Ping An Biography

Between the mountains and rivers of Poyang Lake, the land is still full of greenery even in autumn, while the water is as clean as a mirror.The surface of the water is shrouded in a light morning mist, rippling slowly in the breeze.There is a beautiful natural scenery here, without the pollution of smoke and dust, everything is so colorful; it is also like a paradise, the surrounding population is quite large, but the local traces of the small peasant economy have been hidden by the great natural environment.Even in the distant county towns, there are only a few more houses, and there is not much hustle and bustle.So the earth is quiet, it seems exceptionally quiet.

But after the shallow mist gradually dispersed, the paradise-like scenery was immediately completely broken by a magnificent scene.The water in the north, from the Yangtze River to the mouth of the lake, seems to be suddenly occupied by countless ships. This is just an illusion brought about by the dissipation of the mist.Those boats were of different sizes, lined up on the water, row after row, so numerous that I don't know how many boats there were.

After a while, the morning sun rose from the mountains in the east, and immediately coated the rippling water with a layer of orange-red streamer.The quiet colors between heaven and earth suddenly became a little more gorgeous.The sound also quickly became noisy, mainly the sound of drums from all over the place, and the noise of people faintly amidst the sound of water waves.On the side of Poyang Lake, there is also a large number of boats on the water, most of which are not sailing because there is no wind.The largest building boat in front, with wooden pulp lined up on both sides like a fat centipede, is the command ship of the Jiujiang Army Navy.There is a building at the stern and a wide deck in front, covered with colorful flags and many soldiers.

On the ship tower, there are several generals standing.The bearded man in the middle is Yang Chengxiao, the admiral of the Jiujiang Army Navy, and Wu Zhongxun, the deputy admiral sent from Yongding camp, is responsible for supervising the general.

Admiral Yang Chengxiao covered the right side of his face with his palm, overlooking the west bank of the lake.Only some flags could be seen. There was an artillery camp in that place. It is said that Zhu Wenbiao, King of Hunan, was also watching the battle in the camp.

Seeing this, Wu Zhongxun said coldly: "As long as General Yang blocks the imperial navy in the first battle and prevents them from entering Poyang Lake, the official army may turn to attack Hukou City. At that time, General Yang will not be responsible."

Yang Chengxiao said sternly: "I will send all the ships here, so naturally I want to block the enemy!"

Wu Zhongxun said: "That's very good. This battle has a lot to do with it. If the battle is not effective, you can wait to raise your head to see the King of Xiang." After all, there is still a difference.

The boats here were resting on the water and drifting for a while, only to see dozens of boats, the size of the government and the army, rushing towards them without any intention of stopping.

In the middle of the lake were moored a dozen small boats, the bottoms of which were locked with dark cables, filled with firewood, tung oil and gunpowder, and lined up on the water.When the official warship approached, the small boat was suddenly ignited, the granulated gunpowder burned quickly, and with a "boom", the fire burst into the sky, ten ships caught fire together, and the fire was more dazzling than the morning sun.An official warship rushed too far ahead, and the fire did not stop sailing. It tried to pass through the gap between the fireships, but the bottom of the ship immediately hit the underwater iron chain, and the fireships on both sides were slowly affected by the force. Squeezing to the middle, it stuck to the side string of the warship in an instant, and the raging fire immediately burned the warship.

People's shouts came from the surface of the water. After a while, the officers and soldiers on the ship saw that there was no hope of putting out the fire, and jumped into the water one after another, making a mess up and down.

The soldiers of the Jiujiang Army Navy were elated when they saw this, cheers and shouts rang out from all the ships, and the world suddenly became lively, and people seemed to have high morale.

The navy of the officers and soldiers did not stop because of this, and the ships circled around the burning water one after another.At this moment, the sound of "dong dong" drums on the shore came from afar, and then there was a rumbling "thunder" between the mountains and rivers under the sun.

Amidst the earthquake, clouds of white smoke rose from the mountains on both sides of the strait, as if a forest fire was about to break out.The lake also splashed white waves everywhere, and many shells fell into the water.Suddenly there was a "click", and many damaged pieces of wood on a ship splashed into the water, and the bow of the ship was immediately deflected, obviously hit by shelling.There was another burst of cheers in the Jiujiang Army's naval division. Before the two armies approached, two ships of the official army were damaged and the other destroyed. This is undoubtedly a good start.

However, the waters at the mouth of the lake are still relatively wide. Such bombardment is very powerful, but the actual results are not great. In addition, the wheels of the officers and soldiers sailed extremely fast. Most of the shells hit the water, and they could not hit the ships. It is entirely by God's will that the artillery can't stop the assault of the government and the army.

Standing on a high place, Yang Chengxiao saw that the army's warships broke through the blockade of fire boats and shelling one after another, but after such a blockade, the army's fleet was no longer in formation.Yang Chengxiao immediately seized the opportunity and ordered the front army waiting in line to attack in a line, forming a corresponding formation on the left and right to attack the scattered enemy warships.

