In the early morning, on the "Ba Lake" formed by the dams on the Ba River in the east of Bailu Plain, a large number of rafts gathered like duckweed, rippling with the waves and not moving.

On the Bailu Plain, in the Zhou army camp, the soldiers stared at the rafts like supervisors staring at slave workers.

The rafts were made by the Chu army, and there were a lot of them. Just looking at the scale, the well-known boat troops had been lingering on the water for several days. They wanted to get close to the dam, but were driven away.

After all, in this vast ocean, there is no chance to show off your skills.

Even if the southerners are good at boating, they cannot use it here.

Yuwen Hui, who climbed a tower, looked at the rafts on the water in the distance with a thousand-mile mirror, thinking about what the other party wanted to do.

As the head coach of the entire army, he knew the importance of dams than anyone else, so the Bailuyuan garrison would never let the other party succeed.

But after thinking about it, he couldn't figure out how the Chu army would destroy the dam, anyway, the other party could not get close to the waterway.

This "lake" formed by the dam is stored in water, as the Bashui River Valley moves, grows in strips: the Bailu Plain is to the west and the western foot of the Lishan Mountains to the east.

Due to the terrain, this long-shaped lake only has a deeper location in the middle and shallower on both sides.

Therefore, the width and depth of the "lake surface" are not enough to allow the large fleet to form.

It was very difficult for the Chu army to rely on these simple rafts to attack the dams guarded by Zhou army water camps and temporary naval forces.

The rafts crowded on the "lake" can easily be burned out by fire.

It is not easy for the other party to cross the "lake" and climb the White Deer Plain.

Because the ground of Bailu Plain is much higher than that of the "lake", the other party came over with a simple raft, and it was difficult to climb the hill after the shore.

If you take land, it is also difficult to approach the dam from the east edge of "Bahu" because there is no road there at all, and it is a hilly area, and the large brigades cannot get through.

If the Chu army bypassed "Bahu" from a distance and came to Bailuyuan by land, it would also be unable to invest too much troops due to inconvenient transportation.

Moreover, the army under Yuwen Hui was waiting for the battle in Bailuyuan, which would inevitably make the Chu army come and go.

He felt that if the other party could not seize the dam, he would not be able to release water. Then the Chu army in the Baqiao area downstream would not dare to cross the river easily.

Although the Chu army divided its troops and arrived at the north bank of the Wei River and looked across the river from Chang'an, the opponent's troops were limited and they could not launch a fierce attack in several directions at the same time.

So, just stand up to Kaifeng...

Yuwen Hui put down the Thousand Mile Mile Mile Mile, looked at the mountains and rivers in front of him, and was looking forward to it.

He is the son of Yuwen Hu, who shares his father's worries and sits in Bailuyuan.

Although the battle situation was extremely unfavorable to Zhou State, his father gave him a brief explanation: as long as he persisted, Kaifeng would change.

My father did not explain in detail what the "change" was, but Yuwen Hui could guess: My father must have sent a dead soldier to Kaifeng to assassinate the Chu king Li Li.

Li Li was born in a cold place, and relied on military merit to climb to a high position, and then usurped the throne as a relative of the outside world, with a poor foundation.

Once something happens to Li Li, the State of Chu is likely to have civil strife, and the court will have a chance.

But before that, we must defend Chang'an no matter what. Otherwise, once Chang'an falls, not to mention whether Chu will be in chaos in the future, Zhou State will definitely be over.

While thinking, the general next to him reported that something was wrong with the Chu army rafts on the water.

He picked up the Qianli Mile Mile again, looked carefully, and was stunned: on the water surface, on the rafts leaning against each other, big cloth bags were "drum" on the water.

There seemed to be a flash of fire under the cloth bag. As time passed, the cloth bag gradually became "full" and stood up.

Then, float up.

Yuwen Hui rubbed his eyes and looked at it with a thousand-mile mirror. He did see the cloth bags floating one after another, leaving the raft, leaving the water, and floating into the air.

What is now blowing is southerly wind (southeasterly wind), and these large cloth bags slowly drift towards the dam in the downward direction.

Yuwen Hui put down the Qianli Mile Mile Mile and looked at the "small" cloth bag in front of him with his naked eyes. He floated higher and higher, slowly drifting towards the northwest direction, unable to help but be stunned.

What's going on here?

......

The wind was blowing, pushing hot air balloons one by one, crossing the Ba River dam, heading downstream and northwest.

In one of the hot air balloon hanging baskets, Maqi looked back at the "distance" Bashui Yanba and felt a little regretful: Unfortunately, his superiors rejected the plan to "air raid" the Yanba.

The plan was proposed by him, and the method was to raise hot air balloons on the raft on the water surface of "Bahu" and float over the weir bars with the wind.

Then throw the large sulphur bomb hanging under the hanging basket and burn the water camp and ships next to the dam.

At the same time, the "raft navy" rushed towards the dam quickly and took the raft loaded with a large amount of gunpowder to the dam, detonated, and directly exploded the dam and collapsed.

In this way, the dam will be over. Once the lake water that had accumulated for many days has been leaked out, the main force of our side will be able to cross the Ba River and fight the Zhou army with confidence.

