The Ming Navy had many ships, and most of them were small boats that would not hurt if they sank. Therefore, although they suffered a certain amount of losses, they still continued to move forward, and the speed was getting faster and faster.
Seven hundred meters, five hundred meters, four hundred meters, two hundred meters, more and more Ming navy ships were hit by the firepower of Jiangyin Fort, or sank, or caught fire, but more and more Ming navy ships also broke through.
After passing the blockade of the fort, we rushed to the front of the Tang Dynasty naval fleet!
At this time, some of the sailors of the Ming Navy at the front took the initiative to light the fire starter on the ship. After lighting it, they jumped into the water to escape, allowing the fire ship to rush towards the Tang Navy fleet ahead by virtue of its inertia and water flow!
Looking at the Ming Navy fireships only a few dozen meters ahead, Ouyang Gui once again issued an order: "Strictly order all ships to maintain formation and fire freely!"
Not long after his order was conveyed, more than a dozen fireships rushed over with large fires. Of course, their luck could not be extremely good, and they would rush directly in front of the leading cruiser, but from both sides.
Pass sideways.
The Yangtze River here is relatively wide, not as narrow as the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Although the Ming army had many fireships, not many of them could directly ram into the leading cruisers.
What's more, although several cruisers are said to be acting as vanguards, there are actually more small inland river gunboats in front of them. The tonnage of these gunboats is not large, generally about fifty tons, and their firepower is not strong.
, only equipped with a few artillery pieces, but they are more flexible.
If there are Ming army fireships coming towards the fleet, they will take the initiative to rush forward and sink them if they can. If they cannot sink them, then they will use collision methods to change the routes of these fireships, or simply
It was parked in front of the battleship and acted as a shield.
The small boats of the Ming army are not valuable and can be sacrificed as fire ships. The small river warships of the Tang Navy are also not valuable. To put it bluntly, fifty river gunboats are not as valuable as a cruiser.
big!
Thanks to the efforts of the inland gunboats, although there were many Ming army fireships, none of them directly hit the leading cruisers and frigates, and then passed through the middle of the ships!
However, at this time, these powerful cruisers and frigates displayed their terrifying broadside firepower!
Hundreds of naval guns fired one after another, so that the entire river was filled with gunfire and smoke!
As countless naval guns fired one after another, Ming ships were sunk one after another!
If you look down from the sky, you will see a scene like this!
Numerous Ming army ships rushed down one after another. They were first intercepted by the fierce firepower of Jiangyin Fort. After losing some of the ships, the remaining ships continued to rush down, and then took the initiative to light the tinder on them.
Immediately afterwards, some of them, especially those that posed a threat to the main fleet, were targeted and strangled one by one by dozens of Tang Navy river warships, while the fireships that posed no threat to the main fleet continued to flow down the river.
Then find the main fleet's fierce broadside artillery bombardment!
Most of the ships of the Ming army were completely sunk in this process, or they lost power and were floating. The few that slipped through the net were also sunk one by one by several new patrol ships in the rear.
Not a single Ming army fireship could break through this interception network consisting of river defense forts, inland river battleships, and the main fleet, totaling more than 600 artillery pieces!
This scene was also seen by several Ming navy generals upstream behind them. They came to this battle with the belief of fighting to the death and brought almost all the ships they could find.
However, the course of this battle was different from what they expected. They also expected that the warships of the Puppet Tang Dynasty had strong firepower and would intercept their own fireships in a single column like a naval battle. But they thought, even if
Even so, they can still have a certain chance of success because they have enough ships.
But what they didn't expect was that the puppet Tang thief army did not use a horizontal formation, but a column, setting up an interception net that seemed to allow them to rush through, but in fact it was impossible to rush through!
The fire ship offensive has been a complete failure so far!
Although a few ships belonging to the Puppet Tang pirates were set alight during the fire ship offensive, it was only a few ships and did no harm at all.
Although in the Fire Ship Offensive I, the casualties of the Ming Navy were almost negligible, because the sailors on the fire ship basically jumped into the water to escape in advance.
But it is undeniable that they did not achieve the strategic goals they wanted at all!
The huge fire ship offensive looks huge, but its actual effect is completely useless.
A Ming navy general looked very ugly, and finally murmured: "Is it really the era of giant ships and cannons in the future?"
This term was passed down from the navy of the Puppet Tang Dynasty. The navy of the Ming Army also collected some information about the Navy of the Tang Dynasty. It is known that within the Navy of the Tang Dynasty, naval guns and large ships that can carry more artillery were highly respected. This was
They call it a giant ship cannon!
