Lu Wende said: "The 30,000 Song navy navy is within the Huaihe River. We cannot avoid it, so we have to follow Wen Huan's words and force our way through."
After hearing what the two said, Wang Xiu clenched his fists and said, "Okay! According to what you two said, we will forcefully break through the Huaihe River."
Lu Wenhuan said: "Our advantage lies in the gunboats, which can bombard enemy ships from a long distance. I will be responsible for the bombardment at that time. If the Song ship comes up, I will ask two commanders to intercept the enemy ships and protect the gunboats."
Lu Wende said: "Just bombard! Leave the rest to us!"
It was agreed upon that the Qi fleet would rest for a day north of the river mouth to allow the soldiers and sailors to build up their strength, then rush into the river mouth and enter the Huai River waterway.
After the Qi army entered the Huaihe River, they rowed against the current, retreating if they did not advance. The civilians in the cabin who pedaled hard to keep the wheels turning continuously could not rest.
In order to keep the fleet moving forward on the Huaihe River, the civilian crews in the cabin were divided into two shifts to ensure that the fleet would not be washed back to the sea by the current.
At this time, the fleet entered Haikou and entered the river, but no Song Army warships were found.
When the fleet was about to arrive in Lianshui, the Song Navy navy located upstream learned that the Qi Navy navy had re-entered the river.
The Song army did not expect that the Qi army navy, which had been driven out of the Huaihe River, would dare to enter the Huaihe River.
The leader of the Song Army was Yuan Jie, the commander of the navy along the Yangtze River.
After the Qi navy was driven out of the Huaihe River by the Song army, the Song army controlled the Huaihe waterway. Yuan Jie did not expect that the Qi army would dare to enter the Huaihe River again.
Zhao Tai destroyed the Grand Canal, which prevented the Song Navy's navy from going north along the canal to participate in the battle to attack Qi.
When Yuan Jie heard that the Qi navy had entered the Huaihe River again, he was not surprised but overjoyed. He immediately left Chuzhou, called on the idle Southern Song navy, gathered 300 large ships, and sailed down the Huaihe River in a mighty manner.
Early that morning, on the Huaihe River in the Lianshui section, the mighty Song Army navy broke through the waves of the Huaihe River.
Yuan Jie, wearing an official robe and a cloak, stood on the boat in high spirits. Just as he was about to recite a poem, the soldiers on the bow suddenly exclaimed, "An enemy ship has been discovered!"
Yuan Jie didn't take it seriously. He stood up and walked to the female wall to take a look. He saw all the warships on the river covering the river.
"How dare these flocks of birds come back!" Yuan Jie saw the Qi army navy with sneers on his face. He immediately waved his hand and ordered: "Come forward and knock over the Qi army's warships!"
The Song army's warships were as tall as a city on the river, and the Qi army's ships could not collide with the Song army. The boarding battle was like a city siege. It was difficult for the soldiers to climb onto the Song army's warships, but the Song army was able to shoot arrows and throw cupboards from a high position. The two armies fought on the river, and the Song army was like adults beating children.
Therefore, the navy of the Song Army watched the navy of the Qi Army sailing up the river. They did not feel that there was any danger, but instead thought that the time had come to gain military exploits.
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After the military order was given, in the cabin of the Song Army's warship, the civilians began to step on the wheels hard, and the fins on both sides of the warship rotated to drive the warship forward.
The Song army's warships were already following the current, but now they were still pedaling hard on their wheels. The warships were suddenly as fast as galloping horses.
Given the size of the Song army's warship and the speed of the warship, once it collides with the Qi army's warship, it will be directly smashed into pieces.
Lu Wenhuan stood on the ship's deck and saw the Song navy sailing down the river. He immediately ordered, "Send the flag! The enemy ship is approaching, and the gunboat will bombard it immediately!"
Behind the gunboat, Wang Xiu and Lu Wende also ordered their soldiers to prepare for battle.
All of a sudden, the soldiers on all the warships of the Qi army picked up their bows and arrows, and placed cupping jars, flying claws, flying ladders and other objects on the side of the ship, preparing to engage in battle.
At this time, the Qi army's gunners took off their gun jackets, revealing bronze cannons.
The gunners have been secretly training in Haizhou for a period of time, and are very skilled in loading movements. However, the combat effectiveness of the gunship cannot be known until it has been fought.
At this time, the Song army's warships were sailing down the river menacingly, while the Qi army's ships were spinning rapidly. The distance between the fleets quickly narrowed, and soon the distance was less than one mile.
Lu Wenhuan could see from the building boat that the soldiers of the Song Army were standing behind the female wall on the building boat opposite. They were holding bows, arrows and crossbows. They were ready to shoot down the approaching Qi army warships. They listened to the Song army generals on the opposite side. A shout of command.
This made the Qi soldiers on the ship feel a little nervous. The palms of the soldiers holding the torch were slightly sweaty. However, when they saw Lu Wenhuan's stern expression and his eyes staring at the enemy ship opposite, their nervousness eased a little.
Lu Wenhuan observed the Song fleet rushing down like a torrent, and raised his right hand high.
The gunner holding the torch on the bow turned to look at him. Suddenly he saw him wave his right hand and immediately turned his head and leaned the burning torch towards the fire door.
With a loud "boom", the cannon on the bow of the ship retreated violently, a cloud of white smoke rose from the muzzle, and gunpowder smoke instantly filled the bow of the ship.
All the soldiers on board felt the battlefield shake. An iron bullet burst out of the smoke and hit the oncoming Song army warship against the river surface.
There was a "wow" sound, and the moment the artillery shell was about to hit the Song army's warship, it penetrated into the river, causing a splash of three feet high.
This scene fell in the eyes of the oncoming soldiers of Song Dynasty. All of them widened their eyes and recalled the scene in front of them in disbelief.
Yuan Jie looked horrified and asked in a voice, "What kind of weapon is this? Why can it hit so far?"
Lu Wenhuan sat in a boat and fired cannons, which was the signal to attack.
Before the Song Army could react, the cannons placed on the bows of each gunboat fired in unison.
"Boom, boom, boom!" The soldiers of the Song Dynasty heard loud noises one after another. White smoke rose up from the bow of the Qi army on the opposite side, and then iron bullets roared towards them one after another.
Before Sergeant Song could recover, the cannonball fell into the water and splashed all over their faces.
Yuan Jie and the soldiers of the Song Army were shocked. They did not expect that the Qi Army could have firearms that could shoot such a distance.
At this time, Yuan Jie couldn't help but feel lucky. This thing was loud and could shoot far, and its movement was indeed deceptive. Fortunately, its accuracy was not high.
Just as he was trying to calm down, there was a sudden loud bang, and a black iron ball stuck to the river and flew directly towards his boat.
Yuan Jie was so horrified that she was paralyzed. Before she could escape, she heard a loud bang and the parapet on the third floor of the building exploded.
The cannonball carried countless sawdust fragments and swept across the entire floor ship, tearing the bodies of soldiers along the way, smashing the hull of the building ship, punching through the entire floor ship, and finally flew out of the building ship and fell into the river.
Yuan Jie was so frightened that she sat down on the ground without knowing when.
His eyes were dull and his head was blank. After a moment, he was pulled back by the screams one after another around him.
"Hurry and protect the commander!" The soldier who let the sawdust scratch his body ignored his injuries, got up from the ground, and quickly protected Yuan Jie.
Yuan Jie was lifted up by his own soldiers. He glanced around and saw stumps and broken bodies everywhere in the trajectory of the cannonballs. The ship was full of mess, and he couldn't help feeling frightened.
