In the afternoon, the water on the river is steaming, and the shore is sweltering and smoky, and many soldiers simply jump into the river to bathe and play in the water to relieve the summer heat.

But most of them are northerners, and they are not accustomed to water, so they wrap ropes around their waists, so there is often a rope near the river bank to connect several people or even more than a dozen people, like a water plant swaying with the water, which is a little funny to look at.

Suddenly, the sound of drums and horns in the river broke the rare little leisure time of the afternoon. At the same time, the camps on the shore and the southern city of Heyang also sounded the drum order to gather soldiers.

The soldiers who were soaked in the cold of the river rushed to the shore in a hurry, and looked at the opposite bank with their heads raised and stared, but the surface of the river was distorted under the refraction of steam, and it was difficult to see the specific situation on the other side. Although they were very curious, they didn't dare to linger any longer and waste their time when they heard the continuous sound of drums, and they hurried to their respective camps.

As the sound of drums resounded through the camps, Yuwen Hu, dressed in light armor, quickly walked out of Nancheng surrounded by a group of soldiers, and then rode his horse to the bridge and went straight to Zhongyun City in Hezhou.

With the arrival of reinforcements from the rear and the abundance of Heqiao's troops, Yuwen Hu arranged for his henchman Hou Longen to be on guard day and night in the city of Heyang to monitor the movements of the enemy forces on the other side.

"Gong Zhongshan, half an hour ago, the enemy forces on the opposite bank suddenly converged, and there were boats and boats sailing into the river......"

Hou Longen introduced Yuwen Hu into the city and climbed the observation deck, pointing to the enemy defense line on the opposite bank and said to Yu Wen Go.

Zhongyun City is closer to the north bank, and many enemy movements can be seen, Yuwen Hu listened to Hou Longen's explanation while staring at the north bank, and saw that there were many boats launched in front of the river embankment dock on the north bank, and there were many figures on the boat.

"Could it be that the enemy is planning to launch an offensive?"

Seeing this scene, Yuwen Hu said in a deep voice, and then said to Hou Longen beside him: "Patrol the defense here again to ensure that there are enough arrows and stones, and once the enemy is approaching, launch a counterattack immediately!" ”

If the enemy army attacked here before, Yuwen Hu would have to be nervous a little, after all, according to Li Boshan's previous statement, there were still tens of thousands of enemy troops stationed on the north bank, and Yuwen Hu sent scouts to patrol the river line to inspect the enemy camp and personnel entry and exit, which is also similar to this data. If these enemy defenders were to attack in their entirety, it would also put him under great pressure.

But now, the men and horses of the enemy's division from the south were trapped south of Luoshui by Li Bi's army, and it was difficult to get close to the river bridge, and a large number of reinforcements from the country had also arrived, which could be described as strong and strong.

The enemy has already missed the best moment to attack, and if they attack again at this time, it will only be in vain and in vain!

Therefore, after seeing the enemy's movement, Yuwen Hu was not shocked in his heart, and even wanted to laugh a little, he didn't intend to let go of this kind of battle feats sent to the door, and even in order to receive more, he sent thousands of soldiers to Zhongyun City to defend and counterattack the enemy.

While Yuwen was busy dispatching personnel, the enemy forces on the other side also made a new move, and many ships sailed from the shore and sailed south from the river to the west of the river bridge.

Most of these ships were small in size, with few people but not shallow draft, and they sailed extremely fast on the river, and soon entered the river and were about to arrive at Zhongyun City. At this time, the battalions on the south bank were also coming to the river island along the river bridge.

"And, wait! The thieves are going to, they are going to burn the bridge! ”

Several commanders who had arranged defense along the edge of the river bank found clues from the approaching enemy ships, which were not carrying many soldiers, but were loaded with firewood, charcoal, grease and other fire-starters, and circumnavigated the river island more than a mile away from the river island.

As soon as the boats had crossed the middle of the river, the boatmen set the boats on fire and jumped into the boats on the left to pick them up. The fireboats, though unmanned, were still moving forward under the current.

Due to the existence of the river island, the water flow of the Yellow River is divided into two channels at this location, and the southern water flows eastward from the south section of the river bridge around the river island, and naturally washes the fire boats floating on the water to this place.

"Stop, stop, stop these fireboats, don't let them get near the river bridge!"

Yuwen Hu was also quite surprised when he saw this scene, and he was busy intercepting the fireboat.

He was already angry about the destruction of the northern section of the river bridge, believing that it limited the ability of the army to continue to attack northward, so he did not relax the protection of the southern section of the river bridge, in addition to erecting some wooden pile guardrails on the west side of the river bridge, and also prepared some long pole iron forks near the river bridge, which could be used to intercept fire boats from approaching the river bridge.

At this time, seeing that the soldiers of the river bridge methodically blocked those fireboats on the river, Yuwen Hu couldn't help but secretly rejoice.

In fact, the battle between the east and west around the river bridge was not the only one this time, and the means of burning the bridge were also applied.