"No, we still have a chance. Our big ship hasn't boarded yet. As long as we rush over and start a boarding battle, we may not have a chance!"
"Opportunity? Can we still rush over? Even if we rush over, can we successfully launch a boarding battle? Can we win the boarding battle?"
Others immediately raised questions, and acted very Beiguan. He obviously didn't think this battle could be won!
"But we can't just watch the puppet Tang rebels cross the Yangtze River and land. Otherwise, Yangzhou will be in danger. Once Yangzhou is lost, it will be all over!" someone insisted.
The general above, with the title of Second Grade, gritted his teeth and finally said: "The Chinese army is ordered to attack, and the puppet Tang thief army must be destroyed!"
The Chinese army consists of more than 30 large ships of the Ming Navy and the remaining 50 or so medium-sized ships of tens of tons!
The Ming Navy launched the final attack, but the targets of these large ships were more obvious than those of small fireships. As soon as they entered the range of Jiangyin Fort, many shells fired by Jiangyin Fort's artillery fell one after another.
On these Ming army ships.
The shooting points of the artillery on the fort have been marked in advance, and the hit rate is far higher than the hit rate of the artillery on the battleship.
At the same time, Ouyang Gui ordered the fleet to start changing formations. The previous three-row column was just to deal with the Ming army's fireships, but now it was the Ming army's main fleet that was going to fight, so it was natural to change the formation.
.
However, at this time, it is no longer possible to simply change from a column to a horizontal formation. The only option is to simply gather the three columns into two columns to make the formation closer, so that greater firepower can be exerted when the time comes!
After the Ming Navy broke through the fire interception of Jiangyin Fort, they also ran headlong into the formation of the Tang Navy!
At that moment, the artillery fire from both sides was fierce, and then the Ming navy tried to get closer to engage in a boarding battle. At this time, the warships of the Tang Navy would use dense shotguns and howitzers to drive away the opponent.
However, because fighting in rivers has very little room for maneuver, it is inevitable that ships will be entangled by Ming navy ships and then be forced to engage in boarding battles.
At this time, the frigate Hangzhou surrounded two Ming ships that were obviously one size smaller than it. Then the Ming army threw rows of hooks and locks.
At the same time, on the deck of the frigate, a group of Marine Corps soldiers wearing full body armor, half body armor, and breastplates filed out. They wore breastplates, held muskets, listed several teams, and then looked at the opposite side.
Ming army sailors climbed onto the bow of their own ship by swinging ropes!
There was no need for the officers to give orders to aim. The Marine Corps soldiers were already firing their guns individually. At such a close distance, it was natural to hit them accurately!
However, after firing a shot, there was no time to reload them. At this time, these musketeers stood in rows together, and then used bayonets to attack the enemy. If there was an occasional gap, they would reload!
In addition to the soldiers in the Marine Corps, most of the other sailors and gunners on the warship also picked up their shields and swords to join the melee!
For a moment, the three warships entangled with each other had no sound of cannons, but the gunshots continued, and the screams of people kept coming and going!
This kind of boarding battle is almost the same as hand-to-hand combat on land, and it's still a melee!
In this kind of battle, the one wearing armor always takes advantage!
On the Ming Navy side, they were just ordinary sailors, but on the Tang Navy side, the main force in boarding battles was not ordinary sailors, but marines, and the Marine Corps was basically dedicated to boarding battles and landings.
Born to fight.
Like the army, they are equipped with plate armor, and each one has one, sword and shield soldiers, spearmen in the front row are equipped with full body armor, spearmen in the back row are equipped with half body armor, and musketeers are equipped with breastplates.
In the boarding battle, spears were naturally useless, but the two-meter-long bayonet was just right. Coupled with their armor, it was a huge advantage in the battle.
I don’t know how long the battle lasted. The Marine sergeant pulled out the waist knife from a small leader of the Ming Navy, and then looked around, but found that he could no longer see any standing Ming soldiers.
Sailor.
There were dead and wounded everywhere on the deck, both from the Ming army and from our own side. The dead people had no sound, but the injured people who were still alive were constantly making various sounds, and they were making heart-rending tragic sounds.
They were shouting, and some were making faint moaning sounds.
Blood dripped all over the deck, and then seeped into the lower deck through the gaps in the deck, making a crisp ticking sound.
Tick tick tick, even the rumble of cannons on the river was completely covered up!