Reborn in Liangshan: I built the strongest lineup

Shan Tinggui took over the cleaning work on Li Jun's ship. After all, Li Jun was mainly a military commander, and it was indeed a bit difficult for him to fight one-on-one on the ship.

Of course, if it's a battle in the water, that's a different story.

In this boarding action, Liangshan achieved decent results overall. Including Tong Wei and Tong Meng, they gained control of three government warships and repelled several boarding attacks by the government forces!

Then, Li Jun signaled the main force to retreat first, because the government troops had a significant numerical advantage, and if the fighting continued, the outcome might be uncertain.

Moreover, Li Jun knew that the Liangshan infantry brothers had played a huge role in winning this boarding action; otherwise, it would have been difficult for the navy to achieve this result on its own.

After all, the navy's combat training time is not very long, and combat experience and close combat ability are still the navy's weaknesses.

As for the government troops, they suffered a loss in this boarding action, as they lost three large ships. Although the government troops destroyed more than a dozen medium and small ships of Liangshan in this counterattack, if the overall losses are taken into account, the government troops undoubtedly suffered a defeat this time.

Moreover, Chen Zhu died, and Duan Pengju on another ship was also thrown into the water by Yuan Lang, his fate unknown. Only Li Ming, seeing the situation was bad, jumped into the water in advance and thus escaped by chance.

In other words, Tong Guan suddenly lost two more capable generals!

This infuriated Tong Guan. Compared to this loss, sinking some insignificant boats of Liangshan was hardly a merit.

They didn't even capture a single famous general from Liangshan! This naval battle was a defeat for the government forces!

"General, should we...should we continue the pursuit?"

Seeing that Liangshan's warships were retreating, the government troops, knowing that the battle had already ended in defeat, immediately asked Tong Guan.

"Stop chasing for now, halt for a moment, and the rear guard should be ready to retreat at any time."

It was a good thing that Tong Guan's warships were not captured by the Liangshan army this time, but Tong Guan did not show any happy expression at this moment.

Although both sides seem to have suffered losses in this naval battle, a closer examination reveals that Tong Guan suffered greater losses.

The loss of three large ships cannot be compensated by a dozen or so small and medium-sized ships.

"How come Wang Qing's former subordinates got through so easily?"

Looking back at the entire battle report, one thing that puzzled Tong Guan was that the vanguard troops did not encounter any problems.

So, did Liangshan deliberately let the vanguard go and attack the central army directly this time?

"General, could it be that Wang Qing's men have secretly colluded with the Liangshan bandits?"

Feng Mei offered her own perspective.

"will not."

Tong Guan shook his head.

“If they had already surrendered, they could have gone straight to Liangshan last time.”

"But Commander, what if they were deliberately released by Liangshan? That they were just here to gather intelligence on us?"

Feng Mei still felt that it was very abnormal that the vanguard force had no problems at all.

"That's unlikely, because we get daily reports on the actions of Wang Qing's men. If they had truly surrendered and wanted to survive, they would be working very hard to pass on intelligence."

After Wang Qing was defeated and captured, and even before his capture, in order to confirm that these strongmen of Huaixi had no ulterior motives, the entire Wang Qing tribe was actually under the surveillance of Tong Guan.

Even if they did indeed make meritorious contributions on the Hebei battlefield, at most the number of spies monitoring them would only decrease from ten to five.

Tong Guan believed he had made no mistakes. If these people under surveillance had managed to pull off a feint under these circumstances, Tong Guan would have thought more highly of them. But so far, the army's departure had proceeded without any problems.

"General, could it be that Ren Yuan wants to subdue those people? So..."

Bi Sheng thought for a moment and put forward his idea. After all, Ren Yuan could be said to be the top leader of the Song Dynasty's bandits, so it was not impossible for him to recruit people and expand his power.

"You mean, Ren Yuan wanted to recruit them? So he deliberately let them pass?"

This idea surprised Tong Guan at first, but he then nodded.

"It's not impossible. If it's an offer to surrender, then it means Wang Qing is definitely not dead, but is definitely on Liangshan."

"General, since that's the case, we can't retreat! If we retreat, these vanguard men will set up camp on the shore and be targeted by these Liangshan bandits! If they really turn against us, it will be even more difficult for us to get ashore tomorrow!"

Fengmei stated that if that's the case, they cannot retreat today and cannot give the forwards any chance!

