Chapter 108: Fire Ships Attack (Seeking Favorites, Seeking Recommendations)

In the first year of the Shun's Yongchang era, on the second day of the fourth month, in the small hours before dawn. The first light had not yet risen in the east; the black night hung over everything like a curtain. Only a new moon and countless stars, as though set into the vault of heaven, glittered unceasingly, casting out faint rays of light.

Faint as the light was, it was enough for the veteran soldiers of the Shun army's old camp under Li Guo to make out the road ahead. In the darkness, a force of as many as two thousand men was quietly crossing a pontoon bridge, moving from the north bank of the Wei River to the south bank. Gags were in the men's mouths, cloths wrapped the horses' hooves, and bridles and bits held the warhorses' neighing firmly in check. The only sound accompanying the surging waters of the Wei River was the dense but low tread of footsteps.

Like the officers and men under his command, Li Guo was not riding but leading his warhorse on foot across the narrow, constantly shifting bridge. After walking with his head lowered for a while, he finally set foot on the south bank of the Wei River. He looked up at the sky; it was still pitch black. By the look of it, it would be at least another two hours before the sky began to lighten.

Yet the moon was bright and the stars were many in the sky; tomorrow would clearly be a fine, sunny day. Tonight there was also only a faint breeze against the face, and no strong southeast wind to interfere with the fire attack Li Yan had organized.

Moreover, three consecutive days of fierce assaults on the northern city of the Tianjin garrison should have drawn off the troops of the Zhu traitor to the greatest possible extent.

The southern city of the Tianjin garrison was most likely empty and lightly defended; the elite troops were surely all in the northern city. As long as the pontoon bridge was destroyed and the Zheng family's naval force driven off, the Zhu traitor's troops in the northern city of the Tianjin garrison would be unable to reinforce the southern city, and the southern city would soon be broken open by the Shun's heavenly soldiers.

At the same time, on those earthen mounds piled up along both banks of the Wei River southeast of the Tianjin garrison, many archers would also be placed. When the Zheng family's naval force passed by, ten thousand arrows would be loosed at once — and all of them fire arrows! They would burn those hateful "honest merchants" to death... As long as the Zheng family's fleet was finished, Tianjin city would be a turtle in a jar!

In short, the foolish emperor and his son inside the Tianjin garrison had only one road left — death!

Just as he was thinking this, the clatter of hooves sounded up ahead. Several dozen riders were coming straight toward Li Guo's great banner. When they drew near, Li Guo spotted a blaze of fiery red on the lead horse and knew at once that Red Lady had come.

"Is that Red Lady?" Li Guo asked with a chuckle.

"Brother Tiger, it is your little sister indeed." Red Lady's voice was very clear and ringing, carrying the forthright boldness peculiar to a heroine of the rivers and lakes. Her movements were also nimble and vigorous. Only when the horse drew close did Li Guo notice that she was sitting sideways on the saddle. Then she leaped lightly down and stood steadily before Li Guo.

"Sister Red, how goes it?" Li Guo asked with a smile. "Can you manage a water battle? Do you want your big brother to send a few hundred old brothers to help?"

"Do Brother Tiger's old brothers know how to swim?" Red Lady's smile was as bright as a flower. "Your little sister at least grew up by the Huai River, and under her command are some stout fellows from the Huai."

Red Lady was a heroine from the Xinyang area of Henan; strictly speaking, she could not be counted a northerner, but was a person of the western Huai region. She had first risen in revolt around Xinyang as well, so of course she had a few river bandits under her.

"Then it's settled," Li Guo said with a laugh. "With Sister Red making a move, the Zheng family's sea pirates are certainly no match... That lot is nothing but seagoing peddlers. How could they stand against our Shun heavenly soldiers?"

Red Lady laughed. "Brother Tiger, don't tease your little sister. I know my own measure. How can fish and shrimp of the Huai River contend against flood dragons that roam the great sea? Still, with a few dozen fire ships lending support, we can at least force back the Zheng family's sand ships for a time."

"Then it's settled." Li Guo laughed. "The southern city of the Tianjin garrison can be taken. If the Zhu traitor's emperor is in Tianjin, he will surely be inside the southern city... Give us half a day, and I and Commander Chen can take the southern city of the Tianjin garrison! Sister Red, can you and your husband hold out that long?"

"We'll do our utmost!" Red Lady's expression had already turned grave. "My husband and I brought only two thousand men. If it comes to a real fight, we cannot hold out for very long."

