Chapter 269 Technological Development Changes Life
At midnight, the wind became stronger and stronger, and the howling southeast wind blew fiercely, blowing the military flag on the ship.
Shen Chen stood on the board of the boat with a very solemn expression.
In history, the reason for the success of the Battle of Chibi was not only the southeast wind but also Huang Gai's false surrender.
Cao Cao filled Huang Gai with fish paste and oil, and let in ships with firewood and sickles. This caused the fleet at Wulin Wharf to be burned.
But none of them surrendered.
Even if there is a plan to fake surrender, the wily Zhou Yu will not fall for it.
After all, there was a reason why Cao Cao was fooled. At that time, Cao Cao's army was already in an overwhelming situation.
Countless surrender letters from within Jiangdong were sent to his desk.
Therefore, Huang Gai's surrender was reasonable and did not arouse Cao Cao's suspicion.
However, there is no overwhelming situation in Jiangdong at the moment, and Jiangxia Navy and Jiangdong Navy are feuding. They only have hatred for each other and will never surrender.
Therefore, even if Zhou Yu resorted to a false surrender strategy, it was impossible for him to be gullible.
Now that the southeast wind is blowing, Zhou Yu cannot be unprepared. The surrounding area must be heavily guarded, with patrol ships everywhere.
Once discovered by Zhou Yu, he would immediately order the soldiers to board the boat and confront them on the river.
Therefore, it is impossible to sneak the ship used for arson to the Hongkou dock and complete the raid mission without anyone noticing, so we can only think of other ways.
So what can be done?
Attack!
This is the only way Shen Chen can think of.
He has been touring various places around Baqiu countless times to explore the surrounding terrain.
During the intervals between armistices, we often took boats to investigate the enemy's situation.
It can be said that the situation between the enemy and ourselves is clearly understood.
Different from the Battle of Chibi, this battle took place in Yunmengze.
At this time, Yunmengze was so big, like a vast ocean.
Therefore, the biggest difference from the Battle of Chibi is that the terrain and space of the two are completely different.
In the Battle of Chibi, the two sides faced each other on both sides of the Yangtze River. Cao Cao was in Wulin and Zhou Yu was in Chibi. The two sides faced each other across the river. The terrain was narrow and they could both see each other's situation.
Therefore, once Zhou Yu's army sets sail, Cao Cao can react immediately and can only get closer by feigning surrender.
Yunmengze is a large lake with waves. The Hongkou where Zhou Yu was stationed only has a narrower terrain in the northeast. In the rest of the direction, there are vast lakes with hundreds of miles of water, which is very wide.
It is impossible for the Jiangdong Navy to patrol every place, so there must be a flaw that allows their fleet to kill them with lightning speed.
In addition, there is one more thing.
That's smooth flow!
The Battle of Chibi was not smooth sailing for the Jiangdong Army.
Even Wulin, where Cao Cao is located, is a little further upstream.
Jiangdong's army must go upstream.
Looking back on this battle.
Baqiu is located southeast of Hongkou.
The southeast wind blows from the southeast, and the Xiangjiang River water flows into Yunmengze, and along the Yunmengze coast it flows into the Yangtze River.
Hongkou is at the mouth of the Yangtze River, just downstream of Baqiu.
In other words, in this battle, the Jiangxia naval force is going with the wind and the current, and the ship's speed will reach the theoretical limit.
Therefore, with the addition of these objective conditions, Shen Chen decided to give it a try.
He stood at the bow of the ship. There were fifty fighting ships in front of him, each of which was filled with fish paste.
Huang Gai only had twenty ships in the Battle of Chibi. He used fifty ships just to ensure that he would hit with one hit!
Shen Chen raised his head and looked at the flag that was already fluttering in the wind under the howling wind. He raised the tiger sword in his hand and roared: "Raise the sail!"
"Raise the sail!"
Everyone is shouting.
A large number of ships raised their sails.
Shen Chen looked around and saw that his main ship was not a building ship, but a fighting ship.
Although there is no fish paste on the fighting ships, his fleet will launch an attack together with the fire ships.
This means that the Jiangxia navy will launch a suicide attack in this battle.
Although this may result in heavy losses for the Jiangxia Navy, both sides will suffer losses, or one will die and one will be injured. This is the only way Shen Chen can think of to eliminate the Jiangdong Navy.
Zhou Yu, I will destroy Jiangdong today.
Shen Chen looked to the north with cold eyes and said loudly: "Soldiers, defeat the enemy today. Ride the wind and waves, march forward indomitably, and fight to the death!"
"Fight to the death! Fight to the death! Fight to the death!"
First, hundreds of soldiers on the fighting ship Shen Chen were shouting, and then the sound infected the entire fleet. The shouts continued for miles, and even the sound of the rolling river waves seemed to be covered up.
However, although the movement was very loud, it would not be known to Jiang Dongjun.
Because Yong Lake is more than ten kilometers away from Hongkou, and the mouth of the lake is blocked by the Jiangxia navy, it is impossible for their scouts to enter, so no matter how big the momentum is, it will not matter.
