Guo Qifeng nodded confidently: "There is an answer! Commander Bao, I can now be convinced that Li Jiangyao and the others just want to attack Jiuzi, and most likely they will adopt the tactic of a sneak attack by the entire army."
"Why do you see it?" Bao Yuchun asked patiently.
"Obviously, a scout general like Zhao Shuo would never have gone to the enemy to conduct reconnaissance in person unless a war was imminent." Guo Qifeng analyzed: "In fact, it was because Li Jiangyao would also participate in the war by then, so Nie Xianzang ordered him Take action to ensure that most of them are safe!"
Bao Yuchun nodded when he heard this: "Well, there is some truth to this guess. If I were to march in front of the formation in person, our scouts and generals would also be extremely nervous and would definitely come to investigate in person to ensure nothing goes wrong."
After Bao Yuchun's approval, Guo Qifeng immediately became energetic and continued: "Since Zhao Shuo has arrived at the front line, it means that the enemy's action is approaching. Combined with the time he just mentioned casually, on the 18th of this month, humble duty A bold guess is that this may be the day when the Zhenjiang Army sneaks into Jiuzi!"
Bao Yuchun sneered: "People often don't have the opportunity to think carefully about the lies they tell in emergencies. Therefore, the eighteenth day of this month is probably, as you think, the key moment for Zhao Shuo to be imprinted in his mind. . Even if you don’t hit it, it should be a day or two before and after that.”
Guo Qifeng couldn't help but said excitedly: "Based on this, we still have at least three days of preparation time, and we can definitely give Li Jiangyao a big surprise. If God bless him and let him fight with the ship, maybe we can do it this time Let the majority of the guards of the Zhenjiang Army never come back!"
After hearing this, the calm and seasoned Bao Yuchun couldn't help but be moved: If Li Jiangyao is killed or captured alive in this battle, half of the world's great struggle will be successful!
He stood up suddenly and stared at the subordinates in front of him: "Do you think the Ninth Banner is sure to hide it from the enemy's eyes and ears and secretly join the battlefield downstream?"
"As long as the deployment is careful, there will be no problem!" Guo Qifeng responded loudly: "We are the well-deserved first navy of Shengtang. Fighting on the river, we are far behind in controlling the territory!"
Bao Yuchun nodded slightly and said with a sinister smile: "Okay, Qifeng, you will be in charge of this battle! As long as we can block the Tenth Army at Xiabacha and our Nine Flags fleet can arrive in time and concealed, Li Jiangyao will definitely intervene. Wings can’t escape, hahaha!”
-
A Pegasus scout ran into the coach's tent and shouted loudly: "It's moving! It's moving!"
Xu Youchang turned around, stepped forward to help the scout who almost fell, and asked: "Is it the Ninth Flag?"
"Yes, Xu Shuai!" The scout couldn't hide his excitement: "The 1st, 4th, and 5th Battalions of the Ninth Banner of the Chizhou Rebels and the 2nd and 3rd Battalions in Shuzhou have begun to mobilize and assemble! Their The operations are very secretive and are carried out furtively in the middle of the night. In the outer waterways, the warships of the seventh battalion are still cruising, as if everything is business as usual."
Xu Youchang shouted "Okay", turned to Li Jiangyao and said: "It seems that Zhao Shuo has successfully deceived Bao Yuchun!"
Li Jiangyao also nodded slightly: "The enemy mobilized the Ninth Flag at this time, indicating that they confirmed that the Zhenjiang Army was preparing to attack Jiuzi Fortress in a large scale, and decided to engage in a two-sided siege battle halfway up the road."
He raised his hand and gently traced the map along the river with his fingertips, finally stopping at a place marked with the words "Daxingzhou".
This is a zigzag-shaped waterway on the river. The river makes two bends in opposite directions at this location, and the distance between the two bends is only ten miles.
Xu Youchang walked to the map and couldn't help but sigh: "Sometimes, I really admire your whimsical thinking. Using the army to fight the navy, I'm afraid only you can figure it out."
Hearing this, Li Jiangyao didn't have any special reaction. He just asked: "How are the preparations of various ministries?"
Xu Youchang knew that he was concerned about the success or failure of the war, so he respectfully raised his hands and replied: "Reporting to the Protector-General, the Shenji Battalion of the Second Army and the Fifth Army arrived in the dense forest along the Daxingzhou River yesterday, and another three hundred specially recruited Sixty trebuchets can enter the ambush position and be debugged and calibrated by tonight at the latest. The number of kerosene bombs and giant crossbow arrows has also been doubled in accordance with your instructions."
Li Jiangyao nodded with satisfaction: "Well, they did a good job. How about the Kunpeng Army?"
Xu Youchang responded: "I have discussed it with Nie Xianzang. He will be responsible for leading the troops to guard the area around the Upper Eighth Branch and the Lower Eighth Branch to prevent Bao Yuchun from noticing something is wrong and leading the rebels to rescue. The task of intercepting the Ninth Banner was given to Luo Yuan .”
Li Jiangyao agreed with this and signaled Xu Youchang to continue.
"Nie Xianzeng's feint attack blocking force consists of about two hundred warships, and the rest will be taken away by Luo Yuan." Xu Youchang introduced: "They will arrive near Daxingzhou in advance and deploy two hundred large ships at the front and rear of the zigzag waterway. Ship. As soon as the Ninth Flag enters there, it is guaranteed to be completely blocked."
