Kang Maocai was beaten, and as expected, the news spread to Chen Jun's camp at Hukou on the south bank.
This made Chen Youliang very happy. Frankly speaking, if Zhu Yuanzhang was not taken into account, Chen Youliang's life could be called a cheat. He did not officially join Tianwan until his fifteenth year, but after only a few years of hard work, he relied on the mind of a beast.
Fengxian's behavior continuously devoured the master, and he climbed from a small soldier to the high position of the King of Han.
Who dares not to give a thumbs up and praise, what a hero!
However, there is a person who can restrain him. From the earliest fight for Hongdu to today, both sides have deployed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses to stand on the card table and make huge bets.
The man named Zhu kept suppressing him and took advantage of him everywhere.
Now there is finally someone who is willing to take refuge in him, and he can use Zhu Yuanzhang's methods on him. Are you gambling? It doesn't matter whether you win or lose. The key is that Zhu Yuanzhang must lose!
The old man Zou Pusheng has indeed seen through Chen Youliang. Compared to the facts, he is more willing to believe in his own wishful thinking. To put it bluntly, he is just stubborn.
"Pass my decree and go to battle tomorrow. I want to test Zhu Yuanzhang's background!" Chen Youliang gave the decisive order, and Zhang Bixian immediately agreed and went down to prepare.
The next day, Chen Youliang sent troops from Hukou Camp. Hundreds of huge tower ships, like a group of giant beasts, meandered over, accompanied by many auxiliary ships.
The huge ships covered the sky and the sun and covered the river.
Even though I had already climbed up and had a good look, I still had a little bit of knowledge about it, but when the fleet actually came towards me, I still felt frightened.
Zhang Ximeng's palms were already sweating.
He was really scared. Water battles are different from land battles. The bigger ships bully the smaller ones, and the more cannons bully the less cannons. There are generational differences in weapons, so you can only be ravaged.
There are still land battles in which a small number can defeat a large number, but when it comes to water, there are very few examples of a weak defeating a strong one.
Zhang Ximeng was also a little confused. He had also laid out a shipyard and produced some ships... But due to the lack of wood, Zhu Jiajun's progress was not fast.
Chen Youliang occupied Huguang and could transport timber and bulk materials from the mountains, but there was also a question. Can ships be built immediately after the timber came out of the mountains?
Obviously not!
Could it be that Chen Youliang has mastered some black technology, or maybe?
Zhang Ximeng and others rounded their eyes and tried hard to observe these buildings and ships.
Chen Youliang's ship is at least fifteen feet long, more than two feet high, and two to three feet wide. The deck alone has three levels.
A large ship can carry a thousand sailors. A large ship of this size can almost be compared with Zheng He's treasure ships on his voyages to the West.
Moreover, all the building boats are painted in bright red color, which is full of oppression.
Although he couldn't see clearly, Zhang Ximeng also knew that on Chen Youliang's ship, there were also weapons such as muskets, artillery, and kerosene, as well as strong bows and crossbows. There was absolutely no shortage of them.
They have all the weapons that Zhu Jiajun has, and there are even more of them.
How to fight this battle?
Frankly speaking, if Zhang Ximeng was the commander-in-chief, he might avoid fighting until he had a bigger ship and was better prepared, and then he would engage in a decisive battle.
But the problem is that the fighter plane is fleeting, so how can you be prepared properly?
So Zhang Ximeng is really lucky that the person who calls the shots is Zhu Yuanzhang, and the ones who carry out the mission are people like Xu Da and Chang Yuchun... As for him, he can just watch the battle silently and let these talented people take you off.
Zhang Ximeng calculated that if his subordinates knew that the god-like Prime Minister was so panicked and helpless, it would probably shake the morale of the army.
But it didn't matter anymore. Everyone's eyes quickly fell on the battlefield, and Zhang Ximeng was ignored.
"In this battle, I will lead the army. You will follow in batches... You must follow my instructions. You are only allowed to move forward and not to retreat!"
Xu Da stood up on the bow of the ship, wearing a strong sword and holding a shield, and actually took the lead to kill him.
As the first commander-in-chief in the army, Xu Da actually assumed the responsibility of the commander. He actually stole the vanguard's job. What on earth was this guy thinking?
If something goes wrong, wouldn't it shake the morale of the army?
Zhang Ximeng frowned slightly, but he quickly understood what was going on.
Seeing Zhu Jiajun taking the initiative to attack, Chen Youliang couldn't help but want to laugh at these people, throwing moths into the fire and destroying themselves! Don't you even look at the difference between the warships of the two sides!
Following Chen Youliang's order, five giant building ships and dozens of warships joined the battle.
