Fenghou

Chapter 1264 Night Attack
In the night, a fleet sailed in from an estuary in the northern part of Taihu Lake, and sailed along a small river to the Jiangnan Canal.

In the middle of the night, the fleet sailed into the Jiangnan Canal, and turned south again. A dozen miles away was the grain fleet of the Huaixi Army. It was vast and mighty, with hundreds of ships.

These grain ships are not warships captured from the imperial court, but cargo ships that are very common in rivers. They are flat-bottomed tugboats. The first main ship towed dozens or hundreds of tugboats to sail in the river, which is very common in the Jianghuai area, and each tugboat can carry hundreds of stones of grain.

This fleet is the Jiaolong battalion fleet led by Ruan De. The Jiaolong battalion was temporarily transferred from the Yellow River to the Yangtze River to perform a special mission, going deep into the tiger's den and burning the enemy's food ships.

The reason why Chen Qing asked Yang Shi to arrange a surprise soldier in Taihu Lake was actually to let the Jiaolong Battalion pretend to be this surprise soldier so that they could break through the enemy's numerous checkpoints.

The Jiaolong Camp gradually approached the grain ship, and there were still five miles to go. There were endless large tents on both sides of the bank, patrolling soldiers everywhere, and the security was very strict. There was no way to approach the canal from land, only by water.

Immediately, a sentry boat came up to stop them, "Password!" The sentry soldier asked loudly.

"All the way south!" replied the soldier.

There is no problem with the password, but it does not mean that they will be able to pass the patrol ship. A general on duty asked, "Whose fleet are you?"

Someone in the cabin cursed: "Wu Laoqi, if you dare to make things difficult again, I will pay off my gambling debt tomorrow!"

The general on duty immediately recognized it, "You are Wang Jiong?"

The curtain was pulled open, revealing Wang Jiong's face. He said annoyedly, "My lord sent me to carry out a mission. My leg was injured and I couldn't move. Otherwise, I would have to slap you a few times."

Behind him, a sharp dagger pressed against his back, Ruan De whispered in his ear: "You said the situation is urgent, tell him to get out of the way!"

Wang Jiong said angrily again: "The military situation is urgent, I want to see the commander-in-chief immediately, you still don't let me go!"

The general on duty had no doubts, and waved his hand, "Get out of the way!"

More than a dozen sentinel ships moved away, vehicles and boats started rumbling, and one after another sailed southward. The ships were all right, they were all warships of the Huaixi Army, with Zhang Jun's Qinglong flag flying, and the soldiers on board were also wearing Huaixi military uniforms. The armor of the Western Army, sitting listlessly on the bow of the boat, fits the image of the soldiers of the Huaixi Army and the Navy.

The fleet is getting closer and closer to the enemy's grain ship. At this time, they are already in the hinterland of the camp, but there are camp fences in front of the camps on both sides, full of sentries. Even if they want to attack the camp, it is unrealistic. The camp fence is ten feet high.

At this moment, a large ship with a thousand stones sailed towards it, and there was a general standing on the bow. It was Wu Shouzhi, who was in command of the capital. He was the commander of the water army and Wang Jiong's immediate boss. He was returning to Zhenjiang mansion overnight.

Wu Shouzhi was taken aback when he saw thirty vehicles and ships. Without his own order, how could there be warships here?Who dares to drive a warship into the canal without authorization?
"Whose subordinates are you?" Wu Shouzhi asked loudly.

"Wu Dutong, it's a humble job!" Wang Jiong's low voice came from the cabin.

Wu Shouzhi was taken aback. How could it be Wang Jiong? Didn't he go to perform a special mission?
"Commander Wang, is that you?"

"It's a humble job!"

Wu Shouzhi was really dissatisfied and said, "Why don't you come out to greet me when you see me?"

"I want to report to Dutong, I have injured my leg and am unable to move, please forgive me!"

Wu Shouzhi was even more surprised. He jumped on the opponent's big boat, stepped forward and asked, "Didn't you go to carry out the mission? How is the situation? Did you succeed?"

"Reporting to Dutong, the humble job failed, and the humble job was seriously injured."

"Failed? Can you still come out in such a complete way after failing? Wu Shouzhi felt a little suspicious in his heart, and asked: "What are you doing, why don't you come out to see me? "

"Dutong, I didn't lie to you, you'll know when you come in and look at my legs."

Wu Shouzhi stepped forward and pushed open the hatch, only to see a big man pointing a crossbow at his face. He was taken aback, and before his body could react, 'Ka! With a bang, the crossbow arrow shot out with incomparable speed, and it was too late to hide, "Poof!" The arrow hit the forehead, and the arrow tip came out from the back of the head with flesh and blood. Wu Shouzhi fell on his back without even screaming.

Ruan De glanced at Wang Jiong again, and Wang Jiong shouted in fright: "I fully cooperate with you, you must keep your word and not kill me!"

Ruan De ordered his two subordinates: "Throw him into the cabin, life and death are up to God!"

He strode out of the cabin and yelled, "Action!"

The cars and boats behind were moving forward quickly, Ruan De jumped onto the other side's big boat, swung a big iron bar and swept away, only a moment later, he overturned seven or eight soldiers, and the rest of the boatmen were so scared that they lay on the deck. Dare to move.

It was the middle of the night, and there were not many sentries on the shore. An accident happened here, and no sentry saw it. Cars and boats passed by, and the grain boats started to catch fire. Ruan De jumped on the last car and boat.

The way the soldiers set fire was very simple. They unplugged the leather bag filled with kerosene, lit the leather bag, and threw the leather bag onto the boat. The kerosene flowed out, and the fire was ignited immediately. The flowing fire entered the warehouse, basically Throw a bag of kerosene on every grain ship.

In just a moment, dozens of large ships were set on fire, and the sentinels on the shore finally found the flames and thick smoke, and shouted one after another.

Zhang Jun and Wu Shouzhi, who came to report on his duties, talked about the time of the second watch. They had just fallen asleep when they suddenly heard the sound of a horn. Zhang Jun was taken aback. He sat up and asked anxiously, "What happened?"

After a while, the soldiers reported: "Qi Wangye, it seems that there is a fire by the river, and the humble officer saw thick smoke."

"riverside?"

Zhang Jun thought for a while, then shouted, "Not good!"

He rushed out of the big tent with bare feet and shouted: "Sound the alarm, all soldiers go to fight the fire!"

He just realized that there are hundreds of grain ships moored by the river?Because of the needs of the march, they did not unload the food and grass from the ship, and they were ready to set off at any time, but it would be troublesome if there was a fire.

Tens of thousands of soldiers rushed out of the barracks on both sides and rushed to the river. Hundreds of grain boats by the river were ablaze, just like a raging fire burning the river, and the smoke filled the air, making it difficult for the soldiers to approach.

Soldiers used wooden barrels to pour water on the grain ships, but it was useless. The fire burned mainly inside the ships. Several ships were burned through the bottom of the ship, began to tilt into the water, and gradually sank
At this time, the [-] vehicles and boats that set the fire had sailed a mile away. They broke through the railing of the checkpoint on the river, and the fleet sailed to the Wangyu River in the south.

(End of this chapter)