Back to the end of the Ming Dynasty when the emperor

Chapter 282 Forced Crossing the Yangtze River (5)

This is really a ghost, so panicked that Ma Shixiu rushed up to the observation tower. At this time, the sky was already gray and the night was receding, the visibility was clearer, and the view on the river was also broadened.Not far away, the river was full of warships, and the flag of Ming Dynasty was fluttering in the morning wind. The fleet had already passed the center of the river, and the clothes and faces of the soldiers of Ming Dynasty could be seen clearly.

"Fire!" The fleet of the Ming army had already reached the range of the cannons. Ma Shixiu yelled like a conditioned reflex, but after shouting for a long time, he only fired a few cannons sparsely, stirring up a limited water column in the river. The charge of the Ming army fleet could not be heard.

It wasn't that his men didn't obey his orders, but that there were not many effective artillery pieces in the shore fortress.For those forts that were smashed by hundreds of water ghosts like Li Quan, it was not a matter of rushing to repair them.

But Ma Shixiu also has a way. Before Nikan and Marshal Zuo Menggeng drove to Poyang Lake, they left 5 troops in Jiujiang Mansion and along the Yangtze River, except for his artillery battalion, [-] sailors, and soldiers stationed in Jiujiang Mansion. , there are still [-] people on the river bank for him to command and condemn, so he hurriedly mobilized soldiers to the river bank, with archers in front, so as to prevent the Ming army's fleet from landing, and at the same time ordered people to fly to Jiujiang. The city reported to Lord Boluo.

But as soon as a large number of Qing troops gathered at the riverside, the cannons of the Ming army rang out. This was the bow artillery fire of a large ship. Now the various cannons on the ship, such as the Qianjin Flang machine and the tiger squatting, can almost all the light and heavy artillery fire. They hit the shore, because Zheng Cai's fleet was only 400 meters away from the shore.This distance is within the range of a gun, not to mention a gun.

There were ten or twenty cannons of various types on the more than a dozen large ships, and they fired at the Qing army on the shore. Shake, only the rocks splashed, the vegetation caught fire, and countless Qing soldiers were blown to pieces and flew into the sky.

The rest of the Qing army fled one after another, and some artillery shells fell into the fortress of the Qing army on the shore. The survivors all ran away, and the banks of the river were filled with gunpowder smoke, ghosts crying and wolves howling.

"Hold me, don't run away, those who retreat will be killed without mercy!" Ma Shixiu sat on a horse on a high platform by the bank and saw his troops fleeing one after another, and the big ship of the Ming army was about to dock. He was so angry that he yelled loudly. donkey.

But it doesn't work even if he is hoarse at this time, because his voice is too small, the roar of cannons, screams, people shouting and neighing have already drowned out his voice, so he had to take the guards to carry the knife Rush down and supervise the battle in person.

But while he was running, a shell exploded not far from his horse, sand and gravel splashed all over his body, and a big deep hole was formed on the flat ground. The horse was frightened, and ran rampant in the Qing army, trampling the Qing army over again. many.

"Woo, woo!" Ma Shixiu tightened the rein, but it didn't work. In the end, the horse stepped on the crater, the horse stumbled, and fell to the ground, and Ma Shixiu also cut the onion from the horse.

Even though he was wearing a helmet, because the speed was too fast and the ground was gravel, the helmet rolled to the side, Ma Shixiu's eyes turned black and he passed out.When he opened his eyes again, he had already been rescued by his soldiers and ran away, his forehead was dripping with blood, and no one cared to bandage his wound.

He looked back immediately, and at this time the big ship of the Ming army had already docked, and the sound of the guns gradually faded away. Countless soldiers of the Ming army, like tigers on the mountain, abandoned their boats and landed on the shore, chasing and killing the Qing army on the shore. The Qing army could not resist. They ran for their lives one after another, corpses were everywhere along the bank of the river, and the sand and gravel by the river were stained red with blood.The shouts of killing shook the sky, and he even saw Li Quan and a group of water ghosts.

In particular, there was one person that he was very familiar with. This general was born with a strong back and a big face. It was his former colleague Zu Keyong.

Ma Shixiu was so frightened that he didn't dare to make a sound, and he had no choice but to run away with the remnants of the defeated army.What kind of cannons, big camps, he didn't want them all, and fled in embarrassment.

In fact, only 6000 people went ashore for Zu Keyong. After Zheng Cai unloaded them, he led the fleet back to load the remaining soldiers to meet the shore battle. Li Quan, Liu Chunhong and other death squads stayed behind. Kill the enemy with Zu Keyong's men.

They ran away from Ma Shixiu's artillery battalion in only half an hour, and then under the guidance of Li Quan and others, Zu Keyong led the crowd up the river, destroying the Qing army's navy battalion in one fell swoop, and three thousand sailors were beaten. Fleeing in embarrassment, several large ships became their trophies and the remaining artillery on the shore became their trophies.

But just as they finished counting the spoils, countless Qing troops arrived again.This time it was not Ma Shixiu who was leading the army, but Boluo, the prince of the Qing court.

It turned out that Ma Shixiu led the remnants of the defeated generals to Jiujiang City, but before arriving in the city, he met Bo Luo, the prince of the Qing court on the way, and he led an army of [-] to support him. The river bank has been lost, Zhu Yousong's men and horses have successfully crossed the Yangtze River, and countless men and horses have killed to the shore.

Bo Luo didn't say anything, he raised his knife and cut Ma Shixiu under his horse.Then he packed up these remnants and defeated generals, and with the troops he brought, there were nearly 7 people.He led the team to the bank of the river, and fought with Zu Keyong's men again. The Qing army planned to recapture the river bank and drive Zhu Yousong's men down the Yangtze River.

In this way, the two sides fought again on the riverside.But there is no doubt that this battle is not good for the Ming army.

Only 6000 people came from Zu Keyong's side, while Boluo's troops numbered [-] to [-], ten to one, which can be described as outnumbered.Although Zu Keyong went all out and swung the long-handled kaishan ax to kill the Qing army, as if he had entered the land of no one, but his bravery alone could not turn the whole battle situation around, and soon thousands of Ming troops were at a disadvantage. He was forced to the riverside by the Qing army and had no way to retreat.

The situation on the battlefield has changed rapidly, and now the warships are gone. It is impossible for the Ming army to board the ship and escape, because Zheng Cai and the others unloaded their men and led the fleet back to transport the second batch of soldiers. Zu Keyong was killed by countless The Qing army was trapped, and it was difficult to get rid of the entanglement by rushing from left to right.Over there, Li Quan and Liu Chunhong were also overwhelmed.

Seeing this, it won't be long before Zu Keyong's thousands of people will be beheaded by the river, and Zheng Cai's second batch of rescuers will not be able to reach them at all. Even if they arrive, there will only be 6000 people. Even if all the troops from Zheng Hongkui's side are transported here, there are only 3 to [-] people, and it is difficult to effectively reverse the situation.

At this time, Boluo saw hope and commanded tens of thousands of horses to encircle and wipe out the Ming army. The situation was extremely critical.

Just at this time, dust billowed on the official road from De'an to Jiujiang, and a cavalry came at a fast speed. The cold light shone, majestic and majestic, it was Liu Zhaoji, the commander of the imperial battalion.

(End of this chapter)