Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 364: The Hu people should be frightened when hearing this

White sails dotted the river, and warships from Dongting Lake sailed out of the water fort, deployed in formation, and followed the flow of the river towards Wujiang County downstream.

"Your Majesty, they went downstream." Da Huaizhong bowed and said to Wanyan Liang who was sitting on the high platform.

"I understand." Wanyan Liang wrapped his fur robe around him, glanced at the river surface lightly, and then turned his gaze to the official documents on the table.

As an emperor ruling a country, Wanyan Liang's daily life was filled with fighting and killing, as well as endless meetings and documents, and he was never free for a moment.

He knew that the Song warships were targeting the Jin navy, but he didn't care too much.

How can one person accomplish everything? There will always be someone to share the burden. And how can one distinguish between the talented and the incompetent? Wanyan Liang had only one way.

The test of fire.

Now is the time to test Wanyan Zhengjia. If he can survive, he will be placed in even more dangerous places until he becomes a national talent.

By then, no matter he rules the world or governs a region, there will always be a place for him.

If the Wanyan Zheng family failed, then so be it. After all, the Jin Dynasty has the capital and can afford to lose.

After Wanyan Liang reviewed several documents with his red brush, he casually asked Da Huaizhong beside him, "Where is Su Qing now?"

"They set out only two hours ago, and they are signing troops, so they should have just passed Hezhou."

"That's less than half the distance." Wanyan Liang looked at the Dongting Lake navy going away. They were moving downstream so fast that in the blink of an eye, most of the ships had disappeared in the river.

"Well, Heza Meng'an will send a thousand men to the mouth of the Wujiang River to support the Zheng family." Wanyan Liang weighed the pros and cons, not knowing whether he was reluctant to leave his trusted general or the fleet, and finally sighed and said.

"Your Majesty!" Da Huaizhong wanted to stop him immediately.

After two of the three Heza Meng'ans were sent to assist Pushan Zhongyi, the military force was already stretched thin. Now another thousand people were sent out, which meant that the army most loyal to Wanyan Liang had only two thousand people.

However, this number was not enough to ensure that Wanyan Liang could escape safely from the army of tens of thousands.

Da Huaizhong's imaginary enemies are not just the Song army. He has to be on guard against Wanyan Yuanyi, Wanyan Alin, Tushan Zhen, and Han Tang!

"I've made up my mind. No need to say more." Wanyan Liang waved his hand to stop him. "You can't let me lead the troops to rescue the Zheng family myself, can you?"

Da Huaizhong swallowed the words of advice, stomped his feet angrily and walked down the platform.

Wanyan Liang ignored Da Huaizhong's rudeness and added two pieces of charcoal to the charcoal stove beside him.

The weather is getting colder.

Not to mention that Heza Meng'an's team of a thousand men opened the camp gate and rushed out to the north. No matter how fast they were, they could not cross the river faster than boats, and were destined to enter the battlefield only as support troops.

Fifty miles north of the river is Wujiang County, which is also the place where Xiang Yu committed suicide.

Wanyan Zhengjia was inspecting the Wujiang County wharf with a sword in his hand and sighed in his heart. This place was still too small. Ideally, he should have gone to the Hezhou City for the ferry.

Unfortunately, they were defeated, and the Song navy was too powerful. Su Baoheng was worried that the Song army would take advantage of the situation to block the ferry and burn the ships in Hezhou, so for safety reasons he had to retreat so far.

Wanyan Zhengjia is not an arrogant person. Having served as a general beside Su Baoheng for many years, Wanyan Zhengjia cannot be said to be cautious and treading on thin ice, but he has learned the word "prudent".

After Liang San'er and the others made some overt or covert suggestions, the Wanyan Zheng family quickly followed suit, assigning each commander to disperse their command in units of thirty ships. This was a gesture of panic, as if they were about to flee in panic, but it did help prevent the entire camp from being completely destroyed.

Unlike Ali Gua, the Wanyan Zheng family is, after all, a high-ranking noble family with strategic vision.

He understood very clearly that talent is the most important thing in war. As long as the Jin navy had ships in the Yangtze River, its existence itself was a huge threat to the Song Dynasty.

Su Baoheng has not returned yet, and Wanyan Zhengjia has done everything he can.

I don’t know whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, but as the Jin navy had expected, within two days, before everyone had had time to rest, the Song army’s fleet came charging towards them with murderous intent.

Faced with this situation, the Wanyan Zheng family acted decisively, immediately ordering the anchored ships to weigh anchor and set sail. Leading the charge was the Jin army's commander, Song Zhong. This unlucky general ultimately lived up to the "loyalty" in his name, leading his army upstream with his thirty sailboats to confront the fifty steamships led by Yang Qin.

