Chapter 37: Fate

Later that day, Zhou Zhizheng went to talk to Luo Yonghao again.

Human beings are emotional animals.

It is said that after three hundred hours of being together, a friendship will arise. It doesn't matter whether this is scientific or not, but at this moment, Luo Yonghao and Zhou Zhizheng, although they are in two camps that seem to be incompatible, have fought many times, and they have indeed faintly developed a subtle feeling between them. I can't talk about sympathy, but there is no doubt that it is more harmonious, and there are not too many scruples in the conversation. Of course, Zhou Zhizheng's position as a general judge is also one of the reasons: he doesn't need to speak like the big guys.

Just a few steps down, Zhou Zhizheng got straight to the point: "Brother Wen Guang, there is still a small matter, I want you to help me." On the day when your army marched east into Henan, my brother and Lord Xiao would also be able to give an explanation to Lord Fanzun. Needless to say, the feudal lords, the lords, and the capital mansion also have to give an explanation to the saint and the imperial court. Those heads outside the auxiliary barracks on the river beach outside the city, I think your army will not bring them, can you ......?"

Luo Yonghao smiled slightly: "Brother Xingduan, I also have this intention below." If it weren't for that, it would have been buried a long time ago. ”

Zhou Zhizheng was stunned for a moment, and then arched his hand and said: "Luoziguan five steps, Brother Wenguang is talented!" Alas, Shenmu has indeed wronged Brother Wenguang over the years! Zhou was speechless, and shameless! Shame, shame! ”

Luo Yonghao waved his hand: "It's all in the past, don't mention it." Brother Wen Guang praised it falsely, but he didn't hide it, Luo Mou only later thought that the imperial court needed to inspect the first level. Luo also has a matter to entrust, and he wants Brother Wen Guang to mediate. ”

Zhou Zhizheng was shocked, and hurriedly said: "Brother Wen Guang is not polite, as long as Zhou can do his best, he will not say anything." ”

Luo Yonghao said: "Ansai Zhixian Chang Anding (Anding is Chang Wenping's word), is under the old knowledge. When the army arrived, An Ding happened to be not in the county seat, but he didn't expect to meet him unexpectedly in Yan'an Mansion. After the army left, the recovery of this city was great, naturally a few adults had the final say, and it was not Luo's turn to add a beak in vain. However, Ansai is a small county, can you let Brother Anding have a name? Luo asked for an opportunity to 'atone for his crimes' on his behalf, and to save the family. As he spoke, he solemnly bowed his hand.

Zhou Zhizheng suddenly relieved his heart when he heard this, and thought: "'It just so happens to be not there'? 'Unexpected'? Bah! It's clear that you guys fucking colluded beforehand! Well, I also colluded with you, earlier than Chang Anding, and Lord Xiao of Yulin Mansion also colluded with you, and earlier than him, okay, now the three divisions of the entire Shaanxi Province, the political envoys, the envoys, and the commanders, are all colluding with you...... Do you still care about colluding with one more magistrate! As long as you don't entrust your hapless boy to me, that's called a hot plaster! Isn't it just a favor that breaks the county? ”

This is not simple.

In order to reassure Luo Yonghao, he accepted this gift calmly, took a breath, and replied: "Brother Wen Guang, rest assured!" It's a small thing, and it's right for you. ”

Luo Yonghao thanked him while Luozi: "Luo Mou thanked Brother Xingduan for Anding." At present, there are a total of thirty and eight of the first ranks, and in the future, if you take two extensions, how can there be one or two hundred levels......"

Zhou Zhizheng was overjoyed: "I will thank Brother Wen Guang for all the adults in this province first!" Then, he picked up a chess piece and groaned for a long time before it fell.

Luo Yonghao was stunned. Zhou Zhizheng's white seed was actually placed in the "eye" formed by his three sunspots! It seems that there is a great threat to go straight to the heart of the black chess, but there is only one breath of "breath", and of course there will be endless troubles if you let it go, but you only need to put a black disc to pick it up, and the situation of the chess game is suddenly reversed.

