The Legend of Shushan Xuanjian

Chapter 786 The Unveiled Battle
Crooked and curved, the new year's new moon hooks cold jade.The hook is cold jade, the phoenix shoes are small, and the emerald eyebrows are frowned.

The moth and snow willow add makeup, and the candle dragon and fire tree compete for each other.Competing and chasing, the third and fifth day of the Lantern Festival is not as good as the sixth day.

——"Recalling Qin'e·The Night Moon on the Sixth Day of the First Month" Zhu Shuzhen (Song)

……

The name Jiangning means "there is nothing wrong outside the river, it is quiet here, and the south of the Yangtze River is peaceful."

If you want to occupy the world, you must occupy the place of kingly spirit.Jiangning is such a place.

Zijin Mountain meanders from north to south, looking like a giant dragon lurking; Stone Mountain stands steeply next to the river, like a tiger crouching.

Jiangning is not only dangerous, but also rich. With the benefits of the canal, it has become a gathering center for merchants from the north and the south.Nearby is an important grain-producing area, where rice is cooked and Jianghuai is cooked.

Liu Zhanshui went up the river and drove the giant ship to the riverside city wall of Jiangning City, trying to use the towering stern of the giant ship to board the water gate of the city wall and seize the city.

Bai Fu was already prepared for this.Like Xiashu City, Baifu rebuilt the city walls along the Jiangning River, and moved the water gate back to distance it from the Yangtze River.

Except for Shuiguan, the other city walls of Jiangning City were originally far away from the Yangtze River, so Liu Zhan's tactic was difficult to work.

Without the coordinated operations of the giant ships, Liu Zhan could only rely on infantry to attack the city.

Jiangning City has high walls and strong walls, which is more difficult to attack than Xiashu City.

Liu Zhan was unable to attack for a long time and suffered heavy casualties.We can only use siege tactics to surround Jiangning City.

Unable to swallow the breath of betrayal, Liu Zhan vowed to trap the officers and soldiers of the Tang army defending the city, especially the Jiangning prefect Jiang Changqun and the five thousand Songzhou veterans who betrayed him.

……

The confluence of Chishui Lake and Huai River is on the edge of Hukou City, and there is a long and narrow waterway about a hundred miles long to the south of Hukou. After passing Shimen Mountain, the lake suddenly opens up.

After entering Chishui Lake, you can reach Jiangning City by water, and connect with the Yangtze River upstream of Jiangning City.

The narrow and long waterway from Hukou to Shimen Mountain is the only way to enter Jiangning from Huai River.Liu Zhan's army occupied Hukou, but their defenses were lax.

Liu Zhan's negligence was immediately seized by Bai Fu.

The Tang army's navy immediately marched westward, occupying the mouth of the lake without bloodshed.

Bai Fu sent Yue Huzhu to lead a team to guard Hukou City at the junction of Chishui Lake and Huai River, and sent Pei Pokong to lead a team to guard the south lake mouth.

Nanhuzui is the narrowest part of the waterway from Hukou to Shimen Mountain.

Bai Fu also reported that Yuchi Hussars led Anxi cavalry to Jurong to prevent the fake Changzhou prefect Li Kefeng from coming from Changzhou by land.With this powerful Anxi cavalry sitting in town, it can ensure that the left bank of the Yangtze River is secured, and no infantry can pose a threat to Jiangning on land.

……

From a tactical point of view, for the sake of caution, if Liu Zhan can't attack Jiangning by force, he should immediately transfer the army to Hukou.

By strangling the main throat at the mouth of the lake, whether the Tang army's navy can enter Chishui Lake is entirely within Liu Zhan's control.

Conversely, if the battle situation in Jiangning is unfavorable, Liu Zhanshui's division can also enter the Huai River from the mouth of the lake, and there is another retreat route.

Because Liu Zhan became angry, he was too obsessed with attacking Jiangning, ignored the importance of Hukou, and did not send his cronies to guard it. As a result, when the Tang army came, the Hukou defenders immediately surrendered without a fight.

After Bai Fu took Hukou, Liu Zhan regretted it.

Liu Zhan immediately divided his troops and mobilized part of the navy to enter Chishui Lake, trying to recapture the lake mouth through the waterway from Shimen Mountain to the lake mouth.

……

On the [-]th day of the first lunar month, the Battle of Chishui Lake officially started.

"Woo—" The war drums rang, and the sound of horns resounded through the sky.

Under the leadership of Xu Yi, the puppet prefect of Runzhou, Liu Zhan's five thousand warships slowly sailed out of the water camp and headed for the lake.

On the lake, scouts from the Tang Army discovered the situation long ago, and they sent messages to the Tang Army Naval Camp through pigeon letters and "Chima" boats...

After receiving the report, Bai Fu and a dozen generals boarded the tall ship and looked at the opposite bank.

The surface of Chishui Lake is extremely wide, and the faint black spots on the surface of the lake gradually become larger. They are hundreds of warships, and all of them are thousand-stone warships.

In a short while, Liu Zhan's navy came to the front, with banners unfurled and sails covering the river.

