Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 268
Whether the soldiers blocking the Linhongkou had any effect, the effect was seen the next day, because the Qiangwei River overflowed the river bank and submerged the depressions on both sides.

It's a pity that the captive soldiers are not fools who don't know how to fight. They have a strict set of standards for camping. At least they know how to choose high terrain. It was not flooded, whether it was Xiying or Dongying.

As for the North Camp, which has been soaked in water for a long time, half of it is already soaked in water. This is not because the captive soldiers were not professional enough when they chose the North Camp, but because the Qiangwei River runs from southwest to northeast. It is the lowest, so they have nothing to do, the whole place is full of water, even if they choose a high point, there is still water.

However, looking at the sky and seeing the still gloomy weather, Yang Chao was sure that the camps with good positions for the captive soldiers would probably become isolated islands tomorrow.

It doesn't matter whether the captive camp becomes an isolated island of Haizhou City, what they care about is whether Haizhou will be flooded.

This is a problem!
Song Lian found Yang Chao early in the morning.

"General Yang, what should we do? If Haizhou is flooded, these [-] people will lose their homes?"

Yang Chao sighed. It is not without some psychological burden for him to make such a plan that hurts both sides.

Immediately, he took out the map and explained to Song Lian that Yang Chao studied architecture, so he still had the ability to read pictures.

"Master Song, please see that the terrain of Haizhou is low, so it is very easy to accumulate water if it encounters floods. However, Haizhou is close to the sea and it is easy to drain waterlogging. Therefore, although there are many floods in Haizhou, the city of Haizhou is not easy to be flooded. .All I want is to flood the barracks of captive soldiers."

Song Lian also knew Yang Chao's plan, or part of it. He had promised to flood the captive soldiers, but he didn't expect that Haizhou City would also risk being flooded. If he knew this, he would have to reconsider Can you agree now? After all, once Haizhou is flooded, even if Haizhou is rescued in the future, he, a magistrate, will still have negligence in his duties. He is not afraid of being held accountable.

Song Lian has been guarding Haizhou until now, and his mentality has changed from the tragic and heroic death in the past to a state of wanting to make meritorious service and be promoted, a delicate state of worrying about gains and losses. He doesn't want to take any political risks at this time.

Seeing Song Lian's attitude, Yang Chao sighed inwardly. Fortunately, he didn't tell him the whole plan. If he told him that he was going to dig a river and flood Haizhou with his own hands, Song Lian might not agree to it even if he was killed.

The situation was better than Yang Chao expected. In the evening, the two captive camps were already isolated islands, surrounded by half-foot-deep water.

Early the next morning, the stagnant water was more than a foot high.

But in Yang Chao's view, this is far from enough.

So early in the morning, Yang Chao immediately sent three more boats.

On the city, Yang Chao still saw them off, watching them leave Haizhou City through Nanshuimen, and then enter the Qiangwei River. The captive soldiers no longer had to think about it.

"My lord, are you really going to do this?"

Huang Fengfu asked with a worried expression.

Yang Chao sighed: "In order to keep Haizhou City, this is a last resort."

Song Lian said lightly, "Mr. Huang, you are worrying too much. Is this also an expedient measure?"

The reason why Song Lian was relaxed and the reason why Huang Fengfu was worried was because they were thinking different things.

Yang Chao told Song Lian that he sent people from the south to ask for help in Huai'an, and told Huai'an that the captive soldiers were no longer a concern, and asked them to send food ships quickly, otherwise he would starve to death if Haizhou was not captured by the captive soldiers. There are only ten days of food left. Starting today, the city’s supply has been halved, and it will last for a maximum of 20 days. These 20 days are also the fastest time from Huai’an to Haizhou.

Seeing the three unit sailboats that had just been rushed into the Qiangwei River and raised their sails, Huang Fengfu sighed deeply. He thought that Yang Chao's move had put Yang Chao on the cusp of the storm, and he must aroused criticism.

Huang Fengfu was so worried because, as Yang Chao's confidant, he knew Yang Chao's real purpose.

