Zi Cheyu, the general of the Chu army, stood at the bow of the boat, looking at the waterway ahead.
To be fair, to be honest, he was not inclined to use dangerous military tactics such as surprise attacks on Daliang, but he had no choice. After all, the Wei soldiers led by Ji Run, the king of Su of the Wei State, could completely block their Chu navy. The army continued to march north to capture Wei's territory.
If the stalemate in this war cannot be resolved with the help of waterways, Xiong Tuo, the lord of Yangcheng whom he is loyal to, will be unable to send his army north again.
In fact, from Zi Cheyu's point of view, their harvest this time was really quite big. They almost swallowed up 20 to 30% of the entire Yingshui County in one go, plus about 40% of the territory that originally belonged to Yangcheng Jun Xiong Tuo. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, has occupied 70% of the entire Yingshui County, or even more.
Therefore, Zi Cheyu actually preferred to fight steadily. He wanted to suggest Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, to first stabilize the occupied city and the nearby areas. After all, in his opinion, according to the comparison of the national strength of Chu and Wei, as long as he fought steadily, Wei The country is bound to be no match for their great Chu.
Don't look at the fact that King Su of Wei Ji Run has led his troops to defend the Yanshui area, but that is only because it is the end of the year and the weather is freezing. Not only is it inconvenient to transport grain and grass, but it is also difficult to obtain food locally.
Wait until next spring and try again?
At that time, when the ice and snow melt, the army bypasses the Wei army's Yanshui camp, and the entire army advances directly into the hinterland of Wei. Even if the Yanshui camp is impregnable, so what?
As long as the Chu army bypasses the Yanshui camp, will the Wei soldiers in the Wei camp still dare to huddle in the camp?
If this group of Wei soldiers are still prepared to be cowardly, then their Chu soldiers will advance north without ceremony.
As long as their offensive is as fierce as ever, there is no need to worry about the Wei soldiers cutting off their food and grass. After all, the tactics of cutting off the enemy's food routes are generally used when the two armies are in a stalemate. If the Chu soldiers often conquer Wei's The city collects food on the spot to support the war, and there is no need to worry about the Wei soldiers cutting off its food routes.
Unless Chu soldiers cannot capture Wei's city by then, it will be more difficult.
However, this possibility is very slim. After all, the Wei army is far smaller than the Chu army. Under the human sea tactic, unless the time and place are on the opponent's side, it is rare to encounter a city pass that cannot be conquered.
Therefore, wait until the spring of next year. When the Chu army bypasses the Wei soldiers at the Yanshui camp and invades the hinterland of the Wei state, the Wei soldiers in the Wei camp will have no choice but to go out to intercept it. By then, the impregnable Wei soldiers will The camp is in name only.
At that time, relying on its absolute superiority in military strength, how could the Chu army be unable to deal with the 20,000 dredging troops and the 10,000 Yanling troops, which totaled only 30,000 Wei troops?
But unfortunately, Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo did not accept this suggestion, because he was competing with Guling Lord Xiong Wu for the position of King of Chu, and he was eager to win more for Chu in this war. territory, in order to gain the favor of the King of Chu and the support of the Chu nobles.
Under such circumstances, Zi Cheyu had no choice but to propose a surprise attack on Daliang.
Hope this trip goes well...
Zi Cheyu secretly prayed in his heart.
At this time, a guard came from behind to greet him: "General, you have been standing here since early morning and have not eaten yet. Why don't you go to the cabin to eat something first?"
Zi Cheyu was about to say that I'm not hungry yet, but suddenly he felt a real sense of hunger in his belly, so he nodded, reincarnated and walked towards the cabin.
When he reached the hatch and was about to step off the inner stairs of the warship, suddenly, a loud "bang" sound came from the bow of the ship, causing the entire battlefield to shake.
"What's going on?" Zi Cheyu was surprised and suspicious. He held on to the wooden wall of the hatch and eagerly asked the Chu soldiers nearby.
I saw the Chu soldiers on the ship looking around at the hull. Suddenly, the Chu soldiers standing at the bow of the ship shouted in shock: "General, the collision plate of the ship's bow has been cracked..."
"What?" Zi Cheyu was shocked when he heard this. You must know that the collision plate on the bow of the ship was specially reinforced to prevent collisions. Logically speaking, the collision plate would not be cracked.
Zi Cheyu walked over quickly, leaned half of his body out of the bow of the ship, and looked down at the bow of the ship.
Sure enough, he found that several pieces of the bow collision plate had been cracked, but fortunately the hull was not damaged.
"call……"
Zi Cheyu secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Although he didn't know what exactly cracked the collision plate in front of the bow. But since that thing could even crack the collision plate, if there was no such collision plate, it would obviously be able to directly crack the hull, causing the cabin to leak.
Even if the damage is too serious, we can only abandon the battlefield and urgently call all the Chu soldiers on the ship to land on other warships.
This is the value of the collision plate, it saved the entire warship.
Just when Zi Cheyu was secretly rejoicing, suddenly Chu Bing beside him shouted: "Be careful, be careful of the drifting wood ahead!"
Driftwood?
Zi Cheyu subconsciously raised his head, and was shocked to see several logs sinking and floating in the water in front of him, floating down the river.
He squinted his eyes and watched carefully for a while, and then he was shocked to realize that the logs were definitely man-made. After all, the front sections of the logs were deliberately sharpened with a knife.
"Bang!"
There was a loud noise, and one of the driftwood hit the bow of the warship on the left side of Zi Cheyu.
