Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

This battle was later called the "Battle of Jiangling."

But the place where the fighting first broke out was neither Jiangling nor Zhijiang, but Yidu further upstream.

Kuizhou Navy was stationed in Yiling. Li Bao's generals Qiu Shanshui and Li Jiang led more than a hundred large and small warships to raid Baishui Town in the southeast of Yidu County in Chu State.

These two men were both private salt dealers. They landed directly with the sailors and plundered Baishui Town.

Baishui Town was quite prosperous. When the Yangtze River changed its course in the early Southern Song Dynasty, Zhijiang County was moved to Baishui Town. It remained the seat of Zhijiang County until the Qing Dynasty.

After plundering Baishui Town, Qiu Shanshui and Li Jiang immediately retreated and then plundered the countryside in the western suburbs of Yidu.

Although this is the territory of Prime Minister Zhong, it is not the core ruling area and only 2,000 soldiers are stationed there. When defending the city, he was able to mobilize the civilians, but when he went out to fight, he was blinded and had no choice but to let the Kuizhou Navy plunder.

Prime Minister Zhong's Dongting Lake Navy sent one-third to deal with it.

It's not that they don't want to send more, but the Jinzhou Navy has arrived in Hanyang, and the Dongting Lake Navy has to go downstream to fight. They also had to leave ships to defend Zhijiang, so Zhong Xiang's navy could only be divided into three.

After the two sides met, the Kuizhou Navy immediately retreated, intending to lure the enemy further upriver.

The river conditions there are more complicated, and the Kuizhou Navy has long been familiar with them. As long as the Dongting Lake Navy dares to pursue them, they can even use the hydrology and terrain to fight an annihilation battle.

The Dongting Lake Navy was not fooled, and gave up after chasing for a while.

After several days of back and forth testing, a battle finally broke out.

The strength of both sides was equal, with the Kuizhou Navy occupying the upstream position, while the Dongting Lake Navy had more large ships.

However, all the bed crossbows that Ju Ming seized from the officers and soldiers were equipped to the Kuizhou Navy. Only one was left in Hanzhong, and was dismantled by Zhu Guoxiang's students to figure out all the details before replicating it.

Then I discovered that there was no need to imitate.

It costs too much to manufacture, takes too long to produce, and requires too many hands to launch. With that kind of time and money, it would be better to build a few more squatting tiger cannons.

This thing is so powerful that it requires twenty or thirty people to pull it open, and it can fire seven arrows at once. The length of the main arrow is about 1 meter, the diameter of the arrow shaft is about two centimeters, and the range of the main arrow can reach two or three miles. (There is also a reduced version, which can be opened by a few people, but the power is much smaller. More than half of those seized by Ju Ming are reduced versions.)

The most famous achievement of Fuzinu was killing the Liao general Xiao Talin with one arrow, forcing the Liao Kingdom to sign the Chanyuan Alliance.

The Kuizhou Navy relied on bed crossbows, ordinary crossbows and flat cannons to almost overwhelm the Dongting Lake Navy. However, the latter, relying on the larger ship, rushed to the side at all costs, and even directly maneuvered the ship at full speed to ram it.

There were casualties on each other, but the Kuizhou Navy had a small victory.

There is no need to fight desperately. The mission of the Kuizhou Navy is to lure part of the Dongting Lake Navy away from the Jingjiang battlefield.

…

Zhijiang.

There are a large number of small boats that can carry more than ten people, and they can be carried directly to the camp on the north bank by dry land boating.

The wood of these ships was not dried in the shade, and they were not bothered to apply tung oil to preserve it. Anyway, they were all disposable items.

The four surrendered generals Han Shizhong, Zhong Yanchong, He Ji, and Wang Xun, with their militiamen who had only been trained for three or four months, prepared to cross the narrow river to fight.

Not only do these militiamen have a short training period, they also have to find time to clear wasteland and cultivate land. But they were well-equipped with soldiers and armor, and the enemy had not practiced much, so they did not need formations when attacking cities or strongholds.

