On the protruding bow of the ship, Du Gu watched all this quietly. The Mongols were running up the pontoon bridge as fast as they could, flouting the flames, pushing away the rafts that were about to come up with long poles, looking down the parts that had been lit with axes, pouring water on the fire with birch bark buckets, and doing everything they could to save the precious bridge - the only way to connect them with the vast steppe east of the river.

"Knock those guys off the bridge!" Du Gu gave the order, and the distance between the boat and the pontoon bridge had been shortened to only about fifty paces, and with the help of the fire on the pontoon, the people on the boat could clearly see the heavy figures on the pontoon. The oarsmen paddled hard to turn the boat sideways so that more people could fire at the same time. With a command, a volley of fire erupted from the ship's side, and almost at the same time, a scream came from the pontoon, and the sound of corpses falling into the water became a chorus.

The Mongols, who had been attacked by the surprise, were in a panic, they had no armor on their bodies, no weapons in their hands, they were standing in a place where they had no cover and nowhere to hide, and they could not even see where the enemy was. The Ming fleet even rowed to a distance of only thirty paces, dropping the anchor to make their shots more accurate. The desperate Mongols even jumped into the river to escape to their deaths, but most of them did not know the nature of the water and soon suffered a catastrophe. Soon the pontoon bridge calmed down, and the water was littered with floating corpses.

The Mongols on the shore finally spotted the attackers on the river, and they angrily fired rows of arrows at them, seeking revenge for their comrades. The soldiers of the Ming army put up the rattan plaques covered with cowhide prepared in advance. Then Du Gu ordered the highlight of the night, the Rockets, to play. Liu Cheng did not give many rockets, only a hundred in total, all of them were placed on Dugu's flagship, the reason is very simple - these ships were all temporarily recruited, big, small, old, broken, Liu Cheng was afraid that they would be ignited by the flames when the rockets were launched. So the largest one was chosen, so that a launch pad could be built in the middle of the ship with sandbags.

"Put!" Du Gu imitated the appearance of Liu Cheng in his memory, and waved his right arm violently. The soldier lit the fuse of the rocket with a torch, and a moment later the rocket burst through the air with a screeching sound. Dugu wasn't worried about missing, anyway, that large area was a Mongol camp, full of cowhide tents, cows and horses, wool, haystacks to feed livestock, and a little spark would cause a disaster, let alone a hundred rockets.

Soon, a hundred rockets had been discharged, and Dugu was pleased to see the fires rising in the enemy camp in the darkness, and he ordered the ship to turn around and row upstream.

When it was dawn, Lin Dan Khan and Sharhhutuktu were standing by the fire. With dull eyes, more than a dozen pro-soldiers were carefully searching the fire ground, and every time they found a corpse or something, they carefully moved it out and put it aside. At this time, there were already two corpses next to the two of them, judging from the remaining clothes on their bodies, they should be lamas, in addition to many scriptures, various ritual instruments, Buddha statues and other messy things, placed on the ground.

"Found it!" There was a burst of cheers from the fire, and it was as if Shalhutuktu had been shocked. As fast as his age could allow, he rushed towards the fire, and Lin Dan Khan hurriedly followed. Shalhutuktu staggered to the center of the fire and suddenly let out a scream. And he fell to the ground. Lin Dan Khan hurriedly stepped forward to help him up and asked, "Master, what's wrong with you?" ”

"Devil! It's the devil! Sharhutuktu's body twitched violently, as if he had hysteria. Lin Danhan hurriedly stretched out his hand to hold it and asked, "Master, Master." What happened to you? “

"Devil!" Repeating the word, his right hand subconsciously pointed to the ground, his eyes were full of despair, and Lin Dan Khan looked in the direction of his finger, only to see that the 'Maha Kala' cast and blessed by Guru Phags-pa was lying in the fire, one of his right arms had been broken in two, and next to it was a blackened iron shell.

It was already noon on the third day when Du Gu came ashore near Lingzhou, and he excitedly ordered the soldiers to repair the damaged ship and load supplies and munitions onto the ship. He couldn't wait for dark, the victory was so easy that the Mongols on the shore were defenseless against a fleet of ships armed with birds and rockets. However, the treasurer of the old camp resolutely refused his request to add another hundred rockets, and whether Du Gu begged or threatened to no avail, and finally he had to run to Liu Cheng to ask for permission.

"No way!" Liu Cheng put a repaired helmet back on the table, and vetoed his men's request without looking back.

