Fang Shoubei looked at Wang Hui's furious look and sighed: "Of course we can't let Kong Youde's rebels easily attack Shuicheng. Our city defenders plus navy officers and soldiers add up to nearly 5,000 people. Shuicheng's food and grass reserves are still sufficient. The key point is We have a good chance of defending Zhenyang Gate and holding on until the imperial reinforcements arrive." Wang Hui's expression improved slightly, but he still asked worriedly: "What should we do if the southern wall of Shuicheng is blown down by the rebels and the officers and soldiers at the top of the city cannot hold it? "Seeing that the Master of Haiphong Road was wavering and restless, everyone in the room naturally became more nervous and worried. Fang Shoubei was obviously very familiar with the terrain in Shuicheng. When he heard Wang Hui's question, he paused for a moment and said: "As long as everyone in Shuicheng works together, the defense in Shuicheng can hold on. If the rebels attack Shuicheng, the water city will be safe." There is a second barrier!" Wang Hui asked: "The second barrier, you mean the overpass that separates the water city?" Fang Guards nodded and said: "Your Excellency, if the city wall is really captured, we will order all the officers and soldiers to return to the north of the water city. The division station uses the location of the Shuicheng Overpass as a defense line and sends troops to block the overpass. The Hongyi cannons on the naval warships can aim here and shoot at the chasing rebels. It is really difficult for Kong Youde's rebels to get through. " The overpass is. A tall and wide stone arch bridge spans the waterway of Shuicheng, which divides Shuicheng into the north and south halves. The tall bridge hole under the stone arch bridge can pass ordinary small and medium-sized warships, which is another important road for water and land defense of Shuicheng. Wang Hui felt relieved after hearing what Fang was saying. He felt that Shuicheng had at least two levels of protection, as long as the navy officers and soldiers blocked the stone arch bridge. The rebels were indeed unable to move an inch. Tang Shubei of the Navy sighed: "Sir, if we really retreat here to defend, it will still be difficult to defend. Now the waterway in Shuicheng is frozen. The rebels can attack the north city of Shuicheng through the bridge holes on the ice. In this way, the Navy officers and soldiers will block the stone arch bridge. It's meaningless." Upon hearing Tang Shoubei's analysis, Wang Hui's face immediately turned ugly, and he turned to ask Tang Shoubei: "Is there any way to solve this problem?" Fang Shoubei was doing his duty, but He is a layman on water affairs. When he heard what Tang Shoubei, the navy commander, said, he frowned and said, "What Tang Shoubei said is true, and he has considered the upcoming battle in detail." As he said this, he faced Wang Hui and said, "Thinking about this humble duty, really. At this point, we can only send more troops to tightly defend the bridge. Otherwise, there is no other way for me to do anything!¡± Installing artillery can solve this problem. We have Hongyi cannons on our naval warships, which can blast the water away" Tang Shoubei was about to continue explaining when suddenly everyone in the room felt tremors under their feet, and at the same time there was a sound A violent gunpowder explosion came from the north of Shuicheng. Wang Huizheng was anxiously listening to Tang Shoubei's explanation of the solution. He was staggered by the shock and quickly held on to the table. Then explosions resounded one after another in Shuicheng, and their huge vibrations even affected both sides of the fierce battle in Dengzhou City. After a brief period of panic. Everyone rushed out of the house, stood on the city wall and looked north, only to see where the naval warships were parked. Thick smoke rose into the sky, and the sound of subsequent gunpowder explosions continued. Wang Hui¡¯s face was ashen. He turned to the navy commander Tang Shoubei and said, "Tang Shoubei, the navy is under your jurisdiction. What is going on?" Tang Shoubei was also confused. He hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed: "My lord, I am atonement for my sins. I don't know how humble my position is." ! I'll go check it out now." Tang Shoubei was worried. He accepted fifty taels of silver from Niu Liang, Zhan Yuan, and Lan Zhengji, and promised them that they could temporarily come to guard the city wall. Now there was a sudden disturbance in the direction of the Navy. With such a big movement, he might be implicated. Thinking of this, Tang Shoubei kowtowed to Wang Hui again and said: "My lord, I humbly reported to you that Pingdu Prefecture Flood Camp was stranded in the Navy Camp, and refused to obey your orders and came to the city wall to assist in the defense. Are they there?" What's wrong?" Wang Hui said angrily: "Humph, how can a small guard make such a big fuss? Does he also want to rebel?" Even he felt ridiculous when he said this, and Navy Commander Tang Guard quickly shook his head. Said: "Sir, it is absolutely impossible for them to rebel with only 500 people. It is simply asking for death. I heard that the Pingdu Prefecture Flood Camp garrison is willing to hoard ammunition and weapons. Maybe the warship gunpowder exploded!" Wang Hui was a little surprised and suspicious. Uncertain, he said: "If the warship's gunpowder warehouse exploded, it would be your own fault. But how could the gunpowder warehouse explosion be similar to the sound of Hongyi cannon firing, and the sound was endless?" Fang Shouwei said on the side: "I guessed that I didn't go directly for a long time. See if it's useful on the spot." Wang Hui ordered: "Yes, the city defense side will be handed over to Fang for the time being. You can return to the water immediately."Camp to learn more! ¡± The continuous loud noises in the north of Shuicheng have already alarmed the naval officers and soldiers guarding the city wall. They don¡¯t know why the naval warships make loud noises like artillery fire. Several naval commanders calmed down the officers and soldiers guarding the city a little. , and hurriedly came to understand the situation. From a distance, they saw Lord Haiphong Daowang, Tang Shoubei and other people in Shuicheng looking at the direction of the navy camp in