Chapter 310: The Yellow River Fu (Part 9)

There is indeed a Red Turban Army in the Mangdang Mountains.

Chakhan Timur had already preempted them.

Zhu Chongjiu was surprised and delighted by the news of two different auspicious and evil in a row, but when he continued to ask in detail, Hu Liji couldn't answer at all, just said that when he passed near Mangdang Mountain this morning, the two sides had not officially started a war, and the rest was not clear.

Zhu Chongjiu didn't believe it, and interrogated the other two groups of prisoners separately, and the result was similar to what Hu Liji confessed, Chakhan Timur was rewarded with a heavy reward, and only from the mouth of the water bandits who came to surrender got the clues of the remnants of the Red Turban Army, but whose team was it, how big was it, everyone was blinded, the only thing that was certain was that Chahan Timur attached great importance to this, and specially sent his nephew Wang Baobao to lead 10,000 elites of the Red Army to take a big boat to exterminate them, vowing to cut down the remnants of the Red Turban.

"Is it the same ship as you?" Zhu Chongjiu had no choice but to retreat, "How many artillery pieces does Wang Baobao carry, how many sailors account for the 10,000 Tanma Red Army, and what are the other arms." ”

"Warships, warships have the appearance of about a dozen, the number of artillery, the guilty generals, the guilty generals are not very clear." Hu Liji lowered his head and thought for a moment, and responded cautiously, "Chakhan Timur is the Daru Huachi of the Daming Road, he originally did not have a sailor, and the current ships are all collected from all over the place, and they are not big enough, so there are not many people who can be equipped with artillery to act as warships, but they are definitely competent enough to intercept rafts, so Wang Baobao is not afraid that they will run away, so he blocked the water with a warboat, and then slowly transported troops to the foot of the mountain with a fishing boat." ”

"Well, come on, bring them down first." Zhu Chongjiu waved his hand and ordered his soldiers to take Hu Liji to the cabin for temporary detention.

"My lord, you promised to let us go if you promised to tell the truth, you just promised in person." Hu Liji was so frightened that he knelt on the ground with his legs on the ground, refusing to get up.

"The manager didn't say anything." Zhu Chongjiu glared at Hu Liji fiercely, and emphasized loudly, "Take it down, if he yells again, he will cut off his tongue directly." ”

"Yes." The soldiers rushed forward and dragged Hu Liji and the other captives to the lower hatch.

The captives didn't dare to cry out, staring at their frightened eyes, begging for mercy with their eyes, but Zhu Chongjiu didn't care about their lives anymore, pressed his fingers on his temples, and rubbed them back and forth.

Marching and fighting, the most headache is this kind of incomplete information, no matter how to make decisions, it is like gambling, Wang Baobao has 10,000 enemy troops under his command, and the size of the red turban army on Mangdang Mountain is unknown, he is now walking halfway, and if he turns back and dispatches soldiers and horses, he may not have time to catch up with the decisive battle between the two sides, and rush over, in case the scale of the red turban soldiers and horses on the mountain is too small, this little person in his own hands is a three-headed and six-armed army, and he can't deal with 10,000 Tanma Red Army, and he just gives credit to Wang Baobao.

"My lord, Weichen thinks that the brothers who are trapped on Mangdang Mountain now probably need most not reinforcements, but a hope." Feng Guoyong hesitated, walked to Zhu Chongjiu's side, and reminded in a very low voice.

"Although the lord goes back to Xuzhou to move troops, Weichen is willing to lead the brothers to Mangdang Mountain first, no matter who is there, at least when he sees Weichen, he will understand that the lord has not given up on them." Zhang Yi also came over quickly, and asked in the same low voice.

Having witnessed a thrilling water battle, the two of them are now full of confidence in the combat effectiveness of their gunboats, and feel that no matter how many warships there are on Mengyuan's side, in front of the gunboats of the Huai'an Army, they are all decorations, and everyone can easily kill seven in and seven out like Zhao Zilong in front of Changban Slope.

The arrogant attitude of the two of them made Zhu Chongjiu's eyes light up, he smiled, and ordered loudly, "Hong San, you take ten brothers to take over the boat, first dock to the north shore, and then leave the boat and sailors, and let the others let them leave on their own." ”

"Yes." Xu Hongsan agreed, picked up a group of personal soldiers, turned around and left.

Zhu Chongjiu stopped him from behind and continued to command loudly, "After releasing the prisoners, immediately drive the cao boat down the river, and when you return to Xuzhou, you will immediately learn from the enemy's example, and put a four-pound cannon on the bow of all the big cao boats in your hand, and then let Wu Liangmou take care of the house, and let Liu Ziyun take two thousand soldiers and take a boat to Mangdang Mountain to meet me." ”

"This?" Xu Hongsan was stunned, and instinctively wanted to persuade his lord not to be in danger, but Zhu Chongjiu glared at him fiercely and scolded loudly, "Execute the order, when it comes to fighting with soldiers, which of you is comparable to Lao Tzu." ”

"Yes! The last will obey. Xu Hongsan had no choice but to bow down to receive the order, and then led the ten personal soldiers to climb down the rope ladder.

Zhang Yi and Feng Guoyong heard that Zhu Chongjiu was going to lead the team in person, and they originally planned to persuade them, but when they saw that Xu Hongsan had been trained, they knew that the decision had been decided, so they had to grin and carefully persuade: "In order to rescue General Xu Da, the lord is willing to risk the arrow stone himself, and the ministers are deeply admired, but after all, the water battle is not as good as the 6th battle, and no matter how high the lord's martial arts are, it will not be of much use, so the next time he fights with the enemy, the lord may wish to go to the command cabin to sit in the command, first, to reduce some risks, and secondly, to avoid worrying about the brothers." ”

"You know, it's safest to stand on deck for this kind of slow artillery." Zhu Chongjiu glanced at the two of them and explained with a smile, (Note 1)

However, thinking of the unpredictable Brownian trajectory of the opponent's shells during the previous artillery battle, he lost confidence in his own statement, thought about it, and smiled and compromised, "Well, you are right, I am standing on the deck, but I am worried about the brothers." ”

After that, he turned his gaze to Chang Haoran, who was waiting on the side, "The fleet will be handed over to you, and after Xu Hongsan and them anchor on the north shore, we will immediately rush to Mangdang Mountain upstream, and you will pick a clever guide from the few captives left behind, and strive to be able to get to the bottom of the mountain before dark." ”

"Yes, the last will obey." Chang Haoran, the captain of the flagship, agreed, and immediately took over the command of the entire fleet, and the five warships lined up and escorted the captured Cao boats to the north shore, and then patiently waited for the captives to leave the ship, Xu Hongsan and others pulled the anchor and set sail, and then pulled the sails and continued to advance upstream.

Along the way, there were sporadic waves of search teams composed of fishing boats from the Mengyuan side, and Chang Haoran commanded the battleships to catch up unceremoniously, either sinking them directly, or forcing the other party to jump into the water to escape with cannons, and the empty fishing boats were strung up with cables and dragged behind a battleship in case of emergency.

The five warships were only a quarter of the load, and they were catching up with the tailwind, although it was against the current, the degree was not slow, and at about 3:30 p.m., the peaks of Mangdang Mountain, near the south bank of the Yellow River, were already in sight.

"Wang Baobao came from upstream, and he had to go around to see his camp." I don't know what benefits Chang Haoran promised Hu Liji, the latter ran to the front window very enthusiastically and reminded loudly, "Many of the cannons on his side were brought from Li Siqi's Red Turban Army, which are much lighter than the ones on my ship, whether they are loaded on the ship or placed on the ground, they are very useful." ”

As soon as the words fell, a series of cannons had already sounded in my ears, "Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom." "Immediately after, on the other side of the hill in the distance, smoke and dust billowed and, apparently, a massive shelling of the hillside.

"Go around and sink all the ships with guns for me first." Zhu Chongjiu was furious and gritted his teeth and commanded.

Li Siqi, a bastard, surrendered Meng Yuan, and abducted hundreds of artillery pieces of the Xuzhou Army, as long as someone mentioned this matter, it made Zhu someone angry, you know, almost all the artillery sold to Zhao Jun is settled at cost price, and it is sold to as much as you want, Huai'an Army did not get any benefits from it, and now it is good, which is equivalent to supplying Meng Yuan at cost price.

"Delingle." Chang Haoran and the others hated the traitor no less than Zhu Chongjiu, and immediately ordered the entire fleet to open the distance, put on a line formation, and walked along the waterway towards the back of the cannon.

Only then did he turn the foot of the mountain, and there was already a patrol fleet of Meng Yuan who stopped him, first three large grain ships of 1,000 stones, and then six or seven small cargo ships of about 200 stones, each with a four-pound cannon on the bow, rushing up like a pack of predatory wolves.

Obviously, this is a group of rookies who don't know how to fight water at all, even if there are one or two half-and-a-half hangers in it, they are in a subordinate position, and they are not qualified to give orders at all.

A sneer immediately swelled up at the corner of Chang Haoran's mouth, and he ordered loudly at the deputy captain on the foredeck, "One line, seize the upstream, concentrate firepower, and hit the nearest target." ”

"In a straight formation, seize the upstream, concentrate firepower, and hit the nearest target." Deputy Captain Sun De raised the tin horn and repeated the order loudly.

"In a straight formation, seize the upstream, concentrate firepower, and hit the nearest target." "In a straight formation, seize the upstream, concentrate firepower, and hit the nearest target." The lookout Wang III was a relay of the lookouts of the other four warships, and everyone used flags and tin horns to convey orders to the ears of everyone in the fleet.

The sound of the war drums of "dong dong dong" exploded first, and countless wooden pulp poked out from the bottom deck of the battleship, hitting the yellow-brown water, waving rolling white waves, and the degree of the entire fleet suddenly doubled, cutting the right side of the enemy formation and pressing upstream.

On the second deck, the gunners pushed the two rifled guns on one side out of the muzzles, and quickly adjusted the angle with the help of the two handles on the gun mount, one horizontal and one vertical, to aim at the nearest prey, while the soldiers who had no strength bent down and cut the paper bags full of gunpowder with knives, four standard feet away from each other, and placed them on both sides of the cannons, making it as convenient as possible for the gunners.

The enemy did not expect that the warships of the Huai'an Army might suddenly change their degree, and in a hurry, they had no time to adjust their direction, so they had to attack in a hurry, and from a distance of 500 paces, they fired shells one after another.

The artillery bombardment at this distance is purely like a salute to the opponent, and the gunners of the Huai'an Army, who are familiar with the range of their own smoothbore guns, do not blink their eyes, and calmly observe the distance between the target and their own home through the windows on the side side.

Five hundred steps, four hundred and five, four hundred, three hundred and five, three hundred, two hundred" boom. ”

The flagship's six-pound rifled gun was the first to shoot the first shell, dragging a long white vapor to draw a beautiful arc in mid-air, and then rushed headlong into the two-hundred-stone cargo ship that rushed first, smashing the opponent's waist into two sections.

Note 1: Legend has it that for slow-flying shells, such as mortars, experienced veterans can even rely on the whistling sound of the shells breaking through the air to avoid the projectile landing point.

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