Sun Gui's navy was invincible and occupied most of the Chongming Islands without encountering any decent resistance. But when they attacked the final Chongming Island, something went wrong.
Hong Chengchou, who was proficient in the art of war, was afraid that the Zhoushan Ming army would take advantage of his main force to move south to harass the Yangtze River, so he ordered Liang Huafeng, the commander of the Jiangnan Wuyongying Naval Division, to lead 3,000 naval divisions to Chongming Island to strangle the Yangtze River waterway.
By coincidence, I arrived just in time.
There are still 2,000 Wang Sui's men on the island, plus Liang Huafeng's 3,000 men, and the garrison reaches 5,000.
What they faced was Sun Gui's 20,000-strong army. Originally there were 30,000 troops, but Sun Gui left 10,000 troops to guard each island.
Liang Huafeng was from Chang'an County, Shaanxi Province. He had feelings for the Qing Dynasty. He was admitted as a martial arts scholar in the Qing Dynasty. He also helped the Qing Dynasty suppress the Jiang Xiang Rebellion and made military exploits. He was promoted, promoted, and promoted in official positions! He was also awarded the title of "Jinshi" by the Qing court.
The compliment is in four words: "Dare to fight even if you risk your life."
This man is thirty years old, and he is at the age where he can risk his life and fight. Faced with the Ming army whose strength far exceeds his own, he is not afraid and orders all five thousand of his men to set sail and fight.
He is not reckless, his fighting style is very similar to that of the famous Ming Dynasty navy general Ruan Jin, who likes the black tiger to rip out the heart and seize the enemy's flagship directly.
"Follow me forward", Liang Huafeng played the semaphore.
Sun Gui's flagship was a Daguang ship, which was captured in Kinmen. He felt that it was larger, more stable, and capable of mounting more guns than the Dafu ship he had previously sailed on, so he changed it to
Flagship.
Unlike the Yi people, the people of the Ming Dynasty did not have the habit of naming their warships. At most, they were numbered according to the order of battle and the ship number. However, Sun Gui was an exception. In order to commemorate the victory of the Kinmen naval battle, he secretly
Named his flagship "Kinmen".
Seeing that such a small number of enemy generals dared to attack his flagship, Sun Gui admired him and cursed: "This dog Tatar is so bold!"
Hang up the flag and order Wang Sheng. Cai Lu leads a hundred ships to block the attack. Yang Hao and Liu Qiao each lead a hundred ships to outflank them from the left and right flanks.
Liang Huafeng had someone to rely on. His sixty ships were all new ships built by the Qing government. They adopted some Western techniques and were built to be slender and streamlined, with large sails and excellent sailing ability and flexibility.
The speed is somewhat similar to the Western frigates at that time.
The advantages are flexibility and fast speed, but the disadvantage is that the firepower is a bit weak.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Wang Sheng and Cai Lu's fleet bombarded Liang Huafeng's fleet.
"Going at full speed", Liang Huafeng hoisted the command flag.
The Qing ship fired back fire while moving at full speed towards Sun Gui's ship.
Ships were constantly being sunk, and at the cost of more than ten ships, they jumped over Wang Sheng and Cai Lu's fleet, and Liang Huafeng approached Sun Gui.
"Hey, the Tatars have built a new kind of ship. We must inform the Ship Division of the Armament Department of the Ministry of War immediately." Sun Gui narrowed his eyes and then issued a military order: "Turn right and form a formation to stop the enemy."
As a flagship, it is naturally impossible not to have ship escorts around him. There are eight No. 1 Dafu Ships and ten No. 2 Dafu Ships beside him.
Upon seeing the flag of the flagship, the ships immediately changed from column to horizontal formation, with the No. 2 Dafu ship in the front and the No. 1 Dafu ship in the rear, forming two rows to block the enemy ships. Sun Gui's flagship was horizontally behind the No. 1 Dafu ship.
The reason why Sun Gui is hiding behind is not because he is afraid of death, but because as the flagship, he is responsible for the safety of the entire army and cannot take risks easily.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The Ming army used broadside guns to bombard the Qing army. The ships were bigger and had more cannons. Sun Gui's ship alone had more than 30 cannons.
After half an hour of fierce fighting, the Qing army lost more than ten ships, but only sank three Ming army ships.
Liu Gui calmly issued the military order.
"Instruct Yang Hao and Liu Qiao to quickly surround the enemy's front line!"
"Let Wang Sheng and Cai Lu encircle the enemy rear group in a roundabout way!"
In addition to the 60 new ships in the front group, Liang Huafeng's fleet also had 50 old ships from the Chongming Navy in the rear group. After Wang Sheng and Cai Lu received the order, they quickly surrounded and annihilated the Qing army's rear group.
Yang Hao and Liu Qiao's fleet surrounded Liang Huafeng's front fleet.
Liang Huafeng saw that the situation was not good, so he turned around and retreated. It was too late, and he was surrounded by bright ships.
