It is clear and clear in the morning, the sun has not yet risen, and there is still a little chill in the air. There is a layer of mist floating on the fields and in the canals. The woods are dim and it is difficult for the sight to see through the mist through the woods a mile away.

But the fleet on the river could be clearly seen from the woods. Pei Xingyan looked solemn and there was a kind of unconcealed pressure in his eyes. He knew very well the role of kerosene in war, especially the weapon against heavy armored infantry and heavy armored cavalry.

It is precisely because of this that the general manager attaches great importance to it and sends him to perform this task, otherwise it would be enough to send an ordinary Ying Yanglang general.

The canal river is wide, and although it can barely hit the ship with crossbow arrows, it is of little significance. As long as the enemy ship's channel is slightly tilted eastward, their mission will fail. Xiao Yannian whispered beside him: "General, we can use water ghosts to dive into the bottom of the water to sank the ship."

Pei Xingyan shook his head, "Although this plan is OK, it is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Once discovered by the enemy, it will easily lead to the failure of the entire mission, which is not the best way."

Zhang Ju, the scout next to him, said: "Or, we set fire when we get close to enemy ships."

Pei Xingyan thought about it and was still denied, "Setting fire is a good way, but our ships may not be able to get close to the enemy ship, and this plan is not very appropriate."

Xiao Yannian wanted to say something else, but Pei Xingyan smiled and patted his shoulder, "No need to say anything more, I already have a way. You can take more than a dozen brothers to patrol ahead. If Dou Jiande sends troops to pick up the ship, you can notify me immediately."

Xiao Yannian nodded, got up and took more than a dozen brothers to run north along the path.

Pei Xingyan stared at the fleet until the fleet disappeared from his vision, and he turned around and said to the generals: "Stay for another half an hour and then set off!"

...........

Pei Xingyan was not in a hurry to catch up with the fleet. Instead, he led his army to follow him from afar and never entered the fleet's sight. The river surface of Yongji Canal was too wide, which was not conducive to his attack. If the attack was alerted by the other party, the other party just needed to park the ship on the other side, and he would have no choice.

A raid is like a beast prey on prey, requiring patience to find the best opportunity and then hit it with one blow.

As night gradually descended, the fleet entered Gonggao County. It was five or six miles away from Gonggao County, but the fleet was about to turn around in a place called Sanli Bridge, and was about to leave Yongji Canal and enter a branch canal.

This branch canal was dug last year by Dou Jiande, named Gongle Canal. It is about fifty miles long and crosses the Zhang River. It has been arriving at Leshou County. The branch canal is about ten feet wide and has completely covered the range of the arrows.

The two sides of the Gongle Canal are also endless plains, with farmland, villages and woods distributed, and countless irrigation ditches are led out of the Gongle Canal. Huge water trucks stand by the canal, driven by wind, and slowly rotate, guiding the water from the Gongle Canal into the irrigation ditches, nourishing the fertile land on both sides of the straits.

The soldiers on the fleet all showed a tired expression and after two days and two nights of sailing, the fleet will arrive in Leshou County early tomorrow morning, and they can have a good sleep.

But many people were filled with worry again. A big battle in Leshou County is about to break out. Can they escape this disaster?

There are also many people looking up at the stars in the sky, looking for their own star in the lonely and boring night to see if it is bright and dark.

At this moment, a fierce sound of horse hooves came from afar. It was like a series of continuous explosions of thunder, which was the momentum that was triggered by the running of thousands of war horses.

The boatmen on the shore stopped and looked south in horror. Their feet, which had become dull and numb, could still clearly feel the vibration of the earth.

The soldiers on the ship also stood up, drew their bows and searched around nervously. They didn't know whether this was their own cavalry or the enemy attacked at night.

There were dense black dots in a forest in the south. On the field where the mist was floating, it was like a group of cruising elves or souls.

But they were not elves or souls, but groups of murderous cavalrymen. They rushed towards them like lightning, getting closer and closer, and the dense sound of horse hooves shocked the quiet night.

‘Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!’ A harsh alarm sounded at the bow of the ship, and the soldiers on the ship were in a panic, and many people even dived to swim to the other side. The boatmen were already scared and fled to death. The fleet lost its motivation and was moored in the canal.

The overwhelming arrows shot towards the fleet in the dark, and the cavalry group came and went quickly, like the black wind. The soldiers of the fleet also raised their bows and fought back, but the fleet that stretched for three miles seriously dispersed the counterattack capabilities of the defenders on the ship, and their bows and arrows could not pose a threat to the cavalry on the shore.

People kept screaming and falling into the water with arrows. The soldiers who were scared out of their courage jumped into the water and swam to the other side desperately for their lives. At this moment, the situation changed. The arrows shot by the Sui cavalry turned into rockets, and clusters of fire came from the shore, densely packed like bursting fireworks, flying all over the sky.

Ships were constantly ignited, and large ships were burning in the canal. One of them suddenly burst out with a storm of fire, and a large amount of tinder oil poured out of the ship, and the entire water surface turned into a sea of ​​fire, instantly swallowing dozens of soldiers who had no time to escape.

Another ship also burned violently, and the flames soared into the sky. Most of the soldiers guarding the ship didn't know what they were escorting them. This terrifying fire scared everyone to death and dived to escape.

