Boarding battle.
This was the mainstream water warfare method in ancient times when cold weapons were used.
It can also be said that before the 17th century, water wars all over the world were similar. That is, first use crossbows, javelins and other long-range projectile weapons to kill and injure the personnel on the enemy ship. When the two sides collide, they use various means (pointed corners) to ram the enemy ship. If it can be damaged, it will be damaged. If it cannot be hit, jump on it. The enemy ship engages in close combat until the enemy ship is finally captured.
Wu Zixu should be China's earliest naval tactician. He integrated the concept of land vehicle warfare into water warfare and created many ship types and a complete tactical system.
These types of ships include large wing, middle wing, small wing, tumao, floor boat and bridge boat. Among them, the large wing is responsible for the offensive mission; the small wing is responsible for the defensive mission, somewhat similar to the frigates in the modern navy; the bridge boat and the sudden boat are responsible for the The surveillance, reconnaissance and support missions are similar to those of modern cruisers or destroyers; and the raft is equipped with heavy crossbows to provide fire support to one's own side.
Although it is also a battle on the water, different ethnic groups also have their own characteristic weapons, such as the "crow crane" in ancient Rome and the hook in ancient China.
The so-called "crow crane" is actually a suspension bridge with railings on both sides, and a giant iron nail shaped like a bird's beak is installed at the top of the suspension bridge. Whenever it approaches an enemy ship, the suspension bridge is lowered, and the iron nail firmly penetrates the enemy ship's deck. , and then the Roman soldiers jumped onto the enemy ships to fight.
The function of Gouji in ancient China was similar to this. According to legend, it was tailor-made for the Chu State by Lu Ban, the master of military industry. This weapon is held by a single soldier and is shaped like a huge hook-and-scythe gun. When engaging an enemy ship in a boarding battle, "the retreating one will hook it and the advancing one will reject it." It can not only prevent the enemy ship from escaping, but also can prevent the enemy ship from escaping. Hold against enemy ships to prevent them from approaching. The emergence of these two weapons greatly increased the power of boarding battles: the Romans defeated the sea power Carthage with the "Crow Crane", and the Chu Kingdom also repeatedly defeated the Wu navy in water battles with the hook.
In addition, the ancient Chinese navy also had a unique tactic, which was to send soldiers with good water skills into the water to sink enemy ships. The Warring States Period "Feasting, Fishing, Hunting, Attack, and War Pattern Bronze Pot" now housed in the Forbidden City in Beijing depicts a scene of soldiers attacking each other in the water.
then.
Under this circumstance, a close combat technique suitable for the navy was born.
And, close slap!
What is tapping?
It is to use a unique weapon to engage in close combat.
From the Northern and Southern Dynasties to the Song Dynasty, it was a peak in the development history of ancient Chinese military technology. During this period, many sharp weapons or prototypes of future sharp weapons were born. In addition to the musket, the thunder cannon, and the bed crossbow, the most outstanding invention in the field of water warfare was the bat pole.
According to historical records, the pole "is made like a large mast, with a huge stone on top and a reel underneath. The rope is passed through the top and applied to the big ship... Whenever you encounter an enemy ship, if you force it, you will use the pole to hit it, and the enemy will be broken into pieces." ".
This kind of weapon is actually a huge stone tied to the top of the big mast, which is tied to a high place with a rope in advance. When approaching the enemy ship, the big mast is suddenly lowered, and the power of the stone is used to smash the enemy ship.
If the ancient Roman "crow crane" is like a mouth born from a warship, then the clap pole is like a fist born from a warship. When it gets close to an enemy ship, it smashes it with force.
The Sui army used a warship called the "Five Tooth" in the Unification War. This warship was equipped with a total of six shooting poles. When the Sui army encountered the Chen Dynasty navy near Jingmen, they smashed more than a dozen Chen Dynasty warships with batons.
Later, during the battle to attack Mianzhou, the river surged during heavy rains, and the Sui army's warships were able to sail directly to the city wall. At that time, the Sui army commander ordered to hit the city defenders with bat poles, and Mianzhou was quickly and smoothly captured.
In the Song Dynasty, the rebels Zhong Xiang Yang Yao modified the shooting pole and installed a rotating shaft at the bottom of the shooting pole, so that the shooting direction could be changed at will, greatly increasing the flexibility. The "cars and boats" equipped with new poles were very powerful. When Yue Fei was sent to quell the rebellion, he did not dare to confront them head-on. He finally used tactics to quell the rebellion.
That's right!
At present, the development of the navy of Longyan Dynasty has just reached this stage.
In other words, both the Jingzhou Navy and the Liangzhou Navy now use this kind of shooting pole!
This kind of shooting pole is also called Jingzhou pole!
It is conceivable that this kind of shooting pole was invented by Jingzhou people, and naturally they used it with great proficiency and ease.
so.
This Jingzhou navy has enough arrogance, so it is understandable.
Liu Zheng smiled and said nothing.
In fact, he already had a plan on how to deal with the boarding battle and the Jingzhou pole.
only.
He preferred to watch these generals discussing and clashing their wisdom.
He likes this kind of atmosphere.
Jiang Xuan studied for a while and then said: "Jingzhou ship is suitable for collision. Of course, in terms of collision, it is naturally not the opponent of our Yinzhou ship! However, the opponent has the advantage of the river bank, which must be guarded against!"
Xiao Qi nodded: "Besides, the draft of the building ship is not deep. The enemy will definitely release the water first or set up obstacles under the water based on the disadvantage of our Yinzhou ship blowing too deep!"
"In this case, a boarding battle will be inevitable!"
Everyone discussed and discussed, still shaking their heads.
