A ray of setting sun spreads over the water, half of the lake is rustling and half of the lake is red...
Looking at the wreckage of warships floating and sinking in the waters near the mouth of the lake, I felt like crying but without tears.
Although the coast was under the control of their infantry, cavalry and horses, as long as the soldiers who fell into the water approached the beach, the Beijing-Xiang army would give up the pursuit, but the loss of more than 2,000 well-trained naval soldiers in a half-day water battle was too tragic.
A little bit.
Although some of their warships finally managed to escape into the upper reaches of Fengsha Lake and into several streams flowing out of Dafan Mountain, which made the Beijing-Xiang army fearful of being raided at night and had to withdraw from Fengsha Lake first, but
Including six five-tooth warships, more than 80% of the main warships were sunk, burned or seriously damaged.
The Fengshahu Water Camp, which accounted for about 40% of the Laizhou Navy's strength, could be said to have suffered devastating damage during the half-day water battle.
Although the navy of the Beijing-Xiangang Army suffered a lot of casualties, and nearly a hundred warships suffered heavy damage or were sunk or burned, most of them were light boats that raided and seized the mouth of the lake. They were the kind of ships that the Southern Dynasties used to commandeer two ships in the Jianghuai area.
The three shipyards can easily replenish small warships in a month.
In addition, only eight battleships, sterns, and large-wing warships that served as the main warships in the Beijing-Xiang Army Navy were seriously damaged and were destroyed.
Abandoned in the waters of Hukou; other damaged warships, including three severely damaged iron-clad ships, were finally towed away calmly by other warships of the Beijing-Xiangang Army.
As for the casualties of the navy soldiers, the Beijing-Xiangang Army may have lost only five to six hundred men in this battle.
However, the significance of the failure of the Fengsha Lake water battle is definitely not limited to how many warships were lost at this time, and how many naval soldiers were lost.
What is more important, and more painful, is that they may have completely lost control of the waters of Yuxi River and Fengsha Lake, and may have completely lost control of the waters of the Lujiang River and the Yangtze River west of Tongling.
About 80% of the main force of their navy is still in Chaohu (including the reinforcements of Xusu Navy). It seems that their strength has not been greatly damaged, but they have lost six of the total eight five-tooth warships, which will make their main force of the navy
The army went upstream and faced the Beijing-Xiang naval forces head-on on the Yangtze River, and would no longer have the upper hand.
What's more, the Fengsha Lake water battle is likely to further activate the fighting spirit of the naval forces in various places in the Southern Dynasties - in theory, these naval forces are also controlled by Jingsheng Hou Xu Huai.
Once the fighting spirit of these naval forces is activated, they will actively come to Tongling or Songyang and accept the control of Jingsheng Hou Xu Huai. This means that Xu Huai will be able to assemble naval forces that surpass them in Tongling, Qiupu and Songyang.
, and supplemented by the elite armored ships of the Beijing-Xiang Army, wouldn't they completely lose control of the Yangtze River waters west of Tongling and Lujiang?
And once they lose control of the waters of Tongling and the Yangtze River west of the Lujiang River, and lose control of the waters of the Yuxi River and Fengsha Lake, it means that the main force of the Suwei Imperial Army of the Southern Dynasties can cross the Yangtze River and enter the north bank at any time.
It also means that the elite infantry and cavalry controlled by Jingsheng Marquis Xu Huai, with the cooperation of his navy, can land directly from the bank of Yuxi River, and even directly advance the troops to the foot of the southern foot of Dafan Mountain in the upper reaches of Fengsha Lake.
The elite infantry and cavalry of the Southern Dynasties controlled by Jingsheng Hou Xu Huai could even bypass their interception position west of Lujiang City, between Dafan Mountain and the southern foot of Huaiyang Mountain, to the east of Fengsha Lake, that is, Lujiang County and Ye
To the southeast of Fushan, the troops were directed towards Chaohu and Wuwei County...
