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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 236: Three-way Blockade

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    The Qing navy that escaped from the waterway did not relax for long. After walking three or four miles on the waterway, the cries of the Qing army soldiers behind them still echoed in their ears. They had already reached the point where Yunzaobang merged into the Huangpu River.  Three intersections.

    This place is different from the purgatory-like Shura battlefield behind us. It is quiet and peaceful here. The reeds on the shore are swaying in the wind, and the Huangpu River is rushing. The two sides of the river are surprisingly quiet. We will reach Wusongkou in a few miles.

    Chen Guotai stood on the bow of the boat and watched his boat passing by. He clearly felt something was wrong. Lai Zhenhai frowned and said: "The fake King of the West is a thief who is fierce and cunning in his tactics. He can't let us go to Wusongkou so easily."  Bar¡­¡­"

    As soon as he finished speaking, the three red single boats in front of him were slammed hard. The helmsmen on the boats were uncertain about their control. The hulls were thrown across the river under the huge inertia of the current and wind, knocking over several sampans guarding them.  and crab boats.

    Chen Guotai's expression changed greatly and he shouted loudly: "No, there are chains or wooden stakes blocking the water! There is an ambush by the long-haired thieves here!"

    At this moment, a loud arrow flew up from the reed marsh on the west bank and landed directly on the river with a shrill sound. The reed marshes and several harbors on both sides of the bank seemed to be doing magic. Countless firelights came out, and the smoke filled the air.  In the middle, dense artillery fire directed at the Qing navy fleet in the river with a sharp whistling sound.

    As the first three red single boats were blocked by underwater iron locks and lay horizontally on the river, the sailors hurriedly adjusted the sails and tried to adjust the direction of the water rudder. The oarsmen were also working hard to correct the hull, but the few red single boats behind them  Unable to avoid it, they hit it directly, and even Chen Guotai's boat was hit. Chen Guotai and Lai Zhenhai were staggered by the collision. Fortunately, the two of them had been on the boat for a long time. When they couldn't get out of the way, they loudly ordered the whole boat to do something.  Good for collision.

    Chen Guotai held on to a cable to steady himself.  Then he cursed loudly: "What a cunning long-haired bandit, this time the iron chain is hiding under the water in Hengjiang!"

    Lai Zhenhaitou said: "Yes, and the iron chain is just deep enough to block the bottom of the red single boat bed, but other small boats such as sampans and crab boats can pass through."

    When the artillery fire came, Chen Guotai and Lai Zhenhai no longer had time to talk. They each shouted hoarsely and ordered the lookout to send out a signal flag, ordering the red single ship to fire back fire. The other small boats were preparing to send some soldiers ashore to clear the long hair on the shore.  Thief artillery array.

    The lookout waved his flag a few times when a cannon flew towards him.  Impartially, it hit the mainmast of Chen Guotai's ship. The watchman screamed on the mainmast and followed the fallen mast into the water.  As more artillery fire focused on Chen Guotai's boat, it seemed that the Taiping Army recognized this boat as the boat of the Qing navy commander, so they concentrated on attacking the boat.

    ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Instant.  The cannons came like rain, and big holes were smashed into the deck and hull.  The sail has long since fallen.  The sailors on board were in chaos.  Chen Guotai's order could not be issued, and the entire fleet was in chaos. Some red single boats turned around and fired, some collided with each other, some small boats were knocked over by larger ships, and some rushed through the iron chain.  There are also dozens of sampans and crab boats flying to the shore, ready to go ashore to fight.

    Several sampan boats in the vanguard arrived at the shore. Countless Taiping Army musketeers and archers emerged from the reeds on the shore, and dense plumes of lead and feather arrows flew towards them.  Immediately, the Qing troops on the ship were beaten to death.  Seeing that they could not reach the shore, these small boats had to retreat.

