Vol 2 Chapter 2914: Zhou Yu defeated the United Navy. Although he won, he was still defeated.

Chapter 2914 Zhou Yu defeated the United Navy, a battle that was won but still lost

Chapter 2910: Zhou Yu defeated the United Navy, a battle that was won but still lost

When the Qin army went to war, it had 75,000 troops and a total of 430 warships of various sizes.

The 35,000-strong army led by Zhou Yu in the naval battle sent out a full 200 warships, including all 20 turtle ships, which meant that 230 warships were left.

But Qi Jiguang was unable to sail all the two hundred and thirty warships, and the reason was very simple. It was impossible for a warship to be driven by just one person, and the larger the ship, the more manpower it needed.

The Qin army had 40,000 men when they landed, but only 23,000 were left when they came back. Nearly half of the troops were missing. There were not enough manpower, so naturally they could not sail all the warships away.

Considering that the war would start soon, Qi Jiguang could not sail the ship with the minimum number of people. No matter how he arranged it, the ship would definitely be empty in the end, so he simply divided his troops into two, including 15,000 people. In the main battle, the other 8,000 people do nothing. They are only responsible for driving the ship and following the main battleship to build momentum.

 Even with this arrangement, there were still fifty warships left unable to move, including thirty small and medium-sized ships and twenty large ships.

In order to prevent these warships from falling into the hands of the enemy and allow them to develop more advanced shipbuilding technology, Qi Jiguang had no choice but to burn the fifty warships that could not be driven away.

When Qi Jiguang lit the fire with his own hands and watched fifty warships being swallowed up by the fire, he was so distressed that he almost cried.

The naval battle between the Great Qin Navy and the United Navy was extremely fierce. In just two hours of fierce battle, the total number of sunken ships of the Great Qin Navy reached 80, while the United Navy sank 180 ships. Regardless of the losses, Both the number of people and the number of ships were more than twice that of the Qin army.

This battle was originally extremely difficult, and the strength of the Great Qin navy exceeded everyone's expectations. Eighty-five thousand against thirty-five thousand, and we sank almost two hundred ships, but we were not able to sink a single Qin army. Hundreds of ships.

 In fact, after arriving in Ganyu, if Zhang Yu and Zhang Fu and his son did not stop and directly led the army to pursue Qi Jiguang, calculated based on time, they would still be able to leave a considerable part of the Qin army behind.

 After it was built, it served for less than three years before it was burned by his own fire. How could Qi Jiguang not feel distressed?

Since the founding of the Great Qin Navy, it has gone through nearly a hundred battles, large and small, and has never suffered such a heavy loss, and this time it was really broken.

As soon as Qi Jiguang set fire to the ship, Zhang Yu and Zhang Fu and his son led the cavalry to the seaside. However, the Qin army had already boarded the ship and went to sea, so they could only look at the sea and sigh.

But at that time, Zhang Yu thought that Zhu Di had been burned to death. He was so shocked that he even wanted to die. After all, after Zhu Di's death, the Ming Dynasty would be in chaos. Under the pressure of the Qin army, chaos meant that the country would be destroyed. How could he care about killing the enemy?

 But a sudden heavy rain saved Zhu Di's life. While Zhang Yu breathed a sigh of relief, he also realized that he had missed a good opportunity.

Although Qi Jiguang failed to capture and kill Zhu Di, he arrived at the battlefield in time and provided support.

Now the Qin army has received reinforcements from nearly two hundred warships. Although only eighty of them participated in the battle, this was enough to gain the upper hand.

 But as the number of sunken ships increased, the wind and waves slowed down, and all twenty turtle ships were sunk, the situation became increasingly unfavorable to the Qin army.

 But the United Navy obviously doesn’t know this.

There is a saying: the weather is not as good as the right place, and the right place is not as good as the people;

Without the right time and location, if the United Navy can occupy the people and people, it can also make a comeback. However, the 85,000 United Navy belongs to the three parties, and the people's hearts are inherently divided. The commander-in-chief Yu Dayou We are still inexperienced and cannot control 85,000 naval troops under the influence of strong winds and huge waves. Naturally, it is impossible to occupy people and people.

You must know that among these burned warships, even the small warships are expensive to build, and the large ones are even more valuable, and the manufacturing time is extremely long.

Especially the twenty turtle ships, lying between the two armies, are like twenty sea fortresses, not to mention the eighty frigates. It would be a huge disadvantage to join the navy to attack them.

