Bai Qi was the first general to take advantage of the terrain to engage in water warfare. He used the Sichuan Basin as a springboard, went down the Yangtze River basin, advanced by land and water, and pushed all the way from both sides of the Yangtze River, where Chu was unfortified, all the way to the ancestral land of Chu, forcing Chu to move its capital.

However, due to ideological limitations, Bai Qi's naval army is still mainly based on transportation, and he has not yet thought of using the naval army as the main force. Therefore, it was not easy for the army to act in the face of Yun Mengze, and Bai Qi stopped the offensive.

The current border between Qianzhong County and Chu State is basically bounded by Yunmengze.

Although Chu suffered this loss, he still didn't have the idea of using his brain on the navy. They simply placed defenders on both sides of the Yangtze River to observe the convoy of the Qin army transporting grain and troops.

The fleet that Li Mu is building now can really be called a complete naval army.

His warship not only added bed crossbows and trebuchets, but also changed the attack mode of the warship to a heavyweight long-range attack; The bow of a medium-sized warship was changed from a square head to a triangle, wrapped in iron sheets, and with the addition of ramming angles, the whole ship could be used directly as a weapon; The core warship is walled and enclosed, which can hide a large number of soldiers and horses, which improves the efficiency of transporting army troops......

According to Zhu Xiang's suggestion, the craftsmen invented the sails that appeared in the Han Dynasty in advance, which increased the speed of the ship; They also set up windows in the cabins for firing crossbows and trebuchets; Small boats loaded with flammable materials such as coal, oil, and gunpowder were also well arranged, and soldiers with good water skills drove small boats to local boats, ignited the boats, and dived into the water, which was more effective than rockets......

In all kinds of ways, Li Mu's navy not only has the appearance of the inland navy in later generations, but can even be used as the prototype of the ocean-going navy.

No one could have imagined that Li Mu, a landlubber who originally guarded the Great Wall in the north of Zhao and led the cavalry to fight in the arid grassland, actually formed the first independent inland naval army.

Of course, Chu Guo couldn't have imagined that the boat master could become such a very threatening appearance.

Unlike what the veterans thought, Li Mu did not wait for the civil strife in Chu.

When he learned that the king of Chu had sent someone to reprimand the great nobles, he immediately set off.

In order to guard against the king of Chu, the feudal lords of Chu closed the city gates. They would not be able to cooperate with the King of Chu to meet the Qin soldiers at the first time. Li Mu's boatman was flowing down extremely fast, and when they hesitated to inquire about the news, Li Mu was able to achieve his strategic goal.

At this time, Yuanjiang City and Yiyang City both belonged to Qianzhong County (Changsha County after the establishment of the Qin Dynasty), and Li Mu's workshop to build warships was directly on the shore of Dongting Lake, and the warships were launched in Dongting Lake.

Dongting Lake is not a good place at this time. There are many mosquitoes and snails on the lake, and epidemics are rampant; The cultivation technology of the Chu State was backward, and the viscous soil by the Dongting Lake was difficult to cultivate; Trees are overgrown with wild beasts, like a rainforest in later generations...... Therefore, when the Chu State expanded in the Spring and Autumn Period, the shore of Dongting Lake became a place where the descendants of the Annihilation Kingdom were exiled, and many vassal states were established in the area of Yueyang in later generations.

Bai Qi is to attack here and retreat.

Li Mu set out directly from Dongting Lake, drove the tall warship to the cities of many vassal states of Chu, and chose to attack the opponent's city wall with a thunderbolt cart throwing gunpowder canisters in the evening, and then sent envoys to say surrender.

When the sky is dark, the smoke and fire from the explosion of the powder canister are especially conspicuous. Witchcraft culture prevailed in Chu and Yue, and the vassal states of Chu were basically slavery or even semi-primitive tribal systems.

When Li Mu "summoned the heavenly thunder", the great witch beside the monarch cried and said that the Qin State had brought gods to help in the war, which frightened the monarch to hurry up and sacrifice the slaves with blood, and asked his own gods and ancestors to help him.

However, no gods came down to help them because of their blood sacrifices.

When the disciples of the Xuegong sent by Li Mu performed a spell for them with their bare hands, most of the vassal states of Chu immediately surrendered, and a small number of them tried to ask for help from Chu, but they were intercepted and killed by the cavalry that Li Mu had already transported ashore.

Li Mu didn't spend much time here.

He summoned the surrendered people and ordered them to attack the small city that was waiting for the aid of the Chu state, leaving only one building ship and two warships to supervise the battle, and the fleet continued to move forward.

Li Mu really didn't want to capture Chen Du. His goal was Eyi.

Eyi is the city of Ezhou in later generations, although it is now unremarkable, but it is the capital of Chu in the Spring and Autumn Period, and its political significance is extraordinary.

