Chapter 97: The War of Words between Hanks and Han
In late March, Liu Zhang finally received a reply.
He planned to send 40,000 troops to help.
In fact, Yizhou is not peaceful either, and there are numerous voices from the capitulationists.
Liu Zhang was weak and incompetent and hesitant to surrender.
Because the imperial court also gave him an edict, saying that as long as he surrendered, let bygones be bygones.
Considering the disparity in strength between the enemy and ourselves, he did consider surrendering.
But Wang Lei persuaded him, saying that they could surrender and continue to be officials in another place.
But Your Majesty has already proclaimed himself emperor. If you surrender, you may not be able to save your life.
It was this sentence that made Liu Zhang fearful and resistant.
So after receiving Liu Biao's request for help, Liu Zhang sent Liu Quan, Ling Bao, Zhang Ren, Deng Xian, Wu Yi and other troops to come for reinforcements.
The country of Yizhou is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Liu Zhang stationed 100,000 troops. Although his strength was average, he had been relatively stable over the years, so he had a lot of troops in total.
It was just that Liu Zhang had a grudge against Zhang Lu of Hanzhong, so he continued to attack Zhang Lu over the years. He also needed troops to the north of Hanzhong and to suppress the ethnic minorities in the southwest.
Therefore, the 40,000 troops sent this time can be regarded as an overwhelming force. If all the troops sent to Sichuan to aid Jingzhou are wiped out, it will be a devastating blow to Liu Zhang.
But at this moment, Jingzhou was shrouded in wind and rain.
On March 24th, a storm swept through Jingzhou. The gate of Xiangyang City in Nanjun suddenly opened, and rows of heavily armed soldiers came out of the city.
Their goals were clear. Some of them went directly to kill some wealthy compounds outside the city, some went to the city near Xiangyang, and some went south to Zhonglu and Yicheng. They were all like wolves and tigers, full of murderous intent.
overflow.
The storm was particularly strong today, so Kuai Yue and Cai Mao made a list of people to be killed. In addition to being surrender factions in Jingzhou, these people also had a dirty background. They took advantage of others by force and oppressed the people.
The two men were well-known, and under the pretext that they were within the imperial court, hundreds of powerful families in Jingzhou were reduced by nearly half overnight, and thousands of people were purged.
For a time, the entire Jingzhou was shrouded in wind and rain, and the killing continued for several days. Under the heavy rain, everything was clean.
The remaining Jingzhou aristocratic families suddenly fell silent. Except for a few relatively clear-headed ones, such as the Huang family, the Ma family, the Yang family, the Xi family, the Xiang family, the Yin family, the Zhang family, etc., the rest of the aristocratic families were all in panic.
Terrified.
In mid-April, Liu Bei arrived in Nanyang. The mighty army of more than 100,000 people went to Wancheng, passed through Xinye, and arrived in Deng County. The army had already occupied Fancheng on the other side of the river, and its troops were pointing directly at the foot of Xiangyang City.
This ancient Xiangyang city is still standing in the rain. The rain stopped for a while a few days ago. By the beginning of April, it was the Qingming Festival and there was light rain.
Liu Bei was walking along the banks of the Han River, with Yuliang Island, Changshou Island, Zhongcheng Island and other river islands looming in the distance. The fog was hazy and the ancient city was in shadow.
He was accompanied by many courtiers, each holding an oil-paper umbrella and scanning the Xiangyang city with indifference.
There was a slanting wind and drizzle, and there were tens of thousands of troops behind Liu Bei. Rainy days were actually not conducive to marching.
But it was only light rain these days, so the army prepared some extra raincoats. When we came to Xiangyang this time, we not only took into account the enemy's resistance, but also took into account the weather factors, so we had sufficient supplies and it was not troublesome to fight even on rainy days.
Liu Bei looked around and said, "I heard that Liu Biao is madly killing all the powerful families in Jingzhou these days?"
Dong He, the magistrate of Huyang County, said: "Your Majesty, there is something wrong."
"Is Liu Biao crazy?"
