Kangxi, your Qing Dynasty is dead

Chapter 346 The rise and fall of the Great Zhou Dynasty, in this battle, all soldiers, don't talk about martial ethics! (ask for subscription, ask for monthly pass)

On the Yangtze River, a very strange and huge fleet is going against the current and the wind.

The reason why this fleet is strange is that it is a fleet of tugboats in which small boats tow large boats, and big boats tow small boats!

There are only three types of ships in the entire fleet, fast crab boats, old lock boats and sampans.

There were about 160 fast crab boats, and 42 of them walked ahead of the group and were the vanguard of the entire fleet. The 7 boats formed two loose horizontal formations and marched side by side along the Yangtze River.These fast crab boats are all of uniform specifications, about [-] feet long and [-] feet wide, with forty long oars installed on each side.Each boat has forty long oars separated left and right, moving against the current and moving forward in separate waves.Those paddlers are all strong and strong men, with a lot of strength, and the speed of the boat is not fast now, it just sails slowly, which is a bit like boating on the river to enjoy the scenery, so the paddlers don't have to work hard at all. Talking and laughing.

On the deck, in addition to the strong men paddling, there are also many gunners, gunners, knives and poker players.

A six-jin bronze cannon is hidden in the bow of these fast crab boats, guarded by four gunners.Ten musket shooting positions are set up on the central axis of each ship. On each shooting position stands a shooter holding a flintlock turtledove foot heavy musket and wearing a helmet on his head. A thick and large wooden shield that can withstand bullets.

In addition, there are more than a dozen sword platoon players on each fast crab boat, sitting cross-legged in the cabin to recharge their batteries, ready to fight against the boat, or jump on the enemy boat to cut people.

The sailors and sailors on these fast crab boats are all water-savvy sergeants, and most of them are elites transferred from Fujian by Zheng Jing. They are all good hands!

This time, they came to the Yangtze River to do business with the identity of Fujianese issued by Zheng Jing and the silver issued by Li Zhongshan.If Wu Sangui's sailors blocked the way, they would have to risk their lives to drive the boat up, even if they tried their best, they would have to carry it up for a while, in order to protect the fifty old crabs who were followed behind by other fast crab boats. The lock boats bought some time so that they could turn their bows and use the side cannons to meet the enemy!
These old lock boats are old and powerful, and each ship is equipped with twenty six-jin bronze cannons and four twelve-jin red cannons.

If all the fifty old lock boats complete the U-turn and face the enemy with one side, it will be six hundred six-jin or twelve-jin bronze cannons firing together!
Where are these fifty boats, these are simply fifty floating water forts!
However, this method of dragging the old lock boat as a floating fort does violate the common sense of traditional water warfare. Of course, this method of warfare violates the traditional common sense of water warfare, but now, times have changed!

Now these fifty old lock boats without sails are moving slowly on the water surface towed by a hundred fast crab boats.The oarsmen on these fast crab boats were not as relaxed as the oarsmen on the fast crab boats that opened the way ahead. Now they were all shirtless, their muscles were bulging, their backs were sweating, and their heads were steaming.

And behind these old lock boats being towed, there are also sampans being towed by the old lock boats. Behind each old lock boat is a string of four sampans, which look like they have 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 with a length of twenty or thirty miles was rolling forward. There are also Min Zhuang in coarse clothes driving a carriage and mule cart full of food, 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 from the Zhou Army could already be seen slowly following the fleet towards the mouth of the lake.Under the big sun, the faces of those second-generation Guan Ning cavalrymen who were sweating and drenched all over their bodies must have expressions of inexplicable surprise.

This team of cavalry followed for two or three hours, until the fleet on the river stopped advancing, anchored, and began to rest carelessly on the river.The leader of this team of cavalry finally believed that he was not mistaken, and sent a few cavalry 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 Mount Lu at this time, and placed his travels in Jiujiang City, which was extremely hot.

When his sons-in-law Xia Guoxiang and Hu Guozhu approached Wu Sangui beamingly with the military newspaper they had just received, the Emperor Zhaowu of the Great Zhou Kingdom was reading a secret letter from Wu Guogui while waving a paper fan.

Wu Guogui told him in the letter that his daughter Wu Xiaotu had fallen for the trick and agreed to transfer Jia Hanfu back to Guangzhou in exchange for the father and daughter living together in peace—this is tantamount to ceding Jia Hanfu's territory to please Wu Guogui!And Jia Hanfu is still Li Zhongzhen's father-in-law. What kind of anger will this old man Jia Hanfu become?Since this old thing got Guiyang Prefecture and Chenzhou from Kangxi a few years ago, it has been painstakingly managed as an ancestral family business.

It is said that this old thing has divided the territory for his six sons!Guiyang Prefecture and Chenzhou have a total of nine counties or prefectures, of which Jiada occupies three, Jiaer occupies two, and Jiasan, Jiasi, Jiawu, and Jialiu each occupy one.

It's good now, Wu Xiaotu wants to pack these nine counties and give them to her father Wu Guogui, Jia Hanfu doesn't know if he will be pissed to death?

