Chapter 63 Four Peng Yulin Hong furnace ax breaks the iron lock

The victories of the two Lu divisions in Banbishan and Fuchi Town greatly relieved Zeng Guofan's worries. On the north bank, the Green Battalion soldiers from Guiming and Duolong'a also rushed to Tianjia Town, restraining the troops of Qin Rigang and Shi Xiangzhen, which made Zeng Guofan more relieved.Now, together with Peng Yulin, Yang Zaifu, and Li Mengqun, he will go all out to win the victory on the river.It was late at night, and seeing that the light was still on in Zeng Guofan's cabin, Peng Yulin gently pushed the door open and entered.I saw six bamboo chopsticks neatly arranged side by side on the desk, and Zeng Guofan sat aside, staring intently.

"Di Zhang, haven't you rested so late?" "Oh, it's Xueqin." Zeng Guofan woke up from his contemplation, pointed to the wooden stool beside the bed and said, "Sit down, I'm going to discuss with you." "Di Zhang, are you thinking about those iron chains on the river?" Peng Yulin asked, pointing to the bamboo chopsticks. "These iron chains are not easy to deal with!" Zeng Guofan said heavily, "I've been thinking about them for half the night. Although the iron stakes tied to the side of Banbi Mountain were cut off by Luo Shan, the part in the middle of the river is still firmly in place." Nailed firmly, how can a warship survive."

"For this iron chain, I thought about it for two days. Changmao's move is really vicious. Although there are iron chains in Hengjiang in history, there are only one or two. I have never seen as many as six. After thinking about it, I can't It can be used. Gold can defeat wood, fire can defeat metal, it seems that only fire can be used.” Zeng Guofan said: "The iron locks of the Eastern Wu and Later Jin Dynasties were also broken by fire. But as you said, there were only one or two locks. Now there are six locks, but it is difficult to break them." Peng Yulin said: "I've already made up my mind. Wang Jun used a torch back then, Wang Yanzhang used a stove back then, and we used an oil pan. Don't be afraid of its six iron chains, even if it is an iron arhat, I will melt it."

Zeng Guofan thought about it, and there was only one way, so he agreed with Peng Yulin's way.Coming out of Zeng Guofan's cabin, Peng Yulin recruited Yang Zaifu, Li Mengqun, Chenghai battalion officer Bai Renhu, Dingxiang battalion officer Duan Yingqi, Zhongying battalion officer Qin Guolu, Qingjiang battalion officer Yu Sheng, guide battalion battalion officer Sun Changguo, etc. , and then specifically agree on the details of tomorrow's fire attack. The next day, the Xiangyong navy was divided into four teams and formed a battle with the Taiping Navy under the command of Brother Zhou Guoyu.The first team is led by a white tiger with 20 fast crabs. A stove is set up on each fast crab. A five-foot-diameter faucet cauldron is installed on the stove. firewood.Beside the pot were seven or eight brave men, each holding a mountain-chopping ax and iron tongs, and three large iron piers stood beside the pot.Thirty archers stood at the bow and stern of the ship.The task of the first team is to burn and chop iron locks.The second team, led by Peng Yulin himself, gathered a hundred warships.On board were torches soaked in oil and dozens of unsealed cloth bags, each containing half a bag of soybeans.The Xiangyongs didn't know what the soybeans were used for, but they just followed orders.There are 2,000 strong sailors on 100 warships.The task of the second team is to protect the twenty fast crabs that burned and chopped the chains.The third team, led by Yang Zaifu, also consisted of 100 warships and 2,000 sailors, and the boats were also filled with torches and soybeans.The task of this team is to rush over after the iron lock is broken.The fourth team, led by Li Mengqun, protected the old camp and the supply ships.

Due to the defeat of the land battalions in Banbishan and Fuchi Town, the mood of the Taiping Navy was fluctuated.In view of the failure of the Wuhan battle, a few people have a sense of fear for Xiangyong. In the past two days, hundreds of people escaped from Shuying.Brothers Guoyu, Guocai, and Guoxian patrolled the river to boost morale.Most people believe that the power of these six iron locks will surely stop Xiangyong's ship.In terms of numbers, although there were 6,000 sailors of the Taiping Army, Wuchang was newly defeated. Half of the warships were burned, and the artillery and ammunition on board were also lost.In a hurry, more than 200 fishing boats were collected from Qizhou to Tianzhen, and they were forced to be used as supplements. After all, they would not be of great use.Half of the personnel were temporarily transferred from the land battalion, with little training.In terms of equipment conditions and personnel quality, the Taiping Army is obviously inferior to Xiangyong. The only thing they can fight is the six iron locks across the river.Zhou Guoyu knew all this, and was quite worried.He himself guards the middle section, Guocai guards the northern section, and Guoxian guards the southern section.After having breakfast, I saw from a distance that the upper reaches were covered in darkness, pressing down like dark clouds.Zhou Guoyu ordered to unfurl the command flag to prepare for the battle, and ordered that the Xiangyong ship should not wait for the ship to stabilize before starting.

