"Veteran Gao Liangping pays homage to the prince! The prince is a thousand years old! A thousand years old! A thousand years old!"
Gao Liangping arrived at Dangtu Water Village at dusk.
The old man had a weathered look on his face, and it seemed that he had experienced many bumps along the way.
"Master Gao! Please get up quickly." Song Yang helped Gao Liangping up with his own hands.
"Master Gao, we haven't seen each other for three and a half years, right?" Song Yang asked with a smile.
"Three and a half years. His Highness was still in the capital at that time." Gao Liangping stood up and nodded.
After saying that, Gao Liangping looked at Song Yang.
Song Yang was also looking at him.
Although this old guy is old, he is still very energetic.
After struggling all the way, I didn’t feel much tired.
Gao Liangping wanted to see Song Yang's changes in the past few years.
Song Yang was only fifteen years old three years ago, and he was much more immature at that time.
Today, three years later, Song Yang has not only grown up physically, but also gained a lifetime of accumulated experience mentally.
"Old minister, I'm presumptuous. Your Highness, please forgive me." Gao Liangping withdrew his gaze and cupped his hands.
"It doesn't matter. The old master also cares about me." Song Yang said with a smile.
He and Gao Liangping entered the Chinese army tent together. After sitting down, Song Yang asked Gao Liangping about Jiangning.
"Alas! It's hard to put it into words!" Master Gao sighed heavily.
It turned out that in order to defeat the King of Changzhou, the King of Suzhou had already arranged this sneak attack.
The King of Suzhou bribed Jiangning City Guard General Wang Yue early.
Even during the competition between the two sides last year, Wang Yue was already the king of Suzhou.
It's just that King Runzhou's trusted troops were all in Jiangning at that time.
The King of Suzhou was also blocked in Changzhou by Xue Wencheng and others.
It never reached the gate of Jiangning City, and Wang Yue's chess piece never made any move.
Later, the two sides ceased fighting, and King Runzhou obtained some soldiers in Huainan Road in the north of the Yangtze River, and his strength improved a lot.
In this way, King Runzhou would have the strength to go out of the city to confront King Suzhou.
In fact, this confrontation was also a trap by the King of Suzhou. He deliberately caused trouble at the border and transferred King Runzhou's troops out of Jiangning City.
Some time ago, the King of Suzhou gathered a fleet, and he transported 10,000 soldiers and horses to the ship.
When the main force of King Runzhou was sent to Changzhou to confront the King of Suzhou, they took a boat directly to Jiangning.
If Jiangning City is defended, the King of Suzhou will not be able to capture it at all.
However, Wang Yue suddenly rebelled at this time, leaving Jiangning empty and unable to withstand the sudden appearance of the Suzhou King's 10,000 troops.
Ten thousand soldiers of the King of Suzhou suddenly entered the city under the leadership of Wang Yue.
King Runzhou was caught off guard. He was pinned down in the palace by King Suzhou's army before he could even escape from the palace.
King Runzhou was also a ruthless character. He directly set the palace on fire and died along with dozens of Suzhou soldiers who broke into the palace.
On Gao Liangping's side, he got the news as soon as Wang Yue rebelled.
Although Master Gao is not in the court, Jiang Ning still has many close friends.
Especially for such an important position as the city guard, Gao Liangping certainly had to send someone to keep an eye on it.
Upon learning that Wang Yue had rebelled, Gao Liangping immediately realized that the situation was over.
The old man made a decisive decision and took advantage of the chaos to leave Jiangning City.
We originally planned to take the waterway to Dangtu, but the dock was blocked by the soldiers of the King of Suzhou.
Suzhou King's soldiers and horses were also guarding various traffic arteries.
Even on the small roads, there are horses patrolling back and forth.
Gao Liangping took his servants and hid in the village again.
In fact, this village has long been secretly controlled by Gao Liangping's people.
After his retirement, with the expansion of Jiangbei and Huainan Road, King Runzhou became more and more arrogant.
Gao Liangping felt that his mentality would have to end sooner or later, so he began to think about a way out from then on.
