On the south bank of the sharp bend of Dazhang River, Yang Shang looked at the turbulent water under the cliff, reflecting the lush banks of the river to pieces.

Since the construction of Gantang Fort, although a small group of pirates have come ashore from time to time to invade, the situation is not as grim as it is today. Zheng Cangsheng stood beside Yang Shang, his left hand clenching the sword, and his knuckles were pinched white.

Yang Shang looked at the dense black shadows at the boundary between the stream and the sea, patted Zheng Cangsheng's shoulder and said, "You go to the north bank to assist Sun Lai in defending the high cliff." ”

"I'll just stay here."

Yang Shang said in a deep voice: "Don't think that the North Cliff is safer than here, if Gongliang Xiaotian attacks the North Cliff, how can the five hundred people over there withstand it?" ”

Zheng Cangsheng was about to argue, and gently tugged the corner of Mo Nian's placket to the side, but he saw Yang Shang's face sinking when he turned his head sideways.

After Zheng Cangsheng led dozens of people across the river, the Puji Water Camp slowly drove along the south bank of Dazhang River towards a sharp bend.

In the center, a 400-pin giant warship is the Chinese military tent, hoisting the handsome flag of Gongliang Xiaotian, and 16 fast water warships such as 800-pin ships and multi-masted sea ships are the Chinese military camp, surrounding the outside of the tent.

Eight hundred warships were used as outposts, which were lined in front of the water camp, and sixteen multi-masted sea ships were used to fill in the back, connecting the outpost camp and the battalions of the Chinese army.

Eight hundred warships, lined on the left, are the left sentry, and the herringbone is set aside, such as the left flank of the bird, in case the warships of the Gantang water battalion send troops from Gantang Port to attack the battalions of the Chinese army.

From the tail of the outpost, it was slanted to the left outpost, and in between it were sixteen more multi-masted ships guarding the air defense.

Because the water battalion fleet was close to the south bank, there was no right outpost battalion to escort it.

From the left sentry tail, there are dozens of ordinary grain ships and water ships obliquely to the rear outpost, such as people have left ribs, in the periphery of the grain ships and water ships, there are sixteen multi-masted sea ships and a hundred warships in the middle to escort, this is the grain and grass camp.

There were as many as one hundred and five warships of all kinds that accompanied Gongliang Xiaotian, and the surname and ship type were larger than the three-masted sea ships owned by the Gantang Water Camp.

There was still a distance of four miles from the sharp turn of the Dazhang River, and the Puji Central Military Camp and the Left Outpost Battalion and the Rear Outpost Grain and Grass Camp sailed close to the shore, and thousands of Puji bandits waded on the river bank and marched to the bend side by side with the warships of the outpost camp.

Yang Shang watched nearly 2,000 pirates climb the south bank and force towards the high cliff where he was located, knowing that Gongliang Xiaotian's move was to avoid Gantang Fort and go directly along the Dazhang River back to the depth of Zhangtai.

Although the Gantang garrison is all new and its combat power is not strong, according to the defense of Gantang Fort, no matter how big Gongliang Xiaotian is, he will not dare to attack with 5,000 naval troops.

Although he expected this, seeing Gongliang Xiao Naively sending troops to attack the South Cliff, Yang Shang still felt that his scalp was numb, and a cold air rushed straight to his back.

Mo Nian's expression was solemn, although Yang Shang didn't have a good face when he drove Zheng Cangsheng to the north cliff, he didn't want him to wait to participate in the cruel and fierce battle that was about to break out on the south bank.

When Dazhang Creek crosses the bend, the high cliffs on both sides of the river are tightly clamped, and the water flow is turbulent, and the narrowest part is less than 200 steps. If the Puji Water Battalion warship wants to cross this bend, it must occupy a high cliff on one side, so as not to be afraid of being hit by the rolling stones on the two high cliffs. In addition, large warships such as 400 and 200 are very likely to be blocked by the rushing water, and they will not be able to cross the bend, and they will need to go to the shore to pull the warship through this bend.

