Chapter 769, The Battle for the Islands
"Quick! Stop those boats! An English officer shouted in a terrified voice.
The sailors reacted and hurriedly attacked the small boat that was rushing towards their own warship. I saw a column of water around a few small boats, and arrows fell on them like a torrential rain. Two small boats were hit by shells one after the other and were reduced to pieces in an instant, and the last boat, although it was the first to be serious, still staggered into a large ship. Bang! There was another loud bang, fireworks soared into the sky, and pieces of warships and human stumps were lifted into the sky. The ship broke in two and sank quickly.
At this time, the remaining Ming warship staggered and crashed into an English warship, and the sailors on the English warship exclaimed. The remnants of the Ming sailors roared and rushed onto the English warship, slashed with a knife, killed people when they saw it, and for a while they saw the corpses on the English warship accumulating blood flying, some sailors tried to resist, but where was the opponent of the Ming warriors, and the head was cut off in an instant.
The officers and men of the surrounding English warships were shocked and overwhelmed when they saw this scene, and the English fleet had never encountered such a fierce opponent in the seas in the past few years.
The English general ordered all artillery fire to bombard the ship. When the gunboats received the order, they immediately turned their guns and aimed them at the warship. At this time, the English officers and soldiers on that ship had either been killed or had already jumped into the sea to escape. In an instant, a huge roar sounded, and in the midst of the white smoke, countless cannonballs whistled and flew towards the two warships that were clinging to each other! There was a loud crackling sound, the mast collapsed, the sawdust flew, and in an instant, the two warships began to sink with thousands of holes!
The English general couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and looked up at the sea. Seeing that the opponent's dozen or so warships were all wiped out, their own losses were not smaller than that of their opponents, and their own forces were obviously dozens of times that of their opponents! The General of England couldn't help but be a little mad.
By this time, most of the merchant ships had been able to escape Kunlun Island. Zhou Yang stood on the deck behind the Luojia merchant ship, looking at Kunlun Island farther and farther away, and he was really unwilling. He sighed and forced himself not to think about it. Retracting his gaze, he saw that dozens of Ming merchant ships around him were sailing eastward through the waves, and he suddenly felt very relieved.
The English fleet annihilated the Ming fleet on Kunlun Island, and immediately formed a landing formation and rushed towards Kunlun Island.
The fleet stopped two hundred paces away, and then all the gunboats bombarded the various points on the island, and for a time the artillery fire roared, the walls of the island collapsed, and the smoke and flames billowed out. It's hard to believe that anyone can hold on.
The English fleet had been preparing for artillery fire for nearly half an hour, and then two thousand landing troops began to charge, and dozens of specially made clippers rushed to the shore.
The landing force was getting closer and closer to the port, and the English general looked relaxed, in his opinion, Kunlun Island was already the territory of their kingdom of England.
Suddenly, there was a loud roar on the island. The English general was startled, and saw several huge columns of water rushing up in the middle of the landing force, and one of the ships, apparently hit, had stopped and spun in circles, only to collide heavily with the ships that followed them, and many sailors fell into the water. The English general frowned and muttered, "They also have artillery?!" "Nonsense!
Flames and white smoke were rising from the middle of several cliffs on the island, apparently where the opponent's gun emplacements were. The English landing force continued to rush towards the port under the artillery fire of the Ming army, and from time to time warships were hit by artillery fire. Unfortunately, the artillery of this era was limited, and if you had half the power of a war artillery, you could blow up a warship with one shot. The English general ordered the gunboats to attack the opponent's artillery position, and in the rumbling of the cannonballs, countless shells flew towards the artillery positions of the Ming army; However, the English artillery fire stopped a little, and the Ming artillery fire began to exert its power again, and the English artillery fire did not seem to have much effect.
More and more ships broke anchor, but most of them rushed into the harbor. When the English general saw this, he thought that he had the chance of victory, and exclaimed excitedly; "Good!"
Nearly two thousand English landing troops jumped out of their ships and boarded the harbor and rushed towards it. This port is located on the west side of Kunlun Island, and from the port to the island, it must be between the two mountain beams of Jinguo. It's a trumpet-shaped terrain with a large port side and a rapidly narrowing exit into the island.
The English army rushed towards the island excitedly, and everyone roared loudly and scrambled to be the first. Suddenly, more than a hundred enemies appeared in front of the figure shaking. The English army was even more excited, and charged more violently.
The more than 100 Ming troops pushed out more than a dozen artillery pieces, and the muzzles of the guns were facing the crowd that was rushing up. The officers and men of England were in the midst of excitement, and they didn't care about it, they just charged vigorously, and everyone looked very crazy.
