Three thousand miles in exile

Yang Xianwen, who divided his troops into Huangchuan, did not know the battle situation on the coast.

He took ten sea boats into Huangchuan from the mouth of the sea, and because they went upstream, oars protruded from the bottom of the sea boats, and the soldiers rowed them.

Huangchuan has a wide estuary, with large water grasslands and reed marshes on both sides. The river surface gradually narrows as you go in.

Soon Yang Xianwen realized something was wrong, the dam was not what he thought it was.

The embankment of Huangchuan is actually flush with the ground, and Huangchuan is sunken underground, and the whole Huangchuan seems to be cracked!

It is no wonder that there has always been a flood of the Huai River that burst its embankment and flooded the fields, but there is no such thing as a flood of the Huangchuan River.

Yang Xianwen stood at the bow of the boat, frowning tightly. For some reason, he had a bad premonition.

As early as the sea ship sailed to the river mouth, there were sentries on the shore sending messages on horseback.

"Report to the King of Han! There are ten ships headed towards the mouth of the river!"

Liu Zhan stood up abruptly, and the Southern Army split up and marched up the river as he expected.

Not long ago, Liu Zhan just received the news that the Southern Army had landed on the coast.

He believed that Cao Zhuang, Guo Donghu, and Niu Shilu led the Modao cavalry to guard the coast and would not let the southern army step through the forest on the coast.

"Pass down my king's order to order Cao Zhuang to supervise the coastal front, and Jiang Changlin to lead [-] cavalry to support the river embankment with the king!"

Liu Zhan had arranged in advance for Cao Ming to lead [-] soldiers to garrison on the river embankment, and set traps in advance to wait for the sea ships to be caught.

Striding out of the middle account, Liu Zhan rode on his horse and left with five thousand personal guards and ten thousand Mo Dao cavalry.

If it is done properly, those ten sea ships may be left behind!Liu Zhan's heart beat like a drum, he couldn't sit still.

This is a sea-going ship that is impossible to manufacture in Northern Xinjiang!

At that time, the ten huge ships of the Southern Army were struggling upstream.

Yang Xianwen stood at the bow of the boat, looking at the turbid river water swirling under his feet, his young and dark face was solemn.

"Deputy Envoy Yang, the current is so fast that the soldiers rowing the oars can't hold on after half an hour." At this time, the subordinates came down to report.

The Huai River is slow, and hundreds of soldiers can easily swim upstream with oars.

However, the water in Huangchuan was turbulent. When the fleet crossed the estuary and entered Huangchuan, the speed of the fleet slowed down significantly.

Yang Xianwen has no doubt that as long as he stops rowing, the fleet will definitely be brought back by the current.

"Organize the rotation of soldiers, half an hour per shift." Yang Xianwen frowned.

It was already evening, but they were still struggling to move forward not far from the mouth of the river. At this speed, it was uncertain whether they could reach Lufeng County and land before dawn.

Yang Xianwen was worried that if he landed after dawn, he would inevitably be discovered, so he couldn't catch him by surprise.

According to the map records, it is about two or three hundred miles from the mouth of the sea to the embankment closest to Lufeng County. If the wind is smooth, it can take at least two hours. But the current situation makes Yang Xianwen uncertain.

Soon it was getting late, and it was pitch black along both sides of the river.

The situation at night was unclear, so Yang Xianwen decided to drop anchor to rest after hesitation.

After finally staying up all night, when the sky turned white, the cool wind blowing from behind woke Yang Xianwen from his sleepiness.

There is a tailwind!

"Pass the order! Set sail!!" Yang Xianwen was very excited.

These huge sea ships have nine masts and twelve sails. As long as the wind is favorable and the wind is strong enough, the sea ships can break through the waves and advance faster than horses!

All of a sudden, the Southern Army on the ship moved, and thousands of people worked together to unfurl the huge white sails.

The moment the sail was opened, it was immediately taut by the strong wind.

"Heavy anchor!!" Yang Xianwen was full of confidence.

According to this wind force, they will definitely be able to reach Lufeng County before the sky is bright!

The strong wind blowing from the North Sea formed a strong airflow in the Huangchuan Canyon like a crack in the ground. The sea boats sailed away with the wind, breaking through one after another vortex on the river.

As the sky gradually brightened, Yang Xianwen stood at the bow of the boat and looked into the distance. He could vaguely see the lush greenery on the embankment.