"Bang!"
A big bird ship attached to his flagship, put down a few planks, and Yang Hao led a team of sword players to rush towards Liang Huafeng.
Sword versus sword, two samurai duel.
Liang Huafeng was a martial arts master, and his martial arts skills were better than Yang Hao's. However, he was changed from a land master to a navy master halfway, and his water skills were far inferior to Yang's. He was anxious to escape and became timid. After fighting for a while, he was beaten by Yang Hao.
Split into the sea.
Bodies and warship fragments were floating, and the Battle of Chongming was over. The Ming army annihilated 5,000 Qing naval forces at the cost of more than 1,000 casualties.
Victory, the victory approaching Nanjing, made Dinghai Hou Sungui's blood boiling, and he couldn't help singing:
Xiao Xiao Haifeng,
Roaring waves.
Loyal and brave soldiers are here, setting sail on the sea.
Endeavor, go to Nanjing and advance,
Don’t forget the glory of Taizu’s founding of the capital.
Brilliant Ming Dynasty,
Jiujiu Yanhuang.
We are united as one to protect our sea territory.
Endeavor, go to Nanjing and advance,
It is our responsibility to wash away the national humiliation with blood.
Go! Go! Go!
I will fight to the death to go abroad and live forever.
Sun Gui did not expect that the song he sang casually in excitement would later become the military song of the Ming Dynasty Navy, and was named "Sea Wind Song" by Zhu Hengjia.
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Outside Jiading City, Wang Shen was stunned. The Ming army captured Chongming Island, which meant that his Wusong Water Village was in an extremely disadvantageous situation, facing a two-pronged attack from the Ming army to the east and the rebel army to the west.
No, we have to move the water village to another place!
Wang Shen meditated on the military map, and finally pointed the back of his finger at a port called Sanzhangpu and knocked hard.
This place is great! Within the territory of Suzhou, it has not left its own jurisdiction; it is also stuck in the Yangtze River waterway, which can prevent the Ming army from entering the Yangtze River from Chongming; the most important thing is that the terrain is good. In the section of the river not far from Sanzhangpu, there is a river
Heart Island can be used to build forts, and there is Yushan Mountain to the east of Sanzhang Pu to rely on.
Wang Shen was a veteran general who acted vigorously and resolutely, so he immediately consulted with Wang Fuchen, the commander-in-chief of Suzhou.
"My dear brother, the Ming army has tens of thousands of navy troops and has captured Chongming. The bandits are growing rapidly, and Wusong Water Village is under attack from both sides. I intend to move to Sanzhangpu to contain the bandits from entering the Yangtze River. Brother Wang, please guard Wu County and Changshu.
Waiting for reinforcements from Jiangning."
Wang Fuchen's mouth was bitter. Wang Shen was a naval division. As long as he prevented the Ming army from attacking Jiangning from the Yangtze River, it would not be a big mistake. However, he was a land division. If he did this, he would give up the entire Songjiang Prefecture and most of Suzhou Prefecture.
Give it to the Ming army. What should I do if the court blames me?
As if he heard Wang Fuchen's thoughts, Wang Shen said: "I will tell you that the army is strong and our troops are small, so we have to retreat to the important place. Shangshu defended my dear brother."
After hearing what Wang Shen said, Wang Fuchen agreed.
Both of them were experienced in the battlefield. They left a few soldiers and horses to bluff and led the main force to retreat to Sanzhangpu, Changshu, and Wuxian areas.
Three days after the Qing army withdrew, Liu Kongzhao, Yao Zhizhuo, and Bai Shoufu in Jiading City learned that the imperial navy had captured Chongming and Jiading had rescued the siege. They hurriedly went to Chongming Island to visit Sun Gui.
After Sun Gui appeased everyone, he found out the news that the main force of the Qing army had retreated to Changshu, Wu County, and Songjiang Prefecture were empty.
They immediately sent troops to Songjiang Prefecture and captured the counties of Shanghai, Huating, and Qingpu. Except for Jinshan Guards, who had Zhang Guoxun, deputy general of the Qing Army's Hangzhou Army, who came to the rescue, the entire Songjiang Prefecture fell into the hands of the Ming army.
The momentum was huge, and righteous men Shen Zuxiao, Fan Fenghen, Jin Ou, Zhu Lin, Ye Jiwu, Wu Ke and others came to lead the righteous soldiers.
In Suzhou and Songjiang Prefectures, the number of rebels, large and small, reached as many as 20,000.
Sun Gui ordered General Cai Lu to lead 3,000 soldiers to garrison in Shanghai, and all other places were handed over to the rebels, while he led the main force to garrison in Chongming.
The military order Zhu Hengjia gave him was to capture Chongming Island and harass the Qing Yangtze River waterway, not to occupy the various prefectures on land. The capture of Suzhou and Songjiang was just a casual act of grabbing grass and hunting rabbits.