When historians of later generations study the history of the Holy Tang Dynasty, they often like to make concise and comprehensive evaluations of those figures who had an important impact.
For example, Li Chengwu, later generations rated this emperor as: respectful, kind, friendly, and indecisive.
Another example is Xu Youchang. He fought all his life and was evaluated as: brave and resolute, and a model general.
And Yin Chengyi also commented, the same eight words:
People tend to follow the trend, but their ambitions and talents are sparse.
To be honest, it is a bit too much to comment on General Yin Chengyi as "a man of great ambition and talent". To be precise, he should be "without ambition and talent".
And it was such a governor with no ambition and talent who actually deceived Li Bing.
After the court report, the emperor quickly issued an edict, ordering Yin Chengyi to command 600 new warships to form a Yangzhou fleet, and at the same time coordinate and command the Yiling fleet and Kunpeng's 10th Army to look for opportunities to fight and defeat the rebels.
Yin Chengyi has always wanted to be the commander-in-chief of the front line, with his sword pointing south and thousands of troops sweeping the world, to establish unparalleled achievements, so that he can live out the addiction of a famous general in the Shengtang Dynasty.
However, due to the strong resistance from the Ministry of War and various legions, Li Bing never dared to agree easily, which made Yin Chengyi very unhappy. Now that things have been compromised, he is now in charge of the entire navy, which is better than nothing.
Of course, Ouyang Lin also has some credit behind this.
Ouyang Lin has now focused all his attention on Shangshu Zuopu shooting Wei Zixuan, so Yin Chengyi, like Dong Tianxing, has also been cleared of suspicion. Otherwise, he would have no chance of assuming the position of commander-in-chief of the navy.
When Yin Chengyi took office, the first thing he did was to call Gong Chengze, who had fled back to the imperial capital to recuperate for more than two months, and asked him to accompany him to the front line.
Gong Chengze was defeated in Taizhou. Although he was scolded by the emperor when he returned, he was not removed from his post as military affairs inspector for the Southern Expedition.
Therefore, Yin Chengyi took the commander-in-chief with him. The purpose was to let Gong Chengze help him suppress the frontline generals so that he could successfully control the military power.
More than half a month later, a huge fleet consisting of 600 new warships set off from Jinhe, passed through Bohai County and entered Kuohai, then turned south, preparing to bypass the Qilu Peninsula and go straight down the river.
There are two main reasons why Yin Chengyi chose to take the sea route instead of entering the Huaihe River through the canal and then reaching Yangzhou from the tributary of the Huaihe River: First, the road is easy to walk. Warships sailing in the ocean are far more comfortable than sailing in congested canals filled with civilian ships; the second is secrets. In Yin Chengyi's opinion, taking the Kuohai road would be conducive to reaching the mouth of the river secretly, which would be enough to catch the rebels by surprise.
However, in the eyes of his old friend and good brother Wei Zixuan, Yin Chengyi has no bullshit secrets at all. With Wei Zixuan secretly contributing, in the end, the only one who really felt caught off guard was Yin Chengyi himself.
Sure enough, the fleet followed the coastline and just turned around Dengzhou Cape and was about to go south when it encountered hundreds of warships.
Although the warships blocking Yin Chengyi's path were not big in size and even looked a bit shabby, they were numerous and flexible in movement. As soon as they appeared, they quickly launched an attack formation and surrounded the imperial navy in three groups.
Gong Chengze's sharp eyes quickly identified the other party's identity: "Brother Yin, they are all Japanese bandits!"
"Japanese pirates?" Yin Chengyi was stunned when he heard this, and quickly stretched his neck to look carefully. Gong Chengze was right. Those hundreds of small broken ships, with three-leaf flags, copper coin flags, ghost fire flags and other messy flags hanging on the top of their masts, were clearly Japanese pirates who were bringing trouble to the vast sea.
Yin Chengyi couldn't help but frown: "Why did they come here? And they seem to be waiting for us."
"I don't have time to worry about that!" Gong Chengze is a person who is used to the battlefield after all. He is far better than a fool like Yin Chengyi who is full of dissatisfaction and half-swayed with a bottle. He quickly reminded the other party: "Hurry up and give the order to fight! The enemy is about to charge."
Yin Chengyi reacted suddenly and quickly sent someone to send an order, notifying the entire fleet to be on alert for battle.
However, before the warships under his command could adjust their formation, the Japanese pirate ships were already approaching. Suddenly, countless arrows shot through the air, causing the soldiers of the Shengtang Navy to flip over.
Fighting on the sea is completely different from naval battles in rivers and lakes. Wind direction, ocean currents, wave turbulence, distance control and other factors are all unfamiliar to the Shengtang fleet, which is dominated by the Jinhe navy.
If Bao Yuchun's Kuohai Navy were here, of course they would be able to quickly seize a favorable position and battle rhythm, and use the huge size of their warships to completely suppress the Japanese pirates.
But it is a pity that Yin Chengyi and his fleet do not understand naval warfare at all. They have strong military power, but they only get beaten.
The Japanese pirates' ships were fast and flexible, and their fighting style was very fierce. Hundreds of small boats shuttled back and forth directly next to the Shengtang warship. After firing a burst of arrows, they turned around and left. After a while, they came back and fired again. The wheels were like Turkic cavalry fighting on the grassland, frantically consuming Shengtang's troops.
