Ten days later, the various armies of the Xuanjia Army began to move and change their defenses according to the arrangements of the military meeting.

After Chigutai, Zhao Quanzhong's Xuanjia Iron Cavalry and Jingjie's 40,000 sergeants who went north changed their guards, they immediately brought enough dried meat, as well as light military compressed biscuits provided by Fang Yuan, and marched south from Xuzhou to the west in the bend road, passing through Runing Mansion, and directly inserting into the main force of the Henan Chuang Army led by Li Guo of Nanyang Mansion.

Li Zongze has made a military order and led 10,000 sergeants to garrison Suqian. The time limit given to him by Fang Yuan was that there was no time limit, and he had to hold it until the end of the battle with the Chuang army, which was as little as one month and as much as March or May.

Fang Yuan, Shi Lang, Zhang Ying, and Hongniangzi took 30,000 troops and 200 medium-sized warships suitable for fighting in the Yangtze River waterway from Jingkou Wharf to Wuchang Mansion in Huguang.

Of the 30,000 Xuanjia sergeants, Fang Yuan was divided into two teams, one team was a non-elite 20,000 sergeants, following Fang Yuan's large army; The other pair was 10,000 special operations troops, as well as elite sergeants, led by Zhang Ying, who followed Fang Yuan's fleet for about half a day.

The red lady didn't know the combat method of the sailor fleet at all, so she didn't see through Fang Yuan and Shi Lang's marching arrangement. Even if he saw through it, it would be useless, because Fang had already arranged for ten brocade guards to disguise themselves as sailors and monitor the red lady's every move anytime and anywhere.

After landing in Wuchang Mansion, if Li Yan's surrender is fake, then the red lady will be arrested immediately.

At the same time as sending troops, Fang Yuan sent a handwritten letter to Li Zicheng, asking Li Zicheng to release Li Yan immediately, otherwise the two armies would immediately go to war.

The purpose of his sending this letter was to paralyze Li Zicheng and Li Yan, so that they would mistakenly believe that the plan to invite you into the urn had succeeded; also planted a time bomb between Li Zicheng and Li Yan again, and when he arrived at Wuchang Mansion, he would find an opportunity to detonate it again.

A group of mighty western expeditionary troops arrived at the port of Ezhou, and Zhang Ying's elite Xuanjia sergeant, who was half a day behind the large army, stopped at the port of Ezhou. The defenders of Ezhou Port still wanted to resist, but within half a day, they were captured by Shi Lang's fleet.

Zhang Ying's military goal along the way was to attack Jiangxia for 100 miles and burn Jiangxia's army rations. This is a war with time to win, Jiangxia is only eighty miles away from Wuchang Mansion, according to the marching speed of the cavalry, as long as you get the news that Jiangxia is attacked, you can rescue Jiangxia in one day.

According to Zhang Ying's estimate, the defeated army from Ezhou Port should have fled to Jiangxia, and with the speed of the infantry, it would take two days to reach Wuchang Mansion at the latest. When Li Zicheng got the news that Ezhou Port had been captured, his first reaction was that he couldn't imagine that the target of the Xuanjia Army was Jiangxia, not Wuchang.

Li Zicheng's countermeasure should be to send a sentry to reconnoiter the movements of the Xuanjia Army, and wait for the sentry to find out that the Xuanjia Army did not attack Wuchang Mansion, but turned around and went to Jiangxia, and then went back to report to Li Zicheng, at least two days later.

Therefore, the days when Li Zicheng was able to send reinforcements to rescue Jiangxia were two or three days at the earliest, and three or five days at the latest. The elite special combat army led by Zhang Ying marched with heavy loads overnight, and could run for 80 miles in one day and one night. In other words, the time left for Zhang Ying to capture Jiangxia was at least one day and three days at most.

If you can't take Jiangxia City in one fell swoop, as soon as Li Zicheng's reinforcements arrive, this blitzkrieg and beheading operation will be considered a failure.

After capturing Ezhou Port, Zhang Ying did not rest, but led the crowd to set off overnight and rushed towards Jiangxia.

Fang Yuan's side went upriver along the Yangtze River waterway unhurriedly and drove to Wuchang Mansion. Two days later, they finally arrived at the port of Wuchang in Wuchang City.

Wuchang Port is the most important port for shipping on the Yangtze River, and it is also one of the ports with the most poems written by literati and scholars, even surpassing the Jingkou Wharf.

