The attack caught the rebel forward fleet by surprise, and the rebel soldiers on dozens of ships that were burned into the fire jumped into the water, and those who remained on the ship became roasted alive; The unmanned boat suddenly came to a halt and spun across the narrow waterway.

The ships were originally far apart, but the incident happened suddenly, and the sudden situation in front caught the following warships a little unprepared, and the officers on board quickly ordered the sails to be lowered to stop advancing, and ordered the oarsmen to row backwards.

The leading commander of the rebel vanguard army was Xu Qin, who was named the mighty general, and it was he who led the rebels all the way to capture Nankang Jiujiang and Anqing, and he was also the vanguard of the rebels this time, and he commanded more than 300 warships.

When the fire broke out in front, Xu Qin's command boat was still on the lake seven or eight miles away, and when he saw an ambush ahead, Xu Qin immediately ordered the warship to shrink its formation and assume a fighting posture to protect the dragon boat flagship of Zhu Chenhao, who was in a hurry in the rear.

"Report to the general, there are officers and soldiers in ambush in the reeds and waterways, and the specific enemy situation is still unclear, but according to the scale of the enemy's rocket launches, it is estimated that there should be as many as 10,000 people." His lieutenant general, Zhao Xian, jumped off the gangplank stretched out from a warship in front of him, and reported in a hurry.

Xu Qin took a breath of cold air, more than 10,000 people were ambushed in the reeds, this is Wang Shouren's main force, this guy is really not small, they got the news earlier that they took Fuzhou, I didn't expect to come to Poyang Lake so soon to set up an ambush, this is to calculate that the army will return from here to aid Nanchang Mansion.

Xu Qin didn't dare to make his own decisions, so he ordered all the warships to make a defensive posture and retreat to the lake, and on the other hand, he ordered to turn his bow and move closer to Zhu Chenhao's flagship in the rear to report the situation.

On the lake more than 20 miles away, Zhu Chenhao also received a report that the reed fire caused by the burning of the warship in front was clearly visible at night, and Zhu Chenhao immediately ordered to stop advancing and send a small boat to the front to spy on the situation. After a short time, Xu Qin's warship sailed to the front, and after getting on the dragon boat, he reported the situation ahead in detail and then said: "Your Majesty, Wang Shouren set up an ambush in front, and now the reeds have burned into a sea of fire, we want to trace the river to Nanchang I am afraid that it will not be, the enemy is in the dark and I am in the light, I don't know what tricks Wang Shouren has, I changed the route to the west, landed directly from Changyi, and returned to Nanchang Mansion from land reinforcements." ”

Zhu Chenhao said angrily: "Why did Wang Shouren move so fast? Yesterday he said that he had just taken Fuzhou, and he appeared here today. Then why did the news from Nanchang say that Wang Shouren's soldiers and horses were attacking the city in Nanchang? Which news is true? ”

Liu Yangzheng arched his hand and said: "The emperor is angry, this is clearly Wang Shouren's plan to divide the troops, the ambush in front is one part, and the soldiers and horses outside Nanchang Mansion are the other part, since this guy divides the troops, then the number of soldiers and horses in the two places will not be much; In the opinion of the ministers, it is necessary to sweep through the past and annihilate the enemy forces in front, rather than to change the land route, which will delay at least a day. Wang Shouren's soldiers and horses besieging the city must have hoped that we would delay the time so that he could calmly capture Nanchang Mansion. ”

Zhu Chenhao was speechless, but Xu Qin shouted: "Military advisor, what kind of bad idea did you have, didn't you see that even the reeds in front of you were on fire?" Will you let my ship go and send it as firewood? ”

Liu Yangzheng waved his hand and said: "Although this fire blocks our way, it is also a threat to the other party. They were forced to retreat to the shore; The fire boat on the river can be ordered to scuttle or the iron-headed boat can be set aside to make way of the river. After a few moments, the reeds will be extinguished, and our army will be unimpeded. ”

Zhu Chenhao nodded and said: "The military advisor is right, Wang Shouren doesn't have many soldiers and horses, but it's just a bluff, let's ignore him." Although dozens of ships were burned and some manpower was lost, the top priority was to rescue Nanchang. As soon as Nanchang Mansion is lost, our nest will be destroyed, and your parents, wives and children are still in Nanchang, which is not what I want to see. ”

Everyone nodded one after another, this time the opinions were rarely unified, Xu Qin had nothing to say, just turned around and stepped on the gangplank to return to the boat, he listened to the sound of the wind breaking through the wings in the sky, turned his head to look, two small black dots in the dark sky came quickly, landed on the top of a wooden cage on the deck, and made a cooing sound.

Those are two military pigeons that deliver news, Zhu Chenhao specially trained hundreds of such military pigeons, so that scouts can pass on news to inquire about the military situation, including when he goes to the capital, they all use carrier pigeons to transmit news, which can be described as extremely convenient. At the moment on the water, this way of delivering messages is even faster.

