The upper reaches of the Pearl River are sparkling at night, and the river is covered with wooden boats and bamboo rafts.

The wooden boats were filled with firewood and grass, and a sailor stood at the bow and tail of each boat, and the bamboo rafts were connected to the back of the wooden boats, which were also piled with firewood and grass, and the smell of fire oil and gunpowder was exuded. The light moonlight reflects huge shadows on the water. In the moonlight, the sailors' faces were solemn, and they had only been urgently summoned together in the afternoon. Each sailor gave a reward of fifty pounds, and piled up the hay from the army's forage yards on wooden boats and bamboo rafts, and poured fire oil on them, and the purpose was revealed.

Originally, there was a migratory flow of the Pearl River rushing to the Wharf of Western Australia, and wooden boats dragged bamboo rafts in the middle of the river without much maneuvering.

"The direction of the wind, there won't be a problem, right?" Ma Yuan asked in a low voice.

"Commander Ma rest assured," a person standing beside him nodded and said, "The feng shui that Jiang Sanmu has seen will never be a problem." ”

Jiang Nuo is the Lingnan Li Ding, although he is a Li person, but his life is no different from the Han people, he is a famous feng shui gentleman in Shishan Town. However, he also has another identity, he is the head of the South China Sea Sailor Guanfeng Station, and the official worships Cheng Xinlang, which is comparable to the patriarch of the Li clan. Therefore, Jiang Nuo has always done his best to the military affairs assigned by the sailor, and now he finally has the opportunity to make meritorious contributions. Ma Yuan told him that if he made meritorious contributions in this battle, the Marquis of Wuchang would definitely promote him to Chengfeng Lang, which was the official position of Zheng Jiupin, which was comparable to the head of a county or the patriarch of the wealthy family of the Li family.

The wooden boats dragged the bamboo rafts, one by one, to the downstream, with no head in sight in front and no tail in sight in the back.

"Master Jiang, I don't know when this wind viewing station was built?" Ma Yuan asked casually.

"About half a year ago, the Torch Festival was just after that." Jiang Nuo said respectfully, he didn't hide it at all from the Shangguan sent by the water master to preside over the overall situation, but he was worried that Ma Yuan would not believe him, and explained, "However, if you count the master, the records inherited by the ancestor master have been more than a hundred years. Jiang Nuo was a little complacent, Ma Yuan nodded slightly, secretly frightened, and muttered: "It seems that Lord Zhao has just mastered the naval army, and I am afraid that he has not left Ezhou yet, so he will take the first step to set up a hydrological station in these important places." Foresighted, the commission is terrifying. ”

In fact, even Ma Yuan himself only learned about the plan to attack the wharf in Western Australia two days ago.

Shimen Town is located in the upper reaches of the Pearl River and is one of the important towns on the outskirts of Guangzhou. In the name of guarding against pirates, the imperial court confiscated all riverboats and bamboo rafts in the area. In the name of preparing for the imperial court's southward march, the Guangzhou government hoarded forage, fierce fire oil and other military supplies in Shimen, and also built a forage yard for the army. At that time, the officials of Shimen Town were funny, Liu Guangguo was really a northerner, and he didn't know that the four seasons in Lingnan were like spring, and there was a large amount of dry firewood in the list of military supplies. The sailors built several wind observation stations in the upper reaches of Guangzhou, and finally chose Shimen as the location for the departure of the arsonist boats. Everything is prepared separately in secret, everything is ready, only looking forward to the east wind.

For more than a month, Jiang Nuo has been observing the wind direction and river flow, and if the wind direction and hydrology are right, he needs to report to the officials immediately.

The day after the news was reported, Ma Yuan came to dispatch troops and horses from all walks of life with Jun Zhi, and the purpose of all preparations was finally revealed.

"God of the River blesses." Jiang Nuo muttered, his eyes full of piety.

The power of heaven and earth, the power of fire and water, the more familiar people like Jiang Nuo, the more they were in awe, watching the bamboo raft drift downstream along the river, secretly praying in their hearts, this time they did not beg for the wind and rain as usual, but hoped that the wind direction and river flow would be as he expected, and he would send these arson boats to the docks of Western Australia, so that those damned demons would go to the eighteenth layer of hell.

The wooden boats dragged a long string of bamboo rafts, and one after another disappeared from the field of vision of Ma Yuan and Jiang Nuo.

There are so many civilian ships on the Pearl River, and thousands of them have been captured as fire attack ships, and the long fleet of ships has no head to the east and no end to the west...... Under the cover of dark night, the arsonist ship in front sailed into the channel of the Pearl River, and it was not long before it sailed into the range guarded by the pirate scout ship. The WA Wharf is built on a backwater bay on the Pearl River, and as long as you sail to a certain distance, you don't need to operate a boat, and the current will bring most of the boats to the vicinity of the wharf.

On the first arsonist boat, a middle-aged sailor with a purple face stood on the bow of the boat, with a nervous look on his face, looking at the faintly visible lights in the distance for a while, and looking down at the river for a while, eager to bury his head in the river. Suddenly, he raised his left hand and said in a low voice: "You can see it here, let's set it on fire!" At this command, the sailors who were rowing the oars behind them hurriedly stopped the boat, some untied the cable that tied the boat, and some shook the fire fold and lit the long lead.

