"Go and have a look on the river? Yes, General Zhang." Xu Jingchang hesitated for a moment, but quickly put this hesitation aside. Of course he knew that these days, Zhang Fu would take a boat to the river every noon to take a look.
He looked for a way to cross the river. Although he thought it was useless, he would not disobey his order.
Zhang Fu smiled, stood up and walked around the military camp.
When he came back from wandering around, Xu Jingchang had already finished his meal, handed his rice bowl to the guard, and followed him towards the gate of the camp.
When the soldier guarding the gate saw Zhang Fu, he smiled and said, "General Zhang is going to patrol the river again today?"
"Yeah." Zhang Fu agreed with a smile.
The soldier actually disapproved of Zhang Fu's behavior in his heart, but he didn't show it at all on his face. He smiled and asked him if there were any generals registered in the imperial court to go with him to inspect the river. After learning Xu Jingchang's name and official title,
He was startled. He probably guessed Xu Jingchang's identity. However, he was of good quality, so he immediately registered his name and title as if nothing had happened.
Zhang Fu and Xu Jingchang left the camp, boarded a large ship, and crossed the river under the protection of the navy. Most of the navy here came from Yunnan. They were organized by the Mu family to facilitate the campaign in Yunnan, and they owned more than a hundred large and small warships.
This time, Mu Sheng brought nearly a hundred warships from Yunnan to fight against the Annan Navy for control of the river.
Annan's remaining navy at this time is certainly no match for the Yunnan Navy, but there is not much difference in strength between the two sides, and the mouth of the Red River is full of wooden stakes. The Nanyang Navy cannot move in to assist the Yunnan Navy in annihilating the Annan Navy, so the generals came up the river.
Exploration must be accompanied by naval escort.
Zhang Fu raised his head and looked at the south bank of the river. There was still a lush jungle, countless ripples rippling on the shore, a clean beach, and a naval boat engaged in a fierce battle in front of the beach.
"How is the clearing of the wooden piles in front of the beach going?" Zhang Fu asked the accompanying Navy Commander Qianhu.
"It's very slow. The Annamites laid more than two miles of wooden piles. Even if they are not densely packed, it is very difficult to remove them. What's more, the Annamite navy has been fighting hard these days. Even if there are ships equipped with cannons to support them in the distance,
Because cannons are of little use against small boats, and they can't go any faster."
"According to the current speed, it will take almost until February next year to clear a channel that can accommodate large ships. This still does not take into account the countermeasures of the Annan people. If the Annan people have countermeasures that we are not prepared for, I am afraid that
It will be delayed for a long time." The Qianhu named Liu Qing said.
"How can this work?" Zhang Fu said. He originally knew that it would not be until February next year that a channel that could accommodate large ships would be clear; but now he realized that this was only an optimistic estimate.
"That would delay things for too long," he said.
"General Zhang, our navy..." Liu Qing was interrupted by Zhang Fu before he finished his words: "I know, you don't need to explain. Even though I can't control the affairs of the navy, I don't understand much, but...
Has this matter been reported to Marshal Zhang?"
"General Zhang, our navy has just discussed this matter and will report it to Lord Zhang in two days," Liu Qing said.
Zhang Fu didn't speak anymore, he just looked at the other side of the river with his clairvoyance. From here, he could clearly see the Duobang City on the other side.
But his mind was still on what Liu Qing said just now. 'It is so difficult to clear a river, how can we capture Duobang City?' he thought.
At this moment, the sound of "Deng Deng Deng" footsteps suddenly sounded. Zhang Fu and Xu Jingchang looked sideways and saw a man wearing an ill-fitting official uniform of a fourth-grade Ming Zheng military general. His skin was dark and there was a line like a stripe on the left side of his face. The man with the centipede-like scar came up. When he saw Zhang Fu, he immediately came over and saluted, "I, Ruan Xun, have met Mr. General Zhang."
