Seeing the critical situation in Linxiang, the navy led by Cheng Huang suddenly appeared. They fired artillery and arrows and rushed down from the upper reaches, crashing into the middle of the crossing Yanyun army! The attack rhythm of the Yanyun Army was immediately disrupted. Ships were sunk by the opponent's artillery fire. Bamboo rafts were burned. The half-built pontoon bridge was torn apart by the Song Army's naval artillery bombardment, and the wreckage floated downstream!
A short horn sound came from the Yanyun army, and the attacking Yanyun army retreated one after another.
Seeing Yan Yun's army retreat, the soldiers of the Song Army couldn't help shouting and cheering excitedly. Cheng Huang stood on the bow of the ship with his sword pressed, looking at Yan Yun's army gathering the remaining soldiers on the north bank, with a smile on his face.
Boom boom boom... Suddenly, there was an earth-shattering loud noise in the woods on the north bank! Cheng Huang was stunned for a moment. Before he could react, he saw a column of water rising into the sky in the middle of his own ship formation. Many warship masts were knocked upside down and broken. The soldiers of the Song Army's navy screamed in surprise. For a moment, they couldn't figure out what was happening!
When Cheng Huang came back to his senses, he saw bursts of white smoke rising from the woods on the south bank, and then the thunderous roar came again. Countless cannonballs rained down, and many warships were damaged, and there were many more. The huge impact of the cannonballs of the navy officers and soldiers crashed into the water. Many of the navy officers and soldiers who fell into the water swam towards their own warships. The entire water surface seemed to be boiling with countless dumplings falling down.
Cheng Huang exclaimed: "No, the enemy has artillery in ambush!" Then he turned to the officer beside him and ordered: "Send the order, turn the fleet sideways and counterattack the enemy's artillery array!"
After receiving the order, the navy of the Song Army immediately engaged the soldiers and warships, preparing to bombard the Yanyun Army's artillery array on the shore with side artillery. During this process, artillery fire from the Yanyun Army continued, causing casualties to the Song Navy. The Song Army's gunboat turned sideways and then fired back with artillery. For a moment, loud thunder echoed across the river. Amidst the raging white smoke, countless artillery shells flew towards the woods on the shore! However, what Cheng Huang and others did not expect was that the flying artillery shells fell into the water one after another before they reached the shore, stirring up countless water columns. The scene was spectacular, but it did not cause any damage to the Yanyun artillery array on the shore. ! At this moment, Cheng Huang suddenly discovered that the position of his own ship array was at least two miles away from the opponent's artillery array, and the range of his own artillery was simply out of reach. Just now he saw the opponent's artillery attack in a hurry, and in desperation, he thought without thinking. He fired back with artillery, but the range was simply not enough!
At this moment, a huge roar came from the woods, and a hail of bullets flew in and fell into the ship formation!
Cheng Huang was furious. He estimated that the opponent's artillery was not large, so he immediately ordered the fleet to weigh anchor and approach the shore. The navy fleet immediately weighed anchor, turned its bow and sailed towards the shore despite the gunfire from the shore. When it approached three hundred steps from the shore, it stopped, turned the ship sideways, and lowered the anchor.
Cheng Huang was about to order the gunboat to bombard the woods. At this moment, an earth-shattering noise suddenly came from the woods, and the power was more than ten times stronger than before! When Cheng Huang and others suddenly heard such power, they couldn't help but be shocked. Then they saw dense artillery shells whizzing towards them, water columns in the middle of the ship array were surging into the sky, violent explosions were heard, and countless fireballs shot into the sky, as if the entire river surface was covered. They all seemed to have turned over; nearly half of the warships' masts were broken upside down, the wreckage was flying everywhere, countless sailors died or fell into the water, and the entire ship array was in chaos! Cheng Huang's mind was also in chaos, and he couldn't figure out what happened? ! Why did the size of the Yanyun Artillery Formation increase more than ten times in the blink of an eye? ! Several Song Army gunboats hurriedly fired back a few shots, but looking at the scene, it was obviously impossible to cause much damage to the Yanyun Army's artillery array.
