In Hejian County, an emergency pigeon letter was sent to Fan Ning's desk. The pigeon letter was sent by Yang Gui of Youzhou to report the latest situation in Youzhou to the Song army.

Fan Ning looked at the information and smiled at Di Qing and said, "The Liao Kingdom has issued a reward order for ship purchases. What do you think about Di Shuai?"

Di Qing said lightly: "It explains three problems. First, Wanyan Hongji is very clear about the plight of the Eastern Route Army. He wants to be anxious to rescue him. The second problem shows that the Liao government has no ships, but there are ships among the people. The Liao army hopes to collect civilian ships. The third problem shows that Yi County is safe and sound, otherwise Yelu Hongji will use the Song army of Yi County to exchange with us."

Fanning nodded and asked the judge next to him Zhang Feng, "What about sir?"

Zhang Feng bowed slightly, "I agree with Di Qing's opinion, but I add to it. It seems that the Liao army has not yet decided to solve the problem through negotiations."

“Why don’t you want to negotiate?”

"Maybe it's because I can't let go of my face, or maybe the Liao Emperor hasn't realized the seriousness of the problem yet, and he feels that the Liao army can solve the current dilemma of the Eastern Route Army."

Fan Ning walked two steps behind his hands: "You mean, are they sure they can break through the blockade of the Song army's warships to Baigou?"

"Bizhi thinks it can be understood from two aspects. On the one hand, it is what my husband said. They feel confident that they can break through the blockade of the Song army's warships. On the other hand, they want to exchange the Song army prisoners of war from Yi County for the Eastern Route Army."

Fan Ning pondered for a long time, and when he saw Liu Kui standing beside him, he wanted to speak but stopped, he asked with a smile: "Does Liu Shenjun have any suggestions?"

Liu Kui bowed and said, "Weizhi suggested sending cavalry ships, and we could place the scouts on the north bank at any time to investigate the movements of the Liao army. In this way, we can grasp the direction they cross the river in advance."

Cavalry ships are large ships that can carry cavalry, usually at least five thousand stone warships. There are many Song army, but there are not in Baigou. Fanning nodded, "It can be adopted!"

He said to everyone: "The goal of the Eastern Route Army is very clear now. They are stationed on the south bank of Baigou and no longer run around. They hold their food and grass tightly and wait for rescue. This shows that they have close ties with Yelu Hongji. It is probably to send people to swim across the river. This is the key reason why Yelu Hongji controls the situation. What we need to do now is to increase intelligence investment and increase the number of ships on Baigou. It is best to completely block the river surface, so that even the informant cannot pass."

Fanning made the latest arrangements. On the basis of the 500 warships blocking Baigou, he invested another 300 thousand-stone warships, making the warships on Baigou reach 800, and another five 5,000-stone cavalry ships were deployed. Each ship carried fifty cavalry and 250 cavalrymen landed on the north shore of Baigou, and divided into five teams to go north to investigate the situation of the main force of the Liao army.

Three days later, the Song army warships on Baigou received news that 100,000 Liao troops were coming to the north bank of Ba County, and Yelu Hongji's car was also coming with him. This was the Liao emperor's commander-in-chief.

At the same time, the Liao army collected more than 100 small boats from the rivers on Nanjing Road, sailing towards Baigou from four rivers. The Song army's 300 warships quickly gathered near Baxian to prepare to snipe the Liao army's crossing.

One hundred thousand Liao troops arrived at the north bank of the Juma River two days later. The army set up a dozen miles of camps on the north bank. One hundred small boats did not dare to enter the Juma River and were transported directly by the army by land.

Yelu Hongji personally marched in the army and patrolled the north shore. Hundreds of guards surrounded him to protect him. Yelu Hongji looked at the vast white river, and the Song army's warships were clearly visible on the river. Yelu Hongji sighed secretly. The Song army has always been a large army fighting against the Liao army. This time, somehow I woke up, but he actually knew to use warships to block the Jima River. The Liao army relied too much on cavalry and did not pay attention to water wars. This time they suffered a lot.

At this time, a rumbling sound came from behind. When Yelu Hongji turned around, he saw more than a dozen strong cows pulling a huge flatbed car, which placed two small boats on it. This made Yelu Hongji frown. Was he afraid of the Song army to this extent? Even the ship was pulled over by land.

Yelu Chongguang, the Minister of War who accompanied Yelu Hongji next to him, suddenly said, "Your Majesty, why do you have to use ships as the base? Isn't it okay to use wooden rafts? We nail huge trees to make wooden rafts and put them in water to connect them. Isn't it also a floating bridge? In this way, there is no need to collect ships everywhere."

