******
boom!
Suddenly, there was a deafening explosion in front, and a sand ship was lifted several feet high by a huge water column, and then disintegrated into wood chips in the air. The dozen or so soldiers on the ship were killed.
"Quick, turn the rudder and leave. There are mines. There are mines. Watch the river..."
Liu Zhongqin, the Dragon of the River, was in a state of panic. The Ming Dynasty had already made mines, as big as water tanks. Once they hit the target, one mine was enough to blow up a Fu ship. I didn't expect the enemy to lay mines in the river so quickly...
"There are mines over there, there are mines over there..." the sailors on the deck shouted in panic.
Hunjianglong suddenly turned the rudder to avoid it, and at the same time ordered the sailors on the nearby small boat to go into the water to defuse the bomb. Fortunately, the mines at that time were all floating mines, which were invented by a man named Wang Minghe in the 27th year of Wanli, and improved in the first year of Tianqi, to form its current appearance. However, as long as you pay attention, you can see clues on the water surface, and it is very easy to defuse.
Next, the Fujian ships were responsible for bombarding the water fort on the shore, and the small sampans were responsible for minesweeping.
The Qing boats, under the command of Liu Kongzhao, took advantage of the Qin warships' difficulty in turning to avoid mines and came quickly. Some of the small tiger squat cannons on the boats began to fire loudly, but what they fired were not iron cannonballs, but bags of lime wrapped in paper shells.
After the paper pot broke, white mist formed in the air, and the Qing soldiers on the enemy ships were also sprinkling lime powder.
At this time, the southeast wind was blowing, and the white lime powder was blown by the river wind, like a thick fog covering the river. The Qin army was at the downwind side and could not open their eyes for a while.
The enemy took the opportunity to approach, and continued to sprinkle lime while firing fiercely with muskets or rockets. The sails of some Qin army ships were first ignited by rockets, and the flames soon turned the river red;
Some fast boats, after being blinded by the sailors, could not tell north from south, east from west, and collided with their own ships, causing both to capsize.
The situation became extremely dangerous. Hunjianglong saw that the whole army was in danger of being wiped out, and he could not help but be furious. He ordered the first ship to turn sideways. The guns were all on the lower deck. There were only small shooting windows on the side of the ship. Little lime drifted in. The gunners squinted their eyes, but they were still able to shoot. Ten thousand-jin Portuguese cannons were loaded with buckshot and fired one after another.
Boom! Boom! Boom! A horrible barrage of bullets gushed out, covering the enemy ship in front with a roar of death. The rain of bullets tore the enemies apart one by one, and their heads exploded. Blood and brain matter flew like rain.
This will inevitably cause harm to our own small boats that are clearing mines, but it is better than passively taking a beating and being wiped out.
Liu Kongzhao never dreamed that he would meet an opponent who was still a bandit, who didn't even care about his own boat and opened fire.
At such a close distance, the barrage formed by countless marbles was extremely powerful and terrifying. Many small boats of the Qing army were blown to pieces like sieves. The soldiers on the boats were even more unlucky, and it was difficult for them to leave their bodies intact.
Under the huge casualties, the Qing army was frightened and fled, but it was not easy to escape the range of the artillery when they were so close.
As the lime dispersed, the follow-up army led by Di Zhongxing also joined in and opened fire fiercely at the water forts on both sides of the river. One water fort after another was blown down, and wooden planks floated all over the river. The fleeing Qing army ran like wolves and pigs, howling incessantly, and the dead and wounded were floating in the air, their faces stained red with blood.
The light and fast bluffing ships, eagle ships and sand ships sped through the smoke, constantly chasing the fleeing enemy ships. The sailors fired at the enemy ships like raindrops with bird guns or rockets. The enemy did not forget to fight back while fleeing, and the warships on the river were tangled up in a mess.
The Qin army's Fu ship was in a dominant position, rushing downstream and ramming into the enemy ships one by one, sinking and overturning the enemy's small boats. The violent collisions made loud bangs and the hulls broke with a series of crackling sounds. The enemies screamed and jumped into the water, and the soldiers on the Fu ship shot them one by one with bows and arrows.
As soon as the small Qin army approached the shore, the Qing army on the shore fought back desperately;
They were very cunning. They did not immediately force the Qin army who were trying to seize the stalls back into the river. Instead, they surrounded and fought with them to prevent the Qin army's shotgun shells from covering them again. However, some Qing troops operated the artillery on the shore and fired fiercely at the Qin army's ships on the river. The whistling projectiles and the barrage of bullets caused huge casualties to the Qin army for a while.
The river was covered with smoke and fog, sails were looming, shouts of killing, collisions, gunfire and cannon fire were like the raging sea, one wave higher than the other...
***
"It happened in a split second. The enemy's lime was like white clouds that covered the river surface. Our soldiers could hardly open their eyes. They were on the verge of life and death. At this critical moment, we heard General Liu Zhongqin shout, 'Everyone jump into the water...'" In the Wangchu Teahouse in Wuchang City, the storyteller shouted, then stopped abruptly and slowly drank his tea.
The hall was full of people listening to the story. They were all eager to know what happened next and shouted, "Sir, please continue. Please tell me what happened next."
"Hurry up and tell me!"
Qiao'er, who was sitting at the front table, dressed like a teenager. She pricked up her ears when she heard the story. Seeing that the storyteller was unwilling to continue, she quickly took out a silver coin and threw it to him, shouting, "Sir, you just want money. I have money. Go on, go on..."
"Yes, yes, it's just money! Please have some tea, sir." Everyone came to their senses and threw copper coins onto the stage, and some even threw two taels of silver.
