A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 546: Xiahoubo’s intelligence leaked, a suspected ship planned to arrive from Pingzhou

When the last ray of light on the sky disappeared, the moonlight began to wave his body wantonly, and the sea surface became white.

Xiahoubo was sitting behind the handsome desk in the command room of the cabin, and the fire on the left and right walls of the ship completely illuminated his figure.

In the cabin, there were several city commanders and dozens of commanders.

They came to the flagship in a small boat and gathered together to receive the coach's next instructions.

This made the originally spacious command room become small and crowded.

There was a road in the middle that could pass through for two people. A wet prisoner was slumped on the wooden board, staining the surrounding wooden boards with wet stains.

"Did you ask?"

Xiahou Bo sipped the tea, rubbing the teacup with his rough fingers and staring closely, as if admiring the delicate lines on it.

"Report to the Commander-in-Chief, everything has been explained." The speaker was a guard stationed in the Navy by the Fengdao Guard, named Hei Ge, who was very good at extracting information:
"This man's name is Wang Ming, he is a disciple of the Langya Wang family. He originally served in the navy of Jin State as a commander.

Assigned by the Jin court, he went to the state of Yan to command the navy of the Yan army.

According to what he said, he was sent here because the Wang family declined in the Jin court and was ostracized. "

Xia Houbo carefully put down the tea cup. This was the last time His Majesty had done it himself. After walking out of several cases, in the eyes of the generals, he came to Wang Ming, who was trapped in illusion.

It was obvious that he had been subjected to inhumane waterboarding, but he didn't know that Heige tied him up, threw him from the boat several times, and pulled him up several times, which made him unhappy.

"A person who is ostracized?" Xiahou Bo stood in front of Wang Ming.

Wang Ming vaguely saw a pair of splendid military boots parked in front of him, and a tall, gray-haired veteran looking at him with pity.

"In other words, it has no value at all? Then kill him and hand over his head to the court, so that the court can interrogate Emperor Jin to see if he wants to go to war with Daxia."

He was going to die, this was Wang Ming's first reaction. His body couldn't stop shaking, his head arched toward the big military boots, and he roared:
"I have value, don't kill me. I know a piece of news, news that is vital to your life and death."

Hearing that there was news about Wang Ming, Hei Ge's face turned dark. This guy looked down on himself.

"Oh? A matter of life and death? If so, I will let you live."

Xiahoubo knelt down and looked at him seriously.

"General, as far as I know, the court, no, the Jin State not only sent me an envoy, but also a navy, which was requested by the Yan State to help the Jin State.

The naval forces of Yan and Jin were originally scheduled to attack you together today, but for some reason they have not arrived yet. "

The corners of Xiahoubo's eyes moved slightly, and the bags under his eyes twitched slightly, giving rise to a great sense of uneasiness:
"Should I trust you?"

Wang Ming, who just wanted to survive now, kept repeating as if crying:

"Believe me, really believe me. I don't have to lie to you. I just want to live. Really, believe me."

Because his hands and feet were tied, his spirit had reached the breaking point after today's battle and the previous waterboarding. He just kept repeating the word "believe me" in his mouth.

Xiahou stood up and kept thinking.

"Captain, this boy doesn't tell the truth. If I give him some loose skin, I'm sure I can reveal more information."

Hei Ge looked at Wang Ming on the ground and said loudly in a hazy voice.

Xiahoubo was interrupted in his thinking, and his eyes gradually became firm:

"No, he doesn't need to lie to us." He walked towards the commander's seat and said:

"Whether it is true or not, you will know it once you try it. Take him down and eat and drink. If it is true, it will not be too late to kill him."

Hei Ge obeyed the order and asked Wang Ming, who kept saying "Don't kill me" in a hoarse voice, to get out of the cabin.

"This is the general's order to bring the captured Yan military ships. All the ships will be arranged in a circular array. The ships with combat effectiveness are outside and the ones that are damaged or have no combat effectiveness are inside. There are torches on each ship, but the personnel are not allowed to move around.

In addition, the twenty ships surrounding the Beiding mostly used long poles to raise their torches, almost the same height as the Beiding.

Order the ships on the periphery not to rest, to be alert, to beat the drums and ring gold whenever an enemy ship is found, and not to act rashly.

If an enemy ship approaches, just use crossbows and trebuchets to shoot from a distance, but do not pursue them. "

"Order!"

The generals present accepted the military order, filed out, boarded the boats and speedboats near the Beiding, and headed for their own ships.

Less than half an hour later, the Xia army's warships, which were originally scattered, began to form an irregular circular formation with the north number as the center under the guidance of the small boat.

About an hour later, due to previous experience, the speed was very fast, and at least the warships on the periphery had entered their predetermined battle positions.

However, in fact, only the hundreds of ships on the outermost side have combat power. The more than 400 ships heading inward only have more than a hundred soldiers on each ship. The entire ship's combat power can only be used by 20 to 30% at most.

Not far away from the Xia Kingdom's fleet, in a quiet sea area, a small boat suddenly floated on the sea. It was obviously watching the movements of the Xia Kingdom's warships.

And this was not just one ship, but hundreds of ships. Outside the light of the Xia ship's fire, they circled the Xia Kingdom's circular formation, constantly spying on the military situation.

The Xia army anchored fifteen nautical miles south.

The densely packed ships dropped their sails and drifted with the sea water. If it weren't for the orange firelight above and the constant surging of human figures, people would unconsciously think that they were ships from the underworld.

