One Piece of Song Dynasty

At this time, Han Shizhong was in Zhenjiang. He had heard the news that Wu Shu claimed that he had completed the search for mountains and seas and was preparing to cross the Yangtze River to return. He also received Li Xin's order, so he used the state's celebration of the Lantern Festival as a smoke screen to take advantage of the Jin army's failure. Prepared, led thousands of troops and more than a hundred warships to rush to Zhenjiang. On February , Wanyan Zongbi learned that he was afraid that his return route would be blocked, so he led his army from Lin'an northward along the canal in an attempt to cross the river from Zhenjiang and return north.

On March th of the fourth year of Jianyan, Han Shizhong led thousands of water troops to fight Wushu's -strong army in a decisive battle on the Yangtze River. That day, the wind was howling, and the banners of the Jin Army in the south of the Yangtze River were hunting. Thousands of boats were launched together, and hundreds of boats were vying for the current. The bows of the boats pierced the waves, broke through the center of the river, and rushed towards the north of the river. Wu Shu stood on the building boat, smiling contemptuously at the Song army's giant ships lined up in the north of the Yangtze River.

On the ship of Song Junlou opposite, Han Shizhong passed wine from a golden bottle and drank freely, raising the bottle to signal Wu Shu, who was getting closer and closer. When Wu Shu saw Han Shizhong enjoying his leisure time drinking, his smile solidified. Judging from the comparison of troops, it was a thousand against a hundred thousand, and it was not an ambush or a follow-up, but a head-on decisive battle. Wu Shu had to admire Han Shizhong's courage.

Jin Wushu was hesitating when suddenly the drums of the Song Army sounded loudly, and hundreds of loach warships crossed the hull together. The crossbows and trebuchets on the ships fired volleys at the oncoming Jin Army ships, and hundreds of kilograms of boulders continued to drop. Flying across the sky. The crossbowmen on the Jin army's ships also raised their bows and fired arrows to counterattack, intertwining with the Song army's arrowheads and boulders. Huge boulders fell on the Jin warships one after another, and the ships were immediately smashed and disintegrated, and sank one after another. At the same time, the Jin army's arrowheads also rained down on the Song ship. The Song army fell to the ground after being hit by arrows, and even the sound of the drums suddenly stopped.

When Han Shizhong heard the drumming stopped, he turned around and saw that the drummer had been shot to death by arrows. He immediately rushed to the boat to fight under the rain of arrows, picked up the drumsticks, and beat the drums hard. The sound of the drums greatly boosted the morale of the soldiers. Amidst the passionate drums, the ships of the Song Army suddenly turned around and sailed toward the center of the river like flying. Thousands of rockets and arrows were fired from the ships, and the ships of the Jin Army were hit by arrows and set on fire. , flames shot into the sky and smoke filled the air. Finally, dragging thick smoke, the gold ships were defeated and returned to the south bank. Only then did the Song army ships return victoriously.

At the Quanzhou government office, Lu Yihao hurried in and excitedly held a memorial to announce his victory: "Prince Han Shizhong has repeatedly defeated the Jin army's attacks."

Li Xin looked at the Czech report and said: "Well, Han Shizhong is pretty good. It was sent to Han Shizhong that he should be conferred the title of Military Envoy of the Zhaoqing Army and write a yellow list to inform China and foreign countries."

Lu Yihao asked tentatively: "Your Majesty, can we move to Zhejiang?"

Li Xin waved his hand and said: "This matter is not urgent. We will wait until the training of the new recruits is completed and the Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, and Hunan roads are stabilized before we move again. Moreover, Han Shizhong's victory report only reported that the Jin army was in dire straits, not a big gain. If we win completely, this battle will definitely last for a while.”

After Lu Yihao left, Li Xin called Zhang Rong and said: "I have been busy during this period and have forgotten about your water ghost team. Your water ghost team will immediately rush back to Jeju through Xinghan and continue to monitor. Goryeo, you have controlled the number of ships of Goryeo Navy very well in recent years. When you leave, ordinary soldiers will receive a reward of taels of silver each, and officials will receive a reward of taels of silver."

Zhang Rong cupped his fists and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for the reward."

