A patrol fleet sailed past the Sui army's grain transport ship. They found no abnormalities and drove quickly from the grain transport ship. They waited for them to walk farther away. A sampan slowly appeared behind the grain transport ship and silently followed the edge of the grain transport ship toward the first ship.

The first ship was Yuan Song's ship. He capsized onto the ship, found a sharp dagger, flint scythe and other fire-induced objects from the secret compartment of the cabin, and found a piece of oil cloth, and wrapped the flint scythe tightly and tied it to his body. Then he slid off the ship and pushed the sampan forward.

On the west side of the waterway, hundreds of large ships were moored, which were the Tang army's warships. The sampan quickly rowed through the middle waterway and drilled into the Tang army's warship group. Yuan Song unscrewed his leather bag and sprayed bags of turmeric oil directly on the wall of the ship. There were more than 300 Tang army warships, and he only brought fifty or sixty bags of turmeric oil, which was far from enough. He could only spray one bag on each ship.

About forty bags were sprayed, and there was not much turbid oil left on the sampan. At this moment, there was a sound of talking not far away. Four or five patrol boats appeared behind him at some point. Just three meters later, they could see his sampan directly. Yuan Song was shocked and squatted almost instinctively, lay on the sampan, slid down the inside along the strings of the boat, and moved extremely quickly.

"Why is there a small boat over there?" A patrol soldier discovered the sampan.

"Look!" Another person said, a patrol boat slowly sailing over. Yuan Song held the dagger in his hand tightly, staring at the gradually approaching ship like a leopard.

"What is it with leather bags in the boat?"

Two sentries jumped onto the sampan while muttering. One of them picked up a bag of turmeric, twisted it and smelled it. The pungent smell almost made him spit it out, "What's this smell, damn, so pungent?"

"No! This is tincture." Another soldier shouted loudly when he smelled the pungent smell coming from all around him.

As soon as he finished speaking, Yuan Song jumped up from the water. The sharp dagger pierced the soldier's back heart, almost without thinking. He stabbed another soldier with a backhand and pierced the chest. The two soldiers screamed and fell onto the sampan.

The sudden incident surprised more than 20 Tang army patrol soldiers on the small boats behind. They shouted almost at the same time, "There is an enemy situation!"

"Come on, there is an enemy situation!" A small boat sailed to the shore, shouting and shouting. The alarm bells on the whistle boat rang out loud, and the harsh bells echoed in the water village.

The other three whistle boats came from three sides toward the sampan. Twenty Tang soldiers held spears and bows and arrows in their hands. Their eyes were staring at the water without blinking, but the assassins in the water never showed up again.

At this time, Yuan Song had already dived to the other side of the big ship. He took a deep breath and dived into the water again. He had been diving through two big ships before he stopped close to the wall. The big ship was also sprayed with tinder oil on him. At this time, there was movement on the shore, and the three thousand navy troops stationed on the shore rushed towards the water camp.

Time was already very urgent. Yuan Song climbed up the rope ladder, bit the dagger in his mouth, and carefully took off the flint and scythe with his waist. Two clicks, the fume quilt was ignited, and a ball of flame ignited from his hands. He quickly approached the wall of the ship, and with a bang, the blue flame ignited and the fire spread rapidly. Even the water surface was burning.

Yuan Song was stunned. He couldn't help but pat his head hard. If he had known that tincture oil could burn in water, wouldn't it be simple if he poured the tincture oil into the water?

But regret was useless, and he dived into the water again. This time he raised his hands on the water surface, not daring to let the turquoise and flint touch the water, and swam under another ship. After making the same mistake, the flames quickly spread on the hull. Yuan Song ignited seven or eight large ships in a row. The turquoise had been used up. Then he jumped into the water and disappeared into the dark shining waves.

The fewer the fires of several large ships became bigger and bigger. The flames soared not only alarmed the navy on the shore, but also the defenders in the city. Lu Zushang led thousands of people to rush to the shore. Because the water camp ships were tightly leaning, and when Yuan Song sprayed tinder oil, a large amount of tinder oil flowed into the water along the wall of the ship, causing the tinder oil to spread rapidly in the water. More than 60 large ships were ignited. The fire took advantage of the wind and the flames soared into the air, thick smoke rolled, covering the sky and the sun.

"Separate the ships and drive the large ships that are not on fire to the water village!"

Lu Zushang was so anxious that he shouted that there were not many warships in the Tang army, only these hundreds. If they were burned, how could he explain to King Jing?

The soldiers sailed towards the fleet in small boats, but the fire was too fierce, with flames spreading on the water and thick smoke choking on their eyes. The soldiers could not get close to them, so they had to shout anxiously from a distance. At this time, more than a hundred large ships had been ignited.

Once more than 30% of the large ships were ignited, almost the entire fleet would be doomed. The thick smoke on the river surface made people unable to approach, let alone boarding the ship to drive. At this time, it was too late to escape. Although Lu Zushang was extremely anxious on the shore, no soldier was willing to take risks with his life.

On a mound on the other side, Wang Junguo and a dozen generals looked across the river and could faintly see the flames on the other side of the river. A general said excitedly: "General Wang, it seems to have succeeded!"

Wang Junguo snorted coldly, his face was as gloomy as water. He acted without his own orders. What if he made great contributions?