At the same time, Wuhan was not yet established at this time, and Hubei was the geostrategic location of Wuhan in later generations. After occupying Hubei, the two waterways for Qin to attack Chu, the confluence of the Yangtze River and the Han River, were occupied by Qin.

The Qin State could directly receive the supply of grain and grass from the two most important grain-producing areas in Guanzhong and Shu County in Eyi, and collect grain in Eyi. Although the state of Chu still has a large area of land and occupies Eyi, the state of Chu is almost equal to the door is wide open, and it is only a matter of time before it is encroached.

The state of Chu itself also knew the importance of Eyi, so it arranged heavy troops to guard it.

They built forts on both sides of the river to overlook the Yangtze River. The largest gate of Hubei was built near the water, and the land in front of it was narrow to prevent a large number of soldiers from landing and attacking.

Li Mu only brought 50,000 elite soldiers, and if he landed and fought, he would definitely be defeated by the defenders of Hubei who occupied a dominant geographical location, and he would not be able to form an army.

But Li Mu didn't think about landing.

One of the reasons why he chose Eyi was that one side of the city gate was the Water Gate, and warships could drive to the edge of the city wall.

Now that the spring water is surging, the building ship he drives is very tall, and the soldiers can directly use the building ship as a siege ladder.

When Qin Guozhou's division was mightily flowing down the river, the sentries in the fort tower quickly got the news.

But the speed of the Qin Guozhou division was faster than the speed at which they delivered the news, and they were still preparing the horses, and the Qin Guozhou division with sails had already arrived outside the city of Eyi.

The guards guarding the city were still dozing off, and when they were reminded that a strange ship was coming, they thought they were dreaming.

The Qin fleet did not raise the flag, but the generals at the city gate were still very keenly aware of the danger, and immediately ordered the city gate to be lowered, and sent people out of the city to meet the Qin soldiers who landed and grabbed the city gate.

Although I don't know what this oversized ship is, the only people who can make a fleet of this size are the Qin people.

It must be the Qin army calling!

During the Warring States period, there were many wars, and no general who guarded the main cities was a fool.

Li Mu did not rush to land on the beach and seize the city gate that was being closed as the city gate general imagined.

He took the time to stop the ship and show the flag of the Qin State and his own handsome flag.

The archers shot arrows at the Chu soldiers who were fighting to the death with the closed city gate on their backs, and the trebuchets and thunderbolts smashed towards the top of the city wall.

He even made himself a cup of weak tea and drank tea calmly listening to the shouting and killing outside.

Li Mu drank tea while calmly waiting for the time to come.

The boatmen of Eyi got the news and came to support.

But their ship's division was sunk far away by the escort warships around the ship with crossbow arrows wrapped in fire oil and thunderbolts that would cause explosions. The few small boats that escaped were directly hit by the pointed warships of the Qin State, and the soldiers responsible for scuttling the ships had already sunk before they could get off the boat.

The Chu State Boat Division, which surrounded the Qin State Boat Division from the downstream, was even more miserable. Qin Guozhou Division put down the fireboat that had been prepared a long time ago and went straight downstream, like a wall of fire, Chu Guozhou Division could only row desperately downstream to avoid being ignited by the fireboat.

There was a Chu State Boat Division that wanted to imitate the tactics of the Qin State Boat Division and set fire to the boat from the upstream. However, the Qin State Boat Division was able to sink the fireship far away with crossbow arrows and trebuchets. And when the Chu Guozhou division was secretly learning, the Qin Guozhou division sent small boats to form a line and became the front position of the big ship.

The boat division of the Chu State faced the boat division of the Qin State, like an infantry meeting a bronze chariot, and was quickly crushed by the other party, leaving only despair.

When the two countries of Qin and Chu were completely unequal in the battle of the boat divisions, the offensive on the city gate was even more intense.

The building boat was too close to the city wall, and the people on the building boat could see the heads of the people on the city wall swaying.

The general defending the city transferred all the defenders of several city gates to the walls of the water gate, and went crazy and shot the building ship with rockets.

But the rockets were so powerless in the face of the huge building ships that the mud-coated building ship fence blocked most of the rockets, and a small part of the fire was quickly extinguished.

The overcrowded city walls became a living target for crossbowmen and slingers. With each attack, they reap a large number of lives.

The defending generals are in a dilemma.

If he continues to pile up troops at the city gates, the rate of attrition of his soldiers is terrible; But if he ripped down the soldiers at the city gate, the towering ship would obviously not have the effect of only intimidating.

Such a tall building ship, so close to the city gate, no matter who sees it, knows that it must be able to use as a tool to climb the city gate.

"Whose flag is this 'Li' flag? When did a general surnamed Li appear in the Qin State?! The general defending the city said in despair.

