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 generally 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. They had surrendered to Li Xilie.
Originally, he wanted to cross the river under the cover of the morning fog, but unexpectedly, he 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 there are even powerful strike weapons such as the creation of rackets.
But since Guan Longjun developed gunpowder and explosives, there has been basically no suspense in water wars.
There are several firearms soldiers on each warship, who are responsible for throwing iron fire mines.
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 loading the arrow and one shooting. No one person is allowed to operate 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 accidentally explodes during operation, it will be a dead end.
The soldier raised his crossbow and aimed at an enemy ship eighty steps away. He pulled the sword and fired an arrow. "Boom!" There was a violent explosion. 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 off the boat and fled for their lives.
"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.
Such a water battle is like killing a chicken and a dog. The opponent has no ability to resist, and more than a dozen warships are 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 also didn't expect that if the firearms were powerful, he would suddenly be filled with pride and immediately ordered: "Destroy them all!"
Three hundred warships launched an all-out attack, firing exploding 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 a hundred enemy warships were sunk, and more than half of more than two hundred troop transports were sunk.
The river was filled with explosions one after another. 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 its brutality and brutality, 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 at the enemy soldiers on the river like raindrops. Many Huaixi Army soldiers hugged wooden boards and cried for their lives, but they were all 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 watched warships being bombed and sunk one after another, and a large number of soldiers on board fell into the water and were mercilessly shot 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. The river water poured in, and 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 stunned, and 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 Guanlong army was killed.
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 Xiye'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. He is good at judging the situation. He knows that the situation in the feudal town is over and he will benefit from returning to the court as early as possible. He is only fifty years old now and can still be a high-ranking official for ten years.
Li Ye personally went to the official gate to greet Tian Shengong. When Longyou recruited people from Hebei, he was not attacked by Tian Chengsi. A big reason was that Tian Shengong was on the south bank of the Yellow River, so Tian Chengsi did not dare to act rashly.
Even though it was a transaction, Li Ye still owed Tian Shengong a favor.
Of course, there is another important reason. Tian Shengong surrendered to the imperial court, which set a good example for warlords everywhere. Whether it was Guo Ziyi, Xue Song, Li Lingyao, Wang Zhongsheng, Wang Sili, or Wei Zhi, they all let them Seeing the court's sincerity, it also made it easier for the court to take back Hedong.
"I am humbled by Tian Shengong, and I would like to pay my respects to General Supervisor of the Kingdom!" Tian Shengong knelt down on one knee and performed a military salute to pay homage.
Li Ye quickly helped him up, "General Tian, get up, it's been a long time since I've been called a general!"
"This humble position means that His Highness, King of Qi, has lost his reputation for a long time. Today I finally meet him, which makes Tian Shengong sincerely convinced and willing to serve His Highness!"
Tian Shengong is a treacherous old man. What he means is to imply to Li Ye that he is not surrendering to the court, but to you.
Li Ye smiled, these words had no meaning to him anymore. He was the imperial court in his family, country and the world, and the imperial court was him.
"The whole family is coming together!"
"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. We all came together. I feel ashamed that I could not save King Wei."
Li Ye nodded, "If King Wei has a son, I will make him his heir King Wei and ask Princess Wei to raise him to grow up and become a pillar of the Tang Dynasty."
"I would like to express my gratitude to Your Highness for your generosity, little girl."
Li Ye smiled and said: "You're welcome, Mr. Tian, please come to the official room to have a chat!"
Tian Shengong bowed quickly, with a smile on his face, "Your Highness, please!"
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[A relative came to my hometown today, and Lao Gao has to pick him up at the station. I can only do two updates today, sorry!]