Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 265 Midnight Terror

"Beep--"

The next day, while Zhu Yunwen was always paying attention to the movements of the Bohai Navy, the Bohai Navy, who was resting in Huailou Town, also got up to the rapid whistle.

Since they were in enemy territory, the first thing the entire army did after getting up was to put on their breastplates and skirts, and the rest of the armor was put on in case of emergencies.

With the help of the remaining food, the Bohai navy was able to enjoy a hot meal comfortably.

Before setting off, each team would lay down a white note on the table of the house. The rental fee for each house was five cents, which was stamped with the white note.

The seals are made of wood, each with its own texture. There is one for every 100 households, with different textures. The content is which team the 100 households who signed the stamp belong to, which is considered basic anti-counterfeiting.

When the army set off, they encountered the bridge being damaged again soon after. Fortunately, with Zhu Gaoxu's arrangement, by the time the army arrived at the damaged bridge, the bridge had been repaired and the army successfully crossed the river.

Today, their target is Gaoyou in the south. Zhang Shicheng relied on this city to block the million yuan army back then.

Of course, it was said to be one million, but Zhu Gaoxu estimated that the number should be around three to four hundred thousand.

After this battle, Zhang Shicheng also attached great importance to Gaoyou's defense, so Gaoyou city defense can be said to be very tight.

On the way to Gaoyou, they passed Zhangjiagang and Qingshuitan. Not surprisingly, the people in these towns felt that the Bohai Navy was cruel because of the propaganda from the court, so they all fled.

In this way, it would be convenient for the Bohai Navy to make free money and eat for free.

After a day of running around, Zhu Gaoxu and the others finally arrived outside Gaoyou City at dusk.

"Gaoyou City is not big, but its defenses are pretty good. It seems that Zhang Shicheng did a lot of repairs to it back then."

In the north of Gaoyou City, looking at Gaoyou City in the south, Zhu Gaoxu joked, and then told everyone: "Just rest in Wangjiaxiang behind us, and continue south tomorrow to camp in Zhaobo Town."

"Yes!" Chen Chang and others bowed in agreement, and then began to arrange for the army to rest.

Their actions were noticed by the Gaoyou City defenders, who quickly sailed the boat through the water gate and sent the news to the south.

At the same time, Meng Zhang and Yang Zhan, who had divided their forces, were also advancing separately.

Meng Zhang led the cavalry and walked south on a small road. He tried to avoid the towns he passed. Anyway, the people in Huaidong were now in danger, and the defenders did not dare to leave the city. This gave them time to clean up the traces. and opportunities.

Compared with them, the Bohai Navy led by Yang Zhan is hard to find.

They collected the iron cannonballs fired at Yunti Pass, smelted all the weapons and iron materials of the defenders of Yunti Pass into iron cannonballs, and then began to transport the rough iron cannonballs southward.

On the ship, sailors were polishing iron cannonballs and smoothing out the uneven places on the surface of the cannonballs.

It was not difficult for them to make iron cannonballs since they carried cannonball molds on board.

Although there are many disadvantages to casting cannons in iron molds, it is not a big problem when used to cast cannonballs.

Even if iron cannonballs are used on land, there is no guarantee that they can all be recovered, let alone at sea.

Therefore, as long as the iron cannonball does not damage the barrel, it can be used for water warfare at sea.

For the Bohai Sea Soldiers, although they were chatting and laughing, there was always a trace of sadness between their brows.

They all know that the Southern Navy is entrenched at the mouth of the Yangtze River, and it is much more difficult to go upstream and attack the mouth of the Yangtze River than to fight at sea.

Without the help of local people, a warship traveling upstream would not necessarily be faster than a person walking on the shore.

For a moment, everyone was in a solemn mood, but in the cabin, Yang Zhan lowered his head and wrote down the experience of this naval battle.

From North and South Chenghuang Island to Dengzhou, then to Yunti Pass, and now...

In his writing, the advantages and disadvantages of the Bohai Navy were counted in detail, but in general, the advantages outweighed the disadvantages.

For Yang Zhan, the shortcoming of the Bohai Navy is that it still has too little actual combat experience, which cannot be compared with the Japanese Navy.

If the warships in the Bohai Sea are given to the sailors of the Ping Japanese Navy, then the Ping Japanese Navy only needs fifty warships with 3,000 materials to wipe out the Japanese pirates hiding in Southeast Asia.

"Tuk-tuk-"

"Come in."

There was a knock on the door, and Yang Zhan spoke without raising his head.

While breathing, the door opened from outside to inside, and it was Hu Lun's figure who walked in.

