Rebirth at the turn of the Zhou and Sui dynasties

Chapter 605 Succession to Lead the Navy
Different from the previous attacks on the camp that only focused on setting fires, in this attack on the Sui army's water stronghold, the Yan army was obviously more concerned about the ships parked in the water stronghold.

If this battle allows the Jiangling navy to escape, even if they occupy the water stronghold in front of them, it will be a complete failure for the Yan army.

The Yan army, led by Yu Juluo and Xu Shiji, entered from the west gate. Yu Juluo and Xu Shiji divided their labor again amid the chaos.

Yu Juluo led the cavalry generals and led cavalrymen to continue rushing left and right in the water stronghold, creating chaos and preventing the Sui army from gathering and forming a defensive formation.

Xu Shiji led infantry to intercept the Jiangling navy and refused to let them return to the ship.

Zhou Fashang and Xu Shiji met on a narrow road.

As the saying goes, when you meet on a narrow road, the brave wins.

The frightened Jiangling navy was routed by the high-morale elite infantry of the Yan army led by Xu Shiji, and only a small number of people escaped onto the ships.

"Open the water door quickly! Open the water door!"

On the ship, Zhou Fashang shouted at the top of his lungs.

The water gate slowly opened, and Zhou Fashang led more than ten warships to rush out. However, the Nanyang navy of the Yan Dynasty killed a carbine and had already rushed to the battlefield.

It was another bloody battle. Of the more than ten warships of the Jiangling Navy who escaped from the water village, only three warships escaped from the pursuers, fled Dongchi Lake, and fled westward to Jiangling via Yangshui.

Everyone on the Yan Army ship cheered thunderously. In the past, in the battle with the Jiangling Navy, they had no backhand power, but they were also at an absolute disadvantage. Otherwise, the Sui Army would not believe that Cui Che was really preparing to retreat.

Nowadays, only three warships of the huge Jiangling naval force are left and they flee back to Jiangling in dejection, like lost dogs. How can this not make the Yan Dynasty naval officers feel bad.

Li Xiaogong saw that he could no longer catch up with the three fast ships, so he gave up the chase. He looked at the water stronghold and saw that all the remaining Sui warships were enveloped in a sea of ​​fire. He was so distressed that he almost bled.

In the construction of ships, applying tung oil is an essential part.

There was no welding technology in ancient times. Warships were spliced ​​together with wood. During the completely manual processing process, there would inevitably be gaps between the wood pieces that would seep through water.

In order to prevent the hull from leaking, there are two processes. The first step is to fill the gaps, and the second step is to repeatedly apply tung oil on the dried and spliced ​​hull.

After the tung oil penetrates into the wood, the volume of the wood block will expand slightly, which will compress the gaps.

But there is also a problem with this approach. The ignition point of tung oil is not low, about degrees. Once the raging fire exceeding degrees ignites the tung oil applied on the hull, the fire will be out of control.

This is why Zhou Yu and Huang Gai were able to set off a huge fire in Chibi with only a dozen fire ships.

It was not that Xu Shiji was unwilling to save the warships that were set on fire by Zhou Fashang's order, but that the fire was too intense and he could not control it at all.

Although this battle still failed to capture the ships of the Jiangling Navy, the difference was that Xu Shiji and Yu Juluo captured a large number of Jiangling Navy ships, tens of thousands of them.

This is undoubtedly a happy event. The ship is destroyed and can be rebuilt.

The Yan Dynasty, which had mastered the method of manufacturing five-tooth warships, did not differ much from the Sui Dynasty in its shipbuilding technology.

The key to distinguishing the strength of the two sides' combat effectiveness lies in the naval officers themselves.

No matter how hard Cui Che trains, the navy soldiers recruited from the north are simply not as good as these southerners who have lived in the Yangtze River Basin since childhood.

Now more than 1 Jiangling navy have been captured. With a little appeasement, kindness and dispatch of ships for them, they can become the fourth major navy of the Yan army after Qingzhou navy, Xuzhou navy and Nanyang navy. military.