The earth-shaking roar came again. This time, Cheng Huang's ship also suffered. It was hit by several shells in succession. In the raging fire, the huge ship was torn apart! Cheng Huang fell into the water. Because he was wearing a suit of armor, although he was proficient in water properties, his whole body was involuntarily pulled into the water. Cheng Huang saw many of his own soldiers and artillery sinking under the water. He hurriedly held his breath, took off his armor, threw away his weapons, and got out of the water with his hands and feet. As soon as his head came out of the water, he couldn't help but take a big breath. Immediately, I saw that the originally huge navy had been bombarded to pieces. Most of the warships were swaying and sinking. Although a small number of warships had not yet sunk, they were almost all injured and were panicking among the wreckage. Passing through, a burning warship had no time to avoid the wreckage of the warship in front of it, and slammed into it. The warship immediately tilted, and the sailors on board screamed and fell into the water.
Cheng Huang stared blankly at the scene in front of him, feeling as if it was a terrible nightmare. How come the naval fleet, which was so powerful just now, was completely wiped out in an instant? !
The Yanyun Army's fierce artillery fire on the shore was constantly bombarded, and the Song Army's warships that had narrowly escaped the disaster sank one by one into the water. At this time, the remaining Song army warships had no intention of fighting and fled one after another. Cheng Huang was rescued on a wounded ballista warship and fled hurriedly downstream. There were dozens of other ballista warships escaping together. As for the artillery warships, they had all been destroyed by Yan Yun's artillery positions!
Yanyun's artillery fire continued to chase the Song army and bombard them. Water columns surged into the sky, the river surface boiled, and warships were hit and sunk. In the end, only five dilapidated ballistae warships staggered out of the range of the Yanyun artillery and fled downstream in a hurry, like bereft dogs, unable to care about other things. The Song army officers and soldiers guarding Linxiang were horrified and at a loss when they saw such a scene.
Pan Hong, the defender, thought that since Yanyun's army had destroyed its own navy, it would definitely cross the river again. He immediately ordered the entire army to stand ready, and at the same time ordered the prefect to drive all the young people in the city to the city wall to help defend the city. There was a commotion in the city, and eventually more than 100,000 people climbed onto the city wall. Pan Hong finally felt a little safer! However, contrary to Pan Hong's expectation, after Yan Yun's army destroyed its own navy, it actually remained stationary and did not launch another attack! Pan Hong did not dare to neglect, and strictly ordered the sergeants and people to stay at the city wall and not leave! The soldiers and the people huddled at the top of the city, shivering in the river wind, fearful of the cold and attacked by each other, and they couldn't help but feel resentful towards Pan Hong.
His eyes turned to the Yanyun Army camp. The Yanyun Camp is still located opposite Chengling Pass. Not surprisingly, the Song Army's part is in Fangtai Mountain and the main force is opposite Linxiang. Therefore, the Song Army believes that there are not many troops in the Yanyun Army Camp. However, Yang Peng was not on the other side of Linxiang at the moment, but in the camp opposite Chengling Pass.
Yang Peng received the urgent report from the artillery team commander Deng Yi. After reading it, he smiled slightly and murmured: "Finally, it was all in my plan, and there were no accidents!" It turned out that Deng Yi's artillery team ambushed the enemy's water. The actions of the military fleet were all planned by Yang Peng. Yang Peng felt that the biggest obstacle to the army crossing the river was the Song Army's navy, so he planned an action to destroy the Song Army's navy. In fact, the attack on Linxiang was just a pretense. It was Yang Peng's real intention to mobilize the Song navy and then annihilate it. On the river that stretches for hundreds of miles, only this section of the river is narrow enough for artillery on the shore to reach the Song Army's warships, so Yang Peng chose to set a trap here.
The artillery team only bombarded with one-tenth of the artillery and solid shells at the beginning. This was also Yang Peng's strategy. This was to attract the Song Navy so that the artillery could exert its maximum power. Generally speaking, if the enemy finds that the opponent is not as powerful as himself, he will definitely want to fight back instead of running away. This is indeed the case. Cheng Huang was suddenly attacked by artillery fire from the shore. Although he was shocked, he soon discovered that the opponent was far stronger than him. Not as good as himself, so he did not think of escaping, but led the navy to fight back. As a result, he completely fell into Yang Peng's plan. When the Song Navy approached close enough, 450 cannons from Yanyun's three artillery brigades opened fire at the same time. It was as if the sky was falling and the ground was falling. The Song Navy lost less than half in an instant, and the entire The fleet almost lost its combat capability before it understood what was going on!
Yang Peng called Li Tian, Wan Chun, and Qiuxia and issued the order to attack.
