Chapter 164: 162 — The Naval Battle at Bailuo Shoal

"Boom—!"

Lightning flashed and thunder rolled; a curtain of rain shrouded the fields in all directions, darkening the whole world between heaven and earth.

All activity on both sides of the battle came to a halt because of this downpour.

Even the soldiers Huang Yao had taken behind enemy lines took shelter one after another in the homes of villagers — no one could withstand such pelting rain.

"It's finally raining."

Zhao Han stood in the command tent, watching the rain fall on the ground, and murmured to himself, "This Governor Li — I've been waiting for rain. What have you been waiting for?"

When fighting in Jiangxi, whenever both sides field forces of any scale, what truly decides victory or defeat is always naval warfare.

Zhu Yuanzhang's decisive battle with Chen Youliang was like this; Wang Yangming's suppression of the Prince of Ning's rebellion was also like this.

Whichever side's naval forces can win will control the supply routes and lines of advance. If the fleet is not annihilated, as long as you can still hold the cities, you can lose any number of infantry battles and still start over.

This stems from Jiangxi's unique terrain — the whole province is full of great mountains, the major cities are distributed among intermontane basins, and they are all connected by rivers and lakes that extend in every direction.

Although Zhao Han's naval force had only a dozen or so fewer warships than the government troops, it was far inferior in the number of large vessels. But he had the terrain advantage, having seized the confluence of two rivers first, while also being positioned upstream on the Gan River.

Originally, he had wanted to lure the government fleet through the river mouth, then encircle and destroy it using the terrain, so that the enemy's advantage in larger and more numerous ships could not be brought to bear.

Who knew that Wang Siren would not take the bait, and never let his fleet cross beyond the river mouth, causing the two sides to face off there for over a month.

In that case, there was nothing to do but wait for rain — wait for the Gan River to enter its flood season!

But the weather in the late Ming grew stranger and stranger. This year, not only was the spring drought severe, but when early summer came there was still no rain. Even after the summer grain harvest was finished, there was still no rain.

At last, the first great rain of the year arrived — and it kept falling for two days and two nights straight.

What Zhao Han was thinking about in his heart was not fighting the battle, but whether the county and town officials and the propaganda corps were actively organizing the peasant associations to fight the floods and carry out emergency relief.

……

Before the rain came, the government army had already successfully crossed the river and was preparing to launch an attack the next day. That very night, Heaven gave them a show of force.

Li Maofang looked at the several cannons before him and asked, "Can they still fire?"

The gunner replied, "They'll go off. The powder was stored well and didn't absorb much damp."

"Good. A heavy reward for you," Li Maofang said approvingly.

The government army had cannons — nine of them in total.

Six of these cannons had been taken down from the walls of Nanchang city; they were old antiques from the time of Zhu Yuanzhang. Very primitive bronze mortars — wide bore, short barrel, great power, short range.

The other three were Folangji cannons, products of the era of the Prince of Ning's rebellion. Two had been cast by craftsmen hired by the Prince of Ning. One was cast by Lin Jun, Wang Yangming's friend despite the great difference in their ages, who made it himself after retiring from office and had his household slaves transport it over from Fujian.

All nine of these cannons were hard to describe in a word. The six mortars were city-defense pieces — thick, heavy, and short-ranged; they could only achieve a surprising effect if the rebels attacked on their own. The three Folangji cannons, though light and long-ranged, actually had very little power, and their breech-loading chambers were also insufficient in number.

"The government troops are moving!"

"Let them take their time attacking."

Over ten thousand government troops moved out, but Zhao Han remained in his camp.

Outside the camp, three lines of trenches had been dug. The passage left through each line of trenches allowed only three infantrymen to pass through abreast.

And inside the camp, there were another two lines of trenches.

Hold the camp and refuse to come out — it was all to stall for time, until Gu Jianshan led the naval forces into action.

"Commander, look!"

Zhao Han immediately climbed the high platform. The distance was too great to make out what objects the enemy troops were carrying out. Only when they began assembling the Folangji cannons a dozen or so paces beyond the first trench did he finally understand what those things were.

"All troops withdraw into the trenches! Shield-bearers, raise your rattan shields to protect your heads! Those without shields, find anything you can," Zhao Han ordered at once.

The three Folangji cannons were soon in their designated positions.

