"Five fusiliers of the New Army were killed and 16 were injured, eight of whom were seriously injured; eight were killed and 25 were injured in the death camp. Most of our army's casualties occurred during the battle with the Hongyi
A loss." Cao Wenzhao immediately replied.
Zhong Jinwei nodded. In a firearms war, it is basically impossible to survive. Now that we have paid a very small price and won the Black Tower Ridge war, it can be considered a great victory!
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but become concerned about the battle at the canal intersection again, wondering whether he could bring this battle to a perfect ending.
Zhong Jinwei finally couldn't hold it back and said to Cao Wenzhao: "I'll leave it to you to deal with the aftermath here. I'll lead the field artillery and fusilier troops to the intersection to have a look."
Upon hearing this, Cao Wenzhao quickly admonished: "Master Hou, you can't go. If Hongyi's giant ship is not destroyed yet, if Master Hou goes, he will be exposed to the attack range of the naval guns. It is too dangerous."
Gu Baichuan also stood up and advised Zhong Jinwei together: "Master Hou, this is not necessary. It is not worth taking this big risk."
Yu Changjian and other guards also followed suit, which made Zhong Jinwei hesitate. He planned to wait a little longer. If there was no news, he would go and see for himself.
Fortunately, we didn't have to wait long before we saw Hu Hao, captain of the Perak Brigade, and Zheng Zhilong, the coastal defense guerrilla, returning excitedly. As soon as they saw Zhong Jinwei, they loudly reported: "Master Hou, everything goes well."
Zhong Jinwei, Cao Wenzhao and others were very happy when they heard this. Among them, Zhong Jinwei immediately asked: "What's the situation? Let's talk about it."
In terms of official position, Zheng Zhilong is higher than Hu Hao. But here and now, he consciously gave way to Hu Hao, and Hu Hao came to report. From this point, it can be seen that Zheng Zhilong still knows how to behave, and it is not unreasonable for him to rise.
of.
"Master Marquis, the Pili Brigade and Zheng Youqi's people were lurking upstream. After the Hong Yi and the pirates left the ship, they launched the underwater Dragon King Cannon and underwater thunder. The Western Yi and the pirates didn't know what was floating in the water.
It hit the target, so it did not take shelter and damaged many bow ships."
After Hu Hao described the battle situation in one breath, he immediately went on to elaborate: "Xi Yi's giant ship parked on the riverside had a total of twenty-five bows. Three bows were sunk on the spot, and fifteen bows were damaged, five of which were damaged.
The bow escaped to the center of the river and sank. The remaining warships fled to Zhenjiang, probably for emergency repairs."
"What about the pirates?" Cao Wenzhao asked with concern.
Hu Hao looked at Cao Wenzhao and replied: "The pirate's large ship only has fifteen bows in total. Two bows were sunk and seven bows were damaged."
At this time, the advantages of the Eastern and Western warships were reversed, because the Western warships did not have watertight compartments, and they would easily sink after the bottom of the ship was bombed. Of course, there is such a big difference in the number of Eastern and Western warships sunk. Another reason is that the Ming army mainly attacked Western warships.
Caused by.
After Hu Hao answered this, he turned back and reported to Zhong Jinwei: "Master Hou, after the pirates on the Yangtze River received their fleeing accomplices, they abandoned the Hongyi and fled straight to the Yangtze River outlet. It is estimated that they will never come back.
came back."
Zhong Jinwei nodded. Those pirates must have been frightened by the battle at Heita Ridge and did not dare to stay inland anymore. The only ones left to deal with now are the Dutch in Zhenjiang.
He confirmed to Hu Hao: "Are there any pirates or Dutch warships at the exit of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal?"
"They have already escaped. My subordinates only came back late after confirming this." Hu Hao quickly replied.
After hearing this, Zhong Jinwei told Cao Wen: "I'll leave this place to you. I will lead the new army across the river and drive away the Dutch completely."
When Cao Wenzhao and Gu Baichuan heard that the Yangtze River Estuary was safe, they no longer objected. Zheng Zhilong hesitated for a moment, but finally said: "Master Marquis, the general thinks that the manpower on the Hongyi battleship is insufficient, whether it is to operate the battleship
Whether they are still preparing for battle will be seriously affected. Therefore, the general concluded that they do not dare to stay in Zhenjiang anymore, and they will probably flee after repairing the ship in a hurry."
Zheng Zhilong still had authority when he said this kind of thing. Zhong Jinwei also understood what Zheng Zhilong meant, that is, by waiting a little longer, he could avoid having to mobilize troops and troops. There was no need to risk the Dutch fleet suddenly going crazy when the fleet was crossing the Yangtze River.
Cause unnecessary risks.
Zhong Jinwei was very helpless. In this situation, it was the best time to kill a drowned dog. But the Ming Dynasty did not have warships at this time. It only had such good fighter planes and sharp firearms, but it had no choice but to kill a drowned dog on the Yangtze River.
Zhong Jinwei thought for a moment and then ordered Hu Hao: "You take the sharpshooters of the Perak Brigade and cross the river by speedboat first. First, send my order to the general to have the army on the other side march towards Zhenjiang to deter the Dutch. Second, let the sharpshooters stay away.
The distance harassed the Dutch and made them unable to repair their ships at ease."
"Yes, Lord Marquis." Hu Hao immediately accepted the order.
Zhong Jinwei then turned to Zheng Zhilong and said to him: "If you go to Zhenjiang again with mines, it would be best if you can sink the Dutch warships. If they are not sunk, they can also cooperate with the Thunderbolt Brigade, so that the Dutch cannot repair the warships with peace of mind."
After Zheng Zhilong heard this, he immediately agreed.
Although he had traveled along the southeastern coast for many years, he had never seen the improved "Underwater Dragon King Cannon" and "Underwater Thunder" of the Ming Army.
Because this type of floating mine is triggered by a line fuse, it is also the most advanced in the world. However, the reason why Zheng Zhilong has never seen it is also related to the fact that mines are mostly used on inland rivers.
Zheng Zhilong saw that these mines were very powerful, especially against Western-style sailing ships without airtight cabins. If used to block Westerners' ports, they would be a sharp weapon. He couldn't help but regret that he didn't know about this thing in the first place.
Woolen cloth!
At the same time, he also saw with his own eyes the fighting power of the new army, and the arrogance in his heart disappeared in front of Zhongxing Hou.
At this time, he has realized that in the past, it was because the imperial court did not pay attention to coastal defense, so many pirates were arrogant on the sea. But once the imperial court made up its mind (he had already felt this in the capital), there would probably be no such thing on the sea in the future.
The base of many pirates.
Therefore, he behaved very humbly and friendly to the orders of Marquis Zhongxing and to the entire New Army.
After Hu Hao and Zheng Zhilong took their people away, Zhong Jinwei also ordered to move to the exit of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.
He was prepared to decide whether to conduct a cross-river operation based on the situation.
But the development of things was beyond everyone's expectation.
Early the next morning, Zheng Zhilong came across the river in a boat and reported to Zhong Jinwei: "Master Hou, Hongyi escaped last night."
When Zhong Jinwei heard this, he stood up from his seat and asked Zheng Zhilong: "What's going on? The Dutch probably didn't repair those ships so quickly. Why did they escape so fast?"
Zheng Zhilong immediately explained to Zhong Jinwei what happened last night in detail. After listening to it, Zhong Jinwei sighed repeatedly. He didn't expect it to be like this!