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Zheng Zhilong made preparations for both situations, so he was quite cooperative with the "Northern Expedition". The tens of thousands of "Northern Expedition" troops led by Zheng Hongkui were soon ready.
Emperor Longwu held a grand ceremony to bid farewell to Zheng Hongkui. When the ceremony was about to present the axe to Zheng Hongkui, a strong wind suddenly blew up, blowing the plaque off the stage, breaking the axe handle in two, and also blowing down the shrine of Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
In the eyes of all the soldiers and civilians, this was an ominous sign, and the soldiers going to the battle were inevitably worried. Zheng Zhilong saw this and became even more worried, and his determination to support Zhu Youjian became even more shaken.
It just so happened that after Hong Chengchou of Nanjing took over the military and political affairs of Jiangnan, he adopted a policy of appeasement as the main method and suppression as the auxiliary method, and was actively trying to persuade the remaining forces in various places to surrender;
Hong Chengchou and Zheng Zhilong were fellow villagers. Zheng Zhilong controlled the entire Fujian Province, so he was naturally the first target that Hong Chengchou wanted to surrender. He sent the imperial envoy Huang Xiyin, who was also from Fujian, to Fuzhou to surrender Zheng Zhilong.
However, as the road was blocked and Huang Xiyin had shaved his head, it was inconvenient for him to go, so he stayed on the border and sent his follower Su Zhonggui to disguise himself as a monk and take a small road to Fuzhou. After Su Zhonggui arrived in Fuzhou, he met Zheng Zhilong very smoothly.
Zheng Zhilong was born a pirate and had no loyalty to the Ming Dynasty. For him, it didn't matter who he did business with, whether it was Longwu or Shunzhi, the key was to make a profit.
The Zheng family had a powerful navy, with more than 3,000 large and small ships and more than 100,000 troops. The entire southeastern sea was under their control. Merchant ships traveling east and west had to pay protection fees to the Zheng family, and large ships had to pay 3,000 taels each time they passed.
The Zheng family earns more than 10 million yuan every year just from protection fees, which is enough to rival a country.
Zheng Zhilong only wanted to protect his own interests. As for whether to follow Longwu or Shunzhi as the master, it was just a name. What did it matter? No matter who he followed, wouldn't the Zheng family still be the overlord of the sea
With this understanding, his contact with Su Zhonggui went very smoothly;
Huang Xiyin, who stayed in the border of Fujian, soon received a reply from Su Zhonggui: I arrived in Fujian in July and met Zheng Zhilong, who was sincere in his intention to submit. He told me that the Tang King was violent and that Su Guansheng in Guangdong had sent troops to meet me, but I did not go. He also said that the two of us could serve as the generals in Guangdong, and that after I took Guangdong, I could submit... ... ... .
Zheng Hongkui, who led his troops to Xianxialing, also stopped there on the pretext of waiting for supplies, and the Northern Expedition of the Longwu Dynasty came to an abrupt end.
Due to the dangerous mountains and rivers and the constant wars everywhere, news was difficult to pass. The Zheng family in Fujian was making their own plans, but they didn't know that Qin Mu in Wuchang had already launched an expedition to the east, preparing to go straight to the south of the Yangtze River.
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Qin Mu did not follow the navy because he was not familiar with naval warfare. He was also afraid that Di Zhongxing and Zheng Sihai would be restricted if he was on the ship, so he simply followed Liu Meng's northern army so that Di Zhongxing and Zheng Sihai could give full play to their abilities.
Thirty-six 400-ton Fu ships, a fleet of more than 300 bluff ships, eagle ships, and sand ships filled the river, rushing down the river in a mighty force, with white sails on black flags, layer upon layer like clouds and surging like waves.
Liu Kongzhao stood on the watchtower of the water fort, looking at the Qin fleet approaching in a dark mass, and couldn't help feeling anxious.
He was the one who managed the river affairs during the Hongguang Dynasty. He knew very well that he had several broken ships under his command. Although he had switched to the Qing Dynasty, the ships were still the same broken ships.
Although a lot of equipment was added, the ship was too old and too small to be equipped with any artillery.
The Qin army had more than thirty brand new Fu ships and more than three hundred thousand-jin Portuguese cannons, which sounded scary enough.
Fortunately, twenty red cannons and dozens of Portuguese cannons were placed on both sides of the river. Wooden stakes were also driven into the river and water forts were built. Otherwise, Liu Kongzhao would not have the confidence to hold on.
As the Qin army's fleet came into view, the horns on the shore and the war drums in the water fort sounded at once, stirring people's hearts.
Under the shouts of Qing army generals at all levels, both the banner soldiers on the shore and the green camp soldiers on the ship were in a state of chaos. The tense atmosphere before the battle made many people feel nervous.
The Qin fleet was divided into two echelons. Deputy Admiral Zheng Sihai led six Fu ships and thirty small ships of various colors as the vanguard, sailing down against the wind and waves. All the artillery had been loaded, all the muskets were loaded with ammunition, and all the soldiers were in place.
The lookout on the mast was looking out through a monocular telescope and using flag signals to inform the commander on the deck.
"Beat the drums!" Zheng Sihai gave an order, and the gongs and drums on the boat sounded together, deafening like thunder. The atmosphere on the river became solemn and heavy, making it hard to breathe.
Fortunately, the vanguards led by Zheng Sihai were all bandits who once roamed the Yangtze River. They were complete desperadoes and did not change their toughness after accepting the amnesty.
The captain of the first ship was Liu Zhongqin, which was his new name. In the past, people only knew him by his nickname Hunjianglong, which was very brave with a harpoon. Now that the harpoon had been replaced with a gun, he was even more murderous and kept shouting, "Quick, full sail! Left wheel, get closer, the gunner is ready to fire his mother..."