It's definitely not going to Huai'an to ask for help, at least it's not just for help.

Yang Chao wants these ships to blow up the upper reaches of the Qiangwei River and flood Haizhou City with water!
The Huangfeng Mansion is very clear that once Yang Chao does this, no matter how much credit he makes, he will be impeached by the officials. A charge of disregarding the people cannot be escaped, and it is not certain that he will be convicted. Yang Chao relieved the siege of Haizhou If you make such a great achievement, you will not die, but if your merits and demerits balance out, your future will be ruined.

He used this to persuade Yang Chao, and Yang Chao was also deeply worried, but unexpectedly, after a night of deep thinking, Yang Chao still decided to do so.

Yang Chao made such a choice, which made Huang Fengfu feel better. After all, Yang Chao puts big things first, and small things can still be sacrificed.

But the future? It's a little uncertain.

But if Yang Chao is timid, has too many scruples, and doesn't seem to be the kind of decisive hero in Huangfengfu's heart, so how Yang Chao chooses will make Huangfengfu tangled up.

Yang Chao himself doesn't care anymore, since he has made a choice, let's do it.

Moreover, Yang Chao carefully looked at the topographic map and decided that the generation of Haizhou is close to the estuary, and the terrain is relatively flat. Even if Haizhou City is flooded, the drainage is relatively easy, and it will not be flooded for a long time. The city wall was directly washed down by the flood, basically there is no need to think about it. After all, it is Jianghuai, and it is close to the sea. The situation of hanging rivers like Henan is not so serious. Although the river bed of Jianghuai is also very high, it is not yet As for being higher than the city, Haizhou City may be flooded for a period of time, but it will definitely not be washed to the city wall or houses by the flood.

A few sailboats, still carrying the hundred or so people, hoisted their sails and moved forward in the wind and rain, and there was still a little bit of poetry.

The soldiers on the ship would never feel the poetic flavor, they were all rough, and they were thinking more about rewarding money!

That's right, these people are still those gate soldiers at Linhongkou.

The reason why Yang Chao chose them was mainly because they had some experience in hydraulic engineering, and since it was not easy to find hydraulic experts in a short period of time, he could only let them play guest roles.

"Master Baihu, what do you think?"

In front of the hereditary hundred households at the gate of Linhongkou, a soldier asked.

Baihu said coldly: "No, the river bed is too low, even if it explodes, there won't be much water!"

Yao Baihu shook his head, giving up a position where gunpowder could easily be placed.

The boat went southwest along the Qiangwei River, and when it passed Qu Mountain for more than two miles, Yao Baihu's eyes suddenly lit up.

He saw that the river in front of him was extremely wide and the river bank was high, so he released a plumb and found that the river was deep, which was exactly what he was looking for. High, once it explodes, the river will soon flood the area around Haizhou City.

"Dock, dock!"

Yao Baihu ordered immediately.

When he came out this time, he was much more courageous, and he no longer asked Yang Chao to send troops, because he thought it would be better for him to bring all his brothers with him for such a good thing as receiving reward money, but Yang Chao still forced more than a dozen guards for them. It makes them a little regretful.

Soon the boat docked.

Yao Baihu led the crowd again, and after walking nearly a hundred feet forward, he nodded and found a suitable position.

"Master Lao Zhang is here!"

Only then did Yao Baihu point to the location, and said politely to a soldier.

This soldier is called Zhang Ergun, and he is one of Yang Chao's team leaders. The reason why he brought a dozen people here is not to protect the group of water workers, but because Zhang Ergun participated in the blasting of the moat passage a few days ago. , with gunpowder blasting technology.

Zhang Ergun nodded, and with a wave of his hand, the group of people immediately walked back.

Soon they moved out of the boat one by one wooden barrels wrapped in oilcloth, and each of them carried one on their backs panting and walked forward. The river bank soaked by heavy rain was very difficult to walk, one foot was deep and the other was shallow. It was because the wooden barrels on their backs were too heavy, each weighing fifty catties, and they were all filled with gunpowder.

