Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

"Dong dong dong dong!"

Zhong Yi had just ordered Ming Jin to retreat. Before the soldiers could carry out the order, someone was already beating drums to help the battle.

Zhong Yi bent over and rushed to another section of the city wall, shouting angrily at Zhou Lun who was beating the drum himself: "What do you want to do?"

Zhou Lun said: "Prime Minister, I have an arrow on my string and I have to fire it. The navy has already entered Qingcao Lake. If we march forward bravely, we can still fight. Once we retreat, our entire army will be annihilated. The thief navy will chase after us!"

"How can we win a head-on water battle?" Zhong Yi was very pessimistic.

Zhou Lun said: "We should have made a decision a few days ago. Either the army will go north for a decisive battle, or the entire army will withdraw to Xiangyin. The prime minister neither dares to advance nor retreat. He will only be beaten if he sticks here. It is better to fight to the death today. Antlers The navy troops in the village should also go out to help in the battle!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the gate of the water village was opened.

Gao Ling led more than 60 large and small warships to kill the Ming navy that was ten times his own, intending to cooperate with Lei Jin and Yang Yao in a two-sided attack.

Zhong Yi poked his head out to see the situation clearly and lay slumped on the city wall: "We can't win. The enemy's firearms are powerful. You are risking your own death."

Zhou Lun said: "Prime Minister, if you are afraid of death, don't fight. You can still fight to the death at this time. If you hide and dare not fight, you will not even have a chance to fight in the future."

Zhong Yi said no more, but Zhou Lun ordered the water village to fire artillery, that is, use catapults to assist the friendly forces.

Later, the large area of ​​land between Luhu Lake and the mouth of Xiangjiang River was all part of the Qingcao Lake waters at this time.

However, the siltation at the bottom of the lake has become very serious. Hills such as Shijunshan and Xiaoshantang are small islands in Qingcao Lake.

Why is it said that Lujiao Village can strangle the Xiangjiang River?

It is because of the large water area on the west side of Qingcao Lake that large ships can only pass through when the water level rises in summer and autumn. It is now the fifth month of the lunar calendar, and a few heavy rains are simply not enough. If the Daming Navy wants to enter the Xiangjiang River, it must go south along the deep water area on the east side of Qingcao Lake.

The numerous small warships of the Chu Navy were scattered towards the shallow water.

They are very familiar with Qingcao Lake and are not afraid of being stranded at all. They planned to spread out their formation to avoid the bombardment, then rush in from three sides together, and rush over to mix with the Ming Dynasty navy to disrupt the chaos.

And there will be countless small boats set on fire later, fighting to destroy the Ming Dynasty Navy even if they all die together!

"Go to the northwest, fight and then retreat!"

Pang Dingzi did not want to tangle with the Chu army here. To the northwest was the deep water area of ​​Dongting Lake. Once there, he could fight any way he wanted.

Hundreds of warships had their sails spread out, and the boatmen were rocking oars and oars with all their strength. They sailed towards the deep water one after another before engaging the Chu navy.

Not just running away, but fighting and retreating at the same time.

More than a dozen gunboats opened fire with all their strength, and the remaining warships were also firing divine arm bows and returning cannons.

The warships of Yang Yao and Gao Lei were long and narrow and fast. They tried to keep the Ming Dynasty Navy behind, so they rushed to the front and could catch up quickly without any accident.

The distance between the two sides was indeed getting closer, at the cost of heavy losses to the warships under their command.

More than twenty Chu army clippers were damaged and sunk by artillery, Huihui artillery, and divine arm bows. The Chu army sailors on board jumped into the lake to escape.

"Swish swish!"

The Chu army's fast boats were equipped with something similar to the bed crossbow. The power was definitely not as powerful as the bed crossbow, but the operators did not need so many.

An arrow shaft as thick as a pigeon egg was shot out, along with a long rope. Once it hit the Ming warship, the two sides were connected by the rope.

The Chu army tried to seize the ship!

"ignition!"

"Fire the arrow!"

Since the muskets made in various places have to be sent to the north to be centralized and equipped in the Prince's Shenji Camp, there are no muskets in the southern ministries.

