Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 67 Athletes Riding the Waves on the Sea

Li Gongzuo stood on the helm, leaning on his long sword, with a somewhat unhappy look on his face.

The deputy general beside him, Bian Shining, was even more unhappy. He was like an anxious hungry wolf, pacing back and forth with his teeth gnashing.

"Major General, everyone else is out fighting, and we're just going to watch? We have two hundred elite soldiers. Are we going north to watch the show?"

Li Gongzuo's mouth twitched as he scolded, "What do you mean by 'watching the show'? Didn't you hear Commander Zhang say we were the second group?"

The navy trained by Li Bao had strict military discipline, so Bian Shining naturally did not dare to refute, but his face was still full of resentment.

Li Gongzuo let out a long breath and spoke slowly amidst the melody of fishermen's songs, "Commander Zhang knows we'll eventually have to fight the Jin thieves' navy, so this move is also a bit of a protective gesture."

These words were meant to convince Bian Shining as well as himself.

Although the practice of most Song troops is "I'll make money, you'll die", it depends on which Song army it is and which general is in charge.

Li Bao once followed Yue Fei and Han Shizhong!
The army has its own traditions. After serving under these two men, the navy trained by Li Bao will naturally not be afraid of any battle, and may even look forward to it.

How could they willingly fall behind a group of Liangshanpo Zhao'an bandits?!

It’s embarrassing just to think about it!

"Report!" A small boat came speeding over, and the soldiers on it shouted to Li Gongzuo, "The water gate in Qushan County is not open. It is a wooden gate, but the waterway is not blocked."

"Really?"

"Brothers have gone into the water to take a look."

Li Gongzuo immediately cheered up: "Okay, signal the ships ahead to move out of the way. Bian Shiyi, return to your ship, lower the mast, and prepare the catapult and the eight-ox crossbow!"

Bian Shining's eyes rolled and he reacted immediately. He laughed loudly and jumped into the sea. He climbed onto another steamship like a nimble monkey and began to command his soldiers despite being soaked all over.

"Fifty men in armor, armed with crossbows, and the rest of you, man the trebuchets and the eight-ox crossbows! Quick, quick, quick!"

On the other side, Zhang Rong also saw the flag signals sent by Li Gongzuo and couldn't help but laugh.

Zhang Rong's ship was a merchant ship. Although it was built with solid materials and according to the specifications of a warship, it was impossible to equip it with an eight-ox crossbow and a catapult on the deck.

After the rebellion was officially launched, time was of the essence and there was no way to build these large-scale equipment. Therefore, apart from setting fire to the ships, Zhang Rong's troops had no other way to deal with the Watergate.

In fact, Zhang Rong originally wanted to use the height of the ship to directly climb the city wall, and did not think of attacking the water gate.

Because defending waterways, especially when one's own navy is at a disadvantage, is not just about closing the sluice gates. Instead, one has to block the waterways with sunken ships and debris, and gather civilian ships inland, pile them with firewood, grass, and grease. Once the enemy attacks through the sluice gates, they will be burned to ashes.

But this Qushan County...seems to have made no preparations at all.

If we rule out the possibility that the Jin Dynasty's Haizhou governor was an extremely stupid waste, then the truth is that either the Jin army was defeated so badly that the Jin people were in a panic and had no time to take care of it; or Wei Sheng arrived too quickly, catching the Jin people off guard and having no time to take care of it.

More likely, it's a bit of both.

Are Wei Dadao's loyal army so sharp?!

With mixed feelings, Zhang Rong raised his right hand and ordered, "Send the flag signal, clear the channel, and let the children defeat the enemy!"

The four leading steamships separated to the left and right, making way for the route, and the two ships flying the large flag with the word "Li" on it suddenly accelerated forward.

A number of Jin troops had already gathered on the Water Gate wall. Although rolling logs and stones were already available on the ramparts, it seemed that many of these Jin soldiers were young and strong recruits who had little experience in using them. As they rushed back and forth, someone kicked over a cauldron filled with Jin liquid, and the foul stench filled the air, further increasing the chaos on the ramparts.

"Closer, closer, one round of shots will break that door!"

The catapult was set up in the center of the deck, and four eight-ox crossbows were set up on both sides of the ship, all pointing forward at this time.

