On the sixth day of the first month, ugly time.

Liu Wenxiu sat on the first wooden boat and ordered the heralds to give the signal to start the attack.

Zhang Xianzhong asked for two hundred wooden boats, can not be raised in a short period of time, the first day of the fifth day, only raised more than 30 wooden boats, the total attack is more than 80 wooden boats, far from meeting the requirements, but time waits for no one, the righteous army can not know all the deployment of the Ming court, if there are a large number of Ming troops to come to help, then the righteous army will lose the opportunity to attack Xiangyang Fucheng, forced to evacuate, there is such a situation, no one wants to see, Liu Wenxiu pleaded to Zhang Xianzhong to explain the situation, Let Zhang Xianzhong agree to attack with eighty wooden boats.

There is no shortage of boatmen in the rebel army, in order to ensure the number of attackers, more than 80 wooden boats, even the boatmen are the rebel sergeants, a total of 3,000 rebels to participate in the attack, these people are carefully selected, they are the most powerful sergeants in the rebel army, they must hold on for more than an hour, waiting for the second batch of sergeants to gallop to help, if these 3,000 sergeants can not insist, then the first attack of the rebels will be declared a failure.

This is something that Zhang Xianzhong can't bear, not that he can't lose 3,000 soldiers, but his righteous son Liu Wenxiu personally participated in the attack, Zhang Xianzhong couldn't convince Liu Wenxiu, and in desperation, he sent fifty personal soldiers around him to protect Liu Wenxiu, no matter whether the attack was a victory or a failure, Liu Wenxiu's safety must be protected.

The river was very calm, and the wooden boats were like arrows from the string, rushing towards the sailors of the Ming army on the opposite bank.

In the fourth and fifth days of the first month, there was not much movement in the Ming Army's naval division, and the only thing I saw was about 50 warships of the Ming Army's naval division, heading in the direction of the north, as for what to do, Zhang Xianzhong and Liu Wenxiu were not clear.

The scouts had already watched carefully. There were about 300 warships of all sizes in the Ming army's naval division on the opposite bank, and the warships transferred to the north this time were all larger, and it was said that the righteous army would not attack from the north, so the transfer of the Ming army's warships also became a heart disease for Zhang Xianzhong and Liu Wenxiu.

The offensive has begun. With 80 ordinary wooden boats, against the warships of more than 200 Ming troops, with 3,000 righteous soldiers, against 5,000 Ming army sailors, this seems to be a bit of a suicidal attack, but at this juncture, there is no way to control so much, Zhang Xianzhong's righteous army, I don't know how many blows have suffered. At the worst time, there were only a few hundred people left, and if they didn't survive, even if the attack failed, it was a big deal to make a comeback.

The wooden boat charged to the middle of the river, although it was dark all around, but the torches on the Ming warship still illuminated the heart of the river, which made Liu Wenxiu strange. The Ming army's sailors didn't make any moves, could it be that the Ming army was so sure.

The commander of the sailor turned pale. During the day, according to the requirements of the general, he had just mobilized fifty warships to the north, gathered near the north gate of Xiangyang, and there were five hundred sergeants who followed the dispatch. There are ten people on each ship, to ensure that the warship can sail smoothly, and the people who have been dispatched are elites, and the commander takes the time to concentrate all his money on the warship, once the city of Xiangyang can not be defended. Then evacuate quickly.

At this moment, the sergeants guarding the more than 200 warships were only those who had come before, and some of them even had only one or two people left on them, so it was impossible to start the warships, let alone launch an attack.

The warships on the river, different from the warships on the sea, whether they are large or powerful, are much smaller, large fortune ships can not travel on the river, the sailors are mainly Haicang ships and Cangshan ships, these two types of warships, can move quickly on the river, according to the configuration of the sergeants, the Haicang ship can be equipped with more than 40 sergeants, the Cangshan ship can be equipped with more than 30 sergeants, and the sailors are also corresponding, the Haicang ship needs nine sailors, and the Cangshan ship needs four sailors.

The Haicang ships owned by the Xiangyang Navy Division were basically mobilized to the North Gate, and each Haicang ship was equipped with ten sailors, but the remaining about 1,500 sergeants, no matter how they were configured, could not control more than 200 warships.

The full number of non-commissioned officers of the Xiangyang Navy Division is 5,500 men, including combat and logistics, so that the combat effectiveness of the Navy Division can be guaranteed, because of the greed of the commander of the Navy Division, the Xiangyang Navy Division has long lost its combat effectiveness.

"Quick, quick, ......"

Sporadic cannon fires rang out, huge waves shook the river, and several attacking wooden boats were also hit, and some rogues fell into the water, but many more wooden boats had already rushed over.

An unexpected scene occurred.

The command ship on which the commander of the sailor was riding unexpectedly drove away in the direction of the north gate.

The order given by the commander was to evacuate in the direction of the north gate.

