The woods on Gouyue Island are dense, and Zhang Xuan personally went to the island three days ago to deploy, and the Sui army had buried a large amount of sulfur, fire oil and other fire-causing things on the island in advance. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

As a bright rocket shot into the sky, dozens of Sui army water ghosts hidden in the northernmost part of the island quietly went into the water, wearing only a pair of shorts and biting a sharp knife in their mouths, quickly dived into the water, swimming silently under the large rafts of the Tang Army, and the sharp knives easily cut the ropes that bound the rafts.......

At the same time, on the south side of the island, two other water spirits crept ashore and found an oil-paper bag from a stone cave, which was quickly opened, and it was full of fire-starters.

Obviously, the Sui army was ready to attack with fire, the island was densely covered with cedar forests and was very flammable, and when a thousand Sui troops came to the island, they brought a large amount of fire oil, and many branches on the island were coated with fire oil.

Nearly 3,000 Tang soldiers crowded on the north side of Gouyue Island, anxiously waiting for the big raft to come around, but no matter how they waited, none of the rafts came, and many soldiers were anxiously shouting and scolding, but they didn't know that most of the big rafts had fallen apart, and the sharp knives under the water were the most terrible natural enemies of the raft.

"What's going on?" The Don soldiers shouted as they pointed to the large amount of wood floating on the water.

"That's our raft, why did it all fall apart." Some soldiers recognized the logs on the water and shouted in horror.

Shi Huaiyi suddenly felt bad, and at the same time he also smelled a strong smell of oil and sulfur, Shi Huaiyi immediately understood, and shouted: "Jump into the water and grab the wood!" Run for your life! ”

As soon as the words fell, a raging fire suddenly ignited on the south side of Gouyue Island, the flames soared into the sky, these dry cedar forests were coated with fire oil, and they burned at a point, and with the help of the wind, the fire spread rapidly, and instantly spread to the whole island, only to see the red flames on the island flying, and the woods spit out terrible tongues of fire, engulfing the entire island, and three thousand Tang troops were trapped on the island with no way to escape, they were so frightened that they shouted and trampled on each other.

Some of the soldiers had been reminded by Shi Huaiyi and had already jumped into the water, desperately clinging to the scattered logs, and under their demonstration, the Tang soldiers on the shore jumped into the river one after another, looking for life-saving logs in the water in horror.

But there were also hundreds of people who instinctively ran back to the jungle, trying to find the raft from the other side, but the other side had long been engulfed in flames, and the circuit was also blocked by the fire, and hundreds of people were trapped in the fire, and under the scorching fire, they let out their last desperate cries.

On both sides of the rich water, all the soldiers were dumbfounded, no one could have imagined that the war would turn into such a tragic result, although this fire did not burn too many enemy troops, but it had already burned the confidence of the officers and men of the Tang Army to ashes.

Zhang Xuan stared at the Tang Army, who was crying for help on the water, and turned around and ordered: "The ship can be dispatched!"

The drums beat again, and more than 100 meander boats sailed from upstream and began to rescue the Tang soldiers who were crying for help on the river.

At this time, several water ghosts rushed out from under the water, and they threw Shi Huaiyi, who was almost half drowned, onto the worm boat, and a pair of double guns were also thrown up, and the captain of the Sui Military Academy on the boat recognized Shi Huaiyi, so he gave a thumbs up and smiled: "This big fish is good!" ”

Li Xiaogong on the south bank couldn't say a word for a long time, and finally he let out a long sigh, turned his horse's head, and ran in the direction of the camp with dozens of cavalry.

His faith in crossing the river was also burned to ashes by a fire.

........

The sneak attack at the fifth watch was a crushing failure, and because it and the early morning attack belonged to the two links that echoed before and after, the Tang army had to cancel the previous plan for crossing the river before dawn and withdraw the 10,000 Tang soldiers who were preparing to cross the river to the main camp.

The big tent of the Chinese army was silent, Li Xiaogong stood in front of the map with his hands in his hand, staring at the rich water of the map with a distraction, just such a thin line, but his army could not cross, behind him, dozens of generals did not dare to speak, everyone's heart was heavy, they had placed great hopes on a wonderful chess, but also so ruthlessly broken by the Sui army.

