsman's cabin and shouted: "If you work harder, Li Datou's ship may be ahead."

Mr. Qian, the leading oarsman in the cabin, immediately shouted: "Brothers, work hard, row hard, and kill the surnamed Li!" ”

"Work hard, work hard!"

The oarsmen below suddenly got their strength up, and they all threw off their arms and rowed. The building ship was originally smooth sailing, but now with the push of the oars, the speed suddenly increased, and it seemed to be getting closer and closer to the old lock boat.

"Boom"

The Ming gunners on the old lock boat on the opposite side were really not polite to the target sent to the door, and another round of "iron bullet burning" was shot out, this time it was still four fever-hot shells smashed on the building ship, and there was no ambiguity at all that there were four holes, and there was a light I don't know what? Hit this building ship "furious"!

However, this time it was not the old lock ship of the Ming army that fired alone, but the two warships that were about to collide were bombarding each other with artillery.

Xia Guoxiang's ship also had two twelve-pound cannons in the bow, and the first round had just been played, and it was also the penultimate round - because those gunners were going to die soon! Two six-pound solid bullets roared and crashed into the hull of the old lock boat opposite, opening two big holes on the spot, but these two solid bullets were good solid bullets for their duty, not "iron bullet burning" with smoke due to lack of morality, so they did not cause much damage.

Xia Guoxiang has already let the two soldiers help him up, he is ready to escape! If you can't escape, you can't run into it immediately, and the cannon of the old lock ship on the opposite side is still firing. I don't know if this building ship, which was hit by enemy shells, will fall apart? He didn't want the eldest princess of Wu Sangui's family to be widowed, just when he was supported by two personal soldiers and walked along the verandah deck to the starboard side of the ship, there was a series of roars behind him!

This time it was a "cannon confrontation" between the two sides, and the two cannons on the bow of Xia Guoxiangza's ship still honestly fired two solid bullets, because the distance was close, so there were still no bullets, and two holes were opened in the hull of the old lock boat.

And the old lockboat returned a wave of unconscionable shotguns!

This is twelve bronze cannons, including two twelve-pound red-clothed cannons, and a wave of shotgun output has come to the bow of this Xia Kingdom Xiangza ship! The Daming Sailor used heavy shotguns that weighed three taels per bullet, and there were usually twenty-eight to thirty bullets in a six-pound shotgun, and sixty bullets were usually stuffed into a twelve-pound shotgun, and a salvo of ten six-pound guns and two twelve-pound guns output more than 400 bullets! Immediately, the bow of this building ship was beaten all over the ground, there were almost no living people, and the death was ugly, and everyone had a hole in the mooring and bleeding, which was really miserable.

If Xia Guoxiang leaves a little later, Wu Sangui's eldest daughter will be widowed! And his own soldiers and staff, who walked slowly, are now lying on the bow deck very peacefully!

Although the bow of this building boat has been washed by the other party's shotgun, and it has been hit by the "iron bullet" and smokes everywhere, the oarsman's cabin below is still in full swing, and everyone is sweating profusely rowing their oars, shouting the labor horn, driving the building boat forward.

Suddenly, there was a "click", and then there was a violent shaking, and everyone in the cabin and on the deck could not stand still and fell to the ground. Of course, Xia Guoxiang was no exception, he fell to the ground, his face hit the ground, he had a very handsome face, and he smashed it on the hardwood on the deck with a snap, his nose was crooked, and his front teeth were smashed!

But now is the critical moment of escaping, Xia Guo had to endure the pain and get up, just stand firmly, he heard someone shouting in his ear: "Bumped together!" ”

What crashed together? Xia Guoxiang turned his head and found that it was broken! It was his own building boat that collided with the old lock boat! Perhaps the old lock boat raised its iron anchor before the collision and then dodged, but it did not completely avoid it, so the bow of the building ship did not hit the waist of the old lock boat, but the butt of the old lock boat.

However, because Wu Zhoujun's building ships are all flat-headed, and there is no collision angle below the waterline, this collision did not cause much damage to the sturdy old lock boat, but Wu Zhoujun's building ship has a row of iron hooks installed on the flat head, and when the collision occurs, this row of iron hooks is inserted into the board of the old lock ship under the action of huge impulse. With this insertion, the two warships are connected together, and no one can run unless they jump into the river to swim!

Xia Guoxiang covered his face and turned his head to look at the Yangtze River. It's so far from the riverbank, there's no hope of swimming over. Then he noticed a wave of heat coming from behind him, so he turned to look again, and found that the cabin on the second floor of the building ship where he was was on fire was blazing!

That's damning!

The ship is on fire, surrounded by water, and connected to an enemy ship!

