On the pier, a large number of soldiers and horses quickly boarded the ship, and the forced crossing was about to begin.
A general rode up from below the pier, arrived in front of Yang Yiqing and Gu Dayong, and reported loudly.
"Please inform Mr. Yang and Mr. Gu that the troops and horses crossing the river have boarded the boat and all the soldiers are ready. Mr. Yang, please let me know whether you want to cross the river or not."
Yang Yiqing stroked his beard and nodded, and said in a deep voice: "Okay, then what are you waiting for? Cross the river immediately while the morning fog has not dispersed. Send an order to all the boats to set off immediately."
"Yes!" The general galloped away on horseback and rushed to the dock to deliver the order.
Soon after, the sails on the big ship were raised, and dozens of oarsmen began to paddle. The big ships began to slowly leave the dock, one by one, heading towards the other side of the morning mist. Perhaps in order to prevent the other party from being prepared, there was no horn.
, no war drums, and set off quietly.
Yang Yiqing adjusted his official uniform, turned to Gu Dayong beside him and said, "Eunuch Gu, let's board the ship too?"
Gu Dayong frowned and said: "Mr. Yang, our family still feels that this attack seems a bit hasty. Do you want to think about it again?"
Yang Yiqing sneered and said: "Eunuch Gu, Yang has said it more than once. It is imperative to cross the river, and no one is allowed to question it. Eunuch Gu said such words at this time, but it is thoughtless. If it were not your Eunuch Gu, but
Anyone else, I will punish him for shaking the morale of the army at this moment, and cut off his head as a sacrificial flag."
Gu Dayong waved his hand and said: "We have no other intentions. What we mean is that when the army launches an attack across the river, we must at least wait until Mr. Zhang comes back to discuss it together, right? Mr. Zhang is the chief military officer and the leader of the army.
.The purpose of the imperial court appointing him as the chief military officer is to let him, Mr. Yang and the three of us, lead the army in battle. Now I don’t know where Mr. Zhang is. If you and I launch an attack, if something goes wrong in the future, don’t we have to blame him?
On top of you and me?"
Yang Yiqing laughed heartily, with contempt in his eyes.
"It turns out that Eunuch Gu is worried about this. Eunuch Gu is overthinking. I, Yang Yiqing, am fully responsible for the success or failure of this cross-river attack. It is none of Mr. Zhang's business, and it is also none of Eunuch Gu's business. If it fails, Yang will
superior
I just want to report to the imperial court and take full responsibility. I also understand what Eunuch Gu wants. Let’s do this. Eunuch Gu will stay here and be responsible for supervising the subsequent troops crossing the river. There is no need to get on the boat. For the sake of Eunuch Gu’s safety, haha.
Ha ha."
Yang Yiqing walked quickly to the pier below, and the guards around him swarmed to follow. Gu Da stood still with his sleeves rolled up, looking at Yang Yiqing's back and sneered. Yang Yiqing was mocking him for being afraid of taking responsibility and greedy for life and fear of death. As everyone knows, Gu Dayong
In fact, Dayong just didn't want this cross-river attack to ruin his plan to kill with a borrowed knife.
In the past few days, Gu Dayong and Yang Yu have been waiting for news from Ningxia City. Waiting for the news that Zhang Yanling was captured by Anhua King Zhu Zhixiu during the encirclement and suppression campaign. But there has been no news. So Gu Dayong and Yang Yu's hearts
They were all quite puzzled.
But one thing was that they were certain that Zhang Yanling and others had crossed the river. Because the men sent by Yang Yu to survey along the path of Zhang Yanling's troops heading west came back. They followed them all the way to Xinjiazhuang and confirmed that Zhang Yanling and others had crossed the river.
information.
At this point, the situation became clear. Zhang Yanling must have wanted to take his 3,000 Zhenwei Battalion to make a surprise attack in order to draw money from the bottom of the cauldron.
While Gu Dayong and Yang Yu were shocked, Yang Yu also immediately updated the information and released the news. As the news was only sent out yesterday, it is estimated that Zhu Zhixiu may only know the news. Zhu Zhixiu will definitely mobilize his troops. They would go to encircle, suppress, and intercept Zhang Yanling. They would even mobilize some of the troops on the north bank to encircle and kill Zhang Yanling.
Under such circumstances, Gu Dayong certainly did not want Yang Yiqing to launch the cross-river operation. If it could be postponed for a few days and wait until Zhu Zhixiu mobilized troops to encircle and suppress Zhang Yanling's 3,000 men before starting the battle, everything would be perfect.
Gu Dayong had this idea, so he said those words. He had no idea about the tactics of crossing the river, and it was not out of military considerations.
However, Yang Yiqing's attitude was resolute, and Gu Dayong couldn't persuade him, and he didn't dare to use too much force. Otherwise, Yang Yiqing would be angered, and if he was really accused of being timid before the war and disrupting the morale of the army, he would be killed with a knife. It's really not worth it.
Yang Yiqing led his bodyguards to board a large ship on the shore. The ship quickly moved away from the shore. Yang Yiqing walked to the bow of the ship and looked at the majestic formation of dozens of large ships silhouetted in the heavy fog on the river, and watched the turbulence under the ship. The water was flowing, and a surge of pride surged in my heart.
