Traveling through history leaving a name

Chapter 136 Support
"Wancheng is in crisis. My general has sent me to ask for help. Commander Zhang, please save my general. Wancheng won't last long."

Just after the Youzhou fleet defeated the Jingzhou Navy, a fast horse ran over. It turned out that it was the defenders of Wancheng who came to ask for help.

"What do you say, to save or not to save?"

Hearing the call for help, Zhang Chao looked at the captains of the other gunboats.

In the Youzhou Fleet, apart from Commander-in-Chief Lin Yongsheng, the captains of these gunboats had the highest authority.

Now, Wancheng is in crisis, but the straight-line distance from the Yangtze River to Wancheng is more than 40 kilometers. If you walk, you need to make a detour, which is about [-] to [-] kilometers. It takes two or three days to march.

Moreover, the Youzhou Fleet is not a professional soldier, and they have no food from the imperial court, so they have a high degree of freedom. If they think this rescue is very dangerous, then they can completely refuse it.

"Senior Brother Zhang, since Senior Brother Lin has handed over the command to you, it's up to you to decide." Someone said to Zhang Chao.

"That's right, Brother Zhang, we will do what you say we will do."

Others also spoke one after another, but they all let Zhang Chao make his own decision.

"Since everyone asked me to decide, then I will arrange it."

Zhang Chao thought for a while and said to everyone: "Wancheng is in crisis, we still have to save it, so let me take the Youzhou and three paddle-wheeled gunboats to rescue along the Wanhe River. Wait here."

"Four gunboats can carry more than 2000 people. Let [-] musketeers go to support them. Give each musketeer a set of plate armor, so that musketeers can use bayonets at close range and flintlocks at a distance. .” Zhang Chao said to everyone.

"We have no opinion."

Hearing Zhang Chao's arrangement, the others expressed no objection.

After Zhang Chao decided to rescue Wancheng, the Youzhou fleet moved immediately.

Two thousand musketeers each took a set of plate armor and boarded four gunboats. Because there were too many people, the whole ship was crowded like sardine cans.

Two hours later, under the farewell of everyone, the four gunboats slowly entered the Wanhe River.

It takes more than 90 kilometers of waterway to reach Wancheng along the Wanhe River. It only takes a few hours for the Youzhou to reach its destination.

The advantages of boating over walking are obvious. People can only walk for a maximum of six hours a day, and any more will be too much.

As for the boat, if it is a rowing boat, rowing is also physical work, and you need to change people and rest.

But steam-powered ships are different. As long as there is fuel, the steam ship can run non-stop.

And the speed of several steamships is very fast. Regardless of the voyage of more than 80 kilometers, it takes several days to march, but the steamship only takes a few hours to arrive.

If it is an ordinary ship, I am afraid it will take at least one day.

Because the Wanhe River is relatively narrow, the speed of the boat can't be too fast, but at [-] kilometers per hour, the Youzhou ship can only pass by in a few hours.

The fact is also true, the Youzhou sailed along the Wanhe River with three paddle gunboats, and it took less than four hours to reach the city of Wancheng.

At this time, the sun had already set to the west, but above the city of Wancheng, the fighting was still non-stop.

Wancheng is only that big, and the two sides continue to invest in troops to compete.

Above and below the city, corpses piled up like a mountain, and it is unknown how many people died.

"Here we come, reinforcements are coming."

When the Youzhou appeared in everyone's field of vision with three paddle-wheeled gunboats, countless cheers rang out.

"General, the enemy has only come with four large ships."

Soon, someone reported the news to Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun who were directing the battle outside the city.

"There are only four ships here. Don't worry about him. Continue to attack. We must capture Wancheng tonight." Zhang Fei said indifferently.

Then he told a general in his 50s next to him: "Zilong, take 5000 people to the river and don't let the enemy go ashore. If possible, capture the enemy boat."

Upon hearing Zhang Fei's order, Zhao Yun clasped his fists and nodded, saying, "Yes, I'll go right away."

After Zhao Yun finished speaking, he immediately retreated, counted 5000 troops, and quickly headed towards the Wanhe River.

On the Wanhe River, the Youzhou was rapidly approaching Wancheng with three paddle wheel gunboats.

Outside the city, Zhao Yun also took 5000 people to make preparations. As long as a few ships docked, these 5000 people would immediately attack the people on board.

On the city wall, the arrival of several Youzhou gunboats brought great encouragement and morale to the resisting soldiers in Wancheng.

For a while, many people even killed the enemies on the top of the city and retreated steadily.

Others may not know the power of Youzhou gunboats, but Zhang Liao soldiers who have experienced the battle of Hefei have all seen the power of Youzhou gunboats with their own eyes.

Ten minutes later, the Youzhou gunboat arrived not far from Wancheng. In front of it was the pontoon bridge built by Liu Bei's army on Wancheng. This pontoon bridge blocked the route of your gunboats.

Therefore, several gunboats found a convenient docking position, ready to let the Musketeers land ashore.

Seeing several Youzhou gunboats stop, five thousand troops led by Zhao Yun quickly gathered and quickly blocked the river banks on both sides.

Some archers also tried to shoot arrows at the ship, but the people on the ship were protected by plate armor and were not afraid of bows and arrows at all.

"Brother, do you want to fight back?" Someone asked Zhang Chao.

"Don't worry, wait until they gather more people." Zhang Chao said as he watched more and more people gather on both sides of the strait.

If Zhao Yun's 5000 troops wanted to block the ships moving on the Wan River, they had to move with the gunboats. This made it impossible for these [-] troops to quickly form a military formation.

Fortunately, Zhao Yun knew that if the enemy disembarked and went ashore, it would be much slower than the gathering speed of his soldiers, and there was no way to go ashore all at once, which would allow him to defeat the enemy who went ashore with superior force.

However, Zhao Yun didn't know that there was another kind of weapon in the world called artillery, and there was a kind of shell called shotgun.

In order to exert the maximum power of the shotgun, Zhang Chao is still waiting, waiting for all Zhao Yun's soldiers and horses to gather.

"It's almost there, let's fire!"

After Zhao Yun's [-] soldiers and horses had all gathered on both sides of the cannon boat on the fourth floor, Zhang Chao gave the order to fire.

Boom boom boom boom boom!

Following Zhang Chao's order, a moment later, the cannons on both sides of the gunboat on the fourth floor opened fire one by one.

Immediately, countless finger-sized shotguns shot towards Zhao Yun's soldiers and horses on both sides of the strait like splashing water.

The Youzhou has [-] cannons on each side, and the three paddle-wheel gunboats also have fifteen or sixteen cannons on each side.

Adding up the artillery on both sides of the four gunboats, there are more than 150 artillery pieces.

Although the caliber of these artillery pieces is not very large, they can still fire tens of thousands of shotgun bullets after a round of shelling.

At the same time as the artillery fired, two thousand musketeers on the deck also fired at the enemies on the shore.

Because of the length of the ship's side, although only a few hundred people can shoot at the same time, but after the gunmen in the front row shoot, they will immediately hand over new muskets with ammunition already loaded.

(End of this chapter)