I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 125 Chasing Song Jiang All the Way to Goryeo - Part 2

Several days later, in late October of the third year of Xuanhe.

Ever since Song Jiang was terrified by the government cavalry and abandoned the combined land and water retreat, opting instead for a full sea retreat, Zhao Zicheng had been putting continuous pressure on Song Jiang for three days, keeping the Liangshan army constantly exhausted and unable to rest.

Song Jiang was pursued all the way east. When he passed through Yexian, the seat of Laizhou Prefecture, he did not dare to stop at all, nor did he dare to hope to enter the port to plunder supplies. He simply passed through the gate without entering and continued to flee eastward toward Dengzhou and Shamen Island.

In contrast, Zhao Zicheng took a full day to rest when he passed through Yexian County.

Because his boat was faster and more seaworthy, he didn't need to exert himself at all to catch up with Song Jiang. Even at seven or eight tenths of his speed, he could catch up.

In contrast, Zhao Zicheng's biggest concern was not speed, but combat strength. The number of naval troops he could previously command was far smaller than Song Jiang's Liangshan army.

The Liangshan army still has more than 20,000 men. Zhao Zicheng is lucky if he can spare three or four thousand naval troops, half of whom are the Pinghai Army from Dengzhou brought by Huyan Qing.

Therefore, Zhao Zicheng was not in a hurry to fight a decisive battle. He only wanted to exhaust and wear down Song Jiang while slowly accumulating his own strength. After the balance of power shifted, he would choose an opportunity to strike a fatal blow.

When passing through Yexian, Zhao Zicheng took advantage of the day of rest to replenish his troops—he had sent word in advance that Xu Ning should also lead the Laizhou infantry to assemble in Yexian. When the fleet passed by, they would pick up Xu Ning's army and merge them together.

In this way, only Guan Sheng, Yue Fei, and Hu Yanzhuo's cavalry remained on the shore to patrol the Dengzhou-Laizhou coast, preventing Song Jiang from resorting to any more tricks or trying to find an empty spot to land and plunder.

Meanwhile, the main infantry force on land joined forces with the navy to strengthen their naval combat capabilities. After the combined forces were assembled, Zhao Zicheng, whose total naval strength exceeded five thousand men, set sail again to continue pursuing Song Jiang.

Xu Ning also led his team onto the ship when it docked in Yexian. Although Xu Ning was not good at naval warfare, his martial arts skills were undeniable. Once on board, he could serve as a "Marine Corps" commander, responsible for boarding operations or future amphibious landings.

After regrouping and strengthening their forces, as they set sail again, Hu Yanqing finally seized an opportunity to ask Zhao Zicheng how he planned to fight the next battle.

"May I ask you, Your Excellency, are we to keep chasing Song Jiang until he is completely exhausted, and then seek an opportunity for a decisive battle? There must be a clear answer as to when we can fight, when we cannot fight, and why we should fight. Otherwise, if we keep chasing him, the soldiers will be uncertain, and that is not a good solution."

Zhao Zicheng might keep it from others, but he and Hu Yanqing had already thoroughly discussed things before.

Zhao Zicheng also hinted to Hu Yanqing that he had considered sending Song Jiang to Goryeo, letting Song Jiang fight with the Goryeo people, and incidentally leaving his side with an excuse to continue sending troops in the future.

So at this point, Zhao Zicheng completely revealed his newly perfected and supplemented plan:

"Do you have any guides in Dengzhou who know the sea route to Goryeo? Is there any way to arrange a few for Song Jiang? I'm afraid Song Jiang himself doesn't think of a way to escape to Goryeo. Perhaps he needs someone to inspire him. Arrange for him to be a local hero or outlaw in Dengzhou, or a merchant or fisherman who is oppressed by the government. In short, find a way to teach Song Jiang the methods."

Hu Yanqing thought for a moment and said, "This is easy to handle. I will take care of it myself. But is there anything else we need to prepare?"

Zhao Zi said, "You don't need to worry about the rest. I've observed him these past few days, and Song Jiang is ultimately a tired horse that's reluctant to leave its stable. He's unlikely to have any long-term plans. So, to force him to go to sea, we must make him realize an even greater crisis."

Moreover, I saw that the fleet he acquired in Qingzhou was simply not enough to transport everyone across the sea. He only had a few dozen large ships in Qingzhou, and even including other smaller ships that could cross the Yellow Sea, the total number was no more than a hundred. How could that possibly transport more than 20,000 people?
There were at least several thousand soldiers traveling in small inland fishing boats on the Ji River. While it was possible for such boats to travel along the Dengzhou-Laizhou coastline, it was a pipe dream to sail eastward from the tip of the Dengzhou Peninsula across the Yellow Sea.

