Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 606 Encounter a thief merchant, pursue him on the river
Yan Congnian soon discovered that there were not only a few corpses like this. Looking around, there were several floating corpses floating on the river one after another. He hurriedly ordered his hired workers to pick up one and drag it over to check.

The corpses of these Qing soldiers had no heads, and they were a little swollen, but they hadn't started to rot, obviously they had just been slaughtered.

When all the boatmen and Qing Yongchang's men saw this scene, their faces were full of panic, and their work stopped.

Yan Congnian's heart trembled, so many Qing soldiers were killed, could it be that there was a fight ahead? "Hurry up and load the ship, we have to leave immediately!"

Tongling was too close to the front line. Looking at these corpses, it was obvious that the Qing soldiers had suffered another defeat.

This made Yan Congnian very puzzled, why did the Qing dynasty suddenly fail?

Immediately, the hired workers hastened to speed up the loading, but at this moment, someone pointed to the river and shouted: "Boss, a fleet is coming!"

Yan Congnian was taken aback, and looked away from the corpses of the Qing soldiers, only to see a fleet of ships appearing on the river a few miles to the west. Everyone saw a sun and moon flag flying on a high mast first, and then such The sails of the clouds cover the surface of the river.

What kind of fleet is this? It is clearly the navy of the Ming Dynasty. Yan Congnian showed fear on his face, and hurriedly said: "Don't pretend, hurry up and leave now."

The firm also has guards, with more than 200 people, but they are used to deal with ordinary bandits and water thieves. How can they be the opponents of the navy of the Ming Dynasty.

"Sail up, sail up quickly, and pull up the anchor."

The Dongting navy continued eastward from Chizhou, encountered several ferries and piers along the way, and bombarded them all.

The fishing boats of the people along the river and the merchant ships of the gentry were also burned. Although Wang Yan strictly prohibited looting in order to win the hearts of the people in the south of the Yangtze River, if the boats were not burned, they would definitely be recruited by the Qing army in the future, and it was inevitable to offend some people.

At this time, Man Dazhuang was standing at the bow of the ship, holding a binoculars and looking forward. In the circular field of vision, he was watching the crews on Qing Yongchang's cargo ship in a mess, raising the sails and anchoring in a hurry, preparing to escape .

Man Dazhuang put down the binoculars and waved his hand. Xu Junsheng immediately stepped forward, and Man Dazhuang immediately ordered: "Take twenty fast boats and stop them."

"Here!" Xu Junsheng immediately clasped his fists in response.

The strength of the navy of the Ming Dynasty gradually declined after Zheng He's voyages to the West, but the emaciated camels were bigger than horses, and they were still very powerful at this time. There were more than 20 types of warships alone.

With the extensive application of firearms, the idea of ​​naval warfare has also changed. Yu Dayou, a famous anti-Japanese general, put forward in due course that "naval warfare is nothing more than defeating small boats with big ships, and defeating small guns with large guns; defeating few ships with many boats, and defeating few guns with many guns. "

This kind of combat thinking is almost the same as the later giant cannon ship. It can be seen that the Ming army's water warfare concept is close to the modern model.

Fuchuan is the main warship of the Ming army. It is as tall as a city. There are six ships in total. The first is used for naval warfare.The bottom is wide, the bow is raised and opened, the tail is high, and the draft is about one foot. When encountering a small boat, it is like a cart crushing a praying mantis. The disadvantage is that it has poor maneuverability and does not undertake the task of chasing the enemy.

After Xu Junsheng took the order, he was lowered from the blessing boat by ropes, and boarded a Cangshan boat a while later.

This boat is the smallest of the Haicang boats, also known as Cangshan Tie. The hull is small, above the water, with a draft of five feet.

This light and dexterous ship is mainly used for chasing the enemy and retrieving heads. However, the ship is also equipped with two Qianjin Flang machines, three bowl-mouth guns, four Lumi guns, forty spray tubes, sixty chimney tubes, and firearms. Bricks cost 30 yuan, one hundred rockets, four medicine crossbows, and one hundred crossbow arrows.

