If the defenders occupy the upper reaches of the river, they can push huge logs into the water and carry them down the turbulent current to collide with the dense boat formation of the attackers downstream. This is the most commonly used and quite effective tactic in water warfare in the world.
In the Yingshui River south of the Taihe Camp, the blockade deployed was mainly wooden stakes and iron cables. Dozens of boats were filled with sand and gravel and sunk to the bottom of the river early - the enemy was in the Yingshui River south of Taihe.
The two blockades deployed in the river can not only effectively block the intrusion of large and medium-sized warships from the lower reaches, but also allow the smooth passage of giant trees carrying the turbulent water from the upper reaches.
At one time, hundreds of giant trees came in a stream, one after another without interruption. It is not known how many giant trees Yue Hailou had accumulated in Xuchang, Wanqiu and other places before and tied them to the north bank.
The generals standing on the deck could only hear the dull banging sounds of "bang bang" coming from the bow and sides of the ship, and the warship was also hit and rocked.
However, except for the ship formation being somewhat scattered due to the collision of a large number of driftwood and driftwood, the direct damage to the hull was very limited.
This is also thanks to the fact that the warships built by Beijing and Xiangzhou in recent years have generally adopted more reasonable keel structures.
At the end of the previous dynasty, the Central Plains fell into war. After the establishment of the Dai Viet dynasty, the Dangxiang people rose up in the northwest. The traditional land Silk Road was cut off for more than 200 years.
The demand for trade and cultural exchanges with foreign countries has promoted the formation of the Maritime Silk Road in the past hundred years.
The increasingly prosperous maritime trade and the frequent exchanges of envoys with foreign countries through the ocean have promoted the shipbuilding industry and technology of Dai Viet to develop greatly compared with the previous dynasty.
Although the current keel structure is only a hard length of wood running through the entire hull at the center line of the bottom, it has been widely used in the manufacture of large sea ships. This not only supports the huge hull more effectively, but also greatly improves the stability of the ship.
The ship's sturdiness and stability enhance its ability to withstand the impact of wind and waves.
However, except for a very small number of large warehouse ships on the Yangtze River with a carrying capacity of two to three thousand stone or even five to six thousand stone, the boats that traveled on inland rivers at that time basically did not adopt a keel structure.
When Beijing and Xiangzhou developed their naval forces, they mainly focused on controlling the upper reaches of the Huai River, Ru River, Lishui River and other waters, without the need to develop a large scale; even for quite some time, Beijing and Xiang had to restrain themselves from developing naval forces in the Jingjiang and Han River basins.
impulse.
Therefore, for a considerable period of time, Jingxiang (Chushan) mainly strengthened the strength of its navy by using keels to strengthen the structural strength of warships, and was not in a hurry to expand the scale of its navy.
After Jingxiang was able to smelt refined iron on a large scale at low cost, the main warships built by Jingxiang added refined iron components such as side keels, ribs, and keels to the watertight cabins and main keels, further forming a complete
The keel structure makes the overall strength of the Jingxiang warship far beyond the warships built by Chihu in Yingzhou, Xuzhou and other places.
The main warships of the Sikong Mansion incorporated into the navy at this time were not afraid of a direct collision with the enemy warships, so why were they afraid of the collision of giant trees?
Facing the waves of giant trees approaching, small and medium-sized warships such as row-oar warships and walking boats with simple structure, light weight and fast speed need to avoid the bay near the south coast to avoid collision as much as possible, but from the stern and above
The main warship is directly in front and can withstand the impact of huge logs. Even if the hull is damaged, it is within a controllable range; it can also anchor directly to make the hull more stable.
The iron cables were cut off one by one and the wooden piles were pulled out one by one, but there were still a large number of sunken ships in the river.
Due to the deep draft, the main warships still had no way to swim upstream in the river that was densely covered with sunken ships.
At this time, the defenders ignited a large number of fuel rafts, mixed them with flat-bottomed boats carrying sand and gravel, and released them from the upper reaches. The navy arranged for paddle boats, walking boats and other light and fast boats.
Move forward, hook the raft and gravel boat, and drag it to the south bank.
The fire spread quickly in the firewood raft, paddle boat, and walking hook
Living on rafts would not be able to prevent the fire from spreading. Although casualties and sacrifices would inevitably occur at this time, the naval officers were brave enough to protect the main warship from damage as much as possible.