The Sui Dynasty in the south lost these more than 1 navy troops who were proficient in naval warfare. It was not painful for Yang Guang.The Wu people were good at boating, and the Sui Dynasty could replenish their navy at any time.

But Cui Che's gain of more than 1 prisoners was no less than the gain of capturing a state or a county.

This is exactly what happened. Cui Che received victory from Yu Juluo, Xu Shiji, Li Xiaogong and others, and learned that Jiangling Navy suffered heavy losses and only escaped with three warships. It completely lost its ability to compete with Nanyang Navy in Yangshui. Already overjoyed.

When he heard that Xu Shiji had captured tens of thousands of Jiangling Navy troops, Cui Che was so happy that he danced in front of King Cui Youzhi of Wei, completely lacking the calm image of the past.

Cui Youzhi can also understand his grandfather's excitement. These days, he has witnessed how the Nanyang Navy was beaten by the Jiangling Navy.

Just when he thought the southern navy was invincible, he didn't expect the situation to take a shocking reversal.

Cui Che has given orders to return to the camp. The night attack on the water camp is over, the play is over, and it's time to go back and rest.

Also shocked by the reversal of the situation between the two sides were Zhang Heng, Murong Sanzang and Yuwen Shiji.

Yu Wenshiji had no idea that the Jiangling navy would be defeated so miserably, with only three clippers and hundreds of soldiers escaping.

Zhou Fashang burst into tears when he came back disgraced. He escaped, but this humiliation made him rather die in the water village.

Zhang Heng was not in the mood to scold Zhou Fashang anymore and hurriedly sent him to Jiankang to be judged by the court.

After Zhou Fashang was sent away, Zhang Heng sighed to Murong Sanzang and Yu Wenshiji with lingering fear:

"Thanks to you two for your dissuasion, otherwise if I had listened to Zhou Fa Shang's words and sent troops to attack Cui Che's return route, I would have been in trouble."

After learning that Cui Che was just pretending to retreat, Zhou Fashang suggested that Cui Che attack Changlin, which would undoubtedly lead to his own destruction.

At this time, Zhang Heng had no time to investigate why the Yan army was able to bypass the Sui army's sentry post at night, accurately find the weak spots in the water stronghold's defense, and at the same time, as if someone was guiding the way, prevent Zhou Fashang's navy from boarding the ship.

He said with a sad face:

"Now that the water stronghold has been attacked and Zhou Fashang was defeated, the Jiangling navy has only three warships left and cannot compete with the Yan army for supremacy in Yangshui.

"Once the Yan army comes to besiege the city and the waterway is blocked by its navy, it will be difficult to transport supplies to Jiangling. What should we do?"

Murong Sanzang also frowned when he heard this, while Yu Wenshiji, who was the internal response, suppressed the joy in his heart and suggested:
“The Jiangling Navy only has a few hundred people, which is difficult to use, but there are still more than Xiangyang Navy in the city.

“Since there are no extra ships in Jiangling for them to use to play their role, it is better to send them to Badong County.

“Back then, the Duke of Yue (Yang Su) built warships here. There were shipyards in the area, there was no shortage of craftsmen, and there was abundant wood storage. Given time, we would be able to build a powerful naval force.

"For now, we can also mobilize some Shu ships to go west, and let the Xiangyang navy control the ships. We can also fight with the Yan army in Yangshui to break the siege on the Jiangling water surface."

Zhang Heng and Murong Sanzang looked at each other after hearing this, and each saw a look of surprise in each other's eyes.

"Yu Wen joined the army and thought, who should command the Xiangyang navy to go to Badong County?"

After Zhang Xutuo was transferred to Jiujiang Governor and Zhou Fashang was escorted to Jiankang, the only people qualified to command the Xiangyang navy were Zhang Heng, Murong Sanzang, Yu Wenshi and three others.

Yu Wenshiji did his duty and said seriously:
"If Chang Shi will not give up, I will be willing to share the worries of Chang Shi."

　no more today
　　
　
(End of this chapter)