Chapter 471: Confrontation at Sea (1)

The third day of the third month of the third year of the Great Song Dynasty (965 AD)

In the morning light, Cao Bin led the generals and staff to board a building ship.

The sailors immediately raised their sails and anchored, and the ship slowly sailed away from the dock and headed for the south bank of the Yangtze River.

When the boat came to the center of the river, Cao Bin saw a huge fleet coming from upstream.

The fleet of ships covered the sky and the sun, and it looked extremely spectacular.

At this time, a walker broke away from the fleet and rowed towards Cao Bin's ship.

The boat is about eight meters long, with five oars stretched out on each side of the boat, paddling briskly across the river and heading straight for the boat.

Soon, the boat approached the building boat. The sailors of the ship threw down the ropes and secured the boat.

An officer from the Southern Tang Dynasty climbed onto the deck of the ship and respectfully saluted everyone.

"Dare to ask which one is General Cao? The last general, Li Zhongyan, was ordered by the mighty general to come to meet General Cao. ”

Cao Bin saw that this young officer, that is, about twenty years old, was delicate and thin, and had an elegant demeanor, like a scribe more than a martial artist.

Cao Bin nodded, and said kindly: "This official is, I don't know what General Zhang sent you for?" ”

Li Zhongyan said respectfully: "General Cao, General Zhang sent the last man here to be responsible for liaison with you. If General Cao has any orders, please tell the last general. Then I will convey it to General Zhang. ”

Cao Bin pointed to a staff member and said, "Okay, this is Mr. Zhang, the official's assistant, let him contact you." ”

Li Zhongyan agreed, and walked to the side with Mr. Zhang to negotiate.

At this time, Cao Bin's boat had stopped at the edge of the central channel, looking at the fleet that went straight down the river and could not be seen at a glance, Cao Bin felt a lot of emotion in his heart. It seems that if I want to use troops against Jiangnan, I still need the strength of the water division.

Now the sailors of the Great Song Dynasty only have the Jinghu Sailor and the Yangzhou Sailor, but the fleets of these two sailors are very small, and they are not on the same level as the sailors of the Southern Tang Dynasty in front of them. If the emperor wants to take the land of Jiangnan, he must build more warships and increase the scale of the sailors, otherwise there is really no way to capture Jiangnan.

I think how invincible Cao Mengde was back then, leading an army of more than 100,000 troops straight down to Jiangdong, but he was defeated by Zhou Yu's tens of thousands of horses and returned, or because the people of the north were not good at water warfare.

There is also the former Qin ancestor Fu Jian, a generation of male lords led an army of 870,000 to the south, but in the battle of Weishui, he was defeated by 30,000 Beifu soldiers and wiped out, which is really a pity.

If His Majesty the Emperor uses me Cao Bin to take Jiangnan in the future, I must not follow in the footsteps of Cao Mengde and Fu Jian, and I must train the sailors well and fight steadily in order to successfully capture Jiangnan.

It is estimated that this use of troops against the Seven Seas Company is also a temptation of His Majesty to Jiangnan, so let me come here to take a look at the reality of Nantang and Wu Yue, and prepare for taking Jiangnan in the future. Therefore, I must fight this battle well, destroy the Seven Seas Company, deter Nantang and Wu Yue, and pave the way for taking Jiangnan in the future.

The fleet of the Southern Tang Dynasty sailed down the river mightily, and it was not until the afternoon that all of them passed through the waters of Yangzhou.

Cao Bin ordered the sailors of the Great Song Dynasty to set off with the fleet of the Southern Tang Dynasty and sail together to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

The next morning, Cao Bin's boat followed the fleet of the Southern Tang Dynasty out of the mouth of the Yangtze River, and he suddenly felt refreshed.

In the distance, the sun has risen to the southeastern sky, and the sea is sparkling and reflecting the dazzling sunlight.

Cao Bin came to the sea for the first time, standing on the undulating bow of the ship, facing the slightly salty sea breeze blowing in his face, and felt that the sea was so vast and lofty, and the huge fleet in the river seemed very small on the sea.

Cao Bin saw that the Southern Tang fleet in front of him began to turn, and all the ships crossed the arc and headed to the right front.

He turned around and asked, "General Li, why did the fleet in front of you turn?" ”

Li Zhongyan respectfully said, "General Cao, Qishan Island is in the southeast, so our fleet has turned. ”

"Oh, I see," Cao Bin nodded, and then asked, "General Li, this official took the liberty of asking about your family background, can you tell me?" ”

Li Zhongyan said respectfully: "General Cao, the son of the boy is the third son of Liezu, the king of Jin, and the uncle of the current lord. ”

Cao Bin suddenly realized: "It turns out that your father is Li Jingsui, the king of Jin, but it's a pity, it's a pity, he is such a pure temperament, a gentleman, but he was assassinated by Li Hongji, it is really a gentleman." ”

Li Zhongyan's expression was a little gloomy: "Hey, what's the use of being born in the emperor's family, my father was so cautious that he didn't save his life." However, after the current lord ascended the throne, he is very kind to my family, and several of my brothers have held important positions in the court, which is also a blessing in misfortune. ”

Cao Bin knew in his heart that Li Zhongyan must be Li Yu's cronies, after all, he was from the royal family. Li Yu sent him to supervise Zhang Renjian and have a good relationship with himself, Li Yu definitely did not dare to offend the Great Song Dynasty.

