Chapter 177 The Forgotten Tang Navy

The bloody battle finally began on the Yangtze River. Both Chen Ying and Li Shimin know very well. What really determines the victory or defeat of the battlefield in the south of the Yangtze River is not the gains and losses of one city and one place, but the control of the Yangtze River.

Whoever controls the waterway of the Yangtze River also means who has the initiative on the battlefield. Losing the initiative in the Yangtze River waterway means losing the initiative on the battlefield.

For this reason, Li Shimin had to come up with his blood capital and have a long time with Chen Yingyi. For example, pick out three or four hundred ocean-going transport ships from the ocean-going fleet.

Although the ocean-going fleet was the lifeline for Li Shimin to be transported from the Fusang mainland to the Central Plains, in order to fight for control of the Yangtze River waterway, Li Shimin could not care so much. In fact, with the defeat in the battle of the East China Sea and the losses in several storms, Li Shimin's ocean-going fleet has dropped to more than 6,000 ships, and despite the heavy losses, this number is still several times the advantage of the Tang naval division.

Of course, the most important function of this ocean-going fleet today is not to transport personnel, but to transport materials, such as food, such as equipment, such as equipment, and all kinds of supplies.

In contrast, the Tang Bashu Water Division led by Xunxiang is much shabby. There was no naval division built by Li Jing in the south of the Yangtze River, no Dengzhou naval division, and even the Luoyang Yellow River naval division did not participate in the war. The only warships that participated in the battle were mainly collected sand boats and square ships, and the number was only a pitiful thirty-seven.

There was no way, Chen Ying found that Li Shimin's main force came from the huge ocean transport fleet, so he gathered all the naval warships of the Tang Dynasty together and prepared to ambush this ocean transport fleet, and the second step was to completely destroy Li Shimin's captain in the Indochina Peninsula.

Only by destroying Li Shimin's ocean-going transport fleet can this war not be fought endlessly.

Yangtze River Swallow Rock.

The three or four hundred escort warships of the Fuso Navy Division, with heavy sail shadows, covering the sky and the sun, are magnificent. Although the Tang Bashu Sailor is nearly ten times inferior to the Fusang Sailor in terms of numbers.

But undaunted, they hoisted the blood-colored battle flag, and the sails were full of sails and rushed downstream!

On both sides of the Yangtze River, in the hands of the Fusang coalition army, everyone rushed out to watch the battle, and saw that their fleet was mighty, and when the number of the Tang army fleet was scarce, many people laughed proudly, and a white-clothed Xiucai shook his fan and shook his head: "The battleship of the old thief is just one percent of my king's fleet, although it is downstream, it actually dares to face the battle, it is really a mantis arm as a car, I don't know how to write the word dead!" ”

Several scholars laughed out loud: "The fleet of the king division is in full swing, and it is going down the river, and there are millions of people in the south of the Yangtze River cheering. Let's wait and relax, and see how His Royal Highness the Crown Prince breaks the thief chief and pulls out the old thief's beard! ”

A scholar whispered, "That old man is not easy to deal with...... His Royal Highness the Crown Prince after all...... I'm afraid it's not his opponent! ”

His voice was so soft that only he could hear it, and of course, he deliberately didn't dare to let others hear it.

By this time, the distance between the two fleets had been narrowed. Several of Fuso's giant ships fired at the same time, and of course these weapons were ballistas of Roman origin.

Although the ballista is known as a cannon, it is actually similar to the Datang Baniu crossbow, which uses the tension of the crossbow arm as the kinetic energy of the launch. Although it is powerful, the range is really limited.

The bowl-sized stone projectile flew out at high speed, and then smashed out a row of drainage columns six or seven hundred steps away, which was quite spectacular, but unfortunately useless.