There were also warships that were knocked over by flat-bottomed enemy ships filled with sand and gravel. Fortunately, the warships of the Western Beijing Navy did not rush directly after them, and most of the soldiers were able to be rescued after falling into the water.
The continuous rainy weather in spring turned the floodplain area on the south bank into a swamp early. However, at this time, three thousand troops had been arranged to disembark on the south bank. Everyone rolled up their trousers and stepped barefoot on the flooded water that covered their thighs and even their waists.
During the process, the hooked sunken ship was gradually dragged away from the main channel with the iron rope.
Although these sunken ships were loaded with sand and gravel when they were scuttled, due to the influence of buoyancy, they only weighed 10,000 to 20,000 kilograms at most - Jingxi was reluctant to scuttle large boats with a load of more than 1,000 stones to block the river.
The defenders had no troops stationed in the floodplain area on the south bank. As long as the Xinyang navy could withstand the huge trees knocked down by the current, ignore the attacks of arrow stones, and firmly hook the sunken ship under the water, the supply troops on the south bank would
It can easily drag sunken ships away from the main channel, or even directly to the shore without any big problems.
There are also some seriously rotten sunken ships that are dragged to pieces in the river channel, but after they are broken up, the sunken ships no longer pose an obstacle.
The water battle began at dawn, and the two blockades south of the enemy camp in Taihe were broken before noon.
Although the navy has lost more than 40 large and small warships, its overall strength has not been greatly damaged and it still maintains a crushing advantage over the Beijing-West navy.
Twenty-six armored sterns, which were the main warships, sailed directly upstream and fought against the Jingxi navy guarding the upper reaches.
Although the sails were flammable and would be set on fire by the enemy after the battle, each armored ship was tightly riveted and wrapped in iron armor. As long as the ignited sails were not burned through the wooden hull covered by the iron armor, it would even be damaged.
It helps to gain the power of running rampant in the enemy ship array.
Nearly two hundred ordinary large and small warships followed closely behind, attacking the enemy ships and killing the Jingxi navy. They retreated steadily and soon controlled the Yingshui River south of Taihe.
At noon, the first, second and third towns of Jingsheng Army and the fourth town of Tianxiong Army were selected. The left town of the Fengjun Army was selected as the main force, supplemented by 30,000 soldiers and horses of the state government, to the east and north of Taihe, and
The 100,000 infantry and cavalrymen of Zhennan Zong Palace engaged in full battle.
The red cavalry had an absolute advantage in numbers. The main force of Sikong Mansion's front army advancing towards Taihe was mainly infantry, with only more than 10,000 cavalry accompanying them. The scale was too limited and they were not qualified to compete with the captive cavalry in the open plains north of Taihe.
Engage in hedging and fighting.
To the northeast of the enemy camp in Taihe, Shi Hu and Yin Peng led the Zuozhen cavalry of the selected vanguard army to cover the flanks. Han Qi, Jiang Ang, and Sun Yanguan led 30,000 armored soldiers relying on more than 200 chariots to form a tight infantry formation. , to resist the flood-like offensive launched by the Luqi from the flanks, and do everything possible to restrict the main force of the Luqi from directly approaching the Yingshui coast.
On the north bank of Yingshui River, Chen Zixiao led the main force of the former army, mainly composed of the first, second, and third towns of the Jingsheng Army, and pushed firmly towards the Taihe camp, attacking the surrendered Han army's array from the front.
The goal of this battle was also to defeat the surrendered Han troops who entered the Taihe camp, and then take advantage of the situation to recover Taihe and the cities such as Shenqiu, Xiangcheng, and Wanqiu on the west flank. The Chihu people lost their support along the Yingshui River and had to drastically It shrinks to Zhengzhou and Bianzhou in the north.
For the Tianxiong, Jingsheng, and Xuanfeng armies, this battle is about fighting with victory, and the generals' fighting spirit is high.
It is also a last-ditch battle for the enemy.
In particular, the more than 40,000 red cavalry who were stationed in the northeast of Taihe not only had high mobility, but also had an absolute advantage in strength.
The soldiers also knew that even if they could not completely defeat and defeat the Southern Dynasty's armored infantry array on the flanks, as long as they found a gap large enough for thousands of elite cavalry to penetrate deep into the battlefield and attack the flanks or back and belly of the Southern Dynasty's main array, they would be very successful. have
It is possible to win the final victory in this battle, and the results gained will even completely make up for their heartbreaking losses in the Yingzhou battlefield in the past six months.