Liu Bei was very surprised. If there was civil strife at this juncture, wouldn't he be seeking death?
Jia Xu, who was accompanying the army as a staff officer, said: "Your Majesty, this is a good thing for the country."
"oh?"
Liu Bei asked: "Why?"
Jia Xu replied: "There is great chaos in the north, and many powerful families have destroyed their families. Therefore, there is no big obstacle for the prime minister to divide the land among the common people. Jingzhou has been stable for more than ten years, and the land has been occupied by those families. Liu Biao has cleared some obstacles for His Majesty.
.”
"That's it."
When Liu Bei heard this, he immediately laughed: "So Liu Biao helped me?"
Liu Ba, a native of Haoyang, stood up and said seriously: "Your Majesty, Liu Biao is going crazy for his perverse behavior. Please send troops as soon as possible to prevent the lives of Jingzhou from being ruined again."
"Um."
Liu Bei nodded and said: "It has been raining for days and it is not suitable to attack the city. In this way, after a few more days, the Jiangdong Navy is already attacking Shaxian. Just wait for them to go north to join us. If the progress on the Navy's side does not go well, then start from
Follow the county south to take Jiangxia."
In fact, the surrounding Jingzhou aristocratic families include not only Dong He and Liu Ba, but also Nanyang natives Li Yan, Chen Zhen, Lu Chang, Nanjun natives Deng Fang, Feng Xi, Xi Zhen, Yang Yi, Wuling natives Liao Li, Pan Rui, Gong Zhi, etc.
Waiting for more than thirty or forty people.
Most of these people came from the major aristocratic families in Jingzhou. Last month, Liu Biao began to purge the major aristocratic families in Jingzhou who wanted to submit to the imperial court. Those who had seen the opportunity fled across the river and fled to Nanyang to rely on Liu Bei.
Liu Bei did not like killing like Cao Cao in history. He was known for his benevolence and righteousness, so he was favored by major families. The families who originally wanted to flee to Bashu also began to flee to Nanyang.
Although Liu Biao blocked the river, many of these aristocratic families had ways to escape from Jingzhou, such as bribing military commanders or taking a detour north from other places.
Now Liu Bei is stationing troops outside Xiangyang City, which is what they hope for. But they also hope that Liu Bei will send troops as soon as possible to regain Jingzhou so that they can return as soon as possible.
But looking at the current posture, Liu Bei obviously doesn't want to attack on a rainy day. He may have to wait until the Qingzhou Navy, which may not be able to attack in a short time.
This made the hearts of those wealthy and powerful families sink, because it meant that the killings in Jingzhou would continue for a long time...
...
...
Jiangxia Shaxian Queyue City, later Wuhan Hankou, the vast Yangtze River, the river is several miles wide, even dozens of miles wide at its widest point. Looking from the north of the Yangtze River to the south of the Yangtze River, the waves are so vast that you can't see the end at a glance.
At this time, there were hundreds of large and small ships on the river. The scale and size of these ships were very different from the common military ships of the Han Dynasty. Their draft, tonnage, appearance, style, and appearance characteristics were much more complex than ordinary military ships.
The shipbuilding industry in Qingzhou has been in progress since 185 AD when Chen Mu took over Qingzhou as the governor of Qingzhou. Chen Mu recruited shipbuilding craftsmen, recruited capable people from all over, and actively promoted new ship manufacturing. It has been twenty years now.
In the past twenty years, with the vigorous promotion of the government, Qingzhou's shipbuilding industry has developed rapidly and has reached the level of ships in the Song Dynasty that is close to that of the Ming Dynasty. Even now that rubber is available, steamships are being studied.
Don't think that the level of ships between the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty was very poor. In fact, from the Tang and Song Dynasties, Guangzhou has been the starting point of my country's foreign trade, and the development of ships at that time had reached its peak.
During the Tang and Song Dynasties, foreign trade reached as far away as Europe and as close as Southeast Asia, Japan, and Korea. In the Tang Dynasty, there were riots by foreigners in Guangzhou, which was when the Maritime Silk Road was launched.
