On the vast Yangtze River, the waves hit the table and rolled up the waves.
The river flows slowly eastward, and is turbid green and yellow due to the impact of sediment on both banks. Although it is not as muddy and yellow as the Yellow River, it is not clear either.
Today's southeastern style is very popular. Whether it is sailing on the sea or on the river, wind power is very important for sailing boats.
Just like the Battle of Chibi in history, Zhou Yu used the southeast wind to set fire to Cao Cao.
Generally speaking, the southeast wind from the Yangtze River prevails in spring and summer, and the northwest wind blows in autumn and winter. Whether it is the southeast wind in winter or the northwest wind in summer, it is very abnormal.
So to a certain extent, the Battle of Chibi that took place in 208 AD, in December of the 13th year of Jian'an, was God's blessing on Soochow and Ji Han.
But now history has changed, from the tenth year of Jian'an to the fifth year of Zhangwu, that is, the early summer of April in 205 AD, when the southeast wind was at its strongest.
God never favored Liu Biao this time. The fierce southeast wind kept roaring, urging the sails to provide power for the ship.
The Qingzhou Navy of the imperial court took advantage of this wind, and the fleet surged like hundreds of huge waves, heading straight for the Jiangxia Navy of Jingzhou.
Huang Zhong's flagship charged at the front. After the first round of arrows from both sides, he was already in close contact with the enemy's ship and collided with it, making a huge roar.
The weather was gloomy, and Gan Ning's face was also gloomy.
Because he found that although the Qingzhou Navy's actual combat experience was far less than that of the Jiangxia Navy, it was very well equipped.
Their ships were wrapped with a layer of iron. Not only were they huge, they were also strong and collision-resistant. When they collided with the wooden ships of the Jiangxia Navy, they could often take advantage of them.
Moreover, during the battle on the ship, the Qingzhou Army's armor, steel knives, arrows, and even crossbows and poisonous smoke balls were thrown at the Jiangxia Navy's ship, causing many casualties.
In addition, if the Qingzhou navy accidentally falls into the river during a battle, ordinary people, no matter how good their water quality is, will basically be dead in such big river waves.
But Liu Bei has almost controlled the entire north, so he controls the output of cattle, sheep and horses in the grassland. There is no lifebuoy without rubber, but there are sheepskin rafts and cowhide rafts.
This kind of thing was called "leather bag" in the Han Dynasty. When the two sides were in close combat and accidentally fell into the water, the teammates on the boat immediately threw the leather raft down.
You can save your life by using the raft ring and climbing up the cabin's hanging ladder, but the Jiangxia navy does not have this benefit at all.
Therefore, although Huang Zu's tactics were used properly and he had defeated several large ships on both wings of the Qingzhou Navy through double-flank encirclement, the casualties could be said to be 1,000 for the enemy and 800 for himself, which did not account for too much.
Big bargain.
The tenacity of the Qingzhou navy was not only beyond Huang Zu's expectation, but also beyond Gan Ning's expectation. He noticed that Huang Zhong's flagship was very brave and had already inserted itself into the middle of the Jiangxia navy. It seemed that it was going to march straight into Huanglong.
At this critical moment, only those who can bring decisive victory factors to one's own side can show their true qualities as heroes.
Gan Ning piloted the flying boat and rushed towards Huang Zhong's flagship like white stripes in the waves.
His position was in the north, because Huang Zu was to the west of the Yangtze River, attacking from west to east from the upper reaches to the lower reaches. His left wing was from the north and his right wing was from the south.
After Su Fei was sent out to support Deng Long from the left wing, their position was to the north, on the right wing of the Qingzhou Navy.
Therefore, Gan Ning was charging diagonally from the north to the south at this time, half following the wind and the current, and his speed was extremely fast.
In less than half a quarter of an hour, he had already rushed to Huang Zhong's flagship.
The waves surged and the river water lapped at the sides of the ship.
At this moment, the soldiers left behind on Huang Zhong's flagship also noticed that there were several fast boats attacking them, and they immediately rained down arrows, which continued to fly out.
Gan Ning and other generals immediately hid in the cabin of the fighting ship, and the arrows hit the deck and cabin roof with a banging sound.
The fighting ship has two floors. There are a large number of sailors shaking the oars in the lower cabin. There are more than a hundred soldiers hiding in the second cabin. The ship carries a total of more than 200 soldiers, waiting to get close to board the enemy.
The ship attacks.
When there was a roar, several nearby supporting ships boarded first and ran away. The exposed boats covered Gan Ning's fighting ship and collided with Huang Zhong's flagship. Gan Ning took the lead and rushed out with a shield.
