My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 451 The Great Victory at Zhouling
The fact that the Jingzhou navy dared not stop them did not mean that everything was fine.

The batons on Liu Feng's flagship began to attack freely, prioritizing the closest targets. The small boats of the Jingzhou navy had almost no defense, and even the slightly larger Red Horses could not withstand them. Almost a single heavy blow could destroy a Jingzhou warship.

Yes, it was a true destruction, directly turning the Jingzhou warship into fragments.

The expression on the face of Chen Sheng, the fleet commander in the distance, changed drastically. When he saw Liu Feng's flagship charging straight over, he was still mocking the other party as a fool.

Although those twenty small boats couldn't do much, they could at least provide some protection for the large ship.

As long as there are still small boats, the large ships can fight with ease and avoid being overwhelmed and losing their ability to defend themselves.

But the other side was so arrogant that they dared to leave their small boat at the back and charge at us all by themselves. This can't even be described as stupid; it's practically suicide.

But the actual situation on the battlefield slapped him hard in the face.

The enemy, relying solely on his own strength, charged back and forth in the battle formation. In just the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, he had already sunk more than twenty warships, killed and wounded hundreds of Jingzhou soldiers, and sent the same number of soldiers into the water.

Even though these soldiers are excellent swimmers, they are currently wearing leather armor and are in the middle of a battle, so their chances of survival are really slim.

In contrast, Liu Feng's giant ship was still like a wild bull, charging recklessly and acting arbitrarily.

The Jingzhou navy was completely helpless against him.

"Fire attack!"

Chen Sheng gritted his teeth and gave the order. The reason he was so determined was that he doubted whether the fire attack would be effective.

Based on general naval warfare experience, fire attacks and boarding are the most effective ways to deal with large, isolated ships. This is why large warships always have smaller warships as support, specifically to defend against boarding and fire attacks, especially the latter. As long as there are small boats present, it is very difficult to attack large ships.

For this reason, on the main battlefield, Zhou Tai waited until Jiang Qin had broken through the Jingzhou army's front line and dispersed the enemy's small boats before launching his main warships to attack, fearing a sudden close-range fire attack from the enemy.

Chen Sheng didn't give the order to launch a fire attack earlier because he wanted to board the ship. Liu Feng's flagship was launched just last year. It was not only huge in tonnage but also brand new, and it was equipped with all sorts of novel weapons that would arouse greed in anyone who saw it.

While fire attacks can reduce casualties, boarding allows one to seize enemy warships for one's own use.

Chen Sheng's initial intention was naturally to seize this new and powerful warship through a boarding maneuver.

But who could have imagined that the enemy was like a hedgehog, with an indestructible ram at the bow and formidable ramming poles on the deck. In such a short time, they had already achieved numerous victories. More than the warships, Chen Sheng wanted to get his hands on the ramming poles.

However, the current situation has forced Chen Sheng to make a decision.

While a baton is useful, victory or defeat on the main battlefield is more important.

Chen Sheng had no choice but to reluctantly give up and issue the order to use fire.

The quality of the Jingzhou navy was quite good, especially the Jiangxia navy, after all, they were on the front lines.

Although Huang Zu had indulged in pleasure in recent years and neglected political and military affairs, resulting in the Jiangxia navy being less well-trained than before, the presence of veteran generals such as Su Fei, Deng Long, and Lü Jie ensured that the Jiangxia navy's combat strength remained above average.

At Chen Sheng's command, the fleet, which had already begun to show signs of chaos, began to pull back, relying on the agility of the small boats to break away from Liu Feng's flagship.

Although some Jingzhou naval soldiers were injured by crossbows, as long as they avoided the front of Liu Feng's flagship and maintained a certain distance from the side and stern, they would at least not be easily sunk by the enemy.

As the fleet dispersed, more than a dozen fire ships were already prepared.

At Chen Sheng's command, more than a dozen fire ships were set ablaze and rushed toward Liu Feng's flagship from three directions.

These fire ships were modified, with iron forks at the bow, making them difficult to pull apart once they collided with another ship.

"Fire ships are attacking!"

The scouts on the mast lookout immediately issued a warning to everyone on deck.

Liu Feng's heart tightened slightly, but he didn't show it on his face: "Open the window and lower the iron fork."

Even before charging into the enemy lines alone, Liu Feng knew that the enemy would definitely use fire attacks, and he had already prepared a countermeasure. Now it was just a matter of seeing how effective this countermeasure would be.

Following Liu Feng's command, the wooden planks on both sides of the giant ship were lifted, revealing windows inside. Then, iron forks, each more than ten meters long and as thick as a child's wrist, were extended out.