At this moment, artillery has already been erected on the city wall of Wuchang Port, and all of them are the figures of the sergeants of the breaking army, at least hundreds of people.

Fang Yuan raised his eyes to look at the endless Yangtze River, and the Yellow Crane Tower on the Snake Mountain that could be seen at a glance, and couldn't help but chant, "The lonely sail is far away and the blue sky is endless, only the Yangtze River skyline flows!" ”

Li Bai's poem "Yellow Crane Tower Sends Meng Haoran to Guangling" is a description of the beautiful scenery of the Yangtze River that I saw below.

Shi Lang is a big old man, he doesn't understand these words, what he is worried about is to capture Wuchang Port as soon as possible and fire the first shot. Otherwise, waiting for the intruding army on the city wall to open fire, it will increase the losses, and he hurriedly said, "Boss, don't chant poetry, let's go to war!" ”

Fang Yuan looked at the fishermen's sailboats blanching on the river, these sailboats probably didn't realize that the artillery fire was about to break the peace of Wuchang Port, and the beautiful and tranquil picture at this moment would be ruthlessly destroyed by the bloody war in a quarter of an hour.

"Boom, boom!"

It was the artillery of the Chuang Army at the head of Wuchang City that fired first, and only one of the seven or eight shells hit a Xuanjia Army battleship, causing the battleship's hull to shake violently and sawdust to fly. The rest of the cannons fell into the water.

Shi Lang can speculate on the artillery of the Chuang Army just by the firepower and range of the artillery of the Chuang Army, and the training degree of the gunners is far inferior to that of the Xuanjia Army in terms of quality, quantity, and training.

He was completely sure of the victory in this battle, and immediately asked Fang Yuan to fight, "Boss, give the order!" ”

Fang Yuan nodded and said, "Old Five, let's go to war!" ”

Shi Lang got his military order, and immediately ordered ten warships to be arranged in a fan shape, gunpowder and lead bullet were loaded, and at least fifty guns were aimed at Wuchang Port.

"Fire!"

The main ship waved the flag of war, and the 10 warships on the river were firing a hundred cannons in unison, and the sound of artillery bombardment was earth-shattering, and the indiscriminate bombardment towards Wuchang Port was a bombardment of the intruders of the port.

The heavy artillery bombardment lasted for a long time, and the intruding troops on the city wall could occasionally return fire a few shots without itching. At a certain hour, it was dizzy, and all twenty small and medium-sized guns were destroyed.

Fang Yuan saw that the army at the head of the city had collapsed, and ordered the 20,000 Xuanjia sergeants of the troop transport ship to land at Wuchang Port.

In less than a day, under the cover of artillery and the strong attack of the Xuanjia sergeants, the intrusive troops stationed in Wuchang Port were scattered, and the port was lost.

Fang Yuan did not have the joy of capturing Wuchang Port, which was one of the most important military fortresses along the Yangtze River, and Li Zicheng was no matter how brainless he was, he would also send heavy troops to guard it to prevent the Xuanjia Army from landing.

According to common sense, no matter how bad the combat strength of the invading army is, it will not retreat after holding it for less than a day. At present, the army is retreating too quickly, in Fang Yuan's opinion, it is a trap, he wants to wait for the Xuanjia army to come ashore, enter the trap, and then counterattack. Just confirmed Fang Yuan's previous guess, Li Yan and his wife were fake surrenders!

The red lady was standing on the deck, looking at Wuchang Port, which had been razed to the ground by the artillery of the Xuanjia Army, and her face did not see the slightest joy, but became more and more gloomy.

Li Yan has been operating in Wuchang Mansion for one or two years, and the fortifications of this port city wall are also carefully built by Li Yan, and she and Li Yan have stood on this city wall countless times and looked at the beautiful scenery of the Yangtze River.

If the army does not retreat, the Xuanjia army must also work hard if it wants to capture the port of Wuchang. Now that she has collapsed without a fight, ruining her husband Junyi, how can she be happy after two years of hard work?

Fang Yuan took her look into his eyes, but wanted to see what flowers Li Zicheng and Li Yan could play, so he ordered 20,000 Xuanjia soldiers to go ashore, and it took a day for 20,000 Xuanjia soldiers to finally go ashore and repair the fortifications of the port.

Fang Yuan ordered Shi Lang to continue to move forward and go to attack the main force of the Chuang Army Naval Division in Hanyang Port.