Chapter 541 Midnight Raid
Chapter 541 Midnight Raid
Ten days later, all the rice in Jiangdu County was harvested, and all the rice and soldiers crossed the Yangtze River.
At this time, Yuwen Shu also led an army of 200,000 to build a pontoon bridge across the Huai River and arrived in Shanyang County.
There were hundreds of warehouses in Shanyang County, but they were all empty. The official warehouses were naturally moved to the south bank of the Yangtze River, and the private warehouses were also moved away in advance because of the coming war.
Yuwen Shu was quite interested in these warehouses, as they could be used as transit warehouses for the logistics and food supplies of his army.
At this time, Chen Leng and Zhu Kuan also arrived in Shanyang County and paid a visit to Yuwen Shu.
Both of them were direct generals of the emperor, and Yuwen Shu did not like them, but he was rather polite to them.
In the temporary commander's tent, Yuwen Shu asked the two to sit down and asked with a smile: "Prince of Jin, no, the emperor has changed his title to Prince of Liang. How many troops does he have? You two should know!"
Chen Leng nodded, "130,000 troops!"
Yuwen Shu was immediately shocked. "130,000 troops! General Chen, are you sure?"
Chen Leng smiled bitterly and said, "What's so strange about this? He originally had 30,000 troops, and the emperor allowed him to recruit 20,000, and then add 30,000 naval forces, which makes 80,000. Later, after he suppressed the rebellion of the Shanyue people, he selected another 50,000 troops from the prisoners of war. Isn't this a total of 130,000 troops?"
Yuwen Shu nodded, "He hasn't fought against my army yet. Does he intend to defend Jiangdu City to the death and play an offensive and defensive battle with us?"
Chen Leng and Zhu Kuan looked at each other and laughed. "The general's intelligence is worrying! We knew it when the general had just set out with an army of 200,000. But now that the general has entered Jiangdu County, he still doesn't know the situation in Jiangdu. It's incredible."
Yuwen Shu's face darkened and he said, "I am asking the two generals!"
Chen Leng said calmly: "Xiao Xia has already retreated to the south bank of the Yangtze River. The army and supplies have been withdrawn, and even the crops in the fields have been harvested cleanly. General Yuwen must have enough warships to win this battle."
After Chen Leng and Zhu Kuan left, Yuwen Shu immediately ordered Zhang Xutuo to be the vanguard and led an army of 20,000 to quickly march south and occupy Jiangdu County.
Yuwen Shu called his deputy general Yu Juluo and said worriedly, "Xiao Xia is a ruthless man with great strategy. Since all his troops have gone south to defend the Yangtze River, he will definitely attack our fleet. General Yu will immediately send 20,000 troops north to protect our fleet and prevent it from being attacked by Xiao Xia's army."
Yu Juluo nodded and said, "I'll let Tu Wanxu go north. He's more careful and steady."
"Okay, let him lead the army north!"
Yu Juluo immediately arranged for Tu Wanxu to lead 20,000 troops to turn north to escort the fleet heading south.
Yuwen Shu's army moved south quickly, but the fleet was relatively slow. The more than one thousand large ships were the ships that the emperor had previously prepared for his southern tour, and now they had become a fleet transporting supplies and food.
At night, the fleet slowly moved along the canal. Several ships in the fleet were parallel and close to each other. The original stretch of 100 miles was compressed to more than 20 miles. This was a typical nighttime sailing. The distance was too far, and the guards could not control it. The fleet moved along the east bank. Five thousand cavalrymen guarded the fleet on the shore. There were five soldiers on each ship to prevent pirates. A total of 10,000 troops guarded the fleet. At this time, the fleet was in Xucheng County of Xiapi County, still 40 miles away from the Huai River. It would enter the Huai River at dawn.
At this moment, a large group of cavalry suddenly appeared on the west bank. It was the 4,000 cavalry led by Luo Shixin and Pei Xingyan. Why did they choose Xucheng County? Because the fleet here was going to enter the Huai River. The main army had already gone to Shanyang County a hundred miles away in the east to cross the Huai River, and the escort troops could only be on the east bank. If they were on the west bank, after entering the Huai River, they would inevitably be separated from the fleet, which was not allowed.
