In the quiet darkness before dawn, more than 300 large and small boats sailed out in batches from the camp at the mouth of the Sangchi River. For a time, the boats were like a forest, the sails were like weaving, and the lake was covered with dark clouds flashing with silent thunder and lightning.
Moving forward slowly.
Shortly after the boat formation left the Hekou Camp, they divided into three groups and sailed toward the sandy land directly north of Laohu Village, the Tiger Mouth Channel to the east, and Baisha Bay to the west.
Since the start of the flood season, the water level of the Jingjiang River has risen. In the riverside area south of Sangchi Lake, large areas of low-lying land have been submerged by the rising river water. Many places are even connected to Sangchi Lake.
However, most flooded areas vary in depth, and there are very few areas where large waves of water can pass directly.
In these deeply flooded areas, the soldiers and horses of Chishan Village have already scuttled and blocked the boats carrying sand and rocks; even in Huqiao, one of the most important waterways connecting Sangchi Lake and Jingjiang River
During the battle, the soldiers and horses of Chishan Village also laid countless hidden piles in the water and scuttled the boats. This was mainly to prevent the Nancai navy from directly entering the Jingjiang River from Sangchi Lake and threatening Chishan Village's home base on the south bank of the Jingjiang River.
Of course, the Nancai Recruitment Division's soldiers and horses along the Sangchi River have completed the elimination and expulsion of many water village forces in the Linjiang area south of Sangchi Lake, but the overall scale of the navy is still at a low level.
Disadvantages: Large and sturdy warships cannot fully exert their advantages in shallow water areas. In addition, they are far less familiar with the terrain of the Linjiang area than the Dongjing coalition navy, and have never been able to form actual control over this area.
Therefore, no one can guarantee that the Dongjing Allied Forces will not reserve three or five hidden waterways in the Linjiang area for their navy and horsemen to use in raid operations.
Sun Yanguan and Hu You stood on the wall of the village, looking at the navy warships of the Nancai Recruitment Division heading to the two wings to gather defensive ship formations. They knew that the former battalion general of the Nancai Recruitment Division, Fan Zongqi, was extremely defensive and would not give him a chance.
They had no chance to attack the flank, and they didn't think about breaking out from the flank. Their eyes were mainly directed to the north solemnly.
That was the main attack direction of the Chushan Army under the Nancai Recruitment Division, and it was also the focus of the defense of Laohuzhai.
Although the new two thousand elite soldiers in the stronghold have been deliberately hidden, Sun Yanguan looked relaxed but was not sure at all whether they could block the Nancai Zhaobu Division's attack.
Although in this direction, only the area originally belonging to Sangchi Lake has a deeper draft (and there are still flooded areas in the dry season), basically all the warships under the jurisdiction of the Nancai Recruitment Division's Qianying can sail in smoothly, but
From this area to the south, there are flooded areas with varying depths of water, as well as some sandbars above the water and partially submerged depressions, which are almost six or seven miles deep.
Logically speaking, this area is as difficult as the sky for the attacker.
On the one hand, the water is too shallow, and it easily runs aground, making it difficult for larger boats to enter. If a soldier dares to leave the warship and wade through the water to approach Laohuzhai on foot, his body will often be trapped in the mud and it will be difficult to move forward.
It will suffer heavy losses from the direct hit of the crossbow.
On the other hand, in summer and autumn, reeds grow wildly in flooded and low-lying areas, making it easier for the coalition forces to hide some small U-Peng boats loaded with kindling materials for ambush.
Most of the water fortresses built by the Dongjing Allied Forces on the banks of the Jingjiang River and Dongting Lake had such terrain characteristics on the periphery, which made Jingnan soldiers and horses suffer a lot in previous attacks.
In addition, the high ground in front of Laohuzhai that was completely uninundated by the river was not even three to four hundred steps deep. In addition to shallow trenches, Sun Yanguan also had people build a large number of antlers to fill them in to act as obstacles to prevent horses.
However, in the previous operations to uproot several water fortresses along the Sangchi Lake, the Nancai Recruitment Division invested heavily in flat-bottomed pallets for building pontoon bridges, forming plank roads for soldiers to rush in in flooded areas and low-lying areas - Nancai Recruitment Division.
The stacks built by Cai Zhaotong were covered with iron sheets and connected with iron ropes and rings. They were not afraid of fire. One or two additional armored platforms were built every thirty or fifty steps for small groups of elites to stand on and garrison.