    Chen Guotai's boat had already been riddled with holes. Chen Guotai, Lai Zhenhai escorted and Chunji boarded the boat and took shelter on another red single boat.  The Taiping Army's artillery fire from the shore continued, and the Qing Army's large and small ships on the river were crowded together, becoming the best living target.  Before boarding the small boat and abandoning the ship, Chen Guotai's rescue team took several small boats and sent the order separately. He ordered small boats, crab boats, and sampans to move forward first. The large and small boats acted separately, and lowered the water ghosts downstream to clear the underwater obstacles for the large boats.  , otherwise they will just wait to die if they are crowded together.

    After receiving the order, the Qing navy boats, crab boats and other shallow-draft boats immediately passed through the gaps in the red single boats and drove downstream to avoid the Taiping Army's shore artillery fire.  These small boats had traveled a long way, but the artillery fire of the Taiping Army did not chase these small boats. They only hit the red boats on the river. After the red boats' artillery began to fight back, the amphibious artillery of the two armies began a desperate battle.

    The escaping Qing army boats and crab boats stopped far downstream. Just as they were about to put down the water ghosts and dive to cut off the iron chain, a Qing army sailor shouted loudly: "There is a fleet of long-haired thieves coming downstream."  Come!"

    Navy guerrillas Li Xinming and Ye Changchun, who were in charge of commanding the small boat fleet, were on a crab boat. They heard the shouts and looked up hurriedly. Sure enough, on the Huangpu River downstream, there was a Taiping fleet composed of dozens of large and small boats.  Qi opened his mouth and came over.  Li Xinming was wearing short clothes and leaning against the water. He turned around and shouted to Ye Changchun with a short blade in his hand: "Brother Ye, you lead here and order the boys to go into the water and cut off the iron chain. I will lead half of the boats to attack the enemy. You  Cut off the iron chain as soon as possible and let Mr. Chen and his big ship come over, otherwise our big and small ships will be separated.This is a big taboo in water battles, I'm afraid they will be defeated one by one by the long-haired pirate navy!  "

    Ye Changchun is also a person who is used to water battles. He knows that in water battles, large and small ships complement each other and act as horns. If they fight separately, they will often win less and lose more. He immediately responded loudly: "I understand, Brother Li, just come forward.  My little brother will risk his life to break the chain."

    At present, the Qing navy's small fleet was divided into two. Li Xinming led more than ten crab boats, more than thirty small boats and sampans to rush forward to meet the enemy. Ye Changchun personally led people into the water to swim to the bottom of the red single ship.

    The naval fleet on the other side was the Taiping Navy led by Lu Shunde and Zhao Shunping. After the morning raid on Wusong, the battle had been decided by noon. Lu Shunde and Zhao Shunping followed Xiao Yungui's orders and led the navy to  Sanchakou came to support Chen Yucheng who was blocking the Qing army here. Xiao Yungui knew that once the Qing army learned that Wusong was occupied, they would desperately return to support. Chen Yucheng's Army Division had a sure chance of winning against the Qing Army's Army Division, but they could not stop it.  For the Qing navy, the iron chain across the river could only block it for a while. Once the iron chain was destroyed, the Qing fleet might rush into Wusongkou.  The Wusong fort has just been recovered, and many forts still don't even have cannons. Two rivers converge at Sanchakou, the water flow is complex, there are many forks, and the river has narrow curves, which is perfect for ambush, so we can only block the enemy at Sanchakou, and we must not  Let the Qing navy escape from Sanchakou, otherwise the Wusongkou River is wide and it will be difficult to stop the Qing navy's warships once they are deployed.

    Lu Shunde and Zhao Shunping were ordered to immediately lead the fleet upstream. As they approached Sanchakou, they heard the sound of cannons. They urged the oarsmen to hold on, and when they came to Sanchakou a little outside, they saw the Qing navy's large and small ships separated, and the small boats  Downstream, Zhao Shunping said with great joy: "The separation of the Qingyao Navy's large and small ships is a good time to defeat them one by one."

