Volume 1 Chapter 50: Water Battle (Part 2)
However, the battlefield in the river was in chaos. After the collision, there were not many people in the southern area of the pontoon bridge. The Jin people's attention was also on the remaining small boats that could not break out of the encirclement and forced surrender. Even the big ship that had turned around the center of the river intermittently and left, no one paid attention to it... Or rather, they did not expect that at this moment, there would be Song soldiers who would take the initiative to disembark and come here, which gave Zhang Yongzhen an opportunity to calmly.
In fact, Zhang Yongzhen came in a rage and almost out of control, but he was not ready to die directly, but had some ideas in mind. It was just that as a ruffian who had been hanging around in the Western Army for many years, he knew that there was no hope for the morale of the soldiers on the ship, so he was so reckless.
Back to the present, the general who was about to board the floating bridge, bent down, and moved forward carefully, killing several Jin soldiers who had fallen into the water and climbed up in a panic. He ignored the Han army, whether it was Jin or Song. In this way, he sneaked for only a hundred steps, and there was a continuous sound of bows and arrows not far ahead. Zhang Yongzhen suddenly stopped, then jumped hard and jumped onto a small boat that was not controlled by anyone.
The few soldiers who had mustered up the courage to follow behind him couldn't help but be overjoyed, and they followed one after another, carrying the heads they had just cut off along the way.
"I knew that Brother Zhang Qi was a capable man!" Someone got on the boat and hurried to find the oars, preparing to row back to the south bank. "Those Jurchens who climbed up were as hard to move as dead pigs. They were the heads of the real Tartars cut off for nothing. This time they got a lot of credit for nothing. Others didn't have this kind of beheading!"
"You know nothing!" Zhang Yongzhen turned around after hearing that, his forehead veins still throbbing, but he stripped the other man's helmet on the boat, and then pushed him into the river with all his strength. "Swim back by yourself! I didn't come here for the head today."
Not to mention the man under the river, in the chaos, several people on the small boat noticed the things on the boat - bundles of firewood filled with oil and sulfur, and abandoned fire starters!
Apparently, this was an abandoned ship after the first wave of attempted fire attacks failed!
When everyone saw this thing, how could they not understand Zhang Qilang's intention? Everyone's face turned pale, and Zhang Yongzhen was not vague. He raised his knife and said, "Since you followed me here before, why are you afraid now? Those who want to leave can jump away now, and those who don't want to leave can help me row the boat over!"
Several Longyou soldiers looked at each other, but they all gritted their teeth and agreed, because just as Zhang Yongzhen said, they had followed before, so what was the point of going back now? Even the man who was thrown into the river climbed up again, but he didn't know where he got a shield from, saying that he wanted to hold it for Brother Zhang Qi!
Zhang Yongzhen's fireboat was already moving, and the Jin army was caught off guard. He secretly rowed up to it and succeeded in attacking it. He just threw two bundles of firewood wrapped in sulfur and oil, and directly set the outermost ship on fire! As the fire started, the southeast wind continued to blow. The Jin army had just seized the ship and did not know how to put out the fire. They watched the fire on the ship get out of control! They could only abandon the ship and leave!
Not only that, the big ship was entangled with the floating bridge and other small boats, and the flames spread to many other places, and it became a big weather!
In short, when the fire started, everyone on and off the shore was shocked!
At the northern peak of Bagua Mountain, Zhao Jiu and others watched in astonishment, with anticipation on their faces, while Jin Wushu of Hebei also acted decisively, ordering the immediate cutting of the pontoon bridge and for the captured small boats to immediately leave the chaotic battlefield!
However, the battlefield was already in chaos, and it was now obscured by thick smoke. The Jin soldiers were not very good at rowing, and the situation became even more chaotic... In fact, the Jin army's boats at this time were just like the Song army's retreat just now. They were entangled with each other and it was difficult to get rid of them.
On the other hand, Zhang Yongzhen and Zhang Qillang came here with the ambition of daring to die. After succeeding in capturing one ship, they did not stop at all . Instead of turning back to Henan, they urged their brothers behind them to bypass the fire ship, turn to the core position of the battlefield, and go straight to the remaining two large ships.
Perhaps the Jin army itself was in chaos, so after the death of two or three rowing soldiers, he actually broke into the heart of the battlefield surrounded by three large ships and a floating bridge.
But once this happened, Zhang Qilang looked around and found that there were small boats on both sides, and whether it was the Jin army trying to avoid the fire or the Song army who wanted to break out, they all blocked his way like headless flies!
Zhang Yongzhen had no choice but to order his troops to fight and advance, and set fire to the small Jin boats that blocked his way. When he encountered a Jin boat that brushed against him, he personally fought with a sword, and won battle after battle, unstoppable... But such behavior would only expose his presence completely. The messy Jin army on the boats was fine, as they blocked each other and no one was in unified command. But one of the large boats next to the floating bridge was taken by the Jurchen Meng'an Puluhun himself, who then commanded from a high position . Since Puluhun saw the movement here and knew the source of the fire, how could he not be angry?
This person immediately gave an order for all the small boats in the surrounding area to come forward!
"Seventh Brother, let's go!"
Several small boats came towards them, and the man holding the shield for Zhang Yongzhen tried to persuade them again. "There are only two bundles of things left to burn the fire! We have made great contributions, but we are exhausted. If we go back now, we will be worthy of Emperor Zhao and even the Taoist and Buddha!"
