Chapter 929 The Yangtze River Water Battle (Part 2)
The explosions of mines have spread into continuous firecrackers, and the big ship behind was washed away by the huge waves stirred up by the huge waves in the water. Guo Ziyi on the rear flagship saw this scene, and naturally understood that this was a conspiracy, and hurriedly shouted
After shouting orders, everyone lowered the sails, paddled, and turned the rudder in the river.
It is impossible to stop the ship because it is too fast. Even if it turns around, it still needs to drop to the minimum speed. The Tang Army Navy was originally located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, which was their advantage, but this advantage was due to the ship's speed being too fast.
Fast has become an irreversible disadvantage.
The mines tied to the hemp ropes formed hundreds of tight nets in the Yangtze River, destroying and sinking the Tang army's warships one by one. In a short time, more than half of the Tang navy was lost, and the remaining warships did not turn around.
When we returned, we were helplessly stranded on the river beach.
The Yangtze River naval force, which Guo Ziyi had high hopes for and had a strong force, was completely defeated in this battle. How could Li Siye give up this good opportunity to beat the drowned dog and immediately mobilized gunboats to pursue it northward, hoping to kill the Tang army in one fell swoop.
Guo Linggong led the remaining warships back and fought a desperate battle with the Yong army on the river. However, their courage and courage were destroyed by the mines on the river. On the other hand, the Yong army's artillery roared like a rainbow. The Tang army's
The warships either surrendered or retreated continuously.
However, there were still loyal people in the disastrous defeat. Six of the Tang Army's Huanglong warships put up their sails and adjusted their ships, and rammed towards the enemy gunboats with their determination to die. One of them aimed at the flagship of King Yong Li Siye.
The soldiers rowed quickly towards the enemy.
Li Siye was so frightened that he quickly ordered the gunboats to concentrate their fire and sink the warship. The continuous artillery fire exploded waves on the river. The Tang Army's big yellow dragon swam through the waves like a fish, and the artillery exploded.
The hull of the ship was engulfed in flames, and flames were raging in the river wind. The soldiers endured the scorching flames and continued to move forward by hitting the water with their oars. More shells hit the hull of the ship, but it was a pity that the big yellow dragon hit the enemy's flagship
Before, it slowly sank in the water.
Guo Ziyi led the remaining ships to retreat to Chibi Water Village, and decided to abandon the water village and ships to defend the Ezhou city. However, these things could not be left to the Yong army, so they simply scuttled the remaining warships to prevent them from being burned down.
Water village.
However, during this battle, more than 60 large Huanglong ships were deliberately stranded on the riverside, or surrendered directly to the Yong Army. Li Siye's army also captured other small warships of the Tang Army. The strength of the navy was doubled in an instant, which was even more significant.
The significance is that Yong's army has direct control of the Yangtze River waterway and has more strategic options.
Therefore, he made a more bold and direct battle plan. He installed all the existing Huanglong battleships with artillery and converted them into gunboats. He built a large number of troop transport ships. He no longer followed the Jiangxia step by step attack on Jiangzhou, Raozhou, and Danyang, but
They followed the river straight down to Caishiji and attacked Healthy City on the other side of the river.
Therefore, he prepared for nearly two months and formed a fleet of more than 600 large ships and more than 500 small boats, loaded with 120,000 soldiers, and headed toward the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in a mighty manner.
At this time, the Tang army still had a lot of troops in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. There were large armies stationed in Jingkou and Wuhu by Gu Huai'en, Guo Ziyi's old general, and there were also large naval forces.
Li Siye took advantage of the gunboats and mines as a weapon, so he was naturally not afraid of the Tang navy in the lower reaches. Within two days, the Yangtze River navy had arrived near Wuhu. Pugu Huai'en sent navy general Li Yannian to fight, and Li Siye came from upstream to
The lighter wooden box mines were dropped in clusters of fifteen to twenty. They exploded after being hit by enemy ships, sinking many warships of the Tang Army in one time.
When the Yong Army's gunboats moved down the river, the few warships of the Tang Army immediately became prisoners or scraps of wood on the river.
