In the next two days, Kuai Yue traveled all over Hunan, Lei, and Chengzhu Rivers. On one occasion, in order to inspect the terrain around Ling County at a close distance, he even took risks and crossed the Xiang River to the west. As a result, he met Liu Jingshui when he returned.
Fortunately, Cai Mao sent ships in time to force Liu Jingshui's army to retreat, and Kuai Yue was able to turn the corner.
Liu Jingshui's army was not targeting Kuai Yue, but the entire Jingzhou army. In the past two days, Liu Zong continued to send light boats to attack the enemy, harassing them day and night, making the Jingzhou army restless.
Cai Mao was already eager for revenge, but he was repeatedly harassed by Liu Jingshui's army, which made him even more angry.
On the third day of the morning, before the sky became clear, a thunderous drum sound came from the camp of the Jingzhou navy.
"Dong...dong...dong..."
The Jingzhou navy captains and soldiers who had already had a good meal rushed to the boats after hearing the sound of drums. They prepared their oars and weapons. Hundreds of large and small ships were arranged in an orderly manner and set off one after another.
Kuai Yue and Cai Mao stood side by side on the shore. Although he knew that the latter might not like to hear some words, he couldn't help but said: "This battle is to test the effect of Changqi wood, not to fight the enemy decisively.
We need to have a sense of propriety and not rush into the waves to fight. In addition, we must capture as many enemy ships as possible that have rocks to break, so that I can imitate them in the future and use the sharp weapons for my own use."
Cai Mao was very unhappy when he heard this. When he attacked Zhang Xian in the past, Kuai Yue never said much to him. The two of them, one in charge of the infantry and the other in charge of the navy, did not interfere with each other. Now that Kuai Yue broke the "rules", it was obviously because he had once
He was defeated by Liu Jing and lacked confidence in himself.
Cai Mao said impatiently: "How can I not know these words? Why should Kuai Changshi say it? Kuai Changshi can just trust me and defeat the enemy."
Knowing that Cai Mao didn't listen, Kuai Yue shook his head secretly and said: "Degui should know that you are still guilty now. The general is wise and did not punish you for defeat. Instead, he told the story of his father Xun Lin and Meng Mingshi in the past.
, I hope you can be brave enough to realize your shame and make meritorious deeds. Degui, don’t let down the general’s expectations of you.”
Thinking of Liu Biao, the burning anger in Cai Mao's heart was slightly contained. If he was defeated again, he would really have no face to return to Xiangyang.
"Kuai Changshi, stay back and watch me defeat the enemy in peace." Cai Mao took a deep breath, repeated what he said before, then turned around and boarded the tall ship.
Kuai Yue's tall body stood firm and motionless, watching Cai Mao's figure disappearing in the boat.
There were many navy ships in Jingzhou. When all the ships left the camp, it was already bright.
Liu Jingshui's army, stationed more than ten miles away, was obviously well prepared and appeared in Xiangshui almost immediately after Jingzhou's navy.
The water surface of the Xiangshui River in the Lingxian section is about two hundred feet wide, which is naturally dwarfed by the Yangtze River, which is often thousands of feet wide. However, it is not crowded to accommodate two large fleets.
The southwesterly wind was quite strong today, so Liu Jingshui's army not only followed the current, but also the wind. However, even with the double advantage, Liu Jingshui's army did not take the initiative to attack. Instead, he sank Dingshi on the river several miles south of Ling County and waited patiently for Jingzhou.
The navy comes to fight.
The reason is actually very simple. If they go north to fight, their opponents will not only be the Jingzhou navy, but they will also be constantly threatened by the crossbows of the infantry on the shore. On the contrary, if they lure the enemy south to fight, they will get help from their colleagues in Lingxian County.
, any idiot knows how to choose.
The two sides faced off at a distance for nearly half an hour. Seeing that Liu Jingshui's army was calm and sitting firmly on the Diaoyutai, Cai Mao knew that it would be useless to delay any longer, so he had his war drums beat.
"Dong...dong...dong..."
As soon as the thunderous drum beat sounded, Cai He, who was in charge of the front of the Jingzhou navy, immediately ordered his warships to put away the anchor stones, row their oars, and go south to meet Liu Jingshui's army.
When passing by the city wall on the east side of Lingxian County, the soldiers at the front of the Jingzhou navy were in high spirits. Those in large ships hid behind the parapets, behind the war tents, and those in small boats hid under the large rafters.
"Shoot..." A loud shout suddenly rang out in the deathly silent town of Ling County.
In an instant, hundreds of crossbows and arrows flew out of the city and densely fell into the Jingzhou navy's fleet.
Unfortunately, the distance between the two sides is no less than a hundred steps. It is difficult for light crossbows with less than five stones to pose a threat to Jingzhou navy soldiers. Only heavy crossbows and heavy bows with more than five stones can effectively kill the enemy. What can really inflict a heavy blow to the enemy is the city.
The bed crossbow at the head and the trebuchet under the city.
"shoot……"
Following an order, dozens of bed crossbows lined up neatly on the city wall roared one after another. The giant arrows more than four feet long spanned hundreds of steps in the blink of an eye, easily penetrated the pillars, and could even be nailed into the female wall.
, war tent.
After a round of crossbow strikes, dozens of trebuchets of varying weights below the city began to sound. Stone bullets ranging from several kilograms to more than ten kilograms, with a thunder-like sound, flew over the city head and hit the city like a meteor shower.
Jingzhou Navy.
"Boom...boom...boom..."
Small boats such as canoes and gondolas will be hit by stone bullets, and they will immediately capsize and kill people. Even large ships such as sterns, fighting ships, and even giant ships on the water will not escape heavy damage or even sink.
The veterans of the Jingzhou Navy who had experienced the battle last year had some experience in dealing with trebuchets. They knew that running around at this time would only lead to faster death. They forced themselves to calm down and hid under the side of the ship, hugging their bodies and remaining motionless.
The new soldiers, however, were inexperienced. They all looked horrified when they saw the stone bullets whizzing towards them, and they couldn't help but get up and dodge. Even if they were lucky enough to escape the stone bullets, they would most likely be shot dead by stray arrows.
"boom……"
Cai He's building ship was hit by a ten-pound stone bullet, and the ship suddenly shook violently. Cai He, who was hiding in the cabin on the first floor of the building, stumbled forward and almost fell. He was
Shi Wanwan did not dare to show his head, so he only asked his personal followers to go out to see the damage to the building.
Soon after, he came back in person and informed the owner that a hole had been punched through the deck of the ship, and there was no water leakage, so the impact was minor.
Cai He secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It was fine. It would be very unlucky if he had to change his ship before the battle started.
However, although Cai He escaped, another building ship not far away from him was more unlucky. It was hit by three stone bullets in succession, one of which penetrated the hull.
The torrential river water poured into the ship, and the sailors were instantly swept into the water before they could react. The large amount of river water caused the ship to slowly tilt. The soldiers on the deck scrambled to abandon the ship and escape for their lives. Some of the more impatient ones simply capsized.
Get off the side of the boat and jump into the water.
With the same fate as this large ship, there were eight or nine other sterns, fighting ships, and light boats, and they were capsized by countless people.
Before the two sides formally engaged in battle, the front of the Jingzhou Navy suffered heavy losses.