"Although we don't have a good impression of these people, we can't just hand them over to Liangshan for nothing!"

"That's right, Commander. Although we did suffer a loss, they didn't gain much advantage either!"

Bi Sheng also said that Feng Mei was right!

"I agree with Feng Mei's suggestion. Let's rest a bit and then continue our advance!"

"Alright! Then pass the notice down to each ship to inspect its hull, summarize the battle damage, and continue sailing in half an hour!"

Tong Guan was persuaded. Indeed, if Liangshan were to successfully surrender, it would be equivalent to the government army directly sending a large number of troops to Liangshan. Such a thing... could not be done at a loss!

"General, if we continue our advance, shouldn't we also send men to Zhang Shuye's side to transport them there so they can carry out their planned surprise attack?"

"Yes, let them act tonight. Liangshan has won a great victory today. I reckon these bandits will celebrate in the stronghold. After all, Wang Qing once said that they are just a bunch of outlaws."

"So tonight is a very good day to cross the river. Tell Uncle Zhang to be discreet and not to be foolish enough to be discovered!"

Tong Guan said, "Zhang Shuye, you guys had better be smart! Don't ruin his plans!"

If I miss the opportunity to make a contribution, he won't give Zhang Kegong any face when we return to the court!

……

"Brother Li Jun, Tong Guan's fleet seems to have stopped on the peninsula. I wonder what they're planning to do."

Liangshan's fleet was retreating in an orderly manner, and Fei Bao and Cheng Gui quickly boarded Li Jun's ship to join him.

"They're in a dilemma now, probably trying to figure out how to minimize their losses."

Li Jun's assessment of the government troops, or rather, of Tong Guan, was very accurate. Tong Guan was indeed in a dilemma just now, but he did have experienced men under his command who could help him.

"Brother Li Jun, our online army has finally gotten their revenge today!"

Cheng Gui was the newly appointed leader of the naval forces, and he naturally hoped to make more contributions to consolidate his position in the stronghold.

After all, Cheng Gui wasn't on the stone tablet. Although the stone tablet of Liangshan said that many star lords who weren't on the list would come to join them, and Cheng Gui himself thought he was quite capable, he was still under some pressure as someone who wasn't on the list but had now become the commander of the main force of the navy.

This pressure stems from two sources: firstly, he has high expectations of himself, and secondly, he doesn't want Ren Yuan to be labeled as someone who can't judge people well because of his own actions, which would be too unfair to his brother Ren Yuan.

"Brother Chenggui, please calm down."

Li Jun knew what his brother was thinking, so he quickly signaled to Cheng Gui not to rush.

"Our online army did a good job today, but we didn't achieve anything particularly significant."

"Especially in boarding maneuvers, Brother Chenggui, although our naval brothers are very skilled in water combat, they are indeed lacking in this kind of fighting skill."

"Although we captured three large ships in today's boarding action, we must admit that our infantry brothers provided us with tremendous assistance. Don't you agree?"

"That...that's true of course..."

Cheng Gui scratched his head. Indeed, he had been so excited that he had forgotten about today's battle, and the infantry had provided a great deal of assistance.

In particular, during Cheng Gui's boarding maneuver, Feng Tai was his accomplice. It was with Feng Tai's help that Li Ming was able to jump into the water and escape.

"So, although we have made contributions this time, our achievements are not that great. We still need to face up to the gap between our navy and other brother military branches."

Li Jun was the leader of the Liangshan navy because of his vision and magnanimity. Although he appreciated credit, he would never be greedy or claim credit for himself. He could see both the strengths and weaknesses of the navy.

"Therefore, the success of this battle is inseparable from the help of our infantry brothers. Our navy can't abandon them and celebrate on its own."

"Don't worry, Brother Li Jun! I'll go and call Brother Feng Tai to come along too!"

Cheng Gui was a very honest man. After understanding Li Jun's meaning, he immediately said that he wanted to celebrate with Feng Tai.

"Alright, alright, let's put the celebration aside for now. Although we won this match today, Tong Guan certainly won't give up so easily. Let's all tell each other, what should we do next?"

Li Jun said that the battle is not over yet, so let's not rush to celebrate, but think about what to do next.

“Brother, I think we can use guerrilla warfare next. Our Liangshan has many highly mobile warships, which the government troops do not have. I think we can do what you said and fight guerrilla warfare!”

"The government troops have many large ships, so let's target their lack of maneuverability! We'll attack for a while and then change locations, forcing the government troops to be overwhelmed!"

