Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 324 Sneak Attack
When night fell, Huang Xudong and the accompanying soldiers returned to the Ming army camp.

At this time, in order to build the strength of the Ming army, Wang Yan had already led his army to leave Yicheng and advance a hundred miles northward.

When Wang Yan learned that Huang Xudong had returned to the camp, he couldn't help but heaved a sigh of relief. He asked his personal guards to bring Huang Xudong to the big tent, and greeted him personally: "Mr. Keyuan risked his life to plan for the Qing camp, please accept Yan's respect." .”

Huang Xudong bowed back and said: "You don't have to be like this, I have to thank you for giving me this opportunity to become famous in the world, haha~"

Seeing Huang Xudong's expression, Wang Yan knew that the plan had been successful, so he smiled slightly, "It seems that Azige and Wu Sangui will retreat to the north bank overnight tonight, and the Qing army on the North Road will return to Henan sooner or later. thing."

Once the Qing army retreats to the north bank, the previous efforts to attack Xiangyang will be in vain, and the morale will drop sharply. The Qing army is trapped in the food road for too long, so they can only retreat to Henan. Just eat.

It can be said that Wang Yan took great pains in order to make the Qing soldiers retreat northward, and then transfer the main force to Jiangxi, to deal with the crisis after Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Qing.

"I observed in the Qing camp that Wu Sangui did have the intention of withdrawing troops. He tried his best to save my life. After all, once the Duke's reinforcements arrived, it would be difficult for him to take down Xiangyang. In addition to the loss of Wuchang, Xiangyang has become useless. Wu Sangui was afraid that the Duke would destroy the pontoon bridge and cut off his way back, so he let me back and pretended to accept the challenge, but in fact he was ready to retreat.” Huang Xudong recalled: “However, Azig seems not to be reconciled, although he promised the country public challenge, but I fear he may have other plans."

Logically speaking, the Qing army knew that the Ming army had a large number of warships, and the pontoon bridge on the Han River was in danger of being destroyed, so they must retreat to the north bank of the Han River, which is safer, but Azig’s surname is rude, and I’m afraid it will not follow common sense play cards.

Hearing the words, Wang Yan frowned slightly, and after thinking for a moment, he said: "If he doesn't retreat, he will definitely try to burn our ships tonight, but I can't let him find out that there are no war ships at all, they are all small boats for transporting supplies and food. .”

The current in the upper reaches of the Han River is relatively fast. It is difficult for small boats and ordinary boats to move fast against the current with only the power of oars, and even trackers are needed to go upstream.

Most of the ships in Wang Yan's hands were small boats conscripted, but they could not complete the task of attacking the floating bridge of the Qing army at all. Only wheel boats and large ships could sail quickly in the countercurrent, but Huguang was inland after all, and its status was not high. It is very important, so it is rarely equipped with large warships, and the wheel boats are complicated in craftsmanship and the production cost is too high. They flourished in the Song Dynasty, but became rare in the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, the Ming army did not have the ability to send ships to break through the Qing army's blockade and burn down the Qing army's pontoon bridges in the upper reaches of the Han River. Wang Yan just covered some small boats with cloth, just bluffing.

"I feel that Azig's attack may not necessarily be a bad thing. As long as he is hurt, he will obey the Duke's wishes and stop fighting obediently."

Hearing this, Wang Yan nodded slightly, and after thinking for a while, he called many generals in the camp to discuss and arrange strategies.

A while later, a group of staff and generals came to the big tent, and Wang Yan then told everyone about the situation, asking them to analyze Azig's possible surprise attack strategy.

After Jiang Yueguang listened, he stroked his long beard and thought, "There is still General Gao's army in Xiangyang City. Even if Azig makes a surprise attack, he will not use all the troops, and he will not even participate in it. The matter of the surprise attack is yours." In secret, I guess he will have no more than [-] soldiers and horses, and the soldiers must be divided into two groups, land and water, and our goal, in addition to defeating the Qing soldiers and demonstrating their strength, the most important thing is not to be discovered by the Qing soldiers. , we have no warships capable of breaking through the blockade and burning the pontoons."

Hearing the words, Wang Yan became clear in his heart, "Azig's purpose must be to destroy the ships and eliminate the threat of the pontoon bridge being destroyed. In this way, he can continue to garrison the south bank with peace of mind. Then we will use ships to carry out this battle. How about the layout?"

Once the combat objectives are understood, it is easy to formulate the next specific tactical plan. All the generals and staff members have advised, and a big net is slowly opened, just waiting for the big fish to drill in.

In the middle of the night, more than 100 small boats and rafts appeared on the Han River. These were ships built by Wu Sangui to attack the pontoon bridge connecting Fancheng and Xiangyang.

Now the Qing soldiers have repeated the same trick, piled dry firewood and kerosene on the bow of the ship, but the target has changed, and it has become Wang Yan's boat parked by the river.

At this time, a general of the Qing army stood on the boat, scanning the river carefully, avoiding the possible Ming army sentry boats, but what he didn't know was that there was also a small boat among the reeds on the bank of the river, avoiding them. them.

The general of the Qing army was Gaodi, the soldiers of the Eight Banners and Guan Ning.

The tactics of the water army are complicated, but fortunately, Gao Di has previous experience in burning bridges, and this time he is also going downstream. He only needs to ignite the firelight piled up on the bow of the ship, and directly crash into the Ming army fleet. , the degree of difficulty is not too great.

Gaodi's task was to destroy the warships of the Ming army, and as soon as the river was on fire and Obai received a signal, he would lead the ambushed cavalry to attack Wang Yan's camp, not to mention destroying the [-] Ming army, but also As a result, Wang Yan was defeated and returned to Yicheng, so he did not dare to go north easily to help.

At this time, Gaodi was still a little nervous. He was actually not willing to accept this sneak attack mission, because these hundred small boats and rafts had no combat power at all. Apart from sneak attacks, once they encountered Ming warships, they would almost die. undoubtedly.

The water system in the south is wide, so the water surface of the Han River is [-] feet wide. The fleet sailed in the middle of the river, and it was easy to hide under the darkness. They slowly went down the river and soon approached the temporary water of the Ming army stronghold.

On the bank of the river in the distance, there were countless ships of the Ming army moored, which looked like a series of hills in the dark night. Seeing this, Gao Di suddenly became nervous.

Seeing that there were no lights on the ship, he was overjoyed, thinking that the Ming army did not rest on the ship, which would undoubtedly make it easier for him to launch fire attacks and burn down more warships.

"Look, General~"

At this time, a Qing soldier pointed to the river, but suddenly shouted.

Gao Di was planning how to attack the water stronghold of the Ming army, and when he heard the call of the soldiers, he looked up immediately, but saw a big fire suddenly ignited by the river in the distance, and he immediately turned pale with shock.

He had just seen the Ming army's water fortress, but there was a pile of fires on the riverside. Naturally, he would not think that it was caused by the Qing soldiers. Cold sweat broke out on his back, and he shouted: "Hurry up~turn the bow~"

Outside the camp of the Ming army, the Qing army had been ambushing for a long time. Seeing the fire erupting by the river, Oboi was overjoyed, "Gao Di has succeeded, Manchu warriors, follow me to level the Ming camp."

(Today is late, thanks to Fengyun Danqi, book friend 0850, Huang Style's monthly pass, which will be updated next month, thank you for your support)
(End of this chapter)