When Yang Zhan saw that it was him, he took out a letter from the side of the table.

"This is my personal letter. As long as you see my father, you will be at least 80% sure of what happened this time."

"Where's the remaining 20%?" Hu Lun took the letter and asked immediately.

"The remaining two achievements are to see if my father can control Chen Xuan."

After Yang Zhan said that, he lowered his head again, and Hu Lun nodded and turned to leave.

Not long after, the Bohai Navy put down a sand boat with a hundred materials. Taking this sand boat, Hu Lun headed towards the shoal to the west.

When he arrived, he took out the Yangzhou Prefecture Jinyiwei token that he had prepared early and recruited a draft horse from the nearest Yamen.

Riding this draft horse all the way south, we finally arrived at Haimen at dusk.

Nowadays, Haimen has been taken over by the Southern Navy. Using the token of the Jinyiwei of Yangzhou Prefecture, Hu Lun was successfully sent to Chongming by ferry.

At this time, Chongming Island was not as large as later generations, but a naval camp composed of a main island and dozens of sand states.

There are basically one or two forts set up on those sand states, which is more than Hu Lun has at his disposal. Obviously, the Confederate Navy was not lazy, but continued to increase the number of forts in the Yangtze River Shazhou during this period.

If nothing else, there are countless such forts along the Yangtze River waterway from here to the capital.

Although the Bohai Navy has strong ships and powerful guns, in front of these forts, the Bohai Navy, whose ship speed is limited by going upstream, is no different from a living target.

If the Confederate Navy still set up iron cables across the river in Zhenjiang and Changzhou, it would be impossible to cross the Yangtze River.

Although the iron chain across the river has appeared many times from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the present, it has always suffered collapse, but that was the collapse of the upstream to the downstream, not the collapse of the downstream to the upstream.

Moreover, with the two typical examples of the Jin Dynasty defeating Wu and the Sui Dynasty destroying Chen Dynasty, the tactics of crossing the river with iron ropes also began to evolve, gradually changing from a single water battle to a problem that could only be solved by the cooperation of water and land.

After all, Hu Lun had also served in the Bohai Navy for many years, and he naturally knew how much trouble the Bohai Sea would encounter if the Southern Navy navy refused to move closer to the Bohai Sea.

The Bohai Sea can't afford it right now. Every extra day they stay will be more dangerous for them.

Because of this, Hu Lun was very energetic. Seeing the ferry approaching Chongming Island, he calmed down and followed the ferry to land at Chongmingsuo Ferry.

Here, dozens or hundreds of warships of various sizes lay across the river mouth, and there were also many collected sand ships and black boats.

Hu Lun didn't need to think too much to know that these ships were fire ships collected to prepare for a fire attack.

If the fire ship goes down the river at night, what will happen to the Bohai Navy trying to go upstream? Hu Lun doesn't even need to guess what will happen to him. In his mind, a sailor lights the fire stick, throws down the torch and jumps into the water. picture.

The fire oil and gunpowder carried by these fire ships were enough to sink warships in the Bohai Sea.

"please……"

When the sailor's voice sounded, Hu Lun also boarded the Chongming Station on Chongming Island after a brief inspection.

Later, he was received by a Qianhu officer and went to Qianhusuo City in Chongming, where he saw thousands of sailors.

There are no common people in Qianhusuo, there are only sailors who are preparing for war.

Hu Lun was introduced to the Qianhu Office, where he met a middle-aged military attaché who was somewhat similar to Yang Zhan.

"My officer is Yang Qiu, the commander-in-chief of the Pingwa Army. May I ask if there is any news from the north?"

Yang Qiu didn't know Hu Lun's identity yet, so his expression was very solemn, as if he was worried about fighting from the north to the riverside.

Hu Lun looked around. When Yang Qiu saw this, he stood up and said, "You don't need to follow."

"The last general takes orders!" The generals responded, and Hu Lun followed Yang Qiu's footsteps. After a while, the two of them arrived at the study in the backyard.

Before entering the study, Hu Lun checked everywhere with his eyes.

As a Jin Yiwei, he naturally knew where Jin Yiwei would hide if he wanted to listen to Qiang Gen.

After confirming that there were no Jin Yiwei, he entered the study and handed over the letter: "This is news from the north. Yang Qianhu specially told it, and asked the general to burn it after reading it."

The Qianhu official in Yangzhou Prefecture is also named Yang, so there is nothing wrong with Hu Lun's words.

Yang Qiu took the letter, opened it, and his pupils tightened, but he quickly regained his composure.