Fei Bao offered suggestions to Li Jun.

“Great idea, Brother Fei Bao, we can give it a try.”

Li Jun nodded, indicating that this was a good idea.

"Brother Li Jun, I think we could try using fire? I saw today that their warships don't seem to be very well protected against fire! Could we make use of that?"

Cheng Gui stated that the government troops' warships were too slow in extinguishing the fire today, which might be an opportunity for them to seize power!

"Hmm? It seems that's true. Brother Chenggui, could you elaborate on your thoughts?"

Li Jun said that this idea is worth considering.

“Brother Li Jun, the government troops have many large ships. Although these large ships look imposing in our waters, they are difficult to maneuver. Today we can see that those large ships have virtually no way to dodge the impact of our ramming team.”

"I believe it's not that they don't want to hide, but that they lack the ability to hide!"

Cheng Gui has a lot to say about the government troops' warships today, because he personally witnessed several large ships being rammed through by their rams because of their poor maneuverability!

Therefore, Cheng Gui believed that if the ramming team could bring fire, the fire attack after the collision would definitely achieve better results.

“That makes sense, but there’s one thing: their ships are big, so if we can’t get the fire going quickly, it will be difficult to burn them down.”

Li Jun nodded. Of course he knew that fire attack was a good option, but that was also the problem with fire attack: how could it be made more aggressive?

Liangshan did manage to capture some of the imperial court's warships, and judging from the warships, the idea of ​​using fire to attack them was indeed somewhat difficult.

"There is one way, which is to have Tong Guan take the initiative to connect the large ships together."

Fei Bao put forward an idea.

"Oh? Why do you say that, Brother Fei Bao?"

Li Jun glanced at Fei Bao with some surprise, because he found that Fei Bao's thoughts coincided with his own.

"Although the imperial ships burn slowly, we can solve this problem by preparing more ignition materials, such as kerosene."

"But if fire attack is to be effective, the ships must be stopped or gathered in one place. Otherwise, even if one ship is burned, as long as the government troops abandon the ship immediately, our efforts will be in vain."

Fei Bao explained the reason, and after hearing Fei Bao's words, everyone seemed to have a bright idea in their eyes!

"Yes! That's right. If we can't keep the ships together, then no matter how high we burn, it won't make a difference! Brother Fei Bao is very insightful and far-sighted; I admire him!"

Cheng Gui said, "That's definitely how it should be!"

“I agree with this plan. Old Wei’s fire attack back then was to set fire to areas with many enemies. If the government troops’ warships are chained together, we can definitely use fire attack easily. But the problem is, Tong Guan probably won’t easily link the warships together right now, right?”

Because Shan Tinggui had been Wei Dingguo's partner for many years and had seen Wei Dingguo use fire attacks so many times, even if he himself was not an expert, he knew a thing or two about it.

Therefore, he also stepped forward to say that the plan was feasible, but it depended on whether Tong Guan would cooperate.

"That's true. We've been thinking about this for a long time, but if Tong Guan doesn't cooperate, there's nothing we can do."

The crowd calmed down. After all, Tong Guan had been on the battlefield. He shouldn't be so easily given any convenience by the Liangshan army, right?

……

At this time, Tong Guan was in the army.

"Report! Duan Pengju, the Supervisor, has returned!"

Tong Guan was worried about not having enough men under his command when he suddenly heard that Duan Pengju had returned.

Looking up, I saw several soldiers carrying Duan Pengju in. He was lucky; when he was injured and fell into the water, he clung tightly to a broken piece of boat plank, and the soldiers had just pulled him out.

"Pengju! You're still alive! That's wonderful!"

After all, Duan Pengju was one of his trusted confidants, so Tong Guan was very happy that Duan Pengju had survived.

"General, General, this humble general is ashamed!"

Duan Pengju, who was injured, felt ashamed of Tong Guan's concern.

"What nonsense are you spouting? Victory and defeat are common occurrences in war. You are my beloved general! How can you so easily bow down to the bandits?"

It must be said, Tong Guan does know how to comfort people!

"Pengju thanks you, Commander. Commander, just now while I was in the water, observing the situation of the two armies, I suddenly thought of a brilliant plan. I wonder if I should tell you?"

Duan Pengju thought about it and decided to atone for his sins with good deeds!

"Oh? What brilliant plan does Pengju have? Tell me quickly..."