"PS: I feel much better today. I suspect there is something wrong with the pickled fish I ate outside the day before yesterday. Also, let's talk about the plot. There are still a few chapters in Song County. Next, we will talk about the internal governance of Wei State in a few chapters, and then we will enter the final chapter. What? Everyone knows the last chapter, right? After writing the last chapter, this book will be finished. It really took a long time to write."
————The following text————
"Squeak."
The wooden door opened slightly, and a general wearing armor stepped into the study. He cupped his hands and clasped his fists towards Xiang Dian who was sitting behind the desk: "Prime Minister."
"You're here, Li Huo."
Xiang Ding nodded, and while standing up, he stretched out his hand to ask Li Huo to sit down anywhere in the room.
Li Huo was the commander of the Beibo Army at that time. Later, Xiang Ding welcomed back "Zixin", a descendant of the Song royal family. After the Song Dynasty was restored, this person became a general and spent the past two years in Weishan Lake. Li Huo played an important role in resisting Wei generals Li Ji, Zhou Kui and Cai Qinhu.
"King Wei's confidant Shen Yu has arrived at Huling in the past two days. You must have heard about it, right?" Li Huo was given a cup of tea and asked with a sigh.
Li Huo took the tea cup with both hands and nodded solemnly.
To be fair, in these years, Shen Yu, as a general of the Wei State, has not been well-known in the Wei State, let alone looking at the entire Central Plains, his reputation is completely inferior to that of the current Wei State officials such as Shao Hu, Pang Huan, Wei Ji, Jiang Bi, etc. Generals who have become famous, but in fact, as the former chief of the imperial clan of Wei King Zhao Run, Shen Yu, who is less than forty years old, is destined to become the young general of the Wei Kingdom in the next stage, and will be the core of the military. figure.
How could it be that such a big shot suddenly came to Huling without arousing the vigilance of the Beibo Army?
"Does the King of Wei intend to ask Shen Yu to replace the three generals Li Wei, Zhou Kui, and Cai Qinhu?" Li Huo asked.
Xiang Ding shook his head and said he didn't know.
The arrival of Shen Yu seemed to be a sign that the Wei State was about to seriously use force against the Song State. However, what made Xiang Yu feel strange was that Shen Yu seemed to have only brought a group of guards and had not mobilized any Wei troops. ——At least so far, the Beibo Army has not received news from Wei about mobilizing troops.
Among all the Wei armies, the one that Xiang Qian least expected to encounter was probably the Shang Shui army.
In fact, to be honest, although the Shang Shui Army is one of the most elite divisions in the Wei State, in fact, the strength of the soldiers and weapons and equipment are not much higher than those of other Wei armies. On the same level as the Shang Shui Army, there is also Yanling Army, Wei Wujun, Suppression of Rebellion Army, etc.
But it has to be said that the record of this army is too dazzling. "The army has not lost a single defeat for ten years since its founding." This incredible record has added a lot of deterrence to this Wei army out of thin air - but in fact, only Wei Gongzi Run personally led the army. The Shang Shui Army, that is the truly invincible Shang Shui Army.
However, even though the Wei Gongzi Run has now become the monarch of the Wei State, which has reduced the deterrence of the Shang Shui Army, Xiang Qi still instinctively does not want to deal with this army. After all, the Shang Shui Army has been a deterrent in the Central Plains over the years. The force was so great that although its status in the hearts of the Wei people still could not surpass that of Wei Wujun, in terms of deterrence in the Central Plains, Shangshui Army far surpassed Wei Wujun.
Of course, the more important thing is that Wei's "Shangshui Army" is the country's most complete and complete army at present. It has both the Shangshui Army with a mix of infantry and crossbows, and the "Shangshui Army" with a mix of light and heavy cavalry. "Yuma", and even the "Shang Shui Qing Crow" composed entirely of assassins can replace the role of scouts. Facing this kind of army with no weak points in all aspects, anyone will feel a headache.
Shaking his head, Xiang Ding warned Li Huo: "The King of Wei probably did not have the wrong intention. Since he sent Shen Yu to Huling, the Wei State must have taken some action... You have to deal with it carefully."
Li Huo nodded heavily.
Afterwards, Xiang Xuan took out the map of the Song Dynasty that he had ordered, pointed out several key points, and told Li Huo to send troops to garrison.
At the same time, in the county government office in Huling City, Wei generals Li Ji, Zhou Kui, and Cai Qinhu were also explaining the general situation of the current Song Dynasty to Shen Yu, who had just arrived in Huling.
