At the second watch, Tang's soldiers had already gotten up and were sitting in the cabin eating silently.

The quartermaster took out all the remaining food and gave it to the soldiers to have a hearty meal.

Fang Yankai inspected the cabin and looked at this scene, sighing and saying to himself: "It's a fluke that I can survive until now."

Now that Shi Jun has captured Ezhou City and Liu Yuanli's reinforcements have arrived, Li Xia decides to fight Lu Wende to the death.

Either win or retreat. He does not intend to stay in Wolong Town any longer and will use up all his food reserves. He is probably determined to burn the boat.

Walking up the stairs to the oar, I saw Li Xia, wearing a suit of armor, standing there with a long sword on his waist, wiping the horse's shaft with his own hands.

"Your Majesty can play in person again." Fang Yankai said, "It seems that Long Yan is very happy?"

There were three parts worry, three parts ridicule, three parts helplessness and one part dissatisfaction in his tone.

"That's right." Li Xia seemed to have only heard the teasing, and said with a smile: "I have been beaten here by Lu Wende all the time, what's the point of not giving him some color?"

After ascending the throne and proclaiming himself emperor, he was no longer as cold as before. He seemed to be more humane and more fond of joking.

Fang Yankai said: "If you have taken the trouble to plan this step, if anything happens to your Majesty, you will lose everything."

"Don't worry, Fang Qing. If we fight on foot on the shore, I will be far better than Wang Xin."

Li Xia blurted out this sentence and called himself "I". He had strong confidence in the battlefield and unconsciously showed this domineering attitude.

He had indeed been held back for a long time.

Since the encirclement, the war has been directed by the naval generals Wang Xun brought from Shandong. Li Xia looked on and felt that they were ordinary, but he was not good at water warfare, so there was nothing he could do.

It felt like Lu Wende was holding his head between his hands and slapping him hard again and again.

It was finally time for the situation to change and it was time to fight back.

Fang Yankai said: "I don't believe in your majesty's martial prowess, I'm afraid..."

"Okay. I want to be the emperor. If someone refuses to accept it, if I don't beat him to convince him, can I just rely on my words to convince him?"

~~

At the fourth watch, the sky turns gray.

Liu Yuanli jumped from the warship, led the war horse, and climbed aboard.

He took a deep breath of the night wind, squinted his eyes, and could see the Song Army camp not far to the east, with a little firelight.

As long as he breaks through the camp, he can join Li Xia.

The Song army will be severely defeated tonight.

Killed many Han soldiers.

But if Lu Wende had only needed to be more sensible, this battle could have been avoided.

"The war has reached this point, and Lu Wende still doesn't know how to call a truce or preserve his strength. Is a famous general of a generation so stupid?"

When Liu Yuanli rode up, he murmured something like this...

Xiangyang.

Lu Wenhuan only made arrangements for tomorrow's defense at the fourth watch. He walked tiredly down to the top of the city and opened his armor.

The blood had dried and was stuck to his wound so tightly that it hurt when it was torn off.

Even so, he still summoned his relatives and asked: "Has the news of my elder brother come back? When will he lead his army to support Xiangyang?"

"General, it seems that Lu Shaobao does not plan to support Xiangyang. It seems that Li Ni is still being attacked on the Longzhong battlefield..."

"Why?" Lu Wenhuan asked in surprise.

He had clearly sent a letter to Lu Wende, pointing out that the Yuan army had made some changes, and asked Lu Wende to make a truce with Li Xia first and wait and see what happens.

Even if it is only a truce for a few days, this is the safest and most rational decision.

"The general doesn't understand either. Before the enemy attacked Xiangyang, the general sent the message. Today he sent someone to risk his life by ferry to deliver the message, but he never received a reply from Lu Shaobao."

"Brother, how could..." Lu Wenhuan said anxiously, "Xiangyang is located at the junction of the Three Kingdoms, and the situation is complicated. How can we be so reckless?"

In this situation where multiple forces are infiltrating, the best strategy is to remain unchanged in response to all changes. I thought Lu Wende understood this.

Lu Wenhuan has watched Lu Wende conquer the North and South and make great achievements since he was a child. He never thought of this.

A big brother would make such a mistake.

You know, in the past thirty years, many heroes such as Meng Gong, Zhao Gui, Du Gao, Yu Jie, Wang Jian, etc. have all left, leaving only Lu Wende as the mainstay of the Song Dynasty.

