Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 485 Fire Ship
At the same time, Yu Jin in Wenxi also launched several attacks on Erzhu Rong's encirclement.

On one occasion, his vanguard even reached the city of Yubi and sent dozens of cattle and sheep into the city.

Although Yubi City had no shortage of these dozens of cattle and sheep, sending them into the city greatly boosted the morale of the defenders in Yubi City.

On the contrary, Erzhu Rong, who had been attacking the city for a long time without success, angrily dismissed Heba Yun, who was in charge of the siege that day, after hearing that Yu Jindu had broken through to the city of Yubi. If it were not for Heba Yue and Heba Sheng's protection, Heba Yun would have been punished by Erzhu Rong.

The morale of the defenders besieging the city was low, and Erzhu Rong had no idea how to deal with this tough nut to crack.

The location of Yubi City is really tricky!
The most convenient transportation route for attacking Hedong County is the Fen River flowing downstream from Bingzhou.

Yubi City is stuck in the strategic area of ​​Fenshui River, with mountains on both sides, and there is no way to get around it.

Yubi City itself is backed by Hedong County, and across the Yellow River is Xiazhou and Huazhou controlled by Su Ze, so supplies can be transported there continuously.

Now Erzhu Rong could only hope that the tunnel attack would be effective.
-
The battle in Yubi City fell into a stalemate. On the other side, Wang Sengbian had no choice but to march from Baidi City to attack Ba County, trying to recapture Princess Yongxing who was abducted by Hou Jing.

Wang Sengbian asked for help from the rear many times, but his superior, the governor of Jingzhou and King of Xiangdong Xiao Yi, showed no intention of providing support.

In fact, Wang Sengbian was also very clear about the reason.

Yizhou was not Xiao Yi's territory. As the emperor's son, no matter how great a contribution Xiao Yi made in the process of recovering Yizhou, the emperor would never give both Yizhou and Jingzhou in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River to a prince.

Xiao Yan was just generous to his clan, which didn't mean he was a fool.

After Huan Wen of the Eastern Jin Dynasty conquered Shu, Yizhou and Jingzhou were integrated, which completed Zhuge Liang's strategy of dividing the world into three parts in "Longzhong Strategy". The Huan family became the most powerful officials in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and eventually Huan Chu replaced the Jin Dynasty.

It's not their own territory, and there is no benefit in conquering it. How can Xiao Yi support Wang Sengbian again?
In fact, Xiao Yi's request to Wang Sengbian was very simple. He just had to guard Baidi City, the gateway to Shu, and not let Hou Jing in Shu out. This would be considered as completing the mission.

However, Princess Yongxing was kidnapped, and Wang Sengbian, the person responsible, wanted to attack Ba County to take back the princess. As the emperor's younger brother, Xiao Yi could not refuse this reasonable request.

In the end, it turned out like this: Wang Sengbian wanted to attack Shu, and Xiao Yi did not object, but he did not support it in terms of supplies and logistics.

In fact, the situation in Jingzhou was equally tense. After Chen Qianzhi's Northern Expedition, Xiao Yi in Jingzhou also took the opportunity to launch a Northern Expedition and occupied a lot of land.

It would take time to digest these lands, and fighting wars would also consume a lot of resources. Xiao Yi really had no money or food to support himself.

Under such circumstances, Wang Sengbian was just making a gesture. In fact, his troops did not leave Baidi City for ten days.

But when it comes to war, all it matters is “qi”.

As the saying goes, "The first push is strong, the second is weak, and the third is exhausted." Morale is a very mysterious thing.

Wang Sengbian was just putting on an act. His trusted officers might know that he was just putting on an act, and the middle-level officers might guess that he was just putting on an act, but the lower-level soldiers did not know that he was just putting on an act.

Wang Sengbian assembled the troops in this way but delayed sending them out. Rumors soon spread in the military camp, especially rumors that Wang Sengbian was afraid of fighting.

By the time Wang Sengbian realized something was wrong, the morale of the entire military camp had reached its lowest point.

At this time, four large ships appeared on the Yangtze River.

Hou Jing's vanguard Song Zixian was sitting on the boat. He was Hou Jing's cavalry general. It is said that northerners are good at riding and southerners are good at sailing. Song Zixian vomited a lot on the boat and almost vomited out his bile.

But looking at these boatmen, they were as flexible as walking on flat ground on the boat and in the water. Song Zixian finally understood why General Hou valued these surrendered navy so much and retained their extremely high treatment.

Most of the sailors on the ship were recruited by Hou Jing after Shu surrendered, and many of them were Liao people who were good at sailing.

In addition to the four patrol boats, there were also several speedboats for escort. These boats were also staffed with Shu sailors who were excellent at swimming, and they were all recruited by Hou Jing and placed on board.

However, the core members of these ships are all sailors dressed as Taoists.

According to General Hou, these sailors were sent by Duke Su.

These people are better swimmers than the sailors from Shu. Some of them are like white sharks in the waves in the surging river. They can easily jump back and forth between boats by springboard. Their sailing skills are also better than those of ordinary Shu sailors.