The ocean-going ships of that period could carry thousands of tons, large ships could carry five to six hundred people, and medium-sized ocean-going ships could also carry two to three hundred people. The level of shipbuilding was very high.
The sea is actually not suitable for sailing super large ships. Large ships like the Han Dynasty, which can carry thousands of people, can basically only sail on large rivers such as the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. When going to sea, they can easily capsize when encountering super strong waves.
But since Qingzhou's shipbuilding industry has reached the level of the Song and Ming Dynasties, and its navigation on the sea has been tested, it will naturally be easier to run on rivers like the Yangtze River, and there will be no possibility of capsizing.
The naval forces under Huang Zhong and Taishi Ci did not have large ships. Most of their ships were large ships carrying five or six hundred people, and not just one, but forty or fifty ships. Plus a large number of medium-sized ships, the fleet was majestic.
There are three to four hundred boats on the boat, which is majestic and spectacular.
In comparison, Huang Zu's Jiangxia naval force was much inferior. There were only a few tower ships, and the rest were the kind of ships that boarded first, walked on the water, exposed the raft, or sailed, and fought. They were troop transport ships, and there were not too many on board.
There are many defense facilities, which are completely incomparable to Qingzhou Ship.
The two sides faced off on the river. On a certain ship of the Jiangxia Navy, a burly man in his mid-thirties stood on the board of the ship with a big knife in his hand. He stared at the river in the distance with murderous intent in his eyes.
And out.
"Xingba, tell me how we will fight later."
Su Fei, the governor of Jiangxia on the side, said to this sturdy man.
This person is none other than Gan Ning, whose courtesy name is Xingba.
Gan Ning once launched a rebellion in Sichuan and was driven out of Yizhou by Liu Zhang. He had no choice but to go down the Yangtze River. He had nowhere to go and could only rely on Liu Biao.
He once thought about going north to join Liu Bei, but unfortunately he took the Yangtze River waterway and was stopped by Liu Biao's people. He also had hundreds of subordinates under his command. If he did not adhere to Liu Biao, he would be attacked by Liu Biao, so he had no choice but to surrender.
Su Fei, the governor of Jiangxia, was Gan Ning's superior and was very close to Gan Ning. He recommended Gan Ning to Huang Zu many times, hoping that Gan Ning would be reused by Huang Zu.
But Huang Zu didn't use him, so this time Liu Biao sent Huang Zu to intercept the imperial court's Qingzhou Navy. Su Fei gave all his troops to Gan Ning to command. As long as Gan Ning could make great contributions, he would be promoted.
Gan Ning also knew that Liu Biao was making a desperate move this time. The final decision on the outcome of the showdown between him and the imperial court lay in the battle between naval forces.
If the Qingzhou Navy can be defeated, the Jiangxia Navy can immediately return to defend Xiangyang and repel the imperial court.
After losing the navy, the imperial court no longer had the ability to go south, so Gan Ning knew very well that this was an opportunity to prove himself, so he looked at the flagship in the distance with firm eyes and said: "Ban Dingyuan once said
"If you don't enter the tiger's den, you won't get its cubs. If you can kill its generals in a battle, you will win. After the war begins, we will go straight to his ship, board the ship first, kill his generals, and we will definitely win!"
"good."
Su Fei nodded: "I listen to you."
The ships on both sides were about two or three miles away. There were seven or eight hundred ships on both sides, almost covering the entire river.
The flagship of the Jiangxia Navy was a giant building ship. On the flagship, Huang Zu looked across the river in the distance. Seeing the ferocious force of the Qingzhou Navy, he immediately issued an order: "Separate the left and right wings to outflank, and let Chen attack from the right. Zhang Shuo
To coordinate, let Deng Long attack from the left wing, and Su Fei to coordinate, while we retreat slightly to lure the enemy deeper."
After the order was issued, the soldiers above the flagship immediately played flags and informed Huang Zu's generals on the left and right wings to act in accordance with Huang Zu's orders.
