The battle on the river continues.

As the attacking side, the casualties of the Taiping soldiers have reached more than 8,000, while the Zhou army has also paid the price of 4,000 casualties. The heavy casualties made the atmosphere of the entire battlefield more and more crazy, as if the expression of every soldier on the battlefield was so hideous, eager to tear the enemy in front of him alive.

"Attention the archers of the second team, prepare the rocket...... Put! ”

On the right, that is, on the east side of the battlefield, Xu Changzheng, the general of the Taiping Army under the command of Kuyang, commanded his soldiers to launch a volley of fire at the enemy troops on the Zhou army's chain boats.

However, it turned out that in the absence of a fireboat touching and igniting the hull of the serial ship, the use of fire arrows alone was really not enough to ignite such a huge serial ship, not to mention that Xie An had already anticipated this, and prescribed the right medicine to ask the corporal to remove some flammable things on the ship, and the bare deck, even if it was nailed into the fire arrow, would be easily trampled by Sergeant Zhou.

"The shieldmen stepped forward and lined up to cover the rear, the archers used projectiles, and the rest of the men took care to extinguish the fire bolts that hit the ship's plank in time...... If someone dies in battle, fill the vacancy in time, and Hugh will be exploited by the Taiping thief army! ”

"Fifty people on the left front!"

"The crossbowman moves to the right, a thousand and ten steps, and the arrow is fired! - Squat down and reload the bolts! ”

"Watch on the right! - Hugh is going to ignore the Taiping soldiers who have fallen into the water and block the cabin! - Twenty shieldmen! ”

Standing on the bow of the ship with a sharp sword in hand, Tang Hao, the deputy marshal of the Jizhou army, commanded the soldiers under his command, and calmly issued orders for the current situation.

"Report!" With an urgent report, a herald of the Zhou army hurriedly rushed to Tang Hao, clasped his fists on the ground and said urgently, "General Ou Peng of the Chinese army has sent a message to ask Tang Shuai if he needs reinforcements here!" ”

"Hmm......" Tang Hao glanced around when he heard this, and said in a deep voice, "Report to General Ou Peng, Tang can still deal with it here, please pay more attention to the front army on the right, General Qi Zhi's side seems to be in a bad situation!" ”

"Yes!" The herald clenched his fists and turned to run into the distance.

Glancing at the back of the herald leaving, Tang Hao once again focused his attention on the current battle situation.

Suddenly, a general hurriedly ran up to the hatch of the ship, and whispered to Tang Hao, "Tang Shuai, as you expected, there was indeed a strange sound at the bottom of the cabin, coming from the bottom of the ship...... How good is that? ”

Tang Hao's face did not change at all when he heard this, he still looked at the situation on the battlefield, and said in a low voice, "Each ship's cabin will send a few soldiers to monitor and patrol, and try to prevent the cabin from flood......ing."

"Yes!"

"In addition, inform all departments to speed up the speed of the chain ship, be sure to approach the south bank of the river as soon as possible, and take Niu Zhu before the Taiping army reacts!"

"Yes, the Admiral understands!"

[Bottom ......]

"Isn't it that easy?" With an indifferent smile, Tang Hao shook his head slightly, and muttered, "Vainly trying to defeat our army in an opportunistic way, or even delusionally annihilating our army, without the slightest will to break the cauldron and fight against the water, how can you not be defeated?" - Too underestimated, withered sheep? ”

At the same time, under the command of the commander of the Taiping Army's main fleet, the look of the commander withered sheep was no longer as calm as he was at the beginning, and his seemingly calm eyes had vaguely revealed a little anxiety and uneasiness.

[with thoughts...... It's different......]

Seeing the situation on the battlefield, the withered sheep exhaled slightly.

In all fairness, as Xie An had guessed, the withered sheep did not immediately order the destruction of the Zhou army after they were preparing to build a chain of ships in the water village, in order to wait for the Zhou army to connect all the warships, so that they could annihilate the Zhou soldiers in one fell swoop.

