After internal discussions at the Jinghu North Road Production Department, it was finally decided to allocate 2,000 troops from each of the six prefectures of Suiying and Huangji to form the Qinwang Army, which would uniformly accept the control of Beijing and Xiangzhou; Ezhou, where the Jingbei Production Department is located, now has
More than 4,000 water infantry troops were still under the command of Jingbei Commandery to defend the riverside defenses of Ezhou and Huangzhou on the south bank of the Jingjiang River.
Among the three states on the north coast, Qianshan County in Shuzhou is the most critical.
Qianshan is adjacent to the river in the south and Huaiyang Mountain in the north. It is the gateway to Jingbei via the land route from Huainan West Road. At the same time, it faces Chizhou, the gateway to the west of Gyeonggi Province, across the river. Xu Huai also requested that at least half of Jingbei's reinforcements be stationed in Qianshan
, and use Qianshan County as the basis to receive more reinforcements from the west, so as to contain the Luzhou rebels from the flanks and echo the friendly forces defending Shucheng, Lujiang and other cities.
The troops and horses were all deployed and Gao Juntang was trapped in Lujiang County. Yuan Jiuliang, as the current top general of the Jingbei Production Department, could of course choose to stay in Ezhou and command the troops and horses guarding Ezhou and the south bank of Huangzhou. However, he ultimately decided to leave this relatively safe area
The responsibility of commanding the troops was handed over to others, and he personally went to Qianshan to take charge.
Two days later, Yuan Jiuliang took more than a hundred guards and carried King Qin's edict and production documents across the river to Nancai again. He wanted to see Xu Huai once more before going to Qizhou, taking over the troops of Qizhou and heading to Shuzhou to see if there was any further progress.
Where coordination and consultation are required.
"Xu Shijun left for Jianye the night before?"
Yuan Jiuliang learned from Xu Wujiang, who was in charge of Nancai on behalf of Xu Huai, that Xu Huai had led 500 personal guards to take a night ferry to Jianye by boat the night before. He was stunned there for a long time, not knowing what to say.
Of course he knew the significance of Xu Huai's presence in Jianye at this time, but he also knew how dangerous it was to take a boat to Jianye with only 500 personal guards accompanying him.
Even though the Beijing-Xianghuang Council would do everything possible to provide guarantees for Xu Huai's successful arrival in Jianye, and even five hundred personal guards would fight to the last breath to save Xu Huai, Yuan Jiuliang still couldn't imagine what kind of courage this was.
At least he can't do this!
Or in other words, how many people in power in the world can do this?
Han Gui looked at Yuan Jiuliang's expression with his sleeves and said with emotion:
"Yes, the hundreds of millions of people in the Central Plains may be facing an unprecedentedly fierce enemy. The Red Husbands are like clouds of powerful generals. Several kings have been fighting in the world for half their lives. They have rarely failed, and they all have the qualifications of famous generals. Now that Jianye has been captured, they can do it in one fell swoop.
When the Great Viet Clan was overthrown, how could the King of Lu not use all his strength to intercept the troops from Beijing and Xiangyang and support them from the east? There was no way to break the siege of Jianye using conventional means, and Jianye was in danger of overthrowing at any time. If Jianye was not defended, the Yangtze River and Huaihe River would be broken, and Jinghu Lake would be in danger.
, The world is in danger, who can turn the tide without envoys? Of course, it is not like this for the envoys to serve the world and put themselves in danger to expel the barbarians. However, the world knows how many people respect him and how can he be afraid of him?
many?"
If anyone in the world hates the people of Jingxiang (Chushan) the most, apart from the old Qiandi (Prince Huai's Mansion) and scholars from Jingxiang, he is probably the old general of Huaidong (Shenwu Army).
They followed the Zheng family and his son through life and death for many years, and many of them were even members of the Zheng family's retainers and generals. It was not easy for them to survive until Zheng Huaizhong became the Duke of the country.
An envoy holds an important position in the military.
However, all this was destroyed because Xu Huai used false edicts to induce the Zheng family and his son to depose the emperor.
Most of them had to bite back the Zhengs and their sons to protect themselves, but the hatred deep in their hearts was not eliminated. The same was true for the imperial court, which also transferred them to Jinghu North Road and filled them in the Military and Horse Deployment Department and other departments.
Supervisory Department of the State Military and Horse Capital.
In order to protect himself four years ago, Yuan Jiuliang, as a direct general, had no choice but to report that his old master Zheng Huaizhong had ulterior motives towards the court. Especially when his old friend Zheng Jinqing was executed as a member of the Zheng family, he has always felt deeply guilty and will also
This guilt turned into hatred towards Jingxiang.
In the past two or three years, he had made many small moves against Beijing and Xiang, both overtly and covertly. However, at this time, Yuan Jiuliang's face was full of shame.
As a direct descendant of the Zheng family, he knew very well that the Zheng family and his son had ulterior motives. Even before Emperor Jianji forced the Zheng family and his son to lead the Shenwu army to aid Huainan, the Zheng family and his son secretly summoned their direct lineage generals to discuss whether to resist the imperial decree.
Follow the choice.
Of course, in Yuan Jiuliang's view, Xu Huai is also a rebellious and heroic person, but there is one thing that he can never deny, and that the Zheng family and his son will always be beyond the reach of, that is, Xu Huai may really not take the imperial court seriously.
However, he really dared to do everything for the world and hundreds of millions of people.
Isn't this what he set out to do when he joined the army?
How long ago had I completely forgotten this original intention?
Han Gui glanced at Yuan Jiuliang's unusually bright eyes, took out a letter from his sleeve and handed it to him, saying: "Before you left, you knew that General Yuan would definitely step forward to take on the important task of guarding Qianshan, so he left a letter specially for him.
Give the sealed letter to General Yuan."
Xu Huai leads his lone army to Jianye, while Xu Wujiang will stay in Nancai to take charge, and will also temporarily move the Jingzhou government office to Nancai County. Fan Zongqi will actually assume the responsibility of the commander of the Beijing-Xiang aid division, leading the navy and infantry along the Yangtze River.
Head east from the south bank.
However, the strategic position of Qianshan is too important. Veteran General Fan Yong went with Yuan Jiuliang on behalf of Jingxiang to take charge of the defense. At that time, the Military Intelligence Department
A group of secret scouts led by military attache Chen Songze will also meet them in Qianshan to provide intelligence support.
If Beijing and Xiangzhou can mobilize more reinforcements in the future, they will first choose to station in Qianshan.
…………
…………
"Commander Zhou, Commander Zhou, there are several enemy ships coming at the mouth of the river!"
The early morning mist shrouded the earth. On the east wall of the Yuelong Army Village, a dozen strong men were sitting in haystacks with their backs against the wall. They were taking naps with swords, spears, bows and crossbows in their hands. They were huddled together to resist the biting cold. Suddenly,
A sharp and piercing cry woke everyone up from their sleep.
The young men all took swords, spears, bows and crossbows, and looked towards the river mouth, and saw a dozen large and small paddle boats divided into two groups heading towards the mouth of the Caofan River where it merges into the Yangtze River.
The five oar warships at the top are very strange in style, similar in size to a stern ship. They were also the main warships in the former Jianye Navy, but their shape is like two warships buckled together.
, there is no deck for people to stand on from the beginning to the end.
The warships seemed to be covered in a huge turtle shell. The shell had blue and black ridges, which looked like cracks in the turtle shell. There must be people hiding in these warships. After all, there were several big guns on the lower floors of the warships.
The oars were thrust into the water and rowed quickly, driving the warship towards the Caochang River.
The paddle boat behind is not much different from the ordinary warships. The deck is full of soldiers, chasing the turtle-shaped warship while shooting at it with bows and crossbows, but the arrows are bounced off one after another when they touch the hull.
.
What kind of warship is this and where did it come from?
Ding Zhuang on the wall of Yuelong Village held his breath at this moment.
However, as the turtle-shaped warship continued to sail upstream of the Caochang River, the enemy ship soon gave up the pursuit.
The situation is also very clear. Regardless of whether there are other mysteries hidden inside the turtle-shaped warship, the turtle-shell cover alone makes it difficult for the enemy ship's arrows to penetrate. After the enemy ship approaches, it is difficult to use ordinary rockets to start a fire, and with it
If you shoot against them, you will obviously suffer big losses.
Furthermore, there are seven or eight military strongholds along the Caochang River, but they have not yet fallen.
These military villages are the families of the generals of the Forbidden Army, and there are also officials from the Imperial Envoy Department responsible for the management of the villages. Most of the young and strong soldiers in the military villages are qualified soldiers, most of whom have received training, and there are even many old soldiers.
After retiring from the camp, his brother or son will take his place and serve in the camp.
When the Chihu Navy raided Jianye, these military villages spontaneously organized to resist, and even responded to each other from a distance. There were also some boats hidden in the grassy branches of the river in the upper reaches, and occasionally they would enter the Yangtze River to make a sneak attack.
The enemy ship was very aware of the situation and continued to pursue the upper reaches of the Caochang River before they could figure out the situation. It was difficult to say that there was not a big trap waiting for them to get into.
Seeing the enemy ships retreating, five turtle-shaped warships sailed towards Yuelong Village again.
At this time, the men on the wall became nervous again, and even suspected that these five turtle-shaped warships were actually enemy ships, with the purpose of gaining access to Yuelong Village.
I heard that many military strongholds had suffered this loss. They thought they were fleeing Imperial Army soldiers who had been killed by the Red Husbands and wanted to take refuge. In fact, they were disguised as Han soldiers who had surrendered to the Red Husbands long ago. They tricked the people behind the stronghold into opening the gate.
, suddenly rushed into the stronghold - some military strongholds with weak defenses were destroyed in this way.
Thousands of captive soldiers are raging outside Jianye City, coming and going like the wind. For more than ten days, the military stronghold has not dared to relax at all. Even after nightfall, one or two hundred young men will be organized to sleep on the wall of the stronghold.
, how dare you relax your vigilance at this time.
Soon I saw five turtle-shaped warships rushing onto the shoal. A small door opened on the side of each warship, and groups of soldiers walked onto the river beach through the pallets——
A dozen people walked towards Yuelong Village. One of them walked quickly to the wall of the village, raised his sword and sheath to show that there was no hostility, and asked in a loud voice: "Is this a subordinate of the Imperial Envoy Department?"
??????????????? Yuelong Army stronghold? Is Hu Laizi who retreated from the first wing of Xiaosheng Army on the right in your stronghold? He served as a guard for Mr. Liu Yan. His left palm
During the battle at Ruying, he was cut off in half by Hu Gouzi..."
"It's true that this is Yuelong Village, Hu Leizi is also from our Yuelong Village, but after Hu Gouzi came ashore, Mr. Liu Yan recruited Jian Rui from various villages, and he and Mr. Liu Yan went to the capital," someone asked loudly
, "Who is this military master? How do you know Hu Lezi? Where did you come from?"
The visitor did not answer the question. He discussed with the people behind him for a few words, and then raised his voice and asked: "Do you know which gentleman is in the village? Is he up there?"
Yuelong Village is located at the mouth of the Caochang River. The geographical location is relatively important. At the same time, there is a wide area of beach land to be reclaimed at the mouth of the Caochang River. It is the subordinate village of the Imperial Camp Division that divided the small villages of the generals of You Xiaosheng Army and entrusted them to the village officials.
Jurisdiction is a ninth-level official position in the Zhengerbajing.
"Zhizhai has already fled somewhere, and we are now following Commander Zhou's orders!" shouted from the wall of the village.
"Commander Zhou, which Zhou is commanding?" the visitor asked.
"I am Zhou Shan, and I have been ordered by Prime Minister Liu Yan to organize young men to guard the stronghold here. Where did you come from? Luo Liba asked so many lies, do you want to deceive our stronghold gate?" A dignified man came from the wall.
He stuck his head out and cursed impatiently. He was holding a long bow and planned to shoot an arrow without thinking.
"Zhou Mazi, fuck your mother, why are you in Yuelong Village? Aren't you serving Mr. Liu Yan?" The visitor shouted happily at the foot of the village, "You are so lame that you didn't realize that I was Tang Wenchong."
! Open the gate of the village quickly, forget it, your grandson is very suspicious, come out of the village quickly, I will take you to see someone!"
"How could it be you?" Zhou Shan could hardly believe it when he saw Tang Wenchong clearly, and asked, "Aren't you working as an errand next to Shijun Xu? There are troops and horses from Beijing and Xiangzhou coming to help along the river. Why are there only these few people? You wait.
, I’ll come out right away.”
Zhou Shan was still worried that Tang Wenchong had surrendered to the enemy, so he did not open the gate of the village rashly. Instead, he roped down the more than two feet high wall of the village. After greeting Tang Wenchong for a while, they walked quickly to the river.
Zhou Shannai was Liu Yan's bodyguard and military attache. He followed Liu Yan to fight out of the dead when he was in Yunshuo in his early years. Naturally, it was impossible not to know Xu Huai.
He opened his eyes and saw clearly the young man wearing green and black armor, standing on the river beach with his sword pressed, looking at the terrain near the mouth of the Caochan River. He almost suspected that he was in a dream. Tears welled up from his eyes. He knelt on the ground and kowtowed.
:
"Xiangong Liu Yan said that Xuhou would definitely send troops to help, and asked me to stay at Yuelong Village to wait for him, but he didn't expect Xuhou to come in person..."
