(Thanks: moshaocong, liutongcai, Bunian floating sama, Canghan treasure hunt, magical golden beetle, hjh501 and other brothers' tickets)

The rebels suffered heavy losses in the first attack on the city, the entire fleet was quietly moored on the surface of the canal, all the ships were anchored, and many rebels in the rear also went ashore one after another, and set up improvised fortified camps on the ground on both sides of the riverbank, ready to spend the night. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

In the middle of the fleet, the hall of the giant dragon boat that An Qingxu was riding in was dimly lit. An Qingxu sat on a chair with a bitter face, and in front of him, Yan Zhuang sat calmly, holding a cup of tea in his hand and drinking tea slowly.

"Brother, what now? I thought that Yangzhou City could be easily captured, but now it seems that it is not so easy to get. With this move, three large ships were lost, and five or six thousand soldiers and horses were killed and wounded. Brother, you should think of some countermeasures, I don't want to stay on the ship for a moment, I can't even eat every day when I stay on the ship. An Qingxu frowned.

"Your Majesty, don't be impatient." Yan Zhuang put down the teacup and arched his hand and said in a deep voice: "Victory or defeat is a common thing in soldiers, not to mention that we are only a little frustrated, and the victory or defeat is still unknown." I have an army of 80,000 and only five or six thousand wounded, which is just a skin. In today's battle, in fact, the minister also knew that he might not be able to make a contribution in the first battle, and he also thought that he would suffer a defeat, which was all expected by the minister. It's a small setback that doesn't change the big picture. ”

An Qingxu frowned and said, "I have confidence in my brother, but I am always uneasy. Didn't you say that the soldiers and horses in Yangzhou City were all rabble, they had not fought for a long time, and when they saw the arrival of the army, they would abandon the city and flee? How is it that today I see that they do not have the intention of abandoning the city at all, but seem to have the heart to hold on and not give up? If we can't take Yangzhou quickly, brother, the longer we delay, the more disadvantageous it will be for us. If the Shence army goes south, if we can't occupy a large area of the city and set up defenses along the river, then it will be all over. ”

Yan Zhuang nodded and said: "The minister knows His Majesty's worries, why don't you be in a hurry, but there are some things that you can't hurry." Now it seems that there are obviously generals in Yangzhou who know how to defend the city in command, and it can be seen from today's battle that they were ready before we arrived. Judging from the means, they were stopped by shipwrecks in the river, which was similar to the means of stopping us from the shipwreck in Chuzhou, and the minister suspected that the same person did it. However, no matter who is in charge, the soldiers and horses in Yangzhou City are limited, and the city defense is weak, which is certain, and it is a matter of time before our army breaks through Yangzhou City. ”

An Qingxu was silent, his eyes staring at the dim sky outside the window.

"Your Majesty, don't worry, the minister has already made a plan to attack the city, and he will organize another siege tonight."

"Oh? Do you have a plan to siege the city again? Tell me about it. An Qingxu turned his head happily and asked.

Yan Zhuang stroked his beard and smiled: "Of course, of course, the minister will not be helpless. Let the defenders of Yangzhou be happy first, and in the evening, it will be enough for them to drink a pot. The minister devised a plan to attack and taught them a hard lesson. ”

……

Under the shroud of the dim sky before dark, in a cleared house not far from the Beicheng Tower of Yangzhou, two figures hugging each other tightly were kissing inextricably. It was Wang Yuan and Cui Ruoyu who got tired of getting together after dinner.

Strange to say, as long as the first layer of paper between men and women is pierced, the relationship will immediately grow by leaps and bounds, and enter the madness of honey and oil. At noon, when Wang Yuan kissed Cui Ruoyu, Cui Ruoying was still shyly struggling, but at this moment, Cui Ruoying was no longer reserved, and her jerky kissing skills were also improving by leaps and bounds, and the tactful and seamless cooperation was seamless.

Wang Yuan is better, after all, he has read a lot of people, and there are countless beauties around him. Although the heart of the hunt is still hot, I always want to keep the best beauties for myself. But obviously, in his life, these things were no longer his goal. The original idea of having a beautiful wife and concubine to be a rich man has long been replaced by another goal, so he is much calmer emotionally.

But for Cui Ruoyu, she was a noble girl in the boudoir, and she never knew what love was. Eating the marrow knows the taste, and the mind is confused, just like taking a certain drug, and then you can't give it up quickly. It can be said that the current Wang Yuan has occupied almost all the positions in her heart. In her eyes, there is only Wang Yuan. Even the family was put aside for the time being. This is the truth of the saying that 'women are not left behind'. A woman in love is in a state of complete distraction, which is irrational and stupid at this time.

In the dark, the two lips and teeth were entangled, and the honey kissed endlessly. Cui Ruoyu's arms tightly wrapped around Wang Yuan's neck, eager to embed her body into Wang Yuan's body, and her enthusiasm was outrageous. Wang Yuan was a little moved by her, and a flame rose in his heart. The big hand that was originally holding Cui Ruoyu's waist moved wildly, until it touched Cui Ruoyu's chest, held the full and soft meat bud and kneaded it gently.

Cui Ruoyu had experienced such a light exposure, and her whole body was paralyzed in Wang Yuan's arms, and she gasped in her mouth, as if she was about to fall into a coma. Let Wang Yuan lift her clothes away, and make her shine with a pair of trembling jade. Breasts peel off their clothes and play with them wantonly. Cui Ruoyu's body writhed like a water snake, and her whole body was sprayed with heat and fragrance, like a plate of delicious food in front of her, and Ren Jun was gluttonous. Wang Yuan was also a little unable to control this situation, and his palm involuntarily went down the smooth lower abdomen, and the moment he touched the honey, Cui Ruoyu suddenly woke up.

"Ahh Cui Ruoyu jumped up and jumped away from Wang Yuan's arms, out of Wang Yuan's grasp.

"No, we can't do that yet." Cui Ruoyu panicked and sorted out her scattered clothes, covering up a pair of pigeon breasts exposed to the air, and her face was hot as if she was about to start a fire.

Wang Yuan twisted the residual warmth on his fingers with regret, sat on a broken stool and sighed.

Cui Ruoyu gasped and hurriedly sorted out her clothes, and saw Wang Yuan sitting in the dim light without making a sound, so she asked timidly, "What?" You...... Not happy? ”

Wang Yuan shook his head and said, "No, it's me Meng Lang, I shouldn't be like this." ”

Cui Ruoyu walked up to Wang Yuan gently, leaned over and picked up Wang Yuan's head and imprinted a kiss on his lips, and said softly: "Until the day you marry me, everything will be yours." It's just that it can't be done now, my Cui family is a big family, if we do something insulting, not only will it damage the reputation of my Cui family, but it will also make you look down on me. ”

Wang Yuan said with a smile: "What you said is very true, I have an agreement with your grandfather, and I can't break the rules before we can decide the winner." You're good, I almost did something wrong. ”

Cui Ruoyu chuckled and said, "I'm afraid you're very unhappy when you say that." Later...... I'll double my compensation for you in the future. Don't be unhappy, you still have to defend the city. I can't distract you. Defending the city successfully...... If you still want to...... Then I'm out of the way...... And so it is. ”

Wang Yuan smiled, stretched out his hand to wrap his arms around him and sit on his knees, and said in a low voice: "That's no need, I won't force you, when you and I get married, you can't escape." ”

Cui Ruoyu shrank in Wang Yuan's arms shyly, and the two kissed for a while, Cui Ruoyu looked at the sky and said, "It's already dark, don't you have to go to the city?" ”

Wang Yuan's hot brain immediately sobered up, and looking at the dark sky outside, Wang Yuan said in a deep voice: "Of course I want to go to the city." Tonight is the most dangerous, and the rebels will attack nine times out of ten. Night raids are easier for them. ”

Cui Ruoyu was also shocked: "Are you saying that they will attack while it is dark?" ”

Wang Yuan said: "Judging from my experience, it will be like this. Ruoyu, I have to go to the city to defend it, I can't take it lightly, defending the city is the top priority at this moment. You go back to the house and get a good night's sleep, and come back tomorrow morning to see me." ”

Cui Ruoyu stroked Wang Yuan's face and whispered, "It's really pitiful, I'm afraid you won't be able to sleep again this night." ”

Wang Yuan stretched out his hand and pinched her pretty face and said, "It's good that you sleep peacefully, don't worry, I'm used to these for a long time, and I can withstand it if I don't sleep for a few days and nights." ”

Cui Ruoying sighed: "What have you experienced over the years? You'll have to tell me about it in the future. ”

Wang Yuan said with a smile: "Of course, I will tell you slowly in the future, when it comes to the loss of teeth and the gray hair, as long as you don't think I'm verbose." ”

……

There was silence at the top of the city, and the north wind became slightly lighter after dark, but the flags were still hunting on the city, and the early spring wind still drilled into the armor and clothes of the people. The soldiers defending the city huddled behind the battlements, squinting and resting. According to Wang Yuan's order, no one could leave the city tonight, and they could only seize the time to rest for a while.

Wang Yuan stood beside one of the battlements, looking at the brightly lit rebel ships on the river in the distance below the city, and his brows were furrowed. Although everything seemed to be calm, Wang Yuan did not dare to take it lightly. Time is precious right now, both for themselves and for the rebels. They must survive at least until the arrival of the 3,000 pro-guard army, and then until the arrival of the Shence army, and for the rebels, they must immediately take Yangzhou and go south, so that they can have enough time to establish a defense line with the Yangtze River natural danger, so that the Shence army cannot cross the river. In this situation, Wang Yuan would never believe that tonight was a Christmas Eve.

Time passed little by little, and everything was incredibly calm. Many of the defenders at the head of the city who were staring at the enemy were also a little bored and sleepy, and many of them were already dozing off beside the battlements. And the more than 1,000 archers who stuck to the suspension bridge also chose to withdraw from the suspension bridge and hide by the battlements on both sides to warm up because there was no shelter on the suspension bridge and was shivering by the wind.

Wang Yuan was also a little tired, he didn't sleep all night last night, and today is another tense day during the day, and the sudden large amount of free and comfortable time also made him want to sleep for a while. But Wang Yuan could only sit under the cold battlements like the rest of the soldiers and simply take a nap to relieve some fatigue and boredom for a while.

The golden wine cup, the table full of delicacies, the warm room. Next to the huge table, Gongsun Lan, Li Xin'er, Alolan, Xinhui, Qin Guo's wife, Yang Yuhuan, Qingyun'er, Ziyun'er, and eldest sister Huang Ying, all the wives and concubines smiled like flowers, and they were more beautiful than one another, and they all sat at the table to toast themselves. Everyone was talking and laughing, and there was a peaceful and happy atmosphere. Wang Yuanzhi was satisfied, he couldn't close his mouth with a smile, drank the wine in one sip, hugged left and right and laughed, and his heart blossomed. Suddenly, the gorgeous hall door opened, the cold wind blew in, and a large group of black-clothed armor soldiers rushed in, holding snow-bright blades in their hands and shouting loudly: "Capture the source of the rebel thief!" Capture the source of the rebel thief! Wang Yuan was frightened, and reached out to touch the long sword, but found that his waist was empty. Wang Yuan, who was in a hurry, was sweating profusely, picked up a stool and hit a black-clothed armored soldier who rushed up.

"Hey, Wang Xiangguo, don't fight, don't fight, what's wrong with you?" A person's shout woke Wang Yuan up, and when he opened his eyes, he realized that it was Nan Ke a dream just now, and his body was sweating coldly.

A guard captain stood aside, covering his face and looking at Wang Yuan in a daze, and several generals around him also looked at Wang Yuan in surprise.

"What's wrong?" Wang Yuan got up with a bone.

"Xiangguo, Captain Zhang wanted to wake you up, and you raised your hand and slapped Captain Zhang, almost knocking him unconscious." The guard Zeng Guozhong said with a smile on the side.

Wang Yuan was stunned, realizing that he had hit someone in a dream just now, and hurriedly said, "I'm sorry, I missed it, I had a dream just now." ”

Everyone suddenly said: "Sure enough, those who are in high positions are very careful, and they are also very alert when they fall asleep, and there must be a lot of enemies." ”

"What woke me up?" Wang Yuan tidied up his armor and blades, and returned to his straight and handsome posture.

"Oh, it seems that there is movement in the rebel formation, so we will wake you up according to Xiangguo's instructions." Zeng Guozhong pointed to the enemy camp road under the city.

Wang Yuan was stunned for a moment, hurriedly turned his head to look, only to see that there seemed to be lights moving in the enemy camp in the distance, and after a closer look, he found that two large ships with lights were slowly leaving the enemy position and approaching the city.

"Order, all on alert." Wang Yuan shouted hurriedly.

"Yes!" The generals hurriedly agreed, and immediately began to shout at the defenders who were resting at the head of the city to get up. As soon as the defenders heard that the enemy was about to attack, they hurriedly got up, and for a while the sound of shouting and running was endless.

Wang Yuan squinted and stared at the two ships that were slowly approaching the city. The speed of the two ships was not fast, and after leaving the enemy formation, all the lights on the ships were extinguished, leaving only two huge black shadows coming towards the city in a daze. Judging from the shape, these are also two giant ships, and the three large ships stranded under the suspension bridge in the afternoon are of the same type. The two ships can carry at least more than 3,000 soldiers. This made Wang Yuan feel a little puzzled, what was the rebel army doing when they sent two big ships to quietly approach? Rush into the mouth of the river into the city? This is obviously unlikely, and they suffered a big loss during the day. Secretly throw arrows at the head of the city, causing surprise damage? Then you can send more ships, so that the fire is strong enough. These two ships alone may not be of much use.

Just as they were wondering, the two ships had slowly come to a hundred paces away, and slowly entered the range of arrows at the head of the city.

"Shoot the arrows!" Zeng Guozhong gave an order, and the soldiers at the head of the city began to shoot arrows at the two large ships. The arrows enveloped the two large ships in black, and the hull of the ship was clattered on the deck. However, the strange thing is that there is no movement in the big ship, there is no screaming and panic running after being hit, there is no movement after being attacked.

"What's going on? Empty-shipped? Zeng Guozhong and the generals were also a little puzzled.

Wang Yuan frowned and pondered, and suddenly Wang Yuan hurriedly asked, "Are all the archers on the suspension bridge in place?" ”

"It's been in place for a long time, Xiangguo. Now everyone doesn't dare to slack off a little. Fifteen hundred archers were on standby. If they dare to break into the mouth of the river, they will shoot them all, so that they have no chance to go ashore alive. Zeng Guozhong said loudly.

Wang Yuan's face sank, and he shouted: "Immediately send an order, and all the soldiers on the suspension bridge will evacuate immediately." ”

"What?" Zeng Guozhong said.

"Didn't you hear? Evacuate immediately, immediately immediately. Wang Yuan shouted.

Zeng Guozhong's face was full of ignorance, but seeing that Wang Yuan's tone was urgent, he didn't dare to ask the reason, so he hurriedly led people to the suspension bridge to give orders. At this moment, the lights suddenly lit up on the two warships under the city, and dozens of torches were lit on each ship, which immediately illuminated the situation on the warship. But I saw that the two warships were piled up with black and unknown objects, piled high like small hills. There are both the fore and aft decks and even above the ship. In the light of the torches, the sails on the masts of the two ships were quickly raised, and the speed of the ships increased sharply, and they rushed straight to the wreck under the suspension bridge. The next moment, a fire broke out on the two large ships, and almost in the blink of an eye, the fire rose up, and in an instant it turned into a raging fire.

It was only then that everyone understood that there were not many soldiers on these two large ships at all, and there were only firewood and grass filled with grease. The flames of the two ships illuminated the surrounding river into daylight. The fire borrows the wind, and the ship borrows the wind. The two boats rushed towards the mouth of the river at great speed. The rebel soldiers jumped into the water and swam desperately to the rear when the fire started.

Wang Yuan got up with a loud shout and rushed to the suspension bridge, he had just realized that the rebels were going to attack with fire. Although the two ships could not rush into the city, when they got stuck under the suspension bridge and burned, the fire would ignite the suspension bridge above. A large number of archers on the suspension bridge will be wiped out. But even if you realize this, it seems too late.

In a very short time, the two fireboats collided with the tilted hulls of the three large ships that had capsized at the mouth of the river during the day. With this ferocious impact, it was like a rain of flames within a radius of dozens of steps. Flames flew up in the air and fell in all directions. It was as if someone had smashed a fireball against a wall, bursting with countless flames and sparks. The scene was both spectacular and terrifying, as if in the midst of a rain of fire and apocalypse.

The fire, which rose several feet high, soon set the suspension bridge on fire, although Wang Yuan did a lot of fire prevention measures on the suspension bridge, such as coating the ropes and planks with mud, such as hanging buckets on the suspension bridge. But that was only to prevent enemy rocket attacks. In the face of this kind of fire attack from above, the suspension bridge did not even have the slightest defensive power.

The soldiers on the suspension bridge who received the evacuation order had already begun to swarm to the walls on both sides of the city wall when they saw the fireboat attacking. However, the enemy ships came too fast, the fire came too fiercely, and the suspension bridge was too narrow and crowded, and only five or six hundred men had time to run to the walls on both sides, and the rest were too late.

