MTL - Poor Family-v2 Chapter 988 Yangtze river intercept

  Chapter 988 Interception of the Yangtze River

  Liu Guangshi was once neglected by the imperial court because his father Liu Yanqing participated in the rebellion of foreign relatives in the south of the Yangtze River, but Zongze looked at him differently and kept promoting him.

After Zongze unfortunately died of illness in Chuzhou, who would command the 80,000 in his hands became the focus of contention between the emperor Zhao Gou and the emperor Zhao Ji. Zhao Gou wanted Han Shizhong to take over at first, but Zhao Ji firmly opposed it, thinking that Han Shizhong had troops in his hands. Too much is not conducive to imperial control.

In the end, the father and son reached a compromise and divided the 80,000 troops into two. The 40,000 troops were handed over to Commander Yue Fei to guard Jingxiang. , This made Liu Guangshi be reused again, with 50,000 heavy troops in his hand, the official worshiped the general and the Huaidong defense envoy, and they were all in control. He became a local official and was responsible for guarding the front lines of Sizhou, Chuzhou, Taizhou and Tongzhou.

Liu Guangshi received letters from Li Yanqing and the Supreme Emperor Zhao Ji almost at the same time, which made him hesitate for two days. From an emotional point of view, he was of course inclined to single-handedly promote his Supreme Emperor Zhao Ji, but as an important court minister, he also opposed the Supreme Emperor's mobilization of the court. Coup d'état, especially when the life and death of officials are uncertain, he is afraid that if he makes a wrong step, he will become a criminal in history.

  However, Liu Guangshi finally decided to send troops to attack Li Yanqing. He had no choice. His two sons were both in the capital, and they were in the hands of Zhao Ji, which made him dare not refuse.

  Liu Guangshi did not dare to publicly respond to Zhao Ji. This was his bottom line. He could not take sides openly, so he told Zhao Ji with flying pigeons that he would secretly send troops to attack Li Yanqing from behind.

  Liu Guangshi did not take the whole army on board. He left 20,000 troops to continue guarding Sizhou and Chuzhou, and led 30,000 troops to Taizhou.

Thirty thousand troops assembled in Luxu Town. Liu Guangshi stood on a high place and looked across the Yangtze River. In the distance was a black line. Neutral, unwilling to be involved in this palace coup, only he waded into this muddy water without hesitation.

  He felt as uncomfortable as if he had eaten a fly, but his son was in Zhao Ji's hands, and he couldn't do without sending troops.

   "Go and ask, has the ship arrived yet?" Liu Guangshi asked loudly.

  The ships on the Yangtze River are all on the south bank. This is the rule of the imperial court. The south bank does not send ships to meet him. He can only transfer ships from the Huaihe River to the south. This is the reason why he has not crossed the river.

   After a while, a lieutenant came to report, "Report to Dutong, the ship has arrived!"

   Liu Guangshi looked back and saw dozens of large ships coming along the Taishui River. He immediately ordered: "The first army is ready to cross the river!"

The 5,000 troops of the First Army are already ready. They boarded the boat not on the Yangtze River, but on the Thai River in Luxu Town. Then the fleet sailed directly into the Yangtze River. After half an hour, all the five thousand troops boarded. After getting off the boat, thirty-five large ships loaded with soldiers began to sail to the opposite bank of the Yangtze River.

   "Dutong, I heard the news that Han Shizhong also secretly sent 30,000 troops south."

  The person who reported the situation was Lieutenant General Du Lin. He had just returned from escorting the boat on the Huaihe River, and he couldn't wait to report the news to Liu Guangshi.

   Liu Guangshi was taken aback, "Why do they have boats to cross the river?"

  Du Lin sighed and said, "Don't you understand yet? The other side must have sent a boat across the river to meet him."

  Liu Guangshi was silent for a moment. It turned out that Han Shizhong supported Li Yanqing, but it was no wonder that Han Shizhong was originally Li Yanqing's general, and it was normal for him to support Li Yanqing.

  Among the three major armies in the Jianghuai area, only Cao Sheng, the defense officer along the river, publicly supported Li Yanqing. Liu Guangshi and Han Shizhong maintained neutrality on the surface, but in fact, they sent troops secretly.

   "Look, what kind of fleet is that?" A soldier suddenly pointed to the river and shouted.

Liu Guangshi also saw it. A fleet of fifty or sixty ships suddenly appeared on the river, lined up on the river. The yellow-bottomed black dragon flag of the Song Army was hung on the boats. Liu Guangshi was shocked. There is no navy on the Yangtze River! Where did this sailor come from?

  He couldn't see clearly, so he simply urged his horse to rush up a mound, and now his vision was wider.