Li Jiangyao thought about it seriously, shook his head and said: "If the Ninth Flag wants to cooperate with Bao Yuchun's strategy of flanking attacks, they must sneak up and come secretly. In this case, they will definitely send out a pathfinding ship in advance to carefully and search Move forward. Luo Yuan's fleet can easily be discovered by the opponent."
Xu Youchang felt that this statement was reasonable and couldn't help but frown: "What should we do? If we don't arrange an ambush to cut off the enemy's retreat, the Ninth Banner can completely retreat to Chizhou in the event of an attack."
After thinking for a moment, Li Jiang looked at the map from a distance: "Are there any tributary rivers in the upper reaches of Daxingzhou where troops can hide?"
Xu Youchang raised his hand and pointed: "Here. There is a small river three or four miles away from Daxingzhou. However, I remember that the draft there is not deep enough, so I am afraid there is no way for large warships to hide."
"Then change to a small boat!" Li Jiangyao said firmly: "Ask Nie Xianzang, Luo Yuan and the others to discuss corresponding countermeasures. Even if they all use small boats, we must cut off the Ninth Flag's retreat!"
Xu Youchang responded in a deep voice: "Understood, I will go find them two immediately, change the original plan immediately, and come up with a new method!"
-
Guo Qifeng stood on the flagship platform, looking at the thick fog covering the river, and couldn't help but feel anxious in his heart.
This kind of weather is definitely an advantage for attacking but not for defending.
Even if we put aside offense and defense, an encounter on the river would be very complicated due to the foggy sky.
Tomorrow will be the eighteenth day. According to the scout report, the Zhenjiang Army fleet located in Wuwei Water Village has entered the final stage of preparation. All 50,000 troops have boarded the ship, and 600 warships have raised their sails and will leave the dock at any time and sweep towards Jiuzi downstream.
After Bao Yuchun received the news, he immediately ordered Guo Qifeng to lead more than 500 warships under his command to line up out of the port, slowly go upstream against the enemy, and intercept the Zhenjiang Navy in the Lower Eight Branches of the Waterway as planned.
At the same time, Bao Yuchun sent people to light beacon smoke and send signals every five miles, notifying the Ninth Banner of Chizhou, which was more than 200 miles upstream, to set off quickly and secretly come to join the battle.
According to common sense, plus the time required for sailing on the river, Guo Qifeng blocked the path of the Zhenjiang Tenth Army at Xiaba Branch. The two sides could only fight for half a day before the Ninth Flag could reach the battlefield and launch a surprise attack from behind the Zhenjiang Navy. , giving it a fatal blow.
However, the current foggy weather makes Guo Qifeng feel a little uneasy.
After hesitating for a moment, he issued an order to slow down the entire fleet again. At the same time, he changed the Trident Formation into a Crescent Formation and changed it into a defensive formation early.
Veteran sailors all know this truth: be careful when sailing a ship that lasts forever. Guo Qifeng is no exception. In such spooky weather, there's no telling when the Zhenjiang Army will suddenly emerge from the thick fog, so it's better to be cautious.
Anyway, my task is just to block them, whether early, late or wherever, it doesn't matter.
Compared to Guo Qifeng's cautiousness, the Ninth Flag, who was ordered to rush for reinforcements, looked completely different.
The mist that filled the river immediately made the commander of the Ninth Banner feel happy. The order he received was to secretly attack for two hundred miles, reach the waters downstream of Wuwei at full speed, and cooperate with Jiuzi's main force to encircle the Zhenjiang Army.
The most important point among them is the word "secret".
The people of the Ninth Banner were a little worried before, walking such a long way on the river, how could they completely avoid the eyes of the scouts and sneak up behind the enemy by surprise.
However, it now seems that all these worries are unnecessary.
The reason is simple - even God is on the side of Ninth Flag!
In the mist, the commander of the Ninth Flag issued an order: the whole army should speed up and rush towards the lower reaches of the river!
With this kind of excellent cover, what else is there to hesitate about?
As a result, the two hundred and fifty-six warships under the Ninth Flag of the Rebel Army raised their sails and waved their oars, continuously increased their speed, and headed downstream desperately.
However, what they never expected was that the nightmare came unexpectedly less than halfway through the journey.
Thirty pioneer warships responsible for opening the way rounded the first bend of Daxingzhou. Just as they were about to turn the second bend, they ran into a huge and imposing fleet.
The other party was obviously waiting for them here. As soon as the vanguard ship showed its head, thousands of rockets penetrated the thick fog and shot through the sky.
In the blink of an eye, the seven or eight warships at the front were completely covered by rockets, their sails burst into flames, sailors died, and the vanguard suddenly fell into chaos.
At this time, the main fleet behind was still accelerating, preparing to turn into this ten-mile zigzag waterway.
The heavy fog in the sky really obstructed the view. Although the main fleet had heard the gong alarm sounded by the vanguard ship ahead and noticed that they seemed to be panicking because of the attack, but because they could not see anything clearly, the entire team did not make the most appropriate response. The ship's speed was reduced and it was approached slowly.
But such a speed is still enough for the entire Ninth Banner to enter the Daxingzhou Waterway. When the last two fighting ships responsible for guarding the rear also turned the corner, a sudden change occurred on the quiet north bank of the river.
Hundreds of kerosene bombs with blazing flames rose into the sky!
