The Mongolian navy here is still adjusting the fleet formation, and the Pili Army navy took action first. Huang Dagen first ordered his men to rush towards the Mongolian fleet in a small boat surrendered from the water bandits. These small boats were already running very fast, but now they were flowing down the water, and soon they rushed close to the Mongolian fleet. Without waiting for the Mongolian army to fire their arrows, the Perak soldiers on the boat jumped into the water and swam towards the escort ship that was following them. They lit the boats before jumping off the ship. These boats were filled with firewood and sprinkled with grease and gunpowder. In an instant, they approached the Mongolian fleet with raging fires. The scorching waves of fire caused the Mongolian ships to give way, and some panicked people were so frightened that they jumped into the water to escape, and they were left in a panic for a while. These Mongolian troops were also the elite of the Song Navy before they surrendered, and there were strategies to deal with the fire ships. After several fiddles, these unmanned fire ships did not cause any harm and went downstream along the current. In fact, Huang Dagen also knew that it was almost impossible to burn the Mongolian ships with these small fire boats. His purpose was to disrupt the formation of the Mongolian fleet. Now seeing that the Mongolian fleet was in chaos, and some ships were colliding with each other due to panic, they launched a real killer move - firearms attack.
Huang Dagen deployed four escort ships in front, followed by two light gun ships, sailing down the river towards the Mongolian fleet. When the two military fleets staggered, first the muskets on the escort ship opened fire, and then there was a blast of grenades. Just when the Mongolian navy was beaten dizzy, the close-range shooting of the light artillery boat made these traitorous troops unlucky. The flying shotshells not only knocked down the Mongolian army in front of the boat, but also left the remaining force behind. The crowd on the boat behind them, this wave of attacks caused the Mongolian navy to lose one-third of its combat power.
After the first wave of attacks, Huang Dagen commanded the fleet to rush downstream to block the Mongolian army's retreat. The Perak Army's escort ship got stuck in a favorable fighting position, while the light gunboat turned around the side of the ship and fired another round of bombardment at the Mongolian fleet. The Mongolian fleet was now shrouded in smoke, and many ships were lying in the water due to loss of control. Turning the bows at this moment would obviously cause greater chaos, so they had no choice but to continue sailing upriver.
To say that this Mongolian fleet was not weak, they braved artillery fire and adjusted their formation while swimming upstream. It only took a short time to end the chaos, and then turned the bow and charged towards the Perak Army. The Mongolian army also wanted to take advantage of the advantage of going down the river to make a comeback. After all, they still had close to twenty ships, while the Perak fleet only had a few warships. After just a few attacks, in addition to losing more men, not even a single ship of the Pili Army was damaged. In the face of the Mongolian counterattack, Huang Dagen's order was to use artillery bombardment from a distance, and to serve with muskets and grenades from close range. As for gang-hopping operations, soldiers from the special platoon would deal with it. When fighting the water bandits in Xuzhou, the Perak Army was once in a state of embarrassment. Not only did the water bandits sneak attacks and occupy a favorable formation, but also because the water bandits were large in number and had a tenacious will to fight. On the other hand, in this battle, the Mongolian army had more ships but only about 300 men. The Perak army had fewer ships but was larger, and its number was only a few dozen less than the Mongolian army. In addition, they had sharp firearms and suitable tactics to deal with these traitors who did not have a strong will to fight. Army, the battle situation is naturally one-sided.
Just when Huang Dagen was about to launch a general attack and annihilate the Mongolian fleet in one fell swoop, a mighty fleet appeared far up the river. It was visually estimated that there were more than a hundred large and small warships. This was naturally the naval force of Diaoyu City. , which made the Mongolian army even more desperate. Seeing that their hope of escape was gone, the Mongolian army surrendered without waiting for these ships to approach. It has become a habit for these traitorous troops to surrender. As for integrity and the like, it is nothing compared to their lives.