The first team commanded by the white tiger flew down the river.The white tiger is from Huarong, his family is rich, he was strong and unruly since he was a child, he doesn't like studying, he is good at stick boxing.After the war broke out in Hunan, he thought it was time to make meritorious service and become an official and show off his relatives and fame, so he donated money to raise courage.When the Xiangyong navy crossed Dongting Lake, Bairenhu led his troops to join the army, and Zeng Guofan ordered him to form Chenghai battalion.This time he was ordered to be a pioneer, and he was determined to make a name for himself.Wearing an iron helmet, wearing a war robe covered with copper nails, holding a long spear, he stood proudly on the first boat.

Bai Renhu's boat was only twenty feet away from the iron lock. With a wave of Zhou Guoyu's hand, the sailors guarding the iron lock shot arrows one after another, and many Xiangyong on the fast crab fell into the water with arrows.The white tiger swung his spear, blocked the arrows, and shouted: "Don't be afraid, charge forward!" The rattan plates on the bow and side of the boat were all raised high, forming a wall, and the oarsmen rowed desperately, and the boat moved forward with difficulty.Peng Yulin's second team also arrived and hurriedly threw torches on the boats and platoons of the Taiping army. The torches of the Taiping army were also thrown to this side. Many torches met in the air and fell into the river together.Peng Yulin ordered that the unsealed cloth bag be twisted tightly with his hands and thrown towards the bow of the Taiping Army.As soon as these cloth bags landed on the opponent's boat, the soybeans rolled out of the bags.The sailors of the Taiping Army didn't know what was in the bag at first, but when they saw soybeans, they all complained.It turned out that these soybeans were quickly scattered all over the bow, deck and cabin. When people stepped on it, they fell down immediately, got up again, and fell down again.On the Taiping Army ship, the sailors fell one by one, Xiang Yong clapped his hands and laughed wildly: "Falled, fallen!"

Zhou Guoyu gritted his teeth angrily.Just as the sailors of the Taiping Army fell in groups, burning torches flew over from the Xiangyong ship together.The boat was set on fire, and the flames burst into flames, like several balls of fire rolling on the surface of the river.Yang Zaifu's third team also rushed to take advantage of the situation. Arrows are flying, fire is burning, swords and guns are colliding, drums and horns are thundering.In order to get promoted and make a fortune, Xiangyong was fierce and ferocious, regardless of life and death; everyone in the Taiping Army fought bravely and stubbornly to make a living.An unprecedented vicious battle broke out in the upper reaches of Iron Lock. The dead and wounded on both sides fell into the water one by one, the survivors struggled in the river waves, and the dead drifted with the waves.Banbi Mountain seems to be weeping, and the Yangtze River is also whimpering.

At this time, the white tiger took the opportunity to row the boat to the side of the iron lock. The tea oil in the cauldron of the faucet had already boiled. From then on, the Xiangyongs endured the scorching heat and pulled the iron locks into the flames for calcination.The other nineteen fast crabs also rowed to the iron lock, and the cauldron on the boat was ignited together.Yong Ding next to the pot was so hot and dizzy from the smoke, his whole body was drenched in sweat like heavy rain.They simply took off all their shirts, revealing their glossy and black chests, shaking like devils in the fire beside the pot.A young Xiangyong was dizzy from the heat, and suddenly turned black. He was loaded into the pot, and was immediately burned to bloody flesh by the boiling oil fire, emitting a stench.Xiangyong beside the pot screamed at the same time, and instinctively stepped back.The white tiger rushed to the side of the pot, grabbed the stiff feet of the deceased with both hands, dragged out a headless and shoulderless half man, threw it into the river, and pointed his spear at the retreating Xiangyong. He shouted: "Keep burning, anyone who dares to escape will be stabbed to death here!"

The few Yong Ding had no choice but to surround the pot and use iron tongs to hold the iron lock on the pot and burn it. Seeing that the iron lock was almost burned, the white tiger ordered the iron lock to be clamped to the iron pier, and several men with big axes struggled to hack.After cutting a few axes, it broke!The whole boat cheered together.The white tiger stood on the bow of the boat and shouted: "The iron lock is blown, brothers, come on!" Zhou Guocai was leading the fleet from the north shore to support him, and when he saw the white tiger barking majestically, he was so angry that his lungs exploded. He bent his bow and set an arrow, and shot it with a "swish", hitting the white tiger's left eye.The white tiger screamed and fell into the water from the bow.The Xiangyongs watched helplessly as he was swept away by the river waves, and no one wanted to save him, nor could they.