Before Bai Fu could speak, Ding Jiuqu strode forward, gave a military salute, and said loudly: "The final general is willing to lead the army to fight and give the rebels a head-on blow."

Bai Fu nodded. The first battle involves the morale of the army, and it must be a general who is proficient in water warfare.

He said to Ding Jiuqu: "General Ding, I will give you three thousand sailors (sailors) and one hundred warships to beat the rebels hard.

In the first battle, we must show the momentum of our army! "

"Follow the order!" Ding Jiuqu took the order and left quickly.

Ding Jiuqu is not a brave man. Before the battle, he carefully analyzed the weaknesses of the rebel ships, and formulated a detailed battle plan with Sheng Hailiu and other naval generals, preparing to deal a heavy blow to Liu Zhan's navy.

Ding Jiuqu's main warship is named "Zou Ge", also known as "Sea Loach".

For the sake of speed, the sea loach sacrificed the defense function and saved the entire defense system such as the archery tower. Only a parapet was built on the side of the ship, which was barely enough for the soldiers to block the arrows and cover them.

The loach has a smaller hull, lighter weight, simplified structure, and extremely fast speed, similar to light cavalry in horse warfare.

Relying on the speed of flying back and forth, under the cover of the main battleship, the sea loach can quickly approach the enemy's main battleship by surprise and stealthily, and deal a fatal blow to the enemy through a lightning surprise attack.

Different from the past, Ding Jiuqu's loach was upgraded by the ordnance supervisor led by Ma Daifeng before the war, and it was uniformly refitted into "bed crossbow loach".

The upgraded bed crossbow loach has two secret weapons: the stern of the loach is equipped with a propeller, which is connected to the hull of the boat.Kaifu (rower) steps on the pedal to wind the propeller.At the critical moment, the trigger is pulled down, the oar string is released, and the propeller rotates quickly, allowing the loach to gallop on the top of the waves, as fast as a flying fish.Although one winding can only make the propeller rotate for a stick of incense, but in the nick of time, the time of this stick of incense is enough to avoid the catapult on the giant ship, or launch a thunderous attack.

The second secret weapon is the crossbow bolt.The Ordnance Superintendent installed the repeating bed crossbow - "Meteor Repeating Crossbow" on the sea loach.

The "Meteor Crossbow" is easy to operate, and the loader can complete a series of auxiliary actions of loading the arrow into the chamber and pulling the bow to string.The crossbowman only needs to concentrate all his energy on aiming and shooting the key blow.

An ordinary bed crossbow operated by three or five people can fire three arrows in one stick of incense. The "Meteor Crossbow" can shoot [-] arrows in a row without reducing its firepower.

The operation is simple, and the rapid-fire bursts make the firepower of the "Meteor Crossbow" extraordinarily powerful.Five "Meteor Crossbows" can weave an arrow net in front of the formation.

……

Ding Jiuqu's main warship, in addition to the "Bed Crossbow Sea Loach", also has an upgraded version of the "Thunderbolt Sea Falcon" after Ma Taifeng has been refitted.

The sea falcon is a special warship with a low head and a high tail, with a large front and a small rear, which is convenient for balance and steering. What's more, there are floating boards on both sides of the hull, which looks like a seabird spreading its wings and flying, so it got its name.

The buoyancy and stability of the Sea Falcon with floating boards are better than other warships, which improves the anti-wind and wave performance of the entire warship, and can show a huge advantage in water combat under harsh weather conditions.

In water battles, trebuchets are so powerful that once a boulder hits the hull, it can often sink the enemy ship.However, because the trebuchet gun mount is heavy, and the tip of the gun used as a throwing pole is generally about two to three feet long, only the "five teeth" giant ships are equipped with trebuchets.

In view of the powerful balance and steering ability of the sea falcon, Ma Daifeng borrowed from Cao Cao's thunderbolt chariot during the Three Kingdoms period and refitted it into a thunderbolt boat capable of firing stone cannons.

Unlike ordinary trebuchets such as single-tip, double-tip, whirlwind, and tiger squatting, the trebuchet on the Thunderbolt Sea Falcon is relatively small, and it does not need to be pulled by a human. Instead, a huge stone is tied to the tip and placed on the gun mount. Install the iron hook to hook the gun barrel.

When firing the stone cannon, as long as the hook is pulled away, the boulder immediately falls, pressing down the tip of the cannon, and at the same time a stone bullet weighing [-] jin is thrown out suddenly.This design saves manpower and is easy to use.

In addition, the Thunderbolt ship modified by the sea falcon, and the stone cannon fired by the catapult include stone bombs and earthen jars filled with kerosene.

The earthen jar fell on the deck and shattered, and the fire oil in the jar would flow out.Once ignited by the rocket, it will immediately ignite a raging fire.

……

Ding Jiuqu was originally a master boatman who chased the wind and waves. With these new weapons, Ding Jiuqu was full of confidence in defeating Liu Zhan's navy.

(PS: In order to make the plot of the water battle more coherent, another chapter will be added at [-] o'clock tonight.)
(End of this chapter)