The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 468 Everyone is numb
In Yue Wenxuan's eyes, the Manichaean vehicles and boats were very backward, but compared to the dilapidated boats of the Southern Song Dynasty, they were far more agile.

The two paddle wheels spun rapidly, splashing and propelling the vehicles and boats erratically across the river.

Moreover, the weapons used by the Manichaean sorcerers on the ships were also outrageous. They used bamboo filled with gunpowder, which they threw onto the Song army's naval ships. The bamboo would then burst into flames with a "hiss," instantly setting a large area of ​​the deck ablaze.

Zhao Gou: "What kind of weapon is that? What kind of weapon is that?"

The young naval officer wiped his sweat and said, "That's not some rare weapon. It was invented by Chen Gui, the prefect of De'an in our Great Song Dynasty. It's called a long bamboo pole fire lance. When Li Heng attacked De'an Prefecture, Chen Gui used this weapon extensively, but somehow it was learned by the Manichaean sorcerers."

Upon hearing that it was invented by one of their own, Zhao Gou's expression was extremely interesting: So my Great Song Dynasty has such a powerful weapon? How come I didn't know? Speaking of which, if this thing was invented by officials of my Great Song Dynasty, why doesn't my navy have it? Instead, it's the Manichaean heretics who have it?

Hey!
Is there something wrong with this?

After the Manichaean sorcerers rampaged through the area, causing considerable trouble for the Song Dynasty navy, the Manichaean fleet was ultimately forced to retreat. However, the fleet consisted of only one ship, and even with its powerful firearms, it was no match for the overwhelming number of Southern Song naval forces.

The chariot and boat arrogantly spun their tails, leaving Zhao Gou with an arrogant silhouette and several still-burning warships.

The Southern Song navy could not catch up, they simply could not catch up, and could only retreat to protect Zhao Gou's imperial boat.

Zhao Gou was furious: "Who is the naval commander? Why can't he even deal with a single enemy ship?"

Qin Hui said in a low voice: "The former naval commander was Xu Wen. Later, someone secretly reported that Xu Wen was from Jiaodong and had the intention to defect to the puppet Song Dynasty. So the Emperor issued an order to arrest him. The current naval commander is Zhu Shuaimin!"

Great memory recovery technique!

Zhao Gou remembered; it seemed there was such a thing.

Xu Wen is a very capable naval admiral, but he can't be used by people from Jiaodong!

They replaced him with Zhu Shuaimin, but how come he's so useless?

This is definitely not a mistake in my personnel arrangements, but rather the fault of Zhu Shuaimin being too incompetent.

He was just thinking about this...

Suddenly, they heard a commotion on the naval ship again, but this time the commotion was not coming from the direction the Manichaean sorcerers had left, but from behind.

Zhao Gou turned around abruptly and saw a huge ship coming from the river behind him.

The ship had sails, but at the same time, two long rows of oars extended from the hull, like two long legs growing out of the ship, making the whole warship look like a giant centipede.

This is the famous Ming Dynasty centipede ship, which uses both sails and oars and is extremely fast. Yue Wenxuan built an "enlarged version" that was also equipped with several cannons.

Zhao Gou exclaimed, "What kind of ghost ship is this?"

The naval soldiers exclaimed in surprise, "It's a ship from the puppet Song dynasty, and it's flying the flag of the puppet Song dynasty!"

Zhao Gou: "!!!"

Zhao Gou couldn't stand the words "pseudo-Song," and would get angry at the mere mention of them. He also couldn't stand anything from the pseudo-Song, and would become even angrier at the sight of it. He roared, "How did the pseudo-Song's ships end up on the Yangtze River? Sink them! Sink them!"

Qin Hui quickly said, "Your Majesty, you mustn't! Our two Song dynasties have made peace. If we start a war lightly, the consequences will be uncontrollable. Besides, we are currently facing a Jin army of 50 men pressing on our border. Your Majesty just wrote a letter asking the puppet Song to send troops to help. If we attack the puppet Song's ships here, then... if the puppet Song doesn't help, we'll be facing the Jin army of 50 men."

The figure of 50 could help Zhao Gou calm down quickly.

Zhao Gou regained his composure: "Find out what the pseudo-Song is doing here." A small naval vessel approached, and the two sides exchanged greetings across the ship's side. Soon, the news reached the imperial boat: "Your Majesty! The pseudo-Song's ship is here to pursue Manichaean sorcerers. They say the Manichaean sorcerers attacked a pseudo-Song merchant ship, so they sent a speedboat to seek justice for the merchants."

Zhao Gou said with a dark face, "Since it's about dealing with Manichaeans, then let them do as they please."

The naval ships made way, and the Northern Song Dynasty's centipede-shaped ships passed by the Southern Song Dynasty's navy at an extremely fast speed, as if they were flying.

Although Zhao Gou disliked the Northern Song Dynasty, he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy when he saw that the Northern Song's warships could row so fast.

The centipede-shaped ship quickly outmaneuvered the Southern Song navy and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Zhao Gou was itching to see how the Northern Song ships would deal with the Manichaeans.

Just then, Qin Hui suddenly said, "Your Majesty, I recently acquired a treasure by chance. Now is the perfect time to present this treasure to Your Majesty so that Your Majesty can see the battle in the distance more clearly."

Zhao Gou: "Oh?"

Qin Hui quickly pulled out a monocular telescope, handed it to Zhao Gou, and gave him a brief explanation.

Zhao Gou quickly figured out how to use it. He squinted his left eye and looked through the telescope with his right eye. Now he was much more comfortable. The centipede boat, which had been far away and out of sight, could now be seen clearly. On the water further away, he could also see the Manichaean sorcerer's boat clearly.

Zhao Gou was overjoyed: "Good darling! Minister Qin, you deserve great credit."

He was having a good time when he suddenly heard a loud "boom"—the Northern Song Dynasty centipede ship in front of him had opened fire.

Zhao Gou saw this scene clearly through his telescope. He saw a tongue of fire shooting out from the hull of the Northern Song ship, followed by a white column of water shooting up a few feet high from the water next to the Manichaean ship.

"Boom boom boom!"

Several cannons on the centipede ship opened fire simultaneously...

Water jets shot up one after another on the water near the Manichaean vehicle and boat.

Then, a shell hit the hull, instantly tearing a large hole in the ship, sending wood chips flying everywhere.

The visual impact was absolutely stunning.

This was the first time Zhao Gou had witnessed the power of Northern Song firearms firsthand, and he was completely stunned: "This...this is...this is the firearms of the pseudo-Song?"

Qin Hui's facial muscles were twitching as he sneered inwardly: "When I first saw the firearms of the Northern Song Dynasty, I was so scared I almost peed myself. You're even more cowardly and weak than me. You're probably shitting your pants right now."

On the distant river, the centipede-shaped boat kept firing its cannons. The Manichaean sorcerers on the cart had long been so frightened that they abandoned ship and jumped into the river to escape. The cannons continued to fire, and cannonballs fell on the cart one after another. In no time, the cart was hit into pieces and sank with a gurgling sound.

The Northern Song sailors on the ship shouted in unison: "Listen up, you wicked river pirates on both sides of the Yangtze River! From now on, anyone who dares to rob our Northern Song merchant ships will be executed by cannon fire! Executed by cannon fire! Understand?"

After roaring, the centipede-shaped boat returned home triumphantly.

As they passed by the Southern Song navy once again, the hot-blooded young Li Cheng even gave the imperial boat the middle finger...

Zhao Gou was completely stunned.

(End of this chapter)