scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 245

(PS: At the busiest time at the end of the year, I still insist on updating. Friends, don’t you give monthly tickets to reward pure wolves?)

"Cai Yurong, Sang E, Fang Zhengse, you three idiots! Trash! Sinners through the ages! When you return to the capital, the master will definitely cut you into pieces! You will be copied and executed! You will implicate the nine clans! Just kill you and cut you a thousand times!" Ten thousand times, it’s hard to get rid of the hatred in my heart! It’s even harder to get rid of the hatred in the master’s heart! You three stupid pigs——!”

Waving his waist knife wildly and roaring hysterically, Tu Hai chopped the table with the map and the map in front of him into pieces, but the middle and senior generals of the Qing army next to him didn't even have the strength to persuade and comfort Tu Hai. No more, all of them were stupefied in a daze, as if they had already lost their souls, and there was only one thought left in their minds, "It's over! The Yangtze River defense line is over, and the Qing Dynasty is also over!"

"Tutang, please, send reinforcements to Hanyang! If you don't send reinforcements, Hanyang may not be able to keep it! Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo..."

In the end, it was the crying voice of the Hanyang envoy for help, which pulled Tu Hai back from the maddened anger and fear. Lifting him off the ground with his collar on, he roared and asked with red eyes: "Tell me, after Wu Dog successfully smuggled out of the country last night, what happened in the subsequent battle? How many sneak attacks did Wu Dog have on the army?"

"When the villain left Hanyang, Cai Butang and the others were attacking the wharf with all their strength." The rescue messenger replied truthfully: "Judging from the shouts of killing, it seems that Wu Gou's sneak attack army is not too many, probably only a few thousand people are the least It will be more than [-], but it just killed us by surprise and seized the pier so that our warships could not sail, so Wu Gou’s civilian ships could continue to transport troops to the shore. Later, because the villain was in a hurry to come to Luoshan for help, he did not understood."

"Let's count 500 people." Tu Hai calculated in his mind, "We have [-] troops in Hanyang, and we have a good chance of stopping the [-] Wugou troops. Even if Wugou's troops can cross the river and land one after another, today is the latest At noon, the navy from Huangzhou could also rush to Hanyang for reinforcements. Wu Gou had no warships in Wuchang, and Ge Bingzhen had great confidence in cutting off the channel of Wu Gou's troop transport fleet. That is to say, even if Wu Gou grabbed Ge Bingzhen's fleet Before arriving, the main force of Wuchang was transported to the north bank of the Yangtze River. Excluding the troops staying in Wuchang, Fankui and other places, the troops crossing the river would never exceed [-]. There is great hope for a dog for a day or two!"

Thinking up to this point, Tu Hai hurriedly asked the messenger again: "Then I'll get back to you, your Cai Butang, have you found Wu Dog's army to reinforce Wuchang in the past few days?"

"Absolutely not." The messenger quickly replied: "If Wuchang's Wugou army is found to be abnormal, even if we lend us a hundred courage, we didn't dare to take it lightly last night."

"It's your mother's shame that you still have the face to say this!" Tu Hai threw the messenger to the ground, kicked it angrily, then turned to the Qing army generals next to him and shouted: "Hanyang still has hope! Send someone immediately Go to the river to contact Yang Jie and order him to defeat the Wugou navy within three hours! Then send an order to Zhang Tao to let him be in..."

"Boom!" The sudden sound of an explosion interrupted Tuhai's order. Although the sound of gunpowder explosions can be heard everywhere on the bloody land and water battlefield, the sound of the explosion this time was so loud that it was almost like It was a thunderbolt as loud and shocking as it exploded in the ears of Tu Hai and other Qing army generals.Hearing this sound, Tuhai, Chani and other generals of the Qing army followed the sound subconsciously, but what surprised them even more was that the explosion came from the direction of the Yangtze River channel in the south of Jiangxin Island. It's a pity that the cliff on Jiangxin Island happened to block Tuhai's view, so it would be difficult for Tuhai, Chani and others to know what caused such a violent explosion.

