After discovering the possible danger, although the victory of the Chaohu Water Battle was already certain, and it was easy for the rookie navy to severely damage Xuzhou, Chen Fen said that he had no intention of continuing the fight to expand the results, and hurriedly issued the flag and ordered

The fleet assembled to return home, and the order was given so suddenly that even the captains of Yuan Shujun's navy were at a loss and couldn't figure out why Chen Fen missed this great opportunity to defeat the enemy.

After finally recalling the fleet, Chen Fen didn't have time to explain the reason in detail to his subordinates, so he directly ordered the entire army to return. Then he took the time to introduce the dangers discovered before to his generals, and asked the sailors of each ship to take the time to rest immediately and do their best.

Prepare for another hard fight. But even so,

There are still many naval generals who question, "Captain Commander, do we need to be afraid of the Xuzhou pirate army's navy blocking the channel? The commander-in-chief has also seen the situation of the pirate army navy. It is not our opponent at all, and we have upstream

With such advantages, wouldn’t it be easy to break through the blockade of the pirate navy?”

"Fart!" Chen Fen, who was considered good-tempered among Yuan Shu's army, rarely cursed, and then roared: "What do you idiots know? If the Xuzhou bandit army blocks the waterway with a chain of warships, the cavalry will

Wu also covered our army with strong bows, crossbows and rockets on both sides of the strait. How could our army be invincible? Don't be dumbfounded, retreat immediately, and rush out of Ruxushui before the Xuzhou rebels block the waterway, otherwise we will all

Gotta finish!"

After listening to Chen Fen's order, the generals of Yuan Jun's navy had no choice but to return to their respective warships to command the retreat. Chen Fen also ordered his fierce general Dong Xi to serve as the vanguard and lead a group of clippers first.

, to obstruct and destroy the Xuzhou army’s channel blockade operation,

He led his army to withdraw to Ruxushui. Seeing Chen Fen's team retreating before the battle, Lu Su, the commander of the Xuzhou Navy who had not withdrawn to Ruxushui, was relieved. He quickly ordered the flagship to raise the flag again, and used torches to raise the flag to summon all the ships to assemble.

, prepare to reorganize the team and go back to fight again.

Not to mention the regrouping situation of the Xuzhou Chaohu Navy, Chen Fen's team quickly returned to the Ruxu River and went south along the river. It only took more than half an hour to withdraw to the vicinity of Qibao Mountain. It was seen that the Xuzhou team was not at its strongest point in the river.

Narrow waters near Qibao Mountain

After setting up an ambush and interception, Chen Fen, Zhang Ying and others were surprised and secretly happy.

It’s not that easy to break through.”

Fortunately, he was lucky, but for the sake of caution, Chen Fen's fleet still rushed southward non-stop. Chen Fen sent someone to send an order to the vanguard Dong Xi. Dong Xi was asked not to worry about the team being separated from the front and rear, and the vanguard fleet just moved forward at full speed. As long as it could get in Xuzhou

The naval warships arrived at the battlefield in front of the river seal, blocking Xuzhou

The navy carried out the trick and gave Dong Xi his first credit in this battle! In addition, Chen Fen also listened to Zhang Ying's suggestion and ordered another water battle hero, Chen Wu, to lead a team of clippers first, regardless of the repeated water battles.

The taboo of dividing troops is to deploy troops into the breakthrough battlefield as quickly as possible and protect the main force's retreat path.

The order was conveyed, and Dong Xi's team at the vanguard moved forward desperately. Taking advantage of the downstream flow, they quickly headed south and even caught up with a Xuzhou warship that was slow due to damage to its hull, but Dong Xi's team could not care less.

It was easy to beat the drowned dog, bypassing this slow enemy ship and heading south directly, which took nearly three hours.

Finally, he finally caught up with the Xuzhou warship group in the Cangtouwei area, and saw that the Xuzhou ships were still slowly turning around and lining up. Before he could nail the iron chain to the big ship, Dong Xi called out luck, and then he had no time to observe what was going on under the night.