Yang Xianwen was concentrating on it, when suddenly the ship was jolted, he hurriedly supported the side of the ship.

Amidst the rumbling sound of dragging the bottom, the sea boat was still being driven forward by the wind, and it went straight for a mile before stopping in the tremor.

The ten sea-going ships all dragged down and stopped within the river surface of Sanlidi.

"Get off the sail quickly! Don't drag the bottom of the boat!" Yang Xianwen was shocked.

Suddenly all the soldiers moved.

Another soldier who sent an order waved the flag in his hand to tell other sea ships with his actions.

"Deputy Envoy Yang! Didn't you say that the Huangchuan River is deeper than the Huai River? How come it's bottomed out now!!" The deputy general came over angrily.

He was in charge of leading troops to attack on land, and he didn't understand things at sea, but at this time all ten ships hit the bottom and stopped, stranded is a big deal!

Yang Xianwen was also skeptical. According to the handbook left by his master back then, the Huangchuan River was deeper than the Huai River, and these sea-going ships could even sail through the Huai River, so it was impossible to drag them to the bottom here.

"Deputy Envoy Yang! There are iron chains in the water!!" At this moment, the soldiers all exclaimed.

When Yang Xianwen ran to the right side to check, he saw iron chains stretched straight by the hull, and the other end of these iron chains was on the embankment!

Yang Xianwen immediately understood that this was a trap! !

Before the ship entered the trap, the iron chain sank under the water, but now it was stretched by the ship's owner before it emerged from the water.

"Vice General Chen, organize resistance immediately! We've been tricked!"

Before Vice General Chen could react, a large number of Han troops suddenly appeared on the misty river embankment.

A rain of arrows poured down the sky for a while.

"There is an ambush!!"

Suddenly attacked by surprise, the southern soldiers on the deck became a mess.

Some people panicked and wanted to run back to the cabin, but they were crowded at the door. Some people hurriedly picked up shields, but most of the equipment was in the cabin, and those shields were not enough.

The southern soldiers on the deck fell under the dense arrow rain.

"Bait and lock!" Liu Zhan rode on the horse and personally supervised the battle.

In the dense rain of arrows, a large number of hooks flew to hang on the side of the boat.

Is this trying to pull the boat to shore? !

Yang Xianwen, who was hiding behind the shield, was shocked, but the sea ship was huge, once it dragged to the bottom, not to mention hundreds of people, thousands of people would not be able to move it.

This is their chance to fight back, not to be missed!

"The archers are ready to counterattack!" Yang Xianwen shouted.

The ship has four floors in total, and there are two pavilions on the deck. These two pavilions are covered with small windows of two feet square. From the inside, arrows can be shot from the outside, but the arrows from the outside can hardly hit the people inside.

But at this moment, a shield taller than a person was erected on the shore.

The Han army came prepared!

Liu Zhan snorted coldly. "Drop the chains, tugboat!"

Yang Xianwen thought that the iron chain was fixed, and the sea boat would not be able to move when dragged to the bottom. In fact, this was a strategy that Liu Zhan came up with after thinking hard all winter!

He asked the soldiers to lay wooden pile anchors in the shallower places on the other side of Huangchuan, and then lay wooden pile anchors on the embankment on the Han side. The two anchors were tied with iron chains in the water, and the road stretched for three miles!

The depth to which the iron chain sank into the water was exactly the depth that the river boats could pass through.

Sea-going ships have a deep draft, and when they enter, they are bound to be scraped and dragged to the bottom by iron chains, which may run aground at least, or destroy the bottom of the ship at worst, and even stop them abruptly.

At that time, Liu Zhan gave an order, and the soldiers of the Han army rushed up and lifted the anchor.

As soon as the anchor points that were hit on the embankment were released, the stretched iron chains slid down into the river one after another, and the sea boat that was stuck tightly swayed and moved.

"Pull me up!!" Cao Ming shouted loudly.

The other end of the hook line is a long enough hemp rope, and there are hundreds of wrestlers struggling to drag behind each hook line.

Each sea ship was hung with hundreds of hook locks, dragged by so many people, the sea ship suddenly shook and started to move.

The Southern Army on board panicked.

"Cut off the hook rope quickly!!" Yang Xianwen shouted hoarse.

In the dense rain of arrows, some soldiers held up their shields to cut the hooks, but there were too many hooks, and when one was cut off, more came.

