Chapter 31 4. Fire Attack, Ah Shu defeated Zhang Shijie

After the Yuan army captured the natural danger of the Yangtze River, they divided the east, west, and middle three routes to attack southward. The momentum was like a broken bamboo, and it was likely that the Song court would be wiped out overnight.However, because the Song army did not have the unified command and dispatch of the imperial court, it was like a loose sand. Some surrendered without a fight, and some Yuan troops abandoned the city and fled before reaching the commander. After the capture, the large area of ​​Jianghuai territory was owned by the Yuan Dynasty. Ashu took the opportunity to surround Yangzhou with lightning speed.

Yangzhou guards Li Tingzhi and Jiang Cai were old enemies of the Yuan army, and Ashu was no stranger.Six years ago, he and Liu Zheng led the army to besiege Xiang and Fan. After three or four years of hard work, he managed to seal the Han River firmly.Unexpectedly, this Li Tingzhi broke through their blockade overnight with a group of recruited soldiers from the countryside, and the rescue was successful.Although he didn't fight him head-on, among the many generals in the Southern Song Dynasty, it was Li Tingzhi who impressed him the most. While Ashu sent people to persuade him to surrender, he stepped up his attack on Yangzhou.But Li Tingzhi was unmoved, and beheaded the Yuan envoy twice to show his ambition.Seeing that he couldn't persuade him to surrender, and the strong attack didn't work, Ashu built a long siege outside the city, trying to implement a long-term siege to make it run out of food and aid without attacking itself.

Due to the rapid advance of the Yuan army, Li Tingzhi and others were surrounded as soon as they arrived in Yangzhou, and they had no strategic reserves at all.Soon, the food in Yangzhou city was exhausted, and the dead were full.In February of the second year of Deyou (1276), the situation became even worse. People had to compete to eat human flesh without touching a grain of rice for several days. Song General Zhang Shijie knew about Yangzhou’s plight, so he immediately summoned Liu Shiyong, the defense envoy of Hezhou (now Hexian County, Anhui), who was stationed in Changzhou, and Sun Huchen, who was stationed in Zhenzhou, to discuss the joint rescue of Yangzhou. The three troops had tens of thousands of warships and a force of 100,000 Many people joined forces to rescue Yangzhou with all their strength, and the army gathered in Jiaoshan.

Jiaoshan is located in the east of Dantu County, Jiangsu Province, towering in the middle of the river, with towering peaks, steep cliffs, deep moats, and majestic momentum. The dangerous terrain immediately attracted Zhang Shijie.Han Shizhong, the hero of the dynasty, once led thousands of officers and soldiers to station here. By virtue of the danger, he won more with less and defeated the golden soldiers.Now I also shoulder the same mission, and the heroic feeling arises spontaneously. "This is really dangerous!" When he let out such an exclamation from the bottom of his heart, he immediately came up with a thought: this Jiaoshan is close to Jiankang and Yangzhou where the main forces of the Yuan army are located, and it is also the only way for the Yuan army to enter Lin'an.To prevent the Yuan army from advancing westward and meet Li Tingzhi in Yangzhou, it is time to set up a battle formation here to meet the Yuan army.Why don't we follow the example of Marshal Han Shizhong and restrain the Yuan army here?

Zhang Shijie thought that the natural barriers of the Yangtze River would not be able to stop the Yuan army's tiger and wolf divisions. With this natural barrier and my tens of thousands of warships, it should not be a problem to stop the Yuan army who is good at fighting on land.With a certain idea, he discussed with Liu Shiyong and Sun Huchen: station here, join Changzhou Zhang Yan to respond to Yangzhou, and support Li Tingzhi to break out of the siege. After the three armies meet, they will fight a decisive battle with the Yuan army. How can we give full play to the role of warships and stop the iron hooves of the Yuan army?

Zhang Shijie recalled the successful practice of defending Yingzhou, that is, the experience of blocking the river with tree stumps and iron chains.A Shu's sailors were buried between those tree stumps and iron chains.Today is the vast Yangtze River, which is bottomless and boundless. Of course, it is impossible to plant tree stumps or pull iron chains here.However, there is always a way to block.In his limited experience in water warfare, he remembered the earlier battle between Xiang and Fan. That time was on the Han River. The reinforcements blocked.Why can't I use his own way to treat his body?

