Chapter 388: United We Stand
Thanks to the long winter nights, the Song army had ample time to complete its plan.
After Bei Yan sacrificed two of his only three hot air balloons, the Song army had roughly completed one of the two most critical tactical steps of the night... Dozens of large and small ships carrying small artillery carts and crossbows had successfully crossed this narrow piece of land and entered the east branch of the north branch of the Yellow River from the north branch of the east route of the Yellow River, and they were still coming in an endless stream.
Of course, the losses were still great. At least one-seventh to one-eighth of the ships were anchored on land for various strange reasons, and it was unknown when they could be repaired. In addition, a ship capsized directly at the entrance to the east side of the Yellow River, causing one of the four docks to stop operating.
But, that's enough.
In fact, as early as when the first balloon was lit and more than ten ships had successfully entered the eastern fork of the northern route of the Yellow River, the Song army had no way back, and the second key step of the Song army was also started by Tian Shizhong at that time - in the twilight and a layer of common winter mist, tens of thousands of the main forces of the Song army began to cross the river at the same time in the south and north of the city. The scale of the north of the city was particularly large, because along with the soldiers crossing the river, there were countless Song army civilians and building boards.
As soon as they crossed the river, except for a very small number of elite troops who were asked to rest and defend on the spot, all the others, both military and civilians, started to build fortifications on the spot.
The ground was a little hard in winter, but it was not frozen, and it was not so hard that it could not be touched. With one strong swing of the long iron chisel, he could dig a shallow pit; with twenty swings, he could dig a shallow pit long enough for three trees to stand side by side; and if he could swing it two or three hundred times and have someone help him clean out the soil in the pit, he could dig a deep pit that could successfully stand the plank that Master Tian had carried over.
But this is not enough. Almost every such board needs to be connected to other boards with cowhide ropes. There must be other shallow pits on both sides to insert single wood for auxiliary fixation. There must also be wooden boards nailed to the connected boards to form a whole. Only in this way can a board be completely fixed and successfully buried, becoming a part of the traditional camp fence.
Compared to this slightly complicated and experience-required task, digging trenches in front of the fence is simpler... Just dig a pit, anyone can do it, it doesn't need to be too deep, two and a half feet deep and three feet wide, dig along the fence, along a line from east to west. Then the excavated soil can be piled up in front of the fence, and at the same time, water must be taken from the river for irrigation... At this time, the river water will definitely have a miraculous effect.
Of course, there were difficulties. The most critical one was lighting. Considering the scale of the action here, for the sake of caution, the Song army had to strictly control the lighting source even when they were several miles away. On the predetermined defense line, there was only one torch every twenty steps, and wooden boards and other light-blocking materials were added on the south side. On the transportation road, there was only one torch every forty steps, and there were also light-blocking arrangements on the south side.
But even so, it still looks a little strange from a distance.
Moreover, as more and more soldiers and civilians crossed the river, the scale of the action became larger and larger. Not only the light but also the noise became increasingly uncontrollable. This situation became extremely obvious in the second half of the night, after the battle between the two cities on the river came to an end.
There's nothing we can do, there are too many people.
"What is this? Breath? Or sweat?"
After visiting Xiao En and a group of old brothers, Zhang Rong, casually putting on a coat, hurried to the north city of Daming to meet Yue Fei, but as soon as he entered the city, he noticed a strange visual phenomenon.
It turned out that when looking north from the brightly lit Daming City and Yuan City, there was clearly a strange mist dancing between the light and darkness, as if some living creature was baring its fangs and claws in the darkness towards the bright city.
“I think both.”
Yue Fei, who was fully armed, had a calm expression. The shock and panic he had when he unexpectedly appeared in the first half of the night had long since disappeared. "It should be the hot air... and the cold air that met, so it showed up... There were too many people."
"In other words, the heat is so obvious here, I'm afraid it can't be hidden from the people in the city?" Zhang Rong frowned tightly.
"Even if there is no such enthusiasm and such trouble, it can't be concealed now." Yue Fei replied with a sigh. "However, Gao Jingshan doesn't know that we have warships to control the river, nor does he know that we are setting up camps and fortifications. With Xiao Tongzhi's desperate delay, he should not take risks in the dark... Based on his personality, I'm afraid he still thinks we are setting an ambush in the north of the city to lure him."
"What if he insists on taking the risk?" Zhang Rong frowned. "Or are there other suspicious people in the city who can persuade him?"
"Then we will fight!" Yue Fei turned around. "If he dares to leave the city, we will take advantage of the situation and fight him! Push his troops back! If he goes around the city to ask for reinforcements overnight, we will wait for them to come and fight back! Anyway, the reinforcements will be back at dawn, and Commander Xiao has bought a lot of time. At this time, the fastest time is only about an hour earlier... At this point, there are already boats in the river, and the camp has been set up on the shore. The entire army has passed through. Is there anything to worry about?!"
"Too!"
Zhang Rong sighed. "At this moment, I don't have any worries in my heart! If an enemy comes, we will fight him with our troops, and if a flood comes, we will block it with earth!"
"We still have to make a decision." Yue Fei said seriously. "Brother Zhang, do you know how I came up with this plan?"
"this……"
"This is actually a common operation. It's like attacking a city... Setting up a stronghold to lock the city. It has been a common routine in the world since Nianhan locked Taiyuan. The only thing worth mentioning is that they prepared the planks in advance, ferrying the boat overnight, and setting up the stronghold overnight. It's like pulling teeth out of a tiger's mouth, but it's only to open its mouth to fight back." Yue Fei's tone softened a little, and the white mist he exhaled also floated in the night sky. "But it's just the old trick that Zhongli used in the battle against Wei Rui that day..."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
