Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 357: Chongming Naval Battle (Part )

"Hold on to the bamboo pole and I'll pull you up!"

After abandoning the boat, Zhao Yu drifted downstream and finally met Zhang Chao who came to rescue him.

He held the bamboo pole in one hand and wiped the river water off his face with the other, crying bitterly, "Captain, my boat, cannon, and brothers are all gone, wuwuwu~"

Zhang Chao hurriedly comforted him, "If the ship is lost, you can rebuild it, the cannon can be recast, and if the soldiers are lost, you can recruit more. As long as the cannon does not fall into the hands of the enemy, these are all worth it. You did the right thing, don't blame yourself, come on up quickly."

"Ok!"

After Zhao Yu got on the boat, the other soldiers of the Shengwu Army who jumped into the water were also picked up by the boat one after another. In the last two sinking ships, only more than 40 were pulled up out of the 100 people, and the rest all died heroically.

While Fang Guozhen was still not able to react, Zhang Chao hurriedly ordered the masts to be adjusted and the rudder to be turned, leading the remaining 34 gunboats that had successfully penetrated the formation to sail north, preparing to meet up with Bai Guangtai.

Fang Guozhen was also rescuing his own ships.

He dispatched a total of 100 to sea vessels this time. The first battle was divided into two groups. The fourth commander Fang Guoying took ships to form the northern group to intercept Bai Guangtai and split the Shengwu Army navy.

Fang Guozhen led more than 260 ships to attack Zhang Chao's 36 gunboats. However, the Shengwu Army navy did not engage in close combat with him at all. Relying on the advantage of the wind and the fast speed, they passed straight through his fleet, fired a shot and left. In the end, they only intercepted two gunboats, and the Shengwu Army voluntarily abandoned their ships and sank them, so they didn't get a single penny.

On the other hand, on Fang Guozhen's side, as many as 107 ships were hit by Zhang Chao's artillery. Although the ships were fired at close range using grapeshot, the damage to the ships was not serious, but the casualties on board were extremely heavy.

Each of Fang Guozhen's warships had about 107 people on board, except for a dozen sailors, the rest were combat soldiers. But now, more than half of the personnel on each of the ships have been killed, and the remaining people can only barely maintain the operation of the ship and are no longer able to continue fighting.

Although none of these ships were captured by the Shengwu Army, they had lost the soldiers on board and had no choice but to withdraw from the battle, unable to even protect themselves.

There were also some ships whose sailors had suffered heavy losses and had simply lost control of them, which were drifting on the river. Fang Guozhen wanted to rescue these ships, so he moored his own ship over and sent several sailors over to regain control of the ships.

Other ships that were severely damaged also needed people to go over to help. It was during this time when the Yuan navy was trying to save itself that Zhang Chao successfully reached the north.

On Bai Guangtai's side, the melee ships he led personally did not dare to directly engage with Fang Guozhen's large sea ships because they were not equipped with artillery, let alone ramming Fang Guoying's one hundred sea ships.

So when Fang Guoying's northern detachment rushed towards them, they immediately changed their horizontal formation into a vertical formation, and relying on the advantage that all their boats were flat-bottomed and had a shallow draft, they lined up in a column and glided through the shallow water area of ​​the sandbar on the south side of Chongming Prefecture, sailing downstream to the east.

This is the boundary between the outer area of ​​the sandbar and the deep water area of ​​the Yangtze River. Fang Guozhen's ships are all deep-draft, pointed-bottom sea vessels, so in this area, the river ships of the Shengwu Army Navy can pass, but Fang Guozhen's sea ships cannot. Once they enter the shallow water area outside the sandbar, they are likely to run aground here.

This is an exclusive safe passage belonging to the Shengwu Army Navy. This is the invincible place that Lu Jin told Bai Guangtai before the battle!

You can use a flat-bottomed river boat to move around the shallow water area of ​​the sandbar and hide in the shallow water area. This way, even if you can't win, you can still run away, at least you won't lose too badly.

Of course, it is impossible for Lu Jin to micro-manage from a long distance. How to use these sandbars to win the battle is Bai Guangtai's job.

As for Fang Guoying's northern detachment, his first task was to split up the Shengwu Army navy and create opportunities for Fang Guozhen to outnumber the enemy. As a result, the mission was accomplished, but Bai Guangtai escaped to the east along the edge of the sandbar.

