But the mystery of war is that you never know what will happen next moment. The retreat of the chariots and ships did not represent a complete defeat of the Song Dynasty naval forces on both sides. Instead, after the chariots and ships retreated, the warships, which were covered with cowhide on both sides, shouted in unison, sped up their oars, and rushed towards the tortoise-shell ship. come over. There were quite a few sailors on the turtle-shell ship who had participated in the Huaidong battle. They had always known the reputation of the Sheyang stern ships in desperate battles. At this time, they saw more than a hundred stern ships charging towards the turtle-shell ship, and they were a little panicked. "Don't panic!" Shi Tianze looked at the chaos on the deck and cursed: "Asshole! What's there to worry about the southerners' boats? Are you still worried that they can hit this tortoise-shell iron ship? Go forward and meet them. Knock them all down hard! ¡± Indeed, in terms of ramming tactics alone, the larger the ship and the stronger the armor, the better the collision effect. Turtle-shell ships and stern warships are both considered when designing and building. It¡¯s time to implement the collision tactic. If the two warships collided, the turtle ship would naturally suffer more. Shi Tianze did not think that Zheng Yunming was really determined to use the stern warship to turn the tide of the war. This was just the only ship in Zheng Yunming's hands that could compete with the turtle ship. Zheng Yunming was already at the end of his skills, and there was no opponent worthy of fighting in front of the turtle ship. . On the forward warship of the stern fleet heading upstream, Yu Jie stood on the bow holding a matchlock gun, facing the river wind carrying the pungent smell of gunpowder smoke, and the approaching approaching Huge black figures that looked like turtles, he shouted loudly: "Give me the order, don't attack the deck, aim at the oars of the turtle ship, hit me hard!" The turtle ship has a back plate on the back, and the sides are equipped with iron armor. , just like a living turtle that makes people unable to eat, but just as the turtle has its weaknesses, the turtle ship also has its own weakness, that is, the oars. The only power of the turtle ship that cannot hang sails is from two With the long oars protruding from the sides, each turtle-shell warship required at least a hundred strong oarsmen to drive the heavy warship at high speed on the water. But these oars that stick out of the turtle shell cannot get any effective cover. The cannons and archers on the sides of the turtle-shell ship hurriedly started shooting in the hope of blocking the stern that was approaching quickly from the flanks. The turtle-shell ship also tried to turn its bow and use its thick frontal armor to meet the enemy, so that the enemy could not capture the fragile ship. Oars, but the huge and heavy hull became a burden for steering at this time. In order to pursue absolute indestructibility, the turtle ship paid too much weight, making the turtle ship even less flexible than a vehicle and ship loaded with artillery. They take more time to turn around than ordinary warships, but on the other hand, stern warships, which are rowed by only twenty oarsmen, have always been known for their flexibility and speed. They can even change their rowing position constantly. Rhythm to dodge oncoming fire. The soldiers on the turtle ship fired their guns and arrows with all their strength. Arrows and lead bullets shot out from the side in waves. They all clearly saw the target of the Song Dynasty's light speedboat attack, and they were also awake. Realize that this is the weakness of the turtle ship that cannot be concealed. The skills of the Han army archers in the Mongolian army have become more and more sophisticated year by year in these years, even as good as the archers of the Mongolian army headquarters, and their performance on the ship is even better than that of the Mongolian cavalry, which is not water-resistant, but Years of war have resulted in a large loss of personnel, a serious shortage of well-trained shooters, and a large number of new recruits who have not yet been trained. Furthermore, the Mongolian army's muskets are bulky and slow to load, although they have successfully hit many oncoming enemies. The enemy ships indeed caused a lot of casualties to the Song people, but the Song people were like lunatics desperate for their lives, shouting loudly, rowing the oars in unison, and approaching quickly. "Put the oars up and tell them to lift the oars!" Lu Wende's first reaction was similar to the first reaction of most bows of the turtle-shell boats, except that the turtle-shell boats had three floors, with the oarsmen rowing on the lowest level. The orders from the head are not so easily received by the rowers at the bottom in time. When most of the turtle-shell boats had not had time to retract their oars, the Sheyang swan rushed up at lightning speed. Yu Jie's ship hit the enemy's tall armored warship at a very small angle, almost grazing the side of the turtle ship. Just this collision caused more than a dozen oars to break and shatter, and small pieces of wood hit the ground. There was a crackling sound from the cowhide hanging on the stern, and many of the oars on the stern he was riding on were broken due to being unable to be stowed away. Such collisions are happening one after another on the river. Maybe the impact angles of the other cockroaches are not perfect, and even the huge impact caused the cockroach itself to be damaged beyond recognition, but these are insignificant compared to the results produced by the cockroach. Of the thirty-four tortoise-shell warships, more than twenty have lost most of their oars due to violent collisions and have become dead turtle shells in the heart of the river, unable to move independently. A large number of Song Army warships carrying soldiers are coming up one after another. These isolated turtle ships staged massive sieges. soldiersWaving rope hooks and iron claws, they climbed