However, for some unknown reason, at this point in the battle, Zhang Yongzhen seemed to have lost his mind. He snatched a fire starter from someone behind him and lit the fire starter at the stern. He turned around and snatched the shield of the person who made the suggestion, and ordered the people on the boat to continue rowing and crash directly into the large ship in front!
As the fire started, the surrounding small boats scattered one after another. The Jin soldiers on several small boats that came to engage in the battle were also stunned, but due to the strict military law, they did not dare to go forward. The only thing they were afraid of getting involved in this ship was that they had to go up to it and fight with bows and arrows!
Zhang Yongzhen stood alone at the bow, waving a shield, unafraid. There were fifteen or sixteen arrows piercing his leather armor, but he still raised his sword and ordered the troops to move forward.
The ships were getting closer and closer. Puluhun was completely furious but also a little frightened. He simply ordered the Han soldiers on the ship with the longest shooting range to ignore the fact that there were more Jin army ships below and shoot arrows together. He also ordered the Jin army ships below to come closer and shoot arrows together, otherwise he would be killed!
Upon hearing the military order, the Jin army did not dare to neglect it...but Zhang Yongzhen remained unafraid and kept getting closer to the ship.
When Zhang Qilang from Longxi killed a Jurchen man at the bow but was hit hard in the thigh by an arrow, he heard the people on the other boat not far away speaking with a Longxi accent and that they were going to move closer and shoot him to death together. He could not help but hold his shield and roared in anger: "Do people from Longxi dare to shoot me, Zhang Qilang?!"
After these words were spoken, the Han soldiers on the nearest Jin ship were so frightened that they dared not fire a single arrow! However, after this shock, the fire ship, which had already dyed half of its stern, broke free from the siege and headed straight for the big ship.
But what was even more bizarre was that at this point, Puluhun on the big ship suddenly took the initiative to order everyone to stop shooting arrows, and leaned on the edge of the boat, watching the fire ship crookedly coming towards him without saying a word.
Zhang Yongzhen had no idea how many arrows he had been hit by at this point, and he was bleeding profusely, so his mind was a little blank, and he didn't quite understand for a moment. When the boat was twisting and turning and finally turned downstream towards the floating bridge, he came to his senses and looked back, only to find that only the fellow villager who had held up a shield for him was still alive on the boat, but he had also been hit by countless arrows and had no strength left.
When this person saw Zhang Yongzhen looking back, he seemed to have received some testimony. His whole body relaxed and he fell headfirst onto the oar, without any movement.
Zhang Yongzhen was stunned for a moment, then tried to go to the stern that was gradually sinking due to the burns, intending to row the boat himself. But as soon as he started, he felt pain in his internal organs like needles, and then he fell down on the bow, just using the shield to barely support his body.
Then, the small fireboat drifted with the waves and slowly approached the side of the floating bridge, but Zhang Yongzhen could never get up again.
"First, let all the boats leave here quickly, and then untie the pontoon bridge!" Puluhun said expressionlessly. "If the man has not been burned to death by then, cut off his head and bring it back. I will keep it as a trophy for my trip south this time!"
However , before he finished speaking, everyone on the boat heard clearly the sound of a gong coming from the north bank. Many Jin soldiers looked in the direction of the sound and saw military flags waving next to the Fourth Prince's banner. It was an order that could not be clearer to abandon everything and withdraw troops immediately. At this time, even the Fourth Prince himself seemed to be nowhere to be seen.
Puluhun didn't know the reason and was naturally furious, but he dared not disobey the military order and had to set off quickly.
However, just as he left the big ship and got on the small boat, he heard a loud bang behind him. Looking back, he found that it was a large ship of the Song army that had turned to the open space on the east side of downstream at some point, and paddled hard on the open water, ramming towards this place and directly breaking a section of the dried floating bridge.
This was not the end. Several Song army soldiers took the opportunity to jump off the big ship and desperately tried their best to move the people and bodies on the half-burned fireboat to the other small boats, as if they were here specifically for the people on the boat.
Seeing this, Puluhun was even more puzzled... Because the place was already in such a mess, if the Song army dared to come, wouldn't it be like a sheep walking into a tiger's mouth, wasting his military merit? So why did they retreat?
But after a few breaths, when the small boat carrying Puluhun turned into shallow water and avoided the rising smoke, the chief Meng'an under the Fourth Prince of Jin suddenly realized, but was stunned - it turned out that in the lower reaches of the Huaihe River, at the corner where the Bagua Mountain turns south from the east, a bunch of terrifying giant warships appeared at some point in time!
It’s really a giant ship!
Compared to the naval battle that lasted most of the day before, which was only a few large and small ships modified from Shouzhou's local fishing boats, passenger ships, and cargo ships, the ships that appeared downstream at this time were all huge, and almost every ship had tall masts and sails. Coupled with the southeast wind slightly blowing the sails, they were truly unstoppable and were coming here with the force of a mountain pressing down on one's head!
"Damn Han Wu!"
On the top of Xiacai City, Zhang Jun, the Grand Commandant, who had watched the naval battle from afar for half a day but saw nothing, now revealed the reason in one sentence and then angrily left the city. "You can only act impressive! What else can you do?"