Compared with the huge warships of the Puji Water Battalion, the Gantang Water Battalion, which had only more than 30 brigs, had no chance to attack at all, and Li Yin, the captain of the Water Battalion, stayed in the Gantang Fort to hold on to the Gantang Fort. After the battle began, the outpost warships of the Puji Water Battalion would block Dazhangxi, and the garrison in Gantang Fort would not be able to reinforce the south bank, and the defenders on the south bank had to read their strength to block all the attacks of the Puji army.

A moment later, the Puji navy forced up the cliff by land. Although it is a high cliff, it is only 17 or 8 zhang from the water, and the back side is a gentle slope. All the grass and shrubs on the hillside were removed, and a simple parapet wall was built with stones. Zhou Shilong led 500 men to build the first line of defense behind the parapet wall. After that, there are 500 people lying on a steep wall nearly five zhang high, on the top of the high cliff near the water, there is a platform of two acres square, last year Yang Shang led people to build a stone tower three or four zhang high on it, two hundred soldiers shoot arrows at a high level, and the enemy may not be able to get close.

Seeing more than a dozen high ladders appear behind the Puji bandits, Zhou Shilong's heart sank. Gongliang Xiaotian has considered the topography of the South Cliff quite fully, and it seems that he will not expect much help from the special topography of the High Cliff.

The defensive ability of the slope retaining wall is far from being comparable to that of the Wubao city, but after attacking for a day and a night, the first retaining wall has not been able to break through, and Gongliang Xiaotian can't help but be impetuous, thinking: I can't wait for Lin Jisi to lead the troops to come and see my jokes.

Gongliang Xiaotian had his own ship, and incorporated the only 400-strong warship into the outpost camp. The Puji outpost water battalion formation approached the high cliff, and at a distance of more than 300 steps, it used the two stone-throwing crossbows mounted on the top of the 400-tip battleship cabin to smash the boulder weighing dozens of pounds into the stone tower on the top of the high cliff.

The longbow crossbow in the stone tower has no firing distance as the stone crossbow, and the arrow feathers shot have little strength when they reach the warship of the Puji outpost water camp, and are blocked into the water by the Puji pirates who are standing close to the ship's strings.

There was a bang, and the corner of the stone building collapsed, and the stone chips splashed on his face and hurt, Mo Nian saw that Yang Shang did not have the slightest intention of letting the soldiers retreat, and said softly: "If it goes on like this, this stone building will collapse......"

Yang Shang waved his hand and said, "Exit the stone tower at this time, and the small warships in the enemy formation will definitely take the opportunity to pass through the bend and go around to our west side." Gongliang Xiaotian didn't expect to use his ship to attack, and the stone bullets on the ship would not be sufficient. ”

Mo Nian saw that his face was resolute, and he knew that he couldn't move him. Another boulder was smashed, and at the top of the stone building in the middle, the "whooshing" tile stone was leaked down with the boulder, and several people in Xiayang had no time to avoid it, and smashed it into a ball of flesh and blood. Mo Nian wiped away the blood droplets splashed on his face, called left and right, pointed to the bloody corpse and said, "The men of Zhangtai should be buried in this big Zhangxi." Left and right threw the body into the Dazhang Creek.

The 400 ships kept throwing stone bombs 300 paces away, causing the stone tower on the south cliff to be damaged in many places, and the half of the building on the east side had completely collapsed, and the more than 10 crossbows arranged in it had no time to withdraw, and all of them were smashed.

Zheng Cangsheng looked at the Puji outpost camp and more than a dozen multi-masted sea ships approached the south cliff, the two ships were in front, and the rest of the warships were behind, shooting back with strong bows and crossbows, trying to suppress the soldiers who poked their heads out of the south cliff.

Zheng Cangsheng was secretly anxious. The north cliff is slightly lower than the south cliff, but the damage in the stone building on the south bank can be seen clearly. The wooden rolling stones prepared here were all useless, and the Puji warship was just at the edge of the range of the longbow crossbow.

