Prosperous Tang Blood Blade

Chapter 1074 The Forgotten Datang Navy
Chapter [-] The Forgotten Datang Navy

The bloody battle finally started on the Yangtze River.Both Chen Ying and Li Shimin are very clear.What really determines the outcome of the Jiangnan battlefield is not the gains or losses of one city or one place, but the control of the Yangtze River.

Whoever controls the waterway of the Yangtze River means whoever controls the initiative on the battlefield.Losing the initiative of the Yangtze River waterway means losing the initiative on the battlefield.

For this reason, Li Shimin had to spend a lot of money to fight with Chen Yingyi.For example, select three or four hundred ocean-going transport ships from the ocean-going fleet.

Although the ocean-going fleet was Li Shimin's lifeline from the Fusang mainland to the Central Plains, but in order to fight for control of the Yangtze River waterway, Li Shimin didn't care so much.In fact, with the failure of participating in the battle of the East China Sea and the loss in several storms, Li Shimin's ocean-going fleet has dropped to more than [-] ships. Despite the heavy losses, this number is still several times the advantage of the Datang Navy.

Of course, the most important function of this ocean-going fleet today is not to transport personnel, but to transport materials, such as food, equipment, equipment, and various supplies.

In contrast, the Bashu navy of the Tang Dynasty led by Xun Xiang looked much shabby.There is no navy built by Li Jing in the south of the Yangtze River, no Dengzhou navy, and even the Luoyang Yellow River navy did not participate in the war.The only warships that participated in the battle were mainly sand boats and square boats collected, and the number was only a pitiful 37 ships.

There is no way, Chen Ying discovered that the main force of Li Shimin came from the huge ocean transport fleet, so he gathered all the naval warships of Datang together, and prepared to ambush the ocean transport fleet. Destroy Li Shimin's captain in Indochina.

Only by destroying Li Shimin's ocean-going transport fleet, will this war not continue endlessly.

Yanziji in the Yangtze River.

The Fusang Navy has three or four hundred escort warships, with shadowy sails covering the sky and the sun, making it a magnificent sight.Although the Datang Bashu Navy was nearly ten times inferior to the Fusang Navy in terms of numbers.

But they were not afraid, raised the bloody battle flag, and rushed downstream with full sails!
Both sides of the Yangtze River are in the hands of the Fusang coalition forces. Everyone rushed out to watch the battle. When they saw their own fleet mighty and mighty, but when the Tang army fleet was few in number, many people laughed triumphantly. A scholar in white shook his head. Fan Zi shook his head and shook his head: "The battleship of the old thief who seeks the truth is only [-]% of the fleet of my king's division. Even though it is downstream, it dares to face it brazenly. It is really a mantis' arm. I don't know how to write the word dead!"

Several scholars laughed out loud: "Wang Shi's fleet is in full swing, and it is going down the river, and there are millions of Jiangnan people cheering. The right time, place, and people are in your hands, and the chances of winning are in your hands! Let me wait and relax. , see how His Royal Highness smashes the bandit chieftain and plucks that old bandit's beard!"

A scholar said in a low voice: "That old man is not easy to deal with... His Royal Highness, after all... I'm afraid he is not his opponent!"

His voice was so soft that only he could hear it. Of course, he didn't dare to let others hear it on purpose.

At this time, the distance between the two fleets has been drawn very close.Several giant ships in Fusang opened fire at the same time. Of course, these weapons were ballistas of Roman origin.

Although the ballista is called a cannon, it is actually similar to the eight-ox crossbow of the Tang Dynasty. They all use the tension of the crossbow arm as the kinetic energy for firing.Although the power is not small, the range is really limited.

The bowl-sized stone bullets flew out at high speed, and then smashed a row of drainage columns six or seven hundred steps away. It was quite spectacular, but it was useless.

But the group of scholars applauded loudly, and the white-clothed scholar even said: "It's very good to be the first to scare the enemy before fighting, very good!"

