On the morning of the second day of August, Quanzhou City.
A siege battle ended in a hurry. Outside the city wall from Linzhang Gate to Yicheng Gate, broken and burning rams, ladders and other siege equipment were scattered in a mess.
More than 40,000 bandits, carrying nearly 2,000 corpses, gradually retreated to the camp three miles away.
This place is bordered by the Jinjiang River to the west and the West Lake to the east. It was originally a town. The residents there were luckier than those downstream and had time to move and escape.
Nowadays, the town has been occupied and turned into a bandit camp, but not even a fence has been erected. There are many hastily built shacks around it, which looks very messy.
Those who can stay in the town are naturally the backbone of the rebels. There is a large house covering an area of 18 acres in the northwest of the town, which is where the central army of the rebels is located.
The owner of the house, whose surname is Lin, has been building ships for generations. He has three shipyards under his name. He is also a well-known figure in Quanzhou. Since the banditry began, his family has hid in the city.
The Lin family not only occupies a large area, but the house is also decorated with carved beams and painted beams, with numerous terraces. The main hall is even more magnificent. At this time, dozens of key figures of the rebels gathered to discuss matters.
Sitting on the main seat was a big man, Liao Rang, the nominal leader of the bandits. He just kept yawning and looked depressed. He didn't look like a person in charge at all.
On the other hand, the scribe sitting next to him had a majestic appearance and an air of official authority even if he said nothing. He was none other than the 'missing' Tingzhou magistrate Zhang Yanran.
He looked down at Pu Shousheng and asked, "Brother Xinquan, my nephew leads more than 15,000 people. Why do we still need support?"
Pu Shousheng explained, "I received a letter from a pigeon half an hour ago. My nephew said in the letter that King Yan's troops occupied a mountain ridge to build defenses, and there were nearly 3,000 reinforcements, so it was difficult to capture it in a hurry. It can be temporarily besieged. If it takes four or five days, it can be slowly eaten down, but things will change later. It is estimated that King Yan's second batch of troops will arrive in about three or four days, so this is the plan for now. , we can only send more troops to deal with King Yan as soon as possible, and then take advantage of the situation to capture Fuzhou. As for Quanzhou, as long as the people inside know that King Yan has been defeated, how can they still have the heart to resist?"
"What you said makes sense. Compared to others, King Yan is our top target." Zhang Yanran nodded, and after weighing it, he said, "Without further delay, Xia Jing, you can immediately mobilize Seven thousand elites..."
Although there are nearly a hundred thousand thieves outside Quanzhou City, most of them are rabble-rousers who pretend to be numbers. The only ones who can really fight are the private soldiers and bandits supported by powerful powers in various places, which only number about seven or eight thousand.
Xia Jing is the commander of the left-wing army stationed in Tingzhou, and he is considered one of the few real generals among the rebels.
After listening to Zhang Yanran's order, he immediately went to gather troops and horses. More than an hour later, he boarded the boat prepared by the Pu family and headed north to the sea.
More than 50 seagoing ships had a smooth journey and arrived at Xinghua Bay in the afternoon. A guiding ship appeared in front of them. Pu Shiwen on the ship greeted them and signaled the fleet to follow him.
Pu Shousheng had no doubts and followed Pu Shiwen's ship to Jiangyin Island.
Jiangyin Island is a long island located in the north of Xinghua Bay. It is nearly forty miles long from north to south. There is only a waterway more than two miles wide between the west coast and the mainland.
After more than twenty miles to the north from the waterway, we docked, only four or five miles away from Mianting Ridge, so everything made sense. Pu Shousheng didn't notice anything was wrong, and let the fleet continue to follow into the waterway.
On both sides of this waterway, many seafood farms were built in later generations, making it much narrower. However, at this time, the water was deep and wide.
Pu Shiwen led them to the landing site, where more than a dozen trestles had been set up to dock, and not far from the shore was a hill called Houshanwei.
Pu Shousheng looked at the prepared trestle and saw more than a hundred people on the shore to greet him. He couldn't help but praise his nephew for his thoughtfulness.
Also satisfied with Pu Shiwen's work was Zhao Mengqi, who was watching everything with a telescope on the back slope of the mountain behind.
Originally, he planned to rush directly to Quanzhou to rescue the siege, but the old and cunning Chen Wei proposed a new plan, which was to trick Quanzhou into sending support troops again.
Seeing that the plan had been basically successful, Zhao Mengqi couldn't help but sigh, "The old ones are still hotter. The bachelor's fishing plan not only allows us to easily eat the backbone of the thieves, but also effectively reduces the pressure on Quanzhou, and it can continue Just wait for a day or two, and when our follow-up troops arrive, we can completely encircle the rebels."
Chen Wei smiled faintly, "At most, we can postpone tonight. By tomorrow, they should know the truth."
"That's true, but even if there are no follow-up troops, the seven battalions in my hands now are enough to deal with the eight or ninety thousand bandits who have lost their backbone. It's just that many of them choose to flee when the situation is not good. In fact, it doesn't matter. , we have to clean up all of Fujian anyway."
The seven battalions mentioned by Zhao Mengqi are two Masi battalions, four Dongwei battalions and a firearms battalion. As for the militia battalion and Yongzhuang battalion, they can only undertake auxiliary tasks.
While he was talking, Pu Shousheng and a dozen guards had already gone ashore. He walked quickly to Pu Shiwen and asked eagerly, "How is the battle going?"