Protect the trestle.
Sun Yanguan knew that it was absolutely impossible to completely block the soldiers and horses of the Nancai Recruitment Division from the Tiger Village, but they would still do everything possible to interfere with the Nancai Recruitment Division's construction of the plank road.
However, the ultimate purpose of doing this is to hope that after the Nancai Recruitment Division has painstakingly paved the plank road, they will deploy a large number of troops directly on the high ground to the north of Laohu Village without realizing it, and then all the ambush troops hidden in the village will be released.
…
Although Hu You had been worrying about gains and losses before, now as he watched the warships of the Nancai Recruitment Division slowly approaching the waters north of Laohuzhai, he thought of the opportunity to bite off a piece of meat from the Chushan Army, which had been invincible for many years.
, I couldn't help but tremble slightly with excitement.
"General Sun, eldest son, there is a situation in the upper reaches of Jingjiang River! Dongzhou Village has sent troops to fight towards us!"
When everyone's attention was attracted by the strange movement in the north, the guards around Hu You screamed in surprise.
Sun Yanguan and Hu You turned around and looked toward the upper reaches of the Jingjiang River in the southwest direction.
At this time, the sky was dim, and the morning light outlined the outline of the river between heaven and earth. Hundreds of boats were like a deeper flood, flowing down the river in the center of the river.
Sun Yanguan and Hu You seemed to have been hit hard on the back of the head with a stick at this moment.
The main camp at the mouth of the Sangchi River is only twenty miles away from Huhu Village. It is difficult for the generals to gather and board the boats in the dark. Not to mention that Huuzhai also sent sentries to crouch near the river mouth. Therefore, the Chushan Army soldiers and horses came from the camp at the mouth of the river.
When dispatched, it would be difficult to hide it from Laohuzhai.
However, Hexue is far enough away from Laohuzhai and Chishanzhai. Hundreds of boats loaded with generals sailed from the Donghe River into the Jingjiang River, and then went down the river. The dead wind lanterns hung on the bows and sides of the boats were all
Cover it with a lampshade, and the hulls of the boats will cover each other. Under the cover of night, it will be difficult to detect any trace from a distance.
At this time, fish belly white appeared on the sky, and the clear morning light shone on the river, and the outline of the fleet launching the raid from Jingjiang was outlined. However, at this time, the fleet was less than ten miles away from the main village of Chishan Village on the south bank.
This is not because Tang Pan and others who personally led the assault were too early. The main reason was that the fleet had kept sailing in the center of the river and down the river. Under the cover of night, they only needed to be able to roughly identify the distance to the river bank and keep the distance between the warships.
The distance is enough, and at the same time, the boat is also intentionally slowed down the river.
At this time, we need to move towards Chishan Bay on the south bank, avoid the obstacles deployed by Chishan Village in the shallow waters, as well as the remaining dikes and villages submerged in the river water, and directly launch a surprise attack on the main village of Chishan Village where Hu Danzhou is stationed.
You have to wait until it gets really bright.
"No, it's not the soldiers and horses of Dongzhou Village!" Sun Yanguan groaned in pain and shouted, "That bitch Jiang Ang has surrendered. Those are the warships of the Nancai Recruitment Division!"
The second fleet of the Nancai Navy mainly consisted of eight large-winged ships and twelve sea falcon ships, supplemented by more than forty stern ships, fighting ships, and a large number of red horse boats and floating ships.
Although Dongzhou Village built a large number of boats in the later period to catch fish to supplement the food shortage, and the absolute number was not low, the fish boats built by Dongzhou Village were on the middle of the river eight or nine miles away, and each of them was twelve or thirty years long.
The difference between a large-winged ship with three or four stories high and a Sea Falcon warship was so great that Sun Yanguan could tell the difference even if he was blind.
The second fleet of the Nancai Navy was previously anchored in Changlin Camp to the north of Dongzhou Village. It appeared silently on the Jingjiang River south of Laohu Village overnight. The only explanation is that Jiang Ang led Dongzhou Village
Already surrendered to Nancai Zhaosi.
Only in this way can the Nancai Navy sail into the Jingjiang River quietly and without prestige from the waterway controlled by Dongzhou Village under the cover of night.