Duan Yingqi, a battalion officer of the Dingxiang Camp, was close friends with Bairenhu. Seeing that Bairenhu was shot to death, he commanded the warship to sail towards Zhou Guocai.When he was about to get close, Duan Yingqi yelled viciously, jumped onto Guocai's boat, swung a big knife in his hand, and rushed towards Guocai, and then several Xiangyong, who were not afraid of death, also jumped over the boat.Zhou Guocai didn't expect Xiangyong to be so fierce, and several timid soldiers were so frightened that they hid in the cabin.Zhou Guocai swung his sword to fight.Duan Yingqi was born as a boatman, since she joined Xiangyong, she has climbed to the position of battalion officer by virtue of her bravery. Now she wants to avenge her friend, and secondly, relying on Xiangyong's momentum of gaining the upper hand, the more she fights, the more courageous she becomes.Zhou Guocai's kung fu on the boat was not good at all, and when the boat shook, he couldn't use all his skills.After fighting for more than ten rounds, after pitying a Zhongliang, he became Duan Yingqi's ghost under the sword.Duan Yingqi was able to kill, and chopped down a few more, then picked up the torch, set fire from the bow to the stern, and finally jumped back to her own boat.At this time, several parts of the iron lock were burned and cut off, and Yang Zaifu commanded the third team to rush over as planned.Yang Zaifu was so jealous that he took off all his clothes and hats, and only wore a pair of shorts to command at the bow.Seeing that Yang Zaifu was like this, the 2000 Xiangyong sailors of the third team took off their clothes and hats together, shouting and shouting, to cheer for themselves.They went down the river, burning boats and killing anyone they saw. In a short while, the boat arrived at Wuxue, and the sky suddenly turned east.Yang Zaifu was very fighting, and ordered all the warships to turn around and sail back to Tianjia Town with the help of the east wind.Peng Yulin commanded the second team to rush down. Peng and Yang's two teams sandwiched the Taiping Army Navy in the middle. On the north bank, Guiming and Duolong saw that the river was on fire, and the Zhizhong Road Navy had launched an attack, and also took the opportunity to attack Qin Rigang's camp stationed in Tianjia Town.The defenders in Tian Town had mobilized 2,000 people across the river to support Banbi Mountain two days ago, and the forces on the north bank had weakened.Guiming and Duolong'a's green battalion were no match for the Taiping Army.At this time, due to the gaining power of the land division on the south bank and the navy division on the river side, their courage was also added. The two sides fought fiercely and were evenly matched. Taqibu and Luo Zenan took advantage of the momentum to occupy Banbi Mountain and Fuchi Town.The forts installed on Banbi Mountain were all occupied by Xiangyong, who in turn blasted the artillery one by one at the warships of the Taiping Army.On the 30-mile river from Tianjia Town to Wuxue, the navy of the Taiping Army was gradually at a disadvantage. Zhou Guoyu was furious, and he yelled at the soldiers beside him, "I'm going to die here anyway, let's kill him first." Seeing his second brother's death in battle, Guoxian felt very sad and indignant. He worried that if his elder brother had another mishap, he would be alone in the future.He moved the boat over, jumped onto the big brother's boat, and said earnestly: "Brother, the south bank has been occupied by Qing monsters, and the north bank is also fighting fiercely. There is no way to help us. The situation is extremely unfavorable to us. A hero does not suffer immediate losses. Let's break out first." , leave this sea of ​​blood and deep hatred, and retaliate in the future." Without waiting for the elder brother to say anything, Guoxian gathered the warships and took the lead in rushing downstream. Duan Yingqi's boat was turning around and heading upstream, when it ran into Guoxian.Guoxian was furious when he saw the enemy who killed his second brother.When the two boats were about to collide, Guoxian jumped over unexpectedly, and with lightning speed, pierced Duan Yingqi's chest with a single shot, and pushed him into the river again.When several Yong Dings on the Xiangyong boat were about to rush towards Guoxian, Guoxian jumped back again.At this time, the warship led by Guo Yu was rushed out by the river for more than ten feet, and the sailors released sharp arrows together, suppressing the pursuers behind, and sailed down the current towards Jiujiang. Qin Rigang and Shi Xiangzhen on the north bank saw that the situation was over, and they also led their troops to retreat along the road leading to Huangmei.As for the defeated soldiers on the south bank, they had already been collected by Lin Shaozhang and Luo Dagang, and they headed towards Ruichang, Jiangxi. After three hours of fierce fighting, Xiangyong broke through the Hengjiang iron lock between Tianjia Town and Banbi Mountain, and occupied these two important market towns.The result of this battle was: more than 1,200 people died in the Taiping Army, except Zhou Guoyu's team of more than 20 warships rushed out, all the ships were reduced to ashes; Xiang Yong also dropped more than 800 corpses, More than one hundred warships were destroyed.