As soon as the Diaoyu City ships arrived, Ouyang Xuan ordered the Mongolian ships and prisoners to be handed over, and he took Huang Dagen to meet the leader of the Diaoyu City fleet. Unexpectedly, the leader was unusually young, and his face looked much younger than Ouyang Xuan's. He should be under twenty years old. After the two sides exchanged pleasantries, Ouyang Xuan realized that he was Wang Li, the anti-Mongolian hero destined to be famous in history. In Ouyang Xuan's memory, history recorded this famous general like this: Wang Li, the last guard of Diaoyu City, was a resourceful, heroic and capable general who repeatedly defeated the Mongolian army; three years after the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, in order to protect the city's 100,000 Regardless of the life and property of the soldiers and civilians, he submitted a letter of surrender to the Mongols regardless of the lifelong infamy he suffered. There was great controversy about Wang Li in later generations. Some people thought that he surrendered to Mongolia and was a traitor. Others thought that he did not hesitate to bear the infamy to protect the lives of soldiers and civilians, but he was a true father-in-law. In Ouyang Xuan's eyes, Wang Li was the real hero. It would be a pedantic and evil act if he sacrificed 100,000 soldiers and civilians to bury the corrupt Southern Song Dynasty regime.
The enemy of the enemy is a friend. Although Wang Li didn't know the origins of Ouyang Xuan and others, he saw that they were friends rather than enemies when he saw that they severely attacked the Mongolian army. He immediately invited Ouyang Xuan to take a boat to Diaoyu City. The two are about the same age and cherish each other. Ouyang Xuan admired the heroes of the Mongolian War, so he naturally met him honestly; Wang Li couldn't help but admire Ouyang Xuan when he saw Ouyang Xuan's extraordinary bearing, conversation, and far-sightedness. He also heard about the history of the Pili Army's hard work and entrepreneurship. The two of them talked more and more happily along the way, and for a while they felt it was too late to meet each other.
Before he knew it, the boat had approached Diaoyu City, the seat of Hezhou government. In the second year of Chun in the Southern Song Dynasty (1242), Yu Jie, the minister of the Ministry of War, the envoy of the Sichuan pacification system and the prefect of Chongqing, adopted the suggestions of brothers Ran Jing and Ran Pu and built the city of Diaoyu Mountain in accordance with the strategic defense idea of "combination of city and fort, military and government". This Diaoyu Mountain is surrounded on three sides by the Jialing River, Fujiang River and Qujiang River. It is steep and majestic, leaning against the sky and the earth. Only the east side is connected to the land. The huge pincer-shaped river on the water surface forms a natural chasm about 20 kilometers long, with towering rocks and dangerous water conditions. The steep mountain banks and open environment on the land add to this not-so-high platform. The precipitous trend of rising from the ground and standing tall. Ouyang Xuan, standing at the Navy Pier in Diaoyu City, finally understood why the Mongolian army stopped here.
Wang Li and Ouyang Xuan got off the boat and saw the soldiers of the Perak Army following them. He who had been talking so enthusiastically just now suddenly stopped and looked at Ouyang Xuan hesitantly. Seeing his troubled expression, Ouyang Xuan asked the reason. It turns out that during this period of war, in order to prevent the Mongols from investigating the truth and pretending to be Song troops for a sneak attack, Diaoyu City did not allow people of unknown origin to approach Diaoyu Mountain, let alone enter the city. Although the Pili Army was a guest army, except for the leader, the rest could only stay near the dock. Even Ouyang Xuan needs to hand in his sidearm before he can enter Diaoyu City.
"This was drawn up by Wang Tongzhi himself, and subordinates dare not go beyond it," Wang Lili added in apology. Hearing this, Ouyang Xuan said seriously: "This is natural, we will obey the king's order." The Wang Zongzhi mentioned by the two people was Wang Jian, the magistrate of Hezhou and the guard of Diaoyu City who was famous in later history books. It was under his leadership that Meng Ge Khan died in Diaoyu City and changed the direction of world history. According to what Wang Li said, he was not in Diaoyu City during this period, and his deputy general Zhang Jue took care of the city defense matters temporarily. It is said that Zhang Jue was also a famous anti-Mongolian general in the history books of later generations. After Wang Jian and before Wang Li, he was in charge of this most important fortified city in central Sichuan.
After Ouyang Xuan ordered everyone to comply with the requirements of the Diaoyu City defenders, he and Huang Dagen followed Wang Li to Diaoyu Mountain City.