On the water surface, he directly gave the order: "Show the flag. Rush up! Break through the obstruction of the pirate ship team!"

The flag was raised, and about fifty light speedboats swung forward quickly, turning like flying, rushing towards the Xuzhou fleet that had not yet joined the rows. However, at this moment, a huge crash suddenly came from the sky.

With a whistling sound in the air, dozens of huge stone bombs fell from the sky, slamming into Dong's fleet with terrifying force. At least three Yuan Shujun's speedboats were hit by the stone bombs and were hit.

For the mast in the cabin, the mast broke and the cabin was shattered. For the one that was hit by the ship's side deck, the ship's side deck was cracked. The boulder that hit the deck did not dissipate, and directly smashed through the bottom of the ship. The cold river water either rushed into the cabin from the cracked side of the ship, or

Directly bulging from the bottom of the ship into the ship, the three speedboats slowly tilted together and turned into floating garbage. The sailors and soldiers on board howled like ghosts and scrambled to jump into the water to escape.

Although Dong Xi's flagship was almost hit by a stone bomb, Dong Xi no longer cared about that much and didn't care to observe the casualties. With a livid face, he just urged the ship to charge. The flag on the lookout tower

As if crazy, he kept using torches to flash the charge flag and ordered the entire army to attack. Finally, the first Yuan Shujun fleet rushed through the gap that the Xuzhou fleet had no time to block, and rushed towards the dark open water.

Just when Dong Xi breathed a sigh of relief, a loud "bang" ended Dong Xi's team's dream of a breakthrough. The first Yuan Jun clipper to break through the Xuzhou fleet seemed to be blocked by an invisible giant hand. Suddenly,

Stopped moving forward

, the side of the ship at the bow also cracked, and the cold river water rushed into the cabin. The sailors of Yuan Jun who had just been knocked over by inertia also howled like pigs and screamed, "There is something under the water, there is something under the water blocking it."

channel!"

By the way, I would like to introduce here that the tactic of blocking the river with iron ropes was invented by Wu Yan, the prefect of Jianping in the Eastern Wu Dynasty, decades later. The tactic of setting up water fences to block the waterway was not developed until the Northern and Southern Dynasties more than two hundred years later. Therefore, Yuan Shu's navy

If they could be prepared to take precautions against this, then General Dong Xi and his soldiers must be possessed by time travelers just like Deputy Director Tao.

There was an endless stream of "bang bang bang" collisions. One after another, Yuan Shu's fleet, including Dong Xi's flagship, were blocked by the iron chains and dense water booms urgently laid by the Xuzhou army. Several ships were blocked.

It was also smashed through the side of the ship. The sailors on the ship staggered around and screamed loudly. Dong Xi himself was even more expressionless and in a hurry.

When he ordered the soldiers to go into the water to check the situation, countless arrows and boulders were already flying from the darkness on both sides of the Ruxushui River, overwhelmingly hitting Dong Xi's fleet, which was lit with lights. Dong Xi's soldiers were hit by countless arrows, and at the same time, several ships were attacked by Xiangyang.

The artillery shells hit, and the team was completely in chaos. Xuzhou warships took the opportunity to chain up and quickly blocked the water channel.

In a short while, about forty Xuzhou building ships formed a row and slowly squeezed towards the downstream water boom. Danyang soldiers, Xuzhou's elite soldiers who could fight some water battles, also quickly boarded the ships and joined forces with the navy to fight Dong's fleet on the broadside.

, Although Dong Xi led his army to fight to the death, Danyang's soldiers were extremely brave and their strength was far superior to Dong Xi's team.

Above, one ship after another was captured by the Danyang soldiers. One ship after another, the soldiers were killed by the Danyang soldiers. Countless people died. Dong Xi himself also died in the rebellion. The Danyang soldiers

The team seized all the boats and chained them to the water boom to form a new line of defense.

During the busy period, Chen Wu's fleet has also arrived at the water surface of Cangtouwei. At this time, the Xuzhou warships have been chained, and the upper bunks are as wide as flat ground. A large number of Xuzhou soldiers boarded the warships and warmly entertained Chen with strong bows and crossbows.