The fire ship roared in, and when it was about a few dozen meters away, the helmsmen all jumped ship. If they didn't jump at this distance, they might not be able to escape safely once they collided with it.

Without a helmsman, the fire ship continued to speed forward, but had no chance to adjust its course.

However, at this moment, Liu Feng's flagship also slowed down, and it looked like the fire ship was about to collide with it.

But at that moment, the iron forks changed direction and, under the impact of the fire ship, pierced deeply into the wooden planks at the bow.

With the iron forks acting as a barrier, and the outer ships being coated with tung oil, covered in cowhide, and constantly doused with water, the fire ships were unable to harm Liu Feng's giant ship in the slightest.

Immediately afterwards, the giant ship unfurled its sails again, its previously slowed speed increasing once more, and rammed into Chen Sheng's fleet. This time, the giant ship was accompanied by fire ships, whose posture was adjusted using iron forks, instantly expanding the area of ​​effect by a full circle.

In an instant, Chen Sheng's fleet tried to evade, but they were caught off guard and were scattered by the giant ship carrying the fire ships.

At the same time, a flag was raised at the top of the giant ship's mast.

Upon seeing this from afar, Lü Meng and Ling Tong felt their blood rush to their heads and could no longer suppress their eagerness.

"Army attack!"

Lü Meng and Ling Tong took the lead, speeding along the path cleared by Liu Feng towards Chen Yun's location. Behind them, warships were gathering on both sides of the river and rapidly approaching.

These two fleets were reinforcements personally led by Gan Ning and Dong Xi.

Upon receiving news that Liu Feng was fighting alone on the rear, Gan Ning and Dong Xi were immediately terrified. After regaining their senses, they immediately delegated command to their deputy general, while they themselves led the reserve force and the transferred warships to quickly leave the front line and rush to the rear.

Liu Feng, at the forefront of the battle line, had already approached the warship where Chen Sheng was located, with the two sides less than 300 meters apart.

Chen Sheng was riding in a boat with open oars, which was larger than a red horse but smaller than a fighting ship or a warship.

The boat resembles an enlarged red horse, but it is covered with a canopy to protect it from arrows and stones, and people are hidden inside the canopy, hence the name "exposed oar".

Chen Yun was standing on the mast at the stern of the ship, observing the battle in the distance. Perhaps because he was too preoccupied with his thoughts, he didn't notice that Liu Feng's chariot was getting closer and closer. By the time Chen Yun realized something was wrong, the enemy had already rushed to within two hundred meters of his exposed oar.

Before Chen Yun could give the order, his personal guards had already begun to turn around.

The Lu'ao was larger than the Chima, requiring a larger radius and more time to turn. Ultimately, while the Lu'ao, carrying Chen Sheng, avoided the ramming of Liu Feng's flagship, it couldn't escape the fire ships that had followed. To make matters worse, the fire ships' original ramming horn pierced the stern of the Lu'ao, leaving Chen Sheng with only one option to escape: switch ships.

The violent impact nearly knocked Chen Sheng down, but fortunately he managed to grab the mast at the last moment, preventing him from falling off the lookout tower.

Before he could even feel relieved, a heavy arrow came straight at his face.

Chen Sheng hurriedly dodged, barely managing to avoid the arrow, but then a sharp pain shot through his eyes, and he collapsed, his vision going black.

It turns out that the archer was Liu Feng, and the archery technique he just used was the multi-shot technique that Taishi Ci was most skilled at.

Although Liu Feng's skills were not as good as Taishi Ci's, who could perform the five-fold arrow technique, he could still use the two-fold technique.

Although Chen Sheng dodged the first arrow, he couldn't dodge the second one that followed, and was hit right in the eye, a vital spot. Even if he didn't die, he was seriously injured.

Sure enough, a group of people hurriedly shouted, calling for Chen Sheng. The surrounding warships also witnessed this scene, their morale plummeted, and they even forgot to take cover.

Just then, Lu Meng and Ling Tong's twenty warships stormed into the battlefield.

Both men were valiant generals, and although they were young, they already possessed considerable martial prowess. In addition, they were well-armored, had brave soldiers following closely behind, and Chen Sheng's fate was unknown. As soon as the two sides clashed, Chen Sheng's troops were routed.

Chen Sheng did not get up to give orders for a long time, which caused the surrounding warships that realized something was wrong to lose their will to fight.

Their concern was whether their commander was alright, and Liu Feng's flagship swept through the enemy lines, leaving Chen Sheng's troops helpless.

Under these circumstances, Chen Sheng's troops were actually not far from collapse.