On the river, the two sides met each other. At the critical moment of the battle, Xu Da was on the warship. The bright red flags were waving continuously. The entire Zhu family fleet received the order and quickly separated. In a group of ten ships, they attacked.
Go up.
good!
Seeing this scene, Zhang Ximeng almost slapped Xu Da.
The building ships are huge and difficult to maneuver, but the Zhu family's warships are small and nimble. They can use their maneuverability to surround the enemy and bite the enemy to death like a pack of wolves fighting a tiger!
As long as you find the right method, defeating the enemy is not difficult!
But just when Zhang Ximeng was feeling very excited, many stone bullets were thrown from the huge ship and struck them in a graceful arc.
A stone bullet almost touched the bow of Xu Da's boat and fell into the river. If he had moved forward a little further, Xu Da would probably have become a meat pie.
Zhang Ximeng's heart suddenly shrank, don't just get beaten, fight back quickly, why didn't Xu Da fight back?
But a scene that disappointed Zhang Ximeng appeared. Xu Da didn't seem to see the opponent's stone bullets, but just ordered the ship to move forward and approach the enemy as quickly as possible.
Zhang Ximeng looked at it again and again, and he seemed to understand.
No wonder Chen Youliang is obsessed with large warships. Even though this huge warship has ten thousand shortcomings, one advantage is enough to cover up all the shortcomings.
The building ship is tall and has multiple decks, and weapons can be placed on each floor.
Therefore, one large ship can carry as many trebuchets and cannons as a dozen small ships combined, and because it is located high up, it has a longer range and is more powerful.
Facing such a behemoth, the boat has no other choice. It can only stand a chance of fighting by approaching the opponent with a desperate attitude.
But it's not that easy to get close to such a big guy full of weapons.
Zhang Ximeng stared at the battlefield on the river with his eyes wide open. Suddenly, a wooden pole several feet long fell from a building ship. At one end of the wooden pole was a huge hammer.
Shoot the pole!
Zhang Ximeng had seen this thing in Ruxukou, and now he saw it again with his own eyes, the power of the pole.
I saw a Zhu Jiajun warship being hit head-on.
The two soldiers standing in front were instantly smashed to pieces, the wood on the bow of the ship was broken, and a huge hole opened up. The river water poured in and the ship sank.
After a while, it disappeared, leaving only a few broken wooden boards floating alone.
Seeing this scene, Zhang Ximeng's face was extremely solemn, and he finally understood the reason why Xu Da took the lead.
Although the building ship is huge and difficult to maneuver, as long as you can get close to the building ship, there is a way.
But the question is how to get close?
The other party is obviously a tiger showing its teeth and claws. Normally, he would walk around when he sees it, but now he wants to approach him actively.
Every time you get closer, you have to risk your life, and you can be buried in the river at any time, with no bones left.
Don't talk about getting close to each other, whoever is willing to die will die, I won't go anyway!
If the coach hadn't taken the lead, why would he have asked his men to risk their lives and move forward with all their might?
Of course, war depends on clever calculations and strategies, but in the final analysis, it depends on people to execute it... Take the tactic of using small boats to deal with large ships. Zhang Ximeng can talk about it on paper and deduce countless ways to win.
But when it comes to the actual battlefield, soldiers still have to face the difficulties and pounce on the enemy with small boats without hesitation... No matter what the outcome of the war is, for many young soldiers, their lives will end at any time.
To the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, these people are only a small part of the thousands of soldiers, but for every soldier, life is only once, and once lost, it will never come back.
Zhang Ximeng stared at the battlefield and looked at the turbulent river. He seemed to understand something. It is a major military matter. No matter how strong the country is or how strong the military force is, one should not start a war lightly.
Any war must be carefully weighed and taken seriously. To start a war hastily is to play with human lives! Even a superpower cannot sustain the consumption of a few meaningless wars.
Zhang Ximeng did think a lot at this time when he could only think and could not do much.
In the future, these ideas will be transformed into the entire country's foreign policy, thus having far-reaching influence.
But at the moment, the protagonists of the battlefield are still Xu Da and the soldiers.
Xu Da risked his life and got in front of a building boat.
What greeted him was a dense barrage of crossbows, pouring down from the upper, middle and lower decks towards his warship.
Xu Da could only wave his shield to protect himself, and at the same time gave a decisive order to attack the building ship... The nine small boats all risked their lives and shot bows and arrows at the building ship from all directions.
As a matter of fact, several ships actually aimed their bows at the belly of the building ship and rammed it.
Bang bang bang!
The violent collision caused Zhu's army to spin, and some soldiers actually fell into the river.
But the seemingly huge building ship was also injured.
