Chapter 371: The Ambush Was a Great Victory, But Unfortunately It Was Not Complete
The Lishi River flows westward. Because the terrain along the river is steep, the water flows much faster than most rivers.
On the rushing river, a fleet of more than one hundred large treasure ships was marching in two columns.
Neither Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen nor Shandong General Liu Zeqing had ever commanded a naval battle and could be said to be complete outsiders.
But even if you have not eaten pork, you have seen pigs running away. What's more, the treasure ship was operated by boatmen and sailors from various noble families, wealthy merchants and tycoons in the three northwestern provinces. They were skilled in sailing the treasure ship, so there would not be any problem at all.
The large fleet braved the wind and waves and sailed at an extremely fast speed. Standing on the side of the flagship Shangpin Dabao ship, Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen and Shandong General Liu Zeqing both looked very proud and high-spirited.
They looked at the teams of elite soldiers on the ship, and then looked at such a huge fleet, and felt very proud.
Now the hinterland of the Renaissance Army is empty everywhere, and the two of them believe that this expedition will surely yield countless victories.
After Huang Taiji's Later Jin army completely defeated Li Dingguo and the Fuxing Army, it was a foregone conclusion that they would take back the Qin area occupied by the rebels.
Now, the main forces of the government army led by Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng were surrounding the 600,000-strong Manchu-Mongol and Han White Flags troops led by brothers Dorgon and Duoduo in the Changping area.
Li Dingguo's Fuxing Army is now overwhelmed, making the official army led by Chengguogong Zhu Chunchen and Liu Zeqing the only flexible and mobile army in Qin territory.
Under such circumstances, there was almost no suspense in penetrating deep into the heartland of the Restoration Army and winning one victory after another.
This is also the reason why Zhu Chunchen and Liu Zeqing are in such a good mood.
Standing on the deck beside the ship, Huang Sanfu, the third manager of the Huang family, pointed ahead and said to the two men, "My lords, thirty miles ahead is the exit of the Yellow River."
"Once the large fleet reaches the Yellow River, we must begin to be vigilant to avoid being discovered by the patrol boats of the Fuxing Army."
"I heard that the Renaissance Army has arranged several low-grade treasure ships to patrol near every river mouth. Once they find any abnormal situation, they will use spirit pigeons to send warnings."
Huang Sanfu is one of the most trusted confidants of the Huang Yunfa family head, and is responsible for all business activities in Jin Province for the Huang family, a large Shanxi merchant.
The Huang family was also the Shanxi merchant that provided the most support for this operation. Thirty percent of the treasure ships in this large fleet were provided by the Huang family.
This was mainly because the big Shanxi businessman Huang Yun was anxious.
Nearly half of the Huang family’s assets are located in Pingyang Prefecture, close to the Yellow River.
Once the Fuxing Army launched an attack on Pingyang Prefecture, the Huang family would be the first to bear the brunt.
In order to prevent himself from dying and his clan from being wiped out, Huang Yunfa gave his full support to the army of Duke Chengguo.
Not only did they provide support with a large number of treasure ships, but they also brought various food, fodder and military equipment on board.
The Huang family's main businesses are mining and smelting. They are one of the major forces in the three northwestern provinces that have the ability to manufacture a large number of spiritual weapons of all levels.
Every year, more than 30% of the spiritual soldiers of all levels that are smuggled through the border into the hands of the Tartars come from the Huang family.
"Are we about to reach the exit of Lishi River?"
Liu Zeqing's face straightened when he heard this, and he said to Chengguogong Zhu Chunchen, "My Lord, should we let the soldiers be more vigilant and even prepare for battle?"
"If we run into an enemy fleet, it would be bad if they escape and report in time."
Although he knew nothing about naval warfare, he still had some basic common sense.
In fact, the Chengguo Mansion also has several large fleets that are active on the Grand Canal all year round.
However, Duke Cheng was worried that his large fleet would encounter too many unpredictable dangers if it went deep into northwest Shanxi along the Yellow River. As he valued money more than anything else, he did not dispatch his large fleet.
Watching the fleet going down the river at lightning speed, getting closer and closer to the entrance of the Yellow River, Zhu Chunchen thought for a moment and said to Liu Zeqing, "General Liu, let's do as you say. Let the soldiers on each of the treasure ships be alert and ready for battle."
"Although it is basically impossible for Li Dingguo's Fuxing Army to have enough troops to intercept us, and they would not expect us to send troops so quickly, the possibility of this is too low and can almost be ignored."
"But it's always better to be cautious in everything. By the way, we can temporarily train our troops' ability to respond on board..."
He wanted to say something else, but suddenly he saw something unusual happening ahead of the fleet. Not only did he stop talking immediately, but his mouth also opened wide!
