At the end of February, the rivers in the northern part of the Tang Dynasty completely thawed. The 50,000-strong army stationed in Luoyang, led by Nan Jiyun, escorted 2,000 grain and material ships and headed for Pingzhou. The fleet would depart from Zhangshui.
Enter the Bohai Sea and follow the coastline to the mouth of Rushui River.
At the same time, the Tang military fleet led by Li Chengshi had arrived on the sea outside Nanhai Prefecture, the southernmost part of Bohai Kingdom, and there were only about five days of sailing left from Longyuan Prefecture.
That morning, Li Chengshi suddenly received news from the Watching Soldiers that an unknown fleet of about thirty or forty ships was spotted ahead, sailing towards them.
Li Chengshi immediately walked to the bow of the ship, took out his high-powered clairvoyance and looked into the distance. Sure enough, he found countless small black spots on the sea dozens of miles ahead. Based on experience, he judged that there were about thirty or forty ships.
Gao Hongyuan suddenly said anxiously: "General, this is a Japanese ship!"
"Could it be a Silla ship?"
"Impossible, Silla has no seaport in the east, and their ships are all in the west or south. The Balhae Kingdom has been destroyed, and there will be no other ships except Japanese ships!"
Li Chengshi nodded and ordered: "Send the entire army to form a bag-like layout and prepare for battle!"
The bag-shaped layout is a 'U'-shaped layout, preparing to surround the enemy's fleet, but the Tang Army's range is relatively wide, and the opponent suddenly discovered the Tang Army's warships after entering the encirclement.
There were a total of forty-three ships in the opponent's fleet, all of which were about 3,000 stone. Gao Hongyuan recognized at a glance that these were cargo ships from the former Bohai Kingdom.
Cargo ships and troop carriers are not the same thing. Troop carriers must consider the comfort of soldiers. They usually build a ship building above the deck. If you want to live below the deck, you must also open windows on the ship wall to prevent the soldiers from suffocating.
, the characteristic of cargo ships is that the ship building is very small, the cargo is stored in the cabin below the deck, and there are no windows.
At present, neither the Bohai Sea national ship nor the Japanese national ship has the ability to cross the Whale Sea. They must first go along the coastline and then pass through the Tsushima Strait.
Therefore, when Japanese ships returned to China, they could only go south along the coast. Unexpectedly, they happened to encounter a Tang army warship.
This Japanese ship actually saw the fleet. They thought it was reinforcements sent by Japan, and they didn't take it seriously at first. It wasn't until they suddenly saw the Yellow Dragon battle flag of the Tang Dynasty that they finally realized that the other party was the Tang Dynasty army, and
At this time, they were already surrounded by the Tang army.
The other side also has Japanese soldiers guarding the ship. There are about 20 escort troops on a cargo ship. Together with three escort ships full of soldiers, the entire fleet has about 1,500 escort troops.
For cargo ships, there are usually only two to three soldiers escorting each ship, but now there are more than 20 people, and there are three special escort warships. This kind of troop configuration is definitely the highest level.
This also shows that the goods carried by the fleet are valuable.
Li Chengshi had rich experience. From the number of soldiers escorting the ship, he realized that the ship on the opposite side must be full of valuable materials.
Li Chengshi decided not to use explosive arrows on the cargo ship, which would blow up the opponent's ship.
He ordered: "Use crossbow arrows to kill all the enemy troops on the cargo ship, and at the same time sink the opponent's three escort warships!"
The first was to deal with the three escort warships of the Japanese fleet, each with nearly two hundred soldiers.
Let’s briefly talk about the situation of the Japanese army.
Japan did not have long weapons before the Song Dynasty. Their army was mainly composed of cavalry, samurai, cavalry attendants and ashigaru. The weapons were mainly heavy Fuji bows, Maruki bows and tachi. Their fighting method was first to charge with cavalry, and to shoot and kill with cavalry.
The enemy was attacked by a large-scale samurai group.
Cavalry attendants are the servants of the cavalry. Their role is to attach armor to the cavalry and help the cavalry mount their horses. They are basically farmers who come with the cavalry.
The ashigaru are lower-level infantrymen who are barefoot and unarmored. Although they also carry knives, their real role is to carry, cook, camp, guard and other auxiliary tasks. They are equivalent to logistics soldiers, but if the situation is critical, they will also
Get into battle.
The best offensive methods of Japanese soldiers are sneak attacks and ambushes. This is determined by their organizational characteristics and weapons. Samurai do not have long weapons and cannot form formations, so they can only fight alone. Only surprise attacks and sneak attacks can form close combat.
state, giving full play to their samurai combat characteristics.
This warrior tactic of fighting alone has a profound influence and is deeply rooted in the bones of the Japanese army. It has developed that the Japanese army always gives priority to sneak attacks, surprise attacks and other means.
This time, Japan used an extremely despicable sneak attack tactic to destroy the Bohai Kingdom. They pretended to help Shangjing City defend the city wall, and then sneaked into the Bohai Navy camp at night, killing 20,000 Bohai soldiers, and then entered the palace and killed them.
He defeated three thousand guards and completely eliminated the armed forces in Beijing.
