The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 302 Attacking Song Now is Not an Option
Li Bao swam clumsily in the water, with his two hundred men swimming around him, all of them also swimming awkwardly. Only a few good swimmers pointed and instructed their colleagues on the techniques.

Gong Erniangzi reined in her horse on the riverbank, looking at the scene before her. She couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time. She shouted, "Li Bao, what are you doing? I told you to train, but you didn't come. You're pretending to be the Emperor... cough... pretending to be Young Master Yue's order, and you've come to play in the water?"

Li Bao popped his head out of the water: "Huh? A false transmission? I didn't transmit anything falsely!"

Gong Er Niangzi: "Young Master Yue is right here, and you still dare to argue?"

When Li Bao saw Yue Wenxuan standing next to Gong Er Niangzi, he immediately perked up: "Ah! Young Master Yue has arrived. I heard you've been very busy these past few days and haven't shown up. I had something I wanted to ask you but couldn't find you."

Yue Wenxuan smiled and asked, "What brings you here?"

Li Bao: "That's right, about naval warfare. Didn't you say last time that if you gave me a navy, could I go to the Jin Kingdom's rear and cause a huge upheaval? I even said then that I wasn't good at naval warfare, and asked you to give me a cavalry force..."

Yue Wenxuan certainly remembered: "That's true."

Li Bao: "After witnessing the strength of the Northern Song army firsthand, I thought it over carefully. With my mediocre skills, I would be of no use in the army. No wonder Young Master Yue asked me if I would like to join the navy."

Yue Wenxuan: “…”

Li Bao: "So I've figured it out, and I'll accept Young Master Yue's order to train in swimming so that I can make a difference in the navy in the future."

Gong Er Niangzi was greatly surprised: "I didn't know there was such a thing."

Yue Wenxuan shrugged: "It seems that's how it is."

Gong Erniangzi: "So this guy wasn't falsely conveying the imperial edict, he just misinterpreted it."

Yue Wenxuan laughed: "It's not exactly a misinterpretation. Actually, I really want him to build a navy."

Gong Erniangzi chuckled: "True Lord, you...you see how pathetic he is when he swims...how can he lead a navy? A naval commander should at least know how to swim."

Yue Wenxuan turned his head and saw Li Bao thrashing about in the water in an extremely awkward manner...

This guy was from the Cheng clan, which was located near Yanzhou during the Three Kingdoms period. If he had been born during the Three Kingdoms period, he would definitely have been a member of Cao Wei. And Cao Wei's naval warfare capabilities... the Battle of Red Cliffs is proof of that.

Yue Wenxuan only glanced at it twice before feeling immense pressure, thinking: Could the history books be made up? After all, history books often employ the technique of subtle writing, and this guy might not be good at naval warfare, but the history books just wrote whatever came to mind and made him a famous naval general of the Southern Song Dynasty?
Li Bao's swimmers quickly swam over to help him correct his form and explained the key points of the stroke. The two of them explained for a long time, and Li Bao started swimming again... but his movements were still very awkward...

Yue Wenxuan covered his face, looking utterly miserable.

Gong Erniangzi also shook her head: "This guy will probably go astray if he trains like this. He was originally a fierce general, but we don't want him to go astray in training."

Forget about him. Yue Wenxuan turned and left.

Li Bao shouted behind him, "Young Master Yue, wait for me for a few days, just a few days, and I promise I'll master swimming and then boat handling... glug glug..."

As he spoke, he desperately stuck his head out of the water, but his footwork became erratic, and he sank down, exhaling a puff of bubbles. His men were terrified and quickly dived down to rescue him.
-
Yanjing.

Talan was stationed in Yanjing City, managing various miscellaneous affairs.

"Report!" A messenger ran in: "Emperor Liu Yu of Qi has sent a letter." Talan: "Read it to me."

The messenger unfolded the letter and casually read it; it turned out to be a letter of lamentation.

In his letter, Liu Yu lamented that the Northern Song Dynasty had suddenly sent troops to seize his three territories of Weizhou, Mizhou, and Yizhou. He sent his eldest son, Liu Lin, to quell the rebellion, but Liu Lin suffered a defeat at the Bailang River, where Weizhou and Qingzhou meet. Now he was powerless against the Northern Song Dynasty and begged his father, the Jin Dynasty, to send troops quickly to help him wipe out the Northern Song and reclaim his territory.

Tatar's expression wasn't good; his face was dark.

A young general stepped forward; it was none other than Talan's nephew, Jin Wuzhu: "The Northern Song Dynasty is going too far. Let me go and deal with them."

"No!" Talan interrupted Jin Wuzhu without even thinking: "What method do you have to break through the Northern Song's chariot formation and firearms?"

Jin Wuzhu: "Give me five thousand Iron Pagoda Cavalry, and I will surely win in one battle."

Talan: "What nonsense are you talking about? Our entire country only has five thousand Ironclad Cavalry. If you take them all to exchange for the enemy's lead balls, and we suffer a defeat, we won't even be able to save the foundation of our country."

Jin Wuzhu: "How could we possibly suffer a defeat? With five thousand Iron Pagoda soldiers everywhere, there is no possibility of us being defeated."

Talan sighed: "You're still too young. Guwei was just as young and confident as you, which is why he's dead now. You suffered a crushing defeat at Huangtiandang, and you still haven't realized that there are always people more capable than you?"

Jin Wuzhu blushed: "Huangtiandang doesn't count! Those Song cowards are fighting in some random ditch. If they had the guts to come out and fight me on the plains, I would never lose."

Ta Lan roared, "What kind of nonsense is this? They have the advantage of terrain, yet they come out to fight you on flat ground? Is this something a general should say?"

Jin Wuzhu quickly shut up, realizing that what he had just said was a bit foolish.

Talan: "Until we find a way to counter firearms, we must not rashly engage in a decisive battle with the Northern Song Dynasty, especially the Iron Pagoda, which is the foundation of our Great Jin Dynasty. We cannot send them out to their deaths."

Jin Wuzhu: "So we just watch them attack Qi? Qi is our dog. If someone attacks our own dog and we remain indifferent, how can we establish our authority?"

Talan: "More important than establishing authority is preserving strength and developing countermeasures. I asked you to research firearms; how's that going?"

Jin Wuzhu: "Uh... well... our gunpowder can only burn up with a 'sizzle' sound. It absolutely cannot explode with a 'bang'."

Lazy Tat: "..."

He couldn't help but sigh heavily: "Alas!"

After sighing, he put on a stern face and said, "We absolutely cannot attack the Northern Song Dynasty now! Remember that!"

Jin Wuzhu: "If they attack, we can't just hide, can we?"

Ta Lan said, “Look, after the Northern Song Dynasty sent troops, they first attacked Yizhou and then took Huaiyang Army. It’s clear that they wanted to attack south. Zhao Shi’s primary enemy is not us, but Zhao Gou in the south. He wants to seize the legitimate succession of the Song Dynasty. This is good for us. Taking advantage of the conflict between the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties, we should quickly study firearms and crack their tactics. That is the most important thing.”

Jin Wuzhu pursed his lips, still unconvinced.

But he has to listen to what Tatara says!
(End of this chapter)