On November 11, the 16th year of Chongzhen, on a small river in Anxiang County on the north bank of Dongting Lake, more than 100 miles northeast of Changde Prefecture, a long fleet composed entirely of small boats was heading north against the narrow river.

.

The river is not only very narrow, but also not deep. The boatmen can easily use the boat poles to prop up the bottom of the river to push the boats forward.

Therefore, although it is a countercurrent and the draft of the boats is generally very deep, the speed of the fleet is not very slow.

The terrain of Anxiang County is high in the north and low in the south.

Since the Northern and Southern Dynasties, when the Lishui River from the northwest direction of Lizhou was diverted to the south, Anxiang has begun to transform its landform from plains to swamps.

In the Ming Dynasty, due to the "protect the north and protect the south" policy of imperial officials (to prevent floods in the Yangtze River north of An Township, they only strengthened the north bank of the Yangtze River and let the south side of the Yangtze River handle flood discharge and diversion), Anxiang became a swampy town.

Of course, this also allows the Yangtze River to be connected to each other through many small rivers that often change its course and come and go, and then connect to the Lishui River that flows into Dongting Lake, and finally connect to Dongting Lake.

It's just that such waterways are complex and changeable. Not only do they need a very good guide, but they can't use big boats.

However, the geographical characteristics of dense water networks and swamps also make Anxiang County vast and sparsely populated, and it has become a natural geographical barrier between Changde Prefecture and Yuezhou Prefecture. It would be difficult to rely only on legs and wheels.

Normal traffic within a hundred miles of the surrounding area.

Because at this time the end of the fleet was already far away from the main stream of Lishui River, and at the same time, between here and Baling County, the capital city of Yuezhou, there were still Huarong and Shishou counties still controlled by the peasant army.

Therefore, although the boatmen of this fleet belonging to the Great Western Army were still taking turns to hold on to the poles to push the ship forward, the few soldiers with bows and guns on the ship were mostly holding their heads and relaxed, and some even

Loss of vigilance.

At this time, in a dense forest on one side of the river, the company commander of the direct reconnaissance company, Skinny Monkey, was lying in the dark, chewing dry grass roots impatiently while staring at the fleet, his eyes constantly rolling.

The directly affiliated reconnaissance company is currently the only full-time reconnaissance unit in Li Ping's army. Since the army expansion in Fuchi, the regiment no longer has such a unit as a reconnaissance company.

In other words, the direct reconnaissance company led by Shouhou'er not only brought together the best of Li Ping's army, but also accumulated extremely rich experience in continuous battles, making them all elite and experienced.

Zhang Xianzhong did not burn all the ships, but he could not hide this from the people who were sent to surround him and monitor closely.

Shouhouer even knew that most of the ships in this fleet were loaded with grain, and this was completely a grain transport fleet.

In order to ensure that hundreds of thousands of people could eat and drink, Zhang Xianzhong almost plundered the wealthy Changsha and Hengzhou. It was obviously very inconvenient to transport so much food by land in the south with many water networks, so he easily chose to give up the convenient waterway.

It’s also hard for people to understand.

Therefore, the fact that part of the grain transport fleet was kept secret did not surprise Shouhou'er at all, and it was even within his expectations.

And this one probably wanted to be as concealed as possible and not cause the fleet to be too long at the front and back to take care of it, and there were not many soldiers to escort it.

But even so, the fleet still has a size of nearly 200 ships.

"Ma Tou, their group wants to follow these small rivers and enter the Yangtze River! It's too thief, just do it! If you don't do it, there will be no chance." A subordinate lying next to the thin monkey said anxiously.

No one in the reconnaissance company dared to use Ma Xiaotian's nickname, and calling him company commander seemed a bit unfamiliar to everyone who lived and died together all day long. The word "horse head" can be a pun. Ma Xiaotian is the name of the horse that leads the reconnaissance company.

So he quickly called out.

In line with the principle of not putting eggs in one basket, Zhang Xianzhong does not actually have just one grain transport fleet, but another one.

The difference is that the other, larger one went directly upstream of Lishui.

