"Sir, it's not good." The sentry ship on the river quickly reported back, bringing bad news to Liang Huafeng, "Jiujiang City has been replaced by the Ming army flag, and the city has been lost."

Liang Huafeng could hardly believe his ears. Jiujiang City fell under his nose. Doesn't it mean that the troops who landed on Meijiazhou were also in danger?

"Is this a trap?!" Liang Huafeng suddenly felt an ominous omen in her heart.

He thought of a possibility, that is, Jiujiang City had been breached long ago, and still flying the original flag was to lead him into a trap.

Now, Liang Huafeng is in a dilemma, but seems to have no other choice.

Retreating in front of the enemy is definitely a severe test of the general's command ability and the strength of the army.

From ancient times to the present, many battle cases have shown that it is very difficult to retreat safely in a confrontation. If not done correctly, the retreat will turn into a rout, and it will be out of control.

Water battles are even more special. The bow is attacking and defending against the bow, and the stern is fighting against the bow. It means sticking your butt out and being beaten, or even chasing and escaping.

Once the ship turns around, it is almost impossible to turn around and fight again. Not to mention the need for skilled sailing skills, it is difficult to deal with the military morale alone.

On the shore, Jiujiang City took the lead in raising smoke, one after another, extending into the distance. That was a signal to the navy in Poyang Lake that it was time to attack.

Huang Li commanded the main fleet and began to take action, slowly pressing towards the Qing Navy in a strict formation.

"Fighting is bound to fail, retreating will be even worse." Huang Li sneered, feeling very pleased with the plight of the Qing navy.

The drastic changes in Jiujiang City severely damaged the morale and morale of the Qing Navy. The panic and uneasiness spread and became more and more intense.

Difficulty and oppression finally made Liang Huafeng break out. Since he was not willing to lose without a fight, he could only give it a try. If he could defeat the Ming Navy, wouldn't it be a bright future?

After receiving the order to fight, the Qing navy also started to move, and the distance between it and the Ming navy was getting closer and closer.

Naturally, the Ming navy was the first to take action. The rocket launchers on each ship fired hundreds of rockets, smashing them head-on into the enemy ships.

Since the distance was close, the Ming navy released the fire ship from a position close to the north bank. In this way, the influence of the south wind was minimized and the deviation distance was kept as much as possible.

Seeing the fire ship approaching diagonally, the Qing Navy's small boats in front took the initiative to meet it and stretched out their long poles to resist the fire ship's attack.

The artillery roared, and the Qing navy began to counterattack, firing more than a dozen shells at the opponent.

Inland water battles are no better than naval battles. They mainly rely on the artillery on the bow of the ship. There are at most two or three guns, and it has to be a big ship.

Naval battles are different. Sea-going ships are large, carry many guns, and have enough space to move around, so they can give full play to their broadside firepower.

It is not easy to sail on the inland river. The river is relatively narrow and it is difficult for a large ship to turn. It is very difficult to maneuver across the hull of the ship after firing the gun and then turn around.

Soon, the Ming navy, which had fully deployed its formation, retaliated. All the adjusted rocket launchers opened fire. Hundreds of rockets covered the sky and the sun, and violently bombarded the enemy ships.

Balls of fireworks exploded on the Qing warships. Even if the accuracy was poor, the quantity was enough to make up for it.

The Qing navy's battle formations were relatively dense, causing it to suffer considerable losses. Dozens of ships were caught in fireworks.

Taking advantage of the chaos in the enemy's formation, more than twenty fire-breathing ships quickly sailed out from the gaps in the big ship, sailed down the river, and headed straight for the enemy's formation.

Seeing that long-range shooting was unfavorable, Liang Huafeng made a desperate move and ordered the entire army to advance, preparing to engage in close combat with the opponent.

The fire-breathing ship approached the enemy ship very quickly with its maneuverability and advantage of flowing down the river. The Qing army used artillery to bombard it, but in the face of the moving target, it was as futile as cannon to fight mosquitoes.

The Qing army's small boat in front of the formation suffered first, and turned into a burning fire ship under the spit of fire dragons. The sailors who screamed and screamed were panic-stricken and jumped into the water like dumplings to escape.

The obstacles were cleared, and the fire-breathing ship slid into the enemy ships like a loach, swimming in the gaps, spitting flames towards the enemy ships on both sides that were taller than itself.

Soon, the rocket launcher fired a final round of fierce bombardment, using its maximum range to hit hundreds of rockets at the middle and rear warships of the Qing Navy.

Dozens of medium-sized riprap boats rushed out, projecting countless fireballs and mud bombs at the enemy ship more than 100 meters away, and continued to attack violently.

All operations are designed, orderly, and run with machine-like precision.

This is also the method of water warfare that Huang Li and his generals repeatedly discussed and determined, taking into account the distance, size of the ship, speed, and flexibility of action.

In constant actual combat, naval officers and soldiers became more and more proficient in tactics, and there was an obvious gap with the Qing navy that had not fought for a long time.

The Qing navy was completely in chaos. Hundreds of warships were on fire, and no orders could be executed.

Those who caught fire had to save themselves or abandon the ship; those who were lucky enough to be uninjured had to guard against attacks from fire-breathing ships and avoid collisions with their own fire-ships, creating a mess.