When he saw the so-called map of the Song Dynasty, Shen Yu was stunned for a while and subconsciously said: "That's it?"
Hearing this, Li Qi, Zhou Kui and Cai Qinhu all suppressed their laughter. After a while, Li Qi nodded and said: "Yes, the Pseudo-Song Dynasty currently only has a few cities including "Gu Teng City". It is a city with a border area of only about a hundred miles..."
Shen Yu opened his mouth and couldn't believe it. You must know that Shangshui County covers an area of more than a hundred miles.
He shook his head with emotion. After all, more than a hundred years ago, maybe earlier, the Song State was also one of the big countries in the Central Plains. Its land area was not much smaller than that of the Wei State. He did not expect that it would be reduced to this state now. To this point.
but……
"You three have been fighting against the Pseudo-Song Dynasty for two years, but you haven't defeated it yet?"
Shen Yu glanced at Li Wei, Zhou Kui, and Cai Qinhu with a strange expression.
As if he guessed something from Shen Yu's weird expression, Zhou Kui coughed and explained nonchalantly: "There are various reasons involved, but the main reason is that our soldiers were not good at water in the early days, so... "
Shen Yu smiled and nodded, but because of the dignity of these colleagues, he did not ask any further questions.
But after thinking about it carefully, he still felt that something was not quite right.
After all, the Junshui Army, Chenggao Army, and Fenxing Army commanded by Li Qi, Zhou Kui, and Cai Qinhu are not weak armies. Even if they are not good at water warfare, they can still force the soldiers to cross by boat. Weishan Lake, land on the other side?
Or is there any reason for this?
"General Shen expected it to be true."
When Shen Yu asked this question, Li Qian explained seriously: "The reason why our three armies failed was that the Beibo Army had a fleet for combat..." After a pause, he added: "In fact, this The fleet actually does not belong to the Northern Bo Army or the Puppet Song Dynasty, but to Xue County of the Lu State."
"Lu Guo?" Shen Yu frowned.
"Exactly!" Li Ji nodded, and then explained: "When Chu general Xiang Pei attacked Huan Hu who was still in Xiaopei, Huan Hu secretly defected to Lu. At that time, Ji Min, the city guard of Xuecheng, once Send a fleet to carry Huan Hu's army across Weishan Lake...it is this fleet."
"How dare the Lu State secretly aid the puppet Song Dynasty?" Shen Yu asked in surprise.
You must know that during the "Daliang Alliance" last year, Prince Xing of the Lu State visited the Wei State, and his attitude was extremely respectful. Logically speaking, the Lu State would not have the guts to secretly help the puppet Song Dynasty.
Seeing that Shen Yu didn't understand the reason, Li Jisui continued to explain: "It was not that the Lu State secretly assisted the puppet Song Dynasty... Last year, after the Chu army Xiang Pei, the king of Xinyang, invaded Xuedi, Ji Min, the prefect of Xuecheng, They abandoned the city and fled, and Xuedi's army was defeated and scattered. Taking this opportunity, Xiang Ding's Beibo army took over the ships of Xuecheng... These warships were exactly as the rumors said. The warships used by the National Giant Deer Navy are very similar. They can launch fire arrows from a long distance. They are very powerful. The ships built by our soldiers and others are simply unable to withstand it..."
"I see."
Shen Yu suddenly understood and nodded.
But as the saying goes, seeing is believing, so he still asked to witness the battle with the Beibo Army on Weishan Lake with his own eyes.
Seeing this, Li Ji, Zhou Kui, and Cai Qinhu did not object. After all, they also hoped that Shen Yu could see with his own eyes the difficulty of fighting the Bei Bo Army and say a few good words to the King of Wei on their behalf, so that the King of Wei, Zhao Run, would not misunderstand them. All three are useless, even a small Beibo army can't do anything.
At dawn the next day, Li Ji, Zhou Kui, and Cai Qinhu led Shen Yu to the water village and ordered fifteen large boats, more than thirty stern boats, and about a hundred other small boats. Drive out of the water village and drive towards the center of Weishan Lake.
"How big is this Weishan Lake...?"
Stepping on the board of the ship, Shen Yu's left hand firmly grasped the railing of the ship and asked with a somewhat ugly expression.
To be honest, Shen Yu is no stranger to taking a boat. After all, the water transportation in Wei State is now very prosperous. But it was not until this moment that he realized that taking a boat on the Cai River and the Weishan Lake Taking a boat here is completely different.
