"After three drums, kill if you don't come out!"

Facing the camp gate located in the bend of the river, which was not too high, Shen Zhezi resolutely ordered, and then a high-pitched drum sounded in the military formation.

At the same time, the left and right military formations also began to be adjusted, and the front row of armor and sergeants and shields were held together, quickly moving closer to the center of the command flag, and several sharp array charging formations were formed. The archers in the back row adjusted the strings and arrows, slowly changing formations, and slowly moved forward to the rhythm of loud drums.

The chariots and crossbows in the formation were all placed, and under the sanitation of the swords, shields, and armorers, they waded through the river bay and laid out a battlement one by one in front of the formation. The foot soldiers lined up on both sides of the array, and the ladder was erected without hurry. As soon as the drums stopped, the armor soldiers would use this as a base point to cross the battle line and charge forward!

All the way to the north, Shen Zhezi no longer knew that this was the first time he had put on a must-attack posture, and the targets were all the dock walls scattered on this land that had survived by luck. Sometimes he really felt the tenacity of human life, obviously this land was devastated by war, and there were few people, but soon after the army crossed, new people emerged every time.

At first, he still had good intentions in the face of these dock walls, this is a group of people who have survived a hundred catastrophes, and they also have the right to live. As long as it wasn't a dock wall building near the military road along the way, he didn't want to disturb the peaceful life of these people. However, after the march of the front army, there were repeated news of attacks in the rear army's baggage camp, and he understood that this woman's kindness was really out of place.

It is true that these remnants of the dock wall also have the right to survive, but it is precisely in order to survive that they wait for the opportunity to rush to the vicinity of the army, waiting for the opportunity to coax the funds. And even if they are forced by the military to raise their banners and surrender, it is better to turn their backs on them as soon as the army leaves, and it is worse to loot supplies in the name of friendly troops.

So Shen Zhezi is useless at the moment to teach people to be good and evil, only to show people power, and all the strongholds along the way will be uprooted, and no one will be left!

As the Yuzhou army set up a charge here, the camp was already crowded with people, looking outside. Although he couldn't see the faces of those people from too far away, and he couldn't hear what they were shouting, Shen Zhezi guessed that it was probably crying and screaming. In the past, he may have been soft-hearted about this, but now he has learned not to be moved. Instead of giving these people the illusion that they are closed and the world is peaceful, it is better to let them face the reality, who can survive in a catastrophe?

The second drum was about to fall, and there was finally a reaction in the camp, the gate of the village was slowly pushed open, and a group of people cowered and walked out, obviously in front of a group of white-haired and waddled old men. These dock walls seem to have such a conventional tradition, but whenever they come out, they must be the old man first, and Ding Zhuang is the last.

The old men trembled in fear and walked out, as if because the drums did not stop, the charge did not disperse, the footsteps hesitated slightly, they walked forward for a moment but paused for a moment, and after a long time they left the camp gate completely, and when they were still ten feet away from the sword and shield soldiers, the urging drums finally stopped. As the drums stopped, there was no shortage of people who were already weak and unsteady on their feet, slumped on the ground.

The Yuzhou army was no stranger to this scene, the front line was scattered, the chariots retreated, and then the rangers rushed out, circling these Dingkou for several weeks, and orderly separated the personnel. As for the Dingkou behind the town, they were also forced to stand under the wall, standing against the wall, and did not dare to turn back.

The original tense military appearance was slightly restrained, and then the rear battalion foot soldiers stepped forward, carrying two large baskets of bamboo chips, and ordered these dingkou to line up to receive the chips in households, compile them into the naturalization register, and then escort them to the back road along the waterway for resettlement.

The foot soldiers rushed into the camp and began to dismantle it in an orderly manner, and the scale of this camp was not small, gathering hundreds of households. When they saw that the home they relied on for their survival had been demolished little by little and collapsed into the dust, many people had already hid their faces and wept sadly. However, surrounded by armor swordsmen, he didn't dare to be presumptuous after all.

"Jin Zuo Dachang, with the plan to grant the field!"