Boom Boom Boom Boom ...... A huge roar rang out, and the white eyes of the Ming Dynasty were rolling. The English general, who was standing on the flagship in the distance, saw that his own soldiers had rolled down, and the momentum of the charge was instantly frustrated, and he couldn't help but be puzzled. He was far away, so he couldn't see clearly, but in fact, the English army was under concentrated fire from artillery scattered shells! At this distance, more than a dozen artillery pieces fired with scattered shells, and the barrage was absolutely undodgable and violent, and in an instant, the two or three hundred people who rushed to the front were either killed or injured, and the momentum of the charge was greatly reduced!
The corpses were all over the ground, the wounded were rolling on the ground and screaming, and the originally menacing English army changed its appearance in an instant, and the morale was greatly reduced, and everyone was at a loss.
At this moment, the shouts on both sides suddenly exploded, and I saw hundreds of Ming soldiers rushing from the left and right sides in two teams. The English army was even more alarmed, and they all spun around like headless flies.
In an instant, Wang Gu led his men to crash into the enemy army in one fell swoop, brandishing swords and guns and slashing hard, extremely fierce; Flesh and blood flew in the crowd, and one by one the English warriors fell in a pool of blood, the ferocity of the enemy was far beyond their imagination, and it only felt as if they had been broken into by a group of tigers and wolves, which was simply unstoppable. The brave English warriors fought back, but they fell under Yan Yun's sword and gun.
The English army was terrified, felt that they could not resist, and turned around and fled. Daming covered up all the way, and killed the opponent all over the place, panicking like a lost dog.
The English soldiers in the distance were all stunned when they saw this scene, and they didn't know what to do for a while.
Seeing that his own men and horses were driven to the shore like sheep by hundreds of opponents, another round of killing, the entire shore was covered with corpses, the sea water was stained red, and hundreds of life-threatening people escaped on the warship and escaped.
The English general was greatly annoyed, and at the same time faintly shocked in his heart. The English army, as well as the entire Western army, have never really fought with the Ming army, and they thought that the eastern army was easy to deal with, but they didn't expect the eastern army to be so fierce and so powerful! This was true of the opponent's fleet before, and now it is the same with the opponent's army! It seems that it is necessary to revise the view of the Eastern Army!
The English general thought about it and decided to suspend the offensive. The fleet retreated for several miles to recuperate, while patrol ships were sent to patrol the island.
That night, scout ships came to report that the terrain to the east and south of Kunlun Island could be landed. The English general immediately made a plan to attack on three sides at the same time, and ordered the fleet to be divided into three groups, which were arranged on the southwest and east sides, and prepared to attack at the same time until midnight.
At the same time, Wangu stood on the high point of the island, thinking about the enemy's attack strategy. At this time, the night was just right, and a bright moon hung like a huge jade plate in the night sky, shining the entire sea surface sparkling.
I saw that the enemy fleet in the west was divided into two groups and arranged around the island to the south and east respectively. Wang Gu frowned and muttered, "The golden retriever of the dog day, he's not fucking stupid, he knows that he should be besieged on three sides!" After a little thought, he immediately called a few officers under his command to give careful instructions, and several officers took the order and left.
The night is getting thicker and thicker, the bright moon is gradually rising, the moon is cold and clear at this time, sparkling, the sea is at night, if you can enjoy it with the beauty, it can be said to be very pleasant. However, at this time, Kunlun Island was a battlefield of blood and fire. Although the fighting had ceased, the air was still filled with the disgusting smell of blood and the breathless tension.
The English army was divided into three teams to surround Kunlun Island on three sides, ready to go, and each team was making final preparations before entering the palace.
Suddenly, the quiet night was broken by the rumbling of artillery fire, and countless flames were churning on the sea island, and the huge cannon sound was as thrilling as if a monster was roaring and screaming. Two quarters of an hour later, a thousand English troops rushed out in each direction of the southwest and east to attack Kunlun Island. The island was silent, there was no artillery fire back, and it was so quiet that it was terrifying.
The landing force came to the shore and jumped out of the boat. The team assembled on the shore and waited, while the team searched and advanced first. This is to learn the lesson of the day, for fear of falling into the trap of the opponent again.
Soon after, when the first pathfinder team returned, none of the pathfinder teams found any anomalies, not even the west side, which had been ambushed during the day. The officers and men of the English army were excited, and they all said that the Ming army must have been scared and had fled. The three teams of soldiers and horses advanced towards the interior of Kunlun Island. Although everyone thinks that the Ming army has fled, but after seeing the strength of the Ming army, everyone does not dare to be careless, and the soldiers and horses are cautious when they move forward, and the pathfinder team is always exploring the road in front.
