After listening to what Li Yan said, Du Feng praised his head:

"That's a great plan! The thief must be unexpected. In this case, Lotte can act quickly and prepare the ship and sailors. When the thief army attacks the city on a large scale, our army can detour to the rear of the enemy, establish a camp, cut off its grain route, and attack from both sides, and it will definitely break the Taihang thieves! ”

The two had made up their minds, and Li Yan immediately went out of the county temple to find the local heroes of Pingtao and discuss the matter of collecting ships and sailors. At the same time, Du Feng also mobilized 100 people from the county to choose a deep shore outside the east city gate, which was three miles away from the city, and built a temporary wharf with wood that could dock small and medium-sized boats.

Due to the large area of reeds covering, after the construction of this temporary wharf, it was not afraid that it would be directly observed by the Taixing army. The location of the temporary wharf is also placed on the east side of Pingtao City, away from the Taihang army camp on the west side. If the spies of the Taixing Army want to investigate this place, they must first sneak under the Pingtao City, or swim through the labyrinthine "Zhaoyu Qi" water.

However, the head of the flat pottery castle, which has many eyes to observe, is not so easy to pass. Once the enemy's spies are discovered, they will face a baptism of crossbow within fifty paces. Since the Taixing army came to the city, there have been three spies who have been killed by the random arrows at the head of the city. Presumably, with such a deterrent, the spies of the Taixing Army should have learned a lot, right?

At the moment of the great enemy, the troops under Li Yan are strong enough, and the rest of the heroes also approve of this idea. Although he had to be careful not to alarm the Taixing army, with the concerted efforts of everyone, in just three days, Li Wei had 15 medium-sized flat-bottomed boats and more than 60 small fishing boats in his hands. These ships can be used for the navigation of "Zhaoyu Qi" with a very shallow water level.

With the transportation capacity of these ships, they could transport 500 heavily armed soldiers to the rear of the Taixing army at a time. According to the water transport, it can travel 80 miles a day. It took less than two days to transport 2,000 people to the rear of the Taixing army. Li Yu optimistically thought that although the Tianping Army was outnumbered, but in the face of the situation that there was a fortified city in front and an ambush in the back, most of them would also be defeated!

And. In order to keep the secret of the navy and give the Taixing army an unexpected blow, Li Wei temporarily placed the collected ships and 200 sailors in a water thief camp only more than ten miles away from Pingtao County. In this way, the Taixing army can be prevented from learning about the existence of the navy to the greatest extent.

This water thief was secretly supported by a family of Jinyang Li's in-laws. For the sake of this battle, the Pingtao County Order gave the conditions for recruitment. Promised that the head of the water thieves and thieves could get a position as a pavilion chief after breaking the Taixing army. With such generous benefits, coupled with the promised financial rewards, this water thief is extremely concerned about the affairs of the water army.

Although the pavilion chief is just a small official who can't even reach the level of "fighting food", after all, he is a regular member of the government. The pavilion chief's fortune is nothing, and being able to get the leader of the water thieves out of the ranks of "thieves" from now on is what he cares about the most.

The head of the thief has been running on the water for twenty years. Just a soft net worth, to say the least, there are four or five hundred thousand dollars. It can be regarded as the standard of the "upper household" of the Han Dynasty. Plus the powerful rewards, which add up enough to make the leader of the water thieves directly become a small landowner. If you have the body of the pavilion chief, the thief leader will be able to earn it in his life.

In order to have a better life in the future, the thief leader was quite generous, and took out the eight flat-bottomed clippers that he used to transport goods and joined the navy. And so it goes. The transportation capacity of the navy has increased a lot, and Li Wei feels that his plan is more certain.

Of course, as the leader of more than 1,000 county soldiers, Li Wei could not personally sit in the naval camp. But. He specially sent a clan brother who was promoted by him to the commander of the tun, and brought the soldiers and horses of Bentun to the camp of the navy, responsible for the training of the recruited fishermen.

Although these fishermen cannot be expected to practice for two days and immediately be able to fight on the water. But Li felt that it was necessary to at least familiarize them with the basic military commands. Even if he sharpens his gun in battle, he thinks it's better than doing nothing.

As the leader of this temporary naval army, the younger brother of the Li clan is still quite concerned about the orders of the clan brother. Of course, in accordance with the practice in the army, he deducted 100 yuan from each fisherman's military salary and used it as his own extra money. But in terms of food supply, the younger brother of the Li clan is still extremely generous, so that these new sailors can eat it with an open stomach.

You know, this benefit is quite good!

At the same time, in order to strengthen the maintenance of the formation of the navy when maneuvering the boats, this Li Tun commander had to spend a special morning every day to train the ships to march in the queue. After two days of training, he had a total of more than 80 small and medium-sized ships of various colors, and he could barely keep himself from falling behind during the ten-mile march.

It's just that the flotilla is generally no problem, and the soldiers under Commander Li Tun who have not been on the boat a few times are quite seasick and dizzy. For this reason, Li Tunchang also made a special trip back to Pingyao County to report the matter to his brothers.