What made Dry Sheep feel a little puzzled was that his brother-in-law Xie An seemed to have already guessed his tactics and made a series of arrangements for this matter, so that the more than seventy fireships he sent out at the beginning had no effect at all.

"Where is it exposed?" Muttering, the withered sheep frowned and thought.

Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, his eyes widened slightly, and then his brows furrowed deeply.

[Damn ......]

Looking at his remorseful appearance, it is not difficult to guess that he finally thought of the crux of the problem, where the mistake was, and at that time he should not have deliberately pretended to turn a blind eye to Zhou Jun's serial ships.

Originally, the withered sheep said that he would not attack the Zhou army's serial ships, because he didn't want the Zhou army to draw attention to the disadvantages of the serial ships, and he didn't want to alarm the Zhou soldiers as much as possible, but he ignored and ignored the Zhou army's commander Xie An, that is, his brother-in-law was not an ordinary person.

"Cover your ears and steal the bell, and want to cover up...... It's really a cover-up and a desire to cover up! When he thought of his conceited and proud appearance, the withered sheep only felt a burning on his face.

What can be called a little difficult for the withered sheep to accept is that although the fire attack and water attack are all unfavorable, but in any case, his Taiping army has also invested more than 20,000 troops on both wings, why can't he attack the chain ships of the Zhou army?

As we all know, Xie An, the commander of the Zhou army, is accustomed to arranging square formations, the front army, the middle army, the main formation, the left army, the middle army, and the right army. In addition, the placement of a senior general in each of the nine districts will also facilitate the flexibility of the command on the battlefield.

However, you must know that the current Zhou army is only less than 30,000 people, divided into nine divisions, each department is only about 3,000 people, even if the three departments of the front army have a little more troops, it is only 5,000. More than 10,000 Taiping soldiers attacked 5,000 Zhou soldiers, but they couldn't take it?

This is the reason why the withered sheep feel that something is wrong and different.

Obviously, the Taiping soldiers under his command are also fighting hard, and their bravery is not much inferior to the Zhou soldiers, but for some reason, they can't attack the Zhou army, which has significantly fewer troops.

Suddenly, the withered sheep seemed to notice something, frowned and looked at Zhou Bing in the distance, listening intently to the looming voice.

"Fight to the death! -- Today, our army is in Niuzhu Anza! ”

"Oh!"

"Your Excellency has an order, the water village has been destroyed, and there is no way to retreat! -- How about defeating the thief army...... Celebrate in Niu Zhu! ”

"Oh!"

"Today, it's said that I'm making rice in Niu Zhu!"

"Oh!"

"Make rice in Niu Zhu!"

"Oh!"

"Ushigisa makes rice!"

"Oh oh!!"

A seemingly ridiculous cry actually made the morale of the Zhou army rise all the way, and it seemed that even if the cry that resounded through the world reached the withered sheep, the withered sheep felt a little deafening.

[……]

Subconsciously, the withered sheep turned his head to look at the Zhou army Hengjiang Water Village in the distance. It is undeniable that Xie An inspired the soldiers to do it thoroughly, not to mention the wooden fence that smashed the water village standing in the river, but now he sent someone to set a fire in the water village, as if he really wanted to burn the water village to the ground.

No, no, it's not as if you really want to burn the water village to the ground, but you do. Looking at the original Zhou army water village that had been burning with raging fires, the withered sheep had no doubt that it would turn into a scorched earth before it fell.

[Shipwreck...... What a boldness, brother-in-law! ――Aren't you afraid that this battle will be unfavorable and you won't even have a place to stay after defeat? ]

Having said that, the withered sheep's heart is as clear as a mirror. On the one hand, the Taiping army, which was already in a disadvantageous position, still intended to be opportunistic, and adopted the tactics of avoiding reality and vainly trying to annihilate the Zhou soldiers; On the other hand, the Zhou army, which was already dominant, and even so, the commander of his army still inspired his soldiers in a broken way.

Under the elimination of one and the other, how can the Taiping army not be defeated?