Looking at Fang Guozhen's side, he had more than 260 ships fighting against Zhang Chao's 36 ships, but he didn't leave a single ship behind and suffered heavy losses. After the first round, Zhang Chao broke out of the formation, but nearly a hundred ships on Fang Guozhen's side lost control and drifted on the river, quickly becoming disconnected from Fang Guozhen's main formation. Then Fang Guozhen turned his boats around to rescue those ships.

When Fang Guoying saw this situation, he realized that he had obviously suffered a great loss. When he saw his third brother Fang Guozhen regrouping and going downstream to pursue Zhang Chao, he also decisively turned around and formed a column to chase after Bai Guangtai's more than 100 boats.

Bai Guangtai was not in a hurry and did not fight with Fang Guoying. He just kept dodging to the north, trying to get close to the shallow water area on the inner circle of the sandbar. After his fleet passed Chongming Prefecture, it did not stop and continued to sail towards the depression on the south side of Yao Liusha in the south.

Fang Guoying also ordered the fleet to raise full sails and pursue at full speed, trying to intercept Bai Guangtai at the eastern end of Yao Liusha and leave all of his more than 100 ships here.

However, Fang Guoying was so eager to seek revenge that he forgot about Fang Mingshan who was sent to scout the north of Chongming Prefecture. This guy personally took two boats to scout, but the first round was over and he has not returned yet.
Seeing his fourth brother leading the fleet to closely follow Bai Guangtai's main force, chasing along Chongmingzhou all the way to Yao Liusha, where the main force of the Yuan army's navy had already turned around, Fang Guozhen couldn't help but frown and hurriedly shouted to another son, "Mingqian, your brother Mingshan hasn't come back yet. There must be an ambush north of Chongmingzhou. Hurry up and contact the fourth brother and tell him to be careful behind the sandbar!"

"Yes!"

Fang Mingqian took the order and quickly jumped onto a nearby liaison boat and quickly turned the rudder to chase after Fang Guoying.

The messenger sent by Dingding who was on the same ship with Fang Guozhen asked, "Wan Hu is worried that there are enemy naval forces ambushing behind the sandbar? Should we go over to support them?"

Fang Guozhen frowned and said seriously, "Of course we have to go to support them, but we can't go straight over there.

"My God, these pirates are not easy to deal with. Don't underestimate them. The water near the sandbar is too shallow, and the ships can't get close to it. Otherwise, they will run aground easily. No one can escape then. The pirates must have measured the water depth in advance and set up an ambush there. If I'm right, there must be an ambush north of Chongming.

"We are going to the lower reaches of Yao Liusha to provide support. Quickly, turn the rudder and head northeast!"

So with Fang Guozhen's order, the fleet immediately changed direction and headed downstream of Yao Liusha.

At the same time, Zhang Chao, who had just arrived in the north, happened to meet the liaison ship sent by Bai Guangtai.

"What? Let us stop the main force of the enemy?"

The messenger said immediately, "Yes, Commander Bai wants to work with Captain Liu to encircle and annihilate the 100 ships on the northern route of the enemy, and let Captain Zhang's battalion intercept the main force of the enemy. Commander Bai also said that you should intersect from the north and south, first go south, then go back from the south, and meet up with the commander east of Yao Liusha. You are not to fight the enemy head-on, just fire one shot and leave, just disrupt them. If there is a chance, find a way to stop some of the enemy ships that were damaged before."

Zhang Chao frowned and looked at the situation on the river. He quickly went over the order in his mind, then frowned and nodded, "Okay, I'll go and intercept the main force of the enemy. Pass on my military order, hang the charge flag, and blow the horn!"

Woo————

The dull sound of the horn rang out again on the river. Just as Fang Guozhen regrouped and sailed towards Yao Liusha downstream, Zhang Chao's 34 gunboats also turned around again, heading southeast, and slanted towards the middle of Fang Guozhen's fleet.

Fang Guozhen immediately cried out inwardly that something was not right. Since the enemy navy had taken the initiative to come and intercept, then the fourth brother Fang Guoying must have an ambush. The fourth brother was in danger!

Sure enough, near the crossroads formed between Chongmingzhou and Yaoliusha in the north, when Fang Mingqian's liaison ship had not yet caught up with Fang Guoying, Fang Guoying's one hundred ships had just passed three-quarters of the way, and about sixty ships had passed the crossroads and were chasing Bai Guangtai relentlessly.

At this moment, a river gunboat flying the red flag of the Shengwu Army suddenly emerged from the northwest of Chongming Prefecture and arrived at the waterway at the intersection. As soon as it appeared, it used the bow cannon to hit the middle of Fang Guoying's fleet!
Boom boom boom boom————

At the intersection east of Chongming Prefecture and west of Yao Liusha, there was a burst of artillery fire, and Fang Guoying's fleet was caught off guard.