When the two sea ships in front of them passed the north cliff, nearly 100 heads suddenly rushed out of the north cliff, braving the rain of arrows and stone bullets to push down the wooden rolling stones. Stirring up a column of water to the sky, a huge ship was in the middle of the front side of a battleship, "click" several loud sounds, the front side of the ship smashed a hole, and the bow of the ship slowly sank. The ship's bandits turned the rudder and stranded the boat on the rocky beach by the stream, so as not to be carried down by the stream and disperse the boat formation downstream. The rest of the warships were not afraid of the boulders that fell from the top of the cliff, and continued to advance while suppressing them with bows and arrows.

Yang Shang saw two multi-masted ships with many damages breaking through the North Cliff blockade, and was about to order Mo Nian to lead people to the Xishan Creek to intercept it, but he saw him sitting on the ground behind him to wrap the wound on his right arm, and the unwrapped wound revealed Bai Sensen's periosteum.

Yang Shangjian walked over, and when he heard the shouting of the back slope of the north cliff, Mo Nian jumped up from the ground in fear, and looked at it together, but saw the second parapet pushing the Puji bandits who came up. Zhou Shilong led his men and horses to fight with the Puji bandits. More than half of the more than 1,000 defenders are now left.

Yang Shang licked his lower lip, only to feel a trace of saltiness, stretched out his hand to wipe it, but it was a bloodstain, he didn't know when his chin was injured, wiped it again, pointed to the defenders below and said: "I can't hold it here, Captain Mo Zuo, you and Captain Zhou Yingyi will lead the sudden to the West Mountain." ”

"The general is not leaving?" Mo Nian asked.

Yang Shang pursed his lips and said, "There are still people guarding the top of the cliff, and we can't let the turtle son live too comfortably." ”

"Then the general left a hundred men for me."

Yang Shang laughed: "You also come to fight with me for the merits here." You and Zhou Yingwei went to Xishan to block him again by taking advantage of the terrain. ”

Mo Nian thought that Yang Wei would die on this high cliff with more than 100 defenders, and he was not afraid that the generals of Zhangtai would have any bad explanations to Xu Ruyu, so he no longer spoke of persuasion, hastily wrapped his wounds, and joined Zhou Shilong together.

Zhou Shilong and Mo Nian led the remnants of the 500 soldiers to break out of the siege and retreat to the West Mountain, where the cliff bank was only six or seven zhang away from the water, separated from the opposite bank by more than 300 steps, and the Dazhang River was a flat lake further upstream.

When Zhou Shilong led his troops to Xishan, he was the first to break through the blockade on the south coast, and the two enemy ships had just arrived here. The enemy ships evaded the defenders on the north shore, but they were not prepared for the sudden rain of arrows on the south bank, and more than a dozen pirates standing at the bow of the ship were planted into the water by several arrows.

The two enemy ships hovered on either side and could not shoot on the water, waiting for the enemy ships to come up later.

Zhou Shilong led the defenders of the South Cliff to leave, and only more than 100 people who remained on the top of the cliff continued to hold on.

Yang Shang looked at the more than 1,000 pirates surrounding the back slope of the north cliff, and put the bows and crossbows on the top of the cliff to the back, and in front of him, he ordered more than 30 stones to push the wooden rolling stones to prevent the enemy ships below the high cliff from forcing through the bend.