For example, at this moment, when he looked around, he saw a vast white lake all around, which made him feel slightly uneasy.
After listening to Shen Yu's inquiry, Li Wei, Zhou Kui, and Cai Qinhu secretly laughed, because Shen Yu's behavior at the moment was exactly the same as that of them at that time - the Wei people who had always lived in the inland were very unsuited to taking a boat. Wandering in a vast lake with no end in sight.
In fact, Shen Yu's performance is quite acceptable. If it were another Wei person who was used to stepping on flat ground, his legs might feel weak when he stepped on the boat, and he would feel weak when he saw the white lake around him. Panic for no reason.
"It's about three to forty miles from Huling to the other side," Li Qian replied.
"Three, forty miles..." Shen Yu swallowed.
Indeed, Weishan Lake is far wider than any other lake in Wei State. When standing on a boat and looking around, it is almost endless. For inland people like the Wei people who have almost never seen the vast ocean, this is indeed a short-term experience. Something that is difficult to adapt to.
Just when Shen Yu was about to say something to distract himself, he suddenly saw Cai Qinhu pointing in the distance and reminding: "Here we come."
"What, what?" Shen Yu asked subconsciously.
"The sentry boats of the Beibo Army." Zhou Kui took a long breath and said gloomily: "To prevent our army from raiding, the Beibo Army has sentry boats patrolling the lake all day and night."
Shen Yu squinted his eyes and looked into the distance, and then he vaguely saw a few ships in the distance. After seeing them, those ships immediately retreated and lit fireworks to warn them.
At this time, Li Qian said from the side: "At most a quarter of an hour, we can see the warships of the Bei Bo Army."
Sure enough, after waiting for about a quarter of an hour, Shen Yu saw warships with many shadows on the lake coming towards him. On these ships, they all hung flags with the word "Song" or "Bei Bo".
"The two armies are about to fight, General Shen Yu, be careful." Li Ji reminded, and then he ordered: "All ships and buildings disperse, and the ships are ready to meet the enemy."
Following Li Wei's order, the Wei fleet slowly formed a formation on the lake.
After about half a stick of incense, a war broke out between the two armies. I saw the Song fleet on the opposite side firing countless arrows. Even Shen Yu felt a little numb.
The Wei army also launched a counterattack almost at the same time, causing arrows to come and go on the lake, like a tide of locusts.
Taking advantage of his free time, Li Ji explained to Shen Yu: "Water warfare requires the power of bows and crossbows, but most of the arrows cannot be recovered on the lake, so it may take months to prepare the crossbow arrows for a vicious battle... …”
Before he finished speaking, he suddenly saw a fire burning in the sail and shouted quickly: "Put out the fire! Put out the fire quickly!"
Shen Yu looked back and realized that at some point, several rockets had penetrated the sails, causing the canvas to burn quickly.
At this time, the ships and ships of the two armies had also been disbanded. Under Shen Yu's astonished gaze, the ships of the two armies violently collided with each other, causing countless soldiers of the two armies to fall into the water.
Perhaps because he did not expect to gain any advantage in this battle, Zhou Kui was not in a hurry to take command, and calmly told Shen Yu: "In the first few times, our soldiers were not used to water, and they suffered at this point. What a big mistake. In fact, many soldiers were not shot to death by the enemy during the fight, but drowned in the lake because they were not good at water skills. Later, we strengthened the training of water skills for the soldiers..."
As he said that, he raised his head and glanced at the battle situation, and asked Shen Yu for instructions: "General Shen Yu, how about we call it a day? If the fight continues, I'm afraid the two armies will get angry and it won't end well."
Shen Yu nodded after hearing this.
Seeing this, Zhou Kui said to Li Qian and Cai Qinhu: "It's almost done. Let's withdraw our troops."
Immediately, the Wei army immediately ordered gold and retreated.
In view of the fact that two of the Wei army's tower ships sank and the rest were still a threat, the Beibo army's tower ships did not dare to move too far forward. They could only watch as the Wei army rescued the soldiers who fell into the water and slowly retreated.
"Wei Jun...what the hell are you doing?"
At this time, on the ship of the Song fleet, Song Admiral Li Huo looked at the Wei fleet that was slowly withdrawing with confusion.
However, since the Wei army had retreated, he certainly would not take the initiative to ask for a battle. He immediately ordered his naval troops to return to the water stronghold and continue training.