When Gan Ning and Dong Xi arrived, before they even made contact, Chen Sheng's troops began to collapse and scatter in all directions.

"Ignore them, deal with Huang Zu first!"

When Chen Sheng's troops collapsed and fled downstream along the Yangtze River, the same route they had come from, Liu Feng timely stopped Gan Ning, Dong Xi, Lü Meng, Ling Tong, and others from pursuing them, instead ordering them to turn around and attack Huang Zu.

In fact, at this moment, Huang Zu's troops were already at their last gasp. If it weren't for Cai Mao's reinforcements, they probably wouldn't have lasted this long.

However, Cai Mao only had a little bit of his savings left. Just as Cai Mao hesitated about whether to invest it all, Huang Zu's central army collapsed.

The situation then completely turned in favor of Liu Feng's forces. After defeating Huang Zu's central army, Cai Mao's forces were no match for Zhou Tai's large central fleet.

Although these ships were not equipped with as many iron forks as the one Liu Feng was on, and thus had some resistance to fire ships, the battering poles on these ships were in no way inferior to those on Liu Feng's ship.

Most of Cai Mao's large ships were transferred away by Huang Zu, and the few remaining large ships were no match for Zhou Tai. They were sunk along with the surrounding small boats, red horses, and open oars. The only difference was that they needed to be hit a few times with poles.

This battle was a great victory. Liu Feng's army pursued the enemy for seventy or eighty miles. Except for a few Jingzhou soldiers who escaped on fast boats and a few who abandoned their boats and landed on the shore, almost all the others were wiped out by the Yangzhou navy.

Post-war statistics showed that the Jingzhou navy was almost completely wiped out in this battle.

More than 40,000 people and more than 4,000 ships of various sizes were captured by the Yangzhou navy. Hundreds of ships were sunk and nearly 10,000 people were killed or drowned.

Of the more than 50,000 naval troops in Jingzhou, fewer than 5,000 escaped in the end.

Even Huang Zu himself was captured alive. Following Huang Zu, Su Fei, Deng Long, and Zhang Hu were all captured. Only Cai Mao, with his personal guards, fled early when the situation turned bad, thus managing to escape.

As the battle on the river drew to a close, and the Yangzhou navy pursued the Jingzhou navy in full force, only the stronghold of the local magnates guarded the city of Zhouling, which opened its gates and surrendered to Liu Feng.

To the upper right of Zhouling City lies a famous swampy area called Wulin, and north of Wulin lies the even more famous Huarong Road.

At this point, Liu Feng had completely crippled the Jingzhou navy. Although there were still several thousand remnants of Cai Mao's army and twenty to thirty thousand men under Zhang Yun's command, it was uncertain whether they, having lost their elite troops, would have the courage to face Liu Feng, let alone reverse the situation.

Now, Liu Feng has completely severed the connection between the Jingnan Expeditionary Army and Xiangyang.

Unless the Jingnan expeditionary force withdraws from Linxiang City quickly, then turns to Jiangling, abandons the boats, goes ashore, and returns to Xiangyang by land.

The difficulty and logistical pressure are much greater than those of the Han River, and it will take a long time, making it difficult to return to Xiangyang before Liu Feng besieges it.

"My lord, Gan Ning requests an audience."

Liu Feng was resting in the cabin. He had first beaten the drums to cheer on the troops, then commanded the battle while wearing over 30 kilograms of iron armor, and finally shot and killed Chen Sheng with a barrage of arrows in the chaos. He was really tired now, so he took a short rest.

Unexpectedly, Gan Ning returned to see him shortly after he had rested.

"Xingba requests an audience?"

Liu Feng felt a strange sense of familiarity, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. So he ordered, "Please let him in."

After receiving permission, Gan Ning entered the cabin.

Upon seeing Liu Feng, Gan Ning immediately knelt down and bowed deeply, saying, "Ning greets my lord."

"Why does Xingba need to do this?"

An even stronger sense of familiarity flashed through his mind, but Liu Feng still couldn't remember it. However, this did not stop him from stepping forward and helping Gan Ning up.

Liu Feng's status is now quite high; he is a genuine regional lord and an important official of the imperial court.

He was still able to remain humble and treat Gan Ning with such courtesy, even though the latter was naturally arrogant and straightforward, he was moved to tears by Liu Feng.

This time, however, he did not accept Liu Feng's help to get up. Instead, he lowered his head more respectfully and pleaded, "My lord, there is something I humbly request your permission to do."

"Oh? What is it?"

Liu Feng feigned surprise and said, "Do we need to put on such a show between us? Let's get up and talk first, otherwise nothing will be allowed."

(End of this chapter)