Chapter 2009
Gong Shiqi's actions were much faster than those of the local salt merchants. Before Lu Kangtai and others could reach a consensus, the two salt ships had already left the dock and headed south along the canal. For this action team that has undertaken a special mission, the most dangerous part of the return journey is the dozens of miles from the Yangzhou section of the canal to the Yangtze River. Once they are intercepted in this narrow river, the possibility of their escape from the waterway is extremely small. Very small.
The other originally planned route to retreat to the coast via land was too far away from their location, there were several prisoners on hand, and the route of action was completely in an unfamiliar area. There were too many uncertain and dangerous factors, so Gong Shiqi decided to In the end, they decisively gave up this alternative retreat route and chose to return via the waterway. As long as they can successfully enter the Yangtze River, it will be difficult for them to be intercepted by the pursuing troops at the speed of these two ships.
When Lu Kangtai rushed to the canal with the manpower gathered by Shanxi and Shaanxi salt merchants, he found that the two cargo ships had disappeared. According to people staying nearby, the two ships had already sailed to the south and seemed to be planning to escape Yangzhou overnight.
If the other party really "escaped", Lu Kangtai might feel a little better, but he soon noticed that all the dead and wounded on his side who could not escape from the battlefield and the weapons they used were missing. It was obvious that they were all taken away by the other party. .
The other party took all these people away, dead or alive, which shows that they were relatively calm when evacuating, and it was not just a matter of beating them this time. The purpose of taking people away must be to collect evidence and conduct an accounting later. This made Lu Kangtai more and more worried that the troubles that would follow this matter would be too much for them to cope with.
At this time, several ships that were deployed to intercept the opponent arrived at the dock. Lu Kangtai gritted his teeth and ordered to board the ship and chase south. He doesn't plan to sit in the rear this time. Anyway, after the other party captures the prisoner, he will soon know that he is the commander behind the scenes, and there is no point in hiding his whereabouts. It would be better to attack in person, which at least can give immediate command to the men gathered from various families. Otherwise, let these people chase southward on their own. Even if they catch up, they will still be scattered, and it will be difficult to form a fighting force to intercept the opponent.
Although it was midnight, various salt merchants still mobilized a total of sixteen large and small sailboats to rush to this dock in a short period of time. Probably only these local salt merchants with good hands and eyes could achieve such efficiency. Coupled with the hundreds of young men who had gathered on the dock, the pursuit force was not weak, and Lu Kangtai finally regained a little confidence.
Of course, considering that the opponent may be equipped with a large number of muskets, if they really want to fight head-on, these hundreds of people are still not enough. This made Lu Kangtai couldn't help but think of his exhausted musketeers. He had invested too much effort and financial resources in this armed force, but now it was wiped out overnight. Apart from feeling distressed, I also understand that the strength gap between the two sides is too big, and it is difficult to truly complete an effective interception with the temporarily assembled manpower.
Therefore, Lu Kangtai's hope is to catch up with the opponent before they enter the Yangtze River and use these boats to block the canal. Then the next thing is to hope that He Huan can quickly move in the army, so that it is possible to truly defeat the opponent. Intercepted in Yangzhou.
Although the pursuers led by Lu Kangtai set off a little late, their advantage was that they were very familiar with the water conditions of the canal and their speed at night was much faster than the target they were chasing. If we can advance at full speed in the forty-mile canal waterway from the dock to the Yangtze River, we still hope to catch up with our opponents. As for whether he can suppress his opponent after catching up, Lu Kangtai really doesn't have even the slightest confidence now, so he can only take one step at a time and wait and see.
The Yangzhou section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal is relatively narrow, so ships traveling here, especially cargo ships with larger hulls, generally do not rush at night to avoid collisions with other ships on the river. This provided a lot of convenience to Gong Shiqi and others who were evacuating Yangzhou. When they passed through this section of the canal two days ago, they often had to stop and queue in the narrow section of the river, but now they are free from these troubles. Although it was nighttime, the traveling speed was actually much faster than when we arrived.
"At our current speed, we should be able to reach Guazhou before dawn." Ji Yuanqing determined the speed through the Wenfeng Tower on the shore, which made him feel a little more relaxed. As long as they passed Guazhou, it meant that they were about to escape. Even if the local salt merchants came after them, it would be difficult to stop the two ships on the wide Yangtze River.
