During the daytime battle, Yuan Chonghuan wanted to order a full-scale attack several times, but in the end he held back because he was not much sure of winning. Although there are few ships on the other side, they are too tall and too big, and they are equipped with too many red cannons!

Song Jin's previous defeat in the water battle made Yuan Chonghuan very vigilant, for fear that he would follow in Song Jin's footsteps. After all, although there are many troops in his hands, they are not elite divisions, but are a mixture of the Jiangxi Ming army and the anti-thief army, although they have barely become a whole under his tutelage, but they have no experience in big battles, especially in water combat.

Yuan Chonghuan was afraid that he would be impacted by the other party and lose out of control, so he had to be cautious. That's why he tried to use stratagem to win, but he didn't expect Li Yanzhi to accept the offer at all.

Since there is no certainty of frontal combat during the day, then attack at night! Yuan Chonghuan doesn't want to hold on like this, he must kill Nanjing City as soon as possible!

If you attack at night, the enemy will not be able to see the river clearly at night, and the power of the artillery will be greatly reduced.

After returning to the camp, Yuan Chonghuan ordered preparations, and in order to be sure, he ordered more fireships to be rebuilt, and at the same time summoned the soldiers who dared to die in the army, and issued heavy rewards. Anyone who is willing to die in battle will be rewarded with 100 taels of silver per person, and if he dies in battle, he will receive another 50 taels of silver, which will be handed over to his family after the war!

One hundred taels of silver, for an ordinary family, is a huge amount of money, enough for a family to live for several years. Such a heavy reward immediately attracted countless soldiers to sign up.

Fight, you can get a huge amount of money, the so-called wealth and danger in the seeking, who can not be moved? Jiangxi is full of rivers, and most of the soldiers are familiar with the nature of the water, and they all have the idea that they can swim to the shore even if the boat sinks.

For the sake of silver, fight!

For a while, the morale was greatly boosted, and more than 5,000 daredevils were obtained!

Yuan Chonghuan was not ambiguous, and moved the silver out on the spot, and boxes of silver were placed on the deck, and the soldiers who watched were dizzy. In order to win, Yuan Chonghuan has made a desperate bet! Because he thought clearly that if he won this battle, he would have a future, and if he lost, no amount of silver would be of any use.

The combat effectiveness of the army under his command is too ordinary, and the morale is also very average, so he can only rely on heavy rewards!

"You can choose to receive the silver now, or you can deposit it here until after the war, I can promise you that you will not deduct a tael of silver, and will pay it in full, even if you die in battle, you will also send someone to your home and hand it over to your relatives!" Yuan Chonghuan's clear voice rippled on the river, and the soldiers on the boat looked at the mountains of silver piled up on the boat, and their eyes showed a greedy light.

"I am willing to die for the Cabinet Lord!" Someone shouted.

"I am willing to die for the Cabinet Lord!" The crowd shouted in unison.

That night, Yuan Chonghuan ordered a soldier to keep vigil to prevent the enemy ship from attacking at night, and most of the other soldiers rested early.

At that time, the soldiers were all shouted, and in order to prevent the enemy from noticing, they did not make food, and everyone gnawed on the dry food prepared the night before, and then set off.

In the middle of the night, the fog was rising, and at most twenty paces could be seen, and the flotilla was not moving fast to prevent their own ships from colliding and capsizing.

Yuan Chonghuan's boat was also in the array, and a string of lanterns hung on the towering mast to transmit orders, but because of the fog, the light of the lanterns did not travel far. But it doesn't matter, when it comes to wartime, you can still use the sound of a horn to give orders.

There were more than 800 warships attacking and densely spread along the river, and more than 300 fireships were at the forefront.

All the soldiers had chopsticks in their mouths, and the soldiers in charge of rowing silently rowed their oars and followed the boat in front of them slowly to the north.

Two hours later, about five o'clock.

