Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 71 Fighting the Yangtze River, Hong Kui slays himself

In the battle three days ago, the Aid Yang Navy was defeated, the ship was destroyed, and more than half of the elite lost, and they no longer had the ability to stop the Qing army.

In fact, the morale of the hundreds of thousands of Ming troops near Zhenjiang had already been exhausted, and they had no combat power at all.

Most of these soldiers and horses came for the official positions promised by the court. They saw nearly 40 horses gathered in Zhenjiang, and thought that the Ming army was very powerful, so they were blindly confident. Fight with the Qing soldiers.

More than 20 troops of the Qing army crossed the river. Ruan Dacheng, who had lost his elite navy, did not dare to order the fleet to fight. Defeated by the Qing army.

Ruan Dacheng used all capable soldiers as sailors, and the rest were those gentry who were greedy for imperial positions, and recruited old and weak people to fill them up. In addition, they had no morale, so they were no match for the Qing soldiers.

The Lu division guarding the stronghold was defeated, making the Daming Navy division in the water stronghold suddenly a catch in a urn.

The nearly [-] small boats of the Ming army were trapped by the Qing army in the narrow water village, losing the advantage of flexibility and maneuverability, and were immediately slaughtered by the large Qing army ships.

Seeing the sinking of warships and hearing the voices of officers and soldiers of the navy shouting for help in the water, Zheng Hongkui, the general of Zhenhai, couldn't help sighing up to the sky. block back.

Not long after, Zheng Hongkui's boat was also knocked over by a large Qing army ship. The soldiers picked him up, and Zheng Hongkui changed the boat to fight again.

At this time, as part of the Qing army began to land, the Ming army's land division began to be defeated on a large scale. Zheng Hongkui suddenly felt that there was nothing he could do, and the Ming army was already weak.

Once Zhenjiang is lost, the Qing soldiers can drive directly to Nanjing without hindrance!The 270-year-old foundation of the Ming Dynasty will be destroyed once.

For a while, Zheng Hongkui was full of grief and anger, but he was helpless. He knew that he would die if he was trapped in the water village, so he led the warship to rush out again, but the Qing army's big boat did not move at all.

With the sound of "Boom", a Qing army cannon hit Zheng Hongkui's boat.

The shell exploded beside Zheng Hongkui, and his personal guard threw him down.

"Boom!" "Boom!"

A few more shells hit the warship. Zheng Hongkui tried his best to push away the soldiers who were pressing on him. He wanted to stand up, but he felt pain all over his body.

At this time, Zheng Hongkui was covered in blood, he had countless wounds, and the armor on his body had been blown to pieces. He gritted his teeth, struggled a bit, and barely stood up with the sword supporting his body.

Zheng Hongkui looked around in a daze, only to see that his own soldiers were all dead, and the boat he had just transferred had flooded and began to capsize slowly. Long sigh: "Your Majesty! The minister is incompetent, missed the Jiang defense, and failed to stop the cavalry going south!"

After this battle was defeated, 20 troops of the Qing army crossed the Yangtze River, and there were no soldiers in the south of the Yangtze River, and there was no hope for Nanjing. Zheng Hongkui burst into tears, and with a long sigh, he drew his sword and killed himself. (Historically, Zheng Hongkui followed Zheng Chenggong to resist the Qing Dynasty and died of illness in Kinmen.)
Wang Wei joined forces with Zuo Maodi and Chen Zilong's remnant soldiers, and they were fighting to the death, when suddenly a soldier reported that Zhenhai General Zheng Hongkui had died for his country, everyone was shocked and turned pale.

When Zuo Maodi heard this, he knew that the sailors trapped in the water village had lost their command, so he ordered the ships to hang flags, and took the post of Minister of the Ministry of War to command the remaining sailors to fight.

On the shore, the hundreds of thousands of Ming troops gathered near Zhenjiang were defeated as the Qing soldiers landed. Ruan Dacheng killed several people in succession, but still could not control the defeat.

Zhenjiang City is surrounded by mountains and plains, all the defeated soldiers of Ming Dynasty, they came to aid from various prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River, and now they are defeated and going to various prefectures.

Fang Guoan, the General Army of Chizhou, did not have a ship, but was stationed in Zhenjiang City. After the war broke out, he led troops to support the Shuizhai, but after leaving the city, the defeated soldiers broke the formation, and the army suddenly became chaotic.

Fang Guoan thought that the water stronghold had been lost, fearing that he would be surrounded by the Qing soldiers, he led [-] soldiers and horses, and fled southward with the defeated soldiers.

Seeing this, Ruan Dacheng, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, knew that the situation was over, and led hundreds of people, and hurried to Nanjing.

In the water village, although Zuo Maodi took over the command, the situation of the navy division of the Ming army did not improve. With the defeat of the Lu division, they had to rush out of the water village to gain a chance of survival.

The Ming army ships were small, while the Qing army ships were large. They blocked the exit of the water stronghold with large ships.

At the moment of crisis, Chen Zilong suddenly ignited his own ship, and then suddenly rammed it like a Qing army ship.

Chen Zilong's ship was a medium-sized Haicang ship, with flames rising like a moving volcano. The Qing army was terrified when they saw this, and the big ships evaded one after another, causing a trace of panic in the originally tight formation.

At this time, the navy of the Ming army had been driven into a desperate situation, and the army was full of grief and anger. Many warships were touched by Chen Zilong's determination, and they lit their ships one after another, and rammed into the Qing army's warships in a state of extinction.

The Lu division was defeated in one battle, but the navy remained invincible. This was not only because Ruan Dacheng filled the navy with elites, but also because the navy had more patriotic scholars than the Lu division.

For example, Chen Zilong, Wang Yuyao, etc., mostly scattered their family wealth and recruited young men to rescue Yangzhou. They were sincere for the country, so they were firm-willed. Although they were at a disadvantage, they still had the courage to die.

Under the command of these scholars, although the navy was defeated, it did not collapse, let alone surrender. For a time, as many as a hundred Ming army warships were set ablaze.

In the city of Yangzhou, when people saw the flames on the river and the Qing army boarding boats to the south bank, they knew that the Jiang defense had been defeated and the Qing army had successfully disembarked.

Three days ago, everyone saw the failure of the Ming army's naval division here, but today they watched the water battle in the south again, but they had to see the scene of the day again, and experienced the taste of failure.

Daming country is fragmented, devastated, decadent and dilapidated.

Since Shandong, Wang Yan has been fighting for the Ming Dynasty, hoping to buy some time for the imperial court to reorganize the rivers and mountains.

In Qingzhou, he couldn't wait for Wang Shinan to come.

In Suizhou, the imperial court took measures to recover Henan and Shandong.

In today's Yangzhou, Wang Yan wanted to buy time for the court to rectify the river defense, but with the defeat of the navy, his efforts once again turned into rivers flowing eastward.

Wang Yan has always hoped that the Ming Dynasty will make a comeback, but in the end, his luck is bad and his fate is too many. His patriotic ambitions of restoring his homeland and reorganizing rivers and mountains have failed time and time again, and he can't help being deeply disappointed and mourning.

"Infinite mountains and rivers of tears, who says the world is wide!"

Wang Yan stood at the head of the city, feeling infinitely sad in his heart!

　This chapter is considered yesterday, and today’s chapter will be updated in the evening.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)