The militiamen only need to remember one thing: as long as they capture Zhijiang, they can become regular soldiers. The wasteland they reclaimed can enjoy more preferential tax exemption policies. From now on, the family will no longer have to farm the wasteland for regular soldiers.

"This item is really useful!"

Han Shizhong put down the telescope and said to Chen Ziyi: "How about crossing the river somewhere else?"

Chen Ziyi said in confusion: "This is the narrowest place. The river surface is only more than ten feet (thirty or forty meters). The generalissimo also agreed to cross the river here."

Han Shizhong said: "We know that this is the narrowest place. Of course Puppet Chu also knows it and even built a camp on the other side."

Chen Ziyi said: "We must avoid the camp and cross the river upstream, where the river surface is only twenty feet."

"No," Han Shizhong said, "We should cross the river at the uppermost reaches, at the widest place, and fight directly to Zhijiang City!"

"If we cross the river there, all enemy warships, large and small, can enter the river and block it. Our army is all in small boats and will be completely destroyed," Chen Ziyi said. "But when we cross the river at the narrowest point, the enemy's large ships are easy to run aground, and only small boats can Come in, our army will be delayed by using artillery, and the whole army will soon be able to cross over."

Han Shizhong chuckled: "Guess where the enemy warship is at this time?"

Chen Ziyi said without thinking: "It must be hidden on the south bank at the narrowest point."

The area where Zhijiang County is located can be mistakenly understood as a Jiangxinzhou.

But the island in the center of the river is large enough, more than forty miles long and nearly ten miles wide at its widest point.

Unlike Chongming Island, it is not formed by alluvial sediment. At first it was connected to the north bank as a piece of land. The Yangtze River bifurcated and rushed out of a river channel, and then it was surrounded by the two Yangtze Rivers in the north and south.

Zhijiang County is in the far west, where the river is the widest, five to six hundred meters wide.

The Chu army's camp and main force were located in the far east. Chen Ziyi and Zhu Ming also planned to cross the river here. The river surface was only thirty or forty meters.

The battleships of the Chu army general Yan Qi were all hidden on the south bank of the west side of "Jiangxinzhou", which could just avoid the sight of Han Shizhong and others. Once Han Shizhong crosses the river from here, the Chu army's navy can immediately come out to intercept him.

Even if large warships cannot enter, they can still transport troops across the river at the confluence of the Yangtze River and kill Han Shizhong when he is halfway across the river.

Han Shizhong continued to ask: "Where is the main force of the enemy army?"

Chen Ziyi said: "In the camp on the other side of the narrowest point."

"Then why do we have to go head-to-head?" Han Shizhong asked again.

Chen Ziyi was dumbfounded when he heard this. He already understood Han Shizhong's train of thought. After he calmed down, he reminded him: "It's too risky for you. If the enemy notices it, all the soldiers crossing the river will be annihilated."

Han Shizhong said: "We crossed the river at night and made a surprise attack on Zhijiang County. If the enemy was unprepared, they would take the county seat. If the enemy was prepared, they would pretend to camp outside the city, encircle the point for reinforcements, set up an ambush on the way, eat them and rush back. Rescue the enemy.”

"What a plan!" Wang Xun clapped his hands and praised.

He Ji also said: "This strategy is feasible, and the enemy will definitely not expect it. Because all our army's preparations are to cross the river at the narrowest point, and even let the civilians fill up the rugged river beach in order to facilitate the cavalry to protect the artillery." "

Zhong Yanchong said: "Yes, before this, we didn't even think of attacking Zhijiang County directly. The enemy general is not a god, how could he have expected it?"

Chen Ziyi is also a person who likes to take risks. He thought about it, and the more he thought about it, the more feasible it became. He finally made a decision and said: "If there is an accident, I will bear all the responsibilities. You just need to fight hard!"