There are 37 people on the ship, 33 sailors, and [-] soldiers. The combat power is not bad. It may not be able to deal with large ships, but it is no problem to deal with a group of merchant ships.

Xu Junsheng boarded the Cangshan boat, immediately hoisted the order flag, the sailors set up the sails, and then shook the oars, and the speed of the boat suddenly increased.

"Boss, I'm catching up."

Yan Congnian didn't need to be reminded by the staff, but Yan Congnian could see that the Ming army's nearly [-] fast boats quickly separated from the fleet, and kept getting closer to them.

Naturally, Yongchang in the Qing Dynasty transported copper and iron by large ships, which were not fast in themselves, and with copper ingots on board, they could not run faster than Ming army clippers.

With the sound of a "boom", the warship of the Ming army began to fire a cannonball at the cargo ship, but it missed. The cannonball fell into the river water more than 100 steps away from the stern, and a water column more than three feet high gradually rose.

A moment later, another shell hit, this time falling seventy or eighty paces, Yan Congnian's face was already pale, and he suddenly ordered: "Let the boatmen stop the boat, cover the copper ingots with cloth, and go get another 1000 taels." Silver come here."

Yan Congnian's decision was quite wise. He knew that the navy of the Qing army was guarding against pirates in Zhenjiang. The artillery of the Ming army was getting closer and closer to the hundreds of miles of waterway from Tongling to Jiangning. Killed by shells.

Qing Yongchang's fleet ran for a while, and lowered the sails again. After a while, Xu Junsheng led [-] fast boats to catch up.

There were more than 20 cargo ships, all of which were one size larger than the Ming army's clippers. The Ming army on the ship immediately threw a flying hook to hook the cargo ship, but did not board the ship.

More than a quarter of an hour later, the main force of the navy arrived, and the lucky boat came up and boarded the ship. The soldiers wielded knives, guns and blunderbusses and jumped onto the cargo ship.

After the safety of the ship was confirmed, Man Dazhuang jumped onto the cargo ship surrounded by generals. He glanced at the detainees with his saber, and said loudly, "Who is in charge?"

Yan Congnian knew that he couldn't hide, so he came out bravely. He had contact with many famous generals. When he was in Shanxi, he had to deliver supplies to the outside of the customs.

"The villain has seen the general." Yan Congnian came out and saluted Man Dazhuang, then waved his hand back and said, "Bring it here."

Several clerks immediately took out several plates covered with red cloth, Yan Congnian opened the red cloth, and there were twelve silver ingots on the plates.

"General, please give me some kindness, please be accommodating."

Man Dazhuang looked at the silver ingot, narrowed his eyes, sneered at the corner of his mouth, raised his hand and slapped Yan Congnian fiercely on the face, "Hmph, Qing Yongchang! What a fucking shameless person, both the boat and the silver It was seized by Ben, and I want you to send it?"

The goal of going east this time is to cut off the water transport of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, and Manda Zhuang naturally did his homework for several major firms that the Qing court transported supplies on the canal.

Where did Yan Congnian receive a big slap, his ears rang and he was dizzy, he fell to the ground, his whole face was flushed red, and blood flowed from his nose and mouth.

"What's on the boat?" Man Dazhuang finished smoking, pointed to the accountant in a long gown and asked, "You tell me!"

The accountant was quite frightened by the scene just now, he glanced at Yan Congnian pretentiously, and said in a trembling voice: "Yes~ yes~ copper ingot~"

"Copper ingot?" Man Dazhuang frowned, "Where are you going to transport it?"

The accountant lowered his head and dared not answer.

Man Dazhuang waited for a few breaths, narrowed his eyes, waved his hand and said, "Pull it down."

Two Ming soldiers immediately stepped forward and pulled the tent aside, and chopped it down with their knives.

Yan Congnian didn't expect that the Ming army was so ruthless, no worse than the Qing army, and he was scared out of his wits.

(End of this chapter)