The river embankment in Ruichang County is gentler, while the embankment in Huangchuan River outside Lufeng County is as steep as a knife. The sea ship is being dragged closer and closer, and the huge sea ship is as high as the river embankment.

When the bottom of the ship could no longer be dragged, Liu Zhan gave an order immediately. "Let the bridge plank go up!"

Immediately, soldiers of the Han army rushed up carrying the long bridge boards, and after they were lowered, there were passages.

All this happened too fast, too fast for Yang Xianwen and the panic-stricken Deputy Chen to deal with it in time.

"Go up! Block the Han soldiers!" Deputy General Chen could only drive the soldiers over and over again to resist.

Yang Xianwen rushed down to the cabin. "Shake the oar to get out of trouble! Hurry up!!"

The soldiers in charge of rowing the oars returned to their positions one after another, and all of them shook the huge oars in their hands vigorously. The hull of the ship shook for a while, and the hook rope firmly held the ship, and both sides were wrestling with their lives.

At this time, Jiang Changlin personally led Mo Dao Shou, 1 people were divided into ten groups and killed on board, and began to harvest the southern army in a desperate manner.

At that time, the morning light was bright, and the decks of the ten ships were all in a mess.

Deputy General Chen's face was terrified. Those terrifying big knives could cut down even people with armor in one stroke. They had no strength at all.

This battle cannot be won!

"Abandon the ship and retreat! Swim to the other side!" Deputy General Chen said and jumped out of the window on the side facing Ruichang County.

The generals all ran away, and the southern soldiers naturally abandoned the ship and fled.

The Nan soldiers on other sea ships saw someone running away, as if they had received a signal, they all abandoned their ships and jumped into the river.

"Deputy Envoy Yang! They all ran away! Deputy General Chen also ran away!" The soldiers who came to report the news were full of panic.

The soldiers who were still struggling to row the oars all stopped for a while, and the generals ran away. How could they have any fighting spirit?

Yang Xianwen slumped on the ground while leaning on the wall.

At the age of ten, he joined the Southern Army with his master and took ships as his home. After his master died of illness, he inherited his master's mantle as a pilot.

This defeat, others can escape, but his home is the ship, where else can he escape?

"Go as you want." Yang Xianwen was depressed.

For a while, the soldiers scattered like birds and beasts.

Of the nearly [-] Confederate soldiers on ten ships, more than half were killed or injured, and the remaining half jumped into the river and fled like dumplings.

Liu Zhan came to the edge of the river embankment on horseback, standing tall, his eyes swept across the deserters.

"Fire arrows!"

With an order, all the archers gathered on the edge of the river embankment, and the rain of arrows splashed towards the river.

The number of these deserters exceeds [-]. If they gather on the other side, it will be a hidden danger. If Liu Zhan wants to keep these ships, he can't keep these people, lest he think about coming back to seize the ships every day.

Under the dense rain of arrows, less than one-fifth of the more than ten thousand deserters could swim safely to the other side.

In the morning light, the river embankment, which had been shouting and killing for only an hour, returned to calm.

"Send heavy troops to guard the ship, Cao Ming, you supervise yourself." Liu Zhan ordered in a deep voice, and emphasized at the end. "These ships are treasures, they are cleaned up and cannot be destroyed."

Cao Ming hurriedly clasped his fists in agreement, and immediately took the men off the boat.

At this time, Jiang Changlin also gathered Mo Dao's hands and came back to return. "Report to the King of Han, all the boatmen, handymen, stewards, etc. on the ship are here."

Before the war, Liu Zhan gave an order not to kill the boatmen and handymen.

Liu Zhan glanced at those dejected faces. "All of them will be kept alive, and they will be sent to the prison in Lufeng County for safekeeping."

There is still a war on the North Sea coast. Although Liu Zhan wants to get on the boat and study it carefully, the war is important.

Shengsheng held back the joy in his heart, and Liu Zhan rode his horse back. "Go North Shore!"

After traveling thousands of miles to northern Xinjiang, Xie Huan could not retreat after a single battle, so he was still not reconciled.

When Liu Zhan came to the front line, the Southern Army sent troops again.

This time the southern army was divided into two groups, leaving half of the troops to attack and confuse the Han army in place, and the other way to go around and land on another coast.

What they didn't know was that Liu Zhan had deployed troops on the three coasts.

