In the evening, the golden wuxi sinks, only the last ray of light is still shining in the sky, and the brilliant sunset gradually dissipates, and the sky darkens little by little. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

I don't know when the mist rose up, and gradually spread on the wide water surface of the Baigou River, and it was very open to envelop the north and south banks. In the hazy mist, the sound of the Ming army making fire and cooking could be faintly heard.

"Can this southern barbarian fight or not?" One of the elders said with a swallow of saliva. After all, it was not only the sound of cooking that could come from the fog, but also the rich aroma of food. Tens of thousands of people are cooking at the same time, even if the Baigou River is wide, it can't resist the fragrance wafting.

The conditions of the Ming army were abundant, and the entire Ming Dynasty was affected by the Northern Expedition, which meant that all the canal fleets and carriage teams on the straight official roads had to be sent to the fleets and convoys of grain and grass equipment, and even if necessary, the local state government could directly requisition any fleet and carriage team on the spot to help transport it after seeking the consent of the officials sent from the Imperial Historical Observatory.

There is not the slightest opposition to this Ming people, and even many businessmen have taken the initiative to draw out a lot of their own chariot and horse teams, after all, for these merchants, the victory of the Northern Expedition also means a broader market, and now take out these convoys to delay the loss of time, and soon they can earn back in the northland or a blank market.

The experience of Nanyang, Dongyang and other places has taught businessmen what to do. Since the Mongols seized all the land from the Jurchens, they have actually been busy fighting in the south, and have not even resettled the people and cultivated the tuntian, let alone resumed commerce. It can be said that the entire Northland trade has been at a standstill for decades, and the trade between the people has even reached the point of barter, and the government currency is also losing its credibility.

Before the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia opened seven trade towns, the merchants went to many places at that time, but the seven state capitals had already made them taste the sweetness. Especially some small businessmen who were suppressed by the businessmen, seeing the blank northern market, it was impossible not to want a piece of the pie.

This is why the merchants were even more enthusiastic about the Northern Expedition than the local capitals.

It is precisely for this reason that as long as the household can still take out the grain, the Ming army will definitely not worry about starvation.

And Mongolia is just the opposite, now Mongolia is still fighting in Youyan, in the final analysis, it belongs to the territory of the Han people in the north, the local people are basically either killed or fled, and there is still a lot of grain in the already small stock that was destroyed in the war, and in the end there is not much left, and it has to be distributed to Youyan so many Mongolian soldiers, naturally there is not much left. And more importantly, this army went south to the Baigou River, mainly to harass and block the Ming army, so it carried not much grain and grass.

Grain and grass are limited, and once this army is wiped out, the grain and grass they carry will naturally be wasted. Therefore, Boyan took this army to the south, and did not carry too much grain and grass, and because of the previous cleaning of the Mongolian army along the way, it was deserted, so there was no military food at all, which also made the current Mongolian army have to reduce to two meals a day, only breakfast and lunch.

So when dinner was held on the opposite side, the Mongol army could only go hungry on this side of the Baigou River.

Of course, it is one thing to be hungry, and it is another thing for the Ming army on the other side not to attack. The Ming army can be said to have lined up on the opposite bank from noon, and as a result, until the sun went down, there was no intention of attacking, only the warships on the water were mobilized, but there was no intention of opening the way in front of the Mongolian army camp and water village, and I don't know what these cunning southern barbarians were having, because the Ming army did not move, and Boyan did not dare to take it lightly, so the Mongolian army could only barely raise its mental vigilance.

"Keep an eye on the water, don't talk nonsense!" The centurion walked up to Shi Chang's side at some point and cursed in a low voice.

He Chang hurriedly responded, but he still mustered up the courage to ask, "Centurion, is it possible for the Southern Barbarians to attack today?" ”

Obviously, it wasn't just the chief who had this question, but the soldiers patrolling next to him also subconsciously pricked up their ears.

However, the centurion did not want to punish him, leaned on the railing of the water village, and looked at the misty water in front of him: "The fog will be foggy at dusk, and it is estimated that the fog will not disperse tonight." It's not so easy for the Southern Barbarians to attack, and now I'm afraid that the Southern Barbarians will bluff and make us uneasy・・・・・・"

Before the centurion's words fell, Shi Chang suddenly noticed something, stretched out his hand and pointed to the surface of the water and said, "Centurion, look, there are several shadows on the water!" ”

The centurion was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly looked in the direction of his finger. In the hazy mist, there were really a few dark shadows looming, and more importantly, these black shadows were getting bigger and bigger, indicating that they were getting closer and closer to here.

"It can't be a waterfowl on the river, maybe we can shoot down a tooth sacrifice." A soldier licked his lips and said, but before he could finish speaking, he was hit on the head by Shi Chang.

