Under the cover of Chen Yijun, the guards entered the waters of Yangluo Fortress, one after another, and the moon had not yet set, and the river was shining brightly. Zhao Bing held the telescope and stared at the north bank of the river. The Yangtze River turned a slow bend here, from northwest to west, and Yangluo Fortress was at this corner. When the fleet walked here, it would slow down and adjust its sails. If an enemy ambushed here and launched a raid, it would be the best time.

"Report to Your Majesty, Chen Yi sent a signal that the enemy ships in front of him were all cleaned up. The enemy troops in the fort found no abnormal movement, and their troops had occupied the upper waters." Zheng Yong replied.

"Okay, the plan remains unchanged. Each ship will catch the enemy on the starboard side, and then enter the range to attack Yangluo Castle with rockets." Zhao Bing breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at the empty river surface. It seemed that Zhang Yu was not an ordinary sturdy person. With the battle on the verge of the water village, he did not even send a warning fleet outside the water village. He only used a few whistle ships as a warning. He did not even have the power to fight back in front of the large warships.

"The baggage fleet is moving closer to the left bank, the warships are sailing on the right bank, and each ship is filled with blasting bombs!" Zheng Yong immediately ordered Guan Tong to issue an order to adjust the formation and prepare for combat.

Thanks to the rigorous training on weekdays, after receiving the order, each team quickly adjusted its formation in an orderly manner and the warship team left the brigade and leaned towards the north shore. After entering the battlefield, the rocket ship team landed sails about two miles off the shore, while the gunship team cruised about a distance from the shore. Several large Class A warships such as the Sheji were anchored in the attack line to be used as fire support points and strengthened their attack power.

"Target, the fortress in front, the rockets covered and fired without distinction!" The fleet had just taken place, and the enemy troops in Yangluo Fort seemed to have noticed something was wrong, and the alarm bell rang. Zhao Bing issued a fire order without waiting for the warship to stop.

‘Swoosh, swosh, swosh…’ The order to open fire was immediately reached, and more than 20 launchers arranged on the Sheji were launched first. More than 150 rockets roared out of the launch tube. Under the push of gunpowder, they dragged their tail flames into the sky, flew to the highest point, and then drew an arc and pierced it, exploding in the Yangluobao Water Village. At this time, the warship was already shrouded in the smoke of gunpowder.

"Start, launch..." As the continuous commands were issued, rockets soared into the sky. At first, they could still tell the number. However, when more than 40 rocket ships joined the battle group one after another, they could no longer tell each other. The orange-red tail flames that were resident in the night sky formed a large net, covering the entire Yangluo Castle.

‘Boom, boom, boom…’ Rockets fell one after another and exploded into countless pieces. While ruthlessly harvesting all life, they also ignited the warships moored in the water village, ignited the houses and camps. The burning flames reflected the darkest moment before dawn.

‘Bang…’ The fortress is a closed space. The blazing fires are rushing back and forth, forming a whirlwind that brings up the flames, burning out and bursting in the air, forming fireballs falling from the air and scattering in all directions.

"Target first fort, extend the shooting!" Zhao Bing looked at the battlefield. Yangluo Fort was divided into four forts, namely the first fort, the upper fort, the middle fort and the lower fort. Except for the first fort, the other three forts are located in the north, and form a triangle on the ground plane along the river. At present, the three forts along the river have been destroyed under the continuous bombardment of several rounds of rockets, just like a blast furnace that smelted several feet high. The enemy troops in it are probably either bombed or burned to death, causing the smoke to death. He ordered the extension of the firepower and concentrate the firepower to assault the first fort.

"Your Majesty, the enemy ship has broken through!" Zheng Yong pointed to the water camp by the river. The enemy ship took advantage of the direction of firepower transfer and rushed to the river to escape.

"Let the gunship stop the shooting, and they cannot escape!" Zhao Bing looked through the smoke of gunpowder, and saw that the enemy ships rushing out were all filled with smoke and fire. Before he could raise his sail, he wanted to escape along the current. He ordered.

"Yes, obey the order!" Zheng Yong immediately ordered the gunships cruising in front to block and shoot, and chase and annihilate the escaped enemy ships.

In a blink of an eye, the sound of thunderous rocket explosions were mixed with the sound of rumbling cannons. The enemy ships hit were either ignited a fire, or were shot into the water and overturned, or were stranded by the river in panic. The enemy soldiers dived and escaped. It was the cold winter month. Although the river water was not frozen, it was still cold and icy. Even if people escaped the burial of the fire, they could not escape the fate of being frozen to death.

"Your Majesty, if there is an enemy ship, what should I do?" Under the fierce firepower of the Song army, the desperate enemy ships dropped their masts and raised flags to surrender. Zheng Yong asked for instructions.

