Chapter 308

Chapter 308

Can a strategist not ascend the throne? Volume 9: The Calamity of Drought and Locusts, Flying Troops to Liaodong Chapter 308: The Weapon of Naval Warfare

Belonging to the book:


Can a strategist not ascend the throne?

Chapter 308: The Weapon of Naval Warfare…

Lu Lingju noticed the changing scene in this sea area, and naturally, others were not idle either.

The signs of nearing their destination made the boatmen, along with the soldiers and commanders on board, forget that it was still early dawn, and they all eagerly rushed to the bow of the ship.

After more than ten days of sailing, no matter how much the compass indicated the direction, ensuring they wouldn’t stray off course, compared to the ever-changing scenery on land, it still felt too monotonous.

Every day, they saw the waves surging, and after the initial novelty wore off, it also made people feel suffocated by the surrounding seawater.

But now, their destination was right before their eyes!

This fleet, unaffected by the storms at sea, was about to deliver an unexpected blow to their opponents.

For these young people, no, even for Gan Ning and Tai Shici, this was an exhilarating event!

“Although the map does not have the names of these two places, the fleet of Emperor Xiaowu recorded them during their sea voyage years ago. It’s quite fitting that the lord named them,” Zhuge Liang unfolded the map in his hand, marked with star patterns, and gazed towards the west and north of the ship for a long time.

The location of their ship was to the west of Donglai Commandery in Qingzhou, led by Yuan Shao, and to the north was Liaodong Commandery in Youzhou, led by Gongsun Du.

Although no one would have thought that someone would appear in the East China Sea during the internal strife in the Central Plains, they still sailed as far away from the coast as possible to avoid being discovered by the fishing boats from Donglai Commandery.

The place Zhuge Liang mentioned as aptly named was an archipelago located between the Bohai Sea and the East China Sea, scattered like stars, forming a separation between the two seas, one end connecting to Huang County in Donglai Commandery, and the other to Ta County in Liaodong Commandery, effectively the mouth of the Bohai Sea.

Another archipelago was directly south of Liaodong Commandery, only a few miles away by sea.

Both archipelagos were named Changshan Islands by Qiao Yan, meaning these connected islands spread out on the sea, resembling mountains on the ocean.

And what they were heading towards now was the latter.

Before setting sail, in their formulated battle strategy, they had no intention of entering the Bohai Sea.

Surrounding the Bohai Sea were Donglai Commandery in Qingzhou, Beihai State, Le’an State, Bohai Commandery in Ji Province, Yuyang Commandery, Youbeiping Commandery, Liaoxi Commandery, Liaodong Dependency, and Liaodong Commandery in Youzhou. To silently avoid the eyes of all parties and complete the military deterrence against Gongsun Du, they certainly couldn’t enter the Bohai Sea.

The Changshan Islands between the East China Sea and the Bohai Sea were their demarcation line for action, and they must not cross it. The Changshan south of Liaodong Commandery was their landing point.

Lu Lingju eagerly listened to Zhuge Liang, who was acting as the commander, instructing the auxiliary warships to go ahead before noon today—

“First, seize Zhangzi Island!”

This was the southernmost large island of this archipelago and would serve as their transit station to adapt to the Liaodong climate and subsequently launch the next military action.

“Let General Gan take the lead,” Zhuge Liang continued.

Lu Lingju nodded, indicating her approval of the arrangement of the combat personnel.

The young general, participating in naval warfare for the first time, stood at the bow of the ship, watching Gan Ning excitedly move from the central tower ship to the auxiliary warship.

Although her eyes showed a hint of envy, she did not express any objection.

“I thought you would want to take the lead and claim this first achievement,” Lu Yi, wrapped in a cloak, moved onto the deck, looking at Lu Lingju’s stance with some surprise.

To be honest, he felt a bit unlucky to be involved in this sea voyage.

First, he was almost left behind by his teammates at the port, then caught a cold from the sea breeze a few days ago. Fortunately, the ship was well-stocked with medicine, so it didn’t hinder him from assisting the two older “strategists” in completing this hunt for Gongsun Du.

