Chapter 27: Moths to the Fire
Li Shimin's so-called invincible tactics can actually be summed up in 14 words: you go into the water first, you die first, you wait to go into the water, you wait to die.
When the Nanliang warriors went into the water, in fact, Li Shimin had already won this battle, no matter how many Nanliang warriors were able to escape from the water, it was already an indifferent thing for Li Shimin.
In the blink of an eye, the vast rivers suddenly turned into land, and those Southern Liang warriors who escaped with their lives could still pose any threat to Li Tang's army?
In short, no matter how many Southern Liang warriors escaped, those remaining Southern Liang warriors who stood on the deck and trembled all over at this time would never be able to escape no matter what.
With 110,000 naval troops, against Li Tang's 300,000 elite army, it is impossible to win at all.
However, fortunately, from the very beginning of Li Shimin's fight, he never thought that it was Li Shimin's real purpose to kill all these people, leave the lives of these Southern Liang warriors, and capture more than 2,300 intact warships.
Therefore, he stepped on his war horse, led his three hundred dragoon guards, and calmly came to the front of the enemy's flagship, about five hundred meters or so, Li Shimin clenched his right fist and raised his hand, and then, under the frightened gaze of Wen Persimmon and others, the entire Li Tang's attacking troops stopped their steps in an instant.
Then, Li Shimin calmly ordered all the guards: "Incarnate!"
With his order, more than 300 terrifying lizards with teeth and claws appeared in front of Wen Persimmon and the others.
Standing on top of the head of the big lizard more than sixty meters long, Li Shimin slowly raised the dragon spear in his hand while looking down at the enemy below, and then, he held the tail end of the dragon spear and waved it downward, instantly hitting the hard ice surface below into a terrifying deep trench that was one meter wide and 100 meters long.
"If you want to live, get off the boat and walk through this deep ditch. I'm only going to give you ten minutes, and that's your only chance to live. After saying it expressionlessly, Li Shimin put away the dragon spear, held his hands behind his back, and looked into the distance indifferently.
Looking at Li Shimin, who was above his head and looking at thousands of troops, Wen Persimmon Hong knew who was the real god of war in the rivers and seas!
To be able to follow characters like Li Shimin and dominate the world together is much better than dying at the mouth of this Wuxia Gorge and being a sad lonely ghost and a wild ghost, right?
Therefore, Wen Persimmon Hong and the others didn't think about it for too long, and the eighty percent of the generals of the Southern Liang Navy on the entire flagship knelt on the deck together, raised their heads and shouted loudly to Li Shimin: "I am willing to surrender to ——!."
The other remaining generals, after seeing this result, had no choice but to kneel down helplessly, looked up at Li Shimin without saying a word, and saluted him helplessly.
In the end, Li Shimin relied on the means of sealing the river with cold ice, and captured 2,300 warships of the Southern Liang Navy in one fell swoop, and subdued a full 140,000 Southern Liang warriors.
The 30,000 fleeing Southern Liang warriors were finally cornered and persuaded to surrender by Wen Persimmon and others.
After dividing 300 warships, sending 10,000 sailors, and escorting all the 140,000 Southern Liang warriors to Kuizhou City, the remaining 490,000 Li Tang warriors all boarded the newly captured Southern Liang warships.
At this time, Li Shimin already had 2,300 Nanliang warships and 700 Li Tang warships, totaling 3,000 warships.
With so many warships and almost all the naval forces of Nanliang, the Tang army is now a sure winner.
Therefore, Li Shimin directly escorted all the soldiers to the rear.
In Li Shimin's opinion, the 140,000 soldiers of Nanliang did not help him much at all, but brought these people to Yuzhang, and when the decisive battle with the Dasui Water Army began, these people were likely to be in battle against the water.
Therefore, after wasting a lot of strength, spending more than five hours, chopping with knives, axes, and fire, and digging out many waterways on more than ten kilometers of solid ice, Li Tang's Southern Army drove 3,000 warships and slowly sailed into the Wuxia.
This is the ice to seal the river warfare, the only drawback, after the war to dig the ice is too troublesome.
However, compared with the huge benefits that can be achieved by the cold ice method of warfare, this small shortcoming, Li Shimin automatically ignored it in his heart.
At about six o'clock in the evening, Li Tang's fleet sailed through Yiling City without stopping, and then, the entire fleet went directly all the way unimpeded, and traveled for more than two hours, and finally came to Jiangling City.
When the defenders in Jiangling City saw that their own fleet, escorting more than 700 Li Tang's warships, had almost driven to the city, they immediately rejoiced and hurriedly sent this shocking good news to Xiao Xian and others.
So, Xiao Xian immediately led the Manchu Dynasty civil and military forces of Southern Liang, and hurried out of the city to meet his subordinates and return the warriors of the navy in triumph.
However, under the expectant gaze of Xiao Xian and the civil and military officials of the entire Jiangling Chamber, their own more than 2,000 warships did not stop at all, and directly sailed through Jiangling City and continued to drive downstream.
After seeing this situation, everyone on the entire dock immediately looked stupid.
For this strange situation, everyone is a monk of Zhanger, and they are completely confused, they really can't figure out what is wrong with their fleet, why they have already arrived at Jiangling City, but they do not accept commendations and rewards.
Just when Xiao Xian and the others wanted to send a team of clippers to chase their fleet back, a herald suddenly became frightened and anxious, and galloped to the dock on a fast horse.
When this person held a piece of information and knelt in front of Xiao Xian and the others in horror and anxiety, Xiao Xian's heart suddenly felt extremely uneasy.
After taking the information handed over by the attendant and taking a look at it, Xiao Xian quickly closed the information and quickly boarded the speedboat in front of him.
Then, Xiao Xian directly ordered to send himself to the flagship in the distance.
As a result, more than a dozen speedboats carrying the civil and military forces of the Southern Liang Manchu Dynasty, under the leadership of Xiao Xian, foolishly chased after Li Shimin's flagship.
When Li Shimin learned the news, he pondered for a while, and then ordered the entire fleet to strengthen vigilance and let those speedboats come over.
Then, Li Shimin asked all the warriors on the deck to change into the uniforms of the Nanliang Navy and patiently waited for the arrival of those speedboats.
Because it was already dark at this time, Xiao Xian and the others' speedboats, after passing by one battleship, did not notice at all, in fact, on the battleships they passed, all the warriors who looked at them coldly were actually wearing the uniforms of the Tang army!
In this way, almost all the important ministers of Xiao Xian and Nanliang were like moths that took the initiative to rush into the fire, and they went all the way unimpeded, and they stupidly boarded the flagship where Li Shimin was.