The commander of the Jin fleet was Wan Yan Benxu, the commander of the Shandong Naval Army. He was originally a second-rate general with mediocre ability. Although he also has the surname Wanyan, he doesn't have too deep roots, so he was assigned to the water army. After Yan Zhengjiadu, the former deputy commander of the navy, died in the naval battle of Chenjiadao, he was the supreme general of the Jin State Navy second only to Su Baoheng, the commander of the navy.

However, unlike the Song State, in the Jin State, the naval army has always been in a very unvalued position, not only far inferior to the cavalry army, but also inferior to the infantry army. Although Wanyan Benxu is the head of the Shandong Water Army, his official rank is only a general of martial arts under the sixth rank. Therefore, after receiving Wan Yan Changzhi's order, Wan Yan Langxu did not dare to slack off, and immediately gathered ships, and within a few days, 387 large and small ships were mobilized. It is deployed near Sea Donkey Island.

In the past few days, Wan Yan Changzhi's internal injuries have also healed, although he can't fight in the water, but because he is not worried, Wan Yan Benxu also came with him on the warship. And Wanyan Chen monk was seriously injured, disillusionment, illusion, and illusion Luo monks had to take turns to heal his injuries every day, although his life was worry-free, but it was still far from full recovery, so he could only stay in Haizhou. However, when fighting at sea, individual bravery really does not play a role.

At this time, Wanyan Changzhi also saw the Song army's fleet clearly. I couldn't help but feel half cold. Despite the fact that the number of ships of the Jin army was almost twice that of the Song army. But that's just the numbers. The largest of the Jin army's warships is the handsome ships of Wanyan Changzhi and Wanyan Benxu. However, it is thirteen feet and five feet long, three feet and two feet wide, and two feet high. There were nine such warships in the Jin Army's navy, and less than fifty of the other warships were more than ten zhang long. There are more than 100 boats with a length of less than five zhang, many of which are temporarily forcibly called by fishing boats. Compared to Song Jun's giant Shenzhou like a small mountain, it was simply dwarfed. It's like calling a pack of wild dogs to face a few tigers.

Although Wanyan Changzhi did not understand water warfare, judging from the momentum of both sides alone, the Song army was invincible. The only thing to count on was for the Jin army to fight a war of attrition with the Song army by virtue of its numerical superiority.

"However, now we are a tailwind, and the Song army is a headwind. The wind should be in our favor. Wan Yan Changzhi thought that he still understood the common sense of water warfare of "the tailwind is better than the headwind". "But is Wanyan Benxu reliable? Fortunately, the main general of the other party is not Li Bao, if it is Li Bao, this battle will not have to be fought at all. Wan Yan Changzhi looked at Wan Yan Benxu, who was busy arranging the boats, and sighed secretly.

The fleets of both sides are getting closer, and the distance is getting shorter. 1,000 steps, 900 steps, 700 steps, 600 steps......

Li Gongzuo waved his hand and said loudly: "Drop the sail." The standard-bearer immediately passed on his order. Only the sound of "bang-la-la" was heard, and the sails of each warship were lowered one after another.

Yang Yan was a little puzzled and said, "General Li, why are you playing with the sails." ”

Li Gongzuo said: "Our army is now a headwind, the role of the sail canopy is not great, and it is easy to be burned by rockets, so it is better to lower it." ”

Yang Yan asked again: "Water warfare has been a favorable wind beating a headwind since ancient times, and our army is now in a headwind, isn't it very disadvantageous?" ”

Li Gongzuo said with a smile: "If the lord on the other side is the father of the family, or is commanded by the subordinates, it will naturally be so." However, judging from their formation, the main general of the Jin army is obviously not good at water warfare, so even if there is a headwind, there is no need to be careful. ”

Yang Yan nodded, thinking that this time he would have to take a good look at how Li Gongzuo commanded the water war.

Yang Yan watched carefully, and after the sails were dropped, the Song army's fleet gradually stopped, not advancing, but lining up horizontally. With three large Shenzhou as the core, it is distributed into the left, center, and right armies, and is ready for battle. There are two small Shenzhou on the left and right of each large Shenzhou. Medium-sized warships were listed ahead of large warships. Small ships are interspersed between large and medium-sized ships. In general, the pattern of large ships like a city and small boats shuttling back and forth, and the front and rear positions between ships of the same type are also staggered. In this way, the ship in front will not block the ships behind to fire crossbow arrows and cannon stones.