"Cabinet Department, it's almost time to arrive." Looking at the hourglass on the table, Huang Li said suddenly. Estimating the time and the speed of the fleet, it was almost close to the river outside Wuhu City.

"Give the first fireship an order to ignite and attack!" Yuan Chonghuan said in a deep voice.

A string of yellow lanterns was quickly raised, and at the same time, the sound of a horn sounded and spread far into the night sky.

A moment later, more than 100 fire points suddenly appeared on the river in front of them, and they quickly headed towards the north.

A hundred fireboats, each with twenty oarsmen, rowed desperately with oars, and the slender front of the boat was filled with dry firewood that had been lit.

The flames grew louder and louder, sweating on the foreheads of the roasted paddlers, and the light of the fire pierced through the morning mist, and dark shadows could be seen in the distance.

"It's almost there, keep up the work!" The lead oarsman shouted.

The speed of the ship was getting faster and faster, and a huge black shadow could be clearly seen not far away, which was the huge sea ship of the Praetorian Guard. However, a black wall appeared in front of him, blocking the huge sea ship behind, and this wall was so long that the fast-moving fireship could not go around it.

"What's going on?" An oarsman exclaimed.

"It's a boat, a lot of boats are connected!"

As they got closer, the oarsmen on the fireboat finally saw clearly that in front of them were many river boats connected from end to end, forming a wall that stretched on both sides, protecting the sea boats behind.

"Bump into them, knock them out of the way!" An oarsman shouted.

The fireboat slammed into it, its head sharply stuck into the boat in front of it, but the ship in front of it shook violently and was not knocked away.

In the flickering firelight, many soldiers suddenly appeared on the "ship wall" in front, throwing something unknown with their hands raised, and they were smashing on the fireboat.

"Boom", there was a loud bang, and the flames burning on the fireship were blown out with 10,000 sparks.

Before the oarsmen could board the boat tied to the back of the fireboat, their clothes were ignited by the splashing sparks, and when they hurriedly extinguished the flames on their bodies, they fell into the river in a panic. There were also oarsmen who were shot by the 10,000-strong enemy and fell into the flames without saying a word.

"It's done!" Through the morning mist, looking at the flames burning in the distance, Huang Li shouted excitedly.

Yuan Chonghuan stroked his beard and didn't say anything, he was not as excited as Huang Li, because he didn't know how many sea ships he could burn the other party in the night battle, and the fog blocked his vision, and he couldn't see clearly at all.

However, the flame did not seem to be as big as expected, could it be that the time was too short and the ship was not completely ignited?

"Cabinet-sama, cabinet-sama." At this moment, a small boat approached in the fog, and someone on board shouted loudly.

"What's going on?" Huang Li asked in a loud voice at the boat below.

"The other party has formed a ship wall with many ships on the periphery, and the ships are connected end to end with iron chains, and our fireships can't rush through at all!" The soldier who reported the news shouted.

Yuan Chonghuan's face was ugly, and after doing it for a long time, he didn't attack the opponent's sea ship, but wasted a hundred fireboats!

"Send the ship over, and think of cutting the chains!" Yuan Chonghuan said in a deep voice.

The order was sent out, and the ships were dispatched, but the chains were not cut for a long time.

......

A hundred fireships crashed into the walls of the ship, blazing with ferocious flames that made it impossible for other ships to come closer. The ships sent by Yuan Chonghuan to cut the chains could only rush towards places where there were no flames, but most of them were guarded by Praetorian Guards.

As the commander-in-chief of Fujian, Li Yan has been leading the sailors for a long time, so he naturally knows the weakness of his own sea ships, how can he not prevent the other party's night attack and fire attack? Because there are only 20 sea ships, excluding the troops guarding Wuhu City, there are more than 2,000 people left on the ships, there is no need to build a water village, but it is impossible not to prevent the other party from attacking.