However, the success rate of doing this is not high, and the superiors rejected his plan for safe reasons.

From "air arson" to "air arson".

Before he knew it, the hot air balloon was approaching the Zhou army camp downstream of the Ba River. Maqi felt funny when he heard the rapid sound of horns coming from below.

Although their hot air balloons are not high, the ground archers are simply out of reach, even if they stand in the tower and shoot archers.

Looking around, seeing that other hot air balloons were steadily maintaining distance and height, March was relieved.

He checked again whether his seat belt was secured and then took out the drawing board, poked his head out, and looked at the ground.

Draw the full picture of the Zhou army camp that you saw on the grid paper sandwiched on the drawing board, so as to provide the superior with a more detailed "aerial view of the enemy camp".

This kind of reconnaissance method is a bit special and difficult. It is necessary to accurately draw the overview of a huge camp within a limited time, that is, a "bird's eye view".

Because the "bird's aerial view" is used for decision-making, the important buildings must be drawn, and the outlines of the enemy camp and the layout of the camp cannot be "deformed too much".

It is not easy for a sketched "aerial view" to have real military value.

And they are professionals who specialize in drawing "aerial views".

Drawing "aerial view" in the air is a necessary skill for aerial reconnaissance. The scouts of the hot air balloon reconnaissance team are all masters of sketching.

March and his colleagues often conduct relevant training, and each person's "annual flight time" is more than 200 hours.

He also specially trains to quickly and accurately sketch large buildings when looking down, and practices excellent painting techniques.

At this moment, they were "flying" in the air, and the ground became noisy. Countless people were like ants, walking around in camps that were as big as hamlets, looking up at the sky one by one.

Ma Qi had no intention of guessing what the Zhou soldiers were thinking at this time. He looked at the ground from time to time and looked at the drawing board from time to time.

Holding a pen in his hand, he kept moving in the grid paper on the drawing board, outlining the overview of Zhou Jun’s camp.

The layout of various fortifications, rough distribution of tents, horse circles, forage yards, granaries, etc.

Next to it, two other scouts were operating the fire spurt carefully to ensure that the balloon had enough heat to maintain its height.

This air reconnaissance has a long flight distance and has reached the limit of hot air balloon flight, so it requires careful calculations for the use of fuel.

In any case, they must ensure that the hot air balloons maintain a safe height, fly safely over Zhouying, fly over the Wei River, and land in the controlled area on the north bank of the Wei River.

If the operation is wrong, or the wind direction changes, causing the hot air balloon to land in the enemy-controlled area, it will be miserable.

So, before performing the task, everyone wrote a suicide note just in case.

However, now the south wind (southeasterly wind) is strong, and the Chu army's hot air balloon flew from Bailuyuan Yanba to the sky above Zhouying near Baqiao at a faster speed.

He flew quickly over Zhouying, and after almost the fuel burned, he barely flew over the Wei River and descended near his military camp on the north bank.

Before the hot air balloon could land, a large group of people ran down and waited, grabbed the long rope placed on the hanging basket, and "pulled off" the hot air balloon like a tug of war.

It’s not that these soldiers are impatient, but that they are really urgent: the generals and staff are waiting for the result of this “air reconnaissance”.

Once you are sure, you need to...

As soon as March stepped over the hanging basket with one foot, he was pulled up before he stepped over the other: "Where is the picture? Where is the picture?"

March raised the drawing board in his hand: "Here...Oh, don't force yourself to pull it, my crotch is stuck!!!"

"Hurry up, go to the big tent!! All the generals are waiting to see it!"

"I'm not in a hurry, my crotch...Oh!!! It hurts!!!"

......

In the east of Baqiao, in the Chu army camp, which seemed a little deserted, the commander-in-chief and crown prince Li Fang sat in the empty central army tent, closing his eyes to rest.

On the table in front of me was a situation diagram, with Ba Bridge, Bailu Plain, Chang'an, the north bank of Wei River, and the situation of the enemy and us on it.

Another sketch grid is placed aside, which is a "bird's aerial view" that has just been delivered.

The "Bird's Aerial View" is the investigation result of the hot air balloon reconnaissance team and has been sent to him as soon as possible, but whether there is or not, it will not have a substantial impact on today's established combat plan.

It is nothing more than having a "bird's eye view" that one can grasp the internal layout of the Zhou army camp in the west of Baqiao, and the soldiers can be more "targeted" when attacking.

He opened his eyes and looked at his pocket watch.

The pointer points to 10:50, and there are ten minutes left before the attack.

This is a decisive battle related to the situation in the world. Although he is the head coach of the participating side, he is just a bystander.

Li Fang put away his pocket watch and continued to sit, motionless, recalling the urgent reports he had received before.

Two days ago, his father was in Kaifeng Palace to entertain his sworn brother Li Yisun.

When Li Fang went to war with his father, he had already heard from his father. Therefore, after the official army entered Guanzhong, he successfully picked up Li Yisun and his family and sent his family to Kaifeng.

But unexpectedly, Li Yisun’s youngest son’s wet nurse was an assassin.
To be continued...