But, they have rockets!

It is to tie something like a flying monkey to the front part of the arrow shaft.

Not only can it boost the acceleration of arrows, but it can also burn violently and ignite enemy supplies. In the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, Yu Yunwen fought against Caishiji, and Li Bao crossed the sea to attack Shandong, both of which used a large number of rockets.

This thing existed in the late Tang Dynasty. Before that, rockets used rosin and other flammable substances.

Hundreds of rockets were fired at him. Yang Yao swung his sword and raised his shield to deflect a few of them, but most of the others landed on the warship. Only seven or eight sailors were hit.

The ignition effect is limited, after all, this is not a fire ship filled with firewood.

Then, while the Chu army's sailors were putting out the fire, the other two Ming warships had already finished loading their bombs.

Although only a dozen warships were equipped with iron cannons, the remaining warships were all equipped with wooden cannons!

The advantage of wooden cannons is that they are cheap to make, but their disadvantages are that they are low in power and difficult to store for a long time. Not only were they used by China during the Anti-Japanese War, but even Germany had wooden mortars during World War I, and Japan also had a large number of wooden cannons during the Russo-Japanese War.

It is not a completely wooden structure. It must be made of dense wood and has iron hoops on the outside.

The more particular ones would embed iron sheets in the barrel, or the barrel might simply be made of iron sheets, and add a layer of leather when adding the iron hoop.

"Boom boom boom!"

More than a dozen wooden cannons fired one after another, and a large number of small stones flew out like a goddess scattering flowers.

Anyway, the power of this thing is relatively small. The Ming Navy is specially used for close combat, and is used to attack enemies from a few meters to dozens of meters away. He didn't even bother to use iron bullets and just used pebbles to shoot shotgun shells.

Yang Yao was hit by a pebble and his tibia was fractured. The mouth of the tiger holding his shield was also cracked and bleeding. In panic, he reluctantly shouted in pain: "Crash into the ship and seize the ship!"

But the soldiers dragged Yang Yao back and hid: "General, we can't fight, the thieves have powerful firearms, and many of our brothers died!"

Yang Yao poked his head out to take a look and found that many of the exposed sailors had been killed and wounded. No one dared to stand outside anymore.

In last year's water battle, the Ming Navy was not even equipped with wooden cannons, but this year they were all equipped with them.

The tactics of the Ming Dynasty Navy are as follows: use iron cannons directly at long distances, use return cannons and divine arm bows at mid-range, and use wooden cannons to fire cannon at close range. When encountering an enemy fireship, it can be ignited in advance by a salvo of rockets.

How can the Chu army's navy fight?

No matter how brave Yang Yao was and he was not afraid of death, he knew that he had no chance of winning when faced with wooden cannon shells. He ordered his soldiers to say: "Send a message to Mr. Lei Hou and ask him to retreat as soon as possible. I will lead the vanguard and cut off the rear to defend against the enemy!"

Red quickly saw the flag signal clearly when he entered, but the arrow was on the string and had to be fired. The Chu navy had already deployed and charged, and it was too late to retreat now.

Even if most of the warships received the order to retreat, it would be difficult for them to retreat in an orderly manner, and they would inevitably be chased by the Ming Navy.

"Surround us!"

Lei Jin could only act according to the original plan, which was to use regular warships to sacrifice their lives to retain the Ming army, and use thousands of fire ships to set off the fire during the melee.

Yingxuan used a telescope to observe the situation. When he saw the actions of the Chu army's navy, he couldn't help but sigh: "Alas!"

The place where the two sides fought was in the transition zone between Dongting Lake and Qingcao Lake.

The hundreds of warships of the Ming Navy gradually dispersed into twenty crescent shapes. Navy officers and soldiers called it the "Reverse Moon Formation," while Prince Ju Ming said it was a battle line.

The Chu Navy's navy still uses traditional water warfare formations, and they also know how to fire rockets and ballistae.

The warships of the Chu army desperately wanted to fight on the side of the ship. When they finally rushed forward despite medium and long-range firepower, they were faced with close-range shotgun fire from wooden cannons.