"Boom! Boom!" There were two equally loud explosions. Although the cause of the explosion was still unclear, seeing the Wu army on the south bank cheering and the soldiers of the Qing army on Jiangxin Island holding their heads and screaming, Tu Hai A premonition arose in the hearts of Qing army generals such as Zhani and others, a serious and bad premonition...

………………

The one that can make such a loud noise is of course Wu Jun’s Fat Man brand Huitian torpedo loaded with explosives. At the beginning, when Wu Jun’s artillery team suddenly stopped firing, although the reason for the Qing Army’s navy Zhang Tao’s fleet was very strange, it was still subconscious. Seizing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, they quickly turned around the cliff corner at the east end of Jiangxin Island covered by the Wu army's artillery, and hurriedly gathered at this position to head north, rushing towards the narrow and long fish-like waterway in the middle of Jiangxin Island. On this shipway, the Wu army troop transport fleet full of soldiers is still struggling to get close to the beach of Jiangxin Island, looking for a suitable landing place.

The great achievement of annihilating the Wu army's troop transport fleet is within reach, and there is no interference from Wu's warships nearby. Zhang Tao, who has been riding on Yang Jie's head for a long time, is so excited that his palms can't help sweating. If you think about it, order the flagship to raise the banner-the whole army charges!Rush into the Wu army troop carrier fleet and start a killing spree!After seeing the flag order, the generals and soldiers of the Qing army's ships also became excited like chicken blood, screaming and paddling the paddle wheels with all their strength, and rushed to the Wu army's troop transport fleet desperately.

Seeing the Qing army's warships breaking through the artillery blockade and approaching, the Wu army's troop transport fleet without the protection of the warships did panic, and quite a few timid soldiers jumped out of the ship and escaped. What the generals of the division laughed out loud was that in the troop transport fleet of the Wu army, there were actually thirty or forty sampan boats. Zhang Tao's fleet of two large warships seemed to want to fight to the death with the Qing army's fleet and cover the retreat of the army's troop fleet.

"Hahahahahaha, Wu Gougou jumped the wall in a hurry, and dozens of sampans are also trying to stop Lao Tzu's fleet? The real gnats shake the tree!" While laughing triumphantly, Zhang Tao yelled wildly: "Send Lao Tzu's order again. , don't shoot, shoot or shoot arrows, rush up and knock over all the dozens of Wugou's sampans!"

"Brothers, don't shoot, don't let go of arrows, hit it, and overturn Wugou's sampan!" The order was conveyed, and all the commanding generals of the Qing army's ships also howled, and the Qing soldiers were even more frantic. At this time, Tian fulfilled his wish, a southeast wind suddenly blew up on the river, and the Qing army fleet, which was heading west by north, was assisted by the wind. In a moment, he rushed to a place less than half a mile away from Wu Jun's sampan.

"Why didn't the Mangou fleet fire?" Seeing the Qing army's warships so big on the south bank, the traitor Wu couldn't help being stunned. He almost suspected that the Qing army fleet was up to some tricks. The traitor soon grinned grimly, "Want to knock over the old man's sampan? Thank you, the old man is looking forward to you bumping into it."

"Brothers, work hard, go!" Amidst the roar, a Qing army bird boat met a Wu army sampan head-on, and when it was only a few feet away from hitting the Wu army sampan, the two Wu army soldiers on the sampan Probably because of their extreme cowardice, they jumped into the river together and swam for their lives, causing the generals and soldiers of the Qing army on the warship to laugh wildly again.But at this time, the unmanned Wu Jun sampan went down the river and hit the Qing Army warship. It was also at this time that a soldier on the Qing Army warship finally realized that something was wrong and shouted. Said: "General, Wu Gou's sampan is smoking, it seems..."

