Chapter 195: The Battle between the Temple (23)

The Luan River Estuary is already in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The river surface is extremely wide. Several ospreys fly tirelessly on the river surface, making crisp screams, penetrating the frost and mist in the morning.

In the naval camp on the south bank of the Yangtze River, Zhang Heyuan, the doctor of the Southern Tang War Department, got up very early. He reached the top of the stairs. He stretched out his hand and rubbed his tight face. He watched the rolling Yangtze River slowly heading eastward. He felt thoughtful and murmured in a low voice: "Jinling Jindu Small Hill Tower, you can worry about all night. The tide falls on the river and the moon is in the slanting moon. Two or three sparks are Guazhou."

The thick fur on the body of Zhang Linyang, who was standing aside, seemed to be soaked by the thick fog. He interjected: "The Yangtze River is so powerful and so sad. No wonder Du Zimei wrote the poem "The endless fallen trees are rustling down, and the endless Yangtze River is rolling in." Zhang Linyang is Zhang Shenxiu's nephew. The two are not very different in age. When there are no outsiders, they always speak straightforwardly, and said: "It seems that it cannot be saved north of the Yangtze River. Fortunately, the navy of the Great Zhou army is weak, otherwise, there may be a disaster for the country to be destroyed."

Zhang Heyuan was thin and had a very resolute expression on his face. He was once a famous general in the Southern Tang army. He had made many achievements in fighting against Wu and Yue and Great Zhou. Unexpectedly, he was suddenly transferred to the Ministry of War as a doctor. Although he was promoted, he was trapped in shallow water like a dragon and could not be used with force. He said dejectedly: "Look at what I do. The dignified Ministry of War doctor, when the Zhou army invaded the south, he did not lead troops to meet the enemy, but instead pleaded with tribute to the Zhou army. The Zhou army's tiger and wolf army was not the Hu people on the grassland. How could he send me money and property? Chai Rong came to the north of Jiangbei."

Zhang Linyang felt deeply the same and said angrily: "In the past three years, tribute has been continuously paid every year. This time, he sent 3,000 pieces of silk cloth, 3,000 kilograms of milk tea, countless glutinous medicines, and countless tributes over the years. In addition to the cost of building a palace, if it is used to build warships, the Tang Dynasty navy can build at least a hundred more tower ships. Look at the current large Tang Dynasty navy, there are only a few warships that can be carried by a hundred people. The natural danger of the Yangtze River seems to be no longer there."

The river wind blew, and the Yangtze River waves hit the two sides, making a "wow, whistle" sound. The thick fog seemed to be blown away by the river wind, and Zhang Heyuan kept staring at the other side. After a sudden attack, there seemed to be some outlines of warships on the north bank of the Yangtze River.

There were sergeants under the tower ship who were responsible for observing the ground. They also discovered an abnormality and heard only a few screams: "The warships of the Zhou army are all big ships." "Oh my God, the warships of the Zhou Dynasty."

Another gust of river wind came. The thick fog was blown open, and the Great Zhou Navy appeared completely in front of Zhang Heyuan. The north bank of the Yangtze River was filled with Zhou army warships, and there were numerous large and medium-sized warships, which lined up several miles on the north bank.

Zhang Heyuan was shocked. He grabbed the side of the ship with force, his finger joints turned white and his head was dizzy for a while. Zhang Heyuan woke up and ran down the boat and shouted: "Where is General Wang? Call him up quickly, Zhou's warships are coming."

Liu Cong, the chief master of the Tang Dynasty naval master at the Luanjiangkou, did not live on the boat, but in the water camp, and only the deputy commander Wang Yanling lived in the boat.

The envoys who visited the Southern Tang Dynasty this time were Chen Jue, the Minister of War, Chen Jue, Feng Yanyi, Feng Yanlu, Cha Wenhui, Wei Cen and other five people were very famous in the Southern Tang Dynasty and were called the "Five Ghosts". They were all outstanding literary and good at flattery. They rejected loyal and kindness and made the internal affairs of the Southern Tang Dynasty a mess. The Zhou army attacked the Southern Tang Dynasty again. Li Jing, the ruler of the Southern Tang Dynasty, was extremely frightened, so he sent Chen Jue, the Minister of War, to Jiangbei to pay tribute and requested the severance of the troops.