...........

A fire burned for two days and two nights, and more than 300 Tang army warships were burned to ashes. The river surface was covered with broken masts and walls, and the blue smoke was rippling. It was a terrible sight. At this time, Chai Shao's army had arrived, and 50,000 troops were stationed in the north of Jiangling City. Chai Shao did not allow them to approach the Yangtze River, so as not to see this tragic scene.

Chai Shao stood on the bank of the river with his hands behind his back, squinting his eyes at the more than 300 burned ships. This was the only giant fleet of the Tang Dynasty. It was actually destroyed like this. Without a large ship transporting troops, it means that the south of the Yangtze River no longer belongs to the Tang Dynasty. Chai Shao deeply felt that the crisis of the Tang Dynasty had penetrated into all aspects.

Lu Zushang felt ashamed and nervous, and stepped forward and knelt down on one knee to apologize, "The dereliction of duty has led to the destruction of the ship. This is the crime of low-level duties. Please punish the general!"

Chai Shao shook his head and said lightly: "You may not be able to bear this guilt."

Lu Zushang felt even more frightened and lowered his head, unable to say a word. Chai Shao ignored him and looked back at the Sui army's grain transport ships in the distance. There were about a thousand stones, with more than one hundred ships. It was not bad to use them to transport soldiers across the river, so he asked, "How many people can those ships transport at a time?"

Lu Zushang didn't know whether Chai Shao wanted to punish him or let him go. He was uneasy and did not dare to stand up. He replied: "Report to the general, that kind of thousand-stone cargo ship can transport about fifty people at a time, but..."

"But what?"

Chai Shao looked back at him, and saw that he was still kneeling on the ground, and said, "Get up! Order people to clean up the wreckage as soon as possible, as this will affect the morale of the army."

"Yes! I immediately sent someone to clean up."

After stopping for a while, Lu Zushang said again: "The captured Sui army ships are just cargo ships and cannot be used as warships. They are not strong enough and can easily be destroyed."

"It's okay."

Chai Shao had never thought about warships. He just wanted to use these cargo ships to transport troops, and could occupy the south bank of the Yangtze River in time. Fifty people per ship, and that time could transport 5,000 people, which was enough. At this time, Lu Zushang hesitated and said, "There is another thing to report to the general."

"What else is there? Just say it, don't hesitate."

Chai Shao didn't like Lu Zushang very much. If he was burned down by the Sui army's spies, the only warship of the Tang army was destroyed by the Sui army's spies. Such a great crime would have been slaughtered with one knife. However, Chai Shao knew that Li Xiaogong liked Lu Zushang very much, so he would not be able to deal with it. He could only tell Li Xiaogong about this and let him deal with it.

Lu Zushang felt a hint of impatientness in Chai Shao's tone and hurriedly said, "Report to General, Gong'an County has been occupied by the Sui army."

"What!"

The news surprised Chai Shao, and he asked hurriedly: "Has Yang Yuanqing been here?"

Lu Zushang shook his head quickly, "It's not the Jiangxia Sui army, but the Wang Jungu's army coming from Yiling, and Wang Jungu's personal leadership."

"Are you sure?" Chai Shao stared at him,

"The function of Bei is determined. Two days ago, Wang Junguo sent an envoy to negotiate with Beizhi, hoping to exchange 200,000 dan of forage for a thousand Tang army prisoners of war. Beizhi did not agree and said that the general must be asked to decide!"

"Of course it can't be changed!"

Chai Shao refused without hesitation. One thousand Tang troops were nothing, but 200,000 dan of forage could fatten the Sui army's horses. This was absolutely impossible to agree. At this time, Chai Shao's heart was a little confused. If Wang Junkuo had really led the troops to come in person, there would be at least five thousand cavalry and five thousand cavalry were deployed on the other side, and it would be difficult for their army to survive the south.

Before Chai Shao went south, he discussed with Li Xiaogong that Baling County and Changsha County both had a lot of money and grain, so he could find a way to transport the money and grain to Xiangyang first and use it as a supply for a 150,000 army. As long as the supply is sufficient, he could confront the Sui army for a long time and buy time for Guanzhong.

But what Chai Shao did not expect was that a fire destroyed the only fleet of the Tang army, and Sui cavalry appeared on the other side, asking him to go to Baling County and Changsha County to transport money and grain. Now all plans have been disrupted, and his heart is really in chaos.

Chai Shao sighed, "Let's go back to the city first!"

He turned over and was about to go to Jiangling City, when there was a noise from the soldiers behind him, and a personal soldier pointed at the river and shouted: "Look at the general, look at the fleet!"

When Chai Shao turned around, he saw an extremely large fleet of ships appearing on the river. The leaders of the ships exceeded 10,000 stones, like moving hills, heading towards Jiangling City. The fleet behind them was elusive at a glance. I wonder how many ships were there? A huge Red Eagle Battle Flag was flying on the large ship.

Chai Shao was shocked, not only him, but all the Tang soldiers on the river bank were stunned. On one side were the wreckage of ships burned to death, and on the other side were the vast and spectacular Sui army fleet. This sharp contrast made everyone lose confidence.

On the north bank of the Yangtze River, thousands of Tang soldiers looked at the fleet on the river silently, and no one spoke, and the silence was breathtaking.
Chapter completed!