Chapter 311 Crossing the River

Changzhou is located in the center of the beautiful and rich Yangtze River Delta, with the Yangtze River in the north and the Taihu Lake in the south. Due to its unique geographical location, it has become the key location of transportation. It is connected to most of the capital, Gusu, the rivers are vertical and horizontal, and the lakes are dense. It is surrounded by the Yangtze River in the north, the lake in the south, and the corner of Taihu Lake in the southeast, and the river and the lake are in Changzhou. In the southwest, there is also Furong Lake, which is second only to Taihu Lake, so Changzhou has become a transportation hub of "the country of the three lakes and the meeting of Baiyue Zhoudong".

If you take Changzhou, you can separate Pingjiang Road and Songjiangfu in the east of Changzhou from the west. At that time, these places will be ducks in the mouth, and you can't fly even if you want to fly.

However, due to the small number of naval troops, there is no decent defense force on the wide Yangtze River. Besides, this is not the beginning when the Tutar went south. The regime in the south would arrange various fortifications on the Yangtze River to hinder the attack of the powerful army in the north.

After the Tutar unified the Central Plains, these fortifications were no longer of much use. Most of them had been abandoned, leaving only a few observation posts, as well as the big cities close to the river, such as Jiqing, Zhenjiang and Jiangyin. The defense was still tight, and the other sections were almost undefended. And in those observation posts, there are basically only a few lazy new attachments guarding, and they are very vigilant.

This is also the reason why Zhang Yang chose to land from Changzhou. If he wants to fight, he will hit the other party's weakness.

The sky has just dawned, and the sun in the east shows a red edge. The fishermen, who had already started fishing on the river, suddenly found a strange boat coming up the river.

There is no sail, no oar, only a black chimney, with thick smoke, and two turntables on both sides, constantly rotating, like a waterwheel.

Monsters are really monsters. The fear of the unknown makes the fishermen tremble. They quickly turn around for fear of being attacked by these monsters.

Immediately after the appearance of this monster, many identical monsters came from behind, spitting black smoke together and drove to the south bank of the Yangtze River.

Bian Yuanheng stood in the bow of the ship and was excited. In just over a year, the eldest brother's uprising army developed to today's situation. He was no longer the strong man captured in Furong Village, but became a general and commander of the navy.

Looking at the majestic fleet behind him, Bian Yuanheng surged up with a kind of pride. Big man, just like this!

In this southward march, in addition to the steam engine ship, Bian Yuanheng also collected hundreds of boats, which was enough to organize two battalions to cross the river at a time.

The steam engine ship is in the front, and the thick muzzle has pointed to the south bank. If the other party has fortifications on the shore, their own cannons can kill them ten miles away.

The fleet is vast and sails to the south bank. If Zhu Yuanzhang sees it, I'm afraid he will vomit blood with envy. What Zhu Yuanzhang lacks most is the water army.

In the early morning, the new attached army in the observation post was still asleep.

Wang Dacai slept in a daze and was in a hurry to pee, so he had to get up from the quilt and walk to the open space next to the watchtower.

Sprinkling out urine with body temperature, Wang Dacai finally felt comfortable. He shook and hugged the thing. The cold wind blew, shivered and was a little sober.

He walked back step by step and glanced at the river.

This look surprised him.

What is that? On the surface of the river, there were countless shadows coming this way densely.

He broke out in a cold sweat and rubbed his eyes with his hand. Finally, he saw that it was countless big ships, not a fishing boat, but a warship!

Needless to say, it must be the anti-thief attack. It doesn't matter whether it is Zhu Yuanzhang in the west of Jiqing or Zhang Shicheng in the north of Gaoyoufu. The important thing is to send out the situation immediately.

"Brothers, get up, there are rebels crossing the river." Wang Dacai quickly ran back, woke up the others in the sentry, and then ran to the beacon.

In this era, the use of beacon warning is still the most common method. As long as the beacon is ignited, Changzhou City will send troops to support itself.

Three steps and two steps, Wang Dacai ran to the beacon. Shit, the firewood is wet!

Because there is sometimes heavy fog on the river, the humidity is very high, and it has not been moved here for half a year. The firewood used to ignite is wet.

What should I do? Wang Dacai looked at the brothers running in untidy clothes, and then looked at the clearer outline of the boat on the river. He shouted, "Come on, remove the bed board, bring the generals over, and start first."

Several people behind did not hesitate to remove the bed board? Hold the quilt? Well, of course, I'm going to remove Wang Dacai's bed board and hug Wang Dacai's quilt.

They immediately turned around and walked back.

Wang Dacai knew that they were so despicable, and there was nothing he could do. If something happened here, I'm afraid he was in danger, and he still cared about what the quilt did.

The quilt with body temperature was held, and Wang Dacai nodded without hesitation. He also took apart the bed board and gradually added it in. The fire lit up.

