Liu Song Hanque

Chapter 412 Attacking Helian Ding

Sheepskin raft?

Xie Hui didn't realize it at first, but he soon realized what Liu Yizhen was talking about.

"Your Majesty means... a leather boat?"

"Book of the Later Han Dynasty" records that when the captain Hu Qiang led soldiers across the Yellow River in Guide, Qinghai, he "sewed leather bags into boats".

This point of knowledge is actually very obscure to scholars in the Liu Song period, and people who are not well-read will definitely not know this point.

Because sheepskin rafts, that is, "leather boats", actually became popular in the upper reaches of the river in later generations.

Because before the Tang and Song Dynasties, the water potential in the upper reaches of the river was stable and the shipping was extremely developed. Who would be crazy to take a sheepskin raft if there was a boat?

Therefore, Liu Yizhen's eyes lit up when he saw that Xie Hui actually knew the existence of the "sheepskin raft", and Lianlian nodded in agreement.

"Nowadays, the waters of the Han River are fierce, and it is very difficult for the carrier to cross the river. It is better to transport the soldiers on sheepskin rafts, and meet with the defenders of Dingjun Mountain to attack the Hu Xia army on the other side!"

Xie Hui was a little confused: "Your Majesty, is this leather boat...reliable?"

For Xie Hui, this kind of thing only existed on the classics after all.

But for Liu Yizhen, he has really seen the usefulness of the sheepskin raft.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, a sheepskin raft was put down from Lanzhou, and it could float to Baotou in a dozen days.

Later, some gods and men set down sheepskin rafts from Guangyuan and transported tons of gasoline to the mountain city of Chongqing in the extremely dangerous waterways of Shudi.

Even the turbulent waterways of later generations can be conquered, so it is no problem to cross a small Han River.

"Don't worry! Listen to me!"

"Sheepskin rafts can not only cross the rapids, but more importantly, they are extremely concealed. If you march in the dark, it will be difficult for the enemy troops on the other side to find out!"

After finalizing his idea, Liu Yizhen returned to Lue County to teach the soldiers to make sheepskin rafts.

Compared to bed crossbows, which are slightly technical, making sheepskin rafts is not at all difficult.

The largest sheepskin raft can be made of more than 600 sheepskin bags, more than 20 meters long and seven meters wide, and can carry [-] to [-] tons.

Naturally, Liu Yizhen didn't want to make it so big. After several experiments, he decided that it would be best to tie twenty sheepskins into a sheepskin raft.

After the sheepskin rafts were made, Liu Yizhen recruited some soldiers who were familiar with water skills to learn how to drive these boats.

The most difficult thing about a sheepskin raft is not making it, but the helmsman.

Because its existence is to cross the river in treacherous waterways, there is naturally no such tool as "paddle" to help the helmsman grasp the direction and speed in a smooth water system.

The boatmen of later generations climbed on the sheepskin bag, grabbed the bag with one hand, and paddled the water with the other, and "waved" the sheepskin raft to the opposite bank by the water waves.

This is a technical job, one accident is to take the whole boat to feed the fish in the river, so after many times of training, Liu Yizhen got only twenty qualified boatmen.

It has been five days since the boatmen were trained.

"It's almost time!"

A few days ago, Liu Yizhen sent scouts to detour from the lower reaches of the Han River to Dingjun Mountain to contact Pei Fangming and Zhu Xiuzhi. Traveling lightly, these scouts also arrived at Dingjun Mountain.

The situation of the soldiers of the Song Army on Dingjun Mountain is indeed not very good.

Because of the lack of food, it is unknown when the Song army on the north bank will be able to break through Helian Ding's interception.Pei Fangming strictly controlled the food on the mountain, and each soldier was only given a small bowl of light porridge.

Coupled with the continuous rainy days, the hot flashes made the soldiers of the Song Army on the mountain fight to the limit.

Zhu Xiuzhi returned to the barracks after completing the routine inspection task, and revealed his uneasiness to Pei Fangming.

"It's been five days!"

"In the past five days, if you have not been appeasing the soldiers, General, I am afraid that some soldiers are about to mutiny!"

It's not Zhu Xiuzhi's alarmist talk, but his true feelings after a few days of inspection.

The current situation cannot be concealed.

Especially when Helian Ding led the army to the north to stop the reinforcements, everyone saw it with their own eyes.There has been no movement in the north for a few days, which inevitably makes the soldiers in Dingjunshan suspicious.

Coupled with Pei Fangming's reduction of soldiers' food and grass, all signs indicate that Dingjun Mountain has become an isolated island now!
Pei Fangming gritted his teeth, feeling a little helpless about the situation in front of him.

For him, for these Song troops, there is naturally a way, and that is to retreat, all the way to Hanzhong.

But as soon as they retreated, Dingjun Mountain fell into Hu Xia's hands in vain.

If Dingjun Mountain is lost, then Hanzhong is basically destroyed. Pei Fangming can't bear this responsibility at all!

Perhaps, He Lianding saw Pei Fangming break through the siege but didn't dare to break through, retreat but didn't dare to retreat, that's why he cut off the grain road in the north so arrogantly, wanting to surround the Song army in Dingjun mountain to death!
Just when the two were at a loss, a scout suddenly returned.

"General Pei! Lieutenant Zhu! Two scouts from our army came up from the back mountain! They said they brought the emperor's military order!"

This news naturally relieved the urgent need for the two of them, and before the scouts informed them, they hurriedly stepped out of the military tent to meet the emperor's scouts.

"Is there any news from the emperor?"

"nature!"

The scouts who worked so hard to come up from the lower reaches hurriedly reported to Pei Fangming: "The emperor said that there is a way to cross the river, so he ordered the generals to send troops together on the appointed day to entangle the enemy troops on the south bank of the Han River for a while, so as to create opportunities for the reinforcements to land on the north bank! "

"When is the agreed date?"

"It will be tomorrow at Maoshi (six o'clock in the morning)!"

Pei Fangming and Zhu Xiuzhi looked at each other and smiled, both seeing relief in their eyes.

"it is good!"

"Pass the order! Order the soldiers to start a fire and cook now, and dry all the weapons and clothes! I will definitely go to attack Helian Ding tomorrow on time!"

With Pei Fangming's order, Dingjun Mountain became lively with gongs and drums.

Everyone knew that they would be able to leave the ghostly place of Dingjun Mountain tomorrow, and they were all smiling and happy in their hearts.

In particular, some big-mouthed generals revealed to the soldiers that tomorrow is not a breakout, but to attack Hu Xia with reinforcements from the north bank, and the morale of the soldiers is even higher!

"Look at me killing those Huns barbarians! Grandma, a group of eggless beasts, actually want to surround me to death like a rabbit! Ahhh!"

"..."

The resentment of being surrounded for several days exploded at this moment, and Pei Fangming finally stopped being "stingy", and the food distributed was enough for every soldier to eat, the double shackles of the heart and body were broken , making the soldiers of the Song Army feel indescribably comfortable all over.

In order to boost morale, Pei Fangming and Zhu Xiuzhi even came to the camp where the soldiers had meals and poured the stored wine into the well water that the soldiers drank to drink with the soldiers: "Tomorrow we will defeat the Xiongnu!"

The soldiers also held the utensils high and slammed them on the ground after drinking the wine.

"The Huns must be defeated!"

(End of this chapter)