    Lu Shunde also said happily: "That's it. I'm ordering the whole army to move forward and annihilate the Qingyao fleet first!"

    The Qing Navy's response was not slow. When they saw the Taiping Navy's fleet, half of the small fleet immediately separated and came forward to fight. Seeing this, Zhao Shunping pulled out the sharp knife from his waist, took off his outer robe, and revealed a short coat.  He stood close to the water and shouted to Lu Shunde: "Brother Lu, let me lead the small boat to meet the enemy. You can lead the big boat to support us with artillery and muskets!"

    Lu Shunde said loudly: "Thank you, Brother Zhao, please be careful." Zhao Shunping got down to the boat and led the boat to guard the front, rear and left sides of the big ship. Lu Shunde ordered the big ship to start firing.

    The Taiping Army¡¯s large warships were mostly large merchant ships and large grain ships on inland rivers. They were far less sharp than the red single large ships, but they were still able to suppress their firepower against the small fleet of the Qing Army.  Among the small fleets of the Qing army, the largest ones were only a dozen crab boats. These crab boats had rows of oars on both sides and looked like centipedes and crabs. The hulls were usually painted red and black.  , called "centipede boats" in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, and "quick crabs" in the Qing Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, they often appeared in the golden waterway of the Pearl River Estuary in Guangdong, robbing passing ships and property.  When there is no wind, raise the oar and when the wind rises, raise the sail. If necessary, use both oars and sails.  The large "fast crab" has more than 20 oars on each side, and each one is equipped with two strong men. It can walk on the water like flying, using the amazing speed of the boat to chase the "prey" and evade pursuit.

    The crab boat was originally a boat used by pirates in the Pearl River Delta. When it shakes, it looks like a crab with its legs stretched out. It is extremely fast. It can have muskets and crossbows on both sides, and cannons on the bow. When being chased by officers and soldiers, they can run away if they can.  If they can't drop it, they fire artillery to resist arrest, which causes a headache for the officers and soldiers.  Later, the officials of the Qing court got the idea and recruited some pirates. Xiang Lai Zhenhai and others were born pirates. With the participation of these people, the Qing court soon imitated the crab boats, and the Qing court relied on fast crab boats.  Crab boats come to fight fire with fire to hunt down pirates and smugglers.

    Lu Shunde was a strong man under Luo Gang. In his early years, he and Luo Gang were members of the Heaven and Earth Congregation. He had been in the boat armies of Guangdong and Guangxi, and he was very aware of the speed advantage of fast crab boats. Moreover, at this moment, fast crab boats were coming downstream, and even more  Zhang Qishu, so Lu Shunde ordered the gunners to aim in the direction of the crab boat and fire several feet in advance. If they just wanted to aim at the hull of the crab boat, they would never be able to hit the crab boat.

    Lu Shunde issued this order, and the artillery fire from the Taiping Army ships suddenly became more accurate. Four crab boats were hit by explosive shells, and one was hit on the bow. The entire bow was suddenly torn apart by a huge shock wave, and the stern was high.  It tilted up and quickly sank into the water. The other three ships were hit in the stern, the rudder was destroyed, and a large hole was torn in the stern. They spinned a few times on the river and slowly sank into the water.

    After four rounds of artillery fire, the Qing army's crab boats took the lead and approached the Taiping fleet. However, they lost eight crab boats, and the remaining six moved forward bravely under the leadership of Qing navy general Li Xinming.

    Seeing the Qing army approaching, Zhao Shunping shouted loudly with a sharp knife in his hand: "Brother Lu, they fought well, brothers, the barbarians from Guangdong actually sailed to our Jiangnan river to show off their power. Do they think we have no one in Wuzhong? All brothers follow  I'm going! Let the Guangdong barbarians see the true nature of our Wuzhong navy!" Zhao Shunping's canal bandits shouted in unison, set sails and oars, and rushed towards the Qing army's crab boat.The water battle is about to begin.  To be continued, please search Piao Tian Literature, the novels will be better and updated faster!
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