It is said that larger boats can travel through the waterways there.

The reconnaissance company discovered that Zhang Xianzhong's grain transport fleet secretly took a dangerous detour and sailed into Lishui. At first, they just thought that they wanted to go directly to Lizhou through Lishui to reduce some of the transportation pressure. Unexpectedly, they actually split up a fleet and wanted to steal it directly.

Run into the Yangtze River.

The shortest straight-line distance from Lishui in Anxiang County to the Yangtze River is less than a hundred miles. If you can go directly to the Yangtze River, it will certainly save a lot of time and energy.

"Are you kidding me? Although there are not many enemies, there are still hundreds of them, and they are all elites. We can only gather a dozen of them now. Isn't this a way to die? Did you fight the battle too smoothly and don't know yourself?

Who are you?" Skinny Monkey refused after spitting out the grass roots.

"Ma Tou, look at the terrain like this and the river being so narrow. You can throw torches directly onto the boat. There is no more ideal place for an ambush than this. Let's wait until dark and don't ask him to burn everything."

"Shen, we can kill as many as we can, it's not that dangerous." His subordinates argued unconvinced.

But the thin monkey's eyes widened and he said: "What, you want to burn these boats? They are all grain, you prodigal son."

The skinny monkey who almost starved to death in Kaifeng had a sentiment towards food that is difficult for others to understand.

"Then we can't just let these grain ships go!" The subordinates continued to argue unconvincedly. Units like the reconnaissance company have few good examples, and it is a consistent tradition to dare to argue with reason.

However, this subordinate did not question the courage of his company commander, there was no need to question it.

The thin monkey took a deep breath, rubbed his head and said, "Wait a little longer! Our commander-in-chief never takes the ordinary route. With so much food, he must have some idea. He should send troops here. Maybe we still have a chance."

"What chance do we have? With the terrain like this, if we go further north, it will be useless for our soldiers to come. There is no way to chase them! Unless they can fly!" the subordinates continued to mutter.

"Can't you fucking let me think about it again?" Thin Monkey was a little angry, and he probably got the most worrying part from what he said.

At this moment, there was some rustling movement behind them, and then a guy who had been sent out for a long time crawled over.

"Ma Tou, find a local boatman hiding nearby. This person not only knows the waterway that the enemy will probably take, but also knows that there is a little-known path that can lead directly to the front of the waterway for dozens of miles." The new guy.

Said furtively.

The thin monkey was stunned and asked uncertainly: "How is this possible? You are not trying to trick us."

"It shouldn't be too bad. According to the boatman, there is less water in winter now, so there are places where people can walk, and that's why this road was created. Moreover, the boatman hid it with his boat, obviously because he was afraid of thieves.

The guy who was eating was burned, so his heart was definitely not with the thief. Moreover, in order to persuade him, I promised him fifty taels of silver."

The skinny monkey was immediately overjoyed after hearing this.

As soon as Zhang Xianzhong's policy of indiscriminate killing was launched, subtle changes in people's hearts soon occurred. The reconnaissance company led by Shouhou'er could most intuitively feel and detect this change, and their reconnaissance work became much easier as a result.

Especially the large number of deserters and refugees allow them to obtain some vital information quickly and accurately.

This was the key to their discovery of the grain transport fleet that was kept highly confidential by the Great Western Army.

When Zhang Xianzhong wanted to leave, it was inevitable that the people around the lake would be unwilling to follow him. Then Zhang Xianzhong not only burned his own boat, but also burned the boats of those boatmen in the lake who were unwilling to follow him. Naturally, the people would become even more centrifugal.

.

The purpose of Shouhouer sending people to search the surrounding areas was to make full use of this change in people's hearts to see if they could get some unexpected information, or at least to understand the conditions of the waterway the enemy was going to take.

Of course, he actually didn't have much hope.

Mainly because time is too tight.

Now that the really blind cat had caught a dead mouse, he was not only happy but also no longer doubtful and said: "Great. Wu Xinfeng, you have done a great job. This group of enemies traveled all night last night and continued to move again during the day.