If they wanted to continue to prevent the Southern Dynasty soldiers and horses from approaching Lujiang City, they would transfer the main troops and horses from the barracks at the northern foot of Dafan Mountain and rush to the wilderness east of Dafan Mountain to engage in battle with the Southern Dynasty's elite main force.
This will cause them to lose the defensive advantage they spent two to three months building at the northern foot of Dafan Mountain.
What if Xu Huai is not in a hurry to launch a battle, but launches an attack on the mountains at the southern foot of Dafan Mountain from the north bank of Fengsha Lake, intending to control the entire Dafan Mountain and establish a topographical control over their camp area at the northern foot of Dafan Mountain.
What about the advantages?
When Zhong Changqing was having a headache thinking about the profound impact of the defeat in the Fengsha Lake Battle on the subsequent war, a group of cavalry came from a distance.
After hearing the news from Hefei City, Qie Buhei, who hurriedly arrived surrounded by guards and horses, looked at the wreckage of the warships in the waters of the lake mouth, and looked at the floating corpses, black and red in the dusk.
Her face is as ugly as a dead mother.
Because the warships of the Beijing-Xiangang Army had withdrawn from the Yuxi River, the Laizhou navy temporarily resumed control of the lake mouth. A light boat carried Deng Bo and other generals to the east bank to meet Qie Buhei.
During the battle in the lake, Deng Bo was supervising the battle on a five-tooth warship, but he finally escaped in a panic in a small boat. At this time, his hands and face were burned. He was timid and suppressed the anger in his heart, and did not burst into flames.
scold.
Deng Bo and several Han navy naval infantry generals did not dare to defend themselves, but knelt down to plead guilty.
"Crimes other than war!"
Apart from Zhong Changqing, there were also two thousand captains from Chi Hu who witnessed the whole process of the water battle from beginning to end.
In order to prevent the soldiers and horses of the Southern Dynasties from landing south of Fengsha Lake, Qiebuhei deployed two thousand elite cavalry here even if the terrain here was not suitable for cavalry battles. However, in today's water battle, there was no room for cavalry at all.
However, both captains witnessed the whole process of the water battle. At this time, they stood up to speak out for Deng Bo and other Han generals. The performance of the Laizhou Navy was quite tenacious, and it can even be said that it far exceeded their performance against the Han army.
expectations; if this were not the case, the defeat would be even more ugly this time.
"The warships of the Jingxiang Army cannot be controlled at all?" Qie Buhei asked with a gloomy face.
On his way to Fengsha Lake, Xinqi was constantly sent to report the progress of the water battle. He knew the basic situation, but he had not witnessed it all, so he could not imagine that it would be such a miserable defeat.
It's not even much better than the Southern Dynasty's Gyeonggi navy which was crushed and attacked by them before.
He also thought that Deng Bo and other navy generals had committed a crime, or that the Han army generals were simply unreliable and fearful of the enemy, so the navy of the Jingxiang Army seized the opportunity to severely attack them.
However, seeing the wreckage of many warships mostly concentrated in the waters near the mouth of the lake, it at least meant that these warships were sunk or burned in frontal battles. He could only suppress his inner rage and annoyance and ask the generals what happened here.
Did anything happen in the first water battle? I asked the Jingxiang army if they could make the iron-clad ships.
"It's not completely uncontrollable..." Deng Bo said a little lost.
After holding back his horse and watching the battle for half a day, Zhong Changqing, although he was not a navy general, was still in panic. He also tried to figure out some of the advantages and disadvantages of the Beijing-Xiang army's armored warships, and secretly wanted to fight them, using large warships or warships.
The boats were filled with sand and gravel for collision and squeezing, or multiple warships were used to join forces to attack. However, the navy of the Beijing-Xiangjun Army did not simply drive the armored warships out to ram around, but mixed them with ordinary warships.
The tactics are also extremely flexible.