Only then began the wanton humiliation and massacre of the royal family, nobles, and civilians in Shangjing. For seven days and seven nights, almost all the more than 100,000 men, women, and children in Shangjing were killed.
Three Japanese warships were surrounded by two Tang army warships. The Japanese soldiers shouted and rained arrows at the Tang army's ships.
There were shooting holes on the side of the Tang army's warship. The soldiers squatted under the side of the ship and fired more than twenty explosive arrows at the wall of the enemy's warship. They exploded immediately after impact, blowing large holes in the ship's wall, and seawater immediately poured in.
, the warship tilted rapidly, and the soldiers in the fleet fell into the water one after another, shouting for help. They were only greeted by the merciless shooting of the Tang army.
After several rounds of explosive arrows, the first Japanese warship sank quickly.
The other two Japanese warships were equally fierce. One Japanese warship was trying its best to get closer to the Tang warship.
Li Chengshi stared at the opponent's warship and ordered: "Let the opponent's warship get closer!"
He wanted to understand the characteristics and tactics of Japanese naval operations through this encounter.
Without the explosive arrows fired by the Tang army, the last Japanese warship finally approached the Tang army's warship. The Japanese soldiers shouted with excitement. Countless flying claws hooked on the Tang army's warship. The Japanese soldiers carried their swords and climbed crazily onto the Tang army's ship.
climb.
The soldiers of the Tang Army cut off more than 60 ropes in succession, and more than 60 Japanese soldiers fell into the sea screaming, but more than 50 people climbed onto the ship and jumped onto the Tang Army's ship like a group of monkeys.
Dozens of Tang soldiers roared and charged forward with spears, and the two sides fought fiercely.
Although the steps of Japanese samurai are very flexible, they are far behind the Tang army in terms of height, strength, and weapons. Japanese soldiers are basically less than 1.5 meters tall and have a thin body, like a nine-year-old child.
The soldiers of the Tang Army were all about 1.8 meters tall. They were tall and strong, and their swords were strong and sharp. The shields in their hands made up for their lack of flexibility.
A slash with a knife could drive a Japanese samurai more than ten feet away, not to mention stabbing him with a spear. The opponent simply didn't have the strength to reach him, so he was stabbed to death on the spot and thrown into the sea.
After only a quarter of an hour of fighting, all the more than fifty warriors who jumped on board were killed by Tang soldiers. Tang soldiers only slightly injured three people. These were also the three injured by Tang soldiers in the entire encounter.
After killing three escort ships, they were followed by forty cargo ships. The Tang army did not use explosive arrows, but used crossbow arrows to kill them.
The Tang Army's large ship of 10,000 stones was condescending, suppressing the opponent's 3,000 stone cargo ship, and the Tang Army's tactics were superb. Basically, two ships sandwiched one of the opponent's ships, and at the same time they crossed downwards and fired arrows. The Japanese soldiers on the ship had nowhere to hide. Below
The cabin was locked with iron locks, and most of the Japanese soldiers were shot and killed. The rest could only escape into the small cabin above. However, the cabin on the deck could not stop the heavy arrows of the Tang army from penetrating, and they were shot into sieves.
, they were all shot to death in the cabin, and even the boatman could not escape death.
The Tang army sailors pulled the ropes and jumped onto the other side's ship. There was no one on the ship. Even some Japanese soldiers who were shot by arrows had to die in the end. All their bodies were thrown into the sea.
One cargo ship after another was controlled and taken over by the Tang Army. In less than an hour, the Tang Army easily annihilated more than 1,500 Japanese soldiers and Japanese boatmen escorting the ships with its powerful weapons and equipment and ten times the enemy's strength.
After seizing a total of forty ships loaded with cargo, the soldiers of the Tang Army opened the locked deck lid and entered the cabin below the deck to check the cargo. They unexpectedly discovered that the cabin was filled with various treasures plundered from the Bohai Kingdom.
A sea-going ship contains about 150 large wooden boxes, and 40 cargo ships have a total of 6,000 large boxes, which are mainly gold and silver. The Bohai Sea country is rich in gold and silver. It has been accumulated in the past 50 years and was plundered by the Japanese army.
Empty.
Of course, this is only the wealth that belongs to Japan, accounting for 70% of the wealth plundered by the Japanese army. There is also a part of the wealth plundered by Japanese soldiers personally, accounting for about 30%, which is still in the hands of the soldiers.
This huge wealth finally waited for the river to thaw, and was transported out by ship from Shangjing. After being transferred to a Shanghai ship, it was transported to Japan by sea. Unexpectedly, it encountered the Tang Army's war fleet that arrived at the last moment.
Li Chengshi immediately sent out ten large ships and hundreds of soldiers to escort forty cargo ships to Tamluo Island, and then transported them from Tamluo Island to Datang.
Although this was just an encounter, autumn could be seen in a leaf, and the Tang army already knew the equipment and tactics of the Japanese navy.
Basically, they were traditional bows and arrows and jumping ships. This kind of pirate-style attack was not worth mentioning in front of the Tang army's powerful long-range firearms.
Even without firearms and fighting alone, the Tang army soldiers still had absolute advantages in height, strength and weapons, and could easily defeat the short Japanese soldiers.
The Tang army gained strong confidence, and its warships once again headed north in a mighty manner.
