In the dusk and westerly wind of August 28, a fleet of ships was sailing down the Yangtze River.
Most of the ships in this fleet were large grain-carrying ships plying between the major water systems in Huguang. They were forcibly recruited by Wu Guogui's soldiers to the Junshan Naval Base Camp near Yuezhou. After some transformation, they became A large arson ship capable of going into battle.
In addition to firewood, these arson boats also contained large cans of fire oil—these were sticky fire oil with gum arabic added!
This method of adding gum arabic to the fire oil tank was taught by Zhu Heji to Wu Sangui who was fighting against the Qing Dynasty in his early years!
The people who were manning the boats were all officers and soldiers of Wu Zhou's right army. They were not Wu Sangui's old subordinates. They were all fishermen or water bandits in Dongting Lake. They were all well versed in water and good at sailing.
However, the morale of these Wuzhou navy officers and soldiers who looked quite strong and well-equipped was a bit low.
These people were all bullied by the officials and soldiers of the Qing Dynasty. That is the suffering of the world! Moreover, the Qing army and the Nanming army had a long-term tug of war in the Huguang area...
So they all joined the Wu and Zhou Army out of hatred for the Qing Dynasty, hoping that they could quickly overthrow the Qing Dynasty and restore the Han world.
Unexpectedly, Wu Zhou had suffered from internal and external troubles in the past two years, and now he was attacked by the Ming Dynasty in the east, and he even joined forces with the Qing Dynasty to fight against the Ming Dynasty!
It's so ironic that he turned against the Qing Dynasty and became an ally of the Qing Dynasty...
And now they have to bring the fierce fire oil that should have been used to burn the Qing soldiers to burn the Ming Dynasty's water camps and warships... This is really painful for relatives and happy for enemies!
Could it be that this wave of anti-Qing causes will follow in the footsteps of the Nanming period?
Although these people were unhappy, Wu Zhoujun's military discipline was still quite strict. Wu Guogui sent his own servants on these fireships to supervise the battle, and all the sailors could only sail the boats under the command of these servants.
In addition to the fire ships, there were ten or twenty real warships in the fleet, all of which were fast ships that could use both oars and sails. Each ship is equipped with at least six sub-cannons. .
There are still twenty-four strong oarsmen sitting in the cabin, carrying long oars and not rowing. The wind is smooth now, and of course there is no need for them to contribute, but after the fire is set, these twenty oars will be fast. The ship will be responsible for gathering the officers and soldiers on board who set fire to the ship, and then retreat together. At that time, it will have to work hard to paddle.
On one of the warships, a general wearing shorts but an iron helmet on his head was standing on the bow of the ship, holding on to the railing.
This general was Zhou Zhenbiao, the right general of the navy under Wu Guogui. He was also a water bandit in Dongting Lake. After Wu Sangui invaded Hunan, he rose up and responded, and he got his current official position. He originally wanted to fight against the Qing Dynasty and drive out the captives, and by the way, he joined Wu Sangui because of a certain background.
He was quite disgusted with the drama of Lian Qing's attack on Ming and the Wu family's internal strife, but now he seems to be in high spirits!
Because Wu Guogui not only gave him a "labor fee" of 10,000 silver dollars, but also gave him the full truth - he was not here to burn down the Ming Dynasty this time, but to betray the Qing Dynasty!
Later, it was a "fake burning"... an act for some bullshit Prince An of the Qing Dynasty.
If Prince An was fooled, he would take one hundred thousand Qing soldiers to kill them all. If they could finish them off in one battle, the Qing Kingdom would almost be in ruins.
Then the world will be at peace!
I really didn't expect that his new boss Wu Guogui, who looked upright with thick eyebrows and big eyes, was actually full of bad ideas. This time, he helped Kang Mazi sell the Qing Dynasty... and sold it for one million silver dollars. He was really good at doing business.
If you follow a boss like this, are you still afraid that you won't be able to enjoy spicy food in the future?
In the dusk, the fleet led by Zhou Zhenbiao passed by a sandbar, and what suddenly appeared was the Zhaizha stretching along the south bank of the Yangtze River.
From a distance, dozens of wooden boats can be seen forming a circle on the water, connected by ropes, forming a large water camp.
