Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 81: Burning the Camps (Subscription Request)

Outside Heyang City, Kang Maocai's main force of 10,000 men, plus 5,000 civilian laborers, were ready to go, and Bao Yu went out of the city to see them off.

"Your Excellency, please be careful. Luzhou and Chao County are connected by a waterway. The enemy reinforcements will arrive in an hour. You must be careful!"

Kang Maocai smiled and said, "I sent someone to inform the Wuwei navy at noon, asking them to pretend to attack Chaohu from Ruxu River. Calculating the time, they should have started now.

"With the Wuwei navy as a distraction, the Chaohu navy's main force is divided into three parts, one in Chao County, one in Lujiang, and one in Rushu River. Even if Lu Jin still has ships, he can't send reinforcements immediately."

Seeing how confident he was, Bao Yu immediately reminded him, "Are Liao Yongan's troops still there who are attacking Lujiang?"

Kang Maocai nodded immediately. "Just now, we received news that Liao is still besieging Lujiang. He even had a fight with the Lujiang garrison commander at noon today. He won't be back so soon."

After a pause he continued.

“Chao County is close to Heyang, but far from Luzhou. Now Chao County only has a navy to defend the city. I only need to besiege the city and wait for Luzhou to come to help.

"If Lu Jin dares to send troops to help, even if we march quickly, it will take two days. I can wait for them to tire themselves out and find an opportunity to annihilate part of them. As long as we can kill their generals, we can take the prestige of a great victory and attack Chao County with the bandit leader. The morale of the Chao County defenders will be shaken, and they can flee or defend. I can take them down in one go."

Kang Maocai looked very confident, and he was just about to shout "The advantage is mine".

Bao Yu smiled upon seeing this, and immediately bowed and said, "Your Excellency is right. I wish you a successful return with a victory by beheading the enemy general!"

Kang Maocai was stunned when he heard this. Was Bao Yu calling him lord?
Could it be that this scholar, seeing that he was about to achieve a great victory and had an immeasurable future, was openly pledging his loyalty to him?
Kang Maocai was happy. Bao Yu had helped him a lot during his recovery period, and it was Bao Yu who gave him advice on fighting the war. If he could really get Bao Yu's full support, it would be a real help in the future.

He said immediately.

"I'm grateful to Yuxiu for helping me deal with military and political affairs recently. Now that I'm about to go to war, I'll leave Heyang City to you."

Kang Maocai bowed to Bao Yu in return and suddenly shouted, "Bai Guangtai!"

"The end will be here."

A military general suddenly stood up behind Bao Yu. This man was the commander of the Jiangfang Navy stationed in Hezhou Port. Now that Kang Maocai had put all his strength into the battle, he transferred Bai Guangtai to Heyang to defend the city.

Kang Maocai made further arrangements, "You are not familiar with city defense. While I am away on the expedition, you should listen more to Mr. Yuxiu's advice and follow his arrangements. Keep Heyang safe for me."

"Yes, I will obey your orders."

Bai Guangtai immediately clasped his fists and accepted the order.

Bao Yu bowed again and said, "Don't worry, my lord. I will definitely take good care of Heyang City for you."

Kang Maocai was happy when Bao Yu called him "Lord" twice, but he did not think much about it. He just thought that Bao Yu was showing his loyalty to him.

At this time, Kang Maocai noticed that there was a young man next to Bao Yu, dressed like a scholar and looked unfamiliar, so he immediately asked, "Who is this person next to you, sir?"

Bao Yu was stunned, looked at the person next to him, immediately reacted, and introduced him immediately.

"Oh, envoy, please allow me to report. This is my cousin in Anfeng, named Cao Liangchen. He went to Luzhou to look for me a while ago, but found that Luzhou had been occupied by rebels. After making inquiries, he learned that I was working in your mansion, so he came to me for help.

"I tested him the other day and found his knowledge acceptable. I am planning to recommend him to you when you return from this battle. Perhaps he can be a clerk in your government."

"Hahahaha." Kang Maocai burst into laughter.

"The talent recommended by Yuxiu is definitely not just mediocre. Wait until I return victoriously, and I will definitely make arrangements for this cousin of yours."

Cao Liangchen was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurried forward to bow and say, "Thank you very much for your support, sir."

"Okay, you guys keep an eye on the city for me, I'll be back in a few days."

After Kang Maocai left, Cao Liangchen returned to Bao Yu and whispered, "Mr. Sui is great. Kang Maocai actually values ​​you so much that he even gave you the city defense."