Li Yanzhi ordered to connect the warships captured during the day and the river boats collected from the vicinity of Wuhu City to form two ship walls, the ships were connected by iron chains end to end, and then the iron anchors were thrown down to form a simple but solid ship wall, and a small number of soldiers were placed on the ship wall to keep vigil, in order to prevent the enemy from attacking at night, but I didn't expect it to really work.

Many of the ships on the wall were set on fire by the fireboats, and the Praetorian Guards soldiers on them moved to the adjacent ships that were not on fire to continue their defense.

There is morning fog in the dark night, and it is inconvenient to reload the firebolt, but you can use a small number of 10,000 enemies to see the opponent come to the boat and throw one over, so as to ensure that the other party will blow up the crying father and mother.

Yuan Chonghuan sent dozens of ships to cut the chains of the ship's wall, but he couldn't succeed at all, even if one of the ships escaped the bombardment of 10,000 enemies, the rebel soldiers rushed up to the ship's wall, killed the Praetorian Guard soldiers guarding the ship, and when they used axes to cut the chains, 10,000 enemies threw them from the second ship wall, turning their bombers on their backs.

It was enough to lose more than 20 ships and hundreds of soldiers on it, but there was no way to take the ship wall, it was too foggy, which made it inconvenient to do anything.

Yuan Chong was ruthless and sent ships to attack in succession, because he knew that he could not withstand another defeat. We have to win today no matter what!

The sky was getting brighter and brighter, and the morning fog was gradually fading, and I could already see the battlefield clearly, and I could clearly see the walls of the ships in front of me that were set ablaze by the fireboats, and the twenty huge sea ships moored in the river not far away. However, while seeing each other clearly, they also waited for the sound of "rumbling" cannons.

Li Yanzhi ordered, hundreds of artillery guns opened fire at the same time, smashing the cannonballs into the anti-thief fleet, countless water columns splashed on the river, from time to time ships were hit by cannonballs one after another, the power of the red-coated cannon was huge, and if it was shot, a big hole would appear, the cabin would enter the water, and the ship would capsize at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Cabinet, what should I do?" Commanding the ship, Huang Li asked anxiously. By now in less than an hour, more than a hundred ships have been lost, including the first group of fireships.

"The first ship wall is almost burned, Huang Li, I'll give you twenty ships, you crash into me, knock over the first ship wall, and then cut off the chains on the second ship wall!" Yuan Chonghuan ordered in a deep voice.

"Yes!" Huang Liyi gritted his teeth, got on a warship, and commanded twenty warships to rush towards the opposite side.

The first ship wall was really burned to the ground, the skeleton of the ship had been burned out, it was no longer able to be blocked, it was smashed by a slight impact, and Huang Li rushed to the second ship wall with twenty warships.

"Raise your shield, and the others will look at the cabin to prevent them from throwing ten thousand enemies!" Huang Li ordered.

The warship approached the wall of the ship, and sure enough, 10,000 enemies threw it, either by the shield block and fell into the river, or by the quick-sighted soldiers picked up and thrown into the river, and the lead was extinguished by the water and did not explode at all.

"Kill!" One by one, the soldiers of the Jing Martyrdom Army with shields rushed to the wall of the ship and killed the remaining Praetorian Guard soldiers.

"Let them withdraw!" On the plywood boat, looking at the situation not far away, Li Yanzhi sighed and passed the order, not wanting his soldiers to be consumed in this kind of hand-to-hand combat.

"Woo woo woo ......" The sound of the retreating conch sounded, and the Praetorian Guard soldiers on the wall jumped onto the boat parked on the inside and rowed towards their own boat.

The Praetorian Guards defending the wall retreated, leaving no longer in the way, and the chains of the wall were quickly severed.

"The second and third teams of fireboats, let me go with me!" Yuan Chonghuan ordered in a deep voice. At this time, he had already decided to regard this battle as the final decisive battle, regardless of casualties, to defeat the opponent no matter what, and burn all the opponent's ships.

With Yuan Chonghuan's order, two hundred fireships rushed towards the sea ships not far away.

