Upon hearing this, Zheng Rong stood up and walked around the side of the ship, then returned to the throne and said, "The Lingnan Army only left some garbage and junk on the dock. The situation has not changed much. Why is Yizhi so discouraged? Why don't you tell Zhao Chengxiao to go down quickly and quickly occupy the Yanziji dock to avoid delaying the time and affecting the morale of the army."
Qiu Yizi's heart tightened when he heard this - if he forced an attack under such unfavorable circumstances, he would inevitably be resisted by his opponent with all his strength. Although his men were elite and strong, they would inevitably be injured. This was something Qiu Yizi did not want to see no matter what.
Helplessly, he looked up and saw his master Zhong Likuang standing silently behind the emperor's formation, and couldn't help looking at him with an almost pleading look. Unexpectedly, Zhong Likuang also looked at Qiu Yizi with the same helpless look, as if to ask him to obey the emperor's orders and quickly order a strong attack on Yanziji Wharf.
Qiu Yizhi was already very disappointed. Suddenly, she gritted her teeth, turned around and walked to the side of the ship. She called Zhao Chengxiao and swallowed hard, saying, "Brother Zhao, the arrow is on the string and has to be shot. Although Zheng Yu has schemed and put so many bastards on the dock, as long as we make proper arrangements, we can still take over the dock smoothly."
Zhao Chengxiao was also a man who knew military affairs. He had seen the scene at the dock a long time ago, and he couldn't help but feel a little nervous. He said, "Sir, our army is now landing, so the starting point, attack route, and intended target are very clear. There is no tricks to play. It seems that we have to attack by force..."
As they were talking, they heard the beating of war drums from the Yanziji Wharf, and then countless Lingnan soldiers suddenly walked out from the houses on both sides, holding long and short weapons in their hands, and quickly formed a formation - some lined up in the front, some on the flanks, and some fired from concealed positions - it was obvious that they had been prepared and were waiting for the imperial troops to attack.
Seeing this situation, Qiu Yizhi knew that if he foolishly fought hard, his trusted soldiers would be wiped out or crippled, so he gritted his teeth and said fiercely: "I have a countermeasure, I have a countermeasure."
Just as he had finished these two incoherent sentences, he suddenly heard the beating of war drums on the dock. The soldiers of the Lingnan Army on guard drew their bows and arrows and shot at the ship.
The Lingnan Army was well prepared and shot arrows frequently and densely, like a violent storm. Fortunately, Li Shengjie's ship - now also the emperor's imperial boat - was still far away from the Lingnan Army's archers and the ship was extremely tall, so few arrows hit the deck, but instead hit the side of the ship in a dense layer, making the majestic ship look like a huge hedgehog.
Qiu Yizhi hurriedly persuaded the emperor to move to the cabin, but then he saw Li Shengjie running up in two steps. Seeing his beloved ship's hull pockmarked by arrows like a face from smallpox, he felt so distressed: "Brother, how about we weigh anchor and retreat a little further from the dock?"
Qiu Yizi was about to answer when he saw the Lingnan army carrying dozens of burning charcoal basins from somewhere, and also brought up pre-prepared arrows with arrowheads tied with gauze soaked in kerosene, lit them and shot at the giant ship again.
These rockets were seen with flames and thick smoke, nailed to the side of the ship, and the gauze on the arrows was still burning.
Li Shengjie was really afraid that his flagship, which had cost the Li family so much manpower and money to build, would be burned on the bank of the Yangtze River. He hurriedly ordered his sailors to use buckets to draw river water from the side of the ship that was not exposed to the enemy and pour it all over the other side that was burning.
It must have been a naval battle, with both sides firing rockets at each other and setting ships on fire, which was a common tactic. Therefore, this group of sailors put out the fire extremely quickly. In the blink of an eye, they put out hundreds of rockets, leaving only the unpleasant smell of fireworks rising along the side of the ship.
Li Shengjie risked being shot by enemy arrows and stuck his head out to check the fire. He saw that although the fire did not damage the ship, it left ugly black flames on the hull that had been polished to a bright shine.
Li Shengjie was furious when he saw this, and said to Qiu Yizi: "Brother, just let me raise the anchor and retreat an arrow's distance, and let me use artillery to blow all these Lingnan troops into meat paste!"
This sentence immediately reminded Qiu Yizhi, and he quickly replied: "When the emperor leads the army in person, he wants to win the first battle, and he cannot retreat even a single step. But you can try out the power of your artillery to see if there are any iron-willed people in the Lingnan Army."
Li Shengjie hesitated after hearing this and said, "Brother, artillery is not afraid of firing at a distance, but it is afraid of firing at close range. The enemy is too close to me now, I am afraid I can't kill them all."
Qiu Yizhi himself had never operated a cannon, nor had he commanded its use. After hearing what Li Shengjie said, he was still a little puzzled. He just said, "Brother, go ahead and start by making a show of force. If you are reluctant to spend the money on the cannon, you can deduct it from my monthly draw."
With this, Li Shengjie finally stopped hesitating and shouted a few words loudly, and then 20 to 30 gunners rushed to the deck and skillfully manipulated and aimed the cannons. However, a leader stepped forward and said, "Young Captain, the distance here is too close. We can only hit the southern half of the dock. The firepower cannot cover all the defenders on the dock..."
Li Shengjie had already thought of this, so he answered impatiently: "Just fight when I tell you to. Kill as many people as you can. Why are you talking so much nonsense?"