He was shirtless, exposing his bronze skin, and his muscles were all tangled. He held up a shield in his left hand, held a knife in his mouth, and hung a Xishu brocade belt around his waist. He began to climb with one hand against the rain of arrows.
The rain of arrows from above continued, making a tinkling sound when hitting the iron shield. The mere force of the impact might numb an ordinary person's arm.
But Gan Ning was not only extremely tall and majestic, but also extremely strong. He was not afraid of the numerous arrows on his head and the rain of arrows.
Moreover, he has been drifting on the water all year round, and the waves of the Yangtze River are rolling, causing the ship to rock back and forth. Even a sailor who has been trained for many years may lose his stability, but he is walking on flat ground, like a vigorous swimming dragon, and is not affected at all.
Since the height of the fighting ship was not too low, only about a foot shorter than Huang Zhong's flagship, Gan Ning used the hook to hang the ship. In an instant, Gan Ning had climbed to the side of the ship and jumped onto the deck.
The Qingzhou Navy, who were still shooting arrows around them, immediately retreated in a well-trained manner. Behind them and on the left and right were five or six spearmen who immediately raised their guns and stabbed at him.
In the Cold Weapon Age, before close encounters, there were only three methods of water warfare: ramming ships, bows and arrows, and random stabbing with spears when boarding ships.
After getting on the ship and engaging in hand-to-hand combat, normal hand-to-hand combat will begin.
Gan Ning had been stabbed by spears before, but he had blocked them all. Now he was faced with so many spears. He immediately turned to the side to avoid it. At the same time, he protected his body with a shield and lowered his head.
.
Bang bang, several people stabbed in the air, but only two of them hit the shield. The sharp spear points pierced the iron and wooden shield, making a fierce metal collision sound.
In the flash of lightning, Gan Ning reacted quickly and slid to the side like a loach.
Then he quickly drew out his sword and chopped down two Qingzhou Navy soldiers who were close to him. Then the surrounding soldiers came in again, but he dodged them again. He counterattacked again and chopped down a few more people.
By the time the Qingzhou navy realized something was wrong, it was already too late. Gan Ning had delayed it long enough, and the Jiangxia navy behind him continued to pour in. They quickly occupied the deck near the right side and forced them towards the cabin.
.
At the bow of the ship, the lookout who was responsible for watching saw that the rear was lost and quickly shouted to the front: "Report to the general quickly, the enemy has boarded the ship."
"What?"
The few soldiers guarding the enemy ship did not hear it.
In fact, the two sides were not far apart, because Huang Zhong's flagship collided with a stern boat of the other party. The stern boat was not small in size, only one size smaller than Huang Zhong's flagship. Therefore, when the two collided, the two sides collided.
The ship was already very close, and the few soldiers were only four or five feet apart.
But the wind on the river was really too strong. The howling southeast wind blew violently. While giving the Qingzhou Navy fleet a huge power, it also made it difficult for the two soldiers to hear the message clearly even if they were far away.
What did the other person say?
The soldier was also a ruthless man. Seeing that his comrades not far away could not hear clearly, he gritted his teeth and jumped directly to the opposite boat while holding a sheepskin raft. He did not jump on, but he closed the distance and shouted again in the air.
"The enemy has boarded the ship!"
The next second, there was a "plop" and the soldier fell into the water.
Several Qingzhou Navy soldiers on the opposite boat watched dumbfoundedly as their comrades fell into the water. However, after being stunned for two seconds, they woke up from a dream. They did not choose to save them, but turned around and walked towards the rear.
At this time, Huang Zhong was cleaning the cabin.
The size and load capacity of the ship is only one size smaller than that of his flagship. His ship can carry more than seven or eight hundred soldiers, while the ship can carry about four to five hundred people. It is equivalent to the ordinary Qingzhou Navy ship, but the defense facilities are not as good.
There are just too many of them.
After Huang Zhong led the soldiers to rush onto the deck of the ship, the two sides started fighting around the deck, the first cabin, the top cabin and the lower cabin.
In addition to the size of the ships in the Han Dynasty, the load capacity also depends on the number of cabins.
For example, the building ships can carry two to three thousand people, ranging from four or five stories to six or seven stories. There are even palace-shaped buildings with more than ten floors, such as the Yuzhang building ships built during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and the one built by Gongsun Shu.
The Red Tower Silk Boat can carry tens of thousands of people.
Of course, ordinary building ships were used for fighting and practicality was considered. The building ships built by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Gongsun Shu were used to enjoy a luxurious life and had no practical value, so they could not be taken into consideration.
But this point also shows that in actual combat, even if the enemy rushes to the deck, both sides will fight around the cabin.
