Chapter 359: My Ming Dynasty has strong ships and powerful artillery!

“Li Ming!”

Li Chengqian rested his head on the guard’s thigh, staring up at the big ship, gritting his teeth in hatred, his eyes red.

Li Mingze didn’t even look at his brother. He leaned on the railing and enjoyed the breeze, looking very comfortable, just like an ordinary tourist passing by.

When he glanced at the shore just now, Li Ming obviously saw Li Chengqian.

But the boy looked away again, and it was obvious that he did it on purpose.

He just didn’t bother to pay attention to his emperor brother. In his eyes, Emperor Yongqing was not worthy of being an opponent!
“Li——Ming——!!!”

Li Chengqian became even angrier and wished he could eat his little brother alive.

It would have been fine if that brat had seized his throne, but he even ignored him!

What a shame this is, it’s like slapping him in the face in front of the whole world!

Even if that guy asked a few soldiers to symbolically shoot a few arrows at the shore!
This touching farewell between brothers did not last long.

The Tang army immediately formed a shield wall to protect Li Chengqian, separating their majesty from the enemy flagship.

Li Chengqian’s vision was gradually obscured by the cold armor and shield. The last thing he saw was Li Ming, with his hands behind his back, leisurely strolling back to the cabin.

“Li Ming, you kid!”

Emperor Yongqing’s blood boiled again, and a fishy and sweet taste came out of his mouth again.

“Your Majesty! Please calm down, Your Majesty, and don’t get angry with the villains!”

Li Zhi gave earnest advice.

“Cough, cough! Cough…” Li Chengqian stared at the direction where the big ship was sailing away, coughing up bloody phlegm.

The imperial doctors around were in a panic and were busy as hell.

Li Zhi was really anxious. He pulled Li Chengqian’s sleeve and shouted:

“Brother!”

Li Chengqian paused, and finally turned his gaze back to his younger brother beside him.

“Brother, there are always higher mountains than others. We…are not as skilled as others, so don’t worry too much.” Li Zhi advised sincerely.

Li Chengqian was finally touched by his brother’s honest words.

His eyes slowly turned to Li Zhi, his eyes were dull and lifeless, blood seeped from the corners of his mouth, outlining a bitter smile.

“Yes, under my governance… no, under my absurd rule, the Tang Dynasty declined, people’s livelihood was in decline, and the country fell apart.

“I am not a qualified emperor. I am just a mediocre person who relies on my mother and…father to sit in this position.”

“Your Majesty…” Li Zhi knelt beside his brother, holding his hand, tears streaming down his face.

Li Chengqian gently patted the back of Li Zhi’s hand and said:

“the same as you.”

Li Zhi’s crying stopped abruptly, but his whole body began to tremble uncontrollably.

Emperor Yongqing just watched quietly as the Crown Prince went crazy.

After a while, Li Zhi calmed down and let out a long breath:

“Yes, brother, you are right.”

He was not convinced that he was beaten by the Ming army in the battlefield. He was not convinced that the Ming army took advantage of the situation and drove him out of Chang’an.

But after seeing the brand new Ming fleet, he was convinced.

You can’t help but admit it. Being able to find time to build an invincible fleet during the intervals between battles, this is a terrifying operational capability…

As an enemy, Li Zhi felt only fear.

…………

On the big ship, little brother Li Ming, who had inadvertently shocked the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty and the Crown Prince, was moving towards the cabin step by step with difficulty.

“Why is the south wind blowing so hard? Why is the boat sailing so fast? Why do I feel so dizzy…”

In order to feel better when he was seasick and not to disturb everyone in the cabin, Li Ming had to stand on the deck alone, enjoying the wind and making a nest for the Fen River.

“Brother Li Chengqian doesn’t seem to be in good health, but my current condition is not good either…”

Friends who have experienced motion sickness know that their heads are already dizzy, and when they turn their heads to the shore nearby and focus their eyes into the distance, they become even more dizzy.

He could only straighten his head and stare straight ahead without distraction.

As for what happened to Brother Li Chengqian, he really wasn’t in the mood to care.

Let the other side fend for themselves. After all, one more emperor won’t make much difference, and one less emperor won’t make much difference.

“Your Majesty, please return to the cabin quickly. The Tang army has deployed crossbows. It is too dangerous outside the deck.”

The loyal Xue Wanche and the devoted Qibi Heli hid in the safe cabin and shouted to Li Ming from afar.

Thank you so much for your concern… Li Ming’s mouth twitched, and he returned to the cabin, hunched over, staggering like an old man, holding back the rage in his stomach.