"Boom!" Before he finished shouting, the unmanned Wu Jun sampan suddenly exploded violently. The explosion was so powerful that it not only caused water splashes over ten feet high, but also lifted the front end of the boat. The bow of the Qing army bird boat was raised, and the objects and soldiers on the ship fell backward like kites with broken strings, and fell into the Yangtze River water with crackling noises. Pushing normally, he rolled and fell in the cabin, and screams followed, "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Peng!" When the bow of the Qing army's bird boat fell into the water again, a huge hole two to three feet in size had been blown out of the bow, and the river surged into the cabin, instantly submerging countless Qing soldiers in the cabin. , The bow of the ship sank rapidly, and the stern of the ship turned upwards, looking at the surrounding Qing soldiers and generals dumbfounded, as if they were in a dream.

"What's the matter?" Hearing the sound of the violent explosion, Zhang Tao, who had just sat down to take a rest, jumped up and stretched his neck to look towards the river.Just at this time, two Wu army sampans got into the bow of the biggest sand scourer among the Qing army warships one after the other. Immediately afterwards, two equally deafening explosions sounded one after another, and the unlucky ship The sand-washing boat seemed to be propelled by the power of gods and ghosts. It jumped up from the bow and did a backflip. There was no chance, and the warship was directly submerged by the river.

Seeing this scene, the generals and soldiers of the Wu army around the battlefield were naturally cheering, while the old traitor Wu simply jumped up from his seat, waved his arms vigorously and shouted hello, while Hu Guozhu and Ma Bao and other generals next to him shouted excitedly, "Bomb!" Well done! Beautifully fried! Well done!"

"Suicide ship?!" Wu Jun cheered and danced for joy, but the Qing army's Zhang Tao fleet was all dumbfounded. They never dreamed that there would be such a vicious and shameless tactic in this world, letting the sampan full of explosives hit the enemy's battleship. Ship, one or two sampans for a gigantic ship?Such a wicked and vicious extermination tactic, which villain figured it out?

"It's been tricked!" Zhang Tao cried heartbreakingly, "Turn around, turn around and run! Shoot the arrow, shoot the arrow! Shoot, shoot! Don't let Wu Gou's sampan approach us!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Zhang Tao's order was obviously a little late, and Wu Jun's Huitian sampan, which had already rushed into the Qing army's fleet, was blooming everywhere, igniting the fuses one after another, and bumping into the Qing army. The warships and the enemy perished together, and the Qing army fleet was completely disorganized. The generals and soldiers shouted and ran on the deck with tears, or shot and shot arrows to prevent the Wu army's sampan from approaching, or turned the rudder and turned around, and fled to Downriver took refuge, and countless soldiers of the Qing army jumped into the river to flee for their lives because of their timidity and fear, and the chaos became a complete mess.

For the Wu Jun sampans who launched suicide attacks with the determination to die, this situation is undoubtedly their god-sent opportunity. Taking advantage of the chaotic opportunity of the Qing army ships making it difficult to turn around and collide with each other, Wu Jun sampans one after another collided with the Qing army. On the side of the military warship, the sharp barbs at the front of the sampan drilled into the side of the ship to fix it, and then set fire to the ship and dived to escape for their lives-although doing so was a narrow escape, it was difficult for the diving fighters to escape the shock wave generated by the explosion of a ship full of explosives.But in contrast, the situation of the warships of the Qing army that were directly subjected to force on the ship's side was naturally a hundred times more miserable. The lightest was that the ship's side was blown out of a huge hole, sinking in water, and the heaviest was simply overturned and capsized.

In the face of Wu Jun's shameless tactics that appeared nearly 300 years in advance, it was only a long time ago. The Qing army fleet that was still murderous just now had only three warships left with injuries, and the remaining nearly twenty Warships, including Zhang Tao's flagship, have never returned to the warm embrace of Da Qingkang Mazi. They either overturned or sank in the water, and most of the hulls were submerged in the water, losing the value of rescue and repair, and the most unlucky It was Zhang Tao's flagship, because it was targeted by three Wu Jun back-to-sky sampans at the same time, and the bow was directly blown into a state of parts. Zhang Tao didn't even have a chance to escape by diving, and was thrown into the air and fell to death. None survived.There are burning and flooded Qing warships everywhere on the river, as well as Qing soldiers struggling for help and wrecks of warships everywhere. The author hardly bears to describe the tragedy.

