Chapter 193: Battle of Pi Island
"Mingming Ship."

As the screams came, a ferocious ship appeared on the sea. The sun was about to set at this time, so that the Ming ship suddenly blocked the view of some people.

Everyone was shocked.

The warships that arrived at this time were the 3,500 Ming navy led by Zheng Hongkui.

The flagship is a huge ship that was modified from a Manila galleon by the Armed Forces, and behind it are the small warships that remained from the Ming Dynasty's Jinmen and Denglai navies.

The contrast between the two is huge, giving a sense of being like clouds covering the sun.

There are two words written on the bow.
"Zhenyuan".

The paint on it sparkled in the afterglow of the setting sun.

Dodo, who was commanding the siege of Pi Island in the distance, was in a daze. Looking at the majestic and behemoth-like ship in front of him, his chest heaving and his throat dry.

“Is this so high?”

"What kind of ship is this?"

"When did the Ming Dynasty have such a majestic warship?"

"Marshal, what should we do now?" asked Niulu Zhangjing, one of his subordinates, trembling all over.

"Let our ships and the Korean navy go over and stop the Ming warships as long as we can. Once we take over Pi Island and the dust settles, no matter how powerful the Ming warships are, they will not be able to do anything to us."

"Yes!"

Following an order from Niulu Zhangjing, the ships and sampans of Korea and the Qing Dynasty began to converge towards the Ming ships, forming a black mass that blocked the way of the Ming ships.

Compared with the Qing Dynasty, the Korean navy is even more powerful.

Thirty years ago, in the famous Battle of Myeongryang, the Korean navy demonstrated some of its strength. After this battle, Korea paid more attention to the construction of its navy. There was a kind of turtle ship that shined in the Battle of Myeongryang.

The turtle ship is shaped like a turtle, so it is named turtle ship.

In 1591, General Yi Sun-sin, the governor of the Jeolla Left Province Navy of Joseon, led soldiers and craftsmen to build the turtle ship. The ship was 35 meters long, 11.8 meters wide and 5.2 meters high. There were 10 oars on each side of the ship, and the mast could be erected or down.

There are more than 70 holes on the turtle ship, which can be used to place guns, cannons or shoot arrows. There are 26 cabins including cabins and warehouses. There are dense knives and cone-shaped iron sticks on the iron armor.

The bow of the ship was in the shape of a turtle, and from its mouth spewed out fog-like gas such as burning sulfur and saltpeter, which caused the enemy to panic.

The turtle ship was one of the most advanced warships of the period, with a light, simple and sturdy structure, high speed and great firepower.

It is also North Korea’s trump card.

The commander of the Korean naval war now was Yi Sun-sin's son Yi Sang, who had no choice but to send his own warships upon hearing this.

As the warships of both sides approached.

“Knock knock knock~~”

Immediately afterwards, the horn of the Ming Dynasty navy sounded.

"fire!"

Zheng Hongkui directly ordered the Ming navy to fire artillery at Korea and the Qing Dynasty.

Although the emperor and Zheng Hongkui said that the purpose of this trip was to train troops.

But Zheng Hongkui didn't think so. He had written a letter to his brother Zheng Zhilong before, and his brother had clearly promised to give warships to the Ming Dynasty, but now he has not fulfilled his promise for a long time.

This is tantamount to putting his brother in a situation of disloyalty, injustice, dishonesty and untrustworthiness. To put it simply, this is the crime of deceiving the emperor.

But the emperor still trusted him, asked him to train the navy, and let him command the Denglai navy.

The emperor's grace is so great, why would I be so deceiving?

Practice as if you were fighting.

As long as he had the opportunity, he would launch an offensive against the Qing Dynasty to serve the court and the country.

Although His Majesty did not say who to attack this time, Zheng Hongkui had his own considerations.

If you don’t know who to fight, just fight the Qing Dynasty.

Compared to Kong Youde's minor itch, the Qing Dynasty was the sharp blade stuck in the body of the Ming Dynasty.

So when he saw that the Qing Dynasty actually sent ships to block them, he issued orders immediately.

"put!"

boom!
boom.
On the large sailing ship, sixty cannons on one side revealed their ferocious mouths, spewing out flames and smoke rising several feet high.

Huge shells drew arcs in the sky and smashed towards the Qing navy.

Under the recoil of the artillery, the "Zhenyuan" ship actually moved more than ten feet to the other side.

next moment,
boom.
Boom~
A huge roar sounded again, and the Qing warships and sampans that blocked the Ming Dynasty were hit by these shells. The wood broke in an instant and wood chips flew everywhere.

Just one round and the difference is immediately apparent.

The Ming Dynasty's artillery had a long range and great power.

The Qing Dynasty's artillery could not even reach the Ming ships, let alone achieve any success.

