Chapter 38: The Navy's First Victory

Dozens of crossbow arrows fell, and the warship in the front of Goguryeo was suddenly killed and injured. Several crossbow arrows shot several large holes through the side strings of the deck. Although it did not shoot through the two layers of war like a war, it was certain that the warship was damaged.

"Shoot!" Seeing the first record of the warship in front, the Sui army behind were also excited. With a loud "buzz." The crossbow arrows covered the sky and fired towards Goguryeo, nailed to the ship, making a snatching look. In the moment, the more than ten Goguryeo ships in the front fell on the bed crossbows as thick as arms. Even the soldiers hiding in the Pancang could only be avoided. At least one-third of the people of the more than one-third of the people were effectively killed.

The warships with 300 materials can be considered medium-sized warships among the Goguryeo naval army. The Goguryeo naval army has only 120 warships with more than 300 materials. There can be more than 50 naval soldiers on it, and more than 200 people can be taken on a warship with 1,000 materials.

The main ships of Goguryeo, which faced the Sui army this time, were mainly three to five hundred ships. This time the navy was not a rookie and had rich combat experience. They defeated Baekje, Silla, and Japanese navy many times, and even defeated the navy of Baekje and Silla countries without leaving any trace.

However, whether it was Baekje, Silla, or the Japanese ships, their warships were not much different. The Goguryeo had an absolute advantage in terms of quantity and size. However, this time the Sui army was facing was a huge monster, with the smallest warships above 800 materials, while the Goguryeo had less than ten warships above 1,000 materials. The strength of Xiang Fang was really extraordinary.

"Crash, crash over." Facing his enemy ship as big as a toy, the Sui army sailors all had a grim sound on their faces. Seeing both sides approaching, they simply used the ship to suppress the people.

"Boom" A Sui army warship with a 3,000-material Sui army warship with a 300-material Goguryeo warship inevitably collided. Faced with the impact of its warship ten times its size, the Goguryeo ships fell apart without any surprise and turned into a pile of broken wood floating on the sea. The Goguryeo soldiers on the warship fell into the sea like ants. Soon, the sea water below was dyed red.

Although the Goguryeo people discovered that the Sui army was coming in a fierce battle, the sea was vast and there was not much intuitive feeling in the distance. In order to win defense time for Pyongyang, especially to clear the fields outside and prevent food and resources from being used, the Goguryeo people had the courage to rush up. Just looking at the huge ships of the opponent, the closer they approached, the more numb the Goguryeo navy was watching. The height of the opponent's warships was several times that of their own warships. Not to mention the battle on the shore, even whether they could board the opponent's warships was a problem. Wouldn't they be beaten and not fight back?

After eating a handful of them, the Goguryeo people reacted. The Goguryeo ships in front of them hurriedly scattered left and right, trying to escape from the Sui army's encirclement, but it was too late to react now. The Sui army had already laid a half-encircled pocket in front of the Goguryeo warship. In this era, warships rely on sails and pulp, so it was not so easy to escape. The ships on both sides came into contact with each other, but when they collided, the Goguryeo warships were all split.

Qin Qiong and the other two were riding a medium-sized warship of about 2,000 yuan. Such warships were twice the largest warships of the Goguryeo people. As soon as the two sides contacted, their ships sank two small boats in Goguryeo. This made the ship's soldiers on the ship suffer. Every time they hit, all the standing soldiers fell to the east and west, and some even thumped on the deck, falling a bruised face.

"Crazy, the people in the navy are all fucking madmen. Are you not afraid of the ship disintegration when you hit me like this?" a soldier murmured.

Seeing the tragic situation of the Goguryeo ships, the unknown soldiers were frightened. Although their ships were ten times larger than the opponent, they only killed one thousand enemies and suffered eight hundred damage. They just hit them like this. If their ships were disbanded, wouldn’t they fall into the sea and become a chicken that fell into the sea?

They didn't know that the impact itself was one of the ways of navy combat. There was a layer of steel plate below the bow of each ship to protect the ship. As long as they collided on their own initiative, the damage to the ship was basically not great. On the contrary, if the other party hit their own weakness, even a few times the decimal point may lead to unestimated losses.

"Boom." There were several more collisions, but the ship failed to continue to move forward and was forced to stop and hit several enemy warships in succession. The power provided by sails and slurry alone was insufficient to overturn the opponent's warship.

"Crack, Crack." Although the Goguryeo ship in front was flying around on the deck and survived, the Goguryeo people on the ship finally had the chance to fight with the Sui army. But they were stunned when they looked at the enemy warship that was nearly meter taller than them. How could they get up?