Zi Cheyu clearly saw that most of the collision plate of the warship on the left was knocked away. Immediately, some Chu soldiers came from the warship and shouted in panic: "The ship...the cabin is leaking, please come quickly."
The cabin is leaking.”
…
Zi Cheyu frowned at this scene, and the ominous premonition in his heart became stronger and stronger.
But at this moment, there was a loud bang from the front, and his expression suddenly changed in shock.
What happened again?!
He looked around nervously, but what made him feel a little puzzled was that nothing unusual happened around him.
Just when he didn't know what was going on, the Cai River in front suddenly rose sharply, and the flood discharge phenomenon that could only be seen during the flood season appeared before his eyes.
In the Cai River in front, he saw a turbulent water sweeping over him. What frightened Zi Cheyu even more was that the turbulent flood actually carried densely packed driftwood that almost covered the entire river surface.
Wei... was done by Wei people?!
A chill suddenly ran down the spine of Zi Cheyu's back. He certainly knew what a disaster this kind of water, coupled with the floating logs in the turbulent river, would bring to his warship team.
"Note...be careful to avoid the drifting wood ahead!...Quickly. Quickly notify the fleet behind you."
When giving the order loudly, Zi Cheyu couldn't help but feel a little bitter.
Be careful to avoid the driftwood ahead?
How to avoid it?
The entire river was covered with driftwood that was as dangerous as a weapon. How could they avoid it?
"Bang!"
"Bang bang bang!"
There was a loud noise.
I saw those drifting trees, boosted by the turbulent river water, smashing the bow ram of the Chu fleet like sharp arrows and inserting straight into the cabin.
"No! The cabin is leaking!"
"The cabin is leaking..."
The Chu soldiers on the nearby warships all screamed in fear.
"The ship...the boat is listed sideways, helmsman...helmsman?"
A warship was turned sideways by the impact of the turbulent water.
What's even more terrible is that the warship was rushed downstream by the river uncontrollably.
In response to this, the Chu soldiers on several Chu warships sailing behind the warship were greatly horrified because they found that the warship in front was ramming towards them sideways under the impact of the river water.
"No!"
"don't want!"
Many Chu soldiers shouted at the top of their lungs, but unfortunately their shouts could not change the established facts.
I saw that the horizontal warship slammed into the three warships behind it. The entire ship was smashed to pieces, and countless Chu soldiers fell into the water screaming.
What's terrible is that due to the impact of this collision, the helmsmen of the three warships could no longer control the sailing direction of the ship. They spun sideways and collided with the warship next to them.
"boom"
The two Chu warships collided fiercely with the panicked shouts of many Chu soldiers, and the railings on the sides of the ships were immediately knocked away. Immediately afterwards, the right and left sides of the two warships also crashed.
It was shattered in the impact, and a large amount of river water poured into the cabin.
…
Zi Cheyu stood at the stern of the boat, looking at this scene in horror and shock, at the tragedy that unfolded before his eyes.
The turbulent river water actually pushed their fleet downstream. During this period, dozens of warships were unable to control their direction and collided with friendly warships. The ships were destroyed and people died.
When did the Wei people build the dam? When did they start storing water?
Zi Cheyu gritted his teeth in hatred.
No matter what the truth is, one thing is certain. That is, his plan to drive warships to surprise the Wei capital Daliang has completely failed.
Now, instead of feeling regretful, he might as well think about how to survive this catastrophe and try to save the lives of as many Chu soldiers as possible.
"General, the leakage in the cabin is very serious and cannot be repaired..."
A Chu soldier hurriedly came to report.
Zi Cheyu let out a long breath and glanced at the west side of Cai River with wary eyes.
When he thought about it, since the Wei people had set a trap here long ago, it couldn't be just a water attack. There must be an ambush of Wei soldiers.
Thinking of this, he gritted his teeth and ordered: "Send a signal to signal the warships behind... If a warship with a leaky cabin is forced to anchor on the east bank of the Cai River, kill the direction, and directly drive the ship to the shore, it will not hurt if the ship is destroyed."
Under Zi Cheyu's order, the helmsmen of those warships whose cabins were leaking were forcibly turned to death, and with the help of the impact of the river water, they tried to force themselves ashore, but only a few warships whose hulls were not damaged were
Still drifting with the current, they were washed downstream along the direction of the water.
"Bang"
"Bang bang"
Dozens of warships were forcibly docked on the east bank of the Cai River. The Chu soldiers on these warships jumped off the river bank one after another.
They didn't even notice that two miles away from them on the east bank of the Cai River, there was a cavalryman wearing armor and dressed as a general, riding a horse on a slope. Behind him, there were more than ten cavalry guards.
"snort!"
I saw the general looking at the scene on the Cai River with an expressionless face, holding the horse's rein in his left hand, and gently tossing a golden order in his hand with his right hand.
"Raise the flag!" the general ordered coldly.
As soon as he finished speaking, the guards behind him dismounted and worked together to erect a large flag on the high slope. Two large characters were clearly visible on the large flag.
Dangshan
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"
A war trumpet sounded, and in a forest not far from the east bank of the Cai River, a large number of Wei soldiers came out shouting, including a group of cavalry.
At this time, the general put the golden order in his arms, took the halberd from the guard with an expressionless face, and rushed out with his legs under the horse's belly.
"Kill! Leave no one behind!"
General Sima An of Dangshan Camp, attack! (To be continued.)