Moreover, once we arrived here, the terrain was open and we had more livestock and manpower available than before in front of the dock.
So, this ship equipped with a small catapult immediately started its land sailing.
As for Jiedu Zhang Rong, although he succeeded in one fell swoop, he had to sing the entire song and followed the boat for a long time before he turned around and put on his cotton jacket.
By this time, the second ship had been successfully launched, and the third ship, a large one, had also begun trying at another larger open-air dock outside the town.
"The boat will definitely be able to move, so I won't stay here." Zhang Rong came back and gave an order to Wang Gui, who had not yet reacted. "But you, General Wang, are not a workaholic. You should listen to others more... Don't worry about anything else, boil enough water first."
"Don't worry, Governor." Wang Gui came to his senses and quickly bowed his head, respectfully. "There will definitely be no shortage of hot water and hot meals."
"That's not what I meant." Zhang Rong replied solemnly. "The two methods we discussed before, one is log rolling, and the other is a shallow ice track... The ice track can't be frozen now, right?"
"right!"
"But there will still be thin ice," Zhang Rong reminded seriously. "In the second half of the night, thin ice will form on the rolling log and inside the dock, which can easily cause accidents... Keep pouring hot water on it! And pay attention to the rolling log, and replace it immediately if it breaks!"
Wang Gui suddenly realized and responded repeatedly.
Zhang Rong said no more, mounted his horse again, and headed straight for Daming City. However, he had not gone more than five or six miles when he suddenly heard a burst of shouting and killing in the night sky in the southwest. He did not know how many people were acting at night, and was so frightened that he reined in his horse and circled around... Zhang Rong knew that it was the express horse report from Daming City that knew that the ancient city could not be concealed, and it was also possible that someone reported it after the first ship was successfully launched. But no matter what, the feint attack plan was launched in advance.
That’s right, this is Yue Fei’s so-called strategy, at least it is one of them.
In fact, to put it bluntly, if one wants to capture Yuan City, a fundamental problem is how to ensure that the Song army has a local military advantage, and then calmly arrange positions and attack the city without interference.
To achieve this goal, let's not talk about what happens after the Yellow River freezes. Before the Yellow River freezes, given the terrain of Yuancheng, it is necessary to ensure that the river can be controlled. As long as the navy can appear on the river near the city, it will be of great help whether it is for siege, defense against interference from external enemies, or retreat when necessary.
However, Gao Jingshan had been a military leader in Daming Prefecture for many years, so how could he not know this truth? The more than 20 artillery carts were a preemptive deployment targeting this vital point, and they were truly ruthless, and the imperial navy was completely helpless.
Yue Fei's response to this was incredible, but also very simple, even simple to the point of being a little crude - this place was only a dozen miles away from the fork in the Yellow River, and the two rivers were only a dozen miles apart, so why not drag the boats over from the land and bypass the blocked river directly?
This idea may seem incredible, but in fact, there is no big problem. After Yue Fei explained it in detail that day, Zhang Rong felt that it was feasible because there was dry dock technology in this day and as early as the time of Emperor Taishang Daojun, someone had built a dry dock next to the Jinming Lake to repair the large dragon boats in the lake that were destined not to go into battle.
Moreover, inland river vessels all have flat bottoms, which means that rollers can be used to assist in "moving", which is much more convenient than pointed-bottom sea vessels.
Therefore, the concept of sailing on land was not a fantasy from the very beginning.
However, there are some other requirements for doing so. It is not enough to have just an idea. He has to ensure that the speed is fast and beyond the expectations of the Jin army. On the battlefield, the biggest variable is always people.
Any brilliant military plan, once discovered by the enemy, is bound to be obstructed and interfered with, and no one knows what will happen at that time. In fact, this is also the reason why Yue Fei gave up the conventional method of digging ditches to divert water.
In order to succeed tonight there must be feints and other covers, and they must be reasonable feints and covers.
So what would be the reasonable military attempt of the Song army?
"Are you here?"
Following the commotion outside the city, Gao Jingshan, who was sitting in his attic in Yuancheng, wearing a brocade jacket, almost the same as the winter attire of a nobleman in Henan, raised his head slightly, his expression unchanged. "I knew that with such commotion, there must be something wrong... Where is it?"
"South!"
A Jurchen Meng'an bowed his head and said, "Judging from the torches and the posture, there must be thousands of people, maybe tens of thousands, piling up boats and connecting pontoon bridges, preparing for a night crossing!"
"Don't worry about him." Gao Jingshan said disapprovingly. "Just send scouts to carefully investigate along the river, and have the lights on in the south city stay on alert all night... If he really dares to attack, we can use the high walls and strong fortifications to make him powerless."
"What if the Song army attacks Nanle and Weidian?" Jurchen Meng'an hesitated for a moment.
These two places are both in the southwest of Yuancheng. They are considered prosperous strongholds and branch cities.
"Then let Nanle and Weidian defend carefully as well." Gao Jingshan seemed to have come to his senses. "If they can't hold on, tell the two garrisons to retreat to Yongji Canal at night and enter the city at dawn."
"Yes." The Jurchen Meng'an responded helplessly and hurried downstairs.
Gao Jingshan continued to sit on the attic, feeling bored for a moment, but he couldn't help but look at a servant beside him. The latter understood and quickly bowed his head to ask:
"Does the governor have any instructions?"
"I remembered something." Gao Jingshan sighed. "Go find a small stew pot with a stove, and then find a fish and ask the cook to prepare it... Finally, I'll ask Gao Tongshi to come over and tell him that I want to treat him to a fish meal here."
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