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After the military meeting, Chen Chong had been standing on the watchtower on the west bank to assess the situation. The sun was clear, reflecting countless sparkling waves on the river, which was dazzling. The people fighting on the other side were more like flies and insects fighting. They were so loud and hard to distinguish. You could only vaguely see the reflection on their armor and stomach, but you couldn't see them clearly. When fighting, they may look angry or panicked.
Due to his eyebrow injury, Chen Chong's eyesight was not very good, but he could still see the situation on the other side clearly. After Jiang Xu and Yang Fu's troops met with the Shu army, they were already defeated as planned. However, if the West Coast cannot provide resources, it is difficult to say whether the defeat will be a real defeat. The key lies in whether it can contain Shu. The navy of the army.
Chen Chong looked down the river. Although the boats were only moving in a straight line from north to south, their momentum was enough to take people's breath away. Compared with the pedestrians, the huge fleet was like a giant beast on the river, with no head visible. At the end of the river, half of the river surface was occupied by it, and the pontoon bridge connecting the two banks was just like a reed that broke with a tug in front of the Shu navy.
After seeing the first stern colliding with the pontoon, Li Hui, who was watching the battle, became a little impatient. He asked Chen Chong in a low voice: "Prime Minister, do you want to order the governor to take action?" Chen Chong estimated the time in his mind, shook his head slowly and said: "It's not yet time. The Shu people's naval formation has not yet been deployed. Taking action at this time cannot be done once and for all. Wait a little longer." Chen Chong's concern is that if the Shu navy maintains the current Long Snake formation, there may be no To act as planned, he must find a way to mobilize the building ship to the west bank.
So he clapped his hands and called Pan Jun and asked him: "Is it feasible for you to use a hundred small boats to make the big ships chaotic?" Pan Jun pressed his sword and replied: "If it is just a chaotic formation, I am 80% sure. "After that, he quickly left.
Not long after, the Shu army on the river suddenly discovered that nearly a hundred boats came down from the west bank. They were not unfamiliar with the water for the first time, but were very familiar with the water. Like dragonflies, they moved to the center of the pontoon as nimbly as dragonflies. Entangled with the Shu army who destroyed the pontoon bridge, many Han soldiers approached and jumped into the Shu army's stern with their swords without caring about the ship, and then fought on the rocking ship.
Many Shu troops thought that the Han army had no navy and was not prepared for the battle to seize the ships. Except for the Jinfan thieves who wanted to disembark to fight, most of the ships did not have too many knives, but a lot of bows. . At this time, seeing that the enemy army was about to engage in hand-to-hand combat, the Shu army was at a disadvantage. In about two quarters of an hour, four stern ships fell into the hands of the Han army.
Liu Fan, who was on the building ship, could clearly see the situation. He was surprised by the Han navy, but he immediately realized it and said to the people behind him, "That must be the traitor who has defected in the past six months. It's hateful. Now it is used by Chen Chong!" After saying that, he took a few more glances at the battle at the pontoon, and confirmed that it was difficult to change the situation with the pontoon alone, so he said to Ma Liang: "Pass my order and send six tower boats to press over. If the big one fights the small one, he will win!"
Ma Liang hesitated a little and asked: "Your Highness, the enemy troops are standing on stone carts on the west bank. If they approach rashly, won't they be damaged?"
Liu Fan sighed: "In a war, there is no gain but no loss? As long as the pontoon bridge can be destroyed, a little loss is nothing. Go!"
Ma Liang did not dare to disobey, so he immediately issued an order in flag language behind him. Not long after, the navy of the Shu army began to change its formation for the first time. Several tall ships slowly separated from the team and formed a new formation. The parapets and flags of the ship were approaching, like a dark cloud pressing down, giving people a great sense of oppression. Every time the oars hit the water, it was like the roar of a giant beast. Only then did the Han army realize that the building ship was actually The speed is not slow, but because of the huge size of the building ship, it looks slow. In fact, it is not inferior to ordinary ships.
Soon, the building boat approached the boat and covered it within the arrow's range. Then bursts of arrows pierced the air and the sound came one after another. Arrows like flying locusts immediately covered the surrounding ships. The Han army's small boats had no power to fight back. It was impossible to jump into the building ships like attacking a stern ship. An unlucky sailing boat was overturned by the huge waves on the left side of the building, and the boat sank quickly with its stern up. The surviving Han soldiers could only throw down their swords and swim desperately in the undulating river, trying to swim back to the west bank. However, they were quickly shot in the water by arrows that followed, and some blood floated up from the undercurrent. Come, gradually the surroundings are diluted into a dull red.
Seeing this, the rest of the Han army, knowing that their goal had been achieved, began to row back to the west bank. The building ships were not forgiving, and followed closely behind them, always covering them within the arrow range, and continued Some people capsized their boats and fell into the water, rising and falling in the wind and waves. But fortunately, we are not in the land of Jingchu. Even if there are many undercurrents in the center of the river, it is only half a mile away from the west bank.