, we must rest tonight. I believe our commander-in-chief will definitely send people, even if they are from the Navy battalion, we still have a chance."

But the scout named Wu Xinfeng just continued to sneak around and said, "Well, can you cash in the fifty taels of silver? I know it's a bit much, but I promised you."

"Look at your potential! Fifty taels of silver is nothing, I'll be your guarantee." Thin Monkey almost laughed out of anger.

"That's good, that's good. I promised you fifty taels of silver. The boatman said that there is another place on the upper reaches of Lishui River. You can also go to the Yangtze River by water in this winter. However, the water channel is much longer and more complicated.

It's difficult to sail, but it's closer to Jingzhou Prefecture. But he's not very familiar with that waterway." Scout Wu Xinfeng added timidly.

"I'll go. Wu Xinfeng, can you guys finish your fart in one go? Why are there so many twists and turns, I'm really afraid that I won't cash it in for you! Just based on your information, let alone fifty taels of silver, you promised five

Everyone will only praise you for a hundred taels." Shouhou'er almost resisted the urge to beat people up.

Then, he immediately changed the topic and ordered: "Wu Xinfeng, take your people and take this boatman to the lake immediately. We will report back to the agreed contact point. How to fight? Listen to the new commander. I will stay

The next two people will continue to follow and monitor this fleet, and I will take the rest to check the movements of that fleet, and we will find you then."

In the evening of that day, a large group of ships, large and small, stopped at a dilapidated small pier on the north bank of Lishui River where shipwrecks could be seen everywhere.

This location was the anchorage suggested by the local boatman brought by the scout squad leader Wu Xinfeng. It was a convenient place for a large group of people to disembark, and it was also very close to the path that the boatman was familiar with.

Hundreds of people and a few horses soon disembarked from the boats and quickly began to assemble.

But the gathering team didn't seem to be attentive, and many people's eyes were attracted by the row of people stuck on wooden stakes on the shore.

Those people had long wooden stakes stuck vertically in the soil one by one, inserted from their buttocks and coming out of their mouths. Their postures were extremely weird. Especially one of them was obviously not dead yet and was still moaning.

If this kind of punishment is done well, it can often avoid the most lethal organs of the human body, so that the person being tortured will often not die on the spot, but will suffer for a long time before dying slowly.

Therefore, it is not only very shocking, but also very frightening.

"It doesn't matter whether we are exposed or not, let's give that person a good time." Scout squad leader Wu Xinfeng said to a scout beside him.

Yan Ming, who had been talking to Wu Xinfeng, turned around and said to him: "Leave a few brothers to put down all the people on the piles and bury them. They are all raised by parents. It's too miserable."

The local boatman who was being helped to mount his horse stopped and said movedly: "Thank you, Lord. Lord, you are still kind. What a shame! Those people still call themselves rebels, and what they do is so outrageous."

"They are crazy!" Yan Ming muttered.

"Yes! They are crazy." Wu Xinfeng, who had quickly jumped on the horse, echoed. Then he reached out to pull the local boatman who was about to ride with him and asked uncertainly:

"Battle Commander Yan, you really don't want to ride a horse?"

"If I don't ride, I'll use my own legs with my brothers. I'm the biggest official here, and I have to set an example for everyone during the urgent march." Yan Ming said firmly.

The two pieces of information that Zhang Xianzhong led his army northward and that he had hidden a grain transport fleet and was most likely trying to secretly sail into Lishui were transmitted back to Yuezhou by the reconnaissance company almost immediately.

Although it was not clear that Zhang Xianzhong had a more bold plan, Li Ping urgently ordered Yan Ming to immediately command most of the naval battalion to pursue the attack, and at the same time mobilized a battalion of infantry to accompany the ship to deal with emergencies.

Anyway, Zhang Xianzhong burned all the ships. Not only did Li Ping no longer need the naval battalion to continue to defend Yuezhou, he also completely dared to send the navy battalion alone to penetrate deep.

And with so much food, it was worth the risk.

Yan Ming, who accepted the mission, was already feeling angry because he had not fought well in the previous battle.
To be continued...