Gong Shiqi, who was next to him, responded: "I hope they won't be troublesome. I don't want to stop and fight again."
Of course, what Gong Shiqi was afraid of was not fighting with the salt merchants' armed forces, but being held back by the other party and unable to escape. If you can't get away, even if your force is much stronger than the opponent's, you may still be eaten alive.
They are very clear about their mission, which is to bring as much evidence as possible back to Zhoushan, rather than to kill in Yangzhou. Therefore, even though the armed force commanded by Gong Shiqi has considerable combat effectiveness and is more than enough to deal with ordinary civilian armed forces, he will still not be reluctant to fight at all, but will lead the team to escape as soon as possible as his first choice.
But the local salt merchants were not so slow as to wait until dawn before taking countermeasures. Shortly after they drove past Wenfeng Tower, a red flare suddenly shot into the air and exploded in the direction of Yangzhou City. They could see it from miles away. Clear as day. This was the signal sent by the hidden stakes near the dock after confirming that the opponent's organization was pursuing them.
"You really dare to chase!" Gong Shiqi couldn't help but sigh as he watched the fireworks slowly burning out in mid-air.
"They are probably not willing to give in! After all, the Musketeers team, which they worked so hard to build, was eaten up by us in one bite!" Ji Yuanqing's tone was full of pride. According to the information they had in advance, the size of the musketeers dispatched by the opponent today was even larger than in previous operations. They had reason to believe that this was basically a situation where all the troops were mobilized. And after this battle, even if a few people escape by chance, it will be difficult for this musketeer team to restore its organization and combat effectiveness in the short term.
"Give me the order to unload all the salt on the two ships into the river as much as possible, reduce the weight and speed up!" Gong Qiqi didn't have any particularly good means now. He could only reduce the cargo capacity as much as possible in exchange for faster transportation. speed.
As a result, while the two ships were moving, the sound of heavy objects falling into the water continued to sound on both sides of the ship. A bag of about fifty kilograms of refined salt became waste and was pushed into the river by the crew. Even though this was costly and might not have immediate results, they kept carrying the salt onto the deck and throwing it into the river from the side of the ship.
This approach is naturally very uncommon, and probably only the wealthy Haihan can do it. However, this is just a trivial matter in Gong Shiqi's view. The Ministry of Security never considers funding issues too much when doing things. As long as the purpose can be achieved, it will be no problem to take any measures within the scope of the budget. As for the salt on the ship, in Gong Shiqi's eyes, it is no different from other tools. It can be used for fortifications when needed. Naturally, it can also be thrown into the canal to reduce the weight of the ship.
However, the two cargo ships have larger hulls after all, and the Yangzhou section of the Grand Canal is known for its many bends. A large ship must slow down when passing corners to ensure an accurate course. It is difficult to speed up at this speed. When we were halfway through the journey, we could already see the lights of the boats following behind. Most of the ships temporarily mobilized by local salt merchants are light speedboats with smaller hulls. Their speed may not be much faster than the two ships of Gong Shiqi, but the boats are small and easy to turn around, so they are much more flexible when navigating in this canal. , so the distance between the two parties can be quickly shortened.
If they continue to escape and chase at the current speed, the two ships Hai and Han will definitely be overtaken by the ships behind them before they arrive at Guazhou. This is not difficult to calculate.
"Looks like it's not that easy to escape from Yangzhou!" Gong Qiqi put down the telescope and was not too optimistic about the current situation.
"When necessary, our ship will increase its speed and drag them along." Ji Yuanqing also realized that the current situation might not allow him to escape smoothly, so he reminded Gong Qiqi to consider alternative plans.
When they left, they had already made a simple division of labor between the two ships. The front ship carried all the prisoners and captured weapons, while the two of them and the main combat force were on the latter ship. If the pursuers from behind caught up, The ship they were on had to take on the task of covering the rear, so that the ship in front could escape pursuit as quickly as possible.
This arrangement is naturally to ensure that the evidence that was finally obtained can be returned to Zhoushan smoothly. As for whether they can evacuate safely, that is secondary. After all, completing the task is the first priority. Where is the duty, even if there is another Big risks must also be taken.