A total of more than 20 barrels of gunpowder were moved, and the others each carried shovels and other items.

Soon the bank was reached, and everyone began digging.

They dug deep pits a full ten feet deep, carved out a line on the bank of the river densely, and then put the gunpowder barrels into these pits one by one, carefully buried the soil, pulled out the fuse, and pulled out It is two or three feet long, and when it is lit, the big guys run away. It is clear beforehand that they are going to blow up the river, and they can't even kill themselves.

Soon there was a loud rumbling sound, and a big opening appeared on the river bank, but the opening was still very shallow. The water gushed out of the river bank from here and poured into the depression in the north. It's too far away.

Yao Baihu couldn't help feeling sorry.

Bombing the river and rushing the city may have deep concerns for civil servants, but for him, a guard, there is no psychological burden at all, and with the promise of a reward of 200 taels of silver, it is even less of a problem.

"Brothers, working hard!"

Yao Baihu could only call everyone to work again, and was going to find another hole to blow up.

A soldier said gloomily, "I still have to move!"

Yang Chao's soldiers were naturally unwilling to do such things as carrying gunpowder and digging pits. They were just commanding, which could be regarded as a kind of oppression and exploitation.

Therefore, Yao Baihu's soldiers were a little depressed, because it was really tiring.

Yao Baihu felt that his petulant temper exploded all of a sudden, and cursed: "Damn, you're irrelevant, tell me earlier, you think 200 taels of silver is so easy to earn, you don't want to let it go, and you don't want money earned."

The soldier immediately replied with a charming smile: "Master Baihu, please forgive me, the little mouth can't speak, I just want to talk, how dare you dare. Lord Baihu, forgive me, forgive me!"

100 taels of silver, this is a huge amount of wealth that they have never seen before, and they have never even thought about it. The annual military salary is enough to eat, and any of these military households will have surplus food, even Yao Baihu's family does not have so much Silver accumulation.

"Okay, work!"

Yao Baihu waved his hand majestically, and his subordinates immediately started working hard again.

Right next to the opening just now, they started digging again. It is also because these people do not understand the principles of science. In fact, if they bury gunpowder under the river bank, the effect may be better. At that time, the huge water pressure may suddenly destroy a large section of the river bank. overwhelmed.

This time they dug deeper and reached four feet, but they couldn't continue digging because the stagnant water inside buried people.

Then deliver each other, put the gunpowder carefully into the bottom of the pit, carefully bury the barrel with soil, and then pull out the fuse.

It must be ignited immediately, otherwise these fuses will be useless if they are wet.

It ignited quickly again, and then ran away. After the loud noise, there was another big hole this time, bigger than the last one, but not enough to wash down the river bank.

When Yao Baihu was about to blow up the river again in frustration, he suddenly heard a shock, and found that the embankment in the center of the two openings had collapsed, lifting huge pieces of soil and carrying them down the river bank.

At this time, everyone cheered, and then quickly got on their boat.

I saw that the water level under my feet was slowly decreasing, and it all flowed away from which mouth, and that mouth was closer to Haizhou City, which was equivalent to taking a straight line on the winding river.

This caused a lot of trouble for a group of soldiers, because when the water poured into the gap, their boat was in danger of being washed away. Fortunately, Yao Baihu had rich experience in water, so he immediately asked people to pull the boat to pull the fiber on the shore. , Let a few people who are familiar with sailing stabilize the hull on the boat, and pull it forward for a mile before the water surface velocity slows down.

They just got on the boat and continued to go southwest with satisfaction. 200 taels of silver is not so easy to get, 100 taels is their reward for blowing up the Qiangwei River, and the other 100 taels is their reward for reporting to Huai'an. After blowing up the Qiangwei River, the next task was to go to Huai'an to ask Shi Kefa for food.

But these gate soldiers don't care about this, as long as they get 200 taels of silver, they can live a more nourishing life.

(End of this chapter)