Seeing that Liu Cheng did not allow it, Du Gu hurriedly agitated and said: "My lord, our army won a complete victory last night, not only burned the pontoon bridge, but also released rockets to the camp of the Tartars, and the flames soared into the sky, and it can be seen dozens of miles away——"

"So the guards of Ningxia Mansion have seen it?" Liu Cheng interrupted Du Gu's persuasion.

Du Gu was stunned when he heard this, and immediately stammered: "There was such a big movement in the Tartar camp last night, and the guards of the city must have seen it!" “

"What about the other forts?"

"Those who are close must have seen it, and those who are far away must have seen it at the time, even if they couldn't see it at the time, this kind of thing must not be hidden, it is nothing more than a day and a half a day late."

"Uh-huh!" Liu Cheng sat down in the chair, tapped the chair opposite twice with his right hand, and motioned for Du Gu to sit down as well. Du Gu carefully put down half of his buttocks, sat down and waited for the instructions of his boss.

"In that case, that's enough!" Liu Cheng looked at the confidant's dazed face, and decided that it was better to analyze the reasons inside.

"Dugu, what do you think the Tartars are doing now?"

"Tartar?" Du Gu was a little confused about this somewhat abrupt question from his boss, and he thought for a while, and the scene of the Mongols desperately protecting the pontoon bridge in the firelight at night came to mind.

"To rebuild the pontoon bridge, it must be to rebuild the pontoon bridge!" Du Gu replied in an extremely affirmative tone.

"That's right!" Liu Cheng nodded: "Most of the fortresses guarding the Liupan Pass and the northern exit of the Hetao are still in the hands of my Ming border army, and the Tartars can't take it down for a while, so the pontoon bridge is their only way to retreat, and they will definitely repair it overnight!" ”

Du Gu was anxious when he heard this: "My lord, then you should attack overnight, and burn all of the Tartars before they are completely repaired!" “

Liu Cheng laughed: "Du Gu, if the Tartars want to be repaired, let them repair it, and cut off its retreat, that's not my purpose!" ”

"What's that for?"

"In order to let the defenders of the palace and the fortress know that the reinforcements have arrived, they can defend the city with peace of mind!" Liu Cheng's face became serious: "It is said that with the equipment of the Tartars, it will definitely not be able to capture the city." But as the saying goes, 'there is no rescue outside, then there is no city to defend inside', the city wall is dead, but the people's hearts are alive, after the new defeat, Du Zongbing was seriously injured, and the mainland and the thieves are in full swing, if the people's hearts are scattered, even if the city wall is 100 zhang high, what is the use? “

listened to Liu Cheng's words. Du Gu couldn't help but nod again and again, whether it was the East or the West, siege warfare in the era of cold weapons was a headache for all commanders, and many times, it was not an exaggeration to overstay and die in the city. Moreover, at this time, the Chahar Department under the jurisdiction of Lin Dan Khan had already regressed in the nearly three hundred years outside the Saiwai, and it was a fool's dream to take down these walled cities by force. Only by attacking the psychological weakness of the defenders of the city could the goal be achieved, and the wanton attack on the pontoon bridge the night before. It is tantamount to giving a shot in the arm to the Ming army in the trapped beast city.

Du Gu still did not give up, and continued to insist: "My lord, why don't you continue to attack the Tartars from the waterway? The Tartars don't have a water army, only passively beaten! ”

"There are two reasons!" Liu Cheng lowered his voice: "First, there is not much stock of rockets; Second, I can't beat me like this! “

"Can't make it? I had only four or five people wounded by arrows last night. There were hundreds of Tartars killed, not to say the least, and the pontoon bridge and camp were burned, how could it not be rowed so big? “

"Do you think that only the dead are consumed?" Liu Cheng sneered: "Do you know how much silver those rockets you used up last night are worth?" Each rocket costs a tael of silver! “

"So expensive?" Du Gu was taken aback by the price quoted by Liu Cheng casually, and he used up a hundred taels of silver for white flowers by lighting a fire casually last night.