At the other end of the lead, a stack of firewood soaked in fire oil is attached. In the night, countless wooden boats floated down the river like ghosts.

Suddenly, with a "boom-" sound, a bright flame lit up the night sky, followed by the second regiment, the third regiment...... The whole river is full of burning flames, like the river lanterns of the Bon Ghost Festival, however, this group of flames is far more fierce than the river lanterns put by the good men and women, and the entire Pearl River is illuminated as bright as day, not like the world, like a rushing river of fire in the eighteen layers of hell......

When the bright moon was in the sky, behind the low city walls of Hanhai City, the ground was full of officers and soldiers of the regimental training battalion sitting on the ground.

"His grandmother's," Liu Sanqi turned his neck and muttered, "The officials are all black-hearted." ”

Liu Sanqi's battalion was originally on rotational leave, but the Guangzhou government suddenly issued a military order to cancel all rotational rest in order to prevent pirate night attacks, and officers and soldiers were not allowed to disarm and go to bed. The Thunderbolt Battalion, the Thunderbolt Battalion, and the Crossbowmen were all transferred to the city, and some battalions that had performed well in battle were temporarily transferred to camp under the city of Hanhai, ready to reinforce the battle at any time. After days of hard fighting, many regimental training battalions were already exhausted, and they looked forward to the day when they could relax on the day of rotation, but who expected that the military order would be like a mountain, and one battalion had just made an accident, and the Guangzhou government immediately dismissed all the officers in the battalion, handed over the military flags, and the regimental training troops were scattered and divided into the supplementary battalions with the worst salaries. With such a thunderous disposition, killing chickens and making an example of monkeys, all the battalions suddenly did not dare to make any more trouble, and all of them honestly kept vigil in accordance with the military order.

Around the campfire in the middle of the three battalions, several young officers were also talking in a low voice.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Isn't Lord Chen too nervous?"

"No matter how nervous you are, you still have to have a way to relax!"

"If you want to spend him for several nights in a row, without waiting for the thieves to do it, the morale will collapse."

"The sailor deliberately preserves his strength, and he can't use the group to consume it like this."

"Brother Zuo, how many people did you say were on duty tonight?"

Zuo Nianyuan shook his head and didn't speak, he guessed that the number was extremely terrifying. In the eyes of these young and enthusiastic scholars, Zuo Nianyuan is already a battle-hardened Confucian general, asking questions all day long, Zuo Nianyuan has to deal with it patiently, but he knows in his heart that he has not really seen blood, and he has experienced the death of his classmates and friends in front of him, and everything he says is in vain. Invisibly, Zuo Nianyuan has a distance from this group of juniors, but in their eyes, this sense of distance makes Zuo Nianyuan more unfathomable. He narrowed his eyes, ignoring the speculation of the people around him, and looked into the distance, when suddenly, his mouth opened wide in surprise.

In the southwest, just in the direction of the upper reaches of the Pearl River, a flash of fire suddenly appeared.

After a few moments, the firelight became more and more apparent, almost reflecting a piece of the sky.

This is by no means an ordinary campfire, "Night attack? - No, it's a fire attack! ”

This thought appeared in Zuo Nianyuan's mind like lightning, he stood up and looked towards the south, the city wall blocked the view, Zuo Nianyuan could not see the scene on the surface of the Pearl River, but heard louder and louder exclamations. There was also a commotion at the head of Hanhai City, and at this time, everyone realized that a great change had occurred, and the officers hurriedly returned to their respective camps, restraining the soldiers while anxiously waiting for the news to be confirmed.

Sure enough, not long after the fire, a banner official rode over on horseback and gave a loud order.

"The state capital has an order, the South China Sea Navy Division is attacking the thieves, and the battalions are on strict alert, and those who do not obey the military order will be beheaded! Whoever makes a noise and confuses the crowd is killed! Rush to the slash. The officers and soldiers are in a team, listen to the tune at any time, and beware of thieves attacking the city at night! ...... The state capital has an order, the South China Sea Navy Division is attacking the thieves, and the battalions are on strict alert......" The flag officer waved the order flag and shouted loudly to pass the order, and gradually went far!

"Fire Attack?!" "The sailor is attacking!" Many whispered heads to ear. His eyes were full of excitement.

Defending the head of the sea city, the cannons of "boom" and "boom" exploded. The gunners fired preemptively, firing their cannons to cooperate with the sailors to attack the thieves.

One, two, three cannonballs pierced the night sky and flew towards the chaotic docks of Western Australia, adding to the chaos among the pirates.

The officers and soldiers on duty at the head of the city were fortunate to see the raging flames on the river, the firelight flashed and flashed, the river wind was filled with the smell of burning, and the fire attack ships continued to flow along the Pearl River into this section of the river, this section of the river was originally densely packed with pirate ships, and more and more pirate ships were ignited, and the firelight reflected half of the sky, and occasionally there was an earth-shattering explosion, and the pirates at the dock ran around like headless flies, and some ran indiscriminately under the city of Hanhai. He was driven back by the rain of guns and arrows.