This village is secretly controlled in order to prevent people from taking shelter here if something happens to Jiangning.
I didn't expect to actually use it this time.
This village was prepared as a back-up project after he retired, so Gao Junyan didn't know about it, so he couldn't find any news about Gao Liangping in the past few days.
Gao Liangping hid in the village for three days. When the people on Suzhou King's side relaxed, he dared to escape from the village with his servants overnight.
After walking all night, we finally arrived at the border of Xuanzhou.
The matter was not complicated, but the King of Suzhou did a good job.
The effect is also obvious, Jiang Ning got it easily.
At the same time, he easily solved King Runzhou.
King Runzhou died, and his 20,000 troops became Suzhou King's meal.
It took almost no effort to capture these people.
"Thank you for your hard work, Master Gao." After listening to Gao Liangping's words, Song Yang nodded.
"My lord, the King of Suzhou has occupied Jiangning and is now reorganizing his army. Once he gets a firm foothold, he will definitely take action against Xuanzhou."
"The top priority should be to send troops immediately and take the initiative to catch the King of Suzhou off guard before he has fully digested King Runzhou's troops!"
After Gao Liangping finished talking about Jiang Ning, he put forward his own suggestions.
Send troops to Jiangning immediately.
After all, the King of Suzhou only had 10,000 people in Jiangning, and his main force was still in Changzhou to recruit King Runzhou's troops.
If we break into Jiangning now, Jiangning can be easily obtained.
Song Yang frowned and said nothing, thinking about the necessity of doing this.
After weighing it up and still not sure, Song Yang looked at the generals.
As the general of Dangtu, Xu Gaoshan stood up immediately when he saw Song Yang looking at him and said:
"My lord, if we use troops against Jiangning, I am willing to serve as a vanguard! What Grand Master Gao said is reasonable. We just happened to take advantage of Jiangning's emptiness to capture it in one fell swoop!"
Song Yang said nothing, nodded slightly and looked at Cui Shan and others.
Cui Shan scratched his head and said: "If we attack, it shouldn't be a big problem to capture Jiangning. But we have to go toe-to-toe with the King of Suzhou. He will definitely attack Jiangning after reorganizing his army in Changzhou."
Cui Shan did not say whether he supported launching troops against Jiangning, but analyzed the current situation.
Song Yang nodded again without saying anything, and looked at Gongsun Qi again.
"In my humble position, I obey the prince."
Gongsun Qi did not express his own suggestions, and he would fight if he was asked to do so. Song Yang could not give orders, and others could not command him.
"Your Majesty, this opportunity must not be missed before it comes again. Once the King of Suzhou completes his army reorganization, it will be difficult to seize Jiangning." Gao Liangping continued to persuade.
"Jiangning City has a lot of food and supplies. If we occupy Jiangning, as long as we are determined to defend, the King of Suzhou will definitely not be able to capture it." Gao Liangping added.
Song Yang frowned slightly and tapped the table with his fingers.
In his heart, he was not in favor of taking Jiang Ning.
After all, Jiang Ningcheng could not bring him much benefit.
Even if he stops in Jiangning City, he is limited to one city.
Half of the main force in Jiangzhou went to Tanzhou, and they only had 5,000 Renaissance troops in hand. Including the troops stationed in Dangtu and Xuanzhou, the total number was only 16,700.
It is easy to take a city, but it is difficult to take a state.
While Song Yang was hesitating, the voices of refugees came from outside the tent.
"Your Majesty, Liu Min, would like to see the prince!"
"Please quickly!"
As soon as Song Yang heard that Liu Min had arrived, he immediately let him in.
As soon as Liu Min came in, she happened to see Song Yang and Gao Liangping beside him.
"Your Majesty is a thousand years old."
After seeing the courtesy, he said to Gao Liangping: "Master Gao is polite!"
Jiangning changed hands, Master Gao disappeared, and the refugees guessed that Gao Liangping would definitely come to Xuanzhou.
So Xu Gaoshan was asked to send someone to keep an eye on it. Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished inspecting the defense, Master Gao had already arrived.