"If you know it's expensive!" Seeing the expressions of his subordinates, Liu Cheng couldn't help but feel a little weak in his heart, he had just mixed a lot of bubbles with the rocket's offer in order to improve the effect. However, he still decided to give Du Gu a vaccination, lest his henchmen be confused on some very critical issues, and there will definitely be big problems in the future. Thinking of this, Liu Chengjiang's tone became softer, and asked, "Du Gu, you asked to go out to lead the troops this time, because you don't want to fall behind them, right?" “

"Great, sir!" Du Gu's face suddenly turned red, and he hurriedly distinguished: "No, the villain is not-"

"You don't have to say it!" Liu Cheng interrupted Du Gu's defense: "You are a martial artist, it is normal for you to want to be promoted to the rank of official and knight, and to be crowned a wife and a son, there is nothing to be embarrassed about, since I promised you, I naturally will not blame you for this." But there is one thing you have to figure out, what is your own foundation, where you can settle down! “

"The foundation, the place where you live?" Regarding Liu Cheng's question, Du Gu was a little puzzled.

"Yes, I remember the first time we met, you were still a thief cutting paths, right?"

"Huh!" Hearing his boss mention the past, Du Gu's face was slightly red, and he said with a wry smile: "The villain was clumsy at that time, and he didn't know the dignity of the adult, but fortunately, God has eyes and has not hurt the adult in the slightest, otherwise the villain will be cut by a thousand knives, and it is difficult to escape the blame." ”

"Then let me ask you, you were originally a king, why did you become a thief cutting paths?"

"This—" Du Gu pondered for a while, and then replied, "The court owes salaries, and we have no choice but to be thieves!" ”

"Not bad!" Liu Cheng nodded: "You were originally a soldier of the border army, and Du Guoying and Du Ruhu's uncle and nephew were military ministers of the imperial court, but there was no food in the army, so there were only thieves." It can be seen that this famous court weapon may not be reliable, there is no money and no food, no matter who you are, you have to be a thief. “

Listening to Liu Cheng's words, Du Gu was silent for a while, and finally said in a low voice: "What the adults taught is that Du Gu can have today, thanks to the cultivation of adults?" “

"That's not what I meant!" Liu Cheng laughed: "Du Guoying used to be a thousand presidents, he became a thief without money and food, and then he followed me and is now a garrison, this battle is at least a capital division, although he is sent by the imperial court, in the final analysis, he can not win the battle?" Why was he able to win the battle, but He Huchen and Du Wenhuan were defeated in successive battles? Could it be that the two adults He and Du will be slightly inferior to him Du Guoying? I see that Du Guoying changed the positions of those two adults, but I am afraid that he will lose even worse, and he can win the battle because of the sharp armor of the soldiers? Can I get paid on a monthly basis? Enough food and clothing? But didn't the money fall from the sky, nor did it come from the centigold, the merchants, and the workshops? “

Du Gu listened to Liu Cheng's words, and only felt that he was ignorant, so he asked in a low voice, "What do you mean, my lord?" “

"I mean, since our foundation is not the imperial court, but the gold, the merchants, and the workshops, then we have to think more about these things when we are fighting, rather than just thinking about promotion. Think about it, if you attack the Tartars by water every night, as you said, what use is there but a waste of money? After all, our army is only 6,000 soldiers! ”

Hearing this, Du Gu finally understood. As Liu Cheng just said, Liu Cheng's existing forces alone are not enough to defeat Lin Dan Khan in the field, so it is better to defend the river and wait for reinforcements than to carry out this kind of war of attrition.

When Du Gu retired, Liu Cheng sighed, he felt a little tired after saying so many words just now, but there were some things that had to be said. Chongzhen's five years in the history of the late Ming Dynasty is a rather delicate period of time, the Ming Empire is like an old ox cart, is staggering forward and moving slowly, from time to time to drop a broken part, everyone thinks that the world is not good, but no one thinks that the empire is only 12 years away from the fall. So a traverser like Liu Cheng seems a little embarrassed, if he is honest and a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty, he feels sorry for his IQ and knowledge; But what about digging the corners of the empire and being a thief? And he was afraid of being smashed in his head by falling bricks. But fortunately, since ancient times, small groups have smelled bad and tasted good, since the adults and gentlemen above the court are all happy to fight for the party, then Liu Cheng's group of warriors are even more justified in engaging in small groups, who told the court to owe so much military salaries?

Liu Cheng didn't just want to drive Lin Dan Khan out of the Hetao, but he also had an even grander plan in his heart: to take this invasion of Lin Dan Khan as an opportunity to unite the Mongolian tribes that believed in the Gelug sect on the steppe and wipe out all the Chahar tribes. Then, by filling the vacuum of power after the destruction of the Chahar tribes, they attracted the Mongol tribes to come to the meeting, and took the opportunity to reopen the ancient Silk Road, and then build an alliance on this basis, extending its tentacles all the way to Central Asia and even Eastern Europe. (To be continued.) )