I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 676: The Fisherman Under Sinan City
The rice straw buoy floating on the water surface sank into the water and floated up again, sank and floated up again.

Li Mingchun's eyes lit up, he stood up suddenly, grabbed the fishing rod made of bamboo with both hands, stood in a horse stance, bent his waist and back, exerted force with his arms, and went ahead!
A Wujiang fish was thrown onto the pebble beach on the shore with its belly turned upside down and its tail wagging.

"Hey, silver carp from Wujiang River." Qiu Qizhuo ran down the stairs, stepped onto the riverbank with his legs like a crab, walked up to the river, happily took out the fishhook, and threw the fish into the bamboo basket.

He looked into the bamboo basket again and was even more delighted. "Ziming, you caught so many fish? We must prepare the sour soup fish hot pot tonight."

“Haha, that’s a must.”

"Ziming, where did you learn how to make this sour soup fish hot pot?"

"I went to visit the West Garden with Wang Duxian. The emperor specially asked the imperial kitchen to make it. It used rice soup to ferment sour soup, and then added Litsea cubeba, Sichuan pepper, and chili pepper.
The emperor introduced the ingredients and cooking methods to us, and also exclaimed that the best fish for this sour soup fish hot pot is Wujiang fish, the silver carp in the Wujiang River. Boneless sashimi, paired with the pickled sauerkraut here, is the authentic sour soup fish. "

Qiu Qizhuo looked straight at Li Mingchun with his mouth open, unable to close it for a long time.

"Ziming, have you ever been to Xiyuan as a guest?"

"Yes, thanks to Wang Duxian. The emperor likes to invite all the ministers to dinner in the West Garden. It's not a royal banquet, but a family banquet.

Wang Duxian, Duke of Meilin, Duke of Taiyue, Duke of Dazhou, Duke of Zili, Duke of Laiyang, Duke of Cao of Shaanxi, Duke of Huo of Shanxi, Duke of Wei of the Northeast, Marquis of Runing, Duke of Daichuan
And your senior from Yehou Academy, Prefect Pan, has also had the emperor's family banquet in Xiyuan."

Li Mingchun put the earthworm back on the fishhook and answered.

Qiu Qizhuo asked with a longing look on his face: "Xiyuan, I heard there are mountains and lakes there, it's as beautiful as a fairyland?"

"It's not as beautiful as you said, it's just an ordinary lake view with towers and pavilions, but there are a lot of trees inside and it's very quiet." Li Mingchun swung his right hand hard, and the fishing hook was thrown out and pierced into the water.

Qiu Qizhuo saw him like this and looked dissatisfied, "You still want to go fishing?"

"Keep fishing, of course."

"The Command Department is looking for you."

"The Bozhou soldiers outside will not attack the city until after breakfast, and their focus of attacking the city these days is on the official dock. I will stay here."

"The Command Department has something else to discuss with you."

"what's up?"

"How should I know? Master Zhu will tell you when you get there."

Li Mingchun had no choice but to pull the fishhook out of the water, use a long wooden stick to straighten the silk fishing line, put it back together with the fishing rod, and called a soldier to guard the area.

"Brother, help me get it to your sentry post."

"No problem, Army Li."

Li Mingchun followed Qiu Qizhuo up the bluestone steps and walked towards the city gate above their heads.

"Ziming, why do you insist on defending the official wharf?"

The two of them just walked to the top of the steps, in front of the Water Gate Tower, Li Mingchun panted slightly, stood still and pointed at the official pier under his feet and said: "Look at this official pier, next to the Wujiang River, it is the only way for Sinan City to communicate with the outside world.

The express boats sailed downstream to Yinjiang City, and then passed through there to Tongren and Xiangxi.

“But there is no strategic location to defend here. There are only the riverbanks on the east and west sides, and the wooden fences built a few days ago. It is difficult to defend.

Yang Piandao has asked several times to withdraw the troops to Shuimen, but you have been opposing it. What is the reason?"

Li Mingchun pointed at the official pier and drew a big circle, "Qinglian, fishing must have bait. How can the fish bite the hook without bait? The fish is stupid, but Yang Zhaolong is not stupid!"

"Bait, you use the official pier as bait?"

As they were talking, there was a sudden sound of a cannon from the city wall, and a few cannon shots were heard from the river in the distance. The sound was different from the cannon shots from the Sinan city wall and seemed very muffled.

Hearing the sound, he looked and saw flashes of fire on the opposite bank of the river. Soon there was the sound of muffled cannon fire. Then he saw groups of people rushing to the opposite bank of the river, dancing, drawing their bows and arrows, and shooting at a paddle boat going upstream.

The oars on both sides of the boat rowed together, as if they had condensed into two arms, paddling the surface of the river again and again. The boat broke through the surface of the river, splashing countless water, and headed towards the official wharf.

The water in the Wujiang River near Sinan City is not turbulent; the river is wide and the water flows slowly. The boats are getting closer and closer to the official pier, facing arrows flying in the air and stone bullets.

