Chapter 56 Yongjia
On May 18th, Zhang Xuanning stood on the fifth deck of the Wuya giant ship. Yongjia City was already within today's voyage. When he thought of this, he felt an overwhelming confidence and heroic spirit in his heart.
There were twenty-seven warships, each fully loaded with soldiers, three hundred men on each ship, six hundred on the main ship, and with the only three hundred cavalry, the total number was as high as eight thousand four hundred combat-capable men.
At first glance, the morning sun is rising slowly in front of us, and the coast in the distance is lush and green.
The waves hit the rocks, splashing water several feet high. The waves became faster and higher, like thousands of horses galloping in unison, mighty and earth-shaking, and the waves crashed against the embankment with a deafening roar.
The emerald green ocean, coupled with the azure blue sky reflected in the water, appears even more azure. The water and sky merge into one, and it is impossible to tell which is the sky and which is the earth.
Zhang Xuanning's mind seemed to merge with the sea view in front of him. All doubts about winning or losing were excluded from his mind. It has been three years since he came to this world. After three years of hard training, diligence, preparation, and luck, he has grown from a small gangster in Yangzhou to a chief steward who is the most proud of the world.
As long as he could take Yongjia County, he would immediately have the capital to dominate the south. The concept of one county and two counties are completely different. In one county, everyone is equal and everyone has the ability to fight. If there are two counties, then the strength of the two counties can be combined to attack one county and defeat them one by one.
The so-called imperial qualities were confirmed when he took over Yongjia City, and he was able to convince the person next to him.
The man next to him was a sturdy man about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, with a majestic figure, a simple face, dark and solid skin, and a domineering and powerful demeanor. This was Chen Changlin.
"We're almost at Yongjia City. When we get there, Brother Changlin, are you willing to help me remove this military camp outside the city?" Zhang Xuanning said in a soft voice with his leisure time. Although he needed Chen Changlin, didn't Chen Changlin also need to find a solid backer for his family?
The king chooses his subjects, and the subjects also choose their king. It is not enough to just talk about it. Chen Changlin came this time, and these 300 clansmen were ready to sacrifice here to show the sincerity and value of the Chen family. He looked over and smiled, "The several military camps outside the city are just for early warning. The least is a hundred people, and the most is only two or three hundred. Don't worry, General, I will take them down for you right away."
He smiled and said, "It seems that Yongjia City has not been involved in war for a long time. There is not even the basic equipment to set up various obstacles in the waterway to prevent ships from passing through, so we can march to the city."
"It seems that Brother Changlin is really good at water battles. Please tell me more about it."
Chen Changlin also needed to show himself, so he nodded and said, "The battle at sea depends entirely on the wind. If the wind is not favorable, even if we are tens of miles away, it will be as if we are thousands of miles away, and it will take ten days to reach the target. However, it is very difficult to control the sea. If the fleet is allowed to cruise the sea all day, once a storm occurs, the entire army will be wiped out. Therefore, the weather is the most important factor in naval battles. There is no battle when there is no wind, and there is no battle when there is a strong wind. There is no battle when a hurricane is coming, the sand road is unfamiliar, there are more enemies than us, and there is no place to anchor. When we fight, we have no courage and strength to use, and we can only use arrows and stones to attack from a distance. Alas! The ship is shaking, and it is a hundred times more difficult to hit the enemy ship than on the river. Moreover, I chase with the wind, and the enemy also flees with the wind. There is no ambush to set, and no danger to block. It is a blessing to be able to destroy one or two of their ships. It is not easy to dominate the vast ocean."
Speaking of this, Zhang Xuanning's eyes suddenly lit up. He thought of the endless pirate groups in ancient Europe, and also thought of the mainland government's indifference to sea power in the future. Everyone knows the policy of landing from the sea to attack the enemy, but if the technology cannot keep up, then the sea route will be a road to death.