"Reminiscent of Gong Jin's time, Xiao Qiao got married for the first time, wearing a feather fan and silk scarf, full of heroic spirit, while chatting and laughing, the oars and oars were reduced to ashes..."
Yang Yiqing thought of the famous poem. When Zhou Lang crossed the river to fight, it was nothing more than this. At this time, he would definitely be able to sweep away the rebels and make great achievements.
"The southwesterly wind has increased. Good luck, Mr. Yang." A general beside him said loudly.
Yang Yiqing looked up at the sails and saw that after the wind intensified, the sails picked up the southwesterly wind, and the speed of the ship became extremely fast. In the rapids, there was actually a long wake trailing behind the ship in front. That was A sign of a very fast ship.
"God is really helping me. The southwest wind is strong, making it very convenient to cross the river. As the wind increases, the time to reach the shore is greatly shortened. It is really the right time, the right place and the right people." Yang Yiqing laughed.
Indeed, as the southwest wind increased and the wind strengthened, the speed of the river crossing fleet became faster. Originally, the large ship was heavy and had a deep draft. It mainly relied on human oars, so the speed was actually very slow. At this speed, at least one person was needed It would take an hour to reach the other shore. But now, I'm afraid it only takes half an hour to reach the other shore.
However, after the wind started, the negative effect was that the morning fog began to dissipate very quickly. The surface of the Yellow River, which was originally filled with morning fog, was washed away by the southwest wind in a short period of time and became clear. When the river surface After the morning fog above cleared, the entire river crossing fleet was completely exposed to the morning light.
Soon the sound of horns sounded on the cliffs and piers on the other side. Yang Yiqing frowned and picked up his telescope and looked at the pier on the opposite side. He saw the enemy troops running away and hastily dispatched.
"Master Yang, the enemy has discovered us." The general beside him said solemnly.
Yang Yiqing put down the telescope and said calmly: "So what if I find out? We always have to meet."
The general next to him was speechless. It was originally a surprise attack, but now the opponent has discovered it from a long way away. Doesn't it mean that he has more time to prepare and mobilize. The next attack will be more fierce. How can you say that it doesn't matter? But this is not the case. It's not Yang Yiqing's fault. There are gains and losses, and with the help of wind, we have to face this situation.
"How far are we from the other side?" Yang Yiqing asked in a deep voice.
"Your Majesty, the fleet is about to cross the river. We are about to enter the enemy's artillery bombardment range." People around him reported hurriedly.
Before he finished speaking, a loud bang was heard on the cliff opposite. A column of water splashed into the sky a hundred steps ahead. That was when the rebels on the opposite side began to use artillery to bombard the warships crossing the river.
Yang Yiqing shouted in a deep voice: "Send the order, all ships put up their shields, prepare water dragons to extinguish fires. Soldiers prepare sheepskin bags. All soldiers are ready to charge to meet the enemy."
The order was quickly issued, and all the big ships began to lift their chains. The huge wooden coamings more than a foot high on the ship's side were pulled up by the chains, forming a tall wall around the ship's side. This was Yang Yiqing's way of guarding against the enemy's arrows.
A defensive hoarding is prepared. When enemy arrows are fired, the soldiers on the deck can use the hoarding as a barrier to avoid the arrows.
Several water dragons and a large number of wooden barrels are also prepared on each ship. If the other party shoots the ship with rockets and causes a fire, water can be obtained on the spot to quickly put it out.
The other is a sheepskin bag prepared for individual soldiers. Two sheepskin airbags are tied together and can fully bear the weight of the soldiers. If the ship is hit by the opponent's artillery and causes the ship to capsize, the soldiers can escape by diving into the water.
The sheepskin bag can ensure that you will not drown, and you can continue charging to the shore with the help of buoyancy.
These facilities have all been tested by Yang Yiqing in the past few days and have proven to be very effective defense facilities. Of course Yang Yiqing is not stupid. He has learned from Cao Xiong’s mistakes in the past, and has the strong opposition and painful explanations of his interests and interests from Zhang Yanling, Shi Yong and others.
, of course he cannot completely ignore it and die foolishly. Therefore, these temporary defense methods are some special means to ensure the success of crossing the river.
On the command ship, the horn sounded. Along with the deep horn sound, the war drums on each ship beat. For a while, the war drums rumbled on the wide Yellow River, and the sound of killing shook the sky.
The artillery on the other side also began to fire in full force. Thunderous roars came one after another, and the cliffs were filled with gunpowder smoke. On the river, the water columns splashed by the artillery shells in the gaps between the fleet of ships rose into the sky. Water droplets scattered everywhere, like a pouring water.
heavy rain.
The big ship that was the first to set off has also reached the range of the opponent's crossbow. A low whistle came through the air, and dozens of crossbow arrows as thick as human arms began to bombard the big ship. Sawdust flew from the hit big ship,
Ships began to be destroyed, and soldiers began to be shot with crossbows and their flesh and blood flew everywhere.