Huang Zhong brought about 400 people aboard the ship and fought their way into the cabin from the deck. After dealing with the top cabin upstairs, he then began to attack the lower cabin. It took a long time to break through the hatch of the lower cabin. Finally, the ship was
Take it down.
After imprisoning the prisoners in the bottom cabin, he was covered in blood and prepared to return to the deck. He happened to meet the soldier who was running quickly to deliver the message, and asked in a deep voice: "What's going on in a panic?"
The soldier hurriedly said: "General, the enemy has boarded our main ship."
"What?"
Huang Zhong was shocked and suddenly started to sweat.
He still has too little experience in water warfare. His flagship is usually used as a rear command ship and rarely leads the charge.
Because once the enemy destroys the flagship and cuts off the flag, it will have a huge impact on our own morale, and may even cause the entire battle to collapse.
So at this moment, he chose to let the flagship charge, and even killed his own commander on the enemy's ship. It seemed brave, but in fact it was a drawback.
Fortunately, Huang Zhong reacted quickly and immediately shouted: "Hurry, go back quickly."
After saying that, he picked up the bloody sword and hurried back to the deck.
A large number of soldiers have begun to gather over there. Due to the fluctuations in the river, the ships will keep swaying. It is impossible to fix the two ships with ladders, so ropes are used.
It was easy to get off the rope and slow to get up, so everyone could only use the ladder to go back from the direction of the dragon head where the flagship had hit before.
However, although the leading head is connected to the stern, it is too narrow and can only pass two people at a time. The return of rescue is still relatively slow and helpless.
Huang Zhong rushed to the front.
When he returned to his flagship, he was relieved that although the enemy had boarded the deck, they had not yet broken through the cabin.
His flag was hung above the top of the third floor. If the enemy wanted to rush up, they would have to fight all the way up from the cabin. Now they have not even broken through the first cabin.
At this moment, more than two hundred Jiangxia naval forces have boarded the ship. The Qingzhou navy is still resisting on the deck, but the number is very small. There are only thirty or forty people. The deck is about forty feet long and eight feet wide. There is blood everywhere.
and corpses.
The ordinary building ships used by the Western Jin Dynasty to destroy Dongwu were about one hundred meters long and more than ten meters high. The Qingzhou ships were about the same size as ordinary building ships, also one hundred meters long and twenty meters wide, with a total of five floors.
The battlefield covers the deck, the first cabin, the second cabin deck and the third deck. At this time, the upper deck is still occupied by the Qingzhou Navy, who can attack the enemy below through the parapet.
Seeing that the battle was in a stalemate, Huang Zhong rushed over quickly with his sword in hand. Several Jiangxia navy soldiers around him noticed someone coming from the direction of the leader, and immediately rushed over, slashing at Huang Zhong with their big swords.
"die!"
Huang Zhong roared angrily. Although he was fifty-seven years old this year, his fighting ability was not weak at all. He opened and closed the big sword in his hand to confront the enemy head-on and easily killed the Jiangxia navy.
Soldiers from the rear came continuously, and the nearby Jiangxia navy also swarmed up to the flagship. Reinforcements were coming from both sides, and they quickly fought together.
Over there, Gan Ning was storming the cabin. When he learned that the enemy behind him was coming for reinforcements, he did not hesitate to abandon the cabin and return to attack the reinforcements.
The design of the cabin is easy to defend but difficult to attack. The terrain is too narrow. As long as you guard the opening of the passage, one man can block it and no one can open it. Even if Gan Ning is brave, more than ten spears will be thrust out every time he attacks. It is impossible to get in. Only
Can go back.
When Huang Zhong came to kill him, Gan Ning was afraid of being attacked from both sides. He had already boarded the ship and occupied the deck. He was afraid of being driven back, so he had to come over immediately to repel the enemy's reinforcements.
When Huang Zhong got on the ship, there were actually only a dozen soldiers around him, and he was at an extreme disadvantage in the battle on the deck.
But he immediately supported his side and liberated many troops.
In this way, fifty or sixty people quickly gathered around him. Although the deck was very large, more than two hundred people were crowded together, and people continued to board people on both sides of the rear, so it was obvious that there would still be a tug-of-war.
Gan Ning came at full speed and rushed to the front. He had already seen Huang Zhong and knew that he was an enemy general. He immediately roared: "Kill him!"
"kill!"
The surrounding Jiangxia navy roared and followed him.
Huang Zhong was still wearing armor. When he saw a shirtless, eight-foot-six-inch tall man, half a foot taller than himself, rushing towards him, he was not afraid and rushed towards him with his sword in hand.
Soon the two were fighting together. As soon as the two sides took over, they knew they had encountered a tough fight. The two swords collided, and violent sparks flew out. There was a stalemate.