Many people paddled hard, stayed in the water for a long time except for the need to take a breath, and finally escaped back to the west bank camp. Then there was the sound of rocks being fired, which was the stone trucks preventing the building boats from approaching any further. At the same time, the pontoon bridge had indeed completely fallen into the hands of the Shu people.
Upon seeing this, Chen Chong knew that the time was ripe, and immediately said to the messenger beside him: "Blow the trumpet!" In an instant, a very loud trumpet sound floated through the air and could be heard for miles around. The Shu people on the pontoon were shocked when they heard this, thinking that the Han army was about to launch another counterattack. They quickly called on the surrounding navy to form an array on the river to cover the flanks, and then swung their swords and draws against the pontoon, hoping to get there faster. Destroy the pontoon. But they soon discovered that something was wrong. The Han soldiers on the west bank did not respond immediately, but looked eagerly to the north.
At this time, the person commanding the tower ships was General Feng Xi. He stood on the watchtower of the central tower ship. He was originally going to go down the wooden ladder to rest for a while. However, after hearing the horn sound from the west bank, he suddenly felt uncomfortable. Wonderful, I quickly grabbed the railing and looked into the distance. He found that some dark shadows gradually appeared on the river bank to the north. Although there were some lakes, because he was going down the river, after a while, he could see the other party's up and down rowing movements. It was obvious that he was coming from the north. A new group of Han naval forces had been deployed upstream.
These naval forces are still mainly driven by boats. Although they can move extremely fast, they are still dwarfed by large ships and cannot be compared at all. What are they going to do? The moment this question crossed Feng Xi's mind, he noticed something unusual on the other side's boat. All the boats in the north seemed to be carrying things and were covered with a layer of wet cloth.
The answer is ready. Yes, there are firewood and kerosene under the cloth.
A low grunt came from Feng Xi's throat. The flag bearers on the left and right turned to look at him, thinking he was about to give an order. But Feng Xi coughed violently, and a wave of annoyance rose above his head, making him dizzy. It took him a long time to speak, and his first sentence was: "Quickly send the order to the front, stop demolishing the bridge! Stop demolishing the bridge!"
But it was too late. At this time, not only the Shu army was demolishing the bridge, but also the Han army. The Han army on the west bank dug out the largest pile foundation of the pontoon bridge and cut off the ropes connecting the ships and wooden piles below. These rows of boats floated down the river, and after crossing a semicircle on the river, they naturally collided with the nearest building boats. This caused the rowers of the building boats to row, but the oars of the boats collided with the pontoons. The ropes and ships were entangled with each other and could not be used at all. They stood in place in an extremely awkward manner, not knowing whether they were advancing or retreating.
On the other side, the uninvolved building boat in the middle also saw something was wrong and wanted to retreat. However, they were embarrassed to find that although the speed of the building boat was not satisfactory, its hull was so big that it was extremely difficult to turn around after the formation. It was also difficult for them to move with both sides tied up.
The Han army's boats came so fast, without any sloppiness. When they were almost within the arrow range of the building, someone on the boat had already struck flints and lit a fire on the silk cloth. The sparks rubbed on the oil cloth, and it was out of control in an instant. The Han troops on those boats immediately threw themselves into the river, and then stuck their heads out to see how the situation would develop next.
The fire quickly surrounded all the floating bridges, and with intermittent crashing sounds, everyone on the east and west banks saw that the flames were like an invisible giant beast, devouring the remains of the pontoon, and then rushed more to the ground. The Shu army in front was on fire. The flames rose into the sky, and with the help of the north wind, the flames continued to burn towards the Shu people's ship.
Seeing the fire boats hitting them one after another, the Shu people on the boats were really panicked. The oarsmen on the side closer to the fire ship rowed hard, while the oarsmen on the other side far away from the fire ship kept their oars motionless. They hoped that this would make the bow of the ship turn sideways quickly, but as mentioned before, there were too many unfavorable factors. , the Shu people’s struggles at this time were of no use.
As two fireships collided with the side of Feng Xi's flagship, the fire in the flagship officially declared the defeat of the Shu Navy. A huge wave hit, but it did not extinguish the fire on the boat, but poured more kerosene onto the building. The long flames on the boat were like a giant snake sticking out its red tongue. Once it caught the ship that was following it, it ignited the firewood and oil on the ship with a bang, creating a small explosion! The fire spread quickly.
Feng Xi had to escape in a small boat surrounded by his cronies. When he was sinking on the river, he turned to look at the river and found that the burning ships began to drift toward the east bank unknowingly, and then bumped into them one after another. Some of the unfolded building ships collided with each other, and there was no room for escape. They were instantly engulfed by the surrounding fire. Most of the Shu army's building ships and sterns were ignited one by one, igniting the river surface into a fire. A blaze of red.
In this situation, the sailors operating the ships in the Shu army basically lost their chance of escape and could not cross the sea of fire on all sides. Painful howls came from the flames on the river, accompanied by the growing north wind.
