Chapter 568: Sweeping the Ships
Chapter 568: Sweeping the Ships
That night, Zhou Fashang led a hundred warships and five thousand navy troops to secretly sneak into the Taedong River and sail upstream.
The next morning, the two naval forces acted almost at the same time. Zhou Fashang led a hundred warships to sweep outward, Lai Huer also led a hundred warships to sweep inward, and Xiao Xia led fifty warships to blockade the mouth of the Taedong River to prevent any fish from escaping.
Goguryeo's shipbuilding industry was not backward. As early as the Three Kingdoms period, Goguryeo had maritime exchanges with Eastern Wu. In the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Goguryeo had close maritime trade with the Southern Dynasty and sold a large number of horses to the Southern Dynasty.
After hundreds of years of accumulation, Goguryeo also had a large number of ships, but its navy was not strong. There were no large warships. Basically, they had small and medium-sized warships between 500 and 2,000 shi, most of which were anchored in the Taedong River.
Zhou Fashang broke into the enemy's first dock, where more than 200 ships of various types were moored. There was no one on the ships, and the soldiers on the shore were not prepared at all.
The Sui army began to destroy the ships wantonly. Iron fire bombs were hit by crossbows and exploded on the ship walls. "Boom! Boom!" The explosions were like thunder, and the water was surging. Large holes were blown in the ships, and seawater rushed in. More than a hundred ships that were crowded together were set on fire, and the fire spread, and thick smoke billowed.
The Goguryeo soldiers on the shore shouted loudly, but did not dare to approach the shore. When they got a little closer to the ship, they were shot by a rain of arrows from the Sui army's crossbowmen. After hundreds of casualties, they never dared to approach again.
Seeing that all the enemy ships were engulfed in flames and could no longer be rescued, Zhou Fashang led the navy to leave the dock and continue westward. Of course, the south bank would also be cleared, but the south bank was almost entirely filled with scattered civilian ships or fishing boats. Thirty naval warships were also searching the south bank and would not let go of any ship.
At the same time, Lai Huer led a hundred warships and charged into Goguryeo's largest port, the Pyongyang River Port, where more than 500 ships of various sizes were anchored, including military ships and merchant ships. At Lai Huer's command, a hundred warships rushed into the river port like a pack of wolves and destroyed many ships in the port.
Soon, the raging fire engulfed more than half of the river port. The Sui army still mainly used fire and would not easily waste iron fire bombs. The thick smoke of the entire river port covered the sky and could be seen dozens of miles away.
On the city wall of Pyongyang, Prince Yingyang Gao Yuan led his ministers to look out at the thick smoke billowing over the river in the distance. Gao Yuan was really nervous as he did not expect the Sui army to take action so quickly.
Prime Minister Yuan Taizuo stared for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, don't worry too much. It seems that the Sui army only attacked the ships!"
Gao Jianwu, the King of Rongliu and Gao Yuan's younger brother, said, "Instead of guessing, why don't I lead an army to take a look!"
Gao Yuan nodded, "Just check it out, don't fight with the other party!"
"Don't worry, brother Wang, I know what's going on!"
Gao Jianwu led three thousand soldiers out of Pyongyang and rushed to the Taedong River port area more than ten miles away.
Soon, Gao Jianwu arrived at the port area, only to see thick smoke filling the harbor and raging fires all over the river. Gao Jianwu was so smoked that he couldn't open his eyes, so he urged his horse to run westward and out of the smoke area. At this time, he could see the river surface clearly. The river was full of Sui army warships. They were huge in size, and almost all of them were large ships with wheels. The wheels turned to push the ships forward.
Gao Jianwu took a deep breath. He really didn't expect that the Sui army's ships would be so huge.
The dock guard came running to report: "Your Highness, the Sui army did not land, but attacked our ships, which have now been completely burned."
"Bunch of bastards!"
Gao Jianwu cursed angrily, turned around the dock and ran towards Pyongyang City.