This is the most experienced and prestigious general in the Song Dynasty.

How can it be?

"I don't believe it, how could it be..."

"General, maybe Lu Shaobao has other considerations?"

"What other considerations are there?" Lu Wenhuan asked anxiously, "Can I believe that Meng Yuan pretended to be Liu Yuanzhen attacking the city? This is so embarrassing, but the eldest brother is still attacking Li Xia. If the alliance is signed, Meng Yuan will die."

To swallow Da Song’s heart?!”

He couldn't sit still anymore and went up to the top of the city again. Looking into the distance against the river breeze at night, he could still hear the sound of horse hooves on the south bank of the Han River.

It was too dark to see clearly the movements of the enemy army. As the defender of Xiangyang, Lu Wenhuan did not dare to open the city gate at this time.

As he said, the more complex the situation, the more important it is to remain unchanged in response to changes in order to preserve combat power and avoid too many losses.

"I hope brother really has some considerations. He shouldn't be so unwise..."

Just before dawn, small boats were moored on the bank of the Han River.

Black shadows came ashore, some holding spears or bows.

Li Xia held the horse in his hand, his eyes gradually becoming colder.

If he were Lu Wende, he would not choose to continue fighting, but whether Lu Wende was unconscious or for some other reason, Li Xia didn't know and didn't intend to bear the consequences for Lu Wende.

His food reserves are gone, he must break through and achieve victory.

If one party is irrational, then the irrational party will have to bear all the consequences.

Soon, the formation was ready.

The few horses snorted.

The soldiers held their spears and adjusted their breathing.

Finally, just before dawn, Jiang Feng brought the killing cry from ahead.

At that time, Liu Yuanli had already started to set up camp. "Let's go." Li Xia ordered.

The soldiers then charged towards the camp that had been raided by Liu Yuanli.

It was still dark, and Qiu Tongfu was still in the wounded barracks.

He is Lu Wende's second son-in-law, named Qingxi Jushi, and he is a doctor.

Just three days ago, his father Qiu Zhenheng encountered Li Ni's rebels on the way to Xiangyang, and all of them, including a dozen of his companions, were killed.

Qiu Tongfu could have carried the coffin and returned home, or stayed in front of the funeral to observe mourning. However, because Lu Wende ordered a fierce attack on Li Ni, there were too many casualties in the army, so he still came to treat the wounded as usual.

It is said that there was a staff member of the Lu family named Fang Hui, who was killed by brothers Zhang Shun and Zhang Gui two years ago. During his lifetime, he wrote many poems in favor of the Lu family. He once praised Qiu Tongfu, "Every medicine bag comes in and out of the army, and the elite soldiers

A hundred thousand golden sores."

This is obviously an exaggeration. Lu Wende's 100,000 elite soldiers have suffered heavy casualties in recent days, and Qiu Tongfu tried his best but could not save one or two more people.

All he can do is to do his best, but in short, doctors have a parental heart.

"Uncle, I finally found you!"

One of Lu Wende's soldiers hurried over, opened the curtain and saw Qiu Tongfu, stepped forward and took his hand, pulled him out and whispered a few words.

"Lu Shaobao is ill... At this time, how can I treat some vulgar people here? I'll wait in front of the tent to show my filial piety."

Qiu Tongfu was startled, glanced at the wounded soldier who was being treated, and said, "Here, press the wound and wait until the bleeding stops."

"I thank Divine Doctor Qiu for saving my life."

Qiu Tongfu nodded silently.

It was rare for others to personally treat these wounded soldiers in his capacity. He only felt that it was what a doctor should do. But on the other hand, he would not delay his own urgent matters for the sake of these wounded soldiers.

Lu Wende, his father-in-law, was his god, so there was nothing wrong with rushing back to the big tent now.

Turning around, Qiu Tongfu lifted the curtain and came out, exhaling a depressed breath.

As he walked through the barracks, he suddenly heard soldiers singing.

The singing sounds low and sad

.

"The moon crescents over Kyushu, where some families are happy and some are sad. Some couples are sharing tents, and some are scattered in other states..."

This was the Jingkang Incident. The ballads that were popular among the people when the Jin army went south have been sung for more than a hundred years.

I heard it again in the camp tonight, which gave Qiu Tongfu a very bad premonition.
To be continued...