The Qing army's large and small ships that fled downstream did not have a good end. First, they were intimately entertained by the rockets that the old traitor Wu had arranged on the embankment in advance, and then they were covered by overwhelming artillery fire from the Wu army's artillery team. The last three medium and large warships were on the spot. The cannon sank, and the sentinel boats suffered countless losses. Only less than ten small boats fled back to the north bank in embarrassment, crying and complaining to Tuhai and Chani—is there such a shameless water warfare tactic in the world?If you can't beat them, you will die together. A sampan wants to drag a warship from our Qing Dynasty to be buried with us?
Upon receiving the news that Zhang Tao's fleet was wiped out, Tu Hai sat down on the ground, his crotch wet on the spot.However, after seeing the spectacular scene of the entire Qing army's Zhang Tao fleet being annihilated, and hearing that there were still thirteen death-defying members alive, the old traitor Wu shouted on the spot: "Prepare the money, and take these thirteen brothers with you!" Come up, this king will present the reward on the spot! All the soldiers, also line up for the old man to welcome our warriors!"

A moment later, the thirteen warriors of the Wu army who were still dripping wet were brought in front of old traitor Wu by their companions. After the traitor personally put thirteen boxes of white silver in front of the thirteen warriors, the thirteen survivors wept loudly on the spot and kowtowed to old traitor Wu, surrounded by applause and joy.

"Get up, you deserve it." The old traitor Wu personally picked up the thirteen warriors one by one, and then sent an order: "The 67 warriors of our army who died today are the same as each There are thousands of taels of silver in the pension pattern, and the silver should be sent to their families as quickly as possible, and no one cent is allowed to be withheld! Anyone who violates the order will be punished without mercy!"

"Decree!" All the generals of the Wu army clasped their fists together and agreed. The thirteen warriors recalled that in just a short while, their companions who fought side by side were so numerous that they couldn't help but burst into tears again. The soldiers were all envious, regretting that we didn't take the initiative to ask to join the Death Squad, and missed this opportunity to make a fortune in vain. 1000 taels of silver is enough for our family to enjoy for a lifetime!
"Wu Yingjing, go and prepare forty sampans filled with explosives!" Missed opportunities can also turn around, and when morale is high, the old traitor Wu, who is addicted to using the torpedo to return to the sky, shouted again: "Soldiers! , on the north side of Jiangxin Island, our navy is still fighting hard with the dog-filled navy, who else is willing to be a death squad? Stand up, and the king's reward is still the same!"

"The villain is willing to go!" Amidst the promise of Shanhu and Tsunami, countless Wu army soldiers stepped forward, bowed their hands to the old traitor Wu, and asked to fight.The old traitor Wu laughed loudly, and hurriedly ordered Wu Yingjing to make a careful selection, and then sent back to the sky sampan to break the deadlock on the northern battlefield, which was still stalemate, and established the victory in one fell swoop!
"Counting time, the news from Wuchang should reach here." The old man Wu pinched his fingers and calculated, and after he had the bottom line in his mind, the old man Wu ordered to Hu Guozhu: "Guozhu, go and send an order for the army to attack the island Retreat, and then give your brother-in-law an order to move the artillery team, aim at Jiangxin Island, open fire to cover, pull out this nail for the old man, and consume some more troops by the way."

Hu Guozhu acted according to the order, and quickly conveyed the order to the various departments of the Wu army. The Qing army Han Daren and Zu Shushun's troops who had already landed on the island retreated one by one, or boarded a boat, or swam across the river relying on the gourd at their waists. Withdraw from the beach position.Just as the soldiers and generals of the Qing army on Jiangxin Island were cheering and celebrating, the Wu army's artillery array, which had hastily shifted its position, fired again. More than 200 cannons fired at the same time, smashing the blooming shells one after another to the garrison. The Jiangxin Island, where the Qing army was heavily armed, was so bombarded that the ground shook and the mountains shook, trees fell and rocks flew.