Lu Lingju replied, “The lord said, since I want to be a general, I need to distinguish what a vanguard should do and what a general should do. Gan Xingba was tricked into joining our team by us two, so we must use this knife well, not compete with him for the first achievement and cause conflict. If that happens, future battles will be hard to fight.”

Moreover, she also needed to see how to act in the landing battle.

As the entire fleet approached Zhangzi Island, the naval team led by Gan Ning launched a surprise attack from the bay. In the scene seen through the telescope by Lu Lingju, this naval general, who had transitioned from a pirate, led his subordinates, trained to be quite fierce, straight towards the island’s natives.

The small boats on the auxiliary warships had already flanked the northern rear of Zhangzi Island at the same time as his attack, to prevent any escapees from reporting to the surrounding islands.

Although there were no troops stationed by Gongsun Du on this island, which served as the coastal boundary of Liaodong Commandery, the pillar industry here was supplying sea cucumbers to the inland, and the more than three hundred people living on the island were all good swimmers, physically stronger than ordinary commoners.

But they encountered a prepared vanguard team of five hundred.

When the weapons suddenly appeared on the island, they were driven to the beach by Gan Ning and his subordinates within half an hour, welcoming the subsequent warships approaching Zhangzi Island.

The two huge tower ships, which they had never seen before, appeared before them in a terrifying manner.

If it were just the tall ship bodies, that would be one thing, but these two main tower ships were clearly more than that.

The oars that appeared on ordinary light boats were hung on the sides of the tower ships on an extremely large scale, moving with the ship’s advance, not serving the purpose of rowing, but making people intuitively feel that these “oars” should not be in this silent state.

But no matter what these two main ships looked like when fully functional, it had nothing to do with these people who were not engaged in naval warfare.

They just watched in horror as these uninvited guests seized their livelihood, making it impossible for them to know whether these people were pirates or someone else.

To their great surprise, after most of the crew on the fleet landed on the island, the leader of the fleet appeared before them, forming a sharp contrast with Gan Ning, who had fiercely controlled them just now.

The leader of the sea cucumber gatherers on Zhangzi Island carefully looked at the few young people and Tai Shici following behind them, then turned to look at Gan Ning standing behind with a knife, before turning back to ask, “May I ask what brings you here from afar?”

Liaodong Commandery could no longer be considered part of the Central Plains, and these sea cucumber gatherers had little to offer. Even the occasional pirates at sea mostly bypassed their place.

Suddenly encountering such a disaster, even though only injuries and no deaths occurred in the beach and island battles just now, it still made them feel terrified.

Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang exchanged glances, and Sima Yi stepped forward to reply, “We need some supplies.”

The sea cucumber gatherer just breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that if the other party only wanted some goods, it wouldn’t be impossible for them, but then he saw Sima Yi narrow his eyes and say, “We need population supplies.”

The sea cucumber gatherer’s face changed immediately.

Population supplies? Wasn’t that just another form of naval conscription?

His gaze swept over the twenty ships, realizing that the number of crew members did not match the number of ships, and his heart turned cold.

When he looked back at Sima Yi, he saw that the seemingly elegant appearance also had a bit of sinister calculation, no different from the bandit team that had first landed on the island.

But now was the time when the situation was stronger than the person, and the weapons in their hands were much sharper than the knives they used for chopping wood and killing fish. How could they have the opportunity to argue!

He could only try to show a negotiating attitude in his tense expression and said, “But we have never had the experience of fighting on a ship, and we usually don’t go far from the island…”

“Enough, who said we wanted you?” As soon as he spoke, he was interrupted by Sima Yi.

The young man frowned and looked him up and down, his hawk-like eyes revealing a disdain that didn’t need to be spoken, “We want you to help us make a trip to Xi’anping.”

“With your physique, you’re not worthy of our effort.”

He raised his hand and gestured to Gan Ning, who immediately understood and drew his knife, placing it on the neck of the sea cucumber gatherer’s leader, “How many qualified sailors you can help us capture, how many of you can regain freedom. I think this is a very good deal, isn’t it?”