He read the contents of the letter with a solemn expression, in which Yang Zhan mentioned the time and place of their appearance, and when they would enter the Yangtze River Estuary.

The time is midnight on the third day of April, which is midnight on the night of tomorrow, and the location is the Jiangnan Waterway south of Shazhou, Chongming.

Obviously, Yang Zhan planned to cross Haikou directly to Songjiang Prefecture in the south, and then go north via the Songjiang Prefecture Waterway.

There are not many places where Yang Zhan needs help from Yang Qiu. The first point is to give Hu Lun a transfer order, and the second is to increase the defense of Jiangkou north of Chongming, especially Liao Kok Tsui.

On the 4th day of the lunar month, Yang Zhan will mobilize fifty-six warships with more than 2,000 pieces of material to appear here to fight with the Southern Navy, in order to cover the fifty-seven warships with more than 1,500 pieces of materials from the south to secretly cross the south mouth of the Yangtze River.

Therefore, in addition to the transfer order in hand, Yang Zhan also needed Yang Qiu to transfer the warships stationed at the south mouth of the Yangtze River to Liaojiaozui to participate in the war, giving them the opportunity to go to the capital.

"I probably understand..."

Yang Qiu frowned after reading the letter, and then burned the letter in front of Hu Lun.

His voice rose a little higher: "If the rebel navy goes south, I will lead my troops to block them at the north entrance. However, Governor Chen is in charge of the north entrance, so I have to tell him the news."

Yang Qiu was worried that the partition wall had ears, so he explained the defense issues of the North Exit and South Exit.

Obviously, Chen Xuan always had a hand in keeping with Yang Qiu. He transferred the most powerful Ping-Japan navy to the south mouth of the Yangtze River. Perhaps he felt that the last naval battle was a bit strange, so he became wary.

However, this made it easier for Yang Zhan to secretly cross the south entrance of the Yangtze River.

Yang Qiu wrote a transfer order in his hand and said in a high-sounding voice: "If there is still news from the north, you can cross both sides of the Yangtze River at will with this handwritten letter."

"Thank you, Commander Yang. The general's message has been delivered. Please retire."

Hu Lun got what he wanted, and naturally turned around and left after bowing.

After he left, Yang Qiu also wrote a handwritten copy and sent it to Chen Xuan who was stationed at Sanpukou in Changzhou, Jiangnan.

Although the distance between the two is more than sixty miles, with the help of trackers from Jiangnan, the faster sand boat can deliver the message within four hours.

As expected, after the news arrived, Chen Xuan immediately led the Yangtze River Navy from Sanpukou and arrived at Chongming Station at 00:00 the next day. After getting off the boat, he saw hundreds of sand boats in the ferry that had been loaded with powder barrels and fire oil cans.

These sand ships, plus the more than 300 sand ships he brought, amounted to thousands.

With these fireships, he is confident that he can make a comeback on his home turf.

The Yangtze River is no different from the sea and the Huaihe River. It is easier for Bohai warships to enter the Huaihe River, but it does not mean that it is easier to enter the Yangtze River.

"Captain Chen!"

Yang Qiu led people to the ferry from a long distance away, bowing and shouting as he walked.

Chen Xuan also turned his head when he heard this, and looked behind him when he saw Yang Qiu.

Behind him stood a sixth-grade official in his thirties.

When Chen Xuan saw Yang Qiu coming, he quickly introduced: "Censor Lin, this is Yang Qiu, the chief soldier of the Pingwa Navy. He also intercepted the news this time."

"So that's it. I've heard that Commander Yang was famous for his reputation for a long time, and now I see that he's well-deserved. I'm in Beijing to supervise the imperial censor Lin Jiayou, and I met Commander Lin here..."

As Chen Xuan spoke, Lin Jiayou, who served as the supervisory censor in Beijing and was sent by Zhu Yunwen to check the loyalty of the two, nodded lightly and greeted Yang Qiu.

The supervisory censor is affiliated to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and his official position is the seventh rank. Compared with Chen Xuan's second rank and Yang Qi's third rank, it can be said to be extremely humble.

However, with the support of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the emperor, Lin Jiayou was full of style and had no intention of bowing to Yang Qiu.

Seeing this, Yang Qiu slightly frowned. He had not heard that the censor was still in Beijing.

After just thinking about it for a moment, he understood what the so-called censor in Beijing was.

At best, I am here to reward them; at worst, I am here to supervise them.

Yang Qiu was not afraid of this, but was very dissatisfied.

A seventh-grade supervisory censor dared to show off in front of himself, a third-grade supervisor. Did he really think that he was a fool?

