Han Zhaoan led the last few Dongting Lake Navy warships without hesitation and crashed into the Zuo Army Navy.
Although only one left warship was sunk in the end, Han Zhaoan had no regrets.
The Zuo Army also suffered considerable losses after this water battle.
In addition to one warship being rammed and two ships being sunk, five or six ships were damaged to varying degrees, and some even affected the normal navigation.
Zuo Liangyu had no intention of stopping and ordered all naval warships to move downstream.
But they didn't get far before they were stopped on a narrow river.
What stopped them was none other than the wreckage of several giant ships.
These giant ships sank to the bottom of the river, making it impossible for the Zuo Army Navy, which had an extremely deep draft, to pass.
It was possible to pass by a small boat, but Zuo Liangyu would have to abandon a large number of troops and supplies.
These are the capital that he used to surrender to the Qing court, and they must not be abandoned.
In desperation, Zuo Liangyu had to order a U-turn and sail in the direction from which he came.
Now that it has been decided to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, it is no longer necessary to go eastward along the Yangtze River.
Zuo Liangyu decided to find an opportunity to lead the navy to evacuate from the Yangtze River tributaries.
This is more sudden, and it is difficult for the imperial encirclement and suppression troops to detect it in time.
In Zuo Liangyu's view, since the Dongting Lake Navy Division has been destroyed, Yuan Jixian has no chance of stopping him.
It was impossible for him to find enough giant ships to sink the river in a short period of time.
After all, the river surface near Jiujiang was much wider than that near the lower reaches.
The speed up the Shuo River is naturally much slower.
Fortunately, this section of the river does not require fiber pulling, otherwise Zuo Liangyu would have to send some soldiers to do this strenuous work, which would result in a lot of complaints.
Zuo Liangyu was in a good mood, but when the fleet reached the river near Jiujiang, his smile stopped abruptly.
I saw a few iron locks straddling the river.
The iron locks were about as thick as a fist.
If a ship were to hit them forcefully, they would probably be damaged. what's going on Yuan Jixian still has some backup plans Zuo Liangyu had to order the naval warships to stop.
In ancient times, there was a way to break the iron lock on Hengjiang, which was to use fire.
If the iron lock can be burned off, the ship will naturally be able to pass.
Zuo Liangyu was also prepared to do the same.
It just takes time, especially when the iron lock is so thick and there are several.
It happened that at this time, there was a sudden killing sound on both sides of the river bank, and many Ming troops wearing bright red and fat coats appeared.
Zuo Liangyu could tell only from the flags they flew that these people were not soldiers of Governor Yuan Jixian's Biao Camp, but Huang Degong's subordinates.
The appearance of Huang Degong shocked Zuo Liangyu.
This man is very brave, and the soldiers under his command are also very capable.
Zuo Liangyu is not confident that he will be able to defeat him in a head-on confrontation.
What's more, their naval warships are now parked on the river, acting like targets.
Huang Degong didn't know where he got dozens of small cannons, and started bombarding the fleet on the river.
Although the aim of these small cannons was very poor, warships were successively shot and suffered varying degrees of damage.
There's no time to wait any longer Zuo Liangyu knew very well that if he continued to wait, his navy would be riddled with artillery fire before the iron locks were burned.
Huang Degong is forcing him to go ashore.
At the moment, Zuo Liangyu can't advance, and can't retreat.
It's really a dilemma.
After thinking about it for a while, Zuo Liangyu gritted his teeth and ordered the navy to land.
He chose to land on the north bank of the Yangtze River because there was Jiujiang City on the south bank.
If Yuan Jixian sent Governor Biaoying to cooperate with Huang Degong, it would be more difficult for the left army to break through.
The current in this section of the Yangtze River is not too fast, but it is not easy to grab a stall and land under artillery bombardment.
Zuo Liangyu didn't care about this.
Once the military order was issued, he must follow it and rush ashore no matter what.
Free novels bring you joy and joy ---> storyskyline.net
Huang Degong was overjoyed when he saw this.
As expected, Zuo Liangyu was forced into panic and had already started to mess up his position.
Huang Degong has deployed heavy troops on the north bank of the Yangtze River and occupied various dangerous areas.
Zuo Liangyu will have to pay a heavy price if he wants to go ashore.
Gradually, warships were hit by artillery and sank into the river, but the Zuo Army Navy still had no intention of stopping.
They were like wild animals in desperate situation, rushing towards the river bank for their lives.
Finally, the warships of the Zuo Army Navy stopped on the north bank one after another.
The soldiers jumped off the ship as quickly as possible and started fighting with Huang Degong's Ming army.
Both sides used their killing moves without showing any mercy.
Huang Degong's Ming army suffered fewer casualties because they occupied better terrain, but some soldiers were hit by fire cannons and fell to the ground in pain.
The firearms equipment of the direct battalions under Zuo Liangyu are very good.
Although they are not as good as the Shence Army built with a lot of money, they are still among the best among the warlords.
In comparison, Huang Degong's firearms equipment seemed a bit shabby.
The soldiers still used the blunderbuss passed down from the Laoyong Military Camp during the Chongzhen period.
Some of them could no longer shoot and could only be used as fire sticks.
But there is nothing that can be done about it.
Nowadays, the Firearms Department's production of fireguns is limited, and the fireguns produced are not even enough for the Shence Army, so naturally they cannot be given priority to Huang Degong's army.
Zuo Liangyu's army used fire cannons to clear the way, and the firepower was very fierce.
However, Huang Degong had a unique trick to crack the firecracker.
He ordered people to carry out several wooden shields as high as a man.
The shield was wrapped with a thick layer of felt, so that when the lead hit the felt, most of its power would be lost and the soldiers would not be killed.
But this gave the left army soldiers a chance to go ashore.
They all seized this rare opportunity to jump ashore and fight with Huang Degong's Ming army.
The number of Huang Degong's soldiers is roughly the same as the number of Zuo Liangyu's remaining troops.
But because 20,000 people were also deployed on the south bank, there were only about 30,000 Ming troops on the north bank.
As soldiers from the left army landed one after another, Huang Degong's Ming army came under increasing pressure.
Seeing this, Huang Degong led his soldiers to take the lead and charge with all their strength, which boosted their morale.
The two sides fought back and forth, launching rounds of competition for the river bank.
Sometimes the Zuo Army had the advantage, and sometimes Huang Degong drove the Zuo Army out for a few points.
The battle situation is very tense.
At this moment, Huang Degong bent his bow and aimed an arrow at Zuo Liangyu, who was a hundred steps away.
But with a whooshing sound, the arrow shot out of the air and shot straight towards Zuo Liangyu.
Originally, Huang Degong wanted to capture Zuo Liangyu alive, but the development of the situation was beyond his expectation.
If the fierce battle continued, not only might Zuo Liangyu not be captured alive, but he might even be able to escape.
So he could only choose the last resort and shoot the Zuo thief directly.
Zuo Liangyu was directing the battle at the moment and didn't even notice the cold arrow.
The arrow shot directly into Zuo Liangyu's left eye, and the huge force caused the arrow body to penetrate through the head.
Zuo Liangyu fell to the ground on the spot, twitched for a while and then stopped moving.
The coach died suddenly and the left army was in chaos.
Huang Degong's Ming army took advantage of the situation and attacked in one fell swoop, regaining all the lost positions
.
: