The underground work of the intelligence bureau was very efficient, and only two days and one night later, this information was placed on the desk of Ye Jinghai, the acting battalion officer of the sailor division.

Ye Jinghai was a son of Yuezhou Mansion, who had just joined the Chu army a few years ago, and after several contacts, he was trusted by Wang Kefan and was appointed as the acting battalion officer of the water division.

In Ye Jinghai's words, he is also a scholar leading troops, and he doesn't know anything about water warfare, and serving as a sailor battalion officer is completely chasing ducks to the shelves, but Wang Kefan has other considerations. The construction of the Chu army's water division has just started, and there are pirates from Luo Mingshou in Guangdong, as well as water bandits under Song Jiang, as well as some veterans of the Daming water division, plus the new recruits who have just been recruited, it is simply a rabble, there must be a righteous person as the main general, even if Ye Jinghai does not understand water warfare, it doesn't matter.

When other troops were just formed, they had to train their troops, and then put them into actual combat after they had almost practiced them, and gradually improve their combat effectiveness, but the sailors of the Chu army did not have this condition, they have been cooperating with the retreat of the loyal battalion in the past few months, in addition to transporting personnel and materials to and from both sides of the Yangtze River, there is no time to train troops, and second, there is no condition to fight, it is more like a transport fleet, after the loyal battalion abandoned Jingzhou, the sailors of the Qing army completely controlled the Yangtze River, Ye Jinghai had to take the Chu army's sailors to the west bank of Dongting Lake, and temporarily avoided the limelight.

At this time, Gan Yu sent an important piece of information, a logistics fleet of the Qing army left Wuchang Mansion with a large amount of gunpowder and grain, and arrived at Huarong County on the north shore of Dongting Lake in two days, and there were not many warships escorted with it.

To fight or not to fight? Ye Jinghai hesitated.

The Heavenly Blessing Soldiers were adept at using firearms and cannons to defeat the fleet transporting gunpowder. It can greatly support the defense of Changde, and the Qing army fleet broke into Dongting Lake in a big way, not giving them a lesson. The sailors of the Chu army will also be threatened...... But what Ye Jinghai was worried about was that the strength of the Chu army's naval division was too poor, and it might not be the opponent of the Qing army.

As the saying goes, three stinkers, one Zhuge Liang, he gathered several major generals of the water division to brainstorm.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Tartar fleet will arrive in Huarong County in two days. It's too late to report to Wang Junmen to make a decision, whether to fight or not, we have to make up our own minds. Let's talk about it. ”

"Do you need to talk about that? Of course you have to fight! Song Jiang said: "The Tartar fleet is very fat, even if we fight our family foundation, it is worth it, if the Tartars are allowed to bombard Changde Mansion, the sailor will definitely not be able to keep it!" ”

Changde Mansion is the last base of the Loyal Battalion. Under their protection. If the Qing army occupies Changde Mansion, the Chu army will have no dock base and become a rootless Ping with a bleak future, and it is even very likely to be wiped out, so it is better to fight to the death.

Ye Jinghai nodded and said, "Although the words are so, they can't be sent to death in vain. You have to think of a perfect way to win this battle! ”

"There is no perfect solution, and the last general is willing to offer a plan. There is always a grasp of six or seven points. Before Song Jiang's words fell, Ye Jinghai's eyes lit up, and he urged him to speak quickly, Song Jiang smiled proudly, and said in a low tone like a storyteller: "If you want to break the Qing army, you need to attack with fire!" ”

I've heard too much about "Speaking of the Three Kingdoms"! Ye Jinghai rolled his eyes, and several other sailor generals also had disapproving expressions, eight out of ten water battles in this era would use fire attacks, which was not a clever plan at all, and the possibility of success was very small.

Song Jiang smiled like an old fox, and said prominently: "Don't underestimate me, my fire attack method is different, and I will be caught off guard by ...... Tartar."

……

Early in the morning of the third day, Liyang, Changde Prefecture, on the west bank of Dongting Lake, the camp of the Chu Army's naval division.

More than ten zhang from the shore, there are four 500 warships, the length of the ship is more than 10 zhang, the width is nearly 3 zhang, the draft is more than one zhang, and those small boats on the shore, these four 500 warships are like majestic giants, which can be called the façade of the Chu army's sailors.

The average water depth of Dongting Lake is about seven meters, and the warship of 500 materials has reached the limit.

But the four ships were a little strange at this time, and the hordes of sailors were busy on them, and they dismantled the cannon rammings and turned them into four toothless tigers, and they brought up barrels of nitrate, bundles of oil-soaked reeds and firewood, filled the cabin to the brim, and then indexed the fuse to the deck, and wrapped it tightly in oilcloth to waterproof.

Four warships of five hundred materials are very precious, and no one will use them for a suicidal attack, but they are reluctant to let the child trap the wolf, Song Jiang did this, and Ye Jinghai actually agreed...... According to Wang Kefan's prediction, the Chu Army's naval division will gradually eliminate the old-fashioned Ming warships in the future and use the new-style Guangdong sea ships.

After everything was cleaned up, four hundred and sixty-two daredevils lined up on the shore, waiting for the order to go out, they all wrote suicide notes in advance, and were mentally prepared to die in battle, these four warships not only had to carry out ordinary fire attacks, but also used gunpowder and sulfur to produce explosions, although the ships carried escape sampans, this attack was also nine deaths.