"Yes!" Thinking of a solution, Zhang Shijie blushed and looked a little excited, "We will 'retreat the person in the same way' and connect the ships to form a fortress!" Seeing that Zhang Shijie had made up his mind, Sun Huchen asked suspiciously, "What trick does General Zhang have to retreat from the enemy?" Zhang Shijie said: "To stop the enemy's attack, the water surface is not as good as the land, and the enemy has no artillery. Then we can take the opportunity to build an insurmountable battle formation. If we form a group of ten large ships and connect them with iron cables, we will form a battle formation. A huge water fortress, in the form of a phalanx, forms a powerful resistance force, and its power will be far higher than that of a single ship. Then, send more soldiers on the fortress, install more artillery, stone bows and arrows, and enter the battleground. Attack and retreat can be defended, even if the enemy warships have great abilities, they would never want to pass through such a fortress."

Sun Huchen complimented flatteringly: "What a plan! What a plan! Marshal Zhang couldn't have come up with such a brilliant strategy!" Liu Shiyong reminded: "However, once the enemy fires, how should we deal with it?" Zhang Shijie said disdainfully: "We are so powerful that the enemy will never approach us. Taking a step back, even if they approach us, we are not afraid! Why did I not connect all the warships, but a group of ten? This is the reason He burned down a group of my warships, and we have other warships to replace them. It is almost July, and the Yangtze River is calm. They are not Zhuge Liang, and they can’t borrow the east wind. How can they attack with fire? General Liu is overwhelmed, haha! "

"Of course," he paused, and continued: "To be on the safe side, we also need to prepare more 'white kites' (a small boat that is easy to maneuver), and surround the ship array. One is for defense, and the other is for chasing enemy ships. In the past, once the soldiers of our army were attacked, many people did not put the national interests first, but only ran for their lives. As a result, our Great Song Dynasty lost a large area of ​​land, which led to this situation. Now we should tell the whole army, strictly enforce military discipline, and anchor in the river. If there is no order to defend against the enemy, neither side shall be allowed to break the anchorage, and anyone who disobeys the order shall be beheaded!"

Seeing that Zhang Shijie was so confident, Liu Shiyong couldn't say anything more.Therefore, Song Jun tried his best to act according to Zhang Shijie's plan. After the formation was completed, the three generals gathered on the command ship in the center and looked around. They saw a fortress-like phalanx of warships neatly lined up on the vast and vast river. Another impregnable new city stands beside it.Zhang Shijie said with great satisfaction: "Now it's time to contact Li Tingzhi as soon as possible. We will start a battle with the Yuan army led by Ashu, and they can rush out of the city to flank the Yuan army."

