Chapter 1167 Absolute Strength

Li Chengshi spotted the enemy ship on the river in the distance, and he immediately ordered: "Beat the drum and fight!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" In the mist, war drums sounded loudly on the river.

On the river, semaphores are usually used to direct battles, and in night battles, lanterns are used. If there is fog, war drums are used.

Tang army warships from all directions began to gather and rush towards the enemy ships.

The hundreds of warships escorting them were the Jiangning Navy led by General Yuan Jingyao, and they had surrendered to Li Xilie.

Originally, they wanted to cross the river under the cover of morning fog, but unexpectedly, by some strange combination of circumstances, they happened to encounter Li Chengshi's navy.

Yuan Jingyao heard the sound of war drums on the river and faintly saw the big ships on the river. He suddenly became anxious and shouted: "Let the troop transports retreat back, and the warships will fight with me!"

His voice was too soft and could not be heard. Some ships began to retreat, some continued to move forward, and some were at a loss. There was chaos on the river.

Yuan Jingyao had no choice but to lead a dozen ships to face him and shouted: "The crossbowmen are ready!"

In battles on the river, you mainly rely on crossbowmen and slings. If the hulls of the ships are very different, you can also use ramming, and even create powerful strike weapons such as rackets.

But since Guan Longjun developed gunpowder and explosives, there has been basically no suspense in water battles.

There are several firearms soldiers on each warship, who are responsible for throwing iron fire thunder.

There were two firearms crossbowmen squatting behind the mast. One soldier opened the crossbow, and the other soldier carefully took out a porcelain bottle from the box and put it in the arrow. A burst arrow appeared.

This is the rule for explosive arrows. It must be operated by two people. One person loads the arrow and the other shoots it. No one person is allowed to operate it alone.

Only in special situations such as scouts or sneak attacks, the arrows can be loaded in advance and placed in a special arrow pot. Of course, if the arrow explodes accidentally during operation, there will be only a dead end.

The soldier raised his crossbow and aimed at an enemy ship eighty steps away, pulled the knife, and shot out an arrow, 'Boom! ’ There was a violent explosion, and a big hole was blown out of the hull. The river surged in, and the ship began to tilt and sink. The soldiers were so frightened that they jumped out of the ship to escape.

"Boom!"

There was another loud noise from the river, and a warship was blown to pieces by a thirty-pound iron fire thunder.

Then there were explosions on the river, and the warships were blown to pieces and sank quickly.

This kind of water battle was like killing a chicken and a dog. The other side had no ability to resist, and more than a dozen warships were blown up in just one stick of incense.

Yuan Jingyao was stunned and shouted in horror: "Retreat! Retreat!"

"Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!"

A rapid bell rang on the river, which was an order for the entire army to retreat.

All the warships were frightened and turned around to escape regardless of the life and death of the troop transport and civilian ships.

Li Chengshi didn't expect that if the firearms were powerful, he would feel so proud and he immediately ordered: "Destroy them all!"

Three hundred warships launched an all-out attack, firing explosive arrows and exploding iron fire thunders, just like the autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves. Each enemy warship was blown to pieces.

In less than half an hour, more than 70 of the 100 enemy warships were sunk, and most of the more than 200 troop transports were also sunk.

There were explosions all over the river. Broken ships could be seen everywhere on the river, as well as countless soldiers struggling for help.

But war is always cruel. Sometimes if you meet a better general, you will order a rescue. But if you meet a hard-hearted general, not only will you not rescue, but you will order them all to be shot.

The key is to look at the reputation of this army. If it has a good reputation and strict military discipline, it will basically be ignored.

If it is a ferocious and cruel army, then the only way is to perish.

Li Xilie's Huaixi Army was famous for being brutal and brutal, raping and plundering everywhere, so when Li Chengshi sent out troops, he was ordered not to accept prisoners of war.

Li Chengshi coldly ordered: "Shoot the soldiers on the river!"

Arrows shot like raindrops at the enemy soldiers on the river. Many Huaixi Army soldiers hugged wooden boards and ran for their lives crying, but they were all mercilessly shot through the head by arrows.

By this time, the fog on the river had gradually dissipated.

Li Xilie and the generals on the shore looked at the horrific scene. They saw with their own eyes that warships were bombed and sunk. A large number of soldiers on board fell into the water and were shot dead mercilessly by Guan Longjun. Everyone was stunned with shock.

At this time, Yuan Jingyao's warship was sailing wildly, less than a mile away from the shore. Two Guanlong army warships gradually caught up with it, and fired two arrows from a hundred steps away, one to the left and one to the right. explode.

Two large holes appeared in the hull, and the river water poured in. The bow of the ship began to tilt up and sink. Dozens of navy soldiers jumped off the ship and swam desperately to the shore. Perhaps because they were too close to the shore, the two Guanlong Army warships Instead of continuing the pursuit, he turned around and went back.

Li Xilie was extremely shocked. He turned around and asked: "What kind of arrow was that just now?"

The generals were all dumbfounded. No one knew why those two arrows were so powerful.

The water battle was over. It was a one-sided massacre. Three Huaixi military ships escaped, and less than ten civilian ships escaped. All the remaining ships were destroyed. Nearly 8,000 people died in the Yangtze River. Not a single one of the Guanlong troops escaped. The ship was damaged, but not a single soldier died. In the face of sharp firearms, there was no suspense in the water battle.

This battle also completely eliminated Li Xilie's idea of ​​moving to the south.

Tian Shengong finally accepted the court's conditions and led his army to Luoyang. After handing over the army, he became a civilian official and served as Taichang Qing.

This is the cleverness of Tian Shengong. After all, he is a Han Chinese and is good at judging the situation. He knows that the situation of the vassal state is over. The sooner he returns to the court, the sooner he will benefit. He is only fifty years old now and can still be a senior official for ten years.

Li Ye personally went to the official house to welcome Tian Shengong. When Longyou recruited the people of Hebei, he was not attacked by Tian Chengsi. A big reason was that Tian Shengong supported him on the south bank of the Yellow River, which made Tian Chengsi dare not act rashly.

Although it was a deal, Li Ye still owed Tian Shengong a favor.

Of course, there is another important reason. Tian Shengong surrendered to the court, which gave a good demonstration effect to the warlords in various places. Whether it was Guo Ziyi, Xue Song, Li Lingyao, Wang Zhongsheng, Wang Sili, or Wei Zhi, they all showed the sincerity of the court, and at the same time made it easier for the court to take back Hedong.

"I, Tian Shengong, pay my respects to the general who supervises the country!" Tian Shengong knelt on one knee and saluted.

Li Ye quickly helped him up, "General Tian, ​​get up. It's been a long time since I last heard your name!"

"I have long missed the reputation of His Royal Highness the King of Qi. Today I finally saw it. I am convinced and willing to serve His Royal Highness!"

Tian Shengong was cunning and sly. What he meant by this was to hint to Li Ye that he was not surrendering to the court, but to you.

Li Ye smiled. This was meaningless to him. He was the court and the court was him.

"All the family members are here!"

"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. We are all here. I am ashamed that I could not save the King of Wei."

Li Ye nodded, "The King of Wei has a son. I will make him the heir of the King of Wei. Please ask the Princess of Wei to raise him and make him a pillar of the Tang Dynasty."

"I thank Your Highness for your generosity on behalf of my daughter."

Li Ye smiled and said, "You are welcome. Envoy Tian, ​​please come to the official room for a chat!"

Tian Shengong bowed quickly, smiling, "Your Highness, please!"

=====

[Relatives came to my hometown today, and Lao Gao had to go to the station to meet them. I can only update twice today. Please forgive me! 】