Chapter 821 How to Choose

The instant attack caught the rebel forward fleet off guard. The rebel soldiers on dozens of warships that burned into fire jumped into the water one after another and became living people on the ship. The uncontrolled ship suddenly stopped and turned across the narrow waterway.

The ship was originally far away from each other, but suddenly, and the sudden situation in front of the follow-up warships was also a little unprepared. The officer on the ship quickly ordered the sails to stop moving forward and ordered the oarsman to fall backwards. Even so, more than a dozen warships still could not rush directly into the sea of fire and hell, and in an instant became a sea of fire. A bundle of firewood.

The leading commander of the rebel forward army is Xu Qin, who was named a powerful general. It was he who led the rebels all the way to capture Nankang Jiujiang and Anqing. This time, he was also the vanguard of the rebels. He commanded more than 300 warships.

When the fire broke out in front of him, Xu Qin's command ship was still on the lake seven or eight miles away. Seeing an ambush in front of him, Xu Qin immediately ordered the warship to shrink the formation and pose for combat to protect the dragon boat flagship on Zhu Chenhao, who was in a hurry to the rear.

"Report to the general, there are officers and soldiers in the reed waterway. The specific situation of the enemy is still unclear, but according to the scale of the enemy's rocket launch, there should be tens of thousands of people." Zhao Xian, his deputy, jumped down from the springboard stretched out from a warship in front of him and reported anxiously.

Xu Qin took a breath of cold air, and more than 10,000 people were ambushed in the reeds. This is Wang Shouren's main force. This man is really bold. The news he got earlier that they took Fuzhou, but he didn't expect to come to Poyang Lake to set an ambush so soon. This is to calculate that the army will return to Nanchang Prefecture from here.

Xu Qin did not dare to make decisions without authorization, so he ordered all warships to take defensive postures to return to the lake, and on the other hand, he ordered to transfer his bow and the rear Zhu Chenhao flagship 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 of him was clearly visible at night. Zhu Chenhao immediately ordered to stop moving and send a boat to the front to spy on the situation. After a while, Xu Qin's warship drove to the front. After getting on the dragon boat, he reported the situation in detail and suggested: "Your Majesty, Wang Shouren ambushed in front of you. Now the reeds have burned into a sea of fire. I'm afraid it's impossible for us to go back from the river to Nanchang. The enemy is in the dark. I'm in the dark. I don't know what Wang Shouren has any tricks. , Bei Zhi suggested changing the route to the west, landing directly from Changyi, and returning to Nanchang Prefecture by land.

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

Liu Yangzheng arched his hand and said, "The emperor calmed his anger. This is obviously Wang Shouren's plan to divide the troops. The ambush in front is part, and the soldiers and horses outside Nanchang Prefecture are another part. Since this man is divided, the number of soldiers and horses in the two places will not be large. In my opinion, it is time to sweep across and annihilate the enemy in front of him, and should not change the land. It will be delayed for at least one day. Wang Shouren's soldiers who attacked the city hoped that we would delay the time so that he could calmly capture Nanchang Mansion.

Zhu Chenhao frowned, but Xu Qin shouted, "Military, what's your bad idea? Didn't you even catch fire with the reeds in front of you? Did you ask me to send my boat up as firewood?"

Liu Yangzheng waved his hand and said, "Although this fire has blocked our way, it is also a threat to the other party. The reeds are spreading. How can the ambush hide? They can only be forced to retreat to the shore; the fireboat on the river can order the water ghost to chisel down or order the iron-headed boat to open aside and give way out of the river. After a while, the reeds will go out, and our army will be unimpeded.

Zhu Chenhao nodded and said, "The military master is right. Wang Shouren doesn't have many soldiers, but he is just bluffing. We don't have to pay attention to him. Although dozens of ships were burned and some people were lost, the top priority was to rescue Nanchang. Once Nanchang Mansion was lost, our old nest was taken down. Your parents, wives and children are still in Nanchang. That's not what I hope to see.

Everyone nodded one after another. This time, their opinions were rarely unified, and Xu Qin had nothing to say. As soon as he turned around and stepped on the springboard back to the ship, he listened to the sound of the wind breaking the wings in the sky and turned his head. Two small black dots in the dark sky quickly arrived and landed on a wooden cage on the deck, making a cooing sound.

It was two military pigeons that delivered messages. Zhu Chenhao specially trained hundreds of such military pigeons to facilitate the scouts to pass on the news and inquire about military situation. Including his going to the capital, they used carrier pigeons to transmit messages, which can be said to be extremely convenient. At this moment, this way of transmitting information is even faster on the water.