But the group of scholars applauded, and the white-clothed scholars even said: "It is very good, very good, very good!" ”

Someone wondered: "After firing so many cannons, I didn't even touch the sails of the enemy ship, which is also applauding?" ”

The white-clothed scholar glanced at the guy and snorted coldly: "This is called showing weakness to the enemy!" This is called being able to show what is not possible, and using and showing it is not to be used, understand? ”

The man was even more puzzled: "You just said that you wanted to take the lead in taking the lead, why did you suddenly become weaker than the enemy again?" ”

Scholar in white: "...... I don't understand a rough guy like you! ”

Seeing the sailors of the Fusang coalition army getting closer and closer, the smile on Xunxiang's face became stronger and stronger.

Thirty-seven warships of the Bashu Naval Division habitually pointed their sideboards at the enemy and then dropped anchor. There is no way to do this, although the rocket can be launched on the move, but it is launched on the move, the target is not easy to control, and if you want to hit the target, you must look at the mood of the rocket.

......A hair-raising scream sounded, and the thirty-seven warships fired their first salvo, the waves of air rolled, the smoke and flames streaked through the air, and a terrifying sea of fire rose in the formation of the Fuso sailors.

Although the ocean-going transport ship is tall, it generally has a load capacity of 1,000 tons in later generations, and the key is that it is easier to hit the target because it is large and the target is also large. In order for a rocket to accurately hit a target the size of a human body, it is estimated that it will be difficult for a hundred fireshells to hit one, but it is much easier to aim at a warship that is 256 zhang long and 6 zhang long.

Countless ocean-going warships rose from the hull of terrifying flames, and even a rocket pierced several decks, exploded inside the battleship, and immediately broke into two parts, and sank quickly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

More of them were blown up to the ground, and if you didn't get hit, don't be busy rejoicing, the rocket exploded and caused a fire, which immediately made the hull burn! The ocean-going giant ship, which could accommodate nearly 1,000 sailors, immediately burst into flames, exploded one after another, and many sailors rolled from the deck into the river with a large body of fire, and the terrible screams made people feel terrible.

The people on both sides of the strait who were shouting loudly became dumb, and the eyes of many people fell on the white-clothed scholar, who was a little embarrassed and insisted on saying: "Victory or defeat is a common thing in soldiers, we have hundreds of warships, but we have only lost dozens of building ships, why care?" ”

Obviously, the crown prince Li Chengqian also thinks so, he commands the fleet to press in a group, and plans to rely on the number of piles to find the phase, no matter how powerful your rocket artillery is, there are only dozens of them, Lao Tzu's warships are almost more than your rockets, and the group crashes into it in a wave, and you can't die if you don't believe it!

Li Chengqian is not in vain, in the era when the winner is king, he is despised as a poor loser. As the crown prince, there are two princes in history who cannot be villains, one is the Wei prince Liu Ju, who also dared to resist angrily when facing his Laozi Liu Che, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. According to the Hanshu records, Liu Ju began to raise the flag to rebel on the afternoon of the seventh month, and was defeated on the day of Gengyin in July, that is, nine days later. Although Liu Ju only supported for nine days, he did not have an army, and only relied on the prisoners and the dead soldiers of the East Palace.

The second prince was Li Chengqian, who was united with Hou Junji when Li Shimin was preparing to abolish him, and rebelled together, and was finally defeated. Regardless of his ability, he is the only one who dares to argue with Li Shimin's sons.

Li Chengqian smiled coldly: "Set fire to the boat!" ”

At this moment, countless Fuso sailors began to release that small and slender boat. The boat has a very shallow draft, similar to the dragon boats of later generations, with more than 30 oarsmen, and can row at full speed in the case of smooth water, which can row at a speed of 18 or 9 knots.

Xun Xiang looked at the sailors who were short in stature and had thick and powerful limbs, and said indignantly: "It's actually a slave!" ”

This is Li Shimin's more clever point, he found that the slaves of Xingmatai were extremely obedient, and they were very desperate to fight.

At this time, the phase search felt wrong, these small clippers were so fast that they couldn't aim at all, although a rocket hit a fast boat, and then exploded, forming a sea of fire with a circle of more than 200 paces.

The rockets weren't that powerful, and the only explanation was that the clipper had something akin to fire oil.

