I Build an Aircraft Carrier in the Ming Dynasty

At the end of April, the main force of the Wu army arrived at Hukou.

The army had established a large camp at Hukou, while the navy was attacked by the Qing court navy at the mouth of the Yangtze River.

The Qing court attacked a total of more than 100 large ships, as well as some small boats carrying inflammables, down the river and rushed towards Wu Yi's navy who had just arrived at the mouth of Panyang Lake.

When the navy is fighting, the fleet that occupies the upper reaches can generally have some advantages.

The Qing court also had more troops than Wu Yi's navy, approaching tens of thousands. And Wu Yi's navy is only more than 6,000 people, and the number of ships is not as good as that of the other party.

In addition, the Qing court was still attacking, and the Wu army was insufficiently prepared and rushed to fight.

As soon as the two sides came into contact, Wu Yi secretly said something was wrong. Their navy is not like the army, which can cause a crushing advantage to the place.

Now encountering a sneak attack, the fleet is very dangerous.

"Order the fleet to disperse and set up a long snake array."

Wu Yi ordered the fleet to disperse immediately, and at the same time ordered to fire at the fireboats.

Those small boats with inflammable materials are fire boats specially used for fire attack. When they are close to the opponent's fleet, igniting the boat can cause great trouble to the downstream fleet.

The main purpose is to create chaos. Once the army has to fight fires on the one hand, and meet the enemy on the other hand, the soldiers will have a lot of psychological pressure and will be easily defeated.

In the Battle of Chibi that year, Zhou Yu's naval forces dealt with Cao Cao in this way, and achieved great results. At the beginning, Zhou Yu's fleet was still in the lower reaches, and there was no condition to use fire attack, but the northwest wind blew that day, allowing the fire boat to rush into Cao's fleet smoothly.

Today, Wu Yi does not have the luck of Zhou Yu, and there is no northwest wind, so those fire boats have already rushed towards them along with the river.

Fortunately, their fleets are not tied together, and they can be dispersed to avoid these fire ships through artificial manipulation.

However, after nearly 100 large boats have been placed on the huge river surface, the river surface is not very spacious.

So it is unrealistic to completely avoid those fire ships, and there are always some ships that cannot dodge for some reason.

Wu Yiyi's bombardment of those fireboats was also a helpless move, better than nothing.

If it can be successfully hit, sinking the fire ship can remove the threat. However, with the current accuracy of artillery, it is not easy to hit those boats on the river, and you can only try your luck.

After a few shots, Wu Yi decisively ordered the guns to be aimed at the large ships of the Qing court, ready to fight against the Qing army.

Instead of continuing to bombard those fire ships, it is better to bombard the soldiers on the enemy ships.

There was no escape at this point, and the fireboats were faster than their bulky ships. Moreover, Wu Jun has no tradition of escaping. If their naval forces start this way, I am afraid that those army forces still don't know how to laugh at them.

Wu Jun's battles have always been relying on the army, and their navy does not have much sense of existence.

Now they finally have a chance to perform. If they choose to escape, Wu Yi will have no face to ask Wu Changqing for military spending to expand the navy.

"Order all ministries to fetch water and prepare to put out the fire."

Looking at the dozens of fireboats rushing over, Wu Yi continued to order.

Although it is on the river surface, it is not easy to get water. The decks of those lucky boats are very high from the river surface. Each time they can get water, they can only use buckets, and there is also a lack of water storage tools on board.

The fireboats arrived in front of Wu Jun, and some fireboats passed through the gap, but Wu Jun's large boats successfully avoided. However, due to the large number of fire ships, several of them successfully crashed into Wu Jun's large ship.

Wooden sailboat, the whole boat is flammable. Soon, the fire spread to Wu Jun's large ships, causing great confusion to the soldiers on these ships.

Those soldiers hurriedly fetched water to put out the fire, and some soldiers with good water went directly into the water, trying to scuttle the other party's fire boat.

When the Wu army was in chaos, Azali's navy had already rushed over, and they wanted to catch the Wu army by surprise while the Wu army was in chaos, putting the Wu army in a dilemma to defend the enemy and put out the fire.

Azali's thoughts are beautiful, but the reality is a bit cruel.

The fleet had just approached the Wu army, and the Wu army's ships that were not affected by the fire attack launched an attack, and the soldiers above began to shoot.

In order to bring more soldiers to increase combat power, the Qing army loaded a large number of soldiers on each ship. Those soldiers were crowded on the deck, and their density far exceeded that of the army on land.

Such a dense formation was simply a living target for Wu Jun's musket team.

As long as the bullets are not hit in the sky or in the water, they can easily hit the Qing army.

Azali did not have much experience in water warfare, and his command was carried out in accordance with the tactics in the military book.

Unfortunately, this practice has caused him to suffer a heavy loss now.

A barrage flew over, and the soldiers standing in front collapsed in a large row. The scene was terrifying.

"Shield, bring the shield to the front."

The commander hurriedly shouted, but naval warfare always focuses on flexibility and lightness, and rarely brings a shield, let alone a large shield that is half a person high.

After shouting a few times, the Qing army only assembled a few small round shields, the kind of shields that were about the size of the lid of a pot, and could not cover people at all. Moreover, these are still some wooden shields, and they can't stop bullets at all.

However, no matter how many soldiers of the Qing army were, they had already put their shields in front of them, seeking psychological comfort.

Aside from the raging of bullets, bad luck

ships will also be bombarded.

That kind of howitzer exploded on the boat, and a large piece of it was thrown away directly.

This situation, which could only be passively beaten, caused a great blow to the morale of the Qing army.

"Accelerate forward for a pick-up battle."

Azali also knew that if he wanted to obliterate the advantage of Wu Jun's guns, he only needed to get close and then carry out a pick-up battle.

However, this section of the road ahead is destined to suffer great losses.

As long as the Wu army can be prevented from crossing the river, even if the navy is wiped out, it is worth it.

Therefore, Azali did not care about the life and death of the soldiers at all, and shouted to speed up.

The distance between the two armies is actually not far, only more than 100 meters.

But it was these more than 100 meters that made the deck of the Qing army ship red with blood.

The few rounds of Wu Jun's shooting just now washed away the blood of the large ships that the Qing army rushed in front of. The soldiers on many ships have been reduced by 10%, and some ships have been reduced by 20%.

Before contact, one-fifth of the people died. With such a terrifying loss rate, how could the remaining soldiers have any morale to speak of.

Some soldiers' legs have begun to tremble, and the weapons in their hands are a little unsteady.

There are also some soldiers whose eyes are already looking east and west, trying to find a chance to jump into the water.

The river here is only three or four miles long, and some soldiers with good water can swim to the shore.

There are too few people who can withstand the psychological pressure of such a tragic war.

The reason why the Qing army has not collapsed yet is mainly due to the maintenance of discipline by those officers.

Wu Jun's sniper company was not on board, so these Qing court naval officers were lucky and didn't have to worry all the time.