Before he even touched the seat, Qibi Heli came up to him and asked:
“Your Majesty, was that Your Majesty just now?”

Is there something wrong with my ears or with your mouth…Li Ming felt dizzy.

“What did you say?”

“He asked you, was that Li Chengqian on the shore just now? I said, yes~” Xue Wanche yelled into Li Ming’s ear word by word, as if the other party was a hard of hearing old man.

“Oh, I know, I know. Why are you yelling so loudly…”

Li Ming slapped Xue Wanche’s big face and rubbed his buzzing ears.

“By the way, what are Li Chengqian and Li Zhi doing in Puzhou?”

“He thought our army was going to attack Chang’an, so he escaped here in advance. He didn’t expect to be run into by us.” Xue Wanche shrugged.

Qibi Heli remained silent and was unwilling to participate in this topic.

“They are just making a scene for themselves. Who cares about them?”

Li Ming complained while picking his ears.

That rough guy, Lao Xue, had a really loud voice. He still has tinnitus and a dripping sound in his ears from all the yelling.

“What’s that sound? Tick-tick, is it raining outside?” Qibi Heli raised his head and listened for a while.

It turns out that it wasn’t an auditory hallucination… Li Ming put down his hands and listened attentively.

The sound came from the direction of the cabin ceiling and was continuous.

But the sky outside was clear and there was not a single cloud in the south wind. How could it rain?

“That’s the sound of arrows.”

Xue Wanche said.

“Oh.”

Li Ming replied nonchalantly.

Then the three of them talked about how to quickly win the battle and defeat the main force of the enemy in one fell swoop after arriving in Jinzhou.

It was as if the rain of arrows outside was unimportant, it was really just a rain.

…………

“Load the crossbow! Pull the string to full length! Release the arrow!”

Puzhou on the shore is a completely different scene.

Shouts came one after another and the officers and soldiers were very busy.

Busy throwing arrows at the Ming fleet.

“Ready, ready…”

The huge crossbow on the city wall was aimed at the flagship at the head of the fleet. The turntable mechanism stretched the bowstring to the extreme, and the sharp and solid iron arrow flashed a cold light in the sun.

“put!”

At the captain’s command, the soldiers pulled the trigger of the crossbow steadily. With a buzz, the fully drawn arrow flew across the river like a flash of lightning, carrying huge kinetic energy, and shot towards the flagship where Li Ming was sitting.

Hey~
The Ming ships were wrapped in a round steel plate, like a tortoise shell. When the crossbow arrows were shot at them, they made a crisp sound and were easily deflected, falling lightly into the water without taking away any clouds.

Apart from a few sparks and a white spot on the iron “turtle shell”, this crossbow arrow weighing several kilograms left nothing behind.

“Are all the Ming fleets monsters…”

Li Shiji stood on the top of the city wall, overlooking every corner of the battlefield.

The battle process is not complicated, the battlefield is open, and there is no fog at all.

The Ming army’s ships simply passed through the Tang army’s battle line in a swaggering manner, bathed in the Tang army’s rain of arrows, and then continued northward along the Fen River on the spring breeze.

No matter how the Tang army shot, the thick armor easily blocked all attacks, which was like tickling.

“Damn it, this won’t work!”

Li Shiji’s eyes were spitting fire, but he could do nothing.

The Ming Dynasty’s steel forging technology was far ahead. In comparison, the Tang army’s elite weapons were like a pile of scrap copper and iron.

No matter how hard you hit, you won’t be able to break the defense.

This is not a gap in strategy and tactics, but a gap in national strength and economy at a deeper level.

There is no solution.

Li Shiji felt deeply powerless.

The Tang Dynasty once crushed the barbarians with its powerful national strength, and today, Li Shiji finally tasted the feelings of those losers.

There is nothing but powerlessness.

“Hehe, in this round, they are more skilled.” Li Shiji was not completely desperate, he still had confidence.

That was the land battle that followed.

Bows and crossbows were just appetizers; the defensive line he set up on the banks of the Fen River and in Puzhou City was the highlight.

No matter how well-equipped the Ming army was, it was impossible for every man to go to war carrying a tortoise shell on his back, right?

“Where will they land?”

Li Shiji opened his eyes wide and held on to the Ming army warships tightly.

After staring and staring, he found the key problem.

The Ming army’s fleet seemed to have no eyes, completely ignoring Puzhou in front of them and the Tang army attacking them, and just kept on going as if no one was around.

In just the time it takes for a stick of incense to stick, several outpost boats had left Puzhou waters and continued to head north.

The Ming army had no plan to land and attack the city!
“Why don’t they attack the city? Why don’t they attack the city?

