Although the left-behind generals were frightened about Liu Qi's bleeding and coma, they had to do their best to rectify the army in order to survive.

So in accordance with Wang Fang's request, the generals of the Song army barely calmed down the morale of the army and asked the soldiers to continue to stay in Yangzhou and arrange defense.

But this is far from enough.

Liu Si died in battle, Wei You died in battle, Wang Gang died in battle, and 20,000 troops were wiped out.

The battle had just begun and the situation was unclear. As a result, Liu Qi lost two brave generals, his nephew, and a good army of 20,000 yuan, which caused an extremely serious blow to the morale of the Song army.

Moreover, Liu Qi also fainted due to vomiting blood and his condition suddenly worsened, and Yangzhou's urban defense became even worse.

Fortunately, Liu Qi's previous arrangement was quite appropriate. Yangzhou has become a very good war fortress. Even if the Ming army wants to attack for a strong force, it is not that easy for him. Therefore, the Ming army's vanguard did not have the head to attack the city and retreated quickly.

At noon the next day, Liu Qi woke up slowly, and the guards immediately told Wang Fang the news. Wang Fang was overjoyed and immediately came to visit Liu Qi, intending to tell him what had happened during this period.

When Wang Fang arrived at Liu Qi's ward, Liu Qi was crying on the sickbed. When Wang Fang saw it, he sighed and comforted Liu Qi, asking him not to be too sad for Liu Si's affairs.

"The general died in a hundred battles, and the hero returned for ten years. The people who joined the army will be killed by the horse and corpse."

Liu Qi nodded repeatedly.

"Yes, the general died in a hundred battles, I know, so I didn't cry for Liu Si. When people went to the battlefield, they had to prepare for returning the horse and the corpse. I was crying for the army, for the Song Dynasty, and for myself.

Because of my command mistakes, the 20,000 army was destroyed, the Song Dynasty was defeated, the people were in a hurry, Yangzhou was in danger, Zhenjiang was in danger, once the Ming army was allowed to cross the Guazhou directly to Jiangnan, what face should I have to meet Your Majesty?

Because His Majesty trusts me and because the court trusts me, he handed over the front line and army such an important Zhenjiang Prefecture to me to command, but what did I repay them?"

Liu Qi continued to cry, his face full of guilt.

Wang Fang was speechless after hearing this.

After a while, Liu Qi sighed, waved his hand, and asked Wang Fang to sit next to his sickbed.

"You are the only one by my side, which is very useful. If you have to strictly guard Yangzhou, you must not let Yangzhou fall. Once Yangzhou is lost, Jiangbei will inevitably fall, and Zhenjiang Prefecture will not be guaranteed. It is too difficult to rely solely on the navy, it is really too difficult..."

Wang Fang immediately said that he would do his best to defend the city and never let Yangzhou fall.

Liu Qi nodded and sighed, "I am not only worried about Yangzhou, but also Guazhou Town, and even more worried about Guazhou Navy. If Guazhou Town is not protected, Yangzhou will become an isolated city and Zhenjiang will be in danger.

If the navy cannot defeat the Ming Navy, Yangzhou will become an isolated city and cannot save Zhenjiang. Once Zhenjiang is lost, the south of the Yangtze River will be in danger, and the Ming army will be able to march straight into... When will the reinforcements in Lin'an arrive?"

There was a clear news before that Zhao Gou approved 20,000 reinforcements for Zhenjiang Prefecture, all of which were elite three imperial guards. Liu Qi was also happy about this and felt that if Zhenjiang Prefecture had 20,000 reinforcements, he would definitely be able to defend it.

As a result, no reinforcements have been seen so far.

Where are the reinforcements?

"I said three days ago that there are still three days left, but yesterday I said there are still three days left. I don't know what the saying is today. Maybe they will have arrived long ago, but I don't want to come! General, I see that the Lin'an imperial guards are just afraid of fighting and don't dare to fight against the Ming army!"

Wang Fang said angrily: "I have agreed to support you. If 20,000 imperial guards arrive at Zhenjiang Prefecture, we don't have to be so stretched. We only use 10,000 troops to defend Yangzhou and only use 10,000 troops to support General Wang Gang. Those trashed imperial guards, if they can survive this time, I have to settle the score with them!"

"Don't be impulsive! As long as there is enough food, ten thousand soldiers are enough to protect Yangzhou, but this is not the problem."

