Another heavy rain poured down on the Northeast. The heavy rain didn't last long, and the Haishui plain turned into a pond full of water. It wasn't until the heavy rain stopped the next day that the water slowly drained away, revealing the muddy ground.
On this gloomy morning, the water in the Xishui River was surging, and the water vapor on the river was gray. The battleships of the Sui Navy were sailing upstream, and the fleets were racing with thousands of sails, making a great momentum.
The fleet stretched for more than ten miles and traveled against the river in a fighting formation. The speed was not very fast, just like a giant dragon traveling north from the sea swimming in the river. There were large areas of farmland and villages on both sides of the river.
This is an alluvial plain with fertile land and crisscrossed rivers. It has been the most densely populated area in Goguryeo since ancient times. From time to time, you can see patches of woods dotted on the plain.
It was now September 24, the third year of Daye, and the river wind carrying raindrops blew on my face, feeling a little cool. On a five-tooth warship, the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Expeditionary Army, Yang Jijia, was fully equipped with a Qilin Sword on his waist and stared deeply into the water ahead.
Yang Ji didn't know how to fight water battles, and he had handed over all the navy to Zhou Fashang and Pei Ju before. But he was the top general of the Sui Dynasty after all, and Yang Su, Gao Jun, Pei Ju, Shi Wansui, Yang Lun, Zhou Fashang, Yang Yichen and other top generals Famous generals are all proficient in water and land warfare. It would be unreasonable if he didn't understand water warfare at all. If he encounters water warfare in the future and there are no talents around him who know water warfare, he will be in big trouble.
Thinking that he had nothing to do in Chang'an City, and that there were a lot of famous commanders and generals watching in Pyongyang City, Yang Ji came to the Navy yesterday to observe and learn. He doesn't require himself to be a water battle commander, but he must at least understand it.
In addition to Yang Jing, Yang Shanhui, Ling Jing, Pei Xingyan, Xue Wanshu, Zhu Can and others, there are also Yang Yan, Yang Gang, Yang Shidao, Yang Zhiyun, Yang Zhiliang, Yang Lun's half-brother Yang Meng, Yang Yichen's son Yang Quanzhong, nephews Yuwen Xie and Yuwen Jiao, nephews Xiao Nuo and Xiao Jian.
When these people gathered on a battleship to watch and learn, they had a sense of familiarity with Cao family generals such as Cao Hong, Cao Ren, Cao Chun, Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu, Xiahou Dun, and Xia Houyuan. And in this era when clans are powerful, most of these people will be the capital of the Yang family's future. Waiting for another five or six years, it will be even more amazing.
Looking at them, Yang Ji actually felt in his heart, "My children are prosperous."
Suddenly a clear voice came from behind: "I will see you at last, your Majesty!"
Yang Ji looked back and saw Zhou Fashang's youngest son Zhou Shaofan and nephew Zhou Shaoze saluting him. The Zhou brothers were followed by more than a dozen soldiers, so he smiled and said: "General Zhou, no courtesy."
Zhou Shaofan and Zhou Shao have just reached the weak crown this year. They are thin and tall. Their dark handsome faces are full of heroic spirit. Since generations of the Zhou family have been masters of water warfare, when Zhou Fashang became the commander-in-chief of the Northern Navy, he took all the successful Zhou family members with him. The reason why Zhou Shaofan and Zhou Shaoze were on the same boat with Yang Ji was because they were responsible for Yang Ji and others explained some common sense about water warfare.
However, the main reason why Zhou Fashang sent his nephew to explain was to get his nephew closer to the King Wei family and the Yang Group. After all, there were Yang Ji and many children of top figures on this ship. If his nephew could seize this god-given opportunity, he could join hands with Yang Ji. Or if you form a good relationship with others, you will definitely save many years of struggle in the future.
Zhou Shaofan took a hooded cloak from a soldier, stepped forward and said to Yang Ji: "Your Majesty, the rain is getting heavier and heavier. The general has brought the cloak."