In the early morning, it is the darkest time between heaven and earth. The soldiers of the Song Army guarding Chengling Pass were in sleep, and the sentries were dozing off holding their spears. There was silence between heaven and earth, even the sounds of insects. nothing.
A patrolman yawned loudly and subconsciously turned to look at the river. In the darkness, nothing could be seen, but there seemed to be some movement. The patrolman's heart moved, he quickly picked up the bow and arrow, lit a rocket, bent the bow and shot the arrow towards the river. The rocket streaked across the dark night sky and fell far away on the river. Under the weak light of the rocket, the patrolmen suddenly saw countless ships covering the river, heading this way! The patrolmen were horrified, their expressions changed drastically, they hurriedly threw away their long bows, rolled and crawled towards the gong, and shouted in extreme panic: "The enemy is coming! The enemy is coming!" Dang, dang, dang..., gong. The sound suddenly broke the silent night, looking so shrill and harsh!
The officers and soldiers of the Song Army woke up and rushed to the top of the city. General Meng Yong ordered the crossbowmen to fire rockets towards the river. The crossbowmen immediately fired a shower of arrows on the river, and saw countless boats and rafts carrying countless Yanyun Army soldiers approaching the shore! Meng Yong and all the Song army officers were shocked when they saw this scene! Meng Yong quickly ordered the artillery to fire. The artillery roared, and a huge sound of water came from the river. The flashes of light allowed the Song Army soldiers to see the Yanyun Army on the river!
The officers of the Yanyun Army braved artillery fire and bravely rushed ashore. They used lock hooks to climb the city wall and risked their lives. A Yanyun officer climbed onto the city wall first and slashed several Song Army soldiers with his sword. His bravery was unstoppable. The Song Army soldiers were killed by him. Taken by the power, they all retreated. Immediately, more and more Yanyun Army soldiers climbed onto the city wall, looking at and killing fiercely, they were unstoppable! The soldiers of the Song Army did not expect that the Yan Yun Army was so brave, and they felt that they could not resist it in an instant!
Meng Yong saw that Yan Yun's army was brave and sharp, and his own soldiers were frightened and unable to resist. He was extremely anxious and cursed: "Why are the Yan Yun army already attacking the city and those bastards from the navy haven't appeared yet?" Meng Yong was still at this moment. I don't know the news that their naval army has been completely wiped out. A deputy general next to him hurriedly said: "General, we can't hold it anymore, run away!" Meng Yong saw that his soldiers were retreating under the fierce attack of the wolf-like and tiger-like Yan Yun army, and knew that Chengling Pass could no longer be defended. He stopped and immediately ordered: "Everyone, run for your lives!" Then he led several trusted generals and dozens of soldiers and fled in a hurry from the south gate. At this moment, the Song army at the gate of the city was completely defeated.
The Yanyun Army occupied Chengling Pass in one fell swoop and immediately built a pontoon bridge. The Seventh Army, led by Yang Peng, crossed the Yangtze River. Immediately, Yang Peng left five thousand troops to guard Chengling Pass and divided the main force into three groups. One group was led by Pang Wanchun and went up the river to support Shi Liancheng in attacking Cao Yong's main force. The other group was led by Li Tian and went east along the river to make a surprise attack. Linxiang, he personally led the last route to attack Yuezhou.
After the distribution was completed, everyone led the troops and left.
Then Meng Yong led the remaining defeated generals and rushed back to Yuezhou. Wang Zhuo, the prefect of Yuezhou, saw Meng Yong in a very embarrassed and frightened state. His heart skipped a beat, and a bad premonition arose in his heart. Sure enough, he heard Meng Yong anxiously say: "Master Wang, it's not good, Yan Yun's army has broken through." Arrived at Chengling Pass!"
Although Wang Zhuo had expected it, he couldn't help being shocked when he heard the news with his own ears. His face turned pale and he hurriedly said: "How is this possible? Didn't the navy intercept the enemy?"
Meng Yongyong said angrily: "I don't know where all the bastards like the Navy Army have died! From the time the Yanyun Army launched the attack to the fall of Chengling Pass, the Navy Army never showed up! I even doubted it. Are all those bastards dead?" Haha, although those bastards are not dead, the situation is not much different.
Wang Zhuo was flustered and at a loss, and said: "Chengling Pass has been captured, I'm afraid, I'm afraid that Yan Yun's army will attack my Yuezhou soon! What should I do? What should I do?" Wang Zhuo was as panicked as an ant on a hot pot, and he was already in a state of confusion.
