In fact, the prototype of navy had already appeared in the pre-Qin period.
Zuo Zhuan said that in 549 BC, "the King of Chu organized a fleet to attack Wu." The fleet was the earliest naval force.
However, the navy at this time was mainly responsible for transporting grain.
Although the Chu, Wu and Yue states had ships similar to "warships", compared with later generations, warships did not have the function of "war".
The warships of the pre-Qin Dynasty were divided into two decks, the lower deck was for rowing, and the upper deck was for arranging soldiers. The soldiers were divided into three types: one with bows and arrows, one with long weapons, and one with short weapons selected from soldiers with good water skills.
During combat, archers provided long-range deterrence, and then the warships would move closer to each other and use long weapons to attack each other, boarding the enemy ships in close combat or sinking them, which is the so-called "the wheels of the chariots collided and the weapons engaged".
From this way of fighting, it can be seen that the navy division cannot even be considered as a supplement to the land-based troops. When fighting, it is basically no different from fighting with chariots on land, so its main tasks are still to transport food and troops.
So it is clear in "Zuo Zhuan" that the State of Chu had used its navy to fight against the States of Wu and Yue many times, but the area of Yunmengze with dense water networks, namely the Jianghan Plain, still had no defenses in the Yangtze River Basin, which led to Bai Qi's easy victory.
Why did Bai Qi know Li Mu's trump card immediately? Because when Bai Qi attacked the State of Chu, he used his fleet to catch the State of Chu off guard.
Bai Qi was the first general to use the terrain difference to conduct naval battles. He used the Sichuan Basin as a springboard, went down the Yangtze River, and advanced by land and water, from the undefended banks of the Yangtze River in Chu State, all the way to the ancestral land of Chu State, forcing Chu State to move its capital.
However, due to his limited thinking, Bai Qi's navy was still mainly used for transportation, and he had not thought of using the navy as the main force. Therefore, when facing Yunmengze, the army was not easy to move, so Bai Qi stopped the offensive.
The current border between Qianzhong County and the State of Chu is basically divided by Yunmengze.
Although Chu suffered this loss, it still did not think about using its navy. They just deployed garrisons on both sides of the Yangtze River to observe the Qin army's fleet transporting grain and soldiers.
The fleet that Li Mu is building now can truly be called a complete navy.
His warships not only added crossbows and catapults, but also changed the warships' attack mode to mainly heavyweight long-range attacks; the bows of medium-sized warships changed from square to triangular, wrapped in iron sheets, and equipped with rams, so that the entire ship could be used directly as a weapon; core warships were built with walls and pavilions, which could hide a large number of soldiers and horses, improving the efficiency of transporting army forces...
According to Zhu Xiang's suggestion, the craftsmen invented the sails that appeared in the Han Dynasty in advance, which increased the speed of the ships. They also set windows on the cabins to launch crossbows and catapults. Small boats loaded with flammable materials such as coal, oil, and gunpowder were also arranged. Soldiers who were good at swimming drove small boats to rush towards enemy ships, set the ships on fire, and then jumped into the water, which was more effective than rockets...
All in all, Li Mu's navy not only had the appearance of later inland navy, but could even serve as the prototype of ocean-going navy.
No one could have imagined that Li Mu, a landlubber who had been guarding the northern Great Wall of Zhao State and leading cavalry to fight in the arid grassland, would actually form the first independent inland navy.
Of course, the Chu State could not have imagined that the navy could become so threatening.
Contrary to what the veteran generals thought, Li Mu did not wait for civil unrest in Chu.
When he learned that the King of Chu had sent an edict to reprimand the great nobles, he set out immediately.
In order to guard against the King of Chu, the feudal lords of Chu closed the city gates. They were unable to cooperate with the King of Chu to fight against the Qin army in the first place. Li Mu's fleet was moving very fast down the river. While they were hesitating to get information, Li Mu could achieve his strategic goal.
At this time, Yuanjiang City and Yiyang City both belonged to Qianzhong County (after the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, they belonged to Changsha County). Li Mu's workshop for building warships was directly on the shore of Dongting Lake, and the warships were launched in Dongting Lake.
Dongting Lake was not a good place at that time. There were many mosquitoes and snails around the lake, and epidemics were rampant; the farming technology of Chu State was backward, and the sticky soil around Dongting Lake was difficult to cultivate; the trees were overgrown with wild beasts, just like the tropical rain forest in later generations... Therefore, when Chu State expanded in the Spring and Autumn Period, the Dongting Lake became a place for exile of the descendants of the destroyed country, and many vassal states were established in the Yueyang area in later generations.
Bai Qi retreated after attacking here.
Li Mu set out directly from Dongting Lake and drove his tall warships to the cities of many vassal states of the Chu State. He chose the evening to attack the enemy's city walls with thunder chariots that threw gunpowder cans, and then sent envoys to persuade them to surrender.
When it was dark, the smoke and fire from the explosion of gunpowder cans were particularly conspicuous. Witchcraft culture was prevalent in places such as Chu and Yue, and the vassal states of Chu were basically slavery or even semi-primitive tribal systems.
After Li Mu "summoned the thunder from heaven", the great witch beside the king cried and screamed that the Qin State had brought gods to help in the battle. The king was so frightened that he quickly sacrificed slaves and asked his own gods and ancestors to come and help.
However, no gods came down to earth to help them because of their blood sacrifice.
When the academy disciples sent by Li Mu demonstrated how to light talismans with bare hands, most of the vassal states of Chu surrendered immediately. A few tried to ask Chu for help, but were killed by the cavalry that Li Mu had sent ashore long ago.
