Chapter 296 Liu Biao's Summoning in the Navy's First Battle
The desires of aristocratic families are endless, especially when family interests are involved, greed is terrifyingly powerful.
By marrying Liu Biao, Cai Mao not only helped Liu Biao truly win the rule of Jingzhou, but also gained great benefits. The Kuai brothers were promoted by Liu Biao to compete in the ring because of Cai Mao's existence.
But Liu Biao didn't know that the two families had been allies from a long time ago.
Therefore, under the operation of the two families, the interests of Jiangxia, Jiangling, Shangyong, and Xiangyang, which were considered forbidden by Huang Zu, have been divided up by the two families.
Of course, it is not that the two families monopolize the interests of these places, it is just that there are many small families attached to their family, and some of it needs to be allocated to them.
Since the beginning of Nanyang's reform, they have also been paying close attention to this neighbor. Especially when Zhang Ji has defected to Huang Zhong, everything in Nanyang County is even more worthy of their attention.
Nowadays, Nanyang is getting stronger and stronger, but the interests of Jingbei have been divided up by them. How can the two families at this moment just be content with the status quo?
In their view, under Huang Zhong's rule, especially in Xinye, the reform has just begun. The reorganization of the soldiers should not be completed, and neither their combat effectiveness nor their morale will be very high.
If we can break through the new field at this time, we can catch Nanyang by surprise.
By then, not to mention taking back Xinye, I am afraid that we can still plunder Nanyang. If we can bring back a few so-called researchers, then they will not be able to develop even if they are not developed.
Driven by greed, they naturally persuaded Liu Biao.
Although this man is actually a puppet, Liu Pan, who is stationed in Changsha and monitors Jingnan, has an elite army. If they are allowed to come back, God knows what will happen?
Therefore, when major events are involved, Cai Mao and the Kuai brothers will still ask Liu Biao for his opinion. Only those matters that are insignificant will be decided by themselves.
Liu Biao also hoped to get a batch of money, not only to leave it to his descendants, but also to prepare for truly regaining the rule of Jingzhou.
With the appeal of common interests, Cai Mao took Zhang Yun and began to deploy ships and soldiers, preparing to go north along the Feishui River in order to catch Huang Zhong off guard.
Because according to their understanding, Huang Zhong does not have a navy under his command!
In fact, this is also the reason why they can make such a plan. After all, they are not fools. They know that in terms of land warfare, they are no match for the Nanyang regular army.
It's a pity that they ignored one issue, that is, Xie Xin came to Jingzhou a few years ago.
Not to mention other things, he recruited a student here...
Therefore, when Cai Mao had officially completed preparations and was about to start his journey, Nanyang also received the news that Liu Biao was sending troops. At this point, Cai Mao and Zhang Yuna's intention of taking advantage of Liu Biao's unpreparedness was half bankrupt.
"Raise an army for a thousand days, use it for a while!" Huang Zhong raised the corner of his mouth slightly when he saw this information.
Three days later, Cai Hao and Zhang Yun were about to arrive near Xinye.
"Hey, the fat sheep is right in front of you, but it hasn't realized that the wolf has arrived yet." Zhang Yun was half-illiterate, so he could only say a few words to cheer him up.
"It should be said, 'On the day when Master Wang arrives, the bandits will be defeated and flee'. This would be more artistic!" Cai Mao said with a faint smile.
In fact, this man is not only a military commander, but also good at poetry and poetry...
"Whatever, as long as I defeat the bandit army, I won't get anything no matter if it's money, silk or beauty?" Zhang Yun said nonchalantly.
"So you are indeed a big boss..." Cai Hao shook his head dissatisfied.
The Zhang Yun family had already surrendered to the Cai family, so when they saw Cai Mao's sarcastic remarks, they just giggled.
"Huh? There seems to be a shadow of a boat ahead?!" Cai Hao suddenly realized something was wrong.
"It seems like, unfortunately, the opponent's speed is very fast!" Zhang Yun quickly realized that something was wrong.
They came upstream, while the other party came upstream. As a result, the other party's speed was faster than theirs. Isn't this weird?
"The whole army is preparing for war! I am very curious, which army is this!?" Cai Mao said excitedly.
Before becoming Liu Biao's military advisor, he also served as a general in the navy army for a period of time. During his tenure, he also wiped out the navy bandits many times and his achievements were quite impressive.
It's just that the unknown army that appeared in front of him was obviously different from the past in terms of momentum and mobility, so he really wanted to know who the opponent was!
When the two sides approached, Zhang Yun shouted in surprise: "General! Look at the guy standing on the warship at the front!"
"I saw it! I thought this guy had gone somewhere, but he actually came here!" Cai Hao also looked surprised.
Because what was in front of him was an army of thieves who had been causing harm to Jingzhou for about four or five years.
The thief general is very powerful, good at using double halberds, and can also use strange weapons such as iron chains. His archery skills are also top-notch.
He was originally the son of a wealthy family in Sichuan, but he was not content with his official career. Instead, he became entangled with eight hundred sons. He wore bird feathers on his head and bells on his body, and was known as the "Jinfan Thief". He was active in Jingzhou and caused problems in northern Jingzhou.
caused great harm.
