One after another, light wooden boats swooped down the current from upstream.
Looking from the warships of Jiaozhi, one could see a person standing on each small wooden boat, and each person was shirtless in order to keep the boat moving.
The small wooden boat moved very fast, and before it entered the effective range of the arrows from the Jiaozhi warships, it ignited the oil (tar oil, the concept of which was first proposed by Shen Kuo) on the small wooden boat, and the grass and wood on the small wooden boat instantly caught fire.
The people on board immediately jumped into the water and disappeared on the river, while the small wooden boat moved even faster.
Soon, flames began to ignite on the river, and there were more than 560 such small wooden boats.
From a distance, it looked like a magnificent fire dragon, rushing towards the warships of Jiaozhi ahead.
The Vietnamese warships quickly turned around, but it was too late.
Small wooden boats rushed toward the warships like moths to a flame, crashing into them.
One ship was manageable, but when hundreds of ships rammed into it, the first seven or eight warships of Jiaozhi were immediately set ablaze.
Flames erupted on the river, and the other warships fled in panic.
"Fire has broken out!"
"Fire has broken out!"
"..."
Terrified screams erupted from the Kozhian ships, and chaos ensued.
The center of the Fu Liang River was engulfed in flames, and the rest of the Jiaozhi warships dared not approach.
At this time, the main force of the Song army had already boarded the ships and sailed to the opposite bank. The Song soldiers on the ships could clearly see that the fire in the central river blocked the way for the remaining Jiaozhi warships that had not been set on fire.
Even some small wooden boats continued to surge downstream, like ghosts burning with hellfire, making the Jiaozhi warships unable to avoid them.
The main force of the Song army crossed the river without any hindrance, and the outposts of Jiaozhi on the shore had been eliminated by Yang Zaixing.
Yue Fei led his generals ashore.
Also brought ashore were various military equipment of the Song army.
For example, iron cannons, oil tanks with intense fire, rockets, and fire lances...
In short, this time, Li Gang transported all the newly developed weapons from the General Armaments Bureau and the Academy of Sciences to the southwest.
Of course, Li Gang also made it clear to Zhong Shidao and Zong Ze that some of these weapons had only been developed recently and were still in the trial stage, so Yue Fei should not rely on them too much.
Yue Fei's main force consisted of 3,000 men who landed, including 800 cavalry.
This landing operation was included in the teaching materials of the Imperial Military Academy in Tokyo for all officers to refer to and study.
This time, a famous general from history also stood out in the Song army. His name was Li Bao.
It can be said that this tactic of using fire to suppress the warships of Jiaozhi and clear the way for the main force of the Song army was proposed by Li Bao, who was only eighteen years old at the time!
In orthodox history, Li Bao had an outstanding military record and was the number one naval general of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Zhong Shidao later analyzed the causes and consequences of this battle in the lecture hall.
Based on the Song army's attack on Jiaozhi fifty years ago, in which Jiaozhi was lured out and suffered a major defeat, this time the Jiaozhi army will definitely hold its ground and fight a defensive battle.
The Phu Luong River was the most important barrier to the north of Thang Long, the capital of Jiaozhi. To conquer Jiaozhi, one had to cross the Phu Luong River.
After entering Jiaozhi territory, Yue Fei ordered Yang Zaixing to capture Su Mao and build warships and wooden boats there. He planned to send the left wing army down the river to Fu Liang River to fight a major battle with the Jiaozhi army.
At this time, Yue Fei heard that a young soldier in the army was risking his life to offer a plan, so Yue Fei agreed to meet the young soldier.
Li Bao then explained his idea of launching a fire attack overnight, and Yue Fei was immediately amazed by Li Bao's talent.
Unlike Zhou Yu's burning of the Red Cliffs during the Three Kingdoms period, the Fulang River was far less wide than the Yangtze River. If fire was to be used, there was no need for the enemy ships to be linked together; a rapid fire attack at night would suffice.
As Yue Fei said, the purpose of this battle was not merely to annihilate the Jiaozhi navy, but to target the main Jiaozhi force stationed on the south bank of the Fuliang River.
The morale of the main force of Jiaozhi is already low. If they are struck with lightning speed, they will surely be defeated!
Hurry!
The main force of the army was so close to Jiaozhi that there was no time to organize the soldiers, no time to deploy the troops, and even the officers did not have time to assemble the soldiers.
When Yue Fei landed, Yang Zaixing and Wang Gui had already advanced to the left and right flanks respectively, blocking any possible sneak attacks from the left and right flanks for Yue Fei's central army.
Yue Fei immediately led eight hundred cavalrymen and sped towards the Jiaozhi army camp ahead.
Zhang Xian led the remaining infantry to guard the riverbank to prevent the Jiaozhi navy, whose ships were still intact, from suddenly landing and launching a surprise attack on the Song army.
At the same time, the archers quickly stepped forward and fired arrows at the vanguard. Countless arrows flew into the air and then fell down, hitting the elephants of Jiaozhi, creating a bloody spray.
They quickly defeated the leading elephant troops of Jiaozhi, clearing the first obstacle for Yue Fei's eight hundred cavalry.
In the lecture hall of the Imperial Military Academy, Zhong Shidao used a single sentence to describe Yue Fei: "His skillful use of cavalry is like divine assistance!"
This means that when Yue Fei used cavalry, it was as if the gods were helping him.
Zhong Shidao, who has thoroughly studied ancient and modern military classics, saw the shadow of Huo Qubing in Yue Fei. Both were adept at using cavalry raids and flanking maneuvers to defeat the enemy in a blitzkrieg style!
But Zong Ze commented on Yue Fei in this way: Yue Fei was not only good at using cavalry, he could also build the entire army into an iron torrent!
Have you ever seen an army made of steel?
That's what Yue Fei's army was like!
"Iron forging" does not refer to a physical body made of steel, but rather to willpower!
While Ruan Jinghe was gathering his generals to organize the army for defense, Yue Fei's eight hundred iron cavalry had already stormed into the Jiaozhi camp with astonishing speed.
Each person wielded a sharp saber, each strike cutting through flesh and blood.
Some had half their heads sliced off with a single cut, some had half their faces split open, and others had their jaws split open from their chins to their lower abdomens.
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