One wing of the two pigeons is painted with white paint, and the other is painted with red paint, which is used to distinguish the scope of the survey, the red is released by the scouts near the left of Jiangxi, and the red is also a warning of urgency, the closer it is, the more urgent it is, which is not unreasonable. In order to grasp the dynamics of the officers and soldiers, Zhu Chenhao sent hundreds of scouts to the surrounding state capitals, some of which were far away in Henan, hundreds of miles away, in order to provide timely information on the arrival of the officers and soldiers.

The guards grabbed the pigeons, took off the small bamboo tube under their feet and handed it to the military advisor Liu Yangzheng, Liu Yangzheng didn't look at it, and suddenly changed color when he saw it, and exclaimed in surprise.

"Strategist, what's wrong?" Zhu Chenhao frowned and asked.

"It's not good, the emperor, please see it yourself." Liu Yangzheng handed the two notes to Zhu Chenhao.

With the help of the red lantern on the dragon boat, Zhu Chenhao clearly saw the handwriting on the note, although the scouts were all old and coarse, and the words written were crooked and unsightly, but the words were recognized.

A note read: "The enemy's 5,000 elite horsemen entered the territory of Kaifeng Mansion from the Daimyo Mansion, and have now been running day and night at a distance of 90 miles south of Kaifeng Mansion. ”

Another note reads: "The enemy's army is rushing through Shandong and Henan, and the enemy's outer scouts are very well guarded, and the specific number of soldiers and horses is unknown, but the momentum is huge, and it is suspected that it is the main force of officers and soldiers." ”

Zhu Chenhao stumbled and almost fell, his hands and feet were propped up, propped up on the pillar on the side, and then he stood firmly, and silently handed the note to the 'ministers' to circulate. For a while, the boat was silent, but only the sound of the water of Poyang Lake gently lapping was heard, the sound of crackling and burning reeds in the distance swaying and catching fire, and the faint screams of soldiers in the water screaming for help.

"Five thousand cavalry has arrived ninety miles south of Kaifeng Mansion, at this rate, one day and one night can reach Jiujiang, five thousand elite cavalry, Jiujiang will not be able to hold, unless we divide our troops to guard Jiujiang; Jiujiang can't be lost, and if it is lost, it will be pierced in the pocket. Wang Lun, the secretary of the military department, said worriedly.

Li Shishi also said: "What Lord Wang said is yes, Your Majesty, Jiujiang is the gateway connecting my Jiangxi to the Yangtze River channel, Jiujiang is here, even if the land route is blocked, our army can still be unimpeded by the waterway, and if it is lost, it will really become an urn...... The one in the urn...... Ahem. ”

Thinking that the metaphor of the turtle in the urn was not appropriate, Li Shishi hurriedly stopped.

Liu Yangzheng suddenly sneered and said: "The implication of the two adults is to divide their troops to defend Jiujiang, don't forget, the enemy's main force has come straight from Shandong, how can Jiujiang withstand it?" Even if we divide our troops to defend it, how many soldiers and horses can we have to block the main army of the imperial court? The imperial court came with at least more than 100,000 troops this time, and if it was still stuck in guarding Jiujiang and trapping Nanchang, it would really become a turtle in an urn. The current situation requires a decision, either to defend Jiujiang Nanchang and fight to the death with the imperial army, which is less than one in a hundred, or ......"

Liu Yangzheng hesitated for a moment, frowning and silent.

Zhu Chenhao said in a trembling voice: "Or what? You don't want me to surrender, do you? ”

Liu Yangzheng hurriedly said: "How can the minister mention this kind of construction, the minister just wants to say, or simply break the net, let's immediately turn the bow of the ship and attack Nanjing down the river, as long as we take Nanjing City, the shape can be reversed immediately." The emperor should not stick to Nanchang, although this is the place where you started, it is not impossible to discard. Today's abandonment is for the sake of great things and great causes. After occupying Nanjing, expand the recruitment of troops and horses, pacify Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and then level the south of the Yangtze River, isn't Nanchang going to return to the emperor's bag? If we stick to this, once the main force of the imperial court arrives and takes Nankang and Jiujiang, we will have to be forced to fight to the death. There is no place to stand in the southeast, southwest, east and west, and there is no place to retreat, so it is the best policy to take advantage of the opportunity of the main force of the imperial court to attack Jiangxi directly. ”

Zhu Chenhao shook his hands and rubbed his beard on his chin, giving up Nanchang is like cutting off the flesh of his heart, this is his lair, he has been in business for several years, no matter where the connections and property are, he is the emperor in Nanchang, and he has no confidence when he leaves Nanchang; But what Liu Yangzheng said is indeed very reasonable, in the current situation, staying here is waiting for death, although the army has expanded rapidly, and has grown to more than 90,000 soldiers and horses after the incident, but compared with the imperial army, the strength is still quite different. Coupled with the gathering of sporadic guards in the surrounding state capitals, it is definitely a dead end to be trapped in Nanchang.

This decision is not easy to make, and it requires the determination of a strong man to break his wrist.