It was also at this time that Tu Hai, the coach of the Qing army, realized that he had made a fatal mistake. He completely forgot that the power of the Wu army's artillery had greatly increased, and copied the old experience mechanically. Not only did Jiangxin Island not become a nail nailed to the throat of the Wu army, but it became a reminder for his Luoshan army. Not only did he pull a fleet of his own to be buried with him, but he also spent thousands of precious troops in vain— —In the face of such dense artillery coverage, the more than 6000 defenders on Jiangxin Island have nowhere to hide, let alone escape. Even if a ship is sent immediately to respond, how many of them will come back alive?

"Send a boat to pick up our island guards. Jiangxin Island is no longer worth guarding." Tu Hai ordered lightly, and after letting the soldiers go down to deliver the order, Tu Hai slowly drew out his waist knife, looked up at the sky, and sighed : "The fiasco of Luoshan is my fault, and it has nothing to do with others..."

Trembling and sighing, Tu Hai returned the knife tremblingly to strangle himself around the neck. Fortunately, the generals of the Qing army at the side had already seen that something was wrong, so they rushed forward together, snatched the steel knife from Tu Hai's hand, and cried Shouted: "Marshal, you can't, you can't! You can't do this! We still have hope, we still have hope!"

"Tutang, you must not do this!" Chani was even more nervous, holding Tuhai's arm and crying, "Tutang, you can't do this. Winning or losing is a common matter in military affairs. Time, and next time you can make up for it! If you leave, if you leave..."

"If you leave, I, the unlucky bastard, will be responsible for all the crimes." Charney added in his heart.

"Will I have a next time?" Tu Hai smiled miserably, and said, "Wugou from Wuchang has already landed in Hanyang. I have suffered heavy casualties here, and I have no strength to support Hanyang. It is a foregone conclusion for Wugou to break through the defense line of the Yangtze River." I'm not dead now, and if I return to the capital, the emperor won't let me live."

"But we still have sailors, and we still have a chance." Chani pointed to the decisive battle of the navy in the distance, and cried, "Our navy is still fighting fiercely with the Wugou navy, and we still have the upper hand. After defeating Wu Gou's navy, we still have a chance to come back!"

Tu Hai was silent, Tu Hai knew very well that even if Yang Jie's navy won the decisive battle with Wu Jun's navy, it would only be a miserable victory, and there was no power to rescue Hanyang. The line of defense was breached by the Wu army, so Kang Mazi still wouldn't spare him—and the idea of ​​killing Wu Yingxiong and blaming Oboi was also given to him by himself.What's more, Wu Jun's suicide ship tactic has already worked, and it will definitely be used in the same way to deal with the main force of Yang Jie's navy. Whether Yang Jie can win is another matter.

"Let's gamble again." After much deliberation, Tu Hai still couldn't bear to give up the last ray of hope, and ordered through gritted teeth: "Go and send an order to Yang Jie, telling him to annihilate the Wugou navy, so that Wugou's main force can't help it." Cross the river at Luoshan! Also, tell Yang Jie that he must guard against Wu Gou's suicide boat and keep as many warships as possible!"

As Chani said, the only Qing army that still has an advantage is the main force of the Qing army navy led by Yang Jie. The team still took the initiative in the battle on the battlefield north of Jiangxin Island. After half a day of fierce fighting, it had sunk nine new bird ships of the Wu army, captured and sunk [-] ships dedicated to the Wu army by General Li Guodong of Yuezhou. All kinds of old ships of the Qing army, and countless small ships of the Wu army were sunk and captured, which can be said to have severely damaged the Wu army navy.

