Chapter 33: Liaohe River Naval Battle In early spring, all things come back to life and the scene is full of vitality everywhere. Wen County in Liaodong is peaceful and tranquil. The horses, cattle and sheep that have been kept in captivity for the whole winter finally get to taste the delicious grass again and run happily on the grassland. In the fields, crops planted in late autumn began to grow again. People who had stayed in factories and homes for a long time also started a new life. The village was busy with sacrificial ceremonies, and the village propaganda team was also busy organizing various theatrical performances. Ships loaded with refugees kept coming and going. Countless new villages sprang up like mushrooms after rain, and the villages on both sides of the Daqing River were almost connected. Just when things were peaceful and tranquil, a piece of information was urgently delivered to Tian Ze. "The Xianbei are invading!" After everyone sat down, Tian Ze said with a heavy face: "We have received intelligence that the Xianbei are reorganizing their troops and preparing to invade Youzhou and Bingzhou again, and their momentum is extremely huge." "It is said that Tan Shihuai is ill, and this trip south may be his last chance." Jia Xu said. "Tan Shihuai!" Tian Ze murmured in a low voice, his eyes full of solemnity.
Tan Shihuai was a once-in-a-millennium hero of the Xianbei. With his extraordinary courage, he integrated all the Hu people in the northern border of the Han Dynasty, forming a powerful force comparable to the former Xiongnu. He had hundreds of thousands of soldiers under his command and became a powerful enemy of the Han Dynasty. Fortunately, due to frequent battles and too many hidden injuries in his early years, he fell seriously ill in his prime. Otherwise, with his ability, it would not be impossible for him to swallow up the two states of You and Bing. "Tan Shihuai's son Helian is not a powerful leader. As long as Tan Shihuai dies, the strength of Xianbei will be greatly weakened and will slowly fall apart. Then there will be no need to worry about the threat from Xianbei." Chen Gong said. "But how do we resist the invading Xianbei? And there is also Wuhuan. We made Wuhuan suffer a great loss last time. If the Xianbei invade this time, Wuhuan will definitely not help Liaodong again, and may even take advantage of the situation to rob us." Cheng Yu said worriedly. "My lord, the Xianbei are invading, and their main attack direction is not Liaodong. Even if Liaodong is attacked, the most anxious person should be the Liaodong governor. We don't need to be too impatient, just wait for news." Chen Gong said. Tan Shihuai was extremely ambitious. He divided the Xianbei into Eastern Xianbei, Central Xianbei and Western Xianbei, and invaded You and Bing states from three directions. The main attack direction of the Eastern Xianbei has always been Liaoxi, not Liaodong, because Liaodong is blocked by the Liaohe River, which is not conducive to cavalry combat. Moreover, once western Liao was captured, the four counties of Liaodong would be cut off from the Central Plains and would be easily taken over by the Xianbei. "But we must still be on guard. Especially against the Wuhuan, a vassal state of Liaodong, we must be highly vigilant," said Cheng Yu. After all, the Wuhuan were beaten up by them, and although their action was in legitimate defense, Su Puyan would never swallow this humiliation. "Organize the army, train the soldiers, and be ready to fight at any time." Tian Ze said in a deep voice. "Han Dang!" "exist!" "You lead 500 naval forces to station and patrol along the Liao River, and deploy many scouts. Once you find a large number of Hu cavalry crossing the river, immediately send troops to intercept and harass them. If the Hu cavalry have already crossed the river, cut off their retreat and their food supplies." "promise!" "Xu Rong, Yu Jin!" "exist!" "You two will each lead 300 infantrymen to build Wubao east of the Liao River to resist the Hu cavalry." "promise!"
"Zhongde, you will be responsible for assisting and preparing the laborers and materials to complete the construction as soon as possible. At the same time, store sufficient food and weapons in Wubao to ensure that it can last for more than three months." "promise!" The decision to defend against the enemy near the Liao River was made after Tian Ze discussed with civil and military officials. This time is different from the past. The scale of the enemy's attack must be large. Tian Ze is prepared to focus on defense rather than actively kill the enemy. The terrain around Wen County is flat and open, which is not suitable for resisting cavalry. The best strategy is to rely on the Liao River and the tidal flats near the Liao River to resist the enemy. …… On the bank of the Liao River, Su Puyan looked at several warships on the river with a very ugly expression. "What a bunch of Han dogs! They actually want to use the Liao River to stop our Wuhuan cavalry." As soon as he learned that the Xianbei were moving south, Su Puyan realized that the opportunity had come. At this time, all the counties in Youzhou were in a state of panic and everyone was in danger. All attention was focused on the Xianbei. It was the best time for him to take revenge. After learning that the Eastern Xianbei had moved south to Youbeiping and approached Lulong Pass, he immediately summoned his clansmen and prepared to attack Wen County to the east. However, I didn't expect that as soon as I arrived at the Liaohe River, I saw a Han ship cruising on the river. After discovering their traces, several Han warships soon appeared on the opposite bank. "Your Majesty, it seems that the Han people have been prepared for this." Ke Sanying said. "Just a few warships and no more than three hundred soldiers, how can they stop my Wuhuan warriors?" Su Puyan snorted coldly. "Quickly build boats and prepare to cross the river! I want to see how these Han people can stop me." "My king, should we observe it a little longer? After all, our warriors are not good at water battles." Ke Sanying said hesitantly. "What are you afraid of? I have 6,000 elite soldiers. Even if one of them spits, we can drown them!" Su Puyan shouted angrily. On the Liao River, Han Dang used the "telescope" given by Tian Ze to observe the Hu people across the nearly three-mile-wide river, with a slight smile on his face. "This group of Wuhuan people actually dared to prepare to fight us on the water. Ridiculous!" In order to prevent the Wuhuan people from making a feint to the east and attacking in the west, Han Dang only gathered 300 navy soldiers here, and dispersed the rest of the navy soldiers on the river to observe the situation. But looking at the sturdy and towering ship under his feet, as well as the two warships, three fighting ships and several cannons beside him, Han Dang's heart was filled with confidence. With such warships, and the fact that the navy under his command were basically refugees recruited from Danyang area in Jiangdong and trained, and wearing rattan armor over leather armor, their naval combat capabilities were much stronger than those of the barbarians. As I said, let’s not talk about the south for now. North of the Yellow River, he is invincible with just these 500 navy soldiers. After spending several days making a number of simple walking carts, the Wuhuan people planned to force their way across the Liao River. The first 3,000 Wuhuan people were sent out, divided into groups of ten, riding on Zou Ke and heading towards the east bank of the Liao River. Although Su Puyan appeared arrogant, he was actually quite cautious. He did not appear on the boat, but watched the situation on the shore. Hundreds of Zou Ke boats seemed to be very imposing, but in reality they sailed in a crooked manner, and some even collided with each other, causing the boats to capsize and people to fall. Some of the boats even began to leak, causing many Hu people who could not swim to fall into the water and desperately call for help from the surrounding boats.