"Boom, boom, boom" The red-coated cannons kept roaring, one by one the shells fell into the river, and from time to time the fireships were sunk by the shells, but the other fireships still rushed forward regardless of it. The fireships were all recruited with a lot of money, and the huge reward of one hundred taels of silver was enough to make them forget their lives and move forward.

With a hundred cannons fired, the ship, which had spared a round of artillery, quickly turned its rudder, pointed the other deck to the south, and then continued to fire fiercely. At this time, not only the red-coat cannons, but also the ordinary artillery on the sea ships also fired, and the Franc machine, the captive cannon, and all kinds of artillery were fired one after another, shooting a large number of projectiles at the incoming enemy ships.

The red-coat heavy cannon is powerful, one or two shells can sink a fireship, but those ordinary cannons are not powerful enough, and can only kill the enemy oarsmen on the fireboat.

At the cost of the sinking of thirty or forty fireships, most of them managed to break through the artillery blockade and approach the huge sea ships. However, there was another barrier in front of them, and that was the dozens of assault boats that had been lowered by the sea ships.

In order to prevent the anti-thief fire attack, in addition to setting up two ship walls in the outer ring, Li Yanzhi also prepared more than 50 assault boats. Because the sea ships are too large, it is difficult to moor close to the coast many times, and personnel and materials need to be transported by small boats, so each sea ship is equipped with three or four small boats, which are placed on the deck on weekdays and put into the sea when needed, which is an assault boat.

This kind of assault boat is more than two zhang long and seven or eight feet wide, and each boat can carry more than 20 people. More than 50 assault boats have become the last line of defense for sea vessels.

Seeing the fireboat rushing over, the assault boats rushed up one after another, and a dozen or so oarsmen on both sides rowed desperately, and the other soldiers either shot with firearms or waited for an opportunity to throw at the enemy.

In the violent explosion, a fireboat was blown up with sparks, and most of the oarsmen on it were killed. Without oarsmen, the fireboat lost power, and the two Janissaries stabbed with their long bamboo poles, and finally the fireboat turned sideways and stopped rushing in the direction of the ship.

However, there were so many fireships that the more than fifty assault boats could not completely cover them. Seeing a fireship rushing at an extremely fast speed, more than 20 zhang away from a seagoing vessel, as long as this speed rushes over, the sharp part of the head of the fireship will be deeply wedged into the hull, and it is easy to get rid of it.

"Sideways, stop the dogs!" On an assault boat not far away, the captain in charge of the command shouted sharply.

The helmsman twisted the rudder vigorously, the assault boat quickly turned sideways over the hull, and the oarsmen struck the oars violently, and the assault boat was able to stand in front of the fireboat. The fireboat crashed straight into the assault boat, and in a violent concussion, seven or eight Praetorian Guard soldiers fell into the river.

"Ten thousand enemies!" The captain struggled to hold himself and roared loudly.

A soldier took out 10,000 enemies from his waist, blew the fire fold in his hand, quickly lit the fuse, paused for a moment, and threw it at the fireboat in front.

There was a loud "boom", and before the anti-thief oarsmen on the fire ship could withdraw to the ship with the tail of the fire ship tethered, they were blown up.

One of the Praetorian Guard soldiers took out his axe and tried desperately to cut the sharp wood of the fireship, trying to cut off the sharp wood and break away from the fireship, but the flames of the fireship were completely burning, and the fire wave forced him to get closer.

A dozen Janissaries who had fallen overboard swam to the rear of the fireboat, climbed into the small boat tethered to the stern of the fireboat, cut the rope and rowed over, picked up the deprived assault boat companions, and continued to kill the other fireboats.

The artillery roared incessantly, and in the waters around the ships, fierce battles were fought between the enemy and us, and from time to time soldiers on both sides fell into the water.

On the largest plywood boat, Li Yan pursed his lips, he didn't expect the other party to be so crazy.