Fang Guozhen's guess was correct. The Shengwu Army had indeed hidden an ambush in the northwest of Chongming Prefecture. Liu Que, another gunboat commander of the 38st Regiment of the Navy, also brought 22 gunboats and 60 close combat ships, a total of ships, and had been hiding in the north of Chongming Prefecture.

Just now, after Fang Mingshan took two patrol boats to scout in the north, he was immediately besieged by Liu Que. Liu Que was in the upper reaches and had the advantage of speed due to the wind, so he chased them quickly. None of Fang Mingshan's two patrol boats escaped, and they all became Liu Que's prisoners. Even Fang Mingshan himself became Liu Que's trophy, which led to him not going back to report to Fang Guozhen in the first round just now.

Now the situation was reversed, and it became Fang Guoying chasing Bai Guangtai, so Liu Xu immediately led the fleet out from the east of Chongming Prefecture, formed a column and crossed with Fang Guoying's fleet, successfully came to the south side of Fang Guoying, and sandwiched him between Yao Liusha and his own fleet.

After completing this "X"-shaped penetration, more than 80 ships of Fang Guoying were directly intercepted. Liu Xu arranged his fleet into a long snake formation, always keeping a distance of more than 100 meters from Fang Guoying, hiding outside the range of bows and arrows, and then used his side firepower to frantically fire at Fang Guoying's fleet, driving Fang Guoying's fleet to hide in the depression of Yao Liusha.

The Yuan army warships had already witnessed the power of the artillery and did not dare to resist. They all fled to the north. As a result, these huge ships got closer and closer and soon collided.

With a loud bang, two Yuan army ships collided with each other, and then ran aground together, sinking in the shallow water area south of Yao Liusha, like giants trapped in a quagmire, unable to move anymore!
Liu Xu was so excited that he stood at the bow, grabbed the rope and shouted, "Drive the sheep into the pen, drive all the Yuan army's navy over to eat sand! Fire, don't stop, reload quickly!"

Boom boom boom boom boom——

As the artillery fire on the battlefield became more and more intense, the ships led by Fang Guoying kept fleeing northward in panic, and eventually sank one after another on the shallow beach south of Yao Liusha. In less than a quarter of an hour, more than 130 ships were trapped and unable to move. Bai Guangtai, who had been fleeing everywhere since the beginning of the war, finally completed the task of luring the enemy. Seeing that the pursuing army behind him was driven into the trap he had designed long ago, he immediately blew the horn and led his more than close-combat ships to turn around and fight back.

Three or four river ships of the Shengwu Army navy turned around and surrounded one of Fang Guoying's ships, and threw grenades onto the ship like crazy, causing the Yuan army on board to panic and suffer heavy losses. After a round of grenades were thrown, Shengwu Army soldiers immediately jumped up with shields and swords in hand-to-hand combat with the Yuan army. Others hooked the side of the Yuan army's ship with their hook-and-sickle spears, and rushed up in a few steps, pulling the spear barrels, and climbed onto the deck to fight with the Yuan army.

Fang Guozhen, who was far away, saw Lao Si's fleet sitting on the beach and unable to move. He immediately pounded the side of the boat in anger and cursed, "Long Nian Niang, go and save them!"

However, after seeing with his own eyes that his side had succeeded and surrounded dozens of Fang Guoying's ships, how could Zhang Chao easily let the main force of the Yuan army go to support?
Just as Fang Guozhen accelerated his eastward voyage and the distance between the fleets increased, Zhang Chao immediately led his gunboats, formed two columns from northwest to southeast, and passed diagonally through the middle of Fang Guozhen's fleet. The guns on the bow and both sides of the ship kept firing, causing heavy losses to Fang Guozhen again.

However, Fang Guozhen didn't care about so many things at this time. He found that the most difficult thing about the Shengwu Army navy was not how powerful their ships were or how powerful their cannons were, but the fundamental difference in their tactical thinking.

Naval battles of this era, in the final analysis, were still mainly based on boarding battles, with the ultimate goal of seizing or burning the enemy's ships. To put it bluntly, it all came down to close combat.

However, the Shengwu Army Navy relied on the advantage of their long-range artillery and did not engage him in close combat. Instead, they moved around and flew kites, firing cannons for long-range attacks, and did not damage his ships. Instead, they used shotgun shells to kill and injure the people on his ships. This way of fighting was disgusting.