Twenty soldiers held the rope of the catapult tightly. Although the warship was constantly shaking with the waves, these soldiers were as if they were rooted to the ground and did not move at all.
The four eight-ox crossbows were strung up with a creaking sound, and after adjusting the angles, the four soldiers holding wooden hammers also just stood there.

All of them looked back at the flag on the wheelhouse, waiting for the order to attack.

Fifty armored crossbowmen stood at the front of the deck, holding the crossbow trigger horizontally, placing the mountain in front of their eyes, and aiming at the Jin army running back and forth in panic on the top of the city wall.

"Shoot! Shoot! Bring the braziers!" An officer on the wall gave a hasty order. A few arrows flew over, most of them landing in the water. Only two landed on the armor of the soldiers, making a clinking sound. "One hundred steps!"

"Fifty steps!"

"Further forward!" Li Gongzuo shouted, "Twenty steps!"

"The divine arm bow is pressing down on the city wall!"

"Divine Arm Bow, release!"

On the two boats, one hundred crossbowmen pulled the trigger at the same time, and one hundred crossbow arrows shot towards the top of the city with a strange sound of breaking wind.

The Jin army officer who was in command was given special attention. His upper body, which was sticking out from the parapet, was pierced by four crossbow arrows. He didn't even let out a scream, but fell backwards and fell off the city wall.

The distance is too close.

If this was the case for officers wearing iron jackets, the soldiers without armor were even worse off.

Except for a few who saw the opportunity early and raised their large wooden shields, the more than 20 Jin soldiers on the water gate wall were almost wiped out by this round of rain of arrows.

Screams and cries of pain rang out.

The surviving Jin soldiers fled in panic to both sides.

This was not because the Shenbi crossbow was too powerful. The reason was that these Jin troops were just defeated yesterday. All their courage had been buried along with their comrades by the Shu River.

Li Gongzuo didn't know all this. All he could see was the water gate that was getting closer and closer. When it was thirty steps away, he suddenly realized that things might be simpler than he had imagined.

The long wooden beams of the water gate were crisscrossed horizontally and vertically like a wooden net. The joints were supposed to be fixed with iron nails and pins, but when you got closer you found that many of the nails had fallen off, and most of the others were rusted.

Could it be that this was God's will for me to accomplish this great feat?!
Li Gongzuo thought so and immediately ordered: "Catapults, Eight Ox Crossbows, smash them!"

"Release!" The wooden hammer fell, and the Eight Oxen Crossbow arrow, like a spear, broke through the air.

"Hu...Hoo!" The horn sounded, and twenty soldiers shouted together, pulling the rope of the catapult with all their strength. The huge stone on the long arm suddenly flew up, drew an arc in the air, and slammed onto the water gate.

The sluice gate made a creaking, teeth-grinding twisting sound, and the connection of the upper gate seemed to have broken, and a large piece of wooden railing on the lower right side of the sluice gate fell off directly.

The water gate slowly fell down amid the tune of fishermen's songs that cheered.

But to Li Gongzuo's surprise, the sluice gate had clearly collapsed, but it seemed to be stuck somewhere and was actually standing crookedly.

An officer saw this and immediately shouted orders: "Quick, quick, load the eight-ox crossbow! The catapult!"

Li Gongzuo suddenly clenched his fist and said, "Charge!"

"What?" The guards around him seemed not to hear clearly.

"I said crash into it!" Li Gongzuo's voice was so loud that even Bian Shining on the other boat could hear it clearly.

"Hold on to the side of the boat, steady yourself, and don't fall into the water. Crash!"

Ramming is an indispensable part of naval warfare, so this warship is naturally equipped with a ram.

But this ram was not originally designed to compete with the city gate.

However, once the military order was issued, there was no turning back.

The soldiers on the deck grabbed the ropes around them, and the auxiliary soldiers in the cabin rowed hard. The warship, which had not stopped in the first place, suddenly accelerated and completed the speed as much as possible in a distance of about thirty steps.

Fortunately, the water gate had indeed become a piece of rotten wood, but it was stuck somewhere. The warship hit it like a strong crossbow piercing broken leather, easily passing through the water gate and rushing into the inner ferry.

Shouts and cries of killing rose to the sky.

Zhang Rong laughed heartily at this. "Raise the flags, enforce strict military discipline, and enter the city in an orderly manner. Don't let the youngsters make a fool of themselves."

(End of this chapter)