The three groups were well advanced, and an hour later, the fastest southern landing force had arrived at the site of the island governor's office, and lit a bonfire to report to the general on the flagship. When the English general saw the promised signal appear, he couldn't help but feel a burst of joy.
The entourage beside the general laughed: "There was no battle, the enemy must have already run." The general nodded approvingly.
Following the arrival of the southern landing force on the island, the eastern landing force and the western landing force arrived one after another. Seeing the light of the torches on the island, shining like stars, the English troops on the sea heard the noise and cheers on the island from afar, and they were all very excited, and many people stood on the boats and shouted loudly to the island.
Bang! Suddenly, a huge explosion shook the entire night sky and the entire ocean, and in the darkness of the night, a huge orange-red flame rose from the island, and the ears could not hear anything else, only a buzzing roar; The English soldiers at sea, who were terrified to see the terrible scene as if a volcanic eruption, were stunned.
The huge explosion lifted countless earth and stones into the sky and threw them far away, falling into the sea like raindrops, and the sound of ping-pong banging sounded as if the whole sea was boiling. The English soldiers who came to their senses shouted loudly and dodged in all directions, and the scene was chaotic.
When the rumbling noise faded away, the smoke and dust gradually dissipated, and I saw that the small mountain that originally stood on the island had been cut in half! The general's eyes widened and he exclaimed, "This, what's going on?" ”
At this moment, as if in response to his words, there were bursts of fighting cries from the island, like a sudden wolf howl, which was thrilling. The general's heart moved, and a bad premonition came to his heart.
The 3,000 English troops who landed on Kunlun Island originally thought that they had occupied Kunlun Island, but they did not want to suddenly shake the mountain under their feet, and in an instant, a violent explosion collapsed half of the mountain, and almost one-third of the English army was killed. The officers and men of the English army, who had narrowly escaped, were dazed and confused, and did not know what had happened for a while. At this moment, the sound of killing suddenly rose all around, and the fierce soldiers of the Ming Army rushed out of the darkness like tigers and wolves who came out to hunt in the night!
Before the English army could react, they were rushed into the middle by the Ming army, and the sound of swords and guns slashing rang out, and only flesh and blood flew in the moonlight! The English army came back to their senses, only to feel that these Ming people in front of them were simply demons who came to the world from the dark hell to collect life, where did they dare to fight, and ran around in panic! The Ming army was chasing and killing on all sides, there were fleeing Englandites everywhere, there were killing figures everywhere, screams and the sound of slashing and slashing, blood flying all over the sky in the moonlight, Kunlun Island seemed to have become a Shura hell!
The Englishmen on the ship stared at the island with wide eyes, although they couldn't see clearly, but the tragic sound kept coming into their ears, and they only felt that the situation of their comrades on the island was not good, and they couldn't help but be frightened, and no one knew what to do for a while.
The English fled to the shore and scrambled to the ship, the strong pulled the weak out of the boat, and the uninjured squeezed the wounded into the sea, and the shouts and curses rang out, and the scene was very chaotic. Suddenly, a rain of arrows flew, and many of the Englishmen under the ship were shot down. The English were even more alarmed, and the English, who had already boarded the ship, could not care about their comrades who had not yet boarded the ship, and hurriedly sailed away from the shore. The Ming army rushed to the shore, and killed the English who could not escape, the English were cut down in the sea blood like pigs and sheep, and the screams continued, and the English who had fled by boat looked at their comrades who were ruthlessly killed in the moonlight, listening to the terrible screams, both frightened and ashamed, but also glad that they finally escaped.
The chaotic night is over. An English officer rushed to the side of the English general and said with a pale face: "General, our three thousand landing troops have lost more than two thousand people!" Although the English general had expected it, he was still taken aback when he heard this number. The English general had a crazy thought in his heart, and he wanted to cut all those Han people on the island with a thousand knives! Calm down, think about countermeasures, but don't know what to do for a while!
Over the next few days, the English army tried a variety of ways to attack Kunlun Island. However, the result was the same every time, and no progress was made. With the passage of time, the contempt of the English for the Ming army has long disappeared without a trace, and the awe in their hearts has become stronger and stronger, only to feel that those Ming people are simply bloodthirsty demons, too terrible!
Just when the English were at a loss, their main fleet arrived.
Nelson, the commander of the English navy, stood on the deck of the flagship and looked in front of the lookout, only to see that his own forward fleet was still stranded in front of Kunlun Island, as if it had not yet captured Kunlun Island. Nelson frowned, annoyed.
At this time, the news came, saying that the forward general Horatio's attack on Kunlun Island was frustrated and had lost thousands of men and horses, but Kunlun Island was still in the hands of the Ming people. Nelson could not tolerate the incompetence of his generals and decided to punish him, so he ordered the flag officer to raise the command flag against the forward fleet, and ordered Horatio to report to the flagship.