Although Fang Guozhen had many ships with relatively tall hulls and many soldiers on board, they were like an inflexible strong man, or a large formation of heavy armored infantry that was difficult to move. They had no way to deal with the rangers who were running around and shooting arrows at them.

If you chase him, he will run away. If you can't catch up with him, he will come back to harass you if you ignore him. This is the cavalry tactic on the water.

After realizing what was happening, Fang Guozhen stopped fighting with Zhang Chao and ordered the fleets to get closer to each other and form a tight formation without leaving too much space in between to prevent Zhang Chao's gunboats from moving back and forth. The entire army gathered together and rushed toward the northeast downstream of Yao Liusha.

At this time, Zhang Chao had already rushed through a round and broke out of Fang Guozhen's fleet again. He regrouped in the south and turned around, heading northeast, preparing for another infiltration.

However, when he saw that Fang Guozhen's fleet was getting closer and closer with no space in between, he frowned again. He glanced at the battlefield and found that the one hundred or so Yuan army warships he had beaten in the west were positioned at the back and were vaguely out of touch with Fang Guozhen's main fleet. So he immediately gave orders to regroup and took the lead to rush towards the middle seam.

Zhang Chao suddenly had a bold idea. If I can't stop Fang Guozhen's main force, can't I stop you cripples?
So the second infiltration happened again. The ships that had been hit by the artillery before became even more frightened. They turned their rudders and headed north to avoid it. Some even collided with each other. Zhang Chao rushed forward, firing cannons while asking his soldiers to shout to persuade them to surrender, saying that they would not be killed if they surrendered.

As for Fang Guozhen, he wanted to rescue the fourth brother Fang Guoying, but Fang Guoying's fleet was stuck in shallow water and could not move. If he went there, he would definitely be stuck there as well. Seeing that Bai Guangtai's strangulation of those Yuan army warships was coming to an end, there was no point in going to rescue them at this time. People were almost dead, so there was no point in saving them.

While Fang Guozhen was hesitating, Liu Que, who had completed the mission of driving away the enemies, also rushed over with 38 gunboats of the Second Battalion. They formed two columns and passed by Fang Guozhen's north side, firing wildly at Fang Guozhen's fleet with their starboard artillery. This time even Fang Guozhen's own ship was hit by a shot. He was so scared that he quickly squatted down and raised his shield to protect his body, but he still felt a numbness in his leg. An mm shotgun shell fired from a broadside cannon pierced his shield and pierced into his left calf muscle with a wooden splinter.

Fang Guozhen was horrified. He glanced at the fourth brother Fang Guoying who was trapped in the encirclement. He gritted his teeth and shouted, "Retreat! Retreat quickly! Go to the sea!"

Ding ding ding ding ding————

The sound of gongs was soon heard on Fang Guozhen's ship, signaling the end of the war. Upon hearing the news, other ships also retreated to the sea. As for Fang Guoying who was surrounded, they could no longer take care of him.

At about four o'clock in the afternoon on the 30th, Fang Guozhen, who had already escaped to the sea, had a terribly gloomy face. Although this battle allowed him to escape, it also caused him to suffer a great loss!
There were a total of 192 to 170 ships when they came, but only returned to the sea, with more than ships lost, nearly half of the total.

It would have been fine if only a few boats were missing, but what made him most upset was that the fourth brother Fang Guoying was trapped in Bai Guangtai's encirclement and could not escape, and his life or death was unknown.

Old Five Fang Guomin came back with him, but was hit by a main gun shotgun shell before leaving. He was hit by four 16mm diameter grapeshot in the chest and abdomen and died on the spot.

My cousin Fang Mingshan was sent to conduct reconnaissance in the north of Chongming Prefecture, but there has been no news since then and our knowledge of whether he is alive or dead is unknown. I am afraid he is in great danger now.

Another follower, Fang Mingqian, was quite clever. He drove a small liaison boat and broke through the encirclement and retreated with the main force.

In the First World War, more than 170 ships were lost, two brothers and a nephew died, and even Fang Guozhen himself was hit by a shotgun bullet in the leg and was still bleeding.

The number of soldiers and sailors lost was countless, totaling more than ten thousand. Just do the math, there are about 80 people on a ship, but now there are more than 170 ships missing. It can be said that the loss was very tragic.

But now there is also some not-so-good news, that is, the Shengwu Army Navy has not yet taken control of the captured ships, so they have not chased them to the sea. His Zhoushan Islands, as his base camp, are still safe for the time being.