Bao Yu immediately said seriously, "Captain Cao, please be careful with your words. If others hear us, our lives may be in danger."

Cao Liangchen dressed like a scholar. He bowed to Bao Yu and said loudly, "Thank you for recommending me."

Bao Yu said helplessly, "Alright, alright, stop acting. How many people did you bring into the city?"

Cao Liangchen immediately said seriously, "With the help of Mr. Sui, we have disguised ourselves as house builders and sneaked into the city with 200 people. However, the city gates are strictly checked, so we didn't bring any weapons in."

Bao Yu immediately said, "That's easy. There are still some weapons in the armory in the city. I'll write you a note and you can take my badge to the armory to get them."

Cao Liangchen was stunned and impressed. He didn't expect that Lu Jin would actually send a spy over and he managed to get such a high position. He sneaked into the city empty-handed and even got weapons and equipment from the Yuan court's arsenal. What kind of treatment was this?
When Bao Yu and Bai Guangtai returned to the city, Cao Liangchen finally came to his senses and hurriedly followed them.

When Bai Guangtai saw him coming over, he bowed to him and said, "Mr. Sui and Mr. Cao are both very popular figures around the Marshal. I hope you two will support and take care of us in the future."

Cao Liangchen quickly responded, "General Bai, you are too modest. I am just working for you, my cousin, to earn a living. Let's support each other in the future."

The group returned to Heyang City.

Kang Maocai was on the way to Chao County. Not long after the army set out, Kang Maocai called over his cavalry general Lu Changyi.

He ordered him to lead 500 light cavalry to scout Chao County first, and then send some people to scout westwards, always keeping an eye on whether there are reinforcements in the direction of Luzhou, and report immediately if there are any unusual movements. "Yes." Lu Changyi immediately took the order and left.

Kang Maocai had a large number of land and sea forces, but very few cavalry. Only these 500 cavalrymen could be used together. He also had some horses, but they were scattered among the various armies.

After the cavalry scouts left, Kang Maocai called the infantry general Li Jun beside him.

I asked him, "Any news from Wuwei Water Village and Lujiang?"

Li Jun immediately replied, "Reporting to the commander, I received another report this afternoon. The Lujiang Liao bandit's troops are still besieging the city. Everything is normal. The Wuwei navy has also received the order and is preparing a feint attack. I'm afraid the fighting has already started now."

Kang Maocai then nodded with relief. At this time, even if Liao Yongan received the news, it would be too late for him to come back.

However, what he didn't know was who sent him the information reported in the afternoon.
On the afternoon of the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, four fast horses galloped frantically from Lujiang County towards Wuwei. They were scouts sent by Kang Maocai to keep an eye on the movements of Liao Yongan's troops.

At noon today, after Liao Yongan had been shouting and cursing outside the city for several days, the Lujiang garrison commander finally couldn't bear it anymore. He sent a young centurion from the garrison to challenge Jin Chaoxing in a duel, but was killed in battle outside the city. The defenders were terrified and dared not go out of the city to fight, and could only stay in the city.

Then Liao Yongan withdrew his troops back to the camp as usual in the afternoon. During the days of the siege, he would return to the camp every afternoon to rest. After all, he couldn't just stand under the city all the time during the siege.

The defenders were used to it and did not notice anything unusual. The same was true for Kang Maocai's scouts. However, after two hours, there was still no movement in the camp, so the scouts became suspicious.

Someone bravely went forward to check it out. Although the flags were still flying in the camp, there was no one there. This was not a military camp at all. It had been deserted for a long time.

When they went to Chaohu Lake again, they saw that the Chaohu Navy's ships were gone. Liao Yongan and several thousand people from the Third Regiment had actually escaped right under their noses.

The scout did not dare to delay for such important military intelligence and hurried to Wuwei to report the news. However, he was intercepted and killed on the way. It seemed that the other party had planned it in advance and arranged cavalry to intercept him here.

There are only four left out of the dozen scouts, and there are more than twenty Red Scarf Cavalrymen chasing them. The one responsible for robbing and killing them is Li Wang, a young spearman under Hua Gao.

Li Wang was not only good at using the lance, but also quite good at archery on horseback. He followed the scout of the government army, drew his bow and shot an arrow. With a whoosh, another scout fell to the ground and was immediately killed by the red-turbaned cavalry who followed.