He then saw Xu Jingchang and Liu Qing standing aside, and hurriedly saluted: "Ruan Xun has met Lord Xu Qianhu, and met Lord Liu Qianhu."
"It can't be done, Mr. Ruan has broken me." Liu Qing said immediately. He is the fifth-grade official, and from the official uniform of the fourth-grade official given by Yunxi, Ruan Xun can be seen that he will be at least a fourth-grade official in the future. Officials, even if Ruan Xun is from Annan, even if he looks down on Ruan Xun, they dare not accept Ruan Xun's courtesy. Even Xu Jingchang stepped aside to avoid it.
This Ruan Xun is the Annan general who defected to the Ming Dynasty. Ruan Xun was the defender of Zhiling Pass in Annan. After the Ming army reached Zhiling Pass, he killed the deputy general who was loyal to Hu Jiya, surrendered, and then led his own troops The cronies went to the next pass, Nanshan Pass, and pretended that Zhiling Pass had been breached and escaped in embarrassment. They deceived the gate and helped the Ming army capture Nanshan Pass and made great contributions.
Of course Yunxi despised such people, but the Ming army needed such people, so he issued a decree to reward Ruan Xun greatly. Yunxi gave Ruan Xun the official uniform of the fourth rank of Zheng and named him a hereditary official of the fourth rank of Zheng. Taking command of Qianshi, he was rewarded with three hundred taels of gold and ten royal jade articles. Yunxi even allowed him to still command his original tribe and be incorporated into Li Jinglong's central army to follow him southward.
Ruan Xun was filled with gratitude to the Ming Dynasty. Although he had become a third-rank official under Hu Jishen's rule, how could Annan's third-rank official compare with the fourth-rank official of the Ming Dynasty? Not to mention the gold, silver, and jade he was rewarded with. He had been corrupt since he became an official. The money was less than three hundred taels of gold, not to mention Yunxi trusted him very much and let him lead his old army.
Therefore, he worked even harder for the Ming Dynasty. After breaking through Nanshan Pass, he could no longer deceive the gate of the pass. However, he took advantage of his familiarity with the terrain and the defenders to help the Ming army break through several passes at the minimum cost. city.
Afterwards, the army came to Baihe and faced the fortified city of Duobang. Ruan Xun's advantages could not be put to use here, but he still actively served the Ming Dynasty. He sent his cronies several times with letters to sneak into Duobang City and contact them in the city. He was a familiar general; in addition, he also visited the river every three days and asked his cronies to loudly persuade the defenders of Duobang City to surrender in Annan and Chinese.
Today is the day when Ruan Xun goes to the river to persuade him to surrender as usual. Today he had lunch and rested for a while, then boarded the boat with his trusted followers and approached the south bank to begin to persuade him to surrender.
But not long after he boarded the ship, he heard a "bang bang bang" sound coming from the side of the ship. At first he was panicked, thinking it was Annan's "water ghost", and shouted to other ships to come and rescue him.
But immediately a man surfaced, shouting something in Annan language. Ruan Xun initially thought he was an Annan sailor who had surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, and ordered his subordinates to help him onto the ship for interrogation.
But after the man got on the boat, he didn't answer his questions, and just repeated a sentence repeatedly. Ruan Xun felt very strange, and was about to ask his subordinates to see if there was anything wrong with his mind, when something suddenly occurred to him.
"General Zhang..., my subordinates realized at that time that this was the communication code that they had set up with several other Annan generals a long time ago, and they immediately spoke the second half of the code."
"The man talked about another passage. At that time, there was another secret code, and the subordinate hurriedly said the corresponding secret code. Then the man took out a letter wrapped in oil paper from his arms. After the subordinate opened it and read it,
Come immediately with a letter to report to General Zhang." Ruan Xun said after answering the greetings with them.
"Modi, Mo Tun, and Mo Yuan in the city are willing to lead their troops to surrender to the Ming Dynasty?" Zhang Fu, who was listening to Ruan Xun's words and opening the letter to browse, couldn't help but say it after seeing this sentence.