The storyteller caught a glimpse of it from the corner of his eye, but tried hard not to look. He straightened his face, unfolded his folding fan with a "swish", and continued: "With a roar from General Liu Zhongqin, the soldiers on the small ship pulled their belts and took off all their clothes..."
"Hey, didn't General Liu Zhongqin tell everyone to jump into the water? Why are you taking off your pants?"
"You hooligan! You don't want to listen to me anymore. Give me back my money." Qiao'er's face turned red and she stood up and was about to leave.
The storyteller quickly explained: "You guys don't know, the soldiers are wearing such heavy armor, if they don't take it off and jump into the water, won't they drown?"
"But you don't have to take off your pants?"
"You don't understand. You can't swim fast in the water with clothes on. Soldiers need to swim to kill the enemy."
"Oh, go on, what happened next?"
"It happened in a flash. When all the soldiers on the boats jumped into the water, General Liu Zhongqin gave an order and thousands of cannons on the Fuzhou ships fired at the same time. The flames were like dragons and the barrage of bullets covered the sky. The enemy was defeated and fled. The blood dyed the river red and the corpses blocked the water flow..."
"It's over, it's over, the enemy is definitely finished."
"You are wrong. The enemy is not so easy to defeat, otherwise the soldiers in the front would not have to sacrifice their lives. Is that right?"
"So what happened next?" When the audience heard that it was not over yet, they immediately went wild again and started shouting.
The storyteller slammed the table and said loudly: "The Tatars on the shore rushed back in overwhelming numbers, entangled the Qin soldiers who were trying to reach the beach, and then fired thousands of cannons at the same time, fiercely shooting at our ships. Our army was caught off guard and suffered heavy casualties..."
"Oh my god. Isn't this going to be a defeat?"
"Dear guests, please don't worry. At this critical moment, the sky suddenly changed, with thunder and lightning. A five-clawed golden dragon appeared in the clouds, puffing out clouds and mist and diving into the river, stirring up white waves like mountains, hitting both banks..."
The storyteller stopped again. This time people were very alert and threw money onto the stage again, some of which were thrown directly onto the storyteller. He was in pain and joy.
"Tell me quickly, is this five-clawed golden dragon transformed by the King of Qin?"
"Of course, who else but the King of Qin?"
"But didn't the King of Qin take the land route? He hasn't reached Anqing yet?"
"Are you stupid? A five-clawed golden dragon can fly up to the sky and down to the earth, and it can turn rivers and seas upside down. How far is it from Taihu Lake to Anqing? Is it difficult to stop the King of Qin?"
"Oh, yes, yes..."
Qiao'er was mesmerized by what she heard, her eyes sparkling with stars. Ye Han, the guard who was responsible for protecting her, said to her with a bitter face, "My little ancestor, we have been out for a long time, let's go back quickly. If you want to listen, I will have someone show you the battle reports sent back from the front. Look at what they said, it's all nonsense."
Qiao Er glared at Ye Han and said, "What do you know? What's the point of reading the battle report? It's more fun to listen to what the storyteller says."
"But the princess only allowed us to be out for half an hour, and now it's already past half an hour. If we don't go back..."
"Oh!" Qiao'er screamed and ran out of the teahouse as fast as a rabbit, making Ye Han and others chase after her in a hurry.
Qiao'er originally came out this time to buy snacks for the little guy Qin Ye. She passed by the teahouse first and was attracted by the storyteller, so she hadn't bought the snacks yet.
She ran to an old shop on the street near the Yellow Crane Tower to buy some snacks and was about to rush to the palace when she saw a huge fleet coming down the Han River. Liu Boquan, the Minister of Revenue, and many officials from the Ministry of Revenue were waiting on the shore.
Out of curiosity, Qiao'er also stopped to watch. After a while, a boat came into shore and she saw her father getting off the boat first.
Qiao'er turned and left. Yunduan saw her from afar and without even bothering to greet Liu Boquan, he ran after her: "Qiao'er, Qiao'er, wait a minute, Daddy has something to tell you..."
Qiao'er didn't listen and ran even faster. The father and daughter chased each other all the way to the main gate of the palace, and Yunduan finally caught up with his daughter.
Seeing his daughter hiding from him like this, Yun Duan was overwhelmed with sorrow again. With tears in his eyes, he said emotionally, "Qiao Er, I am your father. Why are you running away? I just want to see you. Do you know that? I don't care about your wealth now. I just want to see you..."
"You... don't come over. I won't go with you. The Master said he would take care of me for the rest of my life... He's not like you. You don't keep your word... Woo woo woo..."
Seeing Qiao'er crying, Yunduan also burst into tears, feeling extremely regretful.
"Qiao'er, my dear daughter, don't worry. Daddy doesn't want you to leave with me. Daddy will not leave in the future. You will serve the King of Qin like a slave for the rest of your life to repay his kindness."
"You... you really don't want me to go with you?" Qiao'er had tears on her face and her expression was full of vigilance.
"Really, this time Daddy won't lie to you, never again. Just stop hiding from Daddy and let Daddy see you from time to time, and Daddy will be satisfied."
"Well, then you... ... I have to get some snacks for the little prince." Qiao'er turned around, hesitated for a moment, turned back and bowed, then hurried into the mansion.
Yunduan choked with sobs, feeling mixed emotions of sadness and joy. With this blessing, she felt that everything was worth it.
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ps: Others are collecting monthly tickets fiercely, but I feel a bit miserable. The people in front of me are leaving in a dust, and the people behind me are queuing up to get in. I took a look and found that I was ranked 106th on the monthly ticket list in the morning, but by noon, I had dropped to 128th, and I am still being queuing up to get in. Alas! It's so painful.
The second update is presented today. I would like to ask for your support of monthly votes from all of you brothers!
Please give me a monthly ticket... .
.(To be continued..)
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