Qingshui is a town of more than 1,000 people, there is a large salt farm, and there are gold mines, most of the inhabitants work in these two places, as well as fishermen and hunters, and it is a relatively wealthy town.

The town is only three miles from the sea, and has long been a coveted target for pirates. However, the seaside here is on the main shipping route from Dengzhou to the south, and it is often patrolled by ships of the Dengzhou Naval Division, and it has not been invaded by pirates.

A month earlier, the Dengzhou Naval Division had suffered heavy losses while battling pirates, leaving only 11 of its 72 combat ships and essentially losing control of the coast. This activity of pirates is becoming more and more rampant.

Not long ago, a group of pirates of about a few dozen people came to rob them, but they were beaten away by the town guards and killed more than a dozen pirates. Today, the pirates tangle more people to come to revenge.

The gates of the town were closed, and the men, women, and children of the town were mobilized to the city walls. Mao Jun of Lizheng in the town is a retired veteran who guarded Luoyang City under Wang Shichong and has a certain amount of experience in defending the city.

At this moment, young men with knives, guns and sticks stood behind the battlements, old people boiled water at the head of the city, and sturdy women carried stretchers ready to transport the wounded. Everyone knows that pirates are very cruel, and everyone will suffer if the city is broken, so they desperately want to defend the city.

Soon after, the pirates carried the ladder to the city gate, and a pirate leader of the Japanese kingdom, wearing a helmet with horns, spoke to the castle house.

A traitor shouted: "General Chijiao said, let you quickly open the city and surrender, otherwise, there will be no chickens and dogs left after the city is broken." ”

Mao Jun knew that the pirates were so coercive that it was easy to cause panic among the people, and it was better to fight directly. So, he didn't talk nonsense, and picked up his bow and arrows and aimed an arrow at the leader of the pirates of the Japanese Kingdom. It's a pity that he couldn't shoot arrows when he was young, and he hadn't fiddled with a bow and arrow for so many years, and the arrow went over, more than a foot away from the pirate leader of the Wa Kingdom, and hit it right, but it hit the thigh of a pirate near him, and the guy screamed in pain.

The people defending the city laughed and relaxed when they saw the pirate's embarrassment.

The pirate leader stopped talking nonsense, and a series of orders were issued in his house, and the pirates acted separately according to his orders.

The people of Qingshui Town had repelled a pirate attack last time, and they had some experience and confidence, and they were armed with bows and crossbows, swords and guns, and waited for the pirates to come and climb the city.

Unexpectedly, contrary to what they thought, those pirates did not rush to attack the city with ladders, but first sent a part of the pirates, under the cover of a row of huge shields, to the city wall. Then, behind those shields, a lot of archers flashed out, these archers were well-trained and accurate, and when they shot their arrows, they immediately hid behind their shields, and when they saw the target, they stood up again and shot arrows at the city.

For such a tactic, the people at the head of the city had no experience, and they caused a lot of casualties at once, and they immediately panicked.

Based on Mao Jun's experience in the military, his first feeling was that these people were not ordinary pirates, but well-trained troops.

Under the suppression of the pirates' bows and arrows, the people defending the city did not dare to show their heads, and the few crossbowmen hid and lost their threat to the pirates under the city.

Soon, the pirates behind approached the city walls with a ladder.

Mao Jun was so anxious that he shouted: "Fight! The pirates came up. ”

The people were no longer afraid, and threw stones and boiling water at the pirates on the ladder.

The pirates of the Wa Kingdom were outlaws, and they were constantly being knocked down from the ladder, and those behind continued to climb upwards.

The archers of the pirates below the city wall, seeing that there were not many crossbows on the city wall, simply broke away from the cover of the shield bearers and came to the base of the city wall, directly covering the pirates to climb up.

The casualties among the people were heavy, and the arrows were constantly being taken out of the battle, and gaps began to appear in the city.

Eventually, some pirates climbed the walls, and these well-trained pirates jumped on the walls and used their bodies to hold the ladders to cover the pirates as they climbed the walls. As more and more pirates climbed the walls, the people defending the city were killed and wounded, and finally they could not bear the pressure and fled in all directions.

"The city is broken." Mao Jun's eyes were dark, and he almost fell to the ground.

Suddenly, a trumpet sounded outside the city. The last time Mao Jun heard such a voice, it was an order to retreat from the pirates.

The pirates, who had already climbed the walls, heard the sound of the trumpet, and climbed down one after another, and then the pirates began to form a group and withdrew along the same path towards the sea.

As if in a dream, Mao Jun observed for a long time and made sure that the pirates had really withdrawn. Fearing the return of the pirates, he hurriedly beckoned the people to continue defending the city, but found that the people had crowded to the west gate and wanted to flee into the mountains. Mao Jun persuaded them, but the people were already frightened and unwilling to defend the city anymore.

At this moment, Dongmu Shou sent a team of officers and soldiers to catch the news.

In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, roads were set up along the border, and each province set up a general manager (Dadu Governor) to command the troops and garrison the border. All the areas defended by border soldiers, the large ones are called armies, and the small ones are called guards, cities, and towns, such as Pinglu Road, there are eleven guards such as the Lu Long Army and the Eastern Army. Armies, cities, towns, and garrisons are all envoys. Dongmu Shou Capture is a border guard set up by the imperial court in Dongmu County, Dengzhou.

The arrival of the border guards stabilized the people in the city and rearranged the city defenses.

Just as they were arranging the defenses of the city, someone shouted, "Oh no. The pirates are back. ”

Everyone looked in the direction of the sea, and sure enough, when they saw the pirates running in this direction, everyone became nervous again. However, they soon discovered that the pirates were not the same as when they had arrived, and they looked much less numerous, less than 200 people. They still seem to be embarrassed, not like they have come to attack Qingshui, but like they are running away.

Sure enough, someone with sharp eyes shouted: "It's the Tang Army, it's the Tang Army chasing them." ”

It didn't take long, and everyone saw it clearly, behind those pirates, the banner of the Tang Army with black letters on a red background appeared, and about hundreds of Tang troops were chasing the pirates. At this moment, everyone understood why the pirates had already attacked the city just now and left in a hurry.

There were more than 200 officers and soldiers sent by Dongmu Shou, and when they saw such a good opportunity, of course they refused to let it go, so they immediately opened the city gate and rushed towards the pirates.

The pirates were surrounded by the officers and soldiers who were captured by Dongmu and the officers and soldiers who were chasing after them, and the battle ended in a short time. More than 100 pirates were annihilated, and the pirate leader wearing a horned helmet was captured alive.

Soon after, the officers and soldiers of Dongmu and the people of Qingshui Town knew that the Tang army chasing the pirates was called the Marine Corps, which was part of the newly established offshore fleet of the Tang Dynasty. The reinforcements sent to Dengzhou by the Tang Dynasty arrived, and they were the vanguard of the Offshore Fleet led by Liu Renliang.

As soon as Liu Renliang and others arrived in the waters of Dengzhou, they encountered a large number of Japanese pirate ships, and the first large-scale naval battle broke out since the establishment of the Datang Offshore Fleet. 8)