If Song Jiang were to keep this burden, firstly, it would make him less afraid of us, and secondly, it would cause him to abandon this part of the brothers and flee far away instead of making a decision. Just like before Qin Ming and Huang Xin were defeated, didn't Song Jiang also hesitate to abandon his warhorses and refuse to retreat by water with the whole army? It was because he knew that he couldn't transport so many warhorses and supplies by boat.

Therefore, we should lighten Song Jiang's load further, help him pack up his small boat, and cut off his escape route.

Hu Yanqing thought it made perfect sense and that this was indeed the right thing to do. But a new problem arose.

"But when our army attacked, we couldn't just target Song Jiang's small boats. His rearguard fleet was also made up of boats of varying sizes."

Zhao Zicheng thought for a moment and said, "I do have a way to do this. In the next few days, think of a way to spread the word that our large ships are not afraid of engaging the Liangshan army in close combat or exchanging fire at sea."

Meanwhile, some spies could be disguised as boatmen from Dengzhou. If Song Jiang lands in Dengzhou seeking a weak spot for supplies, these spies posing as boatmen could defect to him, claiming that the Pinghai Army is strictly managed, exploiting and abusing its boatmen, and that the warships built by the Pinghai Army are poorly constructed, using inferior materials and appearing imposing and capable of ramming and shooting, but in reality… In short, let's think of a way to entice Song Jiang to send small boats of water monsters to sabotage his ships in a counterattack.”

Hu Yanqing sorted out his thoughts and felt that this was still achievable, but what would happen after luring the enemy in?

Hu Yanqing: "But what if our army spreads this false information and manages to deceive Song Jiang, and Song Jiang sends water ghosts to sabotage the boat? At most, we will return empty-handed, and we still won't be able to inflict heavy damage on a part of the Liangshan army."

Zhao Zi said, "You don't need to worry about that. When I was escorting the tribute of flowers and stones two and a half years ago, I thought of a plan to prevent the boat-diggers. Moreover, as long as Song Jiang sends people to dredge the boats, he will definitely not concentrate the large ships to do this. He will definitely use small boats to transport the sailors. In this way, it will be easier for our army to concentrate on dealing with Song Jiang's small boats first."

Hu Yanqing then stopped asking questions and focused on carrying out the preparations according to plan.

……

In the following days, Zhao Zicheng and Hu Yanqing made some moves.

Song Jiang fought and fled, moving eastward in escape. He was unfamiliar with navigation and completely unable to grasp the details of naval warfare. Wu Jialiang, though possessing some strategic acumen, was equally helpless in situations beyond his capabilities.

Ultimately, it's no wonder that Song Jiang was gradually forced into an unfamiliar environment, eventually falling into a downward spiral.

Finally, Hu Yanqing's elaborate scheme worked.

Song Jiang was unwilling to slowly succumb to death like this, so he finally made up his mind to have the Ruan brothers lead a detachment and an ambush team consisting of a large number of small boats and boat-drilling water ghosts to ambush on the east side of Shamen Island when the voyage passed through the waters of Shamen Island.

Then, the main force timed its passage carefully, crossing the strait between Shamen Island and Penglai County in Laizhou at dusk. By the time Zhao Zicheng and Hu Yanqing's government troops and naval forces caught up, it would be almost dark, and visibility and field of vision would be greatly limited.

At that time, whether we use small boats to launch a fire attack or take the opportunity to sneak close and dive to sabotage the ship, we will still have a fighting chance.

The strait between Shamen Island and Penglai County is only about ten li (approximately 5 kilometers) at its narrowest point. Penglai County is to the south, and Shamen Island is to the north. Small fleets hiding on the eastern side of the island would be completely blocked by the island itself, making them undetectable to pursuers coming from the west. Because the strait is narrow enough, it also allows attack fleets to approach quickly.

There are also thousands of exiled prisoners on the island, all of whom are the most vicious criminals in the entire Song Dynasty.

During the Song Dynasty, the most severe and cruel form of exile was to Shamen Island. During the reign of Emperor Renzong, a census of prisoner survival rates was conducted every ten years. The court allocated 300 people to Shamen Island annually, meaning a total of 3,000 people should have been sent over a ten-year cycle. However, the final count revealed only 180 survivors, a mere 6% survival rate; the remaining 94% perished.

The island is a lawless place where people kill each other indiscriminately to fight for the limited resources, food, and water. It's basically a battle royale island.

Song Jiang and Wu Jialiang made arrangements according to plan, and by evening, everything had indeed gone as planned.