But generally speaking, those who will use this method are generally the weaker side, or simply say that the Western Dynasty chose to burn the bridge in order to prevent the Eastern Dynasty from coming from the south, but the Eastern Dynasty did not burn the bridge.

Even if they had lost the river bridge before, the men and horses stationed on the north bank of the Eastern Dynasty did not choose to do so, but now they actually took the initiative to release fire boats with the intention of burning the river bridge, why is this?

Yuwen frowned slightly, looking at the river with a solemn expression, the first batch of more than a dozen fireships had been intercepted without missing a miss, but there were dozens of similar ships on the upstream river. It can be seen that the thief is by no means making a feint to confuse his opponent, but really intends to set fire to the river bridge.

"Duke Zhongshan, do you want to evacuate part of the defenders of Zhongyun City? If the river bridge is burned and our army's advance and retreat are blocked, we will be alone if we stay here......"

Hou Longen saw that the enemy troops upstream were still firing fireboats downward, and most of the river defense forces had also been mobilized, either lined up on the river bridge, or entered Zhongyun City, so he hurriedly came to Yuwen Hu's side and reminded him without worry.

"What did you say!"

When Yuwen Hu heard this, he glared sharply, and asked quickly, but he was not annoyed, but seemed to be inspired by something: "Yes, if the river bridge is burned, our army's advance and retreat will definitely be blocked!" Why are the thieves afraid of me? Hurry, hurry, send scout boats, quickly approach the enemy camp to observe the enemy's movements! ”

Enemy boats sailed upstream to the west of the bridge, but downstream to the east were still unobstructed and scouts could get close to the enemy camp to investigate.

When something goes wrong, there must be a demon, and Yuwen Hu seriously suspects that the enemy army suddenly made such an unusual move, and there must be something very serious on the other side of the river that most of the forces are involved, so he is so afraid that he will set fire to the bridge.

At this time, in the military camp outside the middle city of Heyang Beizhong, Hu Luguang said to his father Hu Lujin while holding a banner to make a hasty evacuation: "If the thief is a reckless person, it must be unbearable to see me in this state, and he will attack the army." If it is a careful and cautious person, because he sees the river bridge being attacked, he will definitely not dare to leave too many people in Zhongyun City. If the thieves come to attack, I will break them from the river, and if they don't come, they can take advantage of the retreat of their armies to attack the middle city! ”

Hu Lujin's eyes couldn't help but shine when he heard this, and he naturally understood that if the situation continued to stalemate as before, there would not be much of a turnaround. However, if the army attacked, it was afraid that the offensive would be thwarted and the morale would be even more sluggish.

But now his son Hu Luguang took the initiative to set fire to the river bridge as a stone throwing to ask for directions, so as to force the opposite general to make a countermeasure, and he can choose the appropriate way to attack through the enemy's reaction.

"But what if the river bridge is burned down and the thieves don't react as expected?"

Hu Lu, who had been stationed here with his father, saw that his brother had just arrived to offer advice, so his father was full of praise for him, and he couldn't help but ask.

After hearing this, Hu Luguang smiled slightly: "Advance and not advance, retreat and not retreat, foolish soldiers, if you don't raise troops, you will break it with a drum, and when will you wait!" ”

Just as the father and son of the Hu Lu family were discussing the plan, the scouts who were spying on the enemy had also returned by boat, and reported to Yuwen Hu that the enemy camp was empty and the brigade was evacuating to the north.

"God help me, God help me! It must be that the governor of Jianzhou Yang has rushed out of Taihang Mountain and attacked the enemy's rear road, so the thieves along the river are so panicked, because they want to divide their troops to defend it, they are afraid that our army will enter and bully, so they have to burn the bridge! ”

When Yuwen Hu heard the news, he couldn't help but applaud with excitement on his face. Other than that, he couldn't think of anything else.

When the soldiers around him heard this, they all laughed, and someone proposed: "Zhongshan Gong, attack!" The former Li Boshan has been able to conquer the two cities with thousands of soldiers here, and a certain number of elite soldiers are stationed here, if they do not show their merits, they are guilty! ”

But some people frowned and said: "The incident happened too hastily, maybe there is something else hidden in the situation, it is better to stand still for the time being, and wait and see how to deal with it later......

It's okay not to say this, as soon as Yuwen Hu heard it in his ears, he immediately remembered that the enemy army on the south bank of Luoshui had almost attacked the southern city of Heyang by just a fraction of a second, and he had never been able to break through after missing this excellent opportunity.

He naturally didn't want to end up like this, and he even bred a kind of pride in his heart that heaven and earth would help and everything was under control, and when he decided: "Send three thousand elites to rush to the river beach, and after capturing the river beach, the whole army will attack!" ”

With Yuwen Hu's order, the lieutenant soldiers of Zhongyun City boarded the ships one after another, and the three thousand armor soldiers were quickly assembled, and then those large and small ships rushed away from the river island like arrows off the string, and rushed straight to the north bank of the Yellow River.

At the same time, Yuwen Hu also personally climbed onto the Hezhou Observation Deck, raised his arms and beat the war drums to cheer for the soldiers.

(End of chapter)