At nightfall, the arrows on the top of the north bank were exhausted, and there was no longer any way to stop the bandits on the back slope rushing up. Yang Shang looked around and said, "Whether you can rush out or not, you have the greatest credit in this battle, and the people of Zhangtai will not forget you." ”

The wind lantern was hung up, Gongliang Xiaotian stood on a temporary ship with two hundred tips, and when he heard the news of conquering the South Cliff, he laughed and said to the left and right: "Although Yang Shang escaped, but after capturing the South Cliff, our army's westward advance will not be blocked." I couldn't help but feel a little distressed about the damage of more than a thousand, and then I thought again: Yang Shang has arranged the most elite combat power in the South Cliff, and it is not easy to break through the opponent's protective wall and obtain the record of destroying the enemy of 600, if it comes too easily, it will not show the credit of this battle. Thinking about it like this, he ordered without hesitation: "The landing men and horses continue to advance southwest along the south bank, and the outpost water camp will cross the bend to expand the range of reconnaissance to prevent Gantang from ambushing the troops, and more than 1,000 sailors from the Chinese military camp will immediately land on the south bank, preparing to pull the warships of the middle army camp and the rear outpost camp through the bend, and the left outpost camp will be in the rear." ”

Gongliang Xiaotian led the generals and guards back to the 400-pin boat, and looked at the defenders in the Gantang Fort on the north shore out of the Gantang Fort, marching southwest along the north bank, the torches were connected in a line, and the formation seemed a little scattered.

Gongliang Xiaotian showed such a look, and spat at the water with great disdain.

The first general on the left said: "When the young marshal sent heavy troops to attack the south cliff, the last general could not understand the wonderful meaning, and now looking at the enemy army in Gantang Fort to draw out, I know the wisdom of the young marshal." ”

Everyone was disdainful in their hearts, but they had to echo it, thinking in their hearts: If Gongliang Xiaotian can win this battle and reverse the situation in Southern Fujian, he will be able to make up for the mistakes in the Battle of Fuzhou, and Lin Ji will lose the battle of Yongjiabao and will no longer be able to compete with Gongliang Xiaotian for the next Puji commander.

Gongliang Xiaotian was anxious to attack Gantang Bay, in addition to not wanting to delay too much time, he should also have the idea of not wanting to share the credit with Lin Ji.

Gongliang Xiaotian took a breath, eased the smug look on his face, and said: "Attacking it will be saved, as long as we go along Dazhang River to Jian'an Fort, we don't worry that the enemy troops in Gantang Fort will not be led out." However, along the Dazhang River, the speed of the army is not as fast as the enemy army on the north bank, so you have to prevent the enemy from detouring back to the upper reaches of the Dazhang River to block it, so you should be careful. ”

Everyone said: "The enemy army has left Gantang Fort, where is it still the opponent of our army?" ”

A person on the right stood up and said: "Xu Ruyu set up the Gantang Water Camp a few months ago, and when he passed through Gantang Port yesterday, his subordinates found that there were many fewer warships in the dock port, and these warships may be hidden in the upper reaches of Dazhang River. ”

Gongliang Xiaotian swept the man with cold eyes, and said unhappily: "How could I ignore this. The Gantang Water Battalion is all small three-masted ships, and I have an outpost water battalion to explore the way ahead, so I don't believe that his more than 10 three-masted ships can handle the current situation. ”

There is no dangerous terrain at the bend before going up to Jian'an Fort along the Dazhang River, and there are battleships and crossbows to rely on, so there is really nothing to worry about.

The Chinese water battalion was slowly ascending against the rapids discharged from the bend with the efforts of more than 1,000 slender men, and suddenly the golden drum in front of it was loud, and the lights on the top of the south cliff showed that the outpost water battalion was attacked by enemy warships.

Gongliang Xiaotian couldn't help but be amazed, thinking: Yang Shang is worthy of being a mountain bandit, and his actions are indispensable to fierce banditry. In his heart, he despised the Gantang fleet that attacked the outpost water camp, thinking that it was just hitting a stone with an egg, and he was about to give an order to let the Chinese army water camp quickly pass through the bend, as long as he reached Pinghu behind the mountain, he was not afraid of what tricks Yang Shang could play.

Left and right dissuaded: "When crossing the bend together, the warships will inevitably be crowded in one place, and it is very vulnerable to fire, so it is better to wait for the outpost water camp to clear the water barrier, and then cross the bend." ”

Gongliang Xiaotian was also afraid of failure, so he ordered the Chinese military camp and the rear outpost camp to stop there, and ordered the left outpost camp to come closer, so as not to suddenly launch the enemy ships in Gantang Harbor.