After Chen Jue came to Luanjiangkou with tributes, he and Liu Cong were old acquaintances. Liu Cong knew that Chen Jue was quite powerful in the court. He was quite appreciated by Li Jing, so he found countless beauties in Zhenjiang. The two of them were happy and happy in the water camp. Zhang Heyuan did not like the domineering Liu Cong, and even more dislike the villain Chen Jue. He politely declined Liu Cong's invitation and lived on the tower ship.

Several guards heard someone screaming from the upper floor and ran down. Before they could see him, they yelled and shouted, "Who is it, stop." Last night, General Wang Yanling was so beautiful that he was drunk. If he disturbed his dream, he would definitely be whipped or cut.

"Get out of the way, I am Zhang Heyuan, the doctor of the Ministry of War. Please wake up Wang Yanling."

The personal guard recognized the thin man as Zhang Heyuan, the doctor of the Ministry of War, and stood aside, but he did not dare to wake up Wang Yanling. Zhang Heyuan was furious and raised his legs to rush the door. The door was quite strong. Zhang Heyuan felt that he kicked on an iron plate and kicked several times one after another. The door suddenly opened. Zhang Heyuan kicked the empty kick, lost his center of gravity, and almost jumped to the ground.

The king of king Yanling, with his waist knife in his hand, stood outside the door angrily. When he saw that it was Zhang Heyuan, his fierce flames were slightly reduced.

"The Zhou army warships have attacked." Zhang Heyuan said hurriedly.

Only then did Wang Yanling understand why Zhang Heyuan was so anxious, and he smiled contemptuously: "The Zhou army only had dozens of small boats, but he actually dared to cross the river to attack. He really hit the stone with eggs." Zhang Heyuan didn't want to talk to Wang Yanling, so he pulled Wang Yanling to the top of the tower ship. Wang Yanling was a veteran of the Tang Dynasty Navy. Knowing the power of the large tower ship, he saw dozens of large tower ships in the Zhou army's fleet, and his face turned pale.

The Zhou navy seemed to descend from the sky, and among the warships came, there was a five-story large ship, more than twenty three-story large ships, and dozens of small warships.

The Tang Navy has not added new ships for many years. Although there are more than a hundred ships, except for three large ships in Xijiang and fifteen medium-sized ships in Nanjiang, the rest are small ships carrying more than ten people. These large and medium-sized warships have been used for many years and should have been repaired or eliminated, but they are still the main ships of the Tang Navy.

Zhang Heyuan saw Wang Yanling's face showing fear, pulled out his waist knife, and said in a singular voice: "Wang Yanling, organize the enemy in the fleet." Wang Yanling then came back to his senses from the shock.

After a chaotic period, dozens of warships of the Southern Tang Navy faced the Great Zhou Navy.

The two sides gradually approached the center of the river, and the sound of drums from the Great Zhou Navy was heard. The catapults placed in the front armor of the Xuanlong ship and the Xuanjiao ship suddenly started. Dozens of stones weighing dozens of kilograms, with the sound of wind, attacked the three large ships of the Nantang Navy.

The Xuanlong Ship of the Great Zhou and the Nantang Ship were both derived from the "Five-Tooth Ship". The "Five-Tooth Ship" also has 6 15-meter-long weapons on the four decks. The Raiding Rod is equivalent to a giant long hammer using the principle of leverage, and it hits the enemy ships close by with the falling energy. The Xuanlong Ship of the Great Zhou Navy has been changed to a scattering machine.

The ships in the Xijiang River in the South Tang still used slapped rods and were not equipped with slaughter machines. The main reason was that the Central Plains navy had never had large ships and used slapped ships to attack the Nantang navy. The characteristics of the land of the battleship were that the hulls were reinforced with multiple wooden boards to facilitate collisions. In order to effectively deal with the fighting ships, the Navy in the South Tang still used slapped rods to destroy various small boats such as the fighting ships close to the big ships.

