A patrol fleet sailed in front of the Sui army's grain carrier, they did not find anything unusual, and sailed quickly in front of the grain ship, until they were far away, a sampan slowly appeared from behind the grain ship, and silently headed for the first ship along the edge of the grain ship.

The first ship was Yuan Song's boat, he turned over the boat, found a sharp dagger and flint fire sickle and other fire-igniting things from the cabin secretly, and found a piece of oilcloth, wrapped the flint fire sickle tightly, tied it to his body, and then slid off the big boat, pushing the sampan to continue forward.

On the west side of the waterway, there are hundreds of big ships moored, that is the warship of the Tang Army, the sampan quickly rowed through the middle waterway, into the group of Tang warships, Yuan Song unscrewed the leather bag, and sprayed bags of fire oil directly on the wall of the ship, there are more than 300 Tang Army warships, and he only brought fifty or sixty bags of fire oil, which is far from enough, only one bag can be sprayed on each ship.

About forty bags were sprayed, and there was not much oil left on the sampan, at this moment, there was a sound of talking not far away, and four or five patrol boats appeared behind him at some point, just three zhang behind, he could directly see his sampan, Yuan Song was taken aback, almost instinctively squatted, lying on the sampan, following the strings of the boat, sliding down the water from the inside, and the action was extremely fast.

"How come there's a boat over there?" A sentry soldier spotted the sampan.

"Look at it!" On the other hand, a patrol ship slowly sailed over, Yuan Song clenched the dagger in his hand, and stared at the approaching sentry ship like a leopard.

"There's a leather bag in the boat, what's it?"

Two sentries muttered and jumped onto the sampan, one of them picked up a bag of kerosene, unscrewed it and sniffed it, the pungent smell almost made him vomit, "What is this smell, damn it, so pungent?" ”

"That's not right! This is kerosene. Another soldier sniffed the pungent smell emanating from all around him and shouted loudly.

As soon as he finished speaking, Yuan Song jumped up from the water. The sharp dagger pierced the back of the soldier's heart, and almost without thinking, the backhand stab another soldier in the chest, and the two soldiers fell to the sampan with a scream.

The sudden change surprised the more than 20 Tang Army patrol soldiers on the following boats. Almost at the same time, they shouted, "There is an enemy! ”

"Come on, there is an enemy!" A small boat sailed towards the shore, shouting and shouting, and the jǐng bell on the sentry boat rang properly, and the piercing bell echoed in the water village.

Three other sentinel ships outflanked the sampan from three sides, and twenty Tang soldiers armed with spears and bows and arrows. (.) His eyes were fixed on the water without blinking, but the assassin in the water never showed his face again.

At this time, Yuan Song had already dived to the other side of the big boat, he took a deep breath, dived into the water again, and dived through two big ships until he stopped close to the wall of the ship, and the big ship was also sprayed with fire oil by him. At this time, there was movement on the shore, and the 3,000 sailors stationed on the shore rushed towards the water village.

Time is running out. Yuan Song climbed the rope ladder, biting the dagger in his mouth, carefully took off the flint and fire sickle from his waist, clicked twice, the velvet was ignited, and a flame ignited from his hand, he quickly leaned on the wall of the ship, and with a bang, the flame of Lan Sè was blazing, and the fire spread rapidly. Even the water was on fire.

Yuan Song was stunned, he couldn't help but pat his head hard, he knew that the oil could burn in the water, so he directly poured the oil into the water, isn't it simple?

But regret was useless, and he dived into the water again. This time he raised his hands on the water, not daring to let the velvet and flint touch the water, and swam under another boat, and did the same thing, the flames quickly spread on the hull, Yuan Song set fire to seven or eight big boats in a row, the velvet was exhausted, and he jumped into the water and disappeared into the dark and shining waves.

The fire of several big ships is getting smaller and bigger, and the flames are in the air, not only alarming the naval army on the shore, but also the defenders in the city, Lu Zushang led thousands of people to the shore, because the boats in the water village are closer, and when Yuan Song sprays shè oil, a large amount of fire oil flows into the water along the wall of the ship, so that the oil spreads rapidly in the water, and more than 60 big ships have been ignited, the fire borrows the wind, the flames take off, and the smoke rolls out, covering the sky.

"Separate the boats and sail the big ship that is not on fire to the water village!"

Lu Zushang was so anxious that he yelled, there were not many warships in the Tang Army, only these hundred, if they were burned, how could he explain to King Jing?

The soldiers drove their boats towards the flotilla, but the fire was too fierce, the water was full of flames, and the smoke was so thick that the soldiers could not get close, so they had to shout anxiously in the distance, and by this time more than 100 large ships had been ignited.

Once more than thirty percent of the large ships were ignited, almost the entire fleet was in danger, and the thick smoke on the river made it impossible for people to get close, let alone get on the boat to drive, at this time, it was too late to escape, although Lu Zushang was anxiously ordering on the shore, but no soldier was willing to risk his own life.

On a mound on the opposite bank, Wang Junkuo and more than a dozen generals looked at the other side of the river, and could faintly see the fire on the other side of the river, and one of the generals said excitedly: "General Wang, it seems to have succeeded!" ”

Wang Junkuo snorted coldly, his face was as heavy as water, without his own orders, he acted without his own orders, even if he made great contributions...... A fire burned for two days and two nights, more than 300 Tang army warships were burned to ashes, a broken mast on the river, green smoke rising, miserable, at this time, Chai Shao's army has arrived, 50,000 troops are stationed in the north of Jiangling City, Chai Shao does not allow them to approach the Yangtze River, lest they see this tragic scene.