"Swish! Swish! Swish!" When they were in a daze, the arrows shot from the Sui army ship fell like raindrops. Many Goguryeo soldiers who had just escaped the disaster suddenly fell in a pool of blood.

"Counterattack, counterattack." Captain Goguryeo shouted, only sparse arrows could shoot above.

"Bang, bang, bang." Several Goguryeo warships saw the cheap, and rushed over. They immediately took out a rope and threw it up, put it on the side of the Sui army's ship, bit the weapon in their mouths, and crawled along the rope like a pirate toward the Sui army's warship.

"Cut off their ropes." A cold order came, and the Sui army's axes flew together, and the ropes hanging on them were cut off. The Goguryeo people below fell from the air one after another, and screamed in a shrill voice.

"Bo, Bow, Bow." Goguryeo finally launched the most threatening attack and launched dozens of rockets onto the ship. However, the deck was fire-proof, and the rockets could not burn for a moment, and were soon extinguished by the water lifted by the long-prepared naval army.

Qin Qiong and Luo Shixin looked at the side of the ship nervously, thinking that a Goguryeo people could climb onto the boat to get in the fight, but until the ship started again, no one in Goguryeo was able to jump up.

On a large ship of thousands of materials in Goguryeo, Goguryeo's naval commander Gao Jianwu looked at his battle ships one by one with a gloomy face. A middle-aged scholar next to him couldn't help but persuade: "Prince, order the retreat quickly. Our strength is too weak compared to the Sui people."

"Retreat?" Gao Jianwu's face was even more gloomy: "If you retreat, who will stop the Sui army from landing? Send signals, try to concentrate as much as possible and sink several other ships."

This navy is the only navy of the Goguryeo people. Seeing that one ship after another sinking, Gao Jianwu would not feel very distressed. However, Pyongyang is behind them. In order to support the battle ahead, the materials outside Pyongyang are piled up like mountains. Unexpectedly, the Sui army suddenly came from the sea. If those materials fall into the hands of the Sui army, not to mention the previous plan to strengthen the wall and clear the field, he would be in danger of food shortage. In any case, even if this navy army is gone, Gao Jianwu would have to hold on for a little longer and let the people on the shore move the materials back to the city as much as possible.

Gao Jianwu ordered that those Goguryeo ships who wanted to disperse and retreat had to muster up the courage to fight the Sui army again until they were sunk in the sea by the Sui army.

This water battle lasted only half a day, and half of the Goguryeo ships had sunk. Seeing that the situation was not good, Gao Jianwu had to order the withdrawal of troops. The Sui army pursued them closely and sank several Goguryeo ships one after another. It was not until the Goguryeo naval army hid in the Beishui and faced the narrow waterway that the Sui army had to stop chasing and let the remaining Goguryeo ships escape the disaster.

In just half a day of battle, the Goguryeo Navy suffered heavy losses. Two-thirds of its ships sank, more than 2,000 people were captured, and no less than 5,000 people died in the sea. Their achievements were insignificant. They only sank three small boats of 800 materials from the Sui army, and injured more than ten. The Sui army suffered less than a hundred casualties.

In terms of casualties between the two sides, the Goguryeo people can be said to be defeated and returned. They only faced absolute strength and were a crime of non-war. Their courage did not completely fail to achieve their goal. With this half day, most of the supplies stored outside the Goguryeo people had to be snatched into the city, and the rest that were not transported away were lit. Although the Sui army came ashore, they only faced several flames that soared into the sky.

After the Sui army came ashore, there was no intention of putting out the fire. They allowed the Goguryeo people's supplies to turn into ashes in the fire. The Sui army was not interested in food at all. The entire fleet carried 200,000 stones of grain, which was enough for a month and a half. This time, the voyage was successful. As long as the fleet returned to Zhuo County again, even if only half of the transportation capacity was distributed, it could transport 500,000 stones of grain at one time, and it would only take more than ten days to go back and forth.

As for weapons, the Sui army looked down on Goguryeo's rags. Fresh vegetables were inconvenient to transport them from a long distance. However, in just half a day, the Goguryeo people had no time to destroy farmland, so the Sui army could requisition them on the spot.

As soon as they stepped ashore, the soldiers of the palace breathed a sigh of relief, as if they had put down a big stone in their hearts, became alive, and began to camp in the village. Although the navy fought fiercely for a long time, half of the people were assigned to go ashore to prevent the Goguryeo people from leaving the city to counterattack.
Chapter completed!