Li Mingchun and Qiu Qinzhuo could now see clearly that on the opposite bank of the river, a dozen groups of people were surrounding a cannon position. Those were the pine tree cannons of the Bozhou native soldiers. There were a total of ten cannons, which were used to block the river surface and snipe at the ships going upstream from the Yinjiang River.

But the effect is very touching. So far, four ships have been hit and five holes have been made, but there have been no casualties.

On the contrary, the archers deployed by the Bozhou local soldiers on the opposite bank shot 21 people on the boat during this period, two of whom died from serious injuries.

The results of the battle were outstanding.

The paddle boat soon approached the official pier. A group of people passed through a fence and the dense barricades in front, went up to the pier, took the rope, and tied the boat to the wooden piles of the pier.

After putting up the planks, a group of laborers in jackets rushed onto the boat and quickly moved the goods.

Sacks of food, wooden boxes of ammunition, as well as arrows, swords, guns and other weapons, packed in long bamboo baskets, were carried off the boat by two or three hundred laborers, who climbed up the steps, panting slightly, ran past Li Mingchun and Qiu Qizhuo, and entered the gate of the city tower.

The sound of footsteps echoed in the doorway, especially crisp.

After a while, another burst of hurried footsteps was heard at the doorway, and a group of laborers ran out carrying a stretcher.

They ran much slower than when they rushed in. There were wounded lying on stretchers. They needed to be transported to Yinjiang and then transferred to Chenzhou City, where there were many military doctors and better medical conditions.

There were also two staff officers, carrying cowhide briefcases, who hurried out with the stretcher team. When they saw the two men, they quickly stopped, saluted, went down the steps, and climbed onto the boat along the plank.

On both sides of the ship were thick wooden boards as high as a person, covered with thick mud, and layers of straw were piled on the deck.

The sailors and rowers on the boat lost no time, using wooden buckets to draw water from the river, and poured bucket after bucket of water onto the mud and straw piles. They also poured another bucket of river water over their sweaty bodies, giving them a comfortable and unobstructed shower.

Some sailors and oarsmen patrolled everywhere, checking ships and fortifications.

The rest of the sailors and rowers sat on the deck, eating rice balls, drinking salt and sugar water, and talking in low voices.

The stretcher-bearers carried the wounded aboard and settled them down. The staff officer followed and talked to the boatswain. The captain talked to the officials on the dock on the shore, then signed a stack of documents, rolled up a few and stuffed them into his waist bag, waved to the people on the dock, and walked up the plank to the ship.

About half an hour passed. The captain raised his right hand and said something. The sailors and rowers standing on the deck responded with a roar and dispersed with laughter.

The gantry was removed, the ropes untied and thrown back on board. Four sailors were at the bow and stern, supporting the bank with bamboo poles. Under their skillful control, the bow that was originally pointing upwards turned on the river and headed downstream.

The captain shouted, and the oarsmen and sailors roared in unison, singing the Wujiang boat tune: "Hey! Hey! Hey, Chong!"

The oars were rowed to the rhythm of the call. The calls became faster and faster, the oars were rowed faster and faster, and the speed of the boat became faster and faster. In just one minute, the boat rushed into the middle of the river, following the fastest river, and drifted violently downstream. It was more than ten times faster than when it was going upstream just now, like an arrow that had been shot off the line, and it whizzed away.

Only the high-pitched and rapid roar was still echoing on the river.

"Hey!"

Seeing the boat go away and disappear in the mist on the river, Li Mingchun and Qiu Qizhuo couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"In fact, the food and supplies in the city are enough to last for three months. Three months, the reinforcements from Xiangxi should be here soon. Why should we ask these boatmen to travel back and forth at the risk of danger?"

Qiu Qizhuo looked at Li Mingchun, "Ziming, you are using dozens of lives as bait."

"So what?" Li Mingchun said nonchalantly, "Our entire Sinan City is a big bait. It's just that I use the official wharf to fish for Yang Zhaolong, and the governor uses Sinan to fish for Bozhou and Yang Yinglong.

Qinglian, kindness cannot lead an army! "

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

Qiu Qizhuo let out a long sigh and was about to speak when he heard bursts of horns in the distance, followed by a chaotic shouting. He turned around and his face changed.

There is an earthen dam on each side of the official wharf, three or four meters above the river bank. It is used to prevent the rising water of the Wujiang River during the flood season from rushing into the fields on the shore.

The defenders erected a low fence half a person's height on top of the two dikes, and built two high fences more than two meters high in front of the dikes. They were all made of wooden stakes and were very sturdy.

After the horn sounded, the Bozhou soldiers, driven by their chiefs and officers, formed teams of a dozen or so, holding shields, carrying Miao swords, and holding long spears, walked along the dam bank, stepped through the rice fields, and slowly walked towards the embankment next to the official wharf.

Behind them followed hundreds and thousands of archers.