Cao Bin asked again: "General Li, this official heard that Lin Renzhao, a famous general of your Tang Kingdom, is stationed outside Jinling City, why didn't the lord of the country send him?" Instead, he sent Zhang Renjian, a mighty general who was recuperating at home, to command the troops? ”

"General, although Lin Renzhao is a famous general in our Tang Kingdom, he is not used to water warfare. However, General Zhang Renjian was an expert in water warfare, so the lord of the country sent him. ”

Cao Bin knew in his heart that this was all an excuse, and he clearly knew that Zhang Renjian was a complete rice bucket, and Li Yu sent him to be perfunctory. He must keep his eyes open and stare at Zhang Renjian's every move, and he must urge him to capture the bandits' lair on Qishan Island as soon as possible.

"Woo, woo......."

The long horn sounded on the sea, and Cao Bin immediately walked to the bow of the ship and looked ahead.

He found that on the eastern sea of Wu Yueguo's fleet, a fleet of eight sea ships had appeared.

These eight sea ships formed a long snake formation and rushed towards the flank of Wu Yueguo's fleet.

These seagoing vessels have a slender hull and are fast at sea. The strangest thing is that the white sails on these ships are not traditional hard sails, but soft-looking sails.

The sails of each seagoing ship are full of the sea breeze, and they swell to form an arc, pushing the seagoing ship to row briskly across the sea.

Cao Bin was surprised, could it be that these strange-looking sea ships were the warships of the Seven Seas Company? It is estimated that there are no other forces in this sea area except them. As soon as they came out of the mouth of the river, the warships of the people came up to meet them, but there were only eight warships, which was obviously a little too weak compared to the hundreds of warships of Wu Yueguo's naval division. Where did these pirates get their confidence to dare to challenge the huge fleet of the Tang Kingdom?

The first sea ship was already very close to the warship on the far left of Wu Yueguo's fleet, only about four miles.

Tang Guo's fleet reacted immediately, and Cao Bin saw that many soldiers had already run to the port side with bows, arrows, knives and guns, ready to take over the battle.

The Seven Seas Company's fleet began to turn, and their ships soon sailed parallel to the Tang fleet, and then gradually approached the Tang warships.

Li Zhongyan said behind Cao Bin: "General Cao, it is estimated that there will be a battle soon, this group of sea bandits is very bold, just eight warships, they dare to fight with us, these people really don't know whether they live or die." ”

Cao Bin was also puzzled, these bandits were indeed a little too big, but they dared to rush up and fight like this, could there be other back-ups? Or are you just stalling for time?

Cao Bin thought of this, and immediately said to Li Zhongyan: "Please General Li go and tell General Zhang that I analyze that these pirates may be delaying time, let the general ignore these warships, send a fleet, and expel these eight warships to a distance, and we will go straight to Qishan Island to capture the bandits' lair as soon as possible." Well, if General Zhang has spare strength, it is okay to divide a part of the ships to destroy these eight warships, and it is better to capture a few warships. These warships are very strange in appearance and fast, and the officer is very interested in these warships. ”

Li Zhongyan agreed and sent someone to report to Zhang Renjian.

The eight warships of the Seven Seas Company gradually approached the Southern Tang warships on the left side of the fleet, and as a clear horn sounded, Cao Bin saw thick bed crossbow arrows flying out from the starboard side of the eight warships.

"Ahh

Cao Bin exclaimed, and these crossbow arrows flew in an arc towards the warships of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and soon almost a third of the crossbow arrows hit the side and deck of the warship, and some of the crossbow arrows flew through the sails and into the fleet.

Cao Bin clearly saw that the crossbow arrow that hit the side side instantly broke through the thick plank of the ship and plunged headlong into the interior of the warship.

And the crossbow bolts that hit the deck set off a bloody storm on the deck, and many sailors and non-commissioned officers were dressed as meat skewers, howling in pain.

The other Southern Tang soldiers on the deck were terrified, some were running around on the deck and screaming, and some were standing in place in a daze, looking at the bloody deck at a loss.

It was the first time Cao Bin had witnessed such a tragic naval battle, his face became extremely pale, and his lips trembled.

He swallowed hard and spit, and clutched the side of the ship with both hands, very frightened in his heart.

At this time, the second wave of horns sounded, and dozens of black dots flew out of the starboard side of the eight Nanami Company warships.

These black dots flew over the ships of Nantang, and some of them exploded in volleys, and some of them exploded after smashing on the deck. More explosive ~ shells fell into the water and did not have a lethal effect.

However, these bombs~ bombs that had already hit swept away the decks of the warships on the left side of the fleet, and there were no more soldiers and sailors on the decks of these seven or eight warships.

Under the strong sea breeze, the smoke that hung over the fleet quickly dissipated, and Cao Bin saw many corpses lying on the deck, splashed blood everywhere. There were also many wounded soldiers and sailors of the Southern Tang Dynasty who were rolling and struggling, letting out a terrible wail.