"Captain He, please report from the front. Xia Jun seems to have discovered us and has begun to form a circular formation. The security force has been strengthened a lot."

He Bing, the distant nephew of He Chong, the Shangshu Ling and Assistant Minister of the Jin State, is currently the captain of the Dian Ship School of the Jin State and the commander of the navy. He has 500 warships and thousands of small boats of various types under his command. The ship captain was a position in the Jin State specifically responsible for supervising the construction of ships.

Different from the Xia Kingdom, the Xia Army liked the ancient system, so they called the navy navy. After passing by, they took the name Shuijun. The navy often appeared in the memorials of ministers who loved the ancient system. Officially, it was called the navy.

The highest officer of the navy of Jin Dynasty is the navy commander, followed by the navy commander, navy admiral, commander of the navy, commander of the navy, commander of the army, deputy commander of the army, etc.
He Bing hesitated as to whether to launch an attack and asked:
"Can you find out how many ships the enemy has?"

Since Jin's navy had never listed Xia's navy as an imaginary enemy, and there was Zhao in the middle, Jin would not have known that Xia had a huge navy if it hadn't been for Yan's envoy.

I had often heard from Jin merchants traveling to and from the Xia Kingdom that there were often warships flying the Xia flag wandering in the Bohai Sea. I thought there were only a dozen of them, but who knew that there were hundreds of ships coming from the Yan Kingdom?

This made He Bing a little at a loss. First, he didn't know the performance of the enemy warships, and secondly, he didn't know how many enemy ships there were. He only knew hundreds. One hundred was hundreds, and nine hundred was hundreds.

"According to the enemy ship's fire counted by the brothers, there are probably more than 550 enemy ships, and..."

"Five hundred fifty?"

He Bingzui was a little dry. He only brought more than 500 ships for this expedition, and because there were no supply ships, nearly a hundred of them were supply ships, excluding other ships with various functions.

There are less than 400 combat ships available.

In fact, the performance of Jin's warships is much better than that of Xia's. In terms of hardness and speed, Jin is the stronger.

After all, Xia's navy relied on careful craftsmanship, the Jin navy's eavesdropping, and the experienced shipwrights brought from Jin.

Hearing the hesitation of his subordinates, as if they had some information that they were unwilling to face, He Bing continued to ask:

"And what?"

"And some brothers saw that in the middle of the Xia army's fleet, there seemed to be twenty or thirty giant ships as tall as our army's flagship."

"As high as the boat I'm sitting on?"

The subordinate nodded uneasily.

You must know that in the Jin Kingdom, He Bing's flagship only had more than a dozen ships, and they were all the vehicles of various governors and admirals, and the flagships of various front armies.

But there are even taller ships than his, which are the vehicles of the Jin Dynasty Navy Commander and the giant ships specially built for the emperor to travel on.

They are all modeled after the "Feiyun" and "Gaihai" of the original Soochow Navy. They use the latest sea-going ship technology and are more advanced. They can accommodate three thousand people traveling on it and are as high as five or six stories.

"By the way, have you found Yan's fleet?"

He Bing suddenly asked again.

The subordinate shook his head:
"It's dark now. I don't know if they haven't arrived or if they have been destroyed by the Xia army, because the Xia ship seems to have just gone through the battle. There are still broken limbs and corpses on the sea."

"With the Yan Kingdom's more than 300 warships, can they be wiped out in one day? Some of them can still escape. Besides, Wang Ming is still in command, so the losses should not be big.

Before we talked about the fifteenth day, wasn't it that the fifteenth day hadn't passed yet?
They asked us to come, but they didn’t come. "

He Bing blamed Yan Guo for everything.

After constantly comparing the strength of the enemy and ourselves, He Bing finally decided to conserve his strength and could not lose the strength of the Jin State for the sake of an irrelevant Yan State.

"Instruct the commander of the capital to withdraw the entire army twenty nautical miles and continue to send ships to search for the Yan army fleet. If they do not arrive again tomorrow, the entire army will withdraw and withdraw to Jingkou."

"Order."

In the dark night, the Jin fleet slowly turned around. Their deftness and speed were much faster than Xia's army.

In less than an hour, the Jin army had already completed a U-turn in the dark and headed towards the rear.

April 16

At dawn, the sun peeks out from the sea.

Xiahoubo, who had been waiting all night, still did not see the Jin army, thinking that Wang Ming was lying to him.

"Captain, there are fast ships coming from the south. I see a large fleet of ships heading south, flying the flag of the Jin Dynasty."

Xiahoubo pushed open the hatch, and bright sunlight suddenly shone on him.

"It looks like the sun is rising."

"Send the order from the Governor to return the entire army to Jinzhou!!!"

April

The Xia Navy returned to Jinzhou Port.

On the same day, a ship came from Pingzhou, bringing news that Yan was conspiring with Zhao and Jin.

Xiahoubo immediately sent his men to Qiyang, and sent more than a hundred warships and hundreds of large ships, with 10,000 infantry troops stationed in Jinzhou, to support Pingzhou.

As for why troops were mobilized to Pingzhou without a military order, it can only be said that Bai Shu had already made arrangements.

In order to promptly support the enclave of Pingzhou, Bai Shu stationed 10,000 infantry troops in Jinzhou City, under the control of General Chariot and Cavalry and Navy Commander Xiahou Bo.

When there is a war in Pingzhou, Xiahoubo can mobilize troops to support him, so as not to wait until Qiyang comes to order, but the war in Pingzhou has already ended and the opportunity to fight is not missed.

(End of this chapter)