Yelu Hongji also felt that it made sense. He turned around and asked the Lord General Yelu Wende, "Is this possible?"

Yelu Wende bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I have considered it by rafting. Because rafting is shallow, the river water can easily overflow onto the pontoon bridge. There is no problem for people to cross the pontoon bridge, but war horses are easily frightened, and they refuse to move forward when they touch the water."

Yelu Chongguang reacted very quickly, and his eyes rolled and said, "Since the raft is shallow, then make a big wooden box, as tall as a boat, so there should be no problem."

Yelu Hongji looked at Yelu Wende again, and Yelu Wende smiled bitterly and said, "It is better to use a large leather raft than to use a wooden box. The Minister of Chongguang. The question is not about using a river crossing tool, but about what kind of tools should we use to compete with the Song army warships?"

Yelu Hongji was a little annoyed, and he snorted heavily, "Not to the left, nor to the right, then what's the use of me, the civil and military ministers?"

His face was as heavy as water, and Yelu Chongguang shook his head and said to Yelu Wende: "You have annoyed Your Majesty! Your Majesty is in charge of the army and wants to act, but you always say that it is not possible and you can't come up with a good solution. Of course, your Majesty is angry. In my opinion, act first and then talk about it. If you fail a few more times, you will always find a way to succeed."

After saying that, Yelu Chongguang also walked away quickly and stunned Yelu Wende on the spot.

At this time, a general said, "General, I have some ideas."

Yelu Wende was excited and hurriedly said, "You said, is there any good way?"

"General, we built the floating bridge for two purposes. One is to bring back the Eastern Army on the other side, and the other is to send them wood. In fact, there is no need to consider the issue of cavalry."

"no!"

Yelu Wende immediately denied the suggestion, "Why don't you consider the cavalry? Do you want them to lose tens of thousands of war horses and escape back?"

Another general said: "It's good to build a floating bridge with wooden boxes. At least we can replenish it at any time, then lock the wooden boxes with iron chains and install some sharp wooden stakes on the wooden boxes. The Song army warship may not dare to hit it directly."

Another general said: "Soldiers bring more sand and soil. The Song army attacks with tinder oil. We can use sand and soil to bury them at any time and deploy crossbow troops to confront the Song army."

Another general said: "If you use more large wood to pile it in front of the pontoon bridge, the Song army's warships cannot directly hit the pontoon bridge, and they may even capsize."

Everyone said one by one, and a plan gradually formed.

Yelu Wende immediately ordered thousands of craftsmen to make large wooden boxes. Overnight, the craftsmen built thousands of large wooden boxes, and installed picket piles on both sides of the wooden boxes, and sets of ten large wooden boxes, connecting the boxes together with iron chains.

But the severe test is how to install these floating bridges. The Song army could not wait until they install them before attacking them, and would not allow them to deploy calmly.

Even their first step is difficult to complete.

The first step in installing a pontoon bridge is to pull two long cables between the north bank and Jiangxinzhou, and fix the pontoon bridge to the river surface. It is like a beam for building a house. Without the support of a beam, the roof will easily collapse. The same is true for building a pontoon bridge. Without the fixation of two long cables, the pontoon bridge cannot be stabilized on the water surface and will be washed away by the river.

Of course, there is another way, that is, to drill wooden stakes in the water. You can drill wooden stakes near the shore of the Juma River, but the water in the center of the river is too deep and the water at the bottom of the river is turbulent, making it difficult to drive piles, so they use the method of leashing.

As soon as several soldiers arrived in Jiangxinzhou with ropes, a large ship rushed over. Arrows were fired on the ship, and several soldiers had nowhere to hide. They were killed by arrows. The long rope was also cut into several sections by Song soldiers. The Liao army's leash plan was completely failed.

But the arrow was already in the string and could not be sent. The Liao army failed to pull the rope, so they had to use pile driving instead, first fixing the initial large wooden box, and then fixing the middle part was assisted by soldiers rowing. Although the hydraulic power was very strong, the large wooden box was connected by iron chains, which at most would deform the pontoon bridge and not be easily washed away.

In just one hour, the Liao army soldiers built two rows of 120 wooden stakes twenty feet along the coast and laid thirty large boxes.

When Yelu Hongji saw that the pile driving was effective, he immediately ordered, "Continue to pile driving!"

Hundreds of soldiers continued to pile piles in front of the wooden box, sharpening one end with pine wood several meters long, and penetrated deep into the silt at the bottom of the river. Two strong men hit the top with huge hammers, so that the wooden piles penetrated deeper into the bottom of the river little by little.
Chapter completed!