The flag officer waved the signal flag towards the forward fleet, and soon after, a dinghy approached the front. After the rescue, the dinghy came to Nelson's flagship, leaned in, put on and lowered the rope ladder, and Horatio and one of his lieutenants climbed up to Nelson's flagship through the rope ladder.
The two men were led into the cabin by an officer, and when they saw Nelson, who was sitting at the top, they bowed together: "Generalissimo! They didn't hear the generalissimo's words, but felt the silence in the cabin, and the two of them couldn't help but feel uneasy, and Horatio's sideburns overflowed with sweat.
"I heard that you led a powerful forward fleet to attack Kunlun Island for many days, not only did you not destroy the enemy and capture the island, but suffered a lot of losses, which greatly dampened the prestige of our Great England Navy!" Nelson spoke, his tone as cold as a cold day.
Horatio's heart tightened, and he hurriedly said, "Generalissimo, please listen to my explanation." In fact, it's not that we are greedy for life and afraid of death, we have done our best! But the enemy is far more powerful than we had anticipated! For many days in a row, we attacked the island many times, but each time we could not gain a foothold, the enemy fought back like a tiger and wolf, and our army suffered heavy losses every time! ”
Nelson knew this subordinate, knew that he was still a very competent general, and that he was brave and tenacious, and that he was honest and not hypocritical, so listening to his explanation, he did not suspect that he was lying, but was a little shocked by what he said. frowned and asked, "What you said is true?" Does the Ming Army really have such strong combat effectiveness? ”
Horatio did not dare to hide anything, and told the scene of the past few days, especially the first day of fighting.
There was a buzz in the cabin, and all the generals were whispering, although everyone knew Horatio's character, but they still didn't believe Horatio's words, they would never believe in such a terrible opponent. A very burly general with a golden face and beard like a golden lion king came out, bowed to Nelson, and said, "Generalissimo, I don't believe Horatio's words!" How can there be such a terrible enemy in the world, it is clear that Horatio himself is incompetent, but he puts the responsibility for defeat on the head of the enemy! The man who spoke was named Hood, an important admiral in the English navy, and had always been at odds with Horatio.
When Horatio heard the other party insulting him, he was furious and said loudly: "Hood, you dare to insult me!" ”
Hood sneered and said unceremoniously: "You yourself have been so disgraceful, are you not allowed to say it?" Horatio was so angry that he was dying, but he did hit a wall in front of Kunlun Island, and he wanted to refute it, but he couldn't refute it at all.
Hood saw that Horatio looked as uncomfortable as if he had eaten a dead fly, and his heart was greatly refreshed, he had never been so comfortable since the two of them had been fighting. Turning to Nelson, he bowed and said, "Generalissimo, I am willing to lead the army to attack Kunlun Island, and it only takes one day for me to take Kunlun Island!" I'll never be like that coward! ”
All eyes fell on Nelson's face. Although Nelson knew Horatio very well, he still couldn't believe what Horatio said, and he only felt that it would be good to let Hood lead the army to attack, at least let himself see the opponent's combat effectiveness and combat characteristics. As soon as he thought of this, he nodded and said, "Okay, you go and attack!" Hood was overjoyed and said loudly: "Just ask the generalissimo to see how I, Hood, slaughter those Ming barbarians!" Horatio was a little worried in his heart, he was worried that after many days of onslaught on his side, the Ming army might not be able to withstand the onslaught of Hood's new force. At that time, of course, he would not be able to raise his head with Hood's shameful smile, and I am afraid that the generalissimo would also blame himself for the disadvantage of the attack.
The main fleet of England entered the position, and Hood immediately led his fleet forward to take the place of the Horatio fleet, assuming an offensive posture.
Hood ordered his gunboats to bombard several points on the island, and although he boasted of the sea in front of Nelson, he did not dare to be careless. Although Hood had been fighting with Horatio for many years, he still knew very well the capabilities of his opponent, and since he couldn't take the island after many days of onslaught, the enemy would certainly not be easy. In fact, Hood asked for battle in front of Nelson, and boasted about Haikou, not just showing a momentary blood bravery, but playing a slippery head. Don't look at this Hood looks like the Golden Retriever Lion King, in fact, he has a lot of ghost thoughts, he speculates that the enemy on the island should indeed be very powerful, but after many days of strong attack by Horatio, it must have been greatly weakened. At this time, he concentrated his forces on the storm, and had a great chance of breaking through the enemy army and occupying the island in one fell swoop. At that time, he was infinitely beautiful, and Horatio couldn't hold his head up.
After all, what happens next, let's see how it will be broken down next time.