In the face of such forced buying and selling, how could they have the capital to bargain with the other party!

Apart from trying to do as they said to ensure their freedom through a one-for-one exchange, there was no other way.

What made the sea cucumber gatherer even more afraid to act rashly was that after he followed two warships to Guanglu Island north of Zhangzi Island, he saw that these pirates not only had extraordinary combat power in close combat on land, but also had abilities beyond his imagination in long-range attacks.

The young general who had not taken action before, along with his subordinates, used the Divine Bow that could accurately shoot at two hundred steps, completely dispelling his idea of escaping, and also expanded their thug team assisting in the population acquisition by more than three hundred people.

In just three days, apart from the twenty additional warships on Zhangzi Island, they brought back more than two thousand people from the surrounding archipelago, almost gathering all the natives living on these islands here.

But for those who went to sea in Liaodong, this was just the beginning.

Among the natives of the Changshan Islands, the key hostages were all sent to one of the warships, while the remaining islanders were scattered in a cross-team manner and mixed into the teams on each ship. In this way, their team was expanded to twice its original size, and these hostages could not effectively resist them.

Subsequently, except for the four warships left behind, eight of them headed west directly to Ta Port, led by Gan Ning, Guo Huai, and Zhuge Liang.

The other eight were led by Lu Lingju, Tai Shici, and Lu Yi, heading towards Xi’anping as they had told the sea cucumber gatherers on Zhangzi Island.

“So why am I left behind?” Sima Yi suddenly felt the same sense of being left behind as Lu Yi before.

“Because you look more dangerous,” Lu Lingju’s straightforward answer made Sima Yi, who had just played the villain, couldn’t help but darken his face.

Don’t think he didn’t hear, among the sea cucumber gatherers taken as hostages, there was a saying that he was young but had deep thoughts, with the appearance of an eagle and a wolf, no wonder he was one of the pirate leaders.

As for the four words “eagle and wolf,” he didn’t believe at all that these uncultured sea cucumber gatherers could say such words.

It was more likely that his companions spread it to further create panic.

“Zhongda, don’t look like that, think about it, if we can’t effectively control these islanders, the subsequent battles on both sides will inevitably face the trouble of being unable to take care of both, and may also face a counterattack from the hostages. How can we smoothly complete the planned landing strike, right?”

Lu Yi’s comfort really didn’t make Sima Yi feel much better.

“Not leaving yet? The Xi’anping you’re going to is not easy to fight.”

Although due to the distribution of cities in Youzhou, the garrison in Xi’anping was far less than that in Xiangping, the capital of Liaodong Commandery—where Gongsun Du was currently located—and the population was also less than that in Ta Port, which was used for communication between Qingzhou, Ji Province, and Youzhou, the location of Xi’anping was indeed special.

It was at the mouth of the Yalu River, not far to the southeast was today’s North Korea, of course, it still belonged to Lelang Commandery in Youzhou, and to the northeast along the upper reaches of the Yalu River was the increasingly powerful Goguryeo in this era.

This place where the three sides met was quite complex in population composition, and although the city’s construction was not as good as inland cities, it was not too shabby.

And more importantly—

If there was any movement here, the news would spread directly to the three sides, causing a considerable impact on Youzhou.

But all these premises were that this coastal city attack would not fail.

But with a direct strike at the city, tearing open a gap along the coast of Liaodong Commandery.

“Stop saying things that damage morale,” Lu Lingju had already changed into a suit of armor, perhaps because she had practiced martial arts since childhood, her stature was much taller than her peers, and in this armored and armed posture, she really looked heroic, somewhat resembling the lord she admired, “You just wait here for our good news.”

A main battle tower ship and seven auxiliary warships, under Sima Yi’s watch, set off from Zhangzi Island, along the southern coastal line of Liaodong Commandery, towards the mouth of the Yalu River.

Unlike the coastlines of Xuzhou and Qingzhou, the coast here was rarely visited by ports, and most of the people appearing here were fishermen, so in most places, it was still desolate and uninhabited.