At this moment, Xunxiang felt the pressure. No matter how superb your command art is, no matter how powerful your fleet is, who wants to fight such a crazy opponent in the face of this group of fireships rushing towards you at dozens of kilometers per hour, all of them are smashed to pieces?

Anyway, I don't want to look for a face!

But now they can't be unwilling, the river is so wide, it's okay to advance, but it's a little difficult to retreat, everyone wants to leave this place of right and wrong quickly, avoid the kiss of death of the rocket ships, the inevitable collisions with each other in the panic, the sound of the hull breaking is endless, the rocket ship offensive has not yet been launched, and their losses have skyrocketed.

And Li Chengqian did not waste such an opportunity, as soon as the order was given, the rocket ship was ignited, and the dwarf on it looked fanatical, shouting "onboard", manipulating a small boat loaded with several hundred catties of fire oil and a sharp arrow to sweep across the river, plunging headlong into the middle of the chaotic fleet of the Bashu Navy Division and disappeared.

The rumbling explosion was loud and loud like a thunderstorm.

The explosion flashes like a holiday flower that dazzles people.

Pillars of fire rushed up with large pieces of hull shards.

Bursts of fire from the inside of the ruptured hull.

Seeing that his fleet had lost more than half of it, Xun Xiang was also angry.

"Fuck, aren't you just desperate? Who's afraid of whom! Xun Xiang roared: "General Chuanben ordered, not to retreat, all rockets are fired!" ”

As the desolate battle horn resounded in the sky, the remaining dozen or so rocket ships ignited the remaining rockets one after another, and they didn't care about the tail flame of the rockets, and launched all the rockets on the ship in one go.

In this way, the whole river surface is more lively.

In particular, a large amount of tail flames and gases generated when the rockets were launched covered the entire surface of the river, and the rockets like meteors exploded from time to time in the middle of the Fuso Navy Division warships.

The Fuso sailors who tried to find their way by piling up their numbers ushered in the most terrible nightmare, their formation was so tight and chaotic that a rocket attacking could hit a battleship with its eyes closed, and once hit, it would explode, and most of the battleships would only be blown in two by the waist!

Those sailors also tried to shoot at the warships of the Tang Army's sailors with ballistas, but they were useless, and the rocket ships had an absolute advantage in both range and rate of fire.

Wave after wave rushed over amid the call of "onboard", smashing the phase-seeking warships into flames, while more Fuso Naval Division battleships were blown up all over the sky!

Blood and flames stained the surface of the river, and the people of Jiangnan watching the battle on both sides of the Yangtze River watched the terrible massacre dumbfounded, silent.

As for the white-clothed Confucian who seemed to have read a few military books, he had already become mute, staring at all this blankly, unable to say a word.

If you look closely, you will find that this guy's face has become as white as his clothes, and his legs are shaking more than cotton......

Xunxiang's thirty-seven warships lost a full twenty-nine ships, and at this point, any fleet, retreat is inevitable, however, Xunxiang has changed the command of three flagships in a row, and there is still no intention of giving up.

However, Li Chengqian, who lost nearly half of the ocean-going warships, was just a hairy boy after all, and his heart collapsed first.

Under the half-push and half-push of his subordinates, Li Chengqian retreated.

As Li Chengqian retreated, other Fusang sailors also retreated, and the Yanziji Water Battle gradually came to an end.

There was no winner in this battle, and only four of the thirty-seven warships in search of the phase stumbled back, while Li Chengqian lost more than three hundred warships, and as many as a hundred fireships.

……

Along the Chi Road all the way to the south and east, Chen Ying, who arrived in Xucheng, joined Su Dingfang.

Looking at the dense Tang army camp as dense as ants, Chen Ying and all the Tang army generals looked grim and silent.

Only He Yue'er still had a hint of cynicism, looked at Chen Ying and said with a smile: "It's about to be a decisive battle with the Fusang coalition army, is it strong?" ”

Chen Ying said with a wry smile on his face: "It's not an idiot who says it's not an idiot or a lack of heart, I'm neither, of course I'm nervous." ”

He Yue'er said: "Actually, you don't have to be nervous at all. I've seen it through, it all seems to be predestined, and it's useless to be nervous! ”

Looking at He Yue'er, a woman who never seemed to be timid, and her nerves were as thick as steel, Chen Ying couldn't help but laugh dumbly.