The low horns were like the strong wind in early summer, howling against the earth, and the galloping hooves of thousands of troops made the earth tremble.
The giant bow with iron tires mounted on the chariot has already been opened with a winch, and the bowstring made of thin iron wires makes a trembling whistle. It is so sharp, and the scream that breaks through the air after the crossbow arrow is shot is touching.
Dai Yue has long mastered the manufacturing method of three-bow bed crossbows, but the traditional three-bow bed crossbows are extremely sophisticated in materials, complicated to prepare, and take a long time. In the early years, only the generals and supervisors of the court in Bianliang stocked large amounts of materials.
After the fall of Bianliang, the bow materials stored by tens of thousands of craftsmen and general supervisors fell into the hands of the Red Husbands. Jingxiang again attached great importance to the preparation of crossbows and armor, but in the preparation of traditional crossbows, the main focus was on the storage of bow materials. , still lacks some foundation; all along, only a small amount of three-bow bed crossbows can be prepared that can shoot four to five hundred steps away.
The iron-tied bow, or iron-armed bow, was not a rare thing in the world at that time. However, due to the limitations of iron smelting technology, the iron-tied bow made by the prison in the early years was mostly used as a ceremonial guard. The iron-armed bow made in the early years had a bow arm. Either it is too hard, has no toughness, and cannot be pulled apart. Even if one or two usable iron-arm bows are occasionally made, it will be difficult to make more accurate bows due to charcoal penetration. control, making it difficult to mass produce.
Jingxiang has been exploring refined iron smelting and armor and weapons for more than ten years in recent years, and the level can be said to be far superior to that of the world. However, even so, the quality rate of the iron-arm bows produced by the Ordnance Supervisor at this time was only 12/10.
However, this is enough.
Moreover, on the battlefield, the iron-tied bow is not afraid of enemy cavalry rushing in and destroying it.
The iron tire giant crossbow uses a winch to open the string, and its stability is somewhat worse than the traditional three-bow bed crossbow. However, hundreds of crossbows are arrayed in front of the formation. With a single salvo, they will charge like a flood from three to four hundred paces away.
The assault of the cavalry formation opened a gap, and the scene of blood and flesh flying everywhere was enough to shock people's hearts.
After firing a volley of crossbows, they withdrew to the rear, loading new crossbows while moving in other directions.
A single volley from hundreds of iron-tyred giant crossbows is far from enough to destroy the fighting spirit of the red cavalry. The loading of the crossbows takes a long time, and it is necessary to make space in time for the spearmen from behind to fill in and greet them.
The attack of enemy cavalry.
At the same time, the red cavalry assembled north of the Taihe Camp was too large. The troops were divided into six groups to launch the first wave of offensive. The chariots and crossbows were withdrawn to other places. After being reloaded, they could calmly find openings for new shooting.
The crossbow and refined iron shield carts are relatively light. The total weight of the entire cart is controlled at about 400 kilograms. The wheels are wide and wrapped in cork bark. Seven or eight generals can push them to walk, or they can harness oxen and horses to follow the armored soldiers.
The array moved forward in soft and even muddy fields.
However, war equipment such as trebuchets, even small vehicle-mounted trebuchets and cyclone crossbows, can easily weigh two to three thousand kilograms, so it is much more difficult to use them in field battles.
When Zhong Changqing and Mo Lihu led the remaining troops to withdraw from Zhangzigou, they also destroyed the post road between Zhangzigou and Taihe.
The area between Zhangzigou and Taihe once served as a buffer zone between the enemy and ourselves, and Sikong Mansion had no chance to organize troops to repair the post road.
Therefore, when the army is dispatched from Zhangzigou and Ruyin, medium-sized war equipment cannot be dispatched directly with the army.
However, on the southern flank of the entire battlefield, dozens of boats had long been anchored by the north embankment. Thousands of troops waded ashore and quickly set up trestles on the shoals.
Hundreds of ballistae, refined iron shield vehicles, and cyclone ballistae that fired fire oil cans and small stone projectiles were quickly disembarking through these newly built trestles to replenish the rear array; strengthening the main force of the front army.
The second screen line on the north and west wings may be formed in small groups to fill in the first screen line at the outer edge, or they may take the initiative to intercept the red cavalry that penetrates through the gaps...