"Thank you, General Zhou!" Yang Ji did not refuse Zhou Shaofan's kindness. What's more, he was not a general at this time, so there was no need to pretend, so he took the cloak and put it on.
Seeing this, the others also thanked them and put them on.
Yang Ji recalled the situation in Pyongyang City and asked: "General Zhou, do you think we can reach Pyongyang City silently?"
"Impossible!" Zhou Shaofan shook his head and said: "The population on both sides of the Xishui River is densely populated, and it is inevitable that there will be some ingenuity. In addition, the Goguryeo people have also set up many beacon towers on both sides of the river. As long as our army moves north along the river, Goguryeo will definitely light up smoke as a warning. "
While Zhou Shaofan was talking, Yang Ji saw a group of knights running with the fleet on the north bank. Not far ahead, there was a white stone sentry tower. The sentry tower stood high on the north bank and could have a panoramic view of the Xishui River. , and it is impossible for the mighty fleet of the Sui Army to escape the gaze of the soldiers on the guard tower.
Zhou Shaofan also discovered this sentry tower. He stepped forward and introduced: "Your Majesty, according to the people nearby, these sentry towers did not exist before the war. Later, I heard that our navy conquered Dahang City, Dragon Bone City, etc. In coastal cities, Goguryeo built more than 30 beacon towers along the river."
Before he finished speaking, he saw three pillars of beacon smoke rising into the sky from the sentry tower, and three pillars of beacon smoke echoed not far away.
Yang Jining looked at the present, knowing that it would not be long before the Goguryeo Navy and Pyongyang City would get news about the Northern Commander of the Sui Navy Navy, and the water war would happen soon. He asked Zhou Shaofan: "How far is it from Pyongyang City? How far?"
Zhou Shaofan has been in this area for a long time and knows it very well. Hearing this, he replied: "Your Majesty, it's about fifty miles away. Our army is now sailing against the current, and the flood is surging. It will take at least two hours." "
"Well!" Yang Ji nodded and said with a relaxed expression: "The gates of Pyongyang City are flooded and cannot be opened. Even if the soldiers in the city come out, there will be land troops to deal with them. Therefore, the navy must annihilate the enemy's water The division is the main one, it doesn’t matter sooner or later. By the way, how many troops does the Goguryeo Navy have?"
"There should be about 30,000 people." Zhou Shaofan replied: "The enemy navy was originally deployed in Jiaodao, Changkou Port, and Niushan Port at the mouth of the Xishui River. The total number of troops and fishermen at that time should have been 50,000. However, their ships were too small and could not withstand the strong winds and waves. After being hit by the catapults deployed by our army, they abandoned the entrance to the sea and retreated into the river."
After looking at Yang Ji, Zhou Shaofan added: "Although the enemy troops are still more numerous than ours, water battles are completely different from land battles. Once a ship is destroyed, it will be useless no matter how many soldiers are on board. When soldiers fall into the water, they basically It’s hopeless.”
Yang Ji asked again: "Our army has many ships and large ships. Under this situation of sailing against the current, is our army in danger? What is the biggest crisis?"
"Of course there is a crisis." Zhou Shaofan pondered for a while and said: "The enemy ships are not as big as ours, but they have the advantage of the upper reaches. They can tie some small boats and wooden rafts together, and then swim downstream, one by one. The platoon rammed our fleet."
"The ship floats on the water and its foundation is unstable. If the force is not as strong as the interceptor upstream, the ship will first stop, and then swim downstream, squeezing the ships behind it. This is also the most dangerous moment, because the opponent You can either set fire to the ship or launch catapults from both sides.”
"But Governor Zhou is already prepared. The momentum he has set up is to let many ships bear the impact of the upstream interceptor. Once the two sides are in a stalemate, the racket pole on the Huanglong ship will exert a huge impact. When it worked, the warships on the side and rear fired rocks, smashing the Zhijun ships in the gap in front."