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 completely, and was so angry that he hid in a nunnery outside Guilin to try to be clean.

The soldiers of Guihai Town, who were bewitched by Sun Jiqing, together with a group of chieftains and local tyrants from Guangxi, gathered a total of 5 people, and have already begun to besiege Wuzhou, an important town on the border between Guangdong and Guangxi. , is also the wealthiest government in Guangxi!

If Sun Jiqing attacked Wuzhou, he would be fighting against his own father!

And Wu Xiaotu ceded Jia Hanfu's territory to Wu Guogui, probably to concentrate his forces to quell Sun Jiqing's rebellion. Once the main force of the Cantonese army goes to Wuzhou to fight Sun Jiqing, Wu Guogui's chance to take over the Guangfu will come!
When Wu Sangui was planning to discuss with his son Wu Yingxiong whether to redesignate Wu Guogui as King of Guangdong to encourage him to march to Guangfu, the voices of Xia Guoxiang and Hu Guozhu came from the door.

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

"Your Majesty, this Li Zhongzheng has finally made a foolish move. Look, he doesn't know how to fight in water at all!"

Wu Sangui heard the report of the two, and hurriedly declared them an audience.

The two captains of the navy saluted Wu Sangui together, and then Xia Guoxiang smiled and said to Wu Sangui: "Your Majesty, Li Zhongshan is coming in two ways, all the way to the north bank of the Yangtze River. It is the Lu Division, and it is a mighty line of twenty or thirty. I'm afraid there are tens of thousands of people in the long queue."

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 so fast crab boats. Among them, about a hundred fast crab boats are dragging the dozens of old lock boats. Lock boats go against the current and against the wind, and go slowly and laboriously. What a fool!"

"What? Tow with a small boat against the current and wind?" Wu Sangui was taken aback, "They really did that? I thought they only dragged it when there was no wind and the wind changed suddenly!"

"It should be like this," Hu Guozhu said. "I asked Lin Xingzhu and Cai Lu, the two commanders-in-chief, and he said that sometimes large ships sailing at sea will encounter no wind. At this time, they either Wait for the wind, or you can only use a sampan to pull it. Unexpectedly, Li Zhongshan actually used two-thirds of the fast crab boat on hand as a tugboat to drag it all the way, and the oarsmen will not be exhausted? How can we fight next? ?”

Wu Sangui stood up and walked in front of a map. Xia Guoxiang understood what the old man meant, pointed at the town of Madang on the map with his right index finger and said, "Your Majesty, Li Zhongshan's fleet has passed Madang Mountain. According to the current With the speed, you can cross Xiaogu Mountain tomorrow, and you can get close to the mouth of the lake the day after tomorrow!"

Hu Guozhu said: "Your Majesty, the wind is from the southwest these few days. Li Zhongshan's fleet is headed against the current and the wind, which is indeed very unfavorable. But the weather is unpredictable. Now I am afraid that the southeast wind will suddenly blow. According to Lin Xingzhu, if the wind is strong enough, Those fifty old lock boats with full sails can run fifty miles in an hour, six hundred miles in one day and one night! If Li Zhongshan rushed along the Yangtze River with his head covered, he might be able to reach Wuchang County!"

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

Wuchang County is not Jiangxia, the prefectural city of Wuchang, but is located on the opposite bank of the river from Huanggang, the prefectural city of Huangzhou. Wu Sangui stationed some troops there, and built a pontoon bridge over the Suojiang River, and set up an array of iron chains to defend the prefectural city of Wuchang.

If Li Zhongshan rushed there in one breath, it would indeed be a bit troublesome.

"Of course it's amazing," Xia Guoxiang said. "The old lock boat is a sea-going ship with a particularly large sail, and it can also hang soft sails. If the wind is favorable and the wind is strong enough, it is no problem to go five or six hundred miles a day and a night. But in the Yangtze River You may not dare to go by boat at night, but there is no problem for four hundred miles. If these old lock boats can break down the pontoon bridge we built between Xiaochikou and Jiujiang Fucheng, and the iron chain array we set up, there will be good wind for two days. If it’s not good, I rushed 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 wind."

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

Xia Guoxiang said: "They both said that there is no absolute battle on the water, and Li Zhongshan has [-] old lock boats. If there is a tailwind against our shore guns, most of them can still break through, and at most ten will be lost. Eight old lock boats. So the two of them think that if there is a chance, they should set fire to the boats while the wind is down and use the big boats to launch a fierce attack!"

Hu Guozhu said: "Now we have smooth sailing, and our building boats have oars. Even if the battle is unfavorable, they can be withdrawn. However, Li Zhongshan's old lock boats have no oars, and they are all sea-going ships, which are easy to run aground in the Yangtze River. , so we can only walk carefully in the waterway in the middle of the river, if they are washed away by our building boats, there will definitely be many old lock boats stranded, and we will take the most!"

Wu Sangui squinted his eyes, he was an old man who didn't understand water warfare, so he could only listen to what the people below said.But there is no way not to fight water battles, because Wu Sangui, who is proficient in land battles, also knows now that he is even less sure of fighting land battles.