"Let them fall sails on the spot and anchor, and those who violate the orders immediately sink!" Zhao Bing said coldly.

"Your Majesty, Yangluo Fort has been destroyed. Will it stop bombing? There are still many people in the fort, and merchants are among them." Zheng Yong was a little strange today. Although the little emperor would use rockets to attack the city in the past, it often stopped in time to avoid hurting innocent people and property. But today, it was half an hour of continuous bombing. It was not ordered to stop. It seemed that he had forgotten that there were still people in it. This made him very strange and asked carefully.

"Oh, continue to launch and razed the land to the ground. The enemy has decided to rebuild the military fort." Zhao Bing sighed.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty is so afraid that others will criticize you!" Zheng Yong hesitated and expressed his concerns.

"Look at the top of Ezhou city!" Zhao Bing said slowly with a wry smile.

"Your Majesty, the city is full of enemy troops watching the battle, but it seems that there is no intention to help. Could it be... Is Your Majesty for them to show it?" Zheng Yong turned around and looked at Ezhou City on the south bank. Although it was still far away, the city was covered with lanterns and torches. It was full of enemy soldiers, but it was quiet. He did not beat the drums and cheer, nor did he shout, nor did he want to help. He just stared at the scene in front of him.

"Yes, this is the intention." Zhao Bing nodded and said, "The Tartars often threaten to massacre cities and slaughter the enemy and force the defenders to surrender. Today, I use rocket cover to shoot and razed Yangluo Castle. In addition to cutting off the threat of the enemy's naval forces, I also use it to intimidate the enemy. Let them understand that if they resist, Yangluo Castle is a role model!"

"So that's it. Your Majesty's battle is to kill one person and want to live tens of thousands of people." Zheng Yong thought for a while.

He knew that the Guardians first participated in the battle in the battle of restoration, and participated in the recapture of almost all major and large battles in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but did not receive sufficient rest. Similarly, Wen Tianxiang's troops and Jiangxi set out from Guangxi and Jiangxi to attack the prefectures and plundering the palaces, and they were exhausted from the sea to the Yangtze River. They were already at the end of their strength. The city of Ezhou was strong, with strong troops, and there were many residents in the city. Not only would the Guardians pay a huge price for forcing the city, but the people were also suffering heavy casualties.

It was precisely by destroying Yangluo Fortress that showed the power of firearms, which shocked the defending enemies in Ezhou City, which made their morale dispersed and defeated the soldiers without fighting, which saved the people in the city from the poison. Therefore, even if there were innocent people in Yangluo Fortress that were killed by artillery fire, it was cost-effective compared to the price paid to break the city, and it was also inconsistent with the two evils to choose the lesser...

It was not until the beginning of the Yin hour that the artillery bombardment gradually subsided. During the whole process, Ezhou City never dared to send a ship and aid. After dawn, when the fire on the island was extinguished, Zhao Bing sent troops to search for the remaining enemies and found ten thousand gold seals. The body of the seal was burned into a human form and could not be identified. According to the captives, ten thousand households were killed in the first round of rocket attacks. After checking the results, a total of more than 400 enemy ships were sunk in this battle, more than 200 enemy ships were burned, 5,000 troops were captured, and more than 10,000 enemies were wiped out. Most of them died in the bombing of rockets and the fires ignited.

After packing up everything, Zhao Bing ordered the troops to withdraw and continued to rush up the river with the submerged ship, and docked at Qingshiji, twenty miles away from Ezhou City. At this time, Wen Tianxiang had already come to welcome him when he heard the news. He led the Second Brigade of the Guards, the First Corps of the Guards, the Mountain Brigade and the Artillery Corps to land, and the baggage ship sailed into Lujiagang, Nanhu. He ordered Zheng Yong to lead the navy to set up a water camp on the spot, and return the surrendered troops to Chen Yi's army to prevent any enemy from coming to support from the Han River.

Wen Tianxiang knew that His Majesty had arrived and had prepared a garrison in Xujia Town on the north bank of the South Lake. It was located on the northern edge of the Daying, and there were naval troops stationed on the lake, so the safety was still guaranteed. However, Zhao Bing did not go to the palace, but ordered Li Zhen, the commander of the Second Brigade, to lead troops to set up camp and go to the Daying to visit the soldiers of the army to boost morale.

"I will meet your Majesty!" Zhao Bing walked to the camp. Xie Fangde, Mrs. Chen and Xie Ao led Huai'en. The generals of the two armies were already waiting outside the camp. When they saw the arrival of the sage, they saluted them together.

"Don't give me a gift, thank you all for your hard work!" Zhao Bing hurriedly stepped forward and helped him one by one when he saw it.

"Your Majesty leads troops thousands of miles to help, how dare I complain!" Xie Fangde polites again.