Of course, Wu Jun’s new high-concentration alcohol incendiary bombs are not vegetarian anymore. There were also 21 Qing army warships burned by Wu Jun, and most of them were the flexible and fast bird boats and thunder boats in the Qing army. Jie gradually began to worry. If the remaining medium-sized warships were destroyed by the Wu army, then as long as the Wu army retained one-third of the warships, facing the heavy and slow Qing army's sand-rushing ships, as long as the generals commanded effectively and had proper tactics, they would all be able to survive. There is still hope for a comeback - and it is obvious that Du Hui, Zheng Chenggong's favorite general back then, was such a terrible general!
One side is strong but relatively dull, while the other side is weak but relatively flexible, and the commanders on both sides are experienced and commanded properly without making any mistakes. The decisive naval battle between the Qing army and the Wu army naturally became a protracted war of attrition.The Qing army relied on many ships and heavy loads to fight, and always wanted to fight hand-to-hand with the Wu army; the Wu army relied on the flexibility of the warships, shallow draft, and powerful firearms, and they were always swimming and fighting, trying not to give the Qing army side-to-side combat. Opportunity: The warships of both sides come and go on the wide river, or collide with each other, or chase each other, or shoot at each other, or drop bombs at close quarters, thick smoke billows on the river, the sound of killing is loud, and the corpses in the river The wreckage drifted with the current, and there were countless soldiers from both sides churning and calling for help.

Without Fatty Lu's unethical tactics of suicide boats, it is really uncertain who will win and who will lose in this decisive battle between the Wu Jun Navy and the Qing Army Navy, and the Qing Army Navy will definitely have a greater chance of winning, but it is Because of Fatty Lu's unscrupulous tactics, the navy sailors of the Qing army who experienced this poisonous tactic for the first time were inevitably caught off guard.Even Yang Jie, the navy commander of the Qing army, who was regarded by both the old traitor Wu and Fatty Lu as the biggest stumbling block in the Wu army's battle of crossing the river, inevitably felt caught off guard after receiving the tactical warning of the Wu army's suicide ship. Yang Jie couldn't make up his mind to send the warning to all warships.

"Should we warn all the warships?" Yang Jie was extremely hesitant, "If a warning is issued to tell all ships to be careful of Wu Gou's suicide sampan, then there will be large and small boats everywhere in the melee, and the sailors will definitely be distracted, even more so. Shaking morale will be a big disadvantage in the decisive battle. If no warning is issued, and Wu Gou's suicide ship rushes into the battlefield, our losses may be even greater!"

"No, we still have to issue a warning, otherwise it will be too late when Wu Gou's suicide ship rushes into the battlefield and severely damages our main fleet!" After weighing the pros and cons for a long time, Yang Jie finally gritted his teeth and shouted: "Send the ship immediately!" Notify people one by one, warning all boats to beware of Wu Gou's suicide sampan!"

At the same time, on the south bank of the Yangtze River, Wu Yingjing, who had already prepared the suicide sampan and selected the daredevil warriors, flew to the banner of old traitor Wu, knelt down on one knee, and asked whether to attack immediately.The old traitor Wu, who was worried about the stalemate in the main battlefield of the navy, did not hesitate, and immediately shouted: "Attack!"

"Wait a minute!" Wang Shirong suddenly stood up, cupped his hands at the old traitor Wu, and said, "My lord, our army's suicide ship tactics have already severely injured Man Gou, and now Man Gou's navy must be prepared. If we do the same, I'm afraid it will be difficult After receiving the miraculous effect, we must change the method.”

"What's the alternative?" Old Traitor Wu asked.

"Let our death squad wear dog uniforms and put dog flags on board." Wang Shirong said with a sly smile, "Break the whole into pieces, and use the islands and smog to cover up, and sneak into the decisive battle of the navy's main force."

The old man Wu smiled sinisterly, and said: "Zu Zuo, Ying Jing, let uncle do according to plan."

Note: The note that was omitted before, Lin Xingzhu, a good friend of Duke Wei in history, took advantage of the opportunity of Du Hui, the leader of Wu Jun's navy, to return to Yuezhou for official business, and led Wu Jun's Dongting Lake Navy to surrender. Du Hui has been with Wu Yingqi since then Resisted the siege of Mite Qing in Yuezhou until he died.

(End of this chapter)