"Let's set off!"
Shen Chen issued the final order.
With a long blast of the horn, fifty fighting ships rushed to the front.
Each fighting ship has more than a hundred soldiers, and they will launch a suicide attack, which can be said to be a narrow escape from death.
Even Shen Chen himself was behind them, putting himself in danger.
But there's nothing we can do about it.
To live towards death and seek victory in danger is the way of war.
The mighty Jiangxia Navy left Yonghu Wharf, passed through the mouth of the lake, and entered Dongting Lake.
Then go all the way north and follow the water to Junshan Island in the north.
Zhou Yu was naturally not unprepared. He saw that the southeast wind suddenly became stronger and stronger, so he sent a large number of patrol boats to cruise around the periphery, and also ordered a school of troops to be stationed at the dock.
However, the waves in the river were vast, and Jiangxia's naval forces rode the wind and waves, and with the help of wind and water flow, they attacked Jiangdong's army at an extremely fast speed.
These ships not only have holes for rowing on both sides, but also propellers and wheels on the back. They are all modified general ships.
With the help of wind and water power, they traveled extremely fast.
At this moment, under the darkness of night, countless torches were lit at Hongkou Pier, which seemed to light up the night sky. The bright moon was shining, and the visibility on the river was still very high.
The reason why a large number of torches were arranged at the dock was because the Jiangdong Army deployed many sentry-type ships on the periphery.
These ships need lighting, otherwise they will not be able to see the port on the return trip and may run aground.
In the end, it became the guiding light of Jiangxia Navy.
The speed of the fleet was extremely fast. When it was still eight kilometers away from the mouth of the flood, a Jiangdong Navy patrol ship two kilometers away discovered something strange.
The river was rolling with mighty waves, and the silver gauze dragon village was hazy on the river in the night. The soldiers on the patrol boat saw something vaguely visible in the darkness to the south.
"What is that?"
The soldier was puzzled, turned his head and said to his sleepy companion: "Get up, something seems to be coming."
It was too dark and far away, so he couldn't see clearly.
Several companions were awakened and hurriedly climbed to the side of the ship. The ship was surging with the river, and the heavy anchor could not keep the ship still and drifted with the current.
While everyone was swaying up and down, they saw countless ghostly figures appearing in the northern night at extremely fast speeds.
"Enemy attack, quick, enemy attack! Go pull the anchor."
The captain rubbed his eyes to make sure he saw it correctly, and then hurriedly shouted to the cabin.
At the same time, he hurriedly ran towards the bow of the ship.
Some soldiers went to pull the anchor, while others immediately ran to the cabin to prepare for rowing.
The captain immediately ran to the bow of the ship, raised the torch in his hand, and waved it quickly towards the north.
Set off beacon smoke during the day and hold torches at night.
These are the two most mainstream methods of communication in ancient times.
Especially on a large river like this, because the sound of the wind and waves is too loud, even if you use gongs, drums, horns and other musical instruments to convey the message, it will not be carried very far at all.
Maybe from forty to fifty meters away, you can blow the horn to death and still not hear any sound.
Therefore, we must rely on torches.
The night was starry, and there were patrol boats and warning boats everywhere four or five kilometers away from Hongkou Pier.
There were two guard ships about a hundred meters behind the patrol car. Their torches flashed, which immediately attracted their attention and immediately passed the message back.
Such progress was made step by step, and in less than two or three minutes, the news was already received at Hong Port.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"
The patrol soldiers on the shore immediately blew their horns to alert the nearby camps.
The man stationed at Hongkou today is Lieutenant Zhu Chong of Zhechong. He led five thousand troops from the first school of his headquarters to camp on the shore less than 50 feet away from the fleet.
After all, although the fleet was at the dock, the ships were too bumpy in the water and the soldiers could not sleep well.
So they all live on the shore.
Hearing the noise at this time, Zhu Ran immediately rushed out of the tent and asked: "What's going on? Why is there a horn sound?"
"Report, enemy attack!"
The soldiers came to report: "The patrol boat on the river discovered the fleet of Jiangxia Navy."
"Go and send a group of people to the main camp to report."
Zhu Ran learned the news and calmly issued the order: "Quick, blow the whistle, gather the whole army, and everyone will get on board immediately."
"only!"
The soldiers immediately went to carry out the order.
Soon, Zhou Yu's main camp three miles away also learned the news.
In fact, their camps were all scattered at Hongkou, not all on the shore.
The main reason is that the geographical location of Hongkou is average. Sometimes it rains suddenly and the river water rises, which may submerge the pier.
The boat can float, but the camp cannot, so they must be stationed on higher ground a few miles away from the shore.
At this moment, the whole camp was noisy. Zhou Yu was already feeling upset and couldn't sleep today. When he heard that Jiangxia Navy was attacking, he suddenly felt as if a stone had fallen to his heart.
"Captain, the enemy is coming."
Ling Tong and Lu Meng broke into Zhou Yu's tent.