A sturdy ship, not to mention a compass, is also necessary, and even the development of coastal islands and the establishment of supplementary points is a huge project. Thinking of this, he remembered Lu Miaozi's new shipbuilding technology, one of which is called a flywheel warship, which uses the reaction force of water on the ship to push the ship forward, which is more labor-saving and effective than using oars. Even in the absence of wind, it can travel a hundred miles a day. It is a ship equipped with wheels, with wheels placed under the left and right chords to stir the water, soaring the wind and waves, as fast as a sail, easy to manufacture and durable. At the moment, he was even more fascinated.
If we can obtain this ship, we may be able to break through a certain limit of ancient navigation technology, and the conditions for large-scale development of the ocean will be ripe.
However, this is a story for later. He said, "If it is purely sea transportation, if there is a large ship, how many soldiers can Brother Changlin transport?"
Chen Changlin thought for a moment and said, "My Chen family has been sea merchants for generations. We are relatively familiar with the coast and can accurately grasp the wind and tides. We can transport 10,000 people at a time. As long as the voyage does not exceed half a month, we can travel back and forth."
Zhang Xuanning smiled and said, "That's great. Yes, the military camp is here."
Chen Changlin looked over and saw a military camp on a hill a few miles away. The camp had already noticed the approaching ship and issued a warning. Several cavalrymen hurriedly ran along the shore towards the city.
Laughing loudly, Chen Changlin said, "Let the commander see the fighting power of my Chen family members."
After saying that, he went down on his own. Not long after, the six medium-sized boats he brought went straight up, and the other side also rushed out some boats, which seemed to be no more than a dozen ships, also small and medium-sized.
As soon as the two fleets engaged in battle, Chen Changlin's ship fired rockets at once, and one ship was hit by hundreds of rockets. Flames suddenly rose in the thick smoke. Zhang Xuan concentrated his eyes and saw that dozens of soldiers on the enemy deck were overwhelmed by the sudden arrows and died tragically. Some even fell directly into the river.
For a moment, the sound of killing was deafening.
Under unified commands, the six ships of Chen Changlin made full use of the subtleties of wind direction and always controlled the rhythm of the war, putting the enemy in a situation of outnumbering the majority. In a short time, flames rose and enemy ships were destroyed one after another.
What a good shipmanship and good command. Seeing this, Zhang Xuanning didn't need to investigate any further and immediately ordered: "All ships move forward, led by Gao Zhandao, to attack."
Suddenly, more than 20 warships came up one after another. Although their coordination was not as good as Chen Changlin's fleet, their large numbers made them the most valuable, and everyone shouted to kill.
The navy of Yongjia County was originally small, only about a thousand people, and after fighting for a morning, the entire army was wiped out.
Between the dock and Yongjia City was a vast open space of several hundred feet. Chen Changlin's ship first docked at the dock to carry out cleaning. After the cleaning was completed, other ships docked at the dock. Suddenly, a large number of soldiers swarmed down and deployed outside the city.
"Who is coming?" Officials appeared on the city wall. It seemed that the county magistrate and his subordinates had all come.
"I am Zhang Xuanning, the governor of Wuzhou. I know that you have no more than a thousand soldiers in your city. You should surrender to me quickly and you will not lose your official position. As for the Miao Haichao riot, I will handle it for you." It had been investigated in advance that the Miao Haichao riot had already consumed a large amount of troops, leaving Yongjia City short of troops.
"Bah, you traitor and villain. His Majesty promoted you from a commoner, and in less than a year, you were promoted from the ninth rank to the sixth rank. It is rare to see you favored like this. But I didn't expect that you not only don't appreciate the grace of His Majesty, but also rebelled. You deserve to be killed by everyone. How can I, a dignified fourth-rank prefect, be demoted to a villain like you?" An official cursed loudly, and it seemed that he had some internal strength, and his voice was very loud.
"Hmph, you don't know how to live or die. Just attack." Zhang Xuanning sneered.
Following the order, the war drums suddenly roared.
The afternoon sun shone on the city. Zhang Xuanning's army shouted and advanced slowly. A large flag with the word "Zhang" on it fluttered in the wind in the center of the army. The army looked majestic and powerful.