At this time, they no longer needed to hide their tracks, as the fishing boats that discovered their special team could not effectively block them. The only thing they could do was to hide their fishing boats closer to the shore to prevent being targeted by these sudden enemies.

Lu Lingju stood at the bow of the ship, firmly gripping her long halberd.

At this moment, her face no longer showed the previous restlessness, but in her closed eyes, she repeatedly simulated every weapon loaded on the tower ship in her mind to ensure she could respond effectively in case of any changes.

In addition, although Tai Shici taught her his archery skills on the way from Chang’an to Hanzhong because they hit it off, Lu Lingju decisively gave up the idea of simultaneously handling bows and crossbows.

Greed leads to indigestion, with Tai Shici assisting, the responsibility for long-range attacks was better left to him.

Lu Yi did not disturb her pre-battle adjustment, but turned back to the cabin to comfort the fishermen captured from the Changshan Islands.

The ship had set sail, and it was extremely difficult for these people to escape on the vast sea.

And these bandit-like people, although they were ruthless in pulling them onto the pirate ship, did not really commit any massacres. Perhaps what they said about releasing them after obtaining enough population supplies was not just talk.

Now Lu Yi, this gentle-looking young man, brought them food and comfort, making them feel a bit safer from the contrast in treatment before and after.

Whether Sima Yi would feel like vomiting blood knowing this situation was not important. Anyway, when the eight ships entered the mouth of the Yalu River, and the scene before them changed from the sea to the banks of the great river, the soldiers on the warships somewhat had the appearance of being in the same boat.

At a glance, this fleet would never make people think that half of the soldiers on board were temporarily brought here, not originally belonging to the team itself.

What the garrison in Xi’anping saw was only that when they received the news of the enemy’s invasion and came to intercept, these well-built warships did not avoid their fleet but used the “ram” formed by hardwood covered with iron to directly collide with their warships on the Yalu River.

The huge impact force of the ram and the unexpected frontal engagement method of the other party made the first batch of dispatched warships directly turn into a scene of people falling and horses overturning.

No, not all ships were overturned on the spot.

When the enemy’s bows and crossbows took the advantage in the attack…








At that moment, from the small warships, hooks controlled by soldiers extended, pulling the ships that tried to retreat back to their original positions.

Then, from these ships, heavily armored soldiers jumped over.

The more than ten days of sea voyage had made these soldiers, already accustomed to river battles, no longer unsteady due to waves. Moreover, they had now entered the Yalu River from the East Sea.

The Xi’an Ping defenders were going crazy!

Where did these enemies come from?

As the northeastern frontier of the Han territory, this place shouldn’t have faced such a disaster.

What they didn’t expect was that the large tower ship behind the small boats also launched an attack on them.

The massive hull of the tower ship wasn’t a weakness; instead, it moved like a giant beast. The hook-shaped bow wasn’t just a ram but also another form of hook.

The ship withstood the enemy’s arrows. Just as the ram was about to hit the main ship of the Xi’an Ping defenders, the ram suddenly fell forward, like a hook grabbing the enemy ship.

The wooden planks connected to this hook became the passage for Lu Lingju’s crew to board the enemy ship.

The Liaodong defenders had seen many ships but never such a bow design.

If Lu Lingju could explain, she might tell them that this bow design came from the Silk Road.

This was the “Raven” hook bridge from the Roman Empire!

Over a hundred years ago, it reached the Kushan Empire. However, since Kushan was inland, it rarely used this. Xu Rong, assigned by Qiao Yan to trade on the Silk Road, discovered its potential and sent it to Chang’an.

Last year, Qiao Yan had it sent to Xuzhou’s shipbuilding site and installed on the tower ship.

Compared to iron chains or filling the ship with sand for stability, this Raven bridge suited northerners’ sea combat habits better, maximizing the close combat skills of the soldiers on the ship.

Like now!

As soon as the bridge was fixed, Lu Lingju, eager for the Liaodong battle, charged onto the enemy deck with her halberd.

Before the deck’s shaking from the hook bridge’s fixation ended, the Xi’an Ping defenders faced a storm-like attack.