Lu Kangtai was on one of the ships coming from behind. He had also seen the silhouette of the ship ahead, and immediately ordered a full-speed pursuit to catch up with the ship in front as soon as possible.
Although his musketry team was gone and his long-range firepower output capability was greatly reduced, on this narrow river with a width of only thirty or forty feet, as long as the ship was close to the opponent, there were still many offensive methods available. Many of the people gathered tonight are veterans who have been running on rivers for many years. They also have a lot of experience in fighting on the water, and each of them began to prepare tools.
Various grappling hooks with ropes, iron chains, and long handles, incendiary bombs filled with kerosene, pumps, long bows and short crossbows, long spears and short knives, as well as a temporary weapon made of stock muskets and blunderbuss stored in various houses. Beggar's version of the Musketeers Team, to be serious, this pursuit team should not be underestimated, but because it was temporarily summoned from various families, it was difficult to maintain a unified pace, so the scene inevitably seemed a bit chaotic.
Lu Kangtai offered a very high reward for this temporary operation. He could get 500 taels of silver for killing a person, and a thousand taels for capturing a person alive. If you can capture the leader named Gong on the ship, you will be rewarded with five thousand taels of silver. As for the tens of thousands of kilograms of salt loaded on the previous ship, the discounted price will be divided equally among everyone involved in the operation after the completion of the operation. On average, there will be at least a dozen or twenty taels of silver guaranteed.
There must be a brave man under a heavy reward, and most of the people present did not know the result of the previous battle. They only knew that Lu Kangtai offered a sky-high reward in order to catch the foreign salt merchant on the boat in front. This was definitely worth them. Go give it a try. If you are lucky enough to catch the leader of the other party with your own hands, you can return to the countryside tomorrow to buy hundreds of acres of fertile land and live in peace and happiness as a local owner.
To these people, what the first two ships carried was not salt, but silver. As for who the other party was and what weapons they had in their hands, no one told them in advance.
Seeing that the boat behind him was getting closer and closer, Gong Shiqi finally ordered the boat to slow down and let the boat in front go first. In the eyes of the people behind, no matter what the reason for slowing down the ship in front is, this is definitely an excellent offensive opportunity. There was no need for Lu Kangtai to issue any further orders. The two ships at the forefront had already caught up with each other, one on the left and the other on the right.
When they were still two or three feet away from the target, the people on the bows of the two clippers threw grappling hooks towards the big ship. In this way, they wanted to connect their own ship with the big ship in front, and then they could get off. The anchor drags the big ship, allowing the following ships to catch up and surround the target.
But at the same time, several gun muzzles protruded from the side of the big ship, aiming at the decks of the two ships diagonally behind. As a burst of gunfire rang out, there was a sudden howl on the deck. Almost all the people who crowded the bow of the ship and prepared to take the lead were spared and fell victim to this wave of close-range firepower. Immediately afterwards, several long knives stretched out from the side of the ship and cut off the rope chains connected to the grappling hooks that had been thrown onto the ship.
The intensity of the firepower on the big ship was far beyond the imagination of these people. It was only then that they seemed to realize why Lu Kangtai offered such a high reward. Compared with the dangers we are encountering now, the standard of paying one's life for money is actually not that high.
However, the allure of the high reward made others quickly ignore these casualties. At that moment, some people raised their crossbows and muskets and started shooting at the people on the big ship. However, such a firefight is undoubtedly quite disadvantageous for them. The people on the big boat not only have the side of the ship as a cover, but also use high ground to attack the low ground. The people on the small boat are basically completely exposed to the opponent's shooting field of view. In addition, Due to the disparity in weapon performance between the two sides, this firefight scene was actually one-sided.
The active forces on the two small boats were quickly wiped out by the intensive firepower from the large ship. The survivors at the helm at the stern quickly moved the ship to the shore to make way for the ships behind them.
Lu Kangtai's face was ashen. He had a clear view of the previous battle from a distance, and finally understood why his musketeers were easily killed by the opponent. The intensity of this firepower output is far beyond what our own musketeers can match. In addition, the opponent has built fortifications on the dock to wait for work, so it is reasonable that they cannot defeat the opponent. But this also strengthened his suspicion that the other party was not a salt merchant at all, but an army pretending to be a salt merchant.
(End of chapter)