Some people wondered: "After firing so many guns, I didn't even scratch the sails of the enemy ships. Is that good?"

The white-clothed scholar glanced at the guy, and snorted coldly: "This is called showing weakness to the enemy! This is called showing that you can't, using it and showing it's useless, understand?"

The man was even more puzzled: "You said just now that you wanted to take the lead, why did you suddenly turn into showing weakness?"

The white-clothed scholar: "...I can't explain it to a rough person like you!"

Seeing the navy of the Fusang coalition getting closer, the smile on Xun Xiang's face became wider and wider.

The 37 warships of the Bashu Navy habitually faced the enemy with their broadsides, and then broke down.This is also impossible. Although the rocket can be launched on the move, it is difficult to control the target when it is launched on the move. If you want to hit the target, you must look at the mood of the rocket.

"咻咻咻......" There was a hair-raising shriek, and 37 warships fired their first salvo. The air waves rolled, and the smoke and flames pierced the air, creating a terrifying sea of ​​flames in the Fusang navy formation.

Although the ocean-going transport ship has a tall hull, it generally has a load capacity of a thousand tons in later generations. The key is that because it is large, the target is also large, and it is easier to hit the target.For the rockets to accurately hit a human-sized target, it is estimated that a hundred fireballs would be difficult to hit one, but it is much easier to aim at a warship that is 25 feet long and [-] feet high.

The hulls of countless ocean-going battleships rose with terrifying flames, and even a rocket pierced through several decks, exploded inside the battleship, broke into two pieces immediately, and sank quickly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Most of them were blown to pieces, and those who didn't get hit should not be too busy to rejoice. After the rocket exploded, it caused a fire, which immediately set the hull on fire!The huge ocean-going ship that could accommodate nearly a thousand sailors immediately burst into flames and exploded again and again. Many sailors rolled into the river from the deck with their bodies in flames.

The people on both sides of the strait who were applauding loudly became dumb at once, and many people's eyes fell on the white-clothed scholar. The scholar was a little embarrassed and insisted: "Victory and defeat are commonplace in military affairs. We have hundreds of warships." , it’s just the loss of dozens of buildings, so why care?”

Apparently, Prince Li Chengqian also thought the same way. He commanded the fleet to join forces and plan to rely on numbers to find the truth. No matter how powerful your rocket launchers are, there are only a few dozen ships. I have more battleships than your rockets. , slamming into a group, you won't die if you don't believe it!
Li Chengqian did not gain his reputation in vain. In the era when the winner is king, he was despised as a poor loser.As a prince, there are two princes in history who cannot be treated as villains. One is Prince Wei Liu Shi, who dared to resist angrily when facing his father, Han Wudi Liu Che.According to the records of the Han Dynasty, Liu Ju began to raise the flag to rebel on Renwu day in July, and was defeated on Gengyin day in July, that is to say, nine days later.Although Liu Ju only survived for nine days, he had no army and only relied on criminals and dead men from the East Palace. To be able to fight Liu Che hard for nine days is already difficult.

The second prince was Li Chengqian. When Li Shimin was about to dethrone him, he joined forces with Hou Junji to conspire against him, and eventually he was defeated.Regardless of his ability, he was the only one among Li Shimin's sons who dared to challenge Li Shimin.

Li Chengqian said with a cold smile: "Set fire to the boat!"

At this moment, countless Fusang sailors began to release those small and slender boats.The boat has a very shallow draft, similar to the dragon boats of later generations, with more than [-] oarsmen, sailing at full speed in the downstream, and can row at a speed of [-] or [-] knots.

Xun Xiang was quite surprised to see those sailors who were short in stature and strong in limbs, and said angrily, "It's actually Japanese slaves!"

This is Li Shimin's clever point. He found that the slaves of Xingmatai Kingdom were extremely obedient, and they were very ruthless in fighting.

At this time, the phase finding felt wrong. These small fast boats were so fast that they couldn’t aim at all. Although a rocket hit a fast boat, it exploded and formed a sea of ​​flames with a radius of more than [-] steps. .