 But no matter how strong a fortress is, it will fall one day, let alone a turtle ship that is not a fortress.

But Zhou Yu had obviously expected this, so he only gave Qi Jiguang two hours. In addition to the Ming army's reinforcements arriving within two hours, there was also the fact that beyond two hours, the Qin army would completely lose these battles. Advantage, the ratio of casualties between the enemy and ourselves will not be so low by then.

Zhang Yu naturally wanted to remedy the situation, so he chased after him as quickly as possible, but it was obviously a step too late. The Qin army had already boarded the ship and set out to sea, so he could only go back and report to Zhu Di.

As twenty ghost ships were forcibly sunk by Yu Dayou, the war advantage that Zhou Yu had painstakingly established was gradually lost bit by bit, and as time went by, sooner or later the situation would completely turn to the Allied Forces side.

The right time, place, and people were not on the side of the United Navy, so that in an absolutely advantageous situation, 85,000 versus 35,000 actually ended up in a headwind situation. The shipwreck rate and casualty rate were much higher than those of the Qin army. .

 Let’s go back to the naval battle battlefield between Zhou Yu and Yu Dayou.

Although the Qin army was far inferior to the United Navy in terms of numbers and ships, under the command of Zhou Yu, a famous general who ranked first in naval warfare at the time, it actually occupied the right time and location.

Among the 180 ships led by Qi Jiguang, only 80 can directly participate in the battle. The other 100 ships are "empty ships" that only have the minimum number of people to sail and cannot fight back, so they can only launch ships. To the effect of bluffing.

If the battle continues with this battle loss ratio, let alone the complete annihilation of the Qin navy, I am afraid that our own side will be wiped out first.

The joint navy is related to the safety of the Central Plains Thousand Miles of Coastal Defense. Naturally, before the Qin Navy's navy is severely damaged, it cannot be exhausted in the East China Sea. Otherwise, the Great Qin Navy will fall into a no-man's land in the Central Plains Thousand Miles of Coastal Defense.

Based on these two considerations, many generals in the United Navy were timid and wanted to preserve their strength to avoid the edge. Among them was the chief general of the Song Dynasty Navy: Zhao Guangyi.

Zhao Guangyi sent someone to ask Yu Dayou for orders to preserve his strength and find another opportunity to fight again, but Yu Dayou refused.

Just kidding, Yu Dayou finally sank the most difficult turtle ships of the Qin army, and was about to expand the results and reverse the situation. If he withdrew his troops at this time, wouldn't all the previous efforts and sacrifices have been in vain? So he decisively rejected Zhao Guangyi's proposal. Zhao Guangyi saw that Yu Dayou rejected him, and the casualties of the Song army were increasing, so in order to preserve his strength, he simply changed his mind and went beyond Yu Dayou to order the withdrawal.

Su Hu was also in a tough fight. Yu Dayou did not give the order to withdraw, but Zhao Guangyi ran away first. After a brief thought, he also issued the order to withdraw. After all, the one who fell behind must be the back, and if the Wei army suffered too many casualties, Cao Cao would definitely not let it go. his.

Seeing that Zhao Guangyi and Su Hu directly ordered the withdrawal of their troops without his consent, Yu Dayou was so angry that he vomited blood and cursed: "You are a common man."

No matter how much Yu Dayou scolded him, the withdrawal of the Song and Wei armies had become a fact, and the Ming army could not defeat the Qin army if they were left alone, so Yu Dayou also issued a withdrawal order.

 Zhou Yu and Qi Jiguang were naturally overjoyed when they saw the coalition forces retreating, and quickly commanded the naval forces to catch up and expand the victory.

The Qin army first sank nearly thirty warships that were unable to escape due to entanglement, and then pursued the United Navy at full speed, which was just escaping. It could be said that they made countless gains along the way, until they caught up with the United Navy and fled into Haixi Port in Guangling County. give up.

Although the defensive power of Haixi Port is not as good as that of Qingdao Port, it is equally easy to defend and difficult to attack.

The casualties suffered by the Qin army in this battle were already high enough. Zhou Yu naturally did not increase casualties at Haixi Port. Instead, he fired a false shot and led his army directly back to Qingdao Port after thoroughly clearing the results.

In this way, the naval battle fought by the four kingdoms of Qin, Wei, Song and Ming in the East China Sea ended with the victory of the Qin navy.

After the war, it was counted that the Qin army sank a total of 350 United Navy warships, causing nearly 50,000 casualties, including 30,000 casualties in naval battles, and 20,000 casualties in subsequent pursuits, including 50,000 casualties. Thousands of people fell into the water and were captured by the enemy soldiers after being rescued by the Qin army.