Fortunately, the distance from the temporary wharf set up on the edge of Pingyao City to the landing site expected by Li Wei was only more than 20 miles. With such a short distance, Li Yan didn't think that seasickness could have much effect on the combat effectiveness of the county soldiers.

All the calculations have been decided, Li Yan observed that the Taihang army camp under the city has been built, and a lot of siege equipment has been prepared, and he feels that the time has come. He discussed with the county commander Du Feng and the Xiao clan and the Zhao clan, who had the strongest local troops, and finally decided that the third watch would send troops tomorrow to cut off the enemy's retreat while the army was unprepared!

In order to cooperate with this dispatch, Du Feng had already mobilized the residents in the city and rushed to prepare the required dry food and other supplies. Now that everything is ready, as soon as the time comes, you can flank the front and rear and defeat the enemy under the city.

The weather at the end of April is already a little hot. However, at night and around dawn, it is still necessary to put on an extra layer of clothing. The county seat was scheduled to send troops on the third watch, and the naval ships located more than ten miles away needed to sneak quietly to the vicinity of the county seat the night before. If the time is early, it is easy to be discovered by the spies of the Taixing Army. If the time is late, it will inevitably delay the entire operation of sending troops.

In order not to attract the attention of the Tai Xing army, the entire fleet could only light three or five lights at a distance in the middle of the team to guide the direction of the ship. Fortunately, although the moon is crooked and the light in the night sky is insufficient, the stars in the sky still provide enough light for the boatmen with experience in night sailing to barely move slowly.

That Li Tunchang also had some ability, so he let the head of the former water thief as a guide, and according to the request of his brother, he arrived at the simple dock with the entire fleet at the second watch. After counting the points, only three ships were left behind, which did not affect the overall situation.

Seeing that the clan brother arrived at the planned time with the boat, Li Yan's heart breathed a long sigh of relief. The fact that the operation went so smoothly at the beginning is undoubtedly a good sign.

In this battle, in order to boost the morale of the army, Li Wei personally led the team. The five hundred people he selected from his subordinates were naturally elite. As soon as the sailor ships sailing at night arrived, Li Yan did not delay, and directly let the 500 soldiers board the ship. Since the commanders and captains had already explained the requirements for the march in advance, these county soldiers were very conscious of their ranks, and according to the command of the officers, they boarded their respective ships.

These county soldiers with full armor naturally weigh a lot. After an ordinary fishing boat carried a group of five county soldiers, the draft was significantly deeper. If it weren't for fifteen medium-sized ships that could carry a hundred stones, and could carry twenty people in one boat, those seventy small boats really wouldn't be able to carry a few people.

However, a medium-sized boat has the benefits of a medium-sized boat, and a small boat has its own benefits of a small boat. Although the water surface of "Zhaoyu Qi" is wide and reaches hundreds of miles, there are only a few channels that can be navigated by medium-sized ships. But the boat with a shallow draft, bobbing through the reeds, was not a problem at all.

When the five hundred county soldiers had successfully boarded the ship and the required baggage had been moved to the five medium-sized boats, Li Yan gave a military salute to the county commander Du Feng and the county officials, Haoqiang patriarch and others who came to see him off, and then ordered by the pre-agreed lamp:

"Sail!"

The group of people who saw them off saw the medium-sized boat that Li Feng was riding in motion, led by Du Feng, and bowed to the captain one after another. At this moment, no matter what kind of power and profit they have within them, they are sincerely wishing that Li Yan will be able to succeed and defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.

After the fleet set off smoothly, Du Feng and the others naturally did not stay by the temporary dock for a long time, and returned to the county seat soon. When everyone dispersed, a small boat suddenly emerged from the reeds near the temporary dock.

If Li Yan's cousin saw this boat, he would probably recognize it, and it was one of the three boats that had fallen behind. The people in the boat apparently had no intention of staying here, and with a whistle, they plunged headlong into the seemingly roadless reeds, and soon disappeared.

Even for the old fishermen who have been begging for a living on the boat for twenty or thirty years, sailing at night in the moonlight is still extremely challenging.

It's not too difficult to take a night boat ride in a reed-covered lake and marsh. What really made it difficult for the old fishermen was how to avoid the influence of the reeds when sailing at night, so that the fleet would not become disjointed and fall behind. At the same time, the distance between the ships in front and behind should not be too close, otherwise the collision of the ships would be a disaster for the fleet.

Fortunately, under Li Wei's men, there is also an expert who is used to sailing at night. This person is naturally the leader of the water thieves who have not been in Chengcheng for a long time.

The thief's surname is Cheng, and those who mix on the road usually do not tell their real names to others, so as not to implicate relatives in the family. Therefore, it turned out that when other people mentioned this person, they directly called him by the nickname "Dogfish". Because he will get the position of pavilion chief in the future, Li Yan calls him "Pavilion Chief Cheng" very face-saving. (To be continued......)