The rockets are actually not that powerful. The only explanation is that the Clippers have something similar to kerosene.

At this moment, Xun Xiang felt the pressure.No matter how superb command art you are, no matter how powerful your fleet is, facing this group of fire ships rushing towards at tens of kilometers per hour, you will only be smashed to pieces. Such a crazy opponent to fight ah?

Anyway, I don't want to find a phase!
But now we can’t tolerate their reluctance. The river is only so wide. It’s okay to advance, but it’s a bit difficult to retreat. Everyone wants to leave this place of right and wrong quickly and avoid the kiss of death from the rocket ship. Avoiding mutual collisions, the sound of hull breaking can be heard endlessly, and their losses have skyrocketed before the rocket ship offensive is launched.

And Li Chengqian didn't waste such an opportunity. With one order, the rocket ship was ignited. The little man on it had a frenzied expression and shouted "on board", manipulating the small boat loaded with hundreds of catties of kerosene across the river one by one. He plunged into the middle of the chaotic fleet of the Bashu Navy and disappeared.

The loud rumbling explosion sounded like a thunderstorm.

Explosion flashes are dazzling like holiday fireworks.

Pillars of fire rushed up holding large pieces of the ship's hull.

Flames shot out from inside the cracked hull.

Seeing that more than half of his fleet had been lost, Xun Xiang also got angry.

"Damn it, isn't it just desperate? Who is afraid of whom!" Xun Xiang shouted: "The order of the general is passed on, don't retreat, and fire all the rockets!"

As the desolate battle horn resounded across the sky, the remaining dozen rocket ships ignited the remaining rockets one after another. Regardless of the tail flames of the rockets, they fired all the rockets on board.

Since then, the entire river has become more lively.

In particular, a large amount of tail flame and gas generated when the rockets were launched covered the entire river, and the rockets, like meteor fire rain, exploded in the middle of the battleships of the Fusang Navy from time to time.

The Fusang Navy, who tried to rely on numbers to find their faces, ushered in the most terrifying nightmare. Their formation was so tight and chaotic that the rockets that attacked could hit a warship with their eyes closed. Once hit, it will explode, and most of the warships will only be blown into two pieces!
Those sailors also tried to use ballistas to shoot at the Tang Army naval warships, but it was useless. Regardless of range or speed of fire, rocket ships had an absolute advantage.

Wave after wave rushed over amidst the shouts of "on board", hitting the phase-finding warship into flames, and more Fuso Navy warships were blown up and flying all over the sky!

Blood and flames stained the surface of the river red, and the Jiangnan people watching the battle on both sides of the Yangtze River watched this terrible massacre in dumbfounded silence.

As for the Confucian scholar in white who seemed to have read a few military books, he had long since become dumb, staring blankly at all this, unable to utter a single word.

If you look closely, you will find that this guy's face has become as white as his clothes, and his legs are shaking more than cotton...

Xun Xiang lost a full 37 of his 29 warships. For this reason, any fleet must retreat. However, Xun Xiang has changed the command of three flagships in a row, and he still has no intention of giving up.

However, Li Chengqian, who lost nearly half of the ocean-going warships, was just a child after all, and his heart was the first to break down.

Li Chengqian withdrew under the half-push and half-satisfaction of his subordinates.

As Li Chengqian retreated, other Fusang navy also retreated, and the Yanziji water battle gradually came to an end.

There were no victors in this battle. Of the 37 warships that had been searched for, only four returned in a staggered manner, while Li Chengqian lost more than [-] warships, and as many as [-] fireships.

……

Along Chidao all the way southeast, Chen Ying and Su Dingfang joined forces when they arrived at Bingcheng.

Looking at the Tang army camp that was densely packed like ants, Chen Ying and all the generals of the Tang army looked stern and remained silent.

Only He Yue'er still had a cynical smile, looked at Chen Ying and said with a smile: "A decisive battle with the Fusang coalition forces is about to take place, are you adamant?"