Out of the 85,000 combined naval forces, less than 35,000 were left and fled back to Haixi Port.

As for the Qin army in the early stage of the naval battle, after all, they fought 35,000 against 85,000, so the losses were also considerable. One hundred and fifty warships, large and small, were sunk, and the total casualties reached 18,000.

Looking at the number of casualties in the naval battle alone, the Qin army can be said to have won a great victory. After all, when its military strength was at an absolute disadvantage, it could still lose 18,000 troops, but it defeated the enemy's 50,000 troops. This battle loss ratio was absolutely unmatched in a naval battle. It's a good record

But if the number of casualties in the land battle is added, the Qin Army's victory in this battle is not so good. After all, the Qin Army suffered 17,000 casualties in the land battle, and the total casualties in the land and sea battles totaled exactly three. Fifteen thousand.

Such casualties were severe even for the Qin army, let alone those who died in battle: Li Shunchen, Wang Zhongshi, Zhan Ru, Wang Shenzhi, Wang Chao, Yue Yuanfu, Ma Zhongyi, etc. There are more than twenty generals.

Even Jiao Mochang, the strongest in the army, had his arms and legs broken, while Ao Shen, Ma Gui, Cai Hao, Yan Rou, Tan Lun, and even Qi Jiguang and Zhou Yu also suffered varying degrees of injuries. of injuries.

To put it bluntly, the Qin army had been severely weakened by this battle and had to rest to restore its fighting strength.

“Fortunately, Zhu Di’s serious problem was solved in this battle.”

Seeing that the generals could not hide the sadness and loss on their faces after hearing the casualty figures, Zhou Yu comforted him: "As long as Zhu Di can be killed, the price will be worth it. Otherwise, I really can't express my gratitude to His Majesty and the Manchu Dynasty." Civil and military explanation.”

 Zhou Yu didn’t know that Zhu Di was not dead, so he said this. But as soon as he said this, the faces of Qi Jiguang, Ao Shen, and Tan Lun all became extremely ugly.

Zhou Yu also realized that something was wrong in the atmosphere, and was about to ask, but Qi Jiguang stood up first, knelt down and confessed: "I finally betrayed the trust of the governor and failed to capture and kill Zhu Di."

"What?"

Zhou Yu stood up in shock when he heard this. After all, he had left behind an army of 27,000. With Qi Jiguang's ability, he should not be able to defeat the remaining 1,700 Ming army in two hours. ah.

Zhou Yu launched this battle to rush to Zhu Di, but Zhu Di is not dead now, so the results of the Qin army's battle will naturally be greatly reduced. After all, the Qin army that has taken the initiative has no need to fight head-on with the coalition forces.

However, despite paying such heavy casualties, they could neither kill Zhu Di nor completely defeat the United Navy. It is not an exaggeration to say that the battle was a victory but a defeat.

 At this thought, Zhou Yu's face suddenly turned livid, and he said in a deep voice: "Tell me everything that happened after I left."

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 After listening to Qi Jiguang's story, Zhou Yu fell down on the chair with dull eyes, unable to calm down for a long time.

He thought it was Qi Jiguang who was careless and lax, which allowed Zhu Di to find a chance to escape. However, he did not expect that Qi Jiguang not only did not relax, but was more vigilant than ever.

 Qi Jiguang really tried his best. Not only did he go into battle to kill the enemy in person, he even went as far as to bear the name of a butcher and burn the city with fire. However, everything was ruined by a heavy rain. This was really a trick of fate.

Zhou Yu originally wanted to scold Qi Jiguang, but when he thought that his 40,000 troops attacked Zhu Di's 7,000 troops, not only did they not defeat Zhu Di for a whole day, but he lost 13,000. He was no better than Qi Jiguang, so naturally he also I'm sorry to mention it again.

What's more, Qi Jiguang burned the city with fire. Not only did he not burn Zhu Di to death, but instead burned a large number of Ganyu people to death. This seriously violated the military regulations of the Qin army and also made Qi Jiguang's sacrifice meaningless. He must be held accountable. of.

 Even if the penalty is light, you will be demoted three levels in a row; if the penalty is serious, you may even be directly reduced to an ordinary soldier.

Since Qi Jiguang was already so unlucky, Zhou Yu naturally couldn't say anything more to him. He could only secretly sigh that Zhu Di should not be so lucky.

 (End of this chapter)