The more than sixty Xiangyang cannons set up urgently by the armed fleet also continued to fire rocks.

Huge rain of rocks roared and crashed into the dense Chen Wu fleet, sinking and piercing Yuan Shu's warships one after another. Arrows and boulders in the sky came and went like locusts, and Yuan Shu's soldiers were densely packed on the river struggling to call for help.

, the Xuzhou soldiers on both sides of the river laughed wildly and the sound was earth-shattering.

Really unable to withstand the rain of arrows and stones from the Xuzhou army, Chen Wu, who was hit by two arrows, was forced to order to withdraw from the battlefield. However, as the warship turned around with difficulty on the narrow river, more huge stone bullets were already flying in the air. More will be added

Many warships of Yuan Shu's army were sent to the bottom of the river. In the end, only six warships were lucky enough to withdraw from the battlefield and fled upstream to meet the main fleet. The Xuzhou army continued to race against time to reinforce the water boom.

When the sky was dimming, the main force of Yuan Shujun's navy led by Chen Fen finally arrived at the water surface of Cangtouwei. What made Yuan Shujun's navy look earth-colored above and below was that more than forty Xuzhou warships not only connected into a huge "convex" character

horizontal

The platoon. The horizontal fleet has also built five pontoons and water booms. The densely packed wood is nailed to the bottom of the river, and the tops are connected with iron locks. It is extremely difficult for small boats to pass, let alone large warships loaded with ordnance and soldiers.

Observing the left and right banks with the increasingly bright sky, the expressions on the faces of naval generals such as Chen Fen and Zhang Ying were inevitably even more wonderful. There were already a large number of Xuzhou soldiers on both sides of the Ruxushui River, including many armored cavalry that were rare in Jiangdong.

, countless weapons have also been deployed on the high ground on the shore.

The siege artillery of Xiangyang is always on standby, and can also fire huge stone bombs that can destroy Yuan Shu's naval warships. Deputy Director Tao's evil flag is fluttering in the wind on the east coast, and the Xuzhou soldiers are laughing wildly.

The waves on both sides of the Ruxu River echoed endlessly, and everyone up and down was extremely satisfied.

"Great Governor, Tao Thief has sent envoys to surrender!"

"Shoot arrows back!"

After decisively rejecting Deputy Director Tao's kind offer to surrender, Chen Fen, who was loyal to Little Yuan Sangong, only thought for a moment and quickly ordered the soldiers to prepare fifty fast boats, loaded with firewood, thatch and other ignition materials, and pour kerosene and sulfur on them.

Wait for something to ignite the fire, and then arrange for death warriors to drive the Xuzhou fleet to attack the Xuzhou fleet, in an attempt to burn the connected Xuzhou fleet with fire and open a way for the self-defense troops to escape.

Veteran Chen Fen's breakthrough tactic was of course suitable for the situation. Mizhouro also used this tactic to defeat Boss Cao. However, two important factors destined Chen Fen's tactic to be impossible to succeed. One was the wind direction. The southeast wind in early summer was in the northwest.

Chen Fen's arms ship is seriously disadvantaged. The second is the Xiangyang artillery, which can defeat the three

The Xiangyang artillery, which weighed more than 100 kilograms of stone bullets and hit nearly 500 paces, was not only named after the attack on the fortified city of Xiangyang in history, it also had a heart-wrenching record for the Han nation, that is, in Hankou

In the water battle, the main force of the Southern Song Navy was wiped out, ensuring the success of the Mongolian and Yuan armies in crossing the river...

Without trying it, of course Chen Fen could not know that his tactics were destined to be impossible to succeed. But after trying it, Chen Fen soon became completely desperate. More than fifty fireships had just sailed into the range of the Xuzhou army's Xiangyang artillery.

Because the wind direction was unfavorable, even before I could light the fire boat, dense rain of boulders was already roaring in, like a sudden swipe.