Liu Qi said slowly: "Once we fall into a downward trend, the lonely city in Yangzhou will be difficult to defend, and Zhenjiang Prefecture will not be able to be protected. Once there is a problem with Zhenjiang Prefecture, the downstream Jiankang Prefecture will be very dangerous, and I have no confidence in the royal power at all.

People like Wang Quan, you say, once the news of my defeat spread, would he dare to bring troops to save me? I have sent people to ask for his support, and he has sent troops and soldiers to save me now?

I clearly have a relationship with him, and I have a cold mouth. Can't he even see such a problem? I really don't believe it, so why didn't he come? Haha, it's ridiculous. Even though there are so many troops in the Song Dynasty, why do I feel like I'm fighting alone?"

Wang Fang was deeply sad and angry about this, but he could do nothing about it.

Liu Qi then said, "The Ming army's combat power is too strong. I never expected that Wang Gang's 10,000 soldiers and Liu Si's 10,000 soldiers are considered elite? Field battles are not their opponents, and they were all annihilated. It can be seen that the Ming army's field battle ability is no less than that of the Jin thieves thirty years ago. They must not fight against them unless they have to."

"I understand."

Wang Fang nodded.

"That's enough."

Liu Qi sighed and said quietly: "It's a pity that I am in my twilight years. If it were thirty years ago... no, even ten years ago, even if I would die on the battlefield, I would have to fight the Ming army with real swords and guns. But now, I am old and powerless, and I am afraid I will let down His Majesty's entrustment..."

"As long as my subordinates still have a breath, I will never let the Ming army pass through Yangzhou City. I also ask the general to rest assured and leave everything to my subordinates!"

Wang Fang assumed the responsibility of Yangzhou's city defense, dispatched troops and arranged defense, set up front-line defending troops and reserve teams, and sent people to train the strong men in the city to prepare for emergencies, and did his best to do what he could.

At the same time, the Ming army did not choose to start attacking Yangzhou City, but surrounded Yangzhou City.

Zhou Zhi judged that Yangzhou City was too strong and it was difficult to capture the strong attack, so he decided to find another way, surrounded Yangzhou City, and then sent troops directly to the south to capture Guazhou Town.

Guazhou Town is the location of the northern ferry crossing of Guazhou River. The Song army has few defenders and is easily captured by the Ming army.

Then the Ming army quickly conquered the port, set up catapults and crossbows at the port, ejected Thunder Cannons, and fired large rockets to attack the Song army naval warships in the port, achieving some results, and forced all the Song army naval troops in the port to leave the port.

Next, it's time for Zhou Mancheng to play.

On the morning of the tenth day of April, Zhou Mancheng led the Ming army's Inland River Naval Division to face the Guazhou Naval Division under Liu Qi.

The Ming army fought against the Song army navy, who was more familiar with hydrology and more experienced in handling ships with a numerical advantage. The two sides held a very fierce showdown along the Yangtze River.

At the beginning of the battle, the Song army navy tried to use the tactic of cutting and siege, trying to use their richer experience in water warfare to get closer to the Ming army ships and divide the Ming army ships to achieve local battles with more and less, and gradually defeat the Ming army naval forces with impact, stick and jumping tactics.

The Ming army's navy's response strategy was also very clear.

After the Song army navy reached a similar range, the Ming army navy collectively launched large rockets.

Water War used a bed crossbow to fire large rockets with greatly increased charge and whistling towards the Song army ships.

Because of the large launch volume and the shooting surface are not wide, the number of Song army warships in the unit area is relatively large. So under such circumstances, the large rockets of the Ming army hit the Song army warships one after another, and only a small number of them fell into the water and failed to successfully hit the Song army ships.

What followed was a series of explosions.

The Song army sailors who were bravely moving forward thought this was just a usual bed crossbow with big arrows, and nothing special.

When the big rocket hit the warship, they realized that something seemed wrong, why was smoking, and then there was a deafening explosion.

With the help of the bed crossbow, the Ming army had the means to achieve a relatively long-range attack on gunpowder weapons in advance before possessing artillery. Although the accuracy was not very good and the power could not be strong enough to destroy the Southern Song navy from a long distance, it was more or less a deterrent.

The explosion of gunpowder not only brought huge noises, but also had considerable destructive power. The first thing that some of the Southern Song naval warships had been blown up and several holes were opened, with broken wooden boards and injured sailors on the deck.
Chapter completed!