In the middle of the night, the drums of war in front of us not only did not subside, but became more and more intense.

Looking through the low mountain, I saw that the sky over there was red, the night sky of Gantang was surprisingly weird, but the direction of Gantang Fort, which should have been in a bitter battle, was quiet.

Gongliang Xiaotian couldn't hold his breath and said: "It's not that there are only more than 30 sea ships in the Gantang Water Camp, not to mention that there are more than 10 ships parked in the Gantang Dock Port, why haven't the twenty sea ships been solved until now?" ”

"Although there are only more than 30 sea boats, the Gantang Water Battalion has also incorporated more than 100 sampan boats that cannot withstand the wind and waves into the formation, and the outpost water battalion has lost the opportunity for a while, and now it has regained its disadvantage."

Before the words fell, at the turn of the mountain ahead, the shadows of several ships were revealed, and the outpost water camp was forced down.

Gongliang Xiaotian said hatefully: "This is to get back the disadvantage? "The two 200 warships of the Chinese army water battalion were urgently dispatched to cross the bend and go to support the outpost water battalion.

An hour passed, and the addition of two 200 warships failed to change the disadvantage of the outpost water battalion.

Under the leadership of Li Yin, the Gantang water battalion was extremely stubborn, and more than 100 sampans could not compete with the tall sea ships and hundreds of warships, but they desperately rushed to the battleships of the Puji outpost water camp by the water momentum, so that the outpost water battalion could not maintain a complete formation, and some battleships were unintentionally directly hit by the sampan, and the sampan was firmly attached to the front of the battleship with a hook inlay, igniting the dry wood carried in the sampan.

Gongliang Xiaotian learned that three hundred warships had been burned by the small sampan in this way, and he hated and was anxious, thinking: Yang Shang is from a mountain bandit, Li Yin is from a water bandit, and Xu Ru is stupid and dares to reuse these two people. But there was no way to think about it, so I had to watch the warships of the outpost water battalion being forced to the end of the bend together, and then they would enter the rapids of the bend after going down a few hundred steps, and then the advantage of the battleships of the Gantang water camp in the upper reaches would increase dramatically.

A sentry boat approached, and a soldier took over the military information, hurriedly read it, and said: "The enemy army has crossed to the south bank on a large scale in the upper reaches of Dazhang River, and depending on the situation, Yang Shang wants to recapture the South Cliff Heights." ”

Gongliang Xiaotian's face was even more gloomy, the outpost water camp was forced to the lower end of the bend, and the south cliff was recaptured by Yang Shang, so the results of the fierce battle in the past two days and two nights will go to water. Do you really want to see Lin Ji's face?

Feeling irritable in his heart, he suddenly heard a deafening sound from the outpost water camp array in front of him, Gongliang Xiaotian looked around in disbelief, not knowing what happened in front of him, but it was extremely beneficial to his own side depending on the situation.

After a while, a battle report came from the front: "General Ling led two battleships to break into the enemy formation, sandwiching Li Yin's ship in the middle, and now it is in a fierce battle, but the enemy ships are in their own formations, and the attack is not as fierce as just now." ”

Gongliang Xiaotian swept away his gloomy expression, and said in a loud voice: "Capture Li Yin, and the enemy formation will disperse." He also thought: Li Yin realized that the machine was wrong, and he could transfer it to other warships to continue commanding, and said: "Taking advantage of Li Yin's resistance on the ship, he ordered the outpost water battalion to counterattack with all his might, and the middle army battalion and the outpost water battalion immediately grabbed the corner." ”

As long as the Chinese military camp successfully passes the bend, it will be able to gain absolute superiority on the water surface of Pinghu on the other side of the mountain, while the Gantang garrison will be divided into two parts by Dazhangxi, and under the peep of the Puji water battalion warships, there will be no chance for the troops to unite in one place.

;