At this time, the Navy of the Great Zhou began to attack with a scattering machine. The Xijiang ship in the South Tang Dynasty lacked the ability to attack long-rangely and could only be beaten without any power to fight back. In a blink of an eye, the hull of the two Xijiang ships had been penetrated by flying stones. The river water surged in.

Wang Yanling's central command ship was given a key care and suffered the most damage. The hull quickly lost control and drifted downstream. After only one mile down the river, it sank into the river. The central ship had two miniature boats on it, which were used to escape at a critical moment. Wang Yanling, deputy commander of the navy, and Zhang Heyuan, the doctor of the Ministry of War, climbed onto the boat, drifted several miles along the water before he got ashore in a backwater bay, and then escaped his life.

The central military ship was severely damaged, and the Southern Tang Navy lost unified command. It was a chaos in the river. Before the two sides could get closer, another Great Zhou navy appeared upstream, and the navy was a falconry ship.

The sea falcon ship was invented in the Tang Dynasty. The head was low and the tail was high. The front was large and the back was small. The shape of the ship was imitated by seabirds who were good at passing through the wind and waves, and was suitable for rowing. Floating plates were set on the left and right on the ship, which had the function of stabilizing the ship in the wind and waves, and could block side waves and reduce the hull's swaying. It was a warship that was not afraid of wind and waves. The Dazhou Navy installed iron plates on both sides of the ship's side. It enhanced its protection ability and installed sharp iron tips on the bow of the ship to impact the enemy ship. This warship had a land load capacity of 1,000 pieces (about 60 tons), ten feet long, one 8 feet wide, eight feet deep, and four feet wide. It was divided into 11 watertight compartments. There were 5 oars on both sides, which could carry 108 soldiers. There were 42 sailors. The new sea falcon ship was a new type of warship with a solid structure, strong combat power, and could impact the enemy ship.

There were more than 20 sea falcon boats along the river, and they rushed into the camp of the Southern Tang Navy with unstoppable taxes. There was only one ship left in the West River of the Southern Tang Navy, and the rest came from the Nan Tang Navy and small warships. These small and medium-sized boats could not withstand the impact of the sea falcon boats. The blockers were invincible and they were knocked into the water one after another. Soon, the soldiers of the Southern Tang were floating in the water.

The Dazhou Navy had many small boats, which were flexible in the control of these small boats. There were only a dozen soldiers on the boat. They were drilling around in the gaps of the big boats. The soldiers on the boat bent their bows and arrows and shot at the sergeants in the river. Some of the soldiers held long spears, and many of the fallen sergeants near the boat were assassinated in the water.

The corpse and blood floated downstream along the river, forming a long blood band.

The Navy Army of the Southern Tang Dynasty had no fighting spirit, and the remaining Xijiang ship was hit by countless huge rocks. Fortunately, the hull was not seriously damaged. They were surrounded by several Xuanjiao ships. The soldiers on the Xuanjiao ship had already thrown their hooks and guns on the side of the ship. Seeing that the situation was not good, the Xijiang ships blew the flag of surrender, and they turned and fled downstream one after another. The Dazhou Haixia Falcon fleet pursued along the river, while the other warships took the opportunity to attack the Southern Tang army's water village in Diluanjiangkou, Jiangnan.

The Southern Tang Navy dominated the Yangtze River for many years. Although the warships aging land was very harmful, Yelang still arrogantly believed that he was still the world's number one naval commander. He always had a superior mental attitude towards the Great Zhou navy. Unexpectedly, overnight, an extremely powerful Great Zhou fleet suddenly appeared on the other side of the river. The Southern Tang Navy had no power to fight back in front of him.

