Song conquest of Southern Tang
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In 975AD the Song managed through force to subdue the Southern Tang in their reunification of China.
Battle on the Yangtze
On the river Yangtze near Nanking, the then capital of the Southern Tang, a major naval battle took place in 975 between the Song empire and the Southern Tang.[1][2]
Forces
Southern Tang
The Tang had a fleet of ships that were ten decks high[3] and equipped with multiple flamethrowers. There were at least 150,000 soldiers and sailors under the command of Chu Ling Pin[4].
Song empire
The admiral for the Song was Tshao Pin[5]. The Song ships were smaller[6], however the crew on board were better archers. The ships had flamethrowers[7] and were filled with bundles of reed soaked in oil[8] to be thrown at the enemy ships.
Battle
The Song ships attacked ferociously, firing so many arrows that soon, the Tang ships were studded with them. Chu Ling Pin then ordered the flamethrowers to be fired. Normally, any attacker would be destroyed, however the wind blew in the opposite direction of the flamethrowers so the burning oil flew back onto the Tang. At that moment, the Song started throwing the bundles of burning reeds into the wind to cause more damage. The Song may have started using their own flamethrowers at this stage. About 150,000 Tang soldiers and sailors were killed in the fire and Chu Ling Pin comitted suicide by jumping into the flames.
Aftermath
Li Houzhu the emperor of the Southern Tang was more interested in poetry than ruling and soon after this battle the Southern Tang were absorbed into the new Song Empire. He was captured and sent to the Song capital, one of his wives raped and he was eventually poisoned.
Source
- Joseph Needhams Science and Civillisation in China Volume 5 Part 7 the Gunpowder Epic, page 89