Ye Jinghai took Song Jiang, Heiyu and several other generals, climbed up and down on the four warships, carefully inspected them tirelessly, and only after confirming that everything was safe did they come to the shore and salute the daredevils.

"You are noble, you can show the sun and the moon, and you should lead the war boat to open the way for you!"

The Chu army sailors were weak, but the Qing army sailors were relatively strong, and the four 500-material warships were changed into fireships, and they must be at an absolute disadvantage in the artillery battle, and the generals of the Chu army discussed for a day, but they couldn't find a way to crack the Qing army's artillery, so they had to rush up, Ye Jinghai was determined to use his handsome flag as a bait to attract the firepower of the Qing army.

"Don't take risks yourself! The last general is willing to be a pioneer! Several generals were shocked and hurriedly dissuaded in unison.

"There can be no master in the army, the marshal should be in the back, and I, Song Jiang, can burn the fleet of Tartars alone!" Song Jiang is the commander of the death squad, he pinned his head to the waistband of his trousers, just to make a great contribution, but in case Ye Jinghai sacrificed, most of the great credit had to be erased.

"There's nothing to sit on, it's up to you to win or lose this battle, if I can help with some strength." Ye Jinghai waved his hand, and when he saw that Song Jiang and the others were still trying to dissuade him, he said with a straight face: "If you can't rush forward, this fire attack plan will not work, and the Tartar ships are fierce, do you have a way to crack it?" ”

"Nope!" Song Jiang shook his head: "Only desperately move forward, there is no ...... to go"

"That's it!" Ye Jinghai said resolutely: "I don't know how to fight in water, but I have always been bold and not afraid of death, and it is good to take the lead and lead a few more cannons." ”

This is a reckless scholar!

The daredevils were in awe, and the other sailor generals stepped forward one after another: "I am willing to live and die with the marshal, and open the way for the daredevils together!" ”

No one wants to be a bad seed at this time, Ye Jinghai smiled: "Okay! Since everyone is willing to work hard, let's put out all our flags, and let the Tartars see our spirit! ”

The soldiers sent the wine, everyone raised the bowl and drank it together, and then fell heavily on the ground, Ye Jinghai took a step forward and gave the most reckless explanation to the daredevils.

"After you approach the Tartar fleet, immediately ignite the fire, and then jump off the sampan to escape, if this surprise attack is successful, as long as the people who come back alive will be rewarded with fifty taels of silver, and the Zuo will be promoted to one level, and the soldiers will be promoted to generals, victory or defeat in this move, please don't live up to my expectations!"

He paused for a moment, and then said loudly: "Pass on my general's order, and the sailor battalion will immediately set anchor and go out to fight to the death with the Tartars!" ”

……

In the evening of the same day, the Chu army sailors approached Huarong County.

The Qing army's baggage fleet had just arrived from Wuchang Mansion, and after two days and two nights of continuous sailing, the fleet was exhausted from top to bottom, and entered the harbor early to rest, only waiting for the next morning to unload the ship.

Suddenly, there was a rapid and majestic sound of war drums on the river, and dozens of large and small warships of the Chu army launched a surprise attack on the port of Huarong County......

At the same time, Wang Kefan also received a pre-war report from the naval division.

After reading it in a hurry and reading it carefully, Wang Kefan pondered for a moment and called Cheng Wen over: "Immediately draft an order to commend all the officers and soldiers of the naval division, Ye Jinghai will be promoted to the chief soldier, and Song Jiang will be promoted to the general......"

Cheng Wen's eyes widened in astonishment. Since the reorganization of the Chu Army a year ago, in addition to Wang Sheng being a general soldier, even Zhou Guodong and Tan Xiao are all deputy generals, Ye Jinghai was a deputy general when he was a naval division and a battalion officer, and he was promoted to a general soldier in just over two months, this promotion speed is too fast!

Wang Kefan smiled and handed the report to Cheng Wen: "Ye Jinghai knows people well, is brave and strategic, and the most rare thing is that he is responsible, he can do a good job as a general soldier." ”

The strategic location of Changde Mansion is too important, if the Qing army can easily break through the city with artillery, the 200,000 loyal battalions will fall into an extremely passive situation, and the elimination of the Qing army's gunpowder and baggage fleet can be called a winning move from the bottom of the kettle...... There are many qualified middle and lower-level officers in the Chu army, but there is a lack of generals who can take charge of themselves, Ye Jinghai can consider the problem from the overall situation when facing difficulties independently, even if the sailors are wiped out, they must eliminate the gunpowder baggage of the Qing army, and this decision is worth reusing.

Cheng Wen finished reading the report at this time, frowned and said: "This battle is quite risky, and the outcome is unpredictable, is it too early to order a reward now?" ”

Wang Kefan thought for a moment and said: "Since this is the case, let's draft another note, if the sailor is defeated, he will ask for a knighthood for Ye Jinghai and others." ”

"Oh......, yes!" Cheng Wenleng paused for a moment before he understood the meaning of Wang Kefan's words, if the sailor was defeated, Ye Jinghai, Song Jiang and others would definitely be killed, of course, Emperor Longwu should be asked to issue a decree to commend him...... (To be continued......)