Li Mu didn't spend much time here.
He summoned those who had surrendered and ordered them to attack the small city that was waiting for help from the State of Chu. He left only one tower ship and two warships to supervise the battle, and the fleet continued to move forward.
Li Mu did not intend to capture Chendu. His target was Eyi.
Eyi is the later Ezhou City. Although it is unremarkable now, it was a secondary capital of the Chu State during the Spring and Autumn Period and had extraordinary political significance.
At the same time, Wuhan had not yet been established, and Eyi was the geographical strategic location of Wuhan in later generations. After occupying Eyi, Qin occupied the intersection of the Yangtze River and Han River, two waterways used by Qin to attack Chu.
Qin could directly receive grain and grass supplies from the two most important grain-producing areas, Guanzhong and Shujun, in Eyi, and station troops and store grain in Eyi. Although Chu still had a large area of land, occupying Eyi would almost open its doors to Chu, and it was only a matter of time before it could be encroached upon.
The State of Chu itself knew the importance of Eyi, so it deployed heavy troops to guard Eyi.
They built forts on both sides of the river to overlook the Yangtze River. The largest city gate of Eyi was built by the water, with a narrow land in front to prevent a large number of soldiers from landing and attacking.
But Li Mu never thought about landing.
One of the reasons why he chose Eyi was that one of the city gates on one side of Eyi was a water gate, and warships could sail to the edge of the city wall.
Now the spring water has risen sharply, and the tower ship he is driving is very tall, so the soldiers can directly use the tower ship as a siege ladder.
As the Qin navy sailed downstream in a mighty stream, the sentinels in the fort tower soon received the news.
But the Qin navy was faster than they could transmit the message. While they were still preparing the horses, the Qin navy with sails hoisted had already arrived outside the city of Eyi.
The guards guarding the city were still dozing off, and when they were reminded that a strange-looking large ship was approaching, they thought they were dreaming.
The Qin fleet did not raise its flags, but the general at the city gate was still very keenly aware of the danger. He immediately ordered the city gate to be lowered and sent people out of the city to meet the Qin soldiers who landed and seized the city gate.
Although no one knows what this oversized ship is, only the Qin people can build a fleet of this size.
It must be the Qin army attacking!
During the Warring States Period, there were wars raging everywhere, and no general guarding a major city was a fool.
However, Li Mu did not land on the beach and seize the closing city gate as the general at the city gate had imagined.
He calmly stopped the ship and displayed the Qin flag and his own flag.
Archers shot arrows at the Chu soldiers who were fighting a desperate battle with their backs against the closed city gate after leaving the city. Catapults and thunder chariots smashed towards the top of the city wall. Li Mu sat in the room at the top of the ship and kept ordering people to extend flags of different colors from the small windows to make fine adjustments and give commands.
He even made himself a cup of light tea and drank it calmly while listening to the shouting and screaming outside.
Li Mu drank tea while calmly waiting for the opportunity to come.
The navy of Eyi received the news and came to support.
However, their fleet was sunk from a distance by the escort warships around the tower ship using crossbows wrapped in kerosene and explosive thunder chariots. The few small boats that escaped the disaster faced direct collisions with Qin's pointed warships, and their ships sank before the soldiers responsible for sinking the ships even got off.
The Chu fleet that surrounded the Qin fleet from downstream was even more miserable. The Qin fleet lowered the fireboats that had been prepared long ago and went straight downstream, like a wall of fire. The Chu fleet could only row desperately downstream to avoid being set on fire by the fireboats.
The Chu fleet tried to imitate the Qin fleet's tactics and set fire to the ships from upstream. However, the Qin fleet was able to sink the fire ships from a distance with crossbows and catapults. While the Chu fleet was secretly learning, the Qin fleet sent out small boats to form a line to form a front position for the large ships.
When the Chu navy faced the Qin navy, it was like infantry encountering bronze chariots. They were quickly crushed by the enemy and were left with only despair.
When the completely unequal navy forces of Qin and Chu fought against each other, the attack on the city gate became more intense.
The tower ship was too close to the city wall, and the people on the ship could see the heads of people on the city wall moving.
The general defending the city transferred all the guards from several city gates to the walls of the water gate and frantically shot rockets at the tower ships.
But the rockets were so powerless against the huge ship. The mud-coated walls of the ship blocked most of the rockets, and the small fire was quickly extinguished.
The overcrowded city walls became living targets for the archers and slingers on the tower ships. Every attack they made resulted in a large number of casualties.
The generals defending the city were in a dilemma.
If he continued to pile up troops at the city gate, the rate of casualties would be terrifying; but if he pulled the soldiers down from the city gate, the towering ships would obviously have more than just a threatening effect.
Such a tall ship, so close to the city gate, anyone who saw it would know that it could be used as a tool to climb the city gate.
"Whose flag is this 'Li' flag? When did a general named Li appear in the Qin State?!" the general defending the city said in despair.
The governor of Eyi County climbed up to the city gate and heard this, and smiled bitterly, "Qin State originally didn't have it, but Zhao State originally had it. That was Zhu Xianggong's good friend, Li Mu of Yanmen County who was feared by the Xiongnu!"
"Li Mu, Li Mu..." The general defending the city repeated this name, and his muddled mind gradually became clear. He burst into laughter, "Ha, the King of Zhao destroyed the Chu! The King of Zhao destroyed the Chu!!"
On the ship, the soldiers reported that the ladder platform had been set up.
Li Mu put down the teacup with a calm expression.
"Climb the city gate."
(End of this chapter)