In the final analysis, in addition to having an absolute advantage in the size of their warships, they also need suitable water areas to be able to suppress the navy of the Beijing-Xiangang Army.
Of course, if it encounters the small-scale armored fleet of the Beijing-Xiangjun Army, ordinary warships are better because of their flexibility and speed, so they are not unable to contend with them.
However, with so many assumptions, don’t we still have to face up to the strength and fierceness of the armored ships of the Beijing-Xiang army?
Compared with ordinary warships, the gap is as big as whether a soldier is wearing armor or not in a battle formation, right?
The scarred face of Xie Buhei was like a wind-swept rock on the plateau. His sharp eyes were like a falcon, staring at the already dark lake. After a while, he asked the secretary next to him to lean on the saddle and fight the maple sand lake water.
He wrote down the whole process, ordered the messenger to rush to Shouchun as quickly as possible, and reported to Brother Tu, King of Pingyan Sect, who had rushed to Shouchun Camp to supervise the battle...
…………
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When the navy returned from the battlefield, not all of them could return from the Yudai River to the Tianjing Lake camp. A considerable number of warships would go directly to the south of the river and anchor at the mouth of the branch at the foot of the northern foothills of Tonggu Mountain.
However, the tortoise-shell and iron-hulled boats had to return to the Tianjing Lake camp to be stationed - after a half-day fierce battle, most of the tortoise-shelled boats needed to be repaired before they could be used in the next battle.
When the fleet arrived at the river outside the mouth of the Yudai River, it was already dark.
The mouth of the Yudai River is at the foot of the western foothills of Tonggu Mountain. In addition to the bonfires lit on both sides of the river, there are also more than a dozen sentinel boats moored on the river and lighting bonfires to guide the returning fleet.
To prevent accidents, no lights were allowed in the cabin. It was pitch dark, with only a little light coming in from the open arrow window.
A general stood at the arrow window and looked at the river surface under the night sky, but he couldn't see anything.
Mibao took a nap while crossing the river. At this time, he was sitting on the floor to recharge his batteries. He could hear the sound of the surging river clearly. Instead, it was the sound of the rowers in the lower cabin struggling to paddle their big oars against the wind and waves.
Becomes a little blurry.
A small boat approached, and then two people jumped onto the deck outside the cabin.
Mibao sat next to the cabin door, and could not bear to hear the low-pitched conversation between the visitor and Feng Qi. The visitor asked about the performance of the remaining soldiers of the Jianye Navy in this water battle, and heard Feng Qi's very affirmative answer.
, Mibao wiped his face and found that there were tears on his cheeks unconsciously.
After Mi Bao was newly reorganized into the Jingzhou Navy, although he was said to retain the title of battalion commander, he actually served as deputy to Feng Qi, who was the capital general. He guessed that the commander was suspected of the collapse of the Jianye Navy.
These remnants of the defeated army are afraid of the enemy and afraid of fighting.
Even before joining the Jingzhou Navy and after joining the Niushou Mountain Rebel Army, Mibao had already felt such doubts from others.
However, Xu Huai did not let the remnants of the Jianye Navy participate in the battle, whether it was the guerrilla battle with the Japanese soldiers crossing the river or the storming of the enemy camp at the mouth of the Qinhuai River.
Although Xu Huai claimed that he wanted to preserve the seeds of the navy, Mibao had been troubled by not proving that he and his subordinates were not timid. At this moment, when he heard Feng Qi's comments, Mibao breathed a sigh of relief.
I also felt deeply sad for the other Paoze who had been buried at the bottom of the river in the previous defeat and failed to die in glory.
With a "squeak" sound, the hatch was pushed open from the outside, and the firelight on the deck came in. Feng Qi poked his head in and saw Mibao hurriedly wiping the tears on his cheeks, and said with a smile:
"After a great victory, why did envoy Mijun cry? The envoy wanted to know more about the situation of the battle at Hukou, and asked you and several others to go to the camp to report..."