Song Zixian was also curious about the origins of these people. They were very tight-lipped about their origins, but they would gather regularly every day to pray and recite a scripture called "Laozi Xianger Zhu".

Since they were sent by the Duke of the County, there shouldn't be any problem with their beliefs, as long as they can fight well.

This group of people were naturally the followers summoned by Su Ze. The reason why they had such superb boat-handling skills was because they were originally pirates!
They can operate sea vessels, so sailing on the Yangtze River is a piece of cake for them. These followers are all followers of the [Eternal Life Army] series summoned by Su Ze.

The so-called "Eternal Life Army" also has a great background. They are the army led by Sun En, a famous pirate in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the founder of the Five Pecks of Rice Sect.

The Sun En Rebellion lasted for twelve years and spread to a vast area south of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, inflicting a heavy blow to the aristocratic families of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

The reason why the army led by Sun En was so difficult to destroy was because the [Eternal Life Army] he led was a pirate army.

This army once defeated Liu Yu very badly.

Therefore, the waters in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River are like the pond in the backyard of these [Immortal Army] followers.

Song Zixian waited until the fleet was not far from Baidi City, used flag signals to order other ships, and gathered the fleet to advance towards Baidi City!

When the navy in Baidi City detected the Shu navy on the river, they immediately reported the military intelligence to Wang Sengbian.

When Wang Sengbian heard the news, he flew into a rage.

For a long time, the Southern Dynasty had a huge advantage in naval battles.

This Hou Jing actually despised me so much that he only sent the navy to harass Baidi City. He didn't take me seriously at all!
Wang Sengbian immediately ordered the navy to attack, but he was also very cautious and ordered the navy not to pursue too far. He also ordered the infantry and cavalry in Baidi City to gather. Once enemy infantry and cavalry appeared near Baidi City, they were to leave the city immediately to assist the navy in the attack.

What Wang Sengbian did not expect was that Hou Jing's navy was extremely flexible. After being chased by the navy from Baidi City, they quickly turned around and started to escape.

By the time Wang Sengbian's navy chased out, Hou Jing's navy had already disappeared.

They returned empty-handed and were severely beaten by the enemy in front of them. When Wang Sengbian's navy returned to Baidi City, everyone was depressed.

The previous oath not to fight was enough to lower morale, and now the navy that the Southern Dynasty was so proud of was also humiliated by the enemy. How could anyone swallow this?
Wang Sengbian also saw the problem with his own morale. He knew that if he didn't do something, there would be no need to defend Baidi City.

In the next few days, Song Zixian repeated his old tricks, appearing not far from Baidi City each time, and then turning around and running away immediately after provoking them.

Five days later, the entire Baidi City was filled with anger, and everyone vowed to cut Song Zixian's fleet into pieces.

Wang Sengbian had no good way to deal with Hou Jing's helpless tactics.

The main reason is that this navy is not as flexible as the navy of the Northern Dynasty. Even in the Southern Dynasty, it is difficult to find such a flexible navy fleet. I really don't know where Su Ze found these experienced sailors.

Today, when Song Zixian's fleet appeared, Wang Sengbian's navy, which had been filled with anger for a long time, rushed out immediately.

Luck seemed to be on the side of Wang Sengbian's navy today. Just when Song Zixian turned around and prepared to escape as usual, a headwind suddenly blew on the river, greatly hindering the retreat of Hou Jing's fleet.

To make matters worse, one of the large boats seemed to have a problem and fell behind the entire fleet.

Wang Sengbian's naval commander was overjoyed. He immediately ordered the fleet to speed up the pursuit and make sure to capture the large ship.

Song Zixian sat on the flagship, watching the sudden change in wind direction, and exclaimed to Su Xiang (the boastful astronomy student) beside him:
"Mr. Su is truly as wise as Kong Ming. He even predicted the change in wind direction today."

Su Xiang was very proud of himself as he waved his feather fan, but Su Ze warned him not to play tricks, so Su Xiang could only say honestly:

"There are often headwinds on the river here. These headwinds often appear after the mist dissipates in the early morning, which is about this time. Fishermen in the past have often recorded this. I just guessed it, not calculated it."

However, Song Zixian was a rough man and could not understand all this. He still respected Su Xiang very much and ordered his personal guards to take good care of Su Xiang. Song Zixian launched a flag signal.

Just as Wang Sengbian's navy caught up with the lagging boat, several members of the [Eternal Life Army] who were proficient in water ignited the gunpowder and fuel hidden in the boat.

They immediately jumped into the Yangtze River, followed by a loud explosion!

No one would have thought that Hou Jing would be willing to use such a large ship as bait. How much manpower and material resources are needed to build such a large ship? In Nanliang, which has a large number of naval forces, such a super battleship would also be treated as a treasure!

However, Hou Jing and Song Zixian, two prodigal sons, actually filled the ship with gunpowder and fuel, and set the entire ship on fire when Wang Sengbian's navy surrounded the ship.

To make matters worse, when the entire ship was on fire, a headwind blew up on the river, and the large ship crashed into the center of Wang Sengbian's fleet!

(End of this chapter)