The guards of the Luanjiangkou Water Village were stunned. Facing the flying stones and crossbow arrows falling from the sky, they completely lost their ability to resist. The head coach Liu Cong was already scared and trembled. He and Chen Jue, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War, led a hundred personal guards to run wildly. When the head coach fled, the soldiers of the Luanjiangkou Water Village scattered like birds and beasts.

The Zhou army navy easily boarded the Luanjiangkou Water Village.

The left-leader General Li Jixun was a general in his thirties. He jumped off the warship and came to the water camp. He breathed a sigh of relief in his heart and said to the deputy general Luo Qinghuan: "Take people to the water camp to move all the property that can be moved away, then pour hot oil on it, and burn the water camp cleanly for me, and no bricks and half tiles are allowed to leave." Luo Qinghuan brought a thousand happy soldiers to the water camp, and the rest of the soldiers could only return to the boat, watching Luo Qinghuan bring people to burn, kill and rob. Li Jixun stood on the shore of the water camp for a while before turning back to the boat.

The ten brothers of the Imperial Army, Li Jixun, were originally the oldest and had the highest position. When he was promoted to the commander-in-chief of the Guards and the commander of the Wu Zhao Army, Zhao Kuangyin had just taken over as the Yongzhou Defense Envoy, whom he had served as the former Yongzhou Defense Envoy. However, during the three-year siege of Shouzhou, Li Jixun was counterattacked by the Shouzhou Army and suffered losses. After losing his troops, he was removed from the Imperial Army by Chai Rong and appointed as the governor of the Three Cities of Heyang. At the end of the fourth year of Xiande, Li Jixun was re-appointed as the General of the Right Wu Guard. However, his reputation had been reduced to Zhao Kuangyin, who had made many great contributions.

In this battle, Li Jixun led the navy to defeat the always powerful Navy of the Southern Tang Dynasty and set foot on the southern bank of the Southern Tang Dynasty, which was enough to offset the loss of Shouzhou. Li Jixun stood proudly on the warship, patting the side of the ship, and couldn't help but feel tides.

Hou Dayong was very impressed by the Battle of Chibi. In his mind, the battle between the Great Zhou Navy and the Southern Tang Navy should be a bit fierce. Unexpectedly, it was a fight between a strong man and a child. Looking at the boat of the Southern Tang Navy, Hou Dayong was a little confused and asked Deng Tiedao beside him: "Didn't it mean that the Southern Tang Navy's No. 1 in the world, why is it so bad today?"

"The Navy of the Southern Tang Dynasty was getting worse every year. Ten years ago. The main warship of the Southern Tang Dynasty Navy was called the Xijiang Ship, which had a load capacity larger than that of the Xuanlong Ship. When the Southern Tang Dynasty and Wuyue fought, the Navy of the Southern Tang Dynasty dispatched 400 Xijiang warships, which went down the river for dozens of miles and defeated the Wuyue Navy." Deng Tie said while smacking his lips. He showed a look of fascination on his face. "It's a pity that in the past ten years, the Navy of the Southern Tang Dynasty has hardly added large ships. Five years ago, the Xijiang fleet was ambushed by Wuyue once, and most of it was damaged. Alas, the Navy of the Southern Tang Dynasty is far less powerful than that of the past. It is no longer as good as that of the past."

Hou Dayong said strangely: "Yangzhou and Taizhou were both places in the Southern Tang Dynasty. How do you know the battle between the Southern Tang Navy and the Wuyue Navy?"

Deng Tie laughed and said, "Wei Jiang is the Southern Prime Minister. Marquis, you see, I am tall and big. In fact, Wei Jiang is from Hangzhou. I was in the Wuyue naval army back then. At the beginning of the second year of Xiande, the Great Zhou naval army was established. Thanks to Your Majesty, he has many supporters for us southerners. Now among the generals of the Great Zhou naval army, there are Wuyue, Jingnan, Southern Han and even Southern Tang people. Everyone is looking forward to the unification of the world and the revival of the prosperous era of the Han and Tang dynasties."

