Late Tang

Li Jing smiled when he heard the words, "Is it finally dispatched? How many ships and people are there in this fleet?"

"There are more than [-] large and small warships, including two battleships, ten sea falcons, four warships, eight warships, and twelve yachts." Li Wei reported the latest discovery to Li Jing carefully. Information, with a solemn face, "Our people also discovered that Nandao dispatched a large ship with seal banners on the ship, but it is not clear whether it is Feng Zhang, Feng Xun or other generals with the surname on the ship."

Li Jing couldn't help being moved when he heard the word "louchuan". As early as the Western Han Dynasty, there was a general of "louchuan". It is more than a hundred feet long, with six poles on the left, right, front, back, and fifty feet high, and can accommodate 800 soldiers."Du You said: "There are three layers of buildings on the ship, with parapets, battle grids, banners, crossbows, windows and spear holes, and throwing carts and stones and iron juice. It looks like a fortress. It cannot be controlled, and this is not easy to do, but it is necessary for the navy to establish a situation." Lou Chuan was the most important combat ship in the navy's equipment at this time, and it was fully equipped with weapons.

According to Li Jing's understanding, building boats are actually better at fighting in lakes. Only when the water is deep and the waves are small and the place is big, can the battle be carried out calmly. Huge warships, a large number of soldiers on board, and many powerful weapons abuse other people's small boats.But at the mouth of the Yangtze River, there is a danger of overturning when the wind and waves are strong.This is not to mention the sea. At most, the building boats can only show off their power when there is no wind and waves in the near sea. According to the Tang people themselves, it is necessary to create a situation, and it is completely deterrent.

Li Jing was moved when he heard that Daxie village dispatched the Louchuan, not because the Louchuan was the largest warship in the Tang Dynasty navy at this time, but because of the information revealed behind the Louchuan.Warships such as building ships with poor combat performance and whose deterrent effect is greater than combat effect are rarely equipped by ordinary navy.As far as Li Jing knew, the authentic naval force of the Dengzhou Navy, Wang Jin, only had two large ships, and Daxie Village had more troops than the Dengzhou Navy, and it was only three large ships. Even the United Fleet in Duli Town, which was built entirely with money, is said to have only eight ships in total.

This kind of warship is completely used as a deterrent to show off its face. It is basically used for showing off, and it will never go to sea easily.If a storm accidentally capsized, anyone would bleed out of anger.But now, Feng Zhang actually sent a building boat, which shows that he is very serious about suppressing the bandits this time, and it also shows that Daxie Village must have sent an important person to the sea this time, otherwise, he is absolutely not qualified to drive A boat goes out to sea.

Is it Feng Zhang?Not likely, an old fox like Feng Zhang would not leave the nest easily, he would more likely be in charge of Daxie Walled City.Apart from Feng Zhang, the most likely one is Feng Xun, the deputy envoy of Daxie Village.

It seems that this time Feng Zhang really spent his money, Li Jing almost salivated when he heard the warships dispatched by Feng Zhang.Feng Zhang dispatched a total of 37 warships, all of which were warships, among which fighting ships, walkers, sea falcons and building ships were all combat ships, while warships and yachts were auxiliary ships.

Fighting ship, the parapet is set on the ship, it can be three feet high, and there are holes under the wall, and a shed is built five feet inside the ship, which is in line with the parapet, and a parapet is built on the shed, and the enemy is re-arranged. Tree-tooth flags, banners, and golden drums are also warships.The fighting ship is a cascaded compound structure. Sailors can be arranged in cascades to meet the enemy, while the rowers are concealed inside the ship and row through the holes. It is the main combat ship of the navy at this time.There are dozens of sailors in a fighting ship, and the ship can carry up to a hundred sailors except the sailors.The fighting ship is twelve feet long, three feet wide, one foot deep, six to seven feet in draft, eight feet high for the ship tower, and eight feet high for the command platform.Two sails on board!

Walking boats, set up a female wall on the side, put many sailors, and few soldiers, all choose the brave and elite, go back and forth like flying gulls, take advantage of people's inability, golden drums, and flags are lined up on the top, this warship is also.The walking speed is fast, and it is mainly used for raids and shocks, and it is a sharp weapon for sea attack.Compared with the battleship, the walking boat is much smaller. There are dozens of oarsmen on board, but not many sailors, usually only a dozen or 20 people.

In addition to fighting ships and walking boats, another important type of combat ships is the sea falcon ship. This kind of ship has a low bow and a high tail, with a large front and a small rear, like a falcon.Floating boards (boards) are placed on the left and right under the sides, shaped like falcon wings, to help the ship avoid tilting even though the wind and waves are rising.On the left and right sides of the cover is raw cowhide for the city, tooth flags and golden drums are as usual, and there are also warships in this river and sea.The floating board equipped by Sea Falcon is a special balance device, which can keep the ship stable when encountering strong wind and waves. With this device, the ship's anti-wind and wave performance can be greatly enhanced. There are enormous advantages in river or sea warfare.