"That's it!" Only then did Yang Ji understand why Zhou Fashang put up the "▼" lineup, and he asked again: "Apart from what you said, what other crises are there?"
"No more!" Zhou Shaofan shook his head and said: "Our warships have an advantage that the enemy cannot imagine or compare with. As long as our army resists the interception force from upstream, we can smash, shoot and launch arrows all the way. Stone."
As he spoke, he explained: "Captain Zhou said that our shipbuilding skills in the Sui Dynasty surpassed Goguryeo's for hundreds of years. This is a technology that Goguryeo can't learn no matter how hard it is. Since our warships are tall and heavy, and they are not If you are afraid of fire, then just go on a rampage, there is no need to play those useless tricks. Only forces with small ships and few ships will jump up and down to play fancy tricks."
Yang Ji was stunned for a moment, then said with a smile: "Simple, direct, rude, and unreasonable.?"
"That's right!" Zhou Shaofan nodded and said: "When the navy fights, it is surrounded by the vast Jiangnan and the sea, so the battle on the water is far simpler and crueler than on land, and it is far more important to have equipment advantages than the battle on land. In a powerful situation In the face of strong strength, there is no reason for the navy to turn defeat into victory, and no matter how the weak play, they can't change the equipment gap and the fate of failure."
After Yang Ji thought about it carefully, he realized that this was really the case: the weak on land could still use sneak attacks, night attacks, flooding, fire attacks and other methods to turn defeat into victory, but above the water, all these were useless. Unless you are guilty of something, or there is a traitor, or you are unlucky enough to encounter a big storm!
"Your Majesty, the enemy navy seems to have appeared." Pei Xingyan said suddenly.
Yang Ji moved his eyes from the shore to the front, and saw dense black spots on the water in front of him.
"Dang! Dang! Dang!" The warning bell rang from the warship in front, and Yang Ji's soldiers on the warship ran out of the cabin one after another. However, although they were brave and good at fighting, here they basically couldn't do anything. Regardless of the slightest effect, the main force in this battle was Zhou Fashang who came from the east to bring the northern navy to the county.
Zhou Shao on the side came to Yang Ji, clasped his fists and said: "Your Majesty, a flag is coming from the front, asking for your opinion!"
Yang Ji had already explained before boarding the ship, asking Zhou Fashang to pretend that he did not exist. Unexpectedly, when things came to an end, Zhou Fashang also sent an inquiry flag, but he also knew that the other party was showing an attitude of respect, so he had no choice but to ask Zhou Shao Then he said: "I don't understand water warfare, so I immediately sent out a signal and let Mr. Zhou make his own decisions without asking me."
"General, I obey!" Zhou Shao saluted, quickly climbed up to the platform on the top floor, and ordered the soldiers above to pass the message.
Soon after, the Sui fleet had changed. The Wuya ship where Yang Ji and others were on stopped moving forward, and the warships on the left and right also anchored in the river. Pei Renji, deputy commander of the Northern Navy, led the front army to meet the invading enemy. .
Yang Ji and others stepped onto the top platform one after another and stared at the sixty warships heading forward, acting as qualified spectators.
.
.
.
.
On the surface of the Xishui River, the Goguryeo navy saw the warning beacon smoke and immediately swam down to intercept the Sui navy heading north. Although the Goguryeo naval force was large in number, the main warships were Qianshi warships, with more than two hundred ships in total, and even more grain ships and merchant ships.
Their water warfare weapons were crossbows and small catapults mounted on ships, while the "tonnage" of the fifty warships led by Pei Renji was the four-thousand-stone "Huanglong-class" warship.
The tonnage of the "Huanglong-class" warship was second only to the Wuya warship in the Sui Dynasty. The hull was very strong, and the bow was also wrapped with a layer of iron. Sink the enemy ship, which also has catapults, bed crossbows, kerosene, and infantry longbows for soldiers.
As Zhou Shaofan said, the Goguryeo army did use a series of battleships to fight, while Pei Renji's sixty warships were divided into three rows and advanced in a staggered manner.