Yang Qiu wanted to have a fit, but Chen Xuan knew him well. While he stepped forward to bow to him, he couldn't help but whisper a reminder.

"This is a disciple of Doctor Chao Zhong, be careful..."

"Dr. Fang?" Yang Qiu was confused for a moment, but soon thought of Fang Xiaoru, a doctor of literature.

Because Zhu Yunwen started the recommendation mode at the suggestion of this group of people, Fang Xiaoru and others continued to recommend their disciples to enter the officialdom.

Think about this group of Confucian scholars who could not even pass the Jinshi examination, but they entered the officialdom in large numbers just because of a recommendation.

At first they were quite restrained and just joined the history museum as editors.

But this year, they began to meddle in real power, and continued to interfere with the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the Third Local Bureau and other yamen.

This Lin Jiayou must be one of them. No wonder he looks down on his group of warriors.

"Censor Lin is so complimentary. I wonder why the Censor came here? But there is a decree from the imperial court?"

Yang Qiu bowed in return, but Lin Jiayou just nodded when he saw this: "The imperial court sent a subordinate to reward the three armies, but he never thought that since General Yang had received the news of the rebel navy going south, he followed Governor Chen to inspect .”

"May I ask Commander Yang, when will the navy of the pirate army arrive here?"

Although Lin Jiayou was a Confucian scholar, he really had no respect for the warriors in front of him.

Seeing his actions, Yang Qiu was also very dissatisfied, and began to plan how to seek revenge on this guy in the future.

On the face of it, Yang Qiu was still respectful: "According to the news from the Jinyi Guards in Yangzhou Mansion, we should arrive at Liao Kok Tsui around dusk today to early tomorrow morning."

"That's why I wrote to Governor Chen."

"Thank you Brother Yang for informing me, otherwise I would still be waiting at Sanpukou to rush to Yangzhou to help." Chen Xuan bowed to express his gratitude, and Yang Qiu also joined the conversation:

"I want to pacify the Japanese Navy and go to Liao Kok Tsui, and let the Yangtze River Navy guard the south mouth of the Yangtze River. What do you think, Governor Chen?"

Yang Qiu spoke bluntly. At the same time, he also knew that Chen Xuan was wary of him, so this self-recommendation would definitely be rejected.

"That's not necessary. What if the bandits take the south entrance?"

A voice sounded, but it did not come from Chen Xuan's mouth, but from Lin Jiayou's mouth.

Lin Jiayou clearly remembered that Yang Qiu and his son had received favor from Zhu Gaoxu. Although Yang Zhan had died in Guangxi, who knew whether Yang Qiu would surrender to the enemy before the battle?

The best way is to have him stationed at the south entrance and Chen Xuan stationed at the north entrance.

"Haha..." Seeing Lin Jiayou taking the initiative to stand up, Chen Xuan laughed awkwardly, and then said to Yang Qiu:

"Yu Shi Lin is right. It would be bad if the bandits go to the mouth of the Nanjiang River."

"Nanjiangkou must be handed over to Brother Yang. As for Beijiangkou and Liao Kok Tsui, I will hand it over."

Chen Xuan echoed Lin Jiayou's words, but they all knew that since the Bohai Navy went south, it would most likely appear in the north.

If they do not show up by then, Chen Xuan and the others will have time to go to Nankou to participate in the defense.

"In this case, then the general will order..." Yang Qiu's expression suddenly became ugly.

Upon seeing this, Chen Xuan quickly comforted him: "If the fighting at Beikou is fierce, maybe I will call Brother Yang to help."

"That's good." Yang Qiu's face improved a little when he heard that he could participate in the war.

This change in expression was seen by Lin Jiayou, and he couldn't help but mock in his heart: "A martial artist is a martial artist, and he doesn't even have the skills to nourish his qi."

Although he was sarcastic in his heart, Lin Jiayou still had to comfort Yang Qiu on his face: "General Yang's achievements are displayed here. If there is no General Yang by then, we may not be able to defend ourselves against the enemy."

"Yes, yes..." Chen Xuan echoed, but Yang Qiu bowed after hearing this: "In that case, the general will dispatch troops to Wujiangkou, Baoshan and Gaoqiao."

"Commander Yang, go slowly." Lin Jiayou bowed, and Chen Xuan also followed suit.

Not long after, they saw thousands of soldiers walking out of the Chongming Station. Counting the soldiers already stationed at the south entrance, there were ten thousand soldiers.

They drove warships out of the port and went to Gaoqiao, Wujiangkou and Baoshan in Songjiang Prefecture in the south of the Yangtze River. However, more of them stopped in the middle of the river, looking like they were ready to rush to the north entrance at any time.

