[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-shao-song":3,"chapter-shao-song-shao-song-chapter-210":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Shao Song",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1558376,2024,"Chapter 210: One Wave","shao-song-chapter-210",210,"\u003Cp>In the twelfth month, icy fire filled the sky; the Dark One moved his seeds to the Palace of Zhurong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the seventeenth day of the twelfth month, in the afternoon, at the old channel mouth of the Yellow River's northern branch, Xiaowu Sao, the natural great harbor behind the old dike, had already been reduced to a sea of flames.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was no desperate counterattack, nor any traitorous merchant spying out secrets to cross the river and report... In the morning, the Imperial Guard Navy, sailing downstream, had rendezvoused with Li Bao, the Controller of the Imperial Guard Forward Army. Then, under the latter's lead, without a moment's pause, they drove straight for Xiaowu Sao.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, by the time the large fleet sailed downstream and arrived near Xiaowu Sao at noon, the Jin outpost on the west side of the old northern branch channel had long since detected such a massive navy on the river and had already succeeded in sending a fast horseman to report.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At first, the defender of Xiaowu Sao, Da?, did not believe it... disbelief was only normal... but when he personally walked up the old Yellow River dike that served as the harbor's wall and saw with his own eyes the massive fleet faintly appearing upstream, he showed no negligence or delay. The man almost immediately ordered that anyone in the harbor who could handle a boat should board one and get out of the harbor as quickly as possible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those who could fight would fight; those who could flee would flee.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To be fair, this was a very correct military order.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But unfortunately, hundreds and thousands of boats were packed tightly in the harbor behind the old dike, or rather, the naval stockade. And although the Jin army had seized the vast majority of boats in the entire middle reaches of the Yellow River, they had neglected naval construction, only using them as ferry reserves. In fact, because they held all the boats, they were completely unprepared for an enemy on the water.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore, at that moment, how could so many boats exit in an orderly fashion?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, the Song navy was sailing downstream, not much slower than a fast horse on land. By the time Da? saw the outline and issued his order, the Song navy was almost upon them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Bao, the Controller of the Imperial Guard Forward Army, personally led several dozen small boats originally belonging to the Song army on the south bank as the vanguard. They charged downstream into the old northern branch channel of the Yellow River, seizing the exit of the naval stockade. Then, Xiao En, the Controller of the Imperial Guard Navy, led over a hundred small boats in their wake. The two men, one light and one heavy, one sharp and one blunt, were both accustomed to fighting on inland rivers. With just one coordinated charge, they roughly blocked the thousands of Jin army boats of various types inside the stockade.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, without stopping, the fleet used crossbows to suppress the enemy while small boats circled and charged, throwing gunpowder bundles and torches into the harbor to set it ablaze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Almost simultaneously, several dozen paddle-wheel boats, under Zhang Rong's personal command, lined up along the main channel of the Yellow River, separated by the broken old dike, and blindly shot fuzed gunpowder bundles into the Jin harbor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, the Zhao Emperor's gunpowder bundles had never solved the airtightness problem, so even with a more scientific formula, they couldn't elevate this highly promising item beyond the category of combustion aids... The disadvantages of this need not be mentioned; the advantage was that even if a novice made a mistake, no one would feel fear or panic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gunpowder—the Great Song Dynasty had been refining it for nearly a hundred years. From fireworks to military gunpowder, who didn't know about it?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore, when the small catapult carriages malfunctioned, causing slow firing, and four paddle-wheel boats were successively ignited by the gunpowder they carried, the sailors mostly jumped overboard calmly, letting the boats sink. Of the hundred-plus small boats that charged into the harbor blocked by the old dike, a full seventeen or eighteen sank in a short time due to collisions, combat, or accidental ignition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But it was all worth it, even insignificant, because the target of this battle—the Jin army's massive reserve fleet—suffered a devastating blow in an extremely short time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And this result was strategic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With paddle-wheel boats outside, small boats inside, volleys from counterweighted small catapult carriages, and close-range throwing by men, under the pincer attack, in just the time it takes to burn an incense stick, the scale of the fire had become earth-shattering. Moreover, that absolutely correct military order issued earlier by Da? made the fire completely uncontrollable... Many boats controlled by Jin sailors, once ignited, naturally tried to escape the Song's range of fire, to escape the anchorage packed with wooden boats.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The result was that these burning boats, like rats with their tails on fire, became the greatest contributors to actually igniting the most boats.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But unfortunately, the Zhao Emperor wouldn't reward these people. It wasn't that the Zhao Emperor was unwilling, but that under such a fire, escaping was far too difficult.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fire covered the sky and the river. The crude naval stockade, built to gather boats, now became the greatest obstacle to the Jin sailors' escape. These men, mostly Hebei fishermen forcibly conscripted to tend the boats, were theoretically innocent... But war was always like this. Good people and bad people, the innocent and the guilty, were all insignificant existences in war.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No one cared about them, and no one could care.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even seeing the fire unstoppable, the Song small boats that had broken into the old northern branch channel had already begun an orderly withdrawal back to the main channel of the Yellow River.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Chief Zhang!