Fifty or sixty meters away from the dam, the crossbowmen of the Bozhou native soldiers fired at the dam. The arrows made a terrifying whirring sound in the air and flew towards the dam. Some of them hit the low fence and made a banging sound.

The defenders of Sinan City stood on the embankment, hid behind a low fence, held up their shields, and looked down from above, shooting arrows at the Bozhou soldiers who were blocked by the high fence.

Arrows flew in the air, and from time to time, soldiers from Bozhou were shot in front of the fence and fell in the muddy fields. Blood slowly flowed out and spread in the muddy paddy fields. The bright red soon turned into dark brown, the same color as the soil.

The soldiers held up their shields and waded through the mud to the first fence. They raised their seedling swords and long-handled machetes and started chopping at the scarred wooden fence.

A team of defenders, under the command of an officer, lined up, placed their muskets on a low fence, and started firing at the gathered Bozhou soldiers.

Bright red blood bloomed in the air, and five or six people fell down. Other soldiers took over their shields and machetes and continued to chop the fence in the mud and blood.

The sound of arrows breaking through the wind continued, and from time to time there was the sound of gunfire. The soldiers from Bozhou fell one after another. Their companions dragged the wounded and the dead to the back, covered their heads and continued to chop the fence in silence.

Finally, after more than 20 minutes, the Bozhou soldiers paid the price of more than 100 casualties and cut seven or eight gaps in the first fence. The soldiers squeezed in through the gaps and walked four or five meters before being stopped by the second fence.

This time they were in greater danger.

The defenders stood on the embankment, holding sharpened bamboo poles five or six meters long, and poked at the defenders squeezed behind the second fence. The sharp bamboo tips poked in all directions from high above, making it impossible to defend against them.

They are elastic and can avoid the shields and hit the legs and feet of the soldiers holding the shields, or be bounced by the shields and hit the bodies of the soldiers next to them.

The Bozhou soldiers who squeezed in through the first gap in the fence were squeezed in the narrow space, like mice in a cage, unable to dodge and fell down one after another.

Half an hour later, after more than two hundred casualties, two gaps were finally cut into the second fence. However, the Bozhou soldiers were exhausted and could no longer climb up the three-meter-high embankment.

They carried their injured companions and corpses in tacit understanding and retreated slowly and orderly, out of the gap in the first fence, and retreated to a distance of 100 meters, out of the range of the defenders' bows and crossbows.

They all sat down in the muddy paddy fields, throwing their shields, swords and guns aside.

The officers and leaders jumped and danced, beating and scolding nearby, but the two or three thousand Bozhou soldiers sitting on the muddy and paddy fields remained silent.

Strength gathered in silence, and the cold eyes chilled the officers and leaders to the bone. The calmness was gradually passed down, and finally the gong sounded to withdraw the troops.

As soon as the Bozhou soldiers left the battlefield, the defenders put down wooden ladders. Hundreds of people came down the ladders, carrying wood, nailing it into the gaps, and then tying the wood tightly together with wire.

After the first fence is repaired, go back and repair the second fence.

In less than half an hour, the gaps that the Bozhou soldiers had painstakingly cut in the first and second fences were restored to their original state, with more wooden boards laid across them, making them look even more solid than before.

Li Mingchun and Qiu Qizhuo stood at the end of the steps of the official wharf and watched all this from a high vantage point.

After a long sigh of relief, Qiu Qizhuo turned to look at Li Mingchun: "Ziming, is this what you call fishing?"

"Correct."

"Two or three times a day, Bozhou soldiers suffered 300 to 400 casualties, and Sinan soldiers suffered 30 to 40 casualties. They were like rats squeezed into two cages, killing each other for eight or nine days. Ziming, is this what you call fishing?"

"Yes!" Li Mingchun said firmly: "This is what I call fishing, making Yang Zhaolong think that as long as he works harder, he can capture the official wharf. As long as he captures the official wharf, he can trap Sinan City to death.

Sinan City is trapped, and this small city will be conquered soon.

It was this method that I used to lure Yang Zhaolong and his 13,000 Bozhou soldiers outside the city of Sinan, making it impossible for them to advance, yet reluctant to retreat.

Thirteen days have passed now. Yang Zhaolong and his 13,000 Bozhou soldiers have been detained in Sinan City for thirteen days.

I believe that as long as we hold on for another ten days or so, the situation will become clear.”

Qiu Qizhuo looked at Li Mingchun and shook his head. "A kind person cannot command an army. Ziming is indeed worthy of being the military officer of Governor Wang. He teaches by example and is indeed different from us."

Li Mingchun laughed, "Qinglian is saying that Li is cruel and ruthless?"

"Yes, but how can one act so cruelly on the battlefield? I also understand that a decision on the battlefield can affect the lives of hundreds or even thousands of people.

If you don't have a hard heart, how can you make such a decision? "

"No, Qinglian, it's not okay to be too hard-hearted."

"What?" Qiu Qizhuo asked curiously, "Ziming, what do you mean?"

(End of this chapter)