Sea falcon ships are extremely resistant to wind and waves. At this time in the late Tang Dynasty, sea falcon ships had new changes. For example, the sea falcon ships in Daxie Village installed iron plates on both sides of the ship's side to enhance the protection ability; The sharp iron point is used to impact enemy ships, so it is called "iron wall share mouth plane sea falcon warship".This kind of warship has a load capacity of 11 shi. It is ten feet long, one foot eight feet wide, eight feet five inches deep, and the bottom plate is four feet wide. It is divided into 5 watertight compartments, with five oars on each side, which can carry soldiers With 108 people and 42 sailors, it is a new type of warship with a solid structure, strong combat effectiveness, and the ability to attack enemy ships.

This time Daxie village dispatched ten sea falcons, four of which were newly refitted new-style 'iron-clad warships'.

In addition to the four types of warships dedicated to battle, the Louchuan, Walking Vessels, Fighting Vessels, and Sea Falcons, Feng Zhang dispatched eight warships and twenty yachts this time.

Mengchong, covered with raw cowhide boats, with open hatches on both sides, with crossbow windows and spear holes on the left and right, front and rear, the enemy cannot get close, and arrows and stones cannot attack.There is no need for a big ship, but for speed, and taking advantage of people's inability, it is not a ship of war.Liu Xi's "Shi Ming Shi Chuan" in the Eastern Han Dynasty said: "Narrow and long, it is called a warship, and it is used to collide with enemy ships." This shows that the warship adopts a closed structure and is equipped with armor (raw leather). Mainly used for raids, reconnaissance, and communication.

It is narrow and long, and there are very few intercepted troops on board. This is a very fast assault ship.The yacht, which is equivalent to a small boat, is mostly used for communication and reconnaissance.

Both Louchuan and Doujian are super warships. The Louchuan are ten feet high, while the fighting ships are twelve Zhang long.The upper and lower floors of the building ship have five floors, and the square head has no sails for oars, while the fighting ship uses both sails and oars, with two sails and the oarsmen are hidden in the deck.In terms of performance, fighting ships are more suitable for sea combat, while the biggest role of building ships is deterrence, as well as those heavy and large equipment on the huge ship deck.

A large ship can carry [-] troops, a fighting ship can carry about [-] troops, a walking boat can carry [-] troops, a sea falcon can carry [-] troops, a warship can carry [-] troops, and a yacht can carry [-] people.Li Jing calculated in his mind that if these battleships were full, there would be [-] sailors alone, and if the oars were added, the total would be [-].

This result made Li Jing's eyelids twitch slightly, Daxie Village's troops were only three thousand, but now Feng Zhang sent a fleet to wipe out the pirates, with 37 large and small warships and six thousand troops.Feng Zhang can send so many people out, it is definitely not the whole of Daxie Village.There must still be a lot of soldiers and horses left in his Daxie Walled City, and even the other five forts and seven garrisons must still have soldiers and horses stationed on the islands.

If he calculates it like this, he can already roughly calculate the number of soldiers and horses in Daxie Village, at least over ten thousand. If he calculates boldly, it must have already passed ten thousand. , it is estimated that it is not impossible to extrapolate to [-].

Thinking of this, Li Jing suddenly felt a little terrified. He held back his courage and boldly recruited 4000 troops, more than ten times his own number.Unexpectedly, Feng Zhang didn't show his mountains and dews, and he had been in Daxie Village for ten years, but in fact he had more soldiers in private.

"Where are these warships and soldiers mobilized from, is it Daxie's main island, or are there other islands?" Li Jing asked with a serious expression.

"Every island has them, five forts and seven garrisons. Except for our Shamen town who refused to send troops, all other islands sent troops. Thirty-three people and warships were from Daxie village. In fact, they were soldiers from all the islands. .According to our estimates, this time Fengzhang assembled 37 warships, about 3000 sailors, and about [-] oars and crew, a total of [-] people. We learned from the eyeliner on Daxie Village that it was about the same number." Li Wei replied.

"Three thousand?" Li Jing frowned, the number of soldiers obviously did not match the number of crew members.

"None of the 37 battleships are full, and all of them are only half full. In particular, it is said that there are only about a hundred people on the upper ship, and there are not many people on the battleship."

Hearing this result, Li Jing's expression was obviously relaxed.Not six thousand but three thousand, a figure that made him breathe a sigh of relief.

"The boat we sent to Qingnipu has almost arrived!" Li Jing asked suddenly.

"It should be here. The sailors who went out to sea in the first half of the night last night were all veteran pirates with the most experience, accompanied by the deputy general of our reconnaissance capital, the great monk Xuan Cheng, who will go out in person. Nothing will happen. I heard that Li Lingfu He didn't believe in gods and Buddhas at first, but later he married a wife who was a Buddhist, and she even believed in Buddhas. Xuan Cheng is playing the banner of Shaolin monks, so it is estimated that things will go well this time." Li Wei smiled lightly. , Sending Xuancheng as the envoy to Qingnipu, this proposal was made by him.

Li Jing nodded, "That's good, Zijun, I have a written letter to Feng Zhang, you will send a brother to Daxie village later."

Seeing the letter handed in front of him, Li Wei was taken aback for a moment. This was a letter that had just been written and sealed with wax.However, the army in Daxie village was chosen to be given to Feng Zhang after they went to sea. Is there any special significance in this?

Facing Li Wei's puzzled gaze, Li Jing smiled but did not answer, "Just send the letter over, the good show is finally about to begin."

(To be continued)