Zhang Xuanning slowly drew out his sword, and yellow light flickered on the sword. At this moment, he could feel that the evil spirit was almost dissipated, and a breakthrough was just around the corner.
"My lord, you don't have to fight to break the city yourself. We have eight thousand people, but there are only one thousand in the city. We can easily break it. My lord, you just need to sit back and command." At this moment, Li Chunfeng, who was accompanying him, stepped forward and said.
"My dear brother, you still need to practice this. Generally, the ruler of a country must brave swords and arrows and kill people in person in order to subdue the arrogant soldiers and generals below and establish the prestige of the ruler. If I don't wear armor and go into battle, break the formation and kill the generals, who do you think will truly obey me? Besides, our army now has more than 10,000 people, and it is not yet possible for the commander to plan and make decisions with a single word." Zhang Xuanning shook his head and said, "Besides, it is very difficult to break the city. If I can't break the city in one go, it will be a continuous consumption. I am afraid that even if we capture this city, our army will lose more than 2,000 people. At this time, it is still difficult to bear. Now there is no brave general in our army, only I can attack personally."
As he spoke, ten wooden tanks piled on the boat, covered with thick earth, began to move towards . There were ten soldiers hidden in each tank. As long as they arrived at the city gate, they could ram the gate from the wooden tanks.
There were more than a dozen catapults, pushed by hundreds of engineers and arranged in an orderly manner. Then, there were thousands of soldiers holding up wooden shields, with sandbags on their backs. With just one order, the moat could be filled.
At the order, the first wave of attack began. The tanks moved forward one by one, ramming the city gate frantically, while the catapults also began to attack the city walls. The sand-throwing soldiers moved forward one after another, threw down sandbags and walked back. Half an hour later, Zhang Xuanning's army left hundreds of corpses under the city. The ten wooden tanks did not play the role as imagined. They were hit by the huge rocks falling from the city and collapsed. However, the catapults played a huge role. On the city wall, several walls were knocked down and dozens of enemies were killed.
"Hmph, this section of the moat has been flattened. Let's launch the second wave of attack." Zhang Xuan stared at the busy soldiers and civilians on the city. After the crazy battle, they were few in number after all and had no time to rest at all.
Another wave of attacks came, and the sound of war drums and horns echoed throughout the heaven and earth.
They were divided into six groups of thousands each, and attacked separately. During each battle, hundreds of corpses were left on the ground. By the time the fourth group attacked, it was already dusk.
Zhang Xuanning looked up at the sky and said slowly: "The enemy is already tired. I will go in person and break through the city tonight. Alas, if it weren't for the Miao Haichao riot, I really don't have the confidence to capture the county city with 3,000 ."
After saying that, he shouted, "Guards, follow me!"
During the fifth wave of attack, Zhang Xuanning shouted and personally led 300 guards to participate in the war. All 300 people had some martial arts skills. The enemy had fought for half a day and lost nearly 200 people. They were exhausted. Suddenly, Zhang Xuanning jumped onto the ladder, and the broken sword turned into a yellow light and went up.
The enemy was not a fool either, and immediately more than ten archers shot at him.
The Broken Army Sword slashed left and right, cutting through the vital points. A burst of internal energy rushed forward, defending both inside and outside. Ignoring the rain of arrows, he rushed upward. He only felt a few pains on his body, but the arrows had already broken through the double layers of armor inside and outside. However, he still ignored it and rushed forward. The 20-meter-high city wall was rushed on in the blink of an eye.
Two enemy soldiers shouted and rushed forward to kill, but the flash of their swords caused the two enemies to fall off the city wall with blood splattered.
But at this moment, an officer roared and pointed his long sword. Zhang Xuanning swung his sword back. He had been in battle for a long time and knew that when he killed the enemy, he must use all his strength and kill with one blow. So he quickly retracted his long sword.
The officer was stunned for a moment, his sword fell to the ground, and he fell to the ground with a bang, a bloody mark appeared on his forehead.