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Everyone laughed and felt happy.

This group of surrendered generals encountered constraints everywhere when fighting for the Song Dynasty.

Many times, even if a great idea is proposed, it will be rejected if the risk is too high.

Now I am very happy and can show my abilities to the fullest.

Next, they did not choose to act immediately, but expressed their opinions and perfected the plan.

They created numerous illusions and re-prepared for crossing the river at the upper reaches of the narrowest point. This avoids the enemy's camp, which is obviously more in line with common sense (the common sense of no artillery blockade), which makes the enemy general more convinced to cross the river here.

Chu general Yan Qi was very cautious and arranged sentries along the river. He quickly made corresponding moves and divided his troops to set up another camp on the other side.

They even dispatched small warships to patrol the river day and night to guard against Han Shizhong's sudden attempt to cross the river.

"Boom boom boom!"

Eighteen artillery pieces, firing from a distance of tens of meters, just barely hit the Chu army in the face.

Two Chu warships were sunk, and another was severely damaged.

Yan Qi was so frightened by the power of the artillery that he no longer dared to send out warships easily. He only let soldiers patrol in small boats at night, while thinking hard about how to deal with the artillery.

That day when Deng Xia was testing the cannon, the Chu army also picked up the cannonball, but they didn't expect it to be so sharp.

The artillery was originally a hidden weapon, used to suddenly bombard enemy ships when crossing the river.

Now Han Shizhong changed the battle plan and exposed the fangs of the artillery in advance, just to confuse the enemy general as much as possible and make the enemy general more confident about the crossing point.

They even took advantage of the fact that the Chu army's new camp had not built a barrier and continued to fire at the new camp, blasting the northern wall with holes.

After seven or eight days of this, the Chu army's attention was completely attracted here, and they almost forgot about Zhijiang County, which was forty miles away.

night.

Four surrendered generals, Han Shizhong, Zhong Yanchong, He Ji, and Wang Xun, came to the river with thousands of militiamen carrying boats.

Hua Rong followed with the Shenji Camp Fire Gun Soldiers, while Chen Ziyi's cavalry stayed to protect Deng Xia's artillery position.

They smuggled across the widest part of the Yangtze River's diversion. This was a place that no one had thought of. Not even Ju Ming had thought of attacking from here. Because there is a strong city on the other side of the river, and the Chu army's navy can exert its full combat effectiveness here.

In the dark night, there were only some glimmers of light.

There is also a warship docked at the dock outside Zhijiang City. It is used to transport supplies and help guard the river.

The sailors on the ship were sleeping soundly, and the surrendering generals led their troops to the shore quietly, and soon reached the residential areas outside the city.

There is no moat, because the Yangtze River is a moat.

Residents outside the city were also sleeping, and only one watchman continued to work.

"enemy……"

The watchman, holding a lantern, heard the footsteps and subconsciously turned around to look.

Due to excessive fright, the watchman forgot to run away. He wanted to scream but couldn't. It seemed that his throat was in spasm.

"ah!"

It wasn't until a shot came that the watchman screamed in pain, and his mouth was quickly covered.

The nearby residents were awakened. When someone lit the oil lamp, Han Shizhong had already rushed to the city carrying the bamboo flying ladder.

"Enemy attack, enemy attack!"

Some of the garrison on duty at the top of the city were also awakened and shouted loudly in panic.

But it was already too late. There were not many Chu troops left to guard Zhijiang, and it was impossible for them all to guard the city wall at night. Even in the panic, no one was organizing, and they forgot that there were still falling rocks and rolling wood piled next to them.

When Han Shizhong climbed up, a defender came at him with a spear, but he heard the sound and dodged and killed him.

More and more militiamen boarded the city, killing the defenders and retreating steadily. In less than two-quarters of an hour, they completely controlled all the city walls.

It was originally a fierce battle to cross the river, but Han Shizhong turned it into a surprise attack with single-digit casualties.