"Introverted and unassuming...... It's so hidden, brother-in-law! Looking deeply at the huge handsome flag of Zhou Jun in the distance, the withered sheep muttered with a wry smile.

I have to say that most young people in this world are like this, always subconsciously self-assured, feeling that they are smarter than others, until they really hit a wall, they will calm down and examine the gap with each other, such as Xie An in front of the eldest grandson Xiangyu back then, and now the withered sheep in front of Xie An.

"Handsome?" As if noticing the withered sheep's uncertain complexion, Wang Jian, the general of the Taiping Army, asked suspiciously, "What's wrong, Dashuai?" ――Could it be that the wind is strong here, and the handsome man feels uncomfortable? ”

Hearing this, the withered sheep shook his head, he was not good at telling Wang Jian what he wanted in his heart, how to say it? Say that this battle will be lost? And the fault of this battle is also ** in him? How can the withered sheep speak.

"What's the situation over there?" The withered sheep asked as he diverted the subject.

Wang Jian did not doubt that he had him, and replied with his fists clenched, "Returning to the general, there is no news for the time being, but according to the humble opinion of the last general, I am afraid that the situation is not optimistic......

As Wang Jian said, when the war began, Zhang Feng, the vanguard general of the Taiping Army, jumped off the fireboat with his soldiers one after another under the unfavorable fire attack.

In Zhou Bing's opinion, it was a helpless move by Zhang Feng and others, but in fact, it was just the follow-up plan of the withered sheep.

Taking advantage of the opportunity for the Zhou soldiers to be attracted by the main forces of the Taiping army on the left and right flanks, thousands of Taiping soldiers held their breath and used the chisels, crowbars, daggers and other objects they carried on this trip to dig the bottom of the Zhou army's chain boats.

However, the volume of Zhou's serial ships was too large, and even if Zhang Feng and others managed to scuttle the bottoms of several warships with great effort, the speed of water leakage was much slower than the expectations of Dry Sheep and Zhang Feng and others.

Could it be that something has gone wrong with the withered sheep's scheme?

Definitely!

The reason for all this is not the Taiping army, but the chain of ships connected by the Zhou army.

The concept of a serial ship was borrowed from a spectacular historical battle in his memory, the Battle of Red Cliffs. However, there is an essential difference between the serial ship used by Xie An and the serial ship built by Cao Wei at that time.

On the Cao Wei side of the Battle of Chibi, the way of connecting the chain ships was to use ten to twenty warships as a giant warship, nailed with iron cables, covered with wooden planks, and finally, this giant warship composed of ten or even twenty ships was connected with other giant warships with huge iron cables to surround the warships in Jiangdong at that time.

If it is a chain ship in this way of connection, then the dry sheep's plan to scuttle the ship and cut down the water may be able to work wonders, after all, ten warships, even if it is a giant warship composed of twenty warships, its draft and buoyancy are only one line of improvement, once one of the cabin building ships, the entire giant warship will sink in the river. And once a giant warship is completely submerged in the water, then the rest of the giant warships will be pulled together by the giant warship connected by iron cables, and then gradually dragged into the bottom of the river, the speed of pulling is affected by the number and weight of the sinking giant warships.

And the reason why Xie An didn't care about the Taiping army sending water ghosts, that is, Taiping soldiers who were proficient in the water surname, sneaked under the bottom of their chain ships to dig was because his hundreds of warships were welded together with iron cables, and the buoyancy was completely different from the chain ships built by Cao Wei's side in the Battle of Chibi.

Of course, Xie An's serial ship is not without drawbacks, at least, it does not have any flexible surnames, and even the mobile surnames are greatly weakened.

But having said that, Cao Wei used such serial ships at that time, the original intention was to encircle and annihilate the Jiangdong soldiers, and to solve the problem of Cao Bing's unstable body standing on the river warship, he also paid attention to the flexible surname of the ship; And now Xie An, the reason why he uses such serial ships is nothing more than to treat the warship as a movable island or land, carrying his Zhou sergeants across the river, as for the oncoming Taiping military ships, just hit them directly, anyway, the volume of the internal cabin of the serial ship is huge, even if a small part of the warship is damaged or the bottom of the ship is scuttled, resulting in river leakage, it is enough buoyancy to support it for a while, at least until the Zhou soldiers reach Niuzhu on the south bank of the Yangtze River.

