The monarchs and ministers of the Southern Song Dynasty looked towards the river. In the distance, there was a shadow of masts and sails, coming up the river from east to west.
Seeing the Qi fleet coming from afar, the Southern Song Dynasty monarchs and ministers, who had just seen the display of the Song army's gunboats, showed contempt.
"There are many ships!" Jia Sidao squinted his eyes and looked into the distance. The shipbuilding industry of Qi State was not as developed as that of the Southern Song Dynasty, and the number and tonnage of the Qi army's warships were not as good as those of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Zhao Yun looked at the approaching fleet and was a little flustered at first, but then calmed down.
"Zhao Tai's ship is smaller than mine, but he wants to scare me. He really overestimates his capabilities and makes people laugh." Ding Daquan said:
"When the Qi warships get closer, Your Majesty can let my Song warships practice in front of them to see who can scare who!" Zhao Yun nodded, appreciating this idea.
At this time, the Qi fleet approached, and everyone could see that there were masts on the river like a forest, and flags on the ships were fluttering. On one of the big flags, it read "Big One"
The word "Qi". At this time, as the distance approached, everyone could see more clearly, and Jia Sidao suddenly frowned.
There is a big difference in appearance between gunboats and ordinary warships. One of the most obvious features is that there are cannons piercing the sides of the warship.
Jia Sidao looked at the Qi fleet and was shocked to find that there were dense cannon holes on both sides of these warships.
"Impossible! Why are they all gunboats!" Jia Sidao said in surprise. When Zhao Yun heard this, he was surprised and said:
"Are they all gunboats?" He quickly stood up from the dragon chair and observed carefully, and sure enough he found that all of the more than 80 ships on the opposite side had gun windows.
Ding Daquan couldn't believe it.
"This is impossible. With the financial resources of Qi State, how can we cast bronze cannons to assemble eighty gunboats." Zhao Yun heard what he said,
"Could it be that Zhao Tai is bluffing and wants to bluff me?" While the monarchs and ministers of the Southern Song Dynasty were discussing, Zhao Tai led the naval gunboats and had already arrived in front of the monarchs and ministers of the Song Dynasty.
Lu Wende stepped forward to ask for instructions.
"Your Majesty, do you want to fire?" Zhao Tai nodded slightly.
"Let's fight! Beat the barrel of the cannon until it turns red!" Lu Wende then waved his hand, and the soldiers hung the flag indicating the start of the exercise on the top of the mast.
"Boom boom boom"
"Boom boom boom"
"Boom boom boom" On the river, eighty Qi warships were lined up. The artillery on each warship roared in turn. One after another, the cannons retreated violently, and orange-red flames were sprayed out from the muzzles. There were clouds of white smoke.
At this time, nearly a thousand artillery pieces were fired one after another, and the shells flew close to the river. When they were about to reach the shore, the shells penetrated into the water and stirred up water columns several feet high.
Zhao Yun and others stood relatively far away, but the water pillars in front of him still shocked his expression. The monarchs and ministers of Song State originally thought that Qi State's warships had gun windows and no cannons inside. But now they saw with their own eyes that Qi State's gunships fired a salvo, and their jaws dropped.
"Why was the Qi State able to build so many artillery pieces?" Zhao Yun was confused as he looked at the water columns rising into the sky and the Qi State fleet whose hulls were obscured by gunpowder smoke on the river.
The Qi State's gunboats were four times as many as those of the Southern Song Dynasty, which instantly made the Southern Song Dynasty monarchs and ministers lose confidence. This is Qi's gunboat. The gunner fired a gun, quickly loaded it, then pushed the gun back to the gun position and fired again.
One after another, the shells fell like raindrops and hail on the river in front of Zhao Yun, splashing water columns that connected together to form a water wall several feet high.
Zhao Yun and many Song ministers were speechless. If a war broke out, the Song Army's infantry would most likely repeat the same mistake and be blocked in the north of the Yangtze River by the Qi Army's navy.
Zhao Yun was livid and said nothing. Just when he was about to turn around and leave, the Qi army's gunboats stopped shelling. Not long after, a small boat came over. Wang Bin got off the boat and was led to Zhao Yun.
Wang Bin salutes,
"Guest of the King of Qi, I have met Your Majesty." Zhao Yun said with a solemn face.
"Why did King Qi ask you to come here?" Wang Bin said with a smile:
"Reporting to Your Majesty, the sea has not been peaceful recently. Pirates appear from time to time and plunder our Qi merchant ships. The King of Qi sent me to inform your Majesty that our Qi navy may go south to the mouth of the Qiantang River to attack pirates in the near future. In order to avoid misunderstandings, let me inform you first. Your Majesty." Zhao Yun's face turned red.
"I know!" Wang Bin saluted immediately after seeing this.
"Then I will resign!" At this time, Zhao Yun watched Wang Bin leave in the boat, and the anger in his heart could not be suppressed.
"I am the Emperor, and I am so angry at being humiliated like this today!" The firepower of Qi's gunboats shocked everyone. Faced with Qi's naked threat, no one dared to speak at all.
Zhao Yun was very angry and gritted his teeth at Zhao Tai, but there was nothing he could do. After the Qi army fired their cannons, the fleet anchored nearby in Jinghai County.
At this time Wang Bin came back and reported: "Your Majesty, I have conveyed your Majesty's words to Zhao Yun." Zhao Tai nodded slightly, and then told Lu Wende: "In order to avoid exposing the secret, you will lead the fleet to leave tonight." This time Zhao Tai brought eighty gunboats, which was indeed a bluff. Each warship was equipped with artillery on one side and heavy objects on the other side to keep the warship balanced.
Now there are twenty gunboats in the Southern Song Dynasty. When Qi's artillery is concentrated, it can actually equip only forty gunboats.
Lu Wende clasped his fists,
"I understand." After Zhao Tai came ashore, he did not stay in Jinghai for long and went directly to Yangzhou by land. After Zhao Yun was threatened by Qi, he returned to Lin'an full of anger.
Although Zhao Yun knew that what Zhao Tai said was a threat and that it was unlikely that the navy would attack the heavily defended Lin'an, Zhao Yun still ordered several forbidden troops along the Yangtze River to garrison near Lin'an on the way back. .
A navy of the Southern Song Dynasty also left the Yangtze River and patrolled Hangzhou Bay to prevent Qi's navy from launching a surprise attack.
At this time, the news that the Imperial Army of the Southern Song Dynasty had withdrawn to Lin'an reached Zhao Tai's ears, and Zhao Tai immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
On the other side, at the Mongolian camp on the north bank of the Huaihe River, Batu and Meng Ge were ready to invade Huainan.
In early November, the first snow fell on both sides of the Huaihe River. Just when the Mongolian army thought that it would launch an attack soon, Mongolia learned that the Southern Song Dynasty was threatened by the Qi State. Zhao Yun transferred the troops originally prepared to attack. News back to Lin'an.
This news made both Batu and Meng extremely angry, but they were helpless. Time flies to the end of November, and there are already signs of freezing in the upper reaches of the Huaihe River.
Batu and Meng Ge couldn't help but hesitate, wondering whether they should attack Huainan without the cooperation of the Song army. At this moment, a message came from the grassland, completely giving up their plan to attack Qi.
Last year, Wokuotai Langshan was defeated. Since he returned to the grassland, his health has been poor. Guyu returned to the grassland and hired many doctors to take care of him. He thought he would get better. Unexpectedly, after winter, Wokuotai's condition gradually worsened and he died of illness.
When Batu and Meng Ge heard the news, they naturally had no intention of attacking them all. They left some soldiers and horses to guard Henan and rushed back to the grassland overnight.