"Are you crazy from hunger, how can there be such a big water bird, and you have been in the Baigou River for more than two days, when have you ever seen a water bird? In this hellish place, everything that can be eaten is almost clean, and the water birds can't live now! Shi Chang said with some hatred, but he seemed to suddenly realize something, and suddenly looked up at the black shadows.

It's not a water bird, it can't be any other animal, then it's constantly moving and approaching, only people can be! The Mongol army has no ships, so this black shadow is naturally a southern barbarian!

"Enemy attack!" The centurion had already reacted and hissed and roared.

"Enemy attack!" The lazy and lazy Mongolian soldiers in the entire water village suddenly became a mess.

Not only these black shadows, but soon two other black shadows that were even larger and faster also appeared in the other direction of the water village. Before the Mongol soldiers in the water village could come to their senses, the roaring sound of cannons had already broken the silence in the fog.

Countless cannonballs rolled up the fog and smashed heavily on the water village, and the air waves set off by the explosion directly overturned the Mongolian soldiers standing on the trestle, and some of the soldiers could not grasp it steadily, and even fell into the water, setting off huge waves. Mongol soldiers were running along the bridge in panic, while the commanders and centurions were shouting hoarsely to their soldiers to pick up their crossbows and prepare for battle.

On the arrow tower behind the side of the water village, countless arrows roared out, directly rushing towards the gunboats of the Ming Army's Beiyang Fleet, which was getting closer and bigger and bigger, like a hill. It's just that the gunboats have already set up shields, and most of those arrows are densely inserted into the shields, which can't kill the soldiers behind them at all, not to mention that in order to reduce the possibility of being hit by arrows as much as possible, the guns on the deck of the gunboats have not been launched at all, and they mainly rely on the guns on the lower decks to bombard.

When the gunboat was built, the possibility of melee combat with the enemy and the possibility of attracting arrows was considered, so the lower portholes were not designed to be large, and most of the gun barrels were occupied, so unless they were sharpshooters, it was impossible to hurt the soldiers in the gun cabin.

The cannonballs smashed heavily on the trestle and arrow tower of the water village, but because the Mongols were building the water village, they obviously regarded this water village as the first line of defense to prevent the Ming army from attacking, and took great pains, so even if they were hit by the cannonballs that poured down like hail, the two arrow towers were only shaking constantly, and there was no sign of complete collapse.

"Plop!" With a loud bang, stone projectiles fell from the sky and landed in the water not far from the gunboat, setting off a huge column of water, and the tumbling river water slapped the warship, causing the whole warship to even shake a little. And more stone shells also came from thunderbolts, and some of them were directly smashed on the gunboat, if it weren't for the fact that there were not many people on the deck of the gunboat, and the deck itself was very thick, I am afraid that this stone bullet would fall down, either dead or injured.

"Turn the bow of the ship and suppress the trebuchet of the Mongol Tartars!" Xiao Guang rushed into the cabin with some embarrassment and ordered loudly. The naval gunboats took great risks to kill at such a close distance, firstly to attract the attention of the Mongol Tatars, and secondly, naturally to lure the Mongolian Tatar trebuchets to appear.

Before the trebuchet could fire the second round, both gunboats slammed horizontally, and the guns on one side were all aimed at the direction where the stone projectiles were flying.

"Put!" Xiao Guang's voice echoed in the cannon bay.

All the guns unleashed their fury at the same time, and the entire gunboat even retreated.

Countless shells whizzed into the thickening mist, and although it was impossible to see what the results were, the Mongol Tatar trebuchets apparently stopped firing. The Mongols probably also came to their senses and realized that it was impossible for the Ming army to try to kill the water village with just two gunboats, so the crossbowmen and soldiers were hiding while carefully looking at the two gunboats that had just shown great power.

The centurion looked at the two Ming gunboats that appeared and disappeared in the dense fog with palpitations, and suddenly remembered something: "What about the small boats of the Southern Barbarians just now?" ”

The huge figure on the river was the gunboat of the Southern Barbarians, so the small figure that appeared at the beginning should naturally be a small boat, but the soldiers around the ・・・・・・ of those small boats were obviously also aware of this problem, and their eyes were wide and small, and they all looked around with some suspicion.

"Boom!" A loud bang came, and the side of the trestle that had been crumbling under the ravages of the cannonballs just now seemed to be lifted from the bottom up by a pair of big hands, bulging up violently, and then completely broken, and the wood and iron cables flew into the air, and fell down one after another, stirring up large and small splashes.

It's not good for the centurion to scream, but it's too late.

It turned out that just now the Mongolian army was panicked, and the Ming gunboats blocked the trestle along the trestle, these boats actually braved their own shells and shrank under the trestle, no wonder they have not been discovered!

And the purpose of these small boats is already obvious, that is, the arrow tower that is close at hand.