At this moment, Wang Dong stumbled in and said in great horror: "It's not good, sir, Yan Yunjun, Yanyun Army has arrived at the city!" Wang Zhuo and Meng Yong were shocked, and Wang Zhuo exclaimed: "Why so fast?!" Meng Yong couldn't help but swallowed.
Several people hurriedly climbed to the city gate tower, and sure enough they saw Yan Yun's army approaching the city. Wang Dong, who was standing next to Wang Zhuo, suddenly looked shocked and couldn't help shouting: "It's King Yan!" Wang Zhuo and Meng Yong were startled. Wang Zhuo asked hurriedly: "What did you say? King Yan came in person. ?!" Wang Dong pointed at the majestic, mighty and heroic general standing under the king's flag and said: "That General Yan Yun is King Yan himself! I have met King Yan several times, so there is no mistake! "Wang Zhuo frowned, showing a thoughtful look.
Woo...woo...Yan Yun's horn suddenly sounded loudly. Meng Yong's expression changed and he exclaimed: "Yan Yun's army is ready to attack!" Wang Zhuo and Wang Dong were startled. Meng Yong said anxiously: "Sir, we can't resist it. Run away before it's too late!" Wang Dong nodded vigorously. Wang Zhuo frowned and said: "The natural chasm of the Yangtze River has been lost. I am afraid that half of the country south of the Yangtze River will fall into the hands of Yan Yun sooner or later. It is inevitable that Yan Yun will dominate the world. Where can we escape to?" Wang Dong and Meng Yong couldn't help but frown. He frowned, feeling terrified.
Wang Zhuo glanced at the two of them and said: "For today's plan, only those who understand the current affairs will become heroes!" The two of them couldn't help but be stunned. Yang Peng raised his iron horse, and Yan Yunjun shouted, one after another, like a rolling wave, thrilling! The fighting spirit of Yanyun's soldiers is rising rapidly, and they are eager for a battle!
At this moment, the gate of Yuezhou City suddenly opened wide, and many people poured out.
Seeing this scene, Yang Peng immediately raised his left hand. Yan Yun's soldiers immediately stopped shouting. Yang Peng looked outside the city gate and saw a few people wearing official robes and general armor leading thousands of government officials, police officers and civilian troops to run out, then threw away their weapons and knelt beside the official road. Then the few people wearing official robes and the general's family left the crowd and came towards them. After a moment, Yang Peng saw clearly the appearance of the three people. Two of them had never been seen before, but the other one was familiar to Yang Peng. It was Wang Dong who had come to pretend to surrender before. Recognizing this person, Yang Peng immediately guessed the identity of another person in official robes. That person must be Wang Zhuo, the prefect of Yuezhou. As for the last general in armor, most likely he came from Chengling Pass. Meng Yong, the Song general who fled after defeat.
The three of them came to Yang Peng's horse and knelt down. Wang Zhuo held up the official and civilian register with both hands and said loudly: "The guilty minister Wang Zhuo, command the people of Hecheng, officers and soldiers, and government officials, come and surrender to King Yan!" Then he prostrated himself on the ground, and Wang Dong and Meng Yong quickly prostrated themselves as well. At this moment, the three of them were frightened, and they really didn't know what the other party would do to them.
Yang Peng said: "Wang Zhuo, you surrendered once before, do you remember?"
Wang Zhuo's heart skipped a beat and he quickly said: "The sinner remembers it. At that time, the sinner was entrusted by Commander Wu Cao to trick King Yan into surrendering! However, the king of Yan knew that he was thousands of miles away, and the sinner's trick could not be concealed from the king of Yan at all. As a result, Not only did he fail to do so, but because of this, King Yan captured Fangtai Mountain in one fell swoop! The guilty minister did not dare to beg King Yan for forgiveness. I only hope that King Yan would spare the soldiers and civilians in the city for the sake of his fellow tribesmen!"
Yang Peng smiled and said: "You are quite good at talking!" "The guilty minister dare not!" Yang Peng said: "What you did before is not a crime. Everyone is their own master, so there is no need to call yourself a guilty minister!" Wang Zhuo couldn't hear Yang Peng's intention, and he couldn't help but feel anxious in his heart, and responded.
Yang Peng glanced at the three of them and said, "All three of you, please get up." The three of them responded, stood up, and stood with their heads bowed. The big stone in their hearts was still not put down, because King Yan hadn't said anything yet. What to do with them.
