Amid the roar of the machine, Lin Chengyu, wearing earplugs and earmuffs, woke up from his sleep, took out his pocket watch from under the pillow, looked at the light penetrated from the porthole for a while, and found that it was six o'clock in the morning.

The sky was white outside, and it seemed that the sun was about to rise. Lin Chengyu pulled off the earmuffs and earplugs and fell on the bunk to come back to his senses.

Without the earmuffs and earplugs, the roar of the machine suddenly increased. Lin Chengyu covered his head with the bedding, found that there was no effect, so he sighed and got up again.

He had a rare good dream, but when the most important time he woke up, he couldn't go back to the beautiful dream now, so he could only get up and wash.

In the bunk opposite the same room, a colleague was sleeping soundly wearing earmuffs. He seemed to be dreaming. Lin Chengyu, who had finished washing up quickly, sat next to the small table by the window, looking at the dim river view outside.

When the world was dim, there was a little ignition by the river, which looked like a fishing fire, but Lin Chengyu knew it was a beacon light.

Ship sailing at night is actually very dangerous because night blocks the crew's view. Without the sign of fire, ships sailing at night can easily hit reefs, shallows or even river banks.

Therefore, in order to ensure the efficiency of shipping in the Zhenjiang River, the China Merchants Bank and governments along the river cooperated to set up navigation beacons at important locations to ensure that the ships sailing at night can sail safely.

Lin Chengyu was watching intently, and a "bang bang" knocking sound came from his ears, and then a sound came from outside: "Qujiang is coming soon, Qujiang is coming soon!"

It turned out that the crew came to inform the news of the arrival of the shore. Lin Chengyu then asked: "How long will it take to arrive?"

"In less than half an hour, less than an hour! Please pack your luggage early!"

Lin Chengyu replied "know" and woke up his colleagues one by one. Everyone had experience traveling on a steamship, so they all wore earplugs and earmuffs to fall asleep. At this time, it may not be effective if they just shouted.

Because Lin Chengyu had finished washing in advance, he didn't need to fight for the toilet. After finishing his dressing, he moved out of the cabin and came to the corridor, holding on to the railing, feeling the cold wind blowing on his face, and continued to look at the river view.

It is spring now, and the wind on the river is strong and cold. In addition, the sun has not yet come out, so it is normal for the wind to be chilly. However, no matter how strong the wind is, it is not as strong as the sea breeze for Lin Chengyu.

In front, on the side of the Zhenjiang River and among the mountains, a dim light appeared faintly. At first glance, it seemed as if the stars in the sky were falling in the mortal world. Lin Chengyu looked at it for a long time and found that it turned out to be Qujiang City.

To be precise, it is the border wharf of Qujiang City. Because of the busy land and water transportation, the port area sometimes lights torches all night to facilitate people to load and unload goods.

Shaozhou, the former Dongheng Prefecture, was located in the Wushui River and the confluence of the Zhenshui River. It is the northern gate of the eastern Lingnan region. The business trips to and from the Central Plains and Lingnan must pass through Qujiang, whether by water, land or land.

The goods from Guangzhou arrived in Qujiang, followed the Zhenshui northeast, and then went directly to the bottom of Dayu Ridge, crossed Dayu Ridge, and entered the territory of Hongzhou General Office.

If you walk northwest along the Wushui River from Qujiang, you can cross Weiling and enter the boundary of the Tanzhou General Administration.

It is precisely because of its location that Qujiang's business has developed rapidly in recent years, and many people from other places have crossed the mountains and moved south to Qujiang, or continued to go south along the Wushui River to Fanyu, Guangzhou.

Since Qujiang is the water and land distribution center for goods, the imperial court set up checkpoints in Qujiang to collect commercial taxes, which is the most important pass of the Guangzhou General Administration and one of the important sources of commercial taxes in Lingnan.

Because the water and land passes in Qujiang area are gathered, and it is also under the jurisdiction of Shaozhou Prefecture, the people refer to Qujiang as directly called "Shaoguan".

Lin Chengyu knew that there are more than 20,000 permanent residents in Qujiang City, which can be called "Shangzhou", which no one had expected before.

Originally a small city, it has now become a prosperous commercial port, with an increasingly large area of ​​the city and bustling in it. If you don’t know, you think it is a city in the Central Plains, without any so-called “the smoky land in Lingnan, with few people”.

The passenger ship was getting closer and closer to the pier, and the whistle sounded, informing the passengers that Qujiang had arrived.

......