And all this, the Taiping army general Zhang Feng and his water ghosts did not know, in the dark bottom of the chain boat, they worked hard to chisel the bottom of the plank.

"Tuk-! Tuk Tuk! ”

"Tuk-tuk-!"

It is undeniable that they are not without results, after all, as many as 20 warships have been scuttled through the bottom of the ship, and the icy river water is snorting inward, but the problem is that the chain ships of the Zhou army are composed of as many as six or seven hundred warships, and the leakage of more than 20 warships is simply insignificant.

Sure enough, the Zhou soldiers who found that the bottom of the ship was chiseled through did not panic, but the Taiping soldiers who scuttled the boat at the bottom of the boat couldn't bear it.

It is no wonder, after all, people have to breathe after all, how can they stay in the water for a long time like a fish. What's more, he had to dig the bottom of Zhou Jun's chain ship hard, and with one breath, it was really difficult to offset the rate of oxygen consumption in the body.

[General, no more......]

[General, I can't hold my breath anymore......]

Under Zhang Feng's angry expression, more and more Taiping soldiers could not hold their breath for a long time to hold their breath and dig the boat at the bottom of the boat, and were forced to surface and gasp for breath on the river, after all, it is difficult for people to immediately enter the next breath in the absence of oxygen.

As a result, these Taiping soldiers, who had just experienced some torture, were immediately killed by the Zhou soldiers on the serial boat while they were floating on the river to breathe.

Because of this, since the start of the war, Zhang Feng and his Taiping army have been so slow to dig the bottom of the Zhou army's serial ships, and they have never met the expectations of the withered sheep.

"Tell Zhang Feng to come back!"

After thinking about it, the withered sheep sighed slightly and instructed Wang Jiandao beside him.

"Marshal, this ......" Wang Jian's face did not change when he heard this, after all, it is not difficult to guess from the words of the withered sheep that he has lost the expectation of winning this battle, and has begun to save his troops as much as possible.

"Tell Zhang Feng to come back...... At this point, I don't want to lose another of my best men. -- There is still room for redemption after retreating, otherwise it will ......."

"Yes......" Wang Jian clenched his fists and took his life when he heard this.

Not long after, the sound of gold was heard in the direction of the Taiping army's main formation.

"Ding-! Ding ding! ”

Listening to the ironic sound of gold, the withered sheep frowned slightly, and after adjusting his mood, he said in a deep voice as usual and firmly, "Pass the order, the whole army withdraws!" -- the Chinese army withdraws first, then the right army, and the left army is broken! ”

"Left Army...... Lord Weizhuang? - Marshal, this ...... If there is a case, the commander-in-chief will track it down......"

As if he had seen through Wang Jian's thoughts, the withered sheep said with a light smile, "Wu Heng asked his henchman Wei Zhuang to listen to it under my account, although it means that he is assisting me on the surface, but it may not mean that there is no intention of monitoring." However, even so, I will not take the opportunity to eradicate dissidents and stab me in the back! ――The reason why Wei Zhuang was asked to break off was only because this person was quite skilled in martial arts...... Above me! ”

Hearing this, Wang Jian breathed a sigh of relief, and after thinking about it, he said half-jokingly, "Actually, the last general thinks that this is so...... It's not bad......"

"Huh!" I don't know if I heard the deep meaning of Wang Jian's words, the withered sheep smiled noncommittally, and said calmly, "Order the withdrawal of troops!" -- Although the chain ships of the Zhou army were extremely cumbersome, and if our army withdrew, it would certainly not be able to catch up, but ...... It's better to do it as soon as possible! Even if the war here is unfavorable, Ben Shuai doesn't want to lose even Niu Zhu! ”

"Yes! ――Will you tell this to be reported to Lord Weizhuang, please break it! ”

At the same time, on the left flank of the battlefield, that is, on the west side, Wei Zhuang and Qi Zhi, two former rivals and best friends, were still fighting with swords and swords.