"Rest easy!" Li Guo patted his chest. "Here at the southern city I have my two thousand men, and Chen Yongfu's ten thousand. Nothing can go wrong!"

Red Lady's fine brows knitted. "What about the northern city? Tang Tong's several thousand men have already been worn down for three days. Can they still hold?"

"No great problem," Li Guo said. "Judging from the earlier engagements, Wu Sangui is nothing much. His Yi household cavalry is not especially formidable either. Even if they sally out, they won't crush Tang Tong all at once."

It turned out that after daybreak the Shun army's plan was to proceed in three parts. Li Yan and Red Lady would deal with the "Zheng family fleet" and the pontoon bridge on the Wei River; Li Guo and Chen Yongfu would strike the southern city of Tianjin; and Tang Tong would make a show of force outside the northern city to pin down Zhu Cilang's main force.

The southern city and the Wei River front looked like no great problem, but Tang Tong, who was responsible for the northern city, made Red Lady uneasy.

In his heart, Li Guo actually had no confidence either; after all, he had used Tang Tong far too hard. The problem was that he had only this much strength in hand: his own two thousand veterans of the rear camp, Li Yan and Red Lady's two thousand, Chen Yongfu's ten thousand, and Tang Tong's eight thousand. In all, just twenty-two thousand men.

And the Zhu traitor's troops besieged in the Tianjin garrison numbered at least ten thousand no matter how one counted, while the "Zheng family merchant convoy" coming along the Wei River was estimated at five thousand.

In terms of troop strength, Li Guo and Li Yan had no great advantage. If they did not use Tang Tong hard, how was this battle to be fought?

Tracing the present situation to its root, the truth was that the Shun army's old camp had grown somewhat weary. Without large rewards, they were unwilling to stake their lives in battle.

Red Lady also knew that saying anything more was useless. She could only cup her hands in salute to Li Guo, then lead her followers aside and watch as Li Guo's two thousand troops finished crossing the pontoon bridge and mounted their horses to gallop toward the southern city of the Tianjin garrison.

After Li Guo left, the several dozen riders who had come with Red Lady dismounted. What they carried with them was not swords, bows, or arrows, but tools such as axes and saws. They at once set to work dismantling the hastily built pontoon bridge.

The pontoon bridge quickly broke apart into one light skiff after another. Each skiff had long since been loaded with firewood, grass, torn cotton cloth, and other flammables, and had also been doused with oil and sprinkled with a great deal of gunpowder.

Beneath their outer garments, Red Lady and the riders who had dismantled the bridge all wore close-fitting waterproof suits, and each boarded one of the light skiffs. All of them were skilled at handling boats and familiar with the water. At once they steered the skiffs with the current, slowly making for the pontoon bridge between the northern and southern cities of Tianjin.

Behind these several dozen light skiffs, another fleet was also coming downstream.

This fleet used large grain-transport vessels, which Li Yan had sent men to round up and concentrate on the Wei River channel west of the Tianjin garrison. They had been slightly modified and turned into warships.

But the ones handling the rudders were not Li Yan's soldiers, but the original boatmen of the grain transports. Besides the boatmen, thirty or forty veterans of Li Yan's force were assigned to each vessel. Although none of them were much at home in the water, they had still, under the encouragement of Li Yan and Red Lady, risked boarding the ships.

On each vessel, shields were set up on both sides. Enough gaps were left between the shields for shooting bows and arrows. Each vessel also had ten sturdy, strong warriors, each holding an oar, rowing hard under the direction of the boatmen at the rudder.

It was now the early morning of the second day of the fourth month. Morning light spilled from the eastern horizon, illuminating the land around the Tianjin garrison. But after days of continuous rain, the air along both banks of the Wei River was heavy with moisture, and so a morning fog had risen. Over the Wei River, everything was a blur of mist, which well concealed the movements of the fleet led by Li Yan and Red Lady.

Patrolling on the pontoon bridge were the young soldiers of the Cao family of Wangqingtuo. Their leader was named Cao Yu, a man of twenty-four or twenty-five. He had originally been a scholar, but he also knew a bit of martial arts, and so had been assigned to the new makeshift army and even made a squad leader. Now he was standing guard on the pontoon bridge with some twenty Cao family youths.

They had been on duty all night and were now utterly exhausted, yawning, and few of them paid any attention to the mist-shrouded surface of the river.

Suddenly, someone cried out in terror: "Fire! Fire... there's fire on the river!"

(End of chapter)