After a long time, Li Xiaogong turned around and said slowly: "Victory and defeat are common things in soldiers, this defeat does not prove that our strategy is wrong, nor does it prove that we are not capable enough, it can only show that the Sui army is very well prepared, and if we are not prepared, our chances of victory are very small, so defeat is also reasonable." ”

Everyone nodded silently, and at this time, Huang Junhan bowed down and said: "I feel that we still have to get the support of the external Tang army, otherwise it will be difficult for us to cross Fushui, and even if we cross Fushui, it will be difficult to defeat the Sui army, and in addition to Jiangxia, there are 40,000 Tang troops in Xiangyang, can we ask Xiangyang for help?" ”

Next to him, Lu Shangzu said: "I'm afraid it's too late." ”

Li Xiaogong secretly calculated in his heart that from Fushui to Xiangyang County, there are four counties of Jiangxia, Chuyang, Jingling, and Xiangyang, which are at least 700 miles apart, and if they run to Xiangyang day and night, it will take at least two and a half days, not to mention that there are many big rivers in between, and crossing the river may not be smooth, and 20,000 troops will come from Xiangyang, at least four days will have to go, which will be six and a half days, and if they go to Jingling County to send a pigeon letter to Xiangyang for help, they can save one day, but it will take five and a half days, and their own food can no longer support it. ”

He smiled bitterly and said: "General Lu is right, it's too late, in the final analysis, it's still our lack of food, everyone works together, we all want to think of a way, see if there is any way to increase the food supply." ”

"Your Highness, maybe we can fish, although the downstream will be disturbed by the Sui warships, we can go upstream and middle to fish."

"Your Highness, hunting is recommended for lowly duties."

"Your Highness, you can go to the forest to pick wild fruits and vegetables.......

Everyone has put forward various methods, but these methods have a premise, that is, they should not have too many troops, they now have an army of 80,000, and it is difficult to fill their stomachs by any means.

However, Li Xiaogong still decided to take everyone's opinion and let everyone go separately to find food, whether it is fishing, hunting, or picking wild fruits and vegetables, at least to give the soldiers a little hope.

Everyone went one after another, and Huang Junhan was the only one left in the big tent, Li Xiaogong glanced at him and asked a little strangely, "Does General Huang have anything to say?" ”

"Your Highness, there is a plan for the lowly position."

"What's the plan?"

Huang Junhan glanced back at the few pro-soldiers standing at the door of the tent, Li Xiaogong understood, and instructed the pro-soldiers: "You all retreat, anyone who wants to see me must report first." ”

Several pro-soldiers put down the tent curtain and retreated, and Li Xiaogong said lightly: "If you have anything to say, just say it!" ”

Huang Junhan took a step forward and said in a low voice: "Your Highness, 60,000 of our 80,000 troops are Nanjun soldiers, if we can't hold Nanjun, then these soldiers will not be loyal to us, and sooner or later they will leave, as long as the dry food of these 60,000 people is collected, the remaining 20,000 descendants of the army can support it for ten days, we can turn around and go to Baling County on the west road of Jiugongshan, and withdraw directly from Baling County to Nanjun, we will definitely get supplies on the way, and the 20,000 troops can finally return to Yiling County safely, this is the strategy of survival with a broken arm from a humble position!" ”

"What about the 60,000 troops? Do you kill them all? Li Xiaogong asked with some displeasure, Huang Junhan's strategy of surviving with a broken arm violated his principles of doing things, and he didn't like it very much.

"This is not what humble duties mean, you can let people lead them to surrender to the Sui army, with Zhang Xuan's consistent style of treating prisoners of war, they will inevitably be released to return to their hometowns to farm, this is also to give them a way to live, borrow Zhang Xuan's hand to dismiss them, why not Your Highness?"

Li Xiaogong paced back and forth, he thought that Huang Junhan was suggesting that he send 60,000 troops to force them across Fushui to die, and use the death of 60,000 troops in exchange for 10 days of food for 20,000 descendants, so he couldn't accept it, but if he let the 60,000 troops surrender and borrow Zhang Xuan's hand to disband them, this is another matter, Li Xiaogong had to admit that he was actually moved by Huang Junhan.

However, in this way, he had to ask the Son of Heaven for his guilt, not only could not support Jiangxia, but also caused most of the army to lose.

Li Xiaogong pondered for a long time and said, "That's it! Wait two more days, if the reinforcements from Wuchang really don't come, we really have no way out, and then consider this plan. ”

Li Xiaogong actually wanted to try to build a pontoon bridge, and he gave up after an incomplete attack, he was really unwilling. (To be continued.) )