Under the cover of Chen Yijun, the escort fleet entered the outer waters of Yangluo Fort one after the other, and the moon had not yet set at this time, illuminating the river white. Zhao Hao held the telescope and looked intently at the north bank of the river, the Yangtze River turned a gentle bend here, turning from northwest to west, and Yangluo Fort is at this corner, the fleet will slow down and adjust the sails here, if there is an enemy ambush here to launch a surprise attack, it will be the best time.

"Your Majesty, Chen Yi sent a signal, and the enemy sentry ships in front of him were all cleaned up. The enemy forces in the fort did not notice any movement, and their units had already occupied the upper waters. Zheng Yong replied.

"Okay, the plan remains the same, each ship will engage the enemy on the starboard side, and after entering the firing range, attack Yangluo Fort with rockets." Zhao Yu looked at the empty river and breathed a sigh of relief, it seems that this Zhang Yu is not an ordinary support, in the state of the imminent battle, there is not even a guard fleet outside the water village, only a few sentry ships are used as guards, and in front of the large warships, they don't even have the strength to fight back.

"The baggage fleet is moving closer to the left bank, the warships are moving on the right bank, and the rocket launchers of each ship are loaded with blasting shells!" Zheng Yong then ordered Guan Tongshou to issue an order to adjust the formation and prepare for battle.

Thanks to the strict training on weekdays, after receiving the order, the detachments quickly adjusted their formation in an orderly manner, and the warship detachments broke away from the brigade and leaned towards the north bank. After entering the battlefield, the rocket ship detachment set sail and anchored about two miles offshore, while the gunboat detachment cruised a few miles from the shore, and several large Class-A warships such as the Sheji anchored in the attack line to be used as a fire support point and strengthen the attack force.

"Target, fort ahead, indiscriminate coverage of rockets!" The fleet had just taken position, and the enemy troops in Yangluo Fort seemed to have discovered that something was wrong, sounding the alarm, and Zhao Yu gave the order to fire without waiting for the warship to stop.

As soon as the order to fire was given......, more than 20 launchers arranged on the Sheji were the first to be launched, and more than 150 rockets roared out of the launch tubes, and under the impetus of gunpowder, they dragged the tail flame into the sky, flew to the highest point, drew an arc and plunged headlong, and exploded in the Yangluobao Water Village. By this time, the warship was already shrouded in gunsmoke.

"Launch, launch, launch......" In the continuous command sound, one rocket after another rose into the sky, and at first it was possible to tell the number, but when more than 40 rocket ships joined the battle group one after another, they could no longer distinguish each other, and the orange tail flame residing in the night sky made a large net, which shrouded the entire Yangluo Fort.

'Boom, boom, ......boom' rockets fell one after another, and exploded into countless fragments, mercilessly harvesting all life, while igniting the warships moored in the water wall, igniting houses and camps, and the blazing fire reflected the darkest hour before dawn.

The 'Bang ......' fortress is an enclosed space, and the raging fires collide back and forth, forming a whirlwind that rises with tongues of fire, burns up and bursts in the air, forming fireballs that fall from the sky and scatter in all directions.

"Target the first fort, extend the shot!" Zhao Hao looked at the battlefield, Yangluo Fort is divided into four forts: the first fort, the upper fort, the middle fort and the lower fort, except for the first fort located in the north, the other three forts are along the riverside, forming a triangle on the ground plane. At present, the three forts along the river have been destroyed under the continuous bombardment of several rounds of rockets, just like the flames of iron-making blast furnaces several feet high, and the enemy soldiers in them are afraid that they will be burned to death or smoked to death. He ordered the extension of fire, concentrating fire on the first fort.

"Your Majesty, the enemy ship has broken through!" Zheng Yong pointed to the water village by the river, and some enemy ships took advantage of the direction of the fire to desperately break open the gate of the village and rush to the river, trying to escape.

"Order the gunboats to stop the shooting, and not let them escape!" Zhao Hao looked through the smoke and saw that the enemy ships that rushed out were all on fire with smoke, and he wanted to flee downstream before he could raise his sails, so he ordered.

"Yes, yes!" Zheng Yong immediately ordered the gunboats cruising in front of him to intercept and shoot after the escaped enemy ships.

In the blink of an eye, the thunderous explosion of rockets was mixed with the rumbling sound of artillery, and the enemy ships that were hit either caught in flames, were shot into the water and capsized, or ran aground on the riverside in a panic. The enemy soldiers have jumped into the water to escape, it is now the cold winter wax moon, although the river water is not frozen, but it is also cold and biting, even if people avoid the fire and die, it is difficult to escape the fate of being frozen to death.

"Your Majesty, if there is an enemy ship, please surrender, how to deal with it!" Under the blow of the fierce fire of the Song army, the desperate enemy ships lowered their masts one after another, erected a flag of surrender and asked for instructions, Zheng Yong asked.

"Let them drop sail and anchor on the spot, and those who disobey the order will be sunk immediately!" Zhao Yu said coldly.