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A three-zhang-long small boat emerged from the broken old dike. Instead of forming up, it turned towards the paddle-wheel boats. The man on board wore only leather armor and a leather helmet suited for water combat, looking no different from an ordinary sailor. From afar, he called out loudly to the large paddle-wheel boat where Zhang Rong was, and he was none other than Li Bao, the Controller of the Imperial Guard Forward Army, who had served as guide and vanguard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Call me Commander-in-Chief.\" Because he was far from the battlefield, and a dike away was a massive fire that made him sweat, Zhang Rong hadn't even bothered to put on his leather armor. He stood with his chest bare, revealing his dark skin. Seeing Li Bao approach, he laughed, hands on his hips beside the giant paddle wheel on one side of the boat. \"Li San the Rogue, I've long heard your name on the rivers and lakes. Today I finally see you. Let me ask you first... now that I'm on the Yellow River and the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guard Navy, I'll be in charge of all the navy on the Yellow River from now on. If I have my son-in-law write a memorial to the Emperor, asking to transfer you from under Grand Defender Yue, would you be willing to come?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The Commander-in-Chief's reputation is even greater.\" This Li San the Rogue didn't agree directly. Instead, he stood on his stopped boat, imitating the other by putting his hands on his hips, then looked up and laughed. \"But if you ask me, today's battle, though satisfying, only showed the skill of a mere Controller. It hasn't yet shown the Commander-in-Chief's skill.\" Saying this, the man pointed directly at a tall, pale-faced young man beside the catapult carriage on the boat's bow, who couldn't even straighten up. \"I think this surprise victory, achieving such a great feat in the time of two incense sticks, is two parts due to the clever strategy thought up by the Commander-in-Chief's good son-in-law, two parts due to the quick ignition of the gunpowder bundles, three parts due to the Emperor's decisive order to dig the canal and dismantle the bridge, and the last three parts are the Commander-in-Chief's skill in fighting today...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li San the Rogue's voice was very loud, and could be heard clearly on several nearby boats of various sizes. However, neither Zhang Rong nor the trusted chiefs of Chief Zhang on the surrounding boats refuted him. Clearly, they all agreed with Li Bao's words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, many knew in their hearts that Li Bao's statement was even generous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because the greatest difficulty of this battle was actually how to successfully get the naval forces of Mount Liang into the Yellow River. Once the Mount Liang navy, or rather, the Great Song Imperial Guard Navy, reached the main channel of the Yellow River, the rest was indeed supposed to be this exhilarating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the end, the most difficult phase of the campaign had already been endured back in Dongjing City.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back to the present, Zhang Rong had been the big chief for many years. What rogue hadn't he seen? Or rather, he himself was the ancestor of rogues. He had long seen that Li Bao was up to something, so he immediately sneered:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Li San, if you have something to say, just spit it out!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Commander-in-Chief!\" Li Bao stood on the bow, putting away his roguish demeanor, and pointed at the thick smoke and raging fire on the other side of the dike, speaking seriously. \"This battle destroyed the Jin army's fleet. From now on, we can run rampant on this middle section of the Yellow River. But when the details of this affair get out, those Grand Defenders might get sour, saying we're only good on the water and can't be heroes on land... Before I went in to light the fire, I saw clearly. The Jin naval stockade is huge. Not only are there many boats in the water, but there should also be two to three thousand regular garrison troops on shore... So, I want to ask the Commander-in-Chief, do you dare let the good men of Mount Liang join me, wearing only leather armor, carrying short weapons, and make another trip ashore?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Rong thought for a moment, then still laughed with his hands on his hips: \"Li San, don't try to provoke me. I ask you, with such a big fire in the harbor, where will you make this trip?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"There!\" Li Bao raised his hand and pointed to the river dike further east.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Yunwen, who had been vomiting uncontrollably due to the rapid advance, had just recovered a bit of his spirit, only to find the battle was already over. He was also a bit disoriented, but now, supporting himself on the catapult carriage, he forced his head up. With just one look, he understood Li Bao's intention... This Li San the Rogue wanted to use the advantage of the boats, while the water part of the stockade was on fire, to circle around and land on the river dike behind the enemy, then launch a sneak attack from the rear while they were in chaos.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a good plan. With such a big fire ahead, the Jin troops in the harbor were bound to be in complete disarray, making a sneak attack from behind easy. Although it was a naval landing and close-quarters combat, it should be sufficient.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Rong was slightly startled by the words, then also became serious, but slowly shook his head:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Li San, I ask you, how close is this place to Puyang? Won't reinforcements come when they see the fire? If we can't achieve a quick victory, what then when the Jin reinforcements arrive?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then we should decide quickly and set out early, so we can achieve a quick victory!\" Li Bao cupped his hands from the boat. \"Still the same words... I am willing to be the vanguard and lead the good men of Mount Liang on this trip!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Yunwen hurriedly looked at his cheap father-in-law, and as soon as he turned his head, he saw Chief Zhang grinning on the paddle-wheel boat: \"Then I'll listen to you, Li San. Let's go ashore and hit them one more wave!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Bao was overjoyed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>PS: Continuing to sacrifice a book... \"Han Ding Yu Yan\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I made a mistake with the new patron's name at the end of the last chapter... A capital offense!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It's \"people should know themselves,\" not \"people ghosts know themselves\"... Uh... A capital offense.\u003C\u002Fp>",2083,"2026-06-06T07:46:04.529Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","4db25da5f42a21169c6a0a9027d6afacc2b0e11fcf8b69f542a761e8542056ea","shao-song-chapter-211","shao-song-chapter-209",489,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fshao-song-cover.jpg"]