"Yes, I am ecstatic when I heard that His Majesty had pacified Jiangsu and Zhejiang and recovered Lin'an after hearing that his Majesty had fought three times!" Xie Ao said with a smile.

"This is the merit of all the generals, but I dare not take the merits!" Zhao Bing said with a haha.

"After a battle this morning, Your Majesty will destroy all the enemy troops in Yangluobao, but I am besieged the city for nearly a month and cannot break the city. I am so ashamed!" Wen Tianxiang shook his head and said ashamed.

"Is this Mrs. Xu?" Zhao Bing saw a female general standing in the last position, wearing armor and hanging a sword on her waist, and stepped forward and asked two steps forward.

"I am Xu!" Mrs. Xu said with a polite expression on her hips.

"I heard of my wife's name in Qiongzhou, but I didn't have the chance to meet each other. Today I am really a hero!" Zhao Bingxu helped him down.

"Your Majesty took in his young brother and raised him to be a human being. I am grateful!" Mrs. Xu said again.

"I should take it in for the Prime Minister Chen to sacrifice his life for the country. Now Chen Dun is my right-hand man and the pillar of the country!" Zhao Bing of course praised with great slight words. He didn't spend any money anyway, so he patted Chen Dun's shoulders by his side and said. Mrs. Xu naturally smiled when she heard His Majesty's praise, but Chen Dun rolled her eyes, but he just pretended that she didn't see it.

"Your Majesty, it's cold outside, so please rest in the tent!" Wen Tianxiang saw that you had finished the ceremony and exchanged a few greetings, so he stepped forward to ask Your Majesty to rest in the tent.

Under the leadership of Wen Tianxiang, Zhao Bing led the generals to enter the tent, and a brazier was planted in the tent, which was much warmer than outside. The generals sat down one after another when they saw each other. Then he informed everyone about the situation in the court and the current situation, and told everyone whether they could stabilize the Jiangdong and Jiangling could be captured. This is the basis for ensuring the Yangtze River defense line. Therefore, no matter how much the price they paid, they would have to conquer Ezhou.

Next, Wen Tianxiang also wanted His Majesty to introduce the battle situation in Ezhou. Now the two armies of Huaien and Weisheng are heading north, siege cities and villages, but they have suffered great losses. However, there are constant rebels who have been recruiting along the way, and the surrendered troops have not diminished, but have grown a lot. Now they have 50,000 troops, and there are no less than 100,000 troops guarding various places. However, the new army incorporated has been able to train for time, and its combat effectiveness has inevitably declined. Moreover, the war has not been rested after several fierce battles. They were exhausted and attacked Ezhou again. Several attacks ended in failure, which made the morale and lack of supplies.

The previous time, Dong Yicheng's fleet arrived, and all the winter clothes had been distributed to everyone. After the supplies were replenished, they fought while taking turns to rest and their morale was restored. Now they had controlled the land passage in the east, but the enemy could still get supplies from the river, so the plan to siege the city was difficult to work, so they had to ask for reinforcements from the navy. Unexpectedly, they alarmed the emperor and led their troops to come in person. However, after the news of his Majesty's siege of Yangluo Fortress and annihilated the enemy navy spread, the morale of the entire army was greatly boosted.

Zhao Bing asked the troops to explain in detail the reasons for the failure of the siege. The situation was similar to what he judged. Without the support of heavy weapons, it became a problem through the wide moat. Even if they successfully entered the city, they failed because the subsequent troops were difficult to keep up. Later, they also thought about digging tunnels into the city, but because there were many lakes around, the Yangtze River, the groundwater was rich, and the water level was very low, and water seeped out less than a foot deep, so it was difficult to succeed. On the other hand, the enemy defending in the city was mostly northerners. They were not only good at field battles, but also skilled in defending the city and were brave in fighting. They had gone out of the city many times to launch counterattacks, which was not easy to deal with.

Next, Zhao Bing asked about the surrounding people's feelings. Wen Tianxiang said that the people were still interested in the royal army, hoping that they could recover the old land as soon as possible, and organized rebel troops to help them attack the city as internal supporters. However, there were also many people who were dedicated to serving in the Yuan Dynasty. Among them, the Yang family in Bozhou refused to surrender and defended the key pass to resist the royal army. They could only bypass Bozhou and advance northward. In addition, after the city was broken, a scholar showed his ambition and committed suicide to death to show his loyalty to the Yuan court.

Another situation Wen Tianxiang reacted was the lack of local officials who had governed the country. After they captured the prefectures and counties, they could only select staff from the army, or recruit talented and prestigious gentry on the spot to serve as local herdsmen. Among these people, there were inevitably people who were mixed with fish and dragons who violated the law, but no one was available at the moment, so they could only give a lesson. He was deeply worried, worried that it would change over time, and hoped to select officials from the court to govern the country.
Chapter completed!