Here Su Fei got the order and said to Gan Ning: "The general asked us to coordinate with Deng Long."
Gan Ning's face darkened and he said, "Let's act according to the situation."
"good."
Su Fei nodded.
The distance between the two sides is getting closer and closer, and Huang Zhong's troops are at the forefront of the Qingzhou Navy's charge.
His flagship was in the center. He used his telescope to see the enemy's formation spread out. He didn't think much and said directly: "Let's just rush over!"
"The general has orders, charge forward!"
the messenger shouted.
The flag waver at the top immediately gave instructions via semaphore.
Soon the two sides quickly approached, and when they were close to Baizhang, because it was the southeast wind blowing in early summer in April, it was very beneficial to the Qingzhou Navy, and an overwhelming rain of arrows was directly fired at the Jiangxia Navy.
The Qingzhou Navy was in the tailwind, and its speed was very fast. Although the distance was more than two hundred meters, by the time it fired, the distance between the two sides was only one hundred and fifty meters.
Then, with the blessing of the wind, the arrows thrown out flew farther, even reaching three to four hundred meters, and fell like raindrops on the Jiangxia Navy.
However, in terms of experience on the Yangtze River, Huang Zu was much stronger than Huang Zhong. He had long known that the enemy would shoot arrows with the wind, so he immediately issued an order to let the soldiers raise their shields, hide in the cabin, and the archers.
The cat is under the parapet on the second deck.
Huang Zu waited until the distance between the two sides was less than 50 meters before he ordered a counterattack with arrows. Unfortunately, the wind today was not very favorable to him. In the case of a duel, the Qingzhou Navy, which had the wind advantage, must have taken advantage.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Huang Zu was not discouraged. Seeing that the fleets of both sides were about to collide, he issued the order for a general attack.
Unlike Huang Zhong's flagship, which was at the front, Huang Zu's flagship was at the rear. Because it was a large building ship, it was located very high, so it could have an overview of the entire battlefield.
He saw that under his command, the small and medium-sized ships on the left and right wings quickly bypassed the impact of the Qingzhou Navy and arrived at the flanks of the Qingzhou Navy. Then the sailors on the ship quickly shook the ship and faced the Qingzhou ship from the side.
Rush away.
After getting close, they either bumped into their flanks, or used ladders with hooks to board the ship. The Qingzhou navy on the ship also began to shoot arrows down from the flanks, and the two sides soon fought together.
In fact, Huang Zhong seldom fought in water, and could hardly compete with Huang Zu in water fighting ability, but he could not withstand the ships of Qingzhou Navy. As the strongest ship, Huang Zhong rushed directly into the enemy's fleet and crashed into one.
He hit the boat and smashed it into pieces.
It's just a pity that the position is not very good, and the sharp dragon's head is stuck on the stern ship, but it doesn't matter, Huang Zhong roared angrily, and hundreds of soldiers around him attacked the enemy ship one after another. For a while, the two parties were entangled together.
In the early days of the war, the Qingzhou Navy took advantage of the relatively strong ships. The Jiangxia Navy suffered heavy losses in the first wave of attacks. Soldiers who fell into the water fell into the Yangtze River like raindrops and were swept away by the river.
But soon Huang Zu's tactics played a key role. Using the mobility of small and medium-sized ships, the large ships of the Qingzhou Navy were divided. The Jiangxia Navy planned to attack ship by ship, like ants eating away at the elephant.
, in less than half an hour, Huang Zhong lost four or five large ships on his left and right wings, and killed two to three thousand soldiers.
At the same time, Gan Ning saw the opportunity and drove a fighting ship with more than a hundred soldiers on board. He quickly rushed towards Huang Zhong's flagship, intending to take advantage of Huang Zhong's flagship to get stuck.
The ship destroyed his flagship to achieve the purpose of the decapitation operation.
What Huang Zu and Gan Ning didn't know was that Tai Shici's fleet had also arrived from behind at this time, and on his ship were two new weapons and equipment newly built by the firearms workshop affiliated with Qingzhou Iron and Steel Works.