"Master Liu, I haven't seen you for a while." Gao Liangping was also polite to Liu Min.
Although Liu Min was only the prefect, he had high prestige in the Daqian literati community.
Otherwise, he would not be called a great Confucian.
The two of them were polite before taking their seats.
"Just now Grand Master Gao suggested that we take advantage of the chaos to send troops to seize Jiangning. I am discussing this matter with everyone. Mr. Liu, please tell me your opinion."
Song Yang looked at Liu Min and asked.
Xu Gaoshan, who was beside Liu Min, immediately told him briefly what they had just discussed.
"My lord, this Jiangning is like a hot potato to you..."
Liu Min paused briefly and said, "It's optional!"
With these four words, Song Yang understood that Liu Min also disapproved of seizing Jiangning.
Gao Liangping again advised:
"Your Majesty, Mr. Liu, Jiangning is empty and there are not many opportunities!"
"Besides, the prince is the direct descendant of the Emperor Daqian. If he gets Jiang Ning, he can issue orders in a legitimate manner."
In his mind, Jiangning represents the political center of Daqian Jiangnan.
Only when you get Jiang Ning can you be considered the legitimate Daqian orthodoxy.
The King of Suzhou also took a fancy to this, so he looked covetously at Jiang Ning.
"Master Gao's words are wrong." Liu Min shook his head.
"Precisely because the prince is the direct descendant of Da Qian, there is no need to use Jiang Ning to prove anything."
"The prince is the prince, regardless of whether Jiang Ning is there or not."
"Besides, the current situation is that the military strength is somewhat insufficient. Even if we take Jiangning, we can only get an isolated city."
"Not only has the battle line been lengthened, the originally deployed defense system will also be loosened."
Liu Min analyzed the situation from various aspects and also put forward his own opinions.
Song Yang nodded as he heard this. What Liu Min said was exactly what he was thinking.
But Liu Min summed it up better.
"Your Majesty, if you give up taking the initiative to send troops, you must immediately strengthen the Dangtu defense line. The King of Suzhou will definitely come to Jiangning with his army in half a month at most."
After listening to Liu Min's words and seeing Song Yang's reaction, Gao Liangping knew that Song Yang would probably not send troops, so he had no choice but to give up his plan to persuade Song Yang to send troops.
However, he made suggestions to strengthen the defense line.
Song Yang and Liu Min certainly agree with this.
The King of Suzhou has integrated troops and horses, but there are 40,000 to 50,000 people.
The vast majority of them are still elite soldiers.
If he really uses troops against Dangtu, the pressure here will be great.
Gao Liangping knew that the King of Suzhou was very powerful in combat, so he was extremely worried about Song Yang.
He was really worried, fearing that the King of Suzhou would defeat Song Yang.
Then he really has no place to seek refuge.
Gao Liangping was the main figure who supported King Runzhou and King Changzhou.
It can be said that he and the King of Suzhou are mortal enemies.
There is no chance of reprieve for either.
Coupled with the cruel character of the Suzhou King.
Once they are caught, Lao Gao's family will have no chance of survival.
Therefore, Gao Liangping was the most determined resister when it came to dealing with the King of Suzhou.
"Don't worry, Taishi Gao. The main reason why we don't send troops to Jiangning now is because the main force from Jiangzhou has gone to Tanzhou. When the war in Tanzhou is over, I will naturally take care of the King of Suzhou when I have my hands free." Song Yang saw the anxious Mrs. Gao Teacher, give me some words of comfort.
"Then the defense here in Dangtu is sufficient. How about adding some civilians?" Gao Liangping was still worried.
"Father, don't worry. If the cannon is painted with tiger squatting, the King of Suzhou will not be able to defeat it." Gao Junyan also consoled him.
"Tiger Crouching Cannon?" Gao Liangping certainly didn't know what the Tiger Crouching Cannon was.
After the meeting, Gao Junyan took Master Gao to visit the fort and described its power.
Master Gao was doubtful when he heard this.
However, seeing the expressions of Song Yang, Liu Min, Xu Gaoshan and others who were confident of winning, the old master felt a little more relieved.