Originally, this trestle bridge was connected to the arrow towers and the water village on both sides, and it is obvious that the Ming army boats blew up the trestle bridge in order to prevent the Mongolian army from supporting.

The Mongol soldiers in the arrow tower obviously also spotted the Ming ships that were getting closer and closer, and became more aware of the situation they were facing, and countless arrows roared towards those small boats.

"Shield!" The leader of these small boats was Qiu Zhong, the head of the third brigade of the two Huai armies, and before he could stretch his bow and arrows on the arrow tower, Qiu Zhong ordered to raise his shield. The arrow pierced the shield with a "thump" sound, and between the shields of different sizes, there were gaps that were difficult to close, and an arrow flew directly through the gap, piercing the chest of the soldier behind him.

"Be careful!" Qiu Zhong gritted his teeth, these soldiers under his command were all elites selected from the army, although everyone had the mentality of seeing death as home, but Qiu Zhong still hoped to take them back alive.

The arrows were more intense, and it was clear that the Mongols had realized the gravity of the situation. A large number of crossbowmen ran down from the wall, along the embankments and trestles, intent on finding the most suitable place to shoot arrows. A stone bullet roared down on the already uncalm water, and a small boat closest to the stone bullet landing point was directly overturned.

These small boats were all fishing boats that Qiu Zhong led people to find from the upstream, and naturally it was impossible for them to have a certain degree of anti-turbulence ability like the warships in the army. The seven or eight soldiers on the boat fell into the water, all of them were Jiangnan children, but the water couldn't trap them, and they didn't show their heads one by one, and sneaked directly towards the trestle not far away.

The surface of the water was almost covered with floating arrows, and more arrows were still shooting down from the arrow towers and trestle bridges.

"Rocket, release the rocket!" I don't know who woke up like a dream and shouted loudly.

The fog was getting thicker and thicker, not only blocking the view, but even the brazier that had been erected, only sporadic fire points were still beating, and the Mongolian soldiers hurriedly lit torches and opened their bows and arrows.

The two small boats that opened the way in front had already rushed straight to the bottom of the arrow tower, Qiu Zhong waved his hand, the shield opened, and two soldiers quickly stepped forward, and they were about to tie the explosive bag to the pillar supporting the arrow tower. The pillars of this arrow tower are about the same thickness as the pillars of the trestle just now, and as long as one corner can be blown off, the entire arrow tower will also collapse. The pier was blown up just now, firstly to prevent the Mongolian soldiers from supporting, and secondly, to test whether the explosives package could really be done.

"Poof!" With a soft sound, a dense stream of arrows shot the two soldiers into hedgehogs. The Mongol crossbowmen standing on the shore had apparently also spotted the ships of the Ming army and were desperately firing arrows.

Once the arrow tower is destroyed, the entire water village will be completely exposed to the Ming artillery fire, and the Mongols will either abandon the water village or die with the Ming army, obviously they do not want to see such an outcome. So even if they were hungry and exhausted, they had to desperately stop the Ming army.

Fortunately, when the two soldiers fell, they threw the explosives bag in their arms onto the ship. The boat does not carry many bags of explosives, and if one is wasted, it is equivalent to losing the chance of success.

Qiu Zhong was about to let the last two soldiers rush forward, when a scream suddenly came from behind him. The Mongol rockets hit the two Ming ships behind, and the raging fire ignited the explosives on the ship, and the two ships were directly stopped and blown up, and the soldiers on board did not have time to escape, and they were engulfed in fire and explosions.

The Mongol soldiers on the shore and in the water village burst into cheers, obviously they had suffered so much with firearms, and they were naturally happy to see the Ming army suffer today.

Qiu Zhong secretly gritted his teeth, went straight past the somewhat panicked soldier in front, grabbed the explosive bag and rushed out, and the soldier next to him hurriedly stepped forward to deliver the rope, but before the soldier could rush out with his shield, arrows flying from all directions shot him into a hedgehog.

There was a sharp pain all over his body, and Qiu Zhong didn't know how many arrows he had been hit, but he knew that the explosive bag in his arms was still there, and the pillar supporting the arrow tower was in front of him. The new explosive bag uses the same principle as the flowering bomb, and only needs to pull out the thread to ignite, and there is no need to ignite it with great effort.

A feeling of weakness and darkness spread along his limbs, and Qiu Zhong had never felt so tired.

Blood flowed down his armor into the boat and into the river.

He jerked his head back at the soldiers on the ship, who were staring at him intently.

"Brothers, there's an arrow tower, go blow it up!" Qiu Zhong roared loudly, pounced on the pillar, and kicked the ship with both feet, and before the ship's soldiers could react, the ship was already turning away. The two ships that were broken hurriedly rushed over to protect them, one left and one right.

"Dutou!" The Ming sergeant shouted loudly, his voice was already a little sad and choked.

Even the surrounding Mongol soldiers were stunned. (To be continued.) )