The fleet also had to go south along the east bank, enter the Huai River and then go along the north bank, so that it could always be protected by the army.
Therefore, before the fleet entered the Huai River, it was a good opportunity for an ambush. The soldiers drew their bows and arrows, lit the fuse with tinderboxes, and shot at the fleet more than 20 feet away. Four thousand rockets fell like a meteor shower and hit the fleet one after another. Hundreds of large ships carrying fodder were set on fire first, and the fire burned rapidly, soon setting the surrounding ships on fire.
The cavalry ran and shot, continuously firing rockets at the fleet and the soldiers on the opposite bank. The soldiers on the opposite bank were frightened by the rockets and dared not approach the shore. They could only shout and scream far away from the shore. Some soldiers also shot arrows in retaliation, but the distance was not enough.
An hour later, most of the ships were on fire, burning fiercely on the water like a fire dragon, and the soldiers on the ships jumped into the water to escape.
As three rockets were fired into the sky, the cavalry on the west bank turned around and ran westward, disappearing into the night.
The next morning, Tu Wanxu arrived with an army of 20,000. The scene before him stunned him. More than half of the 1,300 ships were burned. The soldiers moved some of the unburned food ashore. In addition, more than 400 ships survived. These ships were still being replenished in Xiaqiu County, 30 miles away. They did not follow the main force of the fleet and luckily escaped the attack of the Jiangdu army.
Tu Wanxu was helpless and had to move the remaining supplies onto the intact ships and escort more than 400 large ships towards Shanyang County.
The soldiers also fished out more than a hundred unburned rockets from the canal and took them away. This was because some soldiers were inexperienced and fired them prematurely, and the burning fuse went out after the rockets hit the river.
Tu Wanxu had never seen such a rocket before. As the matter was of great importance, he hurried to Jiangdu.
Yuwen Shu's army had successfully occupied Jiangdu, but to his disappointment, all the warehouses were empty. Xiao Xia did not leave him any food or supplies. Most of the people in the city had also left, and most of the young and strong men had left, leaving only a bunch of the elderly, the weak, women and children.
At this time, the news of the fleet being burned came. Yuwen Shu was furious and worried. He ordered the soldiers to search for food from house to house. Since Jiangdu was the hometown of the queen and the place where the emperor started his career, and the emperor had been running the country here for ten years, Yuwen Shu did not dare to act recklessly. He ordered all the soldiers to search for food, and anyone who dared to rape, burn or kill would be beheaded!
After two days of searching, they only found a few thousand dan of grain, which was not enough to feed the soldiers for a few days. However, there were large tracts of alfalfa and black bean fields east of Jiangdu, and tens of thousands of war horses solved the supply problem.
With the arrival of more than 400 ships, their food supply increased to 20,000 shi, and each person in the 200,000-strong army could get 12 jin of food. Yuwen Shu urgently ordered the counties along the way to transport food to support Jiangdu, and at the same time sent people to Luoyang to ask the emperor for food aid.
Inside the big tent, there were more than a hundred rockets on the table. These rockets were all rolled up into paper tubes, and the tails were not blocked with yellow mud, so they did not become firecrackers, but burned like fireworks. After being shot into the water, the gunpowder was soaked, and most of it flowed into the water. Basically, there was nothing special about them.
However, the two rockets did not fall into the water, but hit the east bank. Coincidentally, the fuse went out and did not burn. Yuwen Shu thus obtained two complete gunpowder arrows.
Yuwen Shu and several generals looked at the opened gunpowder barrel with serious expressions. There was black powder inside. They had no idea what it was.
But they knew about sulfur powder, so Yuwen Shu ordered, "Light it up with fire!"
A soldier used a torch to light the gunpowder on the table. The gunpowder immediately burned rapidly, releasing a large amount of white smoke. Everyone was so scared that they stepped back and leaned against the wall, watching the gunpowder burn. Everyone was stunned.
(End of this chapter)