Manichaean soldiers are also human beings, and they are also afraid of death. Many warships have been frightened and retreated.

Seeing that the scuffle was hopeless, Redjin could only place his hope on the fire ship.

More than a thousand small boats filled with firewood rushed forward quickly through the gaps in the battlefield. From time to time, one of them was capsized by the waves. These are the waves caused by the shells of iron cannons and returning cannons falling into the water.

Finally, some small boats rushed closer, but they were greeted by countless rockets and shotguns.

The rocket fell onto the small boat and the firewood was quickly ignited. The sailors and fishermen operating the boat had no choice but to jump into the lake to escape, and were unable to deliver the fire boat to the Ming warship.

"Retreat to the shallow water!"

Redjin ordered with tears in his eyes that this battle could not be fought, and he was lucky to be able to escape with a quarter of the warships.

After dozens of Chu warships were left behind, they launched a suicide charge, trying to entangle the Ming Navy.

Even Yang Yao, who had a broken leg and a cracked tiger's mouth, was leading the warship forward.

Unfortunately, another cannon shot opened, and a pebble hit the shield, bounced off and hit his forehead. Yang Yao fainted with blood pouring from his forehead. A piece of broken shield sawdust was embedded in his cheek. The left hand holding the shield was so shocked that his wrist was fractured.

The flag of the Ming Dynasty Navy was waved, and several battle lines changed their formations to counterattack, surrounding and cutting up the fleeing enemy ships.

For the Chu army, the situation took a turn for the worse, and even some of the people responsible for breaking up the rear were so frightened that they turned the warship's direction and fled.

When Lei Jin led the remnants of the Chu navy and successfully retreated to the shallow waters of Qingcao Lake, he was horrified to find that there were only more than 20 warships left.

"Stop chasing, it's easy to get stranded over there," Yingxuan, who was watching the whole battle, finally spoke, "General Pang, please rescue those who have fallen into the water. If there is no resistance, don't kill the prisoners. They are all good soldiers!"

Pang Dingzi knew that the prince valued Yingxuan and there was no need to make trouble over trivial matters, so he immediately issued military orders according to Yingxuan's suggestion.

The Ming Navy allowed the remaining enemy troops to escape and stretched out bamboo poles to pull up the fallen enemies.

The rescued people were all dejected, sitting there and being tied up.

There were also sailors with strong faith who refused to be rescued and swam to the shore several miles away.

Yingxuan became more and more distressed as he watched, and said to Pang Dingzi: "General Pang, some of the people floating on the water are just injured and unconscious. Please rescue them too. There are too many floating corpses in Dongting Lake, which can easily cause plague."

Pang Dingzi resisted the urge to roll his eyes and ordered: "The whole army is fishing for people. Those who are alive will be brought back for treatment, and those who are dead will be dragged ashore and burned!"

But it was said that Leidejin led the remaining navy back to Lujiao Village, knelt in front of Zhong Yi and cried bitterly: "Prime Minister, it was my poor command that killed the brothers Xenduo. Just chop off my head!"

Zhong Yi held a breath in his chest and was too angry to curse.

Zhou Lun said: "Prime Minister, abandon the defense of Lujiao Village and retreat to Xiangyin. The water battle is defeated. The Xiangjiang and Miluo River food roads will be controlled by the enemy. Sooner or later, tens of thousands of troops will run out of food. Take advantage of the enemy's main force If you haven’t arrived yet, you must leave here as soon as possible.”

Zhong Yi did not hesitate for long before he ordered: "The whole army retreats. Who will guard the stronghold and cut off the rear?"

Zhou Lun said: "I am the guard of Lujiao Village, and it is my turn to defend the rear."

Zhong Yi's eyes were wet, he held Zhou Lun's hand and said, "General, take care!"

Just when the main force of the Chu army was packing up their baggage and preparing to evacuate by land, Tan Ma, who was observing the enemy's situation in the north, galloped back: "The Ming army's forward is coming!"

Bai Qi and Wang Yuan's tens of thousands of troops were stationed twenty miles away.

The Ming Dynasty Navy has already taken action, how could the Army sit idly by?