On the other hand, on Yin Chengyi's side, it would be good if the sailors could stand firm on the constantly undulating deck, but it was basically impossible to fight back with arrows. The arrows they fired were either inaccurate or at the wrong distance. Most of them fell into the sea in vain and could not pose any threat to the Japanese pirates.
The only good thing is that the Japanese pirates lack large-scale long-range weapons, and the sea is not suitable for fire attacks. Therefore, the Shengtang fleet suffered mostly casualties and the damage to the ships was relatively low. Some Shengtang warships even went crazy and directly smashed and overturned many enemy boats.
The battle lasted for nearly two hours. As the sun set and the wind changed direction, the pirates roared and hundreds of ships turned their sails and quickly broke away from the battle and sailed towards the depths of the open sea.
Upon seeing this, Yin Chengyi finally let out a long breath, and then ordered his fleet to move closer to each other, restore the original formation, and at the same time count and report the casualties.
After a while, his subordinates came to report that this sudden encounter resulted in more than 2,300 soldiers being killed and more than 6,000 injured.
After hearing this, Yin Chengyi suddenly felt extremely depressed. Before reaching the front line of Dajiang, one-fifth of the troops were directly injured or killed, which is simply inexplicable!
Gong Chengze was there to comfort him. In a war, casualties are normal. Fortunately, the ship was not damaged. It would not be too late to win and make meritorious deeds when they reach the river.
Yin Chengyi thought for a while and felt that this was indeed the case, so he gradually forgot the unhappiness of the defeat in the Dengzhou naval battle, regained his previous feeling of complacency, and ordered the fleet to speed up the river without docking for rest.
Yin Chengyi has never been on the battlefield. He only read a few military books when he was young. Therefore, he does not have the sensitivity of those famous generals who have fought in hundreds of battles.
After encountering a head-on attack, this guy neither adjusted his action plan nor summarized offensive and defensive tactics, nor did he promptly remind his subordinates to be on guard and be careful of the enemy's counterattack. How could he not be beaten again if he continued to rush forward in such a daze?
Three days later, the fleet sailed to the sea off Rizhao and was overtaken by Japanese warships again. Once again, it fell into the tragic situation of being besieged.
This time, the scale of the Japanese pirate fleet was larger than before. Nearly a thousand small and medium-sized speedboats surrounded the Shengtang warship and killed them indiscriminately, like a pack of wild wolves surrounding a bunch of big elephants, cunning, flexible and extremely arrogant.
Not only could those bulky elephants not be able to hurt wild wolves, but they would also be attacked and bitten by them from time to time, quickly becoming scarred.
Gong Chengze saw that Yin Chengyi was like a loser and that his own life would not be saved if he dragged on any longer, so he quickly took over the command from the other party and led the fleet to break out and go straight to the Rizhao Pier not far away.
Rizhao County was under the jurisdiction of Langya County, which had been recaptured from the Japanese bandits by Chang Tao's Xuanwu Legion. As soon as they saw the imperial warships fleeing into the harbor in panic, the archery towers on the shore immediately went on alert. The Xuanwu soldiers used giant crossbows and trebuchets to block the sea, hinder the pursuit, and finally forced all the Japanese bandits back.
Yin Chengyi, who escaped from the siege, couldn't help but became furious. He called the chief officers of each battalion and team to his flagship, cursed them all indiscriminately, and put all the responsibility for the ineffective combat on them.
Gong Chengze originally wanted to persuade him, but when he saw Yin Chengyi's angry look, he was afraid that he would be implicated in the end, so he didn't dare to say anything and just stood aside and watched the excitement.
Not long after, Chang Tao, who was stationed nearby, also came after hearing the news.
The army general was quite shocked by the tragic experience of the imperial navy, and at the same time he was puzzled: six hundred large warships were beaten twice in a row by a bunch of broken ships by Japanese pirates and rogues? In the end, we have to escape into the port and rely on the army to provide protection? Is this... what the hell is this idiot?
However, Yin Chengyi was the Grand Governor, and his rank was two levels higher than Chang Tao. Facing the angry Shangguan, Chang Tao didn't say much. He just ordered his men to immediately treat the wounded on the ship, and at the same time brought good wine and meat to the navy brothers. , Congratulations to everyone.
After arranging the fleet and the wounded, Chang Tao asked Yin Chengyi what he was going to do next.
Yin Chengyi had already run out of ideas and asked Chang Tao if he had any suggestions.
Chang Tao felt angry and funny, and said patiently: "Master Yin, in my opinion, you should not take the sea route. From here to the mouth of the river, there is at least 1,500 to 2,000 miles. Voyage. Although the sea is windy, the ship is fast, and the marching days are shorter, there is no guarantee that we will not encounter Japanese pirates again. What if the two sides fight again?"
Gong Chengze also nodded repeatedly: "Commander Chang Da is right. It's not that we are afraid of those Japanese bandits, but there is no need to waste combat power on them. What do you think? Sir."
Yin Chengyi frowned and thought for a while, then asked: "If not by sea, where would we go?"
Chang Tao cursed in his heart: What a stupid pig! As the Grand Governor, don't you usually study the Shengtang map? Where should I go and ask others?
He suppressed his anger and introduced: "Not far to the south is Donghai County, where there are many tributaries of the Huai River connecting to Kuohai. Choose one, turn into Hongze Lake, and then go all the way south to reach Yangzhou."
