The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 446 Sudden Attack
"The Northern Song fleet is coming! It's coming!" The lookout's heart-wrenching screams echoed over Lion's Mouth.

The Jin Kingdom's twenty-three ships were mobilized instantly, and all the Jin Kingdom's warriors began preparing for battle.

After all, this is the Jin Dynasty, not the cowardly Song Dynasty. They heard that the enemy had two hundred ships, yet they hadn't fled and were even preparing for battle in a seemingly serious manner.

After a brief period of chaos, all twenty-three warships charged toward the lion's gaping maw.

but……

As soon as we started, something went wrong.

The Jurchen sailors on one ship had a coordination problem while rowing. The sailor on the right rowed too hard, while the sailor on the left rowed too slowly. As a result, the ship tilted at an angle as soon as it set off, and crashed into the right stern of another warship with a loud thud.

The boat that was stabbed was not a large ship, but a small boat about ten meters long. Who could withstand such a collision? The boat immediately tilted, and the Jurchens on board, whether they were from the army or the navy, let out a strange cry and fell into the water with a splash.

Upon seeing this, Wanyan Heshou couldn't help but slap his forehead and ask, "Why? Can't you even row a boat in a straight line?"

He had just finished complaining when he saw one of his own warships sail sideways past his flagship, make a sharp right turn, spin halfway around, and then sail sideways past behind his flagship...

Wanyan Heshou: "It's over! It's over!"

Northerners aren't good at naval warfare!

While his men were still struggling to control the boat, a ship appeared on the sea ahead.

The first to make its appearance was Xu Wen's Spanish galleon, the Black Pearl!
Next up were Yang Tian and Yang Xiao's Dutch sailboat, the flying Hunanese!
Behind the two giant ships was a large swarm of medium-sized warships, densely packed and dark, charging toward Wanyan Heshou.

Wanyan Heshou glanced at the size of the fleet and knew he had no chance of winning.

But so what?

Proud Jurchens, what are you afraid of? Charge!

"Come on!"

"Kill them all!"

"Don't be afraid of their many ships, get on their ships and kill them."

"We are the strongest."

No sooner had the slogan been shouted than another ship belonging to one of their own sailors sailed sideways past Wanyan Heshou's flagship... The sailors on board still hadn't mastered the trick to making the ship sail straight forward.

"boom!"

The guns on the Black Pearl opened fire first.

Then the Hunanese flying around also opened fire.

The Northern Song navy had no regard for military ethics. Not only did they have more troops, but their sailors were also better at handling ships, and they had more advanced weapons.

Even an eagle gives its all when hunting a rabbit.

Wanyan Heshou's flagship became the primary target. Before he could even reach the Northern Song army, he was subjected to a barrage of concentrated fire from dozens of naval cannons. Large iron balls flew over and smashed into his medium-sized ship, which was only twenty meters long. Wood chips flew everywhere, and everything around Wanyan Heshou was crumbling.

The deck was shattered, the gunwales were broken, and the superstructure collapsed...

Wanyan Heshou roared, "Charge! Charge onto the enemy ship! I'll at least get another one..."

The words had barely left his lips when a sharp crack rang out. A cannonball had blasted a large hole in the ship's superstructure beside him, and a piece of broken wood flew through the air like a projectile, embedding itself in Wanyan Heshou's neck with a "thud," causing blood to spurt out a meter away. Wanyan Heshou, with his dream of revitalizing the imperial navy, collapsed to the ground.

The Jin dynasty's naval endeavors were cut short before Jin died.

Looking at the one-sided battlefield, Li Bao had little interest in watching any longer. He dispatched a small messenger boat and quickly issued the order: "Xu Wen, you stay here and completely control Lushunkou. Gao Jin, your logistics fleet will use Shizikou as a temporary base to unload and stockpile supplies here. Then, return to Dengzhou as quickly as possible and bring in more supplies continuously."

The two men received the order.

Li Bao continued, "Yang Tian and Yang Xiao, you two come with me and launch a surprise attack on Dalian at top speed."

Actually, at that time, Dalian was not yet called Dalian; its name was "Jinzhou City," located in the modern Jinzhou District of Dalian City.

But the Northern Song soldiers all came with Yue Wenxuan, who named this place Dalian, so it was called Dalian from then on.

Li Bao's main force, along with the Manichaean navy led by Yang Tian and Yang Xiao, immediately withdrew from the battlefield, leaving the mess to Xu Wen and Gao Jin to clean up. Then, they immediately increased their speed and sped towards Dalian.

Another nearly fifty kilometers of sea travel...

The two arrived at Dalian Port in just three hours, in the afternoon.

Li Bao continued, "I will lead my troops to launch a surprise attack on the Zhen Dongguan Great Wall at top speed. Yang Tian and Yang Xiao, you two will lead your troops to capture Dalian City. After you have wiped out the garrison as quickly as possible, immediately send troops to reinforce our army at the Great Wall."

Yang Tian and Yang Xiao accepted the order.

The fleet split in two here, and Li Bao continued north, heading towards the Zhendongguan Great Wall.

Yang Tian and Yang Xiao then led their troops to attack "Dalian City".

Dalian, also known as Jinzhou City, was built by the Liao Dynasty. In 927 AD, the Liao court conquered Nansu City of the Bohai Kingdom and relocated its people to Jinzhou City, where an earthen city wall was built. This earthen city wall was used until the Ming Dynasty, when it was finally covered with blue bricks in the tenth year of the Hongwu reign.

Therefore, Yang Tian and Yang Xiao were only facing a mud-brick city by the sea.

Yang Tian loudly ordered, "The entire ship should face Dalian City from its port side."

"Fire all naval guns!"

"beat!"

"Load the port bow, turn the entire ship around, and fire from the starboard side."

Dozens of large ships opened fire simultaneously, and a deluge of shells rained down on the city of Dalian. The mud walls could not withstand such devastation and began to collapse almost instantly, with large swaths of mud sliding down and dust billowing into the sky.

The Jurchen and Bohai people in the city were terrified and couldn't understand why the Han people had suddenly attacked here.

The garrison here was small, and after a half-hour of haphazard resistance, the entire army collapsed. The garrison abandoned the city and fled in the direction away from the sea. Yang Tian and Yang Xiao immediately began to land and take over the city.

Meanwhile, Li Bao led his main force to the foot of the Great Wall at Zhendongguan.

Looking out from the sea, you can only see a corner watchtower of the Great Wall, standing on the shore, with a small squad of soldiers on it, who have just lit a beacon fire.

When Li Bao saw the beacon fires starting, he knew that there was no time to delay, and waved his hand to order, "Charge! We don't have time to waste."

As the fleet charged toward the watchtower on the shore, it opened fire wildly, shells raining down on the poor watchtower, and a small squad of soldiers on the tower was overwhelmed by the shells in the blink of an eye.

Li Bao roared, "Cease fire, land! Hurry, hurry, get to the Great Wall!"

(End of this chapter)