The soldiers who were in charge of leading the people kept shouting such slogans, and regardless of whether they understood or not, they just drove the people to the vicinity of the river bay and lined up to get on the boats to carry them to the rear. On the bank of this river bay, three households drew one ding, and nearly 100 Ding Zhuang were drawn out and introduced into the rear town service camp.

Although there are a lot of people in this camp, the belongings are pitiful, and the grain copied out is only a few dozen hundreds, and there are many short-harvested beans and miscellaneous grains, and there is absolutely no rice. It can be seen that even if it is not breached, this grain reserve will definitely not survive the new harvest month.

When the gate opened, Shen Zhezi had already boarded the warship, and he was really not interested in enjoying that scene again. On the shore, Shen Mu was holding a bamboo spear, beating horses back and forth, constantly beating the river with the bamboo gun, hoping to attract Shen Zhezi's attention. However, Shen Zhezi just looked through the register on the boat, and didn't look up at it at all.

"You guys get out of the way!"

Shen Mu waded into the water and jumped onto the boat, waved his hand to repel the guards behind Shen Zhezi, and then bent down, his face slightly distorted and roared: "Northern Expedition, Northern Expedition...... Could it be that crossing the river is to tear down the door of these poor people's homes! ”

After Shen Zhezi heard this, his fingers paused slightly, he glanced up at Shen Mu, and said in a calm tone: "Spare you once, if you complain again, immediately remove your armor and cross the river!" ”

Shen Mu's face was stunned, and he was silent for a long time, and then he stepped on the deck with his legs up, and got off the boat to find the corner to exhaust the energy that had nowhere to vent.

Disturbed by Shen Mu, Shen Zhezi finally couldn't pretend to be calm, got up and went into the cabin, drew his sword, and slashed a few times in a row, and only after a long time did he leave the cabin again and ordered the front to be drawn.

Along the way, the dock walls and displaced people's strongholds in the area were cleared, and cantonments were placed along the way, and barracks were placed in prominent places to protect the grain road. It took Shen Zhezi more than half a month, and the front finally arrived at Fuling, where he had agreed to join Du He, and Tu Shui was vaguely in sight.

At this time, the main force in the direction of Chaohu Lake should have made a great breakthrough, right?

——————————

Shikou, located in the north of Chaohu Lake, is an important place for water to be injected into Chaohu Lake. From here, the waterway is no longer a vast expanse, but suddenly a trickle. Therefore, this crossing, like the mouth of the waterway, is the northward entrance and exit of this section of Chaohu Lake, and in the era of north-south confrontation, it is often used as a strategic place to strictly defend it, so as to strangle the waterway army from Jiangdong to this place.

The sky is cloudy and thick, the blue waves are slight, the drizzle between the sky and the earth is like weaving, the water vapor is dense, and the field of vision can hardly be called vast. The big ship broke the waves and headed north, and there was no shortage of fast boats on both wings, loaded with armor soldiers with guns and strings, and swept away many reeds along the way.

The side of the warship is much higher than that of ordinary ships, shaped like the arrow battlements of the city wall, with sharp thorn shields and built-in water-soaked hemp felt to prevent fire attacks. As the current becomes stronger, the boatmen and men are working hard to counteract the impact of the undercurrent and keep the boat moving forward.

Yu Yi was covered with scale armor, with an oval hood on his head, standing in the gap of the arrow stack, and his eyes looked at a confused water vapor in the distance, with a solemn expression. His naval army set out from the mouth of the water, all the way up the waves, almost no stops along the way, even the several dangerous points predicted before the departure, almost did not encounter large-scale interception.

The mouth ahead was already vaguely in sight, because the march was too smooth, and the arrival time was several days earlier than originally expected. It should be a good thing to go so smoothly, which just confirms their previous judgment, Huang Quan's lone division does not have enough troops to deploy along the way, and it is very likely that the main force will be built in for the battle under the city.

But Yu Yi was still a little uneasy in his heart, because the journey was so smooth that not only did he not even encounter resistance, but he even had almost no scouts patrolling from afar! Even if Huang Quan's troops are insufficient, can't he even send scouts?