After the Ming Dynasty's artillery was improved, its accuracy was greatly enhanced. More than half of them hit the enemy ships, accompanied by a huge roar and a large amount of flames shooting into the sky.

Of the only three warships of the Qing Dynasty, two were directly pierced through. Several sailors on board were unfortunately hit on the head and were dead beyond death. Blood was all over the ground.

The floor of a warship was smashed through, and seawater was rushing in desperately. Niulu Zhangjing on the ship shouted angrily, "Quick, bring something over and block it!"

Unfortunately, the hole was too big to be blocked, and the battleship sank in just a few minutes.

Only then did he see that not only his warship had sunk, but several sampans were also smashed to pieces, and sailors fell into the sea one by one.

They wanted to swim back to the other warships, but to their horror the Ming warship changed its course, exposing the cannons on the other side.

Under their horrified gaze, the Ming Dynasty's artillery fire poured down again.

Compared with the Qing Dynasty's warships and sampans, the Korean navy suffered relatively smaller losses, but they were also limited.

The turtle ships avoided many shells due to their low hulls. Only one ship was hit and leaked, but there were only two turtle ships in North Korea.

Because compared to plank ships, turtle ships have less firepower, higher costs, and consume a lot of resources.

The advantage of turtle ships lies in collisions and close-range combat. Now one of them has been sunk before it even gets close. How can we continue to fight this battle?
Li Qi ordered his subordinates to wave flags to order the two turtle ships to retreat and temporarily leave the Ming ships' firing range.

But before he could react, the Ming Dynasty's artillery once again produced huge fireballs.

The surface of the sea was also shaken and circles of ripples were formed.

"boom"

"Ah~"

In just two rounds, the Qing navy suffered countless casualties. However, Zheng Hongkui did not directly send the flagship to fight the Qing navy at this time, but asked the flag bearer to give the order.

"Keep firing, don't stop!"

"Aim at the North Korean turtle ships!"

"put!"

Seeing the fierce power of the Ming artillery, the Niulu Zhangjing of the Qing Dynasty forced the Eight Banners soldiers of the Qing Dynasty to carry the artillery and paddle the sampans hard to get close to the Ming ships.

He wanted to rely on this tactic to break through the Ming artillery, but he obviously underestimated the power of the Ming ships. The Ming artillery shells, like a series of plowshares, smashed holes in the ships along the way.

They couldn't get close at all. At most they could fire two shots from their matchlock guns at the Ming ships, which only created a few more black spots on them.

The two turtle ships supported two more rounds, and all sank into the sea.

The soldiers on the ship also jumped into the sea one after another.

It was not until this moment that Zheng Hongkui stood up and waved his hand, ordering all the ships behind him to join the battle.

In an instant,
Hundreds of boats were racing against each other, and the Ming Dynasty's fleet rushed towards the Qing and Korean navies like a torrent.

Before approaching, the soldiers of the Ming army first threw a few "palm mines", directly cutting off half of the fresh troops on the Qing and Korean ships. Then they drew their steel knives, jumped onto the burning ship, and chopped at the bandit leader.

The soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were not afraid of hand-to-hand combat with the Qing Dynasty and Korea, especially when the other side had already been crippled.

They rushed forward and fought with the enemy.

Even the deputy general, Qu Shengping, drew his sword and chopped at the Tartar's head.

Hand-to-hand combat ensued.

The entire sea was shrouded in shouts of killing. The Ming soldiers were blood-thirsty as soon as they came up.

In the past, they always saw the soldiers of the five camps drinking and eating meat, and their outstanding merits. The emperor rewarded them with huge amounts of silver, and they had long been jealous.

Now that we have this opportunity to make great achievements, how can we not cherish it? !
The confrontation between the two sides was like hell on earth.

The sea was filled with corpses.
Zheng Hongkui was staring at the direction of Pi Island at this time. He pointed his finger in the direction of Pi Island City and said, "Fire all the artillery."

“Not a single one left!”

How can we take the shells back after bringing them here?
The Qing Dynasty wants to fight, and Kong Youde is not a good guy either. We cannot wipe him out in one fell swoop this time, but we still need to warn him.

A huge roar once again resounded throughout the evening sky.

The afterglow sprinkled on the sea, sparkling, and seemed to dye the entire ocean golden, while scarlet was tinged in the gold.

At this time, the team preparing for a surprise attack was waiting for the sun to set at the foot of Pi Island City.

Suddenly I heard something roaring towards me.

Then it exploded in their ears.

Boom~
boom!
The artillery landed on the city wall, but because of the range, most of it actually fell on the ground below the city.

Bricks, dust, corpses, and broken arms suddenly filled everyone's sight.

The Manchu Eight Banners Niulu Zhangjing, who led the surprise attack on Pi Island, was stunned by the artillery fire. "What's going on? How did the Ming Dynasty know that we were going to attack this place?"