After killing this official, the soldiers defending the city cried out in grief. Dozens of people surrounded Zhang Xuanning. He suddenly felt a heavy pressure. There was a rain of swords and knives almost all around him, but his heart was as cold as ice. However, he was murderous with his hands. Every move of his sword seemed to be a move to die together with the enemy. He killed every enemy he saw, and blood splattered everywhere.
It seemed like only a few breaths of time, and the young commander was covered in blood. He had no idea how much was the enemy's and how much was his own. Wherever the sword flashed, the enemies who rushed up were chopped to the ground one by one, and he kept feeling severe pain in his body. It was obvious that he was hit by the sword again, but he was protected by two layers of heavy armor, and the blood had deviated from the vital parts, so the entry was not deep. The guards below also shouted and crawled forward desperately. Nearby arrows rained down, and one guard after another fell down with a scream.
Li Chunfeng was at the bottom, looking up, and saw that the place dozens of meters away had become like hell. He was covered in cold sweat, and didn't know what he felt. At this moment, he heard a cheer, and when he looked up, he saw a group of seven or eight guards who had climbed onto the wall and immediately protected their master.
"Long live, long live, long live!" This little bit of fighting attracted the attention of countless people. Zhang Xuanning's army below saw their commander personally brave the sword and rush into the battle formation, and break through the wall. They immediately shouted "Long live the army" and their morale was high.
The soldiers behind immediately rushed forward without hesitation.
In fact, there were only 800 soldiers on the city wall, and the rest were civilians. Once they broke through the wall, the situation was over. In a short time, the city gates came crashing down. At this time, all the soldiers who were still able to fight, except for a few hundred guarding the boats, rushed into the city one by one.
Zhang Xuanning put away his sword and stopped fighting. He felt the countless wounds on his body, but felt extremely comfortable in his heart. Relying on the countless accumulations from the past, it seemed that just now, he inadvertently broke the last membrane. His body stood straight, and his heart was bright. It was completely different from the selfless state he had experienced in meditation before, but because of the spatial bridge that connected the inside and the outside, they were able to feel a certain unfathomable mystery in the universe and grasp some unspeakable power.
The true Qi was condensing and transforming at an unprecedented rate. The essence of heaven and earth flowed down from the top of his head, and every bit of it was transforming the properties of the true Qi in his body. The evil Qi finally turned into nothingness in this airflow. At this moment, he felt the state of unity between man and nature, although the feeling was fleeting.
When he opened his eyes, it was already dark. The guards were still surrounding him, but there was no sound of fighting in the city.
"My Lord, are you awake?"
"Oh, it's you, brother. What's the time I booked?"
"It's been two hours and the city has been occupied. Congratulations to our lord for taking the city. Congratulations to our lord for his great improvement in martial arts and reaching the first-rate realm." Li Chunfeng stepped forward and saluted respectfully. He came from a wealthy family and although he is only at the second-rate realm now, his ability to read people's temperament enabled him to grasp Zhang Xuanning's breakthrough.
In his opinion, Zhang Xuanning had now become as deep as the ocean, and could no longer be predicted.
It is not surprising that a first-rate master can reach the innate state and get in touch with the world as it is.
Zhang Xuanning laughed and said, "This is God helping me."
This statement is really arrogant, but no one objects to it. In fact, first-rate masters are all heroes in the world. Even if they start from scratch, they can build a career. Moreover, even if they face a grandmaster, as long as they are determined to escape, it will be difficult for the grandmaster to capture and kill them easily.
After taking over Yongjia County, he officially had the capital to dominate the south and was promoted to a first-rate master. In this world, this meant the confluence of two major forces, and it also meant that it would be difficult for others to assassinate him.
Even a coup may not be possible. In a world without martial arts, a coup might only require a hundred people. But in a world with martial arts, a coup must involve more than a thousand people, and they must also have the help of other masters to design and kill - this is no longer considered a sneak attack, but just a medium to large-scale coup that is extremely difficult.
With such skills, it would be hard for anyone to easily turn him into a chess piece.
For a moment, Zhang Xuanning stood upright at the bow of the boat, staring ahead, regulating his breathing. The night wind blew, making his clothes rustle, and his heart was filled with joy.