"Turn around, turn around." Liang Huafeng's ship was also hit by a rocket. Knowing that the situation was over, he panicked and ordered the sailors to save the ship while ordering the sailors to turn around.

At this time, Liang Huafeng just woke up from a dream. The enemy was luring him deep, and then launched a counterattack while waiting for work. Not only that, the 156,000 infantrymen he brought had been separated from the ship, and the ending was quite tragic.

Unfortunately, that's not all he thought about. The Ming fleet ambushing in Poyang Lake saw the smoke signal, accelerated its launch, rushed out of the lake mouth, and stabbed the Qing navy in the side.

The river from Xiaochikou to Hukou was full of ships of the Qing navy retreating in panic. Hundreds of ships were emitting fireworks, lost control, and were drifting with the waves.

In the river, there are countless wooden planks, fragments of sails, and sailors floating in the river. They are either miserable corpses or swimming desperately to the river bank.

Liang Huafeng's ship dashed from left to right, knocking over his own ship. With the fireworks that had not been completely extinguished, he fled downstream in panic along with the retreating ship.

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The Qing navy completely collapsed, and only one thought was left to escape. Facing the Ming navy's continued attack, they had no intention of fighting back.

The Ming Navy began a pursuit along the river, but the burning enemy ships posed a considerable obstacle.

Only the fleet that fought out from Poyang Lake faced little resistance and pursued bravely, using rockets, artillery, projectiles, and flames to destroy enemy ships and kill the enemy with all their strength.

"One battle chills the enemy's courage and makes the enemy forget this bloody lesson for the rest of his life. If he fights with our army again, he will be frightened before the battle. He will not be able to boost morale and morale of the army."

Liu Rukui shouted in a hissing voice, commanding his navy to attack vigorously and pursue them mercilessly. His Highness's pre-war encouragement and encouragement flashed through his mind.

"You're absolutely right. The navy of the Qing navy dared to challenge them, but they didn't receive a severe beating. If they were not killed until they lost their souls and fell into disgrace, they would never change their minds and eat shit, and there would be a next time."

Liu Rukui gritted his teeth and watched as his army's weapons opened fire with all their strength, sinking and destroying the enemy ships. Hearing the enemy's screams and wails, he felt a sense of joy in his heart.

Victory is inspiring and can make people excited. What's more, this was already a one-sided massacre, and the Qing army was in a panic.

The small and medium-sized warships of the Ming Navy were able to maneuver flexibly, break through the obstacles, and pursue downstream. Huang Li's ships stopped, waiting for their own ships to clear the obstacles on the river.

"I originally thought that if you dared to fight, you should at least be made of bronze, but I didn't expect that it turned out to be rotten iron." Huang Li put away the telescope and shook his head gently, "I don't know who gave you the courage."

However, after five or six years of ease, the Yangtze River Navy of the Qing Army declined like this. The biggest root cause lies in the strategic mistake of focusing on shore defense.

"The Qing navy on the Yangtze River has been completely wiped out. I wonder if the Qing government will transfer some of the navy from Guangdong, Guangxi or Fujian and Zhejiang to the river like it did during the Taiping Rebellion."

Historically, in the Hunan Army's battle to annihilate the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a Guangdong and Guangxi fleet composed of red single ships also played an important role.

It is said that the red single ship is an armed merchant ship used by Guangdong merchants to sail to the Southeast Asia. The hull is tall and solid. Each ship is equipped with more than 20 guns and has powerful firepower.

After the red fleet arrived at the Yangtze River, it fought dozens of battles with the Taiping Army without losing a single victory, and finally completed the task of blocking the Nanjing River.

"I don't know if there are any red single ships now, but it is probably not uncommon for sea-going ships to carry more than twenty artillery pieces. It's just that sea-going ships are huge and can still fight in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, but they are reluctant and too heavy in the middle reaches.

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Huang Li was not too worried about this, but he still made plans for the development of the Navy and would never be satisfied with the current scale.

You must know that the Ming Navy did not have specially built warships. They were all merchant ships or converted civilian ships. Such ships are not strong enough to carry excessive weight and too many artillery pieces.

If it weren't for the rocket launchers, the Ming Navy's combat capabilities would be greatly reduced. Well, the flamethrowers are also pretty sharp, but they can only engage in close combat, which has great limitations.

During the Taiping Rebellion, the Qing and Hunan armies received help from Western powers. Their artillery was both light and powerful.

"None of these situations exist. Our navy can still have an advantage, even an absolute advantage, in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Continuous operations have also created conditions for cruising the Yangtze River, which can be put into practice."

The attack on Huguang became bigger and bigger. In addition to going smoothly, the most important thing was that Huang Li wanted to prove to the Qing court that the Ming army had the power to cross the Yangtze River and threaten the heart of its rule.

And this goal is getting closer and closer. With Anqing captured, Nanjing is just around the corner, and even canal water transportation is in danger of being cut off by the Ming army.

"Nanjing cannot be lost, and water transportation cannot be cut off. This is the destiny of the Qing government. They will have to strengthen defenses in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The result of resource tilt is that the external threat to eastern Sichuan will be greatly reduced."

Huang Li had already strengthened his belief. Taking advantage of the Qing army's defeat, heavy casualties, and weakened morale, he continued to attack and sent troops to Anqing.

Anqing, at that time, was not only an important town to defend the Yangtze River, but also the last barrier to the west of Nanjing.
Chapter completed!