In confusion, I only heard Zhou Zhizheng lower his voice and added, "There is another matter." Just now, a few adults talked about the prefect of Yu, and the meaning of several adults was ...... If the prefect Yu has to confront the court in the future, things may really be a little tricky......"

Luo Yonghao understood.

Dropped a son casually, lifted the lonely white child out of the way, and said quietly and lightly: "A few adults may be too worried." Luo didn't think that Lord Yu would have this opportunity! ”

"Clear! Clear! Thank you, Brother Wenguang! As he spoke, Zhou Zhizheng got up and said goodbye: "Brother Wen Guang is talented, and he admits defeat." ”

Luo Yonghao replied seriously: "Brother Xingduan is the dragon and phoenix among people. Luo firmly believes that this game is a draw. Harmony is precious, and wealth is generated, and rejoicing. Life is like chess, you have to kill you to the death, compared to winning or losing, and you have to worry about it and work hard to get down. But why bother? ”

Zhou Zhizheng's expression was solemn: "'Harmony is precious', Brother Wen Guang said it well!" Zhou was taught. That's how we do it from now on! ”

The two tacitly parted ways.

At the same time, on the banks of the Yanshui River.

Yu Shengliang saw Li Yaobi, who fled back alone, under the light of the torch, staring at Ding Zhuang with red eyes and scolding Ding Zhuang who nailed chains to the boat to transport firewood, venting his anger, Liao Xingxiang, the governor of Yanchang County, led the soap officials to inspect the guards and materials one by one in the ruined city, and the soldiers who were taught to be loyal to the country for many days were all asleep soundly, and some even dreamed that they had made great contributions, and they were on the rise...... It's a pity that they don't know that their fate, and even life and death, have been settled by two people who are drinking tea and playing chess in the elegant study of the Yan'an Prefect's Yamen, talking and laughing lightly!

Guo Qinglin had already left the auxiliary camp and moved back to Fucheng and slept beautifully. He was very happy and received a new order: there was no need to continue making the raft.

In order to find out the direction of the upcoming attack, Yu Shengliang had already sent more than a dozen horsemen to scout the horse, which was the greatest ability that the small Yanchang County could use to detect the thief after losing the horse team.

The hard work paid off, and after a day of bidding, he received a report from the scouts along the river: a large fleet of thieves was found, with about 100 boats and 50 or 60 rafts. Along with this, there were more than 100 enemy cavalry on the north shore and 20 or 30 cavalry on the south bank, presumably to protect the fleet from harassment and attacks from both sides. At present, about 30 miles away from the county seat, the enemy army is landing and camping, and it is estimated that it will arrive at noon tomorrow. Due to the threat of enemy reconnaissance cavalry, they could not get closer to observe.

When it was time to arrive, the horses from other directions returned to the city one after another, but no trace of the thieves was found. Yu Shengliang was very happy, it seemed that he was not bad, the thief just wanted to march through Yanshui and attack. Liao Xingxiang was also very happy, and stretched out his hands with two thumbs together: "The boss sees thousands of miles." How could these thieves have thought that you have already laid a net for them! I wish the boss a good success! Hahaha. ”

Yu Shengliang proudly stroked the gray beard under his chin, and pretended to be humble: "Although the thief's behavior is expected by the old man, he must not be underestimated. Chu Cai (Liao Xingxiang's character): You have also worked hard. When this group of rebels is defeated, the old man will give you credit! ”

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! ”

"Bells......

Just after noon the next day, a series of shouts and gongs sounded in Yanchang County.

Yu Shengliang and Liao Xingxiang, who were sitting at the southwest corner of the city wall, got up and put up a pergola and looked west. I saw that seven or eight miles upstream of Yanshui, a fleet of boats and rafts appeared in the field of vision.