Chen Ying smiled wryly and said, "Those who say they are not nervous are either idiots or short-sighted. I am neither, so of course I am nervous."

He Yue'er said: "Actually, you don't need to be nervous at all. I have seen it through. All of this seems to be predestined, and there is no use being nervous!"

Looking at He Yue'er, a woman who never seemed to show timidity, and whose nerves were as thick as steel, Chen Ying couldn't help laughing.

He Yue'er said solemnly: "Don't laugh, what I said is true!"

"Okay, okay, I believe that what you said is true... Maybe all of this is not true. It's useless for us to be nervous. We can only fight to the death and kill him so that blood will flow into rivers. Look at this Can God, who is determined to drive people to death, open his eyes and give us a way out..."

After Chen Ying finished speaking, he looked at the southern night sky with deep eyes, as if he wanted to see the battle on the Yangtze River through layers of fog.

Chen Ying was actually not worried about the battle on the Yangtze River itself, and a temporary defeat didn't mean anything.After rebuilding the Rongzhou Shipyard, Bashu is upstream and has a complete shipbuilding industry system.

In fact, the shipbuilding industry in Bashu is no worse than that of Jiangnan, and it can even be said to be higher.As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Chu State's navy was the most powerful, while Qin State only had a small number of warships along the Yellow River.Therefore, when Qin and Chu fought, the Chu State navy often used the criss-crossing rivers in its territory to attack the Qin army.In order to completely solve this problem, King Qin Hui decided to form the Qin State Navy.On the basis of incorporating the original Bashu water army, the Qin State established a shipyard in Bashu, and built a large number of powerful building ships and fighting ships to install the Qin State water army.As a result, the establishment of the Qin State Navy began to take shape.

In 279 B.C., Bai Qi commanded the Qin State to attack Yingdu of the State of Chu along the land route.At the same time, Sima Cuo set off from Bashu, commanded 600 navy troops, [-] large ships, and [-] million dendrobiums per meter, and attacked the central Guizhou of Chu State along the Fuling River.Under the powerful offensive of Qin State's combined waterways, Chu State lost a large area of ​​land and was forced to move its capital to Chencheng.Since then, the Qin State Navy has shocked the princes.

Now the shipyards in Rongzhou (now Yibin, Sichuan) have successively installed large-scale fighting ships. With the help of rockets, they are absolutely not afraid of consumption.

Because in order to control the waterway of the Yangtze River, Li Shimin had to deploy ocean-going warships from the ocean-going fleet. Once more were deployed, the advantage of the Datang Navy in the ocean-going battle would become more obvious.

Now, the biggest question is to see if Li Shimin is courageous enough to abandon everything and advance across the board regardless of the situation in the Yangtze River.

In such a large-scale battle, ambushes and local advantages are not important anymore.Even if thousands of Li Shimin's troops were wiped out, it would be meaningless to him at all.

……

In Linhuai City, Li Shimin finally received the result of the Yanziji battle on the Yangtze River. He was not too surprised by the result. Li Chengqian was more concerned with practicing than the battle itself, and to be precise, the loss in this battle was a bit greater.However, it regained temporary control of the Yangtze River.

However, there was an inexplicable uneasiness in Li Shimin's heart.

He couldn't tell what the problem was, but the uneasiness grew stronger and stronger.

Du Ruhui suddenly said: "Your Majesty, how long has there been no news from the Datang Navy?"

Li Shimin shook his head and said: "Since the Battle of the East China Sea, there has been no news for more than half a year, and now I don't know where they are!"

"Not good." Du Ruhui said, "Didn't they go to Fusang?"

Li Shimin shook his head and said: "We almost emptied Fusang, and all the gold and silver mines there were given to the aristocratic families. Even if their sailors went to Fusang, some people would fight them desperately! Besides..."

Having said this, Li Shimin's face became extremely ugly.

The Fusang Continent is very large, and the hundreds of warships of the Datang Navy alone can't swallow it at all, and they may die.

However, the ocean fleet...

(End of this chapter)