Logically speaking, thirty ships against fifty ships cannot be said to be a huge disadvantage, but whether it is a disadvantage or not is not a simple calculation. It is like more than thirty Song soldiers forming a formation in the wild to fight against more than fifty Jin cavalry. No matter how you look at it, it is a death sentence.

The thirty Jin ships were unable to even reach the twenty Song ships in front, and sixteen of them were sunk, including Song Zhong's flagship. The greatest damage the Jin army inflicted on the Song was only damaging two of their ships, jamming their paddle wheels and making them difficult to control.

Less than two minutes after the battle began, Song Zhong, the commander of the Jin navy, was fed to the turtle.

The remaining dozen or so Jin army ships fled in all directions, and at this time the Song army, under the command of Li Dao, changed its strategy.

Although the sailors on the Jin army ship were not very good, the ship was really a good ship.

If a stubborn guy like Su Baoheng cannot tolerate any sand in his eyes when it comes to military discipline, then he cannot tolerate any sand in his eyes when it comes to shipbuilding.

Under his command, being cunning and treacherous, passing inferior goods off as good ones would be a death sentence. Under such heavy pressure, the quality of these ships can be imagined.

What a shame it would be to sink or burn such a good ship!
Grab it!

The Dongting Lake navy also had armored soldiers. Unlike the Jin navy, these Song soldiers were able to maintain their footing on the boats and even dared to board the boats after setting up a gangplank. They were not afraid of sinking to the bottom after falling into the water.

When armored soldiers fight against light sailors and soldiers, the battle can be described as a crushing victory.

Liu Huai also personally led twenty of his soldiers to participate in the battle. However, they were not as skilled and brave as the Dongting Lake sailors. They took off their armour and other hindrances and went into battle wearing only light armour.

After capturing several ships, Liu Huai suddenly realized that the Jin navy, under the arrangement of Wanyan Zhengjia, had no intention of fighting the Song army at all. During the period of time that Song Zhong desperately delayed, they retreated in units of thirty ships.

This was far beyond Li Dao and Liu Huai's expectations.

They figured that either the Jin army was completely defenseless and would be blocked by the Song fleet at the harbor and burned. Or, the Jin army was prepared but extremely cautious, preventing the Song fleet from approaching. In that case, Liu Huai would personally lead his death squad to infiltrate or forcibly kill, and try to burn the Jin army ships from land.

And if the Jin army is prepared and comes to fight, that would be perfect.

Li Daolin didn't select the elite troops to come for sightseeing. At worst, he would just eat them here!
What's the fear of using a small force to defeat a large one? Yue's army has fought battles with huge disparities in numbers before!

No matter how wide the river is, the width that can accommodate ships' normal navigation is limited. Taking into account the influence of hydrological undercurrents and the need to prevent it from affecting comrades, the total number of ships on both sides engaging in the battle at the same time can be no more than 60.

Even if he has a million-strong army, he can only attack them one by one.

The Song army's great advantage was that they were located upstream. As long as they defeated the first wave of Jin troops, they could launch fireboats. The current of the river would naturally carry the fireboats downstream. Once the Jin army formed a network of camps, even gods would be unable to save them.

But what no one expected was that the Wanyan Zheng family had fully grasped Li Zhongtang's strategy of avoiding battle and protecting ships, and actually escaped.

Don’t you Jin army have military law?

Of course, the Jin army has military law, and Wanyan Zhengjia also knows that he will definitely be punished this time, but no matter what, it is better than giving away all the ships.

The disparity in combat power was too great; Song Zhong's thirty ships couldn't hold out for even half an hour. Even if the Wanyan Zheng family fought tooth and nail, they would ultimately be defeated.

Last time, Su Baoheng couldn't defeat the enemy even when he was in command, let alone the Wanyan Zheng family.

By then, the Jin army would have no military force on the river, let alone crossing the river, and Wanyan Liang's situation would become very dangerous.

Wanyan Zhengjia understood the feelings of the Song army's ground forces. The Jin army often defeated two or three hundred Song soldiers with only forty or fifty cavalry, chasing them on land until they had no way out. Now that the positions were reversed, the humiliation of being inferior to the enemy in every way was almost overwhelming.

Seeing that the Song army had begun to land in Wujiang Town, Wanyan Zhengjia could only turn around with hatred and head north to find the next port.

He was not worried that the Song army would occupy Wujiang County. The Jin army's military strength on the west bank of the Yangtze River was no joke. The Song army was invincible on the river, but once they reached the shore they would basically be committing suicide.

Do you really think that the elite cavalry and infantry of the Jin Dynasty are vegetarians?

This is indeed the case. When the Song army set foot in Wujiang County, a thousand Heza Meng'an were less than thirty miles away.

(End of this chapter)