But those six mortars moved extremely slowly. After the rain, the ground was muddy and full of potholes. Dragged forward by mules and horses, they sank into the mud before going far. In the end, they had to be carried by manpower, and after a great deal of struggling were finally hauled over.

"Fire!"

The nine cannons fired in salvo — iron shot, lead shot, and stone shot all flew together.

Two shots landed inside Zhao Han's stockade, struck the muddy ground, bounced a couple of times, and stopped. The muddy ground absorbed the cannonballs' kinetic energy.

Four shots landed outside the stockade, achieving absolutely nothing.

But three more cannonballs struck the stockade wall accurately, blasting large holes through the wooden palisade.

Seizing this moment, Li Ruolian sent civilian laborers to carry earth and fill in the trenches outside the stockade, while ordering the cannons to keep aiming at the stockade gate.

The government troops spent the better part of half a day finally filling in the first trench.

The nine cannons also fired several volleys, during which they misfired in all sorts of ways — the powder had gotten somewhat damp after all.

On the stockade's north side, the palisade wall was blasted down in several places.

Those antique mortars in particular — once they hit their target, they could blast down a whole section at once. These things had originally been used by Zhu Yuanzhang for attacking cities.

"Ah!"

After half a day, a cannonball happened to land inside a trench within the camp, and the first unlucky soul in Zhao Han's army appeared.

It was a stone shot from a mortar. It smashed straight through a wooden shield, then took the man's head clean off. The soldiers beside him went limp with terror.

In a full day, the government troops' achievements were as follows: they filled in two trenches outside the rebel camp, and blasted one rebel to death.

That night, Zhao Han did not lead troops out for a night raid, because the government army was sure to be on strict guard.

The next day, it continued.

"Boom!"

One mortar finally burst its barrel. It was a piece of equipment left over from the early Ming; that it had lasted over two hundred years already counted as sturdy craftsmanship.

And it was very likely caused by the gunner operating it improperly — he probably loaded a bit too much powder by accident.

Li Maofang immediately roared in anger, "Don't overfill the powder charge!"

"Du-du da-da du-da…"

Suddenly the sound of suona horns rang out — not from Zhao Han's side, but from the Ming naval forces using suonas to sound the alarm.

Qi Jiguang's *Record of Military Effectiveness* records: "Whenever the signal whistle is sounded, that is the blowing of the suona."

Wang Siren was at that moment aboard his own command vessel. His task was to guard against the rebel naval forces, and at the same time, should the government troops be defeated, to immediately sail his ships to the riverbank and provide support.

Gu Jianshan led over thirty warships, large and small, surging forward with the swift current after the river had risen. Lacking enough large warships, a head-on clash with the government forces would surely end in defeat, but now the situation was different — beside every warship were a dozen or more small fishing boats.

These were tiny sampans meant to carry only two or three people, but now each held just one man at the helm, the boats piled high with dry firewood drenched in oil.

"All troops, retreat!"

Wang Siren's eyes bulged wide. He knew exactly what the rebels intended. But he was downstream — even if they attacked with fire boats, that was a privilege reserved solely for the rebels upstream.

Back then, when Wang Yangming routed the Prince of Ning's naval forces, one of the key factors was that Wang Yangming held the upstream position!

And so it went: the government naval forces, with absolute superiority in both warships and troops, were pursued relentlessly by the rebel fleet under Gu Jianshan. Both sides swept downstream with the rushing current, all the way to Bailuo Isle at Huangyao Crossing, the narrowest point of the Gan River channel in the vicinity.

Here the river channel was split in two by a midstream islet.

After the water rose, the western channel was over a hundred meters wide, the eastern channel over two hundred meters wide. But the places where large warships could pass were only forty or fifty meters across — in other areas they would easily run aground.

The warships near Wang Siren's command vessel, upon receiving their orders, slowed and converged toward the deep-water passage.

But the government warships too far away simply raced ahead at full speed. The smaller warships slipped through with ease, but four large warships ran aground one after another, instantly blocking the allied vessels behind them.

"Ignite!"

The rebel sailors on the sampans first lit their torches, then pulled on ropes and tossed the torches onto the piles of firewood.

The torches met the oil and instantly blazed into roaring flames.

