Icy cold, the twelfth month sees flames fill the sky, a Xuan Ming transplant into the Palace of Zhurong.
December 17th, afternoon, Xiao Wu Sao at the old course of the Yellow River north of the river, a natural harbor behind the old embankment, had long been reduced to a sea of fire.
There was no desperate counterattack, nor any traitorous merchants spying on secrets to cross the river and report... In the morning, the Imperial Guard navy sailing downstream joined forces with Li Bao, the commander of the Imperial Guard vanguard, and under the latter's leadership, they went straight to Xiao Wu Sao without stopping.
However, by the time the large fleet sailed downstream and arrived near Xiao Wu Sao at noon, the Jin army sentry station on the west side of the old Yellow River channel had already noticed the huge navy in the river and galloped to report successfully.
At first, Da You, the Jin army commander guarding Xiao Wu Sao, didn't believe it... Disbelief was normal... But when he personally walked onto the old Yellow River embankment, which served as the harbor wall, and saw the looming large fleet upstream, he didn't hesitate or delay at all. He almost immediately ordered those in the port who knew how to sail to board the ships in the port and leave as soon as possible.
Fight if you can, escape if you can.
In all fairness, this was a very correct military order.
But unfortunately, hundreds of ships were placed in the harbor behind the old embankment, or rather, in the water village, making it extremely crowded. Although the Jin army controlled most of the ships in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, they underestimated the construction of the navy and only used them as ferry reserves, and even became unprepared for enemies on the water because they held all the ships in their hands.
Therefore, for a time, how could so many ships escape in an orderly manner?
Moreover, the Song army navy sailed downstream no slower than fast horses on land. Da You gave the order when he saw the outline, and the Song army navy arrived almost in the blink of an eye.
Li Bao, the commander of the Imperial Guard vanguard, personally led dozens of small ships originally owned by the Song army on the south bank as the vanguard, rushing into the old Yellow River channel and seizing the water village exit. Immediately, Xiao En, the commander of the Imperial Guard navy, led hundreds of small ships to follow behind. The two, one light and one heavy, one sharp and one blunt, were all veterans of inland waterway warfare. With just one pounce, they cooperated properly and roughly blocked the various types of Jin army ships, numbering in the hundreds, inside the water village.
Then, the fleet did not stop, suppressing with bows and crossbows on one side, and small boats circling and charging on the other, throwing gunpowder packs and torches into the port to set it on fire.
Almost at the same time, dozens of paddle wheel ships, under the personal supervision of Zhang Rong, lined up along the main Yellow River channel, firing gunpowder packs with lit fuses blindly into the Jin army harbor across the dilapidated old river embankment.
That being said, Zhao Guan's gunpowder packs have never been able to solve the problem of airtightness, so even if the formula is more scientific, it has not been able to break away from the category of combustion aids... The disadvantages of this are self-evident, but the advantage is that if a novice makes a mistake, no one will feel fear or panic.
Gunpowder, the Great Song Dynasty has been organizing it for nearly a hundred years, from fireworks to military gunpowder, who doesn't know it?
Therefore, when a small cannon cart malfunctioned and caused the launch to be too slow, so that four paddle wheel ships were successively ignited by their own gunpowder, the sailors jumped into the water calmly and allowed the paddle wheel ships to sink. And more than a hundred small boats that rushed into the old embankment to block the harbor also sank one after another in a short period of time due to collisions, battles, and accidental ignition.
But all of this was worthwhile, even insignificant, because the target of this battle, the Jin army's huge reserve of ships, suffered a devastating blow in a very short period of time.
And this kind of result is strategic.
Paddle wheel ships outside, small boats inside, with weight-balanced small cannon carts firing in unison, and manpower approaching to throw, under the double attack, in just a quarter of an hour, the scale of the fire was earth-shattering. And the absolutely correct military order issued by Da You earlier made the fire completely uncontrollable... Many of the ships controlled by the Jin army sailors, after being ignited, the first reaction was naturally to try to escape the range of the Song army's projectiles, and to try to escape the berth full of wooden ships.
The result was that these ships with fire on their tails, like mice with fire on their tails, became the actual heroes who ignited the most ships.
But unfortunately, Zhao Guan won't give these people rewards, not because Zhao Guan is unwilling, but because it is too difficult to escape under this kind of fire.
The fire covered the sky and the river. The rough water village built in the past to gather ships has become the biggest obstacle to the escape of Jin army sailors at this time. Most of these people are fishermen from Hebei, who were forcibly conscripted here to take care of the ships. Logically speaking, they are indeed innocent... But war has always been like this. Good people and bad people, the innocent and the guilty, are just insignificant existences in war.
No one cares about them, and there is no way to care about them.
Even seeing that the fire was unstoppable, the Song army's small boats that had rushed into the north-flowing old channel had begun to withdraw from the old channel in an orderly manner and returned to the main channel of the Yellow River.
"Chief Zhang!"
