In April of the sixth year of Baoyou, Li Hongjun looked at the huge ship flying the Mongolian flag from a distance, and then looked up at the sky. At this time, all kinds of passwords on the ship continued, and the alarm bell before the engagement was even more constant. However, Li Hongjun, a thirty-year-old middle-aged man from a poor scholar family in Fuqing County, turned a deaf ear.

This was the first war in which Li Hongjun participated, and it was also the first time he arrived at a place so far north of Huainan East Road. Li Hongjun only felt that his heart was pounding, and a strong sense of fear made the clear sky seem to be covered with a layer of gray.

A strong hand pressed on Li Hongjun's shoulder, Li Hongjun turned his head to look, but saw that Zhao Jiaren's right hand was on Li Hongjun's shoulder. In a moment, Li Hongjun felt that the gray smoke in front of him had vanished, and the boiling voices of the entire ship had also reached his ears.

Retracting his arm, Zhao Jiaren leaned on the railing and looked down. All the crews were in place, as were the sail operators. The combat units were now on deck, and presumably only non-combatants such as cooks remained in the cabins.

Jia Rudao remembered his conversation with Zhao Jiaren before, when Zhao Jiaren was only the county lieutenant of Fuqing County. The young Zhao Jiaren predicted that after the Mongols went south, he told Jia that he would support Jia in the war. After the Mongols moved south, Li Pu, the governor of Yidu (Shandong), also went south, attacked Haizhou and Lianshui Army, and defeated the Song Army's naval division at sea. So the two Huai appeased the ambassador Jia Rudao to the imperial court and asked Zhao Jiaren from Fujian Road to come to help. Now, Zhao Jiaren and the elite of the Zhao family's fleet are gathered here.

Stretching out his left hand and waving, Zhao Jiaren's entourage immediately handed over a horn tube. Zhao Jiaren picked up the horn and shouted: "All of them!" Attention! ”

In April, Haizhou, that is, Lianyungang in later generations, was sunny at this time, the southeast wind was not too strong, the ships swayed gently and comfortably, and the sailors could stand on the deck very freely.

"All of them! Attention! The loud roar of the propaganda commissar was heard throughout the ship, and a moment later all the sailors were standing at their posts. Except for a few people, such as Yue Lian, the leader of the second melee combat team, yawned slightly, and gently brushed a strand of long hair from her sideburns with her hand. The vast majority of those who participated in the war were participating in the official war for the first time, and they all waited earnestly to listen to Zhao Jiaren's pre-war lectures.

"You didn't just go out to sea with me to fight today, so you know that wherever we go, there is no one to beat." Zhao Jiaren's voice was loud, and through the horn tube, it was enough for the whole ship to hear clearly. "We are talking about discipline in war, and everyone has been training hard for several years, and all we have to do at this time is to use how we practice. Those who are on the ship today have come voluntarily. If you dare to come here, don't think about it. Everyone knows that thinking too much is a dead end. ”

Li Hongjun was not the only one who was nervous on the whole ship, and everyone had already gained experience and confidence in the face of pirates. However, the eight Mongolian ships that appeared on the opposite side all looked like five or six thousand ships, which were much larger than the four Zhao family ships that came this time. Just seeing those behemoths made everyone unstrained.

"I tell you, I'm not here to die. As long as we practice and fight, we will win today. When you are old, when you are eating meat at home on the fire, your grandson will ask you what you were doing when Bao Yu fought in the sixth year of the war. Hold up your chest and speak out loud to your grandchildren. When Baoyou was fighting in the sixth year of the war, you followed Zhao Jiaren, the prisoner of Fujian Road, to kill the Mongols off the coast of Haizhou! After Zhao Jiaren finished speaking, he found that his subordinates were not as enthusiastic as they heard in the movie. He didn't care, anyway, he had already said what he should have said.

Zhao Jiaren gestured to the below, and when he saw the propaganda commissioner, he immediately roared angrily: "Kill!" ”

The response under "Kill ......" was not as neat and powerful as before, and some people were full of thoughts, and they remembered to follow and shout a second or two late.

"Kill!" The propaganda commissioner continued to roar.

"Kill!" All the crew shouted along. This time the effect is good,

"Kill!" The propaganda commissioner roared again.

"Kill!" The response of all the crew members was neat and powerful.

Zhao Jiaren shouted the last voice, "Get ready to fight!" He handed the microphone to his entourage. As if it was responding to the flagship, it didn't take long for the other three ships to faintly hear the common shout of 'kill'. This shout meant that the fleet was in combat condition.

The eight large ships of the Mongolian navy on the opposite side lined up in a row towards Zhao Jiaren's four ships, and several warships that followed Zhao Jiaren's fleet on the Lianghuai Road quickly left the battlefield according to the strategy formulated before the war.

Zhao Jiaren ordered, "Seize the upper hand and go around to the side of the Mongolian fleet." The flotilla of four ships of the fleet immediately obeyed the order. Zhao Jiaren concentrated on directing the battle, and the men who had some rudimentary knowledge of physics and geometry were already able to steer the rudder reasonably.

The order was well carried out, and as long as the Zhao flank was opposite the enemy's flank, it was able to make full use of the side guns to inflict ferocious damage on the enemy. The fleet made a beautiful arc and walked in a zigzag pattern, ready to seize the upper hand.

Unexpectedly, the Mongolian ships actually adopted the same tactics of seizing the upper hand. The Chinese hard sail is very easy to operate and can easily eat the eight-sided wind. Seeing that the Mongolian fleet had implemented the correct decision somewhat awkwardly, Zhao Jiaren couldn't help but praise: "Not bad! ”

In Zhao Jiaren's knowledge of the history of the Southern Song Dynasty, as well as the results of the war he learned in the Southern Song Dynasty. Although Mongolia is a northern regime, their naval army is not at all useless against the Southern Song Dynasty naval army. The response of the Mongolian sea ships this time shows that the training level of this Mongolian naval army is very high.