This is no longer due to the lack of sufficient troops, it is more similar to Huang Quan, who seems to have completely abandoned external vigilance and obstruction, and even simply ignored the arrival of the Yuzhou army!

Such a strange situation really made Yu Yi a little uneasy, and he couldn't tell whether Huang Quan was cowardly or had other arrangements, so as to paralyze the Yuzhou army. Therefore, as Shi Kou got closer and closer, Yu Yi became more and more nervous, and even the confidence that he would win this battle when he sent troops earlier was a little shaken.

After all, he had never presided over this kind of war before, and this battle was related to whether his family could pay for his previous sins and stand firmly in the world, so he couldn't be cautious.

The ship was still moving steadily, only slightly jolted by the surging impact of the current. At this time, the ships in the rear accelerated one after another, and began to prepare for the impact of the waterway in front of them, which was already showing signs of contraction. Densely packed ships were laid around the main ship, and there were all armor soldiers waiting for battle as far as the eye could see, which made Yu Yi feel a little relieved.

Yu Yi opened his pocket and patted his cheek, sweeping away many distracting thoughts in his heart, and there was no way out of the march so far. Even if Huang Quan made other arrangements, his most important task at the moment could only be to capture Shikou and give the army in the back road a pass to continue advancing!

"Attack!"

With an order from the big ship, the majestic drum beat suddenly sounded, and the more agile fast boat rushed out of the ship formation like an arrow off the string with the sound of the drum, and rushed towards the land ahead of which the outline of the camp was already hidden!

In charge of the camp in the front was Han Huang's department, a boat of twenty people, three ships in a column, the bow row of shields was oblique, the back armor of the soldiers was painted scarlet, half holding a bamboo spear that was more than a foot long, and half holding a bow and crossbow ready to buckle the strings and arrows at any time!

The view gradually became clearer, and the staggered barracks on the shore were also crowded, but the biggest threat was the bamboo fence hook that spread more than ten feet outside the coastal berm. It is difficult for the fast boat to rush here, and occasionally the two or three are too late to rush into the grid, and the front boat immediately hit the hidden wooden stake, and the light boat is lifted, and many soldiers have fallen into the water!

The water is even more dangerous, the wooden stakes of different heights under the water waves are shaped like chaotic reefs, especially the live ropes on the wooden stakes are sharply stabbed, and there are many fallen sailors whose hands and feet are broken through the hook, and the blood spreads on this water surface in an instant!

The bows and crossbows on the follower boat fired in unison, and the less violent arrow rain on the berm was instantly suppressed, and the rows of shields that were originally used to block the arrow rain at the bow were also removed one by one, and the soldiers unloaded their armor and swam across the row, and used wooden mallets to shoot out the rows of shields floating on the water, and a large number of rows of shields swept across the water, and soon several not very solid pontoon bridges were built!

"The first credit of the shore grabber!"

Han Huang led more than a dozen personal soldiers to rush onto the pontoon bridge, and his waist was full of two pots of arrows to open the bow left and right, and every arrow was sure to hit within a distance of more than ten zhang! The soldiers raised their arms and shields in one hand, held their guns in the other, howled and rushed forward, and the iron ropes hanging from their waists quickly whipped the water like snakes, and rushed towards the berm on the shore!

The arrows fired from the berm gradually became messy, and then a large amount of dry grass and driftwood were ignited and pushed down the berm, and a raging line of fire spread along the shore! However, in the face of the Yuzhou army that continued to rush forward, these lines of defense gradually collapsed, as the first iron cable was brought to the berm and firmly embedded in the soil, the pontoon bridge erected on it became more stable, more and more pontoon bridges were erected, more and more soldiers rushed up, and the embankment was soon washed away!

When Yu Yi's big ship arrived, Han Huang had already led the army to complete the assault on the camp on the shore, but when he met Yu Yi who came ashore, there was not much joy of victory on his face, he just stepped forward and whispered: "It's an empty camp......

It is not enough to force thousands of soldiers, but there are only a thousand guards inside and outside this camp, and the slight obstruction caused is only based on the terrain, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the camp is empty!

When Yu Yi heard this, his expression also suddenly froze, this felt like a charged blow but empty, which made people uneasy!