This approach showed that the Bohai Navy would definitely appear in the north, so Chen Xuan also began to strengthen defense, mobilized warships to go to Liao Kok Tsui, and at the same time ordered fire ships to prepare.

Once Liao Kok Tsui is defeated, the Yangtze River Navy will withdraw to Chongming Island, and then it will be time for thousands of fireships to make achievements.

Chen Xuan was preparing, while Lin Jiayou found a sentry tower and walked up to it, looking at the rolling Yangtze River. He couldn't help but talk about all kinds of allusions to the Yangtze River with the officials around him. The flavor of the elders was strong, making people speechless, but at the same time, he was still speechless. You have to bite the bullet and listen, even if Lin Jiayou is wrong, you can't expose it.

Time passes little by little, from early morning to noon, then to dusk...

Chen Xuan and the Yangtze River Navy waited and waited at Liao Kok Tsui, but still could not wait for the Bohai Navy to appear.

Gradually, they began to relax, and the sky gradually became darker.

Seeing that there was no war in sight, Lin Jiayou mocked Yang Qiu twice, turned around and went to the house arranged by Chen Xuan to rest.

At the same time, the Nanjiang estuary was densely populated with warships, and Yang Qiu, who was in charge of commanding them, went to Gaoqiao Town, rented a restaurant by himself, and treated the brothers to a lively meal.

Amidst the commotion, warships that were not much different from the warships of the Pingwa Navy sailed from the south. The warships on patrol saw that the other party's flag was the symbol of the Pingwa Navy and immediately stepped forward to stop them.

"Who sent you here, and why are you carrying our banner?"

Yang Hui, a Qianhu officer of the Ping-Japan Navy, stopped the fleet and shouted on the deck.

He had seen the escape barriers of these ships early in the morning. If he hadn't seen that there were no cannons on the decks of these ships, he would have been ready to take action directly.

"My fleet is here to deliver the warship under the order of Commander-in-Chief Yang. This is the order to ask Officer Qianhu to board the ship for inspection."

Cui Jun stood on the deck, shouted to Yang Hui according to what Yang Zhan told him, and at the same time sent someone to hand out the transfer order with a clamping rod.

Yang Hui was surprised when his master bought the boat, but he still took the order and took a look.

After confirming that it was indeed his master's order, he also ordered someone to pick him up from the side of the ship, stepped onto the ship, and walked to the cabin under Cui Jun's guidance.

In the dark night, Yang Hui could only see the way forward with the torch in Cui Jun's hand.

When he stepped off the cabin, the scene in front of him made him instantly hold his hand on the handle of the knife.

In the cabin, dozens of artillery pieces different from those of the Confederate Army were placed, along with many gunpowder and iron cannonballs.

He was very familiar with these artillery pieces. Aren't they the artillery pieces of the Bohai Navy?

"Yang Hui, don't move..."

Suddenly, a familiar voice sounded, and Yang Hui's movements stopped. Even the dozen or so soldiers behind him stopped and opened their mouths.

The voice came from behind them, making their bodies stiffen.

As if mechanically, everyone slowly moved their eyes, and finally saw a familiar face in the dark cabin.

"Less...less...less...less..."

The soldier who turned back first stumbled and looked at the person in front of him, and the soldiers who turned back later were also frightened and sat down on the ground.

"Ghost!!"

Yang Hui, who was extremely daring towards others, was so frightened that he pissed himself off at this moment, his face covered with snot.

He saw Yang Zhan's appearance with his own eyes, but he was still wearing a mandarin duck war jacket.

When his young master died, wasn't he wearing a mandarin duck war coat?

"Young Master, I have never felt sorry for the Yang family!"

Yang Hui, a tall man, knelt on the ground and burst into tears: "If you want to say I'm sorry, it's because I can't forgive you. I didn't cry even after you died. I cried for you for seven days." ah!"

"Master, you can't take me away. I'm twenty-eight and haven't even married my mother-in-law yet. If I leave, my family will be dead. You grew up on my mother's milk. You can't do this to my mother..."

Yang Hui's timidity made the soldiers around him forget their fear. Even Cui Jun did not expect that Yang Hui, who was still fierce in the front, would become so virtuous the moment he saw Yang Zhan.

"Master..."

"Stop crying, I'm not dead yet!"

Yang Hui was still crying, but he saw Yang Zhan coming out with a dark face. He tried to grab him, but found that he was too heavy and could not be grasped.

"Master, have a good journey..."

"Fuck you, I'm cheating myself to death!"

(End of this chapter)