The wooden hull kept making cracking sounds, and the soldiers of the Chen Army on it were actually frightened. Some even threw away their weapons and ran backwards, forming a mess.
Seeing the opportunity, Xu Da actually ordered his subordinates to erect a ladder and hang it on the deck with an iron hook. Then he took the lead and rushed onto the building ship and started a hand-to-hand fight with Chen Jun.
"Kill, rush with me and seize this ship!"
Zhu Jiajun's soldiers were so inspired that they risked their lives and rushed to the deck, facing Chen Jun, slashing and killing them wantonly. Weapons clashed, bones were broken, and screams... Various sounds were intertwined and transmitted out with the help of river waves. It was so far away that everyone, including Zhang Ximeng, could hear it clearly.
The cruelty of war is enough to make anyone feel terrified.
Zhang Ximeng frowned and stared at the big ship that Xu Da had almost grabbed... There was something wrong with Chen Youliang's big ship!
It couldn't withstand the impact of a much smaller ship!
These seemingly huge guys are simply strong on the outside but weak on the inside, they look good but are useless!
Yes, that must be the case.
Chen Youliang's rise has been so short, even if he captured many Yuan Ting warships, it is absolutely impossible to build so many behemoths... But he happened to do it, so there is only one explanation. He simply made it by force, using The materials are substandard, the hull is not strong enough, and the operation is even more inconvenient.
That's why... Chen Youliang had to connect the boats with iron ropes and tie the boats together so that he could move forward and retreat freely, as if walking on flat ground!
Got it, totally got it!
Zhang Ximeng figured out everything almost instantly. What Chen Youliang did was not out of the blue, but because he had to do it.
In this case, the performance of these building ships is very worrying. Once the fire ship approaches, it will be very difficult to avoid it. And there will be no preventive measures on it. As long as the fire is ignited, you are done.
Zhang Ximeng couldn't help but laugh at himself. He only figured out such a simple thing now. It seems that he is indeed not a smart person... But then again, if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, who could conclude that Chen Youliang's building boat was just
Is it just an appearance?
There are too many things, no matter how simple they seem, only by truly experiencing them and seeing them with your own eyes can you understand their significance.
After observing a battle, Zhang Ximeng seemed to have undergone a training...from the initial fear and shock, to contemplation and introspection, to having wisdom in hand and regaining confidence.
Zhang Ximeng is already confident enough to win this battle.
Xu Da is really good, Chen Youliang's true and false are revealed just like this!
Looking at the battlefield at this moment, Xu Da had completely captured a large ship, and nearly a thousand soldiers on board were either killed or driven into the river.
The Zhu Jiajun took control of this huge trophy ship, turned with difficulty, and headed towards the Zhu Jiajun camp.
After seeing this scene, Chen Youliang became angry.
This bunch of losers actually lost to Zhu Chongba again!
"Come on! Come on!"
There were twenty or thirty huge building ships, connected by iron ropes, and rushed towards Zhu Jiajun.
These giant building ships came towards us with overwhelming momentum. The two Zhu Jiajun warships, which had no time to turn around, saw that they could not escape and could only give up their desperate attack.
The ship was too tall, and their weapons could not attack each other at all. The stone bullets and artillery fired from the ship swamped the warship, and dozens of Zhu Jiajun soldiers were buried in the river.
These building ships were still unwilling to be satisfied and continued to pursue and kill them.
Seeing that the Zhu Jiajun navy was getting closer and closer.
At this moment, the naval commander Yu Tonghai, who had been waiting for an opportunity, finally launched his attack. His fleet rushed out decisively and aimed its artillery at Chen Junlou's ship.
Even without Zhang Ximeng's involvement, the level of firearms in the late Yuan Dynasty was still remarkable. After several years of development, Zhu Jiajun did have a batch of artillery, but like any early weapons, they were bulky, cumbersome, and had a lot of problems.
It has always troubled these gods of war that they cannot play a role in land battles and can only be installed on huge warships.
Yu Tonghai gave an order, and the artillery fire was fired, booming, like thunder.
The huge building ship was hit, and sawdust flew everywhere, revealing shocking wounds. There were also cracks in the ship, and the river water poured in, causing the ship to sink rapidly.
Almost all of the more than twenty warships sank to the bottom of the river under Yu Tonghai's attack... Unfortunately, the Zhu Jiajun's artillery fire rate was too slow, and several of them came out after one round of firing.
There is a problem and we cannot continue to fire. Otherwise, we can defeat Chen Jun just relying on these artillery pieces.
"Your Majesty, I'm lucky enough to live up to my command and capture a building ship!"
Xu Da reported victory to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhang Ximeng couldn't wait, "Quick, take me to see it!"