This Xia Guoxiang is really unlucky, this time he was either burned to death by fire, drowned by water, or killed by the Ming army. There's no place to run!

Just when Xia Guo was in a hurry, the shouting of killing suddenly rose, and then he saw a large group of sailor warriors with swords and cards, carrying ladders, playing barefoot, and wearing only single clothes rushing out of the upper cabin of the building ship or the oarsman's cabin below the deck. Looks like morale is pretty high!

Mr. Qian, who was in the oarsman's cabin, saw Xia Guoxiang, who had a blue nose and swollen face, and hurriedly came up to ask for peace: "Master Ma, what's wrong with you?" It doesn't matter, right? ”

"It doesn't matter what matters, you quickly take someone to put out the fire, or you will be burned to death!" Xia Guoxiang stomped his feet, and hurriedly asked Mr. Qian, who was in the oarsman's cabin, to make a cameo appearance in "damage management", and led his men to extinguish the fire, so that the fire could be contained. And he himself took the plunge and took a group of knife and card players who specialize in jumping gang battles to the bow of the ship to see how to fight water battles?

This is really embarrassing, Xia Guoxiang, the landlubber governor of the navy, but when Xia Guoxiang returned to the bow deck under the protection of a group of rattan soldiers, he suddenly found that he might have a water war. For he found that the stern of the old lock, which was blocked in front of the bow of his own ship, looked like a castle, and there was even a battlement in the stern!

This water battle turns out to be the same as siege warfare!

When he finally understood the essence of water warfare, Xia Guoxiang hurriedly called another general manager and asked him to take his men to carry ladders to attack the city, no, it was to attack ships!

He didn't dare to take the lead himself, he was afraid that the Ming army would hit him in the face with cannonballs, so he shrank on the verandah deck behind the bow deck, and used the wall panel of the superstructure of the building as a cover, and felt that it was not safe, so he asked his subordinates to find a wooden shield to block the front.

He had just secured himself when gunshots rang out in front of him! He hurriedly leaned on the wooden shield probe and looked forward, and after a look, he found that the group of sailors below was really attacking the city! This has put the ladder up to the back aft of the house.

However, the Ming army is not vegetarian, they are condescending, and they are shooting targets with flintlock pistols, which is called a bullet raining down, and immediately the group of high-morale Wu Zhou sailors were killed and wounded!

The sailors who climbed up the ladder also knew the power of the Ming Dynasty's "defending the city" navy, those people not only had muskets, but also a kind of thunder with a wooden handle installed, looking like a small hammer, this kind of thunder is cast iron shell, which is filled with granular black powder, the iron shell has a small hole, plugged in the woodpipe fuse, and after lighting the fire, it will smash down to the bow of the building ship as if it doesn't need money, and throw out more than a dozen at a time! Some of them didn't explode, but what exploded was a large explode, and even Wu Zhou's sailors, who had already climbed the ladder, would be injured by shrapnel flying from their backs and fell down screaming.

Wu Zhou's navy also had guns, but they did not have flintlock pistols, only large-caliber turtledove-foot muskets, which were used to hit the ship's planks. However, the board of the old lock ship was too thick, and the projectiles of the turtledove-foot musket could not be hit at all, and it was difficult for the Ming army musketeers who relied on the battlement to fire.

So after a while, the musketeers of the Wu army fell in the counter-fire!

For a while, the bow of the building ship was full of dead bodies, and the blood stained the deck red, and this wave of attacks on the stern of the old lock ship of the Ming army was regarded as a fiasco at this time!

Wu Zhoujun's sailors, who couldn't bear the losses, finally knew that the big landlords in Sichuan were not good, so they had to cry and retreat in defeat.

It seems that it is not easy to attack the city on the water of the Yangtze River!

Just when Xia Guoxiang looked at the defeated sailors, looked at the stern of the old lock ship that was a lot higher than the bow of the building ship he was on, and didn't know what to do for a while, a few ropes were suddenly thrown down from the stern, and then the vigorous Ming army sailors turned out from behind the battlements on the stern tower one after another, and slid down the rope to the bow of the building where Xia Guoxiang was.

These Ming sailors were all sword players, and after sliding down, they stepped on Wu Zhoujun's corpse and began to charge towards the verandah deck where Xia Guoxiang was!

Wu Zhoujun's sailors had just failed to "attack the ship" and suffered heavy losses, and now they were still suppressed by the musketeers on the stern of the old lock ship with flintlock pistols, where could they resist the attack of the Ming saber player? After barely resisting for a while, he was defeated because more and more Ming troops came to jump into the gang!