A flock of crows passed through the sky, screamed strangely, and smashed into the heads of Yuan Shu's warship team. They either smashed the fragile fireship into pieces, or set off a terrifying huge wave. One of the stone bullets hit the bow of one of the fireships.

, the soldiers of Yuan Shu's army who gathered at the bow of the ship and prepared to light the fire could not escape. They were immediately smashed to pieces and their flesh and blood flew everywhere, and they screamed in shock.

Going against the wind and destined not to carry too many sailors, Yuan Shu's arms ship naturally did not move very fast, giving the relatively slow-firing Xiangyang cannon an opportunity to throw boulders again. The second wave of stone rain hit, and seven more

Eight fireboats were pierced and sunk. At the same time, the Xuzhou soldiers on the shore also used strong bows and crossbows to attack the Yuan Army soldiers on the fireboats. The Yuan Army soldiers died.

He was seriously injured. Countless people escaped by diving. In the end, only one fire boat was able to light firewood and barely rushed to the Xuzhou warship array. However, the sailors on the ship were quickly shot to death by the Xuzhou soldiers on the ship array. Several sailors went into the water.

With the help of the shore side, the fire ship was easily dragged to the shore with ropes and iron hooks and destroyed, posing no threat to the Xuzhou fleet at all.

Seeing this scene, Chen Fen, who was hiding far upstream, was desperate and could only quickly summon Zhang Ying, Xue Li, Chen Wu and other capable generals to discuss countermeasures. They discussed how to break through the Xuzhou army's blockade. During this period, they were timid and afraid of death.

Xue Li proposed to abandon the ship and land, and protrude from the land to surround Xuzhou troops. As a result, before he could finish his words, Chen Fen's

The saliva flew to Xue Li's face, "Abandon the ship and break out? You can't say such a stupid thing! Our army is all sailors, how can we be the opponent of Tao Thief's Tiger and Wolf Division on land? How can we get rid of Xuzhou?

The cavalry's pursuit? Back ten thousand steps, even if we can escape to the bank of the Yangtze River, how can we cross the river without a ferry?"

Xue Li closed his mouth in shame. Chen Wuze suggested: "Master Governor, please prepare a boat. This time we don't need fast boats, use building boats as fire boats, rush to the Tao Thief boat formation and light a fire. Let's

The building ships perished together with the enemy ships, opening a way forward for the rear army."

Chen Fen hesitated, and Zhang Ying next to him said: "Grand Governor, if you want to save some of the warships, the only tactic left is General Zilie. However, the Xuzhou bandit army's stone machine is too powerful. It can only be done at night.

Act so that the Xuzhou bandit army’s stone machine cannot hit accurately.”

Chen Fen nodded slightly, and just when he was about to make up his mind to use this tactic, Xue Li next to him said: "It's useless to burn the ship array of the Xuzhou bandit army. How can we break the wooden stake array and iron lock array behind the Xuzhou bandit army?"

?If we can’t break through the Xuzhou bandit army’s wooden stakes and iron ropes, our naval fleet still can’t break through the Tao bandit’s interception?”

Zhang Ying and Chen Wu were both speechless, and Chen Fen's face was also blue and black. For a while, they could not find a way to break the Xuzhou water barrier. At this time, another small boat came from the rear army to report that it was the Xuzhou Chaohu Navy.

They made a comeback and re-entered the Ruxu Channel. Fortunately, they did not go directly south. They only stopped advancing near Qibao Mountain and formed an array to strangle the throat of Qibao Mountain.

Hearing this news, Chen Fen's face inevitably changed again, and he gritted his teeth and said: "The treacherous Tao thief must have wanted Lu Supifu to wait until our army broke through with all its strength before taking action, and he would double-team in front and behind to force our army into chaos."

"Grand Governor, please make up your mind quickly." Zhang Ying said quickly: "The Xuzhou rebel army and the Poyang Lake Navy will move for a long time, and when the Tao rebel Poyang Lake Navy has also arrived at Ruxukou, they will also set up a position downstream of Xushui.
To be continued...