With the order from the young captain Li Shengjie, the gunners naturally had nothing to say. They adjusted the range to the shortest distance, lit the fuse, and fired all five cannons on one side of the ship.
The power of the artillery was indeed enormous. A volley of shells almost destroyed half of the Yanziji Wharf. Even the people on the ship felt the huge shock wave caused by the explosion of the shells.
Qiu Yizhi lay on the side of the ship and saw how many soldiers of the Lingnan Army had died in the bombardment. The faces of those who were not hit were clearly filled with fear, and they could not help but shout excitedly: "Well done, well done!"
Qiu Yizhi was just feeling happy when she heard a harsh rebuke from behind her: "Yizhi, what's going on? Why are you firing cannons? I gave you an order yesterday, did you ignore my words? Who allowed you to act on your own?"
Qiu Yizi heard that it was Emperor Zheng Rong who was speaking. He just felt a little relaxed, but suddenly became nervous again. On the battlefield, as long as victory could be achieved, no matter if it was conspiracy or trickery, they would use any possible means. It was a convenient right for the generals to be able to disobey the imperial edict without causing any harm. So what was the big deal about firing two rounds of artillery
However, Qiu Yizi was a man of quick and careful mind. He had already noticed some subtle changes in Zheng Rong's attitude towards him in the past few days. He always felt that Zheng Rong's rage over his use of artillery must have other implications.
He suddenly had an idea. He pretended that his ears were temporarily deafened by the loud noise of the artillery fire, as if he couldn't even hear his own voice. He raised his voice and shouted, "Li Shengjie, good job, fire more!"
Li Shengjie was still young and did not have as many thoughts as Qiu Yizi. When he heard Qiu Yizi's loud shout, he immediately ordered his gunners to fire at the dock ahead again.
When loading the guns this time, the gunners had experience and deliberately loaded less gunpowder in the barrel than usual. As a result, the distance the shells were pushed out by the gunpowder explosion was indeed much closer than before, and they were able to hit the middle of the dock, killing and wounding many Lingnan Army soldiers.
Seeing this, Zheng Rong shouted again: "Qiu Yizi, are you deaf? I ask you, why did you fire without permission?"
"Deaf? I am indeed deaf." Qiu Yizhi thought to himself, but ordered Zhao Chengxiao loudly: "Get off the boat and land and attack immediately, don't dawdle!"
As he spoke, he turned his head and glanced at Zhao Chengxiao, but by chance he saw Zheng Rong with a face full of anger, walking towards him quickly. Until then, Qiu Yizhi finally remembered that it didn't matter if he pretended to be stupid, but he was guilty of deceiving the emperor. However, now was a tense time for the war, and he could only continue to pretend to be stupid, hoping that after winning, he could take advantage of the emperor's good mood, and with the help of his master and brother, he could be forgiven for his sins.
So Qiu Yizhi pretended not to hear the emperor's voice and answered irrelevantly: "Your Majesty, Zhao Chengxiao is about to land and fight. Come over and see his heroic appearance!"
As they were talking, Zhao Chengxiao took the lead, leading his 17 highly skilled bandit brothers, climbed down a few steps on several soft ladders, and when they were still more than ten feet above the ground, they jumped down, holding sharp blades and chopping melons and vegetables in the crowd.
The Lingnan Army did not expect that these mere dozen people would be so brave and good at fighting. They had just experienced several artillery bombardments and were stunned for a moment. In the first round, they were killed by Zhao Chengxiao and retreated more than ten steps.
These ten steps are worth a fortune. With this little space, it is enough for the follow-up troops to board the dock.
As expected, while Zhao Chengxiao was still leading his troops to fight, the subsequent militiamen had already taken action, climbing down the ladders and charging into the battle.
The Lingnan Army also reacted quickly. Seeing that the enemy's attack was very urgent, they were afraid that more troops would land in succession, so they quickly intensified their offensive, trying to drive the imperial troops who had just jumped off the boat to the dock back into the Yangtze River.
At this time, the crossbowmen who had been prepared on the boat saw the situation and immediately began to fire crossbow arrows at the Lingnan Army. The crossbow machines they used were all replenished and repaired after entering Beijing, so they were very handy to use. After a burst of crossbow arrows, another burst was fired in the blink of an eye. The crossbow arrows flew towards the Lingnan Army soldiers like locusts.
The Lingnan army was caught off guard by this rain of arrows and their offensive immediately came to a halt.
At this moment, several large baskets swung down from the boat. The baskets were filled with nothing but dozens of copper shields more than one meter tall and dozens of iron spears about ten feet long.
Needless to say, these copper shields were made by Qiu Yizhi in imitation of the regulations of the "Dangshi Camp" of the old Youyan Dao; and these iron spears were specially made by Qiu Yizhi after summarizing his experience in the confrontation with the Lingnan Army. These equipments are heavy and large, and it is difficult to carry them when landing, so they can only be equipped to the soldiers in this way.
Zhao Chengxiao, who was fighting, saw the equipment fall to the ground and immediately shouted: "Arm your troops in formation!"
The soldiers who heard the order shouted "Yes!" and then, under the protection of Zhao Chengxiao and 17 bandit soldiers, they quickly formed a formation with shields in front and spears in the back. The crossbowmen who were shooting on the boat had already climbed down the ladder and spread out on both wings of the infantry. In a blink of an eye, they had already drawn their crossbows and arrows, waiting for orders.