On the occasion of rebirth Zhou Sui

Chapter 605 Succession to lead the navy

Different from the previous attacks on the camp that only focused on setting fires, this time the Yan army attacked the Sui army's water stronghold, and 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 10,000 cavalrymen to continue rushing left and right in the water stronghold, creating chaos, preventing the Sui army from gathering, and forming a defensive formation.

Xu Shiji led 20,000 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 we 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 rushed to the battlefield.

It was another bloody battle. Among 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 their battles with the Jiangling Navy, not only did they have no backhand power, but they were also at an absolute disadvantage. Otherwise, the Sui Army would not have believed that Cui Che was really preparing to retreat.

Now, of the huge Jiangling Navy, only three warships were left and fled back to Jiangling in dejection, like lost dogs. How could this not make the officers and soldiers of the Yan Dynasty navy feel bad?

When Li Xiaogong saw that he could no longer catch up with the three fast ships, he gave up the chase. He looked at the water village 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, and warships were spliced ​​together with wood. During the entire manual processing process, there would inevitably be gaps between the wood pieces that seeped 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 400 degrees. Once the raging fire exceeds 400 degrees and 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 boats.

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 so intense that he simply could not control it.

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 and weakness of the two sides' combat effectiveness lies in the naval officers themselves.

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

Now there are more than 10,000 Jiangling naval forces captured. As long as they are appeased, shown kindness, and dispatched ships to them, they can become the fourth major navy of the Yan army after the Qingzhou navy, Xuzhou navy, and Nanyang navy. military.

The Sui Dynasty in the south lost more than 10,000 naval troops who were proficient in water warfare. It was not painful for Yang Guang.
The Wu people were good at boating, and the Sui Dynasty could replenish its navy at any time.

But Cui Che's gain of more than 10,000 prisoners is no less than the gain of capturing a state or a county.

This is exactly what happened. Cui Che received victory reports from Yu Juluo, Xu Shiji, Li Xiaogong and others. He learned that the Jiangling navy suffered heavy losses and only escaped with three warships. It completely lost its ability to compete with the Nanyang navy for supremacy 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 Wei King Cui Youzhi, completely lacking his previous calm image.

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 that the southern navy was invincible, he didn't expect that the situation would take a shocking turn.

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 naval force 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 Fashang's advice 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 in detail why the Yan army was able to bypass the Sui army's sentry post at night, accurately find the weak points 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, Jiangling's 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 30,000 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 there, 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 the post of governor of Jiujiang and Zhou Fashang was escorted to Jiankang, the only people qualified to command the 30,000 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 chapter)