A three-zhang-long small boat sailed out of the dilapidated old embankment, but did not form a formation. Instead, it turned smoothly towards the paddle wheel ship. The person on the boat was only wearing leather armor and helmets suitable for naval warfare, looking no different from ordinary sailors. He shouted loudly towards the large paddle wheel ship where Zhang Rong was located. It was none other than Li Bao, the commander of the Imperial Guard vanguard, who had served as a guide and vanguard before.
"Call me commander." Because he was far away from the battlefield, and there was a huge fire across the embankment, roasting him with sweat, Zhang Rong simply didn't put on his leather armor. He just opened his arms, revealing his dark chest, and smiled at Li Bao as he came, leaning on his waist next to the huge water wheel on one side of the paddle wheel ship. "Puo Li San, I have heard of your reputation in the Jianghu for a long time. Today, I finally met you. Let me ask you first... Now that I have arrived at the Yellow River and am the commander of the Imperial Guard navy, I will be in charge of all the navy on the Yellow River from now on... If I ask my son-in-law to write a note to Guan Jia and ask for you from Grand Commandant Yue, would you be willing to come over?"
"Commander's reputation is even greater." This Puo Li San did not directly agree. Instead, he leaned on his waist like the other party on the stopped small boat, and then looked up and smiled. "But if you want me to say, although today's battle was enjoyable, it only showed the ability of a commander like me, and it is not enough to show the ability of the commander." Speaking of this, this person directly pointed to a young, tall man next to the cannon cart at the bow of the ship, whose face was pale and his body could not stand straight. "I think, this surprise victory, achieving such great success in two quarters of an hour, two points are due to the wonderful strategy thought of by the commander's good son-in-law, two points are due to the speed of ignition of the gunpowder pack, three points are due to Guan Jia's decision to directly dig ditches and dismantle bridges, and the last three points are due to the commander's ability to fight today..."
Puo Li San's voice was extremely loud, and several large and small boats around could hear it clearly. However, neither Zhang Rong nor the several confidant leaders on the surrounding ships refuted him. Obviously, they all agreed with Li Bao's remarks.
In fact, many people knew that Li Bao's statement was still lenient.
Because the biggest difficulty in this battle was actually how to successfully enter the Yellow River with the naval power of Liangshanpo. And once the Liangshanpo navy, or rather the Great Song Imperial Guard navy, arrived at the Yellow River main channel, the rest should really be so hearty.
In the final analysis, the most difficult stage of the battle had already been spent in Tokyo City.
Back to the point, Zhang Rong had been a big boss for many years, what kind of ruffian had he not seen? Or rather, he himself was the ancestor of ruffians. He had already seen that Li Bao wanted to cause trouble, so he immediately sneered:
"Li San, if you have a fart, let it out quickly!"
"Commander!" Li Bao stood at the bow of the ship, put away his previous ruffian appearance, and pointed to the thick smoke and raging fire across the embankment, saying solemnly. "This battle destroyed the Jin army fleet. In the future, we can run rampant in the middle section of the Yellow River. But if the details are spread out, those Grand Commandants may be jealous and say that we can only show off on the water and cannot be heroes on land... I saw clearly before I went in to set the fire. The Jin army water village is huge. Not only are there many ships in the water, but there should also be two or three thousand regular soldiers on the shore... Therefore, I want to ask the commander, dare you let the heroes of Liangshanpo follow me, wearing only leather armor and carrying short weapons, to go ashore again?"
Zhang Rong pondered slightly, but still leaned on his waist and laughed: "Li San, don't try to provoke me. I ask you, there is such a big fire in the middle of the harbor, where do you go ashore?"
"There!" Li Bao raised his hand and pointed, but he was pointing to the river embankment further east.
Yu Yunwen, who had vomited so much that he was in pieces because of the rapid march, had just recovered a little spirit, but he didn't expect that the battle was already over. He was also a little dizzy, but at this time, he supported the cannon cart and勉力抬头, he understood Li Bao's meaning with just one glance... This Puo Li San wanted to take advantage of the ships and take advantage of the fire in the water part of the water village to bypass the enemy's rear river embankment to land, and sneak attack from behind in the chaos.
This is a good plan. With such a big fire in front, the Jin army in the port must already be in chaos. It will be easy to sneak attack successfully from behind. Although it is a naval landing, a short-range encounter, it should be enough.
And Zhang Rong was slightly startled when he heard the words, and also became serious, but slowly shook his head:
"Li San, I ask you, how close is this place to Puyang? Won't reinforcements come when they see the fire? If you can't make a quick decision, what if the Jin army reinforcements arrive?"
"Then we should make a decision early and send troops early, so that we can make a quick decision!" Li Bao still cupped his hands on the boat. "It's still that sentence... I am willing to be the vanguard and lead the heroes of Liangshanpo on a trip!"
Yu Yunwen came to see his nominal father-in-law in a hurry, and as soon as he turned around, he saw the Zhang Da commander grinning again on the paddle wheel ship: "Then listen to you, Li San, and go ashore to fight him again!"
Li Bao was overjoyed immediately.
ps: Continue to sacrifice books...《汉鼎余烟》
I typed the name of the new leader wrong at the end of the previous chapter... Deserves to die!
It is better to be self-aware than to be a ghost and be self-aware... um... Deserves to die.