As soon as Hunjianglong finished shouting, a loud roar was heard from the river bank. Tongues of fire spurted out, and the red cannon's shells weighing more than 20 kilograms came whistling, passed over the top of the first ship, and smashed into the surface of the river one after another. Several huge waves rose several feet high, and the momentum was extremely terrifying. If they hit a ship, the ship would be destroyed and people on board would be killed.
"Captain, fight back..."
"Bullshit! Our falconets can't reach it yet. Speed up! Quick!"
The six Fu ships were arranged in a longitudinal column, and moved as close to the south bank as possible. With their tents filled with wind, they sailed down the river under the blows of the enemy's shells.
As soon as they came into range, Zheng Sihai gave orders with drums, and the sixty thousand-jin falconets on the starboard side of the six Fu ships roared one after another. Boom! Boom! Boom! There were earth-shattering noises, and tongues of fire spurted out. The sixty iron bullets in front and behind hit the enemy formation on the shore like a meteor shower, and those who were hit were covered in blood and flesh, and their deaths were horrible.
The enemy's falconets also opened fire, and 20 to 30 bullets whistled in, stirring up streams of water on the river. One of the boats was unfortunately hit, and with a loud bang, a large hole was punched in the side of the boat, splinters of wood flew everywhere, and the 40-foot-long boat was moved sideways more than ten feet away.
The sailors on the ship screamed in panic, some tried to plug the hole, some shouted to abandon ship, and the ship was in chaos. The hull began to tilt rapidly after water entered it. It was obvious that it was doomed.
"Quick, this won't work, this won't work, get closer and shoot him with shotguns, quickly signal the vice admiral, let all the ships follow us, quickly..." Hunjianglong saw that with one shot, a bluffing boat was destroyed. It was called a small boat, but in fact it was four feet long and one foot wide. It was a new thing!
Without Hunjianglong's message, Zheng Sihai had already realized that adjustments must be made, and immediately ordered all ships to follow the lead ship and get as close to the shore as possible.
Since they are far away, they can only use solid bullets to bombard the targets on the opposite shore. However, if you are lucky, one solid bullet can kill ten or eight enemies, but if you are unlucky, you will not hit any of them. However, if one enemy shell hits, it can destroy a ship. This is definitely a huge loss-making business.
The helmsman shouted in panic: "Boss, we can't go any closer. If we get any closer, we might hit a reef..."
"Are you the captain or am I the captain? Get lost!" Hunjianglong was sweating profusely and kicked the helmsman away. He personally took charge and continued to approach the south bank, relying on his familiarity with the waterway, which frightened the others.
The gunners fired all the solid bullets at high speed, three or four rounds per minute, which was the fastest firing rate of the falconet. Hundreds of solid bullets rained down on the enemy positions on the shore, killing and wounding many enemies.
As soon as the bullets were replaced after being fired, they were all replaced with shotgun shells when reloaded. The range of shotgun shells was only about one mile. Everyone gritted their teeth, their hearts in their throats, and waited eagerly to enter the shotgun range.
"All unnecessary people should retreat to the lower level, quickly, retreat." Hunjianglong kept roaring, his heart also in his throat. Although the draft of the small Fu ship of 400 tons was not deep, it was still very dangerous to be so close to the shore. Once it hit a reef or ran aground, it would become a living target for the enemy, with no chance of survival.
The enemy's shells kept falling on the river. Some flew past the mast, which was extremely thrilling, while others stirred up water columns only a dozen or so miles away from the ship. The god of death was flying overhead and could swallow up the entire ship at any time.
The roaring artillery brought out thick smoke that almost covered the entire face, making the sunlight very dim and the vision blurred.
In a moment, but it seemed like ten thousand years had passed, they finally came within the range of shotgun shells. The Qing troops on the shore were terrified and most of them began to retreat. Only a few of them put up huge door panels to help block the gunners.
Both sides switched to shotgun shells. With roars, terrifying barrages of bullets covered the sky and hit the shore like a downpour. The Qing army that could not escape was swept down one after another, with blood splattering and broken limbs flying everywhere.
The enemy's barrage also poured down like rain, crackling and hitting the hull like beads jumping around, making small holes in the sails, and some were directly torn apart. Fortunately, these small marbles could not cause much damage to the hull, and the ship had three floors. Except for the necessary posts, the extra soldiers were withdrawn to the lower floor, so there were not many casualties.
The two sides bombarded each other like this. There was no shelter on the shore, and the temporary door panels had limited coverage. The gunners suffered heavy casualties, and the artillery soon stopped firing.
At this time, the sailors on the ship rushed to the deck, replaced the spare sails, and the bulging sails drove the warships to speed up again. Those flat-bottomed sand boats were even faster, rushing towards the shore in the thick smoke, trying to land on the beach and completely destroy the enemy's cannons.
The sound of war drums was so loud that it could stop the clouds from moving. The six Fujian ships approached the shore in a victorious manner and bombarded the Qing army's water stronghold with either shotgun shells or solid bullets.
The firing rate of the Portuguese cannon was terrifying. It could fire at least three shells per minute. Sixty cannons could fire two or three hundred shells at the Qing army's water fort in one minute, blasting it into pieces and causing it to collapse piece by piece.
Boom! Suddenly, there was a shocking explosion ahead. A sand ship was lifted several feet high by a huge column of water, and then disintegrated into wood fragments in the air. The bodies of the dozen soldiers on board were completely destroyed.
"Quick, turn the rudder and leave, there are mines, there are mines, pay attention to the river..." Hunjianglong's voice sounded anxiously.
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ps: The double workload has started. My back pain hasn't healed yet, but I've decided to give it a try. I've requested three updates, and here's the first one. Please support me!
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.(To be continued..)
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