"Your Majesty, Yangluo Fort has been completely destroyed, should you stop the bombardment? There are still many people and merchants in the fort. "Zheng Yong is a little strange today, although the little emperor would use rockets to attack the city in the past, it was often done in moderation, so as not to hurt innocent people and property. And the bombardment has been continuous for half an hour today, and has not yet been ordered to stop, and it seems that he has forgotten that there are still people in it, which makes him very strange, and asks carefully.

"Alas, continue to fire, raze this place to the ground, and the idea of rebuilding the fort has been defeated." Zhao Hao sighed.

"Your Majesty...... Your Majesty is so afraid of being criticized by others! Zheng Yong hesitated but still voiced his concerns.

"Look at the head of Ezhou City!" Zhao Hao said with a wry smile.

"Your Majesty, the city is full of enemy troops watching the battle, but it seems that there is no intention of helping. Don't...... Did Your Majesty do it for them? Zheng Yong turned to look at Ezhou City on the south bank, although it was still far away, but at this moment the city was illuminated by lanterns and torches, and it was full of enemy soldiers, but it was quiet, that is, there was no drum cheering, no shouting, and no intention of helping, just staring blankly at the scene in front of him.

"Yes, that's exactly what it means." Zhao Hao nodded and said, "Tartars often threaten to slaughter cities to deter the enemy army and force the defenders to surrender. Today, I used rockets to cover and shoot at Yangluo Fort, in addition to cutting off the threat of the enemy's naval army, and also to deter the enemy. Let them understand that if they resist, Yang Luobao is an example! ”

"I see, Your Majesty's battle is to kill one person and want to live ten thousand." Zheng Yong thought for a while.

He knew that the Protectors were the first to participate in the Battle of Restoration and participated in almost all the battles of recovering Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but they did not get enough rest; Similarly, Wen Tianxiang's troops and Jiang Cheng's troops set out from Guangxi and Jiangxi respectively to attack the state and plunder the government, and they were also exhausted from the sea to the Yangtze River, and they had become the end of a strong crossbow. The city of Ezhou is strong, the army is strong, and there are many residents in the city. A forcible siege of the city would not only cost the defenders a great price, but also the civilian casualties.

It was by destroying Yangluo Fort that the little emperor showed the might of firearms, so as to deter the defenders in Ezhou City, so that their troops were discouraged, and the soldiers surrendered without a fight, so that the people in the city were protected from the poison of the soldiers. Therefore, even if there are innocent people killed in Yangluo Fort, it is cost-effective compared to the price paid for breaking the city, and it is also implicitly the lesser of two evils......

It was not until the beginning of the Yin period that the shelling gradually subsided, and Ezhou City never dared to send a single boat or soldier to help during the whole process. After dawn, when the fire on the island was extinguished, Zhao Yu sent troops ashore to search for the remnants of the enemy, and found the golden seal of ten thousand households, and the body of the person who wore the seal was burned in an inhuman shape and could not be identified. According to the captives, Wanhu Zhang Yu was killed in the first round of rocket attacks. Checking the results of the battle, more than 400 enemy ships were sunk and burned, 200 enemy ships were captured, 5,000 troops were surrendered, and more than 10,000 enemies were annihilated.

After packing up everything, Zhao Yu ordered the troops to be collected, escorted the boat to continue upstream, and docked at Qingshiji, twenty miles away from Ezhou City. At this time, Wen Tianxiang had already heard the news and came to greet him, and he led the 2nd Brigade of the Escort Army, the 1st Regiment of the Pro-Guard Brigade, the Mountain Brigade and the Artillery Regiment to land, and the baggage boat sailed into Nanhu Lujiagang. Zheng Yong led the naval army to set up a water village on the spot, and submerged the troops into Chen Yi's army, in case there was an enemy coming to help from the Han River.

Wen Tianxiang knew that His Majesty had arrived, and had already prepared a place to stay in Xujia Town, on the north shore of Nanhu Lake, which was located on the northern edge of the camp, and there were sailors stationed on the lake, so the safety was still guaranteed. But Zhao Yu did not go to the palace, but ordered Li Zhen, the commander of the Second Brigade, to lead the troops to set up camp, and went to the camp to visit the soldiers of the army to boost morale.

"Your Majesty!" Zhao Hao walked to the camp, Xie Fangde, Mrs. Chen and Xie Ao led Huai'en and Weisheng generals to greet them outside the camp.

"Excuse me, your ministers have worked hard!" When Zhao Yu saw it, he hurriedly got off the horse and stepped forward to help him one by one.

"Your Majesty led the army thousands of miles to help, how dare the minister complain!" Xie Fang had to salute again.

"Yes, the ministers were overjoyed when they heard that His Majesty had pacified Jiangsu and Zhejiang in three battles and recovered Lin'an!" Xie Ao said with a smile.

"This is the work of all the generals, but I don't dare to take credit!" Zhao Hao said with a haha.