"Is Dongzhou Village surrendering like this?" Hu You stared blankly at the Nancai Zhaosi fleet on the river as if it was struck by lightning. It began to adjust its formation. There was already a small group of warships on the right wing eager to kill the main village on the south bank.
past.
At this moment, he still couldn't believe that Jiang Ang had surrendered.
Yes, after Jiang Ang and other dog thieves suffered a disastrous defeat in Panlong Village, they refused to deal with them. Since last autumn and winter, Jiang Ang has been in contact with the Nancai Recruitment Department alone to discuss recruitment matters, and he has also used this to recruit from Nancai every month.
Si Tao needed tens of thousands of shi of food to survive the last brutal winter.
Yes, they also expected that Jiang Ang and other dog thieves would eventually surrender to the Nancai Recruitment Division.
The problem is that Dongzhou Village currently has more than 100,000 men, women, and children under its jurisdiction. Even if Jiang Ang convinces Jiang Xiong, Zhang Cong, Zhao Shan and others to surrender to the Nancai Recruitment Division, it cannot be decided in one sentence.
!
Even if Jiang Ang, Jiang Xiong and other dog thieves decided to surrender, the Nancai Recruitment Department should not have sent a large number of troops to Dongzhou Village for supervision, nor should they have waited until Jiang Ang, Jiang Xiong and other dog thieves handed over the young man as a hostage.
Can I be trusted?
If Jiang Ang, Jiang Xiong and other dog thieves just surrendered, would the Nancai Recruitment Division's fleet dare to sail through the area controlled by Dongzhou Village at night?
What if Jiang Ang, Jiang Xiong and other thieves pretended to surrender?
If the Nancai Recruitment Division does not have enough guarantees, wouldn't tens of thousands of troops be afraid of being locked up and beaten after entering the narrow waterway controlled by Dongzhou Village at night?
However, no matter how unbelievable Hu You thought it was, the large fleet of Nancai Zhaosi's fleet appeared silently on the Jingjiang River, but it was a fact that they could not deny even if they closed their eyes.
And they were unprepared for it.
Don't look at the fact that the Nancai Recruitment Division's raiding troops are still some time away from launching a real raid, but the main village has no time to release the warships received in the water camp in such a short period of time.
Zongzhai Shuiying is a small lake next to Zongzhai, surrounded by fence walls. It is connected to Jingjiang River by a narrow river lane only a thousand steps long. The mouth of the river is closed by two large wooden fences.
When the navy warships need to be dispatched, they need to use a winch to open the large wooden fence. This takes time, not to mention that the navy generals live in land camps, and thousands of generals rush to move out.
Armor, pick up swords and guns, and board the ship as a team will take more time.
"Open the water gate, the navy is ready to go to war!" Sun Yanguan was anxious, but he did not forget to give the order.
Chishan Village has a total of more than a dozen water villages built within Chishan Bay, but Hu Dangzhou has captured all the dozen large and medium-sized warships newly built in the past two years - as long as the outside of the water camp is connected to the Jingjiang River, only six
The zhang-wide river was blocked by the warships of the Nancai Recruitment Division, and the warships in the main camp had no chance of entering the Jingjiang River.
In addition, only the navy under the jurisdiction of Laohuzhai has four stern warships with some combat effectiveness. They can be mixed with the small warships reinforced from the branch village to attack the Nancai Recruitment Division's fleet from the side and rear, forming a general
Share the pressure.
Hu You looked at the Chushan soldiers and horses approaching from the north from the direction of Sangchi Lake, but his mind was in a trance.
After experiencing the disastrous defeat at Panlong Village, Chishan Village also realized the importance of having more troops than more troops.
In the past two years, Chishan Village has worked hard to recruit hundreds of thousands of villagers to occupy Chishan Bay and other places. However, there are only more than 10,000 soldiers and horses officially organized. Among them, the 6,000 armored soldiers who are the most heroic in combat and the most equipped are called him.
His father, Hu Dangzhou, firmly held him in his hands and placed him under the direct jurisdiction of the general village.
However, among the 6,000 armored soldiers under the general village's jurisdiction, half of them were infantry. In order to ambush Nancai soldiers and horses, Hu Dang secretly led 2,000 elite soldiers to lurk in the tiger village on the north bank.
This also means that in addition to the three thousand naval troops, the main stronghold is only defended by more than a thousand elite infantry soldiers. How can it withstand the wolf-like tigers of Chushan’s elites who land on the beach and attack?