Emperor Li Yu, who was sitting in Jiankang, was shocked. He sent people to Ezhou to see Guo Ziyi and asked him to return to Jiankang quickly to take charge of the occupation.
Guard Jiankang.
Pugu Huai'en knew that after Li Siye's Yong army defeated Guo Ziyi, its strength was invincible in the waters of the Yangtze River, but he still mobilized more than two hundred warships to the west to rescue Jiankang. The two sides fought fiercely on the Yangtze River for a while, and under the raging artillery fire,
Pugu Huai'en retreated to the beachhead of the Yangtze River outside Jiankang City, and scuttled a large number of ships filled with stones, and built wooden piles on them to create artificial reefs in order to prevent Yong's army from landing.
Downstream from Jiankang is Yangzhou on the opposite bank. Li Siye once sent general Bai Xiaode to garrison here with 50,000 to 60,000 people. A large amount of ammunition and grain were stored in the city's treasury.
With such a logistics base, Li Siye could naturally launch a naval siege. While he sent water ghosts to dive underwater to demolish the so-called artificial reefs, he also lined up gunboats across the river, facing the head of Jiankang City.
A series of bombardments were carried out.
The deterrent power of artillery is amazing. It can not only destroy fortifications, but also kill and injure enemies in large numbers. Sitting in the palace of Jiankang City, Li Yu could faintly hear the muffled thunder on the top of the city. You can imagine the timidity in his heart.
He quickly invited the prime ministers Yuan Zai and Wang Jin, hoping that they could give him advice. Yuan Zai seemed to have expected that Jiankang City would not survive for a long time, so he secretly transferred his property to Hangzhou and also secretly sent Li Siye to the northern court.
By communicating letters, he used his feet to ride on two boats. When the Tang Dynasty ship sank in the future, he could continue to serve as an official in the new dynasty.
Unfortunately, Wang Jin also had such thoughts in his mind. It was just that he came from a wealthy family like the Wang family in Taiyuan, so he would not have such thoughts openly, but he probably had no taboos about surrender.
Li Yu worriedly asked the two of them: "Now the rebels are firing on the Yangtze River. Jiankang City is in danger. Where will I go? Please give me some advice."
Yuan Zai was a shrewd man and naturally refused to express his attitude easily, but he also did not want to bury his life in Jiankang City with the emperor. He immediately made suggestions to Li Yu: "The rebels are surging, and I am afraid that
Jiankang has failed. Your Majesty, you are the foundation of the country. It is better to lead the civil and military officials to temporarily retreat to Yuhang, wait for the troops to defend Jiankang and defeat the Yong army, and then lead the officials to return to Jiankang."
Li Yu also wanted to withdraw, but he was also worried and asked suspiciously: "Now the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty inside and outside the city are focused on resisting the enemy. It is the time when I need to boost morale. If I abandon the city at this time, will it happen?"
The morale of the soldiers was low and Jiankang fell."
Yuan Zai gave Wang Jin a wink, and Wang Jin had no choice but to step forward reluctantly and said: "Your Majesty's withdrawal from Jiankang has caused a certain instability in the morale of the army, but now the enemy is in danger of Jiankang, but one city and one place
How can the gains and losses of your Majesty be compared to your Majesty, who is the foundation of the country, so I boldly suggest that your Majesty first withdraw from Jiankang and go to Yuhang to avoid the disaster of the army. As long as your Majesty is still here, the morale of the army will not be lost."
Li Yu ran out of ideas for a while. In his heart, he was really unwilling to abandon Jiankang and escape, because Jiankang's meaning was different from other places. It had been the capital of the southeast since ancient times. In the past, his grandfather and father fled Chang'an twice.
As a result, half of the rivers and mountains in the Tang Dynasty today, if Jiankang is abandoned now, there will be no place for him in the whole world.
He believed that we should not only listen to the opinions of civilian officials, but also listen to the thoughts of military commanders. However, the military commanders were all away at war, and no matter how fast Guo Ziyi was, he would not be able to get back in a while.
He could only wave his hands and said: "Moving the capital is of great importance, I have to consider it slowly."
The two prime ministers wanted to talk, but Li Yu waved his hand and drove them out.