“Isn’t the emperor here?”

Li Shiji threw himself to the edge of the city wall, holding onto the parapet with his hands, wishing he could stick half of his body out to get a clear view.

He was not mistaken. The main force of the Ming army was marching towards the north, leaving Li Shiji with only a dashing back view.

“What on earth are they planning…”

Li Shiji was confused by the opponent’s “leapfrog tactics”.

He suddenly realized that all the defensive preparations he had made in advance were useless.

The bows, crossbows and arrows that were prepared at great expense were unable to cause any actual harm to the enemy, and there was even a suspicion of borrowing arrows from a straw boat – although whether the Ming army would look down on these junk is still unclear.

The city and coastal defenses he had carefully arranged became mere decorations because the Ming army had no intention of landing at all.

“broken!”

Li Shiji finally realized something and his heart sank.

“Li Ming is going north to support Li Jing and attack the emperor from both north and south!”

Although he had made all kinds of defensive preparations in Puzhou, he had forgotten one thing, which was something that the Emperor had personally instructed him to do.

Iron chains are placed across the river, completely blocking the Fen River!
“It’s too late to set up iron chains now. We can’t stop them. We can’t stop them at all…”

Li Shiji realized that he had caused a big disaster. He clenched the bricks of the city wall tightly in his hands, regretting so much that he wanted to bang his head against the wall.

I shouldn’t have listened to the governor’s slander! What’s the point of a major transportation route? What’s the point of commerce and people’s livelihood?
Don’t even think about what time it is now!

Everything must serve the battlefield in Shanxi!

“No, there is still a chance…”

Li Shiji quickly cheered up.

Fighting a war is not a one-time deal for the army; it needs food continuously!
Li Ming’s army was too large. Although it looked majestic, the daily consumption of food and fodder for humans and horses was also huge.

If the Ming army’s logistics relied solely on land routes and crossed the Taihang Mountains from Hebei, it would not only be inefficient and costly, but would also be easily harassed.

Don’t forget that His Majesty the Emperor is best at cutting off logistics.

If it is just a small group of troops, they can still be transported by land.

For an army as large as Li Ming’s, logistics are definitely inseparable from the Fen River water transportation.

In other words, it is still not too late to use iron chains to block the Fen River and seal off the Ming army’s supply routes for subsequent operations!
Li Shiji felt that things had finally turned around and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Too clever, too clever. Li Ming didn’t want to waste too much time on the siege of Puzhou, but he forgot that Puzhou is the main road of Fenhe River!

“As long as Puzhou is still in our hands, we will not allow him to have even a single ship pass through!”

He immediately ordered:
“Search and collect the iron chains in the city, connect them end to end, and block the Fen River waterway.

“Then let the city’s blacksmiths forge a chain over a hundred feet long to completely block the Fen River!”

The Tang army acted very quickly, dismantling the hinges of the city gates and quickly DIYing a long and thick iron chain.

Looking at the chain that looked like a giant dragon, Li Shiji finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“very good!”

No matter how powerful the Ming Dynasty’s ships are, they can’t fly!

As long as there are layers of iron chains across the river, and assisted by harassment from bows and crossbows on the shore.

It is enough to prevent a single Ming army sailing into Jinzhou!

“More soldiers are not necessarily better. If the logistics are not guaranteed, the bigger the army, the bigger the trouble.

“Li Ming is still too young and too eager for success. He has put himself in a dead end!”

Li Shiji seemed to see the dawn of a turnaround.

There is just one small problem in practice –

How to put the iron chain across the river?

According to common sense, one end of the iron chain is nailed to the shore, and the other end is towed to the other side by a ship. With both ends fixed, the iron chain is completed.

This is what the Tang army did. A boat carrying one end of a heavy iron chain sailed to the other side of the Fen River.

As a result, just as the boat left the dock, a huge rock fell from the sky and sank the boat. It sank, sank…

It is a ship of the Ming Dynasty.

A warship was cruising openly on the surface of the Fen River in full view of the Tang army, as if showing its power to the Tang Dynasty.

Behind her, there were several equally powerful warships.

The Ming fleet did not withdraw in its entirety.

They left behind some ships to cruise in the river near Puzhou.

Even if it was just a squadron, it was still a huge behemoth that the Tang army could not deal with.

Li Shiji’s mouth twitched, and he realized a very serious problem –

It seemed that it was not him but the Ming army that blocked the Fen River!

With these giant beasts of the water guarding the area, the Tang army is now in a dilemma of not being able to sail into the Fen River!

(End of this chapter)