Xia Guoxiang had no choice but to turn to the stern under the protection of his own soldiers. While running, he also stepped on the surface of the river, trying to find a boat that could save him.

Only after this touch did I find that at this time, on the surface of the Yangtze River, there were building boats and old lock boats everywhere to catch and fight! Some building boats also hit the old lock boats, and they can't be separated! In others, two boats were thrown together, and many ropes, perhaps with iron hooks, were thrown onto the Wu family's boat. Some of the building ships seem to have been captured by the Ming army, and the red flags are flying on the ships! There were also fierce battles on top of some buildings, with gunshots, explosions, and shouts of killing! There are also several old lock boats and building boats that have crashed into each other The fire has gotten out of control, and the sailors on both sides are jumping into the Yangtze River like dumplings!

In addition, there are a few building boats that did not collide with the old lock boats, but they were besieged by the fast crab boats of the Ming army, and it seems that it is difficult to get out!

Xia Guoxiang observed for a while, and his heart was already half cold, because he didn't find that there was a fierce battle going on on any of the old lock ships, and it seemed that none of the old lock ships had been breached.

And the building ship, which was low on the side and not tall in the bow and stern, suffered very much in the battle with the old lock ship! The old lock boat is condescending and has an advantage in the terrain!

This water war actually talks about the terrain and the advantageous area!

Xia Guoxiang can be regarded as an eye-opener!

And those low-sided building ships don't seem to have much advantage when they encounter the siege of fast crab boats, fast crab ships are much more flexible than building ships, and the firepower does not fall, it seems that it is not much difficult to board the building ships from fast crab ships.

In addition, the fast crab boat seems to be able to hit the oars of the building boat - Xia Guoxiang saw that the oars on the side of a building boat were all broken and were spinning on the water!

Suddenly, he saw a bluffing ship with the banner of Wu Zhou approaching, probably discovering that he was the governor of Zuodu, so he hurriedly shouted with his own soldiers: "Hurry, come here. The prime minister of the Metropolitan Governor Xia is here! ”

As soon as they shouted, the bluffing boat really came up, and just when Xia Guoxiang thought that he was about to be saved, he suddenly realized that something was wrong! On this bluffing boat, which was still carrying the flag of Wu Zhou, there were several sailors with red scarves on their heads, all of whom were holding flintlock pistols against him. One of them also shouted loudly: "Prime Minister Xia, don't surrender yet!" ”

Hukou, Lower Zhongshan Fort.

The dragon flag of the Great Zhou Emperor has been flying on this fort on the bank of the Yangtze River for two days and two nights.

And Wu Sangui didn't close his eyes for two days and two nights - since he beat Xia Guoxiang and Hu Guozhu to attack with the main force of the Great Zhou Water Division, he felt uncertain and couldn't sleep at all.

He is now deep in Jiangxi, garrisoning Jiujiang and Hukou, and the logistics depend on the naval army. Once the Great Zhou Yangtze River Water Division was defeated, let alone take Jiangxi, it would be very difficult for him to retreat to Wuchang Mansion City.

And once Wuchang Mansion City is recaptured by Li Zicheng and Li Zhongshan, the fortunes of the Great Zhou Dynasty may take a sharp turn!

Wu Sangui, who was circling in a gold-domed tent, thought that Wuchang Mansion might be lost, and he was bursting with gold stars in his eyes. At this time, outside his golden-roofed tent, he suddenly heard someone shouting: "Grandpa, grandpa, our building boat is back!" ”

Coming back?

It's good to be back!

Wu Sangui breathed a sigh of relief, and at this time, Wu Shifan had already opened the curtain of the big tent and walked in.

"How? How many come back? Were there any warships of the Ming army trailing? ”

"Thirty or so old lock ships that have not seen the Ming army are tailing!"

"Thank goodness!" Wu Sangui breathed a sigh of relief, "Let's go, let's go and have a look with grandpa!" ”

"Yes!" Wu Shifan hurriedly helped Wu Sangui out of the tent and came to the high place of the Lower Zhongshan Fort, at this time, the thirty or so ships that seemed to be somewhat injured had rowed under the Lower Zhongshan Fort.

At this moment, the triangular red-bottomed dragon flags of Wu Zhoujun on these buildings were suddenly lowered one after another, and then a bright red rectangular flag was raised - this is the blood-colored red flag of the Republic of the Ming Dynasty!

Immediately afterwards, Wu Sangui, who was in shock, heard an unknown number of people shouting in unison there: "Dinghu abandoned the world that day, broke the enemy and took the capital and Yuguan." Crying and crying, the six armies are all vegetarian, and they are angry at the crown."

(End of chapter)