Sukh Saha said coldly: "That's also a helpless move! The pontoon bridge between the two cities was broken, and our army could not send envoys into Fancheng, so they could only give an order with fireworks to let the defenders of Fancheng go out of the city and attack the Minggou artillery. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info"

"But the pontoon bridge has been cut off by Minggou, and if the fireworks signal is issued, Minggou will know that the defenders of Fancheng are going to counterattack. Once Minggou is prepared, the defenders of Fancheng will inevitably suffer heavy losses when attacking, and the possibility of success is extremely small. "Suna Kaido.

"Even if Fancheng can send troops to make a surprise attack, it will be nine deaths! Minggou has always been steady, and they cut off the pontoon bridge, which is to cut off the opportunity for the defenders of Fancheng to counterattack. The Minggou Sailor was cruising on the river, and the defenders of Fancheng could not sneak attack at all, so they could only attack! Then let them storm once, maybe there's still a chance. "Sukh Sahadao.

Wohe asked very worriedly: "Su Zhongtang, Gong Rong, the guard general of Fancheng, is a Han, will this person disobey orders and not send troops?" Or even forced by us to rebel? ”

Sukh Saha said: "Don't worry! With Lord Zhou in Fancheng, Gong Rong has no courage to rebel! His family is in Nanyang! As long as he dares to rebel, the court will definitely not let his family go! ”

After dawn, the artillery bombardment of the fourth day of the Ming army began, and this day the shelling became more ferocious, and more artillery was transported by the sailors to smash the overwhelming shells on the Xiangyang city wall. The roaring of artillery continued until dark. When it got dark, the Qing army in Xiangyang City aimed in the direction of Fancheng and issued two fireworks signals, one red and one green.

"The Tartars in Xiangyang City have sent a signal! Signal to Fancheng! "Seeing the signal of the Qing army, someone has already come to report to Wang Xinyu and others.

"What does it mean that the Tartars signal fireworks?" Wang Xinyu asked Chen Yonghua, who was in charge of intelligence.

Chen Yonghua replied: "According to the Tartar password, flag language and signal secret order we cracked, this is the order of the Tartars of Xiangyang to let the Tartar defenders of Fancheng on the opposite side come to attack our artillery position. ”

"Tartars are crazy, aren't they? The pontoon bridges were all interrupted by us, the river was controlled by us, and they wanted to cross the river to attack? It's incredible! Wang Xinyu was taken aback.

Wang Yuyou said: "If Xiangyang is lost, the Tartars of Fancheng will be alone, and they will not even have a place to run, and they will be annihilated by us except to surrender." So Suke Saha simply made up his mind and let Fancheng's Tartars take the initiative to attack, which can be regarded as a gamble, anyway, it is nothing if you lose the bet, and if you win, you will earn it. ”

"The river is in our hands, how can the Tartars get by?" Wang Xinyu sneered.

After receiving the fireworks signal from Xiangyang on the opposite side, Gong Rong, the general of the Qing army stationed in Fancheng, walked back and forth in his mansion anxiously, and he didn't know how to deal with the matter.

Zhou Youde, who was the governor of Hubei at the time, said: "General Gong, Minggou occupies the river, and I only have 5,000 green battalion soldiers in Fancheng City, and more than 15,000 people are strong and brave. But you and I are both courtiers of the court, and there are orders from above, how can we disobey orders? ”

"Hey!" Gong Rong sighed, "If our army forcibly crosses the river, I'm afraid it will be a snow to fill the well!" It doesn't help at all! ”

"Even if it is death, it can be regarded as loyalty to the court! What do we regret? Zhou Youde, who is the banner of the Han army, said awe-inspiringly.

Gong Rong secretly scolded in his heart: Zhou Youde! You are a banner man, so naturally you have to be loyal to the Tartar court! But Lao Tzu is Han! Why did the brothers come out and die in vain? Originally, it was planned that once the city of Xiangyang was broken, Gong Rong would surrender to the Ming army. But now, Sukh Saha wants the green battalion soldiers and people of Fancheng to go out of the city and send them to death!

Thinking that his family was still in Nanyang and under the control of the Qing court, Gong Rong said helplessly: "Zhou Futai, you can send troops from your humble position, but our army can't all go out of the city!" If they all go out, who will guard Fancheng? ”

"It doesn't matter if Fan Cheng doesn't defend it! If Xiangyang City is broken, can Fancheng still be defended? It's better to go out, if you can destroy the Minggou artillery, it can be regarded as keeping Xiangyang, and you and I can also enter Xiangyang City! "Zhou Youde said.

Gong Rong knew that he couldn't disobey his orders, and he originally wanted to let Zhou Youde be escorted and handed over to the Ming army, but considering that his family was still in the hands of the Qing court, he had to agree to send troops.

In the dead of night, at three o'clock in the morning, the Qing army in Fancheng opened the city gates, went out of the city, and boarded small sampans, rafts, and bamboo rafts parked on the river. Five thousand green battalion soldiers and 15,000 people rowed small sampans, rafts, and bamboo rafts, and quietly rowed to the opposite shore under the cover of night. But the Qing army didn't know that their every move was actually watched by the secret sentinels of the Ming army secretly arranged.

At that time, there were no electric lights, crossing the river at night, it was pitch black in all directions, and the Qing army did not dare to shoot torches, so it can be said that it was very dangerous to cross the river overnight. But when the military order was issued, no one dared to disobey it.

Just when the Qing soldiers and the people were rowing hard to the opposite shore, some boats capsized, and some people accidentally fell into the water, and the Qing soldiers had just left the shore not far before there were non-combat casualties.

In the camp of the Ming army, the soldiers woke up Wang Xinyu: "Marshal, the Tartars are really going to cross the river overnight and try to attack us!" ”

"Good!" Wang Xinyu put on his clothes, put on his armor, and walked out of the Chinese army's tent.

The Ming army sailors on the Han River have long been in battle, and after receiving the order, the Ming warships hung out lanterns to illuminate the river surface, and the nearby river surface was illuminated in a large area, as long as the Qing army approached, it could not hide from the eyes of the Ming army.

"Minggou has been on guard for a long time! They lit the lanterns! Gong Rong, the chief soldier of the Qing army, said.

However, in the dark, the Qing army did not light the torches themselves, although it was not easy to expose themselves when attacking the opponent, but now the surprise attack no longer exists, and the Qing soldiers who were blind in the dark could not even command, first, they could not use the flag to send orders, and second, there was no lantern language, Gong Rong could not give orders to the Qing army at all, and could only watch the small boat rowed by the Qing soldiers rowing towards the opposite bank according to the established plan.

On the small boat of the Qing army in front, the Qing soldiers saw the torches lit on the river, and most of the Qing soldiers had already retreated, and they knew that they could only die in vain if they rushed hard.

Now that the surprise attack has failed, it is necessary to turn into a strong attack, and in the dark, the orders and signals of the Qing army cannot be transmitted, so they can only fight separately. It is clear that there was confusion in the Qing army in front, and some people planned to surrender as soon as they passed; Others planned to row their boats upstream to avoid the Ming navy.

On the dark river, there was great confusion among the Qing troops, and many boats and rafts collided together, and the Qing soldiers on board fell into the water one after another. There were no colliding Qing boats and rafts, some fled upstream, some went downstream, and some simply rushed directly to the Ming army, ready to surrender when they arrived.

"Whoosh" a Ming warship fired a rocket, and a firework rose on the river, illuminating a large area of the river.