There are hundreds of wooden boats, large and small, moored in the water camp. Each wooden boat is filled with flags of various colors, fluttering in the wind and fluttering in the wind.
Further on the water, there is a pontoon bridge that connects the north and south of the river.
Zhou Zhenbiao quickly raised his telescope and carefully observed the water village and floating bridge in the distance.
Through the dim light, he only found some motionless "soldiers" standing there... These "soldiers" were probably blind. They didn't notice the fleet approaching rapidly on the river at all, and they remained motionless. move.
This is a trap!
Moreover, this was a huge trap that cost a lot of money. If it really burned, the scene would be spectacular!
"Hurry up and beat the war drum!" Zhou Zhenbiao shouted, "Charge the fire ship!"
With a burst of rapid drumbeats, his order was quickly conveyed.
"Quickly, break the jar!"
"Quickly fill up the sail and aim the bow towards the water village!"
"Aim the bow at the pontoon...quickly!"
The servants on the fireship received the order and immediately began to issue orders.
After a while, dozens of flaming wooden boats appeared on the river. Driven by the wind and flowing water, he quickly rushed towards the deserted water village and the wooden bridge across the Yangtze River.
…
"It's burning, it's burning, please look, Your Majesty!"
From a watchtower on Chibi Mountain, a shout like a silver bell suddenly came out.
This is Wu Tu who returned from Yuezhou cheering. The "fake burning" on the river means that his father did not take Zhu Heji's money in vain.
When Wu Tu shouted, Zhu Heji was holding a telescope and looking at the endless plains on the north bank of the Yangtze River. He still doesn't know where the Qing army is?
But he knew they were coming!
So once the Qing army's scouts saw the fire on the Yangtze River, they would definitely rush out to die!
Hearing Wu Tu's cry, Zhu Heji immediately lowered his head and looked towards the river. At a glance, I found burning ships, water forts, and pontoons.
Because the Wu Zhou sailors who came to set the fire used sky fire mixed with strong fire oil and gum arabic, and the lit wooden boat was loaded with a lot of firewood. So the fire was very fierce, and soon the river surface was blazing into the sky!
The northwest wind is blowing increasingly hard on the Yangtze River, and the fire is spreading with the wind!
Soon, the fire burned through the circle of serial boats outside the water village and burned into the middle of the water village. One wooden boat after another was set on fire, and the scene was extremely spectacular.
Seeing the scene of burning Red Cliff, Zhu Heji thought to himself: "Now that the sky has darkened, even if you are dozens or even hundreds of miles away... you should be able to see the red sky here in Chibi Mountain, right?"
…
"It's burning! It's burning! My lord, look, the sky is burning red."
"God bless the Qing Dynasty! Your Majesty, please give the order to send out troops quickly."
"Your Majesty, please send troops quickly. If it's too late, the puppet Ming army may escape."
"Your Majesty, send out troops!"
In the Qing army camp by the Changxia River, many generals also saw the sky illuminated red by the fire, and they all rushed to Prince An Yue Le to ask for a fight.
And Prince An Yue Le has been on the watchtower since the evening, holding a telescope and constantly looking in the direction of Chibi Mountain. It can be said that I watched the fire in Chibi Mountain burn.
Yue Le, who had just stepped down from the watchtower, also seemed extremely excited. The fire on the river can be seen clearly from such a distance, so it is obviously not a fake. Otherwise, the cost would be much higher!
Thinking of this, Yue Le had already made up his mind, but he did not give the order immediately. Instead, he asked: "Where is Wu Guogui? Is he leading the team?"
"Report to the prince, he personally led the team." Xue Zhang said to Yue Le: "Wu Guogui's 50,000-strong army is crossing the Yangtze River on the Junshan pontoon bridge. Even if they march day and night, they will not reach Wulin until tomorrow evening."
Yue Le nodded and said: "It's not too late, we should be able to catch up... Let's go ahead and give the order!"
Yue Le looked at the generals surrounding him. Many of them are elderly and gray-haired, but they are still fighting for the Qing Dynasty. His tone also became a little solemn: "Send orders to the three armies, the survival of the Qing Dynasty depends on this battle..."
"嗻!"