Deng Tie looked at the soldiers of the Southern Tang naval army struggling in the water and said, "Wei Jiang is very puzzled. The Yangtze River bank is the lifeline of the Southern Tang land. If such a vulgar person is known to the importance of the navy, and the powerful and powerful people in the Southern Tang Dynasty have repeatedly cut off the navy. It is really a meat-eating person." Speaking of this, Deng Tie suddenly thought that the Hou Xiang standing in front of him was also a meat-eating person, and hurriedly said, "Don't blame Hou Xiang if you don't speak without saying anything."

Hou Dayong did not realize what Deng Tiedi said, and sighed: "There are more than one example in ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad."

While talking, the Nantang Luan Riverkou Water Village was already full of fire, and thick smoke drifted everywhere with the river breeze.

The location of the Luanjiangkou is extremely important. From the Luanjiangkou, it is not far away to reach Jinling in the Southern Tang Dynasty. Therefore, the battle at Luanjiangkou shocked the Southern Tang Dynasty and the countrymen. Wang Yanling, deputy commander of the Navy of Luanjiangkou, and Zhang Heyuan, the doctor of the Ministry of War, were taken back to Jinling. He was taken to prison for "undermining the enemy and advancing rampantly". Li Jing, the leader of the Southern Tang Dynasty, ordered Chen Jue to prepare tribute again and then seek peace in Jiangbei.

Just as Chen Jue arrived in Jiangbei, a medium-sized warship took advantage of the thick fog in the morning to quietly sail to a rarely known natural dock and climbed ashore. A middle-aged man with a flowing expression came out of the warship, followed by a tall and fat man with a cloth bag on his back. He was quite familiar with the terrain, so he went up a hillside, hid in the small trees on the top of the slope for a while, and then slowly headed west along the path. Along the way, the two avoided several Zhou army patrols. When they walked to noon, they found a hidden place to rest.

When it was getting dark, the gate of the imperial guard camp in front of the hall was about to close. The Yegang team came to the gate and replaced the team on duty during the day. Several secret whistles were wearing thick jackets and hid in their respective posts. The sergeant of the open whistle had closed the door, and the commander of the team had a tent. He sat inside and chopped the dried meat pieces, took a small porcelain from his arms, pulled the lid, and poured out some dark red oil sauce. These oil sauces were the most famous Haoyunxuan oil sauce in Daliang, and were the most delicious. Dipping the dried meat in Haoyunxuan oil sauce can be considered a delicious thing.

A soldier walked in and said, "Two people came outside the door, saying they were General Zhao's old friends." The sergeant Guan Shan was Zhao Kuangyin's old subordinate. He stood up and said, "I'll go and have a look."

The two stood outside the door, and several soldiers stared at the two men with swords and guns in their hands. Guan Shan observed at the camp gate for a while, and saw that the middle-aged man had a familiar face, but he couldn't remember where he had seen him before, so he walked out and said, "You two are sneaky, not like good people, they must be spies from the Southern Tang Dynasty. Be arrested for me."

The young man carrying a cloth bag was about to stand up with two thick eyebrows. The middle-aged man hurriedly smiled and said, "June is kidding. If it were a spy in the Southern Tang Dynasty, wouldn't he fall into the trap now? Below is a Luoyang native who is wandering to Taizhou. He heard that Xiang Haier came to Taizhou, so he came to find him."

It is said that when Du gave birth to Zhao Kuangyin, there was a red light in the delivery room, and there was a strange fragrance that was constantly dispersed, which was very different from the bloody smell in ordinary delivery rooms. Therefore, Zhao Kuangyin also had a nickname called "Fragrant Boy". This fragrant child not only turned blood into strange fragrance, but also turned golden all over the body and remained unchanged for three days after birth. Most people in Luoyang knew this story.

Guanshan was the old subordinate of Zhao Kuangyin as deputy commander of Huazhou, and he had also heard of this story. Therefore, when the visitor mentioned Xiang Haier's incident, he immediately knew that the visitor was Zhao Kuangyin's old friend. Guanshan smiled and said, "Two gentlemen, come to the camp and wait for me to inform the officers on duty."
Chapter completed!