He Yue'er said seriously: "Don't laugh, what I said is true!" ”

"Okay, well, I believe what you said is true...... Maybe all this is really a foregone conclusion, and it's useless for us to be nervous, so we can only fight to the death, kill him and bleed like a river, and see if this God, who is bent on forcing people to death, can open his eyes and give us a way to live......"

After Chen Ying finished speaking, his eyes looked at the night sky in the south deeply, as if he wanted to penetrate the layers of fog and see the battle on the Yangtze River.

The battle on the Yangtze River itself, Chen Ying was actually not worried, and a temporary defeat did not mean anything. After the reconstruction of the Rongzhou shipyard, Bashu has a complete shipbuilding industry system in the upper reaches.

In fact, the shipbuilding industry in Bashu is not worse than that of Jiangnan, and it can even be said to be higher. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Chu State had the most powerful naval army, while the Qin State only had a small number of warships in the meanders of the Yellow River. Therefore, Qin and Chu were at war, and the Chu navy often used the crisscrossed rivers in its territory to attack the Qin army. In order to solve this problem once and for all, King Qin Hui was determined to form a naval army of the Qin State. On the basis of the incorporation of the original Bashu naval army, the Qin State established a shipyard in Bashu, and built a large number of building ships and fighting ships with strong combat power, and installed the Qin naval army. As a result, the formation of the Qin State Navy began to take shape.

In 279 BC, Bai Qi commanded the Qin State to attack the capital of Chu by land. At the same time, Sima Cuo set out from Bashu, commanded 100,000 naval troops, 10,000 large ships, and 6 million meters, and attacked Qianzhong of Chu along the Fuling River. Under the powerful offensive of the Qin state by waterway, the state of Chu lost a large part of its territory and was forced to move its capital to Chencheng. Since then, the naval army of the Qin State has shocked the princes.

Now the shipyard in Rongzhou (today's Yibin, Sichuan) has been equipped with large fighting ships one after another, and with the help of rockets, they are definitely not afraid of consumption.

Because Li Shimin had to transfer ocean-going warships from the ocean-going fleet in order to control the Yangtze River waterway, once the more he was transferred, the advantage of the Tang Navy Division in the ocean-going battle would be more obvious.

At present, the biggest question is to see whether Li Shimin's courage is strong enough, whether he can abandon everything, ignore the situation of the Yangtze River battle, and advance on all fronts.

In such a large-scale battle, in fact, ambushes and local superiority are no longer important. Even if Li Shimin's tens of thousands of troops were annihilated, it would not mean anything to him at all.

……

Linhuai City, Li Shimin finally received the result of the battle of Yanziji on the Yangtze River, he was not too surprised by this result, Li Chengqian's mind was greater than the battle itself, and this battle was precise, although the loss was a little greater. However, it regained temporary control of the Yangtze River.

However, Li Shimin had an inexplicable uneasiness in his heart.

He couldn't tell what was wrong, but the uneasiness grew stronger.

Du Ruhui suddenly said: "Your Majesty, how long has it been since there has been any news from the Tang Dynasty Sailors?" “

Li Shimin shook his head and said: "Since the Battle of the East China Sea, there has been no news for more than half a year, and I don't know where they have arrived now!" “

"It's not good," Du Ruhui said: "Didn't they go to Fusang?" “

Li Shimin shook his head and said: "We almost emptied Fusang, and all the gold and silver mines there were given to the Shizu Gate Valve, even if their sailors went to Fusang, some people fought hard with them!" Besides......"

Speaking of this, Li Shimin's face became extremely ugly.

The Fusang Continent is very large, and the hundreds of warships of the Tang Dynasty Navy Division alone can't swallow it at all, and it may be able to survive.

However, the ocean-going fleet ......