A trace of struggle and embarrassment flashed across Pu Shiwen's face, but it was undetectable. "We attacked several times in the morning, but we were all beaten back. The casualties were quite heavy. Even the third child was slightly injured."
"What? Did Shisi go into battle himself? Why didn't you stop him?" Pu Shousheng was anxious and angry.
Pu Shiwen said quickly, "The third child didn't go into battle. He was just a little closer and was pricked in the foot by a stray arrow. It's not a big problem."
"Take me to see him immediately." Pu Shousheng was probably anxious to see the specific situation on the battlefield.
Pu Shiwen looked at the 'reinforcements' that were landing one after another, and told Qi Tianliang, "You will be responsible for this."
Then he said to Pu Shousheng, "Uncle, please follow me. The third child is in the village behind this hill."
Pu Shiwen took more than 20 of his guards and led a dozen of Pu Shoucheng's people to the west.
When he rounded the end of the back mountain, Pu Shousheng looked up at the hill and saw a flash of armor in the forest. He couldn't help but wonder, "Why are there still soldiers and horses on this hill?"
When Pu Shiwen heard this, he gritted his teeth and said, "Uncle, I'm sorry, I didn't want to either..."
At the same time, he raised his hand and flashed a cold light, and cut Pu Shousheng's throat with a sharp dagger.
Pu Shousheng subconsciously covered his neck with his hands and looked at his nephew in disbelief, but he couldn't say a word and could only sneer.
This scene shocked Pu Shousheng's guards, who immediately covered their mouths, then felt a chill in their throats, and followed in their master's footsteps.
After throwing away the body in his arms, Wu Qiong took off his helmet and smiled at Pu Shiwen, who was looking at the dagger in his hand.
Pu Shiwen came to his senses and said with a smile, "General, thank you."
Among his more than 20 bodyguards, except for three who were with him personally, the others were from the special service team, so he did not dare to have any small thoughts because he was afraid of his life.
No abnormality was found at the temporary dock. There was a ship docked at each pier, and then another ship of the same specifications came up to the side and was fixed with cables, and then a third or even a third ship came. Four ships.
In this way, people can be unloaded without taking turns to stop at the trestle, which can save a lot of time.
More than half an hour later, more than two thousand thieves came ashore one after another and gathered in the wilderness in front of the hills to wait.
Xia Jing was still on the stern of her ship, looking at the slow landing speed, a little annoyed, but helpless.
Suddenly, he inadvertently looked to the south and saw dozens of ships approaching.
What's even more strange is that after arriving five miles away, these ships began to lower their sails one after another, and turned their hulls sideways to lower their anchors. It seemed that they were going to block the waterway.
This scene gave Xia Jing a shuddering feeling, and she immediately realized something was wrong.
His ghostly expression all fell into Zhao Mengqi's eyes, "Are you aware of it now? It's too late... Give the order, the mortar fires!"
There was a burst of thunder, and four black iron balls were thrown into the air from the hills, and then fell in an arc, hitting the dense fleet of ships.
Three of them fell onto the ship, and then exploded violently, shocking the earth. A large number of various fragments sputtered out from the fire.
One fell into the water and exploded into a spray of water several feet high. The circular waves spread violently, causing nearby ships to shake.
Zhao Mengqi twitched the corner of his mouth, "The power is not bad, but it's a pity that these ships... Give the order, direct artillery and rocket launchers fire."
The direct artillery attacks are still ships. They don't want to cause many battle results, but they want power.
The rocket launcher has a limited range and is aimed at the dense crowd of thieves in front of the hills.
Twenty rocket launchers, a total of 400 rockets, flew out and a group of demons danced wildly, screaming and falling towards the general area in various strange trajectories.
Explosions sounded continuously among the thieves. Red fire, black blood, and white smoke enveloped the area of 100 feet. A small part of it fell in a completely deserted place, leaving only a lonely place.
Fortunately, Qi Tianliang and nearly a hundred people started running towards the hills when the sound of mortar firing sounded, and escaped this wave of accidental injuries.
The thieves on board had killed more than a hundred people with mortars and direct cannons, and they were so frightened that they went completely crazy when they saw the horrific scene on the shore.
There was chaos on all the boats. Thousands of people were running around trying to find a safe place to hide. In the end, more and more people chose to jump into the water and swim to Jiangyin Island.
"The whole army attacks." Zhao Mengqi gave the order.
With the sound of drums and trumpets, four battalions of Dongwei came down from the hills and slowly surrounded the temporary dock in an orderly array.
At the same time, the sound of drums and trumpets also sounded along the coast of Jiangyin Island, and rows of crossbow-wielding officers and soldiers appeared, waiting for the thieves in the water to fall into the trap.
The rebels have completely collapsed, and the routine is coming to an end.
More than an hour later, the battle report was compiled. There were more than 8,000 bandits and sailors in total. The more than 2,000 bandits who came ashore were mostly dead or injured. Nearly 2,000 people were captured on Jiangyin Island, and nearly 3,000 people were found on the ship. , there are hundreds of corpses floating on the water.
Fifty-three ships were captured, seven of which were seriously damaged, but they were basically repairable. As for weapons and the like, Zhao Mengqi didn't care much.
The officers and soldiers suffered more than 60 casualties, most of which occurred while searching the ship. Including yesterday's battle, more than 700 people were killed and injured, including the militiamen Yongzhuang.
The total number of captured enemies reached more than 13,000, and more than 140 large and small ships.
So Zhao Mengqi left Chen Wei to deal with the aftermath, and he took a boat with 3,000 people and rushed to Quanzhou overnight.