Zhou Yu didn't sleep at all. He was neatly dressed and smiled calmly: "They are just asking for their own death. I have already arranged for people."
Lu Meng was surprised and said: "The governor has already set up an ambush?"
Zhou Yu nodded: "Yes, I have a hunch today that Shen Chen may attack at night. I have already arranged for Cheng Pu's fleet to ambush on the side. Even if they attack with fire, Cheng Pu's fleet has prepared mud and can definitely defend."
Come down."
"The Governor is really clever and clever."
Ling Tong and Lu Meng immediately felt at ease and praised him one after another.
Zhou Yu said: "Stop chatting, rectify your troops and horses immediately, and rush to the dock for reinforcements."
"only!"
Ling Tong and Lu Meng hurriedly went out to make preparations.
On the dock side, on the shore of the northernmost port, Cheng Pu suddenly woke up from his sleep.
These days, he followed Zhou Yu's instructions to test the effect of silt, and found that if he wanted to block the fire ship, a large amount of silt must be placed on the hull and inside the cabin.
Because silt is only effective when it is wet, dry silt cannot prevent fire.
So he asked his soldiers to apply mud every day to see how long it would take for the mud to dry.
I tried it again this evening, and it was already dry by night. Since you can only commit a thief in a thousand days, and there is no way to prevent a thief in a thousand days, Cheng Pu did not keep the mud moist all the time.
At this time, he suddenly learned of the enemy attack and hurriedly ordered the soldiers to get up and board the ship, and asked them to store them in the cabin and smear the ship with silt that was always moist from the river water to prevent fire attack.
"The enemy is more than ten miles away. With their speed, it will take at least two to three quarters of an hour to reach the dock. They should be able to arrive in time."
Cheng Pu thought to himself.
"Quick, quick, quick."
Not only was he busy smearing mud on the river bank, Zhu Ran's troops were also working hard to untie the ropes of the ships and board the ships to prepare for the battle.
At that time, the ships were densely packed on the pier, with three floors inside and three floors outside, and wooden planks were used to build bridges between each other, just like driveways. If all the ships were to be driven out, the outermost ships had to be removed one by one.
This is time consuming.
However, well-trained Jiangdong soldiers can do it in just a quarter of an hour.
As the commander of the navy, Zhou Yu had naturally calculated the speed of the ship. With smooth winds and smooth water, sixty miles per hour was the limit he considered, because that was the speed of their experiment.
Sixty miles is about fifty miles, twenty-five kilometers in two hours, about twelve or thirteen kilometers per hour, up to fifteen kilometers.
Later generations recorded that a fifteen-ton, two-masted inland river wooden sailing ship in the Hunan area traveled ten to twelve kilometers per hour with the wind and current, and five to eight kilometers per hour against the wind and current. This speed was also consistent with Zhou Yu's experimental ship speed.
This also means that in a quarter of an hour and fifteen minutes, the fleet can travel up to three or four kilometers.
The Jiangdong Navy's outermost warning ship is about six kilometers away from the flood mouth, and the range they can observe is at least about eight kilometers.
Even if there was a little delay in the information transmission process, from the time Jiangxia Navy discovered the enemy six kilometers away, to the time Zhu Ran and Cheng Pu boarded the ship to prepare to meet the enemy, the enemy would never reach Hongkou within fifteen minutes.
They even had more than ten minutes to arrange their troops.
This amount of time is enough for the well-trained Jiangdong Navy.
Zhu Ran thought so too.
It wasn't until his soldiers had just boarded the ship and before they had time to leave the port, they saw the densely packed ships on the river approaching them like a roaring wind...
The speed of those ships was extremely fast, and the river water broke through the waves like arrows leaving the string. In less than a minute, they had already approached the port.
"this"
Zhu Ran was stunned.
How is this possible?
The news came back from more than ten miles away.
How could the opponent be so fast?
Zhu Ran was completely dumbfounded.
But at this moment, on the battleship of Jiang Xia Navy, Shen Chen finally felt relieved.
Zhou Yu still underestimated today's wind strength and the speed of the ship.
With strong winds, smooth currents and the support of ships, their fleet reached the speed limit of ancient sailing ships on the Yangtze River - thirty kilometers per hour.
The theoretical maximum speed of ancient sailing ships could reach 37 kilometers per hour.
But this is just theory.
What is really feasible is about thirty kilometers.
For example, there is a line from Li Bai's poem, "The White Emperor's farewell speech is among the colorful clouds, thousands of miles of rivers and mountains are returned in one day."
If calculated based on 24 hours a day, the ship's speed is 26.83 kilometers per hour.
But in Li Bai's time, ships had not yet been invented.
Therefore, with favorable winds and smooth water, and with the help of the steamer, the ship's speed could reach more than 27 kilometers per hour, which greatly exceeded Zhou Yu's expectations.
The most important thing was that the invention of the steamship caused Zhou Yu to misjudge their ship's speed.
It was naturally wrong for Zhou Yu to use the speed of the Jiangdong Navy, which had a relatively backward technical level, to measure the ship's speed during the day when the wind was not so strong.