This is a big joke in the world, there are less than 100 wooden ships of the Liukou, and most of them are civilian ships, the Xiangyang Navy Division has more than 300 warships, in the face of the attack of the Liukou, after a few shots in a hurry, they began to evacuate, and the command ship was the first to evacuate, what kind of consequences such a command caused, it is conceivable.

This strange scene was clearly seen by Liu Wenxiu, he was a little confused for a short time, what was going on, the battle had just begun, when the Ming artillery sounded, several attacking wooden boats were hit, the sergeant fell into the water, and the screams appeared instantly, which undoubtedly affected the morale of others, he had made up his mind, no matter how fierce the artillery was, he would rush over, seeing some sergeants around him, his face showed a look of worry and fear, Liu Wenxiu was still loudly reprimanding, but the angry words were not completely over, Some of the warships of the Ming army actually sorted, and instead of attacking them, they went in the direction of the north.

After a slight hesitation, Liu Wenxiu decisively gave the order to accelerate the attack.

All the torches on the wooden boats were lit, the river was shining red, and there were many Ming warships on the opposite side, as long as these warships could be captured, the rebels could completely control the river, even if the Ming army had any tactics, the rebels could deal with it.

The speed of the wooden boat was faster, and Liu Wenxiu participated in the rowing.

The wooden boat quickly approached the warship of the Ming army, and did not encounter any attack, and some Ming troops could be faintly seen jumping from the stern of the boat, struggling to swim to the shore, but there were also some Ming troops, struggling to fall into the water, the climate of the cold winter wax moon, the river water is biting, what is the taste of falling into the water, it is needless to say.

Liu Wenxiu soon got on a Ming warship, and the surrounding soldiers also came up, some of them guarded around Liu Wenxiu, and some searched around the warship.

More rebel soldiers boarded the Ming warships, and more searches began.

Soon, a sergeant of the Ming army was brought to Liu Wenxiu, this sergeant was not very old, his face was pale, and his body was still trembling.

"What do you say when I ask, I tell the truth, I won't kill you, let you go."

The sergeant nodded busily.

"The warship that just withdrew, did it set up some kind of ambush?"

"No, I don't know, I haven't heard of any ambushes."

"What is the ship going to do at the North Gate?"

"No, I don't know, the commander ordered the warship to be transferred, and there were a lot of brothers who passed by."

"How many of you sailors are there?"

"Just, I know it's only 2,000 people......"

Liu Wenxiu pondered for a moment, a smile appeared on his face, and he waved his hand to let go of such a prisoner of the Ming army.

"Immediately go to report to the marshal, the Ming army was defeated by us, they went to the north gate, not a tactic, but ready to escape, the reason why they didn't dare to attack just now is that the troops are not enough, please marshal must seize this opportunity, immediately attack, the righteous army can take Xiangyang Mansion in a short time."

Li Zhifu stood on the top of the city wall, silently looking at everything on the river, his face was pale, his thin figure looked very lonely, and the general stood on his right, with a cloudy expression on his face.

The sailor failed in this way, it can't be said to be a failure, it was a complete abandonment of its own responsibilities, allowing the Liukou to easily occupy the river, and then the Liukou was able to quickly launch an attack, and the most favorable terrain on which Xiangyang Fucheng relied to resist the attack was instantly ineffective.

Li Zhifu didn't know why all this, although the Xiangyang Navy Division was stationed near Xiangyang Fucheng, but he was not qualified to govern the Water Division, and the Water Division was under the jurisdiction of the Du Command Envoy, but this time Xiangyang Fucheng was attacked by the Liukou, and the Du Commander ordered the Xiangyang Navy Division to guard the Fu City, in the final analysis, even now, Li Zhifu could not directly inquire about the matter of the Water Division.

At this point, no matter what temper Li Zhifu has, it will be useless, what he needs to do is to immediately deploy the defense of Xiangyang Mansion City, and it is estimated that when the Liukou is at dawn, he will start to attack.

"Your Excellency, raising troops for a thousand days and using troops for a while, this official estimates that when the Liukou is at dawn, the attack will begin, and the city of Xiangyang Mansion is tall, and it is impossible for the Liukou to capture it."

"Don't worry, my lord, Ben will go to the barracks and order all the sergeants to guard the city."

The general returned to the barracks and met a special guest, the commander of the Xiangyang Naval Division.

Retreating without a fight, the commander knew that he must be in great trouble, and at this time he could only find a way to find a general, in case he couldn't get along, the problem was not big, it was a big deal to flee to the people, with so much wealth, it was always okay to be a rich man.

It's also strange that this commander has no brains, since he wants to be a rich man, he makes up his mind to escape, but he thinks of wealth and glory.

The general is actually very annoyed in his heart, the combat effectiveness of the 20,000 soldiers under his command, he himself is clear, I am afraid that he will not be able to guard the city of Xiangyang, when Zuo Liangyu asked him to lead the troops to the city of Xiangyang, it is just a strong voice, and he has no intention of fighting with real swords and guns, but he still can't flee like a commander of the sailor.

Seeing the commander of the sailor, a smile appeared on the general's face, this person is really a living treasure, and he has helped him a lot. (To be continued......)