The 60 warships and 5,000 sailors led by Ruan's Sanxiong arrived yesterday. Yangzhou is the site guarded by Han Shizhong. Liu Guangshi must have crossed the river from Taizhou or Tongzhou, but the river in Tongzhou is too wide, so it is most likely to come from Taizhou , They waited on the other side of Taizhou.

  Looking at more than 30 ferries on the river, Ruan Xiaoqi was very excited, and whispered to his brother: "Sink them all, **** the fuck!"

  Ruan Xiaoer turned his head and glared at his brother, "Did you forget what Du Tong said?"

Li Yanqing has repeatedly told them that as long as Liu Guangshi does not publicly stand in line, it means that he is not willing to send troops, so there is no need to kill too hard, just give a warning, if the warning does not work, then use the advantage of the warship to capture all the opponents .

  Warning is the most important thing here, how to warn is up to Ruan Xiaoer himself.

   "Ready the artillery!"

   Immediately, soldiers pushed three cannons onto the side of the ship. Of course, there are no tubular cannons yet, but they are still catapult-shaped cannons, but they will use water warfare thunder for the first time.

The water battle thunder is actually a spiked thunder to deal with nest vehicles when defending the city. There are sharp spikes on both sides of the iron shell of the thunder. When the thunder hits the ship heavily, the spikes will penetrate the ship's plank. , nailed to the boat.

  However, there is still a special difference between the water war and the thunder, that is, there is a snail-like device at the mouth of the fire rope, which will protect the fire rope from being wet by the river water.

  Ruan Xiaoer's warship sailed towards the largest ferry boat, which contained at least 150 soldiers, and the navy soldiers kept shouting: "Go back immediately, or you will be sunk!"

   But they were answered by dense arrows, and several shouting soldiers were hit by arrows and fell on the deck.

  Ruan Xiaoer was furious, and ordered: "Get ready to launch!"

  The warship and the opposite ferry passed by each other. The distance between the two sides was less than 30 steps, and the only sound was ‘boom! Boom! 'Two sounds, two thunderbolts shot out at the same time, shooting straight at the opponent's big ship, hitting the opponent's hull one after another, but one of the thunderbolts failed to nail the hull and fell into the river, while the other thunderbolt fell into the river. Thunder nailed to the hull.

Ruan Xiaoer's warship retreated quickly after launching, and when they were about fifty steps away, there was only an earth-shattering explosion, debris splashed everywhere, a puff of smoke rose into the air, the tall mast fell down, and the whole ship The ferry was blown up in two, and all 150 soldiers fell into the water.

  Liu Guangshi, who was checking the situation on the north bank, was stunned. He had seen Zhentianlei before, but he didn't expect to use Zhentianlei on the river.

   "Not good!" He yelled, "This is Li Yanqing's warship!"

   Liu Guangshi immediately shouted, "Let all the ships come back!"

   "Dang! Dang! Dang!" The withdrawal bell rang on the shore.

   In fact, there is no need for Mingjin to retreat. The powerful power of Zhentianlei has already frightened the other ferries, and they all turned around and sailed to the north bank.

   But Ruan Xiaoer refused to let go of these ferries. After the Song army landed, he would sink all these ferries and would not give the other party a chance to cross the river.

  Lieutenant General Du Lin had lingering fears, and he whispered to Liu Guangshi: "It's better to leave these ships in the Yangtze River, and simply let the other party sink them all, and we will ask the Lin'an government for ship support."

  Liu Guangshi nodded. This is not a solution. It is not that he refuses to send troops, but that there are no ships to cross the river. Let Zhao Ji send Mingzhou sea ships to pick him up!

  Liu Guangshi also believed that Zhao Ji would not be so foolish as to threaten his son, as doing so would only drive him towards Li Yanqing.

   That afternoon, Liu Guangshi withdrew his troops back to Chuzhou. Ruan Xiaoer immediately set fire to more than 30 ferry boats. He sent several boats to search along the Yangtze River and burned all hidden boats.

While withdrawing to the north, Liu Guangshi sent a pigeon letter to Zhao Ji in Lin'an, telling him that his ferry was ambushed by Li Yanqing's warship on the Yangtze River, and all the ships were sunk by the opposing warship, and countless soldiers fell into the water. Preliminary estimates More than 3,000 people have been killed.

  Liu Guangshi then asked Zhao Ji to send Mingzhou ships to help him cross the river.

   At the same time, Liu Guangshi sent a confidant to cross the river secretly in a boat at night, and sent a letter to Ruan Xiaoer, asking him to pay attention to the possible sea ships at the mouth of the Yangtze River.

  (end of this chapter)