Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 391: The sudden change on the river and the war resumes

When Guan Chongyan and others, led by Gu Shun, arrived at the place where the wood had been stored, the sun was already rising in the east.

"Captain, Captain, I really didn't lie to you. We really did pile the wood here. I remember this hilltop and this shabby house so clearly. I can't be wrong."

After arriving at the destination, Gu Shun found that the place where the wood had been piled was empty, and he couldn't help but explain in a hurry.

Not to mention being guarded by the Jin army, there isn't even a single bird feather.

Guan Chongyan waved his hand to stop Gu Shun from continuing, and then he glanced at the surroundings, pointed at the chaotic horseshoe prints and said, "Someone has indeed been stationed here."

"Seventh Brother." Li Jihu drove his horse around the area and said in a deep voice, "There are traces of piled wood."

"We found several bodies. They must have been hastily buried by the Jin thieves and then dug out by wild dogs." Cao Dache also reported.

"How did you die?"

"I can't see clearly. The body has been eaten by animals, but there don't seem to be any knife wounds. He must have died of starvation or exhaustion."

"There are traces on the ground. There must be something heavy heading west."

"go!"

"General, General, what about me? Can I..." Gu Shun, who was holding the saddle, raised his head and asked cautiously, "I am of no use anymore. Can I..."

Guan Chongyan dragged Gu Shun off his horse, then pulled out a small cloth bag from the horse's saddlebag and stuffed it into Gu Shun's arms. "Don't show off, and don't get lost. After we meet up with them at the ruined temple, we'll quickly cross the river!"

After saying that, Guan Chongyan kicked his horse's belly and rushed to the west.

Gu Shun opened the cloth bag and found seven or eight pancakes in it. He couldn't help but feel overjoyed. He kowtowed respectfully in the direction where Guan Chongyan left, and hurriedly ran to the east with the cloth bag in his arms.

"Seventh Brother, look." After walking about a mile to the west, Li Jihu pointed to a pile of rotten wood.

This seemed to be an official road, with a flat ground about seven or eight feet wide, extending from west to east. The rising sun could not penetrate the winter morning mist, and Guan Chongyan could not see the end of the road even after looking for a while.

After Guan Chongyan dismounted, he looked carefully at the pile of broken wood.

There are no signs of processing on these wood chips. It can be seen that they are just broken into pieces from logs. In order to prevent them from blocking the official road, these garbage are swept to the side of the avenue.

In theory, these wood chips can also be used as fuel, but they may not have been cleaned up in time.

"Are you transporting something heavy? Why not use a horse-drawn carriage?" Cao Dache asked with a frown.

"Keep going!" Guan Chongyan's face became more and more ugly, then he jumped on his horse and ran west along the road.

He wanted to prove an idea in his mind.

The horse galloped like an arrow, and had already covered two miles. A "small hill" on the side of the road pierced the morning mist, and its shadowy figure appeared in front of Guan Chongyan in the rising sunlight.

When Li Jihu and Cao Dache saw this scene, they were also speechless. For a moment, an indescribable feeling lingered in their hearts.

The sun continued to rise, finally thinning the morning mist and revealing the true appearance of the hill.

It was a capsized boat. For a moment, all three of them were silent, their pounding hearts and the occasional neighing of horses connecting them.

"This... this... this is a boat..." Li Jihu stuttered and said nonsense.

"How..." Cao Dache was also dumbfounded.

At this moment, the three men suddenly understood why the Jin army had gone to such great lengths to send so many cavalry and set up so many checkpoints to cover this area; they also understood the purpose of the logs; and they understood the danger that was imminent.

Sailing on land, it’s actually sailing on land.

You know, Li Dao and Wang Huai are both veterans. It's not that they don't know that there is a way to sail on land, but they have never thought about it at all.

The Dongting Lake navy occupying the upper reaches of the river is almost invincible in the Yangtze River, so the area they can guard is extremely large, and they can reach within a range of dozens of miles in an instant.

If the Jin army wanted to openly repair the plank road and secretly pass through Chencang, they would have to allow the ships to travel nearly 80 miles on land to get from Wujiang County to Yuxikou.

The actual distance will only be longer, and a small slope, a boulder, or a stream will become a fatal obstacle.

What no one expected was that after the Jin army was defeated in Wujiang County on November 13, they did not stop for a moment and urged the people to work as coolies and sign up soldiers to cut wood and dismantle beams to make wheels. In less than 20 days, they transported countless vehicles and boats to the upper reaches of the river.

What Guan Chongyan didn't know was that the Jin army didn't actually start preparing on November 13th, but started taking action as soon as the navy arrived on November 9th.

But even so, even if there were small rivers and ditches in the middle to connect them, given the poor productivity and production methods of those days, the people of Huaixi had no idea how many people had died without a burial place just for this matter.

Even if he saw the Jingguan Hill on the roadside, Guan Chongyan would not find it strange.

"Let's go!" Guan Chongyan was the first to react. He gritted his teeth and said, "Let's go to Yuxikou. I want to see with my own eyes how many watercraft the Jin thieves have brought here!"

The three of them prepared to head east along Yuxi River again. However, because Dongguan Pass was on the north bank of Yuxi River, the passage from Dongguan Pass to Yuxikou was also on the north bank. There must be a place where the Jin army was gathered along the way. Even if Guan Chongyan had the ability to see through the sky and the earth, he would not dare to walk straight ahead.

After the three men took off their clothes and floated across the river, they quickly wiped off the water stains, put on their clothes, and headed eastward against the cold winter wind. Finally, two minutes later, they saw the huge naval camp set up in Yuxi from a distance.

This place is several miles away from the mouth of Yuxi River. There are tall wooden fences around the camp, and it is impossible to detect it from the other side of the river. Even if Song army scouts arrived and avoided the dense Jin army cavalry, they would think that this was a camp standing on the river.

No one would have thought that in this huge camp, Yuxi River had been artificially widened and many water steamers of the Jin navy had been stuffed into it.

The reason why Guan Chongyan was able to recognize it was because he could look over the wooden railing and see a small half of the white sail raised.

"No, the Jin thieves' navy has opened the sails! Why would they open the sails?!" Guan Chongyan was shocked and quickly realized something.

The Jin navy is about to launch an attack!

They are about to attack now!
The three men had no time to think and quickly rode away before the Jin cavalry discovered them and began to surround them.

Guan Chongyan and others were lucky enough to find a fishing boat in a deserted fishing village. They didn't even have time to bring the horses back, so the three of them boarded the boat and rowed, going downstream while struggling to head towards the other side.

No matter what, they had to bring this fatal news to the other side before things became irreversible.

(End of this chapter)