In the dark, a fleet of boats sailed in from an estuary in the north of Taihu Lake and sailed along a small river toward the Jiangnan Canal.
At the third watch, the fleet sailed into the Jiangnan Canal, then turned around and headed south. A dozen miles away was the Huaixi Army's grain fleet, which was huge and mighty, numbering 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. They are called tugboats because they have no power of their own. Instead, they are fastened end to end with iron chains.
The first main ship tows dozens or hundreds of tugboats to sail in the river, which is very common in the Jianghuai area. Each tugboat can carry hundreds of stones of grain.
This fleet was the Jiaolong Camp fleet led by Ruan De. The Jiaolong Camp was temporarily transferred from the Yellow River to the Yangtze River to perform a special mission, going deep into the tiger's den to burn the enemy's grain ships.
The reason why Chen Qing asked Yang Shi to come up with the idea of arranging a special force in Taihu Lake was actually because he thought that by letting Jiaolong Camp pretend to be this special force, he could break through the enemy's many obstacles.
The Jiaolong Camp gradually approached the grain ship, and there were still five miles to go. Both sides of the bank were surrounded by vast tents, patrolling soldiers everywhere, and the security was very tight. The canal was inaccessible from land and had to be taken by water.
Immediately, a sentry boat came up to stop them. "Password!" the sentry soldier asked loudly.
"All the way south!" the soldier replied.
There was no problem with the password, but it did not mean that they could pass the patrol ship. A general on duty asked: "Whose fleet are you?"
Someone in the cabin yelled: "Wu Laoqi, if you dare to make things difficult again, you will pay off my gambling debt tomorrow!"
The general on duty immediately recognized it, "Are you Wang Jiong?"
The curtain opened, revealing Wang Jiong's face. He said with an annoyed look on his face: "Your Majesty sent me to perform a mission. My leg was injured and I can't move. Otherwise, I will have to slap you in the face."
Behind him, a sharp dagger was 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: "The military situation is urgent. I want to see the commander immediately, but you still don't get out of the way!"
The general on duty had no doubts and waved his hand, "Get out of the way!"
More than a dozen sentry ships moved out of the way, and the vehicles and ships rumbled into action. One after another, they sailed southward. There was no problem with the ships. They were all warships of the Huaixi Army, with Zhang Jun's blue dragon flag flying. The soldiers on board were also wearing Huaixi uniforms.
The armor of the Western Army, with everyone sitting listlessly on the bow, fits the image of the Huaixi Army's navy soldiers.
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 and are covered with sentries. Even if they want to attack the camp, it is unrealistic. They can't cross it.
The camp fence is ten feet high.
At this moment, a thousand-stone ship came towards us. Standing on the bow was a general. It was Wu Shouzhi, the commander-in-chief of the capital. He was the chief general of the navy and Wang Jiong's immediate superior. He came to report to Zhang Jun on the situation of the navy.
Are returning to Zhenjiang Prefecture overnight.
Wu Shouzhi saw thirty vehicles and ships at a glance and was startled. How could a warship appear here without his own order? Who dared to sail a warship into the canal without authorization?
"Whose subordinates are you?" Wu Shouzhi asked loudly.
"Wu Dutong, this is a humble position!" Wang Jiong's low voice came from the cabin.
Wu Shouzhi was startled, how could it be Wang Jiong? Didn't he go on a special mission?
"Commander Wang, is that you?"
"Exactly a humble job!"
Wu Shouzhi was really dissatisfied and said: "Why don't you come out to greet me when you see me?"
"To the Commander-in-Chief, I have injured my leg and am unable to move. Please forgive me, Commander-in-Chief!"
Wu Shouzhi was even more surprised. He jumped on the other side's ship, walked up and asked, "Didn't you go on a mission? How was it? Was it successful?"
"Reporting to the capital, the mission of Beiji failed and Beiji was seriously injured."
"Failure? How can you still come out intact after failure? Wu Shouzhi became suspicious and asked: "What are you doing, why don't you come out to see me?"
"Du Tong, I didn't lie to you. You will 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 holding a crossbow in his face. He was shocked. Before his body could react, there was a 'click!' and the crossbow arrow was shot out at an unparalleled speed.
, it was too late to hide, "Poof!" An arrow hit his forehead, and the tip of the arrow came out with flesh and blood from the back of his head. Wu Shouzhi didn't even scream, and fell to the sky.
Ruan De glanced at Wang Jiong again, and Wang Jiong was so frightened that he shouted: "I fully cooperate with you, you must keep your word and not kill me!"
Ruan De ordered his two men: "Throw him into the cabin, life or death is up to you!"
He strode out of the cabin and shouted: "Action!"
The car and boat behind were moving forward rapidly. Ruan De jumped onto the other side's ship, swung the big iron rod and swept away. In just a moment, he knocked down seven or eight soldiers, and the other boatmen were so frightened that they lay on the deck.
Dare to move.
It was the third watch, and there were not many sentries on the shore. An accident happened here, and no sentries saw it. Cars and ships passed by, and the grain ship started to catch fire. Ruan De jumped on the last car and ship.
The soldiers set the fire in a very simple way. They pulled out the stopper of the leather bag filled with kerosene, ignited the leather bag, and threw the leather bag on board. The kerosene flowed out, and the fire 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. The sentries on the shore finally noticed the fire and thick smoke, and shouted one after another. One sentry blew the horn, "Woo--".
Zhang Jun and Wu Shouzhi, who came to report on their work, were talking about the second shift. They had just fallen asleep when they suddenly heard the sound of a horn. Zhang Jun was shocked. He sat up and asked anxiously: "What happened?"
After a while, the soldier reported: "Prince Qi, there seems to be a fire by the river. I saw thick smoke."
"riverside?"
Zhang Jun thought for a while and shouted, "No!"
He rushed out of the tent with bare feet and shouted: "Sound the alarm, all soldiers go to put out the fire!"
He had just realized that there were hundreds of grain ships parked by the river. Because they needed to march, they did not unload the grain and grass from the ships. They were ready to set off at any time, but it would be troublesome if there was a fire. The ships were all connected with iron chains.
, once burned, a hundred burned.
Tens of thousands of soldiers rushed out from the military camps on both sides and rushed to the river. Hundreds of grain ships on the river were ignited with blazing fire, just like a raging fire burning the river. Thick smoke filled the air, making it difficult for the soldiers to approach.
The soldiers scooped water from wooden barrels and poured it on the grain ships, but it was in vain. The fire mainly burned inside the ships. Several ships were burned through the bottom of the ship, began to tilt and flooded, and gradually sank.
At this time, the thirty vehicles and boats that were set on fire had already sailed a mile away. They broke through the guardrails on the river, and the fleet sailed towards the Wangyu River in the south.