Emperor Zhengde of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 172
Zhu Houzhao stood in Class A with his hands behind his back, staring closely at the black spot that was getting bigger and bigger in front of him, full of confidence in his heart.

Qi Jingtong and other ministers also sweated secretly, thinking about Zhu Houzhao's safety, but no one dared to speak out.

Several ministers discussed in private, and decided to dispatch troops without telling Zhu Houzhao, and transferred the most elite soldiers of the navy to the front to defend against the enemy.

Judging from the news that the spies came back, this group of people is definitely Japanese pirates, and their firearms seem to be much more advanced than Daming's.

Zhu Houzhao was full of confidence. He felt that he had already read military books well, and he really couldn't see such a few little thieves.

As everyone knows, the theoretical knowledge he learned from books is indeed very different when the current enemy is attacking.Although he has soldiers and generals in his hands, he has never used them in actual combat.

"Qi Aiqing?"

Zhu Houzhao called Qi Jingtong's name, and seeing that he was not around, he said to Xiao Fangzi: "Go and pass on my oral order to let the two sentinels of the warrior team outflank them. When the enemy approaches, I will lead the army to fight head-on. , Let them attack from the side, two flanking attacks can get rid of this gang of pirates!"

"According to the order!"

Xiao Fangzi quickly backed away and conveyed Zhu Houzhao's meaning to Qi Jingtong.

In the end, the few ministers had no choice but to follow His Majesty's orders. If anyone beat Zhu Houzhao at this time, no matter whether he was a relative of the emperor or a prince or princess, there would be only one result: beheading.

Therefore, according to Zhu Houzhao's instructions, they divided the Ming Dynasty navy into three columns, with the left middle column being in charge, and Qi Jingtong's deputy Deng Wenlong in charge of the left navy, waiting for the enemy to approach and cover it from the west.

Qi Jingtong's son, Qi Jiguang, was in charge of the navy on the right side, who outflanked it from the east.

This Qi Jiguang was training in the navy with Qi Jingtong when he was young. Although he had the protection of his father, he relied more on his own efforts and had been qualified as the deputy commander of the navy for nearly a year.

Qi Jingtong personally commanded the Zhonglu Navy to meet the enemy. Although he was said to be personally commanding, it was clear that Zhu Houzhao was commanding the Zheng He.

The two generals each led a thousand elite soldiers to set off, and they had already prepared their equipment to fight against the enemy.

At this time, the Japanese pirate battlefield was only twenty miles away from the Zheng Hebao of the Ming Navy, and their ships could be reached with the newly developed artillery.

Zhu Houzhao had been excited for a long time, and sent spies to constantly spy on the enemy's reality. In fact, these spies had already grasped the enemy's actual situation.

"All generals listen to orders and prepare their firearms. With my order, they all fire at the enemy."

Xiao Fangzi went to the market to convey Zhu Houzhao's words. This was Zhu Houzhao's first expedition in person, and everything felt fresh to him.

However, at this time, the fast-moving ships all stopped suddenly, and some ships had already started to turn their bows, as if they had discovered something.

Zhu Houzhao was a little nervous, and he also thought of this, if the enemy turned the bow of the ship and escaped, wouldn't his "battle plan" be all in vain?

If that's the case, then it's meaningless, not as good as.
While Zhu Houzhao was still thinking about how to chase the U-turned ships, he saw that the U-turned ships of the Japanese pirates also separated several times, and slowed down and headed towards the Ming army.

For a while, there seemed to be many ships on the sea, and these ships seemed to be in order. Although the distance between them was not too wide, they were not easy to deal with.

At this time, spies came to report that the navy heading east and west had arrived at the predetermined place, and as long as the time was right, they could completely outflank the enemy.

However, they didn't expect that the enemy army would divide into several groups and come over side by side, which made the Ming Navy lose the advantage of concentrating their attacks.

Zhu Houzhao stood on Class A and stared carefully ahead, thinking about how to deal with the enemy.

Suddenly, he thought of a good strategy, turned around and said to Cao Zhengchun beside him: "Cao Aiqing, send people to stop the enemy ships quickly, it's best to get them together again, then we can concentrate on firing. "

Cao Zhengchun frowned first, then clasped his hands and replied, "I obey the order!"

Although he said this, he was not stupid in his heart. Is the enemy so easy to listen to you?
You think of the enemy too easily, don't you?

However, he quickly passed Zhu Houzhao's words to Qi Jingtong, and Qi Jingtong immediately understood what Zhu Houzhao meant.

This is the meaning of His Majesty, who dares to disobey?

Even if His Majesty tells you to die, you must not say a word of no.

Qi Jingtong thought for a while, and immediately beckoned for a deputy, whispered a few words in his ear, and that person withdrew.

Not long after, five boats with straw figures tied on them sailed towards the enemy's battleship, following the wind.

Everyone looked at these small boats nervously. If the wind changed, everything would be over.

However, God was really kind. Several small boats followed the wind and soon reached a distance of less than ten miles from the Japanese pirates.

Sure enough, as Zhu Houzhao expected, when they were more than ten miles away from them, the other party launched a fierce fire attack on these grass boats.

Seeing this situation, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help secretly heaving a sigh of relief, but he was still full of confidence and believed that his strategy was right.

In the effort of a cup of tea, all the small boats were sunk by the enemy, and countless weeds and sawdust floated on the sea.

Under the fierce firearm attack of the Japanese pirates, the Ming Navy was also fully prepared, waiting for the Japanese pirates to sneak into their designed encirclement at any time.

However, after they sank a few small boats, they realized that they had been fooled, and then adjusted the warship into an inverted V shape, like a sharp knife, and accelerated towards the Daming Navy.

Zhu Houzhao was really taken aback by this change of formation. His plan of outflanking the two wings was completely useless at the moment, and most of the elite navy was separated, and their place became the weakest place.

Zhu Houzhao felt that the enemy seemed to have guessed his strategy, but in this case, he could not change it.

Moreover, it is unimaginable that the enemy is moving towards this side at the fastest speed, and the consequences are disastrous.

Zhu Houzhao thought about it again, he was familiar with military books, why couldn't he even solve such a simple problem, wasn't he an idiot?

Immediately, he asked the eunuch to pass an order, ordering the artillerymen on both sides to fire at the same time, as long as they aimed at the target.

His order was quickly conveyed. After receiving the order, Deng Wenlong and Qi Jiguang did not dare to neglect, and immediately asked the artillerymen to fire the loaded shells towards the target one by one.

Daming's firearms are sharp, just a short round of firing sank two warships of the Japanese pirates.

At the same time, the warships of the Japanese pirates also launched a fierce attack in the direction where they were angry, causing heavy casualties on both sides.

However, this is not a big deal, the most important thing is that the Japanese pirates braved the barrage of bullets, and the speed of the warship increased, and they quickly approached the Daming Zheng Hebao warship.

Li Dongyang and other civil servants clenched their fists nervously. What they were most worried about now was Zhu Houzhao's safety. Although he brought guards and soldiers with him on this trip, they were all stationed on the shore. For maritime operations, he brought The soldiers could only stare.

(End of this chapter)