In the end, the two sides strangled each other, and the most brutal hand-to-hand combat began.
In order to cause maximum damage, the Ming army's artillerymen all resisted the urge to fire in advance and only fired when the opponent was in front of their faces.
At such a close distance, after a round of shelling, there will basically be no intact people or objects on the deck of the pirate ship. But the pirates are not fools. Except for the sailors who must operate the ship, most of the gang members are hiding in the cabin.
Wait until the bombardment is over before rushing out.
Although the sailors of the pirates were basically wiped out and the sails were torn apart by cannonballs, the warships of both sides still collided with each other under the huge inertia.
The pirates immediately threw out the anchor hook, put up the plank, and started yelling to start jumping gangs!
But what they didn't expect was that the first to rush over was the Ming army from the opposite side.
The predecessor of the city fleet was the Chaohu Navy, which fought for its life in Poyang Lake and defeated the strong with the weak!
They were indeed lost for a time and lost the courage to fight for their lives. But His Highness the King of Chu's multi-pronged approach has allowed them to cheer up again and find themselves.
The Chaohu Navy was originally good at side-to-side combat and hand-to-hand combat. In order to protect the artillery and gunpowder behind them and prevent pirates from boarding the ship and setting fire to it, the soldiers attacked decisively and nimbly used the passages set up by the pirates to rush to the opponent's side.
On the ship, fight with the pirate gang!
Cries of killing instantly broke out everywhere, and the Ming army soldiers and pirates began a brutal fight on the overcrowded deck!
The deck quickly became a river of blood. The soldiers of both armies no longer thought about it. There was only one thought left in their minds - kill, kill, kill!
They tried their best to cut with their knives, kick with their feet, and bite with their teeth to kill the enemy in front of them!
Many soldiers accidentally fell overboard during the fight. But even if they were unable to save themselves, the two sides did not stop fighting. They either lay on the driftwood and brandished knives at each other, or they struggled and hugged each other in the sea, trying to push each other into the sea and drown them.
die.
As a result, there were more and more corpses of soldiers from both armies on the sea...
~~
In fact, the pirates' jumping gangs were as experienced as the Ming army, fought bravely, and almost never lost in individual combat. But the problem was that in the previous shelling, they lost one-third of their men. This made them
After the losses increased, the follow-up was obviously weak.
And every ship of the Ming army was fully loaded with people, and even carried two hundred additional officers and soldiers... The city fleet only had a few ships, but a lot of soldiers. Originally, the Chaohu Navy had more than 10,000 troops.
Ten battleships were all fully loaded with only more than 4,000 men. There were still a large number of soldiers who couldn't be fished aboard and were howling in panic.
Yu Tongyuan considered that fighting in offshore areas would not put too much logistical pressure. Besides, having more people would also be helpful, so he ordered each ship to carry two hundred "passengers."
These "supernumerary" officers and soldiers played a big role at this time. Relying on their numerical advantage, the Ming army officers and soldiers continued to pour into the enemy ships. They gradually gained the advantage in strength.
Once the balance of forces was broken, the battle situation quickly changed. After gaining the upper hand, the Ming army divided and surrounded the pirates on the deck, and wiped them out.
In naval battles of this era, the occupation of the deck means failure. Because no matter how many people are below the deck, they can only climb up one by one through the narrow hatch. Wouldn’t that mean that everyone who comes up will die? Impossible
Another chance to make a comeback.
~~
Half an hour later, all the warships fighting against each other had their own winners and losers.
But there were still several besieging Ming warships, and they were still locked in a bitter battle... The pirates had four more ships than the Ming army, so this situation was inevitable.
The most unlucky one was Yu Tongyuan's flagship. It could have used the big one to bully the small one and take advantage of Chen Shanghai's flagship.
However, in order to rescue the leader, two Guangzhou ships also joined the battle group, and surrounded this huge 4,000-material ship from the starboard side and stern respectively.
Then the pirates on the three ships launched an attack from three sides like crazy.
Yu Tongyuan assessed the situation and did not order his subordinates to take the initiative to attack. Firstly, they were attacked from both sides and would be stolen if they took the initiative. Secondly, their warships had a high altitude advantage and could defend and counterattack from a high position. Thirdly, and most importantly, he had to protect the ship.
That little ancestor.
If that little ancestor makes a mistake, no matter how well the battle is fought, it will be a complete failure. Everyone can jump into the sea to bury him together, so as not to harm the family.
Chen Shanghai was obviously aware of this and launched the charge himself despite being injured, so the battle here was more intense than anywhere else.
The Ming army used long spears to stab down the pirates who tried to climb onto the ship; they used machetes to chop off the hands of the pirates who climbed onto the side of the ship; they also used boiling oil sent by the cook and poured it down with spoonfuls... Under multiple blows, the pirates were
Kou dropped the dumplings into the sea.
But there were so many pirates, they seemed to be endless, and they climbed up from all sides of the ship with agility, making it difficult for the Ming army soldiers on the ship to escape.
Seeing that the battle situation was tense and the gunners were temporarily useless, they also joined the hand-to-hand combat. They lifted up heavy spherical cannonballs and threw them over the ship, smashing the heads of the pirates.
They even directly inserted the fuse into the gunpowder package, igniting the warships that were thrown towards the pirates, and blasting the pirates waiting to pick up the ship. They also ignited the sails of a ship, and the burning sail fragments continued to fall.
, and then the whole ship burst into flames.
However, the desperadoes attacked even more fiercely, as if climbing onto the Ming army's flagship was their only way to survive.
At the most critical moment, the guards of King Chu's bodyguards all joined the battle. Lao Liu also wanted to go into battle to kill the enemy in person, but unfortunately he was stopped by Deng Duo...
The brutal offensive and defensive battle lasted for half an hour. The sea around the four ships was dyed red, and there were dead bodies, broken limbs and broken wood chips floating everywhere...
However, with the concerted efforts of the Ming army soldiers to defend it, the flagship was not lost after all.
When Liao Dingguo finally led another 4,000-material battleship to come for reinforcements, the battle situation completely lost its suspense.
Liao Dingguo personally took the helm, steered the warship, and directly hit a Guangzhou ship. The huge momentum directly knocked the ship away from the flagship. The pirates who were climbing up suddenly screamed like dumplings and fell into the sea.
After ramming the Guangzhou ship, Liao Dingguo's warship continued to move forward unabated, and its bow finally touched Chen Shanghai's already riddled flagship.
After a round of condescending shooting, Liao Dingguo drew out his sword, personally led the crowd to jump onto Chen Shanghai's boat from a high place, and started killing like a tiger down the mountain!
Chen Shanghai's men were already on the verge of reaching their limit. Under Liao Dingguo's fierce attack, the morale of the soldiers completely collapsed, and they all knelt down and surrendered, or jumped into the sea in a panic to survive.
Seeing that the situation was over, Chen Shanghai was like a loser gambler, still refusing to surrender, brandishing his sword and resisting. Liao Dingguo ordered his men to get out of the way, and personally raised his sword to fight Chen Shanghai.
Chen Shanghai was not as strong as his opponent and was injured. After holding on for a few rounds, his sword was knocked away. He pulled out his dagger and prepared to commit suicide, but Liao Dingguo knocked the dagger away again.
Then Liao Dingguo kicked him to the ground, and the soldiers swarmed up and captured Chen Shanghai.
As Chen Shanghai was captured, all fourteen pirate warships were wiped out. The small boats watching from a distance also dispersed. This fierce naval battle finally came to an end...