Originally, Wu Sangui had two advantages on land, one was the large number of soldiers, and the other was the strong cavalry.

But now Li Zhongshan has implemented the national military system, okay, millions of Chinese people and millions of soldiers!Although there may not be millions, Wu Sangui's millions are not small!Moreover, Jiangxi is either a water network or a mountainous area, and it is not a place where cavalry can exert their power!
And Li Zhongshan's advantage is the musket. Now there are more and more, and they are getting sharper!

"Since both Lin Xingzhu and Cai Lu think they can fight, let's fight hard!" Wu Sangui nodded and said, "This time I will personally go to Hukou and sit on Xiazhong Mountain to oversee the battle!
Prime Minister of the State, Guozhu, you two pass the message to the officers and soldiers of the navy: the first battle at Hukou, the first battle will be the decisive battle, the rise and fall of our great Zhou Dynasty, and this battle is the only battle. If you win, everyone will be the founding heroes of the country! "

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

The third year of the Republic of China, June [-]th.

Yangtze River, about ten miles west of Xiaogushan.When night falls, the open river surface (a sandbar will appear in this area in the future, but the sandbar is still underwater, and the river surface is very open) reflects lights.On the flat ground next to Anhui Longhu Lake on the north bank, there are all the camps of the dark army of the Ming Dynasty.From time to time in the night, there was the sound of clappers declaring safety, and the sound of passwords from patrolling soldiers.

Although the Longhu area is under the jurisdiction of Anhui Province, it has always been under the control of Ming Dynasty and has never been occupied by Wu Sangui. Moreover, Wu Sangui only occupied Xiaochikou on the opposite bank of Jiujiang Fucheng and Balijiang on the other side of the Hukou on the north bank of the Anhui and Jiangxi sections of the Yangtze River. There are not many strongholds and garrisons, and it is impossible to pose a threat to the 10,000+ Ming army.However, the army led by Li Zhongshan still set up camp very cautiously, and did not dare to take it lightly.

After all, the opponent this time is Wu Sangui!
In today's China, who can compare with him in terms of military experience?

On the surface of the Yangtze River near Li Zhongshan's camp, more than 300 large and small warships were moored at this time.Most of these warships did not turn off their lights. From a distance, it seemed that the stars in the sky had fallen into the water of the Yangtze River.

At this time, a misty mist rose from the river surface, and even the sailors on the small sampans patrolling around these Ming navy warships on the river were a little bit carried by the weather.In the mist, he walked around the large fleet at will, and hurriedly rowed back.But even if the sailors in small sampans patrolled meticulously, on this foggy night, they couldn't see clearly what was happening too far away.

As for the soldiers on the fast crab boat that formed a blockade on the river, except for a few guards, they all lay down in the cabin with their clothes on and fell asleep.After days of sailing against the wind, the oarsmen were already exhausted. The other crew members were actually backup oarsmen, and most of them had been substitutes for some time today, so they were also exhausted.

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

Therefore, every soldier is taking the time to rest, so as to recover his strength in time, and there will be a lot of hard work tomorrow!

But at this moment, in the middle of the Yangtze River, dozens of small sentinel boats are leaving the river and arriving quietly!

These small sentinel boats are in the shape of willow-leaf-shaped fast boats that are common on Dongting Lake and the Jingzhou section of the Yangtze River. Fishermen like to drive these small boats to and fro on the river and lake.

These dozens of willow-leaf boats have been refitted. In addition to the rear oars, several pairs of oars were added on both sides, and there was a wooden shield on the bow.And each small sentinel boat has two ropes at the stern of the ship, towing two small boats of the same model. However, there is only one sailor in those small boats who is wearing a sailor, and he knows that his water quality is extraordinary at a glance.However, the sailor did not row the oar, but sat with his arms folded in a corner of the cabin that was piled with firewood, rags, and poured with a lot of grease, quietly waiting for the moment of fire to attack.

Among them, the first person on the leading sentry boat was Lin Xingzhu, the number one water warrior of the old Wu family, who was short and stocky.Although he is the former commander of the Navy and has a high position and authority, but tonight, he still recklessly led his good brothers to attack, and came to Huo Gong with no martial ethics at all!

On the dark surface of the Yangtze River behind Lin Xingzhu, under the escort of dozens of building boats and another two to three hundred smaller warships, they had already made their way up by night.On the river surface at night, two shock clusters formed!

They are the main force of the fleet led by Xia Guoxiang and Hu Zhuguo. Although they are the main force, sneak attacks are necessary!Water warfare has never been about martial arts. Even now that gunboats have dominated water warfare, the favorite tactic of navies and generals of various countries is to sneak attack on anchorages. None of them!

In all the sea battles that took place in Europe, seven or eight of the ten battles that really resulted in great victories were surprise attacks without martial arts!

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

But this time, according to the plan formulated by Lin Xingzhu and Cai Lu for Xia Guoxiang and Hu Guozhu, tonight is a fire attack plus a sneak attack. The formation of the military fleet was completely disrupted, and then they used "chaos" to eliminate the Daming navy!
(End of this chapter)