Yes, standing on the battleship at the front right now is the leader of the Jinfan Thieves—Gan Ning Gan Xingba!
"Child Cai Mao, I didn't expect you to come back to die?" Gan Ning called contemptuously as the two sides approached.
"Hmph, you were running fast before, but now that we have the advantage, you're waiting to die!" Cai Mao said calmly.
In this era of water battles, the main focus is on fighting for the upper reaches. Once the water flow is used to increase the speed, the depth can be accelerated and the probability of victory is increased.
"General, they are flying the military flag of Huang Zhong of Nanyang County!" Zhang Yun shouted in surprise.
Sure enough, when Cai Mao took a closer look, he discovered that the flag hanging on the mast was a "yellow" flag, and there was a flag next to it with the four characters "Nanyang Prefect" written on it.
Huang Zhong originally had an official position in the imperial court, but he planned to use this method to express his loyalty to Liu Bian. Obviously, Liu Bian also knew this.
After all, the Nanyang Governor was personally appointed by Liu Bian later and had nothing to do with the past imperial court.
"Damn it, who leaked the news to Huang Zhong?" Cai Hao naturally knew at this moment that their surprise attack plan had officially gone bankrupt.
But it doesn't matter, if you can't make a surprise attack, you can just attack by force! The Jingzhou Navy has been practicing for more than ten years, so why are you still afraid of this little guy who has only risen in recent years?!
But soon, his mind changed.
Just as the distance between the two sides was getting closer, Gan Ning ordered the ship to be turned around and not fight Cai Mao head-on. After receiving his order, the fleet quickly divided into two groups and sailed at high speed (compared to the Jingzhou Navy).
With the speed of 100 meters, it bypassed Cai Mao's fleet.
Of course, while passing by, the archers above did not forget to fire some rockets at the Jingzhou Navy.
"Hurry up and put out the fire! Damn it, how come the opponent is so fast? They are going upstream!" Zhang Yun said in disbelief while giving orders.
"It should be the wheel on the back of their ship!" Cai Hao analyzed calmly.
Sure enough, when Zhang Yun looked over, he discovered that there were two large wheels on the back side of the Nanyang Navy ship. They rotated rapidly, which in turn drove the ship to move quickly.
"This design is good. In the future, the power of our Jingzhou navy can be improved a bit!" Cai Mao said with appreciation.
"General, the enemy troops are approaching us!" Zhang Yun said with a bitter smile.
"So fast?!" Cai Mao shouted in disbelief.
"Of course it's fast! Let's not talk about the moving speed of the other party's ship. Just say that the other party is also a Jinfan thief who has been active for several years. It is not difficult to pick up the ship quickly!" Zhang Yun explained in a low voice.
"Knock them down immediately, damn, they are too fast!" Cai Hao obviously also understood how terrible it is to lose speed in a water battle.
But the Jingzhou Navy, which had almost no war, faced the Nanyang Navy, which had undergone rigorous training for three years. How would it end well?
After years of research by the military industry department, the Qin Dynasty's repeating crossbow has been restored and improved into a lightweight type used by the navy. Although it can only fire three crossbows, it is enough for navy members to board enemy ships smoothly.
The medium-sized battleships are even equipped with giant ballistae. With one shot, about a dozen members of the Jingzhou Navy will be beaten into candied haws. With its existence, it can effectively cover one's own men and board the enemy ship faster.
Coupled with the increased speed of the paddle wheel, Gan Ning quickly took the initiative and killed Cai Hao by surprise. Moreover, in terms of personal force, he was also a rare first-rate warrior.
In this battle, 30,000 Jingzhou navy was defeated by 10,000 Nanyang navy!
Cai Mao and Zhang Yun were captured, and more than 5,000 of the 30,000 Jingzhou navy surrendered, with more than 18,000 casualties. The remaining thousands abandoned the ship and fled without a trace.
After capturing the Jingzhou Navy, Gan Ning was obviously not satisfied and continued southward along the Feishui River. Not only did he plunder Fancheng, but he also marched to Xiangyang.
But they didn't know that on the third day after the defeat of the Jingzhou Navy, Liu Biao sent a letter to Liu Bian.
The meaning of the letter is very simple. The main idea is that we are all from the royal family of the Han Dynasty, so why be too anxious about fighting each other? My uncle is obsessed with it for a while, so I will give you some compensation and let's forget it, okay?
Liu Bian was obviously moved by sympathy. He was worried that Sun Ce was in Jiangdong and he also needed a buffer space, so he agreed to Liu Biao's request.
However, the price of the truce was that Liu Biao brought to Chengdu money equivalent to three years of Jingzhou's tax revenue. He also said that it was Huang Zhong who beat him, so he had to agree to Huang Zhong's two not-too-excessive demands, otherwise he would be punished.
Waiting to be destroyed!
After some bargaining and counterattack, Liu Biao finally spent only the equivalent of one year's tax revenue in Jingzhou. But in contrast, he had to agree to three unequal conditions for Huang Zhong.
However, Huang Zhong obviously did not intend to embarrass him too much. It was just a requirement for business and taxation. Liu Biao felt that this was not a big problem and agreed.