Liu Zeqing and Huang Sanfu immediately noticed something unusual about Zhu Chunchen, and hurriedly followed his gaze, and were also stunned in an instant!
Suddenly, a large fleet appeared downstream in the river, with three rows in a battle formation, heading towards their own large fleet at a very fast speed!
As the two sides were walking towards each other, the distance between them was rapidly closing.
This happened to be a section of the river with a large bend. When the enemy fleet appeared, it was only about ten miles away from our fleet, and was approaching at a very fast speed.
"The people on that large fleet are wearing black clothes and black armor? Oh no! These are the special spiritual weapon suits of the soldiers of the Restoration Army!"
"quick!"
After being stunned for a moment, Zhu Chunchen came to his senses in an instant and shouted to Liu Zeqing, "Hurry up and get our soldiers ready to use the psychic cannons and crossbow carts to counterattack!"
"Hurry up and order our great treasure ship to activate the ship's protective formation immediately, otherwise it will be too late!"
"This is a naval battalion of the Restoration Army. I heard they are very powerful!"
"Hurry up! Liu Zeqing, why are you still standing there?"
Zhu Chunchen, who had never experienced any life-and-death battle, was already getting anxious!
Although he was an early fifth-level cultivator, his body had long been drained by a life of debauchery.
If Zhu Chunchen did not have a large amount of natural treasures to use and regularly replenish his vitality, he would have been ruined long ago, not to mention the possibility of breaking through to the mid-level fifth level in the future.
This guy is extremely afraid of death and would never dare to go into battle himself.
However, it would be too late to prepare now.
The soldiers of the Xuanwu First Battalion, who had been prepared for a long time, quickly completed the preparations for a salvo fire from the sixty treasure ships following an order from Huang Zhanglong on the flagship treasure ship. The psychic cannons pointed at the oncoming enemy fleet had already begun roaring!
"boom!"……
"Rumble..."
All the sixty treasure ships of the Xuanwu First Battalion had more than two hundred psychic cannons, which fired hot psychic light balls that bombarded the enemy ships ahead in an instant!
Because this large fleet of government troops was so amateurish that they didn't even have time to activate the protective magic array on the ship, they immediately suffered a devastating disaster!
More than two hundred psychic shells, almost none of them missed the target, and they hit the oncoming enemy ship solidly!
"Woooo..."
“Swoosh!”…
What’s even more terrible is that the thousands of crossbow carts of the Xuanwu First Battalion also began concentrated fire attacks!
The spiritual crossbow arrows that filled the sky like a violent storm covered almost all the large treasure ships coming from the front!
"No!"
"ah!"……
The government fleet, which had not made any defensive preparations, suffered such a devastating attack, and the result was predictable! Dozens of large treasure ships at the forefront of the government fleet were immediately destroyed!
More than twenty low-grade treasure ships and nearly ten medium-grade treasure ships were blown to pieces by the huge explosion of psychic shells and sunk on the spot.
None of the remaining treasure ships of various levels of the government army were intact.
Not only was their ship in ruins by this wave of concentrated fire, but they also suffered heavy casualties.
Among the government army's large fleet, at least 30% of the 150,000 soldiers and 30,000 boatmen and sailors died on the spot, and more than 20,000 were seriously injured.
Even the 50,000 black-clad guards at Duke Chengguo's mansion suffered about 20% casualties!
A large-scale concentrated fire attack of this magnitude would cause heavy losses even for the Later Jin Tatars without the protection of a defensive formation, not to mention this disorganized and ragtag army.
In a real large-scale war, whether it was the black guards at Duke Chengguo's mansion or the officers and soldiers under Liu Zeqing, they were far inferior to the Ming border troops, not to mention the Tartars.
"Hahaha……"
Huang Zhanglong was so happy to see that his long-planned ambush had achieved such great results right after the battle began that he couldn't stop smiling.
Amid his laughter, this round of ten waves of volley attacks had just started.
It is basically impossible for the enemy's oncoming large fleet to turn around and escape in this situation.
"Boom!"...
"Woooo..."
Amid the continuous roar of psychic cannons, there was the even more frightening sound of thousands of psychic crossbow carts launching concentrated fire attacks, and the rapid explosions came one after another.
After this round of concentrated fire attack like a storm, the government army's large fleet was almost wiped out!
Only three large treasure ships were still intact, but more than half of the soldiers on board were killed or wounded!
As for the other low- and medium-quality treasure ships, more than 70% were sunk on the spot, and the rest were riddled with holes. The officers, soldiers, boatmen and sailors on the ships were almost all killed or wounded.
