At this time, on the vast surface of the Pearl River, Xu Ting did not know that the attack in the city had failed, and the two flanking attacks of Shui 6 had been cut off, and he was still moving upstream along the river. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

When they were about to arrive, they finally arrived at the White Goose Pond, and in the darkness, the lights of the thief ship were very obvious. Xu Ting was secretly happy, didn't this point out the direction for the fire attack ship, and the next thing would be much easier.

The arsonboat in front rowed desperately, hoping to get close to the thief ship early, and then ignited the fire and jumped into the water to escape. The distance was getting closer and closer, and the ship at the front was only a mile away from the thief ship.

If you go downstream, this distance can be ignited and diving, and the boat can hit the target by drifting down the current. It's a pity that this is going upstream, not hitting the thief ship, and fixing it with iron nails in the bow, even if it is close to it, it will float back. Compared with the downstream, the danger factor of fire attack against the current is much greater, and the chance of survival of the ship's personnel is much smaller.

Seeing that several ships were about to collide with their targets, suddenly, several torches were lit on the thief ship, many figures appeared on the ship, and the side gun windows were also opened.

"Oh no, the thieves are on guard." Xu Ting was very surprised. But he wasn't too worried, what if he was prepared, he had so many fireships, even if he had a few cannons, how many could he sink?

"Spread the word to the brothers in front, hold steady, and only light the fire in front of the enemy ship."

The distance illuminated by the torch was limited, but the people on the fireboat began to panic, and when they were only fifty or sixty meters away from the target, someone lit the boat in advance and jumped into the water. There was no one to paddle, and the burning fire boat advanced more than ten meters under the action of inertia, and then was pushed by the current to turn and float downstream.

The slowly drifting fireship was like a huge torch, illuminating the surrounding companions, and instead of fulfilling its intended mission, it provided convenience for the ship's guns to observe the enemy's position.

"Boom, boom", the Caron cannon began to shoot shotguns, and the rain of bullets sprayed out covered the entire water, and the ships around the lit fire ship were densely packed with boats, and they were all swept away by this rain of bullets, and everyone was shot and planted in the water, and the sulfur and gunpowder on the ship were ignited by the hot projectiles, and they burned brightly. More ships were exposed in the light of the fire, attracting a heavy shotgun attack.

A sneak attack is no longer possible, only a strong attack. Xu Ting, who was in the rear, shouted for all the boats to speed up and rush forward.

"If you hit it, you will take the silver, and if you retreat without authorization and light the fire in advance, cut it!"

Despite his repeated refusals and refusal to light the fire in advance, there were still people who jumped into the water after igniting the boat early for fear of eating the cannons. The ships that lost control not only became free flares for the opposing side, but also affected the course of the ships in the rear, together with the fireships ignited by the shelling. The ships in the rear bypassed the burning ships to avoid the easy ignition of the sulphur, gunpowder and vegetable oil on their own ships.

As a result, the offensive fell into a state of chaos and disorder. The counter-current became the biggest obstacle to the fire attack, and the burning fireship not only did not drift to the target, but went down the river, becoming a nightmare for other ships. Despite their best efforts to dodge, a ship ran into a burning fireboat and was ignited instantly, and flames rose into the sky, forcing the people on board to abandon the ship and escape.

The Caron guns continued to fire, but the ships that were lucky enough to pass through the "fireboat array" could not break through the blockade of the shotguns, and they all ended up burning and dying on the ships.

Xu Ting felt a burst of despair in his heart, seeing that it was hopeless for the fireboat to break through the blockade in front of him, he ordered to give up the fire attack and have the sailor approach the jump gang to attack.

A thousand general said tentatively: "My lord, the thief ship has fierce firepower, I'm afraid it will be difficult to get close to ......."

Before the words fell, Xu Ting shouted: "Pull it down, cut it!" ”

The soldiers on the left and right immediately pulled the unlucky fellow to the bow of the ship and cut off his head with a single sword.

Xu Ting ordered his soldiers to hang the bloody heads on the mast, "This is the time to repay the grace of the imperial court, whoever dares to talk nonsense to shake the hearts of the army will be the end!" ”

Everyone suddenly trembled, and shouted to sail towards the thief ship, in order to strengthen their courage, they released the firearms on the ship from a long distance, what two dragons out of the water, a swarm of bees, fire pigeons, no matter whether the range is enough or not, the night sky is full of fire, but it is also beautiful. However, it did not hit the thief ship, but shot into the water, accidentally injuring many fireship sailors who jumped into the water to escape.

"You're a hit...... See clearly and then hit ......" A sailor who had been hit by a rocket for no apparent reason cursed and sank.

When passing through their own "fireboat array", the sailors' warships hurriedly dodged, and there were still unlucky ships that were docked by the fireboats and burned to the ground.

The officers and men of the sailor division who were burning the boat cursed and jumped into the water to flee for their lives.

In the light of the fireboats, more than 4o large and small ships of the sailor division became floating targets, and the Caron guns began to shoot with solid bullets, and the officers and men who were hit by 32-pound solid bullets cried and cried for their fathers and mothers, and the smaller rice boats and salt boats sank directly after a few shots. Xu Ting's ship also suffered a lot of shells, the mast was broken, many sailors died, and the ship could not move forward, and it was a great luck that it did not sink.

The final general attack led by Xu Ting lasted until midnight, and the entire river was ablaze, and the sound of guns, screams, curses and cries for help filled the night sky. As the night grew, more and more ships caught fire and sank.

In the end, the last counteroffensive of the Ming army was also declared bankrupt. Xu Ting was spared and fled ashore with his own soldiers. More than a hundred fireships, rafts, and 4o warships that participated in the attack, all but a few escaped in the battle, and all but were lost, either burned and sunk, or were destroyed. When the sky was light, William and the others saw only floating corpses and broken shipwrecks all over the river, and green smoke was still curling from the wreckage.

On July 6, the fifth year of Chongzhen, the battle to defend Guangzhou was completely declared a failure, except for the casualties of more than 4,000 officers and soldiers, the people's bravery, and the loss of more than 100 ships, nothing was found, the thieves' warships were still moored in Baietan, and the artillery outside the city was still intact.

Guangzhou Prefect Yamen.

All the officials present for the meeting three days ago were present, but the atmosphere of excitement had been replaced by an atmosphere of despair. The big and small officials didn't say a word, and the lobby was as silent as death.

Commander Xu Ting and Wei of the coastal defense staff made Sun Tianbiao kneel on the ground, trembling all over. They came to bear the guilt: one led more than 10,000 officers and soldiers Ding Yong to attack the thieves and returned, and the other led the fireship to attack the thief ship at night and the whole army was wiped out, which was the direct cause of the failure of this operation.

In fact, Xu Ting's plan is quite thorough, and the rhythm of the two-sided attack of the water 6 is also well grasped, and the fire attack warship is just when the 6-way impact on the thief's formation, it could have been caught off guard by the thief, and the tail is difficult to take care of, but it is a pity that the opponent is too perverted, the ferocity of the firepower has never been seen before, and a group of improvised rabble, it is already rare to do this step, it is really a crime of non-war.