Two pigeons are coated with white paint on one wing and red paint on the other, which is used to distinguish the scope of investigation. The red one is released by the left side of Jiangxi, and red is also an urgent warning. The closer they are, the more urgent it is, which is reasonable. The carrier pigeons painted with white paint are scouts on the periphery. In order to grasp the dynamics of officers and soldiers, Zhu Chenhao sent hundreds of scouts to go deep into the surrounding states and governments, some of which are far away in Henan, hundreds of miles away, in order to provide timely information until the arrival of officers and soldiers.

The personal guard grabbed the pigeon, took down the small bamboo tube under their feet and handed it to the military commander Liu Yangzheng. Liu Yangzheng didn't look at it. At first glance, his color suddenly changed and his mouth exclaimed.

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

"It's not a big deal. Please take a look in person." Liu Yangzheng handed the two notes to Zhu Chenhao.

With the red lantern on the dragon boat, Zhu Chenhao clearly saw the handwriting on the note. Although the scouts were all old and rough, and the words were crooked and unbearable, but the words were recognized.

A note said: "Five thousand elite horsemen entered the territory of Kaifeng Mansion from Daming Mansion and have now attacked day and night 90 miles south of Kaifeng Mansion."

Another note wrote: "The enemy's army is coming straight through Shandong and Henan. The enemy's outer perimeter is very strict. The specific number of soldiers and horses is unknown, but the momentum is huge, and it is suspected to be the main force of officers and soldiers."

Zhu Chenhao staggered and almost fell down, supporting his hands and feet on the porch pillar beside him. Then he stood firm and silently handed the note to the 'vassals' for reading. For a moment, the ship was silent, and only the sound of the water gently beating of Poyang Lake, the crackling and burning reeds in the distance, and the faint sound of soldiers crying for help.

"Five thousand cavalry have arrived 90 miles south of Kaifeng Mansion. At this speed, they can reach the Jiujiang River in a day and one night. 5,000 elite cavalry can't keep the Jiujiang River unless we divide our troops to guard the Jiujiang River; Jiujiang can't be lost. If it is lost, it will be pocketed." Wang Lun, the minister of the Ministry of War, was worried.

Li Shishi also said, "What Lord Wang said is that, your Majesty, Jiujiang is the gateway to the Yangtze River channel connecting me from Jiangxi. Even if the land road is blocked, our army can still be unimpeded by the waterway, and if it is lost, it really becomes the one in the urn... cough."

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 the troops to defend Jiujiang. Don't forget that the enemy's main force has rushed straight from Shandong. How can Jiujiang stand it? Even if we divide the troops to defend, how many soldiers and horses can we stop the main army of the court? At least 100,000 troops from the imperial court came this time. If they still stuck to guard Jiujiang and Nanchang, it would really become a turtle in the urn. The current situation needs to make a decision, either to defend Jiujiang and 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 and frowned.

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

Liu Yangzheng hurriedly said, "How can I make such a suggestion? I just want to say that either the net is broken, and we will immediately turn the bow of the ship down the river to attack Nanjing. As long as we take Nanjing City, the situation can be reversed immediately. Emperor, don't stick to Nanchang. Although this is the place where you made your fortune, it is not to be abandoned. Today's abandonment has become a great cause in order to achieve great things. After occupying Nanjing, expand the recruitment of soldiers and horses, calm Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and then flatten the south of the Yangtze River. Isn't Nanchang going to return to the emperor's pocket? If we stick to this, once the main force of the court comes and takes down Nankang and Jiujiang, we will have to fight to the death. There is no place to stand in the east and west of southeast and southwest, and there is no place to retreat. It is the best strategy to take advantage of the main force of the imperial court to attack Nanjing.

Zhu Chenhao shook his hands and rubbed his beard on his jaw. Giving up Nanchang is like cutting off the meat in his heart. This is his nest. He has been operating for several years. No matter whether his connections and property are here, he is the emperor in Nanchang, and he has no self-confidence when he leaves Nanchang. But what Liu Yangzheng said is indeed very reasonable. In today's situation, stay Here is to wait for death. Although the army has expanded rapidly and has developed to more than 90,000 soldiers and horses after the uprising, its strength is still much different from that of the imperial army. Coupled with the gathering of soldiers and horses from the scattered guards of the surrounding state capital, it is definitely a dead end to be trapped in Nanchang.

This decision is not good, which requires the determination of a strong man to break his wrist.