Yang Peng said: "It is a great achievement for you three to surrender to the city, so you can still hold your original positions." When the three of them heard this, they were overjoyed. They quickly knelt down and knelt down and said, "Thank you, King Yan!" Yang Peng said. : "This is not my favor to you. I am just rewarding merit and punishing sin according to Yan Yun's rules of reward and punishment!" The three of them obeyed. Yang Peng said: "Okay, let's enter the city!" The three of them responded, stood up, and respectfully led Yang Peng and his Yanyun army into the city first.
As soon as Yang Peng entered the city, he issued an announcement to calm the people. The people couldn't help but feel relieved when they saw that Yan Yun's army had strict military discipline and no offense was committed in the autumn of the people. After settling down, the people couldn't help but compare Yan Yun's army with the Song Dynasty official army. They just felt that Yan Yun's army was much better than the Song Dynasty official army who often made troubles and fights to bully the people, so they couldn't help but favor Yan Yun.
Yang Peng set up a temporary camp in the prefect's Yamen. Later that day, military reports came from Linxiang. Linxiang was captured. Almost all the Linxiang defenders surrendered. The defender Pan Hong was killed by his officers! Now General Yin Mingde and General Duan Zhixian have led large troops to cross the river!
It turned out that Li Tian led a troop of troops and horses suddenly appeared behind Linxiang. The defenders were greatly frightened, and many wanted to open the city and surrender. But the guard Pan Hong refused, so several of his generals secretly united and launched a sudden mutiny, killed Pan Hong, opened the city gate and surrendered to Yan Yun's army. Immediately, Li Tian ordered the surrendered Song army to build a pontoon bridge and lead Yanyun's large army across the river across the river.
Yang Peng put down the military report, glanced at Wang Zhuo and others with wide eyes and concerned faces, and said: "Linxiang military report, our army has captured Linxiang, and the large army has crossed the river." Wang Zhuo and others were overjoyed and felt that with this, they had nothing to worry about. Wang Zhuo clasped his fists and bowed to Yang Peng: "Congratulations to King Yan. King Yan has conquered the south of the Yangtze River and unified the world. It is just around the corner!" Yang Peng said with a smile: "It may not take long to conquer the south of the Yangtze River, but it is far away to dominate the world!" Wang Zhuosan The person was stunned for a moment, and then understood the intention of King Yan. King Yan was so angry that he swallowed thousands of miles like a tiger. How could he just be satisfied with unifying Han, conquering and destroying all countries, and uniting the world? That was King Yan's ideal! Thinking of this, the three of them couldn't help but get excited.
In fact, the three of them had lofty ideals when they were young. Wang Zhuo and Wang Dong wanted to rule the country and bring peace to the country, while Meng Yong longed to roam the grasslands like Huo Yao and open up territory for the Central Plains dynasty. However, they entered the Song Dynasty. After entering the officialdom, the ambitions of the three of them were slowly worn away in the lifeless atmosphere of pursuing fame and wealth. In the end, they completely forgot their ideals when they were young. They were just trying to make profits and lived like zombies. . Now, following King Yan, I feel as if the dark clouds are parting and the sky is clear. Those childhood dreams that have long been dusty seem to be possible to come true!
Meng Yong couldn't help but clasped his fists and bowed: "If I can follow King Yan across the desert, I will be willing to be broken into pieces!" Wang Zhuo and Wang Dong also couldn't help saying: "Although we can't fight across the battlefield, we are still willing to die for King Yan. already!"
Yang Peng saw the excited expressions and sincere attitudes of the three people, and knew that what they said was from the bottom of their hearts. He smiled slightly and said, "You all have a chance, don't worry!" The three people agreed.
Yang Peng thought for a while, stood up, walked to the map hanging on the side of the hall, and everyone gathered around it. Yang Peng glanced at Linxiang and said to Wang Kai: "Immediately send a messenger to Duan Zhixian and Shi Liancheng, asking them to leave only the necessary troops and horses to guard Linxiang. The army immediately divided into two groups and headed eastward along the Yangtze River. Capture Jiangxia and Wuchang, and then enter Jiangxi. The other route is from Tongcheng, through Jiming Mountain, and invade Jiangxi." Wang Kai agreed and ran down immediately. Yang Peng said to Wang Zhuo and the others again: "You stay in Yuezhou, I'm going to Fangtai Mountain!"
What happened after all, let’s see what happens next.
