Yang Zhen and the others set out from Songshan, took a boat across Liaodong Bay, and arrived at Rabbit Island on the coast of Gaizhou Bay. They drifted and sailed on the sea for four or five days, which was very hard.

However, everyone under Yang Zhen knew the importance and danger of this attack, so despite the hard work, everyone gritted their teeth, cheered up, and went all out to prepare for the attack on the Tatar rear.

On the afternoon of the day they arrived at Tu'er Island, Lu Pinqi and Li Lu commanded their respective teams to transfer from the stranded ship to the small boat, and then transferred their personnel and weapons one by one to the head of Tu'er Island.

Dao Wanli.

Because several large ships in the fleet sailed near the coast at night, when the tide receded in the morning, other large ships followed the lead ship of Yang Zhen and Yuan Jin and ran aground on the shoals near the coast.

superior.

By noon, the tide had almost receded to the lowest point of the day. The big ship of Yang Zhen's fleet could not move and could only continue to run aground.

Only soldiers' equipment can be transferred to small boats and transported to Toudao Bay on Tu'er Island to land ashore, cut wood, collect materials, and set up camp.

Other war horses, grain and ammunition can only be transported with the big ship from the stranded place to Toudao Bay when the tide rises again in the evening.

Before Hu Dabao left, he also suggested that Yang Zhen's troops should camp together with him, and that all the fleet's men, horses and baggage be transported to Yadong to be stationed there, and all the fleet's large and small ships were also concentrated in Erdao Bay.

However, Yang Zhen smiled and declined.

It's not that Yang Zhenxin is inferior to Hu Dabao and his pirate gang, but because Erdao Bay is only suitable for small groups of people to hide, not for large groups of people to fight.

Although Erdao Bay is connected to a large cliff cave, its location is extremely hidden, and its geographical conditions are extremely favorable, its terrain is too narrow.

Normally, a small group of men and horses can stay hidden inside, but now a large number of men, horses, and ships are gathered in a narrow and deep fjord with steep mountains and forests on both sides, eating, drinking, and eating, and the smoke is curling up. Once discovered by the enemy on the shore, then

But it was completely over.

You don't need many enemies, just one Niulu is enough. Once the mountains on both sides are blocked, you will have no way to go to the sky and no way to escape, and you will have to stick to the cave.

Therefore, at this point, although Erdao Bay has excellent concealment, it is not as good as Toudao Bay, with the vast sea behind it. It can be attacked when advancing, defended when retreating, and the retreat is guaranteed.

In the afternoon of the same day, Lu Pinqi and his 100 selected frontmen took a small boat and arrived at Toudao Bay where Yang Zhen and others were initially surrounded. After landing, they followed Yang Zhen's order and went to the hillside to cut wood and collect materials, and built a canopy on the shore.

A pier for large ships to dock.

Li Lu led his grenadiers and a group of boatmen and oarsmen from Yuan Jin's navy camp to go ashore, set up sentries on the hillside, cut trees and build tents on the gentle slope facing Toudao Bay, and set up camp.

In the evening of that day, the tide arrived as expected. Yang Zhen returned to the big ship he and Yuan Jin were on, set sail again, and brought the fleet that had been stranded for a whole day into Toudao Bay of Tu'er Island.

At this moment, Lu Pinqi, who had been busy all afternoon, also led his men to build a temporary simple dock; Li Lu, who had also been busy all afternoon, also led his men to set up a dock on the gentle hillside.

A simple campsite.

Large ships docked at the pier one after another, and the horses, guns, ordnance and baggage loaded on the ships were gradually disembarked and entered the camp.

At Xu o'clock that night, all the people who had worked hard all day had their first simple dinner after landing, then turned off the lights one after another and entered the curfew period.

Except for the sound of mountain wind and waves, the bay was quiet and there was no other sound at all.

At this time, the four generals from the camp, Yang Zhen, Zhang Chen, Lu Pinqi, and Li Lu, along with a few followers and the guide from Hu Dabao's camp, boarded a flat-bottomed sand boat and slowly sailed away from Toudao Bay.

.

First, they bypassed the top of Tu'er Island and stretched out into the sea, then used both oars and sails to sail north along the coast, heading towards the mouth of the Xiangshui River.

Xiangshui River, also called Xiongyue River in later generations, originates in the mountains around Xiongyue City, flows from east to west, and finally flows into Gaizhou Bay.

This river does not have a large amount of water in autumn and winter, but in spring and summer, after collecting melted ice and snow water and rainwater from nearby mountainous areas, the amount of water cannot be underestimated.

