The water of the Yellow River is not deep, it is not difficult to cross the Yellow River from Luoyang to Kaifeng, whether it is to cross the Yellow River in the north of the camp, or to cross the Yellow River in the south of the Manchu Dynasty, you can easily set up a pontoon bridge on the Yellow River to let the army pass. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

It's just that in order to save the precarious situation, the Qing court dispatched the Shandong Navy Division into the Yellow River. This is not the Xiaoice period of more than 20 years ago, the climate is much warmer, the Yellow River is not easy to freeze, and the water division can play a role in entering the Yellow River. Even if winter falls and the Yellow River freezes, the ice will not be very thick, and the Qing army can chisel through the ice.

It was precisely because of the Qing army's sailors running rampant on the Yellow River that the Wu army could only defeat the Qing army's sailors first if they wanted to cross the river.

The weather is getting colder day by day, and it is not easy to cross the Yellow River in the cold winter, except during the Xiaoice River more than 20 years ago, when the Yellow River can form a thick layer of ice, and thousands of troops can directly pass over the Yellow River ice. Now that the Xiaoice River period has passed, the Yellow River cannot form such thick ice, crossing the river in winter, the soldiers are wearing thick cotton clothes, once they fall into the water, they will soon drown and freeze to death in the water, so Wu Sangui does not plan to choose to cross the river in winter.

"Report!" The Wu army spies sent an urgent letter, "The camp has begun to attack Baoji!" According to the progress of the camp, you can attack the pass before the first month! ”

"Dashuai, the speed of our Northern Expedition is still a little slower!" Gao Dejie said worriedly, "We still have to wait until the weather warms up before we can cross the river, and by March next year, the camp has stabilized Guanzhong!" If they go north to Shanxi and enter Zhili from Shanxi, we will fall behind them! ”

Xia Guoxiang said: "If our army enters Guanzhong and goes upstream, it can cross Weishui, and then attack north, cross the Yellow River from Shanxi, and enter Shanxi, then it can directly attack the Beijing Division!" ”

Wu Sangui shook his head: "Since the clan has promised the grandson-in-law of the clan not to fight for territory and merit with the camp, then the clan can't be untrustworthy!" What's more, now that the King of Jin is helping our army, if he turns his face with the camp again, the relationship between the King of Jin and our army will also be stiff, and then it will be cheaper for my grandson-in-law! ”

Liu Xuanchu said: "Handsome and wise! With the strength of our army alone, we can't compete with the handsome's grandson-in-law! We must not only win over the King of Jin, but also find a way to fight with the camp and turn the war into a jade silk, so that we can compete with the King of the South in the future. ”

Lin Xingzhu stood up, arched his hand and said, "Handsome!" At the end, we will be sure to cross the Yellow River before the first month! ”

"General Lin, our army is going to cross the river in winter?" Wu Sangui was taken aback, "The climate is cold in winter, and the river has already begun to form ice, which is not conducive to the operation of the water division!" The climate is not as cold as it was 28 years ago, and it is impossible for the Yellow River to be thick with ice, and soldiers and horses cannot pass through the ice. ”

Lin Xingzhu said: "Marshal, winter is not conducive to the operation of our army's naval division, and it is also not conducive to the operation of the Tartar naval division!" The last general is willing to make a military order, defeat the Tartar sailors before the first month, and erect a pontoon bridge over the river! ”

"Now that there are less than two months left until the first lunar month, General Lin is sure that he will complete all the preparations of the water division in such a short time?" Wu Sangui asked.

Lin Xingzhu replied: "Great Marshal, the time for the last general to train sailors is too short, and there is no real warship, so naturally he cannot be called elite. But the last general observed the Tartar sailors on the river, and although the Tartars had a few large boats, the Tartars were actually vulnerable! As long as the last general leads people from the river into the Yellow River, he will be able to annihilate the Tartar sailors! ”

"Good!" Wu Sangui was overjoyed, "As long as General Lin has any needs, just ask!" Everything this domain can do is for you! ”

Since Lin Xingzhu served as the chief general of the Wu Army's naval division, he cut down trees in the Luoyang area, built a number of improvised warships and a large number of rafts and bamboo rafts, and prepared to cross the river to fight.

On the banks of the Huanshui River, the Wu army's auxiliaries, Minzhuang and craftsmen were busy cutting wood.

With the cooperation of craftsmen, the auxiliaries and Minzhuang cut off the branches and leaves of the felled wood, tied the wood, and made large rafts. This kind of raft is five zhang long and two zhang wide, and is tied with large wood as thick as a bucket, tied with iron wire and thick hemp rope, and fixed with a wedge. The raft is also surrounded by a wooden fence that can be hung with anti-arrow wet felt, making the raft more protective than the sampan. The raft was large enough to accommodate thirty-five sailors and was equipped with a Franc cannon. In fact, this kind of raft is equivalent to a small warship.

The bamboo raft is equivalent to a sampan, and there is a bamboo baffle in front of the bamboo row of the Wu army that can stand up, which is covered with thick wet felt, which can be used to resist the shooting of feather arrows and bird guns, and a bamboo row can carry twelve sailors.

As for the simple warship designed by Lin Xingzhu, it is actually a simple centipede clipper.

The craftsmen cut down the wood into pieces of planks, planed them, nailed the planks together, coated the outside with a layer of tung oil, and had compartments in the cabin to create simple centipede clippers. This type of boat is made of wood that has not been dried, and when it is soaked in water for a long time, the planks will deform and the boat will disintegrate. But it doesn't matter anyway, these are all one-off warships, as long as the Wu army crosses the Yellow River, these ships will complete their mission.

This simple centipede clipper is seven feet long and one foot two feet wide, and can carry forty-five sailors. However, the deck of the ship was bare, with no mast and no sails, and it was entirely a paddle row, with a Franc cannon in the bow and stern, and gunners and archers.

Lin Xingzhu also designed a kind of mine sampan, which was designed in imitation of the pole mine boat of the Qiongzhou army, except that instead of a bicycle boat, it was an oars rowing boat, and there was a bamboo pole in the bow of the boat, which could blast the mine onto the Qing army's boat.

Mines are not difficult to make, Wu Jun imitated a batch of mines, but failed to solve the problem of collision flint fuses, so the fuse sealed with paraffin wax and can burn in water was used to ignite the mines. As long as the pole mineboat approaches the Qing army's sand boat, sends the mine to the Qing army's ship, and ignites the fuse.

On the surface of the river, Wu soldiers were braving the bitter cold, practicing on small boats, improvised warboats, rafts and bamboo rafts on the water. To tell the truth, the Wu Army Naval Division is a newly established naval division, and the warships are all shoddy disposable items, which are not elite at all, but with the help of Lin Xingzhu, the general of the naval division, it is not a big problem for this naval division to defeat the Qing Army's naval division.

The members of the Wu Army's Naval Division, except for some of the newly recruited recruits, or the soldiers who were selected from the Wu Army's infantry who were familiar with the water, the rest of the Wu Army's sailors were all old troops recruited by Lin Xingzhu, and most of them were some water bandits from the Yangtze Riverside lakes. They once worked in the Yangtze River Water Division of the Qing Army for a period of time, and after being dispersed by the Qiongzhou Army, some water bandits hid among the people. Now that Lin Xingzhu has raised the banner of Wu Jun's water division, these people have come to join their old master again.