Tiger Owl

Chapter 133 Operation Destroy the Ship
In Jiangling County, seven vegetable delivery boats slowly arrived at the gate of the water village. A patrol boat stepped forward to check the bronze plaque of the person in charge of the delivery, and more than a dozen soldiers boarded the boats to carefully check the cargo inside. Finding nothing unusual, the leading general waved his hand, the gate of the water village opened, and the seven vegetable delivery boats sailed into the water village.

It was November, winter, and the riverbanks were covered with a layer of snow. Although the Yangtze River did not freeze, the river wind was cold, making people shiver.

Hundreds of large warships were moored haphazardly along the shore. The soldiers who were originally standing guard at the shore were now huddled together. The food delivery boats, led by the patrol boats, came to their designated spots and moored. Twenty cooks ran over to unload the goods, and soon the grain, rice, vegetables, and meat were all gone. The seven food delivery boats then left the water fortress under the watchful eyes of the patrol boats.

The seven ships stopped in front of a small village on the banks of the Yangtze River. The steward went ashore and entered a large house in the village.

Ding Feng had been waiting for him at the house for quite some time. "How is it? What's the situation with the enemy's security?"

The steward clasped his hands and said, "Reporting to the general, the enemy's defenses are still very tight. We were searched as soon as we entered the water fortress. They searched us thoroughly and monitored us the whole time. We didn't have any chance at all."

How many patrol boats are there in total?

"There are twenty boats in total, twelve outside the water fortress and eight inside. There are no patrolling soldiers on the shore, but there are four sentry posts."

"What about the warships?" Ding Feng asked again.

"Hundreds of large ships were moored on the shore. According to my observation, only ten ships were moored to the iron stakes at the dock. The rest of the large ships were linked together with iron chains."

"It's just as I expected!"

Ding Feng clenched his fists in excitement, walked out the door and ordered, "Everyone, get some rest. We'll move at midnight tonight!"

At midnight, about three miles from the water fortress, twenty-five water ghosts went into the water, each carrying a 20-pound sack of kerosene, with two sheepskin pouches tied to the sack.
The twenty-five people drifted downstream and soon arrived at the westernmost corner of the water village. They were more than ten miles away from the main gate of the water village, and the patrol boats could not reach this place.

Two days ago, they loosened the two fences of the water village. Two fences on the wooden fence became loose. By pulling the two fences upwards, without damaging the camp, the twenty-five water ghosts swam into the water village one after another.

The water fortress was very quiet. There were a few patrol boats in the distance on the water, but their patrols were mainly near the water gate, far away from the twenty-five water ghosts.

In a short while, the soldiers dived into the hundreds of large ships, and burned one ship every ten ships, which was relatively even.

The weather was cold, and there was no one on the deck of the large ship. The soldiers simply unscrewed the caps of the leather bags and threw them onto the ship. The kerosene would then gush out and fill the entire ship. Torches were thrown onto the ship, and a fire immediately broke out. With the help of the wind, the fire began to spread rapidly.

The sentry's alarm bells rang out, and as the soldiers rushed out of the camp, hundreds of large ships were already engulfed in flames and billowing with thick smoke.

Zhang Yun, the naval commander of Jingzhou, was suddenly awakened from his sleep by his personal guards.

"Commander, wake up! Something terrible has happened!"

"What happened?" Zhang Yun asked, still half asleep.

"Fire! The big ship is on fire!"

"what?"

Zhang Yun pushed away the concubine who was holding him, sat up abruptly, and asked urgently, "How many ships are on fire?" "At first there were only about twenty ships, but the wind was too strong and the fire spread rapidly. When I came in, there were already more than fifty ships on fire. I don't know now."

"What happened?"

Zhang Yun quickly put on his military uniform and asked fiercely, "Is someone on the ship making a fire to keep warm?"

"This humble servant is unaware!"

Zhang Yun grabbed his sword and rushed out. When he reached the outside of the tent, he was also frightened. He saw soldiers running around and shouting. In the distance, flames were shooting into the sky from the water fortress, and thick smoke was billowing, turning the sky red.

Zhang Yun rushed out of the camp, and the scene before him made him kneel on the ground in despair. Hundreds of large ships were engulfed in flames, and the fire, fueled by the wind, burned more and more fiercely, even setting fire to the four watchtowers on the shore.

Suddenly, a large ball of fire shot into the sky and was blown into the camp by the wind. In an instant, seven or eight large tents were set ablaze.

Zhang Yun was terrified and shouted repeatedly, "Quickly pack up the camp! Quickly pack up the camp!"

All the soldiers were scrambling to pack up the tents, but a gust of wind blew by, and what was originally less than ten tents caught fire, and in the blink of an eye, more than a hundred tents were burning.

Despite the soldiers' desperate efforts to pack up the tents, they couldn't keep up with the speed at which the fire spread. More and more tents were set ablaze, and more and more soldiers gave up on dismantling the tents and fled desperately outside.

At this moment, a dozen or so guards carried Zhang Yun's concubine out, which made Zhang Yun secretly breathe a sigh of relief. It was a stroke of luck that no one was hurt.

The fire raged until noon the next day before gradually dying down. Hundreds of warships and battleships were reduced to charred skeletons. Only a few dozen warships were moored on the other side and escaped the fire, which was a stroke of luck amidst the misfortune. Thousands of large tents were destroyed, hundreds of people were burned to death, and 20,000 naval troops had nowhere to live and had to retreat to their camps in the city.

Zhang Yun had no choice but to return to the city temporarily. Before returning, he ordered a thorough investigation into the cause of the fire. Although Xiangyang still had thousands of medium-sized warships and cargo ships, the Jingzhou army only had a few hundred large warships left, all of which had now been burned. This meant that the Jingzhou army could no longer compete with the Yuzhang army on the water.

In the afternoon, several generals reported the results of their investigation to Zhang Yun. The water fortress fences were intact and no damage was found. Furthermore, the patrol boats and the guards at the water fortress gates did not find any unusual vessels. The problem was likely internal. Perhaps some soldiers used kerosene to start a fire for warmth and set the warship on fire. Due to the strong winds, the fire spread rapidly and ultimately caused a major disaster.

Zhang Yun secretly breathed a sigh of relief. If it was a major accident caused by carelessness in keeping warm, although he would bear some responsibility, the punishment would not be too severe. At most, he would receive a stern reprimand. The greater responsibility would be borne by the general on duty last night, who would be dismissed and investigated.

However, if the attack was caused by a surprise attack by the Yuzhang Army, then it is a war, and if the war is lost, the responsibility of the commander-in-chief for negligence should be investigated.

Zhang Yun preferred it to be an accident. He pondered for a moment and said, "Write a written report, add a line saying that the perpetrator has perished in the fire, and that's it!"

"Follow the order!"

The investigating general bowed and left in a hurry. Zhang Yun was still a little uneasy. In fact, he knew very well that if it was a fire caused by heating, it would not have spread so quickly. There was plenty of time to untie the chains of all the warships. Last night's fire was clearly caused by more than twenty fires burning at the same time, and it was made of oil, which is why the fire spread so quickly. It was more likely that someone set the fire in secret, most likely by the Yuzhang Army to completely destroy the naval warfare capabilities of the Jingzhou Army.

Although he knew the truth perfectly well, Zhang Yun dared not tell the truth; he could not bear the responsibility.

(End of this chapter)