Capturing the ginseng gatherers from the islands required peaceful methods, but dealing with Gongsun Du’s subordinates didn’t need any courtesy.

When the Yalu River battle calmed, Lu Lingju’s halberd held the head of the enemy fleet’s leader.

Facing the blood spreading in the river and the wrecked ships, she felt no anxiety but a growing ambition.

Seeing Lu Yi’s signal, Lu Lingju raised her halberd and shouted, “Prepare the Paiguan, attack Xi’an Ping!”

The chaos from the initial ship interception prevented them from capturing all fleeing enemies. Though some ginseng gatherers chased into the river to capture them, many escaped.

When the eight reorganized ships reached Xi’an Ping, the city was already on high alert.

But this didn’t prevent the city’s fall.

Xi’an Ping, built by the Yalu River, had a moat dug from the river.

To show its northern frontier status, the moat was exceptionally deep.

The river, unaffected by the Central Plains’ drought, rose in summer, making the city seem more fortified.

However, the wide and deep moat became an easy passage for enemy ships.

Before the city’s arrows could pierce the ship’s shields or the catapults could launch, the tower ship’s Paiguan, with a heavy stone, smashed into the city wall.

The stone and heavy pole created a terrifying gap, forcing the defenders to flee.

Under Lu Lingju’s command, the tower ship entered the moat, and its four Paiguan struck down.

Amid the flying stones, Tai Shici’s Divine Bow team launched precise attacks.

The retreating defenders couldn’t stop these fearsome enemies. While maintaining pressure on the city walls, soldiers climbed the walls with hooks and spread out.

The city gate soon opened, and the armored soldiers surged in. Without horses, they still quickly gained the upper hand.

Meanwhile, at the crucial port of Tashi, Zhuge Liang launched an attack.

Huge oil barrels, ignited, were launched into the city by catapults.

The barrels shattered, setting wooden structures ablaze.

Tashi fell into chaos.

Though ships were wooden, Tashi’s defenders couldn’t counterattack with fire.

Fire arrows and oil attacks weren’t mainstream, and Tashi wasn’t prepared.

Moreover, oil was a luxury. Only Qiao Yan’s territory, with its sesame crops, could support such an attack.

When the fire burned the city instead of the fleet, the city’s defensive flaws became apparent.

Tashi’s fall was inevitable.

But surprisingly, neither Tashi nor Xi’an Ping changed hands after the sudden fall.

“You mean they just drove the defenders and civilians onto their ships and left?”

When the urgent reports reached Gongsun Du, he jumped up and ordered a news blackout to prevent Gongsun Zan and Tadun from thinking he was weak.

After this, Gongsun Du focused on the reports.

The messenger replied, “And the treasury! They looted both cities’ treasuries but didn’t plunder civilian homes…”

“Those don’t matter.” Gongsun Du knew the treasury contents of Tashi and Xi’an Ping.

Most taxes had already been sent to Xiangping, the commandery capital.

Thus, looting the treasury didn’t hurt him much.

But losing defenders and civilians was a significant loss.

Youzhou, especially Liaodong, was sparsely populated.

For Gongsun Du, the lack of people hindered his plan to become king in Liaodong.

He hoped for chaos in Xuzhou and Qingzhou, especially Qingzhou, the closest to Liaodong.

If people fled to Liaodong, he could build a formidable force.

But now, instead of refugees, raiders came, taking the people he valued most.

What kind of bandits strike at the heart like this?

If not for his subordinates, Gongsun Du would have cursed. Instead, he pressed his temples and asked, “Do you know who they are?”

The messenger replied, “They didn’t reveal their names, and their ships bore no markings. We only know their ships were heavily loaded, unlike long-distance fleets. Also, among them was someone who once took refuge in Liaodong.”

Gongsun Du raised an eyebrow, “Who?”

“Tai Shici of Donglai.”

Tai Shici’s archery stood out in the Xi’an Ping battle, second only to Lu Lingju, catching Gongsun Du’s subordinates’ attention.

But Liaodong’s news was always slow.

Gongsun Du only knew Tai Shici fled Donglai’s conflicts to Liaodong, not that he later joined Qiao Yan’s Grand Marshal’s office.