Soon, Gao Jianwu returned to the city and said to his brother, "The Sui army did not land, but only destroyed our ships. Their fleet went west, and it is estimated that our ships will not be spared!"
"Why did the Sui army do this?" Gao Yuan asked puzzled.
Yuan Taizuo said slowly, "Your Majesty, the enemy's intention is very clear. They have occupied Xiaotai Island and Qiuyi Island and stationed a large number of troops there. They are worried that we will attack their logistics, so they simply destroyed all our ships." Gao Yuan frowned, "Don't we have any ships at all?"
"There are still some ships trading with Japan on the east coast, but it's too late to transfer them over."
At this time, Yeon Gaesomun, the eldest son of Yeon Taejo, said, "Your Majesty, Qiuyi Island is only about 20 miles away from our coast. We can select a group of soldiers who are good at swimming, use rafts, carry sealed fire and swim over at night to attack the enemy camp. As long as we burn the enemy's logistics camp, they will have no choice but to retreat."
Gao Jianwu immediately praised: "Your Majesty, this is a good plan. Select 500 elite water ghosts to swim over. If they can burn our boats, we can burn their camp."
Gao Yuan pondered for a long time, finally nodded, and said to Gao Jianwu: "You will be in charge of planning this matter!"
After a day of sweeping, the enemy's ships in the Taedong River were almost completely destroyed, with not a single ship escaping. Lai Huer and Zhou Fashang led the navy back to Longwei Island one after another.
Xiao Xia immediately awarded each of them a great merit, ordered the army to rest, and march to Pyongyang three days later.
The next night, the sea was calm and a bright moon shone on the water, making the sea rippling. At this time, Goguryeo general Pei Mo Wen led five hundred water ghosts into the sea. Two of them paddled a raft, and two hundred and fifty rafts floated on the sea, forming a black spot that was particularly clear under the moonlight.
Five hundred water ghosts paddled the rafts and paddled hard towards the big island twenty miles away.
To the east of Longwei Island is a cliff about 20 to 30 feet high, with a beach below. Five watchtowers are built on the cliff, with sentries watching the river vigilantly. A team of 100 patrolmen are patrolling back and forth.
On the largest watchtower, the captain on duty was looking out at the river with a clairvoyance. Xiao Xia used high-quality crystal to grind a batch of lenses and made more than a hundred clairvoyances. Every general and above had one. In addition, scouts, sentries, and lookouts who really needed clairvoyances were equipped with one, but not everyone had one. Instead, each battalion was equipped with one, which was used by the general on duty.
At this time, the captain on duty suddenly noticed many small black spots on the sea. He immediately became alert and shouted, "There is an enemy!"
"Dang! Dang! Dang!"
When the alarm sounded, the patrol team immediately rushed towards the camp.
The Goguryeo people also knew that the rafts would be discovered by the Sui army, so they planned to abandon the rafts and dive to the island when they were one mile away from the shore.
But the Goguryeo people did not know that there was already a cheating device called clairvoyance in the world, which could clearly see what was happening on the sea several miles away, and could see even farther during the day.
They jumped into the water one after another and dived towards the island. At this time, the naval commander had arrived at the east coast with 3,000 troops. They were divided into two teams, north and south, and ambushed on the way to the island.
The Sui army soldiers set up a tight net, drew their crossbows and loaded their arrows, waiting for the enemy to arrive.
The five hundred soldiers had just climbed up the cliff from the slope in the southeast corner, and had walked less than a hundred steps when they found the Sui army ambushing on both sides. Arrows were shot at the Goguryeo soldiers like a torrential rain. The Goguryeo were caught off guard and most of them were shot down by a round of arrows. The shrill screams broke the tranquility of the night.
The surviving Goguryeo soldiers turned around and fled, but they had no chance. Their retreat had been cut off. Two thousand Sui soldiers surrounded them. In the darkness of the night, countless spears stabbed at them. After a scream, the night returned to peace again.
(End of this chapter)