A fire broke out in the middle of the suspension bridge, and after just a few breaths, there was a crackling sound, and the thick ropes burst one after another, and the suspension bridge broke in two from the middle. Nearly eight or nine hundred fleeing archers suddenly stepped into the air and fell into the water like dumplings. Many people fell directly into the flames and were instantly engulfed in flames, and many others fell on the wood of the sunken ship, fell on the stakes, or were smashed into the water by the wood that fell from the air to lay the suspension bridge. For a moment, the screams, cries, cries for help, the sound of falling into the water, the whirring and burning sound of flames, and the terrifying crackling of the ship's hull burst were intertwined, making everyone's frightened souls scatter.

The fire was so great that the soldiers on both sides of the city wall could not withstand the scorching, and they could only retreat a few feet back to avoid being burned by the extremely high temperature. In such a situation, it is impossible to rescue the soldiers who have fallen into the water. More than a dozen small sailor boats in the rear did not dare to approach at all, and could only watch the wounded soldiers who fell into the water fluttering on the water surface red by the firelight.

Wang Yuan looked at the tragic situation in front of him in a daze, and blamed himself in his heart. Recently, I actually considered beware of this type of attack, but I still let the enemy get my hands on it. The suspension bridge had to be erected, because without it, the rebels would not have been able to stop the attack from the river with only a few hundred bows and arrows on the walls on both sides. The purpose of the suspension bridge was to prevent them from swimming up the river. Wang Yuan also believes that if the rebels plan to burn the suspension bridge by fire, they should be detected in advance, and the soldiers can withdraw from the suspension bridge. It would not have caused such a large number of casualties. But tonight, I didn't notice it in time, which caused this tragedy.

It is estimated that at least five or six hundred people have died and hundreds more will be injured. Although these casualties are nothing in Wang Yuan's opinion. Wang Yuan has seen many battles littered with corpses, and has commanded many battles with tens of thousands of casualties, but these hundreds of casualties are actually not in Wang Yuan's eyes at all. But under the current situation in Yangzhou, the loss of these seven or eight hundred archers is a great loss. Moreover, the suspension bridge was burned, and it was extremely difficult to defend the river in the next step.

"Xiangguo, it's all the fault of the lowly position, and the lowly position shouldn't be in a hurry to let them all go to the bridge. You said that the archers on the suspension bridge were there at the last moment, but they did not remember your words. Damn it. Zeng Guozhong stomped his feet.

Wang Yuan shouted: "What are you talking about? Can you fight without dying? What is there to blame yourself for? The order was given immediately, and all the soldiers were ready to face the battle, and the next thing was the real battle. ”

"What? Will the rebels attack in a big way? ”

"Nonsense, the suspension bridge was broken, this is their chance to attack in a big way, do you think they just set a fire to play?" Wang Yuan shouted.

Zeng Guozhong agreed again and again, and led people to give orders. Due to the fracture of the suspension bridge, it was difficult to communicate between the east and west city walls, so Zeng Guozhong ordered to rush to the east city wall to stabilize the situation and prepare for the battle.

The fire on the river burned for half an hour and finally gradually extinguished. Two ships and three large half-exposed ships were burned to pieces. Countless wooden blocks of ship planks fell to the water, as did the bodies of hundreds of dead defenders, slowly flowing along the current towards the city. On the river inside the city, more than a dozen naval boats and dozens of people's boats salvaged corpses on the river. The cries of the people on the shore who rushed to watch the news shook the sky.

At this moment, the war drums of the rebel formation pierced the night sky. With the sound of war drums, dozens of small and medium-sized ships sailed out of the rebel ship formation in black pressure. These boats were densely packed with rebel soldiers, and they did not raise their sails, but slowly pressed towards the city at the speed of the current.

The rebels had clearly learned their lesson, and small boats were more effective at breaking through these obstacles than large boats for the hidden piles at the entrance to the river. Because the boat is lightweight, it has a shallow draft, and it is not too fast when there is no sail. All of this will allow these small boats to avoid too much damage and overturning in the event of a dark post impact. After burning the suspension bridge, the rebels were already about to break through the river in this way. It doesn't matter if the boat can't pass or not, as long as it can rush to the mouth of the river, even if you swim down the river, you can attack the city. Yan Zhuang wanted to forcibly let the soldiers and horses enter the city in this desperate way of fighting for his life and luck. It's not a stupid solution, it's the most effective and fast way. And he has the human capital to do so.