Of the more than one hundred Qi Refining Realm masters on the three great treasure ships, twenty to thirty were killed or injured, which could be said to be a complete annihilation of the army.
The reason why the ambush by the Xuanwu 1st Battalion was able to achieve such great results was mainly because the enemy did not have time to activate the protective formation on the ship.
In addition, the attack distance was too close, and the team was almost launching covering fire right in the enemy's face, so it is not surprising that such a result was achieved.
"Duke Cheng, our army and fleet are finished!"
"This...what should we do now?"
"Go! Go! It will be too late if you don't leave now!"
"How can we leave? We are on the treasure ship now, and even the boatman and sailors are all dead!"
"Jump off the boat! The only way to escape now is to jump off the boat and dive!"
"Look! The soldiers on the enemy fleet are rushing towards us in a killing formation!"
“Plop!”…
The thousands of people left on the three high-quality treasure ships of the government army, after coming to their senses, cried out in panic.
They saw the large fleet of the Fuxing Army, with several thousand men forming a military killing array, jumping off the treasure ship and using their killing array magic to kill them. They were immediately frightened out of their wits, and could not wait to jump off the treasure ship and escape by diving!
The pampered Duke Cheng was confused when Liu Zeqing grabbed him and jumped from the flagship Dabao ship into the rushing river. After creating two waves on the sea surface, he dived into the water and disappeared.
Liu Zeqing would certainly not abandon his biggest backer and run away.
Otherwise, with all the bad things he had done, without the support of Duke Chengguo behind the scenes, he would be reported to the court by his opponents and would be dismissed from office and punished soon.
Poor Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen, how could he have suffered such a punishment?
He now wanted to die, fortunately Liu Zeqing, who had the fifth level of cultivation, escaped by diving. Otherwise, he might have become the first Qi Refining Realm master to drown in the river.
"It's a pity that thousands of enemies escaped."
Huang Zhanglong personally led a team of 10,000 soldiers, formed a military killing formation, and first arrived at a large treasure ship of the enemy. He saw that all the enemies on the ship who were able to move had jumped off the ship and escaped, so he disbanded the military formation in frustration.
"Clear these three high-quality treasure ships quickly and kill all injured enemy warriors!"
"Whether it's the warriors in the Chengguo Mansion or the soldiers of the government army, they are all people who have done all kinds of bad things. Keeping them will only bring disaster. We don't have that much time and energy to treat them."
Huang Zhanglong immediately gave orders to the soldiers who had just disbanded their formation.
"Take those twenty or thirty damaged mid-quality treasure ships with you, and tow them back to the shipyard at Wubao Fortress after the war. Let the craftsmen at the shipyard dismantle them and see how many spiritual materials can be used."
If those dilapidated mid-grade treasure ships are dismantled, we can harvest a lot of mid-grade spiritual materials, which naturally cannot be wasted.
Today, in the Wubao Riverside Fortress and Yumendu Fortress in the Yellow River Basin, the Fuxing Army is building two large shipyards, which will be completed soon.
Not to mention building some large treasure ships, it is still possible to build some speedboats and reconnaissance ships.
Currently, within the jurisdiction of the Fuxing Army, there are tens of millions of craftsmen of all kinds, including many shipbuilders, including some big ones.
Many craftsmen have already started working for the Renaissance Army. As long as there are enough materials, it is not impossible to build large treasure ships of various levels. It just takes a long time.
"Hey!"
"Duke Cheng is lucky. Even so many cannons can't kill him."
Wu Xilin, the deputy commander of the Xuanwu First Battalion, led this 10,000-strong army onto this high-quality treasure ship and also shook his head and sighed.
Although this long-planned surprise attack was a great victory, unfortunately it was not fully accomplished.
Especially since Zhu Chunchen and Liu Zeqing ran away, it made people feel very unhappy.
If these two evils are not eliminated, they will most likely cause considerable trouble to the Fuxing Army in the future.
After all, Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen had a very high status and controlled considerable power, and he had close relationships with most of the military heroes and dignitaries of the time.
Once he launches revenge against the Renaissance Army, the commotion will be huge.
The strength of the Chengguo Mansion, which has lost 50,000 black-clad guards, will be greatly reduced in the future, and it will take at least ten to eight years to recover.
Half an hour later, the Fuxing Army, which had completed the post-war work, followed the original plan and sent a large fleet upstream along the Lishi River, heading directly to the Yongningzhou City in the east, preparing to capture this important city in the western part of Jin Province in one fell swoop.
This is a military order recently issued by the military, which is aimed at expanding the strategic depth of the Fuxing Army in Shanxi Province so that it can better compete with the official army of the Ming Dynasty in the next few years.
(End of this chapter)