In contrast, the arrangement of the Jin army's warships is somewhat uneven, even if Yang Yan is not good at water warfare, it can also be seen that the size of the Jin army's warships and the distance between the front and rear are far less reasonable than those of the Song army. It seems that Li Gongzuo is not wrong, the main general of the Jin army is obviously not good at water warfare. It seems that although the Song army has few ships, it is not enough to worry.

Although the Song army had few ships, the distance between the warships and the warships was larger. The formation of the Jin army is more dense, so although the Jin army has many warships, the formation of the two sides is still generally due.

More than half an hour had passed since the discovery of the other party, and the distance between the warships of the two sides had only narrowed to three hundred paces. Cao Xun, Gao Zhen and others were a little annoyed when they saw it. Yang Yan secretly thought that this was probably the biggest difference between water warfare and land warfare: the rhythm was slow. So as a general of the navy, he must be able to calm down, and a person with an impatient temperament may not be qualified to be a general of the navy, if he can command the navy in the future, he must pay attention to this point in employing people.

At this time, Li Gongzuo gave an order, and the flag bearer passed it to the other warships. The bed crossbows on the ships began to fire. For a time, hundreds of crossbow arrows nearly five feet long roared and flew towards the Jin army's warship. This was followed by a second and a third pull......

Despite having been on the battlefield for a long time, Yang Yan had seen the power of the bed crossbow for the first time, although at least half of the crossbow arrows fell into the water, and some of them hit the body of the warship. Some of them were able to penetrate the thick planks of the hull and shoot into the cabin. There were also some crossbow arrows that fell on the deck, and the golden soldiers who were pierced by the crossbow arrows were nailed deep into the deck. Blood began to spread, and the sounds of wailing and screaming came from the Jin army.

In fact, the lethality of crossbow arrows to the Jin army is very limited, but psychologically, the shock of the owner is huge. Shooting from a distance of three hundred paces, it can still have such a strong penetrating power, and it can't help but make Wan Yan Chang shudder. Although the Jin Kingdom also made bed crossbows, they were far less powerful than the Song Kingdom's bed crossbows. On the one hand, it was because of the limited technical ability, and on the other hand, it was also because the tactics of the Jin State had always been to use cavalry to attack actively, and did not pay attention to the research and improvement of bed crossbows that were difficult to move. Therefore, the effective range of the bed crossbow made by the Jin Kingdom has never exceeded two hundred and fifty steps, and today Wan Yan finally understood the horror of the legendary bed crossbow.

The warships of the Jin army are still advancing, and the distance between the two sides is constantly narrowing. The Jin army also began to fire crossbow arrows at the Song army, and the crossbow arrows of both sides flew back and forth in the air.

Yang Yan was watching the crossbow arrows of both sides shoot at each other. Suddenly, he heard someone calling him from behind. When I looked back, it was Zhao Yueru and Zhao Qianru. Only since Yu Gongliang's death, Zhao Yueru has been locked in the room and has not come out, only Zhao Qianru goes to accompany her every day, and Yang Yan and others dare not go to her.

I saw Zhao Yue wearing her silver armor and wearing a white cloak. It's just that he didn't wear a helmet, and his long hair was tied with a gauze belt and floated behind his head. He didn't hold a coiling dragon stick, but carried five or six quivers in his left hand, and when he saw Yang Yan turn around, he stretched out his right hand and said, "Yang Yan, lend me your thrilling bow." ”

Yang Yan was stunned for a moment, and saw Zhao Qianru nodding to him, so he untied the bow and handed it to Zhao Yueru.

Zhao Yueru took the bow, didn't speak, put her feet on her feet, and jumped onto the top of the boat. This is the highest position except for the bucket where the flag bearer is located. I saw her standing sideways, facing the wind. A strong sea breeze blows, and long black hair and a white cloak fly in the wind. She hung the quiver on her body, held the bow in her left hand, and pulled out four carved arrows from the quiver with her right hand.

The bowstrings resonated with the sea breeze, and every time the bowstrings sounded like strings, the silver threads tore the atmosphere across the sea more than two hundred paces away, and in the opposite fleet, a golden soldier would fall to the ground. This was the first time that the officers and men of the Song Army saw this beautiful princess showing her wonderful archery skills, and they couldn't help but cheer in unison, and their morale soared.

The distance between the two sides was shortened to two hundred paces.