On the way back to Huling Water Village, Shen Yu stood on the boat deck, meditating on the water battle he had just witnessed.
In fact, when it comes to warships, the warships of the Wei State are not inferior to the warships of the Beibo Army, or the warships of the Lu State. After all, the warships of the Wei State are borrowed from the Chu State and have many years of shipbuilding experience. The problem is, those with shipbuilding experience It was just the smelting bureau of the Wei State. As for the warships built by the soldiers of the three generals Li Ji, Zhou Kui, and Cai Qinhu, they were far inferior.
In addition, there is the gap in long-range weapons. In fact, the range difference between the two armies' crossbows is very small, but the range of the machine-fired crossbows on the Beibo Army's warships is far greater than that of the Wei Army.
Of course, this is not a big problem. After all, the Wei State also has machine-gun rifles, but the control of machine-gun rifles is relatively strict, so that the three Wei armies, namely the Chunshui Army, the Chenggao Army, and the Fenxing Army, are not equipped with them. If the imperial court is asked to send some machine-operated crossbows, the Wei army will not continue to suffer in this regard.
After returning to Huling, Shen Yu politely rejected Li Qi, Zhou Kui, and Cai Qinhu's invitation to have a drink together. He hid in his room and wrote down the water battle he witnessed today in his notebook one by one, preparing to send it to the police. He was sent to the hands of King Zhao Run of Wei, and asked for some help from the latter.
After all, it seems that the Beibo Army's water warfare power in the Weishan Lake area is still higher than that of the Wei Army.
The main reason is the difference in warships and water warfare weapons.
At the same time, General Li Huo of the Northern Bo Army also returned to Tengcheng and reported to the Prime Minister the abnormal attack of the Wei Army today.
After listening carefully to Li Huo's report, Xiang Xuan remained silent. After a while, he asked: "You are saying that this time the Wei army's attack started but ended in a tailspin, and they retreated in less than half a stick of incense, right?"
"Yes." Li Huo nodded and said, "In my opinion, the Wei army's losses this time are not serious, and they are fully capable of continuing... But for some unknown reason, they suddenly retreated."
Xiang Qian was silent when he heard the words.
At this time, he already had a guess in his mind. It must be that Shen Yu had just arrived and did not know the situation of the water battle in Weishan Lake. Therefore, Li Wei, Zhou Kui, and Cai Qinhu made this fight start and end, so that Shen Yu understands the general situation of the battle.
It is conceivable that after returning to Huling, Shen Yu will definitely inform the King of Wei and ask Daliang to provide support. In fact, Xiang Yu still can't figure out why the Wei Kingdom didn't send other troops.
To put it bluntly, if the Wei State sent 200,000 troops to march overland from "Ningyang" and pass through the Lu State to invade the Song State, how could the Song State, which was a tiny country, resist it?
After much deliberation, Xiang Yu still couldn't figure out what the young King of Wei was thinking. Could it be that he was playing with them like a cat playing with a mouse? - With the character of the King of Wei, he would not do such a thing. .
Just as he was thinking about it, he suddenly saw a soldier coming to the study, cupping his fists and saying: "Prime Minister, your Majesty has invited you."
He looked at Li Huo, then thought for a while and said, "Li Huo, please continue to monitor Wei Jun's every move."
"Yes!" Li Huo clasped his fists and left.
After Li Huo left, Xiang Huan followed the soldier to the Song Palace - actually it was just a relatively elegant mansion in the city.
When I arrived at the lobby of the north room of this mansion, I saw the prince of the Song Dynasty, Zixin, walking around the house rubbing his hands, looking quite anxious.
"Your Majesty." Xiang Dian bowed his hands and said.
Song Zixin raised her head and saw Xiang Qi, forcing a smile on her anxious face: "The Prime Minister is here, sit down."
After inviting Xiang Ding to sit down in the room, Zixin licked her lips and asked cautiously: "Prime Minister, I heard that the Wei army has sent troops to attack again today?"
Hearing this, Xiang Qian smiled bitterly to himself.
The monarch of the Song Dynasty in front of him is good at everything, but he is just a little timid - of course, compared to the other descendants of the Song royal family who did not even dare to come forward to restore the Song Dynasty, this monarch is already very courageous. Incredible.
He cupped his hands and comforted Xiang Xuan: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, the Wei army will be repelled by our army as always."
"Hey, that's good, that's good..."
Prince Song nodded with relief, but the sadness on his face did not disappear at all.