"Headmaster. What's next? Li Hongjun also saw the problem and hurriedly asked what to do next.

Zhao Jiaren said with a smile: "Since the Mongols are stronger than the Champa pirates, let's not use the experience of fighting pirates to fight the Mongols." They compete with us, and we will compete with them for a ride. ”

With the order, the Zhao family's fleet began to compete with the Mongolian fleet. After the two armies discovered each other in the morning, they began to chase each other vigorously. It was not until the evening that the two sides left. Until he couldn't see the other party's ship, Zhao Jiaren ordered the commanders of the four ships to come to the flagship.

"Headmaster. There were a few times when the Mongol ships were a little lonely, so why didn't we go around and fight? Liu Meng rushed to speak.

"How many people are there on our boat? If we can't give full play to our advantages in the early stage, when it comes to close combat, I'm afraid that our people will suffer. Zhao Jiaren answered this question.

The commanders could understand what Zhao Jiaren was worried about. The Zhao family's fleet came with four ships, two of which were new ships of more than 300 tons, and two ships of more than 100 tons. Compared to the Mongol naval army, the number of people on board this scale will inevitably suffer.

"But we're just going for a ride with the Mongolian ship?" Liu Meng asked unwillingly.

"What's so bad about going for a ride? It was much easier for us to operate the boat than the Mongols, and if the Mongols were willing to continue the ride with us, after a few days, they would probably be tired first. That's when we can easily win. Zhao Jiaren happily talked about the bright future.

"Can the Mongols really be so stupid?" Li Hongjun asked questions.

"You'll have to see it until you know." Zhao Jiaren said with a smile.

The next day, Zhao Jiaren's fleet reappeared with eight large Mongolian ships, and the two sides went around for another day.

On the third day, Zhao Jiaren's fleet reunited with eight large Mongolian ships, from morning to evening.

On the fourth day, Zhao Jiaren's fleet met again with the Mongolian fleet. This time the Mongol fleet was divided into two, each with four large ships. The flotillas on both sides were far apart, outflanked from both sides. It looks like they're going to try their hand at split-and-attack tactics.

The atmosphere on board changed. Four-on-four, the Zhao family fleet has the confidence to win. "Raise the flag and attack the Mongol fleet downwind!" Zhao Jiaren gave the order, although he wanted to use as calm a tone as possible, but the fierce beating heart made Zhao Jiaren's voice tremble a little. The displacement of the large ships of the Mongolian naval army was about five or six hundred tons. That's almost twice as much as the largest ships in Zhao's fleet and four times as large as the smaller ones. If the Mongols had hidden hundreds of melee troops on their ships......

There is such a huge disparity in volume, there is more than double the number difference. It is impossible for Zhao Jiaren not to be nervous. Nervous to nervous, captain Li Hongjun moved the steering wheel, raised the flagship, and took the lead to sail towards the Mongolian fleet downwind. The other three Zhao family ships also began to act in the same way without hesitation.

The Mongols saw Zhao Jiaren's movements. The flotilla in the downwind direction did not escape, but turned the bow of the ship to meet Zhao Jiaren. The upwind flotilla turned around and went straight to Zhao Jiaren's flotilla to chase after them. It can be seen that they want to make a front and rear attack to eliminate Zhao Jiaren's fleet.

"How long will it take for the enemy from behind to arrive?" Zhao Jiaren asked.

The observer observed for a while with a ranging device and gave the answer: "If there is no strong wind, it will take two hours." ”

Two hours. Even against the pirates, the battle barely ended in two hours. The Mongol naval army on the opposite side is probably more effective than the pirates.

Then, Zhao Jiaren made a painful decision. "Ordered the gunners to enter the shelling compartment. This time with a three-pound cannon against the Mongols! ”

This order made Zhao Jiaren's heart tremble. On the one hand, the disparity between the fleets of the two sides made Zhao Jiaren worry that the Mongol ships had a large number of melee troops in them. On the other hand, Zhao Jiaren regretted the great damage he would inflict on the enemy's ships. These large ships look very new, and Zhao Jiaren believes that they will soon be his own.

The flotilla was getting closer and closer, and the Mongolian ships were still moving side by side. Just when Zhao Jiaren thought that these Mongolian military ships might be trying to play a collision tactic, he finally saw them turn the bow of the ship and turn the direction of the ship's side to the oncoming Zhao Jiaren's fleet.

Many people around them let out a long sigh of relief, and it seemed as if a gust of wind had passed in the command position. The subordinates were so nervous, Zhao Jiaren simply held back the breath he was about to exhale. Waiting for this breath to be even, Zhao Jiaren ordered: "Engage the enemy on the side side!" ”

If he wasn't too poor, if he hadn't captured the big ship that could bring Zhao Jiaren, he would have adopted a T-shaped tactic early, so that the Mongolian ship would have been reduced to pieces under the bombardment of artillery. "People are poor and short-sighted!" Zhao Jiaren gave himself a sneer in his heart.

The two fleets, each consisting of four ships, had been facing each other, but now they had drawn an arc and began to march side by side. This is the most suitable position for the ship's long-range weapons to shoot, whether it is the Mongolian navy or the Zhao family's navy, they all entered the battlefield under the tacit understanding of the two sides with the confidence of victory.

The two ships gradually approached, and when the two sides were about 60 paces apart, the thick iron-tipped crossbow bolts were fired from the bed crossbows of the Mongol naval ships. The bolt didn't hit, it just fell into the sea, splashing a wave.

On the Xinchou day of April of the sixth year of Baoyou, the first official naval battle commanded by Zhao Jiaren finally began.