Li Gongzuo gave the order again, and the Song army began to fire firearms.

There are three types of firearms in the Song army,

One is the fire bow and arrows fired with a bow and crossbow. Gunpowder is applied to the head of the arrow, and the arrow crossbow is universal. In the naval battle of Chenjiadao in the 31st year of Shaoxing (1161), the Song army used a large number of fire bows and arrows and fire crossbow arrows, and at this time the Jin Kingdom also learned to make fire bows and arrows, fire crossbow arrows and other firearms.

One is the tubular class, there are sudden fire Jane, flying fire guns, fire dragon water, etc., all of which are simplified by Juzhu, and the inner Anzi is released. The big bamboo slip that Yang Yan saw earlier was this kind of weapon.

There is also a type of firearms that rely on slingshot catapults to throw, and it is also the most diverse firearms, including smoke balls, thunderbolts, thunderbolts, iron artillery, tribulus fireballs, oil bombs and so on. The usefulness is also different, thunderbolts and thunderbolts are both explosive firearms, but the power of the explosion is not great, but the power is terrifying; The smoke ball is a poisonous smoke that occurs when it explodes, and the smoke burns and confuses the enemy; Iron artillery and thistle fireballs are shelled with iron and contain iron plates, which are used to kill and injure enemies by bursting iron pieces when they explode. Oil bombs are thick paper shells filled with fire oil, which are used to burn the enemy and burn war equipment when hitting the target.

I saw rockets flying one after another with black smoke whistling, and the red and black trajectories quickly filled the entire sky. Fall on the head of the other party. Arrows fell on the ship's side, on the deck, on the sails, and the fire raged with the help of the strong wind. Soldiers on both sides were busy firing rockets at each other, and on the other hand, they were busy extinguishing the flames on their own ships.

In contrast, the Song army was more well-trained, with their ships lowered and their crossbowmen shooting arrows. The other soldiers were also prepared, and once the rocket fell on the ship, the sand, gravel, and sea water rushed together, and it could be extinguished immediately. The warships of the Jin army caught fire with the sails of more than 20 warships, and the golden soldiers on the ships lowered their sails with all hands and feet, extinguished the fire, and became a mess. Wanyan Benxu couldn't help but be a little at a loss at this time, so he could only keep urging the warship to move forward quickly and get close to the warship of the Song army.

From the beginning of the war between the two sides until now, both sides have attacked each other with long-range weapons. The warships of the Song army have been standing still, while the warships of the Jin army are heading towards the Song army, hoping to get close to the Song warships and carry out boarding operations. By this time, the distance between the two fleets was less than a hundred paces.

At this time, the slingshots on the warships of the Song army fired in unison, and hundreds of smoke balls, thunderbolts, thunderbolts, iron artillery, tribulus fireballs, and fierce oil bombs roared towards the warships of the Jin army.

Although some of them fell into the sea, most of them hit their targets. Suddenly, the deafening roar continued to resound in the flotilla of the Jin Army, shocking people's hearts. The choking smoke also dispersed on the ship, and the Jin soldiers surrounded by the smoke all had difficulty breathing, coughed violently, and had tears in their eyes, and were unable to fight at all. The iron pieces and tribulus terrestris that burst out through the explosion can often sweep away a large area of golden soldiers, and a thin piece of iron can often penetrate the bodies of several golden soldiers in a row. However, the most harmful thing is the fierce oil bomb, whether it falls on the side of the ship, the ship's building, the deck or in the sea, it will form a large flame, and once the burn lasts, it is difficult to extinguish.

Yang Yan and the others, who watched the battle on the handsome boat, were all experiencing water battles for the first time, and only then did they realize that their personal bravery was useless in water warfare, which was mainly based on long-range attacks. It completely depends on the command ability of the chief general and the quality of the soldiers, as well as the quality of the warships and weapons. Only Zhao Yueru stood on the roof of the building boat, constantly shooting arrows at the Jin army's warship.

Yang Yan suddenly turned his head and shouted at Zhao Yueru: "Princess, quasi-their standard-bearer." ”

Zhao Yueru immediately understood. Communication between ships and ships is all based on the language of flags. If you shoot their standard-bearer, it is equivalent to severing the connection between the boats, which is much more useful than shooting a few golden soldiers. At that moment, he immediately aimed at the standard-bearer and fired arrows, killing more than ten flag-bearers in a row. Although there were reserve standard-bearers on each ship, the Jin army posed a great threat.