As expected, Zhao Zicheng and Hu Yanqing's large fleet caught up with the government troops to the Strait of Shamen Island. As darkness fell, the small fleet led by the Ruan brothers also approached the government forces in the dark.

To be on the safe side, the Nguyen brothers' small fleet was divided into groups, with some choosing to launch a pincer attack and set fires, and loading their boats with firewood and other supplies beforehand.

Another group chose to approach in advance, then dive and lie in ambush in the channel through which the government warships passed, preparing to scuttle the ships. In sea warfare, if the battlefield were to change even slightly, it would be impossible to lie in ambush in the enemy's channel in advance and then scuttle the ships, because the sea is vast and the channel is impossible to predict. Moreover, the water is so deep that diving and lying in ambush in the sea would be certain death. Even if the scuttling was successful, they would not have the strength to swim back to shore.

However, the Shamen Island Strait is a very shallow area. This area later became the Miaodao Islands, and the seabed topography naturally rises to form an island chain. Even in places without islands, the water is extremely shallow. Moreover, due to the narrow seabed topography, fleets only have a very small width to choose as a navigation channel when passing through the strait. If they deviate even slightly to the sides, they are likely to run aground on reefs.

In any case, the Liangshan army took a gamble here, going all out.

Unfortunately, all of this still had no effect.

Zhao Zicheng said that before the battle, he had installed some trawl nets on the ships that were participating in the pursuit today, which could be temporarily set up and then temporarily taken down.

Shaped similar to the anti-torpedo nets of later warships, it could be supported on both sides of the ship by a large number of struts, extending several feet or even more than ten feet beyond the hull.

If a fire ship were to ram into it, it could be held back immediately. Even if it couldn't hold back, it could greatly cushion the impact of the fire and significantly reduce its arson effect. Moreover, as long as it could hold out for a while, the soldiers on board could arrive in time and use weapons such as wolf-tooth rakes, spears, or double-hooked spears/cross-shaped spears to hold back the fire ship.

Zhao Zicheng had previously trained in the Mandarin Duck Formation during his campaigns in Jiangnan, and had prepared a considerable number of wolf-tooth spears for mountain warfare against Fang La.

After arriving in the north, the lack of mountain warfare environment rendered the classic Mandarin Duck Formation useless. Wolf-brush wielders had to be replaced by hook-and-sickle spearmen/double-hook spearmen for breaking cavalry, leaving a large surplus of wolf-brush wielders with nowhere to go.

Zhao Zicheng then made use of the waste materials and brought a batch of them for naval warfare, just like Li Guangbi used long bamboo poles to prop up fire ships to prevent fire attacks during the An Lushan Rebellion.

The "anti-torpedo net" that Zhao Zicheng made was obviously not an ordinary fishing net, but a drift trawl net, with various cheap thorns and caltrops wrapped around the nodes of the net.

There's no need to go into details. Two and a half years ago, during the Battle of Zhenjiang, he fought against the Hai Sha Gang and Ju Jing Gang bandits led by Shi Sheng and Lu Xing'er. When protecting the Hua Shi Gang, he used this item to kill a group of underwater boat-diving bandits.

Therefore, Zhao Zicheng's men were experienced in using these things. Especially this time, when he led the navy into battle, there was a group of veterans in the army, who were the Murong family retainers who had followed Zhao Zicheng in the Battle of Zhenjiang.

Song Jiang's Liangshan army, being Shandong bandits, were naturally at a disadvantage when it came to swimming skills against the naval forces from Jiangnan. Despite the portrayal of the Ruan brothers as exceptional swimmers in *Water Margin*, their strength lay primarily in their familiarity with the geography of Liangshan. Once they left the marshland and entered a different hydrological environment, or even the sea, their abilities would be significantly diminished.

On the other hand, naval commanders like Zhang Shun, being from the Jianghuai region, were still able to make a difference even in naval warfare, demonstrating strong adaptability to different terrains.

At this moment, after a fierce but predictable battle, the Nguyen brothers suffered heavy losses and setbacks.

A bunch of small arson boats were all caught in the buffer net of the "anti-torpedo net" and then pushed apart by a large number of wolf-tooth rakes, so they did not manage to collide with the government army's large sand ships.

Some of the boat-scraping squads perished under the barbed wire trawls, their bodies pierced by barbed wire and covered in blood. Those who still tried to cut through the trawls in resistance were dragged back by the fishing nets and stabbed to death.

After such a one-sided massacre, the small Liangshan army fleet responsible for covering the rear and launching a surprise attack finally collapsed under the strain.