To the west of the West Sea, Fuqi City, when the sunlight leaked out from the mountains to the east and dyed the city's concealed in golden yellow, the Zhou army trapped in the city won the last moment, and countless Tuyuhun soldiers rushed from all directions, mixed with infantry and cavalry, launching a fierce attack.

Fuqi City is the Tuyuhun royal city, but this city is actually a earthen enclosure. The city wall is more like a fence for livestock than a defense against the enemy. Therefore, it is not as strong as that of the Central Plains city. After wind and rain, it has long collapsed in many places.

The offensive and defensive battle that lasted for several days made the corpse at the breakouts of the city walls messy. The wooden fence that was temporarily tied with branches was not very useful at all. The Zhou army, whose arrows were about to be shot, had to choose hand-to-hand combat in the face of the surging enemy soldiers.

The commander of the Zhou army, Zhang Dinghe, was wearing blood-stained armor and holding a strong bow in his hand. He stood at the command of the city to fight against the enemy who was rushing up. He and his soldiers had not been able to rest for many days. At this time, facing the enemy's fierce offensive, they could only fight bloodily.

A feather arrow flew over and hit Zhang Dinghe's forehead. Fortunately, he wore an iron helmet with only his eyes exposed. The arrow failed to pierce the iron helmet and was not injured. Zhang Dinghe then bent his bow and arrow and shot the enemy soldier who was slacking down.

He didn't care about looking for cover, and continued to bend his bow and arrow to shoot against the enemy.

The general led the way, and his subordinates had no reason to survive. The Zhou army soldiers fought hard and finally repelled the enemy's attack. However, the horns outside the city were continuous, and the enemy soldiers who retreated like a tide gathered again. A new round of attack was about to begin.

Zhang Dinghe, wearing two armors, was shot into a hedgehog by an arrow, but was injured by flesh. He stood at the top of the city and looked around. He saw that the world was vast and surrounded by enemy soldiers, and there was no scene he wanted to see: reinforcements had not arrived.

There was a big flag in the north, which seemed to be where Murong Fuyun, the Khan of Tuyuhun, was located. Zhang Dinghe estimated the distance and looked at the enemy's strength, and could only sigh.

Month ago, he led his army to pursue Murong Fuyun. He chased him here, but was surrounded by ambushers set up by the other side. There was no water source or extra food, and it was all up to the soldiers to boil the water and dry food they carried with them.

After drinking the water, you are extremely thirsty, so drink urine. If it really doesn’t work, kill the horse and drink blood.

Until now, even if the person has the energy, the arrows will almost be used up.

Reinforcements have been missing for a long time, next...

Before Zhang Dinghe could think more, the horn sounded, and Tuyuhun soldiers surrounded him from all directions again.

Zhang Dinghe looked at his subordinates, looked at the injured fighting men, and nodded in front of everyone's expectant eyes: "Let's start!"

Tuyuhun soldiers rushing towards the thunders everywhere, they found a small cart at the thunders ahead of them. The small cart then roared and sprayed fire.

With the light artillery attacked by the cavalry, after holding it in for many days, it was finally able to pour shots out at will.

The shield with simple workmanship was like paper in front of the metal projectiles, and the flesh and blood body was shrouded in bloody storm, and the offensive collapsed instantly.

The Tuyuhun soldier who had escaped from death looked at the broken limbs and his arms around him, was so scared that he was stunned. Then he threw down his weapon and turned around and ran away.

Zhang Dinghe resisted the urge to lead the cavalry to pursue him and decided to continue to defend the city to the death. The friendly troops arrived. As agreed, the friendly troops should arrive at the latest today.

Somehow, the time was lost, so Zhang Dinghe decided to confront the enemy with artillery.

There were not many arrows, but there was enough gunpowder. Zhang Dinghe was afraid that Murong Fuyun would be scared by the cannon and escape. Then the strategy to lure the enemy before the war was a waste of time.

The other party was deceiving defeat before, but he knew that, so he pretended to be a rash pursuit. Now he has worked hard to attract ambush, but the detoured friendly forces lost their time, which made Zhang Dinghe a little angry.

The sun rose in the east and the horn sounded again. Zhang Dinghe looked up and saw that the troops of Tuyuhun were shrinking, and it seemed that they were about to retreat.

He was so angry that he pulled off his helmet and was about to smash it on the city wall, but he saw dust flying in the southwest, and then several fireworks bloomed in the air.

Such a scene made the Zhou army soldiers instantly excited: Friends have arrived!
Chapter completed!