With a bang, both of them swung the swords with their right hands and pushed on the back of the sword with their left hand to increase the strength, but neither of the two swords could do anything to the other.
Their strength was evenly matched. Huang Zhong and Gan Ning chose to slide their swords almost at the same time. Because Huang Zhong was cutting and Gan Ning was cutting horizontally and sideways, so after the two of them slid their swords, Huang Zhong lowered his head and stabbed downwards, while Gan Ning swept back and teased.
However, what made Gan Ning's hair stand on end and made him break into a cold sweat was that Huang Zhong actually did not dodge and faced his blade. He chose to exchange injuries for injuries and did not care about his own casualties at all.
It wasn't that he really intended to exchange injuries for injuries, but Gan Ning was not wearing armor, while Huang Zhong was wearing armor. Even if Gan Ning came to chop him, he would at most hit Huang Zhong's armor.
Realizing this, Gan Ning hurriedly stopped the sword, kicked his legs hard, and rolled to the side.
Fortunately, he had no armor and his figure was extremely strong and light. He reacted the moment he was poked by Huang Zhong's sliding knife and flew out without being poked by Huang Zhong.
"hateful!"
Gan Ning rolled on the deck, his body covered in blood. He stood up and glared: "You are so despicable."
"Hahahahahaha."
Huang Zhong drew his sword and stood up, laughing and saying: "Boy, you are very strong. If a normal person is hit by my sword, he will be cut down by me, but you can block it and say your name? I will not kill the nameless ghost with my sword!"
However, after the two of them fought, Huang Zhong realized that Gan Ning's strength was no ordinary pawn. No wonder he dared to roam the waves without armor.
Gan Ning shouted: "I am Gan Ning from Ba County. Who are you?"
"Nanyang Huang Zhong!"
Huang Zhong took off his helmet, revealing gray and black hair.
Previously, the helmet covered his hair and face, and his beard had not yet turned white, making it difficult to tell his exact age.
After taking it off, Gan Ning realized that his opponent was actually a veteran who was nearly sixty years old. His eyes widened in disbelief.
"Wait a minute, Nanyang Huang Zhong?"
Gan Ning seemed to have remembered something, pointed at Huang Zhong and said, "Are you the Nanyang Huang Zhong who shot Lu Bu with one arrow and made him vomit blood?"
"Exactly!"
Huang Zhong stuck his knife on the deck and said while taking off his armor: "Boy, I won't take advantage of you. You don't wear armor and neither do I. Let's have a good fight."
Seeing Huang Zhong being so upright, Gan Ning admired him for a moment: "When the Kwantung Army attacked Dong Zhuo, they all praised Lu Bu as the best in the world in terms of military force. I used to think that the name was not worthy of the name. I, Gan Xingba, am no worse than Lu Bu. Now it seems that it may be possible."
Already."
"oh?"
Huang Zhong threw the armor to the ground and made a dull sound: "Why?"
"You are almost sixty this year."
Gan Ning said: "You can still fight with me at this age. If you were twenty years younger, I might not be able to beat you."
"Hahahahaha."
Huang Zhong laughed and said: "Boy, I like to hear what you say, but it's useless to say it nicely. Liu Biao's disobedience to the imperial court is a serious crime of treason. I think you are a formidable young man. You have all the skills, so why bother to follow Liu Biao and fight against the imperial court?"
"
Gan Ning smiled bitterly and said: "I am from Bajun, and I have a group of tribesmen under me. Because I offended Liu Zhang, I went east along the Yangtze River to Jingzhou. I wanted to go north to join the imperial court, but the road was blocked by Liu Biao, so I had no choice but to join the Jingzhou army.
You know, do I really want to follow Liu Biao?"
Seeing that Huang Zhong seemed to be able to persuade the enemy to surrender, he immediately said: "In that case, why not surrender and serve the imperial court? If you agree, I am willing to recommend him to the imperial court."
Gan Ning said in a deep voice: "A loyal minister has nothing to do with the two masters. If I had not defected to Liu Biao before, I would have accompanied the general. But now it has become a foregone conclusion, so it is difficult to obey the order. If the general defeats Huang Zu today, let Huang Zu surrender."
, I am willing to defect. Otherwise, if I defect in the face of battle, where is my faith?"
"Pity."
Huang Zhong smacked his lips, nodded and said, "But you are indeed a good man, let's do it again!"
What Gan Ning said makes sense.
Military commanders pay attention to their integrity, and those who simply surrender are not valued the most. If Gan Ning defected before the battle, he would be looked down upon by others, so it is natural that he cannot be persuaded to surrender.
Although he did not surrender, Huang Zhong still admired Gan Ning's loyalty, so whether he could persuade Gan Ning or not would depend on whether he won the battle today.