"In the battle this morning, Your Majesty will completely destroy the enemy army in Yangluo Fort, but the ministers have besieged the city for nearly a month and have not been able to break the city, what a shame!" Wen Tianxiang shook his head and said in shame.

"This is Mrs. Xu, right?" Zhao Yu saw a female general standing at the end, wearing armor and a sword hanging from her waist, and took two steps forward to inquire.

"The concubine is none other than the Xu family!" Mrs. Xu listened to the question and said with a bow.

"I heard the name of my wife as early as Qiongzhou, but I didn't have a chance to see each other, but today I saw that I am really a heroine!" Zhao Hao helped him down.

"Your Majesty took in the younger brother and raised him as an adult, and the concubines are grateful!" Mrs. Xu saluted again.

"Chen Xiang sacrificed his life for the country, I should take him in, and now Chen Dun is my right-hand man, the pillar of the country!" Of course, Zhao Yu did not hesitate to praise with good words, anyway, he didn't spend money, and patted Chen Dun on the shoulder who was accompanying him. Mrs. Xu naturally smiled when she heard His Majesty's praise, but Chen Dun rolled her eyes repeatedly, but he just didn't see it.

"Your Majesty, it's cold outside, please rest in the tent!" Wen Tianxiang saw that everyone had finished their salutes, and also exchanged a few words, so he stepped forward to ask His Majesty to enter the tent and rest.

Under the leadership of Wen Tianxiang, Zhao Yu led the generals into the tent, and there was a brazier in the big tent, which was much warmer than outside. The generals sat down in turn after saluting again, and then he informed everyone of the situation in the DPRK and China and the current situation, and told everyone whether Jiangdong could be stabilized in Ezhou and whether Jiangling could be captured, which was the basis for ensuring the defense line of the Yangtze River, so no matter what the price was, Ezhou would be captured.

Next, Wen Tianxiang also wanted His Majesty to introduce the battle situation in Ezhou, and now the two armies of Huaien and Weisheng are going all the way north, attacking the city and pulling out the fortress like a bamboo, but they also suffered a lot of losses. However, along the way, there were constantly rebels to vote, and with the surrender of the troops, the strength of the army did not decrease but increased a lot, and now it has 50,000 troops, plus no less than 100,000 people guarding various places. It was only in the future that the new army had time to reorganize and train, and its combat effectiveness inevitably declined, and the war was urgent, and it did not rest after several fierce battles, and attacked Ezhou again after exhaustion, and several sieges ended in failure, resulting in low morale and lack of materials.

Before the arrival of Dong Yicheng's fleet, winter clothes had been distributed to everyone, and the supplies had been replenished. Now that they have controlled the land passage to the east, the enemy army can still get supplies from the river, so the siege plan is difficult to work, so they have to ask for reinforcements from the water army, but they did not expect to alarm the emperor and personally lead the troops to come. However, in the battle this morning, after the news of His Majesty's light capture of Yangluo Fort and annihilation of the enemy's naval division spread, the morale of the whole army was greatly boosted.

Zhao Yu asked the army to explain in detail the reasons for the failure of the siege, the situation was similar to his judgment, in the lack of heavy weapons support, through the wide moat is a problem, even if the landing is successful, but because the follow-up forces are difficult to keep up, and failed miserably. Later, I also thought about digging tunnels into the city, but because there are many lakes around and the Yangtze River, the groundwater is abundant, and the water level is very low, and there is water seeping out when it is not as deep as a zhang, so it is difficult to succeed. On the other hand, most of the defenders in the city are northerners, they are not only good at field warfare, but also good at defending the city, and the battle is brave, and they have repeatedly gone out of the city to launch counterattacks, which are not easy to deal with.

Next, Zhao Hao asked about the surrounding people. Wen Tianxiang said that the people still have their hearts set on Wang Shi, hoping that they can recover the old land as soon as possible, and have organized rebels to help them attack the city, as an internal response. But there are also many of them who are dedicated to Shiyuan, among which the Yang family in Banzhou refused to surrender, and resisted Wang Shi according to the key passes, so they could only bypass Banzhou and go north. In addition, there have also been cases where after the city was broken, some scholars committed suicide with their will to die to show their loyalty to the Yuan court.

Another situation that Wen Tianxiang reacted to was the lack of officials who could govern the localities, and after they conquered the prefectures and counties, they could only be selected and transferred from the army, or the talented and prestigious gentry were recruited on the spot to serve as local shepherds. It is inevitable that there will be a mixture of people among these people, who have violated the law, but there is no one available at the moment, so he can only apply for a lesson, and he is deeply worried, worried that things will change over time, and he hopes to send officials from the Xing Dynasty to govern the localities.

Zhao Yu listened to them and wrote them down one by one, but at this time, the most important thing was to conquer Ezhou, and then look back at the place. Then he announced that he would reward the army tomorrow, reward meritorious service, and strive to capture the city and recover Ezhou in one go......