With wet firewood, the firewood was dried and then burned, and the thick smoke finally rose.

Damn, why is there smoke on the opposite side? Bian Yuanheng stood in the bow of the ship and saw the thick smoke on the other side. He knew it was not good.

"God of War Cannon, get ready, aim at the smoke, fire!"

Where the smoke comes from, there must be soldiers guarding the other side. This smoke should be the signal. Bian Yuanheng regrets a little. This time, the eldest brother ordered too quickly, and the navy was ready. All the way, the eldest brother immediately let himself lead the army to the south bank, and did not find out the situation on the south bank in advance. He just asked a few boatmen. It's just that there is the other party's beacon here, and I don't even know it.

The God of War cannon is ready to fire shells immediately. At this time, it is just four miles away.

"Boom!" Hearing this sound from the water in the distance, Wang Dacai was suddenly shocked. Judging from the sound of gunfire, I'm afraid it should be Zhang Shicheng's army in the north. The reputation of the other party's sharp firearms has spread.

Needless to say, the other party must be aiming here. Wang Dacai shouted, "Let's withdraw quickly!"

It was too late. When I heard the sound of the cannon, the shell had also flown to the beacon with the roar of the sky.

"Deng!" The first shell accurately hit the fireworks and blew up the firewood everywhere. The fire suddenly became small, and there was a distance vibration on the beacon.

Their faces have changed a lot. Isn't this too perverted? Such a long distance, can you hit it so accurately? Is it still so powerful?

Then, the second and third, a total of ten shells flew in. Except for one that deviated from the target, the rest hit the beacon.

Wang Dacai looked around him. They had all fallen down. The cannonballs that had just flown to him smashed the people around him to the flesh and blood. He actually stood unscathed, except for being sprayed with blood.

He stayed for a while before he recovered. Let's go! I couldn't stay here. I quickly returned to Changzhou City and reported to the superiors. The beacon was only on for a moment, and it had been extinguished. I don't know if Changzhou City had received any information.

Wang Dacai ran back to the sentry, led the only horse out, and ran to Changzhou City like crazy.

Behind him, a huge fleet has begun to dock.

Another reason for choosing to land here is that the dripation here is relatively deep and the shore is steep, which is simply a natural port.

The captains carefully avoided the underwater boulders, and the ships were docked on the shore.

Putting down the bridge board, the soldiers ran down from the boat one after another.

The last few ships are loaded with war horses. Although the ship has landed smoothly, there are still many war horses that are seasick and foaming.

Chang Yuchun and more than a hundred brothers he brought were placed on the last few ships, which was specially approved by the eldest brother. Otherwise, he would have to follow the last batch of troops to go ashore.

What gratified Chang Yuchun was that his horse had adapted to the bumps of the ship and did not get seasick. Chang Yuchun quickly gathered his men.

"Brothers, we have joined the eldest brother, which is appreciated by the eldest brother. Now it's time for us to show our skills!" Chang Yuchun shouted loudly.

"Yes, we are an invincible army!" More than a hundred people shouted together, attracting countless white eyes from the first battalion of Shiyi who were still gathering next to them.

This group of people are really not afraid of death! Shi Yi also wanted to laugh. With more than a hundred of them, he still wanted to take his credit? Do you want to take down Changzhou? They are so arrogant!

"Brother Shiyi," Chang Yuchun saw Shiyi next to him and said to him, "Look at these horses, one or a percentage of them still have combat effectiveness. If they want to recover, I'm afraid it will take a day. I wonder if Brother Shiyi can lend me these soldiers and horses?"

"Brother Chang, do you know that these people can't take it down? I thought you were not afraid of heaven and earth. Shi Yi said, "We have to wait until all the horses rest and carry all the equipment, especially the scattered cannon and the God of War cannon, before we can attack Changzhou City."

"Brother Shiyi, the soldiers are fast. Now we can quickly take Changzhou City before the Tatars find out that we are coming. If we wait for you to gather and rest properly, Changzhou City is already prepared. If we want to take Changzhou City again, I'm afraid it will take more effort." Chang Yuchun advised. Your cavalry, now only more than 200 horses can fight. Mine has more than 100. Together, our more than 300 cavalry is a fist, which is enough to smash Changzhou City.

Somehow, Shi Yi was actually moved by Chang Yuchun. Anyway, these more than 200 cavalry are only half of their own battalion. If they can really take Changzhou City, it will be a great achievement.

"Okay, I'll give these 200 people to you. If you can't take them down, don't force it. Our army can arrive after one day." Shi Yi said.

"Thank you, Brother Chang." Chang Yuchun was overjoyed. It was enough to have these people. He had long known that the combat effectiveness of these defenders was very poor. As long as the fire sounded, Changzhou City was likely to take it down under the prestige of the First World War of Gaoyou Mansion.

(to be continued)