The sailors drew their blades and cut the ropes binding the sampans, then climbed up the ropes onto the larger ships themselves. Over two hundred burning sampans, carried by the swift river current, hurtled straight toward the government naval forces.

This was precisely why Zhao Han had waited for rain — only after a great downpour would the current's speed meet the requirements for a fire-boat assault. Otherwise, the government sailors would only have needed long poles to easily push away the slowly drifting fire boats.

At the narrow point of the channel, the government's large warships were slowing down and massing to pass through the deep-water zone.

This difference in speed was enough for the fire boats to catch up. Soon several government warships were set ablaze, and the government sailors leaped overboard in haste. But the current was far too swift — even men of excellent swimming skill could not easily reach the shore, and most were bound to drown in the river.

The government naval forces fell into utter chaos. Wang Siren could not hold them together at all.

The warships that had already passed through the narrow channel paid no heed to their comrades' safety and fled on their own toward Fengcheng County. The smaller warships did the same, scattering in a frantic swarm, having long forgotten where their commander's flagship even was.

"Kill!"

Gu Jianshan ordered his own large warships to drop anchor and halt, then personally led the smaller warships — which had no fear of running aground — charging after the fire boats to strike the enemy.

Of the two hundred and more fire boats, many capsized after crashing into the banks, and most drifted past the shallows. Only a few dozen reached their targets, setting six of the government's large ships ablaze.

Truth be told, as long as the government troops did not fall into disorder, six ships set alight was nothing — they still held absolute superiority.

But how could they not fall into disorder?

Half of these government naval troops were Lake Poyang water bandits who had accepted amnesty!

Gu Jianshan, his two-handed war sword strapped to his back, stood at the prow of a small warship and soon caught up with a slow-moving enemy capital ship.

"Grappling hooks!"

Several dozen flying claws trailing ropes were hurled at the large ship's gunwales.

Gu Jianshan was just about to climb up and seize the ship when suddenly someone on the enemy vessel shouted: "Is that you, Old Gu?"

"Fan Er?" Gu Jianshan asked.

"I'm Fan Er," the other man called back. "Go take some other ship — I'll kill the commander on board and surrender!"

With that, the fellow raised his blade and bellowed: "Brothers of Lake Poyang, follow me and kill the government troops!"

In an instant, the amnestied water bandits turned on the regular government soldiers, hacking at them, and soon lopped off the head of a naval Company Commander.

Gu Jianshan swiftly sought out his next target. The small warship he rode was highly nimble — the government's 400-liao capital ships had become nothing but prey.

"Scatter the lime!"

Just as Gu Jianshan led his men in climbing up, the enemy capital ship hurled lime down from above.

Fortunately, Gu Jianshan had long prepared for this. All his sailors had their faces wrapped in gauze, even covering their eyes. Though their vision was not very good, it minimized the lime's effect as much as possible.

"Drop the stones!"

Stones the size of a man's head were smashed down from the capital ship by the government troops, instantly knocking several rebels off.

"Cut the ropes!"

Over thirty grappling-hook ropes were slashed through one after another, and the rebel sailors tumbled down.

But six small warships were besieging this single large warship, and the government troops aboard could not defend everywhere at once.

Gu Jianshan, relying purely on the strength of his arms, scrambled up at lightning speed. A long spear thrust straight at him — Gu Jianshan twisted aside in midair, seized the spear shaft, and yanked the government soldier right off.

The man vaulted over the gunwale, and before his feet even touched the deck, he had already drawn his sword and cleaved a government soldier dead in mid-leap.

With Gu Jianshan's ferocious assault, more and more rebel sailors climbed aboard, and the government troops successively knelt and surrendered.

"Full speed ahead!"

Having seized the ship, Gu Jianshan steered this large vessel and charged furiously toward the government naval forces ahead.

Back at the encampment.

As Gu Jianshan launched his surprise attack, Zhao Han smiled. If Heaven had not kept holding back the rain, this naval battle would have erupted long ago.

On the government side, it was exactly the opposite. Seeing their naval forces routed, Li Maofang and Li Ruolian immediately ordered a withdrawal.

"Kill!"

Zhao Han clambered out of the trench and directly gave the order to sound the charge.

If not for the desire to defeat the government naval forces first, Zhao Han would have gone out to fight long ago!

(End of chapter)