Especially at night, the seawater in Gaizhou Bay pours in, the water rumbles, and the water level of the entire Xiangshui River rises accordingly.

It is possible to sail directly by boat from the mouth of the Xiangshui River to the outside of Xiongyue City, which is only a dozen miles away from the coast.

After more than half an hour of heading north, the group of people took a boat and arrived at the mouth of the Xiangshui River in the dark.

At this time, the sky had cleared up, and although the moon was not visible, looking up, one could see many stars in the night sky covering the sea.

There are dark woods on both sides of the river mouth. Only the water and sky meet at the mouth of the river. It can be seen relatively clearly in the night. One can see the waves rushing towards the mouth of the river one after another, making a rumbling sound.

"Dear officials! Ahead is the mouth of the Xiangshui River! Walk along the Xiangshui River, keep walking, keep walking, and you will reach Xiongyue City! - Dear officials! Next, we will continue to move forward, to

Do you want to go inside the river mouth to see it?”

When they were approaching the swell zone at the mouth of the river, the small leader of the Rabbit Island pirate gang who Hu Dabao left with Yang Zhen and Zhang Chen as their guides looked back at Yang Zhen and others and asked loudly.

"You kid, please keep your voice down! If there is a Tatar patrol on the shore, wouldn't you be attracting attention by shouting so loudly?!"

Before Yang Zhen could reply, he heard Lu Pinqi, who was squatting on his right hand side holding on to the side of the boat, speak first.

Lu Pinqi and his team had just won the defense battle of Songshan, but the harsh and ferocious image left to him by the Tatars in the past few years still lingered in his mind.

This time, he finally decided to follow Yang Zhen across the sea to the east and go deep behind enemy lines. He not only considered taking the initiative to move closer to Yang Zhen, but also wanted to follow Yang Zhen and make meritorious deeds behind enemy lines.

But ever since he embarked on this journey, he has been wavering between joy and fear.

At this time, it was finally time to go deep behind enemy lines and go ashore to conduct sentinel inspections. Lu Pinqi's mentality began to become nervous involuntarily. When he saw the pirate leader who was leading the way speaking loudly, he quickly scolded him.

"General Lu, you are too worried! There are no people around here at all! The tide rises and falls every day at the mouth of the Xiangshui River. The sea water and the river water come in turns. There are big bubbles and small ditches everywhere, and there is mud everywhere.

beach!

"Except for some wormwood and reeds growing there, there isn't even a ghost in this place! The nearest checkpoint to us outside Xiongyue City is still far away!"

The pirate leader didn't take Lu Pinqi's scolding seriously at all, but what he said immediately made Yang Zhen and others feel relieved.

Hearing what he said, Yang Zhen couldn't help but ask: "The location of this river mouth is so important. From here you can take the waterway directly to Xiongyue City. Didn't the Tatars in Xiongyue City set up a watchtower or fort near the mouth of the river?!"

The pirate leader knew Yang Zhen's identity. He thought about it and said respectfully: "I don't know much about what happened in the past! Anyway, our boss Hu Ba has not seen the Tatars since he led us to Rabbit Island.

Been here!

"In the past few times, Mr. Hu always brought us ashore to grab things. As soon as we got on the boat and ran onto the water, the Tatar cavalry had no way of attacking us! The Tatars have no navy!

"And from what I've seen, in this place, let alone the Tatars at night, they can't come here at all. Even if they come here during the day, there is no place to stand or sit. There is no decent place to camp within ten miles.

! To be honest, if they dare to come, we will make it impossible for them to go back!"

After hearing this, Yang Zhen laughed and said: "Brother, what you said is really admirable! It really makes Yang heartbroken that the heroes of Tu'er Island can have such courage and heroism!

"But, having said that, we still have to be careful when sailing the boat! There are no Tatar camp posts here, but maybe there are Tatar eyes and ears elsewhere!

"When we turn into the river mouth later, especially after entering the Xiangshui River, no fire is allowed and no sound is allowed!"

As soon as Yang Zhen finished speaking, everyone else immediately agreed, including the little leader of the Rabbit Island pirate gang, who also knew that what Yang Zhen said was the truth and hurriedly agreed.

While talking, the group of people rowed the boat and arrived at the mouth of the river. At this time, there was no need to use the boat to move on its own -

One after another, the tides from the sea pushed the flat-bottomed sand boat they were riding on into the main channel of the Xiangshui River.

Especially after entering the mouth of the main channel, the flat-bottomed sand boat they were riding on was more like an arrow leaving the string, rushing towards the upper reaches of the Xiangshui River amidst the roaring waves one after another.
Chapter completed!