Hearing this, the Eyi County Shouden was at the city gate, and said with a wry smile: "The Qin State originally didn't have it, but the Zhao State originally had it." That's Zhu Xianggong's friend, Li Mu of Yanmen County, who shocked the Huns! ”

"Li Mu, Li Mu ......" The general guarding the city read this name, his muddy mind gradually cleared up, he broke down and laughed, "Ha, King Zhao destroys Chu!" King Zhao destroys Chu!! ”

In the building ship, the soldiers reported that the ladder had been formed.

Li Mu put down the teacup with an indifferent expression.

"Go to the gates."

Chapter 93: Friends Celebrate Wine

The staircase stretched from the ship to the city wall, and the distance was desperately short.

The Qin soldiers were notorious, and many Chu soldiers were already frightened by the strange explosion. Seeing the Qin soldiers coming from the ladder, they turned around and ran away despite the hoarse reprimand of the generals who supervised the battle.

On the crowded city walls, a small poke of people began to flee, and the panic soon spread to the entire crowd.

The general tried to rebuild his morale, but no matter what he did, what he promised, or what he threatened, he could not stop the collapse of the Chu soldiers at the head of the city wall.

He drooped his shoulders in a dejected manner.

"General, run! Another gate has been opened, and we can escape! "They are coming by boat, there are not many cavalry, we can run!" ”

The general sighed, then clenched the sword in his hand and fought again.

In fact, although the Qin soldiers had already climbed the city wall. But if he fights in the streets, he may be able to keep Eyi. But he can't fight to kill all the soldiers he brought, so that even if he keeps Eyi, he will lose everything when he goes back to recover his life.

After the death of Wu Qi, the state of Chu, unlike the six states that actively reformed, still practiced the feudal system in most places, and the feudal monarch had great power. They have full administrative and military power in their own territory.

This is also one of the reasons why it was more difficult for Qin to fight Chu later. For other countries, the Qin army only needed to break its main force and capital; For the Chu State, the Qin army was equivalent to sweeping away many small princely states.

The state of Chu now holds the power of the court with the three aristocratic families of Zhao, Qu and Jing. Under the aristocratic family, there are feudal lords who are attached to them. The Eyi garrison is one of them.

Now the king of Chu and the three nobles of Zhao, Qu, and Jing are tense because of Li Mu's divisive plan, and the Eyi guards do not trust that the king of Chu will make up for his losses when he holds Eyi.

It is more likely that the king of Chu will take this opportunity to reclaim his power.

But if the loss of his own soldiers is not large, his family will keep him, and the king of Chu can't do anything with him.

After some hesitation, although the Eyi defenders were not angry, they also gave up their only chance to win and announced their retreat.

The Eyi county guard sighed and fled with him.

He found that Li Mu did not bring many Qin soldiers, and he might leave after defeating Eyi, which would not affect the hinterland of Chu, so even if he lost Eyi, it would be nothing.

Li Mu preferred to fight in person on the Xiongnu battlefield, but this time he only gave orders and did not leave the ship.

While the Qin soldiers were fighting on the city wall, Li Mu wandered around the empty teacups and thought about what to do after occupying Eyi.

The teacup is a porcelain cup that Zhu Xiang fired when he was bored.

Firing ceramics requires a higher temperature. When making iron, /,w.,,/ was already able to reach the temperature of firing ceramics with charcoal and coal, but no one had tried it. Zhu Xiang gave the craftsmen a research inspiration, and they quickly figured out how to make ceramics, and now they are looking for a more suitable formula.

Zhu Xiang said that the method of making ceramics was given to the old Qin king first, and he didn't know if the old Qin king would agree to let him stay in the south for a few more years.

Zhu Xiang really didn't like the oppressive atmosphere in Xianyang.

After laying down this vast and barren land in the mouths of others, but very fertile in Zhu Xiang's eyes, King Qin estimated that he could only leave Zhu Xiang here and plant for a few more years.

"General, the Chu people have opened the city gate and are fleeing, shall we chase them?" The adjutant asked.

Li Mu put down the teacup and said, "You lead a cavalry to pursue, and you will come back after chasing for a hundred miles." ”

The adjutant general ordered: "Only! ”

Li Mu gave an order to the other lieutenant general: "After they leave, close the city gates, repair the city defenses, replenish weapons, and prepare to defend the city." and give me commandments, and do not disturb the people. Prisoners can also be used as war merits, do not kill prisoners; And the reward for breaking the city, I don't need to plunder, I can find it for them. ”

Another lieutenant hurriedly said: "Obey!" ”

Before leaving, he hesitated, but still asked nervously: "General, can we hold Eyi with such a few people?" ”

Li Mu said: "Yes." ”

He didn't explain the reason, but the lieutenant general looked relieved and left with a smile.