However, the battlefield in the river was in chaos. After the collision, there were not many people in the southern area of the pontoon bridge. The Jin people's attention was also on the remaining small boats that could not break out of the encirclement and forced surrender. Even the big ship that had turned around the center of the river intermittently and left, no one paid attention to it... Or rather, they did not expect that at this moment, the Song army would take the initiative to disembark and come here, which gave Zhang Yongzhen an opportunity to calmly.
In fact, Zhang Yongzhen came in a rage and almost out of control, but he was not ready to die directly, but had some ideas in mind. It was just that as a ruffian who had been hanging around in the Western Army for many years, he knew that there was no hope for the morale of the soldiers on the ship, so he was so reckless.
Back to the present, the general who was about to board the floating bridge, bent down, and moved forward carefully, killing several Jin soldiers who had fallen into the water and climbed up in a panic. He ignored the Han army, whether it was Jin or Song. In this way, he sneaked for only a hundred steps, and there was a continuous sound of bows and arrows not far ahead. Zhang Yongzhen suddenly stopped, then jumped hard and jumped onto a small boat that was not controlled by anyone.
The few soldiers who had mustered up the courage to follow behind him couldn't help but be overjoyed, and they followed one after another, carrying the heads they had just cut off along the way.
"I knew that Brother Zhang Qi was a capable man!" Someone got on the boat and hurried to find the oars, preparing to row back to the south bank. "Those Jurchens who climbed up were as hard to move as dead pigs. They were the heads of the real Tartars cut off for nothing. This time they got a lot of credit for nothing. Others didn't have this kind of beheading!"
"You know nothing!" Zhang Yongzhen turned around after hearing that, his forehead veins still throbbing, but he stripped the other man's helmet on the boat, and then pushed him into the river with all his strength. "Swim back by yourself! I didn't come here for the head today."
Not to mention the man under the river, in the chaos, several people on the small boat noticed the things on the boat - bundles of firewood filled with oil and sulfur, and abandoned fire starters!
Obviously, this was an abandoned ship after the first wave of attempted fire attack failed!
When everyone saw this thing, how could they not understand Zhang Qilang's intention? Everyone's face turned pale, and Zhang Yongzhen was not vague. He raised his knife and said, "Since you followed me here before, why are you afraid now? Those who want to leave can jump away now, and those who don't want to leave can help me row the boat over!"
Several Longyou soldiers looked at each other, but they all gritted their teeth and agreed, because just as Zhang Yongzhen said, they had followed before, so what was the point of going back now? Even the man who was thrown into the river climbed up again, but he didn't know where he got a shield from, saying that he wanted to hold up the shield for Brother Zhang Qi!
Zhang Yongzhen's fireboat was already moving, and the Jin army was caught off guard. He secretly rowed up to it and succeeded in attacking it. He just threw two bundles of firewood wrapped in sulfur and oil, and directly set the outermost ship on fire! As the fire started, the southeast wind continued to blow. The Jin army had just seized the ship and did not know how to put out the fire. They watched the fire on the ship get out of control! They could only abandon the ship and leave!
Not only that, the big ship was entangled with the floating bridge and other small boats, and the flames spread to many other places, and it became a big weather!
In short, when the fire started, everyone on the shore and below was shocked!
At the northern peak of Bagua Mountain, Zhao Jiu and others watched in astonishment, with anticipation on their faces, while Jin Wushu of Hebei also acted decisively, ordering the immediate cutting of the pontoon bridge and for the captured small boats to immediately leave the chaotic battlefield!
However, the battlefield was already in chaos, and it was now obscured by thick smoke. The Jin soldiers were not very good at rowing, and the situation became even more chaotic... In fact, the Jin army's boats at this time were just like the Song army's retreat just now. They were entangled with each other and it was difficult to get rid of them.
On the other hand, Zhang Yongzhen and Zhang Qillang came here with the ambition of daring to die. After succeeding in capturing one ship, they did not stop at all. Instead of turning back to Henan, they urged their brothers behind them to bypass the fire ship, turn to the core position of the battlefield, and go straight to the remaining two large ships.
Perhaps the Jin army itself was in chaos, so after the death of two or three rowing soldiers, he actually broke into the heart of the battlefield surrounded by three large ships and a floating bridge.
But once this happened, Zhang Qilang looked around and found that there were small boats on both sides, and whether it was the Jin army trying to avoid the fire or the Song army who wanted to break out, they all blocked his way like headless flies!
Zhang Yongzhen had no choice but to order his troops to fight and advance, and set fire to the small Jin boats that blocked his way. When he encountered a Jin boat that brushed against him, he personally fought with a sword, and won battle after battle, unstoppable... But such behavior would only expose his presence completely. The messy Jin army on the boats was fine, as they blocked each other and no one was in unified command. But one of the large boats next to the floating bridge was taken by the Jurchen Meng'an Puluhun himself, who then commanded from a high position. Since Puluhun saw the movement here and knew the source of the fire, how could he not be angry?
This person immediately gave an order for all the small boats in the surrounding area to come forward!
"Seventh Brother, let's go!"
Several small boats came towards them, and the man holding the shield for Zhang Yongzhen tried to persuade them again. "There are only two bundles of firewood left! We have made great contributions, but we are already exhausted. If we go back now, we will be worthy of Emperor Zhao and even the Taoist and Buddha!"
However, for some unknown reason, at this point in the battle, Zhang Yongzhen seemed to have lost his mind. He snatched a fire starter from someone behind him and lit the fire starter at the stern. He turned around and snatched the shield of the person who made the suggestion, and ordered the people on the boat to continue rowing and crash directly into the large ship in front!
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