On the south bank, countless rockets were still shooting towards the ships, and almost all of them were ignited. At this time, Xiao Yannian rushed over and shouted: "General Pei, the enemy's 20,000 reinforcements are ten miles away."

Pei Xingyan's eyes were cold, as if he had heard nothing, and he kept ordering soldiers to shoot the ship. Until all the ships were ignited, he ordered loudly: "Escape!"

The three thousand cavalry quickly turned their horses and ran towards the darkness, and after a moment they ran without a trace.

A quarter of an hour later, a team of 8,000 cavalry and 12,000 infantry finally arrived under the leadership of General Cao Zhan, but what they saw was a sea of ​​fire on the river surface. The fleet of about three miles long turned into a fire dragon, which shocked everyone.

...........

As soon as dawn, news that one hundred warships were attacked and burned by the Sui army reached Dou Jiande's camp. This news made Dou Jiande very angry and ordered the captain who was responsible for escorting the ship to behead him. Each of the fleeing soldiers beat a hundred sticks. As well as Cao Zhan, who was slow to take him, he also whipped thirty whips and demoted him to the next level.

One morning, Dou Jiande was extremely irritated. He might not be so annoyed by the military capital of a hundred ships. The key is that the destruction of two thousand barrels of turmeric oil was extremely distressed. This was the military capital that Li Mi promised to give him after he repeatedly negotiated with Li Mi. He was going to use it to deal with the heavy armored cavalry of the Sui army, but unexpectedly it was destroyed.

Zhuo County suffered a crushing defeat, Qilipo lost and military capital was destroyed, and a series of failures began to shake Dou Jiande's confidence. He felt it was difficult for him to win in this battle. He began to realize that he had made a major strategic mistake. He should not put the battlefield in Leshou County. He should retreat to Bohai County in the south, or enter Douzigang, and use the complex swamp terrain of Douzigang to fight against the Sui army.

But what he thought about was to compete for Hebei at that time, and did not want to give up his territory. He wanted to concentrate 300,000 troops to defeat the Sui army in one fell swoop. He thought very well, but the cruel reality told him that even if he concentrated 300,000 troops, he was still no match for the Sui army.

Dou Jiande paced back and forth in the big tent with his hands behind his back. At this time, the voice of the plotter, Kong Deshao, came from outside the tent, "Prince, can you come in with a humble position?"

"Come in!"

A glimmer of hope arose in Dou Jiande's heart. Perhaps Kong Deshao could give him a good suggestion. As soon as the curtain was lifted, Kong Deshao walked in.

"Prince, are you still angry about the burning of the ship?"

Dou Jiande sighed, "I'm not angry about the ship being burned, I'm depressed about the successive defeat. To be honest, I'm almost out of confidence."

Kong Deshao stroked his beard and smiled and comforted him, "Prince, victory and defeat are common in military affairs. In the past, Chu and Han battled for hegemony, Liu Bang lost consecutively, and finally succeeded in a battle at Gaixia. Moreover, the prince only lost twice, and the main force is still there, and he was discouraged before the battle started. This is not the prince's character!"

In fact, Dou Jiande's character is tenacious and tenacious. Although he suffered repeated setbacks, he did not give up, which made him finally unify Hebei and become the last winner among the heroes of Hebei.

But this time his loss of confidence was due to his deep fear of Yang Yuanqing and the Sui army, including that Yang Yuanqing shot him with an arrow next to the Yongji Canal, which also left a shadow in his heart.

Dou Jiande slowly walked to the sand table and stared at the city of Leshou County. He planted a flag behind Qilipo and Qilipo, indicating that it was the Sui army.

He suddenly turned around and asked, "Sir, would it be feasible if I retreated the battlefield south now?"

Kong Deshao shook his head, "I understand the prince's desire to retreat southward, but this is not realistic. The 300,000 army is not so easy to retreat. Even if the army retreats, what should we do if the hundreds of thousands of stones of grain? Without food, how long can the army support it? And there is also the 100,000 main force of the Sui army so close to us, will they not pursue it?"

Kong Deshao's series of questions hit Dou Jiande's key points. He also knew that it was too late to withdraw his troops now, unless he ran away overnight and escaped the Yellow River. He sighed, squatted down and hugged his head. The anxiety in his heart was about to force him to go crazy.

Kong Deshao pondered for a moment and said, "Prince, why can't we send an army to bypass the main force of the Sui army, directly attack Shanggu County, destroy the Sui army's aid supplies, and then enter Hedong from Feihu Xing to surround Wei and save Zhao, and directly attack the Sui army's nest!"

Dou Jiande's eyes slowly lit up. The main force of the Sui army was in Hebei, and Hedong would inevitably be empty. Even if he could not seize Taiyuan City, he could still harass Yang Yuanqing in Hedong and force Yang Yuanqing to withdraw his troops. Thinking of this, he suddenly stood up, "Sir, this plan is great, why didn't I think of it?"

Kong Deshao smiled slightly, "It's not that the prince didn't expect it, but that we have too few cavalry, only 30,000 cavalry. We must carry out this mission, and at least 20,000 cavalry. Will the prince dare to place this bet?"

Dou Jiande pondered for a long time, and finally gritted his teeth and said, "I can't bear to leave my child and can't get a wolf. I'll bet on this bet."

"Come here, please order Gao Yaxian to come to see me!"

.........{Piaotianwen Thank you for your support, your support is our greatest motivation}
Chapter completed!