"Hey... yo!" The strong men rowing on the warship yelled in unison, their naked arms showing powerful muscles, and the sound of oars splashed real white waves on the water.The people were full of confidence, and they drove their warships towards the messy enemy fleet at this time.The sound of cannons continued, still roaring, and the mountains and rivers were full of excitement and vitality.Yang Chengxiao looked at the scene in front of him with satisfaction.

But the warships of the official army did not turn around and run away, and there were seven or eight large ships scattered and rushed towards them.I saw that kind of boat was tall and big, with four waterwheels on it, and the waterwheels turned fast; there were oars in the middle of the waterwheels, and the two powers moved together to run fast.When the two armies approached, the two sides compared each other, and the Jiujiang Army's ship looked as slow as a snail.

Like a mad bull, an official warship rushed straight to the Jiujiang Army fleet. When it was about to approach, the oars on it were suddenly retracted, and some sharp and sharp iron plows like plowshares were stretched out. .The iron plow warship rushed in between the two densely arranged ships, and suddenly there was a "cracking" noise and a grinding sound that made people's teeth sour; almost all the oars on one side of the two warships of the Jiujiang Army The hull was also scarred by the iron plow.

"Bang bang bang..." The soldiers on both sides fired at each other with firearms on the side of the ship, and the smoke immediately covered the air, screaming everywhere.During the period, the flames flickered, and some fire crows the size of a firecracker "swish" screamed and flew in the air with irregular trajectories and thick smoke from burning gunpowder; It is also a relatively common thing on the navy fleet.From time to time in the chaos, there was another explosion louder than a blunderbuss. It was the officers and soldiers throwing mines into the ship here again, causing the deck to be a mess.

The ships of the two armies passed by the side strings, and the short time was only enough for two rounds of musketry, but the scene on the water was quite different from before.Two warships of the Jiujiang Army caught fire and were in chaos. The oars of more than a dozen ships were severely damaged, and the decks were also in a mess, making it impossible to move across the water.

The other warships of the Jiujiang Army that were not attacked drifted out of a line formation and were surrounded by the official warships rushing up from behind. They couldn't even run away, not at all.Relying on the advantage of speed, the warships of the official army hit the Jiujiang Army's ship in a mess first, then hooked the ship's side, and took a ladder to fight against the side.The ships of the two armies were entangled with each other, and the distance between the two sides was only about ten steps. The firearms and lead bullets were placed against each other like rain, and the wood chips on the deck were flying and filled with gunpowder smoke.There were all kinds of sundries floating on the water, and the water waves hitting the side of the boat had begun to turn red.

The guns fired in front, the flames flickered, and the smoke billowed; suddenly a ship turned around slowly behind and left the fleet.Soon the deputy general Wu Zhongxun noticed something strange, and immediately pointed and asked loudly: "What is the boat over there doing?"

The admiral Yang Chengxiao had been commanding the ship all along, and he didn't give any orders to that ship at all. He immediately understood: they wanted to escape from the battlefield.There was no need for the lieutenant to question, Yang Chengxiao himself was annoyed, and shouted: "Immediately send a shuttle boat to catch up and order the general to return!"

Lieutenant General Wu Zhongxun reminded: "Bring the command flag to the past, if the general refuses to follow, he will be executed for fleeing!"

The boat they sent out came back soon, and reported: "They didn't let us board the boat, and even threatened us with firearms." Wu Zhongxun said angrily after hearing this: "Just like this, you were driven back? Then what do you want to eat?" Come on, behead them all!"

At this moment, suddenly the giant ship guarding the Chinese army on the left wing turned around inexplicably.Yang Chengxiao raised his voice angrily and shouted: "Who told you to move? Come out and answer the general's questions!"

Unexpectedly, someone came forward to answer the question. The two boats were not far away, and they could only hear the shout from the other side: "If you don't go now, you won't be able to go if you want to go later."

"I'm into your mother!" Yang Chengxiao was furious at such a light word, and he yelled, "You bitch is He Er! How did I treat you, you ungrateful bitch!"

The other side shouted again: "Brother Yang, brother, I'm sorry for you. You also persuade 'that' lord, what else is there to fight in this battle, it is the best policy for everyone to leave quickly!"

As soon as Yang Chengxiao was reminded, he noticed his situation again. Standing beside him was "that lord" Wu Zhongxun, and the nearby guards were all his people.

Wu Zhongxun looked at him coldly: "General Yang, don't think about that road. If this battle is lost, no one present will be able to live. There are more than 8000 people in the naval army, and even the last one can't let go." An enemy ship has passed!" He paused and said: "Immediately order the warships to block the escaping ships, and if they don't stop, they will attack! The situation must be controlled."

Another clipper ship was sent out from the side of the main ship to deliver an order, but this time no one came back to report, and the clipper and several warships in the auxiliary fleet also fled westward.

"Damn it!" Wu Zhongxun couldn't hold back the anger in his heart, "What kind of army are you calling? You run away as soon as you beat him, the military order is like farting!"