Yu Shengliang waved his hand resolutely: "Prepare for war!" ”

Li Yaobi, who was already dumbfounded with hatred behind him, hugged his fists and said, "Get the order!" Holding the hilt of his sword, he turned and descended the city wall with confidence—the thieves were bound to drive at full speed, intending to rush through the fire zone at the head of the city as fast as possible. When the thieves' fleet approaches, dozens of small boats full of flammable materials will swing out in a horizontal formation on the water, and the boats will be connected by iron chains, blocking the thieves' way, and after being ignited by the rockets fired from the city and the shore, the thief ships sprinting down the river at full speed will not slow down at all, and will throw themselves into the fire net one after another! Even if the rearmost ones can get away with it, they will be chaotically squeezed into the river and unable to move. Seeing the raging fire in front of you rising into the sky, I'm afraid that I will be so frightened that I will abandon the boat and go ashore and flee for my life? The defeat is like a mountain, as long as you wait for a while, the front burns a scorched head, and the back tramples on each other, and you will personally lead the team to cover up and chase the fleeing enemy.

The thieves who went down the river came so quickly that in less than half an hour, the thieves' fleet came two or three miles away. Yu Shengliang, who was dressed in leather armor, ordered again: "Meet the enemy!" ”

A red lantern was raised high on the makeshift wooden platform, and at the same time, the herald leaned out of the wall and waved the red pennant at the defenders in the river.

A trumpet sounded from the defenders below, indicating that they had received orders and were ready to fight. The soldiers and boatmen of the fireships had practiced countless times, skillfully propping up each ship with long poles, and after entering a predetermined position, they pulled through the iron chains on the head and tail of the ships next to them, and nailed them to their own ships with long nails, while the two small boats closest to the north and south banks were firmly fixed to the shore. In less than a stick of incense, in the blind corner of the thieves' field of vision, Yanshui bypassed the river channel behind the southwest corner of the city wall, and two interception lines were pulled! The soldiers removed the tarpaulin covering the surface of the firewood and ran back to shore in a hurry. A long brazier had been lit on the head of the city and on the shore, and beside each brazier stood two or three archers, with arrows already on the bowstring, until the drums sounded at the head of the city, and the thieves would plunge into the raging fire!

Surprisingly, the closer you get to the city, the thief fleet slows down. Many boats began to approach the shore, and from a distance, many of the thieves who were as small as insects and ants actually came ashore and began to get busy. I can't really see what I'm busy with, but it's rare that someone is digging, someone is nailing a stake into the ground, and it looks like ...... It looks like you're going to set up camp?

The people in the city were puzzled: they had to camp for the night so early? This is a small and broken county! Are thieves so unconfident in their own attacks? Hey, that's not right - if it's camping, why are there still some boats coming over? Parallel to this were the cavalry on the north and south banks, apparently still protecting the flanks.

Even more puzzling was the fact that the small flotilla that continued to move stopped a stone's throw from the city. Yu Shengliang and the others finally saw clearly: in front of them were seventeen or eighteen small boats and more than twenty rafts, hugging each other tightly, and there were three or five small boats in the back. I saw the thieves on the raft in front of me peeling off the tarpaulin covering it with all their hands and feet, revealing a full load of firewood! Everyone watched in amazement as the thieves jumped into the boats moored behind them one by one, and let these huddled rafts slowly drift down under the impetus of the Yanshui current, gradually accelerating!

Rockets rose up in the raft behind, instantly igniting the fleet drifting in front. Look at the fire that quickly spread, the thieves actually sprinkled a lot of pine and gunpowder in the firewood! Suddenly, a large flame that filled the river gradually approached, and even everyone in the city seemed to feel the scorching heat rushing towards their faces.

Fight fire with fire.

The trap that has been carefully prepared for many days has been in vain!

Even with the blessing of many modern high-tech means, in the face of large-scale fires, human beings still do not have the ability to quickly extinguish them - let alone the Ming Dynasty. In this era, a fire attack in war, as long as the conditions are right, can achieve decisive results like tactical nuclear weapons.

According to Yu Shengliang's original plan, behind the corner of Yanshui is the blind spot of the attacking thieves, and he is the eyes and ears of the ambush soldiers at the head of the city, and the officers and soldiers only need to open their nets. But in the same way, the ambush soldiers could not see the attacking thieves - since last night, they have been worried about whether the cavalry on the south bank of the thieves will rush forward to reconnoiter and let their arrangements fail. Just now, I was glad that the thief was holding a big picture, but I never expected that the thief would be like having clairvoyance, and he came prepared, and he also used fire attack! Such a complex military intelligence information has no means of real-time communication at all to notify the defenders who are also in the blind spot!