Facts have proved that Qi Zhi, who can be favored by Liang Qiuhao, the third generation commander of the Taiping Army, and promoted to the Yuheng Divine General of the Six Divine Generals, although his martial arts are not as good as Fei Guo, who has now been taught martial arts by Liang Qiu Gong and Liang Qiu Wu's ancestors and grandsons, but it is also enough to compare with Ma Dan and Liao Li, and the rest, like Tang Hao, Ou Peng, Zhang Dong, Su Xin, Li Jing, Cheng Yang and others, Qi Zhi is stronger than them.

But right now, facing Wei Zhuang, who had competed with him for the position of Yuheng Divine General, Qi Zhi was once in a bitter battle. Only twenty rounds of confrontation have been held so far, and seven blood marks of different shades have appeared on Qi Zhi's body, on the other hand, Na Weizhuang has only been injured in one place.

From this point on, it is not difficult to see that Wei Zhuang's martial arts are now one line higher than Qi Zhi, and he is directly chasing Fei Guo, the first fierce general of the Jizhou Army.

And just when the two were fighting to the point that it was difficult to separate, the sound of gold on the side of the Taiping Army finally reached this side.

"......" withdrew and jumped back half a foot, Wei Zhuang frowned and glanced at the distant direction of the formation behind him. It can be seen that the fight with Qi Zhi was interrupted, which made this party general a little unhappy.

On the other hand, Qi Zhi secretly breathed a sigh of relief, after all, he had already realized that Wei Zhuang, the defeated general of his subordinates, was no longer Wuxia Ameng, and he was not able to deal with it because of his lazy martial arts because of military affairs.

"I thought you were going to fight our army here!" Shaking the sword flower, Qi Zhi said in a deep voice.

"Our army...... Is it? Looking at Qi Zhi with a complicated expression, Wei Zhuang suddenly smiled slightly, shook his head and said, "How is it possible!" The withered sheep is a smart man who knows how to advance and retreat. So...... Save it for next time, a duel between you and me. ”

Saying that, Wei Zhuang didn't wait for Qi Zhi's reply, drew his knife and cut down a few Zhou soldiers who were entangled with his subordinates, and shouted in a deep voice, "Attention all sergeants, withdraw!" ”

"Where to go!" Seeing that Wei Zhuang and the others wanted to escape, the morale of the Zhou soldiers on the ship was greatly boosted, and they were planning to add more force to leave Wei Zhuang and the others behind, but they were stopped by Qi Zhi raising his hand.

"Let them go!" Qi Zhi shouted in a deep voice.

It's not that he cares about the old feelings, let alone his heart to the Taiping Army, but Qi Zhi knows in his heart that the Zhou soldiers under his command are against more than 10,000 Taiping soldiers with a number of 5,000 people, and they are already haggard, chasing Wei Zhuang hard, maybe they will be bitten hard, at least he Qi Zhi is not the slightest sure that he can leave Wei Zhuang at the moment. Rather than this, it is better to accept it when it is good, accept the victory of this war silently, and slowly march into the army.

Seeing the retreat of the Taiping army, Xie An did not give an order to bite the bullet, but ordered to send a small boat on the periphery to hang the defeated division of the Taiping army far away, so that it could not withdraw to Niu Zhu safely. After all, although the chain ship is extraordinary, the problem is that it is too cumbersome and too sluggish, and it does not have the slightest mobile and flexible surname, even if it sees the Taiping army retreating, it can only watch them retreat, and cannot take advantage of the victory to pursue and expand the results.

But no matter what, the final victory of this cross-river battle was won by the Zhou army, not only crossing the Yangtze River, but also severely damaging the Taiping army, and inflicting a non-negligible blow to its strength and morale.

But even so, the Taiping army did not lose the ability to counterattack and recover its disadvantages...... (To be continued.) )