When Han Dang saw this scene, he couldn't bear to watch it. He knew that the Wuhuan people were not good at naval battles, but he didn't expect them to be such a bunch of people. This group of Wuhuan people were very self-aware and had no intention of engaging Han Dang head-on. They sailed diagonally to the southeast along the river, intending to reach the shore first. After all, naval warfare was not the Wuhuan people's strong point. Not to mention that they made so many jokes, just as soon as they got on the boat, more than half of the Wuhuan people felt unwell. But how could Han Dang let them cross the river easily? He decisively led his troops to intercept them in the southwest, and encountered the Wuhuan army head-on in the middle of the river. He personally commanded the tower ships to charge forward. On the tall ship, nearly a hundred soldiers from Wen County stood on the hull more than ten feet high, shooting at the Wuhuan people with their bows and crossbows without any scruples. The Wuhuan people, who were not good at naval warfare, were unable to climb up the tower ship. Even if a few of them managed to climb up, they were shot to death by concentrated fire in just a few arrows because they lacked armor. The Wuhuan people wanted to shoot arrows in retaliation, but they found that the river was surging and their light and simple Zou Ke boats were no match for the huge tower ships, and the hulls were shaking violently. The arrows they shot were totally inaccurate and were aimed upwards. Not only did the Han army have the hull as a barrier, they were also fully covered in rattan and leather armor, so they could not hurt the enemy at all. Seeing this, Han Dang smiled slightly. If a naval battle had taken place in the south, he would certainly not have dared to be so reckless. Naval warfare requires the coordination of various ships. If a tower ship attacks alone, its weakness is too obvious and it will simply be giving away military merits to the enemy. However, a tower ship was enough to give them a headache when dealing with this group of Wuhuan people, few of whom could even swim. After several rounds of attacks, Wuhuan's Zou Ke surrounded the tower ship, but no one could climb onto the ship. The soldiers from Wen County on the boat were almost unharmed, but more than 200 Wuhuan people were shot or drowned. Seeing this, the Wuhuan commander hurriedly shouted at his soldiers to give up attacking the tower ship and head directly southeast to go ashore first. The tower ship was slow and had poor flexibility, so it could not catch up with them. However, Han Dang, who discovered this situation, immediately waved the command flag, and the two warships at the rear rushed up in a row with three fighting ships. The front of the warships and fighting ships were equipped with special ramming equipment, each carrying twenty people and relatively light, and they headed straight for Zou Ke who was rushing in the front. With just one collision, three of the Wuhuan boats were destroyed, and dozens of people on board sank to the bottom of the river. Then the five warships continued to charge forward, and the soldiers on the warships kept shooting to suppress the surrounding enemies. The warships built by Tian Ze relied on some design inspiration from later generations and recruited a large number of shipbuilding craftsmen. The technology was extremely advanced and completely crushed similar ships in terms of speed and flexibility. Compared with the crudely made and poorly maneuvered Zoukes of the Wuhuan, even the warships and battleships could easily surpass them in speed. After several collisions, more than ten Zou Ke boats sank to the bottom of the river with people on board, and a large number of Hu people were shot dead or injured. The Wuhuan people were panicked and had lost their composure. Some of them sailed in circles to try to avoid the enemy, some continued to flee forward, and some sailed backward. Many ships collided with each other, and many were unable to work together to steer their ships in a hurry, resulting in the sinking of the ships. Seeing that the Wuhuan people were in complete chaos, Han Dang waved the command flag again. Zou Ke in the rear rushed forward quickly and became entangled with the Wuhuan navy. They focused on self-preservation and containment and did not force an attack, putting the Wuhuan people in a dilemma, leaving them helpless and furious. The tower ships in the middle of the river also launched suppression again, wantonly shooting arrows at the surrounding Wuhuan people.
On the river bank, Su Puyan saw his tribesmen being slaughtered on the water without any chance of resistance. He was furious, but he had no choice but to order his men to blow the horn to retreat. The Wuhuan people felt as if they had been pardoned and rushed to the west bank. Han Dang pursued the enemy while they were victorious, and did not stop until they were a hundred steps away from the shore. He then leisurely reorganized his formation and returned. When Su Puyan saw this scene, he was so angry that he gritted his teeth and wished he could go into battle himself and fight the enemy to the death. After the inventory, it was found that more than 30% of the Wuhuan warships were sunk in this naval battle, nearly a thousand soldiers were killed or drowned, and nearly 500 were injured. Such huge casualties made Su Puyan extremely angry. "Damn you Han dog! I will take revenge!" (End of this chapter)