Many sailors lost morale and surrendered to the government troops.

……

"Brother! The Ruan brothers are finished! We've lost several thousand more men!"

"The government troops' momentum is unstoppable! The only option now is to run!"

"But where can we run to?"

Hearing that the rear guard had once again suffered a devastating defeat against the navy, and that their fate was similar to that of the cavalry, Song Jiang was utterly drained of energy and could only slump helplessly on the deck of the warship.

Wu Jialiang had no choice but to advise him to continue his escape to the easternmost part of Dengzhou, to take it one step at a time, to collect supplies and resupply, to capture people to replenish his manpower, and to find a guide.

After we round the easternmost tip of the Shandong Peninsula, we'll consider whether to head south or what the next step will be.

But Wu Jialiang also knew that heading south might not lead to survival, as the government army's navy was simply too strong.

Song Jiang could only take it one step at a time, and in the end he did replenish his supplies near Dengzhou, capturing some local fishermen and using them as guides.

Finally, with the guidance of local guides in Dengzhou who sympathized with Song Jiang, Song Jiang made up his mind to cross three hundred li eastward and flee to Goryeo!
Don't overestimate the distance from the tip of the Shandong Peninsula to Goryeo; it's only about 300 li (150 kilometers).

If you don't have a good grasp of the distance of 300 li, you can calculate it like this: from Penglai County at the northernmost tip of the Shandong Peninsula, and Shamen Island on the opposite shore of Penglai County, sailing along the coast to Wendeng County of Dengzhou at the easternmost tip of the peninsula, and later Weihaiwei, it is roughly 300 li.

Therefore, to sail to the Korean Peninsula, the distance is equivalent to that from Penglai to Weihai. As long as one has the courage to sail directly east and avoids storms, it is still possible.

Although Song Jiang had never sailed across the sea, he was relentlessly pursued by Zhao Zicheng and suffered repeated defeats, leaving him no choice but to take a desperate gamble.

After overcoming numerous hardships and dangers, Song Jiang and his group lost or scattered about 20% of their warships and manpower along the way. When they finally landed on Ongjin Peninsula in Goryeo, their numbers had dwindled to less than 15,000 and their total number of ships had dwindled to less than 100.

After confirming that Song Jiang had fled to Goryeo, Zhao Zicheng gave up the idea of ​​immediately pursuing him.

He knew there was no need to push too hard at this point, because the King of Goryeo would definitely clash with Song Jiang. Zhao Zicheng argued that there was no reason for him to join forces with the Goryeo people to kill Han Chinese, so it was better to let Song Jiang act freely and cause the King of Goryeo some trouble first.

Zhao Zicheng's next step was to figure out how to conspire with Hu Yanqing, the "deputy envoy sent to Jin for the maritime alliance."
On the one hand, it was reported that Song Jiang had been basically eliminated, and perhaps only a few scattered "remnants of Liangshan pirates" remained, entrenched on some coastal islands, including Shamen Island. It would take some time to completely eliminate them, but they would definitely no longer pose a significant threat to the imperial court.

On the other hand, they also needed to seize an opportunity to secretly report to the court that Goryeo had broken the Song-Jin alliance, used its navy to cut off the sea route, and secretly colluded with the Liao.

The whole process might take several months to work out, and there certainly won't be any results by the winter of the third year of Xuanhe.

Taking advantage of the winter months, Zhao Zicheng continued farming and construction in the Dengzhou and Laizhou areas, paving the way for his plans for the coming year. After arriving on the Shandong Peninsula, the court's surveillance of Zhao Zicheng significantly weakened, giving him more room to maneuver and conceal his true strength.

If they were to pursue Song Jiang to Goryeo in the future, they would be separated by a sea, and by the Jin Dynasty on land. As long as the imperial court did not control the navy, Emperor Huizong of Tang would never know the extent of his nephew's activities and the extent of his plans behind enemy lines overseas.

-

PS: The final water battle against Song Jiang was a bit rambling, but that was to get through this part of the story as quickly as possible and change the map.

The battle against Fang La can be described in detail, but the battle against Song Jiang doesn't offer much to elaborate on, since this isn't a novel purely set in the Water Margin universe. Historically, Song Jiang was considerably weaker than Fang La, and secondly, with Tong Guan's campaign against the Liao and the Jingkang Incident looming, I didn't want to write much about the Han Chinese civil war.

Giving Song Jiang an opportunity to serve his country in Goryeo also provides the protagonist with a chance to cultivate a powerful bandit force. The subsequent plot involving planting spies behind the Jin dynasty might be written in slightly more detail.

So be it.

(End of this chapter)