Chai Shao stood on the bank of the river with his hands in his hands, squinting at the more than 300 burned ships, this was the only huge fleet in the Tang Dynasty, it was actually destroyed like this, there was no big ship to transport troops, which meant that the south of the Yangtze River no longer belonged to the Tang Dynasty, Chai Shao deeply felt that the crisis of the Tang Dynasty had penetrated into all aspects.

Lu Zushang was ashamed and nervous in his heart, and knelt down on one knee to ask for guilt, "Dereliction of duty, resulting in the destruction of the ship, this is the culpability of the dereliction of duty, please punish the general!" ”

Chai Shao shook his head and said lightly: "I'm afraid you can't afford this crime." ”

Lu Zushang was even more frightened in his heart, lowered his head, couldn't say a word, Chai Shao ignored him, and glanced back at the Sui army's grain ships in the distance, about a thousand stones, there were more than 100 ships, it was not bad to use them to transport soldiers across the river, so he asked: "How many people can those ships transport at one time?" ”

Lu Zushang didn't know whether Chai Shao wanted to punish himself or let him go, he was uneasy in his heart, and he didn't dare to stand up, and replied: "Returning to the general, that kind of thousand-stone cargo ship can transport about fifty people at a time, but ...... But what? ”

Chai Shao glanced back at him, and saw that he was still kneeling on the ground, so he said, "Get up!" Ordered people to clean up the wreckage as soon as possible, which would affect the morale of the army. ”

"Yes! Immediately send someone to clean it up. ”

After a pause, Lu Zushang said again: "Those captured Sui ships are just cargo ships, they can't use combat ships, they are not strong enough, and they are easy to be knocked out. ”

"It doesn't hurt."

Chai Shao didn't think about the warships, he just wanted to use these cargo ships to transport troops, and he could occupy the south bank of the Yangtze River in time, a ship of fifty people, and that time could transport five thousand people, which was enough, at this time, Lu Zushang hesitated for a moment, and said: "There is one more thing to report to the general." ”

"What else? Just say, don't spit out. ”

Chai Shao didn't like Lu Zushang very much, if he was according to his temper, he was burned down by the Sui army's spies and burned the only warship of the Tang army, such a big crime would have been slaughtered a long time ago, but Chai Shao knew that Li Xiaogong liked this Lu Zushang very much, and he couldn't deal with it, so he could only tell Li Xiaogong about it and let him deal with it.

Lu Zushang felt a trace of impatience in Chai Shao's tone, and hurriedly said: "General Qiyu, Gong/Anxian County has been occupied by the Sui army. ”

"What!"

This news surprised Chai Shao, and he hurriedly asked, "Is Yang Yuanqing already here?" ”

Lu Zushang hurriedly shook his head, "It's not the Jiangxia Sui army, but the Wang Junkuo army that came from Yiling, and Wang Junkuo personally led the troops." ”

"Are you probably sure?" Chai Shao's eyes were fixed on him, "The humble function is determined, two days ago, Wang Junkuo sent an envoy to negotiate with the humble post, wanting to exchange 1,000 Tang Army prisoners of war for 200,000 loads of forage, but the humble post did not agree, saying that the general must be asked to decide!" ”

"Of course you can't change it!"

Chai Shao refused without hesitation, a thousand Tang troops are nothing, but 200,000 loads of forage can fatten the Sui army's war horses, this must not be agreed, at this time Chai Shao's heart is a little confused, if it is really Wang Junkuo personally led the troops to arrive, it is at least 5,000 cavalry, 5,000 cavalry are deployed on the opposite bank, and it is difficult for their army to cross the south.

Chai Shao discussed with Li Xiaogong before going south, Baling County and Changsha County both had a lot of money and grain, and they could find a way to transport the money and grain to Xiangyang first and use it as a supply for the 150,000 army, as long as the supply was sufficient, they could confront the Sui army for a long time and buy time for Guanzhong.

But what Chai Shao didn't expect was that a fire burned down the only fleet of the Tang army, and there were Sui cavalry on the other side, so how could he go to Baling County and Changsha County to carry money and grain, and now all plans have been disrupted, and his heart is really in chaos.

Chai Shao sighed, "Go back to the city first!" ”

He turned on his horse and was about to head towards Gangneung City, when there was a commotion from the soldiers behind, and a personal soldier pointed to the river and shouted: "General, look, fleet!" ”

As soon as Chai Shao turned around, he saw a huge fleet of ships appearing on the river, the first few of which exceeded 10,000 stones, like moving hills, were heading towards Jiangling City, and the fleet behind was out of sight, I don't know how many ships? A huge red eagle battle flag fluttered on the ship,

Chai Shao was stunned, not only him, but all the Tang soldiers on the river bank were stunned, on one side was the wreckage of the ships that were burned to the core, and on the other hand, the mighty and magnificent Sui army fleet, this stark contrast made everyone lose confidence.

On the north bank of the Yangtze River, thousands of Tang soldiers silently looked at the flotilla on the river, and no one spoke, and the silence was suffocating...... To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )RQ