But it's hard to say what will happen in the future. When Lu Jin installs cannons on those captured ships, I'll let you know what cruelty is.
On the deck of Fang Guozhen's flagship, the body of Old Five Fang Guomin was placed there. Fang Guozhen sat in front of his brothers, holding four iron beads that he had dug out from Old Five's body in his hands, which made a creaking sound as he squeezed them. He sat there without saying a word.

The messenger sent by Dingding stepped forward and gave advice without any hesitation.

"Victory and defeat are common in the military. The five generals have served their country with loyalty. I will report this to Lord Pingzhang and I will be able to obtain compensation and rewards from the court for the five generals.

"Don't be discouraged, Wanhu. We only lost a hundred ships this time. We still have at least 300 large ships like this. When we go back and regroup, we will be able to fight again and avenge the dead soldiers."

Unexpectedly, Fang Guozhen suddenly became furious when he heard this. He picked up the four iron beads in his hand and smashed them on the messenger's face. The messenger staggered and sat on the deck.

"I'll fight your mother! If you hadn't tricked me into coming to fight the Luzhou Red Turbans, how could my two brothers die here! If you want to fight so much, then go and pay for my brother's life first!"

With a clang, Fang Guozhen suddenly pulled out a knife from the waist of a soldier next to him and chopped at the messenger. Not satisfied with the first chop, he chopped dozens of times in succession, chopping the messenger sent by Dingding into pieces.
Fang Guozhen waited until he was tired of chopping wood before his son Fang Mingqian, who was standing beside him, said carefully, "Father, there is a boat coming from the river mouth, and it is heading towards us."

Fang Guozhen looked up upon hearing this and found that it was indeed a small two-masted boat, which seemed to be their own liaison ship. When the boat got closer, they could see someone on it waving at them.

Fang Mingqian had sharp eyes and recognized the man immediately, "It's my brother, it's Brother Mingshan."

Fang Guozhen immediately said, "Go and pick them up quickly."

A moment later, Fang Mingshan also came to Fang Guozhen's ship and brought back a corpse. It was the corpse of the fourth brother Fang Guoying. He was hit by grenade shrapnel and then hit by a musket in the final hand-to-hand combat. He had arrow wounds, gunshot wounds, knife wounds, and dozens of injuries all over his body. It was a very tragic death.

Fang Guozhen looked at the bodies of his two brothers, took a deep breath, and asked with red eyes, "Why didn't you come back to tell us that there were ambushes behind Chongming Prefecture?"

Fang Mingshan knelt on the deck and kowtowed. "Father, it's not that I didn't say it, but the enemy army had too many ambushes hidden behind Chongming Prefecture. I only had two boats, and we were downstream. They were upstream with the wind and the water, and they were fast. I was about to turn around, but they caught up and surrounded me. All the soldiers on my boat died in the battle, and that's why I was captured by them."

Fang Guozhen asked again with a stern face, "Then why did they let you go again? And why did they ask you to send back the body of the fourth brother?"

Fang Mingshan quickly took out a letter from his arms, handed it over and said.

"This is a letter that the commander of the rebel navy asked me to bring to my uncle. It says that it was written to my uncle by Gongshu Jin, the marshal of the Shengwu Army, before their expedition to the east."

Fang Guozhen quickly took it, opened it and looked at it, then realized that he didn't recognize a few words at all, so he put the letter back in his arms.
Then he asked, "When you came back, did you see any movement of the Holy Warrior Navy?"

Fang Mingshan quickly replied, "Yes, they have sent dozens of boats equipped with muskets to patrol the river. From Chongming Prefecture to the Yangtze River estuary, there are patrol boats along the way. The commander of the enemy navy is leading people to tow our stranded boats and count the spoils."

Fang Guozhen continued to ask, "Have you seen whether the enemy army has any plans to go out to sea to chase us?"

Fang Mingshan frowned and said, "I don't think so. They don't have any ships to begin with. Even if they seized ships from us this time, they still need to repair and train. I don't think they will come to the sea to cause trouble for us in the short term.

"Besides, didn't he release me and let me bring back my uncle's body? He also handed a letter to my uncle. It's obvious that he was trying to show his goodwill to my uncle. If he's worried, wouldn't he know what the letter says?"

Fang Guozhen was so angry that he wanted to curse. If I could understand, why would I ask you, a little beast?

He glanced at the sparkling afterglow of the setting sun at the mouth of the Yangtze River in the west, and the red clouds in the sky. It was as if the heavens were telling him whose territory the Yangtze River should belong to. He cursed inwardly, and then said, "Let's go back to Zhoushan first!"

(End of this chapter)