There is still no way to avoid a boarding battle.
This is the biggest headache for the Liangzhou Army now.
Liu Zheng was about to speak.
"What if it's a fire attack?"
At this moment, someone suddenly asked.
Liu Zheng's eyes lit up, he clapped his hands and smiled: "Finally we got the idea!"
Everyone was shocked.
Fire attack?
nature.
In ancient times, no matter what naval warfare tactics were used by any nation, they all had one thing in common, that is, all warships used were made of wood, and the best way to deal with wooden warships was fire attack.
Except for the Byzantines who were good at using fire attack (Greek fire) in naval battles, the only ones who took fire attack tactics to the extreme in water battles were the Chinese.
There are two main types of weapons that are most common in water warfare. One is a long-range weapon that projects burning objects at enemy ships, such as rockets (the arrows are tied with burning objects or gunpowder packets) and gunpowder arrows (the burning of gunpowder propels the arrows forward). , trebuchets, thunder cannons, etc. The other type is the fireship, which is a warship loaded with flammable materials. It is lit during combat, and then rushes towards the enemy fleet with the help of the wind to achieve the purpose of burning the enemy ship.
The two Song Dynasties were the peak period of the development of water warfare in ancient China. During this period, not only did many new weapons that combined hot and cold appear due to the needs of war, but many wonderful examples of water warfare also occurred. In the fourth year of Jianyan of the Song Dynasty, Han Shizhong led the Southern Song Dynasty navy to intercept the Jin army Wanyan Zongbi who was returning from the north. The two sides launched a fierce battle on the Zhenjiang River. Because the Song army's ships were huge, often several times the size of the gold ships, they had the upper hand in the water battle and captured the Jin army. The army gradually rushed to Huangtiandang, a backwater port on the south coast.
The navy of the Song Army blocked the exit of Huangtiandang. If the Jin Army broke through in a light boat, it would use sea ships to attack it from two directions. When the two sides approached, the Song Army's soldiers threw iron hooks and dragged it over. The Jin army was besieged for nearly a month, and then they bribed the local villagers with large sums of money. They learned that the old Laoguan River nearby could lead to the Yangtze River, so they dug overnight and returned to the Yangtze River. However, the Song army was still no match for the water battle.
Zongbi then spent a lot of money to find a way to defeat the enemy. A Fujian man named Wang Zhiquan gave Zongbi advice and taught the Jin people to fill the boat with earth and lay flat slabs on top to prevent bumps and hooks on the hull. "Don't get out when the wind blows." When the wind dies down, it will come out" and fired rockets at the awnings of the Song army's ships. The Jin people used their tactics and later defeated the Song army.
In the 23rd year of Shaoxing, a naval battle broke out between the Song and Jin Dynasties on Tang Dao. The Song army used gunpowder weapons for the first time in a human naval battle. "Bao Ji Ming Fire (Powder) Arrows were shot in a circle. Where the arrow hit, the smoke swirled up and burned for several seconds." Hundreds of ships" and finally defeated the Jin army. In October of the same year, the benefactor Wan Yanliang led his army to invade south, and a fierce water battle broke out with the Song army on the Yangtze River. Song general Yu Yunwen commanded the Song army to fire thunder cannons at the Jin army. Many enemy ships were burned. After two days of hard fighting, the Jin army was defeated. The gold lord Wan Yanliang refused to retreat and was eventually killed by his subordinates.
The Battle of Chibi in the late Eastern Han Dynasty was a classic example of a fire ship attack: Cao Cao's army connected the war ships end to end to form a huge water camp. Zhou Yu asked his generals to feign surrender to lower Cao Cao's vigilance, and then Ten small boats loaded with flammable materials were sent to use the wind to rush towards Cao Jun's water stronghold. When the opponent had no time to react, they suddenly set fire to them and burned most of the opponent's ships in one fell swoop.
so.
Hearing Liu Zheng's words, everyone in the group smiled bitterly.
"Sir, this fire attack is not that easy..."
Xiao Qi even sighed: "This method is useful for dealing with the navy whose shipbuilding is not very developed. But it is of little use against the Jingzhou navy."
"oh?"
Liu Zheng frowned.
Jiang Xuan smiled bitterly: "Sir, because the wood used in this Jingzhou ship is processed by Nanyang people, it is extremely difficult to burn. For many years, the fire attack has been completely useless when encountering the Jingzhou ship!"
Liu Zheng was stunned.
This actually startled him.
Refractory wood?
In this era, there is already flame-retardant wood? What is flame-retardant wood? It refers to wood with added flame retardants. Physical or chemical methods are used to improve the fire resistance of wood. The characteristic of this wood is that it is difficult to burn.
In Liu Zheng's impression, even ancient people occasionally developed simple flame retardants.
But it wasn’t until around the seventeenth or eighteenth century that effective flame retardants and treatment methods really emerged.
and.
It was not until the 19th century, or even the 20th century, that the flame retardant industry gradually formed.
certainly.
This does not mean that there may be another time traveler in this world...
In this ancient time, all kinds of magical things actually happened in endlessly. And... Nanyang? Thinking of this, Liu Zheng felt relieved. Since ancient times, there have been many wizards in Southeast Asia. It is not impossible for these wizards to accidentally tinker with flame retardants.
And, that way, it’s also prolific of all kinds of plants!
This resin flame retardant was very popular in later generations.
"Is this still happening?"
Liu Zheng smiled bitterly.
He also said that it was abnormal for these people to discuss such a simple method as fire attack for a long time without bringing it up.
A group of people.
Again at a loss.
Suddenly, Liu Zheng's eyes lit up and he slapped the table: "Yes!"
Everyone looked at it together.