When the Confederates landed on the central coast, they encountered exactly the same lineup and the same broadswords as yesterday.

In two days, the Southern Army lost nearly 4 people.

Xie Huan couldn't even get his troops to attack the coast. Before the expedition, he was full of vigor and disdain for the barbarians in northern Xinjiang.

At this time, what they got in exchange was one-sided massacre after another, and they were powerless to fight back!

Just when Xie Huan wanted to send troops again, the counselor stopped him. "General! We can't fight anymore. If the fight continues, where else can anyone drive the ship back?"

The weather on the sea is turbulent and cloudy. When the wind is smooth and the water is smooth, it is naturally good. When the wind is against the current, you can only row the oars. If there are fewer people and there are not enough people to row the oars in shifts, how can you sail the boat back?

Xie Huan gritted his teeth with hatred, and he lost nearly 4 people in just two days!This is the elite of the Southern Army!

"The big swords of the Han army are really powerful. Our soldiers almost died when they landed." The counselor shook his head and sighed.

They didn't know the name of Mo Dao, so they called it the Han Army Dao. The soldiers on the ship would all change their faces when they talked about the Han Army Dao.

The southern army has no intention of fighting.

If it dies, the whole army will only be confessed to the northern border.

After thinking about it again and again, Xie Huan knew that he had no choice.

"Back off." He sighed.

The ship on the north coast retreated, and because of the favorable wind, it disappeared on the horizon in a short while.

"We won! We beat the giant ship away!!" Han soldiers laughed and shouted on the beach.

They defeated the monster-like huge ship army, which excited the soldiers more than conquering the Yan army's iron cavalry, and they were as happy as children of two hundred catties for a while.

Liu Zhan laughed out loud. "This battle is a great victory, and I also got a sea ship. It is said that the king ordered the whole army to be rewarded!"

Compared with the jubilation of the Han army, there was only depression and silence on the ship at this time.

When the troops were divided, Xie Huan had an appointment with Yang Xianwen. If the situation changed, they would meet in the coastal waters south of the mouth of Huangchuan.

As a result, Xie Huanyi waited for three days without any news. He sent troops to investigate by land. Before he arrived in Ruichang County, he learned from the people that the Han army had seized ten huge ships.

The Southern Army was completely defeated in this battle.

The Qing army who attacked Taohe Pass also suffered a big stumble.

At the beginning of the construction of Taohe Pass, Liu Zhan built it according to the standard of Tongtian Pass. Not only was the city wall towering high, but also the defensive equipment such as crossbow beds and catapults were integrated with the city wall.

Tongtian Pass has steep mountains, while Taohe Pass has the natural moat of Taoshui River.

Such a grand pass, not to mention 10 people, the Han army can hold 20 people!

Anyone with a discerning eye understands that Taohe Pass cannot be taken down.

But the third son of King Qing urgently needs to make a name for himself in battle, and now their brothers are almost tearing their faces apart for the position of the son.

If he loses this battle, he will be a dog in the water when he goes back. He will only be thrown into trouble by his brothers and rejected by his father.

Knowing that he had no way out, Prince Qing's third son ordered to attack the city without hesitation.

During the siege in the past few days, tens of thousands of corpses filled the Taoshui River, causing the river to be blocked, and the water level in the upper reaches soared. Due to the hot weather, the putrid smell was disgusting.

The three sons of King Qing were in a stalemate at Taohe Pass, unable to advance or retreat.

At this moment, a shocking news fell.

Xi Rong sent 30 troops to capture Yumen Pass with lightning speed!The Qing army lost the gateway to the northwest!

Without Yumen Pass, the hinterland of Hanzhong will be exposed nakedly to Xi Rong's horseshoes.

King Qing urgently ordered the third son to lead the troops to retreat. Only then did he know that less than one-third of the [-] troops died in just ten days.

The Yumen Pass was breached, and King Qing was waiting to recall one hundred thousand elites to fight against the enemy.

Unexpectedly, two-thirds of the [-] troops fell at Taohe Pass in just ten days, and the rest were also wounded and unable to fight any more.

King Qing fainted immediately.

Without these 20 elites, how can the motley army of less than [-] fight against Xi Rong?How to defend this huge Hanzhong?

The author has something to say: Note: The stakes and iron chains blocking sea ships come from the historical data of the Opium War, and the data of sea ships refer to the historical materials of Zheng He’s voyages to the West