It's no wonder, after all, they spent all their troops to repel only a small army of Wei State. However, Wei State has not had a single soldier of the 400,000 elite divisions that they used when they expelled Lin Hu and defeated South Korea over the years. When a soldier was sent to Song County, when he thought that such a powerful Korea was defeated by the Wei State, and even the capital Handan had to give up, Song Wangzixin felt that the future of the Song State was bleak.
"I never thought that South Korea would be defeated..." Song Zixin murmured while sitting in her seat.
Prince Song was delighted to hear the words and remained silent.
When he decided to restore the Song State, it was because Qi and Wei were at odds with each other, and South Korea was also on the opposite side of the Wei State. At that time, Xiang Xian felt that if Qi and South Korea joined forces, wouldn't it be possible to suppress the Wei State?
But what he didn't expect was that in the face of the suppression of Qi and South Korea, Wei State quickly attracted two powerful countries, Qin State and Chu State, as allies, and among them, Chu State used the power of one country to suppress
The three kingdoms of Qi, Lu, Yue, and finally Wei won that unprecedented battle, making all Xiang's previous plans come to nothing.
But now, the Wei State has emerged as a hegemon, and the "Daliang Alliance" has awed all the countries in the Central Plains. In fact, even Xiang Qian himself does not know where the way out for the Song State is.
However, before the end was reached, the responsibilities in his heart forced him to continue to do his best for this purpose.
"Prime Minister, why don't you surrender?"
"...Huh?"
When Leng Buding heard Song Prince Xin's timid inquiry, he was startled and looked at the latter in disbelief: "Your Majesty, you said...surrender?"
I saw Song Wang Zixin licking his lips, and reluctantly calmed down and said: "Prime Minister, when you persuaded me back then, you predicted that the Wei State would definitely be defeated under the attack of Qi and South Korea. At that time, we, the Song Dynasty people, could take the opportunity to restore the country.
...but you
I have also seen that the Wei State not only was not defeated, but also gradually became more powerful than before. Today, the Wei State is located in Hetao, Hexi, Shangdang, Hanoi, Hedong, Yingshui, Shangshui and other major counties, sitting on several major counties.
One hundred thousand soldiers and armor,
Moreover, there are many talented people in the country, and our Song State... only covers an area of more than a hundred miles, which is less than a small county of the Wei State. How can we withstand the power of the Wei State?" After a pause, he looked at Xiang Xuan, and then said after thinking:
"Although I don't understand
However, we also understand that our country’s victory over the Wei army so far is just because the Wei State has no time to take care of us. Once the Wei State makes up its mind to use troops against our Song State, the defeat of our Song State will only occur after the overthrow of the King of Wei.
between hands."
These words left Xiang Ding speechless.
He didn't know what to say to persuade the monarch of the Song Dynasty in front of him. After all, what this monarch said was indeed a solid fact.
That night, Xiang Tong tossed and turned on the bed, Song Zixin's words echoing repeatedly in her mind.
Just as Song Wang Zixin said, the current situation in his country is very difficult, so difficult that it is like a small boat in the ocean, with the danger of capsizing at any time.
But he knew more clearly that once he gave up here, there would be no chance to make a comeback, because Cui Yong, the official of Wei State, had defeated the most critical thing of the Beibo Army - the people of Song County against the Beibo Army.
Trust and support.
Without the secret support of the people of Song County, his Beibo Army could no longer continue to hide among the people as before.
"Maybe... maybe the situation is not that bad. Maybe Wei still has no time to take care of us?"
He could only comfort himself in this way.
About ten days later, Shen Yu's handwritten letter was sent to Daliang and delivered to the hands of Wei King Zhao Run, which gave Zhao Run a general understanding of the battle situation at Weishan Lake.
On that day, without saying anything, Zhao Run transferred fifty large ships, hundreds of Wei Liannu, and corresponding crossbow equipment and crossbow arrows from Xiangfu Port, and transported them along the Lianglu Canal to Huling. He ordered Shen Yu and Li Qi to
Zhou Kui, Cai Qinhu and others used the Beibo Army to train the navy on the basis of the Chunshui Army, Chenggao Army and Fenxing Army, which were already in embryonic form.
This news quickly reached Xiang Dian's ears.
Seeing that Wei State did not send troops, but instead sent many huge warships and the astonishingly powerful Wei Liannu, he felt a thump in his heart.
"The King of Wei...could it be that he wants to use our army to train troops?"