confusion. Apparently they didn't know what happened in the navy camp. Suddenly, they saw from the city wall? A few navy officers and soldiers with panic-looking faces came running under them. Several navy commanders recognized these people as the officers and soldiers who stayed on duty on the warship. These officers and soldiers ran up to the commanders and shouted. : "My lord, I'm sorry, the Pingdu Prefecture Flood Camp has forcibly taken control of our naval warships and is now using gunpowder to blast open the ice. " Several officers and soldiers who came from the desert had already alerted Wang Hui and others not far away. After hearing their report, Wang Hui suddenly became furious and cursed: "How brave! Is it possible that the Pingdu Prefecture Flood Camp garrison is not afraid of legal sanctions from the imperial court? Tang Shou quickly gathered a thousand navy officers and soldiers, and went with him to the navy camp to capture this bold man. I wanted to see if this man had three heads and six arms. " When Fang Guard heard this, he said anxiously: "Sir, withdrew a thousand guards at once. There are only more than 2,000 guards left on the city wall. If the rebels attack, the city gate defense will be tense. " Seeing this, Tang Shoubei hurriedly explained a few words to Wang Hui. Wang Hui glared at Tang Shoubei fiercely, turned to the other guard and said: "Capture Pingdu Prefecture Flood Camp and other people who took the opportunity to cause trouble, this Thousand Marines The officers and soldiers will return soon, so Guard Fang will take care of them for the time being. " Feng Jian was on the bow of Fu Ship, with only Huang Jinjiang following him. He looked at the dense warships around the navy and saw that the sails had been raised on the three tall masts of Fu Ship No. 1, and the three-story helm tower was on the water. The helmsman of the division was ready, and the artilleryman on the ship had taken off the cover of the red cannon on the ship, revealing the yellow-orange cannon body (the whole body of the cannon was made of brass and weighed about four thousand kilograms). Zhuang Yingchang, Zhang Wentai, Niu Liang, Zhan Yuan, Lan Zhengji and other naval commanders each stood at the bow of their own warship, nervously waiting for the evacuation that was about to begin. The gunners were divided into two teams and stationed respectively. Wan Youfa and his 200 bird gun soldiers stood neatly on the sides of the two big fortune ships near the south of Shuicheng, closely watching the situation on the shore. The team was divided into four lines, and fifty people could shoot birds at a time. Guns. Of course, the gunners on the other ship were also arranged in the same way. It seemed that everything was going well. They were waiting for the naval camp to break the ice. Feng Jian was holding a long-tube telescope in Dengzhou City. Those made by foreign craftsmen, each Dafu ship is always equipped with one. Using this thing can shorten the target distance and see the opponent's movements clearly. The number of foreign craftsmen in Dengzhou City is not large, and Governor Sun also attaches great importance to it. , it is stipulated that naval guards equipped with telescopes must not lose them, otherwise they will be punished according to law. Feng Jian put down the telescope in his hand, and he could clearly understand the progress of his own personnel's deployment through the telescope. He was secretly glad that he had dispatched the foreigners in Dengzhou in advance. The craftsmen were taken away from under Sun Yuanhua's nose. He was not afraid that these foreign craftsmen would not cooperate. As long as there was enough temptation, these foreign craftsmen would definitely be willing to work for him! Deafening explosions were heard continuously on the ice of Shuicheng. Feng Jian watched the formation on the water. After a burst of thick smoke, the large ice floes cracked and began to slowly float and move on the water. If you are not careful, the large ice floes will cause damage to the ship. As the explosion of the gunpowder packets continues, some large ice floes will It was exploded by gunpowder packets again, and began to rise and fall with the fluctuation of the water surface. The gunpowder packets on the ice had long been placed at a fixed position. Twenty gunmen rode in small boats and ignited twenty gunpowders on the ice at a time. After waiting for the gunpowder bag to explode, he ignited the next group of gunpowder bag through the ice again, and gradually moved towards the water gate of Shuicheng. Kong Youde's rebel army did not pose a threat to the water gate, so there was only one sentry naval officer on the city wall here to help defend. . Cheng Yousheng led his guards to sneak onto the city wall, and immediately restrained the unprepared guards and successfully controlled the water gate. The few officers and soldiers who went to the south gate to report the news escaped from here. The matter was urgent, and Cheng Yousheng could not catch up with them. For fish to slip through the net, it is most important to open the water gate first. The gunpowder packet cannot break the ice. The ice at the water gate gate must be broken up and cleared by people, and then the iron gates can be raised through the winch. The guards worked together to turn the winch of the water gate. As the iron gate of the water gate slowly rose out of the water, a large number of ice floes squeezed in the water city began to flow toward the gradually opening water outside the water city. There was still a stretch of water outside Shuicheng full of ice. Cheng Yousheng led a group of guards to quickly walk onto the ice, place the gunpowder packets one by one, and wait.Gun soldiers came to set fire. The ice layer here is already very thin. In fact, when the naval warships arrive here, they can use the powerful Hongyi cannon to blast away the floating ice on the water surface without fear of damaging other warships. But Cheng Yousheng was careful and worried that the ice floe would be too big and damage the warship, so he continued to blast with gunpowder packets. Cheng Yousheng had just returned to the water gate city wall and saw a large number of officers and soldiers coming from the east and west city walls from a distance, rushing towards the naval camp with great momentum. ! (To be continued)