After a few rounds of firing, the Jin army's fleet immediately became chaotic. Dozens of warships burst into flames, and smoke filled the air. All of a sudden, the battle became fierce.

Although Jin Jun's handsome ship was in the back and was not shot, Wanyan Benxu had experienced such a situation several times, and he was suddenly at a loss and didn't know what to do. Wan Yan Changzhi was also dumbfounded, he didn't expect Song Jun to have such a powerful firearm at all. "Is it a great mistake to intercept the Song army at sea?"

At this time, Li Gongzuo ordered all ships to change formations and advance.

The Song army's ship formation swept forward rapidly from both flanks, transforming from a parallel formation to a concave formation. Two small Shenzhou took the lead in parallel, and the large Shenzhou and the other two small Shenzhou followed in a straight line. Medium-sized warships such as Flying Tigers, Sea Falcons, and Sea Loach were arranged on the left and right sides of Shenzhou, and small warships were sown in them, exceeding the middle road, and inserting themselves into the two ribs of the Jin Army's fleet. The whole process is fast and not messy.

All of a sudden, the wheels of the Song army's warships flew and the oars moved in unison. Suddenly the waves dropped, and every ship moved forward at the fastest speed. Quickly rushed to the flotilla of the Jin army.

The warships of Song and Jin finally met in close arms.

The two wings of the Song army maintained an intact formation, inserted into the Jin army's ship formation at high speed, and constantly fired rockets and artillery at the front and around the Jin army warships, two small Shenzhou opened the way in front, smoke balls, thunderbolts, thunderbolts, iron artillery, thistle fireballs, fierce oil bombs, etc. were constantly shot, and the Jin army's warships were hit and caught on fire, and they could not resist it, and some small warships were simply knocked over by Shenzhou.

The warships of the Jin army braved rockets and artillery to try to get close to the warships of the Song army and carried out pedal operations. However, most of the warships were hit and burned by artillery on the way closer, and even though some of the ships were close to the Song warships, most of the Jin soldiers were killed by the rockets and crossbows of the Song army when they pedaled the boats. Despite this, there were still some Jin troops who stepped onto the Song army's warships and engaged in white-knuckle battles with the Song troops on board. But the Jin soldiers, who stepped on the Song warships, soon discovered that they were far less comfortable fighting on the undulating ships than on horseback. After the flash of the sword, blood gushed out, and most of the fallen were Jin soldiers.

A raging fire burned on the surface of the sea, and thick black smoke spread across the sky. Floating on the surface of the sea were broken ship planks, broken sails, the corpses of warriors, and people struggling in the water. Choking smoke and gore permeated the entire surface of the sea. Between the blue sky and the blue sea, a world of fire is formed.

As the two wings of the Song army broke into the formation of the Jin army, the Chinese army of the Song army also split into two, and advanced with the two wings. The warships of the Song and Jin armies were suddenly in a state of intertwined teeth, but the Chinese army of the Jin army was caught in the trap of the Song army, and the Chinese army and the two wings of the Jin army were separated by the Song army.

The two wings of the Song army warships are like two dragons, in the Jin army's array, the left stone bow, the Jin army's fleet was suddenly disturbed by the Song army, because the Jin army's middle road was surrounded by the Song army, completely cut off the left and right connections, the left and right sides of the two sides without the command of the large and small ships, are like headless flies scurrying, self-collision, self-attack countless.

And Wanyan Benxu in the middle of the road still cares about these things now, and he has only one thought in his mind: hurry up and rush out of the Song army's bag, otherwise it will be terrible once he is surrounded by the Song army. Wan Yan Changzhi was also helpless, and he couldn't help but secretly regret that he shouldn't have pedaled to participate in the war. Therefore, the Jin army warships on the middle road scrambled one by one, rowing hard, and desperately advancing, lest they be surrounded by the Song army. Suddenly raised his head, and staggered past the Song army's fleet. Wanyan Benxu and Wanyan Changzhi breathed a sigh of relief at this time, and finally broke out of the encirclement of the Song army.

In fact, the Song army did not intend to encircle the middle of the Jin army at all, and the purpose of the assault was only to penetrate the Jin army's formation, gain the advantage of a tailwind, and wait for a U-turn to fight a decisive battle with the Jin army. In this way, the fleets of both sides penetrated each other, and the first round of the water battle ended.