The monarchs and ministers of the Southern Song Dynasty looked towards the river, and saw a shadow of masts and sails in the distance, coming up the river from east to west.

Seeing the Qi fleet coming from afar, the Southern Song Dynasty monarchs and ministers, who had just seen the display of the Song army's gunboats, looked at them with contempt.

"There are a lot of ships!" Jia Sidao squinted his eyes and looked into the distance. Qi's shipbuilding industry was not as developed as that of the Southern Song Dynasty, and the number and tonnage of the Qi army's warships were not as good as those of the Southern Song Dynasty.

Zhao Yun looked at the approaching fleet and was a little flustered at first, but then calmed down.

"Zhao Tai's ship is smaller than mine, but he wants to scare me. It's really overestimating his own capabilities and making people laugh." Ding Daquan said:

"When the Qi warships approach, Your Majesty can let my Song warships practice in front of them to see who can scare who!" Zhao Yun nodded, appreciating this idea.

At this time, the fleet of Qi State approached, and everyone could see that the river was like a forest of masts, and the flags on the ship were fluttering. On one of the big flags, it read "Big One"

The word "Qi". At this time, as the distance approached, everyone could see it more clearly, and Jia Sidao suddenly frowned.

There is a big difference in appearance between a gunboat and an ordinary warship. One of the most obvious features is that the warship has gun penetrations on its side.

Jia Sidao looked at the Qi fleet and was shocked to find that there were dense cannon holes on both sides of these warships.

"Impossible! They are all gunboats!" Jia Sidao said in surprise. Zhao Yun heard this and said in surprise:

"Are they all gunboats?" He quickly stood up from the dragon chair and observed carefully, and sure enough he found that all of the more than 80 ships on the opposite side had gun windows.

Ding Daquan couldn't believe it,

"This is impossible. With the financial resources of Qi State, how can we cast bronze cannons to assemble eighty gunboats?" Zhao Yun heard what he said.

"Could it be that Zhao Tai is bluffing and wants to bluff me?" While the monarchs and ministers of the Southern Song Dynasty were discussing, Zhao Tai led the naval gunboats and had already arrived in front of the monarchs and ministers of the Song Dynasty.

Lu Wende stepped forward to ask for instructions,

"Your Majesty, do you want to fire?" Zhao Tai nodded slightly.

"Let's fight! Let the cannon barrel turn red until it turns red!" Lu Wende then waved his hand, and the soldiers hung the flag for the start of the exercise on the top of the mast.

"Boom boom boom"

"Boom boom boom"

"Boom, boom, boom!" On the river, eighty Qi warships lined up. The artillery on each warship roared in turn. One after another, the cannons retreated violently, and orange-red flames were sprayed from the muzzles.

There were clouds of white smoke.

At this time, nearly a thousand artillery pieces were fired one after another, and the shells flew close to the river. When they were about to reach the shore, the shells penetrated into the water and stirred up water columns several feet high.

Zhao Yun and others stood far away, but the water columns in front of him still shocked his face. The monarchs and ministers of the Song Dynasty originally thought that Qi's warships had gun windows but no artillery inside, but now they saw with their own eyes that Qi's gunboats

After a volley of fire, everyone's jaw dropped.

"Why was the Qi State able to build so many artillery pieces?" Zhao Yun was confused as he looked at the water columns rising into the sky and the Qi State fleet whose hulls were obscured by gunpowder smoke on the river.

The gunboats of Qi State were four times that of the Southern Song Dynasty, which made the monarchs and ministers of the Southern Song Dynasty instantly lose confidence. This is the gunboat of each gunboat of Qi State. After firing a gun, the gunner quickly loaded it, then pushed the gun back to the gun position and fired again.

The shells fell like raindrops and hailstones on the river in front of Zhao Yun, splashing water columns that connected together to form a water wall several feet high.

Zhao Yun and many Song ministers were speechless. If a war broke out, the Song Army's infantry would most likely make the same mistake again and be blocked by the Qi Army's navy in the north of the Yangtze River.

Zhao Yun was livid and said nothing. Just when he was about to turn around and leave, the Qi army's gunboats stopped shelling. Not long after, a small boat came over. Wang Bin got off the boat and was led to Zhao Yun.

Wang Bin salutes,

"The guest of the King of Qi, I have met your Majesty." Zhao Yun said with a solemn face.

"Why did King Qi ask you to come here?" Wang Bin said with a smile:

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the sea has not been peaceful recently. Pirates appear from time to time and plunder our Qi merchant ships. The King of Qi sent me to inform your Majesty that our Qi navy may go south to the mouth of the Qiantang River to attack pirates in the near future. In order to avoid misunderstandings, I would like to inform you first.

Your Majesty." Zhao Yun's face turned red.

"I know!" Wang Bin saluted immediately after seeing this.

"Then I will resign!" At this time, Zhao Yun watched Wang Bin leave in the boat, and the anger in his heart could not be suppressed.

"I am the Emperor, and I am so angry at being humiliated like this today!" The firepower of Qi's gunboats shocked everyone. Faced with Qi's naked threat, no one dared to speak at all.

Zhao Yun was very angry and gritted his teeth at Zhao Tai, but there was nothing he could do. After the Qi army fired their cannons, the fleet anchored nearby in Jinghai County.

At this time, Wang Bin came back and reported: "Your Majesty, I have conveyed your Majesty's remarks to Zhao Yun." Zhao Tai nodded slightly, and then ordered Lu Wende: "In order to avoid exposing the secret, you will lead the fleet to leave tonight."

This time Zhao Tai brought eighty gunboats, which was indeed a bluff. Each warship was equipped with artillery on one side and heavy objects on the other side to keep the warship balanced.

Now there are twenty gunboats in the Southern Song Dynasty. When the artillery of Qi State is concentrated, it can actually equip only forty gunboats.

Lu Wende clasped his fists,

"I understand." After Zhao Tai came ashore, he did not stay in Jinghai for long and went directly to Yangzhou by land. After Zhao Yun was threatened by Qi, he returned to Lin'an full of anger.

Although Zhao Yun knew that what Zhao Tai said was a threat and that it was unlikely that the navy would attack Lin'an, which was heavily defended by troops, Zhao Yun still gave orders to several forbidden troops along the Yangtze River on the way back to garrison near Lin'an.

.

A navy of the Southern Song Dynasty also left the Yangtze River and patrolled Hangzhou Bay to prevent Qi's navy from launching a surprise attack.

At this time, the news that the Southern Song Dynasty Imperial Army had withdrawn to Lin'an reached Zhao Tai's ears, and Zhao Tai breathed a sigh of relief immediately.

On the other side, at the Mongolian army camp on the north bank of the Huaihe River, Batu and Meng Ge were ready to invade Huainan.

In early November, the first snow fell on both sides of the Huaihe River. Just when the Mongolian army thought that it would launch an attack soon, Mongolia learned that the Southern Song Dynasty was threatened by the Qi State. Zhao Yun mobilized the troops originally intended to attack.

News back to Lin'an.

This news made both Batu and Meng extremely angry, but there was nothing they could do. In the blink of an eye, by the end of November, there were already signs of freezing in the upper reaches of the Huaihe River.

Batu and Meng Ge couldn't help but hesitate, wondering whether they should attack Huainan without the cooperation of the Song army. At this moment, a news came from the grassland, completely giving up their plan to attack Qi.

Last year, Wokuotai Langshan was defeated. After he returned to the grassland, his health has not been good. Guiyou returned to the grassland and hired many doctors to manage it for him. He thought things would improve, but who knew that after winter,

Wokuotai's condition gradually worsened, and he actually died of the disease.
Chapter completed!