After escorting Bing Yuan to Juyong Pass, Tai Shici was recruited by Qiao Yan as a Grand Marshal’s officer.

Such positions, if affordable, could number ten, unlike Middle Generals or Prefects with clear authority.

Hearing the non-long-distance inference and Tai Shici’s name, Gongsun Du slammed the table, “Yuan Shao goes too far!”

With his population fleeing to Bingzhou and Si Li due to locust plagues and droughts, and unable to expand like Cao Cao, Yuan Shao resorted to cross-sea raids?

Others might fear Yuan Shao’s noble lineage, but Gongsun Du, daring to rebel in Liaodong, felt no such fear.

He only thought—

If Yuan Shao thought attacking Gongsun Du’s doorstep was picking on a weakling, he’d prove he was no soft persimmon but a hard stone.

Storming off to gather his subordinates, Gongsun Du didn’t hear the messenger mutter, “There was also a very brave female general…”

This was a notable feature.

So far, only Qiao Yan’s forces had female generals, promoted by the leader.

But in Youzhou’s perception, Qiao Yan had no means or time to attack Liaodong.

Recently, she was in a tug-of-war with Cao Cao in Yuzhou and aiding disaster relief in Luoyang.

Since last year, she hadn’t actively expanded, and this year’s Luoyang move was to compensate for losing Runan and Chen commanderies.

How could she suddenly attack Liaodong?

Yuan Shao had already “copied” many things from Chang’an; using a female general seemed plausible.

Whether this fleet was from Yuan Shao or Qiao Yan, they just needed to drive them out of Liaodong!

The messenger thought so, and so did Gongsun Du.

After receiving the reports, Gongsun Du rushed from Xiangping to the closer Xi’an Ping.

He even exhausted several Youzhou horses.

But even at this speed, when he arrived, he saw the still devastated city walls.

Before he could scold the defenders for not repairing the walls, they approached him, crying, “Prefect, those bandits came again. This time, they didn’t even need to hammer the walls. We hadn’t recovered from the last attack, and when the tower ship appeared, our soldiers fled.”

Gongsun Du gritted his teeth, “So they took more people?”

The defender nodded helplessly.

Seeing Gongsun Du’s anger, the defender added, “This just happened. If you mobilize the fleet, you might intercept them. I wanted to request orders, but before I could send the message, you arrived.”

The consecutive attacks and population loss had Gongsun Du on edge. Hearing the raiders hadn’t gone far, he quickly issued mobilization orders to nearby counties, even requisitioning fishing boats.

If they wanted naval battles and used hooks to lock ships for close combat, he’d use sheer numbers to teach them a lesson!

The people taken from Xi’an Ping might even aid him in the naval battle.

Thinking this, Gongsun Du personally led the fleet to the Yalu River estuary, swiftly turning west upon entering the East Sea.

He was delighted to find the enemy fleet, likely due to their heavy load and deep draft, within half a day.

His opponents, perhaps drunk on previous victories, charged at his fleet without hesitation.

But in this fierce charge, not just the tower ship but several auxiliary ships raised their Paiguan with heavy stones, then—

Under Gongsun Du’s horrified gaze, the Paiguan smashed down on his fleet.

Have you seen a hammer with a heavy stone at the end?

That’s the Paiguan.

Under Ma Jun and Huang Yueying’s guidance, these Paiguan even had rotating bases, allowing the attack direction to change, making it seem like the Paiguan would hit here but strike there instead.

Ordinary ships couldn’t withstand such force, instantly shattered by the heavy stones.

With multiple Paiguan on a tower ship, the firepower gap couldn’t be bridged by numbers.

In moments, the once fierce pursuit fleet was in shambles.

Lu Lingju looked at the sea’s debris, saying to Tai Shici and Lu Yi, “They didn’t think the Paiguan was just for smashing walls, did they? Who uses naval weapons to smash walls?”

She had used the hook bridge earlier to conserve strength…

But if the Paiguan could handle multiple ships, why bother with hooks?

For naval battles, the goal is to sink ships!