When the news that the Song army's 100,000 warships gathered in Jiaoshan reached Ashu who was besieging Yangzhou, Ashu was really shocked.After setting up the siege project for Yangzhou, he immediately took Zhang Hongfan, Dong Wenbing and other important generals to gallop to the Yangtze River, and boarded Shigong Mountain on the south bank (now northeast of Zhenjiang, Jiangsu) for observation.In the surging blue waves, there are thousands of ships connected to each other, mighty and mighty, without seeing the head or terminal, and the flags of various colors on the ships are waving in the wind, the scene is magnificent. Seeing such a situation, all the generals were frowning.In this way, the Yuan army will not only face their harassment when besieging Yangzhou, and will be forced to divide their troops to contend with it, but also Marshal Boyan wants to conquer Lin'an, which is the first insurmountable obstacle that he will face! No, we must find a way to destroy this fortress! Several generals stood on Shigong Mountain, staring at the river, but their minds were nervously thinking... "The enemy's ships are connected by iron cables, so it's inconvenient to maneuver, so it's better to launch a fire attack!" Said Dong Wenbing, a political adviser. "Yes! In the Battle of Chibi, Zhou Yu burned his battalion for 700 miles and defeated Cao Cao's million-strong army. Today we will use fire attack to deal with Zhang Shijie!" Zhang Hongfan said. "That Sun Huchen hasn't suffered enough from our military attack? He made this mistake again." A Shu laughed, "However, this time is not like the last time. On the one hand, their ships are tall, not connected as a whole, but Every ten is a group, so that there is mobility; on the other hand, there are small boats guarding the front of the big ship, if we want to carry out a fire attack, we should also pay attention to the method and strategy." "Then we will use rockets and flamethrowers to shoot at the middle of the enemy. Once the ships in the middle catch fire and are blocked by other ships outside, they will not be able to maneuver and will only be burned." Zhang Hongfan said, "We should prepare more oil. , firewood, Glauber's salt and other fire-igniting materials will be available at that time." After finding out the enemy's situation, A Shu and the others returned to the camp, dispatched troops and generals, and prepared to burn Zhang Shijie. "Wanhuhuai obey orders!" "The end is here!" "Order you to take 20,000 paces and set up formations along the river to prevent the Song army from landing and attacking!" "Obey!" "Wanhu Liu Chen listens to the order!" "The end is here!" "I order you to take Jiatan (northeast of Jiaoshan) along the south bank of the river, go around to the back of the Song army, and cut off the Song army's retreat." Then he arranged for Dong Wenbing to lead the navy to attack the right wing of the Song army from the southern foot of Jiaoshan Mountain; Wanhu Liu Guojie attacked the left wing; Loss of mobility.Strategically, the two wings first, and then the center, blocking the enemy's escape route. Finally, Ashu ordered: "Zhang Hongfan listen to the order!" "The end is here!" "Let you lead a thousand troops to attack Shujinsha (now the northwest of Zhenjiang) in a boat to the west, rush forward from the upper reaches with the wind, wait for the enemy along the northern foot of Jiaoshan Mountain, and control the upper river road. Once the enemy retreats, take the opportunity to attack them violently." Finally, he further emphasized: "In order to ensure the victory of the fire attack, each army must secretly prepare fire boats, artillery, rockets, firewood, Glauber's salt and other fire starters. The whole army is strictly ordered to keep secrets, and anyone who leaks the secrets will be killed!" It was an extremely clear summer night, with a gentle wind blowing from the river and a sky full of stars.The sailors of the Song Army flocked to the deck to enjoy the shade. They were in groups of three or four, some were talking about the battle situation, and some were thinking about the future.The turbulent river surged downwards, but no sound could be heard, and the calm river surface reflected the sky full of stars, as if gold and silver had been sprinkled. Suddenly, the outpost came to report and found the enemy ship.The news quickly reached Zhang Shijie's ears.Zhang Shijie hurriedly led the generals onto the deck, looking at the direction of the enemy ship. "Okay!" Zhang Shijie was eager to try, "I've been waiting for him, come on!" Turning around, he asked the guard, "How many boats are there?" "I can't see clearly, but judging from the firelight, there are hundreds of them..." "Report, enemy ships are also found downstream!" "Okay, they want to attack from both sides. Haha! Give me an order to let Liu Shiyong and Sun Huchen set up their positions and beat me hard." "Report! Our army also found an enemy ship right in front!" "Come on! Clean it up together, has the person who sent the contact returned?" "Report, not yet." "Okay! Then don't count on them. I ordered everyone to enter the combat position and stand ready. The escort ships in front will be dispatched first and beat me hard!" When the order was transmitted to the forward phalanx, the fleet was getting closer and closer.Before the Song army had time to fight, a bunch of fireballs suddenly shot from the fleet, like meteors all over the sky, crossed the front and fell to the middle of the phalanx, igniting the sails at once, and then igniting the flag and planks.Warships are made of wooden planks coated with paraffin wax. After a day of exposure to the sun in July in midsummer, they all turned into scorched wood chips.Coupled with gusts of river wind, the wind helped the fire, and after a while, the square in the middle became a sea of ​​flames.However, due to the blockage of the surrounding fleet, these ships were all connected together with iron chains. The large ship was wide and could not maneuver at all.In an instant, the entire phalanx and the entire fleet were ignited with raging flames. For a while, the river was covered by smoke and flames, and the flames soared into the sky, forming a sea of ​​flames. While the Song army was busy maneuvering and fighting fires, the main fleet of the Yuan army, under the command of A Shu, rushed fiercely to the middle of the fleet.The troops commanded by Liu Guojie and Dong Wenbing came from the two wings.With the Yuan army on fire and attacking from all sides, the warships of the Song army had no chance to disperse and escape.Many sailors were hacked to death by the Yuan army, and those who were not hacked jumped into the river one after another and drowned in the river. When the first ray of sunshine in the morning sprinkled on the river again, Ashu and all the soldiers stood on the command ship and admired the still burning Song ship.In the morning light, the mist of the river water and the pungent smell of burnt and blood made people breathless; corpses were lying all over the river, and the red tide-like blood stained the rushing Yangtze River.Zhang Shijie fled to Qishan alone, Zhang Hongfan of the Yuan army led his army to pursue, and captured more than 700 ships including Huang Hu and Bai Harrier. This battle came to an end with the complete destruction of Zhang Shijie's navy.In this battle, the Yuan army's water and land coordinated operations, and the tactics were used properly. They used the method of attacking from both sides and breaking through the center. They used the usual tactics of the Mongolian cavalry in the water battle and attacked with fire. The line of defense completely collapsed, the natural barrier of the Yangtze River lost its barrier function, and Lin'an was at stake.