Li Wang rode his horse and chased them for more than 20 miles, and finally killed all the dozen cavalry sentries. Then he sent his cavalrymen to change into the enemy's clothes, horses, flags and waist badges, and ran to Wuwei to tell them that Liao Yongan's troops were still besieging the city.
Therefore, the last message Kang Maocai received just now must have been false news sent to him by Li Wang.

Liao Yongan's Third Regiment had disappeared from Lujiang in the afternoon. Given the speed of the navy, half a day had passed, and no one knew where his Third Regiment had gone.
At Wuwei Water Fort, Kang Maocai's order was received normally. The commander of the water fort, Wu Xiangrong, immediately dispatched troops, assembled more than 200 large and small ships, and headed upstream towards the mouth of Chaohu Lake.

It was already past five in the afternoon. They were heading from east to west. As the sun shone from the west, the water of Ruxu was sparkling, and it was impossible to see what was under the water.

The mouth of Chaohu Lake is an important water checkpoint. The Chaohu navy also set up a water fort here, and small boats patrolled the Rushu River every day.

As soon as the government navy arrived, the patrol boats immediately started fighting with them, and some people went to Chaohu to report the news.

Wu Xiangrong did not stop them. What he wanted was just a feint attack to attract the Chaohu navy. The more the better. Therefore, he did not stop the Chaohu patrol boats at all.

The two sides fought slowly, and the Chaohu patrol boats retreated towards Chaohu Lake while fighting.

The patrol boats on both sides were small boats with very shallow draft. They fought all the way to the mouth of Chaohu Lake and did not find anything wrong.

Until the navy ship led by Wu Xiangrong caught up, it crashed into the seven-star pile in the water with a bang. The large ship was stranded and stuck in the water by the wooden pile, unable to move forward or backward. The entire fleet was forced to stop.
Wu Xiangrong didn't realize anything was wrong until then.

Setting up hidden stakes in the water is a very common method in inland naval battles to block the waterway. The Chaohu navy set up hidden stakes to block their attack. Although Wu Xiangrong was a little surprised, he was not shocked.

Instead, he said contemptuously to the Chaohu Navy, "I heard that they have thousands of ships and occupy the upper reaches. With such an advantage, they actually block the waterway by themselves. They are so cowardly. It's ridiculous, ridiculous. It seems that the Chaohu Navy is no more than this."

After all, this method of setting up hidden stakes and cutting off waterways is a way for the weaker party to defend itself. The Chaohu navy clearly has an advantage over the Wuwei water stronghold's detachment, but they still resorted to this, which was indeed a bit cowardly.

However, a sailor from the government army noticed something was wrong and shouted loudly, pointing at the north bank of the Rushu River.

"General, look at the north bank. What is that?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Xiangrong looked and found that there was a raised embankment on the north bank, like a small hill, with one end of the hill inserted into the water, facing the location of their fleet.

If it was just a naturally formed hillside, there would be nothing wrong with it. However, this hillside seemed to have been modified by someone. Many bamboo poles were erected vertically on the hillside, and they were lined up one by one along the slope and extended into the river.

If Wu Xiangrong had seen a transmission track or a railway, he would definitely recognize it. It should be a device like a slide rail.

At this moment, thick smoke suddenly appeared on the high ground on the north bank, and a raging fire broke out. Small boats loaded with firewood and on fire were pushed down from the top of the slope.

The fireboat followed the tracks made of bamboo poles and rushed towards the government navy that was stuck in the Ruxu Water by the Seven-Star Piles at a very fast speed.

Seeing this scene, the government navy was furious. Wu Xiangrong even shouted, "Oh no! The Chaohu bandits have ambushed us. Retreat quickly!"

However, the navy was not infantry, let alone cavalry, so it was not so easy for them to withdraw. The Rushu River was not very wide to begin with, and now their large ships were stuck together, making it difficult for them to turn around. By the time they wanted to run away, it was too late.

One after another, fireboats rushed from the hillside on the shore into the government navy.

It is now late autumn, and the wind is blowing from the northwest. Especially here is Chaohu Lake, where you can see "waves" inland. There is a huge area of ​​water evaporation effect, so there is often wind here.

Now the fire ship was coming towards them in the wind, and the raging fire, with the help of the wind, quickly ignited the sails of some government troops and navy ships. Once the sails caught fire, the ship's tower and awning were also ignited, and soon the entire superstructure was also on fire.

There is one more chapter, I will code it even if I stay up late
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(End of this chapter)