The Battle of Huang Tiandang Special

In October of the third year of Jianyan in the Southern Song Dynasty (1129), the Jin army went south for the third time and penetrated deep into the Yangtze River region, broke through Jiankang, and approached Lin'an. ●⌒ In the top novel, Song Gaozu Zhao Gounan fled to Mingzhou (now Ningbo). In the first month of the second year, the Jin army attacked Mingzhou, and Zhao Gou fled to Wenzhou by boat, and the Jin army chased after him. Fortunately, Zhang Gongyu, the general of the Southern Song Dynasty naval army, led his troops to block the attack in the sea near Taizhou, so that Gaozong was spared. At this time, the soldiers and civilians from all over the south of the Yangtze River gathered everywhere in the cottages and water villages to attack the Jin army, making it threatened everywhere. After a large number of raids, in February, he was forced to retreat north.

The Song and Zhejiang Western systems made Han Shizhong expect that the Jin army could not stay in the south of the Yangtze River for a long time, so he built a large number of warships and prepared to intercept the Jin army on the way home. For this reason, the former army was ordered to be stationed in Qinglong Town (now Qingpu North, Shanghai), the Chinese army was stationed in Jiangwan, and the rear army was stationed in Haikou, and the Jin army was later heard that the Jin army had retreated from Lin'an to Zhenjiang through Wujiang (now Wujiang, Jiangsu) and Pingjiang, and Han Shizhong hurriedly led 8,000 sailors to Zhenjiang on March 15 to intercept the Jin army between Jiaoshan and Jinshan. Wanyan Zongbi went to Zhenjiang Jinshan Longwang Temple at night to reconnoitre, and was captured by Han Shizhong's ambush soldiers. After that, the two sides fought fiercely on the Yangtze River, and Han Shizhong's wife Liang personally beat the drums and cheered, which greatly boosted morale and severely defeated the Jin army. Wanyan Zongbi was willing to return all the looted property to the north under the pretense of returning to the north, but Han Shizhong sternly refused. The Jin army traced the river, Han Shizhong also led the army to pursue along the river, and fought and marched, forcing the Jin army into the dead port Huang Tiandang, there was no way to advance or retreat, Jin ordered the prison army to send troops to rescue Yan Chang, but was also blocked by Han Shizhong.

Under the resistance of the Song army, the Jin army entered the Huang Tiandang (Zhenjiang west to Yizheng south) where the river was obliterated, and there was no way to advance, and the retreat was blocked, as long as 40 days, and the situation was difficult. Retreated to Jiankang (present-day Nanjing), but was again blocked by Yue Fei. Zong Bi originally planned to cross the river from Longwan (now southwest of Bailu Prefecture) to Huaixi, but later heard that Taiyi led reinforcements to Zhenzhou (now Yizheng) to respond, but turned back to Huang Tiandang, and decided to cross the river from then on and join Taiyi. Han Shizhong's army is still waiting in the river to block the attack. As a result, the Taiyi Army was stationed on the north bank of the Yangtze River, the Zongbi Army was stationed on the south bank of the Yangtze River, and Han Shizhong was anchored at the foot of Jinshan, forming a confrontation.

Han Shizhong's navy is a multi-sea ship, with a tall body, good stability and strong attack power. In order to take advantage of this advantage, Han Shizhong ordered craftsmen to make many large iron hooks connected by iron chains, and selected sturdy sailors to practice using them to deal with the small warships of the Jin army. In the early morning of 12 April, the Jin Shui Army launched the first attack, and Han Shizhong's Naval Army met the enemy in two directions, trapping the enemy in a situation of being attacked in the back and abdomen. The warships of the Southern Song Dynasty sailed in the wind, flying back and forth, condescendingly hooked the side of the enemy ship with a big hook, and dragged hard, and the enemy ship capsized. Once again, the Song army won.

In order to find a plan to break the enemy, the Jin army finished Yan Zongbi and recruited talents. A Fujianese surnamed Wang suggested that the warship should be loaded with earth, laid wooden planks on it, and placed oars in holes on both sides, and when there was no wind, they could use rockets to shoot the sails of the Song ship. The ship is loaded with soil, which can increase the stability of the ship and is not easy to capsize. Lay out the planks so that the other party has nowhere to take the bait. Attacking when there is no wind can not only avoid the weakness of the small boat that it is not resistant to wind waves, but also give full play to the advantages of the small boat's mobility and flexibility. Zong Bi took this suggestion.

On April 25, the weather was clear and there was no wind on the river. Zong Bi ordered the boat to attack, and Han Shizhong faced Jiang Xin. The Jin army boat is small, rowing hard and maneuvering quickly. The Song boat was bulky and difficult to move without wind. Zongbi ordered the good shooters to shoot their sails with rockets in small boats. Suddenly, the Song array of smoke and flames covered the sky, the river was on fire, countless people were burned to death and drowned, and the Song army was defeated. Han Shizhong fled back to Zhenjiang alone, and the Jin army was able to cross the river and return north.

In this battle, Han Shizhong correctly judged the enemy's situation, first occupied the advantageous terrain, relied on the natural danger of the Yangtze River, gave full play to the strength of the water battle, and prevented the Jin army from crossing the river for 40 days. Wanyan Zongbi used troops according to the situation, reformed the boat in a timely manner, and used fire to attack, and finally broke through and retreated north.

The battle of Huang Tiandang, several wins and one defeat. Among the anti-Jin generals in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, Han Shizhong's "loyalty and bravery" was unparalleled and was praised by the Han people of the Southern Song Dynasty. Zhang Jun said: "Among the generals, Han Shizhong is especially known as loyal and brave, and Yue Fei is a sinking eagle, which can be relied on for big things." Huang Tiandang's battle brought Han Shizhong a great reputation, "Knowing that there are people in the country, the world recites them." At the same time, Liang Hongyu personally beat the drum to cheer, and its reputation has been passed down through the ages and praised by the world. It is also rumored to be a good story at that time.

Different historical books have different descriptions of the Battle of Huang Tiandang, but both the History of the Song Dynasty and the History of the Jin Dynasty are suspected of exaggeration.

The "History of the Song Dynasty" says that the two armies held each other for 48 days, while the "History of Jin" says that it was 30 days.

"History of the Song Dynasty" said that the Jin soldiers were claimed to be 100,000, and the Song soldiers were 8,000. And the Jin army on the "Golden History" is only 4,000. The figures in both history books are certainly inaccurate. As for what the real battle of Huang Tiandang was like, only those who participated at that time knew.

|(To be continued......)