The river battlefield was a chaotic scene. The area south of the pontoon bridge, after the impact, held few people. The Jin soldiers' attention was focused on encircling and forcing the surrender of the remaining small boats trapped within their ring. Even when the large ship from earlier circled sporadically in the river's center and then departed, no one paid it any heed... Or rather, they never imagined that at this moment, Song soldiers would voluntarily disembark on this side, giving Zhang Yongzhen a chance to act with composure.

In reality, Zhang Yongzhen's burst of anger and near-loss of control was not a death wish. He harbored a plan, but knowing the lack of morale among the men, he acted with such recklessness.

Back to the present, he planned to crouch low after reaching the pontoon bridge and carefully advance. He killed several Jin soldiers who had fallen into the water and were struggling to climb back, ignoring Han soldiers from either side. He crept forward for about a hundred paces until he reached a point where the sound of arrows was constant. Zhang Yongzhen suddenly stopped, then leaped onto a small boat with no one in control.

The few soldiers who had plucked up courage to follow him rejoiced. Carrying the few heads they had managed to cut off along the way, they quickly followed.

"I knew Zhang Seventh Brother was capable!" Someone who boarded the boat hurried to find oars, preparing to row back to the southern bank. "Those Jurchen who climbed up were as immobile as dead pigs. These genuine Tatar heads were almost taken for free. No one else will get such easy credit!"

"You know nothing!" Zhang Yongzhen turned around, his forehead still throbbing with veins. He snatched the helmet off the man's head and shoved him into the river. "Swim back yourself! I didn't come for heads today!"

Leaving the man in the river, the few remaining on the small boat noticed something – bundles of firewood soaked in oil and sulfur, and a discarded fire starter!

Clearly, this was one of the first wave of boats abandoned after a failed attempt at a fire attack!

Seeing this, they understood Zhang Seventh Brother's plan. Their faces turned pale. Zhang Yongzhen, without hesitation, raised his blade: "Since you followed me here, why are you afraid now? If you want to leave, jump now. If not, help me row this boat over there!"

The Longyou soldiers exchanged glances, then gritted their teeth and agreed. As Zhang Yongzhen said, they had come this far. What would it mean to turn back now? Even the man who had been thrown into the river climbed back on, finding a shield somewhere, claiming he would hold it up for Zhang Seventh Brother!

As Zhang Yongzhen's fire ship moved, the Jin soldiers were caught off guard. He managed to sneak close and launch a successful attack, throwing only two bundles of sulfur and oil-soaked firewood, directly setting the outermost large ship ablaze! The fire quickly spread, fanned by the gentle southeast wind. The Jin soldiers, having just seized the ships, did not know how to extinguish the flames and watched helplessly as the fire on the large ship raged out of control! They had no choice but to abandon ship!

Moreover, the large ship was entangled with the pontoon bridge and other small boats. The flames licked out and caught other areas, creating a widespread conflagration!

In short, the fire caused alarm both on the shore and on the river!

At the northern ridge of Mount Bagong, Zhao Jiu and the others watched in astonishment, their faces filled with anticipation. Hebei's Jin Wushu immediately ordered the pontoon bridge to be cut and for the captured small boats to immediately leave the chaotic battlefield!

However, the battlefield was already chaotic, and now it was obscured by thick smoke. The Jin soldiers were not adept at rowing, leading to even greater confusion... In fact, the Jin soldiers' boat handling was similar to the Song soldiers' earlier rout – entangled and struggling to break free.

On the other side, Zhang Yongzhen, Zhang Seventh Brother, had come with a death-defying spirit. After his initial success, he did not stop or turn back towards Henan. Instead, he urged his brothers to bypass the burning ship and head towards the core of the battlefield, directly towards the remaining two large ships.

Perhaps due to the chaos among the Jin soldiers, he managed to break through into the heart of the battlefield, surrounded by three large ships and a pontoon bridge, after losing two or three oarsmen.

However, once there, Zhang Seventh Brother looked around and found himself surrounded by small boats. Whether they were Jin soldiers trying to escape the fire or Song soldiers trying to break out, they were all like headless flies, blocking his path!

Helpless, Zhang Yongzhen ordered them to fight their way forward, setting fire to the Jin small boats that blocked their path. When Jin boats grazed against them, he personally fought with his blade, achieving victory after victory, unstoppable... But such actions would inevitably expose his presence. The chaotic Jin soldiers on the small boats were obscured by each other, lacking unified command. However, on one of the large ships adjacent to the pontoon bridge, the Jurchen Mouke Meng-an, Puluhun, had personally seized command and was using it as a high ground to direct the battle. Seeing the commotion and realizing the source of the fire, how could he not be enraged?

He immediately ordered the surrounding small boats to engage them!

"Seventh Brother, let's go!"

Seeing several small boats approaching, the man holding the shield for Zhang Yongzhen pleaded again. "We only have two bundles of flammable material left! We've accomplished a great feat. We're out of strength. If we go back now, not to mention Zhao Guan-jia, even the Daoist Ancestors and the Buddha would be satisfied!"

However, for some reason, having fought this far, Zhang Yongzhen seemed to have lost all reason. He snatched the fire starter from a man behind him and lit the flammable material at the stern of the boat. He then grabbed the shield from the man who had given the advice and ordered the men on the boat to ram directly into the large ship ahead!

As the fire flared, the surrounding small boats scattered. The Jin soldiers on the approaching boats were stunned, but fearing military law, they dared not refuse to advance. However, they were afraid of being caught by the fire, so they cautiously approached and fired arrows!

Zhang Yongzhen stood alone at the bow, waving his shield, fearless. His leather armor was riddled with fifteen or sixteen arrows, yet he still raised his blade and ordered them forward.

The boat drew closer. Puluhun, thoroughly enraged, also felt a hint of fear. He ordered the Han soldiers with the longest-range bows on the ship to disregard the Jin soldiers below and unleash a volley of arrows. He ordered the Jin boats below to close in and fire arrows, or face immediate execution!

The Jin soldiers dared not disobey the military order... Zhang Yongzhen remained fearless, drawing ever closer to the large ship.

As this Longxi Zhang Seventh Brother bravely killed a Jurchen at the bow, a heavy arrow struck his thigh. Hearing the soldiers on the nearby ship speaking in the Longxi dialect, planning to close in and kill him with arrows, he couldn't help but shout in anger, supporting himself with the shield: "Dare Longxi people shoot me, Zhang Seven?!"

Upon hearing this, many of the Han soldiers on the closest Jin ship hesitated, not daring to fire a single arrow! With this pause, the fire ship, half of its stern ablaze, broke free from the encirclement and headed straight for the large ship.

Even more bizarrely, Puluhun on the large ship suddenly ordered a ceasefire and, holding onto the ship's railing, watched silently as the fire ship veered haphazardly towards them.

Zhang Yongzhen, already riddled with arrows and bleeding profusely, was somewhat dazed. He didn't understand. When the ship, veering wildly, finally turned towards the pontoon bridge, he woke up and looked back, only to find that the only one alive on the boat was the old fellow countryman who had held the shield for him. He too was riddled with arrows, completely drained of strength.

Seeing Zhang Yongzhen turn around, as if receiving some kind of confirmation, he relaxed and collapsed onto the oars, motionless.

Zhang Yongzhen paused for a moment, then tried to move towards the stern of the ship, which was gradually sinking due to the burning. He intended to row himself, but as soon as he took a step, he felt a stabbing pain in his internal organs and collapsed at the bow, barely managing to support himself with the shield.

Then, the small fire ship drifted along with the current, slowly approaching the pontoon bridge, and Zhang Yongzhen was unable to rise again.

"First, get all the ships, large and small, away from here, then untie that section of the pontoon bridge!" Puluhun ordered expressionlessly. "If this man isn't burned to death by then, cut off his head and bring it back. I'll keep it as a trophy from this southern expedition!"

However, before he could finish speaking, the people on the ship clearly heard a gong being struck on the northern bank. Looking in that direction, they saw the flags waving beside the Fourth Prince's banner, a clear and unmistakable order to abandon everything and retreat quickly. Even the Fourth Prince himself seemed to have disappeared.

Puluhun, unaware of the reason, was naturally furious, but he dared not disobey the military order and quickly moved out.

However, as he left the large ship and boarded a small boat, he heard a deafening roar behind him. Looking back, he saw that a Song ship had somehow turned towards the open area downstream to the east, rowing desperately towards this place. It rammed into the pontoon bridge, directly breaking apart a section that had been burned dry.

That wasn't all. Several Song soldiers jumped from the large ship, desperately trying to carry the man from the half-burned fire ship, along with his corpse, to other small boats, seemingly coming specifically for him.

Puluhun was even more puzzled… With the area in such chaos, wouldn't the Song soldiers be throwing themselves into the jaws of death, giving him free merits? And why were they retreating?

But a few breaths later, as the small boat carrying Puluhun turned into the shallows, avoiding the billowing smoke, the chief Mouke Meng-an under the Jin Fourth Prince suddenly understood, but he was also dumbfounded - in the lower reaches of the Huai River, at the bend where Mount Bagong turned south to the east, a cluster of awe-inspiring giant ships had appeared!

They were truly giant ships!

Compared to the ships used in the previous half-day of naval warfare, which were mostly small and large vessels converted from local fishing boats, passenger boats, and cargo ships in Shouzhou, the ships that now appeared downstream were incredibly large. Almost every ship had tall masts and sails, and with the southeast wind gently billowing the sails, they were truly unstoppable, coming with the force of Mount Tai pressing down!

"Damn it, Han Wu!"

On the city wall of Xi Cai, Zhang Jun, the Grand Commandant, who had been watching the naval battle for half a day without seeing anything, spoke the truth with a single sentence, then left the city wall in anger. "All he knows is how to put on a show! What else can he do?"

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