"That's impossible, but why are the Ming army so accurate?"

The roar under Pidao City also attracted the attention of Kong Youde's soldiers who were guarding the city. Soon there was an uproar, "There are people in the reeds under the city, and there is blood under the water."

"The enemy has already reached our city!"

"."

There was an uproar.

"Sir, we have been discovered now, why don't we retreat first?" The Qing soldiers now realized that they had been completely exposed, and they all looked at Niulu Zhangjing.

Upon hearing this, Niulu Zhangjing looked at his subordinates who had suffered heavy casualties, and gritted his teeth. Not to mention that Kong Youde might have discovered them, even if he hadn't discovered them, these remaining soldiers would not be able to achieve the original effect.

"withdraw!"

This "secret army" hid for several hours, but ultimately failed.

Zheng Hongkui himself did not expect that the artillery fired by the Ming Dynasty would disrupt the offensive rhythm of the Qing Dynasty.

On Pi Island, when Kong Youde saw the Ming warships, he froze in his tracks, muttering in disbelief: "The Ming Dynasty actually hid such warships?"

The reason they chose to occupy Pi Island was that they could use it as a springboard to go to Ming Dynasty and rob property.

But now that the Ming court has such warships, how can their small sampans defeat them?
Then the Ming Dynasty's ships almost crushed the Qing Dynasty and Korea's naval forces, which made Kong Youde feel cold. He couldn't help but doubt himself, "Did I take this step wrong?"

He rebelled against the Ming Dynasty and became the leader of the Three Shun Kings of the Qing Dynasty.

However, at the peak of his power, Geng Zhongming was kidnapped, and his subordinates mutinied and threatened to kill him. Now he thought he could occupy Pi Island and at least live a carefree life.

But both the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty seemed to have the ability to kill him.

How can he feel at ease about this?
Just as he was in a trance, his subordinates came to report, "The Ming court's ships bombarded the city of Pidao and blew out the Manchu Tartars. Now they have been repelled. We found a secret passage under the city gate. I think the Eight Banners soldiers are planning to enter from there when it gets dark."

"Hiss~" Kong Youde stood there in a daze, with cold sweat of fear dripping down his forehead.

The Manchus actually knew that there was a secret passage here. But what was even more terrifying was the Ming court. They actually knew that the Manchus had a surprise attack army ambushed here.

Are the Ming Dynasty's intelligence personnel so terrifying?
"Report, great victory on Pi Island!"

"Great victory on Pi Island!"

When the messenger of the Embroidered Uniform Guard brought the news back to the Ming court, Zhu Changgan was attending the morning court, and everyone was shocked.

They all looked towards the emperor.

Zhu Changgan took it and read it, and couldn't help but be overjoyed, "Good job, I really didn't make a mistake about you."

It was somewhat beyond Zheng Hongkui's expectation that he could win such a battle.

"Look, my dear ministers, our Ming navy has great potential!" He passed the battle report to Sun Chengzong, Yang Sichang and others who were eager to see it.

After many civil and military officials had read the biography, Yang Sichang stood up and said, "Your Majesty, can we take advantage of the situation to capture Kong Youde?"

Zhu Changgan waved his hand, "No, not for now. Doesn't the Qing Dynasty like to come to my Ming Dynasty to get benefits? Doesn't it want to cut down the trees of my Ming Dynasty?"

"Kong Youde is like a knife. I can also let him chop down the wood of the Qing Dynasty."

It would be a shame to kill him directly. It would be more cost-effective to let him turn around and deal with the Qing Dynasty.

In the Qing camp, Duoduo was furious.

Not only did the surprise attack fail due to the Ming court, but the opportunity for the surprise attack was also wasted, and the secret passage leading to Pidao City had already been blocked by Kong Youde.

This means that in order to capture Pi Island, more lives of the Eight Banners descendants will be needed.

"Did the Ming Dynasty's artillery fire fall on your heads?" Duoduo grabbed the hair of Niulu Zhangjing who had escaped and asked while biting his back teeth.

At this time, the Niulu Zhangjing had been beaten so hard that he couldn't even open one of his eyes. "Master, how dare I lie to you? If you don't believe me, you can ask anyone who came back."

"It was as if the Ming court knew we were there, and all the artillery fire fell on our heads."

Duoduo narrowed his eyes, his gaze flashing with coldness, "According to what you said, there are spies from the Ming court among our Eight Banners disciples?"

He pondered for a while and said, "Go and gather all the Niulu Zhangjing for me."

The only people who knew about this surprise attack mission were a few Niulu Zhangjing of the Bordered White Banner. If there were any spies, they must be among them.

At the same time, a spy from the Jinyiwei was following a Niulu Zhangjing to contact him, "Sir, don't hesitate any longer."

"If we don't fight back now, when will we fight back?"

(End of this chapter)