When the first row of warships from both sides collided with each other, the high-erected racket pole on the Huanglong warship fell violently, several feet long, amid the shouts of the Sui army officers and soldiers, and hit the Goguryeo warship.
Amidst the loud "rumbling" sound, a Goguryeo warship was hit by two racket poles at the same time. The hull broke and the river water surged in from underneath.
The soldiers of the Sui army worked hard to winch the winch and stretched out the racket pole.
There was a loud "rumbling" sound, and it was lowered again and hit the ground again. When the racket pole was extended, the Goguryeo warship sank very quickly.
In addition to this one, the other nineteen ships also used the same method to smash the enemy ships in front.
Yang Ji also knew that water warfare weapons only appeared in the Sui Dynasty and were recommended by the military god Yang Su. During the Battle of Pingcheng, Yang Su led the navy to fight fiercely with the Nanchen Navy on the Yangtze River. This kind of unreasonable The racket pole exerted great power and effect, and became the first contributor to the Sui Navy's victory over the Nanchen Navy.
Although Goguryeo had long known that the Sui warships had this kind of shipbreaking weapon, and they had imitated it, but because their warships were small and could not control the "mechanical" principles well, when the racket pole was smashed down hard, At that time, the warships without exception somersaulted, so they knew it was good, but the shipbuilders had no choice but to abandon the racket pole because of their poor shipbuilding skills.
Ordinary soldiers didn't know much about these. When they saw the Sui army using such a huge racket to smash their own ships, many Goguryeo navy soldiers thought that the mast of the Sui army's warship had fallen.
The Goguryeo naval forces were unprepared. They approached the Sui warships at close range, just preparing to attack the enemy with small catapults and crossbows. In just a few moments, the forty rackets of the Sui army's first row of battleships inflicted heavy damage on the Goguryeo navy.
The first row of more than 30 warships of the Goguryeo navy were connected with iron chains. When 20 warships were smashed and sank, the other ten were also dragged to the bottom of the river.
Goguryeo soldiers holding scraps of wood and calling for help were floating everywhere on the river, but what greeted them was the rolling torrent surging down from the upper reaches. They either hit the Sui army's warships, were swept under the hulls, or went downstream. Then, it collided with the warships staggered downstream, and the Sui soldiers on the ship were too lazy to use their bows and arrows.
When the first row of enemy ships sank to the bottom of the river, the water battle between the enemy and ourselves quickly became intense, with thunderous drums of war and loud killing sounds on the river. Arrows and stones flew all over the sky, and the huge racket slapped the Goguryeo navy's warship like a devil's arm. The heavily damaged warship made bursts of hull breaking sounds.
"General Pei, the enemy ships are very flexible and it is difficult to damage the enemy with the bat!" A soldier shouted to the former commander Pei Renji.
After the five rows of serial ships sank, the ships of the Goguryeo navy were all alone. They learned the lessons from the front and no longer approached the Sui warships to avoid being sunk by the racket. They kept a certain distance from the Sui army and took advantage of the flexibility of the boats to launch stones to attack the Sui army warships.
"Fire back with stones and crossbows!" Pei Renji said calmly.
Fire attack is one of the traditional tactics in water warfare, but the rain gradually became heavier, kerosene and rockets may not be able to burn, and the loss of ordinary arrows was also affected by strong winds, so the Sui army could only use stones and bed crossbows to fight back .
While fighting back, rows of warships continued to move forward in a staggered formation, and the staggered enemy warships were dealt with by the rackets of the warships behind them.
This contest of great disparity in strength lasted for just over two hours, and ended at around noon with the complete annihilation of the Goguryeo navy.
Yang Ji: "..."
He thought he was simple, direct and rough enough, but after witnessing the whole battle, he realized that this place was even better and even more shameless.
In the end, the Sui army's warships actually lost only three "Huanglong-class" warships, and most of the fallen soldiers were picked up by the flexible stern. Compared with Goguryeo, the Sui army's losses were almost negligible.