Of course, even if the defenders found out in time, the outcome would not change: the only way to deal with the fireships going down the river was to get out of the way, push them away with long poles, and let them drift to no man's land and burn up on their own (more than 200 years later, the British fleet moored outside the mouth of the Pearl River during the First Opium War lowered its boats and used this method to deal with the defenders' firefighting rafts down the river). But Yu Shengliang and Li Yaobi had nothing to do at the moment - the fire attack ships on their side had already been firmly nailed together with iron nails and chains, and it was impossible to separate them again in a short time!

A distance of one hundred and fifty paces, and in the blink of an eye, the flames were close to the front. Several rafts were pushed under the corners of the city walls by the current, and they crowded each other to a halt. The firewood was also mixed with cow and horse dung, and the billowing black smoke swayed up along the city wall, which not only completely obscured the view of the defenders on the wall in the blink of an eye, but also choked people unable to breathe. Those who turned the corner crashed straight into the first row of barrage flotilla, and the archers on the shore were stunned to find that the fire was already spreading in the flotilla, and there was no need to shoot any more rockets themselves!

In order to prevent the full speed of the attacking pirate ships from sailing by, the distance between the two barrage fleets was only five or six zhang wide. The first line of defense bent deeply downstream under the impact of the fireship, although the hull did not touch, the high temperature generated by the soaring flames thinned the air above, and under atmospheric pressure, the cold air around it quickly rushed over to replenish the space, and the burning firewood and grass were sent into the air by the strong air current, burning and slowly falling.

Finally, a spark landed on a small boat in the second row.

After a while, a faint wisp of green smoke rose from the boat's firewood and straw pile.

After a few moments, the green smoke vanished, and a small red flame began to leap and expand......

Soon, the whole ship began to burn, and the red and black tongues of fire licked towards the neighboring ships on either side......

Yu Shengliang, Liao Xingxiang and the defenders had already left the choking southwest corner and ran to the south wall to look at the fire. On the south bank of Yanshui, twenty or thirty enemy horsemen had already ridden around the river bay, and when they saw that the barrage fleet was beginning to burn, they cheered one by one, and waved their weapons to the city to make all kinds of threatening movements. The few small boats that were still parked in the water did not leave immediately, and when the fireboat turned the corner, they saw a huge column of smoke rising in mid-air, facing the horse team roaring back on the south bank, and the boats also erupted in cheers.

The boat lifted anchor and sailed upstream, returning to the camp which had been set up nearly two or three miles away, and the thieves were all outside the camp and looked here, although they were so far away that the defenders, who had no fighting spirit, seemed to hear their cries.

More than 100 horses on the north shore galloped westward, that is, the way the thieves came, probably back to the camp.

The sun hung in the sky a few feet above the hill to the west.

The fire on Yanshui has been extinguished, and the wreckage of several stranded ships on both sides of the river is still emitting black smoke, and more wreckage has been carried into the Yellow River by the current.

Li Baked Cake sat on the shore dejectedly. The general trend has gone, and most of the hundreds of soldiers who have been training for many days have fled, and he knows that they have all fled in the direction of Yanchuan to the north, mixed with the people who are helping the old and the young. But he can't run, his fate is firmly tied to the adult, and this will be the end of his life. Li got up and walked silently and resolutely towards the city.

A few miles to the east, downstream of Yanshui, there is a small patch of reeds. A figure leading the horse flashed in, and the horse neighed uneasily, snorted, and obediently led to the boat hidden in the reeds. The boat rowed to the south bank, Zhao Ergou abandoned the boat, knelt down on the shore, kowtowed in the direction of the county seat, and muttered: "Adult, you treat the villain well." But the villain's life is on his side, and he can't serve you. "Turned over and got on the horse, and galloped towards the direction of Icheon.

The afterglow of the setting sun gilded the extended walls with a blood-red color, as if to herald the impending catastrophe.