up one after another, or poured kerosene into the turtle ship, or directly threw gunpowder bombs. The upper deck, wrapped by a hard wooden back, was originally used to resist enemy bows and arrows or muskets. The best protection from bullets, but when the enemy climbed up and threw incendiary objects, the upper deck became a coffin of fear for the sailors and soldiers. Archers and sailors kept coming from the narrow sides with flames. Jump into the water at the opening. The Mongolian warships in the rear were not unwilling to step forward to rescue the besieged turtle ship, but they also had too much to take care of themselves. After the Song army surrounded the turtle ship, the vehicles and ships loaded with artillery immediately passed by the fierce battle ship formation from the flanks, and the dense The cannon fire poured down on the planks and galleys that followed the turtle ship. Zheng Yunming temporarily transferred well-trained sailors from the Hunan Army and the Shenwu New Army to supplement the Dongting Navy. Although about 60-70% of the veterans of the old Jing'e Navy were still in various places and could not be recalled in time, the Dongting gunboats had initially recovered to their former glory. With brilliance, the gunboats outflanked from the Yangtze River coast, the cannons on the broadsides were fired in rows, and the shells kept exploding water jets in the Mongolian fleet. The Mongolian army's paddle boats and cabin boats were bombarded to pieces. Everything seems to be back to the way it was before the turtle ship appeared. At this time, the tortoise-shell warships ignited fire one after another. The armored warships parked on the river seemed to be torches lit on the river, lighting the river red. Pieces of ships and corpses of sailors drifted down the river, and could be seen everywhere on the river for dozens of miles. The Song Dynasty navy did not stop. The large fleet of warships passed the burning Mongolian warships and continued to advance against the current. Their purpose was already very clear. "Use a flag to notify all troops and horses. Anyone who seizes the pontoon bridge will be rewarded with a hundred thousand gold and be made a marquis!" Zheng Yunming stood at the top of Hanyang City, watching hundreds of Song warships fighting against the current, and the enemy would be several times more powerful than his own army. The Mongolian warships were beaten into pieces, and the Song army's ships were getting closer and closer to the South Floating Bridge. The most critical moment of this battle is coming. Seeing the defeat of their navy, the Mongolian army also sent troops to strengthen the defense of the pontoon bridge. Dozens more crossbows and artillery were placed on the shore. Even some artillery and artillery carts originally used to attack Ezhou were also moved over to step up the attack. Rushing to build positions, crossbows and artillery shells were flying on the river, just to stop the Song Army warships full of soldiers that were constantly approaching the pontoon bridge. On the pontoon, rows of soldiers were already in formation. The archers held big bows and fired arrows at the oncoming Song army. The Song army responded with ferocious artillery fire and muskets. The car and boat slammed into the pontoon, and the huge impact made many people unsteady. Countless iron claws were immediately thrown down from the bow of the ship. The wide planks were lowered from the bow of the ship. Heavily armed soldiers jumped out of the ship waving their swords. The pontoon suddenly became a killing ground for close combat. Terrain such as a pontoon bridge or a long embankment requires the most vitality. Not to mention that the brave will win when two armies meet. The number of troops that can be accommodated on a pontoon bridge is limited. Even if you have hundreds of thousands of troops, only a few can fight on the pontoon bridge. There were only a thousand men. At this time, the Song Army attacked the Mongolian garrison. The strength of the Song Army was on the side of the Song Army. The Huaidong Army's horses were already strong and capable of fighting. Zheng Yunming also organized 2,000 Hunan Army soldiers to assist in the battle as death warriors. The Hunan Army was commonly known as Tietou. The army, once engaged in battle, will never look back as long as it advances. Even if there was no formation, the fierce charge of the Song army forced many Mongolian troops into the water. The troops in front were squeezed back, and the soldiers behind had no place to stand and would naturally fall into the Yangtze River. Moreover, the Mongolian army was overconfident in their tortoise-shell warships. Most of the elite troops were besieging the city. The first batch to rush to the pontoon bridge were Most of them were mercenary troops from the Western Region. When they saw that the situation was not good, they immediately fled in all directions. At this critical moment of life and death, there is absolutely no room for panic. The escape of one person will immediately turn into the collapse of the entire army. Even an invincible army cannot escape this pattern in the end. Seeing the crimson flags starting to fly on the pontoon, Zheng Yunming was already half relieved. Although the more than 10,000 Mongolian defenders on the south bank of the South Floating Bridge were trapped and still fighting, they were already turtles in the urn after all. They relied on the barriers and fortifications in the south of the Yangtze River to resist desperately. But gunpowder and supplies had been completely cut off, and they were all wiped out only now. He could see Zhang Shijie and Xiang Shibi leading their troops to rush forward. Fierce shouts of killing came from the front, and the smoke and dust raised by the artillery bombardment of the fortifications became denser and denser. The first step to reverse the situation of the war has been successful. The victory of the navy laid a solid foundation for defeating the Mongolian army. The next question is how to defeat the main force of the Mongolian army besieging Ezhou.