Li Xin nodded and said: "When I get back, I tell General Seven and the Jeju garrison not to relax for a moment. Jeju is related to the future Northern Expedition plan and must not be missed. After arriving in Xinghan, we will go to the shipyard to bring twenty new Dayu ships." Type battleships go to Jeju to strengthen the combat power of the Jeju navy fleet."

Zhang Rong replied: "Yes, Your Majesty, I will remember it."

The Battle of the Yangtze River reached a stalemate. The Jin army's fleet could not cross the river on the south bank, so it had to go west along the river. Han Shizhong's fleet was parallel to the Jin army in the north of the river. Every night, the two fleets, like two long dragons with flashing lights, sail quietly westward along both sides of the river, which is really beautiful to see. Wu Shu had no choice but to condescend and personally take a boat with a white flag to the center of the river to negotiate with Han Shizhong.

After the two ships approached, Han Shizhong first asked: "Marshal Wushu requested a late-night meeting, what did he say?"

"Buy a road to cross the river from Han Shuai. The gold and silver collected from Jiangnan this time, all the prisoners of war, and five thousand good horses outside the Great Wall will all belong to Han Shuai. I swear to the Tianmeng that I will never invade Jiangnan again in the future." Wu Shu set out the conditions. . Han Shizhong sneered: "Wu Shu underestimates me, Old Han. Unless you return my two palaces to the emperor and retreat from my country's territory, I will let you cross the river."

"I will definitely cross the Han Shizhong River. I will definitely take revenge when I come back with my entire army in the future." Wu Shu didn't take advantage of what he said. He became angry and ordered the boat to turn around and leave. Han Shizhong was furious and did not reply. He raised his hand, opened his bow and fired an arrow. The arrowhead was close to the Wushu helmet and hit the ship's mast. The arrow feathers trembled continuously. Wu Shu's boat quickly sailed away from the center of the river and left in embarrassment amidst Han Shizhong's laughter.

Wu Shu returned to the flagship and was speechless all night. The next morning, he was awakened by General Jin and took him to the deck. Looking around, he saw heavy reeds and the waterway in front was cut off. He couldn't help but be shocked: "What kind of place is this?"

"This place is called Huangtiandang. It is a backwater bay with only entrance and no outlet." Jin Jiang replied in panic. Wu Shu stamped his feet: "Han Shizhong decided to retreat at full speed."

"Han Shizhong has sealed the waterway and there is no way to go back." Jin Jiang became even more panicked. Wu Shu was worthy of being a battle-hardened general. He was not panicked when unexpected changes occurred. He calmly ordered: "Find some local guides to lead our army to break out of the encirclement, and ask my old uncle to rush to Huaidong for reinforcements."

When General Jin agreed and left, Wushu looked at the vast pool of water and secretly looked up to the sky and sighed: "I, Wushu, have fought more than two hundred battles, big and small, and have been invincible. How can I be trapped to death in Huangtiandang today?"

On April th, the fourth year of Jianyan's reign, the Song army's sentinel ship sailed into Huangtiandang. They saw reeds all over the sky, but there was no trace of the gold ship. They hurriedly reported to Han Shizhong. It turned out that on the night of April th, Zongbi adopted the advice of the local villagers and ordered the Jin army to use the old path of the Old Stork River to open a canal for more than miles to the river mouth. The next day, they broke out of Huangtiandang and sailed to the river near Jiankang.

Han Shizhong had to admire the news and said: "Wushu is indeed a powerful enemy. We set sail and chased him."

Besides, Wanyanchang's army, which was blocked by Huaidong, only had Jurchen cavalry, and Han'er signed an army of people. In addition, there were family members brought with the army as usual, including Qin Hui and his family members. Wanyanchang never expected that he would encounter a powerful enemy this time when he went south. This person was Zhao Li, the observer envoy to Xuzhou, the governor of Sizhou Lianshui Army, and the magistrate of Chuzhou, who had just been established by the imperial court.

Just after crossing the Huaihe River in January this year, Wan Yanchang was nailed to death by Zhao Li under the Chuzhou City. For a hundred days, he has not been able to make any further progress. Chuzhou, today's Huai'an, is located at the intersection of the East-West Huaihe River and the North-South Grand Canal. It is the first transportation hub in East Huaibei. Failure to capture Chuzhou would mean that the canal would be blocked. This shows how important Chuzhou's strategic position is.