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Chapter 497 Forced to cross the Yellow River (7)

No matter how anxious Wang Shun was, the commander of the artillery battalion, even if he killed all the soldiers in the artillery battalion, he still couldn't make the cannons roar.

If some of the cannons went off, it would be enough to blow up a few warships of the Ming army. He, the commander of the artillery battalion, also had some glory on his face. The terrible thing was that more than 40 cannons were all dumb.

They could only watch helplessly as the ships of the Ming Army in the river got closer and closer.

At this time, not only Wang Shun was anxious, but Li Zicheng and others were even more anxious than him. Their snarling, ruthlessness, and self-consolation just now were all swept away, especially Niu Jinxing, whose face was full of frustration.

It's a terrible move to silence their cannons!
It was really helpless. After discussing with Song Xiance, Niu Jinxing and others, Li Zicheng gathered all the archers to focus on defending the river bank. In addition, there were more than a dozen intact ships, so that more than 3000 sailors boarded the warships and took the initiative to attack. , You can't just watch Zhu Yousong's warship cross the river.

Soon, three thousand sailors jumped on more than a dozen large and small warships, and the warships left the shore to meet Zhu Yousong's fleet.

At this time, Zhu Yousong's fleet was only about three miles away from the south bank of the river. Countless heads protruded from the river surface. They were the iron-armed Canglong He Zhaoxiong, the commander of the Jinyiwei and the prisoner of the Dongchang Qianhu Li Quan, Liu Chunhong, etc. people.

It turned out that Li Quan and Liu Chunhong and his wife brought [-] warriors to fill the lead wire and barrel of the red cannon, just when Liu Fangliang's men arrived, and they led the men to retreat without a fight and jumped into the Yellow River.

Under the river, after reuniting with Iron Backed Canglong He Zhao Zhaoxiong and others, they dived back.This is the reason why none of the archers Li Zicheng deployed on the shore came out of the water after waiting for a long time.

He Zhaoxiong, Li Quan, Liu Chunhong and others got out of the water, quickly climbed onto the warship, and checked the number of people. Due to the careful arrangement this time, the casualties were very small. Of the [-] warriors, more than [-] returned intact. .

"Hahaha, the three lovers have worked hard and made a great contribution. I will definitely reward you a lot in the future!" Zhu Yousong laughed loudly and praised them.

At this time, Zhu Yousong's fleet was only two miles away from the south bank, and the battalion and battalion of the Dashun Army could clearly see the warships, forts, etc., and a group of warships from the Dashun Army rushed towards them.

The cannons of the Dashun Army were unable to fire, but the cannons on the warships of the Ming Army were ready to fire, reaching the firing range of the Qianjin Flangji.

With just a few warships, you still want to fight to the death?Trying to stop my fleet of [-] generals in vain, I will let you know how powerful it is today!

Zhu Yousong smiled coldly, "Fire!"

Qianjin Fulang machine is not as powerful as the red cannon, nor is it as far away as its range.But hundreds of them firing at the same time is also earth-shattering.

Countless shells flew in the air, and some of them exploded in the ranks of the Dashun Army on the bank of the Yellow River.

Some of them accurately hit the ships of the Dashun Army, and the ships turned into fireballs, with thick smoke billowing and flames rising, and the soldiers on the ships flying around before falling into the river.

Some boats were overturned, and for a while, the heads of the Dashun army were all bustling in the Yellow River.

Of course, the warships of the Dashun Army also had artillery fire, and they also opened fire on the warships of the Ming Army.However, the firepower of a dozen warships can only be drizzle compared to the firepower of thousands of warships.

That is, ten minutes later, more than a dozen warships of the [-] navy of the Dashun Army were beaten and paralyzed without even the warships of the Ming Army.

On the shore, Li Zicheng's defense line built with archers was also scattered by the intensive artillery fire. The companies and battalions of the Dashun Army that hit directly filled the air with gunpowder, and the water columns in the river rose one after another.

The soldiers of the artillery battalion of the Dashun Army were still busy nervously and anxiously, but none of the fire red cannons were able to fire.

However, the cannonballs that were as dense as raindrops fell on the army formations on the river bank and the naval warships, but none of the shells fell on the artillery barracks of the Dashun Army.

Even though the artillery battalion of the Dashun Army was within the firing range of the Ming Army warships.

Of course, this was instigated by Zhu Yousong, because he had already seen the dawn of victory, and he even took a fancy to this batch of red cannons. If they were destroyed by artillery fire, wouldn't it be a waste of everything?

In this way, more than 1000 warships of Zhu Yousong docked.

The [-] sailors and [-] dry soldiers abandoned their boats and landed on the shore, and with the shouts that shook the sky, they killed the Dashun army on the shore.

Li Zicheng, Niu Jinxing, and Song Xiance were not reconciled to failure, and commanded tens of thousands of people to fight stubbornly.

10,000+ troops fought on the banks of the Yellow River.

However, in terms of the number of troops, the Dashun Army is less than half of the Ming Army, which means that the Ming Army has an absolute advantage.

Therefore, there was almost no suspense in this scuffle. After less than an hour of scuffle between the two sides, the Dashun Army was defeated.

Seeing that the defeat was irreversible, Li Zicheng fled towards Hulao Pass with the remnants under the protection of the generals.

At the same time, he hurriedly ordered someone to deliver an order to his nephew Li Guo, who was fighting with the Ming army in Qi County, and led his troops to retreat quickly.

Li Zicheng saw very well that Zhu Yousong's men and horses successfully crossed the Yellow River and suffered another defeat. If Li Guo didn't retreat in time, he would inevitably fall into the situation of being attacked by the enemy.

Zhu Yousong commanded the troops to chase and wipe out the remnants.On the artillery battalion position of the Dashun Army, the artillerymen also received orders to retreat.

Wang Shun, commander of the artillery battalion, saw that the general situation was over, and today's cannons would not be able to fire, so he ordered: "Brothers, smash all these, and don't leave them to the fool!"

Four or five hundred people followed the order and started smashing cannons, but after a few shots, a Ming army surrounded them.

"Put down your weapons, surrender is the only way out for you!" Ming soldiers shouted at them.

"Brothers, swear allegiance to His Majesty to the death, never surrender, kill me!" Wang Shun yelled, and took the lead in rushing over with a big knife.

A sharp arrow pierced through the air, piercing through the armor with a puff, Wang Shun's body shook, a mouthful of blood sprayed into the air, and then the dead body fell to the ground.

Wang Shun really followed a few of Li Zicheng's loyalists behind him, but after several arrows flew in, these people all fell into a pool of blood.

Among the remaining 400 people, there are those who are not confused. Even if they can kill them, their Majesty Li Zicheng will not spare them lightly, so they should simply surrender!
Some took the lead and threw knives and guns, knelt down and surrendered, and the rest followed.

The [-] artillerymen of the Dashun Army surrendered en masse, and this Ming army disarmed them, and put the [-] captives together with their forty red cannons and a mountain of ammunition under custody.

Not all the sailors of the Dashun Army were buried in the water, they also surrendered, and some of the wrecked ships became the trophies of the Ming Army.

This forced crossing of the Yellow River only took more than four hours to end the battle, annihilating more than [-] men and horses of the Dashun Army, including more than [-] artillerymen and sailors captured, and captured a large number of cannons. Mules and horses, battle armor, grain and other spoils of war.

At sunset, the Ming army happily began to clean up the battlefield and deal with the aftermath.

(End of this chapter)