Jingzhou navy's tower ships, sterns, fighting ships, barges... connected end to end, rolling down each other, filling the entire river.
As soon as the Jingzhou navy appeared in the waters of Hengshan Township, it immediately aroused great fear among the villagers of Hengshan. The timid ones immediately hid at home, while the bold ones kept looking at the river. In everyone's impression, It seems that such a huge fleet has never appeared on the Xiangjiang River.
The ship Cai Mao was traveling on was a tall tower ship with three layers of towers, parapets, battle grids, and banners built on it, like a fortress.
For building ships, the Yangtze River is the most suitable battlefield for them to gallop freely. Floating in the Xiangjiang River can not help but give people a feeling of overkill and underutilization.
Cai Mao was known for his extravagance, so his ship was decorated with colorful carvings, covered with a green canopy and crimson curtains. Even the masts, oars and sculls were painted with colorful patterns, which made it look more attractive when viewed from a distance. It looks like a palace on the water.
It's just that majesty is majestic, but once a battle breaks out, it will immediately become the enemy's target and be besieged. The old saying goes: "A general dare not ride a white horse because he is afraid of its easy recognition." It is the same truth.
However, Cai Mao is obviously not worried about this, because he believes that the navy under his command is the best in the world and unrivaled. In the past, when the Changsha navy was still there, he regarded it like fish and meat and allowed to be slaughtered. Now the Changsha navy Having been destroyed by him, the Xiangjiang River is empty, and there is no opponent, so there is no need to worry.
The building boat docked at the ferry of Hengshan Township. When Cai Mao got off the boat, he saw more than ten township officials in black official uniforms, leading the township officials and people, holding cows and wine, coming to welcome the laborers.
This can be regarded as an unspoken rule for military-civilian relations that has been passed down from ancient times to this day, that is, one party pays for peace, and the other party gets benefits without disturbing the people.
Of course, this generally refers to the "teacher of benevolence and righteousness". It is said that thieves are as good as a comb and soldiers are as good as a grate. Is this a lie?
Cai Mao was the first to speak: "I am the military advisor of General Zhennan and the governor of Nanjun, Cai Mao and Cai Degui. This time, under the order of the general, I went south to attack Lingling and the bandits of Guiyang."
Liu Biao was a Confucian of the clan, a graceful gentleman, and always regarded himself as generous and benevolent. He sent troops to Jingnan this time, aiming to unify Jingzhou. Since the people in Jingnan did not support him, he also wanted to win over people's hearts. Before sending troops, he repeatedly told Kuai Yue and Cai Mao to restrain them as much as possible. Soldiers, please do not harm the people of Jingnan.
Cai Mao has an arrogant and arrogant personality, but he will not deliberately disobey his "brother-in-law"'s wishes.
Seeing that Cai Mao's attitude was kind, the stingy man from Hengshan Township couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief. He immediately led his officials and bowed down and said, "I... pay my respects to Cai Nanjun..."
"You don't need to be polite." Then Cai Mao asked casually: "I heard that Hengshan Township was previously occupied by Liu Zhongda? I wonder if this news is true or false?"
The village stingy man couldn't help but feel a "thump" in his heart, and replied bravely: "Well, last year there was chaos in the county, refugees were everywhere, and thieves were breeding. Hengshan Township belonged to the Hou Kingdom of Southern Hunan. It was isolated from the outside world. It was weak and weak. It was deeply affected. nuisance.
The Ming Dynasty...Liu Jun...could not bear to see the people of Hengshan suffer such suffering, so they sent a military ship to station here to drive away the thieves and protect the territory and the people. It is all thanks to Liu Jun that we were able to stay safe in the chaos."
"Oh?" Cai Mao said with a half-smile on his face: "Listen to what I said, Liu Zhongda not only has no fault, but has made meritorious deeds?"
How could the countryman not hear the sarcasm in Cai Mao's tone? He couldn't help complaining in his heart. He forced himself to calm down and said: "Official, I'm just telling the truth."
Cai Mao snorted coldly and asked: "When did Liu Zhongda's warships stationed here evacuate?"
The country man hesitated for a moment before replying: "It's noon today."
Cai Hao laughed angrily and said: "In other words, they didn't evacuate in a hurry until they discovered my fleet? How brave they are."
How could the countryman dare to answer the conversation, so he could only pretend to be deaf and dumb.
Cai Mao then asked Xiang Shifu a few more questions. His original intention was to get some information about Liu Jing. It turned out that he was overthinking it. Xiang Shifu knew only a little bit, and he immediately became confused when it came to important information.
Three I don’t know.
Cai Hao felt impatient in his heart and dismissed him and others.
Wu Ju didn't know when he came to Cai Mao's side. He looked at the figures of the officials and people in Hengshan who were gradually retreating. Suspicion flashed in his eyes, and he reminded Cai Mao: "Cai Nan County, Liu Zhongda, and Liu Bosi are definitely not people who sit back and wait for death. They
They have been entrenched in Hengshan Township for a long time, and the soldiers and people are united with them. Maybe there is an ambush hidden in the township. Be careful that they come to attack the ships at night."
He once sent detectives to Lingxian County, but until he arrived in Hengshan Township, which was only more than a hundred miles away from Lingxian County, he still did not come back. In all likelihood, he was captured or killed by Liu Jing. Liu Jing took such strict precautions that it was
Doesn't it mean that he has a plan? Maybe it's in Hengshan Township.
Wu Ju could think of this problem, and Cai Mao could not have thought of it. If Liu Jing really had "unreasonable thoughts" as Wu Ju said, Hengshan Township would be his last chance.
In order to lure Liu Jing into taking the bait, Cai Mao announced that he would hold a banquet with cattle and wine presented by the officials and people of Hengshan to reward the three armies to comfort them for their hard journey.
That night, at the Hengshan Township ferry, the boats were brightly lit, and there were constant laughter and laughter. The party lasted until midnight.
In fact, Cai Mao personally led his soldiers, wearing armor and armed with troops, lying in the boat and waiting in strict formation. Unfortunately, he stayed on guard all night and until dawn the next day, there was no sign of the enemy.
When Cai Hao and Wu Ju appeared again, they each had dark circles under their eyes. They looked at each other for a moment, not knowing what to say.
After a long while, Cai Mao laughed loudly and said: "Wu Duwei usually praises Liu Zhongda and Liu Bosi to the heavens. I really thought they were braver than others, but now it seems that they are nothing more than that."
Wu Ju felt a little embarrassed and said: "Maybe it's because we are too strong that they can only stay away."
Cai Mao nodded and said: "This is human nature. They must be hiding in Ling County at this moment, preparing to use the city wall to fight against me."
Wu Ju was silent for a while. This was the result he least expected to see. Cai Mao had many sailors but few infantry. When the time came, his troops would definitely be driven to attack the city.
"Sun Tzu's Art of War" says: "The first is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the enemy, and then the third is to attack the city... If the general is overwhelmed by its anger and the ants attach to it, killing one-third of the soldiers but the city cannot be taken out, this attack is
It’s a disaster.”
The soldiers had been exhausted from traveling and traveling for the past half month, and they had not slept for another day and night. They were so sleepy that they could not move at all. Cai Mao had to order another day of rest in Hengshan Township.
Although Cai Mao said